(Furthermore, lifetime winning percentage of Pros hover around 60-66%. 66% are actually hall of famers. Ponder that.)
That's obviously because a great deal of their time is spent playing other pros. These people restrict themselves to the higher profile events where the Bad and the Worst players are extremely rare to show up to. When you play someone of your own skill, you have a 50% chance to win.
I have a hard time believing that the population of players in your 'best' category who aren't bothering to play with me is so large as to significantly skew the results.
Do you have any estimation of what the numbers are?
I'd say the Best are the pros. Call it the top 20%. Half the people going to an 8-4 are pros who genuinely think they can place (The other half don't know better or simply think they can get lucky). The people in this category don't bother playing Swiss Draw, because it's a waste of time to them. The payout isn't high enough for what they're confident they can win in an 8-4.
The next 20% is what I would call Good.
Now, the middle 20% is troublesome, because it's technically the "average" crowd, but clearly someone sitting at 59% is better than the guy at 41%. Truly, there's only one "average" player and the rest are all better than or worse than average. For simplicity's sake, though, I just assume they're all the same.
Bad and Worst are the next 20% groups, obviously.
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"[Screw] you and the green you ramped in on." - My EDH battle cry. If I had one. Which I don't.
I'd say the Best are the pros. Call it the top 20%. Half the people going to an 8-4 are pros who genuinely think they can place (The other half don't know better or simply think they can get lucky). The people in this category don't bother playing Swiss Draw, because it's a waste of time to them. The payout isn't high enough for what they're confident they can win in an 8-4.
Sorry, for clarification: are you saying that for any given Magic Online 8-4 draft queue, half of the people in that event for any given event are likely to be in this 'pro' category? If so then jeeze, I don't know what I was thinking to even attempt to join such an event.
Unfortunately, the 42-card thing is really pretty inexcusable, in the sense that you can't really expect any sympathy for losing when you make a mistake like that, even if it in some sense might not have led directly to your loss. Picture a baseball player saying "I was up against a really good pitcher. He was really on his game that day and the umpire was calling almost every pitch in his favor. I struck out, but I did everything right. Oh, except on that one pitch when I decided to shut my eyes just as he threw the ball." Even if that particular pitch happened to be unhittable, you just can't be doing that. You can't put yourself in a bad position for literally no reason and then get mad when you lose.
While I absolutely agree with your overall point, I'd like a better understanding, if that's possible, of to what extent putting in 2 extra cards is like closing your eyes and expecting to hit a major league pitch.
It was my belief that putting in 2 extra cards gives me a slightly reduced chance of drawing any particular card (including land), while at the same time altering the ratio of land to non-land, and giving me a slightly elevated chance of drawing non-land on any given card. Assuming also that there is some ideal set of cards that I can play, and that every card is either better or worse than every other, then it also reduces the average quality of the cards. And also assuming that there are meaningful interactions between cards in the pool, it also reduces the possibility of getting a combination of cards that work well together.
However, it was also my belief that it's a fairly slight effect - a maximum of a 5% change in any of these categories (likely less for some, since the added cards may also add synergies, all synergies now being less likely to occur, but also more numerous).
Is this really the same thing as closing your eyes during a pitch, something that I expect reduces your chance of success by something more like 95%?
I realize that you chose an example that exaggerates the impact of the poor play decision, but I really would like better to understand how far from the closing your eyes for a pitch is the bad decision of putting two extra cards, either of which you expect will be useful if drawn, into a deck.
It's hard to quantify, but would you say that I reduced my chances of winning by 5%? 10%? 50%? 99%?
Sorry, for clarification: are you saying that for any given Magic Online 8-4 draft queue, half of the people in that event for any given event are likely to be in this 'pro' category? If so then jeeze, I don't know what I was thinking to even attempt to join such an event.
Yeah, we don't either. That's what we're trying to tell you. One of your biggest problems is that you're attempting to play above your skill level.
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"[Screw] you and the green you ramped in on." - My EDH battle cry. If I had one. Which I don't.
Yeah, we don't either. That's what we're trying to tell you. One of your biggest problems is that you're attempting to play above your skill level.
My apologies, but your answer was ambiguous. I get that you're telling me that the average skill level of an 8-4 is above mine. But I am not clear yet on whether or not you are saying that on average half of the people in an 8-4 queue are pros, or as close to pro level as you're likely to see in Magic Online?
