I'm starting this thread to talk about an archetype I've recently started drafting that is both lots of fun, and (occasionally) very successful. At its core, the deck is based around Delver of Secrets . The plan is to stick an early Delver (or, failing that, a beater turn 2) and ride it to victory in a deck with lots of cheap threats, removal, and countermagic.
The real trick of this archetype, which I have not seen other people mention, is using Caravan Vigil in place of lands to increase the likelihood of Delver triggers. Playing 3-4 copies of Vigil, 14 lands is more than enough - I'm sometimes tempted to go down to 13 or 12. Consider this opening hand:
Whereas a 1 lander in most decks would be unkeepable, hands like this occur all the time and are, in fact, pretty close to nuts. The clear line of play here is t1 vigil for island, t2 delver with guile backup. Your options after that are virtually infinite.
THE THREATS
Obviously this deck works best with a large count of Delvers, but even without them its viable. Suitable replacements are:
This seems like a short list, and it is, but the truth is you're not looking for many creatures. About ten will do the trick. In general, what you're looking for is cheap evasion. Avacyn's Pilgrim is the only non-tricky creature on the list, and it's there because A) the deck runs 14 lands and B) it sometimes wants to splash travel preparations anyway.
THE SPELLS
Because you're running Delver, you obviously want a whole bunch of spells to consistently trigger him. I like to run 14-16 in this deck.
The absolute most important of these is Silent Departure. I would gladly run 5 copies in any version of this deck. Mana is always at a premium, and you don't get much better than 1 mana removal. The fact that it's not permanent removal is irrelevant - this deck is planning on killing opponents with a full hand anyway, so taking a creature off the board is always good, no matter where it goes.
The second most important spell in the deck is Caravan Vigil. It flips Delver, it supports your white splash (about 50% of the time I splash white for haunting and/or travel prep), it thins the deck to ensure you keep drawing gas. It's basically the nuts here. I'd play up to 6.
After that I try to pick up a variety of countermagic, with the general goal of protecting an early threat I've gotten to stick in play. Dissipate is the best here, but Frightful Delusion is fine too. A real allstar is Ranger's Guile, which is sometimes pump, sometimes direct damage, and sometimes a counterspell.
The real trick of this archetype, which I have not seen other people mention, is using Caravan Vigil in place of lands to increase the likelihood of Delver triggers. Playing 3-4 copies of Vigil, 14 lands is more than enough - I'm sometimes tempted to go down to 13 or 12.
This sounds like a cool idea. But, in an 8 man draft there are 3 * 8 * 9 = 216 commons opened. Which means that on average there are only 2 copies of each common opened in the draft. Counting on getting 3-4 copies of Caravan Vigil is defying the will of the maths gods.
This list seems unusually concentrated with your key spells, and I'm wondering how often you're going to be able to pull this off. Caravan Vigil is a fairly low-ish pick, so I can see getting two or maybe three of them, but Silent Departure is not a low pick. Barring being the only blue player at the table, I can't see them tableing enough for you to get more than two regularly. I'm skeptical of the strength of the deck without multiple cheap ways to keep your opponent off-tempo, as your creature base will quickly get outclassed.
And your deck is 41 cards, is that a typo?
I was curious as to the build, so I ran some numbers. After testing the 15 spell, 11 creature, 14 land composition, here are the hands you get on average (20 iterations):
Land: 2.45
Creature: 2.05
Spell: 2.5
So not bad. Fairly even, and with a low curve you're not hurting for stuff to do. Your most aggressive creature is clearly Delver of Secrets with this high a spell concentration:
Average Odds of having Delver in Opening Hand (3 delvers): 56%
Average Odds of Next Card being a spell: 38%
So a little better than 1 in 3 chances of flipping Delver turn 2, assuming you draw and cast one. The issue is if you get fewer than three Delvers. At two, your odds of having one in your opening are 37%. At one, it's 19%. This tells me that for the archtype to be open and safe, you have to have secured at least two Delvers and ideally two of your key spells (Departure + Grasp, etc) by the end of pack one, and you have reasonable certainty that blue is open.
It's a cool idea, but I think I may be a little too risk-averse to force it.
The curve is so low that 15/16 lands probably works and those Caravan Vigils could be real cards.
