A well curated cube is by far the best way to play magic. It is also eternal, because while yes, you can swap out some cards and having a "living" cube like that is great, should WotC just disappear tomorrow, or start printing ridiculous cards you dont like, you could still play cube until the end of time. You can also proxy everything you dont want to buy too, so that is just cherry on top.
Draft gets back to the roots of classical card games where you have to adapt to make the best plays with the hand you were deal. It's cards at their best : generating input randomness, which makes the game infinitely more replayable than when decks are 100% consistent.
@@Level_1_Frog duskmorn limited is one of the best designed limited I ever ever seen. If that is an indicator of the quality design work wizards is still capable of the. I will play that only
10:44 Looking forward to an eventual cube episode! For me it is not only the best way to play but also experience Magic. Building a cube really gives you an appreciation for the incredible amount of work that goes in to making sets and cards.
It's also an opportunity to use old favourite cards that are neither Standard/ Modern playable or not fit for Commander. Some of my favourites are [[Burning Vengeance]], [[Bone Splitter]] or [[Rift Bolt]]
Jumpstart is so good. For me, it helped me to get friends of mine into the game in a way that was still interesting for an existing player. It’s no surprise at all that the new player kit from foundations is using the jumpstart model for the decks.
I'm curious when the topic of Jumpstart has been mentioned by players. I have not had the pleasure of playing in paper, with my Jumpstart experiences mainly coming from Arena play. I cannot say how different it is, but I have often found Jumpstart to be frustrating, due to imbalances in interaction and power available between lists; at least in the original set, I've seen a lot more threats than answers to deal with them. So I often question if it is a "Me" issue, or a result of not playing in-person in a more social setting. As someone with moderate MtG experience, I would imagine a lot of new players would get frustrated by strings of "bad matchups."
@@legodragon1999 You are not a new player. You have the context and understanding and experience to be able to judge "bad matchups". You're also playing against players that are experienced and are curating their jumpstart pack selection to be as competitive as possible. You have to look at it from the context of: you're a brand new player being shown the game by a friend. Both of you each rip open two sealed unknown jumpstart packs, mash them together, and just play.
roguelike deckbuilders are basically the highlights of the limited format experience condensed into a singleplayer game. I hope more rldb designers take inspiration from tcgs because theres a lot of design space found in various limited formats that you could design entire games around
I love this input mega pussi; Slay the Spire has been one of my favorite games for a couple years now. I'll never forget the feeling I had when I first played the game, I had never played a deckbuilder roguelike before then.
Cube is really picking up steam in the last 5 years, the community is really focused on game design, you guys could interview Andy and Anthony from Lucky Paper Radio, they're great!
One thing I enjoy about watching draft is seeing people work with what yhey have. It is interesting seeing people skillfully use what limited resources they have each to overcome their opponent. Feels more true to life in some ways. Also feels more in vibe with the original intent of the game design
I'm so glad for Arena allowing me to finally play Draft on a regular basis, basically for free. Specially with Universes Beyond creeping into Standard and Pioneer, it's good to have a separate environment that allows me to enjoy them without the insane whiplash of mixing these IPs with actual Magic. Nowadays, I play mostly Limited and board games (mainly the deckbuilding type). I hope to get a cool Cube IRL at some point so I can basically do both. It's kind of a shame that Draft is the most intimidating format when it's probably the most accessible, financially (specially on Arena). Jumpstart is a cool solution.
I love cube and drafting! I recently made a vintage pokemon cube 2003-2007 and while my friends and I were pulling cards and building our decks we were not confident that our decks were that good. Which made it super fun to battle each other!
The Pokemon tcg is basically a loot box and I think that TPCI (the pokemon company international) understands that. I've tried to "draft" 40 card decks, DaddyAug decks, from a booster box and it is fun but the gameplay is very simple.
I think that limited lets you experience a much broader portion of Magic cards. The number of cards that experience constructed play is such a small fraction of cards that exist in the game. Limited let's you experience variety through the random variance that comes with it, but also allows you to have meaningful strategic experiences with cards that have almost no play value outside of limited.
In my opinion, Cube is the best format for Magic by far. Everyone is on the same playing field. The only thing that matters is your experience and skill I suppose. And it's just nice to be able to take my cube somewhere and everyone can participate and have a good time. I treat my cube almost like a board game. I got a case perfectly sized for my 540 cube in resealable packs along with basic lands and all the tokens needed for the cube. Makes it easy to shuffle up, prepare the packs, and have it ready to go for the next session. It's always a great time. Even just the pack opening and drafting experience is a blast.
Love this series, and agree that limited and cube are MTG in its purest and most fun form. A wee nitpick, but BREAD is a largely outdated draft rubric. For example, in recent sets, removal (R) is weaker overall than in the past due to the increase in number of permanents with enter- or leave-the-battlefield effects. At this point, 5 mana sorcery speed removal ranges from mid to unplayable, whereas, let's say, 2-mana instant removal is closer to premium. So I would pick many on-color mediocre power creatures over 5-mana sorcery removal.
Jumpstart is amazing, I loved the modularity and the replayability of it. Thing is that NONE of my lgs ever made a Jumpstart event, ever. even after I asked them many times. I ended up buy Jumpstart to tech magic to friends :)
The best part about draft is that it consistently brings the game back to the fundamentals. In Magic draft is almost always about creatures on the board fighting for board control and trying to optimize value. You don't have these highly optimized strategies that sidelines major parts of the game and makes the game feel monotonous. I have never played a card game where draft isn't the purest form of what the game was designed to be.
I love love love the "Draft Matters" sets like conspiracy. That's what I need a cube for. Most of my collection in paper comes from "Draft til you drop" LGS days. Also where my favourite commanders are from.
I find that draft is always more fun than sealed. With sealed I always end up noticing all the cool cards in the other person's pile that I might have had a lot of fun with in my deck, and vice versa. Whereas draft everyone is picking their colors and strategies all throughout and letting everyone else pick what they want that's left.
Sealed require you to have the ability to make the best deck from the cards your given, whereas draft is alot more based on reading colour signals and working towards a cohessive decks based on those reads. For in person draft is generally going to be fairer as your going to have similar power levels. In digital both draft and sealed are suseptible to unbalance match ups due to other having lucky pools or pods.
Y'all didn't need to call me out so viciously. 😳 You said, "I miss Ravnica. I should make a Ravnica cube," and, "It's probably the only time you look at commons," while I was thumbing through a big stack of Return to Ravnica draft bulk commons, sorting them by CMC, and thinking "Hmmm... Maybe I should make a cube with these..."
You're right on the money about people putting their draft favourites into Commander decks! My friends and I have drafted most of the non-standard sets in the past few years, and every single time one of us ended up making a commander deck around a legendary from the draft. I think thers a natural synergy between the formats when it comes to collecting; you don't need full playsets of cards for commander so the individual bombs and cool cards you get in a draft can be used in your decks, whereas if you were collecting for standard you would need to buy 3 more copies. Great video as always :)
Another part of what makes draft/sealed so good is that it ends up focused on basic combat. Many constructed formats have threats that win the game by themselves, so the game boils down to do you have an answer. But many times in limited, if your opp plays a 4/4, you can survive for a while, or you can beat it with a 2/2 and a 3/3, or you can use a combat trick, etc. You often have more time to find answers, and answers often aren't as clear cut.
