This is essentially a test post to play around with the Rare Draft player that Daniel Too (of TCGBuddy fame) has been beta testing. This is an 8-4 draft I did on Christmas morning. I ended up with a midnight mass of Hedron Crabs and a couple of — fittingly given the name of the draft player — rares to pull it all together.

If this works I will be able to even more draft recaps without having to send you over to my Google site to see them. (I know it is a little cut off on the right but hopefully that will get worked out down the stretch of “getting out of beta”)

Here is the deck I ended up playing and going 3-0 with. The Archive Trap has become my most drafted rare on MTGO and it won me most of my games following a turn two Crab. I also got to kick Rite of Replication on an Umara Raptor for the win in one game which was … you know… awesome.

Crabs for Christmas

1 Shepherd of the Lost
1 Pitfall Trap
1 Rite of Replication
2 Umara Raptor
4 Hedron Crab
1 Sky Ruin Drake
1 Archive Trap
2 Makindi Shieldmate
1 Gomazoa
2 Æther Figment
2 Kor Skyfisher
1 Whiplash Trap
1 Living Tsunami
1 Paralyzing Grasp
1 Into the Roil
1 Kabira Crossroads
1 Sejiri Refuge
9 Island
7 Plains

If you like to gamble, start playing with this deck:

Crypt Combo AKA “Crabs”

4 Crypt of Agadeem
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 U/x Fetch Land
2 B/x Fetch Land
5 Island
2 Swamp

4 Hedron Crab
2 Kederekt Leviathan
2 Fatestitcher
4 Extractor Demon
4 Rotting Rats
4 Architects of Will
4 Viscera Dragger
4 Monstrous Carabid
3 Corpse Connoisseur

4 Grim Discovery
4 Traumatize

Sideboard:
4 Duress
4 Blister Beetle
4 Disfigure
3 Pithing Needle

I haven’t played the sideboard listed here, but its what the people who are placing in MODO events are playing so it must be good!

If you don’t know how this deck works, its pretty simple: mill yourself with Crab and/or Traumatize, mise a Crypt somewhere in the first 4 turns, then make a bunch of mana with at least one crypt activation and Unearth FTW. If your opponent has infinite life, then you just mill them out via Extractor Demon triggers.

Of course it is not always that simple, because rarely is your hand the right combination of Crypt/Crab/Traumatize/Grim Disco. The nut draws with this deck easily win turn 4, but the sub-nut draws have you mulliganning to 5 and hoping to get there on Cycling.

Because of the inconsistencies (I have played somewhere in the range of 100 games with this deck, that’s how badly I wanted it to be good) the matchup against any deck that can goldfish a turn 4 win is pretty bad. Red Deck Wins is virtually impossible (although i have not tried the Disfigures). Against Boros you can get there off a heavy Rotting Rats draw and chump blocking until you can systemagically set up your graveyard. Jund is a favorable matchup, especially if they do not have main deck Jund Charms, and double especially if they don’t have Goblin Ruinblaster main. Mono-Green is also favorable since they do not get nearly as fast a start as any of the decks mentioned previously. Against both Jund and Green, Unearthing (or even hard casting!) a Leviathan turn 4 or 5 will give you more than enough time to complete your kill.

You can’t really beat any deck that has Goblin Ruinblaster, Ajani Vengeant, Acidic Slime, or any of the blue enchantments that turn your land into something other than Crypt of Agadeem.

Against control decks (if you manage to spot one online, which is very rare) you are practically a lock game 1 because they can’t interact with you at all while you goldfish your win. Post board you can just side in your duress/negate and take your time. Set up your graveyard and you can even make them discard their whole hand via rats if you want before you attempt to go off.

In essence, this deck is a total crap shoot against the format. If I were to run it at states tomorrow, I would predict a 5-3 finish, probably good enough for like, 6 packs. I do think this is a deck to keep an eye on, however, should the format slow down at all. If any kind of control deck emerges from Worlds (happening this week for anyone who didn’t know), or if for whatever reason the red decks fall from popularity, then it is possible that Crypt Combo could be very well positioned for states. I am certainly going to keep it in mind, but in the meantime, there are quite a few other decks that have caught my eye, which I will write about as I get the chance to play with them.

As a side note: I have finally returned to Magic, and intend to start posting here again regularly! I have been pretty busy with a lot of other stuff the past few months and had to put the game on the back burner. In addition to having time to play, I have installed Windows on my Mac, and can now play MODO, which is absolutely insane. If you feel like playing some games, chat me up in game (my name is sloppystack, just like Twitter! PS: Follow me (and top8games, fivewithflores, and mattwang97) on Twitter!).

~WillPoP