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Today I look at card win rates in each color pair. After week 1 we know much more about the format, so we can start exploring much more complicated questions. For example - which cards are universally good, which need a specific home. By analysing that, we can not only find cards that have low win rate but have a good home, but also figure out which plans work better than others. Alas, in order to do this - we need to see the whole spoiler so apologies for 4h episode. What needs to be done - needs to be done. I started offering coaching on Metafy! Go to my profile to see what's on offer! Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode on YT: 196
FRA is a banger. But a banger that is particularly hard to navigate. Cards can be contextually good, but there are some universal trends. Once you know them - the rest will become much easier. And hopefully by the end of this seminar you will have that baseline knowledge. And the true format discovery process can begin! I started offering coaching on Metafy! Go to my profile to see what's on offer! Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode on YT: 195
New set is out soon so why don't you learn the ins and outs of what we think is important in out eccentric, deck-centric set review. Instead of looking at cards, we build decks and show you how we think they might work. With me are The Rosemary Tea - check her awesome streams here. She is one of the most interesting drafters on the market, heavily invested in BO3 - as Garfield intended: https://www.twitch.tv/therosemarytea And Springbok. He is helping a community that organises old drafts online. XMage Draft Historical Society even has software to help playing the games. Miss drafting Tempest? Never tried Conflux? Check them out here: https://discord.gg/tpdSfgdAMc I started offering coaching on Metafy! Go to my profile to see what's on offer! Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode on YT: 194
This week I look into Pick Two draft. Since its introduction it has become a popular variant of Magic, both because of how fast it is, how little it costs and a relatively OK payout structure. So what does it change in drafting and what does having 12 packs in the pod change in the resulting decks? I started offering coaching on Metafy! Go to my profile to see what's on offer! Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode on YT: 193
The format has stabilised after 2 weeks of turmoil and now is the time to actually look for solutions. And to do it, you better know what cards make which types of decks and which cards fool you into playing them. I look at all the cards in the set and see what are the best homes for them and while we do it, we discover the rules governing the Hobbit draft. I started offering coaching on Metafy! Go to my profile to see what's on offer! Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode on YT: 192
New set, new rules of engagement. How to use the early draft data to understand the latest Magic expansion limited format? General set stats, color power, what makes each color pair tick and what are the traps to avoid. I started offering coaching on Metafy! Go to my profile to see what's on offer! Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode on YT: 191
Welcome to my eccentric, deck-centric set review. I look at some general stats for the new set, and fed with that information, set out to build functional draft deck and theory craft how the set might look like in the future. Am I right? Am I wrong - only time will tell. But I can guarantee you will get some nutritious food for thought in your own prep for the new format. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode on YT: 190
Format is now well developed and the pick orders stopped evolving - so it is time to start solving a static environment. And what better way to do it that re-evaluation of every card in the set? I look at each card and see how it performs in every color combination where data is available. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode on YT: Episode #189
New format, new opportunities. We can start discovering the secrets of the MSH set, but you've got to start somewhere - and where better than with the early 17Lands data? We look at set statistics, color power levels, best cards at each rarity, key cards and biggest traps in each color pair. This should prepare you for your LGS and get you ready to explore the more subtle interactions and niche builds later in the format - in the end you can't do that without some solid fundamentals. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode on YT: Episode #188 You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
Few days before the new set releases on Arena - why not see our vision of draft format before starting to draft? Our eccentric, deck-centric set review is back. We look at format stats, design vision and then instead of grading individual cards we propose 40 card decks skeletons to showcase what we see in each color pair. This time we have Tresio https://x.com/Tresio/ and Rosemary Tea https://x.com/TheRosemaryTea/ And we are in for an interesting discussion. MSH looks like a jazz improvisation set rather thn paint-by-numbers drafting prevalent in the last few sets and I am all in for it. It is also a polar opposite of SOS - a creature and permanent centered design after instant and sorcery themed SOS so expect to re-evaluate your evaluations. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode on YT: Episode #187 You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
This week we are trying something new. A journal club. And the reason for it is very simple - there are not that many Magic-related scientific papers out there. But last week Jess Williams and Zev Goldhaber-Gordon released a very interesting paper on opening hands, land percentages, mulliganing and mana flood. I invited both authors to talk about their findings and what implications they have for Magic players. We will be talking about BO3 mulligan rates, links between player win rate and mulligan rate, causes for any trends in that. We will also look at a neat method of estimating optimal land composition, and impact of both mana screw and flood. Jess and Zev are both PhD students with impressive scientific pedigree, but also Magic players with notable successes under their belts, so they combine the rigour needed for those sorts of analyses with understanding of the game. You can follow them here: Jess Williams: https://x.com/mtg_jess Zev Goldhaber-Gordon: https://bsky.app/profile/zergog.bsky.social And - most importantly find the paper here in its simplified version (the link to the full paper can be found in there too): https://medium.com/@mtg_jess/opening-hand-evaluation-in-limited-executive-summary-8360a819e2e6 Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode on YT: Episode #186 You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
This week we say goodbye to SOS and sending it off through testing some new deck clustering approach. This time it is capable of distinguishing sub-color pair builds. And this opens new possibilities of analysing limited data. What happens when a color(pair) is not open? Can we see the symptoms of drfting based on the 1st picks? I think that we can. The method I used here is experimental but based on this pilot run, I will incorporate it (and much earlier in the format) for other sets. Key aspect of this episode is testing the novel approach so be generous with comments and suggestions! Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode on YT: Episode #185 You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
Card win rates can be misleading if you don't look at them with some amount of granularity. Two color pairs have a very different base win rate? Card played in both can look middling. Card is only good in one color pair but is routinely played in many? Win rate can look bad. To start correctly assessing card power using data to add extra context is crucial. And if you do it well, you might discover some plans for each color pair that will otherwise remain hidden. Today you can see which card from SOS plays well in which of the colleges. But I will also show you how looking at the win rates of Strixhaven Skycoach and supplementing it with knowledge of the format can point you to less obvious conclusions related to the format. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode on YT: Episode #184 You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
New set is upon us, and it plays out sweet in Limited. I look at the early 17Lands data in order to figure out what works, what doesn't. But for this one, I think the more important thing is: what are the rules of engagement. What do you have to do in this format in order to start winning that is not typical for all formats. Hopefully the way I present the data will help you figuring that part out. Remember that looking at card win rates will give you a quick boost in your personal win rate, but understanding the format, getting to grasp its philosophy will set you off on the long-term winning streak, independently of how the format corrects in the future. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode on YT: Episode #183 You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
New set is almost there, so it is time for my eccentric, deck-centric set review with the ever changing but ever wise Skeleton Crew. This time we have Zach Kagan and Tresio and we dive into out hopes and aspirations for the Secrets of Strixhaven set. And what a banger it promises to be. Despite being a 5 guilds set, where only 5 color pairs are supported for draft, the design team tried to seed in fast and slow versions of each of the 5 archetype and we try to figure out how that could work for each of them. We look at cards, but in context of decks and plans rather than evaluating each card in vacuum. Great material to prime yourself for the upcoming set, and I can proudly say - I think it is one of the best Skeleton Crew episodes we did so far. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode on YT: Episode #182 You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
No graphs in this seminar but we are looking at something that will help you in every format you play and, who knows, potentially also in your non-magic part of life. Today we look at some cognitive theory and find ways our own brain tries to make us lose. How does it do it, what can we do about it? How to find a right mix of instinctive reactions and analytical thinking that maximises our intellectual contribution towards our games while letting us play a long tournament without getting exhausted? We also look at some common biases and put them in the context of Magic the Gathering draft. How to create a system that lets us avoid those common cognitive traps? How to build a structured approach that will naturally make us aware of our own brain trying to fool ourselves. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode on YT: Episode #181 You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
Everything Pizza decks are the open secret of the TMT draft format. Some streamers chain one 5 color deck after another. And there is a good reason for that. Since it has not been covered by any podcasts, the top cards for the archetype, including its namesake, are still going relatively late. And it is by far the best deck in the format. Its win rate averages at 60% - way above WB ninjas. And, if you build it correctly, this can be much higher. Today I will look at dos and don'ts of Everything Pizza 5C piles and hopefully convince you that if you never drafted it - you never truly played the TMT draft format and are missing out on the fun. Also - since it is a format where 5C deck is busted, if you feel afraid of playing 5C in draft - this is probably the best time to try it and learn how to do it in the future as normally 5C deck have a very different set of fundamentals than run-of-the-mill 2C draft decks. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode on YT: Episode #180 You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
Even with only 5 supported color pairs, some cards are not universally good. And after learning about the best cards in the last episode, figuring out the ones that have only one good home is important. We can fool ourselves by looking at the generic win rates of a card, but sometimes the difference can be massive. Extreme example is the poster boy of this episode, Armaggon, Future Shark. A bona fide bomb in BG decks, improving their win rate by a whooping 12%p, in WB it actually lowers it by 2%p. Reasons are obvious - WB doesn't want an 8-drop and doesn't have tools to cast them. But some cards are less obvious - check out the episode to see which ones are those. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode on YT: Episode #179 You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
New set, new rules and despite its small size TMT looks interesting. There is a variety of diverse strategies which are viable - aggro, control, tempo are all there. And some cards do surprisingly well - check out this episode to see which ones and why. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #178 This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
Our deck-centric, eccentric set review is back - we cover the key aspects of the upcoming Turtle set. Get some head start over the rest of Arena folk by tapping into great minds of Jason Ye and Springbok7. I am also present. How to build the 5 main color pairs, some key cards and good ideas on what is going to be important in the format and what is not. Plus some silliness - but that one is a given with the skeleton crew. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #177 This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
Typal sets are tricky to navigate. How are we supposed to know if this particular Kithkin is OK in Elves or not? And how do we even start one of the unsupported color pairs? Well, here is the answer. I look at most cards in the set and try to figure out which cards are good in surprising homes and what cards are letting you stay open to non-canonical color pairs as much as it is possible. We also talk about meta strategy - what are the dominant ideas on how to navigate ECL drafts and where do i stand on the topic. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #176 This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
New set - new analyses. We look at the basics of Lorwyn Eclipsed - which color pairs are looking good, which are looking sus. Best cards at each rarity all in the sauce of context that will hopefully help you putting those trophies on board and - more importantly - letting you understand what makes the format tick. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #175 This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
Our eccentric, deck-centric set review is back. My class guests go through the skeletons of the 5 supported color pairs in Lorwyn Eclipsed, building functional decks using mainly commons and uncommons to keep it realistic. But there is more. Since there are only 5 main builds we let them loose to brew and got such bangers as Reanimator or Burn in the process. This time we have: Sam Pratt (bsky.app/profile/sampratt.bsky.social) of the Rough Drafts podcast, Adam DDVAP (https://x.com/adam_ddavp) Limited Grinder, Lorcana champion and an owner of a cyberpony, Zachy K (bsky.app/profile/zakagan.bsky.social) One of the Minnesota's finest Magic players and comedians. Yes, I probably am getting cancelled in Minnesota. Give them a follow and enjoy the show. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #174 This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
