Pack 1 pick 1:
Aerial Formation
Magma Spray
Eagle of the Watch
Font of Fertility
Pharika's Chosen
Font of Fortunes
--> War-Wing Siren
Satyr Grovedancer
Flurry of Horns
Dreadbringer Lampads
Nightmarish End
Forgeborn Oreads
Nyx Weaver
Harness by Force
Plains
I'm not sure about Harness by Force. Don't get me wrong, I see the potential, but it's only really great as a 6-mana sorcery and has that awful "doesn't help if you're losing" thing going on. I think War Wing Siren is just a more consistent card.
Pack 1 pick 2:
Lagonna-Band Trailblazer
Oakheart Dryads
Font of Return
Font of Fortunes
Magma Spray
Dreadbringer Lampads
Supply-Line Cranes
Thassa's Devourer
Desecration Plague
Flamespeaker's Will
Tormented Thoughts
Swarmborn Giant
--> Banishing Light
Forest
I still haven't seen that Swarmborn Giant in play. Is it good? Anyway I thought the new Oblivion Ring was an easy choice here.
Pack 1 pick 3:
Font of Fertility
Rotted Hulk
Godhunter Octopus
Rouse the Mob
Font of Vigor
Font of Ire
Aspect of Gorgon
Mortal Obstinacy
Pin to the Earth
--> Quarry Colossus
Dakra Mystic
Aegis of the Gods
Forest
Oh Quarry Colossus, my old buddy. I've been nothing but impressed with this card. It's won me games and it's yet to be stranded in my hand because of its cost. I'm going to keep riding it.
Pack 1 pick 4:
Hubris
Pensive Minotaur
Nature's Panoply
Nyx Infusion
Godhunter Octopus
Rise of Eagles
Satyr Grovedancer
Font of Ire
Bloodcrazed Hoplite
--> Whitewater Naiads
Disciple of Deceit
Plains
Mental note that Red might be open. That would be a real gamble though since someone downstream is likely in love with their Harness by Force, and BNG is where you get the best Red. You really can't draft Red in this block if you pass it in Pack 1.
Pack 1 pick 6:
--> Aerial Formation
Magma Spray
Font of Fertility
Satyr Grovedancer
Flurry of Horns
Dreadbringer Lampads
Bassara Tower Archer
Akroan Line Breaker
Stormchaser Chimera
Island
This is where I really considered going Red and grabbing that Line Breaker. But again I'd still be passing a Magma Spray and sending the wrong message to the seats that will control my BNG pack...I was too worried about that to pull the trigger.
Pack 1 pick 7:
--> Lagonna-Band Trailblazer
Oakheart Dryads
Font of Fortunes
Magma Spray
Dreadbringer Lampads
Desecration Plague
Flamespeaker's Will
Dictate of Kruphix
Mountain
Pack 1 pick 8:
Pensive Minotaur
Nyx Infusion
Godhunter Octopus
--> Rise of Eagles
Satyr Grovedancer
Font of Ire
Disciple of Deceit
Swamp
I've yet to try this card because I always have better curve toppers. I'm guessing its not great.
Pack 1 pick 9:
Aerial Formation
Magma Spray
Font of Fertility
--> Font of Fortunes
Flurry of Horns
Dreadbringer Lampads
Plains
Double Aerial Formation is asking for trouble. You rarely want more than one. Someone downstream has ALL THE MAGMA SPRAYS.
Pack 1 pick 10:
--> Font of Fortunes
Dreadbringer Lampads
Desecration Plague
Flamespeaker's Will
Tormented Thoughts
Forest
Pack 1 pick 11:
Godhunter Octopus
Font of Vigor
Font of Ire
--> Mortal Obstinacy
Forest
This card is sneaky good. Not something you draft highly, but also not something you should be embarrassed to play. It does enough on Heroes and generally has enough targets to be relevant as a 23rd card.
Pack 1 pick 12:
Godhunter Octopus
--> Rise of Eagles
Font of Ire
Plains
Pack 2 pick 1:
Nyxborn Wolf
Floodtide Serpent
Rise to the Challenge
Griffin Dreamfinder
Nyxborn Eidolon
Charging Badger
Kragma Butcher
Aspect of Hydra
Mortal's Resolve
Divination
--> Archetype of Courage
Thunderous Might
Pinnacle of Rage
Phenax, God of Deception
Plains
I think some folks would take and splash Phenax. I'm not sold -- my deck is not configured to work well with him. I don't have a lot of removal or high toughness creatures, plus as a splash he's never actually a creature himself. I resisted the temptation.
Pack 2 pick 2:
Evanescent Intellect
Epiphany Storm
Servant of Tymaret
Great Hart
Satyr Wayfinder
Retraction Helix
Impetuous Sunchaser
Culling Mark
Necrobite
Kragma Butcher
--> Ghostblade Eidolon
Gorgon's Head
Drown in Sorrow
Swamp
Pack 2 pick 3:
Floodtide Serpent
Felhide Brawler
Ephara's Radiance
Bolt of Keranos
Setessan Oathsworn
--> Fall of the Hammer
Cyclops of One-Eyed Pass
Crypsis
Culling Mark
Loyal Pegasus
Reap What Is Sown
Spiteful Returned
Island
Yikes, there is literally nothing good for my WU deck here. Fall is splashable if I'm desperate.
Pack 2 pick 5:
Scouring Sands
Felhide Brawler
Griffin Dreamfinder
Eye Gouge
--> Deepwater Hypnotist
Crypsis
Grisly Transformation
Peregrination
Archetype of Finality
Whims of the Fates
Plains
I don't feel like going deep with Dreamfinders.
Pack 2 pick 6:
Evanescent Intellect
Fearsome Temper
Hold at Bay
Setessan Starbreaker
Weight of the Underworld
Sphinx's Disciple
--> Divination
Archetype of Endurance
Lightning Volley
Mountain
Pack 2 pick 13:
--> Eye Gouge
Whims of the Fates
Plains
Pack 2 pick 14:
--> Evanescent Intellect
Mountain
Pack 2 pick 15:
--> Mountain
The BNG pack was pretty bad, but looking back I think it was just a whole bunch of bad print runs. No one did great, I wasn't passing anything of note.
------ THS ------
Pack 3 pick 1:
Pheres-Band Centaurs
Nylea's Presence
Minotaur Skullcleaver
Nimbus Naiad
Battlewise Valor
Silent Artisan
Time to Feed
Blood-Toll Harpy
Felhide Minotaur
Borderland Minotaur
Horizon Chimera
Heliod's Emissary
Triton Fortune Hunter
--> Celestial Archon
Island
Umm...Can I have the whole pack and just go to deck building? I would play the rare, all 3 uncommons, and 2 commons from this pack.
Pack 3 pick 2:
Loathsome Catoblepas
Omenspeaker
March of the Returned
Titan's Strength
Traveling Philosopher
Yoked Ox
Blood-Toll Harpy
Benthic Giant
Sedge Scorpion
Felhide Minotaur
Destructive Revelry
--> Phalanx Leader
Nylea's Emissary
Plains
Pack 3 pick 3:
Lightning Strike
Fleshmad Steed
Cavalry Pegasus
Spark Jolt
Returned Phalanx
Coastline Chimera
--> Voyage's End
Setessan Battle Priest
Ordeal of Purphoros
Tormented Hero
Favored Hoplite
Fleecemane Lion
Island
Pack 3 pick 4:
--> Divine Verdict
Sip of Hemlock
Fate Foretold
Portent of Betrayal
Defend the Hearth
Agent of Horizons
Setessan Battle Priest
Magma Jet
Anvilwrought Raptor
Cutthroat Maneuver
Ember Swallower
Mountain
Pack 3 pick 5:
Loathsome Catoblepas
March of the Returned
--> Aqueous Form
Asphodel Wanderer
Two-Headed Cerberus
Vulpine Goliath
Cavern Lampad
Boulderfall
Hunt the Hunter
Anthousa, Setessan Hero
Plains
Pack 3 pick 6:
Ephara's Warden
Sip of Hemlock
Stymied Hopes
Rage of Purphoros
Akroan Crusader
Cavern Lampad
Nemesis of Mortals
Evangel of Heliod
--> Meletis Charlatan
Forest
Round 1 vs. WB
Game 1 opponent started fast with Felhide Brawler and Nyxborn Eidolon but was stuck on 2 lands. Archetype of Courage shut down his offense. Triton Fortune Hunter picked up Aqueous Form. Chorus of the Tides joined for extra offense. Opponent got his 3rd land and played Servant of Tymaret. I played Prescrient Chimera, he drew for his turn and conceded.
Game 2 I mulliganed to 6. He got Brawler and Servant going again. I had Hypnotist to trade with Brawler. I Banished his Servant because I had on-curve spells to play for a while -- might as well get some value out of it now even if it's not the greatest target. I suited up Naiads with Ghostblade Eidolon (pretty sick combo when they're tapped out) and hit for 10. He was flailing with a Nyxborn Eidolon + Hopeful Eidolon. For some reason he attacked with that pairing instead of holding them back to chump, making me think he had removal for my Naiads, but he didn't and I just attacked for the win.
