Drafter – Graham (he/him)

How many Moddy Rotisserie Drafts have you participated in?
0

What’s your favorite card in Moddy Cube?
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse

What’s your least favorite card in Moddy Cube?
Agent of Treachery

Do you like or dislike the seat you were assigned? Why?
Early middle allows you to both react to signals from the other players while also getting access to a lot of high power cards before other people can. Not going first means I don’t get Umezawa’s Jitte, but hopefully it’ll be on my team and I won’t have to worry about it. The main downside is that it’s harder to set up combos the closer you are to the middle because there are more players who can deny you in between each pick.

What is your strategy going into the draft? What’s your backup plan if your primary strategy is unavailable?
I find I often wind up overwhelmed when I have a deck that has too many options and abilities to keep track of. I’m leaning towards aggro because the lines are clearer. Looking at the colors that support aggro the best, I think black has some of the best bodies for their cost in this cube. I think graveyard recursion will also be important, especially given that people in Rotty have access to the best removal. Black has access to it, so I figure I’ll main black and splash another color to round it out. If I splash white, I’ll go for Stoneforge Mystic, Maul of the Skyclaves, Lurrus of the Dream-Den, Serra Paragon, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Thalia, Heretic Cathar, Unburial Rites, Lingering Souls, etc., and really lean into the graveyard recursion and value game.
If I splash blue, I’ll go for Suspicious Stowaway, Mercurial Spelldancer, Fallen Shinobi, Creeping Tar Pit, Agent of Treachery, Frost Titan, etc., and go for a more unblockable or at least “remove their blockers” sort of game.
If I splash red, I’ll go for Stromkirk Noble, Flametongue Yearling, Legion Warboss, Goblin Rabblemaster, Bonecrusher Giant, Professional Face-Breaker, Kolaghan’s Command, Thundermaw Hellkite, etc., and go for big value and 2-for-1 interactions and cheap stuff that can run away with the game early if left unanswered.
If I splash green, I’ll go for Augur of Autumn, Tireless Tracker, Bloated Contaminator, Polukranos, World Eater, Rhonas the Indomitable, Battle Mammoth, Overwhelming Stampede, and Fiend Artisan to be able to cheat something like Archon of Cruelty into play. This one’s all about mana-efficient bodies that cannot be left unanswered. As pick three, I should be able to get some extremely high value black cards like Dark Confidant and Thoughtseize early. As I get more reads about what other players are doing, I can see what other colors are splashable and try to pick up whatever makes sense. There’s good cards for what I’m trying to do in every color. I may wait till the fetch-lands get going before I pick the color I want to splash, but if pick 2 gets to me and no one has Stoneforge Mystic yet, I may have to pick it up to block the wheel to seat 1, somewhat locking me into Orzhov. The big question for me to answer is whether to prioritize Smuggler’s Copter – one of the best cards in the cube and can be good in any deck – in pick one for seat three versus telegraphing that I plan to take black cards? Hopefully pick 1 seat 2 can make that decision for me.

What card(s) do you think you can get late for your strategies?
Abyssal Persecutor, Rotting Regisaur, Doom Whisperer, Blade of the Oni, Junji, the Midnight Sky