Is Arid Mesa better than Black Lotus (no) what cards make reanimator decks tick? What plan B should a Breach / Brain Freeze deck have for more resilience? All that in this weeks special episode on arena power cube. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #173 This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
This week time to look at 2025 in retrospective - what cards were the heroes of last year's draft? I use data to highlight some bests in multiple categories. Part to reminisce, part to try and think more about the current designs and player psychology to see if we can get some advice from there. Did you know bonus sheet cards are more likely to be over and underrated? Me neither! Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #172 This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
Cutting that land is tempting when you build your draft deck. But is it? This time I explore some data on what are the features of a successful 16 land deck, which cards make it tick and which are not pulling their weight. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #171 This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
How often did you regret a draft pick after the draft? That lingering feeling you should have made a different choice in a 50:50 decision? Well, hopefully today I will convince you to worry less. We will look at the cost of abandoning the picks and I will make a semi-coherent case that if your card evaluation is OK, you will end up just fine. We are also going to learn why pack 1 picks are more important for finding a lane than for providing playables. We even venture (only for a bit) into constructed world. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #170 This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
17Lands win rates we look at the most show us how much a card is winning in all the decks it has been put into. And for many cards, this is enough. They are either generically good and play well in most shells, or generically bad and should be avoided. But what about those exceptions?Well, sometimes the generic win rate can be misleading. Some cards with. low win rate perform very well in one specific color pair - you miss on it and you are haemorrhaging those precious win rate percentages. For example, Fire Navy Trebuchet in the last set has middling win rate but does exceptionally well in White-Black decks. In this episode I painstakingly go through all the cards in the set where dat was available and try to add that extra level of granularity to boost your win rates. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #169 This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
New set is upon us and it feels great! Drafts are fun, mechanics feel awesome, and there is still plenty left to discover. And this is why we are here: to lok at the early data and give you some pointers on what works so far and where to look for new possibilities. We will look at most powerful colors, cards, and what makes each of the 10 color pairs tick. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #168 This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
Join out deck-centric eccentric set review. Instead of reviewing individual cards, we are looking at whole decks for each color pair - how would we build them, which cards are we hopeful for and what synergies will be key in the early days of the format once it hits the Arena. My guests this time are SamP (Sam Pratt): https://bsky.app/profile/sampratt.bsky.socialZachy K (Zach Kagan): https://bsky.app/profile/zakagan.bsky.socialAnd Tresio (Mike Reiners): https://x.com/TresioPing me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #167 This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
Spider-Man set has not exactly been a crowd pleaser, but that should not distract us from some positive features it had. As far as I am not impressed by its execution, the idea of a pick 2 draft is interesting and I would love to see it implemented again - in a better balanced set. The concept of smaller pod and picking 2 cards has massive implications on the signals sent and received in the draft - and in this episode I do a bit of a refresher on draft signals altogether and dive into some OM1 17Lands data to try and see what was the impact of Spider-Man on how the signals work. If you want to see my feature match from Liverpool + the interview with Martin Juza, here is the link:https://www.youtube.com/live/EMvNSz5nSPE?si=g29U2u3z7wwVI82K&t=20759 Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #166 This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
New set upon us and it is a challenging one. But worth giving it at least a couple of tries and you want to be prepared for that. What colors tick and which are duds? Which cards overperform and which failed to fulfil their promise? And why are there so many spiders in this definitely in-universe set? Find out the answers to at least some of those questions in my lates episode. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #165 This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
New set is upon us so it is time for our unique deck-centric, eccentric set review. Smaller set, smaller crew, so this time me, Sam Pratt from the Rough Drafts podcast and Zach Kagan (see below for their details) go through the specifics of Marvel's Spider-Man and look at which cards we expect to do well, which ones we have little trust in and how would we build each of the 5 supported decks. Which cards will matter and define the format? What can flop and what considerations do we need to take into account when starting with SPD. Check my guest's socials:https://linktr.ee/roughdraftshttps://bsky.app/profile/zakagan.bsky.social Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #164 Slides This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
Today's episode is all about card evaluation. I look at cards from the recent past which were either amazingly good, sneakily good but under-appreciated by the community or traps that looked like they might be good but did not deliver. What vcan we learn from those cards? Are there any common themes? How to recognise a potential trap early or how to pick hidden gems more reliably? Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #163 This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
Today we get a great guest - Sam Pratt from Rough Drafts podcast and we are talking about how to figure out builds, what role does the data play in that process and in the process figure out some key features of successful build-arounds in the format. Sam is someone worth following - you can find their socials / podcast here:https://linktr.ee/roughdrafts Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #162 This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
Week one data can only get you that far in understanding the format. To get a full grasp on it we need to go a bit deeper than the superficial. Today we try to look at cards in the context of their best homes. Yes, some cards are universally good, but some require a bit more thought put into where they belong or - even more tricky - where they don't belong. And through those unique (or uniquely bad) cards, we can also start speculating on the most consistent game plans for each color pair. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #161 This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
New set, early start and people are struggling a bit - this is where data can be truly helpful. Get some ideas on what the format is all about through the lens of numbers. Green looks solid but what makes other colors tick? And what should you be cautious about when interpreting the early numbers? Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #160 This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
The new set is upon us so it is time to reanimate the Skeleton Crew. Our eccentric, deck-centric set review is back!! Through the means of ancient necromancy we have summoned Jason Ye, Sam Pratt (of the Rough Drafts podcast - give it a try) and Tresio to debate Edge of Eternities cards, decks and colors. Invaluable prep for your pre-release or just to hit the drafts running as soon as it gets released on Arena. Someone on Reddit said that this is the best set review format on the market - so it must be true!We built deck skeletons for each color pair in the new set using some arcane and very arbitrary rules and we try to review the set through the lens of those prototype decks. Find my esteemed guests on Bsky: @JasonILTG, @sampratt or on X @tresio Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #159 Slides This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
Once per set I try to explore some new data concepts and try to give you, the viewer, some insight into the research process while trying to answer some questions related to limited Magic that interest me. This week episode is all about openness in draft lanes - something Final Fantasy was mage for as a very well balanced set. And this led me to a new concept - negative space win rates. How does not having a card in your deck impact the win rate. And how is it different from not drawing a card you have in your deck in a game. -Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #158 vid This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
Mr Sierkovitz goes to Vegas - in spirit only. I teamed up with Team Cosmos to help them in their Pro Tour prep and you can now see how it went. PT prep needs to be fast and efficient - as there are only few days between the set release and the competition. So this hypercondensed seminar goes through all cards in the set and tries to put as much context as possible in as little time as possible. We go through general power, but also look at best homes for each card is applicable. Working with legends of the game is easy as they will use their own judgement in the best way possible but not all Pros are Limited specialists so I made sure that the talk is also useful to an average Arena player - so if you want to get a good overview of the format - look no further. It is probably the fastest set review ever and a useful one at that as it is not based on uncertainties before the release but on data driven approaches, albeit based on imperfect early data. Bunch of caveats apply - I tried to highlight as many as possible, but use caution all through, particularly for rarer cards where sample size is still relatively small. Thanks to Team Cosmos - it was great to take part in their prep and see the inner workings of a pro team and observe some masters at work. -Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #157 vid This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website
New set is here, and Final Fantasy looks from the early days like a potential all-timer for us limited folks. And getting into the nitty gritty of it should start with getting some fundamentals - what colors look good (spoiler - all of them), which color pairs should you be playing (spoiler - also all of them) and which cards overperform (spoiler - ok - not all of them, for this you need to watch the episode). I look through each color pair and try to find what is best, what is under-explored but good and warn you of any traps for more successful drafting. -Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #156 vid This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website.
I am joined by a motley crew of Limited sickos for our eccentric deck-centric set review. We look at some basic info about the upcoming Final Fantasy set and then present our deck skeletons - 40 card functional? decks in each color pair in order to showcase what we think is going to be good in the format. We look at cards in context, as pieces of a synergistic whole, to try and think beyond raw card power. My guests this week are Tresio, Springbok7 and SamP - all Limited fans, all great drafters. They debate and discuss their builds with me playing the role of a moderator and an annoying nitpicker. A role I do truly love.You can find Tresio athttps://x.com/TresioSpringbok7 at https://www.twitch.tv/springbok7and SamP at https://bsky.app/profile/sampratt.bsky.socialor you can check out his excellent podcast: Rough Drafts:https://open.spotify.com/show/4OnYIYmoCdnnlC7pUVyM0A Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #155 vid This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website.
New set is upon us and we have an impossible task of figuring out which cards are grerat and which are traps without the advantage of having them ever in our hands. Data won't solve that problem but it can definitely help, by looking at the general trends in card power across mana values, colors, etc. Also we can look into the amazing #P0P1 initiative from MTG_DS, where hundreds of people put their bets on the best cards in a set before its release (which mtg_ds kindly shared with me). This let me look at the wisdom of the crowd - what cards were widely liked but turned out to be duds, which cards nobody saw coming. Why some cards fly under the radar, while some lure us into the trap?Here is the example fo P0P1 results from TMD for reference - make sure to give MTG_DS a follow - in the end it stands for Magic Data Science, you should be interested!https://x.com/mtg_ds/status/1920641850546815335 Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #154 vid This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website.
Sealed data - the title sort of says it all ;) - will edit later (or will I?)
This week we try to add a little bit context to the Tarkir: Dragonstorm drafts. Yes, some cards have high win rate, but who cares? That doesn't mean you should cram them in any deck. Some cards have a low win rate - again - that doesn't make them unplayable. They just need the right home. Today, with some 17Lands numbers I try to figure out what cards make the 6 main color combinations of this format tick. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #152 vid This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website.
This week we dive into the new set - what is the big picture data? What are the key cards in each color, how to approach the early data and wht makes the 3C combinations tick. Also - how to pick fixing in TDM. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #151 vid This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website.
Some meta stuff today. How to read data. What traps to avoid and what does data tell us about reading data. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #150 vid This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website.
Yet again our ever changing lineup of limited virtuosos takes on out unique deck-centric and excentric take on a set review. What to expect from the new set, what are we going to be playing, trying to draft, avoiding and dreaming of assembling. You can find my guests on Bsky:https://bsky.app/profile/jasoniltg.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/r-condon.bsky.socialor Elon Musks X.com platform:https://x.com/Tresio Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #149 vid This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website.
Today I look at the impact of luck in Aetherdrift draft. How much of the games outcome is determined by the luck in the pod? And how do great players deal with that? And how you, my dear viewer can become, if not great, at least better. I also talk about vehicles. And cards played in multiples. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #148 vid This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website.
