"Karn can go everywhere, but doesn't really have a home anywhere" is indeed a heartbreaking bit of accidental gameplay-story integration. Great work commemorating a happy moment of recent Magic history.
@@cedricappleby2006: That's as maybe, but I'd rather see Living Legacy across the table any day of the week than have to face the Great Creator even one more time!
@@cedricappleby2006 obviously wotc have made mistakes with planeswalkers being too strong but that one doesnt even have any synergies to make up for how weak it is... tap out on turn 4 to make a tapped powerstone!! sheesh!
It's incredible how you manage to make a video largely about statistics into something warm and nostalgic that really keeps you along for the ride. I will never stopped being amazed at how good your videos are.
Sierkovitz is an *incredible* follow, in both social media and for Magic Numbers. But also shout out to the Lords of Limited podcast that was featured a few times in this episode. If you're looking to get better at Limited Magic, there are few places to do so as good as Lords of Limited.
We are blessed to have Serkowitz and Sam’s level of quality and skill focused on something as niche and complex as mtg draft. Magic is a beautiful game.
I knew I loved DMU draft but I couldn't pinpoint exactly why except a feeling of freedom while picking. Thanks for putting words and data on on it. Now I know why ^^
Totally on board with Ben Werne there. DMU was looking like one of the GOATs from the outset and it followed through at every stage of its development. Not to undersell the gameplay, but what really did it for me was the draft portion. In the running for draft formats which reward most the values of staying flexible and reading the draft well. I've long joked about wanting to skip playing games and just draft again after building the deck, and with DMU it wasn't a joke.
Usually I want to get something nice to eat while I watch a new Rhystic Studies video. But this time my cats curled up around me which doesn't usually happen. It was a sign that Is should just kick back and start watching.
I end up going 2 color in most drafts except SNC and my third draft play of LTR-I was passed a Tom Bombadil and went five color lol. I haven't played DMU even though it was the main set when I first started playing Magic but this made me really want to dig into it and play with my friends.
"the five stages of the format" applies to everything!! not only draft or Magic but to other TCGs Aside from that, how do you feel about recent changes planned to play boosters?
Dang I miss this set. Easily top 3 with STX and MOM for me. I didn't even mind losing to the chaplain deck because it was so unique and cool. Really hoping we get this as a flashback format soon.
@@treycuret Sort of, I played a bunch of kitchen table Magic like 10-15 years ago but I only got into draft when Arena came out during Guilds of Ravnica. Looking forward to Khans coming back soon, I've heard a lot of folks say it's their favourite!
I, for one, had no idea people did all this math about this game. For me it's just free-for-all brawls against friends where actually the player who has a deck that is too good is "punished" because the rest of the table tries to kill him/her first.
Hey! long time fan of your channel! Just commenting to ask a bit of a technical question. I recently made a purchase at card kingdom and went to /studies and while I did see a banner on the landing page that read "studies code applied" or something to that effect, I saw nothing extra at checkout time to indicate that the code was indeed applied or anything similar when I went and checked the order afterwards. Am I missing something? I just wanted to check if this was correct, for any future purchases. Thanks!
Sorry to be a pedant, but those “heuristics” aren’t actually heuristics, they’re really more like aphorisms. Heuristics are typically understood as a type of mental shortcut that helps us make decisions quickly.
I think one of the most important things that made this format good was the fact that it wasn't designed with clear, focused two-color archetypes but rather with mono-color archetypes that then led into combination two-color archetypes.
The more exposure to various art mediums I get, the more I realize how special Magic is for it's unique ability to combine fantasy storytelling across an unlimited number of world environments with a deeply nuanced game that is also a card game to be played in real life with friends. It's a social game with things to cater to both story driven, lore seeking individuals, and cold, calculating, performance driven folks. I'm simplifying this somewhat, but my point is that I don't believe there are many other topics out there that suit themselves to the format of a video essay than Magic The Gathering. When I say Sam makes some of my favourite UA-cam videos to watch, I really mean it; quality, well made, thought provoking video essays about one of my favourite games.
@@iqcool Seconded. Also, I'd argue Rhystic Studies just makes superb essays, period. But his knack for integrating the many unique aspects Magic has makes you realize and appreciate just how much there is to this game. I'm glad it's getting more mainstream appeal as time goes on, because it it's so much more than a "silly card game for nerds".
