For the reasons people listed, I'd go with presence. I question if the splash is actually worth it though. You only have two sources with both presence's, so you'd probably want to run two more islands to feel comfortable casting those bounce spells. Do you really not have 4-5 other on-color cards that are pretty good, and would add much more consistency to the deck? Don't get me wrong, bounce is great. If you don't have any other options then sure, go for it. However, I'm more inclined to cut the 2 presence, the 2 bounce, and maybe even the agent for on color cards of comparable, or less power to improve my consistency.
There are a few factors to consider when deciding which format is easier.
Comfort level
This is what I would consider the major factor. Personally, I'm finished north of 100 drafts of Theros. Compare that to half a dozen sealed deck tournaments, and you can hazard a guess what type of tournament I'm more comfortable playing. With knowledge comes comfort. If you played 50 sealed events, you probably know what works and what doesn't. You can expect to see certain decks more often than others. If an opponent plays plains, island, you're pretty sure he's got bounce and heroic creatures without seeing his deck.
Information
When I start a draft, I'm always open to any color and any strategy, as I've played them all several times. I read signals pretty well. If I'm at a casual in person event, and the person to my right can't shut his mouth because he opened an Elspeth, or a Polukranos, or a *insert bomb here*, I internalize that, because now I already know x color isn't open. If I'm on MTGO, and I see a 5th or 6th pick wingsteed rider, or thassa's emmissary, or gray's merchant, or even voyage's end, I have a good idea that those colors are at the very least slightly open. I'm always analyzing every pack, the people around me, any information that I can. To me, this makes drafting so much easier than sealed. I can capitalize on all of this information. I can build a relatively stronger deck than my opponents. On average, I'm more likely to win a random match simply because I have the stronger deck. I can't count on that in sealed.
Prize Structure
Someone else mentioned it, but the new sealed payout on MTGO is generous. You don't have to make the finals to get your price of admission back. Two wins is usually all it takes, as you're bound to get something worth more than 2 tix. This heavily favors sealed, as you're also guaranteed 3 rounds of play value.
There are probably other factors, but this post is already pretty long and nobody is going to read it. For me, draft is easier, mainly because I've been excelling at it compared to sealed.
so I've never done MTGO before. If I signup Phantom drafts would be something I would be interested in since normal drafts are too expensive(why do MTGO for $15 when I can do real life one for $15).
My question, when I start how many phantoms can I do for free?( I know I get tickets for just signing up). Then after my free entries are up, how much would it cost after that? Thanks.
I think there have been some misconceptions in this thread regarding the cost of MTGO.
1. Drafts cost 3 packs and 2 tickets. This is $14 "retail" price, not $15.
2. Unless you are doing pre-release events, drafts are never the full "retail" price. You can enter a draft using your own booster packs. Other humans and bots will sell packs, including Theros, for less than the $4 msrp. You can sometimes snag boosters for as low as $2.5, however Theros boosters are slightly more expensive right now at $3.5+.
3. If you are an average player, and you do swiss events, you will on average win 50% of your matches. So you can expect to win 1.5 packs per draft, which is nearly half of your buyin for the next draft. If you end up getting better, and winning more, you might feel more comfortable moving to a more top heavy payout structure where some of the better players "go infinite". That is, they make enough money drafting and selling cards that they don't have to deposit any more money.
My main point of posting here was to voice my opinion that MTGO is actually cheaper than paper. Draft winnings feed more drafts. Selling cards feed more drafts. If you ever wanted to get into standard, card prices online are significantly cheaper. There are tons of other benefits to online over paper. You only need 4 of a card and then you can use that card in an infinite number of decks. You can draft any time of the day against top tier opposition (assuming 8-4 draft pods here).
If money is super tight, and only you know that, then sure avoid MTGO. I'm just arguing that it's not as large of a money sink as others claim. I know this is anecdotal, but it's one data point for you. I put in 80 tickets right when Theros was released online. I have done 60+ drafts (all 8-4 and some pre-release). I have more than 80 tickets in my account right now, I have 1000's of theros cards, and I have 11 theros booster packs. I also bought several cards and built a top tier standard deck (red deck wins). I never input a single dollar over the initial investment of $80. I technically have "gone infinite" over the time frame, but part of that can be attributed to lucky money cards. As a reference point, my player rating is 1820ish for limited.