Some cards are just great. They have it all - they fit like a glove to any deck you drafted. But some are amazing in one place, but a detriment elsewhere. The generic Win Rate metsrics for those cards can be misleading because they will be impacted by the cards bad performance in some decks so you won't see it is actually good in a more niche home.This week I look for those cards that have one home where they are great. Or decent. So you can start including them where they belong. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #147 vid This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website.
New set and this time the rules of engagement changed. And early data tells that story very well. Avoid the traps and start winning by being ahead of the curve. Might come in handy - either on Arena, your LGS or, dare I say, upcoming PT. I go through all the colors, color pairs, highlighting key cards and adding some context and describing the game plans that seem to give good results. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #146 vid This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website.
The Skeleton Crew is back!!! Me, Jason Ye, Zach Kagan and Jake Browne look at Aetherdrift and try to figure out what are the key themes / synergies and cards in the new set. This is our unique take on a set review where more attention is put on within-set synergies rather than individual card power. We go through all the colorpairs and try to see how we envision decks in those color pairs, what will be important for them and where we expect hits and misses. Watch it to get ready for your prerelease and when the set hits arena and receive the insight into our questionable sense of humor as a "bonus". And I am using the word "bonus " very loosely here. My guests are an exceptional bunch. Worth following them and here is where you can do it: Jason: https://bsky.app/profile/jasoniltg.bsky.social Zach: https://bsky.app/profile/zakagan.bsky.social Jake: https://bsky.app/profile/jakebrowne.com Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #145 vid This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website.
We hear the wisdom from experienced players: Always play your two drops, Spend all your mana, and many more. But how do the numbers back those old truths? Do they stand scrutiny of testing them through data? Are they universal? Or are there corner cases? I test several Limited heuristics and hopefully you get to level up your game play through it! Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #144 vid This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website.
In this episode, I answer a variety of question about Magic, life, cooking and stuff. Mainly MAgic though, so don't worry - you can still get something useful out of it, I am not turning into a lifestyle content creator. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #143 vid This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website.
New set is with us and with it the usual struggles. What to play, which cards overperform, which do badly, what color pairs to prioritise. Fear not - I have most of the basics covered and hopefully you will leave with a solid understanding of the key features of the Pioneer set. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #142 vid This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website.
"Draft the good cards" is one of the basic pieces of advice you will get when starting to play limited. But just how effective is that advice? I dived deep in 17Lands.com data from BO1 Foundations drafts to measure just that. Turns out that this advice is solid. Over the course of the episode I will try to make you understand how and why does it work and how to best apply it, especially if you are a newer player. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: Episode #141 vid This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website.
There are some cards that are just great in Limited. You can jam them into any deck and be happy about it. Filling your whole deck with those must be nice. In reality, to find 23 playables we need to compromise a bit. Some cards will be below par. But with some knowledge you can make the most of that. Some cards can be great in one of the color pairs in the format but mediocre in others. Knowing that will help you in putting them only in the right home and thus maximising on their power. Other cards are the opposite - great in most color pairs, but significantly weaker in one. Imagine if W is aggressive in a format apart from WU decks which tend to be controlling. You can imagine cards that will be great in all W decks apart from WU and cards that are specifically great in WU. This is the plan for today's episode - sifting through all the common and uncommon cards in the set to find the ones that need a particular home. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: https://youtu.be/fz372F0oTzI This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website.
New set, new data. How to position yourself well in a new format? Get the best available card evaluations as early as possible. And that is the aim of this episode. I will look at each color pair through the lens of the key card - surprising hits, reliable performars and shocking duds. Plenty of cards in each category will be discussed throughout the episode. Hopefully with this information you will be ready to trophy more and outplay those who rely on guesswork and intuition. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: https://youtu.be/aWoTNGMbq7E This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox at if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website. Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
Set reviews are fun but what exasctly do they bring to the table? We grade cards, we speculate wildly and life moves on. This set review is different. We graded the cards before the set was released, and are coming back to our initial grading after the dust has settled. Me, and Alex, AKA Chord_o_Calls use this re-review to learn - what typpes of cards do we miss on? What trends we had during the grading? How can we use our failures to improve the next time? Card evaluation is a skill that can be worked on and it yields results. Hope this episode will help you improving your grading skills. You can find Alex on twitter: twitter.com/Chord_O_Calls Or listen to his excellent podcast, Limited Level-Ups, which you can find on your podcast app or on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@limitedlevel-ups Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: https://youtu.be/s-s-3MdNJv4 This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox at if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website. Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
So, you have your Boros aggro and UW Eerie decks nailed to a fine detail? But perhaps recently the wins are not coming as easy as they did early season? Don't worry - I got you covered there. We will loook at the data of top 17Lands.com users and try to figure out what do they do differently to sustain a solid win rate throughout the format. And what strategies do they lean onto as the well with the best decks dries out because the knowledge of their strength becomes universal. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: https://youtu.be/s-s-3MdNJv4 This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox at if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website. Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
Forcing, drafting the hard way, drafting with preferences are all different approaches to the draft part of Limited. What do the numbers tell us about those? Can you optimise your approach to draft through this and how? All in this weeks episode. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: https://youtu.be/WD2i1C07EfA This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox at https://www.bulkbox.co.uk/store/ if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website. Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
One of the traps of looking at card win rates is simplifying a complex problem. Yes, a card can have a decent win rate but this may meaan many things. It can be universally good, but it can also be very good in some decks and not so in others. 17Lands.com users often will intuit it, play that card in good decks and skew the data towards a hight win rate. Today's episode loooks at each common and uncommon in DSK and tries to see which caard is good where, at least at the color pair level. Hopefully this helps you finding your footing in the format by adding a lot of context to DSK drafts. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: https://youtu.be/b2JkWu0AHiY This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox at https://www.bulkbox.co.uk/store/ if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website. Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
New format, new learning curve, new possibilities. Today I look at the early data for DSK to try to figure out which cards are surprisingly good or worse than anticipated to give you that small edge in the new format. We go through some color pair data, looking at best commons, uncommons, cards that are sneakily good and cards that trap players into playing them when they probably shouldn't. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: https://youtu.be/s-s-3MdNJv4 This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox at https://www.bulkbox.co.uk/store/ if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website. Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
Draft decks, not cards, they say. Why do we review cards before the set release then? Our unique take on reviewing a new sets is to talk about the big picture and based on those thoughts and discussions, we just build decks. Sometimes to show what designers want us to do, sometimes to show we can defy their goals and build something more off-piste. And what a "we" do we have. Jason and Ryan are qualified for the worlds and renowned limited specialists that managed to convert their draft skills to beat on puny constructed players. Springbok7 is a draft grinder extraaordinaire, Tresio rose through the ranks of my patrons to a staple of the skeleton crew. And me, without data, so mainly for comedic purposes and the 6-pack. You get a 3h extract of our take on the upcoming format - find neat synergies, discuss plans, point to key cards. All in time to prep you for the prereleases. Watch the episode on Youtube: https://youtu.be/WUzbX_eoZgs You can find my panel here: https://x.com/JasonILTG https://x.com/tresio https://x.com/rcondon17 https://www.twitch.tv/springbok7 And work of many others behind the scenes shouldn't go unnoticed https://x.com/adam_ddavp https://x.com/zakagan This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox at https://www.bulkbox.co.uk/store/ if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website. Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
We say goodbye to BLB with revisiting our set review. This is an excercise in card evaluation and a farewell to all the critters in BLB. We look at what we got wrong before the set was released. Individual cards, color biases, what did we not get based on pure card evaluations. Chord_o_Calls is a limited streamer, coach, podcaster. You can find more of his excellent content at https://www.twitter.com/chord_o_calls. Ping me for coaching. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: https://youtu.be/mE5nMC7iY9I This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox at https://www.bulkbox.co.uk/store/ if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website. Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
This week we are going to look at BLB draft through the lens of Ekil, a prolific limited streamer specialising in BO3 drafts. What does he do differently that the rest to win 73% of his games and all that while playing exclusively on stream? We go through his draft habits, look at color preferences and try to figure out what makes him successful. You can find Ekil on Twitter and Twitch: https://x.com/ekiltv https://www.twitch.tv/ekiltv Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Coaching is now available - reach out through any of those channels. Watch this episode and see the slides: https://youtu.be/JXRjzBZxM0k This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox at https://www.bulkbox.co.uk/store/ if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website. Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
Today, a different episode. I started offering coaching, and to give you the insight into my method, I invited a Commander legend, Shivam. He told me he was struggling a bit with BLB draft (aren't we all) and wanted a second pair of eyes on his drafting. We go through his draft and try to identify where the potential problems lay. As it is Shivam, plenty of anecdotes in between, but eventually we identify some problems with his lane and hopefully - his next drafts will be better for it. You can find Shivam 24.7 on twitter - and it is a joy. A true oasis of positivity in the bitter world of Magic content creation. https://x.com/ghirapurigears If you are interested in coaching - ping me a message. On Discord. On Twitter. You can find my socials on https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbviD8zbFaU This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox at https://www.bulkbox.co.uk/store/ if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website. Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
Some players win more consistently. Surely there is more to that than pure luck? I look at the data of the top 17Lands.com users from Bloomburrow BO1 draft to try to see - what cards do they prioritise and what cards do they win more with. And try to speculate why that might be so. But wait, there's more! Some cards are generically good and will make the vast majority of decks they are in better. Some cards are more niche. Bloomburrow being a typal synergy decks has some not-so-secret gold cards - cards that work in only one archetype, but not another. But it is not alway obvious. There are "false friends" among us. Some Racoons secretly want to be played with Mice. Some Bats are Lizards in disguise. I go through most commons and uncommons and using data try to figure out best homes from them. And worst homes for what it is worth. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: https://youtu.be/MvR7clSuFIg This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox at https://www.bulkbox.co.uk/store/ if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website. Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
Early data for every format is a bit of a minefield. On one hand it provides valuable information, on the other, can be misleading as it is largely based on the decks where players were still finding their footing in the new format. Join me in trying to decipher the data and find some cards that are obviously good or bad and some that may still be flying under the radar. I look at color and color pair power rankings and look at top, hidden gem and trap cards in each archetype. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Watch this episode and see the slides: https://youtu.be/pD7La6IbEUM This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox at https://www.bulkbox.co.uk/store/ if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website. Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
