Magic: The Gathering players can be intimidated entering limited and draft formats for the first time, especially if they will be cracking packs with more experienced friends or FNM "regulars". We'll walk through some of the basics that you should be using to make a good showing at one of your first Magic: The Gathering draft events.
Play 40 cards.
No, really, 40 cards is the absolute maximum you should be playing with. We know it's tempting to try and get all that good stuff in, but in reality you really only want to be playing your best 22-24 cards most of the time.
Making the final cuts can be difficult, but by keeping your deck as small as possible you're increasing the chances of drawing your best stuff.
Play 17-18 land
17 land/23 playables is often considered the standard when building an efficient draft deck, but in recent years we've sometimes moved up to 18 depending on the deck. There's nothing worse than being stuck with a hand full of powerful cards and no way to play them while your opponent chews on you with a vanilla creature.
Obviously, this rule is a little bit more malleable than the 40 card maxim - if you're running a rush deck or have a lot of alternate ways to get mana/find land ("fixing") you can easily cut down on the land in your deck.
Be careful with this though, relying on mana Myr or elves for resources can be dangerous if the opponent is running cheap removal and decides to take out your breathing manabase.
Draft cards that are "always good"
While you're making your picks, try and consider how good the card is when you've got no hand and relying on something good to pop up. Trying to set up elaborate combos and interesting interactions is fun, but drawing the enchantment you need a specific creature to take advantage of when your board is clear and you're facing down opposing creatures isn't going to help.
Prioritize and value picks
Many players learning how to draft start off with the BREAD acronym. That is:
B- Bombs (Extremely powerful cards that win the game "on their own" if not dealt with immediately, such as Consecrated Sphinx or Sword of Feast and Famine)
R- Removal (i.e. Doom Blade. Removal spells often let you remove your opponent's most valued "piece" on the board. It's even better when the removal comes with bonuses, like Corrupted Conscience)
E- Efficient Spells (What constitutes as an efficient spell can vary greatly from set to set, but Corpse Cur and Razor Hippogriff seem like some excellent examples. In some cases, these can actually be a better choice than removal.)
A- Aggro (Aggressive, early beaters)
D- Dregs ("Bad" cards that you will often see going in the final 3-4 cards in draft packs)
While it is useful as a very broad reference, the BREAD acronym breaks down quickly when working with deck archetypes and synergies - if you're planning to apply it verbatim it would be best suited to a core set. That said, it can be a useful tool for emphasizing card values.
We're fairly certain that anyone entering draft can see the value of bombs (as they are most often found in mythic/rare slots nowadays), but after that things can get tricky.
Look for signals but don't let them control you
If it's pack one, fifth pick and there's a Mind Control in the booster you can be fairly certain its time to go swimming.
Signaling can be a very useful tool for finding out what colors are open and what strategies are available, but don't make the mistake of letting it determine every move you make. You also shouldn't worry too much about "forcing" or deliberately signaling until you've had a good deal of experience - you'll just end up frustrated.
Take good cards, and you and your tablemates will signal each other naturally.
Flying, evasion, card advantage, recursion
Even if you don't know much about a set there are a few things you can almost always be sure of. Flying wins games. Draft and limited play are more likely to end up in ground stand offs, or situations where it can be game winning to chump a huge ground attacker for a few turns while your evasive creatures get in for lethal damage to the opposing player.
Along the same lines, with standstills being more common and topdecking a very real possibility, cards that let you reuse cards gain value. A pair of Corpse Curs/Gravediggers can resurrect each other infinitely, or get your Skithiryx out of the graveyard for another go.
Cards that do something "relevant+1" like Oxidda Scrapmelter, Slice in Twain, Viridian Corrupter - are all ways to glean card advantage and put you a draw up on your opponent.
Learn the set and popular archetypes
Most sets are built in such a way to support archetypes - knowing what they are can help you build your deck and plan better for what you may be facing.
If you're going to splash, splash carefully.
Splashing for a Volition Reins probably isn't viable, but you probably should splash for that single Fireball. Don't risk being able to play nothing for a chance to play something.
"Tome Scour" builds don't work
Sure, we all have a friend of a friend who got decked with double Traumatize, 4x Jace's Erasure and a fistful of Tome Scours - but in practice stay away from these very sketchy strategies that require an almost perfect assortment of cards to be opened.
Have fun and keep drafting!
As stated earlier, nothing can substitute for actually getting in there and watching the cards flow. With practice, you'll be evaluating cards and pick orders before sets even come out, and gain a significant advantage during the first few weeks of a set release as players scramble to find strategies.
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