1-0
Round 2 vs. RW
Game 1 I mulliganed to 6. His first play was Elite Skirmisher. He killed my War-Wing with Fall of the Hammer. I threw Meletis Charlatan in the way of his Skirmisher, but he had Gods Willing to save it. He added a Line Breaker which I hit with Divine Verdict. Then I dumped Phalanx Leader and Chorus on the same turn, with Ghostblade in hand. Akroan Conscriptors on his side threatened to steal the game if he had an instant. He did, and he won by stealing my Leader + Ghostblade. Oh well -- it's not like Divine Verdict would have stopped the Conscriptors even if I had saved it.
Game 2 I was forced to mulligan for the 3rd straight game and kept a mana-heavy 6. It's not like I'd be favored to beat RW Aggro with a hand of 5 so I just kept it and hoped for the best. I forced him to use a trick early to kill my Meletis Charlatan -- actually doing good work drawing removal as a vanilla 2/3. I played Naiads to try to stabilize. Conscriptors came out and I figured I was in trouble, but I did have Quarry Colossus coming in 2 turns to get rid of that threat. This actually worked since he didn't have a trick in hand, and I was suddenly way ahead with Naiads and Colossus on board. Ghostblade + Aerial Formation on the next turn let me deal 16 for lethal. I really stole that one.
Game 3 I curved out with Trailblazer, Phalanx Leader, and Archetype but no spells to target Leader and really go off. Leader ate a Fall of the Hammer, then Archetype was taken out by Deicide. I was just trying to hang on to play my Quarry Colossus. Meletis Charlatan was hit with Lightning Strike, so I guess removal is bad. I drew all mana. He pumped a Line Breaker up to 8 power and took me down to 2 life. Quarry finally arrived and at least buried the Line Breaker. He just threw Gods Willing on a random 2/2 and pushed it through.
Another frustrating loss to RW. His deck was better than mine, it's not like he was winning with bad cards. It's just frustrating because I'm never in the seat that gets handed like 6 good removal spells and all the Aggro that comprise the best deck in the format.
1-1
Round 3 vs. GU
Game 1 I got the Trailblazer and Leader draw again, with Chosen by Heliod to make them reasonable. He got Setessan Oathsworn + Ordeal of Thassa which was brutal. I Banish'd it just to get rid of the 4/4, but I was color-screwed lacking Blue and drawing Blue cards. He played Thassa's Ire and Bident of Thassa, two cards that ensure long term victory but at the moment were not doing anything. Luckily I drew into an Island. I Ghostblade'd my Leader so that it couldn't get killed by Sedge Scorpion. He chumped with it anyway and went to 8. His Bident was now useless since he forced to block, and using all his mana for Ire to stop my 4/6 Double Strike would just ruin him slowly, so he conceded.
I'm not a fan of Thassa's Ire and this match only reinforced that opinion. It's essentially a dead card until the very late game, because otherwise you're just stunting your own board development to tap something.
Game 2 saw early Leader again, this time with plenty of tricks. He pumped up his friend Deepwater Hypnotist, who can become quite powerful once he's large enough to attack freely. First I traded Ajani's Presence for Agent of Horizons, then I slapped Mortal Obstinacy and Aerial Formation on Leader to try to destroy Thassa's Ire. He chumped with Chorus instead to protect the Ire. (Fine with me -- given the choice I would much rather destroy the creature AND keep my enchantment removal threat.) Divine Verdict cleared out his Scorpion to keep the pressure on. He chumped with a Flitterstep Eidolon. He was just too far behind and conceded after one more chump block.
2-1
For all the promise of Celestial Archon, I never even drew it.
I enjoyed playing with this deck. It had a lot of different ways to be explosive -- early Phalanx Leader, Naiads with Ghostblade Eidolon, Quarry Colossus to swing the game, etc. It played a lot more consistently than it might look on paper.
I'm much higher on Harness by Force, Mortal Obstinacy, and Rise of Eagles than you are, but the first card is the only one that would have impacted by draft. I think I'd have run a copy of Rise over that Divination in your deck, especially with the Naiads to synergize.
I've been enjoying reading your 'caps so far in this format, especially since I feel like one of our sets of card evaluations is super off-base. I'm excited to find out whose, eventually!
I'm glad you're posting all these. Good for discussion for the new format, good for everyone to improve. I'm learning a lot from reading these.
Rise of the Eagles is only worth it with a lot of Constellation IMO. Otherwise too expensive.
I would have valued Harness by Force pretty highly. Act of Treason wins games on its own. Why kill a Voltron when you can just use it instead? Having optional Insurrection-mode is just nutty. I would have P1P1 this, then seen Magma Sprays and other good red stuff and committed to red early. And then apparently would have been rewarded for it handsomely later.
Given your color choices though:
P1P3 I'd have gone Pin to the Earth over Quarry Colossus. Colossus is expensive and commits you to being Wx instead of having white as a minor color. I guess it's been good to you in the past. Generally I tried to avoid committing too heavily to a color this early.
P1P7 Not Dictate?? Your other options aren't amazing.
P2P1 Phenax. Worth splashing. Who cares if it makes a creature. He just wins games in slow decks and you have enough picks left to pounce on a bunch of big butts. Especially good if you had grabbed the blue Dictate earlier.
P2P2 Retraction Helix. Eidolon double strike is nice but Retraction Helix just does so much. Then again, I think I value Helix more highly than most people.
P2P3 Had you grabbed Phenax, you had some options here. Even otherwise, why don't you like Crypsis? Strong combat trick, works well with Heroic and Inspired. There's no way in hell you're splashing red after passing on splashing for Phenax and passing all that red pack 1. So this is really just a hate pick to punish the red player.
P3P3 No Favored Hoplite? You have heroic enablers and just grabbed Phalanx Leader... Voyage's End is good but more Heroic seems better.
P3P4 Oh monored player to your left, your patience hath rewarded thee.
P3P6 Evangel of Heliod? You're already committed to being white heavy for Quarry Colossus and you have crazy synergy with Phalanx Leader.
P3P11 Cavalry Pegasus? You have a number of Heroic humans.
RE RW aggro deck and not getting lucky enough to get handed 6 removal spells and good aggro...:
You passed left 4 Magma Sprays, Akroan Line-Breaker, Ember Swallower, Harness by Force, Magma Jet, Favored Hoplite, Akroan Crusader, Lightning Strike, Ordeal of Purphoros, Borderland Minotaur, Minotaur Skullcleaver...
There are plenty of reasons not to take red, but when you face a strong red deck that has all the removal and aggro after passing so much, can't really chalk it up to luck. I guess just be prepared to beat it. This is another reason I would have gone black for Phenax, since you need big butts to beat all the aggro that you passed.
I would have built my deck very differently. Crypsis over Divine Verdict, Fate Foretold over Divination, and Floodtide Serpent over Meletis Charlatan. The top of your curve is very strong and you have excellent cheap heroic cards, so I feel you should have been playing a more combat-oriented midgame. Additionally, you have many more efficient enablers for the Serpent (lots of bestow, heroic, cantrip auras, and other minor synergies) than the Charlatan (Divination and maybeDivine Verdict).
Yeah. Actually I think you're a bit light on Heroic enablers, with just 5 (6cc bestow doesnt count as a reliable enabler). I'd have maindecked Crypsis and Fate Foretold, definitely over Divination. I've noticed that you really seem to hate Crypsis. I don't know why. I've had good experiences with it.
I appreciate the comments about the Heroic enablers. I honestly don't know how to rate them when I'm not going for Heroic Aggro. I was also worried about my creature count. 14 creatures is on the light side -- against an opponent with removal, I might be stuck in scenarios where Crypsis or Fate Foretold would be literally unplayable for lack of targets. That's why I chose Divination over Fate.
I probably should have played either Crypsis or Fate over Aqueous Form -- that really didn't belong in this deck. My plan was not to beat down and then sneak in the last few points.
As for Charlatan vs. Serpent, that's just a curve issue. You can't just play 5 drops over 3 drops in this block with impunity. Eventually you'll get steamrolled by RW for trying that.
I guess that's what I'm really struggling with in this format right now. I know RW is the best deck -- there's no question, it's still dominant and the only way it's not is if it's overdrafted. I hate drafting the consensus best but often overdrafted archetype. I find that boring -- I'd rather play a different game if that's the dominant strategy because to me that's like playing Checkers instead of Chess. I guess subconsciously that's why I talked myself out of Harness by Force. I don't want it to be a first pick card, because if it is that means Red is still broken and my days drafting this format are numbered.
But Red is broken unless it's overdrafted -- so I'm basically hosed. I should probably just quit drafting JBT and hope the next block doesn't have such busted aggro and I can enjoy it in peace.
I guess that's what I'm really struggling with in this format right now. I know RW is the best deck -- there's no question, it's still dominant and the only way it's not is if it's overdrafted. I hate drafting the consensus best but often overdrafted archetype. I find that boring -- I'd rather play a different game if that's the dominant strategy because to me that's like playing Checkers instead of Chess. I guess subconsciously that's why I talked myself out of Harness by Force. I don't want it to be a first pick card, because if it is that means Red is still broken and my days drafting this format are numbered.
But Red is broken unless it's overdrafted -- so I'm basically hosed. I should probably just quit drafting JBT and hope the next block doesn't have such busted aggro and I can enjoy it in peace.
Hope my comments weren't discouraging. JBT seems fun and I think a lot of us are enjoying reading through all your Swiss drafts. I've made some colossal mistakes in my drafts. Still figuring out the format.
