All these comments are why I will never get into writing about drafts. Even if you explain fully your decisions, someone will come by and second guess. There's nothing inherently wrong with second-guessing, but Magic players do not stereotypically use the best tact or respect. While I might have made a few different picks, I thought your selections were good and your comments were helpful. Perhaps a decklist would be nice, but that's about it. Good work.
It's a very "painfull" discution...like Religion,some believes...others don't!!
But I think you make the right choice on your words!!
Excelent Article Andrea
1- A good deck. Actually a very good deck. Not even Nassif can trow in all the 10th Edition draft junks and expect to win the next big Classic event with them.
2- A lot of playing skills. That comes from practicing. Yes, being gifted is a big plus that might put you ahead of many players but a lot of practice should bring you to somewhere too.
3- And luck. We can't deny this.
Practicing against new players who just bought their first 10th Ed. starter deck won't help. One must play against very good players playing very good decks. And that means one must play tournaments because only there you will meet them.
And as I said, one can't deny the existence of luck. In one game in a tournament, I remember clearing the board and everything was in my favor at that point. But then I got 5 lands one after another when I already had over 8 lands in play (and some in the graveyard too). Of course I lost. These things happen.
Or in a draft when I had a really junk deck, I beat a 1900+ player just because once he had to mulligan to 3 and the other game he got stuck at 2 lands and I beat him with my trash 2/2's. These things also happen. And that is a part of Magic, we can't deny that.
Of course if you have information about how the game will go, you cannot lose, especially if you are a master. You can say the same thing about Magic. If you know what cards are going to come for your opponent and you know what cards you have, it should be fairly difficult to lose. In most games, you can use game theory to work backward to determine the optimum result. But in chess you cannot do that; I would imagine you could not for Magic, as well. I'm not trying to blow up the analogy, I just don't think Magic is MORE variable or complex than chess.
I've actually read an interview by Veselin Topalov in wich he said that if you have a minimum knowledge about chess and what your opponent is going to do its impossible to lose a game simply because you know how it is going to play out. But that nots actually the point of the comparison, I simply used it to express that Magic is a game where there are many factors besides how well you play and know the game.
First off, I really enjoy reading your articles, they are always insightful and entertaining.
Second, I believe that the lag might have been one of the reasons for the lower turnout. I know I wasn't really looking forward to playing Magic at all that weekend because of the lag. Actually I wasn't sure I would be able to get home in time to play in the tournament so I didn't join it ahead of time. I logged online 2 minutes before the tournament started, tried to join it, but because of lag, I couldn't actually join it. It took 3 minutes to process my request to join the tournament so I missed it.
Third, your elf deck has some really bizarre choices. Congregation at Dawn but no Eladamri's Call, No Elvish Piper in an ELF deck with Progenitus. No Caller of the Claw? No Coat of Arms? No Overrun? No Sword of Fire and Ice in an green weenie deck? Allosaurus Rider in a deck with 31 land, Armageddon and Ravages of War? And No Tooth or Nail? I'm curious as to why you chose the cards you did for this deck. I'm not really understanding it.
P1P3: I'm not really a fan of Marauder but even though the Marauder has nice synergy with the deck the capsule kills the creature I want while Marauder might kill a token or an elvish visionary. Also the capsule usually costs 2 because you play it turn1 or when you have spare mana and than crack it for 2. That's my experience with it anyway. As for Jund Battlemage I like it but at this point the Capsule just feels a better pick. If I end up in esper or grixis the capsule is just fine while jund battlemage only allows me in jund or naya. That's what made me pick the capsule which on power level they seem pretty even to me.
P2P1: maybe you understood me wrong but I meant that I would pick stinger if Elspeth wasn't there.
P3P2: Drag Down is a pretty good removal card and although Slavedriver is pretty nice (way better than Undead Leotau which some people dislike but I actually find it always useful as the 20th-23th card) it seems to come late. Slavedriver doesn't have a bomb status so I went for the removal.
Thanks. I did get the refund and I actually was pretty sure I would get it. I've heard some people complain that they don't get their refund many times but I've always got mine. Maybe some people just don't give enough information or are just wrong about it being refundable.
Although that's mostly because of star inflation. 5 stars these days means "very good", while this is more like "very very awesome".
Anyway...
You're absolutely correct about how when one topdeck can win you the game, and otherwise you lose, set yourself up for it. Another thing to keep in mind, though, is that many topdecks are not that unlikely. For example, "you just had to topdeck that Force of Will"... well there were four in my deck. Oh and there were also four Counterspell, and four Daze, and four Spell Snare, so it wasn't that unlikely for me to draw an answer for Flash. Although that might not be relevant to the point, it's still a good refutation for "it's all luck" or "you just got lucky".
