Magic the Gathering: Arena |OT| Tapped Out of Witty Titles

[Izzy]

My favorite Twitter joke about the cascade event is Once Upon a Time being "leyline of the goose," since going second you can cast it on your opponents turn so you can do that turn one 2 mana play.

Cascade isn't normally a terrible event for me, but this current standard is just fantastic at ruining things.

BnR tomorrow folks!

 

[Evolution of Metal]

The promo cards are great, puts the basic cards to shame. Even parallax cards are pretty meh compared to the fairytale special artworks.

The set is a little redeemed from the ultra generic artworks.

 

[divisionbyzorro]

My favorite Arena format (and the only one I ever spend resources on) is Omniscience draft.

It's funny - that format only works because the 7 bots you draft against are unaware that they're drafting Omniscience. So even though theoretically you could run an Omniscience pod at FNM it just wouldn't work. It's the only format that makes the bot system into an asset rather than a liability.

 

[TheYanger]

This week's event was much better than before at least. I just took my regular 'fucking around' aggro standard deck and busted out my wins in like an hour. I love the storybook frame cards in real life, and they translate well to arena too. Shame it makes some of my mastery reward styles worthless, but ultimately I'm happy to have every promo frame for the adventures now. More importantly, aside from a few (Garenbrig Carver comes to mind) the artwork on these versions is just fucking outstanding. Lovestruck beast finally being out meant I had to do it, that card looks so boring in the standard art and is fucking gorgeous with the alternate.

 

[Draggyrider]

New event went pretty ok, finished the whole thing pretty quickly.

I was expecting a whole lot of aggro, what with easy cascades into Inn-keeper, Pelt Collector and Cat, so went in with a Dimir Hand Disruption build full of board wipes. Cry of the Carnarium had plenty of targets. and Thought Erasure -> Duress, followed by Disinfomation Campaign -> Thought Erasure sounded like a pain to deal with.

After playing the event, the deck needs more Spark harvest and Dreadhorde Invasion, since Questing Beast was a problem. The Gutterbones didn't do much, and I also cut 2 Duresses because decks were full of creatures. Cry was a beating every time I dropped it on turn 3 though.

Spoiler: Decklist

Deck
2 God-Eternal Kefnet (WAR) 53
7 Island (ANA) 62
2 Duress (M19) 94
8 Swamp (ANA) 63
4 Gutterbones (RNA) 76
4 Cry of the Carnarium (RNA) 70
2 Dreadhorde Invasion (WAR) 86
4 Yarok's Fenlurker (M20) 123
3 Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage (WAR) 83
1 Murderous Rider (ELD) 97
2 God-Eternal Bontu (WAR) 92
1 Cavalier of Night (M20) 94
2 Ritual of Soot (GRN) 84
1 Rankle, Master of Pranks (ELD) 101
1 Watery Grave (GRN) 259
4 Thought Erasure (GRN) 206
4 Disinformation Campaign (GRN) 167
4 Dimir Guildgate (GRN) 245
1 Castle Locthwain (ELD) 241
1 Witch's Cottage (ELD) 249
2 Spark Harvest (WAR) 105

 

[Bigkrev]

Oko, Veil of Summer, and Once Upon a Time all got banned this morning. The article on what happens in Arena isn't working yet (you get an error- https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/november-18-2019-mtga-arena-banned-announcement), but likely you will be getting wildcards for Oko and Once Upon a Time

 

[Deleted member 29682]

 

[ZeroCoin]

Arena ban details page is up now. Wildcards for any copies of Oko, OUaT, or Veil that are owned before the patch goes live at some point today. Strange thing to me is that Veil will continue to show up in packs and ICRs.

 

[Deleted member 29682]

Arena ban details page is up now. Wildcards for any copies of Oko, OUaT, or Veil that are owned before the patch goes live at some point today. Strange thing to me is that Veil will continue to show up in packs and ICRs.

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My guess is that it's because it's uncommon, rather than rare/mythic.

 

[Saften]

So should I craft those before the patch?

EDIT: Patch live. Too late.

