I made some 4-3-2-2 ZEN drafts to be commented on

Mr Singer's Blog

I drafted 2 times. The first one was good, but the 2nd was not. But there's sure a lot to learn in all the failures. :)

Please comment and thanks for the time.

I think your mistake was locking yourself into colors too early. In the first pack, I think the lack of playable green commons is a good sign that green isn't open. On the other hand, a p1p5 mind sludge (with a p1p4 vampire lacerator right before it) is a clear indication of what was open. The 6 mana 5/6 do-nothing is not a good pick to make at such an early point in the draft, as you can usually pick it up 10-12th pick if you're really starved for playables, but in such a fast and aggressive format, vanilla 6 mana 5/6s aren't going to get you anywhere. So, I think it probably would have been a better call to abandon your first pick terra stomper and go for other colors. That's also the reason why I personally wouldn't have first-picked the terra stomper, because of the heavy color commitment required for a relatively vanilla "bomb". I would've taken the disfigure (because of how precious early-game removal is in this format) or the quest for the gravelord.

p1p8 mold shambler over oran-rief recluse is also the wrong call, I think. In a removal-starved archtype (GW) that you were heading for, you need ways to deal with creatures, especially the quick fliers like umara raptor and welkin tern. Oran-rief recluse blocks those guys all day long, and can also come out later to blow their sky ruin drake out of the way for you to alpha strike. mold shambler, on the other hand, is either a vanilla hill giant who only participates in the ground stall, or blows up a land (which doesn't really help you too much if you're under pressure).

p2p5 i think should've been puma instead of relic crush. A, you already have a mold shambler for pesky artifact/enchantment problems. B, puma is a nice 3 drop that gets better with the number of allies you pick up. C, even if you really need the relic crush, it will most likely wheel and you can comfortably pick one up 13th pick.

p3p6 should've been graypelt refuge maybe? I personally don't like the expedition, and I know that many other players don't like it either, especially when the other blue drafters in your table would probably pick up the gomazoa/owl/aerialist, you could've hoped to wheel the expedition too.

Btw, in the future, could you post the decklist so we can see how you ended up building the decks? a summary of the games would also be nice. Thanks! =)

Oh, btw, the comments are about the 2nd draft.

Wow, thanks man. Actually that's very right. When I was talking about it with my friend (he drafted with me the whole game), we shouldn't really be into green. We should've gone blue black. And the reason I was taking the 5/6 6 mana? Because I was looking for beef to play it with my accelerating druid. Pretty erronous way of thinking, as this format's so blazing fast, and it'll die anyway.

So lessons: Terra Stomper, as awesome as it may be, is not a bomb in ZEN. ZEN is all about efficiency. Oh yeah, so even with Harrow, don't splash a 2-colored spell. Back to basics,, :D

About the decks, oh yeah, I should've saved it in a word text. I want to post the videos of replays also, but maybe later.

Comments about the first draft:
I disagree with you on your P1P1. I personally love drafting bladetusk boar early, but in this pack I think you had better options. Your logic about disfigure and guul draz specter also applies to bladetusk boar and spire barrage. Make no mistake, spire barrage is an excellent card. It's a very high pick in heavy red archtypes, even higher in mono-red. So, you also could have taken the disfigure and made two drafters to your left fight over the red.

While it's true that bladetusk boar is splashable, I'd prefer splashing for a 1 mana removal spell (disfigure) than "just another creature". Or maybe that's just my preference, because of my bias towards removal in this format.

P1P5, I probably would have stayed on the mono red path and taken either a boar or a goblin shortcutter (probably the boar at this point in the draft), but I think the skyfisher is okay if you really think white is open (although, judging by the previous packs, blue was a more open color than white to dive into. merfolk seastalkers is a BOMB in blue).

p1p6 I would've taken a goblin war paint to up the aggression. It's a really good card when played on your 2-drop to push past their nissa's chosen or kor skyfisher, and it's also good late when put on a bladetusk boar to give it haste.

p1p7, I would've taken the lava axe. Unstable footing makes for such a good finisher, and you'll probably find more goblin shortcutters somewhere along the way.

p1p8 should definitely have been goblin bushwhacker, which is one of the backbones of an aggro-red archtype. hate-drafting a 5 drop which will be nothing more than a speed bump to the blistering pace of your deck isn't worth it at that early point in the draft.

p2p3, I would've gone with pyromancer. It's pretty decent, and the minotaurs ALWAYS wheel.

p2p7 is not a mistake pick, because you'll rarely need to kick him. Play him as a 3 mana 2/3 that blocks 2/2s all day long.

p2p12 should've been mark of mutiny, as it's a much better game-ender.

p3p7, I think skyfisher was an okay pick, but I would've preferred the boar. With the increasingly large number of 3-4-5 mana cards you've been pickng up for the deck, you can hardly afford to play 3 copies of a 2-drop that makes you skip your land drop. that's just me, though.

p3p10 i think should've been another shortcutter (you can never have enough of these guys)

But otherwise, I think it was a solid draft with mostly right calls. Good work. =)

P1P1: I knew that Red is so deep in ZEN drafts, that even if people are fighting for it, it will be dispersed into two good decks. Not the case with Black.

