Here are my general questions but i will use the Amonkhet set to explain. (we are drafting that set in a couple days as well)
1. Will you ever specifically pass on a color even if you open a bomb of that color but you feel like it's a color you don't think will do well.?
- so i am never a person who chooses a color(s) before the draft and go in thinking I'm only gonna draft those colors no matter what. I just let the packs kinda direct me into what i will be playing.
- but with Amonkhet i feel like blue is pretty weak.. Or slowish with not a great finisher and its removal seems alittle more clunky than other colors. So unless i open a Glyph Keeper first pack i feel like even if i open any of the other top blue cards I'll pass them up even if they are the best in the pack.
-What advice can you give me on this?
2. ok what if you open a Bomb 3rd pack and its not in any of the colors that you drafted in the first 2 packs.
- say I'm going red black mostly and a little splash of green in the first two packs and then 3rd pack i open Gideon of the trials. Now let's say your not drafting for $$(value of the card) and just drafting to win.
So three part question
- do you draft it anyway and then make the last pack all about getting white cards so you can splash white now instead of green?
-do you draft him just so someone else won't have him even though you know you won't play him.?
- or do you pass him and just draft the next best card in the pack that's in a color your playing?
3. Last question. So my group is pretty chatty about what cards they like and don't and what colors they do and don't like and they stay pretty true to what they say.. If you knew almost everyone else was going to try and avoid a color would you go into the draft and target that color even if you didn't like it as well?
- so in amonkhet. blue seems to be the color most are hating on. (I'm not super excited sbout it myself) Now i can see a blue green deck working pretty well with the right cards.. If it's true most of my friends will be passing on blue.. Should i go into the draft and push drafting a color i know i might have all to myself?
1. Will you ever specifically pass on a color even if you open a bomb of that color but you feel like it's a color you don't think will do well.?
No. It's extremely rare that a format has a completely unplayable color. There is usually something you can make work. When a color is seen as bad, it gets underdrafted, which lets at least one player at the table benefit from having their pick of all the best cards in that color, and then they can win with it. It tends to balance out. Most of the time any color is playable if you draft the right cards to make it work.
but with Amonkhet i feel like blue is pretty weak.. Or slowish with not a great finisher and its removal seems alittle more clunky than other colors. So unless i open a Glyph Keeper first pack i feel like even if i open any of the other top blue cards I'll pass them up even if they are the best in the pack.
I don't know why people on here keep undervaluing Amonkhet's blue. Blue is amazing and is responsible for many of my wins. It does help if you pair blue with another color with strong removal, but that's not hard to do in Amonkhet.
Blue's finishers are its many flyers. It's not fast and aggressive like some decks want to be, but evasion still ends the game.
2. ok what if you open a Bomb 3rd pack and its not in any of the colors that you drafted in the first 2 packs.
- say I'm going red black mostly and a little splash of green in the first two packs and then 3rd pack i open Gideon of the trials. Now let's say your not drafting for $$(value of the card) and just drafting to win.
You take Gideon for the $$. Even if you're playing competitively to win the draft, the value of a chase Mythic is more than even a 1st pick will increase your deck's overall win%. You get higher EV taking and selling the money card than taking the best card for your deck.
If you really don't care about value and just want to maximize your deck's chance of winning (top 8 draft of a tournament? phantom draft?), then pass the Gideon. Don't take something outside of your colors. Double-color-costed cards like Gideon are not splashable. If you're already red, black, and green, you're not going to do well forcing a completely different 4th color starting in pack 3. You won't get enough playables. Just stick to your original plan.
So three part question
- do you draft it anyway and then make the last pack all about getting white cards so you can splash white now instead of green?
No, because green was just a splash but you cannot splash Gideon, of the Trials. A red-black deck with a few Plains cannot consistently run Gideon. You'd have to abandon a main color and go red-white or black-white. And that's just a bad idea starting in pack 3. Pack 3 is too late to switch.
-do you draft him just so someone else won't have him even though you know you won't play him.?
Most people would take Gideon for the $$, with the side benefit of taking it away from everyone else so you don't have to face it. But if you don't care about $$, hatedrafting on its own is usually a bad idea. You can't take all the good cards out of the packs to stop everyone else, and by doing so you're wasting your own early picks that you could use to make your own deck better. You're better off just grabbing the best card in that pack for your own deck.