It's hard to quantify, but would you say that I reduced my chances of winning by 5%? 10%? 50%? 99%?
~5%
Playing more than 40 is wrong. Never do it. Playing more than 40 is just throwing away percentage points. Sure 5% may not be a lot but that 5% across some games may take you from 50% to 51-52%. Clean up a few more things like that and you easily hit 56% or whatever.
Also you should try to blame yourself every time you lose. Every time. When you use luck, variance, mana problems, or whatever as a crutch you are just passing up a chance to get better. You don't play/draft perfectly so focus on fixing that instead of uselessly venting about variance.
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I write about cube and run cube drafts on magic online.
Also you should try to blame yourself every time you lose. Every time. When you use luck, variance, mana problems, or whatever as a crutch you are just passing up a chance to get better. You don't play/draft perfectly so focus on fixing that instead of uselessly venting about variance.
Well I generally do that. I mean, I'm taking seriously the notion that the only thing holding me back from improving my win percentage overall is my skill in drafting, deck building, and playing. I do take responsibility for errors in those two drafts that contributed to my failure.
However, I think it's not helpful to only blame yourself either. It could lead to situations where you decide that you must have done something wrong when in fact you did the best under the circumstances, and simply lost to the luck of the draw. You don't want to over-react and change what was the best strategy just because it failed due to bad luck. I'm not saying that I employ the best strategy, not by a long shot; I'm just saying that not acknowledging the luck/variance factor is also not realistic and it won't help to evolve your play correctly to not evaluate the contributing factors properly.
So I vent in those situations in which I perceive that a frustratingly bad draw, or being 'unlucky' enough to be the guy sitting in a position at the draft table that gets on average the weakest picks from most packs, is a major contributing factor, combined with the losses themselves being particularly brutal and frustrating. All the while recognizing that I still made many mistakes and need to improve.
Pay especially close attention to every post by magicmerl directed at you. I understand Phyre's frustration, because all this thread invites is more feedback that you'll ignore. You will then, most likely, create another post about how you drafted angry and lost again.
This post stands out to me as worth repeating:
Quote from "magicmerl" »
I don't see how I can say anything more constructive that will make you a better player. You appear to be sabotaging yourself by your own actions and refusal to adopt change. Sorry if this comes across as harsh.
also:
Quote from "magicmerl" »
I think that a good rule should be to not draft again on a night where you have a bad draft. Spend that 'second draft' time instead on writing up your draftcap and watching your replays over and over again.
And, you also said that play skill is more important than drafting/deck construction and yet you assume that, because pick order does not change between 8-4s and swiss (it doesn't. however, your opponents will be making better picks), 8-4s will not be more difficult than swiss (even though in your other threads people have stated that better players play 8-4s).
You also said you don't think deck building skill is that important.
I usually only have to think hard about the 23rd and sometimes 22nd non-land card. And then a bit about the mana base.
Well, let me be the first to tell you, you vastly underestimate the importance of deck building. Ending up with a 42 card deck is pretty inexcusable. If you want to draw sideboard cards, why would you lessen the chance of doing that by running extra cards. Further more, sideboarding cards OUT is often as, or more important than sideboarding cards in. If my opponent has a lot of fliers, then that doorkeeper in my deck is a dead draw. If I've seen dramatic rescue and voidwielder, I might not want to play pursuit of flight. Sometimes you really just want to replace your dead draws with vanilla duds that didn't make the cut.
Also, in Rav, working out the correct mana base is a skill unto it's self. How many games do you think you'll lose because you ran the wrong number of a colour? And how much attention are you paying to curve? Do you find yourself drafting 4 drops over 3 drops because it's a slot in your curve that's missing? Do you change your pick orders organically, or will you always pick card A over card B? Drafting is much much more than 'pick 3 similar colour cards then go into auto pilot for 39 picks.'
being 'unlucky' enough to be the guy sitting in a position at the draft table that gets on average the weakest picks from most packs
How do you know this happened. Rav has a relatively flat power band. At most someone can open 3 on colour bombs, which is unlikely. There's not going to be a huge difference in pick quality given between one drafter and another. You are correct about not using results based thinking to convince yourself a good decision was a bad one. However, it's clear that you are making poor decisions (like joining two 8-4s), so it's pretty safe for you to question your actions. You're clearly angry, and adrenaline fuelled. I think it's safe to assume you're decision making is not at it's best during these drafts. If it was, you wouldn't have joined the drafts in the first place.
