My friends and I have been doing winston drafts using https://mtgadraft.herokuapp.com/ . It's such a blast, you can have it use only your collections, too, so you don't have to craft anything. We just draft and do a bo3. It's so nice to have something like my old house of friends playing table magic.
Ikoria works great, since Winston often has you needed to dip into a 3rd color for playables, but 2021 was fine too. We've all drafted enough of both to have enough cards to enjoy it.
I'm trying to carve out time to get more draft experience. Elsewhere, it was suggested to do bot drafts for a while. Is that something you'd recommend, or should I just do human drafts?
I'm worried that bot drafts will teach me bad habits.
I think either is fine. getting into drafting bots might even be better for a lot of reasons.
No time pressure being the biggest.
Humans are certainly less predictable than bots, and if you want to become an expert drafter, you need to eventually start reading the picks that are coming your way and figuring out what your opponents are picking. But if you aren't at that level yet, bots work fine.
Also, this is just me, but i see a lot fewer super nuts decks in quick draft. Many times in premier there will be an entire archetype that just gets ignored by 7 players, and the one person picking it gets a near perfect deck.
orzhov lifegain Vito decks have become my obsession. I am tinkering at Vampire Tribal, White Devotion, Black devotion bombs.
All for Vito, praise Vito, Thorn of Dusk Rose
i've been playing vito with ajani, strength of the pride
also if you resolve revival/revenge and your life is at least half of theirs, that's game
Vito/Revenge Bombs is the synergy basis for MOST of my decks, yeah. Even Mono Black Devotion Vito slips it in. Too powerful not too! Heliod's intervention is also real good, but more of a white sink, and I've had less success with it.
I've got to save up for some Ajani's, because my 4th drops are usually the Bell-Haunts and Sorins, and if I'm ever going a bit more white (heliod, the two drop white devotion guys) then getting the Ajani Pridemate maker is big, I bet!
Also finding that if you get some Pridemates into the Vito mix, it helps detract from the focus he's getting. People are finally reading the card and knocking him turn 3/4.
Vito also has tonnes of fun in a Light of Hope, Speaker of Heavens, Griffin Aerie at the start. Just a token engine.
My biggest conflict is removal. Black and White removal gives so many options it is VERY overwhelming for me.
I'm trying to carve out time to get more draft experience. Elsewhere, it was suggested to do bot drafts for a while. Is that something you'd recommend, or should I just do human drafts?
I'm worried that bot drafts will teach me bad habits.
Bot drafts are like drafting with the same 7 friends over and over. It's fine for a long while but eventually you realize that you can make the same deck every time because your friends undervalue certain cards. It's like what happened when me and my coworkers had a semi-regular cube draft, we knew that certain people would always go blue, one person would always go mono-white and no one took the red cards. Bots have certain preferences that you can figure out but it's something that happens after a dozen drafts depending on your drafting skill.
I'd draft with bots first because you can get more games for your money and when that starts to feel stale swap to human drafts.
I've scraped together enough Gems to buy a Mastery Pass. Don't know if I should actually buy one. I think I'll wait until Zendikar at the very least. That way I'll have more time to fill it out, provided my interest in Magic doesn't crater again between now and then.
Also, the Well-Read Dinosaurs Jumpstart deck would've worked so much better if a drew more Dinosaurs and just a little less Well-Read.
Isn't the well-read part supposed to draw you into the dinos? That was the agreement, no?
I ran Elves/Basri for a bit last night. That was brutally efficient. Also had fun with Smashing Lands in the FNM event. Feathered Friends Doctor routinely finished with 30+ life.
Isn't the well-read part supposed to draw you into the dinos? That was the agreement, no?
You'd think so, but mostly they drew me more Lands and card-draw Enchantments to put on the Creatures that I wasn't drawing. It was pretty frustrating.
Sometimes you double vamps and walk through people. Other times you end up in predatory discard and just draw the wrong half of each archetype and do nothing
I feel there needs to be a rule against going mono-colour in jumpstart. Definitely no mono-pack name.
Monocolor isn't too absurd; you're guaranteed two awkward draws when the Thriving lands show up and you're vulnerable to certain things as per the color pie. But yeah doubling up shouldn't be allowed.
Reanimation Angels: Thought it'd be a fun controlly haymakers deck. Turned out it has very limited removal and Linvala is an awful rare.
Garruk Dinos: Absurd, if a bit narrow. Basically two mono-green 4+ power matters decks with incredible reach via trample. Dies to aggro flying though.
