Zev Goldhaber-Gordon

Imperial Oath

Probably Tilling is good enough to be a 20th-23rd card and I'm not adjusting enough to Spikeling's horribleness? My analysis only really works if Tilling is truly unplayable, and you're right that it's not.

Yeah I'm a chronic Tilling underestimater outside of BG, it's not as bad as Spikeling. Biggest pro is that it digs for Kinbinding, biggest con is that it takes turn 2 off which is pretty detrimental in GW. Taking Spikeling would be saying "if we don't get another 2 for the rest of the draft I'm ok."

(with green base). As for an elf pivot, that's more worthwhile given your depth of green elves, but again you'd be passing up a strong card in a color you have several strong cards in already picking morcant. I think the vivid lane was not that clearly open and you probably drafted the correct deck.

Reading your notes, you're too hard on yourself here, the power in your hand in Kinbinding is worth several in the bush in Vivid, and you really weren't presented that much room to pivot. There is not really a deck that plays both Shinestriker and Kinbinding, the mana requirements are too intense

p2p10 Wickermaw for a Doran spec p3, you have sufficient 4s
p3p3 I want better elves to behold, would take Safewright
p3p7 Your 3s could use filling, would take Stompling (synergy with Dignitaries and Imbuer, Spiral is replaceable and you have decent removal depth)

p2p5 I want Farmer, Dignitary just has too many hoops to jump through and I want my 2s to always be castable on 2
p2p7 I think I prefer Skyswimmer, you've got synergy in Thoughtweft Imbuer, Kinbinding, Dundoolin but this is reasonable
p2p9 I'd take Spikeling but I don't want to play either

p1p4 I like Assert, Safewright is a bit overrated and very telegraphed once revealed (this being bo1 does give it some points though).
p1p5 Crossroads, while Keep Out is on color with your most powerful card it's not something I value in Kithkin
p1p6 Mildly pref a Cleansing spec but close

Also depends on your population but you're definitely 0.1% or better of people who have ever drafted, I'm guessing that's not what you're comparing to though
P0p1 is hard and a different skillset than regular limited I need to pick @tedfro.bsky.socialtedfro.bsky.social 's brain

Intelligent theory assumed to translate into practice, a lot of pt players just aren't great at limited making online limited focused players a different scale to compare to, and you did 3-0 your first pt pod which some folk might have read into

I see that first universe as pretty likely, since (as you say) you see yourself as monored and not RW, and I'd therefore pick for upside here. But yeah that framing is also coming from a mindset in which I'm clearly valuing Cinder Strike far lower than you so ymmv.

power card.
In the universe in which your possible RW and RU builds are close to each other, you're pushing RU over the line.
The latter is cutting Ajani, but the former you'd have cut Ajani anyway.

While it's fair to say you'd be cutting Cinder Strike for it, I'm not totally sure I'd phrase the decision as cutting Ajani. Sunder and Ajani aren't both going in your deck, sure, but by taking Sunder you're doing 2 things:
In the universe in which you would dump white, you now have an alternative

That's not how I evaluate Cinder Strike, I have Assert Perfection cleanly above it as a way to push tempo alongside removal, and I would contextually take Blight Rot, Bogslither's Embrace, and maybe even Liminal Hold over Cinder in some vacuums.
Cinder Strike hovers between C and C+ for me.

Oh Ashling: I'm loath to splash Ashling because loot is least useful on 2, meaning while it's still a relevant 2 drop to topdeck late game as a recycle, it only becomes a real piece if you have your splash available, and on 2 it loses the explosive starts that actually make it good

Alright read through your assessment, I think you need really strong reasons to get into the RW lane, and while Ajani can be one of those white being closed sorta nullifies it
Ultimately our big difference in approach is the sunderflock pick, which comes down to eval (I'm lower on cinder strike)

cont. I like Mistbind Clique and trying to get some faeries, but if you're committed to white that's fair
p3p2 I think you probably have sufficient 3s+no great way to pay off Kirol and I'd Feed the Flames? Unsure though
p3p5 I mildly prefer Skyswimmer for Sanar
TL;DR white overforce, RU was open

p2p3 Ex. here Ashling would make sense if you'd taken Sunderflock, but as is it's discordant and I'd just go for Gildweaver, since you can't splash an Ashling
p2p4 I like Gift but taking this for Mardu makes sense
p2p5 Are we splashing anything with wickermaw, or just turning up vivid?

be
p1p11 I like Boggart Prankster as a hedge towards opening a Grub's Command or something, Celebrant doesn't really play in WR in the few times the deck exists
p2p2 This feels like a clear Sunderflock hedge to me, your deck is only committed to red and Sunderflock has so much higher upside>strike

p1p2 Wayfinder is enough of a power falloff that I'd take Virulent Emissary, even though it doesn't cleanly fit into the same deck as Sanar without going full vivid. Wayfinder also can't get hit by Sanar's ability.
p1p6 I enjoy Sizzling Changeling as glue in slower shells which this is shaping up to

cash, especially @jupiterbrando.bsky.social cashing 2 runs, added to a FOMO that "I should just keep firing and eventually I'll make it" which simultaneously degraded my play quality and my patience. Will implement a more regimented system next time, hopefully they switch to bo3.

Also had a frustrating experience albeit lower magnitude, fired 10 bullets for 1 draft 2 (2-2 with a horrific punt on a great deck), overall a 65.5% winrate draft 1. Was clearly losing focus on my runs and spam firing. Seeing other (fantastic) players including pt teammates and local friends

p2p5 Your 2s are often not 2s, would take the preacher even off tribe (although I do like Gilt-Leaf's)
p2p9 Mild pref for Riverguard's, people get surprised by it
p3p4 Really tough one, but I think I prefer Clachan with Chronicle and all your synergistic 2s

...you're lining up for a nice vivid list and it's sort of free deck thinning
p1p9 Surely this is not second tend the sprigs, I'd take Reejerey > Feed the Flames > Blossombind > tend #2
p2p4 Tough one but I'd lean Crossroads Watcher to improve your kith density for Chronicle

p1p3 this feels like a Bloodline Bidding spec to me, while both your creatures are kithkin they still play well in elves and Bloodline is much higher upside than Hurler.
p1p4 Given that Cavalry isn't great in GW, this seems like an Eclipsed Boggart spec
p1p7 I think I'd spec on morphose

I thought this surely must be satire, since Pattinson is known for taking the piss out of interviewers, but it seems to be part of a dialogue, so hard to tell. I guess it could be a weird deadpan, given that this is in response to being called eloquent? Either way, weird take.

to lean more into grindy Unexpected Assistance based piles which see enough of the deck to hit your merfolk counts. In the former case, you're cutting End-Blaze but the pick is less costly, while in the latter case I'm happier to splash it.

Yeah that's reasonable, it does cut against what Duelist specifically is trying to do. I generally think that if you're the only UW drafter at the table you'll pick up depth regardless in late-pack merfolk, whereas if there are 2 of them it can be hard to get critical density and you're incentivized

Ex. a 2-0-1-playoutthethirdmatchforfun3-0 from draft 2 of Toronto that was happy to run Wickermaw without even splashing, UW is just less hostile to playing understatted utility creatures which makes Endblaze a more reasonable UW card, and in the rare case you end up in goblins it also works.

...including in UW decks off of Wayfinder and Wickermaw as fixing, sometimes building in a vivid subtheme with the latter, as both don't lose you too much when you can also use them as convoke fodder in a less aggressive shell.