I need opinions on drafting.
Limited forum
Posted on Aug. 17, 2015, 1:03 a.m. by Serra_Sentinel
I've only ever drafted once, all of my other tournament experiences have been Standard FNM's playing for packs. I don't play Standard anymore since it's too expensive to keep up with, but I also don't want to just keep buying packs of the new sets for nothing. Would it be worth it, in both fun and finance, to begin avidly drafting?
Serra_Sentinel says... #3
What I meant was paying the (what I think is) normal price of $15 to draft in store.
August 17, 2015 1:08 a.m.
Well, you'll get your hands on some cards below "market value". Also it lets you play with cards you wouldn't otherwise have a chance to play with.
August 17, 2015 1:13 a.m.
KillDatBUG says... #5
If you're good at drafting, go for it. If not, it's still worth actively drafting anyway- It's a skill that helps you with deckbuilding and with your play.
August 17, 2015 1:14 a.m.
Serra_Sentinel says... #6
Alright, as soon as I can get everything situated (job hunting struggles are real, haha, though, I'm just a seventeen-year-old and have no idea probably), I'll try regular drafting. It seems fun enough, and may help me build up to building my modern deck.
August 17, 2015 1:24 a.m.
JohnnyBaggins says... #7
First of all: Regular drafting is the best thing ever. Drafting is such an amazing way to play Magic. From Chaos draft to Block to just triple Khans, there's no way for me to have a bad Draft.
Second of all: Don't draft for money. In 8 out of 10 drafts you'll go home with far less money than you put in. In 1 out of 10 you go close to breaking even and maybe in 1 out of 10 you open the value-bomb in the set (Like currently Jace or Ugin in Fate Reforged) and make a little plus, but spread over three months, you'll hardly make plus. Assuming you take 1st every time, the packs you win might buy you a +-0, but no way you really profitably draft all year long.
And foremost: Don't draft to build a modern or even standard deck. Standard will take you forever even come close to something remotely playable and modern is utterly unreachable with Drafting. If you're looking to get into modern, pick a deck, spend a solid $100 to to build a deck with the cheap cards from the archetypes and some replacements for the rest and spend your $15 a week to buy another shock land or your play set of Rhinos or whatever.
I've seen enough "Standard" and "Modern" decks that were built of draft bulk to tell you... uuuurgh. You draft deck has 1-2 rares, 5-7 uncommons and a 16 commons in it, including 16 basic lands 90% of the time. Your competetive constructed deck has somehwere close to 30 to 35 rares and a land base that's made up of almost exclusively expensive lands that come from sets that you don't even get to draft.
Drafting is a hell lot of fun, but don't consider drafting as an investment into anything other magic than your playing skill. Consider drafting more of an evening's ticket to an event, like cinema or a concert. Don't draft to fund yourself. Especially as someone rather new to drafting, breaking even on a regular basis is unlikely to impossible.
August 17, 2015 9:52 a.m.
Serra_Sentinel says... #8
suislecalme
I think you misunderstand me. What I meant by drafting to build up to building my modern deck, was simply hopefully winning some packs, adding maybe some cards of value to my collection, and trading those in to get my shocks, or fetches, or whatever. I know that I'm not going to break even every time (this is Magic after all, the concept of not breaking even is something I'm used to.) But, maybe after a while of drafting, I'll have accumulated a larger collection of cards in which to trade in.
As a personal statement, I too have seen many a deck built of extra cards just lying about. In fact, I'm the only person within my playgroup of friends at school that plays this even remotely competitively. As for the modern deck I'm building, and want to have finished by, say, the end of December this year, you can find that here. -> Stealing Cards V1.3: Substantially More Control
August 17, 2015 10:55 a.m.
Serra_Sentinel says... #9
Update: Went drafting tonight :D it was great. I went 2-2 finishing third. I played Naya Renown (because for the first pack and a half I didn't know what I was doing) and it did exceptionally well against decks that weren't Nantuko Husk decks. (Essentially, I went 2-0 in my first two matches, and 0-2 in my last two.) I loved the experience, placed well for this only being my second time, and I would love to do it again.
JWiley129 says... #2
If you have friends you can draft with, you can for sure keep the packs for later drafts. Some stores will let you "trade in" packs as free entries into the store drafts, but others look down on that and won't let you. At the end of the day, if you have a group of people who save their packs for drafts, do it. Otherwise, go ahead and open them.
August 17, 2015 1:06 a.m.