Rise of the Forgeborn has been out for two weeks now, I have some drafts under my belt, so let’s look at another draft and hope I do better than last time.
Pack 1: Alright, we have our first pack. Metasculpt is not first pick worthy unless you really want to lock in Alloyin. Ebonskull Knight is a really solid underdrop. Xrath’s Will seems fine, although it’s full value pushes me towards a direction I don’t know want to go in very much. Scrapforge Titan is still solid as always. Everflame Evoker is a decent card, although I really dislike Tempys in this format and try to actively avoid it unless I have a good reason to go into it(read: legendary) or have no choice. Ferocious Roar is also a solid card as well. Considering that creatures are better than spells, scrapforge titan is one of the best heroics and I did Uterra with Roar for my past few drafts, I go with the Titan.
Pack 2: Cypien Steelgraft is meh, in the cycle of targeting two creatures it’s in the middle. Gloomspire Wurm is bad, even if the ability does trigger you invested leveling a card that is going to hurt your deck later on. Conflagrate is solid but has the problem of being Tempys. Energy Surge is a card I like having when I have a way to skip it’s level 1 and later on in a pack. Lightshield Patrol is solid, spend a little bit of investment in him and it pays off very well, easy pick here. While this does put off locking into a faction, it does leave open the possibility of being Uterra, which is worth considering.
Pack 3: Or I can get pushed into Nekrium. Zombie Infantry is just a solid vanilla creature and is perfectly fine.
Pack 4: Gloomspire Wurm is bad, but at least it’s a creature was my thinking at the time. In hindsight, I should’ve taken Metasight, while it is highly situational I’m not passing anything of value to do so. Aegis Pulse doesn’t do much and pales in comparison to Cypien Steelgraft now.
Pack 5: Gloomreaper Witch is meh, it’s ability is rarely going to trigger and it’s body is bad. Grave Geist is a good underdrop, easy pick here.
Pack 6: All of the Allied Cards are good in their respective faction combination, so Byzerak Drake is out. Fell Walker is meh. Ghastly Touch and Group Meal are both powerful effects(well Ghastly touch is, I assume Group Meal is but I’ve never seen it played) Charnel Titan has a similar problem to Gloomspire Wurm in that consistently getting the ability to trigger is tricky. Nightgaunt is just stupid good, this early on there is no reason to pass it up, easy pick.
Pack 7:All of these cards from Alpha haven’t changed in value with the addition of Rise of the Forgeborn. Corpulent Shambler on the other hand is really powerful and a happy pick up here.
Pack 8: Stasis Warden isn’t really playable in draft, Touch of Blight isn’t really playable. Metamind Explorer seems solidly meh. Death Current seems comparable to Bonescythe Reaver in that you don’t have to invest anything up front but don’t get a body later on. Also I haven’t used it much so figure learn by doing.
Pack 9: Tower Scout is a meh aggressive card, this deck isn’t really looking to be aggressive. While Darkheart Wanderer can get huge, this isn’t really looking to be that deck. Grimgaunt Specter is an underdrop and has clear utility to the deck.
Pack 10: Gloomspire wurm cause it can trade if I’m totally screwed maybe?
Pack 11: While Vyric’s Embrace is pretty powerful, I feel it’s better than Ghastly touch in that the slight upfront difference and life gain cancel out the fact that it doesn’t get as big. However, Matrix Warden is still the best Alloyin common and is fairly relevant given our Scrapforge Titan, Nightgaunt and Lightshield Patrol.
Pack 12: This isn’t really a Forgeplate Guardian Alpha deck I feel at this point. Ghastly Renewel is not great, the regen is tricky to get it to work. Cypien Inflitrator is powerful on his own and if his ability does trigger then it’s just gravy.
Pack 13: Nether Embrace isn’t a card, Tower Vanguard asks a lot for little pay off. Scavenger Scorpion isn’t a stellar underdrop but it is an underdrop. Metamind Operator basically trades with everything on level and is a good way for us to go long enough to get our Titan down.
Pack 14: We’re not in Nekrium/Uterra so the utility of Corpse Crawler is pretty low, and if Corpse Crawler is low than Grave Pact is even lower. Alloyin General while not great is worlds better than the other two.
Pack 15: Wanderer is better than Crawler and we can expect to pick up some more spells down the line.
Pack 16: On one hand, I’m not sad to see another Matrix Warden. On the other hand, I am a bit sad to pass a second Group Meal. Nexus Tahitian is solidly meh, he himself is fairly bad and doesn’t really impact the board in the same way that BT does.
Pack 17: Aetherguard is not happening in this deck at all, with our total of two spells; although it can be a good target of Voltroning up I suppose. Nyrali Ooze is fine, it’s not impressive except in it’s ability to fulfill a role I feel. Nexus Pilot is a really good way to either get aggressive or as an underdrop and we don’t have anything that cares about the center lane.
Pack 18: Oriean Peacekeeper is bad, his level 1 is still going to die to most things and his level 2 and 3 aren’t that great. Ossuary Spirit can be super annoying, and with two Matrix Wardens already you can make a good argument for taking it. An argument that admittedly hadn’t crossed my mind. I take the scorpion for the underdrop but I should’ve taken the Spirit instead.
Pack 19: Anvillion Enforcer is pretty good if you can make him huge, I just take him cause the other two cards are terrible.
Pack 20: 2nd Grave Geist is better than the 2nd Specter.
Pack 21: Vault Technician is a solid card and the best one here by miles.
Pack 22: Ghastly Touch and Fell Walker are the two best cards here and given how low my spell count is I figure I’ll have more utility than a Fell Walker.
Pack 23:None of these spells are terribly exciting and Xithian Hulk is a creature who is in a perfect but not great spot on the power/toughness curve at all levels.
Pack 24: This pick was interesting in that they more or less do the same thing. I go with Digitize over the Hintermind although this was wrong. While I am spell light, the fact that digitize is only for the turn and Hintermind is permament is far more relevant. And while I do like Pulsemage it wasn’t in consideration cause new cards/not as powerful.
Pack 25: Hulk is fine, ghastly doesn’t do anything for me.
Pack 26: This is a stacked pack. Cypien Augmentation, Ionic Warcharger and Alloyin Strategist are all fairly powerful cards and I would be happy with any one of them. Strategist wins out for me in that I feel it’s the most powerful out of them.
Pack 27: I will happily take that Matrix Warden and not think twice about it
Pack 28: Given that we have a Scrapforge Titan as well as a host of generally good cards, I happily take the Technosmith here.
Pack 29: Reaver wins out for more power overall although in hindsight a very strong argument can be made for vengeful spirit as it weakens the massive dudes my opponents will no doubt play.
Pack 30: 2nd Technosmith gives me more consistency.
Round 1 was against an Alloyin/Nekrium deck that would’ve killed me had it not been for a lucky Death Current killing his Nightgaunt. He played a fair amount of spells early on hoping to kill me quickly and his deck soon fizzled out. 1-0
Round 2 was also Alloyin/Nekrium and a matter of me getting my Nightgaunt online and he had no way to deal with it. 2-0
Round 3 was Nekrium/Uterra and a very good deck. Nightgaunt and enough support to not only make it massive but also maintain overall board control. This game was over before PL3. 2-1
Round 4 was Alloyin/Nekrium. In a truly epic game, I managed to stabilize at 6 life with a level 3 Scrapforge Titan when he was at 100. The card advantaged I generated by him responding to it allowed me to deal with his other creatures and live long enough to draw it again. 3-1
Overall the deck performed very well. If you any comments either on the draft, the games or my somewhat different approach to this draftcap over the last one then feel free to comment. Otherwise, till next time.