My traditional set review. Which is also a star-studded panel discussion. But instead of looking at individual cards, we look at the decks. How do we see decks in the upcoming format, what cards are we hopeful and what synergies excited about. My guests are: Jason Ye, a Pro Tour star and one of the brains behind the Slogurk decks. But we all know that in reality, Jason only wants is to develop quirky draft build-arounds. And you are in for a treat here! https://x.com/JasonILTG Adam (aka Ddavp) - don't get fooled by his joviality, there is a sharp and competitive mind behind the cordial exterior. And jokes that would make many-a-dad blush. https://twitter.com/adam_ddavp Springbok7 - a second time guest and already an integral part of the team. The level-headed member of the skeleton crew, internally tutting at our shenanigans. You can find them streaming on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/springbok7 Mike, AKA Tresio, this editions newcomer, but entering with a bang. Just showing how becoming a patron and putting some effort can connect you with the creator. Tresio started by asking me question for Magic Numbers episodes and now advanced to co-hosting the show. And pulled their weight fearlessly with some excellent takes! Follow them on https://x.com/tresio Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox at https://www.bulkbox.co.uk/store/ if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website. Watch this episode and see the slides: https://youtu.be/MsFMWW3nVfo Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
As with every set, at the end of the format me and Chord_o_Calls come back to the grades we gave each card in the format and see how far off were the grades from the card's actual performance. Did we nail our pre-release predictions? If not - where were the most mistakes? Were there any trends in colors, rarity? And with that information we try to speculate - what went wrong and what were right, so we can improve our card evaluation for the next time. Alex is one of the leading limited brains on this planet. If you don't follow him or his podcast - Limited Level-Ups - you are missing out. Check out his YT to learn more! Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox at https://www.bulkbox.co.uk/store/ if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website. Watch this episode and see the slides: https://youtu.be/MsFMWW3nVfo Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
MH3 has the most complicated land system in ages. A whooping 1/8th of all the cards you see during draft will be lands and that means they play an important role in the deck building process. Today I talk about how to make sure you have the right number of landscapes and what is the best way of sneaking Modal Double-Faced Cards (spells with land at the back of the card) into decks: should you replace a spell or another land with them. Plus some data on format speed and how to use rarely mentioned metrics from 17Lands.com. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox at https://www.bulkbox.co.uk/store/ if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website. Watch this episode and see the slides: https://youtu.be/MsFMWW3nVfo Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
In all areas of life we know that learning process is a progression. You start with simpler tasks and as you get better, take on more complicated ones building on your growing skillset. But Magic often has universal advice to all players without taking the individual level characteristics into account. Todays episode will try to at least identify some trends between different win rate groups of players and find cards that are evaluated differently between then and cards that are having different win rates across those groups. Obviously all based on 17Lands.com and using Modern Horizons 3 as the dataset. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox at https://www.bulkbox.co.uk/store/ if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website. Watch this episode and see the slides: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuHWGPxfdjk Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
If you like a story with a good villain, MH3 delivers. Writhing Chrysalis is the best common we have seen by win rate and keep in mind - it all happens in a high power set. It will define the format - no doubt about it. Question is - what will you, the player do. Will you embrace it? Find a way to beat it? Or get angry with the format? If it is the latter - this content is not for you. However if you are looking into the first two options - I use the early format data to try and find the answer - what to do with the RG and how to beat it, or at least where to start to look for way of beating it. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox at https://www.bulkbox.co.uk/store/ if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website. Watch this episode and see the slides: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCFbWHUgWN0 Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
This week I have an immense pleasure of hosting a real legend and, if Magic were a country, a national treasure, Paul Cheon. We look through the data of Paul to try to figure out what was essential to Paul's incredible win rate in OTJ. But wait, there's more. Anecdotes, stories, general insights, some thoughts on the upcoming format and many more. I had fun recording, but after that I realised - while having fun and making silly guess games, we actually managed to create some pretty in-depth episode that, despite looking at OTJ specific, is very useful for your draft strategy independent of the format. With some universal thoughts on how to become better at limited in the unique but successful way that Paul's approach offers. If you don't know Paul and his content, it is high time you got acquainted. Paul's YT: https://www.youtube.com/@haumphPaul's Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/haumph Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox at https://www.bulkbox.co.uk/store/ if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website. Watch this episode and see the slides: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pahfhcA52k Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
New set preview time. Me, Jason Ye and a newcomer Springbok7 look at the MH3 and try to predict how each color combination would look like. Instead of traditional card review, we look at the set's fundamentals and build a skeleton of a deck using realistic assumptions (some rares, some uncommons, lots of commons) for each color pair. Plus many bonuses that include: my cat stopping the stream data error in one of the graphs (that one is on me) presentation malfunctioning I am sure many other bloopers And yet still thanks to the sheer quality of my guests this remains one of the defining pieces of content before the release of any set. You can find my guests online elsewhere and you would be well-advised to do so. Jason: https://www.experimentalsynthesizer.b/... Springbok: https://twitch.tv/springbok7 Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox at https://www.bulkbox.co.uk/store/ if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website. Watch this episode and see the slides: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pahfhcA52k Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
This week me and Alex, AKA Chord_o_Calls, come back to our prerelease predictions of the OTJ set. We evaluated every card then - but how did our predictions pan out? This review is not design to pat ourselves on the back - we focus on mistakes and try to figure out why we made them. Do we have one-off issue or is there some systematic bias in how we assess the cards. This episode is key if you want to improve in card evaluation - might be useful with MH3 on the horizon. Yes. I went there. Alex is one of the leading limited brains on this planet. If you don't follow him or his podcast - Limited Level-Ups - you are missing out. Check out his YT to learn more! Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox at https://www.bulkbox.co.uk/store/ if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website. Watch this episode and see the slides: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bw_7BqDU9sc Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
Some draft archetypes are relatively straightforward. This will naturally mean that the data related to those archetypes will be of high quality as people are playing right cards in those decks. But some color pairs turn out to be more elusive for Arena users. And this means that a lot of the data related to those archetypes is based on badly built decks, which will underestimate the color pair's power in the generic datasets, leading to players undervaluing the color pair. This is an exploit you can use to gain some edge in the late season by evaluating the power of color pairs correctly. And data can help. Here I use data to figure out the plans for each color pair and then use it to identify cards essential for few undervalued color pairs. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox at https://www.bulkbox.co.uk/store/ if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website. Watch this episode and see the slides: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5OzX00hMn0 Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
Ikoria is coming back to Arena for a week. It is my favourite draft format of all the ones I played. The definition and a gold standard of a high synergy format, fun, unique in so many ways - I would not be myself if I didn’t preach its merits. And there are so many. Hopefully after listening to this bonus episode you can try it and learn that it has so much more to offer than the common knowledge suggests. What is the Ikoria philosophy? What are its features? How to tame the micro synergies? How to master the macro-synergies? And what are some of my favourite build-arounds in the set of 1000 build-arounds. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox at https://www.bulkbox.co.uk/store/ if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website. Watch this episode and see the slides: https://youtu.be/zdYuGdWLxqg Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
This episode we look at the pack composition of OTJ play boosters. How many rares are there acually? What is the common frequency and how often do you get the cards from each of the many bonus sheets? On top of that - How should we approach pack one? Is sticking to one color a sustainable strategy? Should you diversify? And we look at the most attractive wheel targets, which also sheds some light on the most underdrafted archetypes. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox at https://www.bulkbox.co.uk/store/ if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website. Watch this episode and see the slides: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4s76bxbfC2I Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
Some strategies in draft are easier to reproduce at any skill level than others. In this episode I look at the cards, color pairs and strategies that top 17Lands.com users mastered but the general population still struggles with. What are the secrets of the best players? How do they build the decks others struggle with? Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox at https://www.bulkbox.co.uk/store/ if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website. Watch this episode and see the slides: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZhbzd_R4Aw Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
Early data from a draft format should be treated with caution, but also gives us some essential information on how to approach the format. I am talking about color power rankings, color pairs in the set to give you a general impression of the power level of each of them. But the real fun begins as I dive into each color pair and give you the best card, the hidden gem and the trap for each of the pairs at common and uncommon. Hidden in that data is some information on what each color pair wants to be doing in order to win. And this is the part where you will find the most surprising findings. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. You can get the BulkBox at https://www.bulkbox.co.uk/store/ if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount! If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website. Watch this episode and see the slides: https://youtu.be/hgW-Yu2IbuY Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
It is that time of the Magic calendar again. I meet with Jason Ye, Adam (DDAVP) and Zach Kagan to talk about our vision for the upcoming set. Which cards are spiking our interest? Which cards are confusing us? Why do we think some archetypes are going to be great and some are going to be rubbish? We discuss our impressions of the new set, and after a lengthy debate, present our draft "skeletons" - realistically built propositions of decks you might want to try out yourself. From Azorius "I don't wanna cast things on my turn" to "Sultai deck that just wants 12 copies of Murder" - we have quite a collection of solutions. Not surprising really, given the selection of my co-host from among the most unique thinkers in Limited magic. Find my guests here btw: https://twitter.com/JasonILTG https://twitter.com/adam_ddavp https://twitter.com/zakagan Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Watch this episode and see the slides: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd4Sqr94LlQ Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
This week I answered dozens of questions about data, how to analyse it, me, my pets, philosophy of analysing Magic, and more. Here are all the answers. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Watch this episode and see the slides: https://youtu.be/9xHqge6vMY4 Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
In the late stages of the season it is nice to keep things fresh. And drafting a unique multicolor pile of cards might be the new lookout on the format you need to rejuvenate your interest in MKM. But 5 color decks on average have one significant problem. They tend to win less. Today's episode will look at how to make sure your multicolor deck is good. Which cards are essential, how much mana fixing do you need - I look in some detail to all those questions. On top of that, I use this episode to try and answer some more general questions related to multicolor decks. Like what is a better strategy: having a balanced 5C deck with each colors represented evenly, or a lopsided deck - when one color is dominant and other colors act as a support. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Watch this episode and see the slides: https://youtu.be/XYAMUhMJcrA Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
This week we look back at the... BUT WAIT, WHO IS IT behind me with the steel chair!!!! Yes, Alex Nikolic AKA Chord_o_Calls came to visit me all the way from Canada and we used that time to record our set rereview. Set reviews are fun - you can speculate about which cards and colors are good, gives you the opportunity to think about the upcoming format. But usually noone comes back to them. Not us. Our main driving force in playing Magic is continuous improvement. And what better way to improve at card evaluation than see where you got it wrong and wonder why? We look at the cards we missed in evaluation, but, perhaps more importantly, at more general trends - which colors did we underestimate consistently, which colors did we (ok, mainly me) grossly overestimate. I am looking at you black. But this is not only an excercise in card evaluation. MKM proved to be a really good format, and I still draft it regularly. Looking at it through the lens of our review you get a good summary of how our understanding of the set evolved and get some good tips in playing it in the late format. If you don't follow Alex - grave mistake. He is one of the best Limited (imho THE best) educators so check out his YT, Twitter and Podcast. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Watch this episode and see the slides: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmPFetpCAww Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