 

[Habaneroguy]

Even though it hurts having Once upon a time and veil of summer banned alongside Oko I recognize it needed to happen. I'm just glad Hydroid Krasis didn't get hit.

 

[Almeister]

At least Oko's gone. But now I've just gone seven straight games in a row against the same teferi & his superfriends deck full of counterspells and exiles. Fun times.

 

[Deleted member 38227]

Man, Throne has been a mess.

 

[Habaneroguy]

At least Oko's gone. But now I've just gone seven straight games in a row against the same teferi & his superfriends deck full of counterspells and exiles. Fun times.

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That's why I was excited about veil of summer when it came out. At least we have stuff to deal with Teferi like Noxious Grasp and Fry, I suppose...

 

[Deleted member 9100]

I hate cauldron familiar. It's such an annoying card and it makes the turns last so long.

 

[Habaneroguy]

So does anyone have any good ideas for a turn 3 play with 6 or 7 mana available? So turn 1 Aboreal Grazer > turn 2 Neoform and sac AG and put Incubation Druid on the field with a +1/1 counter > turn 3 with 6-7 mana ??? Hydroid krasis is always a good mana sink I guess. Surely there's a good combo with that kind of ramp outside of the usual Nissa suggestions.

 

[Deleted member 29682]

At this point is it worth maindecking artifact destruction for Bo1? I've been using Embereth Shieldbreaker for my Boros tokens deck (since there's a least a creature attached if there's no artifacts in play so it's not a completely dead card) but I'm wondering if it's worth running Disenchant for the instant speed and the ability to hit enchantments too.

 

[divisionbyzorro]

Time for your weekly reminder that Revenge of Ravens is fucking miserable trash and printing it at uncommon was like dropping a huge dookie in the middle of an otherwise perfectly good restaurant.

 

[Core Zero]

So does anyone have any good ideas for a turn 3 play with 6 or 7 mana available? So turn 1 Aboreal Grazer > turn 2 Neoform and sac AG and put Incubation Druid on the field with a +1/1 counter > turn 3 with 6-7 mana ??? Hydroid krasis is always a good mana sink I guess. Surely there's a good combo with that kind of ramp outside of the usual Nissa suggestions.

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Honestly Krasis and Nissa are probably your best plays, but there are a few other options if you just want to try different things. Agent of Treachery could be used as removal or stifling an opponent on land early. Planewide Celebration can get 8 power on the board. Feasting Troll King is a recurring threat that will be hard to deal with that early.

 

[bunbun777]

I used this deck with pretty good success in the historic event if anyone is interested and has the cards already:

Deck
2 Castle Ardenvale (ELD) 238
20 Plains (ANA) 56
4 Dauntless Bodyguard (DAR) 14
4 Venerable Knight (ELD) 35
4 Knight of Grace (DAR) 23
4 Worthy Knight (ELD) 36
3 Acclaimed Contender (ELD) 1
4 Benalish Marshal (DAR) 6
2 Kinsbaile Cavalier (MOR) 15
4 History of Benalia (DAR) 21
2 Conclave Tribunal (GRN) 6
3 Unbreakable Formation (RNA) 29
2 The Circle of Loyalty (ELD) 9
2 Icon of Ancestry (M20) 229

Click to shrink...

 

[Deleted member 29682]

Tempted to have a go at the historic event. Is Vampire Knight aggro still semi-viable?

 

[Draggyrider]

So does anyone have any good ideas for a turn 3 play with 6 or 7 mana available? So turn 1 Aboreal Grazer > turn 2 Neoform and sac AG and put Incubation Druid on the field with a +1/1 counter > turn 3 with 6-7 mana ??? Hydroid krasis is always a good mana sink I guess. Surely there's a good combo with that kind of ramp outside of the usual Nissa suggestions.

Click to shrink...

Since you are already playing neoform, Prime Speaker Vannifar with counter backup / Kiora? The untaps also work well with incubation druid

Vannifar is just really fun in general, been having a good run with him in Brawl.

 

[Habaneroguy]

Spoiler

Honestly Krasis and Nissa are probably your best plays, but there are a few other options if you just want to try different things. Agent of Treachery could be used as removal or stifling an opponent on land early. Planewide Celebration can get 8 power on the board. Feasting Troll King is a recurring threat that will be hard to deal with that early.

