Magic Numbers

It is that time of the Magic calendar again. I meet with Jason Ye, Adam (DDAVP) and Zach Kagan to talk about our vision for the upcoming set. Which cards are spiking our interest? Which cards are confusing us? Why do we think some archetypes are going to be great and some are going to be rubbish? We discuss our impressions of the new set, and after a lengthy debate, present our draft "skeleto...

This week I answered dozens of questions about data, how to analyse it, me, my pets, philosophy of analysing Magic, and more. Here are all the answers. Join the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ , sign up for ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ , and use this ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Linktree⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for everything else! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ This podcast is sponsored by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

In the late stages of the season it is nice to keep things fresh. And drafting a unique multicolor pile of cards might be the new lookout on the format you need to rejuvenate your interest in MKM. But 5 color decks on average have one significant problem. They tend to win less. Today's episode will look at how to make sure your multicolor deck is good. Which cards are essential, how much mana...

This week we look back at the... BUT WAIT, WHO IS IT behind me with the steel chair!!!! Yes, Alex Nikolic AKA Chord_o_Calls came to visit me all the way from Canada and we used that time to record our set rereview. Set reviews are fun - you can speculate about which cards and colors are good, gives you the opportunity to think about the upcoming format. But usually noone comes back to them. Not us...

This week I have a guest - a Pro Player, caster, Magic theorist Eduardo Sajgalik, AKA Walaoumpa and we talk about his role as the Limited coach for the Pro Tour team Worldly Counsel. What differences and similarities are there in coaching the cream of the crop of Magic players? How can you use their strategies in self improvement - all in the context of MKM draft. Plus a completely unscripted bonu...

ALSA is a term that gets thrown around a lot in data-adjacent content about Limited. But what exactly is ALSA? And what is the full meaning of the number that hides itself behind those four letters? I take a deeper dive on that metric, looking to answer what it really is. And the first 17Lands data is publicly available so it is time to dive into draft data. Which cards go later in pack 3? What ar...

Limited is hard. You need to be at a decent level of playing, know what is going on in the format, be able to build a coherent deck. Starting to draft can be a scary process. You get so much advice that is unintuitive, conflicting, confusing. A part of that is: advice is usually targeted at a particular group of players, but that group is rarely specified. Not today though. I look at the data from...

New format is pretty complicated and it may be tricky to find your footing in the first days. But fear not - the data is here to help us and I dive deep into card win rate to test what makes each color pair tick, which cards over-perform, and which are traps you should avoid. We look at the general picture of the format, speculate on what can the next few weeks bring and explore archetypes and wha...

Magic has surprisingly lot of similarities to cooking and today, we are moving to haute cuisine. Deck-building theory-crafting. While waiting for the new set to be released I spend an amount of time I can't really excuse thinking about build-arounds in this formats. All those thoughts can't go to waste so this week we are looking at how I imagine some potentially fun off-piste decks in thi...

Me, JasonILTG, Tajoordan and DDAVP look at the upcoming set and try to figure out how would we want a deck in each color pair to look like. To do so we first explore the format synergies and the cards we like and later assemble them in simple limited deck with some reasonable limitations (1-2 rares, 6-8 uncommons and rest just commons). Check this out if you are prepping for the prerelease and wan...

My guest this week needs no introduction (he still gets one, though), being one of the game's all-time greatest players. But apart from his pro player credentials, LSV is a cube fanatic, and I tap into his vast expertise to look through the latest edition of Arena Cube and see which cards and which strategies I, a cube rookie, should focus on over the following days. A side effect of that - yo...

This episode I am looking into what does it mean for a set to be prince or pauper and how do recent sets align with different definitions of that term. Because there are plenty definitions. Some will focus more on the power of rare cards, some on the power (or lack thereof) of the commons and uncommons. A data exploration episode - most useful if you want to spend some time thinking on how rarity...

