Patreon Question of the Week Refresh Thread
Added 2018-08-09 22:30:45 +0000 UTCHey All,
You've got questions, YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH.
I've been watching A Few Good Men too often lately, but despite that you should still put your questions for the Question of the Week here :)
- Marshall
Comments
Really enjoyed the GRN set review, thanks guys! Lately I've been getting my limited fix through grinding through arena's single game drafts and sealeds (mostly due to budget concerns), and i was wondering if not getting to sideboard in a single game match changes your card evaluation. Should cards I'd normally sideboard, like naturalize or plummet effects, be making my main deck more often?
Mike Hundley
2018-09-30 18:17:03 +0000 UTCWith Guilds of Ravnica about to be released could you provide some advice on how guilds change draft considerations? How much should we downgrade the value of a card that is not in a guild with early picks? What if we find an unsupported color pair is what is open?
Gwiz
2018-09-24 10:29:27 +0000 UTCMarshall, Luis! LR has been instrumental in not just my Limited play, but my skill in Magic in general has improved since I've been listening. During the course of M19, I've been teaching a friend the ropes, trying to teach her the lessons I've learned from you two slowly as we attend drafts together, and she recently ! My question is about going forward. With the Core Set entry experience under her belt, what advice do you have for players like her going into more complex sets where synergies become more important, instead of more straightforward sets like M19? Thanks for helping me bring someone into our wonderful game and community!
Keith Wynn
2018-09-17 19:36:53 +0000 UTCHey guys, love the show! I have an in-game decisions question. In a situation where your opponent has seen your hand, how highly do you value playing the cards they have seen over the ones they haven't? For example, your opponent has cast Duress, made you discard a bomb enchantment/artifact, and seen some decent creatures, combat tricks, and removal spells. Next turn you draw something else that affects the board, but that you would ordinarily be inclined to cast first. How do you use the knowledge that your opponent is likely going to play around what they know you have, especially in limited, to help you make the best play?
Paul Barrett
2018-09-09 06:18:08 +0000 UTCI have enjoyed drafting on Arena over MTGO because Arena is inexpensive, graphically superior, and the games seem to go quicker. Do you guys draft on arena? If so, any thoughts on the differences between MTGO and Arena drafting? Also...will spending time on arena stunt my growth as a limited player? Thanks guys! Great show!
Jonathan Montgomery
2018-09-05 00:28:05 +0000 UTCHey Marshall and Luis! I just cant figure out M19... During Dominaria, I had a win percentage close to 70%. Sure, I occasionally had a bombed draft, but overall I was doing very well by my standards. However, in M19, I just can’t seem to figure it out. I’ve tried synergy, I’ve tried good stuff, and I’ve tried combining these strategies as best I can. I'm usually able to read the open colours during the draft process, but I cant even get that right in this set. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. After around 18 drafts, my win percentage is just below 50%. Ive also watched and read as much good M19 draft content as Im reasonably able to. Now, its reaching a point that continuing to play on MTGO just isnt a reasonable use of my money. Have either of you experienced a similar situation? Have you been able to overcome this type of situation? If so, what made the format click with you? When/if there is a set you just dont get, what do you do instead so that you can continue to play limited without throwing all your bucks down the toilet? Keep up the great work you two! Jamie
Jamie Fine
2018-08-16 22:06:45 +0000 UTCHey Marshall and LSV, looking for some thoughts on the natural progression of improving at limited and how that translates to the right evolution of queue on MODO. I draft once a week in paper but felt I needed to get on MODO to level up my in-game decision making in particular. As a disciple of value, I started with the Friendly Sealed leagues as they provided the most favorable EV in an attempt to "go infinite". After learning the ropes of the interface and its nuances, I have worked up to a win rate that generates modest gains on average (60-65% win rate), achieving "infinite". While this feels solid, the lack of broad player data beyond trophy count (which is prone to bias toward higher league count) makes where I stack up a bit difficult to determine. Am I a Man O' War or an Ornithopter? This opacity leads me to wonder: what is a good win rate on MODO for Draft (and sealed if it is different) and at what point do you think one should move up the ladder from Friendly to Intermediate to Competitive?
