Magic Numbers

First dive into the data of the new-old format. What is peculiar about SIR packs, which colors are the strongest, most open and underdrafted. Which color pairs do best and what cards allow them to do so. I look at the best cards in each color / color pair, at the hidden gems that have high win rate but Arena users are not drafting them highly. At least not yet. Patreon: ⁠⁠https://patreon.com/sierk...

This episode looks at a relatively understudied aspect of limited: sideboarding. I look at general trends in sideboarding - when people do it, when they don't and how much sideboarding is a good thing. I also dive into recent few years of limited formats to find the star cards in terms of sideboarding. The ones who are almost exclusively sideboard cards, the ones that are the most effective as...

Time to look at the draft deck composition data and look at the secret successful sub builds in ONE. In this episode I look at the ONE decks in each color pair and cluster them based on how similar they are. After doing that, I calculate the win rate of each deck and its closest relatives. Based on that I can find clusters of successful sub-builds in each color pair. Using the archetypist tool I d...

Lot has been said about the unique speed of ONE draft format. But is there a good basis to vilify this format as something that is extremely fast? I look deep into format game length data and try to unravel what is driving the speed of ONE and how does it compare with other formats.   I also look at the cards that allow you playing long games and what can be useful in making control deck...

ONE Quick Draft is available on Arena now and it may be a good idea to play a couple of those, as they will offer you a fresh look on the format. Why? The bot and human metagame are sufficiently different from each other to offer a slightly different experience.   I talk about what is special about bot draft and offer some advice on how to abuse those differences for your benefit. How to...

This week I look at why ONE is different from all other recent formats. Why there are so few great commons? What causes the imbalance in color power and why I strongly believe white is by far the most powerful color at common in the set and also why you still should draft preferentially red. On top of that we look at all the color pairs and figure out their best cards, their hidden stars and traps...

I look at the speed of the format: is it lightning fast and what may be the reasons for it. I also look at color pair win rates and the rate they are played at. Are some color combinations hidden gems? Are the most played ones successful?    On top of that I look at best commons and uncommons in each color and in each color pair. To be able to relentlessly mock myself (with a couple of t...

This episode me, SLKerstens, JasonILTG and TaJoordan talk about our pre pre-release impressions of ONE and how we would build simple deck skeletons from each color pair. You can find my co hosts at: twitter.com/SLKerstens twitter.com/JasonILTG twitter.com/TaJoordan This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder:...

A deep look at the mechanics of the set. How does the card pool for each of the existing mechanics impact possible game play plans you can draft around? Should you try to kill with poison counters, or is it a pipe dream? How to maximise your proliferate and just how many ways to do it are there. I also walk you through my thought process of theory-crafting a deck, from the first idea through the c...

This week I look at the personal data of the one and only Sam Black. we look at Brother's War through his drafts. What was his approach towards the format, what cards made it possible. Sam possibly discovers a new type of deck by thinking about his BRO draft decks - mid-term. A deck that can't win early, loses longer games but is excellent in winning the games in the middle stages due to being pow...

How is sealed different from draft? Can we actually measure that difference?  And what does it mean to your Arena Open attempt? I talk sealed, KHM sealed and what cards should you re-evaluate in this format compare to what you remember from drafting the set. This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business. Reminder: Th...

This episode I look at the builds within each color pair. To do so a bit of maths was needed. I converted decks into numbers and plotted them based on what cards are inside. After that we look at the clusters of similar decks that win a bunch - this way by checking what is inside them we can figure out  what makes them tick. Some color pairs have a one type of successful build, but some have...

Early format is the best time for hot takes and sweeping statements. Keeping that in mind I dedicate this episode to show what are the dangers of hot takes and sweeping statements and how to look at the early format in a more granular, subtle way. In the second part I look at the data from all the 10 color pairs. Which cards are the stars, which ones are traps, are there any hidden gems you should...

I take a look at removal stats of the Brothers' War set and try to convince you on how to use the self-milling cycle of creatures. On top of that, I dive into early format data: what makes each color tick and which colors do tick so far which ones still need some work from our side to be figured out. Sponsored by mtgazone.com . Check out my articles at https://mtgazone.com/authors/sierkovitz Remin...

Time to say goodbye to DMU draft data, and what better way than to look at the vast personal data of the all-time 17Lands.com trophy leader, Floridamun? We look at 175 drafts Chris played over the duration of the format in quest to find out what makes him such a good player. How does he manage to keep up such an impressive win rate across so many games.   We look at his draft habits, pic...

This weekend we will have an opportunity to play for some real $$$ on Arena and the format is Dominaria Sealed. You read it well - Dominaria without United. Since the set came out in 2018 you might need a refresher or maybe you never played it before. I talk about the available data on Sealed in this format: how many colors should you try to play, what are the must-play bombs and which colors are...

Dominaria United full data hit a bit late in the season but still it is interesting to look at the data even late in the season as they show a format so different from any other.   This episode I look at the new tutoring data from 17lands.com, rank the kicker spells - which ones don't need to be kicked, should be kicked and work best when you can reliably kick it every time, preferably i...

Today I look at the data of top, middle and bottom win rate tiers among the 17Lands users. Who are the top players, and what sets them apart from the rest? Which cards can the players maximize? And which cards are universally good across different levels? But that is not all. I also look at why, to become a good player, you need to go through several stages of development. Just knowing that top pl...

What is the point of using draft data if we don't get actionable advice from them? Today I look at the drafting data from DMU (and from some other sets) and propose three new drafting heuristics related to drafting mana fixing, multicolor spells and combat tricks.  I also look at the wheeling stats of DMU cards, show you how draft tables respond to number of dual lands that were open in the p...

Dominaria United is a draft format like we didn't see in a long time. Formats supporting 2 color, 3 color and multicolor strategies with little win rate penalty was something Wizards were avoiding in their recent design. But that is not the case in DMU. One in 16 decks is a 4 color or more concoction. That is 2 times more than any other format since ZNR. Almost 50% of all decks have 3 or more main...

First dive into 17Lands data for the new set, Dominaria United. This is a set where data analyses should be done very carefully as it is a set we unlike anything we had before. What about it is so unique? Which colors are the best, which color combinations work best and, perhaps most importantly, how many colors should you play? All those questions will be answered in this episode. But wait! There...

All you need to know about the new format. OK, maybe not all but quite a lot. Includes removal guide and an overview of color pair specific cards. Just the thing to do to kill the time while waiting to dive into the new set. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-...

In this Episode me, SLKerstens, JasonILTG and Tajoordan discuss the DMU draft format before the release. We share our initial thoughts and draft deck archetypes we want to play with in the early days of the format. See the slides here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/13xJrmt9KtlyIxxNhpDO8QHGDOfuYvLR5Fg-cjEoVjyE/edit?usp=sharing Find all things Serkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Th...

This week we look at the personal data from BO3 HBG drafts of a streamer, podcast host and a limited grinder, Jamie Topples. With a tough season behind her, we are trying to see if the personal data explains her trials and tribulations in the Baldurs Gate. Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that a...

A refresher course in Kamigawa limited. But not only. I also look at the differences between the first run of the format and the flashbacks Check the YouTube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format: https://youtu.be/jZH06lH_Xok Find all things Sierkovitz: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz Theme song: You Do You, Mana Junkie by essesq (c) copyright 2020 Licens...