I drafted RUb control and went 2-1 in matches and lost a match against Tyler (different pod) afterwards. Draft was really fun AND I drafted some really good cards. I think I drafted about 6 rares or so. Draft order was HOU/HOU/AKH.
Pack 1 pick 1 was a foil Kefnet's Last Word, which seemed like an OK first pick. The effect is powerful, but the drawback is pretty huge. I think the next pick was Puncturing Blow and then I grabbed a few more red cards later on. Pack 2 pick1 was The Scarab God which is just an INSANE card. From what I heard people say in sealed The Scarab God (and the other two HOU gods) are nigh unbeatable, so I was super excited to open it. Not only that, but I've been looking for a zombie commander for a long time and wanted to use The Scarab God. It was really nice to get this because it's a little pricey at the moment. Other notable HOU cards I drafted from the first two packs were: Sand Strangler, Open Fire, another Puncturing Blow, 2x Manalith, Desert of the Mindful, 2x Desert of the Fervent, and Ifnir Deadlands. I was feeling pretty good about the mana base by this point. I don't remember my first couple picks from the AHK pack, but I do remember my FOURTH PICK Glorybringer, which is one of the best cards. I also picked an Insult / Injury and some other nice removal.
I got one HOU pack for a prize and opened The Locust God (would have loved to been able to play this) which was super cool. Hard to beat the pulls I had today.
MATCH 1 vs GW (2-1)
Game 1 was sketchy on my part. I kept an opener with 6 lands and a Blur of Blades. I'm naturally pretty reluctant to mulligan and I figured that with a control deck, I'd be fine making land drops and the Blur of Blades would help buy a little time. However, my opponent casts a turn 2 Rhonas's Last Stand, I put the -1/-1 counter on the 5/4 snake, and proceeded to get beaten down. I managed to block and Floodwaters and Kefnet's Last Word to stall a bit but eventually lost to stuff like Mouth / Feed, Bitterblade Warrior and Rhonas's Stalwart. I don't think that was a bad opening hand to keep, that just happened to be a VERY strong opening from my opponent.
Game 2 went better for me. I was able to stall the game and eventually cast The Scarab God which just took over the game. I was able to use him to Eternalize my opponent's creatures like Angel of the God-Pharaoh and survive his Scaled Behemoth and Sifter Wurm.
Game 3 was also nice. It played out similarly, with me removing creatures and stalling until I cast Glorybringer. I was able to repeatedly remove blockers and finish the game quickly.
MATCH 2 against UB (2-0)
Game 1 was nice. Both of our decks were on the slower side, so we just kept removing each other's threats. I felt confidant that I would win if I could just stall until I could play Glorybringer or The Scarab God. In the end, my opponent was down to 2 life with a couple blockers and I was able to resolve Manticore Eternal, to secure the win next turn (automatic 3 damage via Afflict).
Game 2 was more of the same. My opponent cast an early Dreamstealer and I fortunately was able to immediately use Blur of Blades to save myself from discarding cards. When Dreamstealer was Eternalized I was able to just Puncturing Blow it. Khenra Scrapper was able to deal a decent chunk of damage before it was killed off. We ground out each others creatures via combat and removal. Floodwaters bought me time and helped me save my good removal for stronger creatures. Both sides of Insult / Injury (on the same turn) helped seal the deal with a ton of damage.
MATCH 3 against GBr (0-2)
Game 1 was rough. I kept a hand with 2 lands and struggled to draw more. My opponent opened with a turn 4 Oasis Ritualist into a Rampaging Hippo, which was pretty devastating for me. I was able to eventually Kefnet's Last Word the tapped rampagin hippo, but it couldn't block and my lands were locked down. Rhonas's Monument, a surprise Hazoret the Fervent, and Tenacious Hunter killed me off pretty quickly. I was pretty disappointed with my opening keep, I should have known better than to keep 2 lands in a control deck.
Game 2 was better, but I think I made some misplays at the end. At one point I dealt 10 damage in one turn with Insult / Injury and an attacking manitcore eternal, but started to get beaten down with Rampaging Hippos and ground out by removal. Eventually I got my opponent to 7 life with a Aerial Guide in play and Insult / Injury in my graveyard and Khenra Scrapper, an active Sand Strangler, and Open Fire in my hand and 7 mana. I was at 8 life and my opponent had a Rampaging Hippo, Nest of Scarabs, three 1/1 black insects, and a Soulstinger with three -1/-1 counters on it. I was angling for the burnout plan so I cast Sand Strangler killing an insect, with the intent to kill the next turn with a dual flying attack, Open Fire to the face, and Insult / Injury. I then lost to a Torment of Venom on my Sand Strangler and an attack for exactly 8 damage. I had to sac my Manalith because of Torment of Venom and couldn't/didn't use Open Fire to kill anything. I was trying to play for the immediate win, but I think in this case I should have taken the more conservative route and killed the Rampaging Hippo with the combo of Sand Strangler and Open Fire. That would have made it harder for me to burn out my opponent, but it would have been much harder for them to kill me and I might have been able to scrape out a little more damage for a win. That line would have prevented any lethal attacks from my opponent and I could have followed up the turn after with Khenra Scrapper and Insult / Injury to take down an insect. That would have been a decent situation to be in, who knows...
