Zvi's Secret Plan
Zvi Mowshowitz
A lot of Booster Draft is about not fighting with your neighbors. Making it clear how you will draft makes conflict much less likely. So, in my own selfish interests, I'm going to present the basics of my approach to MM draft. I don't recommend copying this strategy unless you've reached the same conclusions as I have regarding the strength of the colors, and the decks you end up drafting this way fit your strategy. You also need to know all the different types of decks you can draft with it. It's also much weaker without the reputation aspect of it. But here's what I'm going to do in Los Angeles.
I will not draft red or black cards. Let me repeat that. I will not draft red or black cards. In booster draft, every time you see a pack and get information about a color, you have to make a decision. If you pass the card on, you've given an even stronger signal to the next player. If you take the card, you start to draw yourself into that color. Regardless of what happens, you need to start drafting a color with one card. The question is: Is there any one card that makes playing that color worthwhile? If not, especially if you see yourself constantly abandoning early picks in the color, it makes more sense to just stay away altogether. So that's what I've decided to do.
The problem with red and black is they don't have enough cards in them that I'm willing to play. A lot of players actually like black, but to me it's basically four good removal spells ( Sever Soul , Vendetta , Snuff Out and Maggot Therapy ), and not much else. All the common creatures are mediocre at best. Undertaker is nice but not my style somehow. Almost always, I ended up playing bad creatures to get myself to twenty-three nonland cards. I was maindecking Bog Smugglers , Alley Grifters and Highway Robbers. Cateran Persuader basically gets nothing. The Brute can get only Persuader. The uncommons and rares are better but that isn't enough compensation for me. And none of this was my style anyway. The one black card I will first pick in a normal pack is Notorious Assassin . When I take him, I'll be thinking splash. Later on, I'll venture in only on a gigantic signal. I'd rather take a card that could make the cut of a decent deck than one that can't. With red, you have a very similar situation. Shock Troops , Lunge , Thunderclap and Kris Mage are great. I also don't mind Flaming Sword , Lightning Hounds , Jhovall Rider or Gerrard's Irregulars . But that's not good enough. You're almost always struggling to get a deck. I finally decided I was willing to pass a Volcanic Winds if I opened it, and that was the end. I would basically have to be passed insane red cards to consider the color. If I have no choice, I have no choice.
That leaves three colors: White, Blue and Green. I like all three. When I start the draft, I'll take my first pick from the commons in the following order: Ramosian Lieutenant , Thermal Glider , Nightwind Glider , Stinging Barrier , Waterfront Bouncer . A strange distribution of strong cards in white or blue could mix that up, but it's rare. The rebels, especially those three, are like gravity wells. They pull in white players, and you don't want that to happen. Also, they make other cards you can draft much better. Any rebels you get early are fine with me, because you can draft the rest of your deck to utilize them. I don't mind even first picking Ramosian Sergeant . I also don't mind picking the 2/2s really early. Once you start picking up the rebels, the others get even better. But I'm also OK with playing white without any rebel engine at all, if I have to.
Or, that was the plan until this weekend. There's a game theory problem with my strategy. Apparently almost everyone else thinks Barrier is better than all the white commons, and more important, they all take Glider over Lieutenant. Not just that, but they don't even think the Lt. is even in the same league! That makes it so much more likely that I'll get a Lt. later on that I feel I have to go with the majority on this one. I think (although I'm still not sure) that I'll take the Gliders first now. But I'm still taking them over Barrier on the first card of the draft. If you see I'm at your table, you can come and ask me for an update on this or on anything else.
After those five, it's not as clear cut. The top green common is Spidersilk Armor , and I consider it the only really important green signal card. I'll normally judge what to take if those five aren't there by what kind of signal I can send, but I'm happy with anything from the 'good stuff' section of the three colors which looks something like. Spidersilk Armor , Rishadan Airship , Drake Hatchling , Cho-Manno's Blessing , Silverglade Elemental , Snorting Gahr , Invigorate , Counterspell , Deepwood Drummer , Rushwood Herbalist , Ramosian Sergeant . Hope I didn't forget anything. That's an approximate order but I try not to rank things too carefully, especially since my rankings (and even what makes this category) could easily change as I talk to other pros, and change with contexts like who I'm next to and the composition of the pack.
If I have cards in one or two of the three colors, I'll try to solidify into them. Note that this will naturally land me in W/U much more often than the other two combinations. To that end I'd be willing to go into the 'solid' pile of cards: All the cards that normally end up making the cut in a good deck. While I try not to rank cards too much, they basically divide into piles: Broken, Good Stuff, Solid, Playable, Marginal, Useless. Until I'm certain of my colors, which isn't normally that early, I'll take Good Stuff and even Solid in any of the three colors over the Playable stuff. One great advantage of this strategy is that it's very unlikely that you won't get a playable deck with enough decent cards, and I take advantage of that safety net. It's hard to describe my strategy in detail for this part of the draft, which is the hardest under this strategy: The part where you decide which color not to play. I generally play it by feel. As the draft moves on, I move toward one of the many archetypes that fit into the three colors, including the tri-color deck if it comes to that. Now, on to the other important issue: How I send and receive signals.
First off, unless they make us, I will never shuffle a pack. If you do I'll be annoyed, although not enough to matter. If you can recognize the common runs, more power to you, and it will probably help me in return. If it's allowed, and I deliberately put a card or two in front of the pack, I'm suggesting you take it. If you make it clear when passing to me that you're taking one of the three colors, I'll try to draft the other two. If you clearly aren't taking one of them I'll jump on it. It's dangerous to assume from being passed good cards, especially white ones, that someone isn't drafting the color, so I treat such signals with caution. Still, if you don't want me in white, do NOT pass me a late Glider or Lieutenant during pack one. By late I mean after about third pick or so, and even then it's a huge signal for me. If I get a gift rebel I will assume that either the color is open or the rebel engine is open, and try to draft white. This applies regardless of what I already drafted in the other two colors. For blue, this applies to Barrier and Bouncer. Barrier is especially strong, because most people consider it the best common in the set. I don't, but someone I don't know probably does, and that makes it very unlikely he's playing blue. With green it's just Spidersilk Armor ; all the other cards are so close in power you can't really tell. Of course, seeing too many of the other good ones does count.
In general, though, be warned. I consider it the responsibility of the person on the left to avoid a color conflict. He has the most information and the most to lose. No matter what I pass, if I figure out that a color is open on my right, I'm going to draft it. If I've passed you a Stinging Barrier already, I apologize in advance. This statement can easily be misunderstood, so be careful, but what you are passed is more important than what you pass to the left. More packs go left than go right. If I have to I can and will throw what I've passed out the window. But I'll still stick to my rules, so you know what to do. I hope this helps whoever I sit next to have a good and compatible draft.
Finally, some news. I've decided to write permanently for the new Mindripper site, which should be launching soon. This will make three top-level strategy pages available on the net - The Dojo, New Wave and Mindripper. The Sideboard is sort of a fourth, and sort of isn't. I hope they all do well, and I recommend checking them all periodically.
See everyone in LA! I get there early Wednesday, ready to draft and (even ore important) talk draft.
Zvi Mowshowitz