Magic Booster Draft Strategy
Magic Booster Draft Strategy
Ryan Rhinebarger
The Gamer’ss Armory
The Gamer
Armory
The Basics
The Basics
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Limited format
Limited
format
3 Booster packs
40 card deck
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Unlimited land
Average split: 23 spells, 17 land
Average # of colors: 2
Average # of colors: 2
Fundamentals
• Never
Never play more than 40 cards
play more than 40 cards
• Play 17 lands unless you know exactly why you’re
you
re using more/less
using more/less
• Play 2 colors or 2 colors + splash
• Play first unless you have a compelling reason not to
• Know your sideboard
What’ss a splash?
What
a splash?
• 1‐3
1 3 powerful cards with single color costs, powerful cards with single color costs
with 2‐4 appropriately colored mana sources (not just land)
(not just land)
• Ex: Doom Blade w/ 2 Swamps, Incinerate + Fireball w/ 2 Mountains and a Manalith
Fireball w/ 2 Mountains and a Manalith
• Unsplashable: Overrun, Sorin’s Thirst
Building a Curve
Building a Curve
• Don’t
Don t draft a pile of cards, draft a deck
draft a pile of cards draft a deck
• Ideal curve “peaks” at 3 or 4
• Curving out: play a card and a land every turn C i
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for maximum mana
• Powerful card vs. curve filler
• Use time between packs to plan
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Creatures or Spells?
Creatures or Spells?
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95% of games, creatures win games
95%
of games creatures win games
Always have more creatures than spells
A weak creature is better than a weak spell
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Aim for 80‐100% of your land count
– If you have 17 lands, aim for 13‐17 creatures
Drafting BREAD
Drafting BREAD
• B – Bombs
• R – Removal
• E – Evasion/Efficiency
• A – Aggression
• D – Dregs
BCSM: Best Case Scenario Mentality
BCSM: Best Case Scenario Mentality
• Less experienced players see a card and say, p
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“What’s the coolest thing I can do with this?”
• Ex: Fog, can be a flashy blowout
– But can die with it in hand, or only buys you a turn
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• Don’t just ask yourself when a card is awesome, ask when it’ss good, ok, and
ask when it
good ok and bad
• Ex: Pacifism, generally good removal, very rarely bad
• Range of situational quality: High, Low, Narrow, Broad
Rarity
• Higher
Higher rarity does not necessarily mean a rarity does not necessarily mean a
better card
• Some commons are simply better than some Some commons are simply better than some
rares and mythics, some rares are terrible
• Pick orders should be based on power level, Pi k d
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not on rarity
• Recent draft order: C, C, U, C, C, U, C, C…
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• Should not be: R, U, U, U, C, C, C, C…
What’ss the First Pick?
What
the First Pick?
What’ss the First Pick?
What
the First Pick?
What’ss the First Pick?
What
the First Pick?
What’ss the First Pick?
What
the First Pick?
What’ss the First Pick?
What
the First Pick?
What’ss the First Pick?
What
the First Pick?
Tips for Effective Play
Tips for Effective Play
• Don’t let too many cooks in the kitchen
• Focus on the rule, not the exception
• Wait until the last minute to play instants and activated abilities
• Don’t chump block unless you need to
• If you’re not blocking, you should be attacking
• Don’t play around a card unless you can name it
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• Don’t play scared, don’t play confident
• Kill your opponent, don’t lose track of the win
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• Pay attention to your time
• Don’t concede until they’ve beaten you
• Think in chunks, act in chunks
Think in chunks act in chunks
Most Important Advice!
Most Important Advice!
