MtG

[Metaldog]

More good news, Bison!  While you can draft against the AI for a lower entry fee, the big drafts are all live and filled with real, live, actual, people!  Three boosters, everyone picks in order, same cards until the pack is gone. 

[Bison]

Very cool. It'll be a much better draft experience.

[Metaldog]

There is a free entry to the Cube Draft so you should check it out.  Limited time offer if I remember arightly.

[Metaldog]

When you sit down to build a deck do you have something in mind at the start, like a theme or combination that jumps out at you?  Do you seem to go back to a few colors over and over?  If you do, are you constantly using the same core cards or do you look for fresh combos of different cards?

[Bison]

If you are referring to drafting whether it's a set or cube, I'd look for a decklist of the cube. There most certainly archetypes for the colors built-in by Wizards. White/Red aggro, Blue Fliers/Control, Green ramp...the archetypes will guidepost the more viable options available. There will also be specific cards that are appealing either due to the power of the card or possible combos for example. I'd look to see if there is an area cube list published on cubecobra.com or cubetutor.com. If there is, you can draft the cube. Not play games but draft packs to build practice decks.

Personally, I often don't do a lot of research pre-draft. I draft the table and go into the open colors. I'm not a professional but I hold my own. Most people you will play are going to net deck the cube and try and force the "best" archetype or combos. It'll happen. Sometimes they get lucky but often that particular archetype will be heavily drafted leaving the "lesser" archetypes open with a better chance of consistency. I also like to experiment and draft cards I find interesting and just try to build a viable deck while experimenting with new cards or trying different combos. Remember. Unlike constructed, odds are you will have a single copy of any one card in your deck. The consistancy is not from playing fewer sets of cards with multiple copies but playing cards with similar effects but less consistancy.

[bob48]

I'm in no way a 'scientific'drafter, but I do like to used cards that I think are interesting or may form a good combo. I still quite favour weenie decks to be honest.

[Metaldog]

What colors do you like to play?  Which ones do you detest seeing against you?  I favor Red, White, and Black.  Green is ok, Blue is a mystery and a pain in the ass simultaneously.

[bob48]

I can't say I really have any likes or dislikes that I can think of.

[Metaldog]

You're making it difficult to have a conversation here, bob 

[bob48]

No, seriously. You have got me thinking about it now. On reflection, I think I tend to favour white/green decks with a bit of blue thrown in. I should sir down with my cards again and have another look through. I brought the 2019 deck builders set and really haven't done anything with them much.

[Metaldog]

I find the more cards I have the more I want to make new decks.  The mechanics that are generally in place for the colors lead me to White/Red/Black pairings far more often.  Lifelink, good bumps and Enchantments, weenie, direct damage, tokens, area control.  Just a lot of synergy there.  But I see the allure of Blue/Green.  The things that burn me up to see when it's played against me: total resource denial, fliers, Trample, +1/+1 counters, powerful Planeswalkers.  I'm just a mess at playing Blue.

[bob48]

lets face it, the combinations you can put together, especially when you have a fairly large collection is, for all intents and purposes, endless. I only have around 1250 cards but even so, I've only scratched the surface of what combinations are possible.

[Metaldog]

Arena will set you to thinking.  And being able to sort them digitally is a blessing.

[bob48]

I take it then that Arena is nothing like MtG Duels which I have on Steam, or the ordinary MtG on-line?

[bob48]

I've now downloaded and installed Arena.