Goblin Lands: Muxus is fun when he doesn't whiff, which is often. No top-end besides him though, so the ramp was sort of eh.
+1/+1 Minions: No internal synergy at all but it doesn't matter because +1/+1 is absurd. I won several games with a single unblocked swing with the doubling counters enchantment plus the double counters trick.
Phyrexian Spooky: This deck is a crazy monoblack control deck. Loop creatures that return creatures for endless chump blocks, clear with Languish, and generate tons of rats via death triggets. Phyrexian Reclamation is a crazy stupid card
I had great success with archeology Basri. Those little artifact creatures pair with him quite nicely if you can get him out, Basris issue seems to usually be "i have no creatures" and archeology has lots of ways to get dead creatures back in your hand ready to cast.
I hope they plan to update Jumpstart regularly though. New deck halves every month or two would be nice
I had great success with archeology Basri. Those little artifact creatures pair with him quite nicely if you can get him out, Basris issue seems to usually be "i have no creatures" and archeology has lots of ways to get dead creatures back in your hand ready to cast.
I hope they plan to update Jumpstart regularly though. New deck halves every month or two would be nice
I would drop an unreasonable amount of gold trying to get some theoretical Werewolf Jumpstart packets. Even though Werewolves just aren't really all that good.
Fortunately, I doubt WotC has any plans for regular updates, and even if they do, Werewolves are likely very low on their list of priorities.
As someone getting back in the game, reading this announcement all I could think was "there are how many formats?" Is Historic eventually supposed to become Pioneer, or did they choose to to make Arena have its own eternal format for whatever reason?
As someone getting back in the game, reading this announcement all I could think was "there are how many formats?" Is Historic eventually supposed to become Pioneer, or did they choose to to make Arena have its own eternal format for whatever reason?
They made Arena have its own eternal format before Pioneer was announced, in order to let people play with their rotated cards, because people hate the idea of permanently losing cards. It's its own custom thing, not pioneer nor intended to be.
As someone getting back in the game, reading this announcement all I could think was "there are how many formats?" Is Historic eventually supposed to become Pioneer, or did they choose to to make Arena have its own eternal format for whatever reason?
They made Arena have its own eternal format before Pioneer was announced, in order to let people play with their rotated cards, because people hate the idea of permanently losing cards. It's its own custom thing, not pioneer nor intended to be.
So to be clear, with the upcoming Amonkhet Remastered (and eventually Kaladesh?), Historic will functionally be Pioneer + Random Modern/Legacy cards released through things like Jumpstart?
As someone getting back in the game, reading this announcement all I could think was "there are how many formats?" Is Historic eventually supposed to become Pioneer, or did they choose to to make Arena have its own eternal format for whatever reason?
They made Arena have its own eternal format before Pioneer was announced, in order to let people play with their rotated cards, because people hate the idea of permanently losing cards. It's its own custom thing, not pioneer nor intended to be.
So to be clear, with the upcoming Amonkhet Remastered (and eventually Kaladesh?), Historic will functionally be Pioneer + Random Modern/Legacy cards released through things like Jumpstart?
No, Pioneer goes back way further than Arena does.
As someone getting back in the game, reading this announcement all I could think was "there are how many formats?" Is Historic eventually supposed to become Pioneer, or did they choose to to make Arena have its own eternal format for whatever reason?
They made Arena have its own eternal format before Pioneer was announced, in order to let people play with their rotated cards, because people hate the idea of permanently losing cards. It's its own custom thing, not pioneer nor intended to be.
So to be clear, with the upcoming Amonkhet Remastered (and eventually Kaladesh?), Historic will functionally be Pioneer + Random Modern/Legacy cards released through things like Jumpstart?
No, Pioneer goes back way further than Arena does.
Yeah Pioneer starts with Return to Ravnica (or the Core Set just prior, I forget).
Posts
Honestly I'd take either at this point. Standard Pauper makes the most sense given the available card pool in Arena.
Ikoria works great, since Winston often has you needed to dip into a 3rd color for playables, but 2021 was fine too. We've all drafted enough of both to have enough cards to enjoy it.
Steam ID: Obos Vent: Obos
i've been playing vito with ajani, strength of the pride
also if you resolve revival/revenge and your life is at least half of theirs, that's game
I'm worried that bot drafts will teach me bad habits.
No time pressure being the biggest.
Humans are certainly less predictable than bots, and if you want to become an expert drafter, you need to eventually start reading the picks that are coming your way and figuring out what your opponents are picking. But if you aren't at that level yet, bots work fine.