@@iqcool Totally agree. That's the reason why i am still invested into this game 23 years after I first picked it up. I'm still not sure how I am feeling about universes beyond, secret lairs and all these products. But at this point, Magic is bigger than the sum of its parts, and not even the questionable decisions by Wizards can't destroy it anymore.
@@benjaminfeiner6851: Then it seems that MaRo has finally, completely failed in his quest to destroy _Magic._ Or mebbe he's just handed that job off to Business Daddy Hasbro.
I attended one of those Vonnegut lectures in the 90’s at UMass. It was very cool but tbh he opened with a bit about how there weren’t 4 seasons but 6 adding the opening and closing of summer. He remarked it would be the only think we would really remember about the lecture. Personally speaking, he was right.
That's an idea I've come across before as well and honestly i have no ability to comment on the ecological plausibility of that view but it does kinda *feel* right
As someone who started in Invasion block, Dominaria United gave me the warm fuzzies of Nostalgia, in a very good way. If only Papa Yawgmoth was here to see us now 😊
@@Bluecho4: I think mebbe Daddy Yawggy'd be tryin' ta mack on Sheoldred. Or, that could just be my naughty shipper brain acting up again. And yes, I _am_ aware that the argument could be made that Yawgmoth/Sheoldred is father/daughter incest (or even grandfather/ or however many greats-grandfather/granddaughter), but if you know anything about me, you'd know that incest is my fetish, so I'ma ship it like FedEx!
@@Bluecho4 Sheoldred: "Yes papa, thank you papa!" (Aside, to the other Praetors) "See? I _told_ you Papa Yawgmoth would think you're all stinky and dumb."
So, so excited to see this. Thanks Sam. (Also, shout-outs to CardKingdom for letting me apply your creator code when my ADHD brain forgets to add it while shopping.)
Dominaria United is second only to Neon Dynasty for me as the best overall MTG Arena format. The set supported everything I like about modern limited design: color splashes with ambitious mana-bases, synergistic and grindy value-oriented gameplay, the necessary presence of strong aggressive options, and powerful commons that reward specific deckbuilding choices (Tolarian Terror, Writhing Necromass, etc.) The only real stain on the format's reputation was of course, the undeniable powerhouse Wingmantle Chaplain, which occupies the coveted mythic uncommon slot.
@@yohanesparuntu4980throne got done dirty by not having human drafts early on. Even after adding premier draft, human pod drafts for the set are even better
This might be my favorite thing Sam’s ever put out. The fact that he has a three act structure woven throughout this nominally statistical analysis of a draft format is truly beautiful and poetic given the introduction. Cheers, Sam.
Now this is certainly a different way to look at magic. Taking a literary analysis approach to analyzing magic draft data is a unique yet effective way to review and retrospect on sets of the past. I kee forgetting DMU was a set due to set burnout, but there are a lot of good cards for commander and other formats. Same with Brother's War. Great video as always, Sam! This definitely was an interesting perspective.
CLB was unpopular on release due to many MTG players not enjoying crossover content and a percieved lack of reprints but I have never heard.anything but good things about its limited environment and it still is my favorite commander draft format.
Honestly I think youre getting mad at the wrong people here. You need the cards to be somewhat accessible so people can play the game. we still have chase cards that are worth a lot of money, the problem is cards like Liliana, goyf, etc are being power crept out of the game so that they cant retain value when they are reprinted. The only thing they had going for them now that they are not viable in a new MH2/LOTR meta is that they were scarce and people had sentimentality towards them, now that they get reprinted of course they are soft.
I've been putting together a full set cube of homebrew cards based on our longstanding D&D campaign over the last few months, and this was the perfect video for the mindset it's put me in! I'm finally at the playtest phase, and there were some great insights in here to consider. Awesome stuff as always.
I'm curious if the kicker effects on these cards could serve as "win more" effects, so in games where you're ahead, they put you further ahead and seal the victory, but in games where you're behind, the kicker cost is usually inaccessible because you're playing catch-up. Could this help explain the huge difference in win rate when kicker costs are paid vs. not paid?