Take a breather. Get some sleep. Stop playing in high variance tournaments against the best players on mtgo. And stop creating a new thread every time you go on tilt. You can just reply to one of your previous posts, for one thing.
Pay especially close attention to every post by magicmerl directed at you. I understand Phyre's frustration, because all this thread invites is more feedback that you'll ignore. You will then, most likely, create another post about how you drafted angry and lost again.
I have taken every piece of advice given to me and applied it. Your criticism here is unwarranted and unwelcome. I was asked to post draft caps, and I did, I posted about a dozen of them (after being criticized for not doing so within 3 hours of first receiving that advice! But whatever.).
I was told to stay out of 4-3-2-2s and I have done that. I was also warned to stay out of 8-4s and I have mostly done that, although the advice was along the lines of "play Swiss if you want the play experience, play 8-4 if you want the competition", and I decided in three cases out of about 15 drafts to go 8-4, which I do regret. I was told to record and review my drafts and play, and I have done that very vigorously.
And, you also said that play skill is more important than drafting/deck construction and yet you assume that, because pick order does not change between 8-4s and swiss (it doesn't. however, your opponents will be making better picks), 8-4s will not be more difficult than swiss (even though in your other threads people have stated that better players play 8-4s).
I still am not convinced that pick order doesn't change. I mean maybe I am not sophisticated enough to factor in the expected skill level of my opponents in swiss vs. 8-4, in fact I'm sure that's true; but I'm quite certain that the best strategy takes into consideration every shred of available knowledge, and knowledge that certain good cards are undervalued in the swiss queues should lead to actionable information that results in different choices than from 8-4. Once again, not saying that I can apply this due to my skill level, but I would be surprised if someone of better skill level couldn't do it. There was a draft cap of pros recently and it was quite clear that the winning drafter was drafting a strategy that was not just based on 'take the best cards for the deck that I am building', but also, 'decide on the set of cards that will most likely be available in this queue and try to go for a deck built around that'.
Ending up with a 42 card deck is pretty inexcusable.
I think you are evaluating what I wrote without understanding the full story. My deck was 40 cards. After losing game 2 I decided that given what I had seen of my opponents' deck, it was running alot of cheap threats and removal. I decided that to try to combat this I would try to increase my chances of drawing cheap threats and answer cards. I did this poorly by adding 2 cards; I should have taken a land out and put a threat in. But it's not like I started out with 42 cards. I started out with 40, played game 1 and 2 with 40, and then in frustration and admittedly a poor decision based on emotion (mostly fear that I could not beat my opponent and was feeling desperate) I made the bad choice to add 2 cards to try to 'have more threats'.
I do not start a deck with 42 cards and this is the ONLY time that I can remember having done that. People are really focusing on this particular mistake like it defines my play. Yes, it was a mistake, but you should not take it as an indication of my general approach to deckbuilding. It was what it was - a poorly evaluated desperation move, isolated to a single game. It very well may indicate other flaws in approach to the game, and I'd be happy to discuss them, but focusing on this one issue is overblowing this particular instance.
Also, in Rav, working out the correct mana base is a skill unto it's self. How many games do you think you'll lose because you ran the wrong number of a colour?
It hasn't happened very often; usually I am lamenting drawing too few lands or too many, not lamenting drawing lands of the wrong colors. It does happen, but it's a small fraction of the land problem. Maybe 10%.
And how much attention are you paying to curve? Do you find yourself drafting 4 drops over 3 drops because it's a slot in your curve that's missing? Do you change your pick orders organically, or will you always pick card A over card B? Drafting is much much more than 'pick 3 similar colour cards then go into auto pilot for 39 picks.'
I pay attention to it. I see that I have very few 4 drops and so I will take a slightly worse 4 drop over a slightly better 3 drop. I usually won't take a much worse 4 drop over a much better 3 drop in this situation unless the number of picks left is small. I try very hard to have effecient creatures at 3 cost and lower; 4 cost and higher I want evasion or significant power or toughness.
