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Worldwake Review Part 2: First Picks (Limited) January 28, 2010

Posted by James in : all, reviews, strategy, tips, limited, draft, sealed , 2comments

In order to prepare for the pre-release, it might help to consider which commons and uncommons you want. When you see these it can help you decide what colors to play. I call the best commons and uncommons “first picks” because they will tend to be the first cards you take during a draft. Here are my favorite 8 commons and uncommons: (more…)

Worldwake Review Part 1: Bombs (Limited) January 27, 2010

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The spoiler is now done and we already have pictures of the best draft/sealed bombs. Shards of Alara, M10, and Zendikar all seemed to allow bombs to affect the game to an extraordinary extent, and Worldwake has continued this trend. A “bomb” in my mind is a card that could pretty much win by itself. Here are my favorite eight bombs in Worldwake. (more…)

Drafting Zendikar Part 1: First Picks October 5, 2009

Posted by James in : all, reviews, strategy, tips, limited, draft , 6comments

When drafting Zendikar, you will want to decide which colors to play mostly depending on what cards are passed to you. If the rare isn’t extremely powerful, such as a Sorin Markov, you will have to depend on the commons and uncommons, which is 99% of the time. Even if your first pick is a Soren, you need good black cards to be passed to you in order to play him. Here are my 12 favorite common and uncommon first picks found in Zendikar: (more…)

Drafting Magic 2010 Part 5: Red August 7, 2009

Posted by James in : all, strategy, tips, limited, draft , 2comments

I already reviewed the first picks and second picks. Here are the other best commons and uncommons to look for when playing red: (more…)

Drafting Magic 2010 Part 3: Blue July 27, 2009

Posted by James in : all, reviews, strategy, tips, limited, draft , 3comments

I already reviewed the first picks and second picks. Here are the other best commons and uncommons to look for when playing blue: (more…)

Drafting Magic 2010 Part 2: White July 23, 2009

Posted by James in : all, reviews, strategy, tips, limited, draft , 3comments

This article will continue my discussion of Drafting Magic 2010. I already reviewed the first picks and second picks. Here are the other best commons and uncommons to look for when playing white: (more…)

Drafting Magic 2010 Part 1: Green July 21, 2009

Posted by James in : all, strategy, limited, draft , 1 comment so far

When you draft M10, it’s a good idea to make a two color deck. You can have a main color and a secondary color. I have already discussed what cards to look for when you take first picks or second picks. Now I will discuss other decent and mentionable commons and uncommons to look for in each color. (more…)

Magic 2010 Review Part 2: Second Picks July 8, 2009

Posted by James in : all, reviews, previews, strategy, tips, limited, draft, sealed , 6comments

Second picks are a notch under first picks. They are cards that are sometimes worth taking as a first pick in a draft. It is important to know what cards are considered to be second picks because every card in your deck isn’t going to be a bomb or a first pick when playing in a draft or sealed deck tournament. Taking a close look at the second picks can help you decide what colors to play, and it will help you take the best cards in a draft. I will only discuss the common and uncommon second picks because you can’t count on getting good rares in a limited event. (more…)

Magic 2010 Review: Limited Bombs & First Picks July 7, 2009

Posted by James in : all, reviews, previews, strategy, tips, limited, draft, sealed , 5comments

In order to understand what colors and cards are best in sealed and draft tournaments, it can be a good idea to take a look at the best cards. (more…)

Drafting Alara Reborn Part 6: Esper June 1, 2009

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The best cards for Esper in Alara Reborn when you draft SCA (Shards/Conflux/Reborn). (more…)

Drafting Alara Reborn Part 5: Grixis May 30, 2009

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The best cards for Grixis in Alara Reborn when you draft SCA (Shards/Conflux/Reborn). (more…)

Drafting Alara Reborn Part 3: Bant May 25, 2009

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The cards to look for if you want to make a good Bant deck when drafting SCA (Shards/Conflux/Reborn). The first picks have already been discussed, so I will concentrate on the decent cards and mentionable cards that you will want in your bant deck. (more…)

Drafting Alara Reborn Part 2: Naya May 23, 2009

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The cards you want for your Naya deck when playing in Alara Reborn. You might want to read about Alara Reborn’s bombs, first picks, and second picks. This article discusses Reborn’s mentionable cards for Naya when drafting SCA (Shards/Conflux/Reborn). (more…)

Drafting Shards of Alara (SCA) Walkthrough Part 3 May 17, 2009

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This is the final installment of my draft walkthrough.

I have been drafting a lot of Naya (green/white/red) and I don’t currently have much mana fixing to splash for other colors. (more…)

Drafting Shards of Alara (SCA) Walkthrough Part 1 May 9, 2009

Posted by James in : all, strategy, tips, limited, draft , 7comments

In order to better understand the best way of drafting, it can be a good idea to take a look at the thought process involved when drafting Shards of Alara/Conflux/Alara Reborn. I have simulated a draft using Magic Workstation, and I will show you the thought process that I used when deciding what to pick. (The draft was simulated by assuming the opponents always take the most powerful card.) This is part one of three, and I will start with a Shards of Alara booster pack. (more…)

Drafting Alara Reborn Part 1 May 6, 2009

Posted by James in : all, reviews, strategy, tips, limited, draft, sealed , 4comments

What colors should you play? Considering Alara Reborn, Naya is still the best shard, and Grixis has got the short end of the stick.

Although you will probably already know what colors you will play before opening the Alara Reborn pack, the colors you choose to play can be influenced based on what you hope to get in Alara Reborn. The most notable influence is probably Loxodon Warhammer. I mean Behemoth Sledge, which is a green-white uncommon. This is relatively easy to splash, so that alone isn’t going to make you want to play a green white deck. (But it can help you decide to play green or white.) (more…)

Alara Reborn Review Part 4: Limited Second Picks April 29, 2009

Posted by James in : all, reviews, previews, strategy, tips, limited, draft, sealed , 2comments

If you can’t get one of the best bombs or first picks mentioned in my previous articles, you could still get something nearly as powerful. These I call “second picks.” Here are my favorite 12 second picks: (more…)

Alara Reborn Review Part 3: Limited First Picks April 27, 2009

Posted by James in : all, reviews, previews, strategy, tips, limited, draft, sealed , 8comments

Yes, there are several rare first picks, but this is nothing unusual. What makes the big difference when playing in sealed and draft events are the common and uncommon first picks. (These are cards good enough to pick as your first card when playing in a draft event.) The most important first picks tend to be creature removal spells. Here are the top 8 first picks found in Alara Reborn: (more…)

Alara Reborn Review Part 2: Limited Bombs April 25, 2009

Posted by James in : all, reviews, previews, strategy, tips, limited, draft, sealed , 1 comment so far

I have chosen what I believe to be the top 6 limited bombs of Alara Reborn. These are the best cards you can get when playing in a sealed or draft tournament. My criteria for a bomb are the following:

  1. It will win you the game if it is not stopped.
  2. It is undercosted. Lower mana cost is good.
  3. It has few colors. No colors is best.

Bombs do not have to meet all of the above criteria. Either of the first two attributes of bombs can be enough to make a card a bomb. (more…)

Draft Tips: How Many Lands? February 9, 2009

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The most common rule of drafting or playing sealed is that you play 17 lands and 23 spells. There can be exceptions to this rule, but this ratio seems to work out pretty well. (more…)