Just played my first game of mtg draft, ask me anything

Just played my first game of mtg draft, ask me anything.

what was your deck

how'd you do against the enemy decks, and what were they playing

any great moments?

I went with blue/green control, focused on getting as much mana as possible and stalling until I could play one of my two copies of Sandwurm Convergence (along with some other big meaty cards like Scaled Behemoth, Lay Claim, Floodwaters, and Cryptic Serpent

I lost my first two sets 0-2, but won my third against a mono-red blitz deck 2-1. I lost the first game, but then won the next two due to him getting a flood of mana and spells instead of creatures.

Greatest moment was when I almost got both of my sandwurm convergences on the field.

I had a lot of cycling cards, so I could make sure i'd get a mana drop on almost every turn

Good job op sounds fun. My first few drafts were nightmares. Well except the one I got a Karn.

What do you hope to do next?

Does this look like a blog?

May his passing cleanse the world!

>[maniacal laughter intensifies]

Why do you play such a shit format?

I think I'm going to go to a few more Friday Night Magic events, it was a really good time. Maybe I'll start building a standard deck after a few more games, as-is i really have problems with deciding between a) having a competitive deck and b) not spending a ton on expensive cards. So i'll just circumvent it by just getting a bunch of cards that i can then build a deck out of. Current plan, anyhow. I have a few friends who play magic, maybe I'll join their group.

Because I don't have to pre-build my deck, which I find frustrating.

I won my draft off the back off of this bitch. I drew 2

This card was good but you need too much ramp for it to work in a draft

...

don't be mistaken, he's not playing your favorite format, user

STALL FOR SANDWORM CONVERGENCE
I did it during the prerelease and it was absolute trash.
I did it w/g and went 3-1 during draft. I pulled a FOIL convergence and then ANOTHER ONE. I got them both out on the field my last match against a wall of b/g creatures and he scooped cause I had the token lifegain shitter.

My opponent nearly shat himself when I cast approach of the second sun

oh fuck that lifegain shitter
last draft i only lost one match and it was a super close game until my opponent embalmed two of them and used Oketra's monument to get a shit ton of tokens out of nowhere

Holy shit, Embalm makes TOKENS.
I could run them in my Selesnya pauper deck. And then kill myself because I have a set of soul wardens. I'll have to look at other commons though.

Draft is objectively the best format

>Holy shit, Embalm makes TOKENS.

My standard deck has 2 copies of Anointed Procession for that reason

Not only that, but Amonkhet draft is also particularly good draft environment

I also made a "cycle and ramp into win-con" deck in a draft once, but I used this baby instead. Also one of those hexproof crocodiles. This thing just wins so hard when it hits the board.

a mere 15 mana to still get killed by lava axe

>tfw Sandwurms are my favorite part of not!Egypt and we barely got any

>tfw the 20/20 vanilla legendary wurm was fake

eh, I wouldn't go that far. It is one of the better ones in recent sets, although I liked 3x kaladesh a little more. I had hoped that this set with all of its cycling/embalm stuff would encourage something other than mindless aggressive decks just attacking past each other every game like the last few draft environments. Unfortunately, I was wrong, because it turns out the exert cards are way better in limited than any other of the mechanics.

>actually having that saved on your hard drive

who is really the faggot here

two drops are really important in amonkhet. I like the green blue deck if it comes together, but I think you need at least two copies of tah-crop-skirmisher to live against the aggro jokes. otherwise seems like you had the right idea to me!

How does drafting work?
If you lose the game you lose your cards?
The winner takes it all in the end?

No. you should be able to keep the cards you drafted no matter what.

no you pay like 15 bucks to play and you end up with the deck you built. pretty much 3 rares or mythics and a bunch of dogshit

oh, thats cool
I might give it a try when the semester is over

If you fools want life-gain go GB -1/-1 tokens and take every baleful ammit and black cartouche you can get your hands on. Went 3-0 at my last draft and regularly ended at 30+ life. Out of ten games the only one that I lost was when I simply didnt draw more than two lands.

The -1/-1 archetype turns your creatures into removal, which allows for more room for fun shit since you're already packing a critical mass of removal. I went RGB and threw in extra pump spells like shed weakness, unnatural stamina, and brute strength. These combat tricks allowed me to either get in that extra lethal damage or really turn combat to my advantage. -1/-1 counters, combat tricks, and consistent flickering of the black trial out controlled the control decks.

you might want to go sign up at your local shop before pre release so you can get all the cool promo shit

at the beginning of the game you both flip the top card of your decks, the winner of the round gets to keep those cards. You lose when you have no cards left.

