dunno if anyone else realised this but what color can u add to gw in drafting rgd?
if u add red or black then you lose out on a guild in dissension and if you draft blue you lose out on a guild in guildpact.

so will watchwolf be doing the rounds once dissension becomes draftable?

nah...I think most people drafting wg will do so and then in guildpact pick up some usefull mono cards and hate draft the bombs and then in dissension go mad...man the cards I've seen so far for wgu are ridiculous!!!! B)

Hmmm...

Pickup every signet they can in guildpact find and play 5 color GWu with nephalims!!!!

To draft is tricky...and so is posting a reply that matters. Sorry, i'm blank on this one.

Just hope you dont pick up every signet and don't open any nephilim. Could be a bit of a disaster lol.

Can someone who goes to the drafts on wednesdays please put up some insight for us uneducated draftless posters. Just for interest sake.

Well for starters I know that GW hardly needs support, if you get the right cards. However in a bad situation (someone else taking all the good cards or not enough good cards per booster) you could consider adding black (for removal, if you get it) or even some red (for damage), blue (for flyers) is cool.

I guess that it really just comes down to what is opened (remember not all cards are guild cards, some brilliant cards are mono-coloured)

P.S. GW guildmage + GB guilldmage is hard to beat (they are gona target the GW one and so you make a token and sac it to bring Mr. Guildmage back) LOL!

Any 3 colour combo is viable it just depends on how deep that combo is. Think about what cards are available in those colours in the common slot for each pack.
For example by favourit (URG) has a LOT of first pick commons in those colours in rav. i.e:

Compulsive Research/Remand/Drift of Phantasms
Galvanic Arc/Fangtail
Civic Wayfinder/Seige Wurm

and there are a lot more playables in those colours (snapping drake, scatter the seeds, etc)

do the same for Guildpact (savant, ghor clan savage, weird), and Dissension (grafty stuff).

Then you see how deep teh pool is and how powerful your deck can be EVEN IF THE GUY ON YOUR RIGHT IS DRAFTING THE SAME ARCHETYPE.
That makes your life sooo much easier as you can force the colours and still come off with a playable deck if things go wrong.

In the Case of GW and what to pair it with i would use the same process to decide. Being a blue fan id say GWU sounds lovely (azorius anyone?) but maybe soem good bacl cards in rav would change my mind (disembowel, the odd bomb rare who knows...).

I drafted WUB last wed, and the scene is very spread out.

I finished 2nd with help of many good picks and very strange signals (15th pick sandsower???)

Rav gave me: keening banshee, oathsworn giant, sandsower, drift, compulsive, disembowel and brainspoil.

WB was definitely underdrafted, i recieved 2 of each: WB guildmage, shrieking grotesque and blind hunter. A pack came to me with: shadow lance, culling sun, ostiary thrull, revenant patriarch and another playable WB card.

Disenssion also showered me with goodness. 1st pick WU guildmage and 4 CONSECUTIVE first wings.

My strategy was to force my set of 3 colours and hold on till the end. With such a large spread available, there are just too many good cards going around for one person to draft a broken deck. I belive there were several other equally well drafted decks on that night.

What are the top 5 draft picks in each of the sets?

Thats a weird question.
Ill assume its just commons.

without looking at the cards id go something like:

fetters, disembowel, arc, last gasp, compulsive research

guildpact is something like... (tough one)

pillory, hunter, savage, streetbreaker, pyromatics.. (??)

dissension is new to me so ill pass on that for now

basically removal is always at the top because if you dont pick it high you just dont get it. mass removal is golden (brightflame). You still need a deck with threats though so sometimes the creatures are higher picks (esp ones with evasion). and then theres card advantage. Something like Ribbons is such a good card and first pick quality because it does a bunch of these things (removal, card advantage (CA+1), life gain (tempo)).
Its cool to have a "list" of powerful cards but ultimately its understanding the principles that lets you make the right pick.

ask something more specific and we can debate though like do you take lightning helix or fetters first pick (i take fetters i think...).
Arc or last gasp? (gasp is better but you can abuse arc)
etc

Thx.Sorry I meant commons.

Is it ever possible to have too much removal?
And would you take a cheap flier like the snapping drake over say a last gasp?
How highly do you rate fat in this format i.e. the wurms etc.

I would assume if you going creature vs. removal, it'd depend on what removal you may already have or not have. Personally i'd draft removal first, but take a creature difficult to kill over that. I could be completely wrong, i'm yet to prove my theory.

