By Mike Greenwood
I have never really had much inclination to write an article before this, but thanks both to the complaining of more experienced players about the quality of drafters, and to the fact that newer players have nowhere to start, this article was born. Considering the improbable chance of any of you caring about anything at all relating to real life, I’ll get right to the point. Drafting (a personal favourite format), always seems to be a crapshoot at the beginning, with those new to it spending months of 1-3, 0-4 or worse (somehow) before they begin to glean the basic reasons why they are losing and their opponents winning. Let’s get started shall we? (And if you haven’t guessed by now that this article is directed at those of beginner to intermediate skill at drafting… well it is).
Drafting – Basics
For those who have never even taken the plunge into the world of drafting (or tried it once or twice and got beaten for passing the pack the wrong way), I think it would be a good idea to explain the basics of drafting. (We can get to the strategies later). Of course there are better descriptions of how to draft (the basics) out there, but might as well keep a succinct compilation of all I have together. To start off, you’ll be given three booster packs (which, at this point in time, will be two Time Spiral and one Planar Chaos) and seated at a table of 6-10 people (in any serious event it will always be 8). You take ONE card from one of the Time Spiral pack before passing the pack to the left. The player on your right will do likewise, and you then take a card from THAT pack. Once all players have 15 cards, you repeat the process with the other Time Spiral pack, but passing to the player on your right. Then, you draft the last Planar Chaos pack, again passing to the left. Once everyone has their 45th card, you make a minimum 40-card deck with the drafted cards (and only the drafted cards, unless you want a DCI suspension) adding any number of basic lands you want. Then it plays like a normal single elimination or Swiss tournament.
Building your Deck
40 cards for your deck shouldn’t be an exception or a guideline - in most cases it should be a rule. For one, you should be playing the best spells and creatures in your deck and unless you got ridiculously lucky, adding more cards will mean weaker creatures overall. In addition, having 40 cards will make it just that bit more likely that you will draw any certain spell you need, so it increases both power and consistency. A good aim would be 23 spells and 17 lands, though in some decks only 16 lands are needed (and some may even need 18). Usually you also want to aim for 13-17 creatures (just a rough guesstimate), as it will assure you of getting the creatures out fast and heavy so you don’t get overwhelmed (and if your opponent is having a slow start, you can do the overwhelming). Lastly, keep to a proper mana curve, which I’ll get into now.
Mana Curve
Take all playables (cards good enough to put into your deck), and sort them into columns so that you can see how many of each mana cost you have (as in, a column for 1 cost cards, 2 cost cards, etc.). Put them into the column you’d play them as (for example, you’d rarely play a Fathom Seer not as a morph, and Durkwood Baloth is mostly a 1 cost card). When you see all the cards arranged in a mana curve, count them to see how many must be cut to have the 23 cards needed to have 17 lands. Most mana curves should aim to have the most spells in the 2cc (converted cost, as in, cards that cost 2 mana) or the 3cc. Sometimes, cards that are worse than other alternatives should be run to make sure you have a smooth curve. Having a smooth curve is key to dropping a creature or spell every turn to make sure you put the most pressure on your opponent. For example, a curve for a RW deck could be: 1cc – 3, 2cc – 6, 3cc- 8, 4cc – 4, 5cc – 2. This would almost ensure that you’d begin dropping threats on turn 2. Now I’ll go briefly into how many of each land you should have in your deck.
Constructing a Mana Base
Making your mana base as sturdy as possible is important in order to make sure that you don’t get colour screwed or flooded at any point in the game. The better constructed your deck is, the more consistent it will be when it counts. Many people just count up how many mana of each colour they have in the deck, then just use that as a ratio to divide into 17 and are done, but this is usually not enough. Say you drafted a GU deck with 2 Durkwood Baloths and a Search for Tomorrow, but otherwise the deck was predominantly blue, with 18U needed and 11G. Since you want the forest in your starting hand for the suspend cards, it may be more wise to run an extra forest as though you had more green, as in 9 Islands and 8 Forests as opposed to 10 Islands and 7 Forests. This will make sure you get the early drops when they are needed, early. Another thing to consider is splash colours for both running just a few cards of a colour or for activating off colour abilities/Flashback costs/Kicker costs. Running cards such as Prismatic Lens or Search for Tomorrow make these splashes much less of a hindrance to your consistency.
Drafting Etiquette
I just wanted to add this, as many drafters seem to have a problem with deducing this from common sense. When drafting (this is more at FNM level or at a weekly store draft), you should always keep table talking to a minimum, as much for those who like the quiet as to not get you in trouble for cheating. In higher-level tournaments, you usually shouldn’t talk at all, and I don’t doubt that the other drafters wouldn’t appreciate it. Another thing to avoid is to rush someone who is picking slowly or to look in either direction in such a way that you can see the packs your neighbours are drafting from (again, as much common courtesy as to not get in trouble). If you keep your eyes forward and only comment if someone else comments first it’ll make the draft run smoother for all involved.
