Comments on: Limited Resources: SOM 8-4 #3

By: caruthers

caruthers — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 20:04:01 +0000

thanks gentlemen,

count me as in support of the different take on a draft video.

what drew me to you guys in the first place was godot’s lengthy recap articles on puremtgo and this reminded me of those, with way more self-questioning after the fact that you might see from a typical video.

keep up the great work.

By: Scandinavia

Scandinavia — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 01:04:13 +0000

Edit to above: …..when considering the basic card EVALUATIONS/interactions and archetype……

By: Scandinavia

Scandinavia — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 01:02:00 +0000

Some (too honest =)) points:
Live-draft or the one ya used here: doesnt matter to me.
The effect of “gun to your head” in live draft is defo a real thing, but what we like are the comments and discussions around picks and general stuff related to the draft-format, non-live makes better room for that.

The strength you two have is good conversation skills in general, this is the stronghold you guys have when comparing to the other best live-vid-drafters on the WWW.

When hearing ya first time in RoE the above was almost leaping through the screen.
Whilst the main-man (godot?) defo is smth for the microphone, the guy usually in the back is THE mind when considering the basic card and archetype descriptions. The last was leaping through the screen in RoE, but maybe less now with som.

By: Joel (Samuel Beckett on MTGO)

Joel (Samuel Beckett on MTGO) — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 17:13:55 +0000

Also, I have three Platinum Emperiums in my collection now for the same reason you have one, I saw myself written all over that pick.

By: Joel (Samuel Beckett on MTGO)

Joel (Samuel Beckett on MTGO) — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 17:10:50 +0000

It’s interesting seeing you guys break from the united front at times.I liked the retrospective format, but given a preference, I would still choose the live draft videos over it. The time restraints are what add interest and drama to the action. In a purely academic sense, this is probably superior, but there is still plenty to learn and a little more thinking on your feet with the live draft videos. It’s like Rosewater always says (paraphrasing), limits breed creativity. With a gun to your head in the draft portion, you guys would probably find a way to say something in ten seconds that would take sixty with no pressure to move on.

In this set, I actually like blue more than most, and this 8-4 showed why. When the cards are good, they’re good. There are no conditions on the power level. Sky Eel School is just good. Volition Reins is at least fine. Darkslick Drake is just good. Every drafting bad beat story seems to be “and then infect dried up…and then the myr stopped coming… the artifacts… the spellbombs.” With blue you just pick your cards, more or less, and move on to the next pick where almost every other colour is desperate for some synergy to make it work. Maybe the closest other colour is non-infect black, but then you are still fighting the infect player for your grasps and whatnot.

For sealed PTQ grinding, different story, I almost never play blue because you can find that synergy you need in your pool to make the other colours way better.

Those are my thoughts. Keep’em coming guys.

By: Godot

Godot — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 21:34:05 +0000

@Goblin Prodigy: a fair comment. I watched the draft portion again and noted that it went longer than it probably should have. I think it’s partly due to the factor you cited, but to be fair it was also the most contentious draft Marsh and I have ever reviewed/done together, so there was more to discuss than usual. That being said, we’ll probably do it again in the future because overall the response has been positive, but we are both aware of the temptations to get wordy with no clock and will keep it in mind when we try this format again.

As for exoskeleton, I forget what we took it over, but you may be right. If there is a place to risk it, it’s with flyers that can kill in two swings. I’ve just suffered too many blowouts trying to make it work (and laid blowouts on others trying the same) that I’m pretty gun shy about it these days unless I’ve got an awkward partial infect deck that needs some help.

By: Goblin Prodigy

Goblin Prodigy — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 17:15:10 +0000

I’m not a big fan of this video format. It’s interesting enough as a one of, but it feels like you get wordier without the time pressure. While there are times when it gives you space to go into detail, I think the ratio of insightfulness to time goes down.

Grafted Exoskeleton is not a bomb or anything, but I think it would have been the right pick. Outside of infect decks, Sky-Eel Schools are the best targets for it. Since it can absolutely steal games and your deck was low on power, I would have taken it. Just wait for the right opening (which comes surprisingly often), drop, equip to an evasive creature and attack. If the creature has 3 or more power they have exactly one turn to answer it or they just die. It’s sort of like a Magister Sphinx with haste. Admittedly the downside is much bigger, but some decks need to ignore the downside and hope for the best. If they have lots of artifact removal, side it out.