As a EDH-only player, your videos have become a way to learn more about the game even if I'm not playing all the other formats. There are so many elements outside the commander context that we don't get to know about... Great video, thank you Sam!
There's never a bad time to learn limited, I started in the last few years after first learning the game in 2008 and it's been a blast. It really is magic at it's purest.
I had my own little epiphany with kicker. And how artifacts like prophetic prism could allow for mono color with a wubrg splash. This occurred while building a pauper cube only to tragically find out prophetic prism is banned in the format.
Tron is mono-colored is most formats, but it’s 5-color in Pauper. Prophetic Prism and cards like it are the reason why. Energy Refractor from BRO has taken up that slot now
The best union of Dominarians wasn't even from this set. It was the *Yargle and Multani* card a few months after. Centerpiece of a beautiful Modern deck that used Cragganwick Cremator to deal 18 damage to the opponent, winning in one glorious explosion.
Drafted dmu once in person and the increased game length thing was really noticeable. People went with surprisingly complicated domain decks and I managed to shine with a selesnya token beatdown. The format was really cool.
used the advice from this video during an LCI draft. I made 4 color caves and did pretty well. Grabbing lands early meant I had my many fixed really well, and then I grabbed some useful threats later on.
Here we have another well presented retrospective about an interesting subject related to Magic. @RhysticStudies, I love the high quality of your audio and the care that you put in each frame of your videos. The minimalism aspect seems to be a key part of what you do and the pace of the presentations always has seemed correct. Your show is, at the same time, interesting and pleasant to watch. Keep doing this amazing work! Gretings directly from Brazil!
I don't mean to be a weird nitpicky youtube commenter because I love your content, but I think cache is pronounced kash at 26:00. Keep up the the crazy high quality content.
With Wizards printing cards so often, it feels that these worlds that they have created don’t get enough time to be explored. That’s why I appreciate these closer looks from Sam. It breathes new life and a fresh take on worlds/art in the game we love. It takes what’s old, and possibly forgotten, and makes it feel new and exciting.
I have never went this deep on Limited. While I enjoy the act of drafting and the intensity of 1v1 Limited gameplay, I'm often deterred by the length of these events (several hours) and Intimidated by the precieved skill of my opponents who may be well informed and experienced with the format and set. Sealed is a fun deckbuilding challenge but can feel swingy and infair if you can't make your subpar pool work. I honestly miss playing CUBE. It's a format where the knowledge floor is even across players.
The tragic irony of limited data - it is actually most helpful to less experienced drafters, but still somehow, it is the grinders that get the most of it
This format was so deep and fun, thank you for this retrospective! Love Sierkowitz's stuff, and you as always are one of the best storytellers for the game.
Thank you so much for your videos. You choose amazing topics, and you consistently make them interesting. You've got a great channel, and I appreciate your work
Dominic Mayer, the artist, has been killing it in general lately. Easily in my top 3 of active MtG artists atm alongside Magali Villeneuve and Wylie Beckert.
Friday night was my first ever Pre-Release ! I got a 3rd place finish for the DUSKMOURN pre-release! I had played magic since end of january 2024. But i had played 2004-2023 Marvel Versus System, got my first 3 over the board wins at MTG friday, had only win at Arena before !this year !!! My pods and competitors at the LCS are strong irl and i cannot go there often. Had lost like 25 games this year irl at one store in commander 4 player casual and in duel commander competitive. And lost 7 at another store in pioneer format. Won 5 in Arena. Lost about 3 online. Yeah i managed a 3rd position win on a not bad ratio of time.
Obviously, Sierkovitz is correct in not drawing too many conclusions with the winrate and speed data but it's such a drag seeing the trend over the last few years to get faster and faster and have a play-draw trend line getting more and more unbalanced.
I'm working on more analyses in this direction, but at least part of that trend is the increasing disproportion in knowledge and pod strength. Some decks are just overrun easily (because they were either drafted badly or drafted in very competitive pods) and that makes the games shorter - but in those cases you don't see a big effect of who is on the play or draw.
i really hated dmu as a format. it was not fun to play. it does not help that imo snc was one of the best magic sets of all time (and the single best sealed environment i can remember)
I’ve been learning to gather insights from data with mtg data since SNC in hopes of creating content like this. This is immensely inspiring. Thanks for sharing this stories!
