For me, nothing tops the feeling of eight guys (and hey, maybe gals) sitting around a table: nervous glances; some fidget, some tap three times for luck, and others just hold still and try to breathe. The air is electric. Suddenly – as if some unheard shot were sounded – we crack our packs. The squeaky-snap of ripping Cellophane fills the room, and with it comes the smell. That smell! It’s enough to drive a man mad!
Magic is like paper crack. If you let it, it will ruin you. I’ve known too many players, Magic players and other gamers, who have ended up spending too much time, money, and energy for what should be a healthy and enjoyable hobby. I was once such a player. Not anymore.
As gaming hobbies go, Magic is expensive. Compare it to a $15 a month MMO subscription; who could live on the fare of one Draft a month? The cost of most Standard decks will run you over a Benjamin, easy. If you’re smart about it, you can reinvest most of it as the format cycles, but there’s almost always going to be some loss involved. Entry fees for constructed are minimal, but hardly inconsequential. And Limited- now, there’s a money pit. If you’re good and self-disciplined, then $15 for 2-3 hours of fun on the weekend isn’t bad at all, and you’ll likely make a bit back on that. But that’s a mighty big “if”, there.
Most people don’t have that kind of self-control. I know I don’t. I’m a drafting fiend. But here’s the thing: I’m what’s called infinite. Have been for the last hundred Drafts, with two or three dozen Sealed Decks thrown in. It takes luck, it takes skill, but, more than anything, it takes the guts to win.
Let’s go!
(Click the “next pick” to view comments on the picks and the card chosen!)
Our deck:
There isn’t very much to say here. The draft was all over the place, and the deck reflects that. I’m more worried about our lack of an early curve than mana issues, but unless we face an aggressive start while failing to hit an Arc Trail, we should be fine.
The Fighting!
Round 1, Game 1
We’re on the draw, and are dealt this:
This is the trouble with a deck like ours. We simply can’t keep this, as it’s far too dependent on drawing well. We mulligan.
Much better. In fact, almost strictly better. The question that should be asked when considering a mulligan is: does this hand have what it takes to win? In this case, the answer is a solid “yes”. We have a powerful, card advantage-generating removal spell (I will keep almost any hand that involves an Arc Trail and a Mountain), a win condition, a cycler, and three lands of different colors. Proper mana and balanced spells are the key to a successful line of play.
Our opponent is playing a potent UB control deck. We fail to capitalize on his slow start, and are punished for it with his upper-end bombshells, including Quicksilver Gargantuan, Volition Reins, and Mimic Vat. We nearly have a chance to burn him out, but he has a last-minute Go for the Throat to remove a key blocker.
Round 1, Game 2
Again we’re on the draw. In fact, I don’t believe we were on the play once this entire draft. Though it’s usually correct to play first in Draft formats, our deck would much rather have the extra card. We won’t be winning before Turn 7 anyway, and another chance to draw a removal spell will help us get that far.
It has Arc Trail and a Spellbomb with the mana to use them; as previously discussed, this sort of hand is a definite keep.
Our opponent just discarded and kept three Islands untapped. Do we play around countermagic? Not really. We know he’s hurting for land, so even if he does have countermagic, we can’t afford to lose our advantage waiting for it. Turns out he doesn’t have it.
We win with Argentum Armor, bringing back many happy memories from Rise of the Eldrazi, killing land while swinging with stupidly large dorks.
Round 1, Game 3
We’re on the draw again.
Because our hand is low on gas, we have to be aggressive – and against this guy, we won’t win the long game, regardless of our hand. We also can’t afford to mulligan right now, lest we risk being land-starved. Luckily, our opponent stalls on his Swamp and/or seventh land. Meanwhile, we draw Phoenix and bash with large fliers. We finish the game having drawn ten of our seventeen lands. Our opponent show us just how lucky we were:
Geez!
Round 2, Game 1
Playing second again.