There was one store I played at that at the end, everyone laid out their rares/mythics and the winner got to select any one of them he wanted. It was during Ravnica and I lost a Glimpse. The winner was one of the store employees. I only drafted there once.

found this yesterday. if you want to read about magic

next level magic t.co/twEXNqRwxA
next level deckbuilding - t.co/0I3l0PK1f0

this is called redrafting and is not permissible for sanctioned events.

If it wasn't a sanctioned event then yeah, that sucks, redrafting exists mainly to shark noobs out of cards, especially if they didn't tell you they were going to redraft.

If it was a sanctioned event then you should report the store to the DCI since that's hella illegal, both against DCI rules and regular law

if you're just trolling go fuck yourself

How do you get good at drafting?

There very basics is understand what cards are good and what aren't. Learn to spot trap cards and stuff that is overcosted and/or narrow.
Know what a mana curve is and be aware of the CMCs of the cards you're drafting so that you can have a smooth curve. Different blocks may have slightly different metas but generally you want to aim for mostly 2 and 3 drops with the occasional 4, and maybe one or two 5-6 drops for late game.
Prioritize Bombs, Removal, Evasion, Aggro, and finally Duds.
Learn to read signals, is someone passes you a Lightning Bolt they are probably not picking red. Also understand what signals you are sending so you don't get fucked pack 2.
Know the block meta. There are probably articles and guides online or you can learn by experience.
Learn when to hatedraft
Realize that losing is the best way to learn to get better

I appreciate it. Ive been drafting online and offline for about a year now sporadically. I do enjoy the format but I am terrible at it. I don't really want to draft irl until I actually get better so I have been practicing on Xmage.

I am aware of BREAD and all of that but I think I am missing something else. General card evaluation? Knowing the block metas? I dont know, can't figure it out. Im just tired of sucking. Im also terrible at deckbuilding and it takes me ages to compile something playable so maybe that also has something to do with it.

B R E A D

Read the book I dropped a couple posts ago. MSRP $37

I assume the answers for 'when to hatedraft' are 'when the card is good enough by itself to warrant splashing no matter what it is' and 'when the card by itself pays for your draft'?

If I went to a draft and they told me I had to redraft, what would happen if I told them to go fuck themselves?

so if they took your DCI number and used the licensed software report them to the DCI, that's the most solid way to tell them to go fuck themselves. If it's unsanctioned there's not much you can do, just make sure that anybody who participates is aware that redrafting happens.
>when the card is good enough by itself to warrant splashing no matter what it is
that's splashing
>when the card by itself pays for your draft'
that's moneydrafting, there's also no problem with that
Hatedrafting is when you open pack 3 and see an Elspeth, Knight-Errant and still pick it despite having drafted exclusively UG
alright, let's make this a learning exercise. I picked Amonkhet since that is the most likely set you would be drafting if you went to one today. What card would you pick?

that guy is fun as hell

constructed playable once rotation comes too, I'd wager. already sees fringe play in some control decks as a mirror finisher

>I don't really want to draft irl until I actually get better so I have been practicing on Xmage.
Don't let that stop you from drafting IRL. The vast majority of players at your average FLGS don't put in time practicing lots of drafts online. In all likelihood you have more drafting experience now than a lot of the people at the store and that online experience has been against people who are more experienced themselves. Undoubtedly there will be some more serious players that outmatch you, but it sounds like you're aware enough to get a lot of wins against most of the field and that will do wonders for self esteem and building confidence in your deck-building abilities.

The most important thing IMO about limited decks is that you want to build something consistent. A simple deck that reliably comes online and starts doing shit is generally better than decks that are capable of performing awesome feats when the stars align. Keep your mana curve low, and be wary of excessive colored mana requirements in your spells. Generally you'll build two color decks since it's rare to get enough goodstuff to build a mono-color deck and building a three color deck can mess up your manabase. However some sets have good manafixing that make three color decks more realistic. Also don't be afraid to splash a third color if you pull a high value bomb like a planeswalker with minimal colored mana in its casting cost. If you pull such a bomb that you're considering splashing for, the value of mana-rocks or other color fixing sources increases a bit.

seconded for drafting IRL. I've been playing paper Magic for more than a decade and aside from MtGO being a dogshit program you lose a lot of the game online. It's frustrating that a simple misclick can cost you the game and being completely unable to read your opponent.

I'd probably pick Champion of Rhonas. While it's kind of chunky at 4G it has a nice ability and doesn't require as much devotion to two colors as a card like Wayward Servant (although wayward is also nice).

>constructed playable once rotation comes
I've been hearing this for years now, and for years now Standard has felt like it's getting worse and worse. I think there's a link.