19:10 Dominaria was the first set I drafted with my friends. I did not research and went for Azorius when I noticed nobody was grabbing. Figured that'd give me the best selection at least. Nobody, including myself, knew that Wingmantle Chaplain and Shield-Wall sentinel would go that fucking hard lol
I know people lament tapped lands especially in edh and precons, but when used smartly like in DMU they add so much to the limited experience. Slowing down the turn pacing slightly, but a trade off of wider options and flexibility, balances out the gameplay experience in a hugely meaningful ways including pushing the importance of decision making while not pushing the format into a deterministic quagmire.
19:35 Unassuming card? Shield-Wall Sentinel? Oh man... but once you frame it simply as a tutor, you'd be hard pressed to find any player call a tutor outright bad. 4 mana? But as mentioned, this draft format was slower. Not as much of a problem. And as the vid mentioned, it tutored a pivotal card in its own strategy.
It took the best limited format for me quickly and still holds strong. LOTR was a good contender, but DMU is a step beyond NEO, BRO, KALD, MID, STRIX & LOTR. Great great format. Never got tired of playing it.
Seeing that average turn length graph is hilarious to me, especially asserting Phyrexia at 8.8 turns being “fast.” If real Zendikar were on there the graph would look like we were measuring tournament grade modern gameplay, lol.
"Your opponent can be anyone, from any background. Magic is for everyone!" -Arena loading screen tip Please use neutral pronouns when referring to hypothetical Magic players and opponents
"Karn can go everywhere, but doesn't really have a home anywhere" is indeed a heartbreaking bit of accidental gameplay-story integration. Great work commemorating a happy moment of recent Magic history.
Bold of you to assume it's accidental 😂
Of course, the DMU Karn was also just kind of a trash card.
@@cedricappleby2006: That's as maybe, but I'd rather see Living Legacy across the table any day of the week than have to face the Great Creator even one more time!
Does that mean Karn is a Roma?
@@cedricappleby2006 obviously wotc have made mistakes with planeswalkers being too strong but that one doesnt even have any synergies to make up for how weak it is... tap out on turn 4 to make a tapped powerstone!! sheesh!
It's incredible how you manage to make a video largely about statistics into something warm and nostalgic that really keeps you along for the ride. I will never stopped being amazed at how good your videos are.
Sierkovitz is an *incredible* follow, in both social media and for Magic Numbers. But also shout out to the Lords of Limited podcast that was featured a few times in this episode. If you're looking to get better at Limited Magic, there are few places to do so as good as Lords of Limited.
Agreed. Lords of Limited and Limited Resources are suuuch good podcasts to check out for knowledge of the limited format
We are blessed to have Serkowitz and Sam’s level of quality and skill focused on something as niche and complex as mtg draft. Magic is a beautiful game.
Sierkovitz! Love that you brought him in for this.
That makes two of us ;)
Of all the people who could appear on a Rhystic Studies video, I never expected Sierkovitz! Love to see it.
Your videos are just so incredibly put together, even from your choice of music in the very first second. Consistently beautiful.
What an incredible tag team of thoughtful Magic videos and research! Real dream team material here!
I knew I loved DMU draft but I couldn't pinpoint exactly why except a feeling of freedom while picking. Thanks for putting words and data on on it. Now I know why ^^
Totally on board with Ben Werne there. DMU was looking like one of the GOATs from the outset and it followed through at every stage of its development.
Not to undersell the gameplay, but what really did it for me was the draft portion. In the running for draft formats which reward most the values of staying flexible and reading the draft well. I've long joked about wanting to skip playing games and just draft again after building the deck, and with DMU it wasn't a joke.
I've been saving this one all weekend for today - sit back relax and DELVE!
SC2 and Day[9] cameos :D
Usually I want to get something nice to eat while I watch a new Rhystic Studies video. But this time my cats curled up around me which doesn't usually happen. It was a sign that Is should just kick back and start watching.
Awesome timing I needed something to listen to and watch while working on new pauper content! Absolutely love love love this channel!!!
I love your Videos on art and the realms of MTG most, but this was, as always, very well done. Keep it up!
