And we’re off! Thanks to readers for pointing out some errors in reading the plain English on the cards. I definitely have a newfound respect for the content creators churning out the grades. It is not easy.
Ritual guardian
Rolling Ratings: 9-6-21
Rolling Ratings: 9-5-21
Appears to be a brief respite on Sunday, with only a few spoilers dropping. That said, it could just be that the mythicspoiler.com admins are enjoying the long weekend. We can catch up on some skipped ones too.
rating system
- Game-Changers (aka bombs, As)
- Power (aka Bs)
- Draft-Changers (aka Build-arounds)
- Signals (top commons)
- Variable Playables (playable cards that have a home)
- Filler (borderline playables that don’t have a home)
- Avoid (Fs & D-. Or just too narrow to plausibly make work)
Ghoulcaller’s harvest
Rolling Ratings: 9-4-21
I suppose I shouldn’t be too impressed with myself that I managed to continue this a whopping two days in a row, what with being on vacation and all. But still! Two days! Go team! Let’s see what Wizards has brewed up for us to salivate over.
diregraf rebirth
Rolling Ratings, Ep. 1
Trying something new in the spoiler season, especially with being completely tired of Adventures in the Forgotten Realms. Using my hand-crafted rating system, I’m going to try and pick some–perhaps even most–of the spoilers and try to rate them as they drop. Obviously there will be a ton of context missing. Actually, pretty much *all* of the context will be missing. But it will still be a good exercise for me to do some card evaluation.
A quick primer on the Benalish Dad’s, no-it-really-IS-different-from-LR’s-grades, rating system
- Game-shifters (Bombs). They are (pick two to three) efficient, powerful, sustainable advantage, and/or catch you up when behind.
- Power (Reasons) These powerful cards usually only fulfill one of the ‘bomb’ criteria. They tilt the battlefield rather than remake it like a true bomb.
- Draft-shifters (build-arounds). When placed with proper support, these can be as powerful as bombs/power cards. Build-a-bomb!
- Signals (best commons). A common that fits in any deck of that color (most frequently reliable removal or a very solid 2/3-drop) can be one of the best signals.
- Variable Playable. These are good cards that generally have a home in a few of the color’s archetypes, but not all of them.
- Filler. Signals’ lamer cousin. Generally these are cards that are totally playable, but don’t really have a good home
- Avoid. The weird rares, the off-rate creatures. Generally speaking, if you never put one of these cards in the 40 you’ll be better off.
What does smooth, clean efficient removal look like? This! Clearly a powerful card, this draws the line on the difference between “power” and “bomb”. This is not a bomb. It answers a threat, probably with a hefty mana advantage. But it doesn’t fulfill the “multiple” categories of a true bomb, of which the most important are “repeatable advantage” and “turns around a losing situation”
power
Format Review: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms
Riddle: when is a core set not a core set? When an entire color is nearly unplayable! It’s hard to recall if blue in AFR is *as bad* as green was in Battle for Zendikar, but it was very very bad. Fresh on the heels of 1.5 guilds missing in a “guild set”, it sort of sucked having back to back gaps in Limited.
Trophies
17lands was going a little haywire as I switched around between phone and computer. I did end up with 8 trophy decks, which is pretty good. Of the ones I captured screenshots, once again red is overrepresented. Given how it was such a solid color in the format, I don’t feel too badly about that.
The last deck, the GB splashing Drizzt was one of the most fun decks to pilot. It was a bit of a mess, but had a great ‘stalling’ game plan along with some ramp courtesy of the Clever Conjurers.
Most Drafted
Commons
A little shocked to see Steadfast Paladin on the list as it’s “too good” to usually be drafted that frequently. But once again, Boros is here to visit and smash faces.
Uncommon
During coaching sessions, Ethan would always make fun of me for Bag of Holding, calling it “My pet card” Looks like the data supports him on that one! It is a sub 50% win-rate when main-decked card, which… is a shame. However Lurking Roper (55% WR) was super fun in the set and could be a great ‘pocket of synergy’ with any incidental lifegain or untappers. And Battle Cry Goblin was just a great mythic uncommon (58% WR), shocked I got so many.
personal lessons
A return to core set is usually a return to the basics of creature-based magic cards. My favorite lesson was the ‘sticking to one’s bombs‘ as well as doing my homework and rating cards so I know when I have a bomb to stick to. This is good homework I should carry with me.
