Ben Stark's videos are really my favourite! He just explains so well (and so much!). I don't even like draft that much... If he made standard videos, I'd be over the moon. :)
I love how he explains all his plays in detail. I'm trying to get better and hearing the thought process really helps me understand why he is doing the things he is doing.
Unfortunately the Hydra doesn't trigger Sarkan's Unsealing because Unsealing triggers from the creature being CAST not ETB, and Hydra is cast as a 0/0 that ETBs with X counters on it.
the card people want for Sarkan's Unsealing(say you get Unsealing in pack 1) is Inferno Hellion. you can see them going around pick 4-5 usually; it's the gift that keeps on giving. Ghastbark Twins is also uncommon but costs 7.
Greenseeker is insane in this format. Honestly, if the game goes long, it feels just like a Dark Confidant that never kills you and can actually block well. And it's an uncommon!
always love your videos! thanks for explaining all the picks in a pack even when its an obvious pick. Only thing that was killing me was that its Spit flame, not spirit flame haha. Great video regardless. Keep up the amazing content!
Hey Ben, I love your content and I like hearing your thoughts behind the picks you make in draft. I often think about comments you on make cards and the synergy when drafting. There are two picks in this draft that I was wondering if you had more explanation behind: Pack 2, Pick 10 and Pack 3, Pick 8. - Pack 2, Pick 10, you took 3rd Catalyst Elemental over 1st Talons of Wildwood. - Pack 3, Pick 8 you took 2nd Goblin Instigator over 1st Havoc Devils. Any insight on these picks for us beyond what is said in the video? Thanks :)
Even though I am not Ben I hope I can help. The first one it was a neither is good option because he would play neither as he doesn't need value in his grindy deck. He doesn't mind playing against slow cards like talons because he wins late game either way, but slow cards like catalyst can give his opponents high rolls which is the best way to beat his deck. Second pick is the Devils isn't needed in a deck with 11+ high drops especially when the trample doesn't matter because he's not attacking early, staying alive is the most relevant. Tldr: hate draft and early game defense
Great plays, as usual, really enjoy your videos. I dont like the reid activation on dwindle though (even though its certainly not a missplay), ticking up vivien is just so valuable and there was really no need to 'free' your 2 toughness guy since vivien basically draws you a creature every turn without loosing loyality, btw: her ultimate really is a thing..
I dunno if your deck was better than opponent 3.; both decks were chalk full of good cards. Anyways, thank you, thank you, thank you, for your commentary. You work so hard to help your viewers - what a pleasure to watch one of your videos.
I obviously havent had the chance to play with every mythic or rare in the set but I don't know if i would ever pass a Greenseeker. I havent lost a game in sealed or draft where I have had one go uncontested. It's defensive in the early game and ends up drawing you a ton of cards. I have even splashed for them before in a black blue control deck. They are absurd. I won't be surprised if they have an impact on constructed. I have no idea how you got passed two so late. The envy is real!
He already has 11 cards CMC 4 or greater at this point, his deck is slow, and light on early plays. Card quality is relative to the deck you have. The devil may be good near the top end of an aggro deck, but not in a slow deck with better options at 4+
Both are likely SB cards at that point, the question is if siding instigator or another 4 power creature is more likely and the answer is almost definitely instigator. I was very surprised he didn't talk about it though
Sarkhan's Unsealing does 4 damage to *any* target, not just creatures. You had 3 creatures in hand that would have triggered it, and you could have done 12 damage to your opponent by 1:06:15.
Ask yourself what LumiB is doing for you here. Then its what their deck is doing. They are looking aggressive, we already know they are more tempo then full aggro; nevertheless, we want to get to lategame safely, as we have huge lategame. LumiB may stop their bombs/lategame but our lategame (Ben's) is better, so getting there safely is the ultimately better than saving something that: doesn't help us now, to combat their lategame which we may now not get to, and our lategame does that anyways. Good question, new players love saving powerful cards over good plays. Think of it as making a better play (stalls current board, and feeds into the strat of your lategame) over raw card value that may never be right later anyways
The only pick I think you may have glossed over was taking the second Goblin Instigator late in pack 3 over the 2RR 4/3 trample in red. With Sarkhan’s Unsealing, I think the 4/3 actually was a reasonable inclusion in your deck and may have been a better curve fit than the second Thornhide Wolves.
