As the title says I've been playing magic off and on since 96. I have never been much into limited formats, but I'd like to start now.
The question I have is how can I get decent draft practice without paying a fortune on MTGO or at my LGS for nothing but practice basically? Is there a viable way to "draft" so that I can learn a bit before I go jump in and spend the money blindly?
What about something like Draftsim? How accurate are the weightings? I was thinking I could do Draftsim, pick a card then see where they rate it. That would give me some education on it I feel.
Also, remember the acronym BREAD. Bombs, Removal, Evasion, Advantage, Dudes. When I started drafting, someone gave me that advice, and it helped immensely. It refers to the priority of what card to take (B is highest priority, and it trickles down from there).
Bombs - these are game-winners, powerful creatures or spells.
Removal - pretty self-evident, but you need to be able to remove your opponents' win conditions.
Evasion - there's a reason why blue white flyers performs well - evasive creatures are more certain to punch through.
Advantage - card advantage, things like card draw or opponent discard, 2-for-1s, creatures with ETBs, etc. Card advantage wins games (though you need cards that are worth drawing into).
Dudes - even mediocre creatures can trade with other creatures or punch in a little damage. When there's nothing else good, get an extra body.
Obviously, you have to consider colors and mana cost, but I've found this to be a useful guideline.
Check out some of the draft videos on channelfireball.com. You'll get to watch some of the best drafters around and get a pretty good sense of what cards and strategies to look out for. My favorite guys to watch are LSV, Ben Stark, and Neil Oliver, but pretty much any of the videos on there should be helpful. Draftsim is an okay tool, but it's a little imperfect in the way it evaluates things like color preference and cards that are archetype specific.
As far as FunkyDragon's BREAD suggestion, it's an okay starting point for the uninitiated, but be aware that with modern Magic sets you often have to pretty much throw it out the window. For example, in Amonkhet Gust Walker is a higher pick than Electrify despite the BREAD rule telling you it is better to take the red removal spell over the white evasive creature. This is because Amonkhet is a fairly aggressive set and two drop creatures are very important (Gustwalker is the best common 2 drop), while four mana is a lot to pay for a removal spell that may not even deal with their bomb. Modern Magic sets have really depowered removal spells in general so you have to evaluate each card on a case-by-case basis.
If you're really worried about your win%, you might want to wait until the next set to drop before you take the plunge. At this point Amonkhet's format has been largely figured out so you will have a hard time against more experienced drafters. When Hour of Devastation comes out it will take a while for everyone to figure out what's good and bad so you'll be on more equal footing. You should definitely get into drafting though; it's one of the most fun and skill testing ways to play the game!
Also, remember the acronym BREAD. Bombs, Removal, Evasion, Advantage, Dudes. When I started drafting, someone gave me that advice, and it helped immensely. It refers to the priority of what card to take (B is highest priority, and it trickles down from there).
Bombs - these are game-winners, powerful creatures or spells.
Removal - pretty self-evident, but you need to be able to remove your opponents' win conditions.
Evasion - there's a reason why blue white flyers performs well - evasive creatures are more certain to punch through.
Advantage - card advantage, things like card draw or opponent discard, 2-for-1s, creatures with ETBs, etc. Card advantage wins games (though you need cards that are worth drawing into).
Dudes - even mediocre creatures can trade with other creatures or punch in a little damage. When there's nothing else good, get an extra body.
Obviously, you have to consider colors and mana cost, but I've found this to be a useful guideline.
I've heard BREAD before, I'll take this into consideration.
Check out some of the draft videos on channelfireball.com. You'll get to watch some of the best drafters around and get a pretty good sense of what cards and strategies to look out for. My favorite guys to watch are LSV, Ben Stark, and Neil Oliver, but pretty much any of the videos on there should be helpful. Draftsim is an okay tool, but it's a little imperfect in the way it evaluates things like color preference and cards that are archetype specific.
As far as FunkyDragon's BREAD suggestion, it's an okay starting point for the uninitiated, but be aware that with modern Magic sets you often have to pretty much throw it out the window. For example, in Amonkhet Gust Walker is a higher pick than Electrify despite the BREAD rule telling you it is better to take the red removal spell over the white evasive creature. This is because Amonkhet is a fairly aggressive set and two drop creatures are very important (Gustwalker is the best common 2 drop), while four mana is a lot to pay for a removal spell that may not even deal with their bomb. Modern Magic sets have really depowered removal spells in general so you have to evaluate each card on a case-by-case basis.
If you're really worried about your win%, you might want to wait until the next set to drop before you take the plunge. At this point Amonkhet's format has been largely figured out so you will have a hard time against more experienced drafters. When Hour of Devastation comes out it will take a while for everyone to figure out what's good and bad so you'll be on more equal footing. You should definitely get into drafting though; it's one of the most fun and skill testing ways to play the game!
I've watched many LSV videos on drafting, and he's always says things like "this is the correct pick here" but never explains why. My main aversion to playing draft format is that I'll be spending the money on packs and unless I just rare draft I'll just be throwing my money out the window until I figure out what I'm doing. I'm not opposed to spending money to do it, just would hate to waste it.
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The question I have is how can I get decent draft practice without paying a fortune on MTGO or at my LGS for nothing but practice basically? Is there a viable way to "draft" so that I can learn a bit before I go jump in and spend the money blindly?
Bombs - these are game-winners, powerful creatures or spells.
Removal - pretty self-evident, but you need to be able to remove your opponents' win conditions.
Evasion - there's a reason why blue white flyers performs well - evasive creatures are more certain to punch through.
Advantage - card advantage, things like card draw or opponent discard, 2-for-1s, creatures with ETBs, etc. Card advantage wins games (though you need cards that are worth drawing into).
Dudes - even mediocre creatures can trade with other creatures or punch in a little damage. When there's nothing else good, get an extra body.
Obviously, you have to consider colors and mana cost, but I've found this to be a useful guideline.
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As far as FunkyDragon's BREAD suggestion, it's an okay starting point for the uninitiated, but be aware that with modern Magic sets you often have to pretty much throw it out the window. For example, in Amonkhet Gust Walker is a higher pick than Electrify despite the BREAD rule telling you it is better to take the red removal spell over the white evasive creature. This is because Amonkhet is a fairly aggressive set and two drop creatures are very important (Gustwalker is the best common 2 drop), while four mana is a lot to pay for a removal spell that may not even deal with their bomb. Modern Magic sets have really depowered removal spells in general so you have to evaluate each card on a case-by-case basis.
If you're really worried about your win%, you might want to wait until the next set to drop before you take the plunge. At this point Amonkhet's format has been largely figured out so you will have a hard time against more experienced drafters. When Hour of Devastation comes out it will take a while for everyone to figure out what's good and bad so you'll be on more equal footing. You should definitely get into drafting though; it's one of the most fun and skill testing ways to play the game!
I've heard BREAD before, I'll take this into consideration.
I've watched many LSV videos on drafting, and he's always says things like "this is the correct pick here" but never explains why. My main aversion to playing draft format is that I'll be spending the money on packs and unless I just rare draft I'll just be throwing my money out the window until I figure out what I'm doing. I'm not opposed to spending money to do it, just would hate to waste it.