Click to shrink...

Spoiler

Since you are already playing neoform, Prime Speaker Vannifar with counter backup / Kiora? The untaps also work well with incubation druid

Vannifar is just really fun in general, been having a good run with him in Brawl.

Click to shrink...

Ok, so I tried stuff from both of y'all. Feasting troll king is like you said a good recurring threat. Hydroid Krasis and Nissa as well getting the job done, and Planewide celebration giving options. Agent of Treachery just shuts people down. Koira adds to the consistency and ramp as well as having synergy with Vannifar and Druid. Added in some 1-ofs to supplement the strategy. Spark double works well and is versatile with many situations, Gadwick the Wizened helps with draw/tapping their stuff, and Apex Hybrid to add counters as needed and to be sac'd by Vannifar to pull Troll king while simultaneously being a big proliferate threat for a full board ala Nissa. Threw some negates in of course. Need to try those lands that put instants/sorceries on top of library. Works great overall! Will probably tweak it as I go but I was surprised how well both of what y'all said actually worked well together lol. Thanks for suggestions.

Also working on another artifacty esper deck that I'm pretty excited about with Gingerbrute, All that Glitters, Smothering Tithe, Folio of Fancies, Mirrormade, Arcanist's Owl, Ob Nixilous the Hate-twisted, and Tezerret Master of the Bridge. Got the typical Teferi, Oath of Kaya, and counterspells in for control. Gadwick the Wizened for draw and tap opponent. I've got a good combo with Smothering Tithe... I just feel like something is missing, like I'm 75% there. Smashing faces with a virtually unblockable Gingerbrute feels good and I recommend cookie destruction for anyone who is having a bad day.

 

[Draggyrider]

Ok, so I tried stuff from both of y'all. Feasting troll king is like you said a good recurring threat. Hydroid Krasis and Nissa as well getting the job done, and Planewide celebration giving options. Agent of Treachery just shuts people down. Koira adds to the consistency and ramp as well as having synergy with Vannifar and Druid. Added in some 1-ofs to supplement the strategy. Spark double works well and is versatile with many situations, Gadwick the Wizened helps with draw/tapping their stuff, and Apex Hybrid to add counters as needed and to be sac'd by Vannifar to pull Troll king while simultaneously being a big proliferate threat for a full board ala Nissa. Threw some negates in of course. Need to try those lands that put instants/sorceries on top of library. Works great overall! Will probably tweak it as I go but I was surprised how well both of what y'all said actually worked well together lol. Thanks for suggestions.

Also working on another artifacty esper deck that I'm pretty excited about with Gingerbrute, All that Glitters, Smothering Tithe, Folio of Fancies, Mirrormade, Arcanist's Owl, Ob Nixilous the Hate-twisted, and Tezerret Master of the Bridge. Got the typical Teferi, Oath of Kaya, and counterspells in for control. Gadwick the Wizened for draw and tap opponent. I've got a good combo with Smothering Tithe... I just feel like something is missing, like I'm 75% there. Smashing faces with a virtually unblockable Gingerbrute feels good and I recommend cookie destruction for anyone who is having a bad day.

Click to shrink...

Nice! I would suggest splitting the deck into 2. One for Gingerbrute and All that Glitters, and another for milling with Folio. I think Dance of the Manse would be good for the Gingerbrute deck. Cast it for 5 to get a hasty Gingerbrute with 4x All that Glitters attached for a one-shot kill, which sounds silly and fun, especially with Teferi to stop instants from ruining your day.

In another note, just had the most awesome back and forth game with my Grixis Reanimator Deck vs Azorious Control. Disrupted him early, but he managed to wish for an Ashiok which milled both my Drakuseths, but I did still have all 3 of Agent of Treachery. I kept him off lands for a bit, but realised that I would be drawing too many cards if I tried to have triple Agent in play., so the game kind of stalled out, since Agents take a while to kill Teferi and he had his own bounce spells if I tried to steal them. He kept gaining life with Absorb, so I thought I would lose, since he could stall the ground with the white castle. Finally drew Scholar of the ages with 6 cards left, and decided that my only reasonable chance of winning was to kill off my own Agents and start trying to loop Blood for Bones to get back Merfolk Secretkeeper to mill him instead. Even had to Ritual of soot my own board to get the Secretkeepers into the graveyard. managed to do it with 2 cards left in my library.

