Draft 033 3-3

1st picked Humbug Swarm over Hunter’s Harpoon. 2nd picked foil Archive Curator over foil Sand Viper. 3rd picked Noble Firemane. Time was open. Fire and Justice alternated offering decent cards.

Messy draft. Mediocre units and interaction. I anticipate 3 wins.

G1: I curved out to 6 power. My opponent’s start was slow and he played small units. I got to kill his Psionic Servant with Cannonbearer, which felt great. His Adaptive Predator came too late.
G2: I was excited when my opponent used Ramage, a stranger, and Cripple to trade with my stranger and Crownwatch Cavalry. But his Beastcaller’s Amulet and Steelforged Dragon didn’t really care about my tempo or card advantage.
G3: My opponent started with East Wind Herald, Heavy Axe, and Yeti Snowchucker. I started with 2 strangers. I used Dispel on his flier. He used Dragon’s Breath to kill one stranger and attacked. I used Refresh to kill the yeti and keep the herald from attacking. I followed up with Cannonbearer. He played General Izalio. I attacked with my Cannonbearer for some reason, but he elected not to block. He used Granite Acolyte on his General Izalio and swung. I used Strength of the Many to kill the general cleanly. I had Rampage his double block. After that, attacks on the ground stopped. I could have attacked with Cannonbearer and traded with 2 of his units, but it had more value stalling the ground. I eventually found Humbug Swarm and Archive Curator to win the air battle.
G4: We both had slow starts. I used Hipshot to kill his 2 drop. He used Alchemist Blast on my Rebel Illuminator. He followed up with stranger and Bloodletter. He had Victor’s Cry when I tried to block and Torch it. I played Humbug Swarm and Unlock Potential to race. His Victor’s Cry returned 1-2 turns later. I played Archive Curator to neutralize his newest flier. He had Rapid Shot and Execute for lethal.
G5: My opponent started with Oasis Seeker and Longshot Marksmen. I had 2 strangers. The ground was precariously stalled until I played Awakened Sentinel. that he didn’t want to trade with. He never found a unit larger than my Awakened Sentinel so my Humbug Swarm steadily killed him while we both drew tons of power.
G6: I had a stranger and Noble Firemane. I used Refresh to kill a Amber Acolyte and keep a decent blocker. He followed up with Awakened Student. I used Crownwatch Cavalry to grow the Noble Firemane further hoping to stall the ground. He used Jack’s Knife to speed up its growth. DIspel slowed him down, but he topdecked Valkyrie Denouncer. I knew he had at least 1 trick, but my Annihilate couldn’t touch either of his threats. His Strength of the Many killed my buffed Noble Firemane. After that, I just didn’t have any good blockers left. Topdecking 3 consecutive power didn't help.

I was even or ahead in tempo early on for many of those games. Just didn’t have good ways of dealing with multiple, consecutive large units.

Gold Paid = 3375
Shiftstones Gained = 1592 (dust) + 400 (Azindel’s Gift) + 1600 (Soulfire Drake) + 800 (Call the Ancients) = 4392
Base = 0.340 shiftstones/gold
Shiftstones Profit = 3244
Pack Profit = 9.54