I'm not familiar with these cards. I prefer to play aggro low mana curve decks (top out at 5 mana) with high quality creature counts, and only 4-6 other spells. Is that possible to do with all of these sets? I'm not sure if many of the older creature cards are just weaker in comparison?
I only see one uncommon (Give/Take). I assume another uncommon was chosen. What is the 3rd uncommon?
I don't think summoner is an aggressive card. I would want to build a slow, grindy deck to supplement summoner. Both haazda snare squad and the green gatekeeper fit the bill. I think both are even in power level assuming we don't have many gates, and I personally want to avoid a clunky 3+ color deck with multiple gates. Having said that, without the upside of gates, I choose haazda snare squad.
I am aware this card is not as high of a power level as punish the enemy. Picking haazda doesn't marry us to celesnya yet, but it's a goal I'd like to reach if the signals we receive later in the pack dictate it.
The guy before me made some great points. I will go a step further than him and say bond beetle is unplayable even with primadox. The average m13 draft game ends on turn 8. If you get primadox out on turn 4, you have turn 5-8 to get some +1/+1 counters. So, that is on average only 4 counters. Honestly, i think you have way better targets. +2/+2 for a turn is more impactful. Drawing a card has way more impact. Even making your opponent discard a card could be nutty if he has 1 or 2 cards in hand he's waiting on. I'd rather sub these dudes out for a plummet and naturalize. Every color but green has flyers. You are going to run into them in a majority of your games. Naturalize might be a dead card and you could always sub it out game 2 but I still like the risk/reward payoff vs a beetle.
I don't think tern should be anywhere close to a top four blue common. I think the card is almost unplayable. It's only good if you're pretty aggressive. Otherwise, the issue of having one toughness and not being able to block are just too much. If you're like UW skies, it's pretty reasonable. However, in any sort of blue control deck, it ends up on the sideboard more often than not. Archeomancer is a much, much better card.
I know this is the essence scatter thread, but you really took a dump on Tern with that statement. Tern can be anywhere in the top 3 for me. My style of play leans toward aggressive, cheap, impact cards, and this card has all of those qualities. I'd pick an unsummon over tern if I needed removal. I'd pick fairy invaders over tern if I didn't have an invaders yet but that's it. If it's pack 1 pick1 and for whatever reason my only choices are blue commons, i'm taking tern. I'm never blocking with tern anyway, it's not a card you draft to sit back. The only non-rare card that shuts it down is the 2/3 white flyer and vampire nighthawk. You can argue fairy invaders, but it's less likely you're playing against blue as a blue deck. It's cheap so you aren't mad if you have to trade it against any x/2 flyer, or a deadly recluse. Even mid to late game it's an impact card. Two power in the air is always relevant.
First, congrats on your win. Having said that, I hope that you take my advice to heart. I know it's difficult noticing errors while you're having success, but this deck is bad on several levels.
Mind Sculpt - It's been said before. This card is bad and should not be in any deck unless you somehow wheel 8 of them.
Creatures - It really looks like you forced blue white as your card quality is pretty bad. Talrand's Invocation is your best creature, and it's not even a creature! Attended knight and aven are great. Outside of those, you have a couple lifelink cat's that are difficult to cast on turn 2, scroll thief that is very underwhelming, a random exalted wall that isn't bad but doesn't seem to fit into your deck, and an archeomancer that is only good if you already played talrands.
You basically have no win con with creatures. You aren't swarming them with 3 flyers. You aren't overwhelming them with power/toughness on the ground with 2/2 lifelinkers. You aren't even blocking that well with only one dude that's 0/4. On the bright side, you have a ton of great switcharoo targets!
Spells: redirect is not that great and tough to cast. it's also reactive and not proactive so you are leaving mana open. same deal with essence scatter. you have 3 solid removal spells which is a bit low but they are pretty good. rewind is so bad. finally, you have 2 combat tricks that are fairly obvious to a decent player. turn 5 you play a 2 drop and leave 3 mana open hmmm does he have safe passage? yes of course he does.
