Sunday, June 04, 2006
Wild Death Appears: You Get Six Burning
Okay, so yesterday was finally my bao-set draft. First things first, to Kyle and Ray and etcetera, this is going to be the last magic related post on here for a while, so you can breathe easy now. I will write a few more magic articles, but I’ll post those on the other blog. For those interested, I highly recommend you visit there.
So yesterday was my draft, the one I didn’t participate in. There were mixed reactions with equally mixed quality of decks. Jason’s deck was arguably the best deck, mixing the strengths of red and strengths of black to make the ultimate killing and winning deck. Of course, everyone knew, before the draft, that red and black were going to be good at killing, right?
Anyway, complaints varied from “cards weren’t as elegant as preview cards”, “cards didn’t interact with each other”, etc… although the draft yesterday was fine (3 bao-set and 1 real booster), the original optimal setting for the first draft was 5 bao-set boosters and 1 real booster. In other words, you only drafted 60% of the total # of bao-set cards you should’ve drafted, or you could’ve drafted 66% more bao-set cards.
More cards means more interactions, and… it also balances things. For example, there were 6 red rares opened, but only 2 blue and 2 black. Similarly, no green rares were opened until the last booster, were 3 of them were opened. Additionally, 66% more cards means 66% more Quam’s (Quam Sancta, etc), 66% more commons, and thus… well, a lot more interactions. If you had 66% more Quam’s, they would actually be useful.
So, I blame that – 66% more cards would probably make 100% better decks and 100% more combos, right? You only drafted 48% of the set instead of 80%... in one way, that’s good because we can have bigger drafts in the future. But if you did draft 80% of the set in one draft, the disappointedness would probably be lowered enough. Maybe some people had too many different expectations… Anyway…
Additionally, draft was supposed to start at two, but at least this time it wasn’t one of those “one guy is late, let’s wait 2 hours for him”. Some came at 2, some came at 3, and everyone showed up at 3:45. That 2 hours was like 1.5 extra boosters… but oh well…
So, I looked at the list of rares, and there are 26 boosters, so 26 rares left, and 3 orphan commons. David’s orphan common is arguably the worst of the 4 orphan commons, so the remaining orphans should be draftable. (a side note: about an hour before the draft, I took “alan’s” orphan common and nerfed it with blue pen – later I woke up and realized that was a mistake, so ignore the blue pen that says something about “one life”. If you think you opened this card, call me so I can un-pen it.)
Anyway, for fun, I’ll give you an idea of what to expect for the next 26 boosters:
White Rares – 3 (avg 6.6/10)
(SA) – 30% okay, 65% good, and 5% game-changing – It’s a good card. I doubt it’ll table. Let’s give it a 9/10.
(UL) – A combo card – it’s a good name, and it was a half secret preview card that was so well hidden inside another half secret preview card. Let’s give it a 7/10.
(ME) – unsplashable, and it used to be black and uncommon. I don’t know how or if you can build around this card, and it’s one of those global enchantments, so it will probably table a lot. Let’s give it a 4/10.
Blue Rares – 6 (avg 7/10)
Lammasu – Good Lammasu. It’s P/T were changed because it seemed pretty good already. Let’s give it 8/10.
(FD) – The potential of cards like Warp World and Eye of the Storm, with similar mana costs (but with combo). Maybe if you can build a game-winning combo around it… also, if Alan’s not around to clarify rules, you can’t play with this card. Let’s give it 5/10.
Just a Drop of Water – preview card. 10/10?
(HA) – Primarily a combo card, but can be used on its own. It’s good in blue’s flavour, and it’s splashable too. Let’s give it 8/10.
(HE) – Combo card, and not in the sense that you need to play other stuff… well, it combos PRETTY well with Finisher, which Duy already drafted. But it is so situational, and even then it’s not… that good. Let’s give it 2/10.
(SW) – Changed exactly two times during creation, made worse each time. It’s made worse because it can be quite game winning, and also quite control-ish. However, it’s not useful in every game, or early game either, so I deduct marks for that. Let’s give it 7/10.
