Weekly Draft #3

[Klep]

So I haven't been posting any of my drafts because they haven't been interesting in a while.  Tonight, however, was.

I started off Peel, Glaze, Trophy Hunter and prepared to go URG/URGx as usual, but I ended up not getting as much Green as I expected, and instead getting a few good White and Black cards including a 13th pick Blind Hunter.  Here's what I ended up drafting and what I played.  I'm very interested in hearing what you guys would have done differently.  I already know one way I could have changed things that would likely have been better, let's see if you guys come up with the same idea.

White
----------------
Harrier Griffin
Skyrider Trainee

Freewind Equenaut
Guardian of the Guildpact
Soulsworn Jury

Blue
----------------
Halcyon Glaze
Muddle the Mixture
Peel from Reality
Tattered Drake
Vedalken Entrancer

Thunderheads
3x Torch Drake

Court Hussar
Ocular Halo

Black
---------------
Seal of Doom

Red
---------------
Frenzied Goblin
Galvanic Arc

Ogre Savant
Skarrgan Firebird

Green
---------------
Chord of Calling
Golgari Brownscale
Goliath Spider
Stone-Seeder Hierophant
Trophy Hunter

Gruul Nodorog
Gruul Scrapper

Cytospawn Shambler
Might of the Nephilim
Thrive

Gold
----------------
Consult the Necrosages
Mindleech Mass

Blind Hunter
Castigate
Djinn Illuminatus
Wild Cantor

Azorius First-Wing
Azorius Guildmage

Artifact
---------------
Golgari Signet
Orzhov Signet

Land
----------------
2x Azorius Chancery
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Prahv, Spires of the Order



I built the following:

Freewind Equenaut
Guardian of the Guildpact
Harrier Griffin
Soulsworn Jury

Court Hussar
Halcyon Glaze
Ocular Halo
Peel from Reality
Tattered Drake
3x Torch Drake
Vedalken Entrancer

Seal of Doom

Frenzied Goblin
Galvanic Arc
Ogre Savant
Skarrgan Firebird

Azorius First-Wing
Azorius Guildmage
Blind Hunter
Djinn Illuminatus
Mindleech Mass

Orzhov Signet

2x Azorius Chancery
Hallowed Fountain

2 Plains
4 Island
2 Swamp
5 Mountain


So I took second place with this and got an Ohran Viper losing a match mostly to mana screw against a better deck, so I'm satisfied with my performance.  However, my deck is probably built wrong.  How should this have been built, and what caused me to not see the correct way to build it?

[Anusien]

As far as I can tell, you built it relatively close to properly.  The green really does not seem to be worth splashing; you have Cantor and Signet but only Trophy Hunter and some random dorks in the color.

Vedalken Entrancer seems really random.  What's wrong with Consult the Necrosages here, especially since your only draw is Halo.

Your curve goes fairly high; I think it might behoove you to squeeze in another Signet.  The next weakest card seems to be Soulsworn Jury.  I think this will also help you with Mindleech Mass; at the moment you only have 3 black sources, and Mass takes two.

[Apollyon]

Consult isn't great. Entracer is a 1/4 that you can use to win the game if the game deadlocks.

Hunter and Shambler are good. If you are light-green, I'd probably skip on the Hunter, as it requires a decent amount of green mana, usually.

[Klep]

Actually, what was suggested to me and what I figure may be correct if I could work out the mana, would be to dump the mono-white stuff and the First-Wing (keeping the Guildmage, Hussar, and Blind Hunter), swapping the Orzhov Signet for Golgari, and playing more of my Green cards.  The Shambler and Trophy Hunter are excellent cards, and even if I can't get a lot out of the Hunter's ability, she's still a 2/3 for 3 which is nothing to sneeze at.  With this plan I would basically trade a Harrier Griffin and a Guardian of the Guildpact for a Cytospawn Shambler and a few good mid-range cards.  I would also likely play the Muddle.  It's entirely possible this would not be a better option, but I at least don't think it would be any worse.

Is the black even really worth having in?

[Apollyon]

Guardian is ridiculous. It can't be targetted or blocked by a lot of the cards in the block.

I'm really not sure how to build your deck. It seemed to just be all over the place. Your green is mostly weak. It consists of Shambler and Trophy Hunter. Brownscale is decent, and the two Gruul guys are random fatties. Thrive is good if you can abuse it, which you don't really have.