Exactly.
It does not go "infinite" it goes "arbitrarily large number"
You get a loop you can repeat any number of times, and after say a billion you end the loop.
You are then stuck at one billion Savants.
It is important to note that you get "stuck" for the Mirror match. If Player-A first drops a billion Savants, Player-B can then drop two billion Savants and thus win. Visa versa as well. The mirrors tie unless disruption/speed/etc otherwise break the tie.
When I make a round, I try to see if from your all's perspective and figure out what I'd choose. Since this was a sealed round where I had no "i know what's coming" advantage, I briefly considered entering - but as this took a good bit of hand tweaking, it would still be unfair. That said, the deck I would have gone with was exactly ManyCookies's entry (Ancient Tomb / Dream Stealer / Riding the Dilu Horse), so it's really nice to see it on the field.
That's definitely something that could be very interesting. It's kind of the opposite, adding pressure instead of adding a bonus.
In Extra Pick, you're explicitly getting an extra pick that can be tossed away. I've noticed people are very hesitant to "Gamble" on cards - that is, to pick a card that might be really good but is highly dependent on later packs. Additionally, it gives you the opportunity to diverge into two paths, and see which one you prefer. On pack 5, you could already have cards A&B and X&Y. This then lets you look back and decide if A&B or X&Y would be better for the round, and let you pick up either card C or Z to fill out your options.
"4 Pack Draft" with Extra Pick adds pressure. The card pool is smaller and tighter, which makes the meta smaller and tighter. This then means you have to be more focused and adapted, since being "great in general" will be far less important than being tuned to handle the repeated cards you're sure to see. The extra pick further adds pressure, because it's not a bonus anymore. It's part of your normal draft, and timing its use is critical. As your deck has to handle a narrower field, drafting the extra pick early is risky because you don't know what's coming, and holding it for a later pack is risky because there might not be a 2nd card you need and it's wasted.
We could definitely try the 4 pack version, but that would take me a bit to adjust what's generated. The more limited we go, the more important it is that I ensure there are multiple "paths" to take, and that it isn't "Choose X, Meta Against X, or Go Home". I'll definitely be thinking on it.
I'd like most of our special rounds to be about the draft, since that's the main difference from normal PHM.
Ideas I've had:
* Extra Pick (as above)
* Early Pick (On any one pack you can double pick. If you do, you lose a future pick)
* Back Pick (Once in the game, you can change a single pick from a previous pack)
* Random Blind (Your pick for pack 1 will be randomly chosen for you. Pack 1 is a godly pack.)
* Legions (Every card in the cardpool is a creature card)
* "Format" (Every card in the cardpool is [Modern, Standard, Frontier]
* Halloween (Every card in the cardpool is black [plus black lands, etc].)
Always open to suggestions
Aside: I'm going to give it one more day before I post the round. Knoboddi is the only drafter who hasn't submitted.
Round 4 will most likely be a normal draft with a special round rule.
I'm considering "Extra Pick"
Extra Pick
Five packs of 15 cards as normal.
On any one pack, a player may choose to draft an additional card.
The player will then have 6 drafted cards, but will still submit a 3 card deck as normal.
Note: The player must use this extra pick as he drafts his normal pick for that pick; he cannot go back to a later pack. If you have not chosen to use your extra draft pick by pack 5, you would then have to use it for pack 5.
It's come to my attention that Muzzio's Preparation doesn't quite work the way i want it to with Sealed. At least, not normally. In a normal draft it will work - you can get it in addition to your three cards but you still have to spend a pick on it. With sealed.. it's basically free, which is very much not ideal.
This was tweaked, etc, but started off generated from the normal five card pack.
I will stick to the above for this round, and apologize for the confusion.
In the future, I will just have to make sure no conspiracies appear in a Sealed round.
So apologies if it confuses you, and is technically wrong, but for this round you'll only get Muzzio's Preparations if you pick it.
I will adjust things so that it works the way it should in the future: adjust and clarify the rules, keep them from appearing in sealed, etc.
Each card must be part of your 3-Card Deck Submission in order for that card to be used. Additionally, both require a choice as part of the deck submission (rule 2.5 : You have to make this choice as part of the submission and it can't be changed between rounds). Arcane Savant lets you choose an instant or sorcery from the draft pool which is NOT in your 3 card deck submission. That card would begin the game in exile and be "attached" to your Arcane Savant. Muzzio's Preparations lets you name any creature card and begins the game in the Command Zone.
If you submitted Arcane Savant, you would want to submit:
Card1 / Card2 / Arcane Savant (Name: Instant/Sorcery Card That isn't Card1 or Card2)
Likewise, Muzzio's Preparations would be:
Card1 / Card2 / Muzzio's Preparations (Name: Creature Card that probably is Card1 or Card2)
It does not go "infinite" it goes "arbitrarily large number"
You get a loop you can repeat any number of times, and after say a billion you end the loop.