Black Rares – 6 (avg 7.8/10)
Gravesloth Lammasu – Preview Lammasu. 9/10?
(MI) – Combo card, but you don’t have to play all spells in one turn. Actually can be quite awesome. Evasion, right? That’s what they call it? It’s not cheap, but comboed correctly could be sweet. Let’s give it 7/10.
(KE) - Card Advantage, and if you’re playing properly, the drawback can either help you, or it won’t affect you if you’re playing the right style. Otherwise, you might look at this card and be like “ehhhhh….” It’s aggressively costed, so I’ll give it 8/10. It will find a home in the right deck.
(DA) – DARKNESS. Might table once, but let’s pretend not twice. Situationally sweet, and the way David was playing, it can actually be really great. At first, I thought this was going to receive 4/10, but I’ll bump it up to 7/10.
(SE) – o_O? 8/10.
(NI) – Wow, this guy went through so many changes to find its balance. To be honest, it still hasn’t found balance, and actually has its power level increased, because some other cards had… well, a sort of increase too. Now there’s nothing your opponent can do when this hits the table, so it might be quite… GOOD. Even if you have to use it for its bad form, it’s still useful enough. Let’s give it 8/10.
Wow. Black cards have a high average…
Red Rares – 2 (avg 7.5/10)
Lammasu – Fast and aggressive, and if played the way I wanted it to be played (opening hand, for example), then… weeeeeee! Let’s give it 8/10.
(MS) – The opposite of “All your money…”, this could spell devastation for your opponent. I don’t see this being tabled too often… 7/10.
Green Rares – 5 (avg 7/10)
Lammasu – Used to be amazing, got nerfed on the last day, but still is quite potent. I’m not sure if it’s a first pick, but it can be a second pick. 8/10.
(IH) – If you’re playing green, this should be a first pick, primarily because you don’t want your opponents to see it. Also, because it’s good. It’s probably one of the best targets of ‘certain type of spells’ – because it’s game-winning in a combo, and late game it’s also game-winning. AND… OMG, I just noticed it had combo, so… damn. I’ll give it 9/10.
(WE) – Evasive creature, both positively and negatively, but hey, what can you do. Body is okay for casting cost, not so great – so I’ll give it 7/10.
(BG) – Well then… let’s say if you play this early game, it will act as a late-game creature. One of the ultimate cards in the set, it can do so much. Just don’t have too many “So Black”s in your deck unless you can afford it. The creature’s unsplashable, so this is your reward for playing green. Or lovedrafting it. Even though I said so many good things about it, it’s also quite risky, so I’ll give it 7/10.
(BA) – This is the best reason for your opponent to have a “So Black” in his hand. Risky? Yes. Good? If it wasn’t so risky, yes. Splashable? No. Table? Most likely. Aggressive? Yes. It’s time to lower green’s average by giving this a 4/10.
Other Rares – 4 (avg 7.5/10)
Matrioshka 1 – I said what this does. It’s easily draftable, but is it useful? Maybe, if you want to use up room in your deck to tutor for it. And it’s called Matrioshka 1! It used to be called Matrioshka 0, which would’ve been cooler. But it’s an okay name, so let’s give it 7/10.
(NI) – Probably the best reason why your opponent needs Wrecking Balls. Devastating on its own, even more devastating comboed properly. I’ll give it 9/10.
(RE) – Changed near the end to make better, but not easily better. I think this could be easily picked, and can be quite extremely useful. I’ll give it 8/10.
(WI) – 8/8 unplayable. Use Ghost in the Shell, Rock Idol, a gold uncommon you haven’t seen yet, or one of these other rares. It’s a good card, but can you get it out? I wanted to rate this high, but since it’s a combo card and you only have half the set (at most) to combo with it, I’ll give it 6/10 because it’ll be hard to bring out. Right?
So anyway, those are the rares that you can expect in the next 26 boosters. Following those are also a long list of uncommons that you haven’t seen (or I think you haven’t seen), and maybe even some commons (and of course, 3 orphan commons).