How do you know this happened. Rav has a relatively flat power band. At most someone can open 3 on colour bombs, which is unlikely. There's not going to be a huge difference in pick quality given between one drafter and another. You are correct about not using results based thinking to convince yourself a good decision was a bad one. However, it's clear that you are making poor decisions (like joining two 8-4s), so it's pretty safe for you to question your actions. You're clearly angry, and adrenaline fuelled. I think it's safe to assume you're decision making is not at it's best during these drafts. If it was, you wouldn't have joined the drafts in the first place.
Agreed. My post was partly cathartic, partly meant to be an example for others of what not to do. Everyone interpreted it as me just whining and complaining, which certainly was part of it (the catharsis part). But I was really trying to make a point at the same time.
Take a breather. Get some sleep. Stop playing in high variance tournaments against the best players on mtgo. And stop creating a new thread every time you go on tilt. You can just reply to one of your previous posts, for one thing.
Thank you for your advice, I think it is sound. I will return your advice with some: stop exaggerating. I don't create a new thread every time I go on tilt. I have also replied to my other post considerably. And I am quite confident that if my initial comment had been appended to my other post instead of created as a new one, I would have gotten basically the same reception.
After watching the video, and reading all this criticism, Ill say you simply had a bad beat. In the first game the weird blew you out. All you can do is have removal for it in that spot, and you didn't. Game two was a bit more brutal, and i dont think there was much else you could have done differently. Even if you drew a fourth land, it wouldnt have made a difference. The only thing I could say is never play 16 land if your curve is going up to 6, with maybe the exception of a single explosive impact. Ill only play 16 land if my curve tops at 5.
You certainly do seem to make a fair number of tilt-threads. Also stop telling people their advice is unwelcome or whatever. This is a public forum, don't like the public? Don't come here.
You are too emotional about magic and how people respond to your 'venting'. You know how you get roflstomped in drafts? A lot of people here are the ones roflstomping you, sir. Maybe listen to them with an open mind instead of doubling down on your tilt. That or stop trolling.
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I write about cube and run cube drafts on magic online.
You certainly do seem to make a fair number of tilt-threads. Also stop telling people their advice is unwelcome or whatever. This is a public forum, don't like the public? Don't come here.
Right back at you, friend.
You are too emotional about magic and how people respond to your 'venting'. You know how you get roflstomped in drafts? A lot of people here are the ones roflstomping you, sir. Maybe listen to them with an open mind instead of doubling down on your tilt. That or stop trolling.
You are welcome to not read or comment on my threads. Thanks.
You are welcome to not read or comment on my threads. Thanks.
I don't whine on salvation every time I lose an 8-4. As to your right to make this thread/future threads - go for it! I would never try to stop you from posting unless you were posting troll threads constantly or something.
I *could* stop reading your threads or posting in them but it entertains me. So I won't.
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I write about cube and run cube drafts on magic online.
Hello, I don't know if this is the kind of thread that is unwelcome and gets locked out
Whatever else it may be, it seems to be the kind of thread that gets you criticised a lot.
Leaving all the gameplay stuff aside, I just want to check: You do have enough income that spending $250/month on drafting is OK, yes? Obviously I don't know you so I don't want to be making poorly informed assumptions, but some of what you've posted makes it sound like you have a gambling problem. I don't mean in the strategic, trying-to-win-games sense (ultimately that's fine), I mean in the giving-yourself-genuine-financial-problems sense.
Hopefully not. But if you do, PM me. Or get help from somewhere, at least.
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Whatever else it may be, it seems to be the kind of thread that gets you criticised a lot.
Leaving all the gameplay stuff aside, I just want to check: You do have enough income that spending $250/month on drafting is OK, yes? Obviously I don't know you so I don't want to be making poorly informed assumptions, but some of what you've posted makes it sound like you have a gambling problem. I don't mean in the strategic, trying-to-win-games sense (ultimately that's fine), I mean in the giving-yourself-genuine-financial-problems sense.
Hopefully not. But if you do, PM me. Or get help from somewhere, at least.
Thank you for your concern; and I mean this very sincerely. The money aspect of this is not a problem for me. Really it's the time invested that's probably the biggest issue. I wouldn't go so far as to say I have a problem, but I definitely need to work on balance. I tend to really get into things and right now I'm really into Magic. I don't think I have a gambling problem - I don't ever do traditional gambling and find it completely uninteresting; but I do have a bit of a gaming problem. Over the years there are many games that I got so into that I had to make a concerted effort to pull myself back out of. Magic right now is pretty much squarely in that mode for me and I'll keep working on it.