Not a great hand, but passable. We may not play Phoenix on Turn 5, but that’s fine. Lifestaff should gain us life, keeping us alive until we can play our big win condition, and Geyser will recover tempo.
Our opponent plays small Infect guys, we play Arc Trail. Card is good.
Round 2, Game 2
We’re drawing, of course.
MTGO decided not to keep the replay of this game, but you didn’t miss much. Arc Trail > Infect, and that’s end-of-story.
Round 3, Game 1
On the draw. Again:
Finally, an above average hand!
We play against another four-color wreck-of-a-deck. This one’s big claim to fame seems to be some solid defense of Rust Ticks and Neurok Replicas, as well as a Hellkite Charger. We stall on two lands for a few turns, despite being on the draw. However, we pull out of the mana screw, and constant pressure, followed by a well-timed Flamefiend, puts our opponent to sleep.
Round 3, Game 2
On the draw.
This one had me thinking for a while. We’re on the draw, but we have to ask ourselves that question from earlier: can this hand win? Since the answer is, “no, not without substantial help,” we mull.
That’s a keeper.
Much the same as the first game, our mad drawing skills just outclass our opponent’s. Since we had them on the back foot, when Hellkite eventually did appear, we just nonchalantly played and equipped Argentum Armor for the win.
Summary
In general, I’m a slow learner. It takes me about ten drafts or so to really get a feel for a format, and this was my fourth MSS so far. Seeing eight boosters in the New Cards box is always nice, but I’m not sure if I can call this draft a success. I don’t believe I made many drafting or play errors, but the fact is: My deck was an ugly, ugly thing, and it wouldn’t have won against stronger decks (or at least – in the case of Round 1 – better draws from opponents).
Best of luck, and happy drafting.
That was a solid draft. I liked the splashes but the fact that Red was so open helped you out a lot. Keep them coming.
Also, Rise was my favorite draft format since Ravnica!
Bravo! The absolute key to this format, in my humble opinion, is splashing aggressively: A) Myr, B) artifacts to fill the curve, C) slow format, D) removal comes picks 2-4 more often due to the nuts bombs people can open (including a common and several uncommons) and the distorted pick order of infect drafters.
The splash raises the value of good mulligan skills, which is my undoing. It seems like you don’t share my failing. I’d go so far as to say this format is largely about opening bombs and mulliganing wisely. No skill, and the hardest skill in magic to master.
@inneutral:
I agree! Mulliganing is easily one of the most advanced skills in Magic-especially after certain recent rules changes >.> However, I disagree with you about bombs; Admittedly, they don’t usually take much finesse to cast, but a skilled player will be able to affect the game state over time to better accommodate their few powerful cards (this is one of the basic tenets of control philosophy).
Additionally, making the right decisions in picking and splashing bombs is a skill in itself. For example: in the most recent Limited Resources, Marshall and Ryan play a third color for Sunblast Angel. Now, some of my colleagues would be uncomfortable with that, but I feel that M&R explained their reasoning very well: they considered their mana needs against the potential of the Angel, and decided the juice (risk) was worth the squeeze (reward).
Also, I’ve a soft spot for Infect
@inneutral:
I disagree! Opening bombs is nice, but simple cards, like a concussive bolt are huge bombs in proper decks. And, of course, mulliganing is less important if you don’t splash too much.
Very nice draft, well done on the win.
Was the ‘strictly better’ comment meant as a joke? It’s been something of a gruesome encore lately…
@fifthchild
:p
@milegyenanevem
While Concussive Bolt can be an extremely powerful card, it is by no means a bomb. My definition of a bomb is any card that can effect a major, game-changing influence on the board state, _independent of any other card_. These are cards like ‘Wrath’ effects, creatures that win games by themselves (I once won a game having played only four Mountains and a Kargan Dragonlord), or anything that generates massive card advantage. Sunblast Angel is a situational bomb-it does require a certain board state to be most effective, but a 4/5 flyer will win games by itself. Bolt, on the other hand, requires a very specific board state-one easily disrupted by an opponent-to be effective at all.