Couple of Questions Needed for Today's Show
Added 2019-08-08 17:59:42 +0000 UTCHey All!
Luis is at a work conference thing this week so Ryan Spain is stepping in to talk about a bunch of topics with me.
I have questions for him, but wanted to reach out to you in case you had any Arena-specific questions that you need answered by Ryan. This won't be the only topic so I can't get to all of them, but please put any Arena-specific questions for Ryan here so I can get a feel for what our audience wants to know about!
Thanks!
Marshall
Comments
Under what conditions should I consider resigning from an event? Sometimes I'm just more excited to do my next draft rather than play out with my current deck. This is especially true when I think I'm going to lose!
Geremy Heitz
2019-08-09 01:37:39 +0000 UTCHi, Ryan. What's your strategy to complete playsets for Constructed on Arena with the minimum investment possible?
Atipong Pathanasethpong
2019-08-08 23:38:52 +0000 UTCBesides live drafts, what improvement to Arena do you want most?
Mark Conkle
2019-08-08 23:06:42 +0000 UTCSimilar question to some above but do you prefer playing sealed, traditional draft or ranked draft when going optimal? Do you use a combination? What about when to use wild cards to get gems? Right now I will play quite a bit of sealed when a format is released, then I transition into traditional draft then ranked when all the mythic players have leveled up so the competition is not as fierce. I tend to use wild cards when I am already at 3/4 of a card. Also, how highly do you prioritize mythic/rare cards. I tend to draft them at a C+/B- level in terms of LR rankings, but I get the sense that maybe I should prioritize them even more. How can you use knowledge of how bots draft to help you go optimal?
Matthew Totonchy
2019-08-08 22:24:14 +0000 UTCAre different formats in Arena (e.g., traditional vs. ranked draft, etc.) differently useful for going optimal? Have you found some to be more efficient for specific goals (e.g., banking gems, grinding wildcards, etc.) than others? Is there an appropriate mix of formats, or do you generally just grind one?
Kristen Williams
2019-08-08 21:44:20 +0000 UTCI'm most interested in anything you can say about the Bo1 approach in deckbuilding. Little example: Been finding Reckless Airstrike useful in my maindeck because of the prevalence of fliers and artifacts (bows). I would never maindeck in Bo3.
Ed Stackler
2019-08-08 21:34:05 +0000 UTCI have a couple questions about optimizing for Arena's economy. First, I know I want to use my wild cards up so that I get more gems for my rares as I get a playset of the current set, but I'd like to get your thoughts on whether it is correct to just burn them all and start getting the gems, or whether it is better to use them sparingly as you know you're going to hit a playset of specific rares. Will I get more wildcards sooner if I just use them up? Second, I don't understand the Set Mastery track at all. Are there economic edges to be gained by learning this system? I'm assuming I should never spend gems on it. Could you speak to this? Thanks!
Eric Lynch
2019-08-08 21:04:05 +0000 UTCAre there plans for an apple compatible version of arena? What other platforms are under consideration, or likely?
Matt Henriksen
2019-08-08 20:53:23 +0000 UTCHave either of you been playing Arena on your phones? I've been doing it for a while and it works pretty well and has been great to be able to play Magic on the go (though it uses a ton of bandwidth so watch out if you're not on WiFi or don't have unlimited data). There are a few different ways to do it, but the one I have been using is detailed here: https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/873psy/how_to_play_magic_arena_on_your_phone/
KG
2019-08-08 20:18:46 +0000 UTCHey Ryan, from your past work on Arena and with the news of increased hiring at Wizards, do you think cube on Arena is feasible? I have been itching to play Legacy cube, but am so used to the arena user interface, I am hesitant to reload MTGO. There would be a lot of mechanics that would need to be coded, but then it could run one weekend a month as a phantom draft.
JUSTIN CAPALBO
2019-08-08 19:30:33 +0000 UTCI took a brief hiatus from magic and now that I’m back I’ve been hearing a ton about Arena. What’s the TLDR?
Dylan Kiernan
2019-08-08 19:23:15 +0000 UTCFirst of all, I would like to apologize to Ryan for some insensitive Twitter comments. I'm sorry. And, secondly, I wanted to ask him how the transition has been like these past months from a corporate life at WotC to streamer/content creator. For example, how did your family take this decision? I haven't caught the stream much, but I have watched some YouTube videos, and I like the interaction and rapport you have established with chat. Thank you.
