That sounds like 12 tickets in cards before your chaffe or your boosters, which is exactly what UUL delivers so often. Your packs are generally "gravy" and the more you play it, the more you learn.
I've decided to run the Urzas primer sometime in the next 10-14 days to help you start collecting more of those packs!
I did an UZUZUL last night, and even though I didn't win (I have no idea what I'm doing), I pulled a Smokestack, Rancor, and a Lackey and totally made some profit! Thanks for the article! I would've never tried if I hadn't read this!
Disciple and Atog have really improved the consistency of affinity. I've added 3x of another spell (that isn't typically played in affinity) and I blow people out with it. I'm going to keep it in my pocket though, as I feel a lot of the pauper players probably read most pauper articles on this website.
I didn't quite understand your UR comment, but I always win g1, and usually steal 2 or 3.
Goblins does have a ton of sac guys for the Tendrils, but I'm not sure that's a good enough reason to play it when you can just kill their sac guys with other stuff and bury them with ToC.
I'm really at odds with defense grid - I have literally opened 30+ of these things, and its getting old fast. I understand it isn't an awful rare, but where value is concerned it should be worth next to nothing as it was reprinted in a white-bordered core set. Yet, it still retains close to 1 ticket value.
Some other examples from the third set are:
Wheel of Torture
Lurking Skirge
Iron Maiden
They all just seem to fetch more than they should.
This was wonderful and exactly what I was looking for, I want non-standard blocks badly but was afraid drafting UL/UZ was a mistake due to low cost of cards, I'm a new player and knowing I maybe able to make my money back feels great!
It wasn't as bad as everyone has said! I enjoyed it, I would like if you spent 2-4 minutes on a newbie section detailing cards worth getting @ cheap prices, where to learn, people to learn from, ect!
Great article. Great for people who look to minimize the loss per draft.
I'm not really sure if I want read more of "I picked this rare and made lots of money" as it doesn't offer much learning experience. I look forward to reading this series, something tells me that this could be the one of the best series of articles on MTGO.
Relic and Bojuka are decent cards in the mirror and versus Tortured Existence , UR Post or UB teachings decks. You could probably make some space for them.
Rare-drafting is essential to going infinite on a draft-first diet. There's no two ways around it. It's important to be able to rare-draft and still get results - that's the real key. I can respect the fact that most people reading this article are likely not 1850+ and that's easier said than done.
I have no qualms with writing a primer on draft formats. The only two that I won't do are RoE (not qualified) and Me4 (no interest). An urza primer is something I was already considering. I'll start taking screenshots now.
I went 1-3 in yesterday's TPDC tournament with this. The main deck wasn't the problem, it was SB against reanimation effects and flashbacks and the like. Seriously needs some Graveyard hate. I had an opponent repeatedly "Disturbed Burial" an "Aven Riftwatcher" which I assure you was no fun for me. Maybe 2 "Bojuka Bog"s main deck, I know it lowers swamp total for "Corrupt", but disturbing their game whether it be through their graveyard or hand with discard is equally important. I'm going to be putting a couple of "Relic of Progenitus" in SB also.
I'm still pretty newb at MTG so please flame me if my comments are irrelevant.
I think that's like saying "Why play MTG when you could spend the time working and probably earn more money?" I used to be of the same mind until I realised: a) How fun drafting is, b) How easy it is to get passed cards when the rest of the table doesn't know values, and c) How many mistakes MTG players make :p.
This is better than many of the other "Going Infinite" articles I have seen in my time. I don't want to see too many facts and figures since I have seen them all before (ie why 4-3-2-2 is worse EV than 8-4), but you provide simple explanations to supplement the information and your reasoning. I also really liked the length of this article.
My only slight complaint is that, stripping away the skin, it looks like an article on how to raredraft. I know that's essential to going infinite, but so is raking in the packs by tight play and knowing the format.
I'd be interested in a primer on playing all the different draft formats. Each block has its own quirks and it is hard to evaluate the cards without playing it a bunch of times. But that's a lot of time and money where you're not winning yet because you're still learning the format. Since you seem to know a little about every format, that could be a good article or two.
Well affinity is a tier 1 deck for sure, but at least from my grinding I didn't quite see it, also red deck wins can be found to go 4-0 if needed but its really not that much played. Affinity has a problem concerning lack of consistency besides being underwhelmed by UR post. I consider it a good matchup for mbc.
Salgy: I also like Tendrils of Corruption a lot but goblins play something like 8 sac enablers making it a lot weaker, alongside with Vines in stompy, also the green aggro decks are also a big part poison, making the life gain kind of irrelevant
I really wish we could get a solid boycott running against 4-3-2-2's. As long as we continue to let Wizards rob us with this format, they will keep smiling and taking our money. MTGO is horrible EV anyways and 4-3-2-2's are salt in the wound
plus you need the tendrils of corruption in main too. helps fight goblins and other crazy aggro decks. by letting them swing swing cryptic rat during their combat phase, wipe board, sit back next creature they play you drain netting life and so forth till you stack a huge corrupt. but like grandpoohbah said you need atleast 2 okibas and most def 4 of each rat. and hate to burst your bubble storm decks can go off with 2-3 lands so befoul isnt a for sure stop them from going off. the real meat and potatoes of MBC was card disruption, mass life gain off of tendrils and corrupt and board control with cryptic rat. And why no grim harvest? grim harvest is sooo awesome in the deck.
