Draft log
Fascing pivot as late as PACK TWO SEVENTH PICK. Which is a little late to be thinking pivot, which is also probably how I missed it. Should I have gone into red here?
Here’s the situation:
Post-game 5-12-21
Going to try something new and start with the end and then work backwards to see what happened. Bad draft? Lost equity on gameplay? I’m still bouncing around a 50% win-rate on Strixhaven, which is certainly lower than I want to be.
1-2
Read morePost-Game: 5-9-21
Post-Game: 5-8-21
Had a great coaching session with LordTupperware (nee Ethan Saks) where we spent some time going deeper on draft and weighing picks. There was a great argument early in pack 2:
Returned Pastcaller is a B+, just a powerful 2:1 that has a real ethreat. Combat Professor has been climbing the ranks and is probably the top mono-white card at B-/C+. But we’re midway through pack 2, so context matters more. (Note 17lands wasn’t installed on my laptop due to corporate firewalls). At this point I had a good base of aggressive white cards but still not settled. Also: I did not have an Environmental Sciences.
I argued with Ethan a fair amount and I think he was right I was wrong. I wanted the Pastcaller because I wanted to increase my ceiling. Ethan argued for the Combat Professor because, while there were whispers of red, it wasn’t super open and I had no splashing tools. Thus the odds that it sits idle in the sideboard are significant. And lo and behold, that’s what happened.
This gave rise to my latest homework assignment: recognizing in draft when the values of the cards change because of context. In the example above, the Returned Pastcaller dropped in value to a B- while Combat Professor in an aggressive white shell rounds closer to B.
Raw Card Power x Likelihood of Playing – (Compromised Pick to Enable Splash)
Draft log
Post-Game: 4-30-21
One of the difficulties of a blog like this is balancing the “gosh isn’t it fun to write about Magic cards” versus “…but not as much fun as actually playing with Magic cards, amirite?” But there was an overnight at the grantparents and–in addition–to sleeping in until 8am, there was also a loosening of the tight trade-offs of available time. To the drafts!
Draft log
Parenting & BLM, 1 of n
We were at the playground where Chandra was playing on one of those spinny things, taking turns with another boy. I overheard her say–very matter-of-factly–to the boy, “You look like a monkey.”
The little boy was Black.
I instantly picked up Chandra with a stern, “That is not a nice thing to say.” and carry her off. Chandra melted down as she knew she did something wrong. After three minutes of demanding “space” she calmed down enough to where we could find the family to go apologize. Which was adequately done.
Then came the second part, the conversation with the other dad. I explained what my daughter said, her apology and mine. Then I tried to ask, “Is there anything else you think I should talk about with my daughter?” It was hard asking a question, since it can very easily come off as, “And how do you think we should solve systemic racism in America?” and/or putting the burden on them to solve my problem. But I think it was important for me to put myself in the place of seeking help. The other dad was very calm about it, he thought that it fundamentally came from a place of honesty, similar to how his daughter has two friends she calls brown Sarah and white Sarah. It’s important to talk about differences to we don’t accidentally impart a sense of faux color-blindness. It was a good conversation and I hope to see them again at the park.
After an extensive debrief with the Benalish Mom, we settled on the following:
Don’t freeze.
This is learned skill that I adopted from a friend who has an MD in child psych and three kiddos. If something happens that requires discipline, take action immediately, even if it’s the middle of a wedding ceremony. Pick them up and remove them from the situation so you can parent without the distraction of being the center of attention.
It’s not just your offspring, it’s also you.
For me, it wouldn’t be enough to just send Chandra to bellow an apology. It was important to have a conversation with the other dad. First, so he would have all the facts. What if his son mentioned, “A little girl said I looked like a monkey.” on the drive home? Second, I felt like I had to own my portion of what happened (more on that below) and share in the shame. There’s a line (I think it’s Ibrahim Kendi but I’m not sure) that if you want to be a force for positive change, then you have to be willing to put your privilege at risk. I have the power of ignoring that this happened and distance myself from it by putting it entirely on Chandra to apologize. She’s three years old. Clearly I have culpability here.
Review unthinking choices
What culpability is that? Well due to the legacy of redlining in our neighborhood and the economic realities of full-time childcare, we realized that this was probably the first time Chandra had played with a Black child her own age since developing language. Sure we read lots of books with a diverse cast of characters, but there is no substitute for human interaction. As such, we’re going to make sure that we take the time and plan outings further out from out neighborhood. Be in places where we are the only white faces (in restaurants, parks etc.).
Post-Game: 4-27-21
Okay, time to get back in the groove of this whole “writing” thing. Recovered from Kaldheim and back to my happy place: five clean color pairs to find a land and wring that sweet sweet efficiency. Also started Lil Chandra watching her first Magic stream tonight (I had 30 seconds of unsupervised parenting while Benalish Momma was unpacking the bike). Attack of opportunity!