Starting with a Vonnegut reference? 10/10
I end up going 2 color in most drafts except SNC and my third draft play of LTR-I was passed a Tom Bombadil and went five color lol. I haven't played DMU even though it was the main set when I first started playing Magic but this made me really want to dig into it and play with my friends.
After seeing all the tweets with DMU draft decks I should have seen this video coming, but it’s a welcome surprise! May need to pick up a box
"the five stages of the format" applies to everything!! not only draft or Magic but to other TCGs
Aside from that, how do you feel about recent changes planned to play boosters?
Dang I miss this set. Easily top 3 with STX and MOM for me. I didn't even mind losing to the chaplain deck because it was so unique and cool. Really hoping we get this as a flashback format soon.
Pretty new to Magic if those are top contenders? You've missed a ton of great sets that I hope you can experience one day ❤
@@treycuret Sort of, I played a bunch of kitchen table Magic like 10-15 years ago but I only got into draft when Arena came out during Guilds of Ravnica. Looking forward to Khans coming back soon, I've heard a lot of folks say it's their favourite!
fantastic video!
I, for one, had no idea people did all this math about this game. For me it's just free-for-all brawls against friends where actually the player who has a deck that is too good is "punished" because the rest of the table tries to kill him/her first.
I really like this one 😊
Hey! long time fan of your channel! Just commenting to ask a bit of a technical question.
I recently made a purchase at card kingdom and went to /studies and while I did see a banner on the landing page that read "studies code applied" or something to that effect, I saw nothing extra at checkout time to indicate that the code was indeed applied or anything similar when I went and checked the order afterwards. Am I missing something? I just wanted to check if this was correct, for any future purchases. Thanks!
Fascinating video
The heuristics might have given me a clue as to why my draft plan worked perfectly in DMU and ONE but went horribly in MOM
Amazing content! Keep it up!
I did read it, Someone Clever. It was very amusing.
Kurt Vonnegut was a real one.
Watching this makes me realise I am WAY out of my depth in modern drafting
Blue Good=Format Good.
not to be that guy, but it's not "a" writer's workshop, it's THE Iowa's writer's workshop - basically the highest bar for fiction writers.
🤝
I'm just sad because Dominaria United is when Winota should have been banned.
And here we are.
Sorry to be a pedant, but those “heuristics” aren’t actually heuristics, they’re really more like aphorisms. Heuristics are typically understood as a type of mental shortcut that helps us make decisions quickly.
For example, if you were to rewrite the first aphorism as a heuristic, it might be something like “pick fixing earlier”
1st
Well executed video, but personally not interesting of a topic to me at all
reminder that card kingdom is also anti-union
First
Nope. 😂
Lmao i only ever did well with 2 color splash aggro in this format.
I think one of the most important things that made this format good was the fact that it wasn't designed with clear, focused two-color archetypes but rather with mono-color archetypes that then led into combination two-color archetypes.
I genuinely love this style of videos. MTG video essays are amazing
The more exposure to various art mediums I get, the more I realize how special Magic is for it's unique ability to combine fantasy storytelling across an unlimited number of world environments with a deeply nuanced game that is also a card game to be played in real life with friends. It's a social game with things to cater to both story driven, lore seeking individuals, and cold, calculating, performance driven folks. I'm simplifying this somewhat, but my point is that I don't believe there are many other topics out there that suit themselves to the format of a video essay than Magic The Gathering. When I say Sam makes some of my favourite UA-cam videos to watch, I really mean it; quality, well made, thought provoking video essays about one of my favourite games.
@@iqcool Seconded.
Also, I'd argue Rhystic Studies just makes superb essays, period.
But his knack for integrating the many unique aspects Magic has makes you realize and appreciate just how much there is to this game.
I'm glad it's getting more mainstream appeal as time goes on, because it it's so much more than a "silly card game for nerds".
@@iqcool Totally agree. That's the reason why i am still invested into this game 23 years after I first picked it up. I'm still not sure how I am feeling about universes beyond, secret lairs and all these products. But at this point, Magic is bigger than the sum of its parts, and not even the questionable decisions by Wizards can't destroy it anymore.
@@benjaminfeiner6851: Then it seems that MaRo has finally, completely failed in his quest to destroy _Magic._
Or mebbe he's just handed that job off to Business Daddy Hasbro.