Hey, if you don't like RW don't play RW and don't take the Harness. In BTT I had a lot of fun and success giving the middle finger to aggro and drafting rogue archetypes like Chromantibrews, UB Walls+Phenax and RU Flamespeaker tempo even though RW is suppposedly the best. Aggro's not the only game in town. I think the pros agree hatedrafting is suboptimal, so no reason you should have tried to cut that red. But, maybe just seeing how much aggro was going by, prioritizing anti-aggro cards in drafting and deck construction might make the difference. Just a matter of adapting.
I'm still trying to figure out how to not lose to monored in JJJ.
Hey thanks for the comments. I didn't take what you said as discouraging -- I think the format is discouraging. I'm in my 6th JBT right now, and I'm officially not having fun anymore. Having flashbacks to BTT.
I'm not going to write up my last 2 drafts because I don't really care anymore, I'm done with the format. Just to give you an idea why, read this summary of my latest Round 2 loss (after losing to RW in Round 1). I was playing a not very good GB deck.
Round 2 vs. RGW
Game 1 he powered out a Turn 4 Asp thanks to Voyaging Satyr. He cycled Warrior's Lesson on it, then played Swarmborn Giant. For some reason he didn't block my Leucrocota and sac'd his Giant...I guess he just doesn't really know what he's doing. Now I'm going to be so embarrassed when he beats me with that Asp. He followed up with Thunder Brute. I double blocked his Asp with Leucro and Snake of the Golden Grove, and took the 5 Brute damage. He attacked with Brute again, and I went to 10 rather than block with my Humbler and risk a trick blowing me out. (I had Lash of the Whip to set up for the next turn.) He played Bolt of Keranos to my face putting me at 7. He chumped with Voyaging Satyr, then played Fearsome Temper on his Brute...but thanks to his unnecessary chump block, he did not have enough mana to activate the "can't block" ability so he walked into my trap for a 2-for-1. I cleaned up from there as he did not play another creature. I did not deserve that win at all -- even a mediocre competent player would have beat me.
Game 2 I had to mull to 5 and keep a bad hand. Fortunately his opening plays were not that strong -- all he did for Turns 1-4 was beat down with a 1/1 Hoplite. Finally he played Asp but I was able to counter his play with Anthousa. Pinnacle of Rage hit my Blood Toll Harpy and me for 3. Snake of the Golden Grove earned me some life back. He put Leafcrown Dryad on his Hoplite. It was basically a staredown now until he got Monstrous mana for his Asp. Thunder Brute showed up again. I added Humbler of Mortals. This game wasn't going anywhere fast. Destructive Revelry killed my Humbler, then Bolt of Keranos on my Tromper. I slapped Raised by Wolves and Spiteful Returned on Anthousa and decided to start attacking. He threw his Asp in the way which is exactly what I wanted, since I had no way to deal with it if he drew his 7th land. His Hoplite also got Raised by Wolves. He broke the stalemate by landing Fearsome Temper on his Hoplite and making it effectively unblockable since it was so late in the game.
Game 3 I went down to 6 cards and he went down to 4. He still managed a Turn 5 Raised by Wolves on a 1/4 (Karametra's whatever) and a Turn 6 Thunder Brute. He successfully played around my Lash by not attacking into it. He played Swarmborn Giant and gave it Messenger's Speed but didn't attack since he couldn't block on the next turn. (I feel like I taught this guy how to play Magic -- he's no longer making the mistakes he learned in Game 1.) He topdecked Pinnacle of Rage which killed my Warchief and domed me, and left me wide open to Swarmborn Giant. Really the perfect topdeck. My hand at this point was Humbler of Mortals and Anthousa which I couldn't play because I only had 1 Forest, Asphyxiate which I just drew this turn and couldn't play because his only creature was tapped (if I drew it a turn earlier I would have had an easy 2-for-1 and probably the win) and Fall of the Hammer which I can't play because I don't have a creature in play anymore.
Just to reiterate...I lost to a noob playing a 3 color mana base who mulliganed to 4. Read that Game 1 description again, and then realize I LOST TO HIM AFTER HE MULLIGANED TO 4. Now you'll understand why I'm done with JBT. See you in the Fall.
After a very successful run in TTT with 6x 3-0 finishes, I haven't won a queue in about 20 tries dating back to the tail end of TTT.
I'm honestly reconsidering if this game is for me anymore. I don't think I'm good enough to compete even at Swiss tables anymore, which means I should get a new hobby. I used to be better. I almost qualified for the Tour in Scars of Mirrodin block. Then...I dunno, something happened? The skills I've developed are no longer being rewarded and that is disheartening. I'm drafting based on widely held opinions of cards...I'm not going rogue, I'm staying up to date on the meta, etc. I don't understand how to play this game at a competitive level right now. Based on the economics of how Limited works, if you're never winning tables you're just bad at your way-too-expensive hobby.
This is not the type of hobby where you can say "I don't want like RW so I just won't draft it." It's too expensive to play like that, you can't throw wins away on principle. You can do that if you're messing around with casual decks, that's about it. Otherwise I can't afford to play like that.
I wish I understood the problem. I'm still rated around 1770. I'm meticulously tracking my games, getting opinions from all of you, analyzing my plays. When I listen to well respected podcasts and stuff like that, I agree with the Pros 99% of the time on their card evaluations. I guess that's not good enough to even win a Swiss queue anymore in 20 tries. Has the competition gotten better? I don't know but I don't feel like throwing away my money anymore to try to figure it out.
TBH, I'm in the same boat as you, but with some additional reasons. I haven't drafted JBT (nor JJJ) and decided not to. I played a pre-release sealed and went 0-3-drop. Like the games you just related, I just kept getting beating by utter bad luck, mulligans and weaker players.
I was already more than tired of the block, having stop to draft BTT for about a month.
My main beef right now are that I cannot draft and redeem sets. Wizards lowly but surely made sure I can't:
1. Mythics making harder to fill a set, skew cards prices and make the hardest card to fill out also be the most expensive ones, made worse by the effect mythics have on redemption vs card availability.
2. Making what was supposed to be a nominal fee to convert digital cards into paper ones a complete joke: redemption cost raise from 5 to 25, shipping costs to canada ridiculously high and declared value raised above the tax duty threshold (by a lot!), so that redemption costs for a single set now is more than 80$. That's after paying full-price for boosters and tix online? All these fee Wizards has direct control on. The redemption fee used to be low. The declared value also. They chose to screw their customers.
3. I just can't ever open the money mythics. Ever since after DKA, I have no luck opening the top-5 money cards. For example in BTT, the only money card I've open is the cat-king. Planeswalker, gods, phoenix, etc... none.
SO I just bought paper singles instead and, while I skipped on high-priced mythics, I bought all the rares and mythics for BOTH BNG and JOU I wanted for about the same price as only the redemption overhead of a single set. And I got not one copy of some rares but sometimes playsets. (For example daring thief, bearer of heavens, ...) Sure, I don't have Keranos and other 30+ mythics, but I could for less money than drafting them online + redemption.
That probably means I won't play online anymore. Unless the fall set is awesome or Wizards revert their redepmtion policies, I'm done with MTGO. And I suppose I will be done with Magic as well in the middle term as the interest will wane. I'll attend the paper pre-release this fall, maybe. I may draft some cube online, but maybe not as I won't have the reflex to log on anymore.
I liked Magic, but it was a time and money sink, but at least I used to have paper cards to play at home if I wanted. Not anymore. The recent spat of bad luck and late-set boredom just sealed the deal.
Hey thanks for the comments. I didn't take what you said as discouraging -- I think the format is discouraging. I'm in my 6th JBT right now, and I'm officially not having fun anymore. Having flashbacks to BTT.
I'm not going to write up my last 2 drafts because I don't really care anymore, I'm done with the format. Just to give you an idea why, read this summary of my latest Round 2 loss (after losing to RW in Round 1). I was playing a not very good GB deck.
Round 2 vs. RGW
Game 1 he powered out a Turn 4 Asp thanks to Voyaging Satyr. He cycled Warrior's Lesson on it, then played Swarmborn Giant. For some reason he didn't block my Leucrocota and sac'd his Giant...I guess he just doesn't really know what he's doing. Now I'm going to be so embarrassed when he beats me with that Asp. He followed up with Thunder Brute. I double blocked his Asp with Leucro and Snake of the Golden Grove, and took the 5 Brute damage. He attacked with Brute again, and I went to 10 rather than block with my Humbler and risk a trick blowing me out. (I had Lash of the Whip to set up for the next turn.) He played Bolt of Keranos to my face putting me at 7. He chumped with Voyaging Satyr, then played Fearsome Temper on his Brute...but thanks to his unnecessary chump block, he did not have enough mana to activate the "can't block" ability so he walked into my trap for a 2-for-1. I cleaned up from there as he did not play another creature. I did not deserve that win at all -- even a mediocre competent player would have beat me.
