When I considered going back to Arena to play Limited, I read a post on Reddit (highly recommended) where the author mentions that if you play drafts during the first week of the season (seasons last one calendar month, usually) you’re more likely to face more experienced opponents and, therefore, your chances of winning are reduced.
Seeing how my week went, that’s probably true. I’ve also learned that, during the season, there aren’t only drafts from the current expansion, but also drafts from previous expansions that are only available for a few days. This month, for example, you can play Avatar, The Last Airbender (TLA) from the 2nd to the 8th; Final Fantasy (FIN) from the 16th to the 22nd; and Sealed Tarkir: Dragonstorm (TDM) from the 9th to the 15th.
Since it’s fun to try other expansions and I’d heard that Avatar was a very fun draft, I wanted to give it a shot…
I started the Avatar Draft without having read the pre-release guide and built a Dimir deck. According to the guide, this combination is called “Blue-Black Draw Two” and should be a Tempo/Control deck. I know this now, looking up information to write the post, and it probably would have helped to know it on Tuesday…
My best cards were 3 Forecasting Fortune Teller , 1 Fire Navy Trebuchet and, especially, 2 North Pole Patrol which won me a couple of games, keeping the opponents’ most dangerous creatures in check — a Bumi, Unleashed in the third game, and a Giant Koi in the fourth.
In the end, I went 3-3, earning 1,000 for a Draft I paid with 10,000 , and I had a pretty good time! With a deck like Azorius Flyers or Selesnya Allies — the two that passed me at the 5th pick and, according to Draftsim, the top-tier archetypes of the Draft — maybe I would have had even more fun!
Yesterday I played Secrets of Strixhaven (SOS) in a draft that was utter chaos. I picked good cards, but every pick led me to a different color. I ended up with a hodgepodge of 5-color cards on top of many multicolor ones. In general, I enjoy 3 and 4-color decks in Constructed, but in Limited they overwhelm me!
I ended up with a three-color deck without much rhyme or reason. Even so, I won the first two games, which surprised me quite a bit! I also made the mistake of not taking a mulligan in the last game: I kept an opening hand with three green cards, one island, and one mountain as the only lands. In summary, 1 spent for a measly return of 250 . Considering that Draft tokens normally exchange for 1,500 , a bad deal!
Today I played another SOS Draft, the sixth. The card picks led me toward Mardu, even though I started playing Boros. One thing I didn’t know until recently is that in a Draft you can change your deck between games, so after a loss in the second game I added some black to include Silverquill Charm , Bitter Triumph and Stirring Honormancer .
Looking back I’m not sure it was a good idea, but it was exciting. In the second-to-last game I held on for 15 turns against an opponent playing Jeskai, despite their Restoration Seminar . The last game was also quite close right up to the final moment. I had one life point left, a Moment of Reckoning left me with nothing on the board except lands, and my opponent was at 8 life with 4 creatures. I had a glimmer of hope thanks to a Lorehold, the Historian to which I was able to give vigilance and lifelink… but it wasn’t enough.
Another Draft for 250 per 1 . Next week there’s a Phantom Draft (phantom means you don’t keep the cards you drafted when it ends) for Foundations with free entry, so I’ll use it to practice.