I started playing Magic last year because of the exploration of Greek Mythology, but I strongly shied away from drafting. It was too expensive, and I was no good at it. In part this might be because I was new to Magic. I did Block Constructed, but once KTK came out, I decided to make the jump up to Standard. I also decided to try my hand at drafting.
I have met with a certain amount of success. I've been playing in the 4-3-2-2 queues, and on average I've won 1.75 matches per draft (14 drafts). I've noticed that it isn't altogether difficult when you pick up a bomb rare with the first pick, and then you draft around that card. What has been more spotty for me has been when my opening P1P1 has been either Altar of the Brood or a fetchland (~6/14 drafts). Sometimes those packs have contained cards like Dead Drop or Murderous Cut, which helps give me some direction, but even still, I sometimes feel really aimless drafting when this happens. I've recorded 2 videos of my past 2 drafts and have created a channel on dailymotion so y'all can view them. Conveniently, both times my opening pack has not had a bomb rare. I did end up going 2-1 and 3-0 in these drafts, but I don't feel like I drafted very well, and I lost in the first round in the same situation just before these two drafts (it was that draft that inspired me to take the steps necessary to receive input from the Magic community). My goal is to become a better drafter and a better player.
Please feel free to offer critiques of my drafting. Also please let me know if audio of some kind would help. I've seen people make videos in which they just record themselves as they draft, and I've seen videos in which they orally go over their draft post factum. The latter takes more effort, but am happy to do it if it is vastly superior. Some of these games can be fun to watch, so let me know if you would like for me to record the actual matches. *Note* Because I haven't yet posted 5 times, this website won't let me link to the drafts, so I just put a space between the www*
I. KTK Draft #1: http://w ww.dailymotion.com/video/x2ak55d_khans-of-tarkir-draft_videogames
Questions:
1) My first gut feeling that blue was open was when I was passed Riverwheel Aerialists in P1P4. Is that too early to read a signal? Should I have taken Arrow Storm instead?
2) When the Vizier wheeled (@6:00), should that have been the moment that I jumped into Sultai? If not, when was the correct moment to alter course?
3) What should I have taken P2P1?
II. KTK Draft #2: http://w ww.dailymotion.com/video/x2akank_khans-of-tarkir-draft-2_videogames
1) Is Sultai Ascendancy the correct first pick? I opted for Saddlebrute, but I have been very impressed with Sultai Ascendancy in 2 of my other drafts. Since we all seem to be running 18 lands, our decks are prone to mana-flood, and Sultai Ascendancy resolves that problem perfectly. I have yet to lose a game in which I casted it. With that said, I didn't want to first pick it because it is 3 colors. I don't like Saddlebrute too much either, since it wants you to be an aggro deck, especially a BW Warrior deck, and it seems that there are always several people drafting that deck. My worst drafts tend to be the ones in which I go "Warrior aggro" or "Abzan".
2) I'm actually curious as to how y'all would have done my first several picks. There seem to be so many different options. Looking back on it, I think Horde Ambusher or Jeskai Windscout would have been better than Incremental Growth (although I did end up using Incremental Growth in my final deck).
3) Around P1P8 I developed a suspicion that Red was open. This feeling died down, but in P2P4 I finally said, "you know what, Red is open, I'm going to slide on in here. Seeing 2 Arrow Storms back to back is too strong a signal to ignore".
No need to limit responses to the questions above - I'll take any helpful advice or criticism y'all have to offer!
Thanks!
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Unfortunately, videos are blocked from where I typically access the internet. I will provide some comments based upon what you wrote above.
KTK is strange in that a deck which doesn't seem all that good may end up being good after all. I don't know why this is. I experienced a bit of that in previous recent sets but not nearly to the extent as in KTK, maybe due to the variance in having to hit 5 mana on turn 5, or maybe because KTK has a much larger percentage of playable commons than other recent sets in my view. I have done well with many decks which did not have a bomb in it, and I have done poorly with decks containing a bomb, though of course it's better to have a bomb.
