Ben is my favorite drafter on the channel, he always takes his time to explain not only every pick and play he makes but also evaluates all the relevant alternatives.
No wonder Ben is one of the best limited players in the world (imo the best), as not only can he navigate to building the best deck that is offered through the draft, but his ability to process and project potential combat damage is so fast! It takes me ages to figure out just what would happen for "that" turn, let alone trying to project what would/could happen in scenarios in the coming turns, is what makes Ben special for sure. The other person I'm impressed with the speed of thought is LSV stream of consciousness, but I don't think he has the patience to walk through the outcomes as far ahead as Ben does.
He's going through the pack and explaining his choices. Those were probably the most valuable moments of this video, if you actually want to get better at drafting.
@kai russell Dude, the more you say things like that, the more women feel like we don't belong in Magic. Just treat gamer women like normal people and we'll have a lot more women in gaming.
Waiting on the specter can be good if they are keeping one card in hand you suspect to be a combat trick; play specter before attacks and force them to play it, giving you information on if you can attack or not
6:40 I really don't understand this pick. The artifact 5-drop isn't that far off when compared to two-headed zombie and it gets above average when you have a blue creature. Also helps blue's artifact theme. Meanwhile two-headed zombie is the definition of filler.
The disinterest in Gearsmith Guardian was shocking. In blue with no red cards and picking the UR dual over it has to be a mistake, right? Edit: it's also excellent with One With The Machine
Would have liked to see round 1 opponent pump the brakes a little in the 2nd match to maximize clock consumption. Would have bailed them out in 3rd game for sure
Short answer: Indestructible doesn't beat having 0 toughness. Long answer: The horse gives -1/-1, so all the soldiers Lena made would become 0/0s and die to state-based actions for having 0 or less toughness. Indestructible only saves creatures from damage and destroy effects.
westempire0 the ceiling is high, but I don’t have a read on how good it is in this format yet, because it can be a bad 5 drops some board states. If you have good removal and discard, or if you are able to discard your own ~7 drops for value, then it gets better.
Really depends on the rest of your deck. If you have a few bombs and/or good removal, it can be a blowout to either get their bomb or bring back your own. Otherwise it's just an expensive zombify.
The second player is using the same deck that beat LSV on the M19 draft video he just posted. Which, though I don't know the exact odds, seems astronomically unlikely.
think in game 1 match 2 should have waited on vampire neonate until turn 3 when u have diamond mere out on turn 2, that way u play axe and neonate on turn 3 choosing black as u never actually played your 2 blue cards anyway. would have gained u the life u needed to win as most of your played cards were actually black and there wasn't anything u needed to block with a turn 1 neonate anyway
M1G1 I think it was a mistake not to just run out the demon on turn 4. You almost certainly win unless they have exactly a premium removal spell. Especially given the overall power level of your deck, I think you gotta take those risks to win games.
Yeah, I agree on this one. Ben didn´t seem to be on top of his game throughout this draft, there were some minor sequencing-issues and more "playing-around-cards" and "holding back" than usual. He still played extremely well and as usual, gave great reasonings for why he did the things he did, but it wasn´t as practically flawless as he is most of the time. Still the best drafter around, I think, and the format´s still fresh...
I don't really understand the reasoning on divination . It was good in dominaria because it draws you into game winning cards? Wouldn't it do the same in M19? Or are you saying there aren't as many game winning cards in M19 so it makes div less good? Either way I don't think that's solid logic. Even if you draw two lands with it that means you're skipping 2 draw steps where you would have drawn lands, it's still card advantage. Card advantage is king in limited formats that are as slow as this one. I'd argue that div is better in this format because bombs are more powerful (also less removal to answer the bombs) compared to Dominaria where your deck was based more around synergy rather than bombs.
