A Kenji masterclass in Drafting the Hard Way! 👍 - Selesnya seems to be actually a fairly competitive Color combination; it just so happens that it indeed is harder to come together than Black/X , or Izzet. - The abysmal overall Win-rate of Green is imho mostly due to the fact that Simic and Gruul are close to unplayable; not all Green cards are awful, but it has, with all those crappy Scry cards in it, a rather shallow pool.
Never can tell these things going in, but there was a pretty darn good green-white food deck in there. Two Frodo's (not food, but good in color), Rosie, Butterbur, Samwise, two Meriadocs, multiple dogs, etc. Even the Brandywine Farmers that got passed wouldn't suck in a deck like that. There were also at least 3 stings and two Fogs for removal in color. Several Porters went around that could've taken advantage of all the Legendary creatures. There were multiple Pathfinders that went around, multiple Second Breakfasts for tricks that make food, etc.
Yes in hindsight, but hardforcing green/white usually ends up in a disaster which is of course why it's so open most of the time. Unless you wheel all those cards (similar to kenji now) But I agree, if somebody wanted to hardforce it he would have been generously rewared with all these cards.
@DragonRevo wouldn't have even required hard forcing, just read the signs. Kenji likes red/blue blue/black so much he doesn't pay attention to the good green potential
Faramir is a house, for sure. btw 1:00:47 if you play the fog before the errant-rider, rider draws two. Of course the Faramir delayed trigger would have drawn two if UW didnt attack, just in case that card needed to be any stronger xD
1:44:00 I wonder if you considered double blocking Shelob and saving the rangers? That was my first instinct so I was surprised when you chumped and took out the ringbearer instead.
Am I missing something? Shelob has Deathtouch and Bombadil's song doesn't give Indestructible (unlike a lot of these recently) so that doesn't seem like it works.
"The Bow ia OK.." I think it's better than OK. I rarely draft but once I ended up drafting and playing 5 Bows - and a Forge Anew. Had Two Frodo's (Sauron's Bane and Baggins) on the board. Opponent casted some damage spell on one - and forgot I had bows on the other and Forge Anew on board... I don't think Forge Anew is generally good in limited - but can be good in constructed... And I don't think the Galadhgrim Bow is usually good in constructed - but can be good in limited.... But drafting the Forge Anew just for constructed value and semi accidentally getting 5 Bows was fun - making the Forge Anew actually playable. And the Bow itself - yeh it's not creature and not technically removal - but in limited there's going to be creature vs. creature situations when it's practically removal and then lasting bonus power for a creature..
One pick I disagreed with was the March of the Black Gate. It's good, but in my opinion having black as one of your main colors was not an option, as it was heavily cut in pack 1. Besides that the navigation was impressive, I probably would not have taken the Frodo in the 1st pack which would have been a mistake.
I got crushed by Black Gate in 3 matches in a row. My deck had 2 black gate and 2 shadow summoning; but I cant win the roll or have any of the 4 in my openers
35:05 if you had left Sam as the ring bearer, opponent would have had to sacrifice their indestructible sam in combat. Also, if you played out both cards before combat, when you loot as the ringbearer, you draw 2 and discard one since you have phial out. EDIT again, at 45:30 play the land and creature pre combat, then you can draw 2 again off phial and ringbearer....
Wizards rockets is awful. You don’t need that garbage to splash Unfairomir. You have 4 other sources which is plenty. Then again you’re much better than me so maybe it’s correct. 💪😀❤️
fordo 7th pick is basically where ive landed in this meta. abzan legends. ill take those old man willows, those sams, those frodos, those aragrons, those rosies, those ghost ass kings... people so grixis focused they sleep on gold. i dont give a fuck - ill take your butterburs!
Really have to get there for that card though you need cheap cantrips and stuff like birthday escape it's best in the same decks that blue Gandalf is good in but not actually as good in those decks as Gandalf so it's a solid b but not SUPER exciting.
