Pro Tour Eldritch Moon Champion Lukas Blohon, currently ranked 6th in the Top 25 rankings, is widely considered to be one of the best players in Europe. Yesterday, he went 8-1 in the Sealed portion, putting him in a good position to add another Grand Prix Top 8 to his résumé if he could navigate the draft tables just as well.
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(6) Lukas Blohon drafting at the feature table.
Pack 1
| Pick |
Blohon's choice |
Other options |
| 1 |
Scrapper Champion |
Thopter Arrest, Battle at the Bridge, Caught in the Brights, Skyship Plunderer, Aether Chaser |
| 2 |
Chandra's Revolution |
Thopter Arrest, Druid of the Cowl, Audacious Infiltrator |
| 3 |
Irontread Crusher |
Renegade Rallier, Lathnu Sailback, Merchant's Dockhand |
| 4 |
Shock |
Renegade Map, Aether Poisoner, Silkweaver Elite |
| 5 |
Implement of Ferocity |
Embraal Gear-Smasher, Gremlin Infestation, Unbridled Growth |
| 6 |
Implement of Ferocity |
Audacious Infiltrator, Night Market Lookout |
| 7 |
Implement of Ferocity |
Countless Gears Renegade, Aeronaut Admiral |
| 8 |
Natural Obsolescence |
Gremlin Infestation, Wrangle |
| 9 |
Implement of Combustion |
Verdant Automaton, Natural Obsolescence |
| 10 |
Aether Herder |
Lathnu Sailback |
| 11 |
Servo Schematic |
Lathnu Sailback |
| 12 |
Universal Solvent |
|
| 13 |
Leave in the Dust |
|
| 14 |
Foil Swamp |
|
The pack opened by Blohon contained a lot of strong cards. "I didn't really mind passing Thopter Arrest, so it was mainly between Battle at the Bridge and Scrapper Champion," he told me after the draft. "And of the two, I think Scrapper Champion is the better card." The only problem, he explained, was that he was passing another red card in Aether Striker to his left, but it didn't dissuade him from picking the double striker.
His second pack contained Chandra's Revolution and Thopter Arrest. After his first pick, Blohon wanted to stay in red, so he took the red card over the arguably more powerful white card.
His third pack featured Renegade Rallier, but he wasn't tempted: "It is good, but I already passed so many good white cards. I think Irontread Crusher is a good card, so I took that one, even if I wasn't happy to have three four-drops after my first three picks."
Then a parade of Implements arrived, and Blohon was happy to pick them up. "The green Implement is great. With the red one, you have to do something with it, but the green one is just a great card."
After the first pack, Blohon was set on red-green. Both his right neighbor, Grzegorz Kowalski, and his left neighbor, Noah Walker, were drafting red-black.
Pack 2
| Pick |
Blohon's choice |
Other options |
| 1 |
Druid of the Cowl |
Aetherstream Leopard, Verdant Automaton, Sweatworks Brawler, Enraged Giant |
| 2 |
Druid of the Cowl |
Implement of Ferocity, Aether Herder, Reckless Racer |
| 3 |
Implement of Ferocity |
Lifecrafter's Gift, Daring Demolition, Reservoir Walker |
| 4 |
Aetherstream Leopard |
Irontread Crusher, Welder Automaton, Silkweaver Elite |
| 5 |
Aetherstream Leopard |
Unbridled Growth, Welder Automaton, Precise Strike |
| 6 |
Embraal Gear-Smasher |
Lifecrafter's Gift, Night Market Aeronaut |
| 7 |
Embraal Gear-Smasher |
Dawnfeather Eagle, Filigree Crawler |
| 8 |
Sweatworks Brawler |
Prey Upon, Embraal Gear-Smasher |
| 9 |
Lathnu Sailback |
Precise Strike, Heroic Intervention |
| 10 |
Aether Herder |
Destructive Tampering, Consulate Dreadnought |
| 11 |
Siege Modification |
Reservoir Walker |
| 12 |
Natural Obsolescence |
|
| 13 |
Precise Strike |
|
| 14 |
Aether Inspector |
|
"After the first pack, all I needed was 2-drops and 3-drops," Blohon said. "So I was really happy with my second pack. Aetherstream Leopards are so good. Especially with Implement of Ferocity, they're hard to block, and I have a minor energy theme in my deck to pump them several times."
Indeed, after the second pack, Blohon had a good amount of playables, a reasonable mana curve, and a fine mix between creatures and spells. He was missing some aggressive 2-drops and some additional ways to use his Implements, so he had to keep that in mind when making his selections in the third pack.
Pack 3
The commons and uncommons that Blohon saw in the Kaladesh booster were of terrible quality. It was somewhat salvaged by the Smuggler's Copter that he opened and the other 2-drops that he picked up, but it wasn't great. "I'm playing nineteen cards from Aether Revolt and six cards from Kaladesh," Blohon mentioned after he handed in his decklist.
-Lukas-Blohon-building-the-deck.jpg)
(6) Lukas Blohon building the deck.
Blohon registered the following 40 cards.
Lukas Blohon's Red-Green Deck – Grand Prix Prague 2017 Draft #1
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"I'm happy with my deck; the quality of my cards is really high," Blohon said. "But I am a bit afraid of my opening hands—I'm only playing 15 lands! It's a bit awkward when you have so many Implements, and I hope I won't see too many one-landers."
With that final remark, Blohon touched on a general theme I've seen so far in this Limited format: thanks to Implements that can cheaply draw cards, relatively low average mana costs in general, and cards like Renegade Map, 16 lands has become the norm in Aether Revolt Limited.
And as Blohon showed, 15 lands is an option as well. You need a lot of Implements and non-land mana sources, but it can sometimes be the correct amount.
When asked for a face and a thumb to describe his deck, Blohon expressed happiness.
The rounds were not kind to Blohon as he hoped, however. He had to settle for an 0-3 record and found himself out of Top 8 contention.