Also, signals are very tough to read in KTK draft. Just as one example, Riverwheel Aerialists is a very good card in my view but there are some who do not agree, and consider it only a better-than-average card, so blue drafters may just pass it. Also, some folks draft lands very highly in pack 1, possibly trying to draft a 5 color deck, which often leaves very good spells available in pack 1 later than expected.
I am not a big fan of the Vizier, it is good but it is only very good in a deck which has a significant amount of delve. I would not abandon other good cards to move into different colors for the Vizier.
Sultai Ascendancy is in my view not worthy of a first pick and is sometimes not a card I even want in my Sultai deck at all. It is built in card disadvantage for the benefits of card advantage and delve enabling, not to mention having to sometimes take a turn off to cast it instead of something more relevant -- this all can be worth it but it depends. Unlike in other recent formats, I believe that mana flood is less prevalent in KTK due to dumping mana into flipping morphs. I like the saddlebrute a whole lot, even in a non-aggressive deck. It's not a good P1P1 pick in my view, but it is better than almost any common in my view.
Incremental Growth is a very difficult card to judge. I would almost never want two in my deck, and I would need to have a deck with enough creatures to even value it highly at all. For example, I do not think it fits well in a deck with only 14 creatures, although I might still use it. Also, the double-green can be problematic. That said, it can win games and if you can get the +1/+1 counter "lords" (such as Ainok Bond-Kin) then it can really shine, but I would not want to first pick it unless there was nothing else good in the pack.
As I draft I pretty much settle on the idea that I will be in a clan of 3 colors. I try to stay on one or two enemy colors for as long as reasonably possible until the third color presents itself to me, and on rare occasion I stay 2 colors. For example, I might start with a good white card such as Suspension Field and then lean towards remaining white but being very open to drafting black or red (enemy colors); early on if a blue or green bomb is given to me I will take it but otherwise I will try to pass anything blue or green unless it's the clearly best card, in which case I might abandon white. So if I decide that a color seems open, such as the Arrow Storm example you brought up, I would probably ignore it unless the colors fit what I was already trying to do (i.e. if red was one of the colors of a clan I was already drafting) or unless somehow my deck is a jumble of junk and jumping to another color could help me salvage it. Signals in KTK are too tough to rely on, in my view.
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I started playing Magic last year because of the exploration of Greek Mythology, but I strongly shied away from drafting. It was too expensive, and I was no good at it. In part this might be because I was new to Magic. I did Block Constructed, but once KTK came out, I decided to make the jump up to Standard. I also decided to try my hand at drafting.
I have met with a certain amount of success. I've been playing in the 4-3-2-2 queues, and on average I've won 1.75 matches per draft (14 drafts). I've noticed that it isn't altogether difficult when you pick up a bomb rare with the first pick, and then you draft around that card. What has been more spotty for me has been when my opening P1P1 has been either Altar of the Brood or a fetchland (~6/14 drafts). Sometimes those packs have contained cards like Dead Drop or Murderous Cut, which helps give me some direction, but even still, I sometimes feel really aimless drafting when this happens. I've recorded 2 videos of my past 2 drafts and have created a channel on dailymotion so y'all can view them. Conveniently, both times my opening pack has not had a bomb rare. I did end up going 2-1 and 3-0 in these drafts, but I don't feel like I drafted very well, and I lost in the first round in the same situation just before these two drafts (it was that draft that inspired me to take the steps necessary to receive input from the Magic community). My goal is to become a better drafter and a better player.
Please feel free to offer critiques of my drafting. Also please let me know if audio of some kind would help. I've seen people make videos in which they just record themselves as they draft, and I've seen videos in which they orally go over their draft post factum. The latter takes more effort, but am happy to do it if it is vastly superior. Some of these games can be fun to watch, so let me know if you would like for me to record the actual matches. *Note* Because I haven't yet posted 5 times, this website won't let me link to the drafts, so I just put a space between the www*
I. KTK Draft #1: http://w ww.dailymotion.com/video/x2ak55d_khans-of-tarkir-draft_videogames
Questions:
1) My first gut feeling that blue was open was when I was passed Riverwheel Aerialists in P1P4. Is that too early to read a signal? Should I have taken Arrow Storm instead?
