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[ultron87]

My work shift got canceled so I can finally hit my first fnm/draft

Couple questions

Where can I sort bfz cards by money value so I know what rares NOT to pass

http://mtg.dawnglare.com/?p=viz + any expeditions (the foil full art dual lands).

Watched a lot of mtgo drafts and they get to see there cards while drafting. Do most people peek at there cards while drafting or just remember the best they can?

At FNM you generally can look through your pile between picks. Just make sure you keep it separate from whatever pack you currently have. (You can't do this at bigger tournaments.)

My buddy taught me 17 creatures 6 spells 17 lands. Is this how I should deck build? Do awaken cards kind of count as a creature when building?

That's a decent baseline. You can probably do 18 land in this format due to landfall and spell lands and big creatures to play.

Good luck! Drafts are real fun.

 

[Angry Grimace]

I don't do 18 land in this format unless I have some pretty strict color or landfall requirements. Then again I avoid the big Eldrazi most of the time.

 

[Yeef]

AFAIK you can't check your previously drafted cards until you finish drafting a pack and before you move on to the next one, so you've got to try and remember your previous picks as well as possible.

That's only true in Competitive and higher REL (Rules Enforcement Level) Events. At Regular events, you can looks at the cards you drafted while picking. That said, try to limit how much time you take doing so, so as not to hold up the draft.

BFZ appears to be more centered on big creatures from what I've read, so running 18 lands isn't as rare as in previous draft formats. Also, creature and spell counts all depend on your colors and deck archetypes.

A general rule of thumb for which cards to pick in a draft is the "BREAD" acronym: Bomb > Removal > Evasion > Card Advantage > whatever D was supposed to stand for.

BREAD has been outdated for awhile now, in my opinion. With the way sets are designed these days, it just doesn't hold up. Battle for Zendikar, especially, is a very synergy-focused draft format so a card might only be a bomb if you're in the right deck. You do typically want to prioritize removal (especially instant speed removal), but it's not always the right choice to pick the removal spell over anything else these days.

Every has their own draft style, but personally, what I like to do is just pick the 'best' card, regardless of color, for the first 3 to 5 picks of pack one. By then, it's typically pretty easy to tell what's open, so I'll move in that direction with my picks at that point.

 

[Firemind]

http://mtg.dawnglare.com/?p=viz + any expeditions (the foil full art dual lands).

A foil basic has to be worth more than $2.

(I'd so slam first pick a foil basic.)

 

[aidan]

A foil basic has to be worth more than $2.

(I'd so slam first pick a foil basic.)

I've already cracked four foil basics. Feels good, man.

 

[Haines]

Thanks for all the help!

The thing I'm nervous most about is having to switch colors mid draft and trying to remember what I need to replace but in the end first draft will be a learning experience no matter how hard I try

 

[Haines]

Forgot 1 more question. I haven't mastered adding land to my deck.

I'd there a simple equation I can follow?

Ive always just kind of guessed.

 

[keeblerdrow]

Count the number of pips of each color on all of your cards, use the ratio to determine your ratio of land colors. It's a good rule of thumb and you only need to worry about it being thrown off by duals or mana producers.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Forgot 1 more question. I haven't mastered adding land to my deck.

I'd there a simple equation I can follow?

Ive always just kind of guessed.

count up the number of symbols you have in your deck and figure it out as percentages

 

[JulianImp]

Forgot 1 more question. I haven't mastered adding land to my deck.

I'd there a simple equation I can follow?

Ive always just kind of guessed.

• Counting the number of mana symbols works as a very rough first estimate of which colors are more prevalent in your deck
• Check which turns you're more likely to want each of your cards and colors. For example, playing a bunch of white weenies with green fatties means you'd probably want more white in order to maximize your chances of casting your early creatures before they're outclassed by more expensive ones even if you happen to have more green cards in general
• Cards that cost more multiple specific colors of mana should also be on your watch list, both for prioritizing their colors or cutting them if you find your manabase is too shaky. For example, if you want to cast a powerful 1BB card ASAP you'd do well to remember that you'll be needing two swamps early on to do that regularly
• Cards that help you fix your mana can be considered about half a land, but only if they have low mana costs. These cards are also great for running one or two-of basic lands for splashing some really powerful off-color card, but only if it costs a single mana of that color
• Remember that cards with very color-intensive costs give your deck diminishing returns as you add more other colors. For example, a bombtastic 2WWW angel might end up sitting in your hand all day if you play a three-color deck without the mana base required to cast it reliably
• Expanding on the whole "consider when you want to cast what" point, remember that late-game cards probably won't demand as much on your mana base as early game plays. For example, an 8 CMC card with double or triple color-specific requirements would probably be perfectly castable by then unless its cost includes colors that happen to be your splashes (and only if you run few lands for said splashes, as in 1-3)