P1P3 : i dont understand your choice. Yeah, capsule is a good removal, but its CMC is 3 and it doesnt work on black creatures. In the same pick there is also Marauder, which is almost the same effect than capsule with an identical CMC. But you have already had kresh and rockslide so Marauder seems a really more synergical (creature into a graveyard). That was the pick here to me. Then probably i would have choosed battlemage because it is a bomb in the format but only if you're running jund ... and you did :)
P2P1 : i would have choosed elspeth too, i am pretty sure, for the same reasons you mentioned. But if i was preventing myself from choosing elspeth, i think i would choose stinger. Again because its damage abitlity & its unearth ability seem to me more synergical with you deck.
P3P2 : i dont agree here. Slavedriver is a crazy good card, especially in a jund deck. Also more synergical in your deck. At this point, that was the best pick here to me.
I am dispointed for your draft bug, i hope you will have something back from wotc for that.
The article looks nice & good content ;)
I'm glad you made the comparison between magic and chess. I started playing chess competitively long before I played magic, and my friends and I learned to play competitive magic during chess club. Magic and Chess are very different games, and you have to think about the games differently. In Chess, the goal is often to gain a small positional advantage and grind it out to the end game to win. In Magic, that strategy doesn't work so well. In chess you never want to drop pieces or sacrifice pieces unless you can guarantee victory. In chess there are no equalizers/sweepers like Wrath of God. I often find myself playing magic with bad chess habits. I sometimes put more emphasis on keeping my creatures alive than on reducing my opponent to zero life. I often don't want to chump block when I should because I don't like "dropping" pieces. Sometimes I just have to remind myself of what game I'm playing.
I guess this won't change anything at the moment you lose due to bad luck but everyone should reflect about their losses if they could have done anything different to win the game. It's human nature to be upset right after it happens but we should always think about it when it had time to settle down.
Also it's always nice to have an article like this remind us about there details once in a while. If there's anything most players tend to forget, is that luck is part of the game.
Nice one!
BTW: there was one pro that said he liked having powerful 1ofs in his decks as long as they would win the game on the spot (or make it very likely for you to win) because they would rarely mess with your early game, while it also gives you outs to those "already lost" games.
The reason I didn't take Viashino is that I have been seeing them very late. But Charge has been very late too so Viashino was probably the correct pick.
That p3p1 its quite confusing.You took a Rip Clan Clasher earlier stating that you lacked 2 drops over a Scourge Devil or Grixis Panorama and then took a Suicidal Charge over the Viashino. Im a big fan of Suicidal Charge but still the Viashino seemed the best choice there. Its a shame about the bug,also try to have an editor post ur decklist since most people wont read your comment and ask for it again.
I think you're making some mistakes while analizyng 5cc and Conflux. The fact that it uses 1 or 2 new cards doesnt mean that Conflux isnt the reason behind the sudden appearence of this deck. I talked about it almost a month ago and I have to say that even if it would run only 1 conflux card it would be enough Since Exotic Orchard provides a comes into play untapped land that still fixes ur draws and thats enough for the deck to be competitive in any events since its speed it up a turn. Even Martial Coup by itself provides a "Wrath of God" effect that Fallout , Infest or Jund Charm didnt manage entirely.
I would imagine sideboarding will be pretty much the same in SNG100 as SNG60. A few decks used them for wishes, but most did not. I would think it is less valuable to use your sideboard on wishes in SNG100 than SNG60 since you have even less chances of drawing your wish. That is unless you construct a sideboard that works both with and without a wish, so you can just side in the cards you want for game two and three and take out your wishes.
Dragon Combo and Desire Combo were the only two decks that really benefited from a wish sideboard in my experience in SNG60.
Soul's Majesty is a good card for mid to late game to replenish your hand, as there are only a few true card drawing spells in Alara Block (Esper Charm, Scepter of Insight, Covent of Minds, and Courier's Capsule). Elvish Visionary will cantrip, while Drumhunter and Filigree Fracture could conditionally give you a card.
When you compare the costs, you will find that Esper Charm is 3 mana for +1 card, Scepter is 4 per card, Covent is 2.5 per card (or 1.25 per card and loss of 3 cards to GY), and Capsule is 4 for +1 card. Since green usually has a creature in the 3-5 power range, Soul's Majesty is usually 1.25-2.5 per card, but could be even less with Sunsinger, or Thornling in play.