Game 2 I had to mull to 5 and keep a bad hand. Fortunately his opening plays were not that strong -- all he did for Turns 1-4 was beat down with a 1/1 Hoplite. Finally he played Asp but I was able to counter his play with Anthousa. Pinnacle of Rage hit my Blood Toll Harpy and me for 3. Snake of the Golden Grove earned me some life back. He put Leafcrown Dryad on his Hoplite. It was basically a staredown now until he got Monstrous mana for his Asp. Thunder Brute showed up again. I added Humbler of Mortals. This game wasn't going anywhere fast. Destructive Revelry killed my Humbler, then Bolt of Keranos on my Tromper. I slapped Raised by Wolves and Spiteful Returned on Anthousa and decided to start attacking. He threw his Asp in the way which is exactly what I wanted, since I had no way to deal with it if he drew his 7th land. His Hoplite also got Raised by Wolves. He broke the stalemate by landing Fearsome Temper on his Hoplite and making it effectively unblockable since it was so late in the game.
Game 3 I went down to 6 cards and he went down to 4. He still managed a Turn 5 Raised by Wolves on a 1/4 (Karametra's whatever) and a Turn 6 Thunder Brute. He successfully played around my Lash by not attacking into it. He played Swarmborn Giant and gave it Messenger's Speed but didn't attack since he couldn't block on the next turn. (I feel like I taught this guy how to play Magic -- he's no longer making the mistakes he learned in Game 1.) He topdecked Pinnacle of Rage which killed my Warchief and domed me, and left me wide open to Swarmborn Giant. Really the perfect topdeck. My hand at this point was Humbler of Mortals and Anthousa which I couldn't play because I only had 1 Forest, Asphyxiate which I just drew this turn and couldn't play because his only creature was tapped (if I drew it a turn earlier I would have had an easy 2-for-1 and probably the win) and Fall of the Hammer which I can't play because I don't have a creature in play anymore.
Just to reiterate...I lost to a noob playing a 3 color mana base who mulliganed to 4. Read that Game 1 description again, and then realize I LOST TO HIM AFTER HE MULLIGANED TO 4. Now you'll understand why I'm done with JBT. See you in the Fall.
He's playing high variance cards and got lucky. You were playing an admittedly bad deck and lost. How did you really intend to punish him when his manabase failed him, anyway? Slow centaur beatdowns that fall apart with the first big thing he plays? Frankly, apart from his bad plays, I'm not sure that you should have been favored in that match in the first place, even with all the chaff he's playing.
I think one problematic theme that I've seen in your drafting is that you value consistency too highly in this format at the expense of doing something powerful. My most memorable experience in this block was in TTT when I went 5-0 at my LGS with a straight up BW reanimator deck, running 2 Returned Centaur, 3Rescue from the Underworld, 2 Gray Merchant of Asphodel, and 1 Ashen Rider. It was a hilarious technical nightmare, but I had a solid heroic base that could interact with the aggro menace and a lategame that was unbeatable. The games that I lost via not getting my pieces together were far less than those I would have lost from being outmuscled. Another time in BTT, I played a UB deck with 12 removal spells (including maindeck Weight of the Underworld) and Marshmist Titan as my best wincon. I went 3-1, only losing to a guy who was playing a "take all the bombs" deck.
The two things that you absolutely have to be doing in this block are playing powerful effects and interacting with your opponent, frequently via combat tricks. That's why I value Crypsis and Fate Foretold higher than Divination in 90% of decks, even though you can't always play them. You're letting your fear of RW cripple you: the way to beat it is not by submitting weak "gum up the ground" decks that lose to everything else in the format, but by thinking of the blowout losses as acceptable variance and doing things that they can't ever beat. I have never felt so rewarded for going deep as I have in this format.
My main beef right now are that I cannot draft and redeem sets. Wizards lowly but surely made sure I can't:
This. Redemption is getting nuts. I've played 50+ BTT drafts online, pseudo-infinite at fairly low cost thanks to a high win rate, supplemented by some premier sealed events, and I'm still short on my redemption sets. This is partly because I had to sell Stormbreath Dragons and Elspeths and Kiora and Brimazes to sustain drafting during slumps. At $120 initial investment I now literally have all of THS and BNG except for 7 Gods and 2 Planeswalkers. How many more events before I see them? It's not like they ever get passed so this boils down to complete luck. I'm reluctant to switch to JBT since I'm missing mostly Theros cards and I'll have better chances of seeing them with more theros packs. At this point, I wonder whether I should keep trying to sustain drafting until I find them or just use my accrued tix and a bit of extra cash to buy the missing pieces.
I was even considering doing it until I found out about the increase to redemption cost. I live in Canada too, so it's freaking expensive. $120 + a bit more cash seemed to me an acceptable cost for getting paper sets of both THS and BNG. But with all the extra fees, and the fact that redemption sets are now retailing at 90 tix from the bots... Maybe I should just keep drafting until I run out and forget about redemptions.
I remember aggressively drafting triple GTC and triple R2R and both finding the formats more fun and finding it easier to complete sets. And at least you got paper shocks out of it. Theros will be a whole bunch of paper chaff nobody wants 3 years from now.
I think one problematic theme that I've seen in your drafting is that you value consistency too highly in this format at the expense of doing something powerful.
This is interesting because if you listen to the best drafters in the world, they preach consistency, consistency, consistency. You hear reviews all the time like "I can see the scenario where this card goes off and wins you the game, but I'm never putting it in my deck, I'd rather have something that performs consistently."
You seem to be going in the opposite direction.
It's like the age-old debate of do you draft to maximize your chance of winning each match, or your chance of going 3-0? In practice those are two very different goals. If you're trying to maximize your chance of going 3-0, you should probably start every draft by forcing one of the best decks in the meta and only moving when it becomes obvious that it's not open. If you're trying to maximize your chance of winning each match, you read signals from the start and move into less powerful archetypes to secure better overall card quality and let other people fight over the popular colors.
I guess I'm doing the latter, because I almost always go 2-1 in Swiss drafts. I literally haven't gone 0-3 once in Theros block (40+ drafts). Even with the bad deck I summarized above, I won the 0-2 vs. 0-2 match and got my pity pack. Like I said, I still have what I consider to be a solid rating that moves between 1750 and 1800, I know I'm not drastically misplaying, and while I get lost in drafts sometimes I'm never running terrible spells or shaky mana or a 42 card deck.
Part of the problem is economics. I wish I had an arbitrarily large sum of money to dedicate to the game so that I could play it without worrying about costs. Then I could test strategies like the value of forcing a top archetype vs. reading signals, or refusing to draft a certain color because I dislike it. The problem is that the way the system works, you pay dearly for doing anything other than trying to maximize your returns.
Another issue I have is that while I have plenty of time during matches, I often take early picks to time because I'm trying to work out all the possibilities. It's a lot easier in hindsight to say "Hmm was that 5th pick Cranes a signal? I would have given that more consideration and maybe moved out of Green, because you've only seen 1 good Green card so far" etc etc. That's analyzing the flow of the draft with unlimited time for thoughtful analysis. When you have like 40 seconds to do this stuff, you're going to make mistakes. I wish they gave more time for the middle draft picks of each pack where the important stuff actually happens. Frankly I'd be fine with like 30 seconds for the first pick -- it's often obvious -- and longer time for my 4th or 5th pick where I have to make an actual decision that will determine my fate. A Timeout option would be nice too...maybe once per draft, you get to call Timeout and get an extra minute to think.
There might be a middle ground where you draft a consistent deck that splashes something bomby. This could be luck, but I've found I've had better chances of going 3-0 in this format with semi-unfair decks than with fair decks. I've gotten a lot of frustrating 1-1s and 2-1s on fair decks, since if any of your 3 opponents is doing something unfair or just gets a luckier draw than you, a fair deck is disadvantaged. Assuming both drafters are competent, this leaves you at the mercy of lady luck. Whereas a deck with unfair potential still has a chance to recover from a less lucky draw than the opponent.
Going all-in on inconsistent bombiness seems risky, but there's probably a middle ground where you play a solid core and dabble in something ridiculous.
This is true, would it not be Theros block we're drafting. Or heck, any block past scars.
Bestow and Monstrous are superswingy mechanics and most games are not decided by consistent curves and chipping down opponents, but instead they're decided by whomever gets the first uncontested giant dude on the table. On top of that, WotC is making creatures stronger and stronger and stronger and removal weaker and weaker and weaker. As a result games -especially limited ones- shorter and shorter. In shorter games variance is more important than in longer games. In shorter games, consistency will not really show its face. In 2010, putting an Aura on a creature in turn 3 would have been called a beginner's mistake. In 2014 it is more often than not the correct play.
I wouldn't say that it's everything post-Scars. Return to Ravnica block (especially Gatecrash) rewarded consistency and a clean curve like no other, so much so that in the intended 3-color format of DGR it was still a winning strategy to stick to 2. Consistency is usually absolutely the best path to success.
Theros requires a different approach from usual draft though. Usually when you're a control deck playing against an aggro deck in limited, you can just play a bigger creature and stabilize. If they have a trick, it's just a 1-for-1 that you can usually play around. Heroic and Bestow means that it's impossible to fully stabilize a board outside of the absolute biggest creatures like Nessian Asp. That's why midrange decks like non-constellation BG, non-heroic WG, and Asp-less RG generally suck in this format: they aren't good against their usual best matchups, and they aren't doing anything powerful enough to overcome a fairly decent control archetype. UG, on the other hand, is very good because blue has good tricks and bounce to punish aggro, plays an efficient enough tempo game to win with a good curve, and has fliers with which to break parity before aggro's beaters do.