I hope David comes and sees his special uncommon… he’ll laugh once, shake his head, and pass it on.
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Okay, so yesterday was finally my bao-set draft. First things first, to Kyle and Ray and etcetera, this is going to be the last magic related post on here for a while, so you can breathe easy now. I will write a few more magic articles, but I’ll post those on the other blog. For those interested, I highly recommend you visit there. So yesterday was my draft, the one I didn’t participate in. There were mixed reactions with equally mixed quality of decks. Jason’s deck was arguably the best deck, mixing the strengths of red and strengths of black to make the ultimate killing and winning deck. Of course, everyone knew, before the draft, that red and black were going to be good at killing, right? Anyway, complaints varied from “cards weren’t as elegant as preview cards”, “cards didn’t interact with each other”, etc… although the draft yesterday was fine (3 bao-set and 1 real booster), the original optimal setting for the first draft was 5 bao-set boosters and 1 real booster. In other words, you only drafted 60% of the total # of bao-set cards you should’ve drafted, or you could’ve drafted 66% more bao-set cards. More cards means more interactions, and… it also balances things. For example, there were 6 red rares opened, but only 2 blue and 2 black. Similarly, no green rares were opened until the last booster, were 3 of them were opened. Additionally, 66% more cards means 66% more Quam’s (Quam Sancta, etc), 66% more commons, and thus… well, a lot more interactions. If you had 66% more Quam’s, they would actually be useful. So, I blame that – 66% more cards would probably make 100% better decks and 100% more combos, right? You only drafted 48% of the set instead of 80%... in one way, that’s good because we can have bigger drafts in the future. But if you did draft 80% of the set in one draft, the disappointedness would probably be lowered enough. Maybe some people had too many different expectations… Anyway… Additionally, draft was supposed to start at two, but at least this time it wasn’t one of those “one guy is late, let’s wait 2 hours for him”. Some came at 2, some came at 3, and everyone showed up at 3:45. That 2 hours was like 1.5 extra boosters… but oh well… So, I looked at the list of rares, and there are 26 boosters, so 26 rares left, and 3 orphan commons. David’s orphan common is arguably the worst of the 4 orphan commons, so the remaining orphans should be draftable. (a side note: about an hour before the draft, I took “alan’s” orphan common and nerfed it with blue pen – later I woke up and realized that was a mistake, so ignore the blue pen that says something about “one life”. If you think you opened this card, call me so I can un-pen it.) Anyway, for fun, I’ll give you an idea of what to expect for the next 26 boosters: White Rares – 3 (avg 6.6/10) (SA) – 30% okay, 65% good, and 5% game-changing – It’s a good card. I doubt it’ll table. Let’s give it a 9/10. (UL) – A combo card – it’s a good name, and it was a half secret preview card that was so well hidden inside another half secret preview card. Let’s give it a 7/10. (ME) – unsplashable, and it used to be black and uncommon. I don’t know how or if you can build around this card, and it’s one of those global enchantments, so it will probably table a lot. Let’s give it a 4/10. Blue Rares – 6 (avg 7/10) Lammasu – Good Lammasu. It’s P/T were changed because it seemed pretty good already. Let’s give it 8/10. (FD) – The potential of cards like Warp World and Eye of the Storm, with similar mana costs (but with combo). Maybe if you can build a game-winning combo around it… also, if Alan’s not around to clarify rules, you can’t play with this card. Let’s give it 5/10. Just a Drop of Water – preview card. 10/10? (HA) – Primarily a combo card, but can be used on its own. It’s good in blue’s flavour, and it’s splashable too. Let’s give it 8/10. (HE) – Combo card, and not in the sense that you need to play other stuff… well, it combos PRETTY well with Finisher, which Duy already drafted. But it is so situational, and even then it’s not… that good. Let’s give it 2/10. (SW) – Changed exactly two times during creation, made worse each time. It’s made worse because it can be quite game winning, and also quite control-ish. However, it’s not useful in every game, or early game either, so I deduct marks for that. Let’s give it 7/10. Black Rares – 6 (avg 7.8/10) Gravesloth Lammasu – Preview Lammasu. 