 

[Haines]

So lets say I do a 17 creature and 6 spell deck

I would tally up all mana pips even adding the doubles or triples in the equation

So lets say I have 14 red and 8 blue BC I have some colorless or w.e

What math do you do at that point to get to your mana base. For me my brain just says 10 red 7 blue but Idk how to say do it on a calculator

Edit. See your post Julian. Reading now
Very good points Julian. Had a rough idea of those in my head but reading that helped shaped my understanding.

 

["God's Beard!"]

I don't do 18 land in this format unless I have some pretty strict color or landfall requirements. Then again I avoid the big Eldrazi most of the time.

I had a sweet Converge deck last night with two Skyrider Elves, a Painful Truths and an Exert Influence. Skyrider for 5 is da bess

Dampening Pulse + Exert Influence wombo combo

 

[Haines]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";182708420]I had a sweet Converge deck last night with two Skyrider Elves, a Painful Truths and an Exert Influence. Skyrider for 5 is da bess[/QUOTE]

That is super awesome.

 

[JulianImp]

So lets say I do a 17 creature and 6 spell deck

I would tally up all mana pips even adding the doubles or triples in the equation

So lets say I have 14 red and 8 blue BC I have some colorless or w.e

What math do you do at that point to get to your mana base. For me my brain just says 10 red 7 blue but Idk how to say do it on a calculator

Again, it depends. Maybe you have several blue cards that cost UU and that you want to cast ASAP, or your red cards have an average CMC of 3 or more. Maybe your red removal and combat tricks happen to be good enough that you can wait until later on in the game to cast them... basically, a simple spread would be around 10-7 or 9-8 depending on color-intensiveness, but you should try analyzing your deck as well as possible to avoid screwing yourself over as you wait for your islands to show up.

Oh, then there's also the thing about colorless-producing lands, since you've got to remember that they'll make all your color-heavy cards worse with each extra colorless land you have in your deck. Also, you should take note of mana costs in cards' abilities, since there're cards like that 2WW guy that could tap creatures down for WW, and that means you'll be needing a whole lot of white to get the most out of it.

Edit: Summing up, you want your mana base to work well with your game plan, and planning your game in advance is also a good way to notice bad picks. For example, if you want to play several copies of a good UU creature and then have a 1RR card that you want to cast right afterwards, you'll easily see that there's just no way (short of multicolor mana-fixing) to curve out with those two cards. In that case you should probably reconsider wether running both cards together is worth it, since even if you are okay with casting the 1RR card later on, you've got to remember that you'll be looking at two islands on the battlefield by T2, which means you've got to draw and play two mountains before you even get a chance to cast your 1RR cards.

 

[Firemind]

Just divide by 1.5 and round up/down as you see fit. It depends if you want to play certain cards early or late, so it's not a hard rule. If you have a lot of blue 1, 2 or 3 mana drops, then skewer the mana base towards more islands.

 

[Haines]

Great great advice. Consumed and mentally noted.

 

["God's Beard!"]

That is super awesome.

It was GB splashing U and W, but I had one of those mana dorks that adds any color to get the red for my Skyrider ^_^

I wanted really badly to play my Emeria Shepherd, but I couldn't justify the second Plains.

 

[Haines]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";182709506]It was GB splashing U and W, but I had one of those mana dorks that adds any color to get the red for my Skyrider ^_^

I wanted really badly to play my Emeria Shepherd, but I couldn't justify the second Plains.[/QUOTE]

That druid card. I've wondered if green might be easier to draft right now BC a lot of people avoiding it BC its supposedly the worst.

So that kind of lends itself to a coverage deck where you grab some sick green and let everyone else fight over the rest.

I really like life spring druid.

 

[Angry Grimace]

That druid card. I've wondered if green might be easier to draft right now BC a lot of people avoiding it BC its supposedly the worst.

So that kind of lends itself to a coverage deck where you grab some sick green and let everyone else fight over the rest.

I really like life spring druid.

I go with G/R Landfall all of the time because people don't draft it. Usually mid-late pick Grove Rumblers tells me what I need to know.

 

[Haines]

I go with G/R Landfall all of the time because people don't draft it.

What's your opinion on cards like whiptail and just landfall gives attacking bonus in general?

 

[Angry Grimace]

What's your opinion on cards like whiptail and just landfall gives attacking bonus in general?