Draft log
Strixhaven Signals/Best Commons
Okay, finally worked through my crippling Valheim addiction in time for a new set to drop. Strixhaven is built around five colleges, each a separate two-color pair. My assumption is that drafting this is going to be similar to the most recent Ravnica blocks, where finding the open guild is rather important. As such, it’s important to have a strong sense of the best commons in each color AND each college.
Best in Color
It’s tricky picking out the key monocolored cards as you want to try and find the ones that would play well in both colleges. I went for the basics: 2-for-1s, removal, and/or raw power. Each color (except blue naturally) has a decent removal spell that is pretty flexible and reasonably priced. I also gave extra consideration to efficient 2-drops, hence the Illustrious Historian. Outside of that, I think that Essence Infusion, enabling attacks with a big lifegain swing, is too efficient to ignore. And the Professor of Zoomancy putting down 5/4 worth of stats for 4-mana is quite the value proposition.
Best College Cards
In order to prevent drafting-on-rails, it looks like Wizards tried to give each college two different things to do.
Prismari: fast attack or big spells
Lorehold: c.a.b.s. pressure or graveyard value
Witherbloom: sacrifice or lifegain
Silverquill: Aerial attacks or +1/+1 counters
Quandrix: 8-lands or fractal growth
Then there’s an additional complexity of the hybrid mana options at common. Each college has a creature, a Lesson that summons, and a random spell. For example, Lorehold has:
Obviously these spells are easiest to cast in RW, but both Prismari and Silverquill could cast with some difficulty (double-pipped cards are annoying but not inconceivable). So let’s dig into each college’s commons and see What’s up.
Lorehold
Lorehold has efficient creatures, a minor payoff from graveyard shenanigans and a looter on steroids. I think the combat trick will overperform, just don’t underestimate single-mana tricks. Aside from that I think the Pledgemage is the strongest, though I could see Silverquill also valuing that card since it wears +1/+1 counters so well.
prismari
I think Spectacle Mage will always be prioritized in UR since it’s aggressive and helps cast the mega-spells. I also think Elemental Summoning will play better than it reads. Normally 5-mana for a vanilla 4/4 is pretty blah, but since it turns on every Magecraft *and* benefits from the handful of cheapening cards (like Spectacle Mage)
It is interesting that the cards that the ‘fractal’ synergies are all sitting at common: Biomathematician, Summoning, and Square Up. That said, I’m not convinced that’s where you’ll always want to be in Quandrix. I think the reliable card advantage of Eureka and the flexibility of the Needlethorn Drake will always be reliable.
Note: I can’t find the hybrid spell for Silverquill. Strange! Anyway, with the exception of the weak 3/3 flier, I think all of these cards are pretty powerful. Spiteful Squad is a great 4-drop that can stabilize the board and also provide value in death with zero work. The real question is how good Exhilarating Elocution turns out to be. Inspired Charge is meh, but having two +1/+1 counters is pretty big game, especially if it turns a 2/1 flying token into a 4/3 beater.
The college Signals
Comedy is Timing
Submitted without comment.
Short Readings: “One Good Trick”
Defector is a truly lovely website that defies easy description. I guess I would call it a sports website if only 20% of the articles are about sports. One of their regular columnist is just coming back from paternity leave and has a great insight on babies: you must have One Good Trick. Take it away Chris:
In order to capture maximum engagement from the baby, you must have at least one move, and your move had better be strong. Her grandmother’s move is “Patty cake,” and it is the Dirk Nowitzki one-legged fall-away of go-to baby moves. Unfortunately, once the baby has experienced grandma’s “Patty cake,” you cannot hope to utilize it in your own bag of tricks. You simply cannot execute the “rolllllllllllllll it” line with grandma’s irresistible suppressed giggle, nor can you hope to hit the supersonic pitch she reaches for the first syllable of “put it in the oven for baby and me!” Your “Patty cake” would be like the Dirk fadeaway executed by Aleksej Pokuševski. The baby would simply swat it back in your face.
You Must Have One Trick For The Baby | Defector
Similarly, do not hum the theme song from Bonanza while rapidly cycling the baby’s legs. Her uncle does a best-in-class version of this, and the baby practically screams with excitement at it, and your rendition, by comparison, will be shit.
So now I’m trying to remember what my bag of tricks was for Baby Chandra. Like all things parenting, these neurons get blown away pretty quickly (i.e. chronic sleeplessness). The classic was a thrilling rendition from Pride and Prejudice (the last live show I watched with Benalish Momma) of the pompous clergyman, Mr. Collins. The actor had a great, grandiloquent, “My lord AND patron… Lady Catherine de Bourgh!!” that I adapted for Chandra. The key was to launch her hands into a position of victory/triumph for the shouted “de BOURGH!!!”
That and I would balance diaper cream on her forehead and belly when changing her diaper. But I think that was mostly for my entertainment. Anyway, good column and very entertaining comment section with the parents chiming in with their signature moves.
Benalish Dad 