 

[Deleted member 29682]

Doing pretty well with an Orzhov Control deck I dug up. Kaya's doing a lot of work against cats, geese and ovens.

 

[Chojin]

Making a pure F2P account on the side has been a breath of fresh air for me. I maxed out eldraine packs two weeks ago and drafting felt pointless. Starting over from scratch. Scrimping gold and gems to tackle the game in another way than just constant drafting has been a worthwhile experience.

I already hit gold doing drafts purely free to play!

Constructed is a bit trickier. Currently silver. Getting to silver was easy enough as I lucked out on a questing beast with free packs. Gruul Seasons is good enough to get to silver but you hit a wall with real decks at that tier.


My fear is just joining the dark side and going mono red. I have most of the pieces and its such a cheap deck in terms of wildcards.

I probably won't play it cause it just doesn't seem fun. Do I have an unbeatable opening hand? Yay....

 

[Arkanim94]

someone looking for the road to walue town?

https://scryfall.com/@littlebeep/decks/2050313b-1398-4b89-a9d9-de96dbe18f73

cause I think I've found it.

 

[divisionbyzorro]

Decided to try out some Historic for the first time. I spent a few wildcards to upgrade my old Phoenix deck and took it for a spin. It seemed okay; Historic in general basically just feels like the worst of old Standard to be honest, but the Phoenix deck has enough explosive plays in it that you can get through a lot of different things.

 

[Ketch]

Anybody else still trying to make Abzan wolves work?

it's decidedly midrange, consistently crushes aggro, but can't compete with any control deck. Losing summer's veil really crushed this deck. I'm not sure how to sideboard against control now

 

[divisionbyzorro]

Nexus of Fate is a miserable fucking Magic card.

 

[Deleted member 22651]

Nexus of Fate is a miserable fucking Magic card.

Click to shrink...

It is a seven mana sorcery. Maybe you should be eyeing Wilderness Reclamation as the source of your woe instead? Nexus decks have a decent amount of counters in Historic. Questing Beast even allows you to go through their fog effects.

It's a fun deck to pilot though admittedly a poor experience for the opponent.

 

[divisionbyzorro]

It is a seven mana sorcery. Maybe you should be eyeing Wilderness Reclamation as the source of your woe instead? Nexus decks have a decent amount of counters in Historic. Questing Beast even allows you to go through their fog effects.

It's a fun deck to pilot though admittedly a poor experience for the opponent.

Click to shrink...

Rec is a powerful enabler of course but it's not the reason the opponent gets to play solitaire forever. Would Nexus be fine without it? Possibly, but not because the card is less obnoxious but rather because the deck would simply be less good so you'd see it less often.

The deck as a whole is miserable to deal with on Arena due to the way the rope works; the UX for dealing with the stacking triggers, tapping/untapping, responding to stuff on your opponents turn, etc - just completely obnoxious.

 

[i hate cheaters]

when the non-wilderness decks started playing nexus instead of other wincons, it was time to stop looking for scapegoats and just ban the nexus of fate

 

[Sejanoz]

I got two extra Liliana's Legion deck codes (the Twitch Prime ones). Anyone still holding onto M20/Eldraine prerelease codes? Wanna trade?

 

[Alucrid]

how does the match making work in this game? i have a very base understanding of magic from years and years ago and only started playing due to getting the liliana's legion deck. i played a handful of "play" (unranked?) games and seemed to run up against starter decks or other lilianas. once i start ranked games am i likely to run up against custom decks and do i just have to take the beating until i have enough to create a competitive deck list i find online?

 

[Nakho]

how does the match making work in this game? i have a very base understanding of magic from years and years ago and only started playing due to getting the liliana's legion deck. i played a handful of "play" (unranked?) games and seemed to run up against starter decks or other lilianas. once i start ranked games am i likely to run up against custom decks and do i just have to take the beating until i have enough to create a competitive deck list i find online?