When it's time to do the Cube episodes, please don't only stick to vintage cube. It has the most visibility, but a lot of us think it's a bad experience because of the variance. I'm a figure in the rareless cube community and a lot of us love playing "limited allstars: the game".
@benjaminloyd6056 limited is the name for playing magic with a random subset of cards (draft, sealed), and most of the most famous cards in draft are commons and uncommons. So since peasant (rareless) cubes are often filled with these famous cards, it is like playjng with all limited all stars.
Card evaluation from a limited context is so much more exciting also. Cards like Mulldrifter, Rancor and Flametongue Kavu are so much more meaningful in the environment.
I've been playing for about a year after a friend shoved a commander product in my face for my birthday; just started going to prereleases and playing at FNMs and ive been having a blast drafting and playing sealed! I get to actually play with the cards that i would otherwise just be opening boxes of in my room alone and share a unique experience with mew friends!
I just want to say that I own at least 10 commander decks, yet draft is my favorite way to play. I even made myself an original Innistrad set cube because that was the set where I first got good at drafting all those years ago!
One thing you guys didn't mention is that the act of drafting itself is really fun. There are whole games built around just drafting that are very good games (7 wonders). I mainly play Vintage Cube, and I often enjoy drafting more than actually playing the games. The process of identifying open lanes, figuring out the type of deck you want to build based on draft signals and then getting puzzling together extra synergies from your cards adds so much to the experience of playing magic. I also highly recommend people who like limited magic try out other board games that involve drafting. In particular, I think limited players would really enjoy playing Agricola. The initial card draft in Agricola shares a lot of cool aspects with magic drafting (with a bit less emphasis on reading signals), and it follows the draft with one of the best worker placement implementations. I know a lot of magic pro players who have gotten really into Agricola (the tournament scene is a small community, I've played against them a bunch).
I play Draft since ~2018 thanks to Arena. Before that I played so many different games, small and AAA. I can count the other games I really played since then on one Hand (I think only Monster Hunter, Elden Ring and Hollow Knight). Draft is just incredible. My favorite game ever (more or less 2 games in 1, draft and gameplay) and after you played a ton and lose auf lot suddently it makes "click" and you understand what drafts demand of you. You get better. You have fun. You never need another game. ❤
I love a chaos or mystery draft, so I have made a ton of my own repacks for repeatable drafts. I have packs for draft that will last me for ages because buying someone’s bulk or old collection was the cheapest for the biggest variety. I make 20-card packs and often it’s with 2-4 people. Either we shuffle up a stack and winston draft, or we pick 2 and pass. With drafting 60 cards you have a better chance of building one good deck when sets are mixed, but sometimes you even squeeze two decks out of one draft pile or have a good enough sideboard for switching cards in and out.
Draft is my favorite form of playing MtG. Part of what makes it so great is that you don't have to have a huge collection or giant history with MtG. If you no the game systems and have gotten familiar with the set ahead of time you can walk into a game store without any card and play a draft. It equalizes things for players. You don't have to have the most valuable cards to win. Cube is great in that way too. You can have a whole group of people play only one person needs to bring the cube and everyone is on equal footing for the most part.
Draft is by FAR the best magic experience to me and I think it's underrated and feared by new players and it is sad. Commander is fun, but it IS constructed. I think constructed has more limitations than draft has. Chasing staples, and never experiencing the theme of sets properly. Never interact with mechanics properly that were designed for a set particularly. It's just opening packs and seeing 90% of all cards being useless and you will not play with them in a constructed format. When we draft, we implement commander into our drafts. If a set has low legendary creatures or creatures at all, agree which creature shall be your commander, any one. We often limit to rare/mythic/planeswalkers as commanders, but a lot of sets have few rare/mythic creatures too. So sometimes uncommons or commons will have to step in.
Limited is the way Garfield Intended. Or certainly feels that way to me. I’m just grateful for players of other format funding sets for limited players to enjoy. Cracking packs for 5/250+ cards on a set while we get to enjoy the mechanics and flavor and all the hard work game designers and artists put into a set to immerse you. It really does feel like getting the best deal for not much 😅
Building a cube was my best Magic decision ever. Excuse me, just like parents can't talk about kids without mentioning how special and great their own are: My seven years old (the cube - not the kid) has evolved towards functioning well for playing sealed (so you only need two players to have fun without jumping through weird draft format hoops). It is focused on allowing lots of freedom within the macro archetypes (aggro, midrange, control, combo). Also just filling it with broken stuff and leaving out things I don't really enjoy like initiative, dungeon, double faced cards is so great. Even if I don't update it for ten years it won't be a problem being a self-contained format. Random side note rant: I was happy to finally see Burst Lightning reprinted with correct post errata text in Foundations. Now I'm just waiting for the same to happen for Incinerate, Tribal Flames and Volcanic Hammer to have all cards in my cube do what they say. It's a problem that we still have to wait for these reprints like six years after the errata, and that some of those cards were reprinted without the correct rules text (The List) after the rules were changed.
Fell in love with draft over the last few years and once Lord of the Rings came out i was completely hooked (also because of LOTR, i stopped playing modern 😅). These new standard updates have kinda killed constructed for me. I was waiting for sheoldred to not be so expensive for pioneer but with pioneer going on the backburner this year for competetive events (and UB cards), i have heen trying to spread the good word about draft 😂 The spider-man and FF set will probably be so fun to draft, which is great! I just dont think im going to like playing constructed with a mishmash of universes. I guess we will see!! Can't wait for the new Universes Within Modern format in a couple years /j/
The reason I and my friends moved over to Cube instead of doing drafts was we would draft the new sets as the burn and churn them every few months and we all got product fatigue. By the time we could get a group together to play sealed or draft another set or two would have come out already. Also there is no value or little value in opening packs that aren't collector packs so we would all end up with a bunch of chaf that no one wanted. The conclusion was we all enjoy draft so I created a cube out of old standard cards we had lying around and have tweaked it every few sets if I see a new cool card I wanna play with. The initial investment was a good chunk but now we have a nice set of cards and no one goes home with a bunch of chaf. Win, win.
I agree draft is the best. But I disagree is the easiest. In terms of deck building knowledge you need to have a lot of experience in order to make a viable deck to win in a draft or sealed (draft even more because you have at least to know the cards due to the time limit to choose). A person with just 2 games on its back will almost never win games even with better cards, because it's hard to understand the synergies. EXAMPLE: In your inexperience you might choose a legendary card thinking is best over a vanilla creature and then it's exactly the opposite. Why is easier a tournament with a premade deck? Because you can copy from a seasoned player and you just need to master the deck while learning the rules. Nowadays creating an unique deck it's almost impossible because everything is invented and out there for everyone to see it.
Draft has so much untapped potential. In what Keyforge did for sealed starter deck gameplay, we need a game that pushes draft as a primary mechanic. Would be hard outside of a more board game style card game.