Basically Phyrre, while I still value consistency, I don't value it over being able to match what your opponent is doing. If your deck can't deal with stuff like a monstrous Asp, can't break through it, and still can't punish aggro... why are you playing that deck? I do feel the pain when it comes to economics though. There's a big discrepancy between a 2-1 deck and a 3-0 deck in this format that's difficult to overcome if you want to be sure of avoiding an 0-3 at all costs. That's why I don't draft on MTGO, to be honest.
I'm starting to think Black is just really bad in this format, because its removal does not stand up to the quality of creatures and combinations of Auras and tricks that exist in the format. There's nothing approximating Doom Blade. Most of the Black removal only hits smaller creatures or is highly conditional. Its creatures generally don't do that well in combat because they're neither Heroic nor Monstrous. I just don't see the appeal of Black in this format as anything but a support color.
I've calmed down a bit from my tilt loss on Tuesday night. I'm still not sure if I want to keep drafting JBT but if I'm in a good mood I might give it another try. I just don't like this feeling of "Do I draft a good deck, or do I draft a deck that might go 3-0 or 0-3 depending on what my opponents draft around me?" That's often a sign of an unbalanced format when those two goals are different. The RW decks in this format fit this description perfectly -- they are either unstoppable, or piles of garbage since they need so many different components working together: Heroes, Bestows, and tricks. The deck falls apart when it's not open because there's no such thing as Red Control in this block, it's not supported at all. Once you start drafting Red, you have to go for Aggro, there's no reasonable Plan B.
Thanks for the comments here though, this has been one of the most productive discussions from any of my draft caps even if it got a bit off the rails.
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------ JOU ------
Pack 1 pick 1:
Aerial Formation
Magma Spray
Eagle of the Watch
Font of Fertility
Pharika's Chosen
Font of Fortunes
--> War-Wing Siren
Satyr Grovedancer
Flurry of Horns
Dreadbringer Lampads
Nightmarish End
Forgeborn Oreads
Nyx Weaver
Harness by Force
Plains
I'm not sure about Harness by Force. Don't get me wrong, I see the potential, but it's only really great as a 6-mana sorcery and has that awful "doesn't help if you're losing" thing going on. I think War Wing Siren is just a more consistent card.
Pack 1 pick 2:
Lagonna-Band Trailblazer
Oakheart Dryads
Font of Return
Font of Fortunes
Magma Spray
Dreadbringer Lampads
Supply-Line Cranes
Thassa's Devourer
Desecration Plague
Flamespeaker's Will
Tormented Thoughts
Swarmborn Giant
--> Banishing Light
Forest
I still haven't seen that Swarmborn Giant in play. Is it good? Anyway I thought the new Oblivion Ring was an easy choice here.
Pack 1 pick 3:
Font of Fertility
Rotted Hulk
Godhunter Octopus
Rouse the Mob
Font of Vigor
Font of Ire
Aspect of Gorgon
Mortal Obstinacy
Pin to the Earth
--> Quarry Colossus
Dakra Mystic
Aegis of the Gods
Forest
Oh Quarry Colossus, my old buddy. I've been nothing but impressed with this card. It's won me games and it's yet to be stranded in my hand because of its cost. I'm going to keep riding it.
Pack 1 pick 4:
Hubris
Pensive Minotaur
Nature's Panoply
Nyx Infusion
Godhunter Octopus
Rise of Eagles
Satyr Grovedancer
Font of Ire
Bloodcrazed Hoplite
--> Whitewater Naiads
Disciple of Deceit
Plains
Another of my early format faves.
Pack 1 pick 5:
Sigiled Skink
--> Ajani's Presence
Stonewise Fortifier
Triton Shorestalker
Renowned Weaver
Bladetusk Boar
Cruel Feeding
Mortal Obstinacy
Interpret the Signs
Rollick of Abandon
Plains
Mental note that Red might be open. That would be a real gamble though since someone downstream is likely in love with their Harness by Force, and BNG is where you get the best Red. You really can't draft Red in this block if you pass it in Pack 1.
Pack 1 pick 6:
--> Aerial Formation
Magma Spray
Font of Fertility
Satyr Grovedancer
Flurry of Horns
Dreadbringer Lampads
Bassara Tower Archer
Akroan Line Breaker
Stormchaser Chimera
Island
This is where I really considered going Red and grabbing that Line Breaker. But again I'd still be passing a Magma Spray and sending the wrong message to the seats that will control my BNG pack...I was too worried about that to pull the trigger.
Pack 1 pick 7:
--> Lagonna-Band Trailblazer
Oakheart Dryads
Font of Fortunes
Magma Spray
Dreadbringer Lampads
Desecration Plague
Flamespeaker's Will
Dictate of Kruphix
Mountain
Pack 1 pick 8:
Pensive Minotaur
Nyx Infusion
Godhunter Octopus
--> Rise of Eagles
Satyr Grovedancer
Font of Ire
Disciple of Deceit
Swamp
I've yet to try this card because I always have better curve toppers. I'm guessing its not great.
Pack 1 pick 9:
Aerial Formation
Magma Spray
Font of Fertility
--> Font of Fortunes
Flurry of Horns
Dreadbringer Lampads
Plains
Double Aerial Formation is asking for trouble. You rarely want more than one. Someone downstream has ALL THE MAGMA SPRAYS.
Pack 1 pick 10:
--> Font of Fortunes
Dreadbringer Lampads
Desecration Plague
Flamespeaker's Will
Tormented Thoughts
Forest
Pack 1 pick 11:
Godhunter Octopus
Font of Vigor
Font of Ire
--> Mortal Obstinacy
Forest
This card is sneaky good. Not something you draft highly, but also not something you should be embarrassed to play. It does enough on Heroes and generally has enough targets to be relevant as a 23rd card.
Pack 1 pick 12:
Godhunter Octopus
--> Rise of Eagles
Font of Ire
Plains
Pack 1 pick 13:
Triton Shorestalker
--> Rollick of Abandon
Plains
Pack 1 pick 14:
--> Dreadbringer Lampads
Island
Pack 1 pick 15:
--> Mountain
------ BNG ------
Pack 2 pick 1:
Nyxborn Wolf
Floodtide Serpent
Rise to the Challenge
Griffin Dreamfinder
Nyxborn Eidolon
Charging Badger
Kragma Butcher
Aspect of Hydra
Mortal's Resolve
Divination
--> Archetype of Courage
Thunderous Might
Pinnacle of Rage
Phenax, God of Deception
Plains
I think some folks would take and splash Phenax. I'm not sold -- my deck is not configured to work well with him. I don't have a lot of removal or high toughness creatures, plus as a splash he's never actually a creature himself. I resisted the temptation.
Pack 2 pick 2:
Evanescent Intellect
Epiphany Storm
Servant of Tymaret
Great Hart
Satyr Wayfinder
Retraction Helix
Impetuous Sunchaser
Culling Mark
Necrobite
Kragma Butcher
--> Ghostblade Eidolon
Gorgon's Head
Drown in Sorrow
Swamp
Pack 2 pick 3:
Floodtide Serpent
Felhide Brawler
Ephara's Radiance
Bolt of Keranos
Setessan Oathsworn
--> Fall of the Hammer
Cyclops of One-Eyed Pass
Crypsis
Culling Mark
Loyal Pegasus
Reap What Is Sown
Spiteful Returned
Island
Yikes, there is literally nothing good for my WU deck here. Fall is splashable if I'm desperate.
Pack 2 pick 4:
Marshmist Titan
--> Chorus of the Tides
Mortal's Ardor
Fearsome Temper
Servant of Tymaret
Satyr Wayfinder
Grisly Transformation
Nyxborn Rollicker
Sudden Storm
Setessan Oathsworn (FOIL)
Heroes' Podium
Forest
Pack 2 pick 5:
Scouring Sands
Felhide Brawler
Griffin Dreamfinder
Eye Gouge
--> Deepwater Hypnotist
Crypsis
Grisly Transformation
Peregrination
Archetype of Finality
Whims of the Fates
Plains
I don't feel like going deep with Dreamfinders.
Pack 2 pick 6:
Evanescent Intellect
Fearsome Temper
Hold at Bay
Setessan Starbreaker
Weight of the Underworld
Sphinx's Disciple
--> Divination
Archetype of Endurance
Lightning Volley
Mountain
Pack 2 pick 7:
Floodtide Serpent
Felhide Brawler
Ephara's Radiance
Cyclops of One-Eyed Pass
--> Crypsis
Culling Mark
Skyreaping
Astral Cornucopia
Mountain
Pack 2 pick 8:
Scouring Sands
Felhide Brawler
Eye Gouge
--> Deepwater Hypnotist
Crypsis
Grisly Transformation
Black Oak of Odunos
Swamp
Pack 2 pick 9:
Floodtide Serpent
--> Rise to the Challenge
Griffin Dreamfinder
Charging Badger
Aspect of Hydra
Pinnacle of Rage
Plains
I don't see myself playing any of these cards, so I might as well hate out the best of the bunch in the annoying RW deck.
Pack 2 pick 10:
Evanescent Intellect
Epiphany Storm
--> Great Hart
Culling Mark
Necrobite
Swamp
Pack 2 pick 11:
--> Floodtide Serpent
Felhide Brawler
Ephara's Radiance
Culling Mark
Island
Pack 2 pick 12:
--> Marshmist Titan
Grisly Transformation
Heroes' Podium
Forest
Pack 2 pick 13:
--> Eye Gouge
Whims of the Fates
Plains
Pack 2 pick 14:
--> Evanescent Intellect
Mountain
Pack 2 pick 15:
--> Mountain
The BNG pack was pretty bad, but looking back I think it was just a whole bunch of bad print runs. No one did great, I wasn't passing anything of note.