You may have misunderstood. Caravan Vigils go in land slots. As such, they're better than basic lands since they behave like a land that flips Delver. (Although of course there is a small additional risk of needing to mulligan with Island, Island, Caravan Vigil, 4 other spells.)
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It definitely looks interesting. It seems like your typical "draft good cards and hope the crap that makes the deck work wheels" limited archetype. At least in this case all of the key cards are common. The biggest drawback I see with it is that it really does seem to need at least 2 or 3 delvers and a lot of caravan vigils. Gatstaf shepherd is pretty close in power level to delver in this deck (yeah I know he's usually much better any other time) but you can't really count on getting him since he's a high pick in any green deck. Normally good picks like darkthicket wolf probably wouldn't be that great since you're going to want to stay aggressive and keep mana open for counters. I've been drafting UG a lot lately so maybe I'll check some of my draft caps and see how often I could have potentially made this deck happen.
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Spike cares more about the quantity of wins than the quality. For example, Spike plays ten games and wins nine of them. If Spike feels he should have won the tenth, he walks away unhappy.
I feel like I'm always the one to say this, but any strategy that relies on 3+ copies of multiple cards, even commons, is not an "archetype." It's a cute deck that you can draft once a year and laugh about. Archetypes are built around sets of commons and uncommons that offer redundancy, so that it doesn't matter exactly which ones you get. Relying on anything more than 2 copies of a common is a terrible idea.
I really like this creative strategy though. I would enjoy running it, just to see my opponent fuming over how "lucky" I was flipping Delvers so frequently, not realizing that it was a specific strategy.
I couldn't agree more with Phyrre56! The fact is that Delver and Silent Departure are pretty popular cards so you can't really get them late. Also you need a bunch of forests to make sure you can cast those Caravan Vigil and not drawing the wrong lands and being forced to mulligan like someone said.
All in all this looks like a fun and strong deck but I am not sure how stable it can be.
I was a dash skeptical, but I got a couple early delvers in a draft tonight and kept this archetype in mind. I saw a couple caravan vigils, but didn't pick them highly and none wheeled.
Pack 1 pick 3:
Nightbird's Clutches
Trepanation Blade
Sensory Deprivation
Bump in the Night
Pitchburn Devils
--> Delver of Secrets
Stromkirk Patrol
Moment of Heroism
Rooftop Storm
Infernal Plunge
Lantern Spirit
Island
Night Terrors
Pack 1 pick 5:
Sensory Deprivation
--> Delver of Secrets
Demonmail Hauberk
Spare from Evil
Caravan Vigil
Brain Weevil
Ghoulcaller's Bell
Intangible Virtue
Corpse Lunge
Island
Maw of the Mire
Pack 1 pick 6:
Purify the Grave
Hysterical Blindness
Rakish Heir
Somberwald Spider
Curse of Oblivion
Burning Vengeance
--> Creeping Renaissance
Swamp
Gnaw to the Bone
Typhoid Rats
Pack 1 pick 7:
Frightful Delusion
--> Deranged Assistant
Selfless Cathar
Make a Wish
Vampire Interloper
Ashmouth Hound
Mountain
Gnaw to the Bone
Village Cannibals
Pack 1 pick 8:
Ambush Viper
Mask of Avacyn
Selfless Cathar (FOIL)
--> Villagers of Estwald
Moonmist
Traveler's Amulet
Shimmering Grotto
Island
Pack 3 pick 2:
Harvest Pyre
Into the Maw of Hell
Cobbled Wings
Stitched Drake
Woodland Sleuth
Unburial Rites
Curse of the Bloody Tome
Brimstone Volley
Geistcatcher's Rig
Silverchase Fox
Curse of Oblivion
Plains
Manor Skeleton
--> Mayor of Avabruck
Pack 3 pick 3:
Cellar Door
Skirsdag Cultist
--> Spider Spawning
Moment of Heroism
Angel of Flight Alabaster
Chapel Geist
Curiosity (FOIL)
Spectral Flight
Fortress Crab
Ancient Grudge
Rotting Fensnake
Avacyn's Pilgrim
Swamp
Pack 3 pick 4:
Ghoulraiser
--> Travel Preparations
Kessig Wolf
Abattoir Ghoul
Kindercatch
Chapel Geist
Crossway Vampire
Kessig Wolf Run
Silverchase Fox
Lost in the Mist
Forest
Bitterheart Witch
Pack 3 pick 5:
Frightful Delusion
Cellar Door