Click to shrink...

Play mode seems to match you with people with starter decks and the like, but only at the beginning. After some days, even if I was using a starter deck, all I got was opponents using custom decks, with Planewalkers, mythic-rare cards and all that. So I switched to ranked games, and it's been a lot easier to get wins in that, so far. I just got to Silver. People say when you get to Gold is when you hit the "gotta net-deck" barrier.

 

[Alucrid]

Play mode seems to match you with people with starter decks and the like, but only at the beginning. After some days, even if I was using a starter deck, all I got was opponents using custom decks, with Planewalkers, mythic-rare cards and all that. So I switched to ranked games, and it's been a lot easier to get wins in that, so far. I just got to Silver. People say when you get to Gold is when you hit the "gotta net-deck" barrier.

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thanks for the info. guess i had to just get the spanking over with. started in ranked and got decimated by some black/white knight deck, a crazy red deck that had enchantment dd when 1 or lower creatures attacked with spells that summoned 1/1 tokens which left me at like 8 hp by turn 3, and some green deck with a bug card that completely nullified amass. i think the ramp up for amass is a bit too slow especially when the token creature can be dealt with pretty easily. i'm sure it could be fixed with some substitutions but i'm not that smart so i'll probably find a deck list this weekend to build towards

 

[Deleted member 29682]

a crazy red deck that had enchantment dd when 1 or lower creatures attacked with spells that summoned 1/1 tokens which left me at like 8 hp by turn 3

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Yeah get used to that one.

Blue and Black aren't great for dealing with enchantments but letting them build up a board then wiping it with Cry of the Carnarium or Ritual of Soot can help deal with those that overcommit and dump all their creatures on their board ASAP.

 

[Nakho]

thanks for the info. guess i had to just get the spanking over with. started in ranked and got decimated by some black/white knight deck, a crazy red deck that had enchantment dd when 1 or lower creatures attacked with spells that summoned 1/1 tokens which left me at like 8 hp by turn 3, and some green deck with a bug card that completely nullified amass. i think the ramp up for amass is a bit too slow especially when the token creature can be dealt with pretty easily. i'm sure it could be fixed with some substitutions but i'm not that smart so i'll probably find a deck list this weekend to build towards

Click to shrink...

Liliana's deck just isn't very good, I'm afraid. Upgrading the Out for Blood starter deck kinda panned out for me, even with me hoarding all my wildcards. There are some good videos on YouTube if you want to go that route.

 

[Alucrid]

Yeah get used to that one.

Blue and Black aren't great for dealing with enchantments but letting them build up a board then wiping it with Cry of the Carnarium or Ritual of Soot can help deal with those that overcommit and dump all their creatures on their board ASAP.

Click to shrink...

Liliana's deck just isn't very good, I'm afraid. Upgrading the Out for Blood starter deck kinda panned out for me, even with me hoarding all my wildcards. There are some good videos on YouTube if you want to go that route.

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thanks for the advice


another question - read that i should do drafts presumably because you'll get a good amount of cards + whatever you earn through winnings with just the 5k gold? does that apply even if your ability to draft is nonexistant? also with the season ending ending in 24 days does that have any bearing on whether i should start spending resources to craft a deck? don't want to drop too much if there'll be big changes coming just around the corner

 

[fallout]

As someone who started playing Arena back in October for the first time in over a decade, I'm probably a decent analogue. Part of the experience is also just learning all the predominant card combos out there and what the best way to react to or counter them is. Yes, the quality of your deck matters, but as you learn those things, you'll start to collect wildcards and be able to tweak your deck a bit.

Liliana's deck just isn't very good, I'm afraid. Upgrading the Out for Blood starter deck kinda panned out for me, even with me hoarding all my wildcards. There are some good videos on YouTube if you want to go that route.

Click to shrink...