@@sdfkjgh Hm, I think I don't quite get your comment - why would they want to destroy their golden cow though? And what does MaRo have to do with it?
I attended one of those Vonnegut lectures in the 90’s at UMass. It was very cool but tbh he opened with a bit about how there weren’t 4 seasons but 6 adding the opening and closing of summer. He remarked it would be the only think we would really remember about the lecture. Personally speaking, he was right.
That's an idea I've come across before as well and honestly i have no ability to comment on the ecological plausibility of that view but it does kinda *feel* right
As someone who started in Invasion block, Dominaria United gave me the warm fuzzies of Nostalgia, in a very good way. If only Papa Yawgmoth was here to see us now 😊
He’d probably be very disappointed in his children
@@Arkouchie Yawgmoth: "The hell is with all this 'using colors other than Black'? You disgust me. (Except you, Sheoldred. You're cool.)."
@@Bluecho4: I think mebbe Daddy Yawggy'd be tryin' ta mack on Sheoldred.
Or, that could just be my naughty shipper brain acting up again.
And yes, I _am_ aware that the argument could be made that Yawgmoth/Sheoldred is father/daughter incest (or even grandfather/ or however many greats-grandfather/granddaughter), but if you know anything about me, you'd know that incest is my fetish, so I'ma ship it like FedEx!
@@Bluecho4
Sheoldred: "Yes papa, thank you papa!"
(Aside, to the other Praetors) "See? I _told_ you Papa Yawgmoth would think you're all stinky and dumb."
If only it had any setup to a massive invasion whatsoever.
So, so excited to see this. Thanks Sam.
(Also, shout-outs to CardKingdom for letting me apply your creator code when my ADHD brain forgets to add it while shopping.)
correspondence! nice to see a fellow scholar in the wild
Dominaria United is second only to Neon Dynasty for me as the best overall MTG Arena format. The set supported everything I like about modern limited design: color splashes with ambitious mana-bases, synergistic and grindy value-oriented gameplay, the necessary presence of strong aggressive options, and powerful commons that reward specific deckbuilding choices (Tolarian Terror, Writhing Necromass, etc.) The only real stain on the format's reputation was of course, the undeniable powerhouse Wingmantle Chaplain, which occupies the coveted mythic uncommon slot.
Zendikar Rising has to take my top spot. The last standard draft format I truely enjoyed.
i really liked thrones of eldraine...still my favorite
@@yohanesparuntu4980throne got done dirty by not having human drafts early on. Even after adding premier draft, human pod drafts for the set are even better
This might be my favorite thing Sam’s ever put out. The fact that he has a three act structure woven throughout this nominally statistical analysis of a draft format is truly beautiful and poetic given the introduction. Cheers, Sam.
Now this is certainly a different way to look at magic. Taking a literary analysis approach to analyzing magic draft data is a unique yet effective way to review and retrospect on sets of the past. I kee forgetting DMU was a set due to set burnout, but there are a lot of good cards for commander and other formats. Same with Brother's War. Great video as always, Sam! This definitely was an interesting perspective.
CLB was unpopular on release due to many MTG players not enjoying crossover content and a percieved lack of reprints but I have never heard.anything but good things about its limited environment and it still is my favorite commander draft format.
Same. I have a set cube of it so I can draft it forever
Honestly I think youre getting mad at the wrong people here. You need the cards to be somewhat accessible so people can play the game. we still have chase cards that are worth a lot of money, the problem is cards like Liliana, goyf, etc are being power crept out of the game so that they cant retain value when they are reprinted. The only thing they had going for them now that they are not viable in a new MH2/LOTR meta is that they were scarce and people had sentimentality towards them, now that they get reprinted of course they are soft.
I've been putting together a full set cube of homebrew cards based on our longstanding D&D campaign over the last few months, and this was the perfect video for the mindset it's put me in!
I'm finally at the playtest phase, and there were some great insights in here to consider. Awesome stuff as always.
I'm curious if the kicker effects on these cards could serve as "win more" effects, so in games where you're ahead, they put you further ahead and seal the victory, but in games where you're behind, the kicker cost is usually inaccessible because you're playing catch-up. Could this help explain the huge difference in win rate when kicker costs are paid vs. not paid?