He meant that cantrips and card draw aren't as good in formats without as many mana synces because cantrips and card draw mess with the land/spell ratio and without as many things to use your excess mana on there isn't as much use for it and it tends to flood you out for no good reason, even if there's less removal and more powerful cards it's about the converted mana cost meaning you can play most of your spells without card draw. Yes you'd draw the lands anyways but that doesn't justify what the power of a card like divination is based in the context of the format. Dominaria curves involve things that value mana like kicker and mana dumpers like slimefoot where asvthis format usually ends on 5 or 6 and doesn't lend itself as well to something like 10 lands. I know it's hard for a person to wrap their head around and doesn't make sense at first, but it's all backed up by mathematics
the flaw in that line of logic is that if you didn't cast divination then you would have had to spend the next two turns drawing those lands off the top of your library, and the divination gets you closer to the gas if you are flooded. It's always going to be good unless you're under a ton of pressure and don't have a board presence.
Alex Mohr no it's not like that and there's no flaw. It's literally just land to spell ratio. Just math. Doesn't mean drawing 2 cards in m19 is bad it's just statistically worse here than in dom
It's not necessarily that drawing lands is bad in M19, it's just not nearly as good as it was in Dominaria. DOM had a lot of very powerful mana sinks that made hitting your landdrops a very useful thing. M19 doesn't have nearly as many mana sinks, with a few notable exceptions in the rare / uncommon slot (Graveyard Marshall, Mystic Archaeologist, et. al). So Ben's rating on Divination is lower than it would be in DOM specifically because he values land less in this format.
All those turns just waiting on the stalled board when you have blockers and a 6/6 trample flier that you could have put the axe on. Zero reason to not apply that pressure when the opponent had no cards in hand. Seems like poor play.
I would have for sure played defensively that last turn of the M2G2. Symbiont will get value no matter what and at 11 life, there a lot that OP can play that pressures you beyond that possibility of a come back. The focus on mana efficiency was too much
Yeah all that faffing about with the demon was driving me crazy. You have all these mediocre creatures in your deck, just dust one and have a 3 turn clock on the board! Assuming your opponent has removal in their hand is fine in constructed, but in draft you don't even know if their packs had any removal to get. Not to mention that every turn you don't drop it and swing with it is a turn they get to dig deeper towards the bomb/removal in their deck.
No love for phylactery lich?? You already have the artifact theme going, and putting counter on your Axe means a lot of decks straight up lose on the spot.
Phantom IV there's too many spells in the format that deal with lich efficiently to run a creature that doesn't come out until turn 5 or 6 unless you're playing mono black. Lich is also a dead card, worse than having a land instead, if you don't have an artifact in play.
I'm... pretty surprised that you didn't know if regal bloodlord worked with life gain that happened before it entered the battlefield. The wording is incredibly clear? Did you suspect there might be a MODO bug or something? There's no way to read this that anyone could possibly fail to understand what it says....
M1G1 was really weird to watch. You seemed way too scared to attack with a 6/6 flying trample when they had no cards in hand for turns at a time and only a flying1/3. What was the reason for that? Seemed like you forgot it had flying or something. You also made way too much of a thing about keeping blockers back when you had almost got back to 20 life anyway. Again, it seems like you forgot you gained all that life and were still in the mindset that you're close to dying.
Ben is my favorite drafter on the channel, he always takes his time to explain not only every pick and play he makes but also evaluates all the relevant alternatives.
Come for the insights, stay for the sound of the mouse dragged across the table
No wonder Ben is one of the best limited players in the world (imo the best), as not only can he navigate to building the best deck that is offered through the draft, but his ability to process and project potential combat damage is so fast! It takes me ages to figure out just what would happen for "that" turn, let alone trying to project what would/could happen in scenarios in the coming turns, is what makes Ben special for sure. The other person I'm impressed with the speed of thought is LSV stream of consciousness, but I don't think he has the patience to walk through the outcomes as far ahead as Ben does.
Man its stressing me out when he doesn't pick one until the last second.
yeah wtf XD
Lol thank you.
He's going through the pack and explaining his choices. Those were probably the most valuable moments of this video, if you actually want to get better at drafting.
Hard same. I realize how valuable the commentary is, but in the last 5 seconds I always start to panic a little, lol.