Jumpstart has the issue that there were the Jumpstart sets (great) and the Jumpstart Boosters (mixed quality) and the latter kind of gave the name a black eye. Hopefully this new Foundation Jumpstart which seems designed more like the initial sets will play out that way and be great again.
Limited and kitchen table are the best. Prereleases are epic. Draft is decent I tend to like not drafting and would rather sealed cause I like trying to create a deck out of junk and considering sideboarding in a whole new colour or even making 2 decks out of a sealed event. Sometimes I tune those decks up into kitchen table 60 card decks. Cube is pretty good but I'd rather do sealed within a cube.
Commander and Draft are my favorite, and I miss when people would accumulate Draft pulls to build Commander decks... Now everyone just buys precons and/or fine-tunes everything by buying singles.
I think sealed sucks and loses out on the best parts of limited. Most of the time when I'm excited and paying money to go play a new set, I did my research, it hurts when my sealed pool sucks and I can't play any archetype that I'm excited about. I love draft because it forms its own meta with each pack that's being opened, and it opens the door for psychology to enter the game. Not only do you need to make a deck based on the major card pool (the set or sets being drafted) and the minor card pool (the cards actually being opened), but you can also build based on what's being passed and make reads based on gathered and known information. Draft seems like it brings a lot of game theory together for me.
Also, one of the major problems with card games are online decking. YGO especially, a lot of competitive players skip that aspect of the game and get their list from someone else. So you may have a player who is really good at playing the game but really bad at deck construction, and vice versa. Limited levels that out nicely and promotes more Jimmy players instead of Spike players like non-limited does.
I think people hate jump start because you don't have any deck building experience. In sealed, you can at least choose colors. Also, in standard jump start packs are no value, that is why players like only jump start series sets
Question: can a four player only game have a limited format? What if MTG was commander only, would there be a way to have a sealed experience? Would it be fun?
@ unfortunately with cube you lose your identity. One player crafts the cube, they give it the flavor they want to experience and share. But the rest of the players participate in something they didn’t get a chance to tailor. I’m curious if there is a way to play 4 players and have each bring with them a legend or strategy they want to build.
Funny how you say Jumpstart could be it's own game. Check out Smash Up, which substantially predates Jumpstart. A whole game built around the idea of prebuilt half-decks, pick two, smash (shuffle) them together, go. It's actually really good, a couple of slight hiccups with the base set aside. (it's possible for a two player game with a specific combination of (base game) factions to get locked in an infinite loop where if both players are trying to win neither player can ever actually score any points. Can't happen in 3+ player or with any other combination of factions) Playing Jumpstart after playing both Smash Up and other magic formats left Jumpstart rather underwhelming and quickly led to odd hybrid formats where you would take a jumpstart pack and some regualr (draft) boosters, and you'd either open up the jumpstart pack and see what you had and then draft the other packs, or just do sealed. Which still didn't work very well if the boosters were from a set that did nothing with that jumpstart pack's theme. Still, Jumpstart is a format that does make sense for introducing a new player (who has never played Smash Up, as it compares rather unfavourably) to Magic.
Arena should be a way of playing on the side, not the go-to due to things like card prices. Personally, I don't like draft cuz the deck stops existing right after that. If you wanna play draft again, you make a new deck and don't get to enjoy that one- or you keep that deck exactly the same and play with your friends or you make a cube. None of which even feel that appealing of a thing to do with my cardboard
Maybe because it was a fun draft format and also the time window between OTJ and the next santdard set was very long giving time for a lot of people to play it
12:48 I think jumpstart is the worst limited format, not by how its designed but by how it is sold. The randomness of what you can get from 2 jumpstart boosters is already high without considering the “random slot” in each pack, and trying to make a collection from jumpstart boosters, even solely to play exclusively 40 card jumpstart is a randomized nightmare that I do not wish to any new player. If only jumpstart was a regular non randomized mini product of 10 or so specific boosters it would’ve been the best product for new players.... reason why I consider the new foundations collector set possibly the best product for a new player to date. Both to get into the tcg proper and to play limited games. I really hope there is a guide to draft that collection in the insert booklet, cus its doable
Has anyone made a Hearthstone Magic type of game mode? Only have 2 copies of cards and only 1 Copy of a legendary and make 30 cards and then add what ever mana(As long as none of them are more than 1 legendary) just make it like commander
I can't do draft/sealed. You expect me to eidetically memorize 150+ cards, compare each one to every other one to learn how they interact, determine nigh-omniciencely how everyone else is going to value them, and then make snap judgements from every pack in less than 30 seconds? I can't do it. I've played multiple in-person drafts and prereleases, and a small share on Arena, and I have never gone over 50% - in person, I'm lucky to win a single game. It's disheartening, and it's not fun for me.
I want to sit down with my stack of 100 cards on a random Sunday night, test Scryfalll with the most specific search terms I can think of, take it to Commander night, learn from the experience, analyze it, tweak it, and come back next week. And as a bonus, we actually get to talk to each other while we play!
I think the most important part of draft, especially when you're newer to it, is finding your lane during a draft and building a functional deck (enough creatures and removal, etc). It doesn't really matter what everyone THINKS about the cards going around, and it's more important to look in a pack that is passed to you and see what ISNT being taken. Ie, in duskmourn draft, if your first rare is a white card and your first 5 picks are all good white cards, that's a signal that the people passing to you in that direction are taking less white cards. Then, you find the best uncommons that fit your picks or find a point to pivot because another color is more open. In dudkmourn, the uncommons are huge signals for what deck is open to be drafted. And when you find your lane, it's like everything falls into place by itself. If you're really interested in draft but can't get past having to learn all the cards, I would recommend watching some other content creators drafting (maybe not even playing, just drafting), and you'll notice patterns of certain draft strategies that are universal. Every new set that comes out, I lose my first 4 or 5 drafts with 2-3 wins (if that). I also find that incredibly frustrating, but learning the set more and learning what the better cards are in a set is HUGELY rewarding to me, similar to when I fine tune my commander deck to the point I have to start DECREASING the power.
@@smartkaboose3806I get what you're saying, but I just don't think I have the brain for drafting. Keeping track of so many moving parts during the draft process just feels taxing. Repetitiveness in drafting would be beneficial, but with my budget, schedule, and LGS, once a set would be a luxury. No love lost to those who love the format... One of my favorite things about this game is how many ways it can be played. I just know what works for me.
Sounds like you've got some tough tables. Arena's premier draft also makes losing feel so bad. You could play 9 games, but if you keep a bad hand or get run over by aggro a few times, you're 0-3 in 10 minutes and out $10.
i like the variety of limited but man do i hate deck building. i put a deck together and the second i lose i think 'oh i fucked up the draft this deck is terrible and not optimal' and want to stop playing and try to get another deck idk it just feels awful for my brain. i wish someone good at drafting could do that then just give me the deck lol
I feel you. I lost every single draft game I've ever played, until yesterday, when I won against two people in my pod. Those moments that it works are definitely worth the moments where it doesn't.