As a EDH-only player, your videos have become a way to learn more about the game even if I'm not playing all the other formats. There are so many elements outside the commander context that we don't get to know about... Great video, thank you Sam!
There's never a bad time to learn limited, I started in the last few years after first learning the game in 2008 and it's been a blast. It really is magic at it's purest.
These data driven videos are something that I'd love to see more of, thanks for putting the effort on all of your stuff, it comes through in spades.
Sam, you can't have art AND math. That'd make you too powerful!
Leave it to Rhystic Studies to have a video be completely out of left field, yet still be quite compelling.
I had my own little epiphany with kicker. And how artifacts like prophetic prism could allow for mono color with a wubrg splash. This occurred while building a pauper cube only to tragically find out prophetic prism is banned in the format.
Tron is mono-colored is most formats, but it’s 5-color in Pauper. Prophetic Prism and cards like it are the reason why. Energy Refractor from BRO has taken up that slot now
Luckily we still have Chromatic Star, Chromatic Sphere, Wizard’s Rockets, Energy Refractor, and Crystal Grotto lol
Ay. Gotta shout out. Probably would have never played magic if not for your videos
Also opening up with vonnegut Hits me like a truck. Love vonnegut
HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT! Hypest intro In a minute. Love the Vonnegut lecture, excited to see the concept applied to magic
This video made me so happy. You're my favorite MTG creator and DMU draft is my all time favorite way to play this game.
The best union of Dominarians wasn't even from this set. It was the *Yargle and Multani* card a few months after. Centerpiece of a beautiful Modern deck that used Cragganwick Cremator to deal 18 damage to the opponent, winning in one glorious explosion.
Drafted dmu once in person and the increased game length thing was really noticeable. People went with surprisingly complicated domain decks and I managed to shine with a selesnya token beatdown. The format was really cool.
used the advice from this video during an LCI draft. I made 4 color caves and did pretty well. Grabbing lands early meant I had my many fixed really well, and then I grabbed some useful threats later on.
Here we have another well presented retrospective about an interesting subject related to Magic. @RhysticStudies, I love the high quality of your audio and the care that you put in each frame of your videos. The minimalism aspect seems to be a key part of what you do and the pace of the presentations always has seemed correct. Your show is, at the same time, interesting and pleasant to watch. Keep doing this amazing work! Gretings directly from Brazil!
Ofc he’s a microbial ecologist - micro gang rise up!
I loved DMU's limited- I decided to use it as the basis for a set cube I'm making!
Yessss, MTG and data analysis? This is fucking Christmas to me!
I don't mean to be a weird nitpicky youtube commenter because I love your content, but I think cache is pronounced kash at 26:00. Keep up the the crazy high quality content.
LMAO thats my iceburg! The video was great Sam! Loved the format and you did a great job covering what made it tick! Also ❤ sierko
With Wizards printing cards so often, it feels that these worlds that they have created don’t get enough time to be explored. That’s why I appreciate these closer looks from Sam. It breathes new life and a fresh take on worlds/art in the game we love. It takes what’s old, and possibly forgotten, and makes it feel new and exciting.
Guy releases video in order to get WotC to bring back his favorite draft format to Arena
fucking legend
Ive been looking for the right set to build my cube around, this is a pretty compelling argument for DMU. Thanks for the video
A smooth and robust work throughout. Everything is presented in such an academically clean format, excellent job yet again.
I saw this pop up while building my dmu cube. (71% done)
WAKE UP!
New Rhystic Studies!
Babe wake up new spy family dropped yesterday and now Rhystic Studies
I have never went this deep on Limited. While I enjoy the act of drafting and the intensity of 1v1 Limited gameplay, I'm often deterred by the length of these events (several hours) and Intimidated by the precieved skill of my opponents who may be well informed and experienced with the format and set.
Sealed is a fun deckbuilding challenge but can feel swingy and infair if you can't make your subpar pool work.
I honestly miss playing CUBE. It's a format where the knowledge floor is even across players.
The tragic irony of limited data - it is actually most helpful to less experienced drafters, but still somehow, it is the grinders that get the most of it
Didn't expect to see Reynor or Serral on this channel. Dope!