Looking at the deck before the draft starts I think the unsealing pick over luminous bonds was a mistake. Your deck really needs the removal and I think your late game is already very strong. edit: It helps your biggest weakness too which is early and mid game and I think you had to compromise your deck building a bit for it.
I actually like picking up Titanic Growth over Brawl Bash Ogre P1P5. I think Titanic Growth is a great trick, and it actually remains effective even in ramp decks because when your opponent goes for a massive block on your fatty, you can just win the game on the spot. It's just a nice card to have in a deck like this and I think the odds of playing the ogre are quite low given that green seemed open at that point and you had Vivien. I agree with not maindecking the Titanic Growth you ended up getting, but that is because you picked up some good flyers to close the game. Great content as always!
You should not be committed to playing green 5 picks in, especially when you have one good green card and one medium. If this were pack 2 sure I'd agree but this is the fifth pick of the draft when you have 2 green, an artifact and a red removal spell. The ogre is definitely the correct pick.
I think it all depends on how you're seeing the draft going. It's all about weighing the pros and cons of each pick and in my mind Titanic Growth will lead to more equity than Brawl Bash Ogre. I probably just value Titanic Growth a bit more than you do.
Boggart Brute isn’t pronounced like Humphrey Bogart. See the difference? The number of G’s changes the “o” sound from long to short. Starting to realize why everyone erroneously calls the hexproof deck “boggles” with two G’s. Bogles doesn’t rhyme with goggles. It’s not that hard of a rule, guys.
Ben S is the best at talking through everything to help the viewer, but just one small thing... I would much prefer to see a draft that was hard to navigate whereas this one was just easily defined by bomb rares
Great video thanks! I would love to see more m19 draft becuase that is my current fnm. Also I don't want to sink money into standard, id rather just slowly lose money. waaaiiiit
Cool... Channelfireball puts their stupid ads right over the gameplay at the end of the match. I wonder if football fans would get mad if the tv network threw up a mcdonalds ad over a touchdown?
nice in-depth explanations. especially useful for a fresh format. once it's established it might become repetitive to some degree but even then: BenS drafting > porn
hey you know what wouldve been really fucking useful? those one manna life gain artifacts that Ben cutely boarded out in both games 2 and 3 of the finals. poor choice.
Yeah, casting Sarkhans made me cringe so bad, and then he realizes his mistake right afterward. Still love content from BenS and its encouraging to see that even the best pros make mistakes.
Rodrigo Holguin draft is much different than sealed. The power level of decks in draft is higher and embalming a Planeswalker in draft is really hard. I agree that it's a game winning card in sealed, but in draft it's just fine.
It's not. Planeswalkers are pretty good in limited, and Vivien is a pretty good one, but Nicol Bolas, Tezzeret, and some of the elder dragons are better than her.
Haha.. the whole time Ben keeps talking about playing Hydra as a 7/7 and blowing up their whole board, and I keep waiting for his disappointment when he realizes it doesn't work that way. Ben, how do you not realize that the Hydra is a 0/0 on the stack and the Unsealing is a cast trigger!? C'mon dude.
You look at this deck, see that it is good in this format... and then realize theat it would be utter trash in Dominaria... RIP that format, it went too fast
Greenseeker is not that amazing.... I would rather run rabid bite and less lands and not so many 6 drops. Getting a lot of dudes on board seems to do very well most of the time.
He talks to much. Which is good on pick one, but when its pick 8 in a pack with one clear choice it can get a bit tedious. He does seem a bit stuck up sometimes but at the same time he has earned it. The dude is really good.
Ben Stark's videos are really my favourite! He just explains so well (and so much!). I don't even like draft that much... If he made standard videos, I'd be over the moon. :)
I love how he explains all his plays in detail. I'm trying to get better and hearing the thought process really helps me understand why he is doing the things he is doing.
Unfortunately the Hydra doesn't trigger Sarkan's Unsealing because Unsealing triggers from the creature being CAST not ETB, and Hydra is cast as a 0/0 that ETBs with X counters on it.
the card people want for Sarkan's Unsealing(say you get Unsealing in pack 1) is Inferno Hellion. you can see them going around pick 4-5 usually; it's the gift that keeps on giving.