There was a good chunk of time where I loved the drafting part of draft but not playing the actual games. Why can't we just score the pools like we're playing Sushi Go instead of playing games with these piles? I can trace it back to M14, there was a really good base blue deck. If you got an Opportunity and a Elixir of Immortality, you could easily natural deck opponents. Draft kind of self-balances and it was hard to get once people knew, but I was able to get an amazing version of it. Slivers was also in that set, focused in Naya but there were Slivers in other colors. We got paired and they played a different type of basic land and a different colored sliver from T1 to T5 running me over. It basically happed again the next game. Their deck had 1 Lay of The Land for mana fixing and they never even had to cast it. It took a long time to recover from that.
A big part of draft is losing, amd learning WHY you lost. Was it just magic the gathering randomness? Was it actually your draft? Did you choose a wrong lane? Did your opponent open way better bombs than you? Did you get enough removal? Etc. There are so many variables in draft, I get how it can be daunting and frustrating
I'm genuinely going to have to stop watching this show for how shitty Magic makes me feel now. And all the discussion online about how shitty the state of things are got swept away with more fucking foundation spoilers. Foundations was supposed to be the thing that brought Magic back, but it was just a coupon to cash out into grey goo slop pile. And Magic's too big for a competitor that actually captures what I like about it.
Yeaaaah, we’re gonna have an episode about it soon. It might not seem like it right now, but our goal isn’t to be a magic only channel. Magic is just what has worked for us so far.
@@marioneto6477 That's not really my qualm, though thank you for pointing that out, because it is important. It's that I feel bad associating with it at all. WotC poisoned the whole thing for me. And it seems like most of the actually playing MtG community is cool with everything, so I don't really want to recruit people to play with me even
Limited, in my opinion, is not the best way to play magic...but I do think that the fact that magic CAN be played regularly is a limited format at all is why it's one of the best. I think outside of hearthstone...I've never actually been able to draft and have fun in any game besides magic. It's a fun side activity I can do on the weekends or whatever, not my favorite format, but I hate that other games don't even make it possible most of the time.
Competitive coin flipping. People like a good back and forth, games are more fun when its close to even and the way you win is based on outplaying the opponent. When mana costs are removed, and you can cast spells for free, it fundamentally breaks the game and ruins it for the players. If mana costs don't matter and you can get ahead for free this way, it just turns into who has more card draw wins... I absolutely hate the words "without paying its mana cost". Free casts are fundamentally broken and should be ised sparingly, at most on one card per set, and reserved for cards with mana value +8, and it should have strict requirements to meet. I hate cards like "Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant" and "Etali, Primal Conqueror". Ghalta only costs 8 mana, but its a 12/12, this alone is broken already. But being able to vomit all creatures from your hand is unbelievably broken. This is better than Tooth and Nail and Genesis Wave combined. Etali P.C. is simiarly broken, a 7/7 with trample plus up to four free spells... This isn't balanced at all.
Legacy is the best Magic format. Anyone who has actually played it will tell you that. The only reason it's not popular is that the cost of entry is so high.
@@freddiesimmons1394 I guess there's no accounting for taste. I've never met anyone IRL who's actually played legacy and didn't like it. Although I do like cube too.
While fun it is heavily luck based as well. Not slightly, heavily. Not everyone will have a suboptimal deck. You may get hosed. With more variance comes more risk. I like draft, but it isn't the only/best way to play
i agree with this take in sealed, but draft is sooo heavily skill based that variance only really impacts the actual gameplay (like every other format).
@@santiproductions9318I think it is to an extent. Knowing what color to choose, and what synergies are best in a draft are important. But sometimes, people just get better cards. I remember at the lotr draft where my final opponent had 2 board whipes, and a copy of the one ring. I had a pretty well constructed black-white spirit deck, but the 2nd board wipe in red really threw me for a loop the 3rd game.
@@TapDat52K i get your point and agree to a degree, but 2 board wipes in a single deck specifically is an extreme outlier. yes variance applies in this way, much like the variance of getting paired against a poor matchup applies in constructed. i think these are comparable scenarios because in both cases, the “underdog” deck can still pull off a victory by using their cards optimally and forcing opponents into mistakes with some helpful variance along the way (opponent flooding out or having poor opening hands). this idea applies to all formats, but especially so in draft: skill mitigates variance. taking mana fixing early lets you pick up more bombs that you wouldn’t otherwise been able to play or be more prepared for bombs your opponents might play. if you get double board wiped, at least you know what to expect in game 2 and 3 and can plan accordingly.
@santiproductions9318 Remember a lot, perhaps even the majority, of draft played is premiere best of 1 on Arena, though. So, taking note and playing around it for the post-board isn't a thing the way most people play draft.
@@Nic1700 valid, but if you’re complaining about variance and playing best of one, you’re doing it to yourself (not saying you’re making that argument, i mean this as a general point). i’m also not trying to argue about the economy/rank incentives of best of one vs BO3, which is a whole separate discussion, but best of one is inherently going to have more variance than the same format in BO3, no?
You guys framing draft as more beginner friendly than constructed is insane. In constructed new players aren't building their own decks from scratch, they're copying their decks from people online.
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Here’s the link to Gavin’s Kickstarter: www.kickstarter.com/projects/lastditchgames/bullets-and-teeth-and-aliens?ref=him1bs
A well curated cube is by far the best way to play magic. It is also eternal, because while yes, you can swap out some cards and having a "living" cube like that is great, should WotC just disappear tomorrow, or start printing ridiculous cards you dont like, you could still play cube until the end of time. You can also proxy everything you dont want to buy too, so that is just cherry on top.
Draft gets back to the roots of classical card games where you have to adapt to make the best plays with the hand you were deal. It's cards at their best : generating input randomness, which makes the game infinitely more replayable than when decks are 100% consistent.
Limited (draft, sealed, cube, etc) is THE best way to play magic the gathering hands down 🙌
@@Level_1_Frog duskmorn limited is one of the best designed limited I ever ever seen. If that is an indicator of the quality design work wizards is still capable of the. I will play that only
10:44 Looking forward to an eventual cube episode! For me it is not only the best way to play but also experience Magic. Building a cube really gives you an appreciation for the incredible amount of work that goes in to making sets and cards.
It's also an opportunity to use old favourite cards that are neither Standard/ Modern playable or not fit for Commander.
Some of my favourites are [[Burning Vengeance]], [[Bone Splitter]] or [[Rift Bolt]]
For sure
Jumpstart is so good. For me, it helped me to get friends of mine into the game in a way that was still interesting for an existing player. It’s no surprise at all that the new player kit from foundations is using the jumpstart model for the decks.
I'm curious when the topic of Jumpstart has been mentioned by players. I have not had the pleasure of playing in paper, with my Jumpstart experiences mainly coming from Arena play. I cannot say how different it is, but I have often found Jumpstart to be frustrating, due to imbalances in interaction and power available between lists; at least in the original set, I've seen a lot more threats than answers to deal with them.
So I often question if it is a "Me" issue, or a result of not playing in-person in a more social setting. As someone with moderate MtG experience, I would imagine a lot of new players would get frustrated by strings of "bad matchups."