@kai russell Dude, the more you say things like that, the more women feel like we don't belong in Magic. Just treat gamer women like normal people and we'll have a lot more women in gaming.
not taking doomed dissenters early when you had that zombie lord was a head-scratcher. But all in all your commentary is greatly appreciated
Another good draft video thanks Ben
24:51 Those are all reasons I would pick Rise From the Grave there...
Axe goes great on a Deckhand.
yeah i was thinking the same thing. not sure why he didn't do that
Needed Axe on Aven to make sure Pegasus couldn't attack.
man with all the skeleton anchors and that 1/1 that make a zombie this could have been a sweet zombie skeleton deck splashing white for life gain
Waiting on the specter can be good if they are keeping one card in hand you suspect to be a combat trick; play specter before attacks and force them to play it, giving you information on if you can attack or not
Ben please make the cards bigger
6:40 I really don't understand this pick. The artifact 5-drop isn't that far off when compared to two-headed zombie and it gets above average when you have a blue creature. Also helps blue's artifact theme. Meanwhile two-headed zombie is the definition of filler.
Great insights...thanks
The disinterest in Gearsmith Guardian was shocking. In blue with no red cards and picking the UR dual over it has to be a mistake, right?
Edit: it's also excellent with One With The Machine
Would have liked to see round 1 opponent pump the brakes a little in the 2nd match to maximize clock consumption. Would have bailed them out in 3rd game for sure
WOW, LAND OVER GRAVEDIGGER WOT
Muharem Redzic why not the zombie lich ?
Wasn't even for the splashed color. Odd choice...
I mean, where you going to dig that grave? YOU NEED LAND TO PUT THAT GRAVE IN.
Why didn't he sac Lena when you played Plague mare? It gives all his small creatures indestructible.
Short answer: Indestructible doesn't beat having 0 toughness.
Long answer: The horse gives -1/-1, so all the soldiers Lena made would become 0/0s and die to state-based actions for having 0 or less toughness. Indestructible only saves creatures from damage and destroy effects.
Best draft videos.
How good is Rise from the Grave? I've never played it, would like some insight
westempire0 the ceiling is high, but I don’t have a read on how good it is in this format yet, because it can be a bad 5 drops some board states. If you have good removal and discard, or if you are able to discard your own ~7 drops for value, then it gets better.
Really depends on the rest of your deck. If you have a few bombs and/or good removal, it can be a blowout to either get their bomb or bring back your own. Otherwise it's just an expensive zombify.
In 39 oponent could attack with 6 creatures saifly, with Lena abiliti, could take 3 life, deal many damage and so on, it could make a problem
The second player is using the same deck that beat LSV on the M19 draft video he just posted. Which, though I don't know the exact odds, seems astronomically unlikely.
I LOVE YOU BEN
Wouldn't take out Bone to Ash against an aggro deck? Seems way too slow to me. Axe lets you trade with their creatures early in a pinch.
Tap land over gravedigger. That was a real pick and not a misclick.
He trys to play too complexly when the simplistic, correct decision is right in front of him.
think in game 1 match 2 should have waited on vampire neonate until turn 3 when u have diamond mere out on turn 2, that way u play axe and neonate on turn 3 choosing black as u never actually played your 2 blue cards anyway. would have gained u the life u needed to win as most of your played cards were actually black and there wasn't anything u needed to block with a turn 1 neonate anyway
M1G1 I think it was a mistake not to just run out the demon on turn 4. You almost certainly win unless they have exactly a premium removal spell. Especially given the overall power level of your deck, I think you gotta take those risks to win games.
Yeah, I agree on this one. Ben didn´t seem to be on top of his game throughout this draft, there were some minor sequencing-issues and more "playing-around-cards" and "holding back" than usual. He still played extremely well and as usual, gave great reasonings for why he did the things he did, but it wasn´t as practically flawless as he is most of the time. Still the best drafter around, I think, and the format´s still fresh...