Landfall can be bad because you need card to enable it that aren't just land in your deck. If you can't consistent get land or activate landfall you'll just get blown out. But that in and of itself can lead to you getting blown out.

 

[Haines]

Landfall can be bad because you need card to enable it that aren't just land in your deck. If you can't consistent get land or activate landfall you'll just get blown out. But that in and of itself can lead to you getting blown out.

Do you play like 17 land or so just to try and guarantee it? I def felt the creatures lacking punch without landfall. Which in turn meant I couldn't attack or defend well. Some landfall cards are good and even great but I'm def weary of picking those cards in this format.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Do you play like 17 land or so just to try and guarantee it? I def felt the creatures lacking punch without landfall. Which in turn meant I couldn't attack or defend well. Some landfall cards are good and even great but I'm def weary of picking those cards in this format.

Like every answer, it depends on what the deck looks like.

 

[Haines]

Yeah I just heard someone say maybe play more land in a landfall deck. Wondered if it was really worth it or not.

I guess land is the one thing I never dealt with in hearthstone and I feel like if I don't get it right it could easily cost me games.

Almost seems like there is a bit of an art too it and I think it ends up a pretty cool part of magic.

 

["God's Beard!"]

That druid card. I've wondered if green might be easier to draft right now BC a lot of people avoiding it BC its supposedly the worst.

So that kind of lends itself to a coverage deck where you grab some sick green and let everyone else fight over the rest.

I really like life spring druid.

It's a fine strategy but green is weak enough that an insane green deck isn't necessarily going to be better than a regular deck in other colors. Green's main removal being a fight card isn't that great because Green's creatures don't really have higher stats than other colors' in this set. Also, a lot of the commons and uncommons are pretty weak. So yeah, green decks are basically converge decks, which is inherently less consistent than most of the other archetypes since your best cards are in splash colors. Also, the format is faster than a lot of people were expecting, and the converge deck needs to use early turns to set up and then come back from behind with powerful threats.

Priority converge commons:

1. Evolving Wilds
2. Giant Mantis
3. Tajuru Stalwart
4. Lifespring Druid
5. Any removal you can get that doesn't have double-mana requirements

Priority converge deck uncommons:

1. Dampening Pulse
2. Skyrider Elf
3. Catacomb Sifter
4. Bane of Bala Ged
5. Any removal you can get that doesn't have double-mana requirements

 

[Angry Grimace]

Well that draft went well. I got no more than 1 land in any hand until I mulled to 3 and just conceded both games.

There wasn't even anything wrong with the deck beyond WOTC's vaunted variance.

 

[duxstar]

Well that draft went well. I got no more than 1 land in any hand until I mulled to 3 and just conceded both games.

There wasn't even anything wrong with the deck beyond WOTC's vaunted variance.

It's because the shuffler is random and you're just not used to it /s

 

[Jhriad]

A foil basic has to be worth more than $2.

(I'd so slam first pick a foil basic.)

All of them are $5+ with a few like Noah Bradley's Island worth considerably more.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Went 1-2 in my draft. Drafted UR devoid, problem was that to the 2 to the right of me someone drafted UW awaken and the one to my left drafted UR devoid.

Only got to use Nettle Drone round 1 which I won.

Got a foil swamp pretty late and a Greenwarden of Murasa. And that 7 land land.

 

[Jhriad]

Got a foil swamp

Which swamp? Totally looking to get a few of some of the full art foil lands.

 

[Angry Grimace]

It's because the shuffler is random and you're just not used to it /s

It still sucks.

 

[Haly]

What if they made the shuffler pseudo-random? Is it that important to the game to have 10 land blowouts?

 

[noquarter]

All of them are $5+ with a few like Noah Bradley's Island worth considerably more.

I opened that Island and decided that was going to be my Island for this set. Sucks it is the expensive one. Wish there was John Avon lands in this set, thought his were the best in Zendikar.

 

[Firemind]

I think that is the worst Island.

It doesn't even look like an Island!

 

[Forgive Me]

when you really think about it though, isnt all land kind of an island?
/deep

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Which swamp? Totally looking to get a few of some of the full art foil lands.

Think it was this one but I'm EU

 

[Infinite Stars]

Is it bad I wish there was a viable Allies deck? Sure, the Fetches would make it cost a ton, but I'd love a reason to have March from the tomb in a deck. Sure, the cards not great, but I like it as a card.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Is it bad I wish there was a viable Allies deck? Sure, the Fetches would make it cost a ton, but I'd love a reason to have March from the tomb in a deck. Sure, the cards not great, but I like it as a card.