Bonus match against Tyler on RU (1-2)
Game 1 I was able to kill him very quickly with Glorybringer and both sides of Insult / Injury.
Game 2 was very grindy. I played a turn 2 Wall of Forgotten Pharaohs, but still got beaten down by a Spellweaver Eternal (Afflicting me) and Aerial Guide. My wall managed to chip him down to 10 life, but I eventually ran out of removal and got killed by a Striped Riverwinder. I even chump-blocked it with my Glorybringer at one point.
Game 3 also started pretty grindy. My Wall of Forgotten Pharaohs was killed off early on by Burning-Fist Minotaur. I was able to kill off some little creatures to buy time and cast The Scarab God, which was immediately bounced. I then cast Puncturing Blow on his newly cast Ominous Sphinx and was feeling pretty good. Then [[cryptic serpent] came down for Tyler. I cast The Scarab God again and had a bunch of creatures in hand. Tyler then used Lay Claim to steal The Scarab God, attacked for a bunch, and I couldn't do enough so I lost.
THOUGHTS
It was a really fun deck, it seemed to work really well and stalling the game until I could draw/play my powerhouse cards. There were a few games where I couldn't get black mana quite as fast as I wanted, but I can't complain about how things went. I also drafted Hostile Desert and Scavenger Grounds (to help power Sand Strangler and because they're cool), but didn't play either because I was stretching into 3 colors. I was considering playing Hostile Desert anyway, but I'm glad I didn't, it would have been too rough on the manabase.
The Scarab God was utterly insane. It can block over and over again, it makes creatures, it scrys for you, and drains the opponent. Anytime I was able to start activating it to Eternalize things, it felt hard to lose. The Scarab God made killing the opponents creatures feel especially nice, because you could Eternalize them soon after. There are ways it can be dealt with, the main ones to watch out for are counterspells. The Scarab God is so good, you really want to make sure it resolves, even if it means waiting a bit.
Glorybringer is also insane, it just ends games really fast. Just an amazing finisher. I've learned to not be overeager to Exert it. Attacking for 4 in the air each turn can end the game real fast. Always wanted to draw this.
Insult / Injury was really nice. It punches a lot of damage through out of nowhere (works especially nice with Menace and/or Afflict). It was insane when you can cast both haves in back to back. Great, great card. Would love to play this again.
2x Puncturing Blow was very, very nice. There are a lot of nasty things that you want to kill (and exile) such as Ominous Sphinx and Cryptic Serpent that aren't covered by stuff like Open Fire.
Blur of Blades was surprisingly great for me. There are lots of great targets such as Carrion Screecher, Spellweaver Eternal, Dauntless Aven, and Oketra's Avenger.
Kefnet's Last Word seemed medium. I think this card is better as a top end in an aggressive deck to get a blocker out of the way and add an attacker. Still liked it though. This card was improved because I had 2x Manalith, I could untap those even after Kefnet's Last Word locked my lands down, in order to keep the spells flowing.
Sand Strangler was very nice, I wish I would have had more. Even had a nice desert count to support it. Great card.
Wall of Forgotten Pharaohs was a nice card for a control strategy like this. Would have loved more of them. They don't work so well against Afflict though.
2x Floodwaters is great at ending games when you have enough attackers, but not so great at stalling the game. Was more like an expensive Fog for me most of the time. Gets better as the creatures it bounces get more expensive (or if you target tokens).
2x Manalith was nice. Ramped and fixed my mana. These were absolutely crucial for the deck to operate. Would have loved at least one more.
manitcore eternal is a surprisingly great finisher. It either deals 5 or deals 3 and kills off some blockers, was glad to have it.
Ifnir Deadlands was nice as a desert and an untapped black source. I only actually activated it once, but it's a VERY nice effect to have stapled on a land. It definitely wasn't at it's best in my deck because I was so low on black sources, but I still really liked it. I think this should be a pretty high pick in black decks, or desert-heavy decks, especially if you're running things like Sand Strangler. Just remember that it can only be activated as a sorcery.
The Cycling lands were super great, it's so nice to be able to cycle them to try and get more spells. I think they should be prioritized in draft, especially in ramp and control decks.