Pack 1 pick 8: "Nothing here will make my deck. Nothing here has any value at all."
What the hell? Presence of Gond is an awesome card, all you need is one thing that untaps and you are away, even without that this is definitely a last PoG.
Pack 2 pick 1:
Did you lose the plot here? You are nowhere near these colours. take the druid and be happy
Pack 2 pick 2:
Take the merrow to go with the gond you shouldve picked.
Pack 2 pick 3:
The mass removal is attractive, but I wouldnt have take it. Silkbind Faerie all the way.
Pack 3 pick 1:
Why publish a draft if you are just going to rare-grab? This doesnt help anyone. Take the bliss here.
Sorry for the harsh words, but for someone who is publishing an article on a well known site such as PureMTGO you should at least have some idea what you are doing. I agree with a previous poster in that you lucked out to get to the final.
didn't you have 50 alara reborn packs? why aren't you drafting that while the release event is still around?
and why are you playing mtgo in honolulu? theres gotta be better things to do with your time even at 4:30am.
i do enjoy your articles alot both on here and on starcity, keep writing!
It's also very easy to bluff things by tapping mana in different ways. Often if I have blue sources of mana untapped, and an oppponent plays a spell. I will pause briefly and sometimes tap my lands like I am going to counter and then untap. The timing of how you do this is very critical. If you pause too long your opponent will think you went to get a drink of water or the phone rang or something. Also if you do it after every spell it is obvious that you are bluffing. You can also run this bluff on your own turn when casting a spell, by tapping lands to play a card and then untapping and retapping in a different configuration so that it looks like you needed a certain combination of mana up to play something in hand. This works to bluff both counters and common removal like: Lightning Helix or Lightning Bolt. I find it generally works better to bluff cards with very specific mana costs. For instance it is easier to bluff Helix than to bluff Incinerate. The reason being that if you opponent sees RW available they will think Helix, if they see, RG or RU. It likely will not trigger any card to pop into their head. RB may trigger them to think Terminate.
I find that as years pass, I find more and more subtle ways to bluff and play mind games with opponents and I rarely ever do it via the chat box. For me it is all about how you tap your cards and various pauses at critical junctures.
That happened to me recently but in the reverse direction. I've typed gg when the opponent was in a position to win. I know he/she was in that position because I can see my hand and know I don't have an answer.
However in response to the gg he/she responded with something like "it's not over yet" and then passed the rest of thier turn. I won a couple of turns later. I can only assume that they assumed my gg was a bluff to gain a tactical advantage so they decided not to win the game on that turn for fear of some tricky play I was goading them into.
It wasn't an attempt by me to gain any advantage. If I remember correctly it was in the TP room so no prize on the line. I never understood what happened until I read this thread. Go figure!
I've also seen people try to throw me off by typing "gg" when they hold an answer hoping I will be reckless in making the final blow instead of making the best play.
Please, do not write articles at 4:30am. There are lots of typos, that makes it unpleasant to read.
Btw, I also did not understand why you did not pick the 2 Recumbent Bliss. In fact, I stopped following your draft after that.
I know its a lot less frequent to attempt to gain an advantage on MTGO but its still very possible. In game one of a sealed deck match I typed in "Tap deck", "Comon TOP DECK!" when my only possible out would be a Martial Coup. It caused him to keep more critters in hand game two and won me the game. Of course, my deck didnt have Martial Coup...
Still possible to find ways to gain advantages. Just a little more challenging on MTGO.
Wow, just wow. Click on any link to the WOTC discussion boards and you'd better be prepared for some infantile behavior.
My favorite crybaby rant at the moment, paraphrased, "Wizards is just trying to appeal to all the Nerds".
Ummm. Yeah, I got some bad news for y'all. You're playing Magic. You're a Nerd. Or a Geek. I like Geek better, but still. It's frickin 2009! Embrace your Geekdom! If you're not comfortable with that, play Poker or Chess or some other straight boring flavorless game.
Rifle shuffling is very important (and not doing it will get you a lot of 'judge!' calls against you) it would be a good idea to practice your shuffling before the event.
Practice getting your deck from its container to the table with all cards face down.