Yeah, and playing Magic on mobile is pretty sweet. I got a new phone, one edging into “tablet” territory. But it fits Arena pretty nicely and I’ll admit to copping a number of games during little windows here and there.
overall record: 57%
A little hard to tell due to odd bookkeeping and switching between Bo3 and Bo1. But it felt solid.
Summary
I agree with most of the commetariat that this set was a bit of a dud. The Dungeon mechanic was too heavily tilted towards just the ONE dungeon (Phandelver) and blue was almost a nonentity at the draft table. However, this was the set I’ve drafted most in quite some time due to installing Arena on my phone and just making the leap to Best of 1. In turns out you can fit in a lot of Magic in 5-10 minute snacks throughout the day! Even the empty calories of AFR are still delicious! Hoping for more and better from Return to Return to Innistrad.
Sticking to your bombs
I’ve been quiet posting, as it’s been one of those months where I felt like I had to choose between writing about magic or just… playing Magic. I honestly don’t see how content creators manage it at all. But I had a good coaching session with Ethan (of Lords of Limited) and he had some really interesting feedback on one of my drafts.
the draft
So let’s talk Westgate Regent, shall we? Despite sounding like a mid-range business hotel, it’s a powerhouse card the likes of which Sengir Vampire can only dream. It’s… pretty close to an Quadrant All-Star. It breaks board stalls, is reasonably priced, its Ward defense almost ensures a 2:1 if oppo has removal for it, and it snowballs ridiculously. And I was fortunate enough to open it.
Read moreWho wore it better?
Lil Chandra broke curfew and stealthed into my office. I didn’t know she was there until she blurted out, “Pick that card.” Which card?
A surprisingly decent card in the format, but I suspect the real draw was seeing herself in the mirror. After all, who wore it better?
(it’s tough to get toddlers to hold still for the right camera angle)
I Installed 17 Lands
So I finally got around to doing a security check on the 17 lands software. The code is on github here (https://github.com/rconroy293/mtga-log-client), and they could try to snake you since you give over admin rights, but I figured, “hey, live a little”.
Here is a link to the draft: https://www.17lands.com/draft/675bf21b1b4e4af4aba957d6e610eb86. I also recorded commentary on this draft just for you, Benalish Dad.
Pack 1
Packs 2 and 3
Deckbuilding notes
There wasn’t anything really tricky here. All of the two drops and three drops were very powerful. The four drops were just 3x Inspiring Bard which is ideal for a Roper infused Pack Tactics deck. And due to the Goblin lords the five slot was very easy. We didn’t need the dragon as a finisher and green is the worst dragon anyway.
Match Results: 7-1
*trophy emoji*
Fortunately for me I was only play in three quarters of the games. That really boosts the chances for the pack tactics deck. Unfortunately the patch for AFR busted the game logs so we can’t dig into it. You will have to be satisfied with the ledger. Specific notes:
- g1: I flooded hard
- g2: As you can see in the record I only saw swamps from them, safe to say they had a color problem
- g3: They misplayed pretty severely for a platinum player
- g4: I got the dream curve
- g5: I got the dream curve
- g6: I made a minor play error but my opponent got mana problems
- g7: Curved well but they had removal and such so it took a while longer
- g8: They stumbled on land so it wasn’t close.
[FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE] PSA: Play 3 Colors
Attn: Everyone
I was drafting along, minding my own business when all of the sudden I got passed Bahamut p2p2. I wasn’t in white but said, “let’s do it”. I wound up in “3 color good stuff” and it worked. I was 6-1 and then in game 8 was RNG away from the win.
Here’s the deal, there is a ton of fixing in this set. The power you get from going to three colors is bonkers. You get multiple bombs. So let’s talk about fixing.
Here are the bombs I played
And here is the late game gas I never had trouble casting
Part I: Fixing
First of all, please ignore all the comments you have heard about this set being not a good set for splashing because there is no color fixing. Those were early reports and they did not realize that every card that says ‘treasure’ or ‘venture’ is a color fixer. See this post.
Secondly, there are two lands that help with fixing and the dragon land is a doozy. In this set if you want dragons you get dragons so it is on point.
Oh, and there is one more thing about lands. Play 18 lands. I’ll say it again. Play 18 lands. Your 23rd card is not as good as having that clutch 3rd color producing land. And the power you get from being able to play more bombs is all you need.
