How about MED2 or Tempest? I'm a classic fan and I hate that these sets aren't drafted as otfen. (Which makes them expensive. Although, I think it's really the lack of leagues that messes that up.)
Assume that I'm the worst limited player ever. What's my EV on drafting a classic set? I calculated it myself and I got a negative number. Which isn't surprising. But I wasn't taking commons, uncommons, or foils into account either.
Leaving out step 3 kind of removes a lot of the potential interest of this article. I still thought it was an interesting read, but the thing is that a lot of newer players get the idea early on, looking at the book values of the cards, that if they just draft rares, they can play for free. However, their hopes are quickly dashed when they go into their first trade with a bot and realize that their "three dollar rares" are only worth .33 tix unless they managed to crack a pack and get a money card - and if it isn't a money card, other players probably aren't interested in buying it, either. For them, the reality is that the only way to play for free is to win consistently.
So, for those people, I would have liked to see something in the article about how to maximize your profits when rare drafting. The article contains a few nice tips but it doesn't really explain how to do it.
I was going to post something about leagues here and saw that leaguewarrior beat me to the punch. My observation here is, I want to support the format and I want to push for the format but, if they are looking at the business model and the clamor for the return of leagues... we're screwed on getting them back anytime soon or at all. All the league players have drifted away. My conversations with people for the return of leagues has been almost nil. The league players just aren't much around anymore, so it's hard to get backing to go to WotC and push for the format. V3 has been out a while now, new formats and new features are being introduced all the time. And yet, leagues, which were on the list of things to get done after such and such, have been relegated to the place where socks disappear in the clothes dryer. I wouldn't be surprised to have an update one day and see the leagues section of the game simply disappear and become vaporware. Sadly.
this was an excellent article. quite inspiring. look for me to vocalize about multiplayer soon. i wonder if you'd be willing to host another town hall with multiplayer being the specific topic? get back to me, you know who it is.
I did have someone pass me a figure of destiny. I kept looking at it. Then, after I cleaned my pants, I took it and happily went on with the rest of the draft. It was in a 4-3-2-2 as well. Weird.
Yes ,I agree we need something for the multiplayer, this is starting to get boring, same 'ol stuff everyday. Atleast a draft of some sort. I just wish I had the time or even knew how to go about it. Although I have went and posted on that thread so I hope it helps.
I've been playing a lot of casual classic lately, and almost all the decks are very 'casual'. I beat a healing salve/bog imp deck with my Crucible of Fire/Shields of Velis Vel deck, for instance and humorously lost to a 100+ card jank deck along the way...
I haven't seen a lot of tourney decks, and I haven't had very many whiners at all. Also, I'm building up a clan of casual to competitive players in the clan of puremtgo9, so if that's the type of outlet that you're looking for. Classic players who are friendly and fun. :)
Finding "casual" classic games is super easy these days. The number of people playing classic now has skyrocketed and most of the casual players seem to be older and more mature aka less likely to quit.
Classic in general is a format that WoTC is neglectant to support because you really don't make that much money off of it.. yeah they do with sets for MTGO only but the overal "conglomorate" style players usually get the shaft.
While I commend WoTC for doing this, the community has to fix some underlying problems for me to return to MTGO (and Tempest is my favorite set.. go figure) one thing, it is hard to get casual games anymore.. its hard to play in them when people just quit on you because you play cool classic cards.. why the heck did I spend money on FOWs and such if people just concede when I play them? and yeah i could just enter tournaments but I don't have that kind of commitment to play usually.
two things that would make me come back.. multiplayer tournaments (do it Texas Hold 'Em style, winner of each table moves on to the next) and Leagues..
im working on this now anon should be up in a week or 3 lol
so far i just have theory and tp room to go with no actual hard data but i can tell you there are some decks that love/hate/dont care about wasteland(duh) and the such look out for coming lunch boxes.
"The blunt answer is this: WotC is only acting on solid business data. If you can't prove that your format should get financial backing (either through events, or format creation, or development time) then WotC will not move forward on it."
Agreed on Classic - but some of the Classic gurus need to write a format overview now that Gush, Daze & Wasteland are here. What has changed? I know the last two PEs both came a 2-3 playes short, so no decklists. What's going on?
AI can't do this - I don't have a competitive deck, so I lose to even the bad decks.