3. Last question. So my group is pretty chatty about what cards they like and don't and what colors they do and don't like and they stay pretty true to what they say.. If you knew almost everyone else was going to try and avoid a color would you go into the draft and target that color even if you didn't like it as well?
- so in amonkhet. blue seems to be the color most are hating on. (I'm not super excited sbout it myself) Now i can see a blue green deck working pretty well with the right cards.. If it's true most of my friends will be passing on blue.. Should i go into the draft and push drafting a color i know i might have all to myself?
If you know your playgroup is avoiding blue and you're seeing great blue cards getting passed in pack 1, take blue. Grab all the best blue cards and beat them with it. They'll quickly change their minds about the color.
So I've been practicing drafting alot with
http://syunakira.us/smds/index.php
Here are my general questions but i will use the Amonkhet set to explain. (we are drafting that set in a couple days as well)
1. Will you ever specifically pass on a color even if you open a bomb of that color but you feel like it's a color you don't think will do well.?
- so i am never a person who chooses a color(s) before the draft and go in thinking I'm only gonna draft those colors no matter what. I just let the packs kinda direct me into what i will be playing.
- but with Amonkhet i feel like blue is pretty weak.. Or slowish with not a great finisher and its removal seems alittle more clunky than other colors. So unless i open a Glyph Keeper first pack i feel like even if i open any of the other top blue cards I'll pass them up even if they are the best in the pack.
-What advice can you give me on this?
2. ok what if you open a Bomb 3rd pack and its not in any of the colors that you drafted in the first 2 packs.
- say I'm going red black mostly and a little splash of green in the first two packs and then 3rd pack i open Gideon of the trials. Now let's say your not drafting for $$(value of the card) and just drafting to win.
So three part question
- do you draft it anyway and then make the last pack all about getting white cards so you can splash white now instead of green?
-do you draft him just so someone else won't have him even though you know you won't play him.?
- or do you pass him and just draft the next best card in the pack that's in a color your playing?
3. Last question. So my group is pretty chatty about what cards they like and don't and what colors they do and don't like and they stay pretty true to what they say.. If you knew almost everyone else was going to try and avoid a color would you go into the draft and target that color even if you didn't like it as well?
- so in amonkhet. blue seems to be the color most are hating on. (I'm not super excited sbout it myself) Now i can see a blue green deck working pretty well with the right cards.. If it's true most of my friends will be passing on blue.. Should i go into the draft and push drafting a color i know i might have all to myself?
Thanks so much for the advice
No. It's extremely rare that a format has a completely unplayable color. There is usually something you can make work. When a color is seen as bad, it gets underdrafted, which lets at least one player at the table benefit from having their pick of all the best cards in that color, and then they can win with it. It tends to balance out. Most of the time any color is playable if you draft the right cards to make it work.
I don't know why people on here keep undervaluing Amonkhet's blue. Blue is amazing and is responsible for many of my wins. It does help if you pair blue with another color with strong removal, but that's not hard to do in Amonkhet.
Blue's finishers are its many flyers. It's not fast and aggressive like some decks want to be, but evasion still ends the game.
You take Gideon for the $$. Even if you're playing competitively to win the draft, the value of a chase Mythic is more than even a 1st pick will increase your deck's overall win%. You get higher EV taking and selling the money card than taking the best card for your deck.
If you really don't care about value and just want to maximize your deck's chance of winning (top 8 draft of a tournament? phantom draft?), then pass the Gideon. Don't take something outside of your colors. Double-color-costed cards like Gideon are not splashable. If you're already red, black, and green, you're not going to do well forcing a completely different 4th color starting in pack 3. You won't get enough playables. Just stick to your original plan.
No, because green was just a splash but you cannot splash Gideon, of the Trials. A red-black deck with a few Plains cannot consistently run Gideon. You'd have to abandon a main color and go red-white or black-white. And that's just a bad idea starting in pack 3. Pack 3 is too late to switch.
Most people would take Gideon for the $$, with the side benefit of taking it away from everyone else so you don't have to face it. But if you don't care about $$, hatedrafting on its own is usually a bad idea. You can't take all the good cards out of the packs to stop everyone else, and by doing so you're wasting your own early picks that you could use to make your own deck better. You're better off just grabbing the best card in that pack for your own deck.
If you know your playgroup is avoiding blue and you're seeing great blue cards getting passed in pack 1, take blue. Grab all the best blue cards and beat them with it. They'll quickly change their minds about the color.