Shuffle all 15 of your sideboard cards in to the deck and take out the 15 that will become your sideboard.
soooo many little things that must be done in paper magic....
If you want the most advantages in the paper world you'll need to practice with your deck and practice using your deck without giving away too much information. How primitive... :)
I did read that article on Salvation this week. It concerns me because I will be returning to playing mostly paper and will be playing in some high level paper tournaments soon.
I hate the ways people can gain advantage over you this way. Sometimes you can't predict how you shuffle you may accidentaly reveal cards when shuffling.
I will note that I will most likely only pile shuffle in light of this.
What I've never been able to properly work out is at what stage it's better to do 4-3-2-2 drafts than Swiss. At a very basic level if you are going to win all your games then 4-3-2-2 has to be better because it pays out one more pack. At the other end of the scale if you loose all your games then both pay out zero. Where I'm uncertain is the area in between. If I draft a pile or just loose to shuffler/mana flood/mana screw then it seems better over the long run to be playing Swiss. In my last two ARBx3 drafts I've tried the Swiss option. The first one I rescued 2 packs (against the 4-3-2-2 payout) by going LWW and the last one I lost a pack by going WWL.
Any maths experts out there care to throw up some numbers?
I know there are things that just have to be assumed(like your win percentage) and things that are problably too complex to model (like the fact that in 4-3-2-2 finals your opponent has also won 2 games where as it's possible for the thrid game of a Swiss to be against a 2 game loosing player). There are also things that are totaly subjective. knowing you get 3 games for your product no matter what happens may be an advantage for some (more games per entry fee) and a nightmare for others (why waste the time playing a pile when you could be in the next draft with a better deck).
My apologies, prices in the series are always in Event Tickets, namely because it's the base currency for MTGO. An MTGO Player may not know the US Dollar exchange rate from week to week, but they are more likely to know their conversion to tickets off the top of their head. :)
I'll make it more explicit next week. Thank you both for the feedback!
Joshua makes a good point with the reason why panel judging isn't great. When a contest holder doesn't inform the contestants WHY a particular entry won and what traits the other entries had that made them not winners the opacity of the decision making causes grumbling. I think if people understand the why, even if they disagree it becomes more palatable. Of course everyone wants a vote and it is nice to feel included in the process. Particularly if you are like me and had no decks in the top 10 which is the majority of your readers position as well. On the other hand the internet is filled with unethical sorts and it is always a temptation if you leave the door unlocked. Even if no one did cheat it shouldn't be a popularity contest. Or if it is it should state so in the rules.
That is a format I've never drafted and it looks ugly. But I was with you the whole way, though it seemed to me that white was thin. The last Rare pick was an interesting idea but I couldn't figure out why you did it, so the fact that you admitted it was a mistake put me at ease. I was looking at thinking: "he took this I know..." and scrolled down and you did. (I had the the page zoomed in a lot to be able to see the cards. Apparently they don't resize on click lol.) Anyway good walkthrough and you made some good points about drafting in general, particularly with sets you don't know all that well. I had a great time over the Ala/Arb release, drafting ARBx3, and pretty much followed the same rules. Where I falter sometimes is distinguishing the filler from the trash. Which is not always an easy task. Thanks for the article.
Totally agree with the poster above. A graph with no axis labels is just a wobbly line. They need to say what is being plotted, as well as the units (are those prices {i presume they're prices} in dollars? tickets? pounds? euros? dogs?).
I can guess what some of them mean, but I have absolutely no idea what is being plotted in the top two..
People have been asking for weeks - put legends on your graphs. I've been reading for a while now, and I still don't know what the top two graphs represent. Cost to buy 1 of each card? 4 of each? In tix or cash? From what source? The same with the ARB/SHM/CON comparison charts. What exactly are we to understand by "week 1" etc.
Simple legends under the graphs, plus a paragraph (or a link) describing your methodology please. You'll only have to write it once - you can C&P thereafter.
Good article, I quite enjoyed it.
a late PoG*
Pack 1 pick 4:
Blessing is the clear pick.
Pack 1 pick 8: "Nothing here will make my deck. Nothing here has any value at all."
What the hell? Presence of Gond is an awesome card, all you need is one thing that untaps and you are away, even without that this is definitely a last PoG.