Hammy - Voice of All is showing up in some Reveillark decks.
Sorry, didn't mean to sound so mean. I mostly stopped because I didn't have time. But yes, that was a bad pick. PM me online for a place to get some decent pick orders and card evalutaions for Tempest. Even though were at the tail end of the release events now heh.
There are two or three major archetypes in TTT drafts, all of them aggressive because, as a rule, Triple tempest is a FAST format;
R/B Shadow decks
R/G Fatties
U/W Fliers
Black and Red are the best colors, no question. You have Dark Banishing, Rolling Thunder, Evincar's Justice, Diabolic Edict, Aftershock, Kindle, Disturbed Burial and Lightning Blast all at COMMON, and Searing Touch at uncommon.
That doesn't even take into account the Hyper aggressive shadow creatures in black. You also have to remember that an (effectively) unblockable 2/2 for 2 mana is very efficient for the era. Most of the Black shadow creatures are x/1 but they generally aren't going to be blocked and if they are they'll trade.
I've found that it pays to force Black, and even then you'll sometimes still have to pass amazing cards in your colors.
I don't mind the picks... Some have suggested some better alternatives, but different people prefer different play styles. So be it. I wish they would make a winner takes ALL packs draft. Instead of giving the winner packs, give the winner ALL the cards from the draft. People go home with nothing. At least that is how we use to play it here in So Cal. Of course people would whine about it... but at least have the option of this. That way if you pass a Grindstone or another valuable card for cards that better suit your deck, it wouldn't be such a drawback. Draft to win, instead of drafting for cards.
Like I said in my opening statement, if the card never appeared in an 8th or later core set, I would never have even seen it. I had no idea the Evincar's Justice was so good. That's why I do these so that I can learn.
How about MED2 or Tempest? I'm a classic fan and I hate that these sets aren't drafted as otfen. (Which makes them expensive. Although, I think it's really the lack of leagues that messes that up.)
Assume that I'm the worst limited player ever. What's my EV on drafting a classic set? I calculated it myself and I got a negative number. Which isn't surprising. But I wasn't taking commons, uncommons, or foils into account either.
Yeah, I know the joke. :)
Leaving out step 3 is a joke, referencing the underpants gnomes from South Park.
Leaving out step 3 kind of removes a lot of the potential interest of this article. I still thought it was an interesting read, but the thing is that a lot of newer players get the idea early on, looking at the book values of the cards, that if they just draft rares, they can play for free. However, their hopes are quickly dashed when they go into their first trade with a bot and realize that their "three dollar rares" are only worth .33 tix unless they managed to crack a pack and get a money card - and if it isn't a money card, other players probably aren't interested in buying it, either. For them, the reality is that the only way to play for free is to win consistently.
So, for those people, I would have liked to see something in the article about how to maximize your profits when rare drafting. The article contains a few nice tips but it doesn't really explain how to do it.
I was going to post something about leagues here and saw that leaguewarrior beat me to the punch. My observation here is, I want to support the format and I want to push for the format but, if they are looking at the business model and the clamor for the return of leagues... we're screwed on getting them back anytime soon or at all. All the league players have drifted away. My conversations with people for the return of leagues has been almost nil. The league players just aren't much around anymore, so it's hard to get backing to go to WotC and push for the format. V3 has been out a while now, new formats and new features are being introduced all the time. And yet, leagues, which were on the list of things to get done after such and such, have been relegated to the place where socks disappear in the clothes dryer. I wouldn't be surprised to have an update one day and see the leagues section of the game simply disappear and become vaporware. Sadly.
Overall Hammy, great article!
this was an excellent article. quite inspiring. look for me to vocalize about multiplayer soon. i wonder if you'd be willing to host another town hall with multiplayer being the specific topic? get back to me, you know who it is.
/|\
i can ony say thanks a ot for the new stats there. it is a nifty gimmick to see :)
WOW
How come Grindstone isn't in the list of cards that dropped?
I saw Grindstone go from 40 to 20 dollars or some this week....
I did have someone pass me a figure of destiny. I kept looking at it. Then, after I cleaned my pants, I took it and happily went on with the rest of the draft. It was in a 4-3-2-2 as well. Weird.