------ THS ------
Pack 3 pick 1:
Pheres-Band Centaurs
Nylea's Presence
Minotaur Skullcleaver
Nimbus Naiad
Battlewise Valor
Silent Artisan
Time to Feed
Blood-Toll Harpy
Felhide Minotaur
Borderland Minotaur
Horizon Chimera
Heliod's Emissary
Triton Fortune Hunter
--> Celestial Archon
Island
Umm...Can I have the whole pack and just go to deck building? I would play the rare, all 3 uncommons, and 2 commons from this pack.
Pack 3 pick 2:
Loathsome Catoblepas
Omenspeaker
March of the Returned
Titan's Strength
Traveling Philosopher
Yoked Ox
Blood-Toll Harpy
Benthic Giant
Sedge Scorpion
Felhide Minotaur
Destructive Revelry
--> Phalanx Leader
Nylea's Emissary
Plains
Pack 3 pick 3:
Lightning Strike
Fleshmad Steed
Cavalry Pegasus
Spark Jolt
Returned Phalanx
Coastline Chimera
--> Voyage's End
Setessan Battle Priest
Ordeal of Purphoros
Tormented Hero
Favored Hoplite
Fleecemane Lion
Island
Pack 3 pick 4:
--> Divine Verdict
Sip of Hemlock
Fate Foretold
Portent of Betrayal
Defend the Hearth
Agent of Horizons
Setessan Battle Priest
Magma Jet
Anvilwrought Raptor
Cutthroat Maneuver
Ember Swallower
Mountain
Pack 3 pick 5:
Loathsome Catoblepas
March of the Returned
--> Aqueous Form
Asphodel Wanderer
Two-Headed Cerberus
Vulpine Goliath
Cavern Lampad
Boulderfall
Hunt the Hunter
Anthousa, Setessan Hero
Plains
Pack 3 pick 6:
Ephara's Warden
Sip of Hemlock
Stymied Hopes
Rage of Purphoros
Akroan Crusader
Cavern Lampad
Nemesis of Mortals
Evangel of Heliod
--> Meletis Charlatan
Forest
Pack 3 pick 7:
Messenger's Speed
--> Prescient Chimera
Fleetfeather Sandals
Spark Jolt
Returned Phalanx
Deathbellow Raider
Opaline Unicorn
Flamecast Wheel
Mountain
Pack 3 pick 8:
Lash of the Whip
--> Chosen by Heliod
Lost in a Labyrinth
Fade into Antiquity
Satyr Rambler
Setessan Griffin
Artisan's Sorrow
Mountain
Pack 3 pick 9:
Pheres-Band Centaurs
Nylea's Presence
Silent Artisan
Felhide Minotaur
Borderland Minotaur
--> Triton Fortune Hunter
Island
Pack 3 pick 10:
Loathsome Catoblepas
March of the Returned
Yoked Ox
--> Benthic Giant
Destructive Revelry
Plains
Pack 3 pick 11:
Fleshmad Steed
Cavalry Pegasus
Spark Jolt
--> Setessan Battle Priest
Island
Pack 3 pick 12:
--> Fate Foretold
Defend the Hearth
Setessan Battle Priest
Mountain
Pack 3 pick 13:
--> Loathsome Catoblepas
Boulderfall
Plains
Pack 3 pick 14:
--> Ephara's Warden
Forest
Pack 3 pick 15:
--> Mountain
The Deck
1 Lagonna-Band Trailblazer
1 Phalanx Leader
2 Deepwater Hypnotist
1 War-Wing Siren
1 Archetype of Courage
1 Ghostblade Eidolon
1 Triton Fortune Hunter
1 Meletis Charlatan
1 Chorus of the Tides
1 Celestial Archon
1 Whitewater Naiads
1 Prescient Chimera
1 Quarry Colossus
1 Ajani's Presence
1 Aerial Formation
1 Aqueous Form
1 Mortal Obstinacy
1 Voyage's End
1 Chosen by Heliod
1 Banishing Light
1 Divination
1 Divine Verdict
Land (17)
10 Plains
7 Island
1 Great Hart
1 Ephara's Warden
1 Setessan Battle Priest
2 Font of Fortunes
2 Rise of Eagles
1 Crypsis
1 Evanescent Intellect
1 Floodtide Serpent
1 Benthic Giant
1 Fate Foretold
1 Dreadbringer Lampads
1 Eye Gouge
1 Marshmist Titan
1 Loathsome Catoblepas
1 Rollick of Abandon
1 Fall of the Hammer
1 Rise to the Challenge
The Matches
Round 1 vs. WB
Game 1 opponent started fast with Felhide Brawler and Nyxborn Eidolon but was stuck on 2 lands. Archetype of Courage shut down his offense. Triton Fortune Hunter picked up Aqueous Form. Chorus of the Tides joined for extra offense. Opponent got his 3rd land and played Servant of Tymaret. I played Prescrient Chimera, he drew for his turn and conceded.
Game 2 I mulliganed to 6. He got Brawler and Servant going again. I had Hypnotist to trade with Brawler. I Banished his Servant because I had on-curve spells to play for a while -- might as well get some value out of it now even if it's not the greatest target. I suited up Naiads with Ghostblade Eidolon (pretty sick combo when they're tapped out) and hit for 10. He was flailing with a Nyxborn Eidolon + Hopeful Eidolon. For some reason he attacked with that pairing instead of holding them back to chump, making me think he had removal for my Naiads, but he didn't and I just attacked for the win.
1-0
Round 2 vs. RW
Game 1 I mulliganed to 6. His first play was Elite Skirmisher. He killed my War-Wing with Fall of the Hammer. I threw Meletis Charlatan in the way of his Skirmisher, but he had Gods Willing to save it. He added a Line Breaker which I hit with Divine Verdict. Then I dumped Phalanx Leader and Chorus on the same turn, with Ghostblade in hand. Akroan Conscriptors on his side threatened to steal the game if he had an instant. He did, and he won by stealing my Leader + Ghostblade. Oh well -- it's not like Divine Verdict would have stopped the Conscriptors even if I had saved it.
Game 2 I was forced to mulligan for the 3rd straight game and kept a mana-heavy 6. It's not like I'd be favored to beat RW Aggro with a hand of 5 so I just kept it and hoped for the best. I forced him to use a trick early to kill my Meletis Charlatan -- actually doing good work drawing removal as a vanilla 2/3. I played Naiads to try to stabilize. Conscriptors came out and I figured I was in trouble, but I did have Quarry Colossus coming in 2 turns to get rid of that threat. This actually worked since he didn't have a trick in hand, and I was suddenly way ahead with Naiads and Colossus on board. Ghostblade + Aerial Formation on the next turn let me deal 16 for lethal. I really stole that one.
Game 3 I curved out with Trailblazer, Phalanx Leader, and Archetype but no spells to target Leader and really go off. Leader ate a Fall of the Hammer, then Archetype was taken out by Deicide. I was just trying to hang on to play my Quarry Colossus. Meletis Charlatan was hit with Lightning Strike, so I guess removal is bad. I drew all mana. He pumped a Line Breaker up to 8 power and took me down to 2 life. Quarry finally arrived and at least buried the Line Breaker. He just threw Gods Willing on a random 2/2 and pushed it through.
Another frustrating loss to RW. His deck was better than mine, it's not like he was winning with bad cards. It's just frustrating because I'm never in the seat that gets handed like 6 good removal spells and all the Aggro that comprise the best deck in the format.
1-1
Round 3 vs. GU
Game 1 I got the Trailblazer and Leader draw again, with Chosen by Heliod to make them reasonable. He got Setessan Oathsworn + Ordeal of Thassa which was brutal. I Banish'd it just to get rid of the 4/4, but I was color-screwed lacking Blue and drawing Blue cards. He played Thassa's Ire and Bident of Thassa, two cards that ensure long term victory but at the moment were not doing anything. Luckily I drew into an Island. I Ghostblade'd my Leader so that it couldn't get killed by Sedge Scorpion. He chumped with it anyway and went to 8. His Bident was now useless since he forced to block, and using all his mana for Ire to stop my 4/6 Double Strike would just ruin him slowly, so he conceded.
I'm not a fan of Thassa's Ire and this match only reinforced that opinion. It's essentially a dead card until the very late game, because otherwise you're just stunting your own board development to tap something.
Game 2 saw early Leader again, this time with plenty of tricks. He pumped up his friend Deepwater Hypnotist, who can become quite powerful once he's large enough to attack freely. First I traded Ajani's Presence for Agent of Horizons, then I slapped Mortal Obstinacy and Aerial Formation on Leader to try to destroy Thassa's Ire. He chumped with Chorus instead to protect the Ire. (Fine with me -- given the choice I would much rather destroy the creature AND keep my enchantment removal threat.) Divine Verdict cleared out his Scorpion to keep the pressure on. He chumped with a Flitterstep Eidolon. He was just too far behind and conceded after one more chump block.
2-1
For all the promise of Celestial Archon, I never even drew it.
