Saw a link in my Google news feed just now promoting draftsim and decided to give it a whirl. Note I haven't played draft since Lorwyn, where I drafted green/black, mostly elves; and probably would have won, but threw the draft by going out of the way with a 60 card deck, instead of keeping it lean keeping it tight with 40 card deck. Below are the leftovers. I originally thought to draft black/white, but since protection seems non-existent among the set, it's obviously not necessary. And as the draft progressed, the prime content in my selection quickly shifted to a strong white dominance.
Kunoros was my first draft pick. And holy I Found The F is that card an abomination of a design. It wants to be waaay too self-sufficient, and is loaded with all kinds of stuff that other content should have been relied on to grant it. Really desperate and power-hungry. I think just vigilance would have been great. I would have maybe contemplated protection from enchantments. In the set, it serves as a double punisher, making it more of an immovable/unstoppable object that it seems to desire to be; while creating a unique restriction for the cost:power-level ratio. Although there are claims that this AI is really good, I think it has some kinks in it, just based on the fact that I was passed a Field of Ruin twice, and in a real draft environment I honestly don't believe that would have made its way to me through three people. Maybe just a hopeful result, but this is it none-the-less.
I'm not sure why you think Field of Ruin wouldn't get passed. There's not enough non-basics in this set to make that card playable, let alone good. I wouldn't even run it in the deck as you have. You're also not running enough lands. Usually you want 16-18 lands in a 40 card deck (this one can definitely get away with 16).
As far as rating the deck, it looks below average to me. If 5 is average, this is maybe a 4. Your deck is confused... It looks mostly aggressive, but then you have defensively statted stuff like Nyxborn Courser and Thaumaturge's Familiar, along with slow, value based cards like Idyllic Tutor and The Birth of Meletis. I think you gave up too much power by staying mono-white. I also think your deck needs to decide what it's trying to do and focus on that.
You don't think there are enough non-basics? Those Temples were all over the place.
This deck is running a 32% land base. What makes you think it needs a higher percentile clench than that?
I might have done some wasted grabs with a lot of the lands, but I lucked up at the end when I was able to grab that Underworld Fires—that's the nope. Same with Mire's Grasp at the beginning. A bit of an advanced tactic grabbing things that can be a major threat against you.
You don't think there are enough non-basics? Those Temples were all over the place.
They're rare and most people will only run them if they are in both colors. That means most decks will have 0-1 temples in them. But let's assume they do have a temple, they draw it, and you draw your Field. You spend your two mana to "get them" by killing their temple, which they then get to replace with whatever color basic they needed more. You're very unlikely to actually color screw them unless they were using that temple to splash a third color, AND they don't have a basic of that color. That's an extremely narrow scenario. This isn't Wasteland, it doesn't actually leave your opponent down a land. The main purpose of Field of Ruin is to kill lands with extra utility beyond tapping for mana (for instance, Field of the Dead). Leave this card for the constructed players and don't waste your precious draft picks on it.
This deck is running a 32% land base. What makes you think it needs a higher percentile clench than that?
Uh... My large amount of experience with this game? Very few decks can get away with less than 40% land. This is pretty much the established best practice for all Magic players in the know.
I might have done some wasted grabs with a lot of the lands, but I lucked up at the end when I was able to grab that Underworld Fires—that's the nope. Same with Mire's Grasp at the beginning. A bit of an advanced tactic grabbing things that can be a major threat against you.
Oh boy... This is NOT an advanced tactic. Hate drafting is way overrated by newer players. Think about it. In an 8 player draft where you end up playing 3 of the people you draft with... You have about a 43% chance of playing against the player who would have taken that card you took from them. Even if you do play them, there's a good chance they never draw that card. And in the narrow window where you play against that opponent, they draw the card, and it matters... Well it's still only affecting maybe one or two games out of the 6-9 games you play over the course of the draft, versus taking a card that you can put in your deck that could potentially make a difference EVERY SINGLE GAME. Sure if there's absolutely nothing useful in a pack for you, feel free to counter-draft. Otherwise, you're basically weakening your deck for a long-shot gamble that frequently won't matter.
Note that the replacement effect also enables you to 'cut the fat' in your own deck by removing a land draw, and additionally, can disrupt the very popular scry seen throughout the set. I honestly think if a person neglects the utility of icing cards that would be a major threat to them, they are missing out. Unless you're faced with an incredible grab, it's a no brainer. "This card is not something you want to be up against in a limited format." On average, there are about 7 grabs you have open to anything. You definitely want to use them for this purpose. That leaves another 7 grabs open to the demands of early draft, where you might have to make arrangements in response to possibly splashing into another color. I'd never call this overrated, but moreso is advanced, and is embodied by the great challenge of not getting carried away with icing too many grabs.
I've played Magic since 7th Edition, and in all my experience, a 40% percentile clench adulterates the consistency of the deck too much. You will get too many wasted land draws, and that will often kill you in keeping up with the game pace. Something like 32%~35% is a much more solid percentile clench for balancing between lands and your prime content.
Well if you want to compare experience I've been playing since Revised (3rd Ed) and playing limited pretty consistently since 8th Ed. If you don't believe me on the lands thing, check out the "3-0 deck compendium" in this very forum. You'll see approximately zero decks that run less than 16 lands. You can probably Google up some winning draft decks from recent Mythic Championships as well and see how many lands they were running. Again, I guarantee it's 16+ for nearly all of them.
