|
Post by JediCheese on Oct 7, 2012 1:56:25 GMT -5
So, I don't know how much everyone else drafts nowadays, but I'm trying to draft once a week of R2R till it rotates out. I'm going to post thoughts here on drafting R2R. Feel free to post your own reports or chime in with your $0.02 on card valuations.
When talking to one of the better drafters here in AZ, he said he picked some gates first pick because his other cards were trash. I don't know how good that is as a strat (haven't tried it myself), but I can see it being reasonable. My only worry would be you get gates but then go into other colors. I'll try it out the next draft assuming I don't open some bomb stuff.
First draft today I went Boros (R/W) and went 2-1 for matches. I said fuck the guilds and build my own guild deck. It actually worked out pretty well, both colors have aggressive creatures. My only complaint is I drafted 3x Avenging Arrow. That card just isn't good enough in this format because you the large creatures aren't prevalent. I found the typical usage is take 3 damage and destroy target 3/3. The worst part is you destroy the 3/3 on it's 2nd swing. It felt weird not going with a pre-built guild but you got to pick up strange cards and run with it.
The second draft I went Rakdos (R/B) and had two very close games vs a Golgari deck. One game the opponent was at 3 life and the other he was at 1 life (talk about wanting a lightning bolt!). The deck destroyed most other decks, but the opponents didn't draft very well (ended up 2-1 in matches).
With all the decks I saw, the typical creature count was about 14 or so. It was common to duke it out with 3/3 creatures with the occasional 4/4 included. The red and black decks had removal as combat tricks while the green and white decks played pump for surprises (not much white removal).
As I see three top tier draft decks: Rakdos, Golgari, and Selesnya. Rakdos is hyper aggro, Golgari is graveyard value, and Selesnya is token midrange. I haven't really seen a high powered Azorius or Izzet. I think Azorius and Izzet exist, but it's like the Artifact deck in Alara: you need some cards to show up and people have to not dig into your colors.
My last thought is there may be a mill deck possible. Tons of enchantments that mill 3 when the enchanted land is tapped and 2/1 mill dudes (plus blue evasion). I don't think it's good, but something to watch out for (the guys who got stuck with the blue decks weren't good players so I can't accurately gauge how good it is).
Feel free to share your thoughts on cards and/or your draft experience. I'll leave it pretty basic if there isn't any interest but if there is, I'll write up full game/match reports when I draft.
|
|
|
Post by poksey on Oct 7, 2012 8:59:03 GMT -5
I was surprised at the amount of people that misread Avenging Arrow as "destroy target creature that dealt damage to a player". I pretty much used it as a white Bone Splinters. When the complete spoiler came out, I also noticed the mill deck. I would think you have to mix in a lot of detain as well. I dont see it standing up to a dedicated Rakdos deck though.
|
|
|
Post by JediCheese on Oct 7, 2012 17:56:08 GMT -5
I can't get behind it as a white bone splinters. Bone Splinters costs B, Avenging Arrow costs 2W. In R2R, turns 2-4 are the critical turns and you can't waste your 2 drop creature and a 3 CC spell to take out a 3 drop.
Also, in draft I've found there is a severe lack of playable creatures. Sadly, there isn't a spell that gives you 3 1/1 tokens in any color that you can pair this with. The best you can have is Seller of Songbirds which gives you a 1/2 and a 1/1 flying for 2W.
Rakdos has a 2/2 for R/B, a 3/2 for 1R, a 2/1 haste for R/B and R/B, a 2/2 regenerator for 1B, a 2/3 deathtouch for 1B. For 3 CC, they have access to a 3/4 for 2B, 4/3 for 1BR with a sac ability, and 3/3 first strike for 2R. The deck will run you over if you don't keep up in creatures through turn 4.
|
|
|
Post by JediCheese on Oct 20, 2012 2:27:18 GMT -5
Rakdos for the win again. Went 6-0 in 3 matches. The guy at the end didn't want to split so I ended up with 6 packs. The deck: 3x Splatter Thug 3x Viashino Racketeer 2x Annihilating Fire 2x Deviant Glee 2x daggerdrome Imp 2x Perilous Shadow Pack Rat Bloodfray Giant Street Spasm Launch Party Cremate Dead Reveler Thrill-Kill Assassin Grim Rostabout Gore-House Chainwalker Rakdos Cackler 8x Mountain 8x Swamp
Relevent Sideboard: Explosive Impact Lobber Crew Bellows Lizard Goblin Rally
A few other thoughts: each match I played vs a 3 color deck. I think someone started cutting other people's colors partway through the first pack and there was confusion. Equally surprising is the guy that I played round 3 didn't want to split and he had a trash 3 color deck (R/U/b). I opened Pack Rat for the rare in pack 3 and then failed to get any other playables passed in the 3rd pack.