Antonio Valdez
2019-08-08 19:11:53 +0000 UTCHow often do you find yourselves shaving a land or even two when playing best of one(due to the hand smoothing algorithm)? I drafted a mono black dread presence deck with a curve that topped out at four so I tried playing just 15 swamps and it felt great, went 7-1. Obviously curve has a lot do to with it too but it got me wondering.
Hákon Gunnarsson
2019-08-08 19:08:49 +0000 UTCRyan, how much does the new mulligan rule affect whether you keep a 2-land hand? I find myself mulliganing these more.
Jean-Luc Brouillet
2019-08-08 18:49:56 +0000 UTCRyan, when trying to go "optimal", how much do you rare draft, as rares are worth gems if you already have them?
Jean-Luc Brouillet
2019-08-08 18:48:12 +0000 UTCFirst of all, thanks for all your great work. I decided to become a patron after my first 7-0 Arena draft largely thanks to your sage advice. What game limited mode would you like to see added to Arena? 2HG? Sealed League? Chaos draft? Something else?
Jason Kopplin
2019-08-08 18:44:24 +0000 UTC+1 for Ranked best of 3 draft against humans
Fingal Plumpton
2019-08-08 18:44:21 +0000 UTCWhy should people play arena versus "real magic" on MTGO?
Andy Cohen
2019-08-08 18:42:37 +0000 UTCThere is tons of talk about taking the correct line through a draft, going deep into a color on pack 1 in Arena, etc. What do you do when you get hosed (or let's be honest, screw up) in pack 1. Are there any techniques for salvaging a draft as you get into pack 2,3? Are there some late pickable cards that can bridge you back to some kind of line when you have a weak pool coming into the later packs?
Jon
2019-08-08 18:37:03 +0000 UTCHey guys really love the content! I’ve gotten into debates lately about why magic is the best game ever made and I run into the argument that it has too much variance relative to pure strategy games like chess and go. As the strategists that y’all are, why do you prefer a game with randomness? Hasn’t the initial appeal of beating a better player that games with variance offer worn off? Thanks and keep up the great work.
Jordan Selesnick
2019-08-08 18:33:45 +0000 UTCI know it’s a bit off topic, but what are your thoughts on anything we have seen so far in regards to throne of eldraine?
Brandon Plemmons
2019-08-08 18:32:52 +0000 UTCThis could be confirmation bias, but I feel like I lose a lot more games in Arena to mana screw/flood than I do playing magic in person. How do you deal with this?
William Bowers
2019-08-08 18:28:21 +0000 UTCLeague style is fine. I think most people mean drafting with humans
Johnny Rojas
2019-08-08 18:24:53 +0000 UTCWhat are your thoughts on Wizards forcing us to play sealed on Arena when a new set drops? For myself I find it very frustrating as I find it a gem sink. With drafts I can generally manage a slow bleed of gems but when the new set drops and I have to play a bunch of sealed to and quickly blow out thousands of gems due to the higher variance of the format and the higher entry. I don't think this is done by accident :) So I find myself having to choose between putting much more of my hard-earned gems at risk to a person who opens more bombs than me or choosing to not play the new cards until draft arrives. Both of which feel bad. Your thoughts?
Ryan Sturm
2019-08-08 18:21:13 +0000 UTCI'm not sure how much standard you all are playing, but any thoughts on banning Scapeshift in best of 1? It's a card that really demands side board style answers in a format without them. No one cried for Nexus of Fate, and I bet you'd have about the same reaction w/ Scapeshift.
Ryan Glinski
2019-08-08 18:20:49 +0000 UTCAny updated feelings on the mastery pass? I got it on a whim and the cost is real, but the extra value you get along the way definitely feels good.
Ryan Jones
2019-08-08 18:19:54 +0000 UTCHey guys. Great work you both do, and Luis I guess. I am just wondering why ranked draft is only best if one. It is frustrating when you have good sideboard cards against a deck or get mana screw/flood out of a game. Please bring ranked best of 3 soon! Also pod drafting would be nice. Thanks for all you do!