Mask of Avacyn
Blazing Torch
Ashmouth Hound
Doomed Traveler
Hanweir Watchkeep
Island
--> Gnaw to the Bone
Rolling Temblor
Curse of the Pierced Heart
Pack 1 pick 1: Chapel Geist over Forbidden Alchemy over Essence of the Wild
Pack 1 pick 2: Voiceless Spirit over Unburial Rites (those two picks together... ugh)
Pack 1 pick 3: Lantern Spirit over Delver of Secrets (I think you greatly overrate Delver)
Pack 2 pick 1: Prey Upon over Butcher's Cleaver
Pack 2 pick 3: Voiceless Spirit over Silver-Inlaid Dagger
Pack 2 pick 6: Ambush Viper over Delver of Secrets
Pack 2 pick 7: Mausoleum Guard over Elder Cathar over Frightful Delusion
Pack 2 pick 8: Butcher's Cleaver over Ulvenwald Mystics
Pack 2 pick 9: Village Bell-Ringer over Dissipate
Pack 3 pick 1: Butcher's Cleaver over Silent Departure
Pack 3 pick 3: Avacyn's Pilgrim over Spider Spawning
Pack 3 pick 5: Blazing Torch over Gnaw to the Bone
Pack 3 pick 7: Moonmist over Creeping Renaissance (FOIL)
Pack 3 pick 8: Village Bell-Ringer over Lumberknot
Pack 3 pick 12: Kindercatch over Bitterheart Witch (see? Now we get a 6/6 for 6)
Magicmerl, just curious, what's your input on Essence of the Wild? Is Chapel Geist really worth first picking over it? The few times I've gotten him and played him he's won it all for me, being a bomb that you have to deal with the turn he comes out or else.
Essence of the Wild is playable, but he's soooooooo slow. And you have to have 3x Forest. The problem is that if you hold creatures back, you'll die, and if you play creatures, you'll just get a couple of 6/6s out of Essence, which isn't really that great since they don't fly and so you might just die anyway.
It's one of those cards that is really good when it's good, and really bad when it's bad (because it gets stuck in your hand). Don't measure its value just by the number of times you cast it, but also by the number of times you don't have time to.
Essence of the Wild is playable, but he's soooooooo slow. And you have to have 3x Forest. The problem is that if you hold creatures back, you'll die, and if you play creatures, you'll just get a couple of 6/6s out of Essence, which isn't really that great since they don't fly and so you might just die anyway.
The answer to this problem is to take Spider Spawning high. Also, Moan if you want to go black. Both flashback for 7 and make multiple guys, giving you an army of 6/6's that you don't need to hold cards for and can come out on-curve the turn after you drop Essence. Also, both are good cards on their own. The triple green is a problem, but not a huge one if you toss in a little fixing. I ran Essence in a 3-color deck and was unable to cast him maybe once.
Also, don't forget that Essence turns even the durdliest of guys into a huge threat, which is nice since you'll probably be close to topdeck mode when you get him out.
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EDH FTW
Currently running:
BRG Xira Arien BRG UR Melek, Izzet Paragon UR WUG Jenara, Asura of War WUG WRG Mayael the Anima WRG WB Triad of Fates WB BG Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest BG BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots BR WR Aurelia the Warleader WR WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores WBG WUBRG Horde of Notions WUBRG
Also, you only need to copy him once. He gets out of control so freakin fast. I never really thought it was a good card and I still won't pick him that highly but every time I've ever seen him hit the board my opponent has run away with the game. Top decking an alvacyn's pilgrim kinda sucks on turn 10. It's not so bad when you have an essence in play.
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Spike cares more about the quantity of wins than the quality. For example, Spike plays ten games and wins nine of them. If Spike feels he should have won the tenth, he walks away unhappy.
Magicmerl, just curious, what's your input on Essence of the Wild? Is Chapel Geist really worth first picking over it? The few times I've gotten him and played him he's won it all for me, being a bomb that you have to deal with the turn he comes out or else.
He is decent, although ideally my GW decks won't be running ANY six drops.