As it is I've been playing 1 draft per night after the kids go to bed, which is not too excessive, but once or twice per week going on a 3 - 5 draft binge when I have the free time which is a bit excessive. I believe that it's because the set is new and really interesting and that my interest will naturally wane. I don't think I'll keep this up forever.
Anyway you seem like a genuinely nice person and I really appreciate the concern. But I'll be fine. Really
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That's obviously because a great deal of their time is spent playing other pros. These people restrict themselves to the higher profile events where the Bad and the Worst players are extremely rare to show up to. When you play someone of your own skill, you have a 50% chance to win.
I'd say the Best are the pros. Call it the top 20%. Half the people going to an 8-4 are pros who genuinely think they can place (The other half don't know better or simply think they can get lucky). The people in this category don't bother playing Swiss Draw, because it's a waste of time to them. The payout isn't high enough for what they're confident they can win in an 8-4.
The next 20% is what I would call Good.
Now, the middle 20% is troublesome, because it's technically the "average" crowd, but clearly someone sitting at 59% is better than the guy at 41%. Truly, there's only one "average" player and the rest are all better than or worse than average. For simplicity's sake, though, I just assume they're all the same.
Bad and Worst are the next 20% groups, obviously.
Pristaxcontrombmodruu!
Sorry, for clarification: are you saying that for any given Magic Online 8-4 draft queue, half of the people in that event for any given event are likely to be in this 'pro' category? If so then jeeze, I don't know what I was thinking to even attempt to join such an event.
While I absolutely agree with your overall point, I'd like a better understanding, if that's possible, of to what extent putting in 2 extra cards is like closing your eyes and expecting to hit a major league pitch.
It was my belief that putting in 2 extra cards gives me a slightly reduced chance of drawing any particular card (including land), while at the same time altering the ratio of land to non-land, and giving me a slightly elevated chance of drawing non-land on any given card. Assuming also that there is some ideal set of cards that I can play, and that every card is either better or worse than every other, then it also reduces the average quality of the cards. And also assuming that there are meaningful interactions between cards in the pool, it also reduces the possibility of getting a combination of cards that work well together.
However, it was also my belief that it's a fairly slight effect - a maximum of a 5% change in any of these categories (likely less for some, since the added cards may also add synergies, all synergies now being less likely to occur, but also more numerous).
Is this really the same thing as closing your eyes during a pitch, something that I expect reduces your chance of success by something more like 95%?
I realize that you chose an example that exaggerates the impact of the poor play decision, but I really would like better to understand how far from the closing your eyes for a pitch is the bad decision of putting two extra cards, either of which you expect will be useful if drawn, into a deck.
It's hard to quantify, but would you say that I reduced my chances of winning by 5%? 10%? 50%? 99%?
Yeah, we don't either. That's what we're trying to tell you. One of your biggest problems is that you're attempting to play above your skill level.
Pristaxcontrombmodruu!
My apologies, but your answer was ambiguous. I get that you're telling me that the average skill level of an 8-4 is above mine. But I am not clear yet on whether or not you are saying that on average half of the people in an 8-4 queue are pros, or as close to pro level as you're likely to see in Magic Online?
~5%
Playing more than 40 is wrong. Never do it. Playing more than 40 is just throwing away percentage points. Sure 5% may not be a lot but that 5% across some games may take you from 50% to 51-52%. Clean up a few more things like that and you easily hit 56% or whatever.
Also you should try to blame yourself every time you lose. Every time. When you use luck, variance, mana problems, or whatever as a crutch you are just passing up a chance to get better. You don't play/draft perfectly so focus on fixing that instead of uselessly venting about variance.
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Well I generally do that. I mean, I'm taking seriously the notion that the only thing holding me back from improving my win percentage overall is my skill in drafting, deck building, and playing. I do take responsibility for errors in those two drafts that contributed to my failure.