Yes, Ben S agreed if you watched the video
Looks like Ben has only ever seen omnipotence written rather than pronounced.omni-potence, lawls
I don't really understand the reasoning on divination . It was good in dominaria because it draws you into game winning cards? Wouldn't it do the same in M19? Or are you saying there aren't as many game winning cards in M19 so it makes div less good? Either way I don't think that's solid logic. Even if you draw two lands with it that means you're skipping 2 draw steps where you would have drawn lands, it's still card advantage. Card advantage is king in limited formats that are as slow as this one. I'd argue that div is better in this format because bombs are more powerful (also less removal to answer the bombs) compared to Dominaria where your deck was based more around synergy rather than bombs.
He meant that cantrips and card draw aren't as good in formats without as many mana synces because cantrips and card draw mess with the land/spell ratio and without as many things to use your excess mana on there isn't as much use for it and it tends to flood you out for no good reason, even if there's less removal and more powerful cards it's about the converted mana cost meaning you can play most of your spells without card draw. Yes you'd draw the lands anyways but that doesn't justify what the power of a card like divination is based in the context of the format. Dominaria curves involve things that value mana like kicker and mana dumpers like slimefoot where asvthis format usually ends on 5 or 6 and doesn't lend itself as well to something like 10 lands. I know it's hard for a person to wrap their head around and doesn't make sense at first, but it's all backed up by mathematics
the flaw in that line of logic is that if you didn't cast divination then you would have had to spend the next two turns drawing those lands off the top of your library, and the divination gets you closer to the gas if you are flooded. It's always going to be good unless you're under a ton of pressure and don't have a board presence.
Alex Mohr no it's not like that and there's no flaw. It's literally just land to spell ratio. Just math. Doesn't mean drawing 2 cards in m19 is bad it's just statistically worse here than in dom
It's not necessarily that drawing lands is bad in M19, it's just not nearly as good as it was in Dominaria. DOM had a lot of very powerful mana sinks that made hitting your landdrops a very useful thing. M19 doesn't have nearly as many mana sinks, with a few notable exceptions in the rare / uncommon slot (Graveyard Marshall, Mystic Archaeologist, et. al). So Ben's rating on Divination is lower than it would be in DOM specifically because he values land less in this format.
It would be better to have a spell that did something impactful rather than a spell that might just draw you two lands late game.
All those turns just waiting on the stalled board when you have blockers and a 6/6 trample flier that you could have put the axe on. Zero reason to not apply that pressure when the opponent had no cards in hand. Seems like poor play.
Ben you might wanna google "omnipotence pronunciation"
I would have for sure played defensively that last turn of the M2G2. Symbiont will get value no matter what and at 11 life, there a lot that OP can play that pressures you beyond that possibility of a come back. The focus on mana efficiency was too much
this is hard to watch first game. why hasnt he been attacking with the demon.. ? just having it sit back to block... geez equip and attack..imo
Yeah all that faffing about with the demon was driving me crazy. You have all these mediocre creatures in your deck, just dust one and have a 3 turn clock on the board! Assuming your opponent has removal in their hand is fine in constructed, but in draft you don't even know if their packs had any removal to get. Not to mention that every turn you don't drop it and swing with it is a turn they get to dig deeper towards the bomb/removal in their deck.
No love for phylactery lich?? You already have the artifact theme going, and putting counter on your Axe means a lot of decks straight up lose on the spot.
Phantom IV there's too many spells in the format that deal with lich efficiently to run a creature that doesn't come out until turn 5 or 6 unless you're playing mono black. Lich is also a dead card, worse than having a land instead, if you don't have an artifact in play.
Another great video but the quality is unfortunately to low --> dislike as a hint to improve video Q
Good video but too much talking lead to mistake
So much money to draft and play....
I'm... pretty surprised that you didn't know if regal bloodlord worked with life gain that happened before it entered the battlefield. The wording is incredibly clear? Did you suspect there might be a MODO bug or something? There's no way to read this that anyone could possibly fail to understand what it says....
M1G1 was really weird to watch. You seemed way too scared to attack with a 6/6 flying trample when they had no cards in hand for turns at a time and only a flying1/3. What was the reason for that? Seemed like you forgot it had flying or something. You also made way too much of a thing about keeping blockers back when you had almost got back to 20 life anyway. Again, it seems like you forgot you gained all that life and were still in the mindset that you're close to dying.