This week I have a guest - a Pro Player, caster, Magic theorist Eduardo Sajgalik, AKA Walaoumpa and we talk about his role as the Limited coach for the Pro Tour team Worldly Counsel. What differences and similarities are there in coaching the cream of the crop of Magic players? How can you use their strategies in self improvement - all in the context of MKM draft. Plus a completely unscripted bonus part with some chat questions and analysis of the current format which is imho an amazing depth insight into the format. Give Eduardo a follow at https://twitter.com/Walaoumpa Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Watch this episode and see the slides: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAm0eF9azXc Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
ALSA is a term that gets thrown around a lot in data-adjacent content about Limited. But what exactly is ALSA? And what is the full meaning of the number that hides itself behind those four letters? I take a deeper dive on that metric, looking to answer what it really is. And the first 17Lands data is publicly available so it is time to dive into draft data. Which cards go later in pack 3? What are the best 1st picks? And which cards can you wheel reliably - all that in the episode. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Watch this episode and see the slides: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5SFxNrsvXU Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
Limited is hard. You need to be at a decent level of playing, know what is going on in the format, be able to build a coherent deck. Starting to draft can be a scary process. You get so much advice that is unintuitive, conflicting, confusing. A part of that is: advice is usually targeted at a particular group of players, but that group is rarely specified. Not today though. I look at the data from different win rate groups of players and try to tailor the advice to people whose win rate is slightly lower than the groups I talk about. You win ~50% of your games? No problem - look at what people winning 55% do differently from you. Winning 55% of the games already? Take a peek at the differences between your cohort and people winning 60% of their games. Winning 60%? No worries - look at some details of what your peers do and try to find your weakness. Hopefully seeing what types of cards better players prefer and thinking about why do they prefer them will aid you in your development as a drafter and make the process of learning to play Limited less scary. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Watch this episode and see the slides: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAm0eF9azXc Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
New format is pretty complicated and it may be tricky to find your footing in the first days. But fear not - the data is here to help us and I dive deep into card win rate to test what makes each color pair tick, which cards over-perform, and which are traps you should avoid. We look at the general picture of the format, speculate on what can the next few weeks bring and explore archetypes and what do the y want to be doing in the context of MKM. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Watch this episode and see the slides: https://youtu.be/-UbCRz2Faf0 Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
Magic has surprisingly lot of similarities to cooking and today, we are moving to haute cuisine. Deck-building theory-crafting. While waiting for the new set to be released I spend an amount of time I can't really excuse thinking about build-arounds in this formats. All those thoughts can't go to waste so this week we are looking at how I imagine some potentially fun off-piste decks in this format. Lot of it is theoretical, but aside from this, I lay out a framework for anyone on how to approach limited theory crafting. A great excercise to improve your Limited skills without spending a single gem. I look at three separate builds. One centered around Insidious Roots, Golgari enchantment that generates Plant tokens and grows them as creatures leave your graveyard. The second one is trying to turn Case File Auditor and Case of the Shattered Pact from a 5 color dream to a 5 color reality. Thirdly I look at how to make UR artifact sacrifice built around a powerful combo of the Case of the Filched Falcon and Gleaming Geardrake that lets you attack for 5 in the air on turn 3. But how to make that deck resilient when you don't draw the combo? We also talk a bit about Arena Economy, but following my philosophy of learning from the best - why not look at this article I mentioned in the seminar that dives deep into how to make Arena cheaper to play: https://www.cardmarket.com/en/Magic/Insight/Articles/inside-the-new-arena-economy Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Watch this episode and see the slides: https://youtu.be/71ekmv-eRlM Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
Me, JasonILTG, Tajoordan and DDAVP look at the upcoming set and try to figure out how would we want a deck in each color pair to look like. To do so we first explore the format synergies and the cards we like and later assemble them in simple limited deck with some reasonable limitations (1-2 rares, 6-8 uncommons and rest just commons). Check this out if you are prepping for the prerelease and want to exercise your brain before the format hits Arena. My esteemed guests are all accomplished limited players: JasonILTG - https://twitter.com/jasoniltg Check out their site with some great articles: experimentalsynthesizer.blog/articles Adam AKA DDAVP - https://twitter.com/adam_ddavp And Tajoordan: They all stream so check their links in their Twitter bios. Slides for this episode are available for everyone at https://www.patreon.com/posts/slides-for-106-97522251 so you can look through our builds in your own time, or even modify them Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
My guest this week needs no introduction (he still gets one, though), being one of the game's all-time greatest players. But apart from his pro player credentials, LSV is a cube fanatic, and I tap into his vast expertise to look through the latest edition of Arena Cube and see which cards and which strategies I, a cube rookie, should focus on over the following days. A side effect of that - you might learn something too. We look at some data from previous cube iterations and at the changes that were made to try and figure out what is going to improve and what is nerfed this time. You can find LSV and his vintage cube exploits on his popular YT channel: https://www.youtube.com/@LSVargas Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the YouTube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://youtu.be/O4Ka3nGvW0c This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
This episode I am looking into what does it mean for a set to be prince or pauper and how do recent sets align with different definitions of that term. Because there are plenty definitions. Some will focus more on the power of rare cards, some on the power (or lack thereof) of the commons and uncommons. A data exploration episode - most useful if you want to spend some time thinking on how rarity shapes limited formats. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the YouTube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://youtu.be/bVMUfPwCIi4 This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332
This week I am joined by Limited content behemoth, Chord_O_Calls AKA Alex Nikolic to talk about out set reviews for LCI from the perspective of an almost finished format. I was always thorn about set reviews. On the one hand, they are useful to get accustomed to cards before the format starts, but on the other, they are frequently based on wild speculations and - to my knowledge - rarely scrutinized for their accuracy. To change that, my set reviews are reversed. I invite a guest and review the set with them but do not release it. Instead of that, our grades wait locked up for the format to end. Then we can see what we got wrong and right. Where are the typical mistakes and how can we avoid them in the future. And who to do it better than one of the best card evaluators in the business? See how we did and what we missed in LCI. Also - this is a sort of a send off of the format - in wait for the previews to hit. You can find Alex on Twitter, Twitch, and YouTube. Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTR35T-8rdU This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
Time of the year to sum up 2023 and look at best commons, uncommons in each color, most desired cards, most played color, etc. Not 100% serious with Uncle Cardboard on special day for both - as we are birthday neighbours as well. But don't be fooled by fooling around - between bad puns you get to think about set design and why some designs are more successful than others, which types of cards prove to be generally successful, etc. Follow Jake on Twitter Join the Discord, sign up for Patreon, and use this Linktree for everything else! Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTR35T-8rdU This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
Finding the right strategy for a color pair is a key element to winning more. Many drafts were lost when a player tried to play controlling game in a color combination that doesn't support it well, or trying to be aggressive using cards that are just not good in doing that. This week I look at the game duration data in LCI to try and figure out what should you be focusing on when drafting your decks. Why Azorius is not particularly good in being aggressive? Why RG Dino decks are more aggro than you might think? And why control decks struggle and how can future design address that problem. Plus I look at key cards for selected archetypes and try to find out what it means for your future drafts. If you are interested in getting to know me better - I have a discord now. Join to chat about data, limited and see my futile attempts to make food that looks as good as it tasted. Also - cat and dog pictures. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbfX_QNrvEE This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Discord: https://discord.gg/druhnK8yXn Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This week we look at the new set on Arena: Khans of Tarkir. Is it new though? Released in 2014, Khans is considered to be an all-time best draft set by many Limited experts. But 2014 is the time I was happily retired from Magic, so in order to get some valuable information and correct me where I am wrong in my evaluations, I invited a multi-Limmie award winning magic historian and pro player, Ben Seck. Yes. THE Ben Seck. You may and even should know him from being a regular guest in Limited Resources, the episodes where they talk about older sets. The result is a 2h talk on KTK, Limited in general, differences in set design over the years, mechanics, predictions and many more. I couldn't have wished for a better way to celebrate my 100th episode. You can find Ben on Twitter: twitter.com/TBSdash Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbfX_QNrvEE This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Discord: https://discord.gg/druhnK8yXn Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
Improvement in Magic is hard. Where to start? Diagnosing the problem can be a daunting task. Today I look at how to measure your draft strategies and figure out how you draft - are you a forcing type of a drafter or a durdly drafter who bobs and weaves for too long before making a decision to settle on a path. Both strategies have their pros and cons, so finding the right balance should improve both your win rate and in some cases also the trophy rate. Apart from this we have a collection of data from LCI draft dataset of 17Lands.com - great first picks, what can be wheeled reliably etc. If you are interested in getting to know me better - I have a discord now. Join to chat about data, limited and see my futile attempts to make food that looks as good as it tasted. Also - cat and dog pictures. https://discord.gg/druhnK8yXn Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHGxUdSFaN0 Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This episode we look into the early draft data of the new format. Which colors started off strongly, which cards make each archetype tick. I look into each color pair and talk about best common and uncommon, hidden gems in each archetype (cards that surprised me or cards that still go late in the draft but perform very well), and traps (cards that look like they should fit in but data suggests they don't). Based on those I try to analyse what makes each color pair tick and what doesn't to give you an early boost in LCI drafts. Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCjv0VQZBcI Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This week we look at the upcoming set: how will the synergies play out, what do I consider good and bad before we dive into proper drafting. Where can you find some synergies and how to theory craft a Caves deck. Plus a couple of cute two card combos you might be interested in! This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. There is a companion article to this primer that talks about all the removal in the set - make sure to visit it: Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCjv0VQZBcI Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
New set is upon us - time to theory craft all 10 2-color decks in the new set and speculate on what we think is going to be great and what is doubtful in Lost Caverns of Ixalan. And to do that I lean on the expertise of my illustrious guests: A 100k sealed tournament winner, JasonILTG Freshly from winning a Mox Jet, Zakagan Winner of the most recent tournament back home, ddavp_mtg And me after 2-1ing a 6 person modern tournament in my LGS Discussions were furious, heated, and full of insights into what will be a hit and what will be a dud. Watch and be entertained, informed, and hopefully amused. You can find my guests on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jasoniltg https://twitter.com/zakagan https://twitter.com/ddavp_mtg Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://youtu.be/qXipvj1b0iI Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
Going back to original set review and re-evaluating it based on how the set played out is an under-appreciated activity. Me and Trumpetman come back to our pre-release evaluations and try to look at cards we got wrong, and speculate why. Which cards are harder to predict, which ones are easy and why - we try to answer those questions based on our successes and failures from WOE. Just in time to draw some lessons on card evaluation for the LCI set coming out on Friday. Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://youtu.be/2KOn_SOr1Qs Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This week we look at the data of the most drafting person in 17Lands - which almost certainly means, most drafting person on Arena, period. Pasta Pirate does an average of 9-10 drafts a day. What can we learn from his data? What can he learn from it himself? Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKGtbn2PEGw Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
Players focus a lot on how to build a deck, but i think most improvement in win rate for starter/intermediate players that is easy to achieve comes through good draft navigation. This week I give some (hopefully) useful tips on how picks differ depending on the pack number, which picks will make your deck more frequently. I also talk about learning how to wheel specific cards - how to select the card as your pick 1 in such a way, that you give yourself a good chance of getting another decent card as your pick 9 from the same pack. We also answer some Patron questions! Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tF6pYSmwE9g Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This week I have a very special guest: Rob Conroy, AKA Viralmisnomer - Mr 17Lands himself. And there is a great reason for that. 17Lands has a whole bunch of new patron-only features and Rob and I will show you why you should seriously consider getting them not only to support the site we all love and cherish, but also in your own interest. From a great card evaluation tool, through personal data up to a tool that lets you improve your mana-base building skills - all the new toys make me excited to get my paws on the final results of them! And hopefully after watching this, you will get excited too! Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tF6pYSmwE9g Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