You know what irritates me about Arena, besides the fact that it’s rigged out the Ace hole? It’s he fact that you can spend ridiculous amount of money in game and still don’t get anything for it. It’s literally only worth playing the game if you sit and grind out coins and turn them into gems. I have had so many S tier decks just go 1-3 or 0-3 bc of about 10 variant reasons that are uncontrollable by me. I decided today I am done giving wotc my money. It’s no longer fun to study and watch hours of video in order to draft an s-tier and watch it get burnt down by terrible decks that arena makes sure win by variants. The only way it’s worth playing is to run an AI program that can just figure out how Arena screws us and play against it. I mean it’s literally a strategy to draft crap decks so that your matched with other crap decks. The thing you definitely don’t want to do is draft a deck full of bomb rares and removal, bc you ain’t winning crap with that deck. Sorry I’m taking it out in your comments column, if I knew how to contact wotc directly I would gladly tell them what I think of “crAp-ena”.
watching kenji play arena open is my favourite thing on youtube
Watching kenji from his window is life
Did I watch this live? Yes. Will I watch again and comment for the engagement algorithm? Also yes.
Did anyone ask? No 😂
37:00 playing Sam to get the 4th ring tempt for an extra 3 damage was lethal, no?
Was just checking same. :P
You have to have the ring tempt at 4 before declaring attackers. Flashing sam in post blockers wouldnt have worked
@@ChinookkABLE no?
@@ChinookkABLE 4th ring tempt resolves after damage.
@@ChinookkABLE that’s incorrect - I’ve done it myself. As long as the tempt happens before hitting face
It's funny hearing very focused serious-voice Kenji still do things like call the Lembas Bread "cookie."
Dang that final opponent’s deck was nutty
A Kenji masterclass in Drafting the Hard Way! 👍 - Selesnya seems to be actually a fairly competitive Color combination; it just so happens that it indeed is harder to come together than Black/X , or Izzet. - The abysmal overall Win-rate of Green is imho mostly due to the fact that Simic and Gruul are close to unplayable; not all Green cards are awful, but it has, with all those crappy Scry cards in it, a rather shallow pool.
Never can tell these things going in, but there was a pretty darn good green-white food deck in there.
Two Frodo's (not food, but good in color), Rosie, Butterbur, Samwise, two Meriadocs, multiple dogs, etc. Even the Brandywine Farmers that got passed wouldn't suck in a deck like that. There were also at least 3 stings and two Fogs for removal in color. Several Porters went around that could've taken advantage of all the Legendary creatures. There were multiple Pathfinders that went around, multiple Second Breakfasts for tricks that make food, etc.
Yes in hindsight, but hardforcing green/white usually ends up in a disaster which is of course why it's so open most of the time. Unless you wheel all those cards (similar to kenji now)
But I agree, if somebody wanted to hardforce it he would have been generously rewared with all these cards.
@DragonRevo wouldn't have even required hard forcing, just read the signs. Kenji likes red/blue blue/black so much he doesn't pay attention to the good green potential
Hell yeah, Nummy getting to draft two with a green deck and once again proving why he's the best draft content on YT!
@35:02 if you leave sam the ring bearer tempt goes to 3 and OP has to sac his sam at end of combat losing his ring bearer.
Faramir is a house, for sure. btw 1:00:47 if you play the fog before the errant-rider, rider draws two. Of course the Faramir delayed trigger would have drawn two if UW didnt attack, just in case that card needed to be any stronger xD
Yelling excitedly: "I had the ring on my horn!"
Words. Because I want nummy to get more views. Best in the world.
37:05 you missed lethal be playing Sam and ring to 4.
But at least you are in full control mode😂😂😂
35:08 keeping the ring on Sam makes them sacrifice their indestructible 2/1?
Nevermind, he was already blocked so wouldn't trigger
Dude watching the draft was brutal. What a pile 😂
Another great run. Thanks for the awesome content. Nice wins.
Perry is a great black/green card - you have to be making extra tokens somehow and able to use the food (draws I guess) but it has done well for me
1:44:00 I wonder if you considered double blocking Shelob and saving the rangers? That was my first instinct so I was surprised when you chumped and took out the ringbearer instead.
Am I missing something? Shelob has Deathtouch and Bombadil's song doesn't give Indestructible (unlike a lot of these recently) so that doesn't seem like it works.