I enjoyed playing with this deck. It had a lot of different ways to be explosive -- early Phalanx Leader, Naiads with Ghostblade Eidolon, Quarry Colossus to swing the game, etc. It played a lot more consistently than it might look on paper.
I've been enjoying reading your 'caps so far in this format, especially since I feel like one of our sets of card evaluations is super off-base. I'm excited to find out whose, eventually!
Rise of the Eagles is only worth it with a lot of Constellation IMO. Otherwise too expensive.
I would have valued Harness by Force pretty highly. Act of Treason wins games on its own. Why kill a Voltron when you can just use it instead? Having optional Insurrection-mode is just nutty. I would have P1P1 this, then seen Magma Sprays and other good red stuff and committed to red early. And then apparently would have been rewarded for it handsomely later.
After pack 1, the guy next to you has:
Harness by Force, Bladetusk Boar, 2-4 Magma Spray, 0-2 Flurry of Horns, Akroan Line-Breaker and playables in a second color of choice...
Given your color choices though:
P1P3 I'd have gone Pin to the Earth over Quarry Colossus. Colossus is expensive and commits you to being Wx instead of having white as a minor color. I guess it's been good to you in the past. Generally I tried to avoid committing too heavily to a color this early.
P1P7 Not Dictate?? Your other options aren't amazing.
P2P1 Phenax. Worth splashing. Who cares if it makes a creature. He just wins games in slow decks and you have enough picks left to pounce on a bunch of big butts. Especially good if you had grabbed the blue Dictate earlier.
P2P2 Retraction Helix. Eidolon double strike is nice but Retraction Helix just does so much. Then again, I think I value Helix more highly than most people.
P2P3 Had you grabbed Phenax, you had some options here. Even otherwise, why don't you like Crypsis? Strong combat trick, works well with Heroic and Inspired. There's no way in hell you're splashing red after passing on splashing for Phenax and passing all that red pack 1. So this is really just a hate pick to punish the red player.
P3P3 No Favored Hoplite? You have heroic enablers and just grabbed Phalanx Leader... Voyage's End is good but more Heroic seems better.
P3P4 Oh monored player to your left, your patience hath rewarded thee.
P3P6 Evangel of Heliod? You're already committed to being white heavy for Quarry Colossus and you have crazy synergy with Phalanx Leader.
P3P11 Cavalry Pegasus? You have a number of Heroic humans.
RE RW aggro deck and not getting lucky enough to get handed 6 removal spells and good aggro...:
You passed left 4 Magma Sprays, Akroan Line-Breaker, Ember Swallower, Harness by Force, Magma Jet, Favored Hoplite, Akroan Crusader, Lightning Strike, Ordeal of Purphoros, Borderland Minotaur, Minotaur Skullcleaver...
There are plenty of reasons not to take red, but when you face a strong red deck that has all the removal and aggro after passing so much, can't really chalk it up to luck. I guess just be prepared to beat it. This is another reason I would have gone black for Phenax, since you need big butts to beat all the aggro that you passed.
Cubetutor Link
I probably should have played either Crypsis or Fate over Aqueous Form -- that really didn't belong in this deck. My plan was not to beat down and then sneak in the last few points.
As for Charlatan vs. Serpent, that's just a curve issue. You can't just play 5 drops over 3 drops in this block with impunity. Eventually you'll get steamrolled by RW for trying that.
I guess that's what I'm really struggling with in this format right now. I know RW is the best deck -- there's no question, it's still dominant and the only way it's not is if it's overdrafted. I hate drafting the consensus best but often overdrafted archetype. I find that boring -- I'd rather play a different game if that's the dominant strategy because to me that's like playing Checkers instead of Chess. I guess subconsciously that's why I talked myself out of Harness by Force. I don't want it to be a first pick card, because if it is that means Red is still broken and my days drafting this format are numbered.
But Red is broken unless it's overdrafted -- so I'm basically hosed. I should probably just quit drafting JBT and hope the next block doesn't have such busted aggro and I can enjoy it in peace.
Hope my comments weren't discouraging. JBT seems fun and I think a lot of us are enjoying reading through all your Swiss drafts. I've made some colossal mistakes in my drafts. Still figuring out the format.
Hey, if you don't like RW don't play RW and don't take the Harness. In BTT I had a lot of fun and success giving the middle finger to aggro and drafting rogue archetypes like Chromantibrews, UB Walls+Phenax and RU Flamespeaker tempo even though RW is suppposedly the best. Aggro's not the only game in town. I think the pros agree hatedrafting is suboptimal, so no reason you should have tried to cut that red. But, maybe just seeing how much aggro was going by, prioritizing anti-aggro cards in drafting and deck construction might make the difference. Just a matter of adapting.
I'm still trying to figure out how to not lose to monored in JJJ.
Good luck with drafts!
I'm not going to write up my last 2 drafts because I don't really care anymore, I'm done with the format. Just to give you an idea why, read this summary of my latest Round 2 loss (after losing to RW in Round 1). I was playing a not very good GB deck.
Round 2 vs. RGW
Game 1 he powered out a Turn 4 Asp thanks to Voyaging Satyr. He cycled Warrior's Lesson on it, then played Swarmborn Giant. For some reason he didn't block my Leucrocota and sac'd his Giant...I guess he just doesn't really know what he's doing. Now I'm going to be so embarrassed when he beats me with that Asp. He followed up with Thunder Brute. I double blocked his Asp with Leucro and Snake of the Golden Grove, and took the 5 Brute damage. He attacked with Brute again, and I went to 10 rather than block with my Humbler and risk a trick blowing me out. (I had Lash of the Whip to set up for the next turn.) He played Bolt of Keranos to my face putting me at 7. He chumped with Voyaging Satyr, then played Fearsome Temper on his Brute...but thanks to his unnecessary chump block, he did not have enough mana to activate the "can't block" ability so he walked into my trap for a 2-for-1. I cleaned up from there as he did not play another creature. I did not deserve that win at all -- even a mediocre competent player would have beat me.
Game 2 I had to mull to 5 and keep a bad hand. Fortunately his opening plays were not that strong -- all he did for Turns 1-4 was beat down with a 1/1 Hoplite. Finally he played Asp but I was able to counter his play with Anthousa. Pinnacle of Rage hit my Blood Toll Harpy and me for 3. Snake of the Golden Grove earned me some life back. He put Leafcrown Dryad on his Hoplite. It was basically a staredown now until he got Monstrous mana for his Asp. Thunder Brute showed up again. I added Humbler of Mortals. This game wasn't going anywhere fast. Destructive Revelry killed my Humbler, then Bolt of Keranos on my Tromper. I slapped Raised by Wolves and Spiteful Returned on Anthousa and decided to start attacking. He threw his Asp in the way which is exactly what I wanted, since I had no way to deal with it if he drew his 7th land. His Hoplite also got Raised by Wolves. He broke the stalemate by landing Fearsome Temper on his Hoplite and making it effectively unblockable since it was so late in the game.
Game 3 I went down to 6 cards and he went down to 4. He still managed a Turn 5 Raised by Wolves on a 1/4 (Karametra's whatever) and a Turn 6 Thunder Brute. He successfully played around my Lash by not attacking into it. He played Swarmborn Giant and gave it Messenger's Speed but didn't attack since he couldn't block on the next turn. (I feel like I taught this guy how to play Magic -- he's no longer making the mistakes he learned in Game 1.) He topdecked Pinnacle of Rage which killed my Warchief and domed me, and left me wide open to Swarmborn Giant. Really the perfect topdeck. My hand at this point was Humbler of Mortals and Anthousa which I couldn't play because I only had 1 Forest, Asphyxiate which I just drew this turn and couldn't play because his only creature was tapped (if I drew it a turn earlier I would have had an easy 2-for-1 and probably the win) and Fall of the Hammer which I can't play because I don't have a creature in play anymore.
Just to reiterate...I lost to a noob playing a 3 color mana base who mulliganed to 4. Read that Game 1 description again, and then realize I LOST TO HIM AFTER HE MULLIGANED TO 4. Now you'll understand why I'm done with JBT. See you in the Fall.
After a very successful run in TTT with 6x 3-0 finishes, I haven't won a queue in about 20 tries dating back to the tail end of TTT.
I'm honestly reconsidering if this game is for me anymore. I don't think I'm good enough to compete even at Swiss tables anymore, which means I should get a new hobby. I used to be better. I almost qualified for the Tour in Scars of Mirrodin block. Then...I dunno, something happened? The skills I've developed are no longer being rewarded and that is disheartening. I'm drafting based on widely held opinions of cards...I'm not going rogue, I'm staying up to date on the meta, etc. I don't understand how to play this game at a competitive level right now. Based on the economics of how Limited works, if you're never winning tables you're just bad at your way-too-expensive hobby.
This is not the type of hobby where you can say "I don't want like RW so I just won't draft it." It's too expensive to play like that, you can't throw wins away on principle. You can do that if you're messing around with casual decks, that's about it. Otherwise I can't afford to play like that.
I wish I understood the problem. I'm still rated around 1770. I'm meticulously tracking my games, getting opinions from all of you, analyzing my plays. When I listen to well respected podcasts and stuff like that, I agree with the Pros 99% of the time on their card evaluations. I guess that's not good enough to even win a Swiss queue anymore in 20 tries. Has the competition gotten better? I don't know but I don't feel like throwing away my money anymore to try to figure it out.