As to the deck, Pack Rat was a bomb rare that outright wins games. Splatter Thug is a card I hadn't played before, it's very good especially paired with Deviant Glee. Perilous Shadow is an ok card, it worked out for me with the Deviant Glee for trample but I'm not yet sold. Daggerdrone Imp yet again falls in my eyes, it dies way too easily. I could see it being good in the Rakdos matchup due to the lifegain being critical but it dies too easily and isn't aggressive enough.
PS: They gave the guy that I beat 3rd round 2nd place for 4 packs. There were two other people who were 2-1. Should I have called out the TO that they need to go to tiebreaks to find out who was 2nd? By the time I finished the 3rd round, the people that were 2-1 had already gotten their pack and cashed out. Raise a stink or no?
|
|
|
Post by John Galli on Oct 20, 2012 16:43:45 GMT -5
I would have called it out but only on the spot not after the fact since it was just an fnm.
Pack Rat is indeed awesome, glad to hear rakdos is 4 real in draft. There was actually a pack rat deck at states and I've been working on some other brews for it. The card has a much higher power level than people realize
|
|
|
Post by JediCheese on Oct 21, 2012 3:18:16 GMT -5
So, more drafts! I went a little crazy and drafted 3 times today. First draft I went uWg. Mostly flying with a bunch of Armory Guards, Towering Indriks, Courser's Accords, and Azorius Arresters. I ended up 2-0 and drew the last round for 4 packs. Armory Guards and Towering Indrinks shut down most decks long enough to give you time to fly in for the win. I think I rare drafted a shock land and a Detention Sphere, then pulled another two shock lands from the 4 packs I won. Second draft I went Rakdos and got smashed. It was interesting in that I learned that Rakdos charm = trash. The deck was ok, it just was missing removal and thus didn't have the reach to finish off the opponents. Talking to the drafters near me, they didn't see any red burn either. I also passed the guy to my left the nuts Golgari deck, but I was committed to Rakdos. Sadly, they ended pairing me vs him 2nd round and I kept getting him down to 3 life and then he would stabilize and then smash me back. The most hilarious part of the second draft is my first pick, first pack was a Precinct Captain, then I get PASSED a Pack Rat!?!? WTF?! Talk about a signal! I talked to this guy after the draft and he picked some random card! He totally missed it The third draft had some epic failure to draft. I opened up a Desecration Demon. Then I get passed a Overgrown Tomb for my 3rd pick! Then to top off the epic failure to recognize money, I get passed a foil Abrupt Decay for my 2nd pick 3rd pack!? I also opened up a Corpsejack Menance. Yep, 2-0 again with a draw in the finals for another 4 packs. In the packs, I opened up a shock and a normal Abrupt Decay. The guy to the left of me for the 3rd draft also went Golgari and he had an insane deck too. I went more unleashed and higher casting costs with Trestle Trolls and Orge Jailbreakers, while he had more of scavenge. Total haul was 4x shock lands, foil Abrupt Decay, normal Abrupt Decay, 2x Mox Opal (traded a Steam Vents and a Detention Sphere for it) and a Foil Chromatic Lantern. Well worth my $42 of entry fees! While talking to some other players, I found out what the mill deck is like. You play B/G/U with walls and Doorkeeper. They said it's sorta conditional and you need to have the cards passed to you, you can't try to force it. What's people's thoughts on Civic Saber? It's a very late pick, but I don't know if it's a playable card. Is +1/+0 good enough in most situations? Golgari Decoy is really undervalued IMHO. Yes, it's a 2/2 for 4, but the lure ability allows you to finish with a critical alpha strike for the last few life (typically in G/W or G/B, you need to find a way through the defenses). Plus you get the scavenge value out of it after it dies. My final note is it trades effectively with the guild mages which are also 2/2
|
|
|
Post by JediCheese on Oct 21, 2012 4:07:14 GMT -5
If you haven't been drafting Return to Ravnica, you don't know what you are missing. The format is a ton of fun to play with all sorts of aggro/midrange/control decks available. I would compare it to playing Alara back in the day in terms of how fun the decks are to play.
Additionally, the EV on just the rares is REALLY high. It seems like every draft I crack a shock land to make my money back and there are a ton of random power rare cards. In terms of return on value, it's like playing Zendikar with the fetch lands.
