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By: MarcosPMA, nn
Aug 18 2016 12:00pm
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Hello and welcome to another edition of Sealed Success!  It's been a bit after the Pro Tour and I've been hearing people talk about the value of Booster Draft as a Pro Tour format.  It's not something that you think about often, because why would you?  It's part of the tournament, it uses the new cards, and the tournament is about the new cards so what's to think about?  However, just because it's there doesn't mean we shouldn't question its existence.  Constructed makes sense, most constructed decks are trying to use the new cards to gain an edge over preexisting decks.  Just by adding Emrakul, the Promised End you have a different way of building G/B Delirium as opposed to without it.  What about Booster Draft?  What purpose, if any does it serve?

Booster Draft as a Pro Tour format

After Pro Tour Eldritch Moon, there was some chatter about whether or not the Pro Tour is better served removing the draft portion of the tournament because of how bad it was this time around.    Some argued that fixing and improving it is a better solution to the problem than just nuking it altogether. As for me, I started to go down the rabbit hole of removing draft from the Pro Tour but I didn't have an answer as to what I should replace it with.  If you're going to take something out, you need to have a viable replacement. 

Should the PT be all constructed rounds?  While that would certainly find the best constructed decks, I believe that would make for a stagnant product because after six or seven rounds you'd be tired of watching more of the same decks doing well.  Halfway through day two you might just stop the stream and only come back for the top 8 where you're seeing matches with big stakes on the line.  A solution to this solution would be to eliminate some rounds from the tournament, but I don't know how that would affect records needed to make it into the top 8.  Admittedly, this is only a concern if you want to find the cleanest way to reach a top 8 with as little tiebreaks as possible.

Let's say we keep the same number of rounds but still have a split format PT.  What is the other format?  Why is draft that format right now and what does it do for the tournament?  Does draft advance the goal of the PT?  Let's assume that the Pro Tour is there to showcase the best and exciting cards Standard has to offer.  If you showcase the best cards you give players incentive to buy packs/boxes with the hopes of opening the best cards. Players could also buy singles and once stores run out of those hot cards they'll at some point sell/open packs to find these cards.  By finding the best decks and having players play against each other, players at home have an incentive to spend money.  Wizards of the Coast is a business in the end, and one of their primary (if not THE primary) goal(s) is to make money.

In my opinion, draft does not help this goal at all.  When you watch someone draft, the cards aren't being showcased properly.  The cards are shuffled, only two to three cards are mentioned, and it goes by relatively quickly.  It doesn't make for a great viewing experience because each card is worth so little time that you end up forgetting it a minute or so later.  Draft also focuses more on the commons and uncommons as opposed to rares and mythics.  Sure, cards of higher rarity will generate more excitement during a pick, but almost every pick after that will be a card that sees no play in constructed.  Is there any value in talking about Gavony Unhallowed when you know there's a zero percent chance it'll see Standard play?

While you could argue that drafters will be more inclined to join drafts after the Pro Tour and make money for Wizards, I think that's not a good argument.  Players that like drafting will draft no matter what, you don't need a Pro Tour to keep drafting interesting.  If it's eliminated from competitive play then I think you'll see a decline in drafts, but not enough to eliminate it altogether.  While drafting needs packs, packs don't need drafting.  People buy packs all the time just to try and open cards they need.  You don't need drafts to make use out of packs.

Lastly draft is fairly complex to follow, even for more enfranchised players.  If you're a Magic player but haven't seen the new set, following draft coverage is a nightmare.  In fact, you're better off watching players play with the cards without a draft as opposed to watching the draft first.  A commentator saying "red is open" means nothing if you don't know which card signifies that red is open.  You don't have enough information to know what is important.  Constructed is different since only a certain number of cards matter and it's obvious which cards are good/powerful when you see them played in Standard.