Champion is a decent pick, and I'll give you credit it's the card that draftsim recommends. I didn't actually look at the pack before I posted it and it's honestly a tough call. IMO Champion is kinda subpar but your other options are Wayward Servant/Ahn-Crop Champion which are both fantastic but commit you to a color combo 1st pick. Warfire Javelineer is much needed removal but conditional to a certain strategy (again 1st pick). I can post more if you're interested.

Sure, go for it. Im still going to assume that this is pack 1 pick 1 unless you state something different

I don' think champion is subpar at all, it is a solid playable, and can be a bomb if you end up in a more ramp oriented strategy with a bunch of fatties.

>assume that this is pack 1 pick 1
agreed, it would be too much of a pain to track picks through forums posts
Like I said, I'm not a fan of him because at most he's gonna cheat 1 creature into play and unless you have an absurd bomb it's not that much value.

Slam the white cartouche desu senpai.

Khenra all the way, he may be two colors but he beats all of the other Rares/Uncommons (unless you are building on a strategy) and his ability effects everything on the board. You just can't get attached to Red/Green or you are fucked for the rest of the draft.

Personally I would pick the neheb, he is sweet in an aggressive rb deck. However I think compulsory rest and electrify are both very good and only put you in one color which is pretty important, I think those are the more conservative "correct" picks. Probably the rest, since there are two other really good red cards in the pack besides electrify

I agree that these are probably the best two picks in that pack and at the same CMC it comes down to if you want to play RB or RG, both solid in Amonkhet.

On to pick1 pack 3, dare anybody go for the meme rare?

Nope, Oketra's Attendant. Hopefully I am running white!

Always and forever the memerare. If you can't win with STYLE what's the point of even playing?
Electrify, maybe Soulstinger

Holy fuck shit is that seriously how bad removal has gotten in this game? 4 mana for 4 damage TO A CREATURE ONLY?

The biggest disappointment of the set, honestly. Even more than terrible Invocations.

great picks, I would also watch for Pitiless Vizier to wheel since he's got built in combat tricks

Giant Spider is also usually severely underrated so I would scoop that up with Fling 6-7th pick.
I think the downward spiral started in RtR, there's were actually options in SoI but yeah, Kaladesh had garbage removal. Theros was especially heinous.

Pack 4! I'm not gonna lie I think Drake Haven is far above everything else in this pack. I might start tracking picks since this is quickly turning into grab the bomb rare.

Obviously Forsake the Wordly is the answer.
Ahn-Crop Crasher is best after Drake Haven, right?

Haven is the likely slam-dunk here, but Horror can often do lot more work than it first appears.

Drake Haven seems cool, but it's also a build-around. Not sure how it's been in the format (as I don't usually draft), so it could be great, but it could be bad.

Cartouche of Solidarity looks like a solid pick, too, but I would probably choose Aven Wind Guide or Shimmerscale Drake for being big-butt fliers.

Assuming this is pack 4 and there are only common cards left, the two that I would choose between would be either shimmerscale or tah-crop skirmisher. shimmerscale is versitle and tah-crop can be played twice

I agree with the Horror, he can be an absolute blowout if your opponent double blocks and doesn't expect you to cycle more than one card
crop crasher seems very decent, especially if you pull any untap effect further down the road
There is a TON of cycling cards in Amonkhet so Haven isn't a tough build around to pull off, I would definitely keep my eye open for the Cartouche if it was fortunate enough to wheel

the last few packs had very obvious bomb rares so I rerolled until I got a more contentious one.

Well of course also the white cartouche as it gives you an extra dude

I really like fan bearer, but serpopard is a big boy for only 3 mana, tough choice between the two imo

Mam, that's a spicy pack.
Cat snake is a solid choice. Trades with any x/4 and btfos Essence Scatter which seems pretty popular. Blue Cartouche and Supply camel are bretty good too. Fan Bearer and Flameblade adept are solid 1 drops.

I would probably pick CatSnake and see where I go from there.

Serpopard or Charioteer.

this sounds like some season 1 yugioh type shit.

Well, I had one copy of tah-crop, a slither blade, an ancient crab, a seeker of insight, an oshra cultivator, a scribe of the mindful, a mangle horn and a naga vitalist, so I was pretty good in terms of early creatures that could do both defense and ramping. Also had two cartouches of knowledge for buffing up early and late game creatures, and censor, gale strike, and essence scatter for early game removal.

I actually almost ended up blitzing in my second game against the mana-flooded red aggro player.

since this is the closest thing to a standard general right now, I'm gonna post this here.