It definitely helps to explain the low power level of your deck if you are wasting 7 picks on hate drafting. You seem pretty set in your ways though, so hey you do you. Best of luck in your future drafting!
If you don't believe me on the lands thing, check out the "3-0 deck compendium" in this very forum. You'll see approximately zero decks that run less than 16 lands. You can probably Google up some winning draft decks from recent Mythic Championships as well and see how many lands they were running. Again, I guarantee it's 16+ for nearly all of them.
Are they running fetch lands though? Because those count as two for one with the way they thin the deck down. They'll only see explicit success for this reason—the effect helps to unadulterate the deck's consistency. If you're not running fetch lands, then you have to secure your mathematical proportions for yourself (via the percentile clench).
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Kunoros was my first draft pick. And holy I Found The F is that card an abomination of a design. It wants to be waaay too self-sufficient, and is loaded with all kinds of stuff that other content should have been relied on to grant it. Really desperate and power-hungry. I think just vigilance would have been great. I would have maybe contemplated protection from enchantments. In the set, it serves as a double punisher, making it more of an immovable/unstoppable object that it seems to desire to be; while creating a unique restriction for the cost:power-level ratio. Although there are claims that this AI is really good, I think it has some kinks in it, just based on the fact that I was passed a Field of Ruin twice, and in a real draft environment I honestly don't believe that would have made its way to me through three people. Maybe just a hopeful result, but this is it none-the-less.
Creatures 15
1 Pious Wayfarer
1 Transcendent Envoy
1 Taranika, Akroan Veteran
1 Thaumaturge's Familiar
1 Sunmane Pegasus
1 Daybreak Chimera
2 Nyxborn Courser
3 Glory Bearers
4 Leonin of the Lost Pride
Spells 7
1 Phalanx Tactics
1 Revoke Existence
1 Idyllic Tutor
4 Karametra's Blessing
Enchantments 4
1 Sentinel's Eyes
1 Indomitable Will
1 The Birth of Meletis
1 Banishing Light
Artifacts 1
1 Soul-Guide Lantern
Lands 13
1 Temple of Enlightenment
2 Field of Ruin
10 Plains
The deck here is like God Bless the USA—or F**K YEAH AMERICA!
As far as rating the deck, it looks below average to me. If 5 is average, this is maybe a 4. Your deck is confused... It looks mostly aggressive, but then you have defensively statted stuff like Nyxborn Courser and Thaumaturge's Familiar, along with slow, value based cards like Idyllic Tutor and The Birth of Meletis. I think you gave up too much power by staying mono-white. I also think your deck needs to decide what it's trying to do and focus on that.
This deck is running a 32% land base. What makes you think it needs a higher percentile clench than that?
I might have done some wasted grabs with a lot of the lands, but I lucked up at the end when I was able to grab that Underworld Fires—that's the nope. Same with Mire's Grasp at the beginning. A bit of an advanced tactic grabbing things that can be a major threat against you.
They're rare and most people will only run them if they are in both colors. That means most decks will have 0-1 temples in them. But let's assume they do have a temple, they draw it, and you draw your Field. You spend your two mana to "get them" by killing their temple, which they then get to replace with whatever color basic they needed more. You're very unlikely to actually color screw them unless they were using that temple to splash a third color, AND they don't have a basic of that color. That's an extremely narrow scenario. This isn't Wasteland, it doesn't actually leave your opponent down a land. The main purpose of Field of Ruin is to kill lands with extra utility beyond tapping for mana (for instance, Field of the Dead). Leave this card for the constructed players and don't waste your precious draft picks on it.
Uh... My large amount of experience with this game? Very few decks can get away with less than 40% land. This is pretty much the established best practice for all Magic players in the know.
Oh boy... This is NOT an advanced tactic. Hate drafting is way overrated by newer players. Think about it. In an 8 player draft where you end up playing 3 of the people you draft with... You have about a 43% chance of playing against the player who would have taken that card you took from them. Even if you do play them, there's a good chance they never draw that card. And in the narrow window where you play against that opponent, they draw the card, and it matters... Well it's still only affecting maybe one or two games out of the 6-9 games you play over the course of the draft, versus taking a card that you can put in your deck that could potentially make a difference EVERY SINGLE GAME. Sure if there's absolutely nothing useful in a pack for you, feel free to counter-draft. Otherwise, you're basically weakening your deck for a long-shot gamble that frequently won't matter.
I've played Magic since 7th Edition, and in all my experience, a 40% percentile clench adulterates the consistency of the deck too much. You will get too many wasted land draws, and that will often kill you in keeping up with the game pace. Something like 32%~35% is a much more solid percentile clench for balancing between lands and your prime content.
It definitely helps to explain the low power level of your deck if you are wasting 7 picks on hate drafting. You seem pretty set in your ways though, so hey you do you. Best of luck in your future drafting!
Are they running fetch lands though? Because those count as two for one with the way they thin the deck down. They'll only see explicit success for this reason—the effect helps to unadulterate the deck's consistency. If you're not running fetch lands, then you have to secure your mathematical proportions for yourself (via the percentile clench).