@@legodragon1999 You are not a new player. You have the context and understanding and experience to be able to judge "bad matchups". You're also playing against players that are experienced and are curating their jumpstart pack selection to be as competitive as possible. You have to look at it from the context of: you're a brand new player being shown the game by a friend. Both of you each rip open two sealed unknown jumpstart packs, mash them together, and just play.
roguelike deckbuilders are basically the highlights of the limited format experience condensed into a singleplayer game. I hope more rldb designers take inspiration from tcgs because theres a lot of design space found in various limited formats that you could design entire games around
I love this input mega pussi; Slay the Spire has been one of my favorite games for a couple years now. I'll never forget the feeling I had when I first played the game, I had never played a deckbuilder roguelike before then.
Don't most rldb designers take inspiration from ccgs? I feel like whenever I find a new one, it feels inspired by games like Magic.
I have been banging this drum for a decade. Limited (Especially draft) Is the best way to play Magic, And it’s not even close
Cube is really picking up steam in the last 5 years, the community is really focused on game design, you guys could interview Andy and Anthony from Lucky Paper Radio, they're great!
One thing I enjoy about watching draft is seeing people work with what yhey have. It is interesting seeing people skillfully use what limited resources they have each to overcome their opponent. Feels more true to life in some ways. Also feels more in vibe with the original intent of the game design
I'm so glad for Arena allowing me to finally play Draft on a regular basis, basically for free. Specially with Universes Beyond creeping into Standard and Pioneer, it's good to have a separate environment that allows me to enjoy them without the insane whiplash of mixing these IPs with actual Magic.
Nowadays, I play mostly Limited and board games (mainly the deckbuilding type). I hope to get a cool Cube IRL at some point so I can basically do both. It's kind of a shame that Draft is the most intimidating format when it's probably the most accessible, financially (specially on Arena). Jumpstart is a cool solution.
I love cube and drafting! I recently made a vintage pokemon cube 2003-2007 and while my friends and I were pulling cards and building our decks we were not confident that our decks were that good. Which made it super fun to battle each other!
The Pokemon tcg is basically a loot box and I think that TPCI (the pokemon company international) understands that. I've tried to "draft" 40 card decks, DaddyAug decks, from a booster box and it is fun but the gameplay is very simple.
I think that limited lets you experience a much broader portion of Magic cards. The number of cards that experience constructed play is such a small fraction of cards that exist in the game. Limited let's you experience variety through the random variance that comes with it, but also allows you to have meaningful strategic experiences with cards that have almost no play value outside of limited.
In my opinion, Cube is the best format for Magic by far. Everyone is on the same playing field. The only thing that matters is your experience and skill I suppose. And it's just nice to be able to take my cube somewhere and everyone can participate and have a good time. I treat my cube almost like a board game. I got a case perfectly sized for my 540 cube in resealable packs along with basic lands and all the tokens needed for the cube. Makes it easy to shuffle up, prepare the packs, and have it ready to go for the next session. It's always a great time. Even just the pack opening and drafting experience is a blast.
Sweet!
This is not only the best, but now it is the only way to play magic the gathering.
I’ll never build a constructed deck again
100% this haha
Its too expensive especially compared to other tcgs
Welcome to the limited community. Hope you enjoy it for years to come
Love this series, and agree that limited and cube are MTG in its purest and most fun form. A wee nitpick, but BREAD is a largely outdated draft rubric. For example, in recent sets, removal (R) is weaker overall than in the past due to the increase in number of permanents with enter- or leave-the-battlefield effects. At this point, 5 mana sorcery speed removal ranges from mid to unplayable, whereas, let's say, 2-mana instant removal is closer to premium. So I would pick many on-color mediocre power creatures over 5-mana sorcery removal.
Jumpstart is amazing, I loved the modularity and the replayability of it.
Thing is that NONE of my lgs ever made a Jumpstart event, ever. even after I asked them many times.
I ended up buy Jumpstart to tech magic to friends :)
Jumpstart is just the magic version of Smash Up
The best part about draft is that it consistently brings the game back to the fundamentals. In Magic draft is almost always about creatures on the board fighting for board control and trying to optimize value. You don't have these highly optimized strategies that sidelines major parts of the game and makes the game feel monotonous. I have never played a card game where draft isn't the purest form of what the game was designed to be.
limited is soooooo goooooooood
they literally dedign the game around it
it makes each set exciting
and its also a great social experience
I love love love the "Draft Matters" sets like conspiracy. That's what I need a cube for.
Most of my collection in paper comes from "Draft til you drop" LGS days. Also where my favourite commanders are from.
Love to see you guys talking about limited. It's easily my favorite way to play
Obligatory "cube is the final boss of magic" quote
I find that draft is always more fun than sealed. With sealed I always end up noticing all the cool cards in the other person's pile that I might have had a lot of fun with in my deck, and vice versa. Whereas draft everyone is picking their colors and strategies all throughout and letting everyone else pick what they want that's left.
Sealed require you to have the ability to make the best deck from the cards your given, whereas draft is alot more based on reading colour signals and working towards a cohessive decks based on those reads.
For in person draft is generally going to be fairer as your going to have similar power levels. In digital both draft and sealed are suseptible to unbalance match ups due to other having lucky pools or pods.
Y'all didn't need to call me out so viciously. 😳
You said, "I miss Ravnica. I should make a Ravnica cube," and, "It's probably the only time you look at commons," while I was thumbing through a big stack of Return to Ravnica draft bulk commons, sorting them by CMC, and thinking "Hmmm... Maybe I should make a cube with these..."
You're right on the money about people putting their draft favourites into Commander decks!
My friends and I have drafted most of the non-standard sets in the past few years, and every single time one of us ended up making a commander deck around a legendary from the draft.
I think thers a natural synergy between the formats when it comes to collecting; you don't need full playsets of cards for commander so the individual bombs and cool cards you get in a draft can be used in your decks, whereas if you were collecting for standard you would need to buy 3 more copies.
Great video as always :)
Another part of what makes draft/sealed so good is that it ends up focused on basic combat. Many constructed formats have threats that win the game by themselves, so the game boils down to do you have an answer. But many times in limited, if your opp plays a 4/4, you can survive for a while, or you can beat it with a 2/2 and a 3/3, or you can use a combat trick, etc. You often have more time to find answers, and answers often aren't as clear cut.
When it's time to do the Cube episodes, please don't only stick to vintage cube. It has the most visibility, but a lot of us think it's a bad experience because of the variance. I'm a figure in the rareless cube community and a lot of us love playing "limited allstars: the game".
What is limited all-stars?
@benjaminloyd6056 limited is the name for playing magic with a random subset of cards (draft, sealed), and most of the most famous cards in draft are commons and uncommons. So since peasant (rareless) cubes are often filled with these famous cards, it is like playjng with all limited all stars.
@freddiesimmons1394 cool! Thanks
@benjaminloyd6056 no problem, boblem
Card evaluation from a limited context is so much more exciting also. Cards like Mulldrifter, Rancor and Flametongue Kavu are so much more meaningful in the environment.
This is the episode I've been waiting for. Thank you!
The fact that most mtg cards (commons) are designed for limited says a lot
I've been playing for about a year after a friend shoved a commander product in my face for my birthday; just started going to prereleases and playing at FNMs and ive been having a blast drafting and playing sealed! I get to actually play with the cards that i would otherwise just be opening boxes of in my room alone and share a unique experience with mew friends!