However, I think it's not helpful to only blame yourself either. It could lead to situations where you decide that you must have done something wrong when in fact you did the best under the circumstances, and simply lost to the luck of the draw. You don't want to over-react and change what was the best strategy just because it failed due to bad luck. I'm not saying that I employ the best strategy, not by a long shot; I'm just saying that not acknowledging the luck/variance factor is also not realistic and it won't help to evolve your play correctly to not evaluate the contributing factors properly.
So I vent in those situations in which I perceive that a frustratingly bad draw, or being 'unlucky' enough to be the guy sitting in a position at the draft table that gets on average the weakest picks from most packs, is a major contributing factor, combined with the losses themselves being particularly brutal and frustrating. All the while recognizing that I still made many mistakes and need to improve.
Pay especially close attention to every post by magicmerl directed at you. I understand Phyre's frustration, because all this thread invites is more feedback that you'll ignore. You will then, most likely, create another post about how you drafted angry and lost again.
This post stands out to me as worth repeating:
also:
And, you also said that play skill is more important than drafting/deck construction and yet you assume that, because pick order does not change between 8-4s and swiss (it doesn't. however, your opponents will be making better picks), 8-4s will not be more difficult than swiss (even though in your other threads people have stated that better players play 8-4s).
You also said you don't think deck building skill is that important. Well, let me be the first to tell you, you vastly underestimate the importance of deck building. Ending up with a 42 card deck is pretty inexcusable. If you want to draw sideboard cards, why would you lessen the chance of doing that by running extra cards. Further more, sideboarding cards OUT is often as, or more important than sideboarding cards in. If my opponent has a lot of fliers, then that doorkeeper in my deck is a dead draw. If I've seen dramatic rescue and voidwielder, I might not want to play pursuit of flight. Sometimes you really just want to replace your dead draws with vanilla duds that didn't make the cut.
Also, in Rav, working out the correct mana base is a skill unto it's self. How many games do you think you'll lose because you ran the wrong number of a colour? And how much attention are you paying to curve? Do you find yourself drafting 4 drops over 3 drops because it's a slot in your curve that's missing? Do you change your pick orders organically, or will you always pick card A over card B? Drafting is much much more than 'pick 3 similar colour cards then go into auto pilot for 39 picks.'
How do you know this happened. Rav has a relatively flat power band. At most someone can open 3 on colour bombs, which is unlikely. There's not going to be a huge difference in pick quality given between one drafter and another. You are correct about not using results based thinking to convince yourself a good decision was a bad one. However, it's clear that you are making poor decisions (like joining two 8-4s), so it's pretty safe for you to question your actions. You're clearly angry, and adrenaline fuelled. I think it's safe to assume you're decision making is not at it's best during these drafts. If it was, you wouldn't have joined the drafts in the first place.
Take a breather. Get some sleep. Stop playing in high variance tournaments against the best players on mtgo. And stop creating a new thread every time you go on tilt. You can just reply to one of your previous posts, for one thing.
I have taken every piece of advice given to me and applied it. Your criticism here is unwarranted and unwelcome. I was asked to post draft caps, and I did, I posted about a dozen of them (after being criticized for not doing so within 3 hours of first receiving that advice! But whatever.).
I was told to stay out of 4-3-2-2s and I have done that. I was also warned to stay out of 8-4s and I have mostly done that, although the advice was along the lines of "play Swiss if you want the play experience, play 8-4 if you want the competition", and I decided in three cases out of about 15 drafts to go 8-4, which I do regret. I was told to record and review my drafts and play, and I have done that very vigorously.
I still am not convinced that pick order doesn't change. I mean maybe I am not sophisticated enough to factor in the expected skill level of my opponents in swiss vs. 8-4, in fact I'm sure that's true; but I'm quite certain that the best strategy takes into consideration every shred of available knowledge, and knowledge that certain good cards are undervalued in the swiss queues should lead to actionable information that results in different choices than from 8-4. Once again, not saying that I can apply this due to my skill level, but I would be surprised if someone of better skill level couldn't do it. There was a draft cap of pros recently and it was quite clear that the winning drafter was drafting a strategy that was not just based on 'take the best cards for the deck that I am building', but also, 'decide on the set of cards that will most likely be available in this queue and try to go for a deck built around that'.