Yes, I thought of you a fair amount when writing about the rare-drafting segment of this article. I think you probably do it more than anybody I've met on MTGO.
Also, concerning Urzas, people really dont know the value of things. I am going to talk about a draft I had next week, but I'll spoil it here.
Pack 3.
Pick 1 - Bone Shredder (worthless, but awesome)
Pick 2 - Mother of Runes (6 tickets)
Pick 3 - Memory Jar (3.5 tickets)
Pick 4 - Mother of Runes (6 tickets)
Pick 5 - Karmic Guide (3.5 tickets)
I was in UB at the start of the pack, and with those first five picks I quickly jumped to BW (I had cut a path to peace and a pacifism) and won the draft.
Urzas is a sure thing over the long term and sure things = profit.
I can attest that TheRegularGangster knows his stuff, nice job writing it up. Regarding the EV of 4-3-2-2s, you have to consider that some, like UUL, are nix-tix/nix-pax. So not only does UUL have the most valuable EV, it's also the cheapest to enter. I routinely get 30+ tix worth of cards in a UUL draft, for only a 12 tix entry. On a couple of occasions I've gotten over 50 tix worth of cards; with only 45 cards, that's over a tix/card! The way I look at it, winning matches is something of a crapshoot regardless of how good your deck winds up. Mana screw, the possibility that you get matched against some crazy awesome deck round 1, and other luck factors can hamper playing to win. So I only draft formats where you pretty much can't lose money rare drafting, and just treat any prize packs as gravy. You wind up winning some matches regardless--I probably average 1 prize pack per draft, and so I consider 8 tix worth of cards to be break even. In UUL you can usually get that just from a handful of commons.
I agree about Swiss players. I don't consider myself a bad player and I almost exclusively play swiss when I have the time because I want to play my games. There are many solid players in swiss queues.
That sounds like 12 tickets in cards before your chaffe or your boosters, which is exactly what UUL delivers so often. Your packs are generally "gravy" and the more you play it, the more you learn.
I've decided to run the Urzas primer sometime in the next 10-14 days to help you start collecting more of those packs!
I did an UZUZUL last night, and even though I didn't win (I have no idea what I'm doing), I pulled a Smokestack, Rancor, and a Lackey and totally made some profit! Thanks for the article! I would've never tried if I hadn't read this!
Disciple and Atog have really improved the consistency of affinity. I've added 3x of another spell (that isn't typically played in affinity) and I blow people out with it. I'm going to keep it in my pocket though, as I feel a lot of the pauper players probably read most pauper articles on this website.
I didn't quite understand your UR comment, but I always win g1, and usually steal 2 or 3.
Goblins does have a ton of sac guys for the Tendrils, but I'm not sure that's a good enough reason to play it when you can just kill their sac guys with other stuff and bury them with ToC.
I'm really at odds with defense grid - I have literally opened 30+ of these things, and its getting old fast. I understand it isn't an awful rare, but where value is concerned it should be worth next to nothing as it was reprinted in a white-bordered core set. Yet, it still retains close to 1 ticket value.
Some other examples from the third set are:
Wheel of Torture
Lurking Skirge
Iron Maiden
They all just seem to fetch more than they should.
Great blog. I'm relatively new to MTGO (Aug 2010) and have always wanted to play classic. This podcast is perfect for me!
As for the trivia, my guess is 25.
Didn't like your two article but this one was chalk full of content.
PS - Defense Grid is not a "bad" rare.
Nice job. You definitely put a lot of work into this!
This was wonderful and exactly what I was looking for, I want non-standard blocks badly but was afraid drafting UL/UZ was a mistake due to low cost of cards, I'm a new player and knowing I maybe able to make my money back feels great!
One of the best articles i have ever seen. Waiting for the next!! Congrats!!
It wasn't as bad as everyone has said! I enjoyed it, I would like if you spent 2-4 minutes on a newbie section detailing cards worth getting @ cheap prices, where to learn, people to learn from, ect!
I would be very interested in reading an Urza's Primer.
Great article. Great for people who look to minimize the loss per draft.
I'm not really sure if I want read more of "I picked this rare and made lots of money" as it doesn't offer much learning experience. I look forward to reading this series, something tells me that this could be the one of the best series of articles on MTGO.
That urza primer sounds cool. I havent jumpoed into a UZUZUL for lack of familiarity.
Relic and Bojuka are decent cards in the mirror and versus Tortured Existence , UR Post or UB teachings decks. You could probably make some space for them.
Rare-drafting is essential to going infinite on a draft-first diet. There's no two ways around it. It's important to be able to rare-draft and still get results - that's the real key. I can respect the fact that most people reading this article are likely not 1850+ and that's easier said than done.