I just want to say that I own at least 10 commander decks, yet draft is my favorite way to play. I even made myself an original Innistrad set cube because that was the set where I first got good at drafting all those years ago!
One thing you guys didn't mention is that the act of drafting itself is really fun. There are whole games built around just drafting that are very good games (7 wonders). I mainly play Vintage Cube, and I often enjoy drafting more than actually playing the games. The process of identifying open lanes, figuring out the type of deck you want to build based on draft signals and then getting puzzling together extra synergies from your cards adds so much to the experience of playing magic.
I also highly recommend people who like limited magic try out other board games that involve drafting. In particular, I think limited players would really enjoy playing Agricola. The initial card draft in Agricola shares a lot of cool aspects with magic drafting (with a bit less emphasis on reading signals), and it follows the draft with one of the best worker placement implementations. I know a lot of magic pro players who have gotten really into Agricola (the tournament scene is a small community, I've played against them a bunch).
I play Draft since ~2018 thanks to Arena. Before that I played so many different games, small and AAA. I can count the other games I really played since then on one Hand (I think only Monster Hunter, Elden Ring and Hollow Knight). Draft is just incredible. My favorite game ever (more or less 2 games in 1, draft and gameplay) and after you played a ton and lose auf lot suddently it makes "click" and you understand what drafts demand of you. You get better. You have fun. You never need another game. ❤
Another fun option is team sealed, where you make multiple decks from some number of booster packs
I started drafting in OTJ as well, and its such a fun time. Friends split a box 3 ways and we can do both sealed and draft with our 12 packs each
I love a chaos or mystery draft, so I have made a ton of my own repacks for repeatable drafts. I have packs for draft that will last me for ages because buying someone’s bulk or old collection was the cheapest for the biggest variety.
I make 20-card packs and often it’s with 2-4 people. Either we shuffle up a stack and winston draft, or we pick 2 and pass. With drafting 60 cards you have a better chance of building one good deck when sets are mixed, but sometimes you even squeeze two decks out of one draft pile or have a good enough sideboard for switching cards in and out.
Draft is my favorite form of playing MtG. Part of what makes it so great is that you don't have to have a huge collection or giant history with MtG. If you no the game systems and have gotten familiar with the set ahead of time you can walk into a game store without any card and play a draft. It equalizes things for players. You don't have to have the most valuable cards to win. Cube is great in that way too. You can have a whole group of people play only one person needs to bring the cube and everyone is on equal footing for the most part.
Draft is by FAR the best magic experience to me and I think it's underrated and feared by new players and it is sad.
Commander is fun, but it IS constructed. I think constructed has more limitations than draft has.
Chasing staples, and never experiencing the theme of sets properly.
Never interact with mechanics properly that were designed for a set particularly.
It's just opening packs and seeing 90% of all cards being useless and you will not play with them in a constructed format.
When we draft, we implement commander into our drafts.
If a set has low legendary creatures or creatures at all, agree which creature shall be your commander, any one.
We often limit to rare/mythic/planeswalkers as commanders, but a lot of sets have few rare/mythic creatures too. So sometimes uncommons or commons will have to step in.
Cube is the apotheosis of Magic.
Jump-Start is great! Taught a friend of mine how to play MTG with it.
We bought 4 jump start dominaria boosters and got 2 Sheoldred, The Apocalypse 😂
Limited is the way Garfield Intended. Or certainly feels that way to me.
I’m just grateful for players of other format funding sets for limited players to enjoy. Cracking packs for 5/250+ cards on a set while we get to enjoy the mechanics and flavor and all the hard work game designers and artists put into a set to immerse you.
It really does feel like getting the best deal for not much 😅
I love my 1 Dollar Cube. Every card in it is a dollar or less, and the limitation actually makes the limited environment way more interesting.
Building a cube was my best Magic decision ever. Excuse me, just like parents can't talk about kids without mentioning how special and great their own are:
My seven years old (the cube - not the kid) has evolved towards functioning well for playing sealed (so you only need two players to have fun without jumping through weird draft format hoops). It is focused on allowing lots of freedom within the macro archetypes (aggro, midrange, control, combo). Also just filling it with broken stuff and leaving out things I don't really enjoy like initiative, dungeon, double faced cards is so great. Even if I don't update it for ten years it won't be a problem being a self-contained format.
Random side note rant: I was happy to finally see Burst Lightning reprinted with correct post errata text in Foundations. Now I'm just waiting for the same to happen for Incinerate, Tribal Flames and Volcanic Hammer to have all cards in my cube do what they say. It's a problem that we still have to wait for these reprints like six years after the errata, and that some of those cards were reprinted without the correct rules text (The List) after the rules were changed.
CUBE
Limited is the best for any CCG, it is the best way to keep a meta fresh and fluid.
I’m a new player and draft is by far my favorite, I started with commander
Fell in love with draft over the last few years and once Lord of the Rings came out i was completely hooked (also because of LOTR, i stopped playing modern 😅).
These new standard updates have kinda killed constructed for me. I was waiting for sheoldred to not be so expensive for pioneer but with pioneer going on the backburner this year for competetive events (and UB cards), i have heen trying to spread the good word about draft 😂
The spider-man and FF set will probably be so fun to draft, which is great! I just dont think im going to like playing constructed with a mishmash of universes. I guess we will see!!
Can't wait for the new Universes Within Modern format in a couple years /j/
The reason I and my friends moved over to Cube instead of doing drafts was we would draft the new sets as the burn and churn them every few months and we all got product fatigue. By the time we could get a group together to play sealed or draft another set or two would have come out already. Also there is no value or little value in opening packs that aren't collector packs so we would all end up with a bunch of chaf that no one wanted. The conclusion was we all enjoy draft so I created a cube out of old standard cards we had lying around and have tweaked it every few sets if I see a new cool card I wanna play with. The initial investment was a good chunk but now we have a nice set of cards and no one goes home with a bunch of chaf. Win, win.
Sealed is my favorite, with cube draft being second.
I agree draft is the best. But I disagree is the easiest.
In terms of deck building knowledge you need to have a lot of experience in order to make a viable deck to win in a draft or sealed (draft even more because you have at least to know the cards due to the time limit to choose). A person with just 2 games on its back will almost never win games even with better cards, because it's hard to understand the synergies.
EXAMPLE: In your inexperience you might choose a legendary card thinking is best over a vanilla creature and then it's exactly the opposite.
Why is easier a tournament with a premade deck? Because you can copy from a seasoned player and you just need to master the deck while learning the rules.
Nowadays creating an unique deck it's almost impossible because everything is invented and out there for everyone to see it.
Limited is awesome. The formats are better the less powercreep there is
Draft has so much untapped potential. In what Keyforge did for sealed starter deck gameplay, we need a game that pushes draft as a primary mechanic. Would be hard outside of a more board game style card game.
Thinking about it,draft is similar to a sort of multiplayer deckbuilder game (like slay the spire)
The d in bread stands for duals as in mana fixers to me. You need those if you can snag them later on in the pack.