Ghastbark Twins is also uncommon but costs 7.
Yeah I was thinking this and had to check the ruling on the card :)
The hydra does get searched up using Militia Bugler though. :)
Yeah I just slightly facepalmed when he talked about that "combo" in match 2.
to be fair the way that mechanic works is a little unintuitive.
Greenseeker is insane in this format. Honestly, if the game goes long, it feels just like a Dark Confidant that never kills you and can actually block well. And it's an uncommon!
LSV for entertainment, BenS for education. :)
always love your videos! thanks for explaining all the picks in a pack even when its an obvious pick.
Only thing that was killing me was that its Spit flame, not spirit flame haha. Great video regardless. Keep up the amazing content!
Hey Ben, I love your content and I like hearing your thoughts behind the picks you make in draft. I often think about comments you on make cards and the synergy when drafting.
There are two picks in this draft that I was wondering if you had more explanation behind: Pack 2, Pick 10 and Pack 3, Pick 8.
- Pack 2, Pick 10, you took 3rd Catalyst Elemental over 1st Talons of Wildwood.
- Pack 3, Pick 8 you took 2nd Goblin Instigator over 1st Havoc Devils.
Any insight on these picks for us beyond what is said in the video? Thanks :)
Even though I am not Ben I hope I can help. The first one it was a neither is good option because he would play neither as he doesn't need value in his grindy deck. He doesn't mind playing against slow cards like talons because he wins late game either way, but slow cards like catalyst can give his opponents high rolls which is the best way to beat his deck. Second pick is the Devils isn't needed in a deck with 11+ high drops especially when the trample doesn't matter because he's not attacking early, staying alive is the most relevant. Tldr: hate draft and early game defense
SPIT flame. Spit! Like, ya know, how dragons eject fire from their mouths? There's no spirits there.
This deck was insane. People in your pool did not understand green was so open and how good greenseekers/rabid bites are. Great video Ben!
*Sees there´s a new Ben´s video*
*Checks the video lasts 2 hours*
Oh boy this is gonna be fun
Great draft Ben, had a sweet deck and you explained so much. Thanks!
Great plays, as usual, really enjoy your videos. I dont like the reid activation on dwindle though (even though its certainly not a missplay), ticking up vivien is just so valuable and there was really no need to 'free' your 2 toughness guy since vivien basically draws you a creature every turn without loosing loyality, btw: her ultimate really is a thing..
I feel like green is so underrated in this format, a lot of people pass up on them and I usually make insane decks with green.
Crossing my fingers that you zoom in on the cards for us visually challenged folks
I dunno if your deck was better than opponent 3.; both decks were chalk full of good cards.
Anyways, thank you, thank you, thank you, for your commentary. You work so hard to help your viewers - what a pleasure to watch one of your videos.
I obviously havent had the chance to play with every mythic or rare in the set but I don't know if i would ever pass a Greenseeker. I havent lost a game in sealed or draft where I have had one go uncontested. It's defensive in the early game and ends up drawing you a ton of cards. I have even splashed for them before in a black blue control deck. They are absurd. I won't be surprised if they have an impact on constructed.
I have no idea how you got passed two so late. The envy is real!
At 23:18 taking instigator was questionable. There were devils that works well with sarkhans unsealing and are good card overall.
He already has 11 cards CMC 4 or greater at this point, his deck is slow, and light on early plays.
Card quality is relative to the deck you have. The devil may be good near the top end of an aggro deck, but not in a slow deck with better options at 4+
Both are likely SB cards at that point, the question is if siding instigator or another 4 power creature is more likely and the answer is almost definitely instigator. I was very surprised he didn't talk about it though
Sarkhan's Unsealing does 4 damage to *any* target, not just creatures. You had 3 creatures in hand that would have triggered it, and you could have done 12 damage to your opponent by 1:06:15.
4:43 Ball Bash Ogre...so they finally made my ex-wife into a magic card eh?????
spirit flame and daggerback basilick
LOL I was gonna say spirit flame too :)
Does BenS stream? CAN WE GET MORE BENS PRE GP SAC??
1:16:23 im noob so i would almost never discard Lumi Bonds vs Goblin. Someone wants to short explain?