I see it as being a slightly better Kindercatch. Ideally you won't need to play anything after a 6/6 to win the game, so he's not a huge upgrade over Kindercatch to me.
1. If they can't answer Kindercatch, they probably lose anyway, and so Essence is 'win more'.
2. If they can answer kindercatch, they can probably answer Essence too.
3. If their removal is white (bonds and priest), Essence is probably much better.
4. If one 6/6 is not enough to win, but you have more creatures to play, Essence is better than Kindercatch
5. In a tokens build, Essence is better
So in scenarios 3, 4 and 5, Essence is better than Kindercatch. I just don't think that Essence is enough better than Kindercatch to regard it as anything close to a bomb.
When Essence wins, he wins big (which is why they overrate him). When Chapel Geist wins you the game, you don't even notice because it's part of a larger gameplan.
He is decent, although ideally my GW decks won't be running ANY six drops.
I see it as being a slightly better Kindercatch. Ideally you won't need to play anything after a 6/6 to win the game, so he's not a huge upgrade over Kindercatch to me.
1. If they can't answer Kindercatch, they probably lose anyway, and so Essence is 'win more'.
2. If they can answer kindercatch, they can probably answer Essence too.
3. If their removal is white (bonds and priest), Essence is probably much better.
4. If one 6/6 is not enough to win, but you have more creatures to play, Essence is better than Kindercatch
5. In a tokens build, Essence is better
So in scenarios 3, 4 and 5, Essence is better than Kindercatch. I just don't think that Essence is enough better than Kindercatch to regard it as anything close to a bomb.
When Essence wins, he wins big (which is why they overrate him). When Chapel Geist wins you the game, you don't even notice because it's part of a larger gameplan.
My concern on that choice would be that passing someone an Essence might put them heavily into green moreso than Chapel Geist or Alchemy would put one of those people heavily into white or blue.
Well, that's as may be. I'm arrogant enough to believe in my own card evaluations, and if other people want to 'slam' a glorified kindercatch and play that deck, good luck to them.
There are two reasons I'm ok with that. Firstly, those people's evaluations of other cards may also be off enough that I'm not specifically hampered by fighting a neighbour for green (all I really want from green is Prey Upon, Pilgrim and 2 drops). And secondly, I think that the second best archetype in ISD limited is UW beatdown (despite it not being discussed much on this board). So I'm not upset if I'm 'forced' into another excellent archetype as a result.
I think UW is actually the best archetype in Innistrad draft these days, at least online.
Also, I do not care if we put the person to our left into green. It's their job to get out of green if we want to be in green, because they're to our left, and that means we own their soul.
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The real trick of this archetype, which I have not seen other people mention, is using Caravan Vigil in place of lands to increase the likelihood of Delver triggers. Playing 3-4 copies of Vigil, 14 lands is more than enough - I'm sometimes tempted to go down to 13 or 12. Consider this opening hand:
Forest
Caravan Vigil
Delver of Secrets
Frightful Delusion
Ranger's Guile
Ambush Viper
Think Twice
Whereas a 1 lander in most decks would be unkeepable, hands like this occur all the time and are, in fact, pretty close to nuts. The clear line of play here is t1 vigil for island, t2 delver with guile backup. Your options after that are virtually infinite.
THE THREATS
Obviously this deck works best with a large count of Delvers, but even without them its viable. Suitable replacements are:
Gatstaf Shepherd
Invisible Stalker
Ambush Viper
Orchard Spirit
Avacyn's Pilgrim*
This seems like a short list, and it is, but the truth is you're not looking for many creatures. About ten will do the trick. In general, what you're looking for is cheap evasion. Avacyn's Pilgrim is the only non-tricky creature on the list, and it's there because A) the deck runs 14 lands and B) it sometimes wants to splash travel preparations anyway.
THE SPELLS
Because you're running Delver, you obviously want a whole bunch of spells to consistently trigger him. I like to run 14-16 in this deck.
The absolute most important of these is Silent Departure. I would gladly run 5 copies in any version of this deck. Mana is always at a premium, and you don't get much better than 1 mana removal. The fact that it's not permanent removal is irrelevant - this deck is planning on killing opponents with a full hand anyway, so taking a creature off the board is always good, no matter where it goes.