Drafting in Magic: the Gathering is not easy. There re dozens of factor you need to try and synchronise in your head while the ruthless clock continues ticking. But data can help! Today I look at what the best of the best do differently. Which cards do top players draft higher than others? Which cards do they use more efficiently and win with more than it would result from just the average win rate difference between top players and the rest? Identifying those cards is a key to unlocking strategies and solutions top players use to dominate Arena draft queues. Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYpOARqJoZA&t Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
New format is upon us and time to look at what can early data tell us about it. Which cards are key, which ones are traps, what do decks want to be doing and what do other Arena drafters leave open for the cunning grinders to abuse. Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAiaA6M25_o Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
Before we dive into the new format - I look from theory point of view at the set design. What looks as if it is possible, how do the set mechanics intertwine, what to look out for in the first days, and what sweet build-arounds does the set have to offer. Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://youtu.be/rA4mBJdYCiY Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
In my opinion the most interesting part of set review is not the review itself, but returning to it after the format has passed and reevaluating your grades in order to see where did you miss, where did you hit and try to answer why this happened. This is why our set reviews with Trumpetman are designed in such a way as to easily reanalyse them after the format is done. They are linked to 17Lands.com win rates so we can see how large was our miss for each card. Today we look at our review performance for the LTR looking what trends do we observe - did our misses link to bad evaluation of one color, which cards are we most likely to miss on and why - all those questions will be answered. You can follow Trumpetman at https://twitter.com/Trumpetman__ Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbA8bw3ecVw Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This episode was originally recorded in December 2022 but never appeared in the podcast feed. Now you can use it before the Arena Open this week as a unique window into the mind of one of the best (or looking at 17Lands.com data - the best) cube players in the world. Apart from iteration-specific arguments lots of general theory surrounding this format with someone who is a true expert theorist of the game and an all round nice person. Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KeYwaMLuNU Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This week I look at how LTR drafts changed over time. Which cards, color pairs fell in and out of favour with the Arena users. And how did the player win rate impact those preferences. But doing just a retrospective of one format can be a bit boring - what universal trends can we draw from LTR evolution? Can some color pairs be more resilient to metagame shifts and if so - why? Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgBOExMmzLY Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
The biggest level up from a decent drafter to a great one is realising that drafting good cards is not enough to become an exceptional player. Truly great drafters are able to sacrifice power for synergy and know exactly when to do it and when not to. This ability lets you get more out of the cards in your decks and win games because of those synergistic interactions and consistent goals and plans across every card in your deck. But easier said than done. Today I look at the ways to use game data from 17Lands.com in order to figure out, what are the plans for different archetypes and how to use that data to improve your understanding of different archetypes and individual cards. This episode is particularly data-heavy, so if you want to look through the graphs, I made the slides accessible to all, find them here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/slides-for-magic-86086797 Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzM0Ehn7p7w Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
Drafts are hard. There is plenty going on and to navigate it well, you need to think not only of your own deck, but about what are other people doing. In limited content you will often hear that something is a signal - but what are signals exactly? And how can you read and interpret them? And perhaps more importantly - do signals mean anything and can you draw some actionable conclusions from reading them? I immersed myself in 17Lands.com data for 2 weeks trying to answer those questions and here is a summary of what I found. This episode is particularly data-heavy, so if you want to look through the graphs, I made the slides accessible to all, find them here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/slides-for-magic-86086797 Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJkT96MOgYU Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
There are multiple good reasons why top players win more. A lot of it has to do with game play, but not everything. Learning how to navigate draft and evaluate cards is an easier way of boosting your win rate and drafting best cards and being able to pick the right lane will aid you also in improving your game play later. Here are some lessons from top 17Lands.com user data that will help you become a better limited player. Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://youtu.be/L4h4dGahSWc Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
New set, new possibilities! This week I give a general overview of which colors are good, what cards fuel them and which cards are essential in every archetype. And which cards absolutely are not - I looked through biggest traps too, so you don't have to. Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsmRuFCDmok Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
Set reviews are tricky bits of content. Based on limited information, prone to errors and quickly out of date. This is exactly why me and Trumpetman designed out set review structure in such a way that we can easily confront our predictions with the reality. Since we predicted the win rate of cards, we can match our guesses with the end of the format results. This way we know exactly where were our biggest misses and where we were bang on. This episode is looking at our successes and failures and based on those we are trying to see what aspects of card evaluation we got wrong, how to improve the next time. The episode is particularly valuable for those of you who want to improve your card evaluation skills and understand how sets pan out. Trumpetman is a host of 40 Card College podcast (a must-hear content for all the Limited fans out there). You can follow him at https://twitter.com/Trumpetman__ Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loFjD_ual2U Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
Limited is a hard format. It is not easy to start winning reliably. Today I look at several ways to quickly improve your Limited draft and deck building skills using the 17Lands.com data. I analyze why beginners can have problems with winning reliably, but most importantly, I try to give actionable advice on how to solve the problems I identify. This video is primarily aimed at beginner to intermediate players, at least I tried to make it so. After watching it, you should be able to: - identify bad cards in the format - identify good cards in the format - know how to check for good and bad cards specific for a given color pair - know how to recognise a plan of a deck and how to draft in a way that enhances that plan rather than undermining it - learn the importance of using community support as a learning tool Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loFjD_ual2U Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
5C strategies in Limited are undoubtedly fun. But they are also tricky to execute, hard to master and laden with mana issues, which lower your win rate. This episode I look at the 17Lands data of 4 and 5 color decks in MOM to try and figure out, what makes a 5C strategy tick. Key cards, how much fixing is enough, reasons to go 5C and traps associated with this approach. Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyAednqwXVA Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This episode I look at the data on the new card type. How many Battles should you play in your draft deck? Which ones are over and underperformers? What is the impact of the number of battles you have in your deck? And does it vary with color pair you are playing? And if so - why? Plenty to unpack but on top of everything I also had to somehow do this while my cat and my dog were, very aptly, fighting a battle against each other. Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEEmCWTzt0s Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This episode I look at the data of different win rate user tiers on 17Lands.com. In 17L data you can look specific at top win rate players group, a bunch that has a ~60% win rate across multiple formats. What do those players do differently? What color pairs, cards are they high on compared to the rest of the users? How do they use battles compared to the rest? But aside from looking at the top users I am asking: is it always worth to try and copy best players and the way they draft? And my conclusion is: not necessarily. Some cards will play amazingly in the hands of a seasoned grinder, but players who are still learning can actually harm their win rate by trying to replicate best players' strategies. And data can point us to which cards can be trickier to use and which strategies are more accommodating to beginner level drafters. Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format. https://youtu.be/aY9fAt8GKO4 Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
New format is upon us and first day data, even if based on smaller sample sizes is an excellent way of getting an edge over less invested players by identifying best colors, color pairs, cards that surprised and disappointed us in the first few days. And guess what? That is exactly what I will be talking about today. Get your edge against the people who ignore the draft data. But pretty please - do not fall into a trap of thinking that early data means the format is solved. Those are excellent indications but if you don't approach them flexibly, you may fall into a trap of not evolving with the format as a player. Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format. https://youtu.be/8fp2oRrfk08 Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
Before each set I will now try to make an episode on theory crafting. MOM looks like a fantastic set to build around. In this episode, I explored the types of buildaround, how to design buildarounds, give some practical examples and try to speculate on some interesting cards from MOM that have a buildaround potential. Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format. https://youtu.be/6il6AqdkfD8 Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This week I had a great pleasure to have a very special guest: Numot the Nummy. A streamer extraordinaire, with Pro Tour credentials and most importantly, a limited specialist. We looked at Numot's ONE data - a format he didn't like and performed somewhat under par for his standard (still an insane win rate of over 60%, but some people have higher standards than that). Which cards did he overdraft, which cards did he value too low, which cards proved successful in his builds? All of that available in the seminar. We also learned that Numot is a true "drafting the hard way" drafter - unlike my many previous guests, and applies that approach to a great success, so if you think you, like me, use preferences in draft a little bit too much, it is worth looking at this episode and following Numot to see how he does it. You can find him at https://www.twitch.tv/numotthenummy or follow him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NumotTheNummy And if you still don't, I highly recommend it. He was an awesome, well informed and generous guest, and his streams are among the best in business. Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format. https://youtu.be/4rYDlC5Qf8U Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This week I look at the impact lords, creatures giving power and/or toughness bonuses to a tribe, give to the archetypes they are printed in. But that is not all, we look into week 2 of SIR and have a reverse engineering approach on the MOM spoilers. Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kMLfuhSIfY Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
First dive into the data of the new-old format. What is peculiar about SIR packs, which colors are the strongest, most open and underdrafted. Which color pairs do best and what cards allow them to do so. I look at the best cards in each color / color pair, at the hidden gems that have high win rate but Arena users are not drafting them highly. At least not yet. Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format. https://youtu.be/C8e_K98o8Lc Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This episode looks at a relatively understudied aspect of limited: sideboarding. I look at general trends in sideboarding - when people do it, when they don't and how much sideboarding is a good thing. I also dive into recent few years of limited formats to find the star cards in terms of sideboarding. The ones who are almost exclusively sideboard cards, the ones that are the most effective as sideboard cards and the ones that are potentially sideboarding traps. Based on those cards I also try to speculate on the general idea of what makes a good sideboard card. Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pbv0-w6gYGw Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
Time to look at the draft deck composition data and look at the secret successful sub builds in ONE. In this episode I look at the ONE decks in each color pair and cluster them based on how similar they are. After doing that, I calculate the win rate of each deck and its closest relatives. Based on that I can find clusters of successful sub-builds in each color pair. Using the archetypist tool I developed with Pekka Pulli, you can explore that data set on your own. Some sub builds are logical and intuitive: there is a WB toxic deck, RG oil deck. But some will raise a few eyebrows, because not many know RW Toxic is a thing - but it does exist, is successful, even if you will only have it open in your pod every 50 drafts or so. Enjoy the seminar, but if you want to explore the tool, visit https://archetypist.netlify.app/ Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format. https://youtube.com/watch?v=v747a-JxcQY Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
Lot has been said about the unique speed of ONE draft format. But is there a good basis to vilify this format as something that is extremely fast? I look deep into format game length data and try to unravel what is driving the speed of ONE and how does it compare with other formats. I also look at the cards that allow you playing long games and what can be useful in making control decks in ONE limited. Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p5BKxDVPco Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