This format was so deep and fun, thank you for this retrospective! Love Sierkowitz's stuff, and you as always are one of the best storytellers for the game.
My first ever game of Magic was at a DMU prerelease. I will always remember this format and this set fondly.
Thank you so much for your videos. You choose amazing topics, and you consistently make them interesting. You've got a great channel, and I appreciate your work
Oh man cut down is one of my favorite card arts period. I love stark lighting.
Dominic Mayer, the artist, has been killing it in general lately. Easily in my top 3 of active MtG artists atm alongside Magali Villeneuve and Wylie Beckert.
This is my favorite mtg content I’ve ever seen. Really hope you continue doing content on limited mtg, this is a match made in heaven
Friday night was my first ever Pre-Release ! I got a 3rd place finish for the DUSKMOURN pre-release!
I had played magic since end of january 2024. But i had played 2004-2023 Marvel Versus System,
got my first 3 over the board wins at MTG friday, had only win at Arena before !this year !!! My pods and competitors at the LCS are strong irl and i cannot go there often. Had lost like 25 games this year irl at one store in commander 4 player casual and in duel commander competitive. And lost 7 at another store in pioneer format. Won 5 in Arena. Lost about 3 online. Yeah i managed a 3rd position win on a not bad ratio of time.
what an insanely good video. thanks a bunch.
Obviously, Sierkovitz is correct in not drawing too many conclusions with the winrate and speed data but it's such a drag seeing the trend over the last few years to get faster and faster and have a play-draw trend line getting more and more unbalanced.
I'm working on more analyses in this direction, but at least part of that trend is the increasing disproportion in knowledge and pod strength. Some decks are just overrun easily (because they were either drafted badly or drafted in very competitive pods) and that makes the games shorter - but in those cases you don't see a big effect of who is on the play or draw.
i really hated dmu as a format. it was not fun to play. it does not help that imo snc was one of the best magic sets of all time (and the single best sealed environment i can remember)
It was very techy meat and potatoes, which is probably not appealing to people who love strong archetypes in limited.
I’ve been learning to gather insights from data with mtg data since SNC in hopes of creating content like this. This is immensely inspiring. Thanks for sharing this stories!
19:10 Dominaria was the first set I drafted with my friends. I did not research and went for Azorius when I noticed nobody was grabbing. Figured that'd give me the best selection at least. Nobody, including myself, knew that Wingmantle Chaplain and Shield-Wall sentinel would go that fucking hard lol
I know people lament tapped lands especially in edh and precons, but when used smartly like in DMU they add so much to the limited experience. Slowing down the turn pacing slightly, but a trade off of wider options and flexibility, balances out the gameplay experience in a hugely meaningful ways including pushing the importance of decision making while not pushing the format into a deterministic quagmire.
19:35 Unassuming card? Shield-Wall Sentinel? Oh man... but once you frame it simply as a tutor, you'd be hard pressed to find any player call a tutor outright bad. 4 mana? But as mentioned, this draft format was slower. Not as much of a problem.
And as the vid mentioned, it tutored a pivotal card in its own strategy.
I played a million ghitu amplifier decks and truly I never kicked it once
Thanks for referencing Kurt Vonnegut's legendary lecture. It is such a great listen every couple of years. King Lear, right?
It took the best limited format for me quickly and still holds strong. LOTR was a good contender, but DMU is a step beyond NEO, BRO, KALD, MID, STRIX & LOTR. Great great format. Never got tired of playing it.
Seeing that average turn length graph is hilarious to me, especially asserting Phyrexia at 8.8 turns being “fast.” If real Zendikar were on there the graph would look like we were measuring tournament grade modern gameplay, lol.
Why does the graph start at two colors? What about 1 and even 0 colours?
Has no Arena players _ever_ registered a mono-coloured deck?
"Your opponent can be anyone, from any background. Magic is for everyone!" -Arena loading screen tip
Please use neutral pronouns when referring to hypothetical Magic players and opponents
Hey, "If i change my name to something clever then maybe someone will read it"... I read it
Not as interesting as your art videos. I think it's mostly of interest to people who play draft.
Sirens of titan
By kurt vonnegut jr.
Is the best book ive ever read. Genesis is close though or better depending on the year