"p1p6 I would've taken a goblin war paint to up the aggression. It's a really good card when played on your 2-drop to push past their nissa's chosen or kor skyfisher, and it's also good late when put on a bladetusk boar to give it haste."
I never take that into consideration fearing I would be 2-1'd? But it's a good point (as the haste sometimes can divide win or lose, as would be proven in my 3rd game in finals)

p1p7: So true. I ended up with more Goblin Shortcutters than I can play with. I think I ended up with 3 or 4..

p1p8: Thanks, I was sometimes like to hatedraft. Lol. Probably it's better to better my own deck anyways.

p2p3: Minotaurs always wheel.. Haha,, that's also right.

p2p12: I also left out my remaining copies of Shatterskull Giant, I only played one, and the other one is sitting miserably on the SB. It's better if it's a Mark of Mutiny.

p3p7: Will keep that into consideration. So how much Kor Skyfisher is too much? As I love those 2/3 flyers I feel I can never have enough. Probably depends on the curve then?

p3p10: So I should be playing with as many Goblin Shortcutters as I possibly have (without resorting as it being a 5th pick or something?)..

My take on ZEN drafts were pretty much very conservative, as usually 2/1 for red mana is not that good.

Thanks man, I will try 4-3-2-2 draft Queues next time, still.. until I feel I have upped my game.

goblin shortcutter is a staple card in the red deck, mostly used for its "can't block" ability which becomes so relevant when you want to push your other dinky 2/1s past sky ruin drakes and the such.
i wouldn't pick him over unstable footing or spire barrage or geyser gliders, but i'd always be happy if i end up with more than 3 of them.
so, it's not a bomb or anything, but it's one of the best filler cards you can find for the red deck. and it's a 2-drop, which makes it a fine filler.

regarding the value of green in zendikar limited: I think green's main role in zendikar limited is to fix mana and enable landfall, as well as for filler creatures. in sealed, this becomes pretty important because you'll often struggle to find a color combination that provides 22 playables (and this answers the other point: zendikar is an 18-land format. only play 17 if you have no landfall cards whatsoever, which by definition means your deck is kinda missing out on a strong ability), and you need green for fillers and to fix your mana. in draft, picking green as a main color is usually a bad idea because: a. its guys don't have evasion, and b. you'll be deprived of removal. I personally think it's fine as a 2nd color because some of the filler creatures are actually pretty good, but mono green is probably the worst archtype you can find yourself pushed into. let me know if i'm not making any sense, hehe.

shouldve gone R/B after pack 1 i think, where p1 nets you disfigure, and the rest of the packs - torch slinger and mark of munity (very good in aggresive decks) goes late - as well as goblin shortcutter, and tetering peaks 13th really gets you there. black also open after 5th pick mind sludge, as taufik says.

hit me up on mtgo - nick is indomie

and if anybody's interested, i could write about my last sealed deck from a 97 players tournament, where i ended up in 14th, losing top 8 due to tiebrakers (as always).

Interested lah bushh,, ayo ditaro.. soalnya ZEN ini formatnya aga ga konvensional, hehe..
Btw, I can agree with pack 1, but I think having 3 Kor Skyfisher is very good as I love that card.

Taufik, right.. Thanks for the comments..

uhm.......... how is a 8/8 with trample for 6 is not a bomb is beyond me.........

menurut gua it's the right pick for pack 1 karena, as awesome as disfigure might be, it's still a common, you can get it later and yes, if green by any chance is open a 8/8 trample will definately wins you game

and given how the draft went on, i think if you stick to g/w you would've actually got urself quite a nice deck with couple of bombs, i don't like how you pick umara raptor over oran rief survivalist, 1/5lifelink over adventuring gear, mold shambler over spider

then you got iona on pack3, grab it because, as awesome as harrow is, iona is mythic, and you may not have another chance to play with it in draft lol.......

windborne charge is a very underated card that wins you game, and you passed another adventuring gear in order to pick some blue cards

steppe lynx also wouldn't be bad in your deck given you have harrow and all

if it were me drafting, i would've stick to green white and i think the deck would be really fast with lynx opening and adventuring gear, i don't like to wander off to 3rd color and i like to stick to my bomb color if possible, with tripple spider/journey to nowhere and some fast creature, i think the deck can be pretty good

oh, ini ttg draft 2 btw.....

on draft1.......

i AGREE with taufik, MINOTAUR ALWAYS WHEEL! lol....... pyromancer is pretty awesome, and with the presented card, you can always make for mono red to ensure your tripple spire barrage always hits the hardest, oh, bushwacker is awesome in fast red archtype

Tq .. Ini Anthony kan ya? Haha, emang banyak pandangan tentang ZEN limited.. justru disitu serunya.. blom ada yang 100% bener, tergantung masing2.. tapi makin banyak kita tahu, makin bisa kita tentuin kita mau gimana.. tq bgt..