ONE Quick Draft is available on Arena now and it may be a good idea to play a couple of those, as they will offer you a fresh look on the format. Why? The bot and human metagame are sufficiently different from each other to offer a slightly different experience. I talk about what is special about bot draft and offer some advice on how to abuse those differences for your benefit. How to conceptually approach bot draft and in what ways it is a different form of Magic. Color power in a format is a combination of card power and card availability, and as far as the power doesn't change, the availability does. In what ways in ONE bot draft different? Which colors, strategies, cards are more and less available and what does it mean for you? Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9ds2IXonGo Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This week I look at why ONE is different from all other recent formats. Why there are so few great commons? What causes the imbalance in color power and why I strongly believe white is by far the most powerful color at common in the set and also why you still should draft preferentially red. On top of that we look at all the color pairs and figure out their best cards, their hidden stars and traps at both common and uncommon level. Spoiler - you will see a lot of Annex Sentries as top uncommons. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9ds2IXonGo Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
I look at the speed of the format: is it lightning fast and what may be the reasons for it. I also look at color pair win rates and the rate they are played at. Are some color combinations hidden gems? Are the most played ones successful? On top of that I look at best commons and uncommons in each color and in each color pair. To be able to relentlessly mock myself (with a couple of taps on the back for good measure) I compare the current top 5 cards in the format with the top 3 lists I made before the release and speculate - why was I wrong in case of some cards I picked and why some cards did perform better than I predicted. I use the top cards so far to also try and figure out what do they have in common looking at potential mana curves you want to have in your deck and themes connecting top cards in the format. REMINDER: Early data is not perfect. Format didn't stabilise yet, and players don't always fully know how to build decks, early day opposition can be softer than the one later in the format, good cards go later than normal. All this impacts the data and introduces biases. Use early data as a tool to ask more questions, not as a source of absolute answers. Early data can prepare you to solve the format later, but it is by far not a solution itself. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM8DdVmT0Ag Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This episode me, SLKerstens, JasonILTG and TaJoordan talk about our pre pre-release impressions of ONE and how we would build simple deck skeletons from each color pair. You can find my co hosts at: twitter.com/SLKerstens twitter.com/JasonILTG twitter.com/TaJoordan This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6P9l6y3iAY Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
A deep look at the mechanics of the set. How does the card pool for each of the existing mechanics impact possible game play plans you can draft around? Should you try to kill with poison counters, or is it a pipe dream? How to maximise your proliferate and just how many ways to do it are there. I also walk you through my thought process of theory-crafting a deck, from the first idea through the core card selection, contingency planning up to building a deck archetype skeleton. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdvqQLcUEWE Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This week I look at the personal data of the one and only Sam Black. we look at Brother's War through his drafts. What was his approach towards the format, what cards made it possible. Sam possibly discovers a new type of deck by thinking about his BRO draft decks - mid-term. A deck that can't win early, loses longer games but is excellent in winning the games in the middle stages due to being powerful enough to deal with controls and out-resourcing aggro (which makes it different from mid-range, which can switch between aggressive and controlling strategies and has both early and late game. Tapping into Sam's expertise is a roller-coaster but with a rational train of thought. It is also a good way of reflecting on your BRO season and on what went well and maybe less well for you. You can find Sam at: twitch.tv/samuelhblack and twitter.com/samuelhblack This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZrVR12fs_c Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
How is sealed different from draft? Can we actually measure that difference? And what does it mean to your Arena Open attempt? I talk sealed, KHM sealed and what cards should you re-evaluate in this format compare to what you remember from drafting the set. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format. https://youtu.be/zy2abY9idlI Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This episode I look at the builds within each color pair. To do so a bit of maths was needed. I converted decks into numbers and plotted them based on what cards are inside. After that we look at the clusters of similar decks that win a bunch - this way by checking what is inside them we can figure out what makes them tick. Some color pairs have a one type of successful build, but some have multiple sub-archetypes that are very distinct from each other. Archetypist tool lets you figure that out on your own. The tool, made by Pekka Pulli, is available here: https://archetypist.netlify.app/ This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuerL0VL-7o Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
Early format is the best time for hot takes and sweeping statements. Keeping that in mind I dedicate this episode to show what are the dangers of hot takes and sweeping statements and how to look at the early format in a more granular, subtle way. In the second part I look at the data from all the 10 color pairs. Which cards are the stars, which ones are traps, are there any hidden gems you should consider drafting higher. Lots of hot takes and absolute statements so you can later copy them with conviction! Sponsored by mtgazone.com. Check out my articles at https://mtgazone.com/authors/sierkovitz Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format. https://youtu.be/eRWfEQjqpdg Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
I take a look at removal stats of the Brothers' War set and try to convince you on how to use the self-milling cycle of creatures. On top of that, I dive into early format data: what makes each color tick and which colors do tick so far which ones still need some work from our side to be figured out. Sponsored by mtgazone.com. Check out my articles at https://mtgazone.com/authors/sierkovitz Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format. https://youtu.be/mafrQcp7T3g Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
Time to say goodbye to DMU draft data, and what better way than to look at the vast personal data of the all-time 17Lands.com trophy leader, Floridamun? We look at 175 drafts Chris played over the duration of the format in quest to find out what makes him such a good player. How does he manage to keep up such an impressive win rate across so many games. We look at his draft habits, pick preferences, card win rates and much more. Check out Chris's Twitch (twitch.tv/FloridaMun) and podcast The Draft Lab Sponsored by mtgazone.com. Check out my articles at https://mtgazone.com/authors/sierkovitz Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format. https://youtu.be/0ykqh6Mtfq8 Find all things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This weekend we will have an opportunity to play for some real $$$ on Arena and the format is Dominaria Sealed. You read it well - Dominaria without United. Since the set came out in 2018 you might need a refresher or maybe you never played it before. I talk about the available data on Sealed in this format: how many colors should you try to play, what are the must-play bombs and which colors are the best. On top of that I go through top commons and uncommons in each color and look at some recent trophy decks to give you a good impression of what should you be aiming at in order to get to day 2 and give yourselves a chance of spiking some cash! Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format. https://youtu.be/ho-UUAG3SiU Sponsored by mtgazone.com so please give them a visit! Find all things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
Dominaria United full data hit a bit late in the season but still it is interesting to look at the data even late in the season as they show a format so different from any other. This episode I look at the new tutoring data from 17lands.com, rank the kicker spells - which ones don't need to be kicked, should be kicked and work best when you can reliably kick it every time, preferably in a 2 color deck? I also look at how important being 5 color it was for each domain card. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP8RV-k2DGw Sponsored by mtgazone.com so please give them a visit! Find all things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
Today I look at the data of top, middle and bottom win rate tiers among the 17Lands users. Who are the top players, and what sets them apart from the rest? Which cards can the players maximize? And which cards are universally good across different levels? But that is not all. I also look at why, to become a good player, you need to go through several stages of development. Just knowing that top players win more with card X is not enough to replicate their success. It will speed up your journey through rank, that's for sure, but maximizing the output of a card is a process that takes time and effort. I look at the successful cards at each stage of development - so you can better position yourselves, where you are on your journey, and get a good idea of where to go next. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94KAFhYEXOM Sponsored by mtgazone.com so please give them a visit! Find all things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
What is the point of using draft data if we don't get actionable advice from them? Today I look at the drafting data from DMU (and from some other sets) and propose three new drafting heuristics related to drafting mana fixing, multicolor spells and combat tricks. I also look at the wheeling stats of DMU cards, show you how draft tables respond to number of dual lands that were open in the pod and which cards are the best first picks in terms of future win rate if you manage to draft a deck around them. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFtQb34VHUw Sponsored by mtgazone.com so please give them a visit! Find all things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
Dominaria United is a draft format like we didn't see in a long time. Formats supporting 2 color, 3 color and multicolor strategies with little win rate penalty was something Wizards were avoiding in their recent design. But that is not the case in DMU. One in 16 decks is a 4 color or more concoction. That is 2 times more than any other format since ZNR. Almost 50% of all decks have 3 or more main colors. And, as a result, only 1/5 is pure 2 colors. So which multicolor decks are the best? Which cards are important to make them win? And, perhaps equally importantly - are there traps 17Lands users routinely fall into? I use data to try to answer those and many other questions about the nature of multicolor decks in Dominaria United. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://youtu.be/HLpfOVWW2dw Find all things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
First dive into 17Lands data for the new set, Dominaria United. This is a set where data analyses should be done very carefully as it is a set we unlike anything we had before. What about it is so unique? Which colors are the best, which color combinations work best and, perhaps most importantly, how many colors should you play? All those questions will be answered in this episode. But wait! There's more! I look at 5 most winning two color pairs and most winning three color combinations and see which cards make them tick and which should be avoided. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format. https://youtu.be/H-1Ot3-nczE Find all things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
All you need to know about the new format. OK, maybe not all but quite a lot. Includes removal guide and an overview of color pair specific cards. Just the thing to do to kill the time while waiting to dive into the new set. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://youtu.be/zYbxvtj2XIw Find all things Serkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
In this Episode me, SLKerstens, JasonILTG and Tajoordan discuss the DMU draft format before the release. We share our initial thoughts and draft deck archetypes we want to play with in the early days of the format. See the slides here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/13xJrmt9KtlyIxxNhpDO8QHGDOfuYvLR5Fg-cjEoVjyE/edit?usp=sharing Find all things Serkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This week we look at the personal data from BO3 HBG drafts of a streamer, podcast host and a limited grinder, Jamie Topples. With a tough season behind her, we are trying to see if the personal data explains her trials and tribulations in the Baldurs Gate. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format. https://youtu.be/myMLJ69a_88
A refresher course in Kamigawa limited. But not only. I also look at the differences between the first run of the format and the flashbacks Check the YouTube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://youtu.be/jZH06lH_Xok Find all things Sierkovitz: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This week we look at the art of wheeling. How to use 17lands data to reliably predict which cards you open in a draft can return to you doing the full circle. That way you can maximise your draft outcomes and create a great way to produce your own draft signal. We also look at what cards do high win rate players draft more aggressively and which ones do they actively avoid. Check the YouTube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86f2CmgtusU Find all things Sierkovitz: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This week's episode is about being up to speed. Up to speed with the changes in the format. How not to fall into a trap of playing week one drafts in week 3 and how to update your format fundamentals without losing too much time on it? How to know which archetypes are more open than others at any given point in time. But that is not all. HBG is the fastest non-cube draft format in Arena history. How to deal with the speed of Mardu color combinations and how to look at the game length data through the lens of game speed? Which color combinations are fast and which ones are quite successful despite being slower? Check the YouTube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://youtu.be/eXZm-deDPbs Find all things Sierkovitz: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