Pack 2 pick 1:
Did you lose the plot here? You are nowhere near these colours. take the druid and be happy
Pack 2 pick 2:
Take the merrow to go with the gond you shouldve picked.
Pack 2 pick 3:
The mass removal is attractive, but I wouldnt have take it. Silkbind Faerie all the way.
Pack 3 pick 1:
Why publish a draft if you are just going to rare-grab? This doesnt help anyone. Take the bliss here.
Sorry for the harsh words, but for someone who is publishing an article on a well known site such as PureMTGO you should at least have some idea what you are doing. I agree with a previous poster in that you lucked out to get to the final.
I always considered this more a part of the game than a meta "strategy" like these other techniques.
didn't you have 50 alara reborn packs? why aren't you drafting that while the release event is still around?
and why are you playing mtgo in honolulu? theres gotta be better things to do with your time even at 4:30am.
i do enjoy your articles alot both on here and on starcity, keep writing!
It's also very easy to bluff things by tapping mana in different ways. Often if I have blue sources of mana untapped, and an oppponent plays a spell. I will pause briefly and sometimes tap my lands like I am going to counter and then untap. The timing of how you do this is very critical. If you pause too long your opponent will think you went to get a drink of water or the phone rang or something. Also if you do it after every spell it is obvious that you are bluffing. You can also run this bluff on your own turn when casting a spell, by tapping lands to play a card and then untapping and retapping in a different configuration so that it looks like you needed a certain combination of mana up to play something in hand. This works to bluff both counters and common removal like: Lightning Helix or Lightning Bolt. I find it generally works better to bluff cards with very specific mana costs. For instance it is easier to bluff Helix than to bluff Incinerate. The reason being that if you opponent sees RW available they will think Helix, if they see, RG or RU. It likely will not trigger any card to pop into their head. RB may trigger them to think Terminate.
I find that as years pass, I find more and more subtle ways to bluff and play mind games with opponents and I rarely ever do it via the chat box. For me it is all about how you tap your cards and various pauses at critical junctures.
That happened to me recently but in the reverse direction. I've typed gg when the opponent was in a position to win. I know he/she was in that position because I can see my hand and know I don't have an answer.
However in response to the gg he/she responded with something like "it's not over yet" and then passed the rest of thier turn. I won a couple of turns later. I can only assume that they assumed my gg was a bluff to gain a tactical advantage so they decided not to win the game on that turn for fear of some tricky play I was goading them into.
It wasn't an attempt by me to gain any advantage. If I remember correctly it was in the TP room so no prize on the line. I never understood what happened until I read this thread. Go figure!
I've also seen people try to throw me off by typing "gg" when they hold an answer hoping I will be reckless in making the final blow instead of making the best play.
Please, do not write articles at 4:30am. There are lots of typos, that makes it unpleasant to read.
Btw, I also did not understand why you did not pick the 2 Recumbent Bliss. In fact, I stopped following your draft after that.
I know its a lot less frequent to attempt to gain an advantage on MTGO but its still very possible. In game one of a sealed deck match I typed in "Tap deck", "Comon TOP DECK!" when my only possible out would be a Martial Coup. It caused him to keep more critters in hand game two and won me the game. Of course, my deck didnt have Martial Coup...
Still possible to find ways to gain advantages. Just a little more challenging on MTGO.
-M
Wow, just wow. Click on any link to the WOTC discussion boards and you'd better be prepared for some infantile behavior.
My favorite crybaby rant at the moment, paraphrased, "Wizards is just trying to appeal to all the Nerds".
Ummm. Yeah, I got some bad news for y'all. You're playing Magic. You're a Nerd. Or a Geek. I like Geek better, but still. It's frickin 2009! Embrace your Geekdom! If you're not comfortable with that, play Poker or Chess or some other straight boring flavorless game.
By passing two recumbent bliss tells me you have no knowledge of the format and that you got very lucky to get second.
Rifle shuffling is very important (and not doing it will get you a lot of 'judge!' calls against you) it would be a good idea to practice your shuffling before the event.
Practice getting your deck from its container to the table with all cards face down.
