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Limited
Power Drafting for Magic 2011
From the first Booster Draft Pro Tour (which was the 2nd Pro Tour, PT Los Angeles, the first time) I’ve always had a special place in my heart for draft. It was a brand new format that I adapted to as if it was created just for me. I used a simple strategy that I call “power drafting” to propel me to a 3rd place finish at that Pro Tour and high finishes in several other major draft events, such as a Top 8 at Pro Tour London, 9th at Pro Tour Chicago, 1st at Grand Prix Manchester, not to mention a couple other Pro Tour Top 16s.
I don’t consider power drafting to be the only good strategy. One could make a good case that former champ Kai Budde had the best approach. Kai would spend so much time drafting a set that he would become an expert at every possible archetype in that draft set. This way, he could just carefully read what was being passed to him and just draft the colors that were the best for his seat. Kai could be safe in the knowledge that no matter what colors they were, he would be able to draft them and play them optimally. If you have copious amounts of free time, Magic Online now provides you with the perfect tool to become an expert at every archetype just as Kai Buddhe did. Even so, the weaker archetypes need near perfect drafting and play to be successful. For mere mortals, power drafting is a much better approach.
I use power drafting on both M11 and Rise of the Eldrazi. This week I will talk about how to power draft M11 and next week I will discuss Rise of the Eldrazi. Since M11 is about to be released on Magic Online, I want to make sure you are ready to dive in and start racking up those wins.
The main principles of power drafting are as follows. Eliminate at least one or two colors from consideration. Determine which colors have the best synergy with each other. Based on these decisions, only consider two or three possible archetypes when drafting. Make sure these archetypes have a good amount of similarity and crossover. Become an expert at drafting and playing this small number of archetypes.
The first step when power drafting is for you to determine the relative power level of the five colors when drafting that set. This becomes more complicated with sets that use large amounts of gold cards, but this isn’t a problem for M11 (or ROE). One of the best ways to start doing this is to rank the top commons and uncommons for each color and then compare them.
Red
- Fireball
- Lightning Bolt
- Chandra’s Outrage
- Chandra’s Spitfire
- Ember Hauler
- Pyroclasm
- Act of Treason
- Fling
- Fiery Hellhound
- Prodigal Pyromancer
Green
- Cudgel Troll
- Giant Growth
- Garruk’s Companion
- Acidic Slime
- Giant Spider
- Awakener Druid
- Garruk’s Packleader
- Sylvan Ranger
- Sacred Wolf
- Greater Basilisk
Blue
- Mind Control
- Aether Adept
- Air Servant
- Foresee
- Azure Drake
- Cloud Elemental
- Augury Owl
- Jace’s Ingenuity
- Water Servant
- Unsummon
White
- Serra Angel
- Pacifism
- Blinding Mage
- Condemn
- Stormfront Pegasus
- Cloud Crusader
- Mighty Leap
- Wild Griffin
- Assault Griffin
- Inspired Charge
Black
- Doom Blade
- Assassinate
- Quag Sickness
- Liliana’s Specter
- Mind Rot
- Howling Banshee
- Gravedigger
- Rise from the Grave
- Corrupt
- Stabbing Pain
Fireball is the best card on any of these lists. Lightning Bolt is possibly next. So Red is the best color for draft, right? Bzzz! Wrong answer… Fireball and Lightning Bolt are so good because they are so easy to splash, that people will regularly draft them even if it would mean adding a new color to their deck in progress. In the event that Red’s list might have to start at number three, it gets much worse.
Figuring out the worst color to draft is one of the keys to power drafting. In M11, this is easily Green. The best card is a 4 drop that doesn’t fly or do anything when it comes into play. None of the cards are creature removal or evasion. 2 of the best cards are 5 drops that don’t fly or do anything when they come into play. Another problem with Green is that one of the things it does do well is help smooth your colors. Since Green itself doesn’t bring much to the table, if you want to color smooth your deck… eliminate Green from your deck! These are the types of problems that are pretty common to green in draft. Does this mean Green always sucks in draft? No! It is possible for Green to be good in power drafting, however. Just see my next article when I’m discussing Rise of the Eldrazi draft.
You should also consider the power level of various factors like evasion, removal, permission and combat tricks in a given set. One of the best examples from M11 is flying. Flying is better and more important in M11 than many other sets. For Example, in M11 you can have a 2/1 flyer for 2 mana. In Rise, you need to pay three mana. Also relevant is how good the non-flying creatures are in relative terms. While flying is better than average in M11, non-flying is generally a little weaker. Bloodthrone Vampire is practically a bomb in Rise and it’s awful in M11. When paying one specific and one colorless for a two-drop in M11, you generally get a generic 2/2. In Rise, you can get things like Nest Invader, Kiln Fiend, Bramblesnap or cool levelers like Knight of Cliffhaven.