I love to draft, but I believe draft as a PT format is not good for coverage.  It doesn't help drive sales, it's hard to follow, and it's not that exciting.  There's no hype for those cards.  I believe the Pro Tour is better off using Sealed Deck as the second format of choice if they wanted to be Limited/Constructed. When people break down a sealed pool they focus on rares and mythics first, which generally are the cards that will drive sales.  You give someone a chance to talk about what cards they like and how powerful they are, and that's infinitely better than just taking a card.  You also get that feeling of someone opening a pack and going all the way to the rare and seeing their reaction.  If it's a good card they'll show it and that'll drive interest as opposed to having to be expressionless as you take a card out of a pack.  These are my opinions on the subject, what do you all think?  Should Booster Draft remain at the Pro Tour?  Does it give value to the event?

Eldritch Moon Competitive Sealed

When I first went over this pool I found that I had three options, all of which were base white.  I debated the merits of each color last week but still gave myself room to decide what color I wanted to play.  In the end I decided to start with white/red.  Generally speaking you want to be playing your best cards, and part of that is playing cards that beat those kind of cards.  This mostly means removal, although playing a better creature will sometimes suffice.  Some creatures generate value just by being in play and you want to have an answer to that.  A Sigardian Priest in a creature mirror is going to swing the tide of whoever controls it, even if that creature never actually attacks. You need to have answers for their good cards, and I felt that white/red gave me the best chance at being able to deal with opposing creatures.

I split my first two matches and while I lost the first match I believe I made the right choice.  Savage Alliance and Incendiary Flow allow me to deal with threats and make good attacks in a format where a lot of creatures are X/2 and X/3.  This lets me use my Alchemist's Greeting for a bigger creature and have an ace in Choking Restraints for something that any of my other cards can't deal with.  I thought Drogskol Cavalry would be my best card, and while it still likely is, it has been underperforming.  7 mana is a lot of mana!  Perhaps a more defensive build with Geist of the Lonely Vigil would give me time to reach that mana?

Eldritch Moon Friendly Sealed

We end the first part of the league with a 2-1 record and we get to add a pack after three rounds of play.  Our pack doesn't add too much, but we do get some upgrades.  Prey Upon, Olivia's Dragoon, and Eternal Scourge are the cards we can add into our deck.  The issue is what cards I should take out. I don't know what I need to take out, but maybe I'm looking at it the wrong way.  Instead of figuring out what cards to bring in, perhaps I should be trying to build the deck again and see what cards I feel I don't need in the deck.  The deck is good already and while I did get good cards, they're not going to make my deck extremely better.  If anything I'm making minor upgrades so I'm not going to notice a major difference when I play the next few matches.

Eldritch Moon 8-4 Draft

I need to stop trying to force an archetype in this format.  EMN/SOI is a much different format than the triple EMN I've been drafting at the store.  Card evaluations change because you're not getting the third pack of Eldritch Moon.  Instead you get one pack of Shadows over Innistrad and those cards have different payoffs.  When I drafted the white/red deck I did reasonably well because I wasn't forcing anything and instead tried to find the open colors.  In this draft I tried to be some sort of Emerge deck and it didn't work out because it wasn't open for me.  I should have drafted something else. It feels a bit like Theros where I was always black/x or blue/x, but that format is wildly different than this one, not to mention I was actually good at Theros draft.  Next week should be better.  At the very least this draft should serve as an example of why you need to play removal.

Conclusion

I need to draft better.  Mainly, I need more practice.  I used to draft more often when I was at my best (triple Theros) and right now I don't draft as often as I should.  Perhaps I should up my drafts to twice a week?  If that happens then I won't be able to draft the flashback drafts.  What do you think? Would you rather see two of the same draft, or do you want one standard draft and one flashback draft?  Drafting old sets is fun, but my drafts don't go up in time on this site, so the value of watching them is only for entertainment purposes.

I like my sealed pools, I think I can do reasonably well with them so I just need to have good draws and not get unlucky.  I'll be adding practice sealed pools to the videos so we can continue to break down sealed deck while also playing matches and getting experience there.

If you have any comments, questions, or concerns leave them in the comments section below.

 

Thanks for reading/watching!