The second most important spell in the deck is Caravan Vigil. It flips Delver, it supports your white splash (about 50% of the time I splash white for haunting and/or travel prep), it thins the deck to ensure you keep drawing gas. It's basically the nuts here. I'd play up to 6.
After that I try to pick up a variety of countermagic, with the general goal of protecting an early threat I've gotten to stick in play. Dissipate is the best here, but Frightful Delusion is fine too. A real allstar is Ranger's Guile, which is sometimes pump, sometimes direct damage, and sometimes a counterspell.
So here's a typical high-end decklist:
2 Ambush Viper
2 Orchard Spirit
2 Avacyn's Pilgrim
1 Gatstaf Shepherd
1 Hamlet Captain
3 Silent Departure
2 Ranger's Guile
1 Midnight
1 Travel Preparations
1 Grasp of Phantoms
1 Dissipate
1 Frightful Delusion
1 Lost in the Mist
7 Island
1 Plains
This sounds like a cool idea. But, in an 8 man draft there are 3 * 8 * 9 = 216 commons opened. Which means that on average there are only 2 copies of each common opened in the draft. Counting on getting 3-4 copies of Caravan Vigil is defying the will of the maths gods.
This list seems unusually concentrated with your key spells, and I'm wondering how often you're going to be able to pull this off. Caravan Vigil is a fairly low-ish pick, so I can see getting two or maybe three of them, but Silent Departure is not a low pick. Barring being the only blue player at the table, I can't see them tableing enough for you to get more than two regularly. I'm skeptical of the strength of the deck without multiple cheap ways to keep your opponent off-tempo, as your creature base will quickly get outclassed.
And your deck is 41 cards, is that a typo?
I was curious as to the build, so I ran some numbers. After testing the 15 spell, 11 creature, 14 land composition, here are the hands you get on average (20 iterations):
Land: 2.45
Creature: 2.05
Spell: 2.5
So not bad. Fairly even, and with a low curve you're not hurting for stuff to do. Your most aggressive creature is clearly Delver of Secrets with this high a spell concentration:
Average Odds of having Delver in Opening Hand (3 delvers): 56%
Average Odds of Next Card being a spell: 38%
So a little better than 1 in 3 chances of flipping Delver turn 2, assuming you draw and cast one. The issue is if you get fewer than three Delvers. At two, your odds of having one in your opening are 37%. At one, it's 19%. This tells me that for the archtype to be open and safe, you have to have secured at least two Delvers and ideally two of your key spells (Departure + Grasp, etc) by the end of pack one, and you have reasonable certainty that blue is open.
It's a cool idea, but I think I may be a little too risk-averse to force it.
You may have misunderstood. Caravan Vigils go in land slots. As such, they're better than basic lands since they behave like a land that flips Delver. (Although of course there is a small additional risk of needing to mulligan with Island, Island, Caravan Vigil, 4 other spells.)
(I'm on on this site much anymore. If you want to get in touch it's probably best to email me: dom@heffalumps.org)
Forum Awards: Best Writer 2005, Best Limited Strategist 2005-2012
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<Limited Clan>
That pretty much sums it up...
I really like this creative strategy though. I would enjoy running it, just to see my opponent fuming over how "lucky" I was flipping Delvers so frequently, not realizing that it was a specific strategy.
All in all this looks like a fun and strong deck but I am not sure how stable it can be.