Black, White and Blue have most of the flying in the M11, a better creature curve than Green, better creatures than Red, better creature control than Green and they’re not having their top picks being poached like Red. Card drawing and scrying are also very powerful in M11 draft. Blue has a stranglehold on these things. Blue is so good, that I have trouble imagining myself not drafting it in M11. People next to me in draft… you’ve been warned! When I draft M11 I draft either Blue/White or Blue/Black. I prefer Blue/Black, but it’s usually good to have a back-up plan in power drafting.
Occasionally there are sets where it is best to draft three colors and I love to force a three color archetype even with the possibility of the drafter in front of me drafting the same colors. There are just too many playables for them to take so many that it impedes your own draft significantly. When I won GP Manchester, I drafted Red/Blue/Black every table. It was Rochester draft so we could see what colors other people were drafting and yet even if I knew for a fact my colors were being drafted ahead of me, I didn’t vary from my course.
Rarely, it may even be the right play to force a specific two-color combination every time. At the PT LA where we drafted Mercadian Masques, I forced Blue/White every time. I finished in the Top 16 and at the one table I know for certain it was drafted by the player to my right, I went 2-1. Blue/White was just that much deeper and more powerful than any other option.
You might argue that everyone will recognize the best colors and draft them, making it more powerful to draft the weaker colors because they are being mostly ignored. At the Draft Challenge at PT San Juan, Zvi Mowshowitz informed me that White was being so underdrafted due to its reputation as the weak color in Rise of the Eldrazi, that he was forcing White at every draft table. But what if someone else at your table does the same thing? What if two do? The consequences for sharing this strategy with other players at your table are much worse than competing for the power colors. Planning on drafting the bad colors and letting others have the good ones is at least helping other players at the table and it may be hurting you. Please, please draft with me! For the record, this strategy can be pretty successful, it’s just very risky. (Zvi and I both had winning records in the Draft Challenge, but neither of us made the Top 8.)
Blue is so good, that the last time I drafted M11, I drafted so much of it while trying to decide whether to commit to White or Black, I ended up with a mono-blue deck. I didn’t come close to losing a match. I generally felt like I was playing constructed and they were playing sealed deck. When you play an Azure Drake, most creatures that cost less than five don’t have a good attack. Cloud Elemental and Air Servant are amazing since the only creatures I’m really worried about are flyers. The combination of bounce and permission make it hard for any single creature to be a problem. Augury Owl is my favorite two drop in the set. Nothing aggravates me more in Magic than mana flood and mana screw. The draw smoothing of the Owl is hard to fully appreciate unless you’ve played with it many times. The long game smoothing effect of Foresee and Jace’s Ingenuity are phenomenal as well. While these things support my assertion that Blue is awesome in M11, I don’t recommend planning on playing mono-color in draft.
I like a Blue/Black deck with flyers, scrying, card drawing, creature removal , bounce and perhaps some discard, permission or graveyard recursion. When you draft Blue/White, there is almost no need to have creatures without flying. I recently played against a Blue/White deck that featured two Wall of Ice. I was shocked to see in game two that he hadn’t sideboarded them out and I proceeded to play the entire game without playing a non-flyer. Generally the two drop slot is where I load up on non-flyers. Cards like Child of Night, Maritime Guard and Blinding Mage can help ensure I can’t be overrun on the ground while I’m rolling out my air force.
The main things I want you to take away from this week’s article are: draft blue In M11, don’t draft Green in M11, keep the number of archetypes you are considering drafting low and make sure they are the most powerful ones. Next week I will talk about power drafting in Rise of Eldrazi and continue to discuss why power drafting is a good idea in general. Until then, consider this: the messages you send are at least as important as the ones you receive.
Darwin Kastle is a Hall of Famer, multiple Pro Tour Champion, multiple Grand Prix champion, and Invitational winner (depicted on Avalanche Riders) - He built his reputation on playing limited formats and then went on to win multiple Constructed tournaments such that his overall play skill is unquestionable. As a game designer and avid Magic player, his input and wisdom is valuable to all.| Useful Author Links | Last 4 posts |
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While your m11 analysis is spot on I have to disagree with your unc/com listing in blue (as it is by far the strongest colour that one caught my eye).
Blue
1. Mind Control
2. Air Servant
3. Aether Adept
4. Azure Drake
5. Cloud Elemental
6. Foresee
7. Augury Owl
8. Jace’s Ingenuity
9. Mana Leak
10. Water Servant
Listing Adept over Air servant seems just wrong, yes the adept is good and can be insane in multiples, but it can also be quite lacklustering. The air suvant is just nuts, hitting for 4 flying at 5cc and being able to shut down other flyers just wins games.
Listing forsee over the great common fliers of blue also seems a bit awkward. Forsee is great, no doubt about it, but those fliers are your bread and butter.
Not having mana leak in the list is also something I have to disagree with. Mana leak is just so damn good, even in limited. With blue being able to be quite the aggro colour mana leak becommes even better. Not having a blocker hit the table or countering a removal early on can put a game completely out of reach for your opponent. Unsummon can be decent, even good with enough presure, but not as good and as consitent as mana leak is.