Actually Drafting (Your First Pick!)
So you’re sitting down now with 15 cards fanned out in front of you, each removal spell and evasive bomb calling out your name. The first thing to look for is a card you’ve heard to be or know to be a bomb – a card that would benefit you so much that it shouldn’t be passed. Cards such as powerful removal (Strangling Soot, Lightning Axe), mass removal (Magus of the Disk, Sulfurous Blast), evasive and efficient creatures (Errant Ephemeron) or final finishers (Tromp the Domains, Disintegrate). These sorts of cards should always be looked at and picked first, all giving the advantage in the right deck and making yours just that much more powerful. I’ll come back to this after I mention…
This is much less important at a lower level of draft, as those around you are less likely to read the signals you send, and are much less likely to follow them. Since you aren’t allowed to talk about the cards while drafting, signalling is a way to tell those you’re passing to which colours to go into and which to stay out of. For example, if you don’t pass (m)any red cards to the guy on your left, it is much less likely he’ll be in red (and furthermore, if he tries to stay in red, he’ll be cut off all pack 1 and 3.) Sometimes the signals of a pack can change the decision of a pick to a worse card, to avoid colour conflicts in later packs (ensuring a solid flow of your colour later on). I’ll give an example to show my point; your pack has: Errant Ephemeron, Durkwood Baloth, Riftwing Cloudskate, Crookclaw Transmuter and Tendrils of Corruption (the other 10 cards aren’t first pick worthy). Though many consider blue the most powerful colour (or one of them), the correct pick would probably be the Baloth or Tendrils (mostly personal preference, as many players don’t like green). This example just came off the top of my head, but it gets my point across. I’ll come back to signalling in later picks and packs after I finish up with choosing your first pick.
Actually Drafting (Your First Pick!) pt. 2
I’ve always found the best way to get the most powerful draft deck is to approach the draft with no previous biases towards or away from any colour, just taking the right cards as they come, but many have favourite colours (or least favourite) and I won’t say not to. If you don’t like green, it is perfectly fine to take a slightly worse white card if you’d prefer to play white, as you’ll enjoy playing more as well as be more comfortable with the deck. Some players like drafting lots of removal and just clearing out everything to get through with a few creatures, and this is fine too. But if you really want to draft the most powerful deck available, take the best cards with the best signals, always be vigilant for openings into a new colour or for signs that yours are being taken by those around you. Just as a little add-on, I rank the earlier 4 categories of cards in the order of (best to worst)- mass removal, final finishers (unless Disintegrate – do NOT pass Disintegrate), powerful eemoval, evasive and efficient creatures. The most important thing about a first pick is to understand why you want to first pick it, and I’ll go briefly into that now.
What Makes a Card Good (in Draft)?
Of course this is going to be a bit more general then going through card by card, but since good drafters do more than just regurgitating what they’ve heard from others, it seems a good course of action. To address the strengths and weaknesses of each card that you want to draft, I’ll go through the main categories and talk about them separately.
Second Pick and Onwards – The Rest of the Draft
And after all that, I have to mention: your first pick doesn’t cement any of your colours. Plenty of times I haven’t been passed a second card of that colour and so have ended up not running it. The signals you get as the draft progresses are what you need to watch to see what colours to go into to make your deck the best it can be and be the most consistent when you play. If you see a powerful card going in a late pick, it usually is a good indicator that colour is open and don’t be afraid to switch your colours halfway through.
Hate Drafting
I’ll just add this concept in, as it plays a significant part in team and 8 person drafts. Hate drafting is drafting a card which you have no intention of playing, but someone in that colour most likely would. For example, taking Tendrils of Corruption while you are in UR so that it isn’t used against you. Don’t overdo this, but in moderation it can weaken the decks of the people around you without hurting your own.
Synergy
This is the last concept, I swear it. Synergy is when cards that are played together work even more powerfully than apart, an example being Ivory Giant and Cloudchaser Kestrel (making all your creatures white to avoid the tapping effect) or the reverse example of Empty the Warrens and Subterranean Shambler (I regret to say I’ve run this before). As you draft, taking cards that work well together can be the difference between dropping synergistic threats every turn and having dead draws that end with you losing. While drafting, be sure to keep this is mind and your deck will end up stronger as a result.
Conclusion
The first and foremost idea I’m trying to put forward is why cards are good and not which cards are good. It not only makes the information more significant to later sets, but will teach those newer to the format much more than force feeding them what’s good and what’s not. I hope my ramblings have been helpful to some or at least informative, and if I have missed anything, be sure to point it out!
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