Repack Walk Through- Week 4

Welcome to the fourth installment of my Repack Walk Through Project. Each week I'm going to crack a repack, and do a walk through of the contents. I've seen these sort of draft walk through done a lot of different ways, but in my mind, there is one critical question to ask about every card. Should this wheel and why? I use a three point system to analyze a pack  In a "normal" pack, there should be 5 cards of each grade in them.

1) Shouldn't Wheel- these are the best cards in the pack, and should be scooped up before the pack comes back around. Your first pick should almost always come from this group, since odds are you shouldn't see any of them again. If one of these does come back around, and it still fits your developing plan, it's almost a sure thing to pick up on the wheel. One of these coming around may also indicate an open color, or deck strategy, and always worth giving a little thought to.

2) May Wheel-I put these at a 50/50 to wheel. your second pick in the pack will usually come from this group, since the #1 in the pack should already be gone. This group will tell you more about the other decks forming at the table then any other source of information. When the pack wheels around to you in pick nine, there should only be two cards from his group left, picks 9 and 10. The three that are already gone tell you a lot about the "best decks" being built by players 6, 7, and 8. Like wise the card you don't pick, will give you a clue to the "best deck" to be built by the player in position 2. This for all intensive purposes gives you a peek at 4 other decks being constructed. Counting your own deck, this gives you some degree of contrived knowledge about 5 out of 8 decks. If you do this type of thinking for all three packs int he draft, in addition to having perfect knowledge of your deck, you have had 3 peeks at 2 decks (positions 2, and 8), 2 peeks at 2 decks (positions 6, and 7), and one peek at 2 additional decks (positions 3, and 4). It's not a perfect world, and certainly as much art as science, but that is a lot of potential information. Since Repack is main deck mod, you should have a good idea of what you may face against nearly any other player at the table.

3) Should Wheel- This is the crap of the crap. If it wheels, it's exactly what I expected, and increases the likeliness of the predictions made from group 2. If it doesn't it makes things a bit more interesting. In essence it tells me that one or more persons isn't building their "best deck" instead making sub-optimal picks. In this case you are much more likely to have four "bester" decks, those that benefited from better then expected late picks, and then four "worster" decks, those making bad picks, or getting the shaft as others jump on cards expected for their "best" deck.

Mind Bomb- 3
Agent of Masks- 1
Thornbite Staff- 3
Blue Ward- 3
Aboshan's Desire- 3
Argothian Pixies- 2
Icatian Infantry- 3
Goblins of Flarg- 2
Galvanic Arc- 1
Violet Pall- 1
Entangling Vines- 2
Cloud Sprite- 2
Craw Wurm- 1
Trumpet Blast- 2
Snapping Drake- 1

This is another great pack, with good temporal, prismatic, and power mix. I've already discussed the goodness of Snapping Drake in a recent week, and Craw Wurm is real beef, but a little hard to splash. taking the Wurm would be a commitment to green, or a wasted first pick. It's high casting cost would make it unlikely to run multiples in a limited deck, and it is a frequently printed card. You have a good shot to see another one, even if you let this one go. Agent of Masks really brings the heat to a repack deck. It has a relevant toughness, and it's syphon ability will have allow you to progress despite a clogged board position. The 2 point swing each turn will have to be dealt with. Violet Pall is a decent conditional removal spell, but it's a bit over costed, and the token it creates for your team is more often then not, irrelavent. My pick here would be Galvanic Arc. It's a decently costed 3 direct damage spell, and doubles the utility of any bear. I'd say it's worth creating an opportunity to get 2-4-1'ed if you get double the impact in the intrum.