I have no qualms with writing a primer on draft formats. The only two that I won't do are RoE (not qualified) and Me4 (no interest). An urza primer is something I was already considering. I'll start taking screenshots now.
I went 1-3 in yesterday's TPDC tournament with this. The main deck wasn't the problem, it was SB against reanimation effects and flashbacks and the like. Seriously needs some Graveyard hate. I had an opponent repeatedly "Disturbed Burial" an "Aven Riftwatcher" which I assure you was no fun for me. Maybe 2 "Bojuka Bog"s main deck, I know it lowers swamp total for "Corrupt", but disturbing their game whether it be through their graveyard or hand with discard is equally important. I'm going to be putting a couple of "Relic of Progenitus" in SB also.
I'm still pretty newb at MTG so please flame me if my comments are irrelevant.
I think that's like saying "Why play MTG when you could spend the time working and probably earn more money?" I used to be of the same mind until I realised: a) How fun drafting is, b) How easy it is to get passed cards when the rest of the table doesn't know values, and c) How many mistakes MTG players make :p.
Come to the dark side!
This is better than many of the other "Going Infinite" articles I have seen in my time. I don't want to see too many facts and figures since I have seen them all before (ie why 4-3-2-2 is worse EV than 8-4), but you provide simple explanations to supplement the information and your reasoning. I also really liked the length of this article.
My only slight complaint is that, stripping away the skin, it looks like an article on how to raredraft. I know that's essential to going infinite, but so is raking in the packs by tight play and knowing the format.
I got bored of drafting M11 anyway :p.
I'd be interested in a primer on playing all the different draft formats. Each block has its own quirks and it is hard to evaluate the cards without playing it a bunch of times. But that's a lot of time and money where you're not winning yet because you're still learning the format. Since you seem to know a little about every format, that could be a good article or two.
Well affinity is a tier 1 deck for sure, but at least from my grinding I didn't quite see it, also red deck wins can be found to go 4-0 if needed but its really not that much played. Affinity has a problem concerning lack of consistency besides being underwhelmed by UR post. I consider it a good matchup for mbc.
Salgy: I also like Tendrils of Corruption a lot but goblins play something like 8 sac enablers making it a lot weaker, alongside with Vines in stompy, also the green aggro decks are also a big part poison, making the life gain kind of irrelevant
I really wish we could get a solid boycott running against 4-3-2-2's. As long as we continue to let Wizards rob us with this format, they will keep smiling and taking our money. MTGO is horrible EV anyways and 4-3-2-2's are salt in the wound
plus you need the tendrils of corruption in main too. helps fight goblins and other crazy aggro decks. by letting them swing swing cryptic rat during their combat phase, wipe board, sit back next creature they play you drain netting life and so forth till you stack a huge corrupt. but like grandpoohbah said you need atleast 2 okibas and most def 4 of each rat. and hate to burst your bubble storm decks can go off with 2-3 lands so befoul isnt a for sure stop them from going off. the real meat and potatoes of MBC was card disruption, mass life gain off of tendrils and corrupt and board control with cryptic rat. And why no grim harvest? grim harvest is sooo awesome in the deck.
Thanks Grandpoobah.
Yes, I thought of you a fair amount when writing about the rare-drafting segment of this article. I think you probably do it more than anybody I've met on MTGO.
Also, concerning Urzas, people really dont know the value of things. I am going to talk about a draft I had next week, but I'll spoil it here.
Pack 3.
Pick 1 - Bone Shredder (worthless, but awesome)
Pick 2 - Mother of Runes (6 tickets)
Pick 3 - Memory Jar (3.5 tickets)
Pick 4 - Mother of Runes (6 tickets)
Pick 5 - Karmic Guide (3.5 tickets)
I was in UB at the start of the pack, and with those first five picks I quickly jumped to BW (I had cut a path to peace and a pacifism) and won the draft.
Urzas is a sure thing over the long term and sure things = profit.
I can attest that TheRegularGangster knows his stuff, nice job writing it up. Regarding the EV of 4-3-2-2s, you have to consider that some, like UUL, are nix-tix/nix-pax. So not only does UUL have the most valuable EV, it's also the cheapest to enter. I routinely get 30+ tix worth of cards in a UUL draft, for only a 12 tix entry. On a couple of occasions I've gotten over 50 tix worth of cards; with only 45 cards, that's over a tix/card! The way I look at it, winning matches is something of a crapshoot regardless of how good your deck winds up. Mana screw, the possibility that you get matched against some crazy awesome deck round 1, and other luck factors can hamper playing to win. So I only draft formats where you pretty much can't lose money rare drafting, and just treat any prize packs as gravy. You wind up winning some matches regardless--I probably average 1 prize pack per draft, and so I consider 8 tix worth of cards to be break even. In UUL you can usually get that just from a handful of commons.
I agree about Swiss players. I don't consider myself a bad player and I almost exclusively play swiss when I have the time because I want to play my games. There are many solid players in swiss queues.