Also, this is just me, but i see a lot fewer super nuts decks in quick draft. Many times in premier there will be an entire archetype that just gets ignored by 7 players, and the one person picking it gets a near perfect deck.
Vito/Revenge Bombs is the synergy basis for MOST of my decks, yeah. Even Mono Black Devotion Vito slips it in. Too powerful not too! Heliod's intervention is also real good, but more of a white sink, and I've had less success with it.
I've got to save up for some Ajani's, because my 4th drops are usually the Bell-Haunts and Sorins, and if I'm ever going a bit more white (heliod, the two drop white devotion guys) then getting the Ajani Pridemate maker is big, I bet!
Also finding that if you get some Pridemates into the Vito mix, it helps detract from the focus he's getting. People are finally reading the card and knocking him turn 3/4.
Vito also has tonnes of fun in a Light of Hope, Speaker of Heavens, Griffin Aerie at the start. Just a token engine.
My biggest conflict is removal. Black and White removal gives so many options it is VERY overwhelming for me.
Bot drafts are like drafting with the same 7 friends over and over. It's fine for a long while but eventually you realize that you can make the same deck every time because your friends undervalue certain cards. It's like what happened when me and my coworkers had a semi-regular cube draft, we knew that certain people would always go blue, one person would always go mono-white and no one took the red cards. Bots have certain preferences that you can figure out but it's something that happens after a dozen drafts depending on your drafting skill.
I'd draft with bots first because you can get more games for your money and when that starts to feel stale swap to human drafts.
Also, the Well-Read Dinosaurs Jumpstart deck would've worked so much better if a drew more Dinosaurs and just a little less Well-Read.
I ran Elves/Basri for a bit last night. That was brutally efficient. Also had fun with Smashing Lands in the FNM event. Feathered Friends Doctor routinely finished with 30+ life.
You'd think so, but mostly they drew me more Lands and card-draw Enchantments to put on the Creatures that I wasn't drawing. It was pretty frustrating.
Sometimes you double vamps and walk through people. Other times you end up in predatory discard and just draw the wrong half of each archetype and do nothing
Monocolor isn't too absurd; you're guaranteed two awkward draws when the Thriving lands show up and you're vulnerable to certain things as per the color pie. But yeah doubling up shouldn't be allowed.
I'm not sure mono-pack has anything over my +1/+1 Basri or +1/+1 Heavily Armoured though.
Reanimation Angels: Thought it'd be a fun controlly haymakers deck. Turned out it has very limited removal and Linvala is an awful rare.
Garruk Dinos: Absurd, if a bit narrow. Basically two mono-green 4+ power matters decks with incredible reach via trample. Dies to aggro flying though.
Goblin Lands: Muxus is fun when he doesn't whiff, which is often. No top-end besides him though, so the ramp was sort of eh.
+1/+1 Minions: No internal synergy at all but it doesn't matter because +1/+1 is absurd. I won several games with a single unblocked swing with the doubling counters enchantment plus the double counters trick.
Phyrexian Spooky: This deck is a crazy monoblack control deck. Loop creatures that return creatures for endless chump blocks, clear with Languish, and generate tons of rats via death triggets. Phyrexian Reclamation is a crazy stupid card
I hope they plan to update Jumpstart regularly though. New deck halves every month or two would be nice
I would drop an unreasonable amount of gold trying to get some theoretical Werewolf Jumpstart packets. Even though Werewolves just aren't really all that good.
Fortunately, I doubt WotC has any plans for regular updates, and even if they do, Werewolves are likely very low on their list of priorities.
Wow, that's some intense banning for Standard.
"Arena PITA" was the dominant reasoning behind a lot of these today.
This may be the first time I've thought that in quite a while.
They made Arena have its own eternal format before Pioneer was announced, in order to let people play with their rotated cards, because people hate the idea of permanently losing cards. It's its own custom thing, not pioneer nor intended to be.
i'm guessing... counter spells and RDW
So to be clear, with the upcoming Amonkhet Remastered (and eventually Kaladesh?), Historic will functionally be Pioneer + Random Modern/Legacy cards released through things like Jumpstart?
At least Wilderness Reclamation won't be around to make counterspells always an option.
And that particular Teferi being gone is also very good and I approve.
Not sure how I feel about Uro still being around, though.
I feel like there's enough graveyard hate to keep Uro in check.
No, Pioneer goes back way further than Arena does.
Yeah Pioneer starts with Return to Ravnica (or the Core Set just prior, I forget).
Uro will be much weaker without growth spiral