When doing a little research for this article I also stumbled across this quote from Osyp Lebedowicz:
"Like Chess, with Magic you have to think a couple of turns ahead," he said. "There are a lot of decisions you have to make, not only about what you are going to do but what you're opponent is going to do. I'd say that Magic is a lot harder, too. There's more variables."
I do agree with him since its possible to theorize completly a game of chess while its impossible to predict 100% how a game of magic will proceed.
I like the comparison of pocket aces to a turn 2 dragonstorm or turn one possibly after mull. I agree that while luck or chance may play some role in winning, consistant winning is brought on by steady play and planning. Now I myself have been called one a million times and hate to hear it as I think it just shows the maturity level of a player (lucksack). I think people dont realize you set your own luck in this game as you point out the number of a card in your deck is set by you, so if anything it boils down to you preparing and setting up that win.
Hope to see more articles like this in the future it may help the younger players understand more.
The person who taught me to play Magic was an ex-pro. One of the invaluable lessons he gave me was the ability to 'play the game as if you'll draw the card you need'. That's what Craig Jones did, and that's what often separates a winning top deck from a 'too little too late' top deck. It's harder to do than it sounds, but it is crucial if you want to start winning those 'unlucky' games. If you're going to lose unless you draw a certain card then play the remaining turns as if you're going to draw that card. Take the steps with board position and with cards in hand to make sure that if you do draw that card that it will indeed be able to do what you need.
Worst case scenario is that you don't draw the card and still lose. You've essentially lost nothing when this happens. However! It does, can and will happen that you will draw that card you've been setting up for and bam! You take the game that seemed lost.
I actually got so used to people calling me a 'lucksack' that I made my ingame signature "Thanks! I practice my topdecking for four hours every night!". Just because I'd play the games I was losing in such a way that a topdeck perfect card would bring me back into it.... So I'm very happy to see this article. :)
Nice analisis
the last deck is awesome.I test it but i change 4 infest for 4 Cunning Lethemancer for control decks. Its very curious but this little man break 5cc for himself
how do you think?
All these comments are why I will never get into writing about drafts. Even if you explain fully your decisions, someone will come by and second guess. There's nothing inherently wrong with second-guessing, but Magic players do not stereotypically use the best tact or respect. While I might have made a few different picks, I thought your selections were good and your comments were helpful. Perhaps a decklist would be nice, but that's about it. Good work.
It's a very "painfull" discution...like Religion,some believes...others don't!!
But I think you make the right choice on your words!!
Excelent Article Andrea
To win in Magic one needs (in the right order);
1- A good deck. Actually a very good deck. Not even Nassif can trow in all the 10th Edition draft junks and expect to win the next big Classic event with them.
2- A lot of playing skills. That comes from practicing. Yes, being gifted is a big plus that might put you ahead of many players but a lot of practice should bring you to somewhere too.
3- And luck. We can't deny this.
Practicing against new players who just bought their first 10th Ed. starter deck won't help. One must play against very good players playing very good decks. And that means one must play tournaments because only there you will meet them.
And as I said, one can't deny the existence of luck. In one game in a tournament, I remember clearing the board and everything was in my favor at that point. But then I got 5 lands one after another when I already had over 8 lands in play (and some in the graveyard too). Of course I lost. These things happen.
Or in a draft when I had a really junk deck, I beat a 1900+ player just because once he had to mulligan to 3 and the other game he got stuck at 2 lands and I beat him with my trash 2/2's. These things also happen. And that is a part of Magic, we can't deny that.
LE
Of course if you have information about how the game will go, you cannot lose, especially if you are a master. You can say the same thing about Magic. If you know what cards are going to come for your opponent and you know what cards you have, it should be fairly difficult to lose. In most games, you can use game theory to work backward to determine the optimum result. But in chess you cannot do that; I would imagine you could not for Magic, as well. I'm not trying to blow up the analogy, I just don't think Magic is MORE variable or complex than chess.
I've actually read an interview by Veselin Topalov in wich he said that if you have a minimum knowledge about chess and what your opponent is going to do its impossible to lose a game simply because you know how it is going to play out. But that nots actually the point of the comparison, I simply used it to express that Magic is a game where there are many factors besides how well you play and know the game.
Actually, game theorists have been trying to completely theorize the optimum game of chess for decades and it cannot be done.
First off, I really enjoy reading your articles, they are always insightful and entertaining.
Second, I believe that the lag might have been one of the reasons for the lower turnout. I know I wasn't really looking forward to playing Magic at all that weekend because of the lag. Actually I wasn't sure I would be able to get home in time to play in the tournament so I didn't join it ahead of time. I logged online 2 minutes before the tournament started, tried to join it, but because of lag, I couldn't actually join it. It took 3 minutes to process my request to join the tournament so I missed it.