Finally, the real reason this whole thing can fly. The mana smoothing algorithm in best of one matches on arena. Did you know that when arena presents you a hand at the start of the game it is actually the more color balanced of two random draws from your deck? Well if you didn’t I’m here to tell you that Wizards has your back and they give you two cracks at getting the color apple. In a three color deck this means you are gonna hit two of your colors in the first draw and then you just have to work your plan to get the third.
I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention my ramp all star
Results: 6-3
I started 6-1 was an RNG away from winning (they drew their dragon and I drew land, it could have gone the other way). I had no chance in the last game, it was the only game of the nine where I had color problems. It was all blue hand and no Islands.
Screenshots:
Decklist:
Deck
1 Minimus Containment (AFR) 24
1 Intrepid Outlander (AFR) 191
1 Purple Worm (AFR) 201
1 Gretchen Titchwillow (AFR) 223
1 Prosperous Innkeeper (AFR) 200
1 Shortcut Seeker (AFR) 73
1 Volo, Guide to Monsters (AFR) 238
1 Grand Master of Flowers (AFR) 17
1 Charmed Sleep (AFR) 50
3 Clever Conjurer (AFR) 51
1 Blue Dragon (AFR) 49
1 Rimeshield Frost Giant (AFR) 69
1 Loyal Warhound (AFR) 23
1 Drizzt Do’Urden (AFR) 220
1 Underdark Basilisk (AFR) 208
1 Half-Elf Monk (AFR) 19
1 White Dragon (AFR) 41
1 Temple of the Dragon Queen (AFR) 260
1 Secret Door (AFR) 71
1 Portable Hole (AFR) 33
1 Contact Other Plane (AFR) 52
6 Forest (AFR) 281
5 Island (AFR) 269
6 Plains (AFR) 265
Sideboard
1 Dragon’s Fire (AFR) 139
1 Leather Armor (AFR) 248
2 Circle of the Moon Druid (AFR) 177
1 You Meet in a Tavern (AFR) 215
1 Inspiring Bard (AFR) 189
2 Ranger’s Longbow (AFR) 203
1 Sylvan Shepherd (AFR) 206
1 Soulknife Spy (AFR) 75
2 Iron Golem (AFR) 247
1 Ranger’s Hawk (AFR) 37
1 You Find the Villains’ Lair (AFR) 84
1 Air-Cult Elemental (AFR) 45
1 Shocking Grasp (AFR) 72
1 Mimic (AFR) 249
1 Silver Raven (AFR) 74
1 Compelled Duel (AFR) 178
Draft Report: “Top” – Black/Green Morbid
This report goes into detail a different way than before. It was a pretty easy read on the table that BG was the place for me and that RW was open but not the right place for me. (Sidenote: the first deck I ever played was BG with a Force of Nature and a Lord of the Pit)
I want to touch on some solid cards and then get into draft deck talk. Here we go!
I have listened to the reviews on Limited Resources and read some articles over at channel fireball. I think things are starting to emerge.
- Commons and Uncommons – link
- Everything else – link
- Channel Fireball – link
Taking that advice influenced me to rank a few cards higher than I had before.
These pieces fit nicely into a BG deck along with a couple other very nice pieces. I was pretty good on my read of these three but I was timid on the Ghast. NO MORE!
The one thing I wound up in trouble on was removal. I had to run two Eyes of the Beholder instead of something more efficient.
Overall I thought it was solid and had the major components I’m looking for right now.
- Early action plan
- A plan to win
- The ability to handle big butts
There’s more of course but right now that serves for basis of conversation. Let’s drill into the ‘plan to win’. The format is young and in flux. The meta isn’t decided and drafts are going to fluctuate. You can put too much into it yet. There are open questions:
- Which archetypes are weak/strong?
- Which archetypes are aggro/mid range/control?
- How much do Bombs matter?
- Do people realize how easily treasure let’s you splash? – link
With all of that said, they way I go forward is to look for deck lists and see if I can draft that list. It’s tricky because early on in the format a lot of nonesense. As that frenzy decays we will see what decks are possible to draft. And then start to think, “Ok, I’m drafting BG and I have these pieces but I am missing X”. Once we get there, it is showtime, the format is mature, and we can begin to play magic.
ps: you may be wondering how the draft went. I was disappointed. It went 4-1 and then I went loss loss to finish on 4-3. Those last two losses were particularly tough because in each game I finished by drawing consecutive 5 lands and 4 lands respectively. They were tight games but I gotta feel that flooding out on both cost me at least one win and then I’d still be going.
Benalish Dad 