Yes ,I agree we need something for the multiplayer, this is starting to get boring, same 'ol stuff everyday. Atleast a draft of some sort. I just wish I had the time or even knew how to go about it. Although I have went and posted on that thread so I hope it helps.
I've been playing a lot of casual classic lately, and almost all the decks are very 'casual'. I beat a healing salve/bog imp deck with my Crucible of Fire/Shields of Velis Vel deck, for instance and humorously lost to a 100+ card jank deck along the way...
I haven't seen a lot of tourney decks, and I haven't had very many whiners at all. Also, I'm building up a clan of casual to competitive players in the clan of puremtgo9, so if that's the type of outlet that you're looking for. Classic players who are friendly and fun. :)
Finding "casual" classic games is super easy these days. The number of people playing classic now has skyrocketed and most of the casual players seem to be older and more mature aka less likely to quit.
Classic in general is a format that WoTC is neglectant to support because you really don't make that much money off of it.. yeah they do with sets for MTGO only but the overal "conglomorate" style players usually get the shaft.
While I commend WoTC for doing this, the community has to fix some underlying problems for me to return to MTGO (and Tempest is my favorite set.. go figure) one thing, it is hard to get casual games anymore.. its hard to play in them when people just quit on you because you play cool classic cards.. why the heck did I spend money on FOWs and such if people just concede when I play them? and yeah i could just enter tournaments but I don't have that kind of commitment to play usually.
two things that would make me come back.. multiplayer tournaments (do it Texas Hold 'Em style, winner of each table moves on to the next) and Leagues..
im working on this now anon should be up in a week or 3 lol
so far i just have theory and tp room to go with no actual hard data but i can tell you there are some decks that love/hate/dont care about wasteland(duh) and the such look out for coming lunch boxes.
Don't you always get pissed off though when I get the dreadnought, Vicki gets a foil Nullrod and you get a dark ritual!
"The blunt answer is this: WotC is only acting on solid business data. If you can't prove that your format should get financial backing (either through events, or format creation, or development time) then WotC will not move forward on it."
So were are we with leagues?
Agreed on Classic - but some of the Classic gurus need to write a format overview now that Gush, Daze & Wasteland are here. What has changed? I know the last two PEs both came a 2-3 playes short, so no decklists. What's going on?
AI can't do this - I don't have a competitive deck, so I lose to even the bad decks.
Hammy - Voice of All is showing up in some Reveillark decks.
I usually read your column, but this one stands out as one of the best. Lots of information I missed this week. Good joob!
Sorry, didn't mean to sound so mean. I mostly stopped because I didn't have time. But yes, that was a bad pick. PM me online for a place to get some decent pick orders and card evalutaions for Tempest. Even though were at the tail end of the release events now heh.
long live classic!!
Come play the best format ever and help grow the fastest player driven format in my memory!
There are two or three major archetypes in TTT drafts, all of them aggressive because, as a rule, Triple tempest is a FAST format;
R/B Shadow decks
R/G Fatties
U/W Fliers
Black and Red are the best colors, no question. You have Dark Banishing, Rolling Thunder, Evincar's Justice, Diabolic Edict, Aftershock, Kindle, Disturbed Burial and Lightning Blast all at COMMON, and Searing Touch at uncommon.
That doesn't even take into account the Hyper aggressive shadow creatures in black. You also have to remember that an (effectively) unblockable 2/2 for 2 mana is very efficient for the era. Most of the Black shadow creatures are x/1 but they generally aren't going to be blocked and if they are they'll trade.
I've found that it pays to force Black, and even then you'll sometimes still have to pass amazing cards in your colors.
I don't mind the picks... Some have suggested some better alternatives, but different people prefer different play styles. So be it. I wish they would make a winner takes ALL packs draft. Instead of giving the winner packs, give the winner ALL the cards from the draft. People go home with nothing. At least that is how we use to play it here in So Cal. Of course people would whine about it... but at least have the option of this. That way if you pass a Grindstone or another valuable card for cards that better suit your deck, it wouldn't be such a drawback. Draft to win, instead of drafting for cards.
Like I said in my opening statement, if the card never appeared in an 8th or later core set, I would never have even seen it. I had no idea the Evincar's Justice was so good. That's why I do these so that I can learn.
Actually, I had no idea. If I had known how much it was, I would have taken it for sure.