Drafting tips

[Sek'Kuar]

I am participating in my first draft tomorrow. I have watched many, and read a lot about them, but I have no practical experience. We are drafting Time Spiral, Planar Chaos, Future Sight. Any tips? Help is greatly appreciated, Thanks!

[n00bas4urus_r3x]

I've always followed the pattern of BREAK.

B - Bombs
R - Removal
E - Evasion
A - Abilities
K - Krap

[legacyplayer0]

That's good advice, but there are some exceptions. The most important one that I can think of right now is that you really want to make sure you get at least 14 creatures by the end of the draft, and it's good to get a couple combat tricks too.


Other important things:
1. Creature enchantments suck unless they make the creature completely nuts or give it shroud.
2. Things with re-usable abilities are really nice. Examples are silk-bind faerie and power of fire (which also happen to go very well together).
3. The average draft deck should have 17 lands. It's very rare that you would want to go below 16 or above 18.
4. You want the average casting cost for your spells to be about 3. This is easy to track by adding together the converted mana costs of spells that you plan on playing and have already drafted. For a deck with 23 spells, this means that the total sum of cmc should be 69 for the deck and 23 for each pack.
5. 1 drops that don't have good abilities are not worth playing.
6. If you're reluctant at all to use removal on a creature, that means you probably shouldn't kill it.
7. Be flexible with your colors in the first pack.

[Metaknight]

n00bas4urus_r3x's strategy is solid, except i would switch removal and bombs, i like to have lots of removal.

[Ewokslayer]

For Time Spiral Block
Suspend is pretty good.

Also
Creature Pump if it is at instant speed counts as removal

[freakish777]

5. 1 drops that don't have good abilities are not worth playing.

Most spells that cost 1 aren't worth playing in Limited.

Possible Exceptions from 10th Ed:

Birds of Paradise
Chromatic Star
Condemn
Giant Growth
Icatian Priest (and only if you're almost mono white)
Leonin Scimitar (equipment is usually pretty busted in Limited)
Llanowar Elves
Mogg Fanatic
Righteousness
Shock


Bombs are usually creatures that allow you to win the game, because they're big, have evasion, or have a pretty good ability (Shivan Hellkite, Oona Queen of the Fae are examples that have all 3, if your opponent doesn't kill it immediately, usually untapping with it makes such a big difference that it's basically over). If they aren't a creature, they're usually some rediculous board sweeper (in 9th, Flamewave, if you could manage the triple red, and Gravepact, if you could manage the triple black, were stupid), or a permanent with "tap: draw a card" on it or "pay some mana: draw a card" on it.

Limited games typically are more about card advantage than tempo, so drawing first is usually right (if you somehow miraculously drafted 3 Llanowar Elf, 4 Grizzly Bears, 2 Incinerate, 2 Hill Giant, 1 Shock, 1 Giant Growth, 2 Craw Wurm, in 10th Draft, then yeah, you'd opt to play first, but that type of pool will basically never happen).

[Pinder]

Also, supposedly this guy is the best common in TSP/PLC/FUT limited. Also, I'll mention that it's really important to be able to read signals properly. Look at what the guy to your right is picking, and try to stay out of the same colors as him. You don't want to try and fight over a color when he's seeing the packs before you 2/3 of the time. Then you just get a bunch of mediocre picks.

[Nihil Credo]

You're lucky, TSP block is IMO one of the most fun formats to draft. The one thing I enjoyed in my brief experience on MTGO was the ability to draft TSP/PC/FS multiple times per day (fortunately I was good enough at it that I didn't have to buy boosters).

A few tips on the format:

• Colours overview:
  • White: Plays well with almost any archetype, since it has both good weenie cards and good stall/removal tools (however, try to pick one early, or you'll end up throwing half of the cards away). Its removal is very worth splashing for.
    • Best commons by set: Fortify/Temporal Isolation, Saltfield Recluse, Knight of Sursi.
    • Best uncommons: Griffin Guide / Stonecloaker.
  • Blue: The undisputed best colour in the format, it's nuts all around; card drawing is especially incredible both in power level and quantity. PC even gives it some removal to round up the scene. Draft it if you can.
    • Best commons by set: Errant Ephemeron/Looter Il-Kor/Fathom Seer, Dreamscape Artist/Shaper Parasite, Aven Augur/Whipspine Drake.
    • Best uncommons: Brine Elemental / Riftwing Cloudskate / Fledgling Mawcor.
  • Black: Weakest colour in the format. Its creatures all suck and even its removal is mostly meh (Planar Chaos in particular is pathetic other than for a couple of uncommons). Stay away from it unless you have some bombs.
    • Best commons by set: Strangling Soot, Rathi Trapper, Ichor Slick (the one truly broken common Black has).
    • Best uncommons: Enslave, Kor Dirge, Phthisis.
  • Red: Red isn't confined to the aggro role as usual, thanks to its burn spells being able to take out fatties (Lightning Axe, Riddle of Lightning) or clear a board full of Saprolings (Subterranean Shambler, Sulfurous Blast, Prodigal Pyromancer). However, if you aren't playing aggro, Red is probably going to be more of a support colour, providing mostly spells and the occasional solid creature.
    • Best commons by set: Lightning Axe/Mogg War Marshal, Stingscourger, Gathan Raiders/Riddle of Lightning.
    • Best uncommons: Pyrohemia, Firemaw Kavu, Sulfurous Blast
  • Green: Beware of cool things! Green is the second most powerful colour in the format, but it's very easy to get carried on with it and draft nothing but powerful stuff in the 4-6cc range that will end up stuck in your hand. Pay attention to your mana curve, however, and all those nuts Fungi and Wurms will pay off in spades.
    • Best commons by set: Durkwood Baloth/Penumbra Spider, Giant Dustwasp/Citanul Woodreaders/Utopia Vow, Sprout Swarm/Sprout Swarm/Sprout Swarm (single best common in the format).
    • Best uncommons: Tromp the Domains, this should always win you the game if it resolves.
• Colourless mana fixing: There is very little here compared to other recent formats. What there is should be picked highly, especially Terramorphic Expanse; Prismatic Lens is OK all-around, but exponentially more powerful for a nongreen control deck. Chromatic Sphere is solid and a good way to pad your list if you are a bit short on playables. If you can get 1-2 storage lands in your list, great, but don't skip on good cards for them; they go fairly late anyway.
• Land count: This is a pretty average format, stick to 17-18 lands, even if you run Green acceleration.
• Slivers: Only rarely worth it, their quality decreases with each set. Not worth trying if you aren't experienced. On themselves, Gemhide and Telekinetic are very playable, and Pulmonic is still a rare bomb; the others are mediocre at best.
• Some drafting archetypes:
  • Blue/Green tempo: See Jan-Moritz Merkel's Pro Tour-winning list for a perfect example of this. Essentially, lots of efficient guys under 4cc and a few bounce spells. It's a bit tricky to pull off, but it might feel comfortable for a Constructed player.
    • Key cards: Anything with two power for two mana, and anything that's either three power for three mana or a morph with a useful ability.
  • Blue/X Control: A classic, and probably the most reliable and straightforward archetype. Get Blue's fliers, card drawing, maybe some countermagic (quite playable in this format) and removal, then pair it with assorted good stuff from whatever colour you get. White and Red work very well as companions. Warning: keep an eye on your creature count, it's very likely that in Future Sight you'll have to pass on good spells in order to get a few decent bodies.
    • Key cards: Errant Ephemeron, Fathom Seer, Careful Consideration/Foresee, Dreamscape Artist, Shaper Parasite. White has Saltfield Recluse, Temporal Isolation, and several 3/3 fliers; Red has mass sweepers and a few 187 creatures (Firemaw Kavu, Hammerheim Deadeye) for even more card advantage.
  • Red/X Aggro: with X being usually Green or Black, and sometimes White. It can be good, but it's tough to pull off, and tends to struggle against Green monsters. I would stay away from it for your first draft.
    • Key cards: Goblin Skycutter, Mogg War Marshal, Ironclaw Buzzardiers, Dead//Gone, Keldon Halberdier.
  • Green/X Thallid board control: Another mainstay of the format, it's rather easy to pull off so I can recommend it. Essentially you try to gain card advantage by gumming up the ground with high-toughness creatures, filling the board with tokens (ideally with Sprout Swarm, if not with the various Thallids), maybe drawing a few cards, and then finishing either with huge monsters or with evasive win conditions provided by your secondary colour, usually Black or White.
    • Key cards: Search for Tomorrow, Thallid Shell-Dweller, Citanul Woodreaders, Penumbra Spider, Sporesower Thallid and/or Sporoloth Ancient, Utopia Vow, Sprout Fucking Swarm. White usually provides fliers and a couple extra removal spells to handle evasion creatures; Black gives Fear creatures (or reach in the form of Urborg Syphon-Mage), some removal, and maybe a bit of the playable mass discard (Mindstab, Augur of Skulls).