Jace: your win con. obviously you are playing him. you built the deck that you could to support him, but i feel like you got extremely lucky. the average m13 game ends on turn 8. You don't have any form of card draw other than a janky scroll thief. i don't know if this is exact, but the chance of getting jace by turn 6 is 7+6 = 13/40 which is just under 1/3 games. I said turn 6 because if he comes out any later i really feel like you are losing any type of race. the fact that you won 4 games with him seems like an anomaly. if you play that deck 1000 games, i don't think you win 400.
so what could you do better / different? it's hard to say without seeing your draft recap. i stand by my belief that you force these colors. maybe you got an early jace and aven and you are like windmill slam white/blue the whole way. it seems like you got good removal in white so maybe it was the right play. it's tough to say.
Crusader is borderline unplayable in my opinion. It opens yourself up for way too many 2 for 1's because of it's toughness relying on the survival of other creatures. If it's good it's probably a win more scenario.
I prefer to draft for value. Unsummon is a great card, but even the "best" blue common is not worth a 3rd pick in this pack. You're going to draw Bolas about three games. He is going to straight up win you at least one of those games. He might be a blank as well, but I'll take a card with that kind of potential.
On top of all this, we will get more chances to draft our unsummons. In all liklihood, we aren't seeing another Bolas.
Lastly, we are slowly seeing evidence that black might be open.
I have drafted probably 30+ times on MTGO. I just did my first live person draft last Saturday. Needless to say I felt rushed. The dude passing to me had about 7 stacks on the table at one point before I made my pick, and I wasn't taking longer than a minute.
MTGO is nice in that nobody can see your cards. Your mana curve is laid out perfectly for you and you can easily see what cards you've drafted. Also, everyone gets a set amount of time. I've been spoiled by technology I guess.
Does anyone have tips to help my paper magic drafts go more seamlessly?
Good players don't place much, if any, emphasis on sending signals P1P1. You reasoned that Rancor isn't the missing uncommon because it wouldn't be right to pick it and pass "all that green." What is "all that green"? There's one very good green card in Sentinel Spider but the other two green cards, Yeva's Forcemage and Spiked Baloth are mediocre and shouldn't be considered signals. I agree with you that it's likely the player didn't take Rancor but that's because I think Firewing Phoenix is a better first pick and, as such, they wouldn't have taken Rancor over it, but if the rare was a blank here, Rancor would be the clear pick, even though you're passing another good green card and a couple other mediocre ones.
I think Flames vs. Phoenix is a close pick, so I wouldn't rule out the person having taken that (although I'd go the other way). You reasoned that it wouldn't be wise to take Talrand's Invocation and pass Arctic Aven because you're saying "blue is open," but that's incorrect. The Aven is a fine blue card, and amazing UW card, but getting it 2nd pick with an uncommon missing does not signal that blue is open. It would be foolish to pass up the clear best card in the pack because you're afraid of sending a signal that the color is open, especially given that this signal is so weak. P1P1, good players take the best card. Invocation is a pretty likely candidate for the missing card (as are Nighthawk and ORing).
Thank you for your response. I do like thinking about likely picks the first person took, but I was putting too much stock into it. I also realize I have been undervaluing phoenix. I'm going to change my pick to phoenix.
I'm putting this in spoiler tags for those who don't think it's correct to look at print runs. But if you do look at print runs, it's likely that the first pick out of this pack was:
Vampire Nighthawk. It's next to Kitesail in the uncommon print run and fits the description of being more desirable than a Firewing Phoenix.
Can you go into more detail about print runs, or even just post a link? That is extremely awesome if you are able to know what cards are typically bunched together.
It's Pick 2. Nothing is open or closed or ajar or anything yet. We shouldn't be wed to our first pick and neither should the person passing to us. You can't read signals with your 2nd pick.
I agree with you in theory. However, not everyone drafts like it's day 2 of a GP. I'm arguing the dude who first picks vampire nighthawk isn't abandoning black anytime soon. I wish I had data to prove my point, but I don't.
I was trying to use actual math behind my reasoning why colors might be open. Black has more 1st pickable uncommons than any other color. I thought it would help spur deeper thinking. Maybe the response really is "you can't read signals with your 2nd pick". I'm new to magic and initially willing to defer to more experienced players.
