Drafting, constantly.

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At the moment I'm finishing up an article about drafting red/white in Mirrodin. Not specifically metalcraft, but just red/white gray ogres. It's a surprisingly consistent deck. Glint Hawk Idol runs the attack, Galvanic Blast is a MUST but apart from that the deck just plays creatures and spells to go toe-to-toe with the opponent until you outpace them in the battlefield.

The latest news I'm excited about is both PTQ Paris coming up soon, and when Besieged comes in - I've got plans for both events. PTQ Paris is going to be hot simply because it's Paris. I've been twice, and will go a third time. To help myself and friends I'm running a sealed practice on saturday night at my mate Rony's. Rony's the equivalent of the most awesome person you know, mixed with me.

The plan is to star around 12, and everyone cracks the standard 6 packs, builds and then you play as many other people as you can. The ideal would be 3-5 rounds before we cut to a top 8 draft, but to do that I'd need more boosters then I have. If we don't get a full 8 players for it, we can use those packs and reconstruct some more.

One thing I want to point out - I asked good and bad players to come. A realistic PTQ isn't just the best players, it's everyone. And the benefit to playing good players if tightening your skills. The benefit to playing bad players is to learn how exactly you should duck and weave, and most importantly not go on auto-pilot. "Easy win" are the most famous last thoughts of many a would-be PTQ'er.

The other item of interest is Mirrodin Besieged, which means we're finally going to see Phyrexia's assault on Mirrodin. The exciting thing is the new draft format - now you'll start by opening the newest pack first. So it goes Besieged, Scars, Scars. This gives me, as a writer, plenty to write about, but I'm excited because I'll actually be able to watch a format change and mold into a new something -- and to actually care about it.

Previously I haven't had to as I didn't draft because I was crap. I'm suddenly vastly improved and hope to keep it that way. My thoughts at the moment are red/white may suffer, as there's less G Blasts and Glint Hawk Idols, and poison will only stand to improve, as Plague Stinger gets less bountiful but there's most poison on the way, and there's Vector Asp as the other common poison regardless (even if you have to pay for it's venom to work).

I'm also looking to trade two normal Vensers (signed by the artist) for a foil copy. I'm collecting a foil set of Mirrodin and so far have 2/15 mythics, and plenty of the rest. Donations accepted with mad props made as appropriate.