• Have
Have fun! If you aren
fun! If you aren’tt enjoying the game, enjoying the game
you will lose every time
• Play more! The only way to definitely get Play more! The only way to definitely get
better is to play as often as you can
• Read up! Learn the cards, the format, the R d ! L
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archetypes, and the other players
• THINK!!! Spend the extra few seconds and think about every pick and every play
Helpful Resources
Helpful Resources
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Magicthegathering.com – Visual spoiler of sets, occasional topical articles
wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Archive.aspx?tag=limitedinformation
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Wizards of the Coast articles about Limited formats
Channelfireball.com – Draft videos w/ commentary by world’s best p y
players
mtgcast.com/?cat=52 – Limited Resources podcast, excellent source of limited advice
mtgsalvation.com/articles/topic/cranial.html – Rules questions answered by high level judges Learn complex card interactions before you’re
by high‐level judges. Learn complex card interactions before you
re beaten by them
wizards.com/magiconline – Magic Online lets you draft any time with players from around the world for real value. Recommended for the d di
dedicated and self‐controlled. Not recommend for addictive personalities
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Raredraft.com – Import your recorded MTGO drafts, review them, add comments, receive comments from others
Glossary
2 for 1: A play that trades 1 card for 2 of the other player's. Card advantage is a good thing.
4‐3‐2‐2:
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3 2 2: A single elimination queue on MTGO that pays 4 packs to the winner, 3 packs to second A single elimination queue on MTGO that pays 4 packs to the winner, 3 packs to second
place, and 2 packs to third and fourth place. Its total payout is 1 pack less than the other MTGO queues, so it doesn't attract the most competitive players.
8‐4: A single elimination queue on MTGO that pays 8 packs to the winner, 4 packs to second place, and jack to everyone else. The payout attracts competitive draft players.
Archetype: A deck strategy that you try to draft or build your sealed deck towards. Cards that on their own are crap may be much more potent in an archetype with other cards supporting them.
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Bomb: A card that will win games by itself if it goes unanswered. The most valuable draft picks.
Cutting: When a player aggressively strips a particular color or archetype in draft from the packs you pass. Done to send signals to other players. Can also refer to a color or archetype "being cut" from the packs you see.
Fixing: Mana fixing. Cards that provide mana
Fixing: Mana
fixing Cards that provide mana of any color or allow you to get lands of your choice of any color or allow you to get lands of your choice
from your deck. More important in some formats than others, but always helpful when running three or more colors.
Forcing: As in forcing a color or archetype. Rigorously pursuing a particular draft strategy, often by passing over cards that are stronger in a vacuum. Best done early in the draft to send consistent signals.
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Hating, or Hatedrafting: Taking a card in draft just because you don't want other decks to have access to it.
Glossary, cont’d
Glossary, cont
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Queue: An online pod. Named because you wait for it to fill up before it starts. On MTGO, they come in 8‐4,
come in 8
4, 4
4‐3‐2
3 2 and Swiss varieties.
and Swiss varieties.
p#p#: In order, refers to pack number, and then pick number from that pack. A shorthand for discussing draft decisions.
Pod: As in draft pod. The group of people participating in the same draft.
Pool: As in sealed pool. The set of cards that a sealed player gets to build their deck with.
Pseudo‐Removal: Cards that kind of sort of deal with your opponent's cards, in certain situations. Creature pump and counterspells
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unconditionally remove something from the battlefield, but better than nothing.
Raredrafting: Drafting a rare you won't play in your deck because of its monetary value.
Removal: Cards that deal with the important cards your opponent has played. Generally means creature removal, but also artifact removal in the artifact‐heavy Scars block limited.
Signals: Communication in drafts through your pick choices Generally used to push the player
Signals: Communication in drafts through your pick choices. Generally used to push the player you're passing to into colors or archetypes you're not drafting, so that they'll in turn pass the cards you want on to you. Reading and sending signals effectively is an advanced but important skill.
Swiss (queue): A non‐elimination queue on MTGO that pays 1 pack for every match win. Good for players just starting out, because it gives you three matches to play with your deck.
Tabling: A card tables in a draft when you pass on it and it comes back to you after everyone else g
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has taken their picks from that pack. Tempo: Advantage of options and resource efficiency over an opponent; controlling the pace of the game to make your plays superior.