AuthorPiemaster

Most people have some idea of what signalling is, but nearly everyone thinks they are bad at it. But on the plus side, it’s one of those areas that you can claim to be bad and still sound good. By acknowledging you are bad at signalling, you are basically saying,”Okay, I suck – but at least I suck at something very cool and mysterious, while the rest of you are busy sucking at ordinary things.” But how do we signal? I looked at four drafts I did, and asked people what colors they had actually wanted me to play, and what the people I had signalled actually did play, all in order to see how it’s done.

Bob goes to a lot of tournaments, and usually goes 3-3 or 4-3, but rarely makes the Top 8 except for occasional lucky days. He’s trying everything he can, but he just can’t seem to make that next big leap… And it is now far harder for Bob get help. Most articles on the net won’t help him get any better. But there are ten facets of his play that Bob can look at in order to help him leap ahead, as I have.

What this article is concerned with is color combinations. If you play a two-color deck, you have ten choices of what two colors to play – some obviously better than others. This article is going to look at the history of Onslaught Block drafting format so far and discuss how each color combination has fared – and then I will look ahead and try to predict which combinations will be the best, and which should be avoided in OLS drafts.

You will have heard a lot talk about the metagame if you follow Constructed strategy articles – especially lately in the context of Regionals. In fact, the metagame is one of the favorite topics of discussion for Magic theorists, tournament players, and people who want to sound like they are in the know… But what exactly is it? Not many people can actually give a satisfactory definition of the word, and will just mutter something about tier 1 decks and leave it at that. Instead, why not read this helpful introduction?

Drafts containing lower-level players play by a different set of rules than those that take place at Pro Tours and Grand Prixs. I wanted to dissect an amateur draft and try to work out exactly where certain players went wrong. Not top-level drafts – but drafts with players of varying skill, such as those you may take part in at your local store or on Magic Online. In order to do this, I had to talk to the players after the draft and find out what decisions they made and how they affected the draft. Hopefully, the results are worth it; they certainly opened my eyes to a few things.

Supply. Demand. Scary concepts? Not really. If you want to understand why Magic Online is an economic market and thus ace your Economics 101 exam, step right up! And if you’re trying to figure out why a Foil Pernicious Deed is worth 50 tickets or what’s going to happen to your Birds of Paradise once 8th Edition comes out, we’ll show you that, too!

I don’t have much to contribute on drafting strategy – so this is where the article should end, right? Actually, no; this is where it really begins. A lot of people head straight in, study the cards, make the best pick and start lovingly constructing their forty-card bundle of joy… And that’s really bad strategy, since there are several tricks you can use within Magic Online to shape your optimal drafting strategy.