Yes you can have too much removal.
No you dont take snapping drake over last gasp.


do you take GW guildmage OR faiths fetters/last gasp etc?

As for Fat i think there is quite a bit in all the packs so I wouldnt rush to pick seige wurm as Id be hoping to get hooked up with the Savages (5/6 >5/5) and some of the graft fatties. Also cards like the shambler (6/6 for 7, makes creatures with counters trample) go kind of late so I would be looking to keep my options open in rav and not pick the wurm/bramby highly as if i was going green id be confident id get fat later.

I read that Simic is the new favourite to draft for. What are some of the best Simic cards to draft?

Good simic draft cards

coiling oracle - accel & tempo
plaxmanta - combat trick & tempo
cytoplast root-kin - fat & combat trick
cytoshape - combat trick & removal
plaxcaster frogling - fat & combat trick
trygon predator - non-creature removal & evasion creature
drake roost - tempo & clock (creature supply)
simic guildmage - combat tricks & bear
novijen - creature enhancer
simic sky swallower - very fat clock

sure but how high do you pick them (theyre all pretty much first picks from what i can see)

Coiling oracle or GU bounce land?

Personally, after playing Coiling Oracle in a constructed deck I realize, he is quite useless. He always just got sideboarded out. But the lands pose a problem of their own, tempo. With draft I'm not so sure that a problem though.

I'd go for the bounce land, it offers mana fix in what will almost certainly be a three colour deck. While the Oracle might mana accelerate or will draw you a card, there are better ways to draw, where you needn't reveal the card. I once enjoyed the oracle, but now he is a set back.

welcome to the ranks of "wtf is the point of oracle?"
ive never liked the card its hard to cast in limited and you may as well just take the card out and your deck wouldnt change at all.
oh no they say it gives you "tempo"!
(you can feel it in your feet)
so 1/3 times you get to put a land in to play untapped. thats not bad. isnt a signet just as good or better?
isnt a bounce land just as good or better?
i dont see what all the fuss is about

Coiling Oracle is a SOCK!!!! :rolleyes:

Thanks for the draft article, some interesting picks, did you eventually play with four colours? I saw all coulours being picked besides blue...although their were some gold cards with blue in it. That's five colours.

I should have posted the decklist but Ive lost it.
I played a 3 colour deck GBW.
Was mostly taking red cards as hate drafts because there was nothing else in the pack and also as a backup plan if my GBW wasnt deep enough.

The Sky swallower was a posssible splash but in the end the deck was powerful enough.

Hmmm, should have guessed that...best to keep options open when drafting, also for screwing other people out of good cards.

I also noticed you made out like a bandit with the rares you got.

Loxodon Hierarch
Godless Shrine
Simic Sky Swallower
Vulturous Zombie
Eye of the Storm
Mindmoil even!!!!

Too bad you didn't take the Biomantic Mastery...oh well next time.

(PS: Please for the love of God pick up on some of the sarcasim or I'll be doomed to be known as a fool forever. Great for the first three rares though.)

@ Jono:I checked through the draft listings you put up and in one it seemed like your forced GB, taking many reasonable cards over some really good GW ones. Was this intentional and was it because of a lack of GWx guild trio through the three sets or do you just prefer GB to GW. Or is it just me being stupid...

which draft?

and i try avoid GW
unsuccessfully it seems

Draft 4
In pack 3 you took shell over evangel
In pack 4 you took the turnkey over the guardian or the armourer (alothough i don't know how good either of the two gw cards are)
In pack 6 you took mortipede over vitu-ghazi
In pack 8 you took the void over the guardian.

There are so many good late GW pciks cos everyone is avoiding it so wouldn't it be a good idea to take them. The late pick power has to make up somewhat for the versitility.

yeah i would avoid white. i dont know the format is new to me.
i dont like gaurdian really. and id rather be GB and leave space to pick up some good gruul cards in Guilpdact or even wait it out for simic goodness in guildpact.

armourer is pretty good though.

but by the time the vitu ghazi came around i had decided i could avoid white and look to go GBR which gets me rakdos and gruul and seems pretty agressive and consitent.

i

Is the guardian bad or is it just personal preferance?

Do you force GBx or would you be fine with say RWB? In all your drafts you've taken GB and red or white.

If it was your first pick first pack, would you rather take a last gasp/brainspoil or maybe a devouring light/fetters(black removal vs white)?

If you opened your first pack and got trash except for a snapping drake, skyknight or a house guard which would you pick?(which colour evasive creature)

And lastly, what pick in wach set do you aim to start picking up mana fixing(signets and bounce lands, not birds and elves)

This is a tester of skill...