Johnny Rojas
2019-08-08 18:18:09 +0000 UTCHey Marshall and Ryan! First I want to say thank you for all the great podcasts. I honestly think listening has not only made me a better Magic player, but also a better human being in general, so I am truly grateful. Now on to my question! I was wondering how to change my signal reading when drafting cards bots undervalue. For example, if I see a strong card with 4 or 5 cards left in the pack, in paper I would view that as a signal point. On Arena though, I often feel that the bots just don’t take a card that I think is good, so I don’t want to get trapped into a color just because my opinions are different than the opinions of the bots. The biggest example of this for me is with Sauroform Hybrid from Ravnica Allegiance (the best Green common), where I would move into Green after seeing a couple of them super late (with 5 or 6 cards in the pack) but then realize that Green wasn’t actually open. How do you adapt your drafting style to account for strange card evaluation in the bots so you can avoid getting trapped into a color that isn’t actually open?
NicolaiBolas
2019-08-08 18:17:24 +0000 UTCHow much different is the metagame for arena than it is in real life. Maybe this fits more standard but it seems that decks go on a rotation due to bot variance. Like white will sprout up for a week than dissapeared again.
Alyssa blair
2019-08-08 18:16:29 +0000 UTCFor those asking about pod drafts: Do you mean drafting against humans but playing League style, or actual pod drafts where you have to wait for all the other players to be finished before going to your next round?
Limited Resources
2019-08-08 18:14:39 +0000 UTCAgree with the pod draft point, but more specifically, how would you design the human draft component to address some of the issues that Wizards sees that led to bot drafts? Like the queue wait times, the timed draft picks, and ultimately the pool of opponents to play against.
Jason Dooley
2019-08-08 18:14:12 +0000 UTCI'd like to hear some discussions on the "add-on"s for the MTG arena like mtg.gg overlay. I noticed that it gives you a real-time statistics for potential land drop, remaining card in your deck, etc. Would you consider it to be an unfair advantage, as it alleviates cognitive load of a player? For example, I won a game because I named proper color with my Diamond Knight in the lategame because I could quickly look up the spells I had remaining in my deck.
Jace K. Kim
2019-08-08 18:13:03 +0000 UTCHey guys! Huge fan - came in around the start of 2015 and have since gone back and listened to all the old episodes too! The show has been a major positive force during tough times in my life and has also inspired me to do my own content creation. Anyway, curious on the best way to go about deciding between which Ranked Draft format to play now that we have more than one available. I know it would involve multiple factors - your relative win rates, how much of each set you have completed, personal enjoyment - but have either of you put much thought into how to decide when it comes time to dive in? Thanks as always!
McNerdy27
2019-08-08 18:11:47 +0000 UTC+1 on the pod drafts.
Jace K. Kim
2019-08-08 18:10:39 +0000 UTCHey Ryan, glad to have you back! I've been out of the loop on Arena the past month or two, can you give a rundown of the new Mastery system, and whether primarily limited players should care about it?
Seth Fellenstein
2019-08-08 18:10:25 +0000 UTCPod drafts when
Robert Morris
2019-08-08 18:09:25 +0000 UTCWelcome back Ryan. What do you think was Wizard's motivation behind having 2 ranked Bo1 draft formats at a time?
Alan Goldman
2019-08-08 18:08:27 +0000 UTCHey guys, thanks as always for the awesoem content, looking forward to the show every week. I really love arena, the interface, the quick games, the whole experience. The only problem is that I am a huge fan of old formats, especially Legacy. I always wondered, if there is a tiny chance that some of the older formats will be playable in arena style. I guess it is probably way too much effort but it would just be so sweet. What are your thoughts on the matter? PS: Marshall, I heard you talk German on an older episode today and I got to say it was really impressive. Nicht schlecht! All the best from Germany, Erik
Erik R
2019-08-08 18:05:44 +0000 UTCOne question on just about every Arena player's mind - when will we have player vs. player draft pods (or will we at all)? Can you speak to any technical or logistical challenges presented by the implementation of PVP drafting? What hurdles does WotC need to clear before this can become a reality?
Luke Maschinot
2019-08-08 18:05:36 +0000 UTCDo you think they will ever make b03 drafting ranked?
AutismAwareness
2019-08-08 18:04:04 +0000 UTCProbably already answered somewhere, but is there more value in best of three Unranked draft, or best of one ranked when taking into account end of season rewards?
Nathan McFarland
2019-08-08 18:02:30 +0000 UTC