Draft Punks Camberville
2018-08-14 20:07:22 +0000 UTCHey guys, I've been drafting with a casual group of colleagues 4-5 times per Set since Aether Revolt released but I've never been to FNM or such events. A group of us are planning on hitting up the Prerelease when it rolls around for Guilds. As someone who's at least decent with limited, but not familiar with Prerelease etiquette or protocol, what advice would you give to a store event first-timer? Cheers; love the show!
Peter
2018-08-14 00:50:44 +0000 UTCHi Guys, love the show. Okay so my question starts off kinda sacrilige: I hate Dominaria Limited. I find it to be a bomb heavy prince format whose games end in a topdecks war; and I know I'm in a minority here #DontAtMe. (It doesn't help that I didn't play more than a handful of Dom drafts because I was moving house this spring) I assumed this was fine, I've not liked limited formats before, then they rotate and we get on with Magic; my problem, and question, is this; Dominaria seems to have been inducted into the format Hall of Fame, where all future sets get compared back to it (like Khans, Rise or Innistrad); how can I maintain perspective on future sets when my comparison point is so vastly different to that of the Magic influencers I trust?
Jethro
2018-08-13 15:26:40 +0000 UTCHi Marshall and Luis, glad you guys made up... ;) What are your thoughts on deliberate pauses, especially while playing MTGO? I know you tend to avoid getting too far into "mind games" territory, but sometimes it feels like timing decisions are more strategic in nature. For example, when you rip a land in late-game top deck mode, just saying go/f6 immediately gives a more information to your opponent than even a few second delay. Are there any other times you consider deliberately tanking for strategic gains? P.S. I've been following the show for most of a year. I was in a game last night, dead on board next turn, a situation where I used to just concede. Now I just pass it back and inevitably get killed the next turn... until last night! Opp made a very conservative attack and gave me a whole extra draw step. (I lost the next turn of course, but that's not the point).
james anderson
2018-08-13 02:45:09 +0000 UTCHey Marshall and Luis, thanks for continuing to produce top notch content. I've been listening for a couple of years now, even though I don't draft much. Part of the reason is that I can rarely get 8 MTG friends together for a draft. We've done a few 4-person drafts but the decks didn't feel right with only 4 players worth of packs. What are your favourite ways to get a better draft experience with only 4 players? Thanks again for all your hard work! <3
Fithäkk
2018-08-12 23:42:36 +0000 UTCHi all, I have a genius or grifter question for you. Here’s the scenario: I’m drafting Dominaria at my local & I’m nearly mono black at the end of draft. I’ve also picked up some decent blue cards, some decent green, & a Blessed Light. I have three Skittering Surveyor so I feel comfortable with my mana base. I start out my deck mostly black, a little blue, & a white splash. In Game 1 my opponent is on GB Saprolings & out values me. I decide to get on the same plan in Game 2. I swap out the blue for green, which includes a Wild Onslaught. I mention to my opponent before we start that I’ve swapped out a colour in sideboarding. Our first game went very long & we were both worried about time. I asked if it was okay if all of my islands in my deck could be represented as forests rather than waste more time & find the land box & swap out all of the lands. He agreed. It gets to the later part of the game & we are at parity. Neither of us are attacking. At last, I draw Wild Onslaught & swing in with my board. My opponent blocks accordingly (not thinking about any green cards that I may have in my hand) & I blow him out with the Onslaught. In that instance, I guess he forgot that my islands were forests & wasn’t thinking about the green combat trick that would change blocking. He was very good about it because we did agree to it at the start of the game, but I could tell he was perturbed. It wasn’t my intention to confuse my opponent, but had I done this intentionally... is that genius... or is that grifter?
