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How to become a better drafter? (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by pathief@lemmy.world to c/mtg@mtgzone.com

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Hi all!

I pretty much only play constructed formats, mostly Explorer. I never create my own deck because I suck at it. I play lists made by other people that look fun and engaging. For context, I rank at least Diamond every season.

I tend to play a couple of drafts per set, mostly to get gems for the mastery pass. I also play all free phantom drafts. I find the drafts fun but I'm atrocious at it. I usually go 2-3 and perform pretty terribly. I don't think I've ever gone above the silver rank, but I guess I don't play that much either.

I'd like to educate myself on how to become a better drafter. I like drafting but as a F2P player, my win-rate is unsustainable. I tend to prioritize removal and "bombs" but my decks always feels like a pile of stuff that don't interact very well with eachover. I use the free Untapped extension that ranks the cards but I think it just aggravates my problem of getting a pile of nice cards that don't mesh together that well.

Any resource for a total newbie would be very appreciated. Cheers!

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[–] readthemessage 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Hi! You're absolutely right that while bombs and removal are essential, limited decks nowadays are almost always more than the sum of their parts.

Two good resources are the limited resources and the lords of limited podcasts. Check them and see if they suit your style. I would also recommend watching streamers playing the specific format as you can learn a lot about what work and what doesn't. There's a metagame in limited, and often, you're just drafting a bad deck because it's open more frequently. In any case, it takes some time to learn: you have to keep studying and playing, and eventually, the results will improve.

If you're a total newbie, as you say, sticking to the basic principles will already help you a lot (usually playing 17 lands and always playing 40 cards, for instance). Also, if you want to draft more often on Arena, it's a good idea to have multiple accounts as it's easier on the gold.

[–] rigatti@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I came here to recommend those two podcasts as well, but you beat me to it. I'll add that there are lots of great drafters on Twitch (Numot, HamTV, JustLolaMan, Dafore, Chord_O_Calls, etc.) and watching them draft live can give some insight into how they're thinking about things.

[–] readthemessage 2 points 2 years ago

Totally agree! Thanks for adding the streamers' names!