Went 2-1 including a round two bye. Had fun, but I wish I could have played more games. The draft itself went really weird. Pack 1 pick 1 was Squee, the Immortal out of a really lame pack. I picked up a Shivan Fire soon after along with Seal Away along with some middling other cards. I had some aspirations for RW aggro, but it wasn't looking great. I think the turning point for me was partway through pack 1 I had a choice between Charge and Grow from the Ashes. I took Grow, because Charge didn't seem too impactful and I took it as a sign that green might have been open with Grow going late. Pack 2 is where things began to turn around for me. I grabbed two Thallid Omnivores thinking I was going to be BR or BW, but then I saw a few more saproling cards and fully moved in to GB. I'm pretty sure pack 2 pick 1 was Blackblade Reforged. Pack 3 was nice to me; pick 1 was Rite of Belzenlok and pick 2 was Icy Manipulator. All in all, I think I was able to navigate things alright, but I wasted a lot of early picks. My opening pack had a thalid omnivore that didn't wheel, and I wonder if I had drafted that instead of Squee if things would have went much better for me.
MATCH 1 vs RW (1-2)
Game 1 was a grind. I kept a 7-card hand with forests, swamps, Icy Manipulator, and Grow from the Ashes. Turn 4 I cast Icy and Turn 5 I kicked Grow from the Ashes with mana open to manipulate the Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain and Adeliz, the Cinder Wind in play. Eventually I was able to find Pardic Wanderer and Blackblade Reforged. I was somewhat flooded at this point (10+ lands in play), but my equip targets kept getting bounced by Blink of an Eye. Eventually more fliers showed up and Haphazard Bombardment eventually took down Icy Manipulator, Pardic Wanderer, and Blackblade Reforged. Thalid omnivore gained me some life and got in a few attacks, but I eventually lost to the onslaught of fliers.
Game 2 went nicely for me. Opponent mulliganed to a sketchy 6 and I went Turn 1 Llanowar Elves, Turn 2 elfhame dryad Elves attack, and very soon after my kicked Stronghold Confessor was wielding Blackblade Reforged and killed the opponent.
Game 3 was another grind. I sided out 1x Grow from the Ashes and 1x Soul Salvage for 2x Arbor Armament to help against the fliers. The board stalled quickly, but my opponent was drawing cards off Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain, and smashing me with Cloudreader Sphinx. My demon token from Rite of Belzenlok halted the assault (including zhaid, djinn of the lamp by this point]], but the token was soon bounced and I was taken out soon after. My lack of removal and flying defense really hurt me this game.
MATCH 2 bye
MATCH 3 vs GB Saproling mirror (2-0)
Game 1 was great and I think I started actually started getting the hang of playing this style of grindy, value deck. I was facing a thalid omnivore and a few saproling tokens and had the chance to cast an unkicked Saproling Migration to punch through an attack. I decided to hold back because I was close to kicking Saproling Migration. I also had the chance to use Soul Salvage early to grab Thallid Soothsayer and a lame creature, but once again I held off. I focused of reducing my opponent's creature count by blocking in such a way to force activations of my opponent's thalid omnivore. My Blackblade Reforged eventually came down and my now massive saproling token started attacking. At this point of the game I had 9 lands in play and was able to get thalid omnivore and Thallid Soothsayer back with Soul Salvage and could see how deflating that was to my opponent. Eventually the now 12/12 saproling took over the game.
We were shuffling up for game two (I sided out 1x Corrosive Ooze for 1x Lingering Phantom for more grinding power), but my opponent opted to join a cube draft and conceded the match.
THOUGHTS
2x Thallid Omnivore was nice. They can attack pretty freely because blocking them is very annoying. The lifegain kept me in many of the games. They would have been even better if I had more saproling token creation.
Thallid Soothsayer is nice. The card draw, especially when you're sacrificing lame creatures like serf tokes from Rite of Belzenlok, can be backbreaking.
Rite of Belzenlok is cool, because I could really make good use of the serf tokens with the above cards. Demon is soft to bounce though.
Icy Manipulator is incredible, but I only cast it once. Helped me constantly lock down their best creatures.
Blackblade Reforged was nice, but could have been better if I had some legends. This actually worked for me because the games went long and I had 2x Grow from the Ashes.
2x Grow from the Ashes was very, very good. I had lots of ways to use my mana and the fetched lands coming into play untapped was relevant more than once.
The grinding power of Soul Salvage is incredible. Best to wait and wait until you can get two amazing creatures.
Pardic Wanderer just a nice finisher, but I never got to live the dream of attacking with it while equipped with Blackblade Reforged.
I was really underestimating Elfhame Druid. It ramps nicely already, but the GG you get for kicked spells leads to some insane starts.
I only had Fungal Plots in play one time, but it was while I was getting beaten down by fliers, had only one saproling in play and no creatures in my graveyard.
Not my best showing, but still had some fun. Somehow played green yet again and GB once again. I think I'm getting the hang of the format, but unfortunately Core 19 is releasing this week so I won't have any more chances to draft it.