This week I am joined by Limited content behemoth, Chord_O_Calls AKA Alex Nikolic to talk about out set reviews for LCI from the perspective of an almost finished format. I was always thorn about set reviews. On the one hand, they are useful to get accustomed to cards before the format starts, but on the other, they are frequently based on wild speculations and - to my knowledge - rarely scrutiniz...

Time of the year to sum up 2023 and look at best commons, uncommons in each color, most desired cards, most played color, etc. Not 100% serious with Uncle Cardboard on special day for both - as we are birthday neighbours as well. But don't be fooled by fooling around - between bad puns you get to think about set design and why some designs are more successful than others, which types of cards...

Finding the right strategy for a color pair is a key element to winning more. Many drafts were lost when a player tried to play controlling game in a color combination that doesn't support it well, or trying to be aggressive using cards that are just not good in doing that. This week I look at the game duration data in LCI to try and figure out what should you be focusing on when drafting your...

This week we look at the new set on Arena: Khans of Tarkir. Is it new though? Released in 2014, Khans is considered to be an all-time best draft set by many Limited experts. But 2014 is the time I was happily retired from Magic, so in order to get some valuable information and correct me where I am wrong in my evaluations, I invited a multi-Limmie award winning magic historian and pro player, Ben...

Improvement in Magic is hard. Where to start? Diagnosing the problem can be a daunting task. Today I look at how to measure your draft strategies and figure out how you draft - are you a forcing type of a drafter or a durdly drafter who bobs and weaves for too long before making a decision to settle on a path. Both strategies have their pros and cons, so finding the right balance should improve bo...

This episode we look into the early draft data of the new format. Which colors started off strongly, which cards make each archetype tick. I look into each color pair and talk about best common and uncommon, hidden gems in each archetype (cards that surprised me or cards that still go late in the draft but perform very well), and traps (cards that look like they should fit in but data suggests the...

This week we look at the upcoming set: how will the synergies play out, what do I consider good and bad before we dive into proper drafting. Where can you find some synergies and how to theory craft a Caves deck. Plus a couple of cute two card combos you might be interested in! This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the busines...

New set is upon us - time to theory craft all 10 2-color decks in the new set and speculate on what we think is going to be great and what is doubtful in Lost Caverns of Ixalan. And to do that I lean on the expertise of my illustrious guests: A 100k sealed tournament winner, JasonILTG Freshly from winning a Mox Jet, Zakagan Winner of the most recent tournament back home, ddavp_mtg And me after 2-1...

Going back to original set review and re-evaluating it based on how the set played out is an under-appreciated activity. Me and Trumpetman come back to our pre-release evaluations and try to look at cards we got wrong, and speculate why. Which cards are harder to predict, which ones are easy and why - we try to answer those questions based on our successes and failures from WOE. Just in time to dr...

This week we look at the data of the most drafting person in 17Lands - which almost certainly means, most drafting person on Arena, period. Pasta Pirate does an average of 9-10 drafts a day. What can we learn from his data? What can he learn from it himself? Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://patreon.com/sierkovitz⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting m...

Players focus a lot on how to build a deck, but i think most improvement in win rate for starter/intermediate players that is easy to achieve comes through good draft navigation. This week I give some (hopefully) useful tips on how picks differ depending on the pack number, which picks will make your deck more frequently. I also talk about learning how to wheel specific cards - how to select the c...

This week I have a very special guest: Rob Conroy, AKA Viralmisnomer - Mr 17Lands himself. And there is a great reason for that. 17Lands has a whole bunch of new patron-only features and Rob and I will show you why you should seriously consider getting them not only to support the site we all love and cherish, but also in your own interest. From a great card evaluation tool, through personal data...

Drafting in Magic: the Gathering is not easy. There re dozens of factor you need to try and synchronise in your head while the ruthless clock continues ticking. But data can help! Today I look at what the best of the best do differently. Which cards do top players draft higher than others? Which cards do they use more efficiently and win with more than it would result from just the average win rat...