Comfort level
This is what I would consider the major factor. Personally, I'm finished north of 100 drafts of Theros. Compare that to half a dozen sealed deck tournaments, and you can hazard a guess what type of tournament I'm more comfortable playing. With knowledge comes comfort. If you played 50 sealed events, you probably know what works and what doesn't. You can expect to see certain decks more often than others. If an opponent plays plains, island, you're pretty sure he's got bounce and heroic creatures without seeing his deck.
Information
When I start a draft, I'm always open to any color and any strategy, as I've played them all several times. I read signals pretty well. If I'm at a casual in person event, and the person to my right can't shut his mouth because he opened an Elspeth, or a Polukranos, or a *insert bomb here*, I internalize that, because now I already know x color isn't open. If I'm on MTGO, and I see a 5th or 6th pick wingsteed rider, or thassa's emmissary, or gray's merchant, or even voyage's end, I have a good idea that those colors are at the very least slightly open. I'm always analyzing every pack, the people around me, any information that I can. To me, this makes drafting so much easier than sealed. I can capitalize on all of this information. I can build a relatively stronger deck than my opponents. On average, I'm more likely to win a random match simply because I have the stronger deck. I can't count on that in sealed.
Prize Structure
Someone else mentioned it, but the new sealed payout on MTGO is generous. You don't have to make the finals to get your price of admission back. Two wins is usually all it takes, as you're bound to get something worth more than 2 tix. This heavily favors sealed, as you're also guaranteed 3 rounds of play value.
There are probably other factors, but this post is already pretty long and nobody is going to read it. For me, draft is easier, mainly because I've been excelling at it compared to sealed.
I think there have been some misconceptions in this thread regarding the cost of MTGO.
1. Drafts cost 3 packs and 2 tickets. This is $14 "retail" price, not $15.
2. Unless you are doing pre-release events, drafts are never the full "retail" price. You can enter a draft using your own booster packs. Other humans and bots will sell packs, including Theros, for less than the $4 msrp. You can sometimes snag boosters for as low as $2.5, however Theros boosters are slightly more expensive right now at $3.5+.
3. If you are an average player, and you do swiss events, you will on average win 50% of your matches. So you can expect to win 1.5 packs per draft, which is nearly half of your buyin for the next draft. If you end up getting better, and winning more, you might feel more comfortable moving to a more top heavy payout structure where some of the better players "go infinite". That is, they make enough money drafting and selling cards that they don't have to deposit any more money.
My main point of posting here was to voice my opinion that MTGO is actually cheaper than paper. Draft winnings feed more drafts. Selling cards feed more drafts. If you ever wanted to get into standard, card prices online are significantly cheaper. There are tons of other benefits to online over paper. You only need 4 of a card and then you can use that card in an infinite number of decks. You can draft any time of the day against top tier opposition (assuming 8-4 draft pods here).
If money is super tight, and only you know that, then sure avoid MTGO. I'm just arguing that it's not as large of a money sink as others claim. I know this is anecdotal, but it's one data point for you. I put in 80 tickets right when Theros was released online. I have done 60+ drafts (all 8-4 and some pre-release). I have more than 80 tickets in my account right now, I have 1000's of theros cards, and I have 11 theros booster packs. I also bought several cards and built a top tier standard deck (red deck wins). I never input a single dollar over the initial investment of $80. I technically have "gone infinite" over the time frame, but part of that can be attributed to lucky money cards. As a reference point, my player rating is 1820ish for limited.
I don't think summoner is an aggressive card. I would want to build a slow, grindy deck to supplement summoner. Both haazda snare squad and the green gatekeeper fit the bill. I think both are even in power level assuming we don't have many gates, and I personally want to avoid a clunky 3+ color deck with multiple gates. Having said that, without the upside of gates, I choose haazda snare squad.
I am aware this card is not as high of a power level as punish the enemy. Picking haazda doesn't marry us to celesnya yet, but it's a goal I'd like to reach if the signals we receive later in the pack dictate it.