I did this and was quite successful.

another question - read that i should do drafts presumably because you'll get a good amount of cards + whatever you earn through winnings with just the 5k gold? does that apply even if your ability to draft is nonexistant? also with the season ending ending in 24 days does that have any bearing on whether i should start spending resources to craft a deck? don't want to drop too much if there'll be big changes coming just around the corner

Click to shrink...

I've found drafting to be pretty challenging. I think I've done it 4 or 5 times and I've won a single game? That said, it has been a decent way to collect more cards, learn about the usage of more cards and just gain more knowledge in general about the game. You might fare better, but yeah, I wouldn't go into it expecting much in the way of victories.

 

[Deleted member 29682]

another question - read that i should do drafts presumably because you'll get a good amount of cards + whatever you earn through winnings with just the 5k gold? does that apply even if your ability to draft is nonexistant? also with the season ending ending in 24 days does that have any bearing on whether i should start spending resources to craft a deck? don't want to drop too much if there'll be big changes coming just around the corner

Click to shrink...

Drafting is its own beast, with a lot of guides and strategies independent of constructed play. Cards which you wouldn't even consider in constructed can be game winners in draft, and vice-versa. A major appeal of draft is that everyone's theoretically on a level playing field, but barring luck there can be a big difference between draft decks of experienced and newer players. It probably won't feel like that until you know what you're doing.

It's good for filling out commons and uncommons but less so for rares/mythics. Unless you're lucky, you won't get as many of those as you would if you just bought 5 packs, and you won't get wildcards either. It's best to initially assume that you'll lose all your matches: would you be happy spending 5000 gold to get 1 pack, 50 gems and whatever you got from the draft itself? That's a question only you can answer.

I'd suggest you give it a go at least once though, so you get a good idea of the sorts of cards you can expect to get while drafting, and it's valuable experience. I really hated draft and thought it was a waste of gold at first, but now I've got the hang of it I save all of my gold for it.

 

[Nakho]

I see it as different methods for different goals. Drafting will net you gems and good commons and uncommons. Buying packs will get you wildcards, which are very very useful when you want to go for a specific deck.

That said, I should be doing drafts, but I absolutely crave the dopamine from opening booster packs, so I never did a single one lol

 

[Deleted member 29682]

Oh and another thing about draft: if you're purely F2P, then it's one of the only (and certainly the best) way to get gems.

 

[Alucrid]

As someone who started playing Arena back in October for the first time in over a decade, I'm probably a decent analogue. Part of the experience is also just learning all the predominant card combos out there and what the best way to react to or counter them is. Yes, the quality of your deck matters, but as you learn those things, you'll start to collect wildcards and be able to tweak your deck a bit.

I did this and was quite successful.

I've found drafting to be pretty challenging. I think I've done it 4 or 5 times and I've won a single game? That said, it has been a decent way to collect more cards, learn about the usage of more cards and just gain more knowledge in general about the game. You might fare better, but yeah, I wouldn't go into it expecting much in the way of victories.

Click to shrink...

Drafting is its own beast, with a lot of guides and strategies independent of constructed play. Cards which you wouldn't even consider in constructed can be game winners in draft, and vice-versa. A major appeal of draft is that everyone's theoretically on a level playing field, but barring luck there can be a big difference between draft decks of experienced and newer players. It probably won't feel like that until you know what you're doing.

It's good for filling out commons and uncommons but less so for rares/mythics. Unless you're lucky, you won't get as many of those as you would if you just bought 5 packs, and you won't get wildcards either. It's best to initially assume that you'll lose all your matches: would you be happy spending 5000 gold to get 1 pack, 50 gems and whatever you got from the draft itself? That's a question only you can answer.

I'd suggest you give it a go at least once though, so you get a good idea of the sorts of cards you can expect to get while drafting, and it's valuable experience. I really hated draft and thought it was a waste of gold at first, but now I've got the hang of it I save all of my gold for it.

Click to shrink...

thanks for the breakdown. yeah for now at least i think buying boosters is the way for me. at least until i grind out enough rares, mythics or wildcards to put together my first deck to grind out standard with. i definitely want to do a draft eventually but it's probably not the best idea when i still haven't seen or taken to the time to look at...80% of that cards give or take. it's not going anywhere so maybe by the time the next set comes out i'll feel confident enough to jump in

 

[Accoun]

Well, that was a lot of clicking, lol.