Opinions on this deck? I had a random idea and decided to out it together. it's nothing insane, but I really liked to the sound of it. Right now I only have the main deck, but I'm working on the sideboard. I know for sure it's gonna contain some number of aethersphere harvester against aggro and manglehorn for artifacts.

Mono Green Energy

Lands : 20
16 Forests
4 Aether Hub

Creatures: 22
4 Greenbelt Rampager
4 Longtusk Cub
4 Servant of the Conduit
3 Rhonas, the Indomitable
3 Electrostatic Pummeler
4 Bristling Hyrda

Instant: 4
4 Blossoming Defense

Sorcery: 10
4 Attune With Aether
4 Larger than Life
2 Nature's Way

Enchantment: 4
4 Sixth Sense

My top picks in order would be:
(Assuming pack 1 pick 1 for all three)
>champion of rhonas
>warfire javelineer
>essence scatter
>electrify
>compulsory rest
>Neheb, the Worthy
>approach of the second sun
>electrify
>oketras attendant

>prowling serpapords
>oketra's monument
>fan bearer

>at my first draft, only local place to play, 2014 core
>pull Garruk first pack
>only been playing for about a month, haven't ever seen a planeswalker irl before, let alone owned one
>made a green deck using whatever other cards i thought were cool
>sucked massive dicks, but don't really know what i'm doing
>came in last place
>"alright everyone, turn in your rares"
>hesitantly give Garruk
>first place immediately takes it
>due to bullshit rules, not only did first place get first pick, he got to pick again
>first got 4 rares, meaning last got 2
>get stuck with Colossal Whale and Liliana's Reaver
>pretty much lose all interest in playing magic, thinking that if you weren't good you never got good cards at drafts
>couple months later, find out that store got shut down
>guy who always came in first place didn't come in first place one night, so he didn't get the mythic rare he wanted
>so pissed he decides to report the store for redrafting

Card is a SUPER trap. Problem with it is its so expensive and just does nothing. If you're late in the game, your opponent can just sac a shitty 1/1 to live and then just beat you to death with a rusty spoon. Sand worm convergence is better because it stops your opponents from attacking AND you get a 5/5. Not the best, but for 7 mana you want abilities that end the game FAST rather than incrementally

That is so fucking cat temple its unbelievable. Every time I've seen that card it helps stabilize and push damage in a big way thanks to basically stapling a +1/+1 to every creature you cast. The fact you don't need to play white makes it easy first pick.

Why do oranges always scream like hungry goats when I bite them?

>had that card pack 1 two drafts ago
>ended up building removal'n'fliers.dek
>by the time I dropped it the opponent had no creatures on the field and I still would have removal in my hands
I was always happy to see it.

Did you remember to sneak some cards into your pool?

This guy won me every game in the prerelease. I also had the clone guy that embalms, so I would often get out 2 at once.

This card reminds me that I should get some amonketh bomb rares to sneak into my HoD prerelease pool.

Why cheat? Card games are meant to be fun man.

>draft at FNM last friday
>pack 1 rare is soul scar mage
>decided to build something around that
>warfire javelineer next
>figure I'll try and take a decent number of instants and sorceries
>end up taking mostly red and blue cards
>pack 2, Oketra
>hate pick it and think nothing of it, also splash black for a few decent instants
>prowling serpopard gets passed to me
>decide fuck it and end up going 5 colours
>come 2nd overall, only lost to a former judge who had been playing for a decade

I have learnt to just play joke decks because I always win with them.

Flavour text for this card right.

Aren't Planeswalkers outright near demi-gods, how can he just be held back like a punk if he can fight down monsters the size of small buildings.

How do you get good at riding a bike? By riding a bike.

I don't remember if it was DCI sanctioned or not. I don't think it was, as I don't recall giving them my DCI number - though I suppose they could look it up through my name (I've been told that's possible at other places). This was during original Ravnica, so like 6-7 years ago iirc, so reporting them now wouldn't do much. The store probably isn't even still open. But no, they didn't tell me they were going to do it, and it pissed me off since it was the only draft I had ever (and have ever) done that did that, and I lost a good and expensive card because of it. but there was 15-20 people there, and none of them threw a fuss, so I figured it was just the way that store did things and just didn't go back.

you just reminded me of the time when I played duel masters and won the weekly tournament due to a topdeck, then let myself get guilted by the guy into giving him one of my victory boosters which he proceeded to pull one of the most desired cards in the game (bolmeteus), which was also of the highest rarity tier

I think that experience helped shape me into the bitter, edgy wreck that I am today

teysa karlov is a crippled senior citizen but is physically stronger than a bear, power levels never make sense