I know this is the essence scatter thread, but you really took a dump on Tern with that statement. Tern can be anywhere in the top 3 for me. My style of play leans toward aggressive, cheap, impact cards, and this card has all of those qualities. I'd pick an unsummon over tern if I needed removal. I'd pick fairy invaders over tern if I didn't have an invaders yet but that's it. If it's pack 1 pick1 and for whatever reason my only choices are blue commons, i'm taking tern. I'm never blocking with tern anyway, it's not a card you draft to sit back. The only non-rare card that shuts it down is the 2/3 white flyer and vampire nighthawk. You can argue fairy invaders, but it's less likely you're playing against blue as a blue deck. It's cheap so you aren't mad if you have to trade it against any x/2 flyer, or a deadly recluse. Even mid to late game it's an impact card. Two power in the air is always relevant.
Mind Sculpt - It's been said before. This card is bad and should not be in any deck unless you somehow wheel 8 of them.
Creatures - It really looks like you forced blue white as your card quality is pretty bad. Talrand's Invocation is your best creature, and it's not even a creature! Attended knight and aven are great. Outside of those, you have a couple lifelink cat's that are difficult to cast on turn 2, scroll thief that is very underwhelming, a random exalted wall that isn't bad but doesn't seem to fit into your deck, and an archeomancer that is only good if you already played talrands.
You basically have no win con with creatures. You aren't swarming them with 3 flyers. You aren't overwhelming them with power/toughness on the ground with 2/2 lifelinkers. You aren't even blocking that well with only one dude that's 0/4. On the bright side, you have a ton of great switcharoo targets!
Spells: redirect is not that great and tough to cast. it's also reactive and not proactive so you are leaving mana open. same deal with essence scatter. you have 3 solid removal spells which is a bit low but they are pretty good. rewind is so bad. finally, you have 2 combat tricks that are fairly obvious to a decent player. turn 5 you play a 2 drop and leave 3 mana open hmmm does he have safe passage? yes of course he does.
Jace: your win con. obviously you are playing him. you built the deck that you could to support him, but i feel like you got extremely lucky. the average m13 game ends on turn 8. You don't have any form of card draw other than a janky scroll thief. i don't know if this is exact, but the chance of getting jace by turn 6 is 7+6 = 13/40 which is just under 1/3 games. I said turn 6 because if he comes out any later i really feel like you are losing any type of race. the fact that you won 4 games with him seems like an anomaly. if you play that deck 1000 games, i don't think you win 400.
so what could you do better / different? it's hard to say without seeing your draft recap. i stand by my belief that you force these colors. maybe you got an early jace and aven and you are like windmill slam white/blue the whole way. it seems like you got good removal in white so maybe it was the right play. it's tough to say.
Were you playing me? Some dude redirected my Titanic Growth last night and won the following turn.
I prefer to draft for value. Unsummon is a great card, but even the "best" blue common is not worth a 3rd pick in this pack. You're going to draw Bolas about three games. He is going to straight up win you at least one of those games. He might be a blank as well, but I'll take a card with that kind of potential.
On top of all this, we will get more chances to draft our unsummons. In all liklihood, we aren't seeing another Bolas.
Lastly, we are slowly seeing evidence that black might be open.
Pick: Disciple of Bolas
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Some sensible people talked me into the 4/2 flyer. That's my vote.
MTGO is nice in that nobody can see your cards. Your mana curve is laid out perfectly for you and you can easily see what cards you've drafted. Also, everyone gets a set amount of time. I've been spoiled by technology I guess.
Does anyone have tips to help my paper magic drafts go more seamlessly?
Thank you for your response. I do like thinking about likely picks the first person took, but I was putting too much stock into it. I also realize I have been undervaluing phoenix. I'm going to change my pick to phoenix.
Can you go into more detail about print runs, or even just post a link? That is extremely awesome if you are able to know what cards are typically bunched together.
I agree with you in theory. However, not everyone drafts like it's day 2 of a GP. I'm arguing the dude who first picks vampire nighthawk isn't abandoning black anytime soon. I wish I had data to prove my point, but I don't.
I was trying to use actual math behind my reasoning why colors might be open. Black has more 1st pickable uncommons than any other color. I thought it would help spur deeper thinking. Maybe the response really is "you can't read signals with your 2nd pick". I'm new to magic and initially willing to defer to more experienced players.