 

[Chojin]

Man. I'm getting tired of rakdos sacrifice even I've been playing it on ladder myself. I switched up to a goofy golgari superfriends that manages to cast teferi with no islands. Uses elvish reclaimer to search up beacons and bastions and its just planeswalker after planeswalker. Early walkers are vraska and teferi to control the board. Wilderness reclamation allows multiple Karns bastions to proliferate on your end step and the wincons are nissa, lilliana and garuk. Karn keeps catfood in check as well as provides a toolbox of more wincons or answers. One of the siller ones is Bolas Citadel which when you got 4 beacons gets really dumb putting all your walkers on the board.


Only aggroiest of aggro (like t1 t2 t3 Feverent champion while I'm on the play ((rolls eyes))) tend to beat up on me. Usual aggro loses steam agant multiple beacons and walkers. Flash cries when I slow roll a teferi at the right moment. I have no problems draw go with them till they get antsy pitching cards not being able to react on my main. If I were to bo3 the deck I'd prolly side in some canariums and rituals to stem the early rush. Fall back on duress for control.

But yeah having fun playing something that isn't rakdos catfood, golgari adventures, or stax. I really don't want to play fires either. So tired of that nonsense.

 

[Chojin]

About drafting, sorry for the double post, your best bet is to study up on the typical archetypes for the set. Read some limited reviews and watch a few draft videos to get an idea on what you're going to be up against. I've maxed out my eldraine set so I usually don't draft it anymore but there's a lot of viable strategies on archetypes possible. Some are more consistent than others. Usually at near the end of a season I save up my gold for drafting the next set. I prefer drafting cause you hit your vault faster with so many redundant commons and uncommons and when you've cracked open enough packs from winning and your weekly free packs you'll have plenty of common and uncommon wild cards to fill out for constructed.

Also if you're new or have a limited set of cards try Wednesday brawl. The starter cards can make for a pretty decent Grumgully brawl deck allowing to spank out easy 15 wins for the day getting you more gold and card rewards

But yeah if I can give one set of advice for draft just watch some videos of drafts on youtube and you'll be more consistent with wins and can probably go 4-3 on the regular which almost oays for itself. My free to play account has zero dollars invested and I feel like I always have something to do and not be all hardcore about it. Weirdly enough I don't feel as frustrated on it unlike my main account sometimes hahaha. With the free account I only ever use gold for drafting and making gems which goes into more drafting which i turn makes my draft game better for my main account.

 

[Saften]

He has been suggested here before but LegenVd puts out excellent videos on youtube. All his drafting are thoroughly explained, and gives a good idea about what to look for. I'm still terrible at drafting but I do manage to get some wins in, with my limited understanding. I also just started Magic in october..

 

[Sejanoz]

another question - read that i should do drafts presumably because you'll get a good amount of cards + whatever you earn through winnings with just the 5k gold? does that apply even if your ability to draft is nonexistant? also with the season ending ending in 24 days does that have any bearing on whether i should start spending resources to craft a deck? don't want to drop too much if there'll be big changes coming just around the corner

Click to shrink...

First few drafts will most likely go badly if you have no experience and don't know the archetypes. In my first draft ever I picked a Vannifar because it was Mythic, knowing nothing about Simic, and I went 0-3 lol.

You can either read about the archetypes and the best first picks on sites like ChannelFireball, or watch content creators who focus on drafting. I've started watching a local streamer good at drafting and picked up many things along the way.
After that I did two drafts: Bo1 Ravnica with Boros (6-3) and Bo3 War of the Spark (5-1). Day and night difference. I've stopped playing in the last few months but I'm much more confident in my drafting skills.

What can I suggest is: keep removals in a different column when picking cards (in the horizontal view I mean) so you can better see your mana curve (because you won't always use removals on curve). It's okay to change colors in pack 2. Use 17 lands, unless your curve stops at like 3cmc. Splashing colors is hard with only basic lands. A good maindeck card is a better pick than an excellent sideboard card.