Third, your elf deck has some really bizarre choices. Congregation at Dawn but no Eladamri's Call, No Elvish Piper in an ELF deck with Progenitus. No Caller of the Claw? No Coat of Arms? No Overrun? No Sword of Fire and Ice in an green weenie deck? Allosaurus Rider in a deck with 31 land, Armageddon and Ravages of War? And No Tooth or Nail? I'm curious as to why you chose the cards you did for this deck. I'm not really understanding it.
P1P3: I'm not really a fan of Marauder but even though the Marauder has nice synergy with the deck the capsule kills the creature I want while Marauder might kill a token or an elvish visionary. Also the capsule usually costs 2 because you play it turn1 or when you have spare mana and than crack it for 2. That's my experience with it anyway. As for Jund Battlemage I like it but at this point the Capsule just feels a better pick. If I end up in esper or grixis the capsule is just fine while jund battlemage only allows me in jund or naya. That's what made me pick the capsule which on power level they seem pretty even to me.
P2P1: maybe you understood me wrong but I meant that I would pick stinger if Elspeth wasn't there.
P3P2: Drag Down is a pretty good removal card and although Slavedriver is pretty nice (way better than Undead Leotau which some people dislike but I actually find it always useful as the 20th-23th card) it seems to come late. Slavedriver doesn't have a bomb status so I went for the removal.
Thanks. I did get the refund and I actually was pretty sure I would get it. I've heard some people complain that they don't get their refund many times but I've always got mine. Maybe some people just don't give enough information or are just wrong about it being refundable.
Although that's mostly because of star inflation. 5 stars these days means "very good", while this is more like "very very awesome".
Anyway...
You're absolutely correct about how when one topdeck can win you the game, and otherwise you lose, set yourself up for it. Another thing to keep in mind, though, is that many topdecks are not that unlikely. For example, "you just had to topdeck that Force of Will"... well there were four in my deck. Oh and there were also four Counterspell, and four Daze, and four Spell Snare, so it wasn't that unlikely for me to draw an answer for Flash. Although that might not be relevant to the point, it's still a good refutation for "it's all luck" or "you just got lucky".
Riftsweeper is either banned or errata'd to prevent it from targeting generals, depending on your play group.
Mostly i agree about your choices, but :
P1P3 : i dont understand your choice. Yeah, capsule is a good removal, but its CMC is 3 and it doesnt work on black creatures. In the same pick there is also Marauder, which is almost the same effect than capsule with an identical CMC. But you have already had kresh and rockslide so Marauder seems a really more synergical (creature into a graveyard). That was the pick here to me. Then probably i would have choosed battlemage because it is a bomb in the format but only if you're running jund ... and you did :)
P2P1 : i would have choosed elspeth too, i am pretty sure, for the same reasons you mentioned. But if i was preventing myself from choosing elspeth, i think i would choose stinger. Again because its damage abitlity & its unearth ability seem to me more synergical with you deck.
P3P2 : i dont agree here. Slavedriver is a crazy good card, especially in a jund deck. Also more synergical in your deck. At this point, that was the best pick here to me.
I am dispointed for your draft bug, i hope you will have something back from wotc for that.
The article looks nice & good content ;)
Great article, it's interesting to look at the deeper stragretic parts of magic.
Very nice article.
I'm glad you made the comparison between magic and chess. I started playing chess competitively long before I played magic, and my friends and I learned to play competitive magic during chess club. Magic and Chess are very different games, and you have to think about the games differently. In Chess, the goal is often to gain a small positional advantage and grind it out to the end game to win. In Magic, that strategy doesn't work so well. In chess you never want to drop pieces or sacrifice pieces unless you can guarantee victory. In chess there are no equalizers/sweepers like Wrath of God. I often find myself playing magic with bad chess habits. I sometimes put more emphasis on keeping my creatures alive than on reducing my opponent to zero life. I often don't want to chump block when I should because I don't like "dropping" pieces. Sometimes I just have to remind myself of what game I'm playing.
I try and make sure I have no white bordered lands in my decks.
I guess this won't change anything at the moment you lose due to bad luck but everyone should reflect about their losses if they could have done anything different to win the game. It's human nature to be upset right after it happens but we should always think about it when it had time to settle down.
Also it's always nice to have an article like this remind us about there details once in a while. If there's anything most players tend to forget, is that luck is part of the game.
Nice one!