I was already more than tired of the block, having stop to draft BTT for about a month.
My main beef right now are that I cannot draft and redeem sets. Wizards lowly but surely made sure I can't:
1. Mythics making harder to fill a set, skew cards prices and make the hardest card to fill out also be the most expensive ones, made worse by the effect mythics have on redemption vs card availability.
2. Making what was supposed to be a nominal fee to convert digital cards into paper ones a complete joke: redemption cost raise from 5 to 25, shipping costs to canada ridiculously high and declared value raised above the tax duty threshold (by a lot!), so that redemption costs for a single set now is more than 80$. That's after paying full-price for boosters and tix online? All these fee Wizards has direct control on. The redemption fee used to be low. The declared value also. They chose to screw their customers.
3. I just can't ever open the money mythics. Ever since after DKA, I have no luck opening the top-5 money cards. For example in BTT, the only money card I've open is the cat-king. Planeswalker, gods, phoenix, etc... none.
SO I just bought paper singles instead and, while I skipped on high-priced mythics, I bought all the rares and mythics for BOTH BNG and JOU I wanted for about the same price as only the redemption overhead of a single set. And I got not one copy of some rares but sometimes playsets. (For example daring thief, bearer of heavens, ...) Sure, I don't have Keranos and other 30+ mythics, but I could for less money than drafting them online + redemption.
That probably means I won't play online anymore. Unless the fall set is awesome or Wizards revert their redepmtion policies, I'm done with MTGO. And I suppose I will be done with Magic as well in the middle term as the interest will wane. I'll attend the paper pre-release this fall, maybe. I may draft some cube online, but maybe not as I won't have the reflex to log on anymore.
I liked Magic, but it was a time and money sink, but at least I used to have paper cards to play at home if I wanted. Not anymore. The recent spat of bad luck and late-set boredom just sealed the deal.
He's playing high variance cards and got lucky. You were playing an admittedly bad deck and lost. How did you really intend to punish him when his manabase failed him, anyway? Slow centaur beatdowns that fall apart with the first big thing he plays? Frankly, apart from his bad plays, I'm not sure that you should have been favored in that match in the first place, even with all the chaff he's playing.
I think one problematic theme that I've seen in your drafting is that you value consistency too highly in this format at the expense of doing something powerful. My most memorable experience in this block was in TTT when I went 5-0 at my LGS with a straight up BW reanimator deck, running 2 Returned Centaur, 3 Rescue from the Underworld, 2 Gray Merchant of Asphodel, and 1 Ashen Rider. It was a hilarious technical nightmare, but I had a solid heroic base that could interact with the aggro menace and a lategame that was unbeatable. The games that I lost via not getting my pieces together were far less than those I would have lost from being outmuscled. Another time in BTT, I played a UB deck with 12 removal spells (including maindeck Weight of the Underworld) and Marshmist Titan as my best wincon. I went 3-1, only losing to a guy who was playing a "take all the bombs" deck.
The two things that you absolutely have to be doing in this block are playing powerful effects and interacting with your opponent, frequently via combat tricks. That's why I value Crypsis and Fate Foretold higher than Divination in 90% of decks, even though you can't always play them. You're letting your fear of RW cripple you: the way to beat it is not by submitting weak "gum up the ground" decks that lose to everything else in the format, but by thinking of the blowout losses as acceptable variance and doing things that they can't ever beat. I have never felt so rewarded for going deep as I have in this format.
Cubetutor Link
This. Redemption is getting nuts. I've played 50+ BTT drafts online, pseudo-infinite at fairly low cost thanks to a high win rate, supplemented by some premier sealed events, and I'm still short on my redemption sets. This is partly because I had to sell Stormbreath Dragons and Elspeths and Kiora and Brimazes to sustain drafting during slumps. At $120 initial investment I now literally have all of THS and BNG except for 7 Gods and 2 Planeswalkers. How many more events before I see them? It's not like they ever get passed so this boils down to complete luck. I'm reluctant to switch to JBT since I'm missing mostly Theros cards and I'll have better chances of seeing them with more theros packs. At this point, I wonder whether I should keep trying to sustain drafting until I find them or just use my accrued tix and a bit of extra cash to buy the missing pieces.
I was even considering doing it until I found out about the increase to redemption cost. I live in Canada too, so it's freaking expensive. $120 + a bit more cash seemed to me an acceptable cost for getting paper sets of both THS and BNG. But with all the extra fees, and the fact that redemption sets are now retailing at 90 tix from the bots... Maybe I should just keep drafting until I run out and forget about redemptions.
I remember aggressively drafting triple GTC and triple R2R and both finding the formats more fun and finding it easier to complete sets. And at least you got paper shocks out of it. Theros will be a whole bunch of paper chaff nobody wants 3 years from now.
This is interesting because if you listen to the best drafters in the world, they preach consistency, consistency, consistency. You hear reviews all the time like "I can see the scenario where this card goes off and wins you the game, but I'm never putting it in my deck, I'd rather have something that performs consistently."
You seem to be going in the opposite direction.
It's like the age-old debate of do you draft to maximize your chance of winning each match, or your chance of going 3-0? In practice those are two very different goals. If you're trying to maximize your chance of going 3-0, you should probably start every draft by forcing one of the best decks in the meta and only moving when it becomes obvious that it's not open. If you're trying to maximize your chance of winning each match, you read signals from the start and move into less powerful archetypes to secure better overall card quality and let other people fight over the popular colors.
I guess I'm doing the latter, because I almost always go 2-1 in Swiss drafts. I literally haven't gone 0-3 once in Theros block (40+ drafts). Even with the bad deck I summarized above, I won the 0-2 vs. 0-2 match and got my pity pack. Like I said, I still have what I consider to be a solid rating that moves between 1750 and 1800, I know I'm not drastically misplaying, and while I get lost in drafts sometimes I'm never running terrible spells or shaky mana or a 42 card deck.
Part of the problem is economics. I wish I had an arbitrarily large sum of money to dedicate to the game so that I could play it without worrying about costs. Then I could test strategies like the value of forcing a top archetype vs. reading signals, or refusing to draft a certain color because I dislike it. The problem is that the way the system works, you pay dearly for doing anything other than trying to maximize your returns.
Another issue I have is that while I have plenty of time during matches, I often take early picks to time because I'm trying to work out all the possibilities. It's a lot easier in hindsight to say "Hmm was that 5th pick Cranes a signal? I would have given that more consideration and maybe moved out of Green, because you've only seen 1 good Green card so far" etc etc. That's analyzing the flow of the draft with unlimited time for thoughtful analysis. When you have like 40 seconds to do this stuff, you're going to make mistakes. I wish they gave more time for the middle draft picks of each pack where the important stuff actually happens. Frankly I'd be fine with like 30 seconds for the first pick -- it's often obvious -- and longer time for my 4th or 5th pick where I have to make an actual decision that will determine my fate. A Timeout option would be nice too...maybe once per draft, you get to call Timeout and get an extra minute to think.
Going all-in on inconsistent bombiness seems risky, but there's probably a middle ground where you play a solid core and dabble in something ridiculous.
I wouldn't say that it's everything post-Scars. Return to Ravnica block (especially Gatecrash) rewarded consistency and a clean curve like no other, so much so that in the intended 3-color format of DGR it was still a winning strategy to stick to 2. Consistency is usually absolutely the best path to success.
Theros requires a different approach from usual draft though. Usually when you're a control deck playing against an aggro deck in limited, you can just play a bigger creature and stabilize. If they have a trick, it's just a 1-for-1 that you can usually play around. Heroic and Bestow means that it's impossible to fully stabilize a board outside of the absolute biggest creatures like Nessian Asp. That's why midrange decks like non-constellation BG, non-heroic WG, and Asp-less RG generally suck in this format: they aren't good against their usual best matchups, and they aren't doing anything powerful enough to overcome a fairly decent control archetype. UG, on the other hand, is very good because blue has good tricks and bounce to punish aggro, plays an efficient enough tempo game to win with a good curve, and has fliers with which to break parity before aggro's beaters do.
Basically Phyrre, while I still value consistency, I don't value it over being able to match what your opponent is doing. If your deck can't deal with stuff like a monstrous Asp, can't break through it, and still can't punish aggro... why are you playing that deck? I do feel the pain when it comes to economics though. There's a big discrepancy between a 2-1 deck and a 3-0 deck in this format that's difficult to overcome if you want to be sure of avoiding an 0-3 at all costs. That's why I don't draft on MTGO, to be honest.
Cubetutor Link
I've calmed down a bit from my tilt loss on Tuesday night. I'm still not sure if I want to keep drafting JBT but if I'm in a good mood I might give it another try. I just don't like this feeling of "Do I draft a good deck, or do I draft a deck that might go 3-0 or 0-3 depending on what my opponents draft around me?" That's often a sign of an unbalanced format when those two goals are different. The RW decks in this format fit this description perfectly -- they are either unstoppable, or piles of garbage since they need so many different components working together: Heroes, Bestows, and tricks. The deck falls apart when it's not open because there's no such thing as Red Control in this block, it's not supported at all. Once you start drafting Red, you have to go for Aggro, there's no reasonable Plan B.
Thanks for the comments here though, this has been one of the most productive discussions from any of my draft caps even if it got a bit off the rails.