"The Bow ia OK.." I think it's better than OK. I rarely draft but once I ended up drafting and playing 5 Bows - and a Forge Anew. Had Two Frodo's (Sauron's Bane and Baggins) on the board. Opponent casted some damage spell on one - and forgot I had bows on the other and Forge Anew on board... I don't think Forge Anew is generally good in limited - but can be good in constructed... And I don't think the Galadhgrim Bow is usually good in constructed - but can be good in limited.... But drafting the Forge Anew just for constructed value and semi accidentally getting 5 Bows was fun - making the Forge Anew actually playable. And the Bow itself - yeh it's not creature and not technically removal - but in limited there's going to be creature vs. creature situations when it's practically removal and then lasting bonus power for a creature..
Very enjoyable games!
was waiting for this
Grats, nice games Kenji!
Frodo was very underused during the penultimate game.
"I have to get rid of that prince as soon as I can so I'll exile it"
damn that 2 islands always in opening hand
One pick I disagreed with was the March of the Black Gate. It's good, but in my opinion having black as one of your main colors was not an option, as it was heavily cut in pack 1. Besides that the navigation was impressive, I probably would not have taken the Frodo in the 1st pack which would have been a mistake.
I got crushed by Black Gate in 3 matches in a row.
My deck had 2 black gate and 2 shadow summoning; but I cant win the roll or have any of the 4 in my openers
Damn I need part 2 😍😍
soon ^^
Do you play against the same pod you draft with on MTGA?
nope :-/
1:11 lost to legend pre shuffle!
Gw all win! Fantasic
Don't you dare pass Mr. Frodo again. Thank you for the game
If you had left samwise as the ring bearer, they would have had to sacrifice the indestructible 2/1
Your first opponent was my dad
35:05 if you had left Sam as the ring bearer, opponent would have had to sacrifice their indestructible sam in combat. Also, if you played out both cards before combat, when you loot as the ringbearer, you draw 2 and discard one since you have phial out. EDIT again, at 45:30 play the land and creature pre combat, then you can draw 2 again off phial and ringbearer....
awesome games
Wizards rockets is awful. You don’t need that garbage to splash Unfairomir. You have 4 other sources which is plenty. Then again you’re much better than me so maybe it’s correct. 💪😀❤️
fordo 7th pick is basically where ive landed in this meta. abzan legends. ill take those old man willows, those sams, those frodos, those aragrons, those rosies, those ghost ass kings... people so grixis focused they sleep on gold. i dont give a fuck - ill take your butterburs!
Phial super underrated card
when you watch it at 2x speed and he draws the nuts 33:20
Limited 🐐
Is it me or is he opening the same rares as Nikolai Bolas arena Open day 2??
I think you under value Sarumon. LSV plays him a lot, to good effect.
Really have to get there for that card though you need cheap cantrips and stuff like birthday escape it's best in the same decks that blue Gandalf is good in but not actually as good in those decks as Gandalf so it's a solid b but not SUPER exciting.
White Sam is kind of a counter counter since you can put the countered card back to your hand
Sadly it doesn't work. It only puts card from the battlefield.
You know what irritates me about Arena, besides the fact that it’s rigged out the Ace hole? It’s he fact that you can spend ridiculous amount of money in game and still don’t get anything for it. It’s literally only worth playing the game if you sit and grind out coins and turn them into gems.
I have had so many S tier decks just go 1-3 or 0-3 bc of about 10 variant reasons that are uncontrollable by me. I decided today I am done giving wotc my money. It’s no longer fun to study and watch hours of video in order to draft an s-tier and watch it get burnt down by terrible decks that arena makes sure win by variants. The only way it’s worth playing is to run an AI program that can just figure out how Arena screws us and play against it.
I mean it’s literally a strategy to draft crap decks so that your matched with other crap decks. The thing you definitely don’t want to do is draft a deck full of bomb rares and removal, bc you ain’t winning crap with that deck. Sorry I’m taking it out in your comments column, if I knew how to contact wotc directly I would gladly tell them what I think of “crAp-ena”.
Lol sorry to have to break it to you but you're just a bad drafter. Get better, kid.
Variance