Zendikar Rotisserie Draft

[Thomas David Baker]

We did a 5 man *all-foil* rotisserie draft with a "minimum 4 cards of a splash color" rule.

The decks ended up being:

* BR Aggro with Nighthawk, Machete, 7 2 drops and Sorin.
* Gr Rampaging Baloths, Woodcrasher, Oracle of Mul Daya splashing Burst Lightning, Inferno Trap and Punishing Fire.
* BU Halo Hunter, Sphinx of Jwar Isle, Sphinx of Lost Truths, Roil Elemental,
* Wu Day of Judgment, Conquerer's Pledge, Eldrazi Monument.
* wubrG Allies with Rite of Replication.

All decks acquitted themselves well with BR aggro showing a 3-1 and Wu showing a 1-3, all others on 2-2.

It was good fun although the general conclusion was that we'd managed to turn a balanced limited format into a bomb-driven one! Day of Judgment, Conquerer's Pledge, Eldrazi Monument is one of the more impressive possible sequences. Although Kicked Rite of Replication on Hagra Diabolist for 49 points of damage was also pretty special.

What strategy would you go for? What's your first pick? How does that change if you do the more normal 8-man?

[Dan Barrett]

What were the first 10 picks or so?

[Ben Titmarsh]

I first picked Vampire Nighthawk. Also Tom I didn't end up playing Sorin as I was too comitted to red and he was too slow. My matches didn't seem to be as bomb-oriented as the others, with the exception of Martin who got double Hellkite-Chargered!

Highlight of the draft for me was a ~20th pick Trusty Machete!

[Thomas David Baker]

Missing Machete was terrible.

I think Halo Hunter went 40th or later, though, and that was also desperately wrong. He singlehandedly killed me in game 3 vs Steve.

Picks were something like:

Nighthawk, Ob Nixilis, Rampaging Baloths, Day of Judgment, Turntimber Ranger + Kazuul Warlord, Eldrazi Monument, Burst Lightning, Hideous End, Sorin.

but I'm really not sure.

[Tom Reeve]

First pick obviously changes a little based on when you're picking, but first-pick first-pack?

I think the reasonable options are probably;

Sorin Markov (Probably the best card, but likely to be a colour with a lot of competition, so high risk of either a weakened deck or wasted first pick.)
Hellkite Charger (Similar upside and downside to Sorin, only less extreme - not as powerful, but less of a commitment. First pick Charger and second pick Fireheart is probably the best way to stake a claim to being 'The' heavy-red deck.)
Day of Judgment (Probably the most powerful white card, and a good way of staking a claim to that colour, but doesn't play as well as it might normally with the rest of a good white deck. Given how you probably want a white deck to end up, you might actually be better off with Emeria Angel or Conqueror's Pledge first.)
Eldrazi Monument (The ultimate 'play it safe' choice, and still a very high-powered card. I'd probably take this as my first pick if I were actually picking first, unless I decided to go in on one of the less-popular colours like green.)
Sphinx of Jwar Isle (Want to be 'the blue guy'? This is your first pick.)
Turntimber Ranger/Rampaging Baloths (Same with being 'the green guy'.)

[Tom Reeve]

(written before seeing the replies above, will have a think about those.)