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)
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
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.
*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:
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
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.
Decklist:
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
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.
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.
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:
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.
I’d love to say every game is winnable but it just ain’t so.
I’d love to think every game is lost because of the choices I’ve made, but i just ain’t so.
Sometimes you make the optimal choices and still lose.
Randomness is a thing and this set has a lot of d20s!
This is my first event recap post. I always start out a new format with a sealed event at the prerelease. It’s wild and fun. It is tough to assess because you don’t even know the cards yet but I will do my best. And also take this opportunity to talk about how I review.
I always write down a couple notes on why I won or lost. Let’s take a look at those notes and then give them a second angry look. The key is in the moment to write down why I thought I lost. And then look at those statements to see if I am blaming myself, bad luck, them having better cards, mana, etc. The end goal is to realize when I’m spot on and when I’m not. Thinking this way enables me to identify areas where I can improve.
What patterns do we see? Do I ever use the same description on win and loss. For example I say “they had more powerful cards” when I lose, but I never say that when I win. Interesting!!!!!!
See wasn’t that fun. Sometimes we are embarrassed to say why we thought we lost publicly. We may worry people will say we are ‘stupid’ or something. But this is how I improve. I take a critical look at why I think I won and lost.
Bonus info: The name at the top in quotes is the name of my deck so if you ever want to duel that deck just friend Nettling Dad#97363 on area and it is on!
So I haven’t played since the introduction of treasure. But it is crazy easy to get treasure in this set. So that means you can splash a fun rare like Orcus for free.
And the best part is one of the dungeons has create a treasure token on the second level.
Granted, this needs some “venture” action (White/Blue/Black largely) to dig to that treasure. But you can rely upon it as a game plan! Very reminiscent of knowing that you have Environmental Sciences in the lessonboard from Strixhaven. Count on that treasure!
Ah Strixhaven, the Harry Potter mash-up that we never new we wanted, but we definitely needed. An interesting return to the ‘guild’ sets where there are only five supported color pairs. How was it?
Five trophies is a little above average for me in a given set. Funny how my trophies fell into two camps: either straightforward Silverquill BW aggro or pure Prismari power
Three way tie for most-drafted common. And–unsurprisingly–they are all aggressive cards! Expanded Anatomy won the award for “best card that would be mediocre in the 40, but INCREDIBLE in the lessonboard”. The learn/lesson mechanic really rewarded situationally powerful cards and Expanded Anatomy wasa great “slam the door when ahead on board” card. Heck, you can see it turning the Pledgemage into a 5/3 attacking flier.
The Enthusiastic Study shows a bit more of my biases. The card was not widely loved because the +1 toughness didn’t do great with all the x/1s in the format. I saw it as a “win a combat, drive some damage, and draw more fuel”. Again, I might just be a red mage at heart. Alarming!
More mountains! ALARMING. Academic Dispute I loved since it enabled attacks & magecraft AND learn. Rootha–not an aggro card!–just made for a bunch of super fun things in the set. Everybody loved Rootha.
Similar to the “always identify two cards in a pack: fit & power”, Strixhaven really helped drive home the “speculate on a different lane” move. Since there are only five lanes (fewer if you count how badly Lorehold missed), it is vital to find the proper lane for your seat. Thus practicing being open-minded, taking that P1p5 Killian after four green/blue cards juuuust to make sure that you aren’t supposed to be Silverquill. Interesting that I’m much better at this than the ‘flat, cube/Kaldheim-esque create-your-lane’ style drafting
| # Drafted | Win Rate | |
| Lorehold | 3 | 56% |
| Prismari | 9 | 67% |
| Quandrix | 4 | 50% |
| Silverquill | 7 | 76% |
| Witherbloom | 3 | 50% |
Overall, I clocked in at a 60% win rate over 28 drafts and 5 trophies. Not bad!
I really enjoyed Hogwarts: The Gathering but I tend to really love the guild sets with the clearer channels. The Lesson/Learn mechanic was a clear headliners for the set and a really good one. Balancing when to draft which half was fun and the flexibility for which lesson to pick during gameplay was also enjoyable. Honestly, it is kind of remarkable how enjoyable Strixhaven was given how badly Lorehold missed (the graveyard dynamic whiffed so it was really just budget Silverquill aggro) and Witherbloom was mediocre, needing uncommons to get there. Final Jed-Grade: B+ set.
Hello everyone. This is the Nettling Dad and it is a pleasure to be back in the MTG blogging world1. Many thanks to the Benalish Dad for the invite. Before we get started a little background is in order.
About me: My gaming life is primarily defined by two games MTG and D&D. I started playing both during the same year, 1994. Originally MTG was dominant, until Ice Age (’95) when D&D took over2. However I was back to MTG a decade later when Ravnica: City of Guilds debuted (’05). Finally the pendulum swung back to D&D after Theros Block (’14). Which brings us to today … the introduction of D&D IP into the MTG multiverse. Let’s see what happens…
… one more thing you need to know about me … I’m a limited player. Don’t get me wrong, I build 60-card decks for fun if an idea strikes my fancy. I’m not a monster. But there is just something about the purity of the limited format that calls me.
So here’s my approach. I am in for one set and one set only3.
I mean just looks at what cards are like in this set.
But there will be a lot of things to learn. I have no idea where the color pie is at now: Is Howl from beyond still black? Is Granite Gargoyle still red? Is green still about nature? Did Mark Rosewater write an update to his 2017 color pie article4?
This will be my first foray into playing MTG digitally. I downloaded MODO about ten years ago but it was … crash time city … so I gave up. I’m off an running with MTG Arena so I should have no trouble learning which buttons to push before D&D:AitFR (AFR) drops on July 8. I still have to figure out where to put my DCI number … but I am super excited for NO SHUFFLING EVER AGAIN!
I think an interesting tweak in parenting is the rise of the balance bikes over the tricycle/training wheels. Since the tricky part of riding a bike is the counter-steering (that you steer left to shift the balance right), it makes sense to be practicing that first and then add the pedals. They’ve probably been doing this in Germany for the past twenty years for all I know. But the results are indisputable: Chandra is pedaling at age 3. The Benalish Dad only got on a bike with extreme reluctance at age–ah–eight. After being shamed by his little sister zipping around.
Benalish Dad 