Dylan Turner
2018-08-12 19:40:48 +0000 UTCHow highly should one value being monocolored? yesterday I lost to a sos so mono green deck. Today o.k in a draft where I was mono blue, but fell just short of a trophy. I was second guessing my choice to be mono color, and was wondering if you have a metric for making this choice. how many good cards should we leave out in favor of consistency? For example, the black cards I left out were: Isareth, murder , lich's caress, and vampire sovereign (these were my only playable black cards). I could have run these over maybe: a disperse, a totally lost, a switcheroo, a salvager of secrets and my scond aven wind mage. Thanks for your good work, and valuable insights.
Matt Henriksen
2018-08-12 19:24:17 +0000 UTCHi Marshall and Luis, thanks for all the great advice over the years! My question is about dealing with rude players at GPs or PPTQs. I understand at an FNM it's more of a situation for the LGS to deal with, but at a competitive event I feel like there's a level of professionalism that's expected of players. Is there a good way to handle another player making rude or insulting comments to another player? Calling a judge seems like the first step, but is it all just hearsay and there's not much the judge can do unless they hear it firsthand? Thankfully, I've only ever run into this situation once, but it caught me so off-guard that the offending player had already walked away by the time I'd processed what happened.
Parker
2018-08-10 16:28:25 +0000 UTCWhich magic players do the two of you look up to and what have you learned from them that's helped shape your game? - The podcast rocks and the episode with Huey and Ben was amazing work!
Anthony Villotti
2018-08-10 16:11:01 +0000 UTCThis is a historical question: Has there ever been a draft format/block where alternative win conditions were a realistic archetype? If yes, which ones? (Obviously Liliana's contract doesn't work because of the lack of demons in M19).
Jörn Bethune
2018-08-10 15:55:28 +0000 UTCHow big a deal is color consideration when evaluating a card and whether it is limited playable. For example, how much worse is Karn, Scion of Urza if he were RRRR rather than 4?
Taylor Rogers
2018-08-10 15:08:48 +0000 UTCIs there a weakness to favoring a color or combination of colors slightly more than others? While I would never do something like pass Murder for Luminous Bonds early in a draft, I sometimes find in various sets that I'll lean towards a style or strategy and favor the cards in it a bit higher. (say, a Pacifism effect that's C-plus I might see as B-minus). While I think I do a good job of staying open to my spot on the table, I do worry that I'm too willing to play white and blue midrange/tempo/flying decks when the packs aren't clear. Thanks for helping my own technique as I teach a budding new drafter. :D
Keith Wynn
2018-08-10 08:44:40 +0000 UTCTo both of you, Who is your favorite 80's WWE Wrestler?
Clayton T. Carlson
2018-08-10 03:57:15 +0000 UTCHow can I enjoy losing more? I'd love to walk away from any close and interesting game happy, but as someone who's starting to value my performance at a competitive level a lot more, losing matches can be pretty upsetting, especially when I made a misplay (large or small). Love the show and a belated welcome back to LSV!
Richard Blocher
2018-08-10 03:00:56 +0000 UTCCan you guys go into exactly what you mean by a “good mana curve”? Does it depend on the deck/format? Are there heuristics for figuring out how many 2-drops/3-drops/4-drops/etc you want? Thanks!
Trevor Andersen
2018-08-10 02:58:09 +0000 UTCWhat set do you think has had the biggest discrepancy between how much fun it was to play, and how fun you initially thought it would be from first impressions?
George Williams
2018-08-10 01:20:48 +0000 UTCCan we get your updated opinion on Mirror Image? I keep finding people who think the card is quite good, but my results with it have been medium at best.
Freyja Letki
2018-08-10 01:15:16 +0000 UTCHow can we get limited at a team pro tour. I was thinking something like the standard player does 3 rounds of draft day 1 then maybe the modern or legacy player day 2. Any thoughts, since the real goal here is getting to that sweet sweet team draft top 4 and finals. Love the show, don't ever stop!