First pack first pick. What card would you pick:

Char
Moldervine cloak
Galvanic arc
last gasp

(and some midrange to bad creatures/spells)

Andrew and I chose the same card. Which one would you guys pick?

I know what you guys chose and its definitely the right pick.

Personally I take char there. There are only 2 choices char vs cloak. The rest of the removal doesnt compare to char.

The cloak is broken in so many ways but i really like the char. Both are splashable but the cloak is more likely to win you games. Style wise i like char. Its instant speed, can go to the dome and you know exactly what you are getting with it.

The cloak is awesome but things like tappers, removal in response, fetters, pillory etc can negate your little fatty.

So what i am saying is that the cloak can be dealt with BUT you force your opponent to deal with it or lose the game. Which is the elite form of an agressive card. The char is just really good removal.

Tough choice, cloak is the right pick but its an interesting discussion.

ps i still choose char.

must be cloak. super power plus dredge = very super power. the guildmage is the only non rare in ravnica id pick over it (and only 2 or 3 rares).

Which?

And on the dredge note, Ho good is dredge in limited (the scarab, nightmare void etc flavour rather than the troll flavour)

glare of subdual is an easy one, that thing that lets all your permanents tap for 1 damage (i skillfully passed that in one draft) and possibly hex. cant think of anything else off the top of my head

Cool. How strong is Hex with that nastly little 6 creature clause? Im assuming hte sweepers are strong too - brightflame and Hour of Reckoning?

yeh id probably add those to the list. hex can be so devastating that the drawback isnt too big. even a 4-2 trade will wipe them out and a 5-1 is game over. if ur playing tokens then even a 2-4 can be devastating.

Hex is a bit meh. sometimes it sits in your hand for ages and once your opp knows you have it it can be very easy to play around.

What rules do you follow when drafting?
Do you Draft the best card or color?
Do you have any tips so i can improve my draft


thanks

I really struggled when I started drafting RGD and went through some really strange ideas but I think you have to initially draft the best cards regardless of colour in the first 4-5 picks in rav.
At the end of rav you should have a solid idea as to what 3 colours you would like to be in and should be able to stick to that. However I am generally willing to splash a fourth colour for something like a savant,wrecking ball,splashable bomb rare etc but then you have to draft fixers higher after that. In fact generally I seem to anticipate drafting 4c from the beginning as I always draft karoos highly. Ultimately I think the most important things are the ability to be flexible(which will only come with experience and is the hardest part of drafting this format), knowing what you can and cannot splash (in other words having a playable mana-base) and the finally the easiest part and one that cannot be understated - PICK GOOD REMOVAL OVER EVERYTHING ELSE.
I am not talking about riot spikes and orzhov euthanist. Fetters,Last Gasp,Seal of doom, Wrecking BAll are all almost instantaneous first picks and there are others Iam not mentioning. Very few creatures are better than good removal (please remember I am talking about commons and uncommons).
Right thats enough rambling for this time in the morning besides my next round is starting soon.

I always pick good removal highly.

I usually find myself in 2 colours going into guildpact.
Often i then have a choice to follow 2 different directions.

i.e I am UR in Ravnica.
In GP I can pick up green and gruul cards. OR i can avoid a guild and pick W and then azorius cards or B and then rakdos cards. Either way ill be taking izzet gold cards (dragonauts, torch drake) in guildpact.

Keeping your options open is really helpful.

This is not mine, and I've seen it on many places

BREAD or BREAK

Bombs
Removal
Evasion
Assist //Aggro// Abilities
Dregs/Krap

The last two differ in the different acronyms, but they boil down to the same thing, (A) efficient creatures and (D/K) bad picks because there is nothing better.

Once you know this it's easier to draft. But assessing cards well is difficult.

Like sunday... Player X decides to pick moroii over last gasp. This means he puts moroii in the bomb category not the evasion category. (very first pick)

I feel that fat flyer falls into the bomb category, so I agreed with him. Other people don't.

So assessing cards is what makes you a better drafter. Rakdos is decent at removal, but their creatures are so crappy that it is not a very powerful guild to draft. So the RB mage needs to lend from golgari/gruul or whatever to get their decent creatures.

One thing this theory does not include is manafix. This is VERY important in ravnica block draft since your mana base can be pretty unstable.

Grant mentioned signets... they can very easily be around 4-7th pick depending on other cards in a booster. They provide tempo and mana fix.

Thanks for the help