… have you forgotten that cultivate is in m11? Sylvan ranger makes the list for green, but not cultivate?
The Harbor Serpent in blue is simply insane. It’s a great finisher. It usually comes down turn 7-8 to close out the game. By this time they have used up their removal so it’s likely to get there. It’s Island walking bonus is just that. Huge unblockable monster! At it’s worst it’s a giant wall that kills everything but greens big guys.
I’d rate the Air servant over Adept but I’ve still gotta admit that Adept is a huge tempo swing or can close out a game when you need spot removal of sorts.
A lot of the strength ratings depend on what the aggressiveness of your deck looks like. In a fairly aggressive Blue/Black tempo deck, which is where most of the commons/uncommons point you, Darwin is right about Aether Adept. The card is simply a blowout. It generates enough tempo advantage to either reverse the tide against a more aggressive deck (e.g. White Sligh), or buys you the time to kill a slightly slower deck that just dropped it’s bomb.
Agree with comment about Harbor Serpent – a lot of people seem to underrate it, which is great because i’d always play one in my blue decks.
Sleep is an absolute blowout. In an aggressive deck it is (almost) an overrun style finisher. Should be in the top 10, IMO.
After quite a few drafts in this format, i’ve become quite a big fan of the blue leyline… Being able to cast aether adepts during their turn to bounce creatures and have a blocker on the board, or just being able to cast spells like jace’s ingenuity or foresee at the enemy’s EoT is incredibly valuable… not to mention out-of-color options, like act of treason for a quick blocker, assassinate, pacifism… the list goes on.
First, nice strat guide. I was looking for something like this and it has definitely helped my drafting some. However I can’t resist giving my improvements. 1st I think we should give mention to the good uncommon artifacts of M11.
Artifact ranking:
1. Gargoyle Sentinel – 3/3 for 3 mana is better than average. The fact that its colorless and can fly make this pretty solid in most decks.
2. Juggernaut – Not for all decks, but a 5/3 charger for 4 mana is pretty darn nice.
3. Crystal Ball – Better than I expected. It doesn’t take long for this to pay off tossing lands on the bottom of your deck (or getting that 4th/5th land that won’t come)
4. Stone Golem – wow does this make Berserkers of Blood ridge look bad
5. Wispersilk Cloak – Always a potential game ender
6. Sorcerer’s Strongbox – Pricey, but solid if you don’t have tons of 4-drops.
7. Warlord’s Axe – Pricey, but is a great bomb blocker or stalemate ender.
8. Elixer of Immortality – Gaining life isn’t amazing, but with pridemates available and its shuffling your graveyard back in the library concentrating your deck (if you’re not scrying) I think it has some playability (and this is the weakest draftable uncommon artifact IMO)
None of these are as good as the top cards for each color, but the top 3 here I would often pull over several of the top ten.
Next I offer my red top 10:
1. Fireball
2. Lightning Bolt
3. Pyroclasm
4. Chandra’s Outrage
5. Ember Hauler
6. Chandra’s Spitfire
7. Fiery Hellhound
8. Prodigal Pyromancer
9. Manic Vandal
10. Shiv’s Embrace
This leaves Fling and Act of Treason out. Notes on my list:
- Act of Treason is good and is maybe tied for 10th, but most often it gives you a card disadvantage for 1 turn of some added power. Blue’s sleep at 1 more mana is a much better card. 2 turns of virtually defenseless enemy = win often, or gets you back in the game
- Fling is my least favorite of your top 10. It usually forces card disadvantage for you (even at best generally) and you need a creature you don’t mind loosing. Stalemates don’t seem too common in M11 so far, or I’d give this more love. Yes it can win games, but only if you’ve gotten them near death. Note: Act of Treason + Fling = nice combo.
- Manic Vandal – a 2/2 for 3 is a little pricey, but there’s quite a few good artifacts in M11 so the chance of a 2 for 1 card advantage is pretty high. Would bump it down if I had drafted a couple of non-sac artifacts already.
- Shiv’s embrace makes my top 10. Yes it has weaknesses, but can do as much in a turn as fling and may stay out several rounds. Its extra mana cost I don’t see as so bad because fling isn’t really an early game card either.
- I bumped down Chandra’s Spitfire. It does deserve more love than I initially thought because it can block lots of the top 10′s fliers, but its ability is rarely useful in M11 sealed and 1 damage even flying is minor. Now if you’ve drafted a Prodigal or he was a common… that’d be different
#MTGNews #MN Power Drafting for Magic 2011 http://tinyurl.com/2avfb67
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Magic the Gathering post: Power Drafting for Magic 2011 … http://ow.ly/18iRn0
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Magic the Gathering post: Power Drafting for Magic 2011 … http://ow.ly/18iRn1
This comment was originally posted on Twitter