Jumpstart has the issue that there were the Jumpstart sets (great) and the Jumpstart Boosters (mixed quality) and the latter kind of gave the name a black eye. Hopefully this new Foundation Jumpstart which seems designed more like the initial sets will play out that way and be great again.
Limited and kitchen table are the best.
Prereleases are epic. Draft is decent I tend to like not drafting and would rather sealed cause I like trying to create a deck out of junk and considering sideboarding in a whole new colour or even making 2 decks out of a sealed event.
Sometimes I tune those decks up into kitchen table 60 card decks.
Cube is pretty good but I'd rather do sealed within a cube.
I like that limited removes the pay to win aspect of the tcg
Commander and Draft are my favorite, and I miss when people would accumulate Draft pulls to build Commander decks...
Now everyone just buys precons and/or fine-tunes everything by buying singles.
Cube
yall should try out the cube thats live on arena right now, its a high power draft environment and so much goddamn fun
Wow, immediate best of 1 shade
I think sealed sucks and loses out on the best parts of limited. Most of the time when I'm excited and paying money to go play a new set, I did my research, it hurts when my sealed pool sucks and I can't play any archetype that I'm excited about. I love draft because it forms its own meta with each pack that's being opened, and it opens the door for psychology to enter the game. Not only do you need to make a deck based on the major card pool (the set or sets being drafted) and the minor card pool (the cards actually being opened), but you can also build based on what's being passed and make reads based on gathered and known information. Draft seems like it brings a lot of game theory together for me.
Also, one of the major problems with card games are online decking. YGO especially, a lot of competitive players skip that aspect of the game and get their list from someone else.
So you may have a player who is really good at playing the game but really bad at deck construction, and vice versa. Limited levels that out nicely and promotes more Jimmy players instead of Spike players like non-limited does.
I think people hate jump start because you don't have any deck building experience. In sealed, you can at least choose colors.
Also, in standard jump start packs are no value, that is why players like only jump start series sets
You guys should do something on Winston draft (I think that's what it's called) 2 player draft,
I'm sad variation in jumpstart packs died down.
I absolutely loved buying the first box, but now I'm so worried about getting duplicates.
Question: can a four player only game have a limited format?
What if MTG was commander only, would there be a way to have a sealed experience? Would it be fun?
I played commander cube a few months ago. It was a good time! I think there was a sealed commander Tolarian Community College video recently too
@ unfortunately with cube you lose your identity. One player crafts the cube, they give it the flavor they want to experience and share. But the rest of the players participate in something they didn’t get a chance to tailor.
I’m curious if there is a way to play 4 players and have each bring with them a legend or strategy they want to build.
Funny how you say Jumpstart could be it's own game. Check out Smash Up, which substantially predates Jumpstart. A whole game built around the idea of prebuilt half-decks, pick two, smash (shuffle) them together, go. It's actually really good, a couple of slight hiccups with the base set aside. (it's possible for a two player game with a specific combination of (base game) factions to get locked in an infinite loop where if both players are trying to win neither player can ever actually score any points. Can't happen in 3+ player or with any other combination of factions)
Playing Jumpstart after playing both Smash Up and other magic formats left Jumpstart rather underwhelming and quickly led to odd hybrid formats where you would take a jumpstart pack and some regualr (draft) boosters, and you'd either open up the jumpstart pack and see what you had and then draft the other packs, or just do sealed.
Which still didn't work very well if the boosters were from a set that did nothing with that jumpstart pack's theme.
Still, Jumpstart is a format that does make sense for introducing a new player (who has never played Smash Up, as it compares rather unfavourably) to Magic.
limited also contributes the the game's economy by putting cards into circulation. it's one of the main reasons you can "buy singles"
Would Like yo hear your thoughts on modern and legacy.
Jumpstart exists as its own game. It's called Smash Up! :P
This channel convinced me to download arena, my wife is worried for my soul
Can someone point me to the video where they talk about jumpstart? I have no idea where to find the convo.
We haven’t done a full video on jump start yet, but we have mentioned it in a few other videos.
@@distractionmakers Well, now you know what you must do...
Arena should be a way of playing on the side, not the go-to due to things like card prices. Personally, I don't like draft cuz the deck stops existing right after that. If you wanna play draft again, you make a new deck and don't get to enjoy that one- or you keep that deck exactly the same and play with your friends or you make a cube. None of which even feel that appealing of a thing to do with my cardboard
What happened with OTJ lol? I've also started playing mostly limited ever since OTJ came out
Maybe because it was a fun draft format and also the time window between OTJ and the next santdard set was very long giving time for a lot of people to play it
1000% agree
The biggest problem with limited is the affordability. It is my favorite way to play but how can you justify it if you are not wealthy.
One playset of the one ring is 20 in person drafts probably more. Then you can sell all the cards you have because as a drafter you don't need them
Cube is the best way to play mtg and you can't change my mind
Yes!!
12:48 I think jumpstart is the worst limited format, not by how its designed but by how it is sold.
The randomness of what you can get from 2 jumpstart boosters is already high without considering the “random slot” in each pack, and trying to make a collection from jumpstart boosters, even solely to play exclusively 40 card jumpstart is a randomized nightmare that I do not wish to any new player.
If only jumpstart was a regular non randomized mini product of 10 or so specific boosters it would’ve been the best product for new players.... reason why I consider the new foundations collector set possibly the best product for a new player to date. Both to get into the tcg proper and to play limited games. I really hope there is a guide to draft that collection in the insert booklet, cus its doable
Jumpstart has nothing on draft and sealed. It’s closer to an intro constructed deck than limited.
Has anyone made a Hearthstone Magic type of game mode? Only have 2 copies of cards and only 1 Copy of a legendary and make 30 cards and then add what ever mana(As long as none of them are more than 1 legendary) just make it like commander
18-Land gang, where you at?
I can't do draft/sealed. You expect me to eidetically memorize 150+ cards, compare each one to every other one to learn how they interact, determine nigh-omniciencely how everyone else is going to value them, and then make snap judgements from every pack in less than 30 seconds? I can't do it.
I've played multiple in-person drafts and prereleases, and a small share on Arena, and I have never gone over 50% - in person, I'm lucky to win a single game. It's disheartening, and it's not fun for me.
I want to sit down with my stack of 100 cards on a random Sunday night, test Scryfalll with the most specific search terms I can think of, take it to Commander night, learn from the experience, analyze it, tweak it, and come back next week. And as a bonus, we actually get to talk to each other while we play!
I think the most important part of draft, especially when you're newer to it, is finding your lane during a draft and building a functional deck (enough creatures and removal, etc). It doesn't really matter what everyone THINKS about the cards going around, and it's more important to look in a pack that is passed to you and see what ISNT being taken. Ie, in duskmourn draft, if your first rare is a white card and your first 5 picks are all good white cards, that's a signal that the people passing to you in that direction are taking less white cards. Then, you find the best uncommons that fit your picks or find a point to pivot because another color is more open. In dudkmourn, the uncommons are huge signals for what deck is open to be drafted. And when you find your lane, it's like everything falls into place by itself.
