Ravnica Remastered: WUBRG Drafting

I loved drafting Ravnica (RGD) block.  I was pretty good with Return to Ravnica (RGD2).  I got in a lot of Guilds of Ravnica and Ravnica Allegiance drafts and did quite well.  Ravnica Remastered?  I got this.

Or not, because I went 1-2.

I went into the draft knowing next to nothing about the set.  (I still feel that way.)  In the first pack, I saw a lot of gates going around, both in the new and old borders.  So... I didn't worry about taking them.  Unfortunately that strategy didn't pay off as they were scarcer in the second and third packs.  I managed to get 7, but I really needed more.  Here were my picks:

Packs left-to-right, picks front to back, as usual.

I was so excited to see that Gate Colossus in pack 3!  My normal rare-drafting tendencies went out the window.  I was not bummed to see a dearth of gates-matters cards, as that made 5-color drafting tricky in Ravnica Block #3, but I should have known that it wouldn't be enough.

Here's what I would try if I were drafting this again.  And... this might only change my picks slightly.

• More gates.  As always, you're always going to run the dual lands you get.  That card is definitely going to make the cut.
• Get those XXYY-cost creatures.  The cycle is so good.  They're hard to cast, but if you take enough gates, you should be able to make it happen a lot of the time.
• There's lots of removal in this set.  It's good.

Here's the deck I ran.  (I did make some sideboard changes in rounds 2 and 3.)

I took this photo long after the event.  Missing is a Blind Obedience I traded.

In my first round, I faced off against an Izzet deck that was a bit low on spells.  (I think they said their deck was split 20 spells/20 lands.)  I was able to capitalize on that, though the second game was nearly lost because they threw out an overloaded Cyclonic Rift.  I rebuilt my board as fast as I could and got in for the last damage, but it was definitely close at the end.  

In the second round, I was up against Tristan, who is becoming quite the blockade for my decks.  He had a Rakdos deck with a white splash for one or two Blind Hunters, which is a card that did a lot of work for me back in Guildpact.  His deck was quite fast.  I lost game 1, but Blind Obedience stymied his assualt and helped me outvalue to win game 2. (Extort is real good.)  In game 3, I was trampled again.

In the third round I faced a strong Dimir deck with loads of good removal, especially multiple Undercity Embraces, when I always had only one creature.  My opponent never gained the life off of it, but it didn't matter and I lost in two or three games.  (I don't remember for certain.)

I don't think my deck underperformed.  I think I underperformed.  In the drafting stage.  I got stuck without the necessary colors multiple times.  (I think this is the first draft where my friend, JC, would have said 5 colors caught up to me.  He would be very happy.)  Of course, it's possible that my plan above would be equally bad, with the XXYY spells often being just as unplayable.  

However, this is a remastered set.  So... I'll probably never get the chance to draft it again.  Which is too bad, because it is really fun.  I like that you're mixing all the guild mechanics together from the last two decades, e.g. Haunt + Extort + Afterlife.  It is perhaps the most fun Ravnica draft format ever.  Even if I'm bad at it.