Overall, I'm extremely happy drafting the set. If you haven't gotten down on a draft or two, you gotta try it!
|
|
|
Post by John Galli on Oct 23, 2012 21:16:53 GMT -5
Dayum Chris, nice haul dude. I gotta get down to AZ where people pass foil decays lol.
|
|
|
Post by JediCheese on Oct 23, 2012 22:45:29 GMT -5
The mill deck is real! Went 2-1 with a URb mill deck last night. 4x Chronic Flooding, 3x Crosstown Courier, 1x Psychic Spiral and 1x Doorkeeper. The way to play it is put Chronic Flooding on your lands, mill yourself and then Psychic Spiral for the win. The downside is Golgari wrecks you. I'll post a decklist later tonight.
Also, after playing the deck, the correct colors for the deck is UBg. You need Treasured Find to reclaim your Psychic Spiral (or two Psychic Spirals). If you don't get a Psychic Spiral, the deck fails and isn't worth drafting.
|
|
|
Post by abeckett on Oct 23, 2012 23:24:12 GMT -5
I've only managed to get in one draft so far. I went Izzet and I believe I was the only person at the table in the guild, or at least the only one at my end. The deck really did not come together until the third pack and I pretty much had the exact amount of playables needed. I had a few Azorious cards in the board, but in the end left them out because nothing was so powerful that it warranted a splash with minimal fixing.
I recall that often being the case in the original Ravnica. A lot of drafts often came down to reading which guild was open as quickly as possible, then reaping the rewards in pack 3 when people can't take a chance on off-color picks.
|
|
|
Post by JediCheese on Oct 29, 2012 3:10:28 GMT -5
I did two more drafts before the weekend and ended up 2-1 in both. Nothing special, one I went Rakdos and almost went 3-0 but flooded out when I needed a creature because he was at 2 and wide open. The other draft I don't remember. I've watched the first one and a half LSV drafts up on channel fireball (along with one Michael Hetrick). I'll have watched the videos up on channel fireball by Thursday when I have another chance to draft in person. If you haven't watched them, they are awesome. Can't wait to unleash the new knowledge this weekend
|
|
|
Post by Travis Lannoye on Oct 29, 2012 8:50:25 GMT -5
I did two more drafts before the weekend and ended up 2-1 in both. Nothing special, one I went Rakdos and almost went 3-0 but flooded out when I needed a creature because he was at 2 and wide open. The other draft I don't remember. I've watched the first one and a half LSV drafts up on channel fireball (along with one Michael Hetrick). I'll have watched the videos up on channel fireball by Thursday when I have another chance to draft in person. If you haven't watched them, they are awesome. Can't wait to unleash the new knowledge this weekend Chris, glad you caught on to the LSV draft videos...they are easily the best ones I've seen. I've never drafted formats like triple SOM, or M12, or even the original RGD drafts, but I feel like I could easily pull it off after watching his vidoes.
|
|
|
Post by JediCheese on Oct 29, 2012 13:16:04 GMT -5
I hate videos online with a passion, and these are horrendous due to the splitting and constant ads. A coworker mentioned the LSV drafts online (I found out he's an MTGO drafter) so I decided to give it a try and watch one. I was pleasantly surprised at the level of information in them. My only complaint is that sometimes he picks a little fast for me near the end of a pack because I can't recognize all bad cards based on picture yet.
|
|
|
Post by Travis Lannoye on Oct 29, 2012 14:34:47 GMT -5
I can understand where the ads might get in the way at times. They aren't a huge problem for me, as I can just activate several videos at once, mute my speakers, wait a few seconds, and then I'm good to go.
If you're having trouble with the picture quality, you can try hitting the "HD" button in the player - that usually clears it up a bit, or you can hit the pause button and look the card up (I've had to do that every once in awhile).
But, there's no mistaking that LSV is not only a top pro, but a very informative commentator. I think he does an excellent job of explaining what he is trying to do when he picks/plays, and I've learned a lot about the power level of cards in Limited because of his videos.
|
|
|
Post by JediCheese on Oct 29, 2012 16:02:19 GMT -5
The thing is, I'm at work and on headphones. Plus it seems to key in that I'm on a business IP so it tries to sell me windows 2012 server. My home connection isn't fast enough to stream the video.
As to the cards, I put it on HD but I haven't played enough to know all the cards by picture. Thus when he picks quickly, I have to pause and rewind to see what he took and what was left in the pack.
I love the side comments as LSV talks with his roommates
|
|