9/10? (MI) – Combo card, but you don’t have to play all spells in one turn. Actually can be quite awesome. Evasion, right? That’s what they call it? It’s not cheap, but comboed correctly could be sweet. Let’s give it 7/10. (KE) - Card Advantage, and if you’re playing properly, the drawback can either help you, or it won’t affect you if you’re playing the right style. Otherwise, you might look at this card and be like “ehhhhh….” It’s aggressively costed, so I’ll give it 8/10. It will find a home in the right deck. (DA) – DARKNESS. Might table once, but let’s pretend not twice. Situationally sweet, and the way David was playing, it can actually be really great. At first, I thought this was going to receive 4/10, but I’ll bump it up to 7/10. (SE) – o_O? 8/10. (NI) – Wow, this guy went through so many changes to find its balance. To be honest, it still hasn’t found balance, and actually has its power level increased, because some other cards had… well, a sort of increase too. Now there’s nothing your opponent can do when this hits the table, so it might be quite… GOOD. Even if you have to use it for its bad form, it’s still useful enough. Let’s give it 8/10. Wow. Black cards have a high average… Red Rares – 2 (avg 7.5/10) Lammasu – Fast and aggressive, and if played the way I wanted it to be played (opening hand, for example), then… weeeeeee! Let’s give it 8/10. (MS) – The opposite of “All your money…”, this could spell devastation for your opponent. I don’t see this being tabled too often… 7/10. Green Rares – 5 (avg 7/10) Lammasu – Used to be amazing, got nerfed on the last day, but still is quite potent. I’m not sure if it’s a first pick, but it can be a second pick. 8/10. (IH) – If you’re playing green, this should be a first pick, primarily because you don’t want your opponents to see it. Also, because it’s good. It’s probably one of the best targets of ‘certain type of spells’ – because it’s game-winning in a combo, and late game it’s also game-winning. AND… OMG, I just noticed it had combo, so… damn. I’ll give it 9/10. (WE) – Evasive creature, both positively and negatively, but hey, what can you do. Body is okay for casting cost, not so great – so I’ll give it 7/10. (BG) – Well then… let’s say if you play this early game, it will act as a late-game creature. One of the ultimate cards in the set, it can do so much. Just don’t have too many “So Black”s in your deck unless you can afford it. The creature’s unsplashable, so this is your reward for playing green. Or lovedrafting it. Even though I said so many good things about it, it’s also quite risky, so I’ll give it 7/10. (BA) – This is the best reason for your opponent to have a “So Black” in his hand. Risky? Yes. Good? If it wasn’t so risky, yes. Splashable? No. Table? Most likely. Aggressive? Yes. It’s time to lower green’s average by giving this a 4/10. Other Rares – 4 (avg 7.5/10) Matrioshka 1 – I said what this does. It’s easily draftable, but is it useful? Maybe, if you want to use up room in your deck to tutor for it. And it’s called Matrioshka 1! It used to be called Matrioshka 0, which would’ve been cooler. But it’s an okay name, so let’s give it 7/10. (NI) – Probably the best reason why your opponent needs Wrecking Balls. Devastating on its own, even more devastating comboed properly. I’ll give it 9/10. (RE) – Changed near the end to make better, but not easily better. I think this could be easily picked, and can be quite extremely useful. I’ll give it 8/10. (WI) – 8/8 unplayable. Use Ghost in the Shell, Rock Idol, a gold uncommon you haven’t seen yet, or one of these other rares. It’s a good card, but can you get it out? I wanted to rate this high, but since it’s a combo card and you only have half the set (at most) to combo with it, I’ll give it 6/10 because it’ll be hard to bring out. Right? So anyway, those are the rares that you can expect in the next 26 boosters. Following those are also a long list of uncommons that you haven’t seen (or I think you haven’t seen), and maybe even some commons (and of course, 3 orphan commons). I hope David comes and sees his special uncommon… he’ll laugh once, shake his head, and pass it on. |