Ask yourself what LumiB is doing for you here. Then its what their deck is doing. They are looking aggressive, we already know they are more tempo then full aggro; nevertheless, we want to get to lategame safely, as we have huge lategame.
LumiB may stop their bombs/lategame but our lategame (Ben's) is better, so getting there safely is the ultimately better than saving something that: doesn't help us now, to combat their lategame which we may now not get to, and our lategame does that anyways.
Good question, new players love saving powerful cards over good plays. Think of it as making a better play (stalls current board, and feeds into the strat of your lategame) over raw card value that may never be right later anyways
Jeez this deck was absurd. Picking up those greenseekers so late was nuts.
Just breaking down everything ! thanks man
I mean if you play a red/green deck like this that prolongs to play big creatures. How do you feel about drafting root snare?
The only pick I think you may have glossed over was taking the second Goblin Instigator late in pack 3 over the 2RR 4/3 trample in red. With Sarkhan’s Unsealing, I think the 4/3 actually was a reasonable inclusion in your deck and may have been a better curve fit than the second Thornhide Wolves.
Talons on the Courser to keep the Majesty going. Probably the right play.
58:00 haha what is Ben's opponent even thinking at that point?
Hello around the minute 1:10:31 why don't you deal 4 damage directly to the player instead of the poor 1/1 which does literally nothing
The 1/1 can chump 4 damage so killing it is at least as good as going face. This way opponent doesn't have a choice and can't double block with it.
Awesome draft. Thanks!
How did I get to this video when it's not listed on the channel. I'm confused
great draft and gameplay
Looking at the deck before the draft starts I think the unsealing pick over luminous bonds was a mistake. Your deck really needs the removal and I think your late game is already very strong.
edit: It helps your biggest weakness too which is early and mid game and I think you had to compromise your deck building a bit for it.
I actually like picking up Titanic Growth over Brawl Bash Ogre P1P5. I think Titanic Growth is a great trick, and it actually remains effective even in ramp decks because when your opponent goes for a massive block on your fatty, you can just win the game on the spot. It's just a nice card to have in a deck like this and I think the odds of playing the ogre are quite low given that green seemed open at that point and you had Vivien. I agree with not maindecking the Titanic Growth you ended up getting, but that is because you picked up some good flyers to close the game. Great content as always!
Its too early to know that green is open, and Brawl Bash Ogre is better in RB than Titanic Growth would be in this deck
Obviously Brawl Bash Ogre is great in RB, I'm just saying that the odds of ending up RB are too low to justify it in my opinion.
You should not be committed to playing green 5 picks in, especially when you have one good green card and one medium. If this were pack 2 sure I'd agree but this is the fifth pick of the draft when you have 2 green, an artifact and a red removal spell. The ogre is definitely the correct pick.
I think it all depends on how you're seeing the draft going. It's all about weighing the pros and cons of each pick and in my mind Titanic Growth will lead to more equity than Brawl Bash Ogre. I probably just value Titanic Growth a bit more than you do.
Fantastic vid, even though its teaching more about the aggro-archetypes than about green ramp :D
Greenseeker should probably be activated upkeep
Yay! Another BenS video!!!
Boggart Brute isn’t pronounced like Humphrey Bogart. See the difference? The number of G’s changes the “o” sound from long to short.
Starting to realize why everyone erroneously calls the hexproof deck “boggles” with two G’s. Bogles doesn’t rhyme with goggles.
It’s not that hard of a rule, guys.
man, ben is so good
Great analysis and gameplay! Too bad about the last game, but hindsight is always 20/20. By the way, it's basilisk, not basilik.
I thought Rabid Bite only did damage equal to the power of the creature and not the death touch.
The target creature deals the damage, not the card itself. It works
The best limited content.
Ben S is the best at talking through everything to help the viewer, but just one small thing... I would much prefer to see a draft that was hard to navigate whereas this one was just easily defined by bomb rares
Great video thanks! I would love to see more m19 draft becuase that is my current fnm. Also I don't want to sink money into standard, id rather just slowly lose money. waaaiiiit
Unsealing is much worse than it looks in the deck, since Hydra doesn't trigger it ever.
Phantom IV So is there anything else in the format other than the 10/10 that triggers it?