Draft:
Time: 12/20/2011 6:19:45 PM
Players:
Yeolde87
mrtvca
Reneko
RhodesianSpaceProgram
HippoxDragon
Altus
Beast82
TheRobbyFitz
------ ISD ------
Pack 1 pick 1:
Ghoulraiser
Feral Ridgewolf
Woodland Sleuth
Cloistered Youth
Selfless Cathar
Forbidden Alchemy
Chapel Geist
Lumberknot
Spectral Flight
Rotting Fensnake
Curse of Oblivion
Battleground Geist
Plains
Bitterheart Witch
--> Essence of the Wild
Pack 1 pick 2:
Victim of Night
Skeletal Grimace
Cobbled Wings
Grizzled Outcasts (FOIL)
Rage Thrower
Vampire Interloper
Urgent Exorcism
--> Unburial Rites
Runic Repetition
Stensia Bloodhall
Selhoff Occultist
Traitorous Blood
Mountain
Voiceless Spirit
Pack 1 pick 3:
Nightbird's Clutches
Trepanation Blade
Sensory Deprivation
Bump in the Night
Pitchburn Devils
--> Delver of Secrets
Stromkirk Patrol
Moment of Heroism
Rooftop Storm
Infernal Plunge
Lantern Spirit
Island
Night Terrors
Pack 1 pick 4:
Riot Devils
Abattoir Ghoul
Altar's Reap
Urgent Exorcism
Bramblecrush
--> Gatstaf Shepherd
Somberwald Spider
Burning Vengeance
Spidery Grasp
Forest
Manor Skeleton
One-Eyed Scarecrow
Pack 1 pick 5:
Sensory Deprivation
--> Delver of Secrets
Demonmail Hauberk
Spare from Evil
Caravan Vigil
Brain Weevil
Ghoulcaller's Bell
Intangible Virtue
Corpse Lunge
Island
Maw of the Mire
Pack 1 pick 6:
Purify the Grave
Hysterical Blindness
Rakish Heir
Somberwald Spider
Curse of Oblivion
Burning Vengeance
--> Creeping Renaissance
Swamp
Gnaw to the Bone
Typhoid Rats
Pack 1 pick 7:
Frightful Delusion
--> Deranged Assistant
Selfless Cathar
Make a Wish
Vampire Interloper
Ashmouth Hound
Mountain
Gnaw to the Bone
Village Cannibals
Pack 1 pick 8:
Ambush Viper
Mask of Avacyn
Selfless Cathar (FOIL)
--> Villagers of Estwald
Moonmist
Traveler's Amulet
Shimmering Grotto
Island
Pack 1 pick 9:
Woodland Sleuth
Selfless Cathar
--> Spectral Flight
Rotting Fensnake
Curse of Oblivion
Plains
Bitterheart Witch
Pack 1 pick 10:
Skeletal Grimace
Cobbled Wings
Urgent Exorcism
--> Runic Repetition
Stensia Bloodhall
Mountain
Pack 1 pick 11:
Trepanation Blade
--> Rooftop Storm
Infernal Plunge
Island
Night Terrors
Pack 1 pick 12:
Altar's Reap
Urgent Exorcism
--> Bramblecrush
Forest
Pack 1 pick 13:
Spare from Evil
Island
--> Maw of the Mire
Pack 1 pick 14:
--> Curse of Oblivion
Swamp
Pack 1 pick 15:
--> Mountain
------ ISD ------
Pack 2 pick 1:
--> Butcher's Cleaver
Prey Upon
Grizzled Outcasts
Pitchburn Devils
Rage Thrower
Village Bell-Ringer
Nephalia Drownyard
Fortress Crab
Brain Weevil
Ancient Grudge
Feeling of Dread
Dissipate
Corpse Lunge
Swamp
Night Terrors
Pack 2 pick 2:
Trepanation Blade
Thraben Sentry
Urgent Exorcism
Thraben Purebloods
Gallows Warden
Fortress Crab
Furor of the Bitten
Feeling of Dread
Dissipate
--> Darkthicket Wolf
Spidery Grasp
Swamp
Manor Skeleton
One-Eyed Scarecrow
Pack 2 pick 3:
Harvest Pyre
Ghoulcaller's Chant
Smite the Monstrous
Unruly Mob
Graveyard Shovel
Tormented Pariah
--> Silver-Inlaid Dagger
Hysterical Blindness
Mulch
Armored Skaab
Mountain
Voiceless Spirit
Memory's Journey
Pack 2 pick 4:
Make a Wish
Diregraf Ghoul
Night Revelers
Spectral Flight
Caravan Vigil
--> Orchard Spirit
Ancient Grudge
Infernal Plunge
Rotting Fensnake
Traveler's Amulet
Corpse Lunge
Mountain
Pack 2 pick 5:
Grizzled Outcasts
Nevermore (FOIL)
Purify the Grave
Grave Bramble