Tyler Spiering
2018-08-10 01:01:54 +0000 UTCI had a recent experience at an FNM draft. I've been looking for more and more chances to draft in paper, and I like to think I'm trying my best to win while still being fun to play against. But after one of my matches, my opponent expressed his frustration with the match by saying he didn't like people who took draft seriously. (He pointed to my use of removal as a sign I took draft seriously...) I can't remember exactly what he said, but it was to the effect of "Magic isn't fun if I'm not allowed to do everything I want." I let him finish then sheepishly picked up my cards and left. In hindsight, was there anything I could have said to diffuse the situation? LR's really helped me level up, and I think I'm approaching "Draft Endboss" status in my area. :D
Joe Loof
2018-08-10 00:33:01 +0000 UTCWhat do you feel Eternal does better than Magic, and what does Magic do better than Eternal?
Adrian Petrescu
2018-08-09 23:24:45 +0000 UTCHey Marshall and Luis. I've been wondering, in Magic Online, when is the point that we should switch from Intermediate Draft to Competitive draft queues? Obviously, there is a point where the expected value of Competitive Queue is greater than Intermediate Queue, but what is that point, and how do we know we're there?
Leona
2018-08-09 23:06:11 +0000 UTCHow do you evaluate new cards that are added to the MTGO cube? Something like Ravenous Chupacabra is obviously a bomb in its own limited format, but how do you evaluate it (or other new cards) in a cube environment? Do you have any heuristics for evaluating cards in cube?
Daniel Schneider
2018-08-09 22:49:20 +0000 UTCHello Marshall and Luis! I wanted to ask about heuristics, and when not to rely too heavily on them. I'll find sometimes when I'm facing a complicated board state or a hand with many possible plays, I'll be tempted to fall back on a heuristic to help make the decision (like, use up as much mana as possible). However, using heuristics can often obscure more complex lines of play that would have been realized with more intense deliberation during the play. How do I avoid excessively using heuristics to where I lose win percentage on more complex board states? Thank you guys for the content, both streams and podcasting.
Luis Goicouria (manowarelves)
2018-08-09 22:47:03 +0000 UTCHey guys! How do you recommend splitting your time between draft vs sealed for maximum competitive value? Is there a ratio you'd recommend? How might this differ for MTGO grinders vs GP grinders?
Jaeger
2018-08-09 22:44:35 +0000 UTCAs someone who has recently started a podcast (the descriptively named "Let's Remember Some Cards!"), what were some of the challenges you faced in the early days of LR? We've tried to make sure that we're extremely prepared by outlining several episodes ahead and engaging our listeners for feedback on form and style, but I'm wondering if there are other things you recommend keeping in mind as we get off of the ground. LR was the first podcast - Magic or otherwise - I regularly listened to and has been a big inspiration to my co-host and me as we think about how we want to our show to feel. Thanks! BONUS: How is A Few Good Men underrated despite being so highly rated? Is it because people only identify it with the courtroom scene, and miss that the whole movie features great performances and some of Aaron Sorkin's best writing?
The Memory Jar Podcast
2018-08-09 22:44:08 +0000 UTCArena has the best of one drafts, how would draft and deckbuild differently to maximise your EV and fun in those events?
Michael Trevelyan
2018-08-09 22:40:41 +0000 UTCI'm interested in Mark Arucan's question as well.
Christopher Evenstar
2018-08-09 22:38:13 +0000 UTCLove the show.
David Searcy
2018-08-09 22:36:11 +0000 UTCHi all, Love the work you guys do! My question is as follows: If you could have one tribe in each limited format going forward, which would it be and why? Keep up the great work! Cheers, Tom
Tommy
2018-08-09 22:34:28 +0000 UTCA lot of times we talk about big things we can work on to get better, but what are some really really small things that are very easy to miss, but can still get us some small advantage in the long run?
Hans Gougar
2018-08-09 22:34:15 +0000 UTCHey, Marshall! What do you think of BenS pushing for a limited Pro Tour? I think as limited specialists we’d like it, but for Magic and Wizards as a whole it may limit marketing the latest set for constructed, since everyone wants to see the pros break a format. What are your opinions?
Mark Arucan
2018-08-09 22:34:08 +0000 UTCWhich skills give a player a leg up in constructed and vice versa (which skills give a constructed player an edge in limited?)
Glory Ancheta
2018-08-09 22:32:31 +0000 UTC
