Howdy folks!
I know it's been a couple of days since the actual draft, but we've been really busy at the Wargate creating new terrain! More on that project at a later time however, because today we're going to talk about Coldsnap!
A draft environment is a really fun event, but what if you're not familiar enough with the draft pool? A few of our folks didn't play in Coldsnap when it was in Standard, and a few more didn't know about Ice Age or Alliances - or had long forgotten about them. It was quite a different time in Magic, even just five years ago. Power levels weren't quite what we're used to now, and overall I think the draft proved difficult for most of our warriors.
A few of us, however, have hoary memories when it comes to our duels against our planeswalker brethren, remembering all the way back to 1995 and the beginning of Terisiare's Ice Age, which was fully eleven years before Coldsnap was released. Indeed, many of us learned to do battle in that far off time - and there was only a small adjustment to be made to your mentality when beginning the draft. An advantage, yes...but one that can be circumvented by wizardly research.
Not knowing what to expect when drafting can make our draft decks unwieldy, to say the least. It's a similar experience to drafting a new block that no one has played, perhaps at pre-release or the first area draft tourney. For new expansions, you can assume that no one knows anything about the block, and everyone will be drafting on the rumors they've heard and stuff they've kept up with. Daily MTG is pretty much there for this exact thing - research. Researching just this one site can save your bacon when fighting in the arena of the Wargate. Knowledge is power, a truer maxim never uttered.
So, what to do when you know your opponents are better armed with knowledge and experience, such as the new trend for Backdrafting at the Wargate? You can expect drafts from all across Magic's rich history, maybe someday as far back as the Ice Age itself, and any(every)where(when) in between. The short answer is...do your homework and prepare for battle.
You'll know a week or two in advance what the draft will be, so start at the wiki for that expansion. Check out the Gatherer for it, look at the cards, do a google search for "top decks xx" where xx is equal to the expansion name, or "top decks 19/20xx" where 19/20xx is equal to the year the expansion was released (which you can find on the wiki). This will give you an idea of what cards were hot, which were not and some other commentary besides. You can find troves of this life-saving knowledge on the Daily MTG site.
As for our draft, it was bitter and grueling...the tough snow mechanics of the block didn't help, but we saw plenty of Ripples helping out. I was surprised, but the value of Ripple in a Limited 40 card deck can't be overlooked no matter what color you drafted.
Jerry, Josh and myself won all three matches, effectively tied for the top spot. Our draft matches are all randomly selected, and this time none of us met any of the others in battle - but rest assured, everyone will be hungry for our blood at the next draft!
Marky Mark deserves honorable mention for joining us for the first time, putting an opponent down and winning a pack on his first outing!
There will be an invitational draft tournament later this month. We'll keep you posted on the events as they crawl by. Until next time, adios! Salir y hacer su investigacion para que no se mueren como si se congelaron hasta morir en la Ola de frio!