Traitorous Blood
--> Gutter Grime
Mulch
Mountain
Rebuke
Memory's Journey
Bloodcrazed Neonate
Pack 2 pick 6:
Ghostly Possession
Ambush Viper
Inquisitor's Flail
Moonmist
--> Delver of Secrets
Curiosity
Ancient Grudge
Ghoulcaller's Bell
Intangible Virtue
Island
Pack 2 pick 7:
--> Frightful Delusion
Elder Cathar
Demonmail Hauberk
Grave Bramble
Abbey Griffin
Infernal Plunge
Wreath of Geists
Mausoleum Guard
Plains
Pack 2 pick 8:
Butcher's Cleaver
Sensory Deprivation
--> Ulvenwald Mystics
Village Bell-Ringer
Think Twice
Caravan Vigil
Swamp
Maw of the Mire
Pack 2 pick 9:
Village Bell-Ringer
Brain Weevil
Ancient Grudge
Feeling of Dread
--> Dissipate
Corpse Lunge
Swamp
Pack 2 pick 10:
Urgent Exorcism
Thraben Purebloods
Fortress Crab
Feeling of Dread
--> Spidery Grasp
Swamp
Pack 2 pick 11:
Graveyard Shovel
Hysterical Blindness
Mulch
Mountain
--> Memory's Journey
Pack 2 pick 12:
--> Make a Wish
Ancient Grudge
Infernal Plunge
Mountain
Pack 2 pick 13:
--> Purify the Grave
Grave Bramble
Mountain
Pack 2 pick 14:
--> Intangible Virtue
Island
Pack 2 pick 15:
--> Plains
------ ISD ------
Pack 3 pick 1:
Ghoulcaller's Chant
--> Silent Departure
Butcher's Cleaver
Unruly Mob
Dead Weight
Woodland Sleuth
Rage Thrower
Diregraf Ghoul
Kruin Outlaw
Ashmouth Hound
Infernal Plunge
Intangible Virtue (FOIL)
Divine Reckoning
Forest
Ranger's Guile
Pack 3 pick 2:
Harvest Pyre
Into the Maw of Hell
Cobbled Wings
Stitched Drake
Woodland Sleuth
Unburial Rites
Curse of the Bloody Tome
Brimstone Volley
Geistcatcher's Rig
Silverchase Fox
Curse of Oblivion
Plains
Manor Skeleton
--> Mayor of Avabruck
Pack 3 pick 3:
Cellar Door
Skirsdag Cultist
--> Spider Spawning
Moment of Heroism
Angel of Flight Alabaster
Chapel Geist
Curiosity (FOIL)
Spectral Flight
Fortress Crab
Ancient Grudge
Rotting Fensnake
Avacyn's Pilgrim
Swamp
Pack 3 pick 4:
Ghoulraiser
--> Travel Preparations
Kessig Wolf
Abattoir Ghoul
Kindercatch
Chapel Geist
Crossway Vampire
Kessig Wolf Run
Silverchase Fox
Lost in the Mist
Forest
Bitterheart Witch
Pack 3 pick 5:
Frightful Delusion
Cellar Door
Mask of Avacyn
Blazing Torch
Ashmouth Hound
Doomed Traveler
Hanweir Watchkeep
Island
--> Gnaw to the Bone
Rolling Temblor
Curse of the Pierced Heart
Pack 3 pick 6:
Graveyard Shovel
Thraben Purebloods
Naturalize
Desperate Ravings
--> Avacyn's Pilgrim
Dream Twist
Island
Vampiric Fury
Typhoid Rats
Boneyard Wurm
Pack 3 pick 7:
Ghostly Possession
Ghost Quarter
Grizzled Outcasts
Moonmist
Rally the Peasants
--> Creeping Renaissance (FOIL)
Plains
Gruesome Deformity
One-Eyed Scarecrow
Pack 3 pick 8:
Riot Devils
Village Bell-Ringer
Altar's Reap
Kindercatch
--> Lumberknot
Curse of the Bloody Tome
Forest
Village Cannibals
Pack 3 pick 9:
Unruly Mob
Woodland Sleuth
Rage Thrower
Infernal Plunge
Intangible Virtue (FOIL)
Forest
--> Ranger's Guile
Pack 3 pick 10:
Cobbled Wings
Curse of the Bloody Tome
--> Geistcatcher's Rig
Curse of Oblivion
Plains
Manor Skeleton
Pack 3 pick 11:
Cellar Door
--> Curiosity (FOIL)
Spectral Flight
Ancient Grudge
Swamp
Pack 3 pick 12:
Kessig Wolf
Kindercatch
Forest
--> Bitterheart Witch
Pack 3 pick 13:
--> Frightful Delusion
Cellar Door
Island
Pack 3 pick 14:
--> Graveyard Shovel
Island
Pack 3 pick 15:
--> Plains
Went 2-1 (5-2 in games), would definitely draft this sort of deck again.