Shuffle all 15 of your sideboard cards in to the deck and take out the 15 that will become your sideboard.
soooo many little things that must be done in paper magic....
If you want the most advantages in the paper world you'll need to practice with your deck and practice using your deck without giving away too much information. How primitive... :)
Why not add the exchange rate, too?
That's a good way to get in trouble with the judges.
I really don't agree with the terming of " excellent"
alot of these decks aren't nearly as focused as they could be.
I think too much of this contest was pushed toward forced creativity.
I did read that article on Salvation this week. It concerns me because I will be returning to playing mostly paper and will be playing in some high level paper tournaments soon.
I hate the ways people can gain advantage over you this way. Sometimes you can't predict how you shuffle you may accidentaly reveal cards when shuffling.
I will note that I will most likely only pile shuffle in light of this.
What I've never been able to properly work out is at what stage it's better to do 4-3-2-2 drafts than Swiss. At a very basic level if you are going to win all your games then 4-3-2-2 has to be better because it pays out one more pack. At the other end of the scale if you loose all your games then both pay out zero. Where I'm uncertain is the area in between. If I draft a pile or just loose to shuffler/mana flood/mana screw then it seems better over the long run to be playing Swiss. In my last two ARBx3 drafts I've tried the Swiss option. The first one I rescued 2 packs (against the 4-3-2-2 payout) by going LWW and the last one I lost a pack by going WWL.
Any maths experts out there care to throw up some numbers?
I know there are things that just have to be assumed(like your win percentage) and things that are problably too complex to model (like the fact that in 4-3-2-2 finals your opponent has also won 2 games where as it's possible for the thrid game of a Swiss to be against a 2 game loosing player). There are also things that are totaly subjective. knowing you get 3 games for your product no matter what happens may be an advantage for some (more games per entry fee) and a nightmare for others (why waste the time playing a pile when you could be in the next draft with a better deck).
My apologies, prices in the series are always in Event Tickets, namely because it's the base currency for MTGO. An MTGO Player may not know the US Dollar exchange rate from week to week, but they are more likely to know their conversion to tickets off the top of their head. :)
I'll make it more explicit next week. Thank you both for the feedback!
Joshua makes a good point with the reason why panel judging isn't great. When a contest holder doesn't inform the contestants WHY a particular entry won and what traits the other entries had that made them not winners the opacity of the decision making causes grumbling. I think if people understand the why, even if they disagree it becomes more palatable. Of course everyone wants a vote and it is nice to feel included in the process. Particularly if you are like me and had no decks in the top 10 which is the majority of your readers position as well. On the other hand the internet is filled with unethical sorts and it is always a temptation if you leave the door unlocked. Even if no one did cheat it shouldn't be a popularity contest. Or if it is it should state so in the rules.
That is a format I've never drafted and it looks ugly. But I was with you the whole way, though it seemed to me that white was thin. The last Rare pick was an interesting idea but I couldn't figure out why you did it, so the fact that you admitted it was a mistake put me at ease. I was looking at thinking: "he took this I know..." and scrolled down and you did. (I had the the page zoomed in a lot to be able to see the cards. Apparently they don't resize on click lol.) Anyway good walkthrough and you made some good points about drafting in general, particularly with sets you don't know all that well. I had a great time over the Ala/Arb release, drafting ARBx3, and pretty much followed the same rules. Where I falter sometimes is distinguishing the filler from the trash. Which is not always an easy task. Thanks for the article.
Totally agree with the poster above. A graph with no axis labels is just a wobbly line. They need to say what is being plotted, as well as the units (are those prices {i presume they're prices} in dollars? tickets? pounds? euros? dogs?).
I can guess what some of them mean, but I have absolutely no idea what is being plotted in the top two..
People have been asking for weeks - put legends on your graphs. I've been reading for a while now, and I still don't know what the top two graphs represent. Cost to buy 1 of each card? 4 of each? In tix or cash? From what source? The same with the ARB/SHM/CON comparison charts. What exactly are we to understand by "week 1" etc.
Simple legends under the graphs, plus a paragraph (or a link) describing your methodology please. You'll only have to write it once - you can C&P thereafter.
Why did you pass 2 recumbent bliss? They are removal with lifegain.
nothing is wrong with this at all.