If you're really interested in draft but can't get past having to learn all the cards, I would recommend watching some other content creators drafting (maybe not even playing, just drafting), and you'll notice patterns of certain draft strategies that are universal.
Every new set that comes out, I lose my first 4 or 5 drafts with 2-3 wins (if that). I also find that incredibly frustrating, but learning the set more and learning what the better cards are in a set is HUGELY rewarding to me, similar to when I fine tune my commander deck to the point I have to start DECREASING the power.
@@smartkaboose3806I get what you're saying, but I just don't think I have the brain for drafting. Keeping track of so many moving parts during the draft process just feels taxing. Repetitiveness in drafting would be beneficial, but with my budget, schedule, and LGS, once a set would be a luxury. No love lost to those who love the format... One of my favorite things about this game is how many ways it can be played. I just know what works for me.
Sounds like you've got some tough tables. Arena's premier draft also makes losing feel so bad. You could play 9 games, but if you keep a bad hand or get run over by aggro a few times, you're 0-3 in 10 minutes and out $10.
i like the variety of limited but man do i hate deck building. i put a deck together and the second i lose i think 'oh i fucked up the draft this deck is terrible and not optimal' and want to stop playing and try to get another deck idk it just feels awful for my brain. i wish someone good at drafting could do that then just give me the deck lol
It takes a lot of practice. Gotta enjoy the process =)
I feel you. I lost every single draft game I've ever played, until yesterday, when I won against two people in my pod. Those moments that it works are definitely worth the moments where it doesn't.
There was a good chunk of time where I loved the drafting part of draft but not playing the actual games. Why can't we just score the pools like we're playing Sushi Go instead of playing games with these piles?
I can trace it back to M14, there was a really good base blue deck. If you got an Opportunity and a Elixir of Immortality, you could easily natural deck opponents. Draft kind of self-balances and it was hard to get once people knew, but I was able to get an amazing version of it. Slivers was also in that set, focused in Naya but there were Slivers in other colors. We got paired and they played a different type of basic land and a different colored sliver from T1 to T5 running me over. It basically happed again the next game. Their deck had 1 Lay of The Land for mana fixing and they never even had to cast it. It took a long time to recover from that.
A big part of draft is losing, amd learning WHY you lost. Was it just magic the gathering randomness? Was it actually your draft? Did you choose a wrong lane? Did your opponent open way better bombs than you? Did you get enough removal? Etc. There are so many variables in draft, I get how it can be daunting and frustrating
Limited is all mtg has left. I don’t like commander or the casual play. Standard is garbage with no rotation. Give me draft only.
I'm genuinely going to have to stop watching this show for how shitty Magic makes me feel now. And all the discussion online about how shitty the state of things are got swept away with more fucking foundation spoilers. Foundations was supposed to be the thing that brought Magic back, but it was just a coupon to cash out into grey goo slop pile. And Magic's too big for a competitor that actually captures what I like about it.
Yeaaaah, we’re gonna have an episode about it soon. It might not seem like it right now, but our goal isn’t to be a magic only channel. Magic is just what has worked for us so far.
Just play Cube, my guy
There, they cant tell us what to play
@@marioneto6477 That's not really my qualm, though thank you for pointing that out, because it is important. It's that I feel bad associating with it at all. WotC poisoned the whole thing for me. And it seems like most of the actually playing MtG community is cool with everything, so I don't really want to recruit people to play with me even
Limited, in my opinion, is not the best way to play magic...but I do think that the fact that magic CAN be played regularly is a limited format at all is why it's one of the best. I think outside of hearthstone...I've never actually been able to draft and have fun in any game besides magic. It's a fun side activity I can do on the weekends or whatever, not my favorite format, but I hate that other games don't even make it possible most of the time.
Thank you for reminding me that it's okay to just enjoy Limited and not really care that much about constructed.
Bring back Conspiracy, WoTC!
The lack of popularity of legacy formats konda proves we like things not being full pow3r cause its boring
Competitive coin flipping.
People like a good back and forth, games are more fun when its close to even and the way you win is based on outplaying the opponent.
When mana costs are removed, and you can cast spells for free, it fundamentally breaks the game and ruins it for the players. If mana costs don't matter and you can get ahead for free this way, it just turns into who has more card draw wins...
I absolutely hate the words "without paying its mana cost". Free casts are fundamentally broken and should be ised sparingly, at most on one card per set, and reserved for cards with mana value +8, and it should have strict requirements to meet.
I hate cards like "Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant" and "Etali, Primal Conqueror".
Ghalta only costs 8 mana, but its a 12/12, this alone is broken already. But being able to vomit all creatures from your hand is unbelievably broken. This is better than Tooth and Nail and Genesis Wave combined.
Etali P.C. is simiarly broken, a 7/7 with trample plus up to four free spells... This isn't balanced at all.
Magic should have never let people cheat on mana that much
Legacy is the best Magic format. Anyone who has actually played it will tell you that. The only reason it's not popular is that the cost of entry is so high.
@hughmortyproductions8562 i have played it. Speak for yourself. Cube all the way
@@freddiesimmons1394 I guess there's no accounting for taste. I've never met anyone IRL who's actually played legacy and didn't like it.
Although I do like cube too.
Here's an idea. Jumpstart Commander. Ha..! Ha..!
While fun it is heavily luck based as well. Not slightly, heavily. Not everyone will have a suboptimal deck. You may get hosed. With more variance comes more risk. I like draft, but it isn't the only/best way to play
i agree with this take in sealed, but draft is sooo heavily skill based that variance only really impacts the actual gameplay (like every other format).
@@santiproductions9318I think it is to an extent. Knowing what color to choose, and what synergies are best in a draft are important. But sometimes, people just get better cards.
I remember at the lotr draft where my final opponent had 2 board whipes, and a copy of the one ring.
I had a pretty well constructed black-white spirit deck, but the 2nd board wipe in red really threw me for a loop the 3rd game.
@@TapDat52K i get your point and agree to a degree, but 2 board wipes in a single deck specifically is an extreme outlier. yes variance applies in this way, much like the variance of getting paired against a poor matchup applies in constructed. i think these are comparable scenarios because in both cases, the “underdog” deck can still pull off a victory by using their cards optimally and forcing opponents into mistakes with some helpful variance along the way (opponent flooding out or having poor opening hands).
this idea applies to all formats, but especially so in draft: skill mitigates variance. taking mana fixing early lets you pick up more bombs that you wouldn’t otherwise been able to play or be more prepared for bombs your opponents might play. if you get double board wiped, at least you know what to expect in game 2 and 3 and can plan accordingly.
@santiproductions9318 Remember a lot, perhaps even the majority, of draft played is premiere best of 1 on Arena, though. So, taking note and playing around it for the post-board isn't a thing the way most people play draft.
@@Nic1700 valid, but if you’re complaining about variance and playing best of one, you’re doing it to yourself (not saying you’re making that argument, i mean this as a general point). i’m also not trying to argue about the economy/rank incentives of best of one vs BO3, which is a whole separate discussion, but best of one is inherently going to have more variance than the same format in BO3, no?
You guys framing draft as more beginner friendly than constructed is insane. In constructed new players aren't building their own decks from scratch, they're copying their decks from people online.