First peek into Alchemy Horizon's: Baldur's Gate Draft data. What is the big picture of the format? Its speed? Which color combination do best? Then I take a slightly deeper dive into each archetype and try to figure out which cards are stars, hidden gems and traps. NOTE: Due to release schedule, episode #42 will only be available on YouTube. Check the YouTube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://youtu.be/SfPX2NPvf1A Find all things Sierkovitz: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This week we dive into the personal SNC draft data of Carl Chase, AKA twoduckcubed, a prolific limited grinder and a co-host of Mystical Dispute podcast, one of the best limited podcasts in existence (seriously, give it a try). Personal data lets you look at your own strengths and shortcomings and improve based on the information you can extract and looking at one of the top players in the game and seeing where are his blind spots can be very helpful for you when you introspect your own data. We look at Carl's draft preferences, his own individual card win rates and his tendencies in mulliganning, deckbuilding etc. Even though the episode is SNC specific, many of the discussion points are universal to draft as a format altogether. Check the YouTube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZatDvMf1cmU Find all things Sierkovitz: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
What builds for each draft archetype in SNC are the most successful? Which cards are essential for success and which themes win more than others? To answer those questions I look at the similarities between decks and use some fancy maths to cluster the decks together and find clusters that win more than the others. A side benefit of this episode is a tool that lets you explore each archetype and see for yourself what made each color combination tick. Feel free to explore the tool here: https://archetypist.netlify.app/ This episode would not be possible without the help of Pekka Pulli, the developer of the archetypist tool. Check the YouTube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsiWMPq_Pac Find all things Sierkovitz: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
Theros Beyond Death will soon be back to Premier Draft queues. What is the format about, what are the archetypes about and what does the data say about the winning strategies? Speed of the format, best cards in draft and how to avoid pitfalls of THB draft. All in a manageable 2 hour chunk. Check the YouTube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWorMx1f4wo Find all things Sierkovitz: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
What does the data tell us about Best of Three drafts in Streets of New Capenna? Best of Three is different from Best of One in multiple aspects. There is no hand smoother, which leads to worse curve-outs, more mulliganning, which damages deck consistency. There is also sideboarding between the games, which makes some cards unplayable in BO1 valid choices for games 2 and 3 once you have seen some key cards from opponents deck. I look at, which colors do well in BO3, which cards perform differently in BO3 than in BO1 drafts. One hypothesis is that draft pods in BO3 are populated by, on average, stronger players. I test this hypothesis using the format data. I also look at mulligan stats, and at the cards that are used as sideboard cards and evaluate their utility as such. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the you tube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format. Check the YouTube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://youtu.be/0nFpc71hbts Find all things Sierkovitz: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This week I look into what makes top 17Lands.com users win more in draft than others do. From their color preferences, pick orders, which cards they prioritise, include in their decks, there are hints on what is the key to their success in draft and I try to unlock them digging through the data. Also I get attacked by my cat. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format. https://youtu.be/jBGlI0vr3ic Find all things Sierkovitz: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This week we look at the data related to Brokers family in SNC Drafts. Brokers (also known as Bant) and related color pairs (WUG, WU and WG) are the menace of SNC draft format, having significantly higher win rates than other color combinations. But as the colors become more contested over times, time to look at what cards in other color combinations do well against the Brokers. Which colors have higher win rate against Brokers? Which cards perform better against them? What bigger picture can we draw from this data? And why formats with very strong commons can be even more annoying than bomb laden sets. Enjoy! Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the YouTube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://youtu.be/tOBzVbYcsWA Find all things Sierkovitz: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This episode focuses on what are draft signals and how to find the best way to read them. You will hear a lot of content creators talking about "strong signals" or "signal X is open" during draft, but what exactly are signals? I try to define exactly that and go even several steps further. I look at SNC draft data and try to figure out what is a meaningful signal during the draft. On my quest to do so, I find plenty of things that are NOT a strong signal when you look at thousands of drafts, and some of them are quite surprising (to me at least). But don't worry, eventually I get there and find a pretty good way to predict color openness during draft. Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeZFlfWx_J0 Find all things Sierkovitz: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This time we look at the new limited format of the Streets of New Capenna. Which color combinations are the most successful? Which color combinations are the most open? How to build a good mana base for the 3 color decks popular in the format? Which cards are the format all stars, and which ones over-perform in a particular color combination. All answered by exploring the data from ~23 000 drafts and nearly 150k games. Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz5SQXIZoFE Find all things Sierkovitz: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This week we preview the Streets of New Capenna. Traditionally before each set release we meet at SLKerstens twitch channel to discuss the format in our pre-release set review. But instead of looking at each card, we build our versions of each deck, based on pure theory crafting. This time SLKerstens, JasonILTG, Tajoordan and me talk about our hopes and expectations o the new set, cards to watch, cards that may fly under the radar for the first weeks, etc. The episode is also available on youtube and the slides can be accessed. See the slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/10C-DIgOxZzm6gqw7ygduUuFDfuyv-LBFz3aG3yCg_qU/edit Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CQA3_K3OjM Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This week I look at the advantage of being on the play. Why do we win more when on the play, why starting gives you the advantage in later game and how does this advantage look like depending on the game length. Choosing to be on the play is a good heuristic, but I also look at when would it be theoretically good to choose to go second. And try to use 17Lands data to find decks that would, at least in theory, be better off going second. What types of cards are leading to those types of deck? What is the density of those types of cards that would prompt you to go second? In the end I show a simple model that lets you decide exactly that. Still in majority of cases you should chose to go first, but roughly 13% of decks are at least as good on the draw as on the play. In Best-of-3 this means you can get an extra edge as your opponent would typically choose to be on the play. This means you will always end up starting the game in a privileged position. I also look at the specific analysis of Azusa's Many Journeys, the card that inspired me to do this analysis. Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fImR8FDq7BQ Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This week I have a special guest, Alex Nikolic, AKA Chord_o_Calls. A streamer, podcaster, great limited player and, imho the best card evaluator in the game. I got all his 17Lands data, analysed them and this episode is a great reveal. I show Alex what I learned from his data, we compare self-perception to numbers, and explore the uncharted world of personal M:tG data. We look at the totality of limited data range, from color preferences before the draft starts, through 1st pick preferences, pick orders, deck staples and cards never played, up to mulliganning trends and individual card personal win rates of Alex. I had a blast and Alex was on fire, which makes for a great episode, something I will rarely say about my own creations. If you are interested in potential of personal data - this is what you were looking for. Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxEhRoefHXg Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This episode I am talking about the effect a copy number of a card has on its win rate. All based on 17Lands data for Kamigawa Neon Dynasty. Which cards are best as one-offs, which ones you want as many as you can and everything in between. But the episode is not only NEO-specific. I am trying to see which types of cards (e.g combat tricks, graveyard recursion) fall predominantly to a certain category, so that in future sets you can try and apply those findings directly, before enough data is collected. On top of that I looked at all the data related to Okiba Salvage - my pet bad card of the set. Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww_6Z466lfw Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This episode is all about the ecology of the deck and Archetypist: a tool developed by Pekka Pulli and me that lets you visualise deck similarity and a localised win rate of similar decks. This allows to show clusters of particularly successful builds for each archetype. I look at clusters of each each archetype and try to figure out what makes those decks tick, what is missing from the less successful builds, etc. You can explore the data yourself at https://archetypist.netlify.app/ using a simple set of parameters you can manipulate. Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
Today I will be looking at differences between how late you will see cards in Pack 1 and Pack 3 of the draft. We will look at the 17Lands ALSA measure to find those differences. What is ALSA you might ask? Well I will describe it in detail and even visualize it. Looking at differences between P1 and P3 may seem unnecessarily deep, but there are big differences between how we draft pack 1 and pack 3 and knowing how it works could give you a nice edge. Which cards are almost ungettable in P1 but will travel further in P3? Which cards are relatively easy to get in P1 but get trickier to get in P3? I also look at the impact of playing your first pick. Do you get a boost from playing it or not? Spoiler: the boost is tiny, which means that all the advantages of sticking to your first pick are eaten by the drawbacks of forcing the 1st pick when you should pivot. I will also look at the anatomy of draft decks. Do trophy decks differ from others in terms of playing the first picks? Maybe they play more later picks? Well, only one way to find out. Watch on YouTube: https://youtube.com/watch?v=MVvuwXsNz6I Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
Today I look at the early evolution of the Kamigawa draft format. How did Arena users' evaluations change over the first two weeks? What does it mean to your drafting? I also try a new method of quantifying if a deck is aggro, midrange or controlling and look at the colour combinations from that perspective to see what do they "want" to achieve. And I shed some light on the Neon Dynasty worst-kept secret. Look at that clickbait. Ok, it is about the numbers behind Kami of Terrible Secrets, I can't bait. Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqjTgIhPYnc Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This week I look at the differences between NEO Draft and Sealed - which cards do differently, which cards to consider more carefully while building your pool. Apart from that, I look at the Artifact-Enchantment spectrum within the format. What are the optimal numbers of those two types in your deck, are there any trends in relation to the number of cards of those types you play? Based on that I also look at some of the interesting cards in Kamigawa and try to provide numbers that will help you decide whether you should play them or not. Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeOO8Lb8ukU Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
Today we look into the early data from Kamigawa BO1 drafts. I try to explain how Ninjas can sneakily influence win rates of other cards and how to see just how naughty they have been with the data (spoiler: the effect is not that big but can lead you to thinking some cards are a bit better than they really are). I also look at which color pairs are open and speculate a bit on which colors can improve in the future. I also talk about each color pair, their MVPs and cards that have surprisingly high win rates. As always, all the data is courtesy of 17Lands.com Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeVw5PSGO84 You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This episode is a primer for the new set, Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. I look at the vital statistics of the set, look at how the removal aligns with the creatures and compare it with some previous sets, to get you up to date on which conditional removal is particularly interesting and which can be potentially a dud. Then I go through all 10 archetypes, looking at cards that are key to them and trying to find some overlooked pockets of synergy and two card interactions. You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
A bonus episode: audio of the Kamigawa Neon Dynasty skeleton discussion between myself, SLKerstens and JasonILTG. Cards to watch, combinations to test and a good general overview of what NEO has to offer. And it seems it has to offer a lot. VOD of the stream can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6et5lk3Mr0&feature=youtu.be You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
This week I look at the numbers behind Double Feature drafts on Arena based on 17Lands data. Which colour pairs do best, why splashing sometimes matters, what cards over and underperform, what are the top commons and uncommons for each colour and why. I also look at each colour pair and talk about best signpost, best cards and overachievers worth mentioning for (almost) each of them. Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRLDgbY95RM You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
Look at the VOW draft from the perspective of the whole format and a general look at the format evolution. What are the stages of the format getting mature? How can you use data to position yourself well in a more settled format? What numbers should you be looking at and at what stage? How does card evaluation change and how does it impact color pair strength? See the episode slides: https://bit.ly/magicnumbers20 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5ECEW5O_pg You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
How does BO1 hand smoothing work? Based on +500k first hands from 17Lands.com, I could decipher what is going on. And knowing what it does and how it differs from paper/BO3 will help your deckbuilding. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8ijQCd55hI You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie
I look at Evidence Based Forcing: When and how to force decks, plus how to use data to do it in an organised fashion. Drafting the hard way is hard, but actually proper forcing is not easy either. Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26QC8Vzgw9Y You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/essesq/61332 Ft: Mana Junkie