I think you are evaluating what I wrote without understanding the full story. My deck was 40 cards. After losing game 2 I decided that given what I had seen of my opponents' deck, it was running alot of cheap threats and removal. I decided that to try to combat this I would try to increase my chances of drawing cheap threats and answer cards. I did this poorly by adding 2 cards; I should have taken a land out and put a threat in. But it's not like I started out with 42 cards. I started out with 40, played game 1 and 2 with 40, and then in frustration and admittedly a poor decision based on emotion (mostly fear that I could not beat my opponent and was feeling desperate) I made the bad choice to add 2 cards to try to 'have more threats'.
I do not start a deck with 42 cards and this is the ONLY time that I can remember having done that. People are really focusing on this particular mistake like it defines my play. Yes, it was a mistake, but you should not take it as an indication of my general approach to deckbuilding. It was what it was - a poorly evaluated desperation move, isolated to a single game. It very well may indicate other flaws in approach to the game, and I'd be happy to discuss them, but focusing on this one issue is overblowing this particular instance.
It hasn't happened very often; usually I am lamenting drawing too few lands or too many, not lamenting drawing lands of the wrong colors. It does happen, but it's a small fraction of the land problem. Maybe 10%.
I pay attention to it. I see that I have very few 4 drops and so I will take a slightly worse 4 drop over a slightly better 3 drop. I usually won't take a much worse 4 drop over a much better 3 drop in this situation unless the number of picks left is small. I try very hard to have effecient creatures at 3 cost and lower; 4 cost and higher I want evasion or significant power or toughness.
Agreed. My post was partly cathartic, partly meant to be an example for others of what not to do. Everyone interpreted it as me just whining and complaining, which certainly was part of it (the catharsis part). But I was really trying to make a point at the same time.
Thank you for your advice, I think it is sound. I will return your advice with some: stop exaggerating. I don't create a new thread every time I go on tilt. I have also replied to my other post considerably. And I am quite confident that if my initial comment had been appended to my other post instead of created as a new one, I would have gotten basically the same reception.
You are too emotional about magic and how people respond to your 'venting'. You know how you get roflstomped in drafts? A lot of people here are the ones roflstomping you, sir. Maybe listen to them with an open mind instead of doubling down on your tilt. That or stop trolling.
peasantcube.blogspot.com
Right back at you, friend.
You are welcome to not read or comment on my threads. Thanks.
I don't whine on salvation every time I lose an 8-4. As to your right to make this thread/future threads - go for it! I would never try to stop you from posting unless you were posting troll threads constantly or something.
I *could* stop reading your threads or posting in them but it entertains me. So I won't.
peasantcube.blogspot.com
Do make more!
Next time, play 14 lands, almost the same as 17!
I love handing out red cards. Do make more infractable posts! Next time maybe we can suspend you, almost the same as a ban!
My errata'd commons cube
Whatever else it may be, it seems to be the kind of thread that gets you criticised a lot.
Leaving all the gameplay stuff aside, I just want to check: You do have enough income that spending $250/month on drafting is OK, yes? Obviously I don't know you so I don't want to be making poorly informed assumptions, but some of what you've posted makes it sound like you have a gambling problem. I don't mean in the strategic, trying-to-win-games sense (ultimately that's fine), I mean in the giving-yourself-genuine-financial-problems sense.
Hopefully not. But if you do, PM me. Or get help from somewhere, at least.
(I'm on on this site much anymore. If you want to get in touch it's probably best to email me: dom@heffalumps.org)
Forum Awards: Best Writer 2005, Best Limited Strategist 2005-2012
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<Limited Clan>
Thank you for your concern; and I mean this very sincerely. The money aspect of this is not a problem for me. Really it's the time invested that's probably the biggest issue. I wouldn't go so far as to say I have a problem, but I definitely need to work on balance. I tend to really get into things and right now I'm really into Magic. I don't think I have a gambling problem - I don't ever do traditional gambling and find it completely uninteresting; but I do have a bit of a gaming problem. Over the years there are many games that I got so into that I had to make a concerted effort to pull myself back out of. Magic right now is pretty much squarely in that mode for me and I'll keep working on it.
As it is I've been playing 1 draft per night after the kids go to bed, which is not too excessive, but once or twice per week going on a 3 - 5 draft binge when I have the free time which is a bit excessive. I believe that it's because the set is new and really interesting and that my interest will naturally wane. I don't think I'll keep this up forever.
Anyway you seem like a genuinely nice person and I really appreciate the concern. But I'll be fine. Really