The Mana Confusion

The Evolving Metagame of OGW Draft

An unsettling malady has overtaken OGW/OGW/BFZ draft: it’s no longer possible to make a powerful two color deck unless you get really, really lucky. The impact of this on draft is that it’s lost its Zendikari feel, and consequently the uniqueness of the format with it.

Archetypes Devoid of Drafters

By now everyone knows about the ‘good’ archetypes in OGW draft, in approximately this order of power level: Ally synergy in the Black/White drain flavor; Ally synergy in Red haste; Ally synergy in White lifegain [board] control, e.g. with tap their creature, vigilance, +1/+1…

Mulling it Over

[Editor’s note: the following examples are written assuming you’re on the draw. They also implicitly describe a mono-colored deck. These are contrivances of convenience for the purpose of simplifying the discussion]

Confessions of a Nub Drafter

I ran three Oath of the Gatewatch drafts last night, and didn’t do terribly well. For your amusement and my learning experience, I’m going to break them down here and see if I can figure out where I failed.

Draft 1 — Striking into Oblivion

Some Thoughts on Modern

In the weeks leading up to Pro Tour: Oath of the Gatewatch, Wizards banned Splinter Twin, citing it as being responsible for a lack of diversity in the Modern meta-game.

Pro Tour: Oath of the Gatewatch is over, and a certain deck consisting of a bunch of…

Welcome to The Mana Confusion

Hello! I’m clockworksimon. I became interested in Magic: The Gathering back around Mirrodin block, and played through Kamigawa and Ravnica, before losing interest and disappearing for a time. I rediscovered Magic in Khans of Tarkir block, and recently decided to start playing…