Pack 1 pick 1: Chapel Geist over Forbidden Alchemy over Essence of the Wild
Pack 1 pick 2: Voiceless Spirit over Unburial Rites (those two picks together... ugh)
Pack 1 pick 3: Lantern Spirit over Delver of Secrets (I think you greatly overrate Delver)
Pack 2 pick 1: Prey Upon over Butcher's Cleaver
Pack 2 pick 3: Voiceless Spirit over Silver-Inlaid Dagger
Pack 2 pick 6: Ambush Viper over Delver of Secrets
Pack 2 pick 7: Mausoleum Guard over Elder Cathar over Frightful Delusion
Pack 2 pick 8: Butcher's Cleaver over Ulvenwald Mystics
Pack 2 pick 9: Village Bell-Ringer over Dissipate
Pack 3 pick 1: Butcher's Cleaver over Silent Departure
Pack 3 pick 3: Avacyn's Pilgrim over Spider Spawning
Pack 3 pick 5: Blazing Torch over Gnaw to the Bone
Pack 3 pick 7: Moonmist over Creeping Renaissance (FOIL)
Pack 3 pick 8: Village Bell-Ringer over Lumberknot
Pack 3 pick 12: Kindercatch over Bitterheart Witch (see? Now we get a 6/6 for 6)
And Geistcatcher's Rig is kinda always playable.
Deckbox
It's one of those cards that is really good when it's good, and really bad when it's bad (because it gets stuck in your hand). Don't measure its value just by the number of times you cast it, but also by the number of times you don't have time to.
Ain't that the point?
The answer to this problem is to take Spider Spawning high. Also, Moan if you want to go black. Both flashback for 7 and make multiple guys, giving you an army of 6/6's that you don't need to hold cards for and can come out on-curve the turn after you drop Essence. Also, both are good cards on their own. The triple green is a problem, but not a huge one if you toss in a little fixing. I ran Essence in a 3-color deck and was unable to cast him maybe once.
Also, don't forget that Essence turns even the durdliest of guys into a huge threat, which is nice since you'll probably be close to topdeck mode when you get him out.
Currently running:
BRG Xira Arien BRG
UR Melek, Izzet Paragon UR
WUG Jenara, Asura of War WUG
WRG Mayael the Anima WRG
WB Triad of Fates WB
BG Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest BG
BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots BR
WR Aurelia the Warleader WR
WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores WBG
WUBRG Horde of Notions WUBRG
That pretty much sums it up...
He is decent, although ideally my GW decks won't be running ANY six drops.
I see it as being a slightly better Kindercatch. Ideally you won't need to play anything after a 6/6 to win the game, so he's not a huge upgrade over Kindercatch to me.
1. If they can't answer Kindercatch, they probably lose anyway, and so Essence is 'win more'.
2. If they can answer kindercatch, they can probably answer Essence too.
3. If their removal is white (bonds and priest), Essence is probably much better.
4. If one 6/6 is not enough to win, but you have more creatures to play, Essence is better than Kindercatch
5. In a tokens build, Essence is better
So in scenarios 3, 4 and 5, Essence is better than Kindercatch. I just don't think that Essence is enough better than Kindercatch to regard it as anything close to a bomb.
When Essence wins, he wins big (which is why they overrate him). When Chapel Geist wins you the game, you don't even notice because it's part of a larger gameplan.
My concern on that choice would be that passing someone an Essence might put them heavily into green moreso than Chapel Geist or Alchemy would put one of those people heavily into white or blue.
There are two reasons I'm ok with that. Firstly, those people's evaluations of other cards may also be off enough that I'm not specifically hampered by fighting a neighbour for green (all I really want from green is Prey Upon, Pilgrim and 2 drops). And secondly, I think that the second best archetype in ISD limited is UW beatdown (despite it not being discussed much on this board). So I'm not upset if I'm 'forced' into another excellent archetype as a result.
Also, I do not care if we put the person to our left into green. It's their job to get out of green if we want to be in green, because they're to our left, and that means we own their soul.