[SpatulaOfTheAges]

A general tip; when you can't decide between two early picks, go with the one with the lower color requirements (ie, 2R over 1RR).

[C.P.]

Speaking of draft, how did you guys find this week's draft? I found myself drafting a Wr deck with my first 3 picks being Balista, Cannoneer, and something that I forgot

EDIT: and by this I mean the Draft simulator in WotC.

[Sek'Kuar]

Thanks for the tips guys, wish me luck!

[WiLdFiRe]

Oh, and don't burn your removal unless you'll definitely lose to the guy on the other side of the table or if you kill their guy you will definitely win right there.

[Ectoplasm]

Oh, and don't burn your removal unless you'll definitely lose to the guy on the other side of the table or if you kill their guy you will definitely win right there.

This. Removal is precious, hold on to it! You'll never know when some fat bogardan hellkite is going to hit the table, so don't just burn it on a 3/3 serra avenger (or whatever) as soon as it hits the board, unless you're positively sure you can handle the situation. I've recently been drafting some shadowmoor/eventide and you have no idea how often I blew my unmake on crap like that 3/2 swamp and forestwalking hag, only to get surprised by a deity of scars a turn later.

Also echoing the 'stay off the 1-drops' bit, basically, topdecks are god. Games will last longer since the average powerlevel of decks won't be very high, seeing as it will contain alot of commons and uncommons, and topdecking some lame 1-mana goblin on turn 8 will earn you a headache, so unless it's something really rewarding like a figure of destiny (TS I know, just throwing out an example) pass them.

[Elfrago]

Keep in mind that you can always hate-draft. This means that sometimes you should take the most powerful card in the pack even if it is in a color that you're not gonna play, simply to prevent it being played aganist you.
The same applies when the cards in the colours you have chosen are sooo bad that they're probably not going to be part of your deck anyway, so why not steal a few playables from your opponents?

[freakish777]

Also, supposedly this guy is the best common in TSP/PLC/FUT limited.

??

I'mma go ahead and disagree: Errant Ephemeron is a 4/4 flyer with haste for 2 mana.

[Skeggi]

n00bas4urus_r3x's strategy is solid, except i would switch removal and bombs, i like to have lots of removal.

I agree, although then it would spell RBEAK, and that's not really a word. It's quite hard to pronounce too.

[Nihil Credo]

??

I'mma go ahead and disagree: Errant Ephemeron is a 4/4 flyer with haste for 2 mana.

I'mma go ahead and put my vote for Sprout Swarm. Ephemeron is nuts, no question, and two copies of it got me a nearly effortless PTQ Top 8 so I love the card. But Sprout Swarms wins as many games as Ephemeron if not more plus it's a hell of a lot harder to answer.

[freakish777]

Pssssh, Sprout Swarm's green though, and we all know Blue is the most broken color in Magic (in all seriousness, Ubr decks in TTT/TTP/TPF limited were pretty good, I had a lot less fun with all of the Green decks I tried).

[Sek'Kuar]

Well, the plans changed. the store ran out of future sight and was short on TS, so we did Ravnica, Guildpact, Shadowmoor. It was kinda weird at first, but I wound up drafting a G/W/R deck that got me second place. I managed to pull 2 lightning Helix and a Sunhome Enforcer. Other cards of note were Loxodon Heirarch and Scab-clan Mauler. I also pulled a Vitu-Ghazi that was invaluable, and I had a great synergy in Congregation at Dawn and Impromptu Raid. Good times were had by all, and second place for my first draft is pretty good, I think.


PS, thanks for the advice, everyone.

[freakish777]

2 lightning Helix
Sunhome Enforcer
Loxodon Heirarch
Vitu-Ghazi
Congregation at Dawn

Heh, I remember these cards being pretty good in Ravnica draft. Congregation obviously gets better/worse depending on the creatures you get.

Out of curiosity, what did you lose to? Did it involve Snapping Drakes? I love Snapping Drake in Ravnica limited.