2) When the Vizier wheeled (@6:00), should that have been the moment that I jumped into Sultai? If not, when was the correct moment to alter course?
3) What should I have taken P2P1?
II. KTK Draft #2: http://w ww.dailymotion.com/video/x2akank_khans-of-tarkir-draft-2_videogames
1) Is Sultai Ascendancy the correct first pick? I opted for Saddlebrute, but I have been very impressed with Sultai Ascendancy in 2 of my other drafts. Since we all seem to be running 18 lands, our decks are prone to mana-flood, and Sultai Ascendancy resolves that problem perfectly. I have yet to lose a game in which I casted it. With that said, I didn't want to first pick it because it is 3 colors. I don't like Saddlebrute too much either, since it wants you to be an aggro deck, especially a BW Warrior deck, and it seems that there are always several people drafting that deck. My worst drafts tend to be the ones in which I go "Warrior aggro" or "Abzan".
2) I'm actually curious as to how y'all would have done my first several picks. There seem to be so many different options. Looking back on it, I think Horde Ambusher or Jeskai Windscout would have been better than Incremental Growth (although I did end up using Incremental Growth in my final deck).
3) Around P1P8 I developed a suspicion that Red was open. This feeling died down, but in P2P4 I finally said, "you know what, Red is open, I'm going to slide on in here. Seeing 2 Arrow Storms back to back is too strong a signal to ignore".
No need to limit responses to the questions above - I'll take any helpful advice or criticism y'all have to offer!
Thanks!
KTK is strange in that a deck which doesn't seem all that good may end up being good after all. I don't know why this is. I experienced a bit of that in previous recent sets but not nearly to the extent as in KTK, maybe due to the variance in having to hit 5 mana on turn 5, or maybe because KTK has a much larger percentage of playable commons than other recent sets in my view. I have done well with many decks which did not have a bomb in it, and I have done poorly with decks containing a bomb, though of course it's better to have a bomb.
Also, signals are very tough to read in KTK draft. Just as one example, Riverwheel Aerialists is a very good card in my view but there are some who do not agree, and consider it only a better-than-average card, so blue drafters may just pass it. Also, some folks draft lands very highly in pack 1, possibly trying to draft a 5 color deck, which often leaves very good spells available in pack 1 later than expected.
I am not a big fan of the Vizier, it is good but it is only very good in a deck which has a significant amount of delve. I would not abandon other good cards to move into different colors for the Vizier.
Sultai Ascendancy is in my view not worthy of a first pick and is sometimes not a card I even want in my Sultai deck at all. It is built in card disadvantage for the benefits of card advantage and delve enabling, not to mention having to sometimes take a turn off to cast it instead of something more relevant -- this all can be worth it but it depends. Unlike in other recent formats, I believe that mana flood is less prevalent in KTK due to dumping mana into flipping morphs. I like the saddlebrute a whole lot, even in a non-aggressive deck. It's not a good P1P1 pick in my view, but it is better than almost any common in my view.
Incremental Growth is a very difficult card to judge. I would almost never want two in my deck, and I would need to have a deck with enough creatures to even value it highly at all. For example, I do not think it fits well in a deck with only 14 creatures, although I might still use it. Also, the double-green can be problematic. That said, it can win games and if you can get the +1/+1 counter "lords" (such as Ainok Bond-Kin) then it can really shine, but I would not want to first pick it unless there was nothing else good in the pack.
As I draft I pretty much settle on the idea that I will be in a clan of 3 colors. I try to stay on one or two enemy colors for as long as reasonably possible until the third color presents itself to me, and on rare occasion I stay 2 colors. For example, I might start with a good white card such as Suspension Field and then lean towards remaining white but being very open to drafting black or red (enemy colors); early on if a blue or green bomb is given to me I will take it but otherwise I will try to pass anything blue or green unless it's the clearly best card, in which case I might abandon white. So if I decide that a color seems open, such as the Arrow Storm example you brought up, I would probably ignore it unless the colors fit what I was already trying to do (i.e. if red was one of the colors of a clan I was already drafting) or unless somehow my deck is a jumble of junk and jumping to another color could help me salvage it. Signals in KTK are too tough to rely on, in my view.