You are then stuck at one billion Savants.
It is important to note that you get "stuck" for the Mirror match. If Player-A first drops a billion Savants, Player-B can then drop two billion Savants and thus win. Visa versa as well. The mirrors tie unless disruption/speed/etc otherwise break the tie.
You are correct.
No longer staff here.
No longer staff here.
XX | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | PT : AVG
01 | X 3 2 0 2 6 6 1 4 | 23 : 288
02 | 3 X 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 | 08 : 100
03 | 2 6 X 0 0 6 0 6 6 | 26 : 325
04 | 6 0 6 X 0 6 6 6 6 | 36 : 450
05 | 2 6 6 6 X 0 4 0 3 | 26 : 325
06 | 0 6 0 0 6 X 0 6 0 | 18 : 225
07 | 0 6 6 0 1 6 X 0 6 | 25 : 313
08 | 4 6 0 0 6 0 6 X 3 | 24 : 300
09 | 1 6 0 0 3 6 0 3 X | 17 : 213
No longer staff here.
In Extra Pick, you're explicitly getting an extra pick that can be tossed away. I've noticed people are very hesitant to "Gamble" on cards - that is, to pick a card that might be really good but is highly dependent on later packs. Additionally, it gives you the opportunity to diverge into two paths, and see which one you prefer. On pack 5, you could already have cards A&B and X&Y. This then lets you look back and decide if A&B or X&Y would be better for the round, and let you pick up either card C or Z to fill out your options.
"4 Pack Draft" with Extra Pick adds pressure. The card pool is smaller and tighter, which makes the meta smaller and tighter. This then means you have to be more focused and adapted, since being "great in general" will be far less important than being tuned to handle the repeated cards you're sure to see. The extra pick further adds pressure, because it's not a bonus anymore. It's part of your normal draft, and timing its use is critical. As your deck has to handle a narrower field, drafting the extra pick early is risky because you don't know what's coming, and holding it for a later pack is risky because there might not be a 2nd card you need and it's wasted.
We could definitely try the 4 pack version, but that would take me a bit to adjust what's generated. The more limited we go, the more important it is that I ensure there are multiple "paths" to take, and that it isn't "Choose X, Meta Against X, or Go Home". I'll definitely be thinking on it.
I'd like most of our special rounds to be about the draft, since that's the main difference from normal PHM.
Ideas I've had:
* Extra Pick (as above)
* Early Pick (On any one pack you can double pick. If you do, you lose a future pick)
* Back Pick (Once in the game, you can change a single pick from a previous pack)
* Random Blind (Your pick for pack 1 will be randomly chosen for you. Pack 1 is a godly pack.)
* Legions (Every card in the cardpool is a creature card)
* "Format" (Every card in the cardpool is [Modern, Standard, Frontier]
* Halloween (Every card in the cardpool is black [plus black lands, etc].)
Always open to suggestions
Aside: I'm going to give it one more day before I post the round. Knoboddi is the only drafter who hasn't submitted.
No longer staff here.
Round 4 will most likely be a normal draft with a special round rule.
I'm considering "Extra Pick"
Extra Pick
Five packs of 15 cards as normal.
On any one pack, a player may choose to draft an additional card.
The player will then have 6 drafted cards, but will still submit a 3 card deck as normal.
Note: The player must use this extra pick as he drafts his normal pick for that pick; he cannot go back to a later pack. If you have not chosen to use your extra draft pick by pack 5, you would then have to use it for pack 5.
No longer staff here.
This was tweaked, etc, but started off generated from the normal five card pack.
I will stick to the above for this round, and apologize for the confusion.
In the future, I will just have to make sure no conspiracies appear in a Sealed round.
So apologies if it confuses you, and is technically wrong, but for this round you'll only get Muzzio's Preparations if you pick it.
I will adjust things so that it works the way it should in the future: adjust and clarify the rules, keep them from appearing in sealed, etc.
No longer staff here.
This round contains Arcane Savant and Muzzio's Preparations.
Each card must be part of your 3-Card Deck Submission in order for that card to be used. Additionally, both require a choice as part of the deck submission (rule 2.5 : You have to make this choice as part of the submission and it can't be changed between rounds). Arcane Savant lets you choose an instant or sorcery from the draft pool which is NOT in your 3 card deck submission. That card would begin the game in exile and be "attached" to your Arcane Savant. Muzzio's Preparations lets you name any creature card and begins the game in the Command Zone.
If you submitted Arcane Savant, you would want to submit:
Card1 / Card2 / Arcane Savant (Name: Instant/Sorcery Card That isn't Card1 or Card2)
Likewise, Muzzio's Preparations would be:
Card1 / Card2 / Muzzio's Preparations (Name: Creature Card that probably is Card1 or Card2)
No longer staff here.