This pack is rather average, and it’s pretty balanced between beatdown, with Battle Shout and Voss Treebender, and control, with The Shatterer and Wazzuli Wildmender. Once again, Alliance is scarce, so I can’t be surprised if the people on my left start going into Horde.

Pack 1, Pick 3

Expose Armor, Old Bones, Melgwy Pingzot, Zapped Giants, Kor Cindervein, Bala Silentblade, Face Smash, Benethor Draigo, Natural Selection, Execute, Torek’s Assault, Grint Sundershot

Sometimes you just get lucky! Third pick Old Bones is pretty exciting, but it also tells me something about this pack before it got into my hands. If I consider the players at my table to be skilled, then I know that the person who opened this pack took the uncommon first. It’s extremely unlikely that he or she took a common, though you could make some sort of case for Chasing A-Me 01. It could be that or a few others, but I know it was good enough to take over Old Bones. The only card that completely screws us up in that situation is having Ancient Bone Bow in that pack, but it’s so unlikely when you take all the other possibilities into consideration that I will not let it get in my way. Also, when the person to my right received this pack for their second pick, they didn’t take Old Bones either. Recalling the rarity of the missing card from pack 2 is critical here in figuring out why Old Bones is still in the pack. I’m going to assume that he or she cracked an uncommon class card for the first pick and didn’t want to stray. He or she easily could’ve taken a solid common ally like Moira Darkheart, or maybe got lucky enough to see a second-pick Chasing A-Me 01.

So, except in the extremely unlikely situation where Ancient Bone Bow is opened in this pack, I assume that Hunter is open to me and I see a strong deck coming together.

Pick 3 – Old Bones

There isn’t much of note left in the pack. There’s a Face Smash and Kor Cindervein for Alliance, and either could go next. Horde has Benethor Draigo and Torek’s Assault. This pack isn’t going to influence much to our left.

These two drafts should give you some insight into the actual process of drafting and help you organize your thoughts when those first few picks come your way. Sometimes you’ll take a class card first. Other times it’s right to take a faction-based ally. It’s about analyzing the pack and finding the best card, which isn’t always the strongest card or obvious pick. In every tournament there’s a player or three who will break out from the crowd, tasting big-time success on a national stage. That person can be you! However, you have to be prepared to take that winning record out of Day 1 and run your draft table. I wish you the best of luck, and for those playing in U.S. Nationals, I’ll see you at Gen Con!