BTW: there was one pro that said he liked having powerful 1ofs in his decks as long as they would win the game on the spot (or make it very likely for you to win) because they would rarely mess with your early game, while it also gives you outs to those "already lost" games.
The reason I didn't take Viashino is that I have been seeing them very late. But Charge has been very late too so Viashino was probably the correct pick.
That p3p1 its quite confusing.You took a Rip Clan Clasher earlier stating that you lacked 2 drops over a Scourge Devil or Grixis Panorama and then took a Suicidal Charge over the Viashino. Im a big fan of Suicidal Charge but still the Viashino seemed the best choice there. Its a shame about the bug,also try to have an editor post ur decklist since most people wont read your comment and ask for it again.
I think you're making some mistakes while analizyng 5cc and Conflux. The fact that it uses 1 or 2 new cards doesnt mean that Conflux isnt the reason behind the sudden appearence of this deck. I talked about it almost a month ago and I have to say that even if it would run only 1 conflux card it would be enough Since Exotic Orchard provides a comes into play untapped land that still fixes ur draws and thats enough for the deck to be competitive in any events since its speed it up a turn. Even Martial Coup by itself provides a "Wrath of God" effect that Fallout , Infest or Jund Charm didnt manage entirely.
Very good article.
I would imagine sideboarding will be pretty much the same in SNG100 as SNG60. A few decks used them for wishes, but most did not. I would think it is less valuable to use your sideboard on wishes in SNG100 than SNG60 since you have even less chances of drawing your wish. That is unless you construct a sideboard that works both with and without a wish, so you can just side in the cards you want for game two and three and take out your wishes.
Dragon Combo and Desire Combo were the only two decks that really benefited from a wish sideboard in my experience in SNG60.
Soul's Majesty is a good card for mid to late game to replenish your hand, as there are only a few true card drawing spells in Alara Block (Esper Charm, Scepter of Insight, Covent of Minds, and Courier's Capsule). Elvish Visionary will cantrip, while Drumhunter and Filigree Fracture could conditionally give you a card.
When you compare the costs, you will find that Esper Charm is 3 mana for +1 card, Scepter is 4 per card, Covent is 2.5 per card (or 1.25 per card and loss of 3 cards to GY), and Capsule is 4 for +1 card. Since green usually has a creature in the 3-5 power range, Soul's Majesty is usually 1.25-2.5 per card, but could be even less with Sunsinger, or Thornling in play.
When doing a little research for this article I also stumbled across this quote from Osyp Lebedowicz:
"Like Chess, with Magic you have to think a couple of turns ahead," he said. "There are a lot of decisions you have to make, not only about what you are going to do but what you're opponent is going to do. I'd say that Magic is a lot harder, too. There's more variables."
I do agree with him since its possible to theorize completly a game of chess while its impossible to predict 100% how a game of magic will proceed.
I like the comparison of pocket aces to a turn 2 dragonstorm or turn one possibly after mull. I agree that while luck or chance may play some role in winning, consistant winning is brought on by steady play and planning. Now I myself have been called one a million times and hate to hear it as I think it just shows the maturity level of a player (lucksack). I think people dont realize you set your own luck in this game as you point out the number of a card in your deck is set by you, so if anything it boils down to you preparing and setting up that win.
Hope to see more articles like this in the future it may help the younger players understand more.
Wow...
...just... Wow.
What an article! Please, please keep discussing this type of subjects in the future.
Playing for your outs is one of the most important steps a player can give to improve their game.
Awesome.
Keep 'em coming, and I'll keep reading them ;)
The person who taught me to play Magic was an ex-pro. One of the invaluable lessons he gave me was the ability to 'play the game as if you'll draw the card you need'. That's what Craig Jones did, and that's what often separates a winning top deck from a 'too little too late' top deck. It's harder to do than it sounds, but it is crucial if you want to start winning those 'unlucky' games. If you're going to lose unless you draw a certain card then play the remaining turns as if you're going to draw that card. Take the steps with board position and with cards in hand to make sure that if you do draw that card that it will indeed be able to do what you need.
Worst case scenario is that you don't draw the card and still lose. You've essentially lost nothing when this happens. However! It does, can and will happen that you will draw that card you've been setting up for and bam! You take the game that seemed lost.
I actually got so used to people calling me a 'lucksack' that I made my ingame signature "Thanks! I practice my topdecking for four hours every night!". Just because I'd play the games I was losing in such a way that a topdeck perfect card would bring me back into it.... So I'm very happy to see this article. :)
Nice analisis
the last deck is awesome.I test it but i change 4 infest for 4 Cunning Lethemancer for control decks. Its very curious but this little man break 5cc for himself
how do you think?