Ghastbark Twins and Inferno Hellion trigger the board wipe effect.
And Pelakka Worm(spelling?)
In the last game, you would be dead anyway, even without them having naturalize, you had to play hydra and keep up naturalize no matter what
BEN STARK! KCI FTW MY MAN!
Wow I wouldn’t been able to pull of that first game
Sick deck. :)
Dryad was consistently drawing me 4-6 cards a game when I did the prerelease. So busted
Cool... Channelfireball puts their stupid ads right over the gameplay at the end of the match. I wonder if football fans would get mad if the tv network threw up a mcdonalds ad over a touchdown?
It is super annoying!
P1P2 I think I would take the spider. It's a fine card and I think it's better than shock in this format and it lets you stay in green from p1p1.
He lost the finals because he desperately needed shock to kill the 2-1 blue rare.
Greenseeker is so fucking broken, that card put in so much work this draft
50 Shades of Midrange
=D
play the hydra for 1 - love it
nice in-depth explanations. especially useful for a fresh format. once it's established it might become repetitive to some degree but even then: BenS drafting > porn
"I need to get this Sarkhan's Unsealing out. Hopefully can't kill it." Bruh you see the Vivien Reid right across the table and you know what she does.
basalissssssssssssssssssk... emphasis on the s
and spit flame, not spirit flame.
Dragonite Spirit Flame would also be a good removal in this set though.
Basilisssssk actually
took someone long enough
Basilisk and Spit Flame.... Pronunciations so bad it was like watching Gaby, lol. (but she does it on purpose 90% of the time, to give her credit)
😯 Dude can grind...
Ballbash Ogre ftw
Greenseekers going wild.
Spit not spirit lol
Love the content
Dragons hoard gets tokens from their dragons too, so sparktoungue could have got u token on hoard
The first deck ended up so well but it hurts me to know someone has double Sleep in a draft deck. Fuck blue
Spit Flame
"Spirit Flame"
It's Spit flame, not 'Spirit Flame', lol. The misnomers are strong with this one...
Ben make the cards bigger
*B A S I L I Q U E*
"basilick"
I LOVE YOU BEN
you said two tutus uuhuhuhuhhuuhu
I think Modo should know, that Ben Stark should not open so powerful cards.... :)
I love you Ben
i plan to start saying "bcause" in his honor
51:44 lul
hey you know what wouldve been really fucking useful? those one manna life gain artifacts that Ben cutely boarded out in both games 2 and 3 of the finals. poor choice.
Quit holding back lathliss bro can't tame dragons!!!!!
r3g3 punts!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, casting Sarkhans made me cringe so bad, and then he realizes his mistake right afterward. Still love content from BenS and its encouraging to see that even the best pros make mistakes.
i disagree a lot, vivien is busted in limited, i got her in sealed and made a lot of emblems (the game is over)
Rodrigo Holguin draft is much different than sealed. The power level of decks in draft is higher and embalming a Planeswalker in draft is really hard. I agree that it's a game winning card in sealed, but in draft it's just fine.
That card is not "just fine" even in draft, i think is the best card in the set in limited
just look at minute 53:00 to get my point of view
It's not. Planeswalkers are pretty good in limited, and Vivien is a pretty good one, but Nicol Bolas, Tezzeret, and some of the elder dragons are better than her.
She's pretty great but sealed != draft.
BasiliSSSSSSSSSk
Haha.. the whole time Ben keeps talking about playing Hydra as a 7/7 and blowing up their whole board, and I keep waiting for his disappointment when he realizes it doesn't work that way. Ben, how do you not realize that the Hydra is a 0/0 on the stack and the Unsealing is a cast trigger!? C'mon dude.
BASILIK
Ball bash ogre lmfaoooo
You look at this deck, see that it is good in this format... and then realize theat it would be utter trash in Dominaria... RIP that format, it went too fast
Greenseeker is not that amazing.... I would rather run rabid bite and less lands and not so many 6 drops. Getting a lot of dudes on board seems to do very well most of the time.
He talks to much. Which is good on pick one, but when its pick 8 in a pack with one clear choice it can get a bit tedious. He does seem a bit stuck up sometimes but at the same time he has earned it. The dude is really good.