The problem is that there's only 2 independently good Allies, assuming you count Gideon.

And you can't March Gideon.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

I mean one could make a case for BW aristocrats, no one does though

 

[ultron87]

Drafted a decent converge deck. Brilliant Spectrum for 4 feels so good.

 

[Haines]

Went to first fmn and draft.

Super stoked! 2 pods of 6, 3 rounds

First pack dragon outkast, second serpentine

Ok im red...

Than just kept getting crazy good blue, and some good red defensive cards that look bad to some but i just needed to get to mid late game and crush

Also drew a foil prism array, amd a foil 2/4 r u colorless cost 1 less

So i went 2-0 with my loss winning 2-1 on me with stupid 1/1 flier deck plus golden cards that give double strike etc and combat trick cards and 2 voids

I made a couple mistakes so i still think i should have beat him, oh well

Got second 2 packs, 2 promos and sold like 6 cards and so now i have got all my money back ive spent on 6 packs, 2 sealeds, amd a draft in store credit/ products and some i think.

Oh and the newbie (me) correcte aLot of others mistakes so

Thanks to all of you who helped me learn this sweet hobby

Now to practice more!

 

[Yeef]

Tried the UW fliers deck tonight, spashing green for Skyrider Elf and Lumbering Falls. I'd tried it in sealed, but this was my first time drafting it.

It went very well (didn't drop any games). Had 2 Ramparts, a Tide Drifer, 3 Tightening Coils, Sheer Drop, Roilmage's Trick and Quarantine Field and a ton of fliers. Managed to Quarantine Field for 4 in one game, which was pretty stupid.

 

[pelicansurf]

Went 4-0 with my Jeskai Black list tonight. Got my picture on the wall. Played against Esper, Jund Dragons, Bant Control, and Mardu Aristocrats. 2-0d every game except Esper which went to game 3. I'm really happy with my list. Every card that I boarded in and even the test cards (Sorin) did really well.

Taking Game Day tomorrow will be the real test.

 

[blindrocket]

Do you think that this list is a little too ballsy?

Creatures (18)
4 Hangarback Walker
4 Warden of the First Tree
4 Anafenza, the Foremost
4 Siege Rhino
2 Dragonlord Silumgar

Spells (17)
1 Secure the Wastes
4 Abzan Charm
4 Crackling Doom
2 Kolaghan's Command
4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Murderous Cut
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited

Lands (25)
1 Bloodstained Mire
2 Canopy Vista
1 Cinder Glade
3 Flooded Strand
2 Forest
1 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
1 Prairie Stream
1 Smoldering Marsh
1 Sunken Hollow
1 Swamp
3 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
60 Cards Total

Sideboard in the works but yes, the sideboard has some blue cards.

 

[Haines]

Tried the UW fliers deck tonight, spashing green for Skyrider Elf and Lumbering Falls. I'd tried it in sealed, but this was my first time drafting it.

It went very well (didn't drop any games). Had 2 Ramparts, a Tide Drifer, 3 Tightening Coils, Sheer Drop, Roilmage's Trick and Quarantine Field and a ton of fliers. Managed to Quarantine Field for 4 in one game, which was pretty stupid.

Shit, qf, is the foil i got. Not prism array.

That card is super neat. Did you force that deck or just was open?

 

[Yeef]

Shit, qf, is the foil i got. Not prism array.

That card is super neat. Did you force that deck or just was open?

Both. It was open, but I knew earlier that it was what I wanted to do pretty early (Quarantine Field was pack 1 pick 1), so I drafted the blockers more highly than I usually would.

 

[Haines]

Both. It was open, but I knew earlier that it was what I wanted to do pretty early (Quarantine Field was pack 1 pick 1), so I drafted the blockers more highly than I usually would.

Yeah once i drafted dragon outkast and serpentine, i tried to draw defensive as well. Thos 1/4 and 0/5 reds and, and vestige which is a card i dont normally think much of.

Did you get any of those 2/2 fliers white,

 

[Yeef]

No. I ended up with 2 Courier Griffins, 2 Ghostly Sentinels, 2 Wave-Wing Elementals, a Skyrider Elf and 1 Angel of Renewal.

 

[Joe Molotov]

Played Atarka Red at FNM last night because I generally just hate people. The Become Immense/Temur Battle Rage combo is a good way to not get offered a handshake after the round.

 

[Firemind]

i mean

become immense is kind of like ball lightning with double strike for one mana

not sure why the deck plays atarka's command though. it's just a flame rift without tokens. wizards pls print better burn spells