Draft 015 5-3

1st pick: Humbug Swarm vs Eilyn’s Choice vs Sand Viper. Sand Viper would be the least commitment but also the least power. I don’t mind forcing Time due to its depth so I went with the swarm. Received a late Shadowlands Bonepicker so went Xenan. I finished with a functional deck, but Justice/Fire seemed more open.

Overall, the deck had decent units, removal, and tricks. Just felt mediocre. I expected 2-3 wins.

G1: Slow and reactive opener. The first six turns were us exchanging removal. My Shadowlands Bonepicked was Torched. I Banished his Clan Hero. I traded my Scorpion Wasp for his Aerial Ace. He countered my Humbug Swarm with two Stormcallers! I Xenan Initiation the last humbug to kill one and silenced the other. He took one hit from Tower Terrazon then attacked with everything. I had Bolster. He had Mortar but I survived at 1.
G2: Slow and reactive opener. I Banished his Outlands Brute. My Time Weaver saw Cannonbearer, Awakened Sentinel, Heavy Axe, and Archived Curator. I doubled the Cannonbearer’s cost. I Feeding Timed his Awakened Sentinel. I traded Scorpion Wasp for his Archived Curator and Warhelm. He was out of gas. I started swinging with a motley of medium sized units. He only drew 1 unit in that span.
G3: Great opener. He chose not to block my stranger so that he could counter with an Ornate Katana. My Dune Phantom absorbed several hits until he killed it with an Outlands Sniper. My Time Weaver found General Izalio, Flame Burst, Waystone Infuser, and Gundown. I doubled General Izalio though Waystone Infuser gave him tons of power and gas. I absorbed a hit to ambush Scorpion Wasp and equip it with Beastcaller’s Amulet. He Gundowned the 5/5. I took another hit. My Archive Curator finally stopped his Waystone Infuser and offense so he Flame Blasted it. I drew a few more medium sized units so the ground stalled. We were exchanging hits in the air between my Scorpion Wasp and his Avirax Familiar since there was nothing worth exchanging the wasp for. Eventually I found a Dormant Sentinel that he had no answer for and had to start chump blocking. We finished the game with him at 11 power and me at 1 life.
G4: Great opener. My opponent’s tricks kept removing my large units that I was trying to stall with. I had no answer for his Umbren Reaper.
G5: Great opener. My opponent played Oni Ronin into Ornate Katana. I had Dark Wisp. I had Archive Curator for his Stormchaser. His 2nd Stormchaser met my Dune Phantom. Both the ground and air stalled. His Stormchaser grew to a 7/7, yet he didn’t attack for 10+ turns. I finally had a Banish for when he did attack. I eventually drew enough removal to open up the air. My Shadowlands Bonepicker grew to 69/36 in the meanwhile.
G6: Great opener. Dark Wisp into stranger into Xenan Cupbearer. He attacked me in the air while I raced on the ground. Beastcaller’s Amulet on the Xenan Cupbearer placed him in a defense position. He never stabilized as my units were larger than his.
G7: Traded back and forth fairly evenly. I struggled to answer his Plated Goliath. When I finally had a trade for it, my opponent played Flamestoker.
G8: Great opener. My opponent was playing a stranger deck. Soon I was facing 4/4s. When I finally had large enough blocks, Withering Witch ruined my advantage. More trading. My Shadowlands Bonepicker stabilized the board again until his Recurrent Nightmare appeared.

Overall, the deck performed better than expected considering its shortage of interaction. I keep underestimating how effective cheap, medium sized ground units and decent fliers are. Bolster was the most polarizing card. Sometimes it was good. Sometimes it made me play greedy.

Gold Paid = 5000 – 2700 (rewards) = 2300
Shards Gained = 550 (dust) + 700 (packs) + 800 (Banish) + 800 (4 random rares) = 2850
Base = 0.340 shards/gold
Shards Profit = 2068
Pack Profit = 6.08