Interested in the Outlaws of Thunder Junction Draft Cheat Sheet I showed in the video? You can find a Free PDF version on the NicolaiBolas Patreon here: www.patreon.com/nicolaibolas If you join the Patreon, you will also gain access to my Card by Card Tier List!
This is the first time in 3 years ive wanted to learn draft, and won a draft with wb sacrifice right after you posted a video with it. Thanks for all the otj content ive been watching a lot of it.
Your take on UR double spell seems to be spot on. It was very open for my first draft of OTJ, so i ended up with it. Certainly too much setup needed, and just falls behind in tempo when other colours can generate more accessible value throughout the match. I also encountered a surprising amount of enemy ward creatures that foiled my options such as Gisa, the Hellraiser and Spinewoods Armadillo, making double spell more restrictive. Went 0-3 for the first time as far back as I can remember! 😢
I've been out of the loop on this set. For the first half of this video, I thought you were calling the do-1-damage-on-landfall dual-color lands 'Crying Lands'. (Seems fitting.) (I do now get that the term is actually 'Crime Lands' because these lands commit a Crime, by targeting your opponent.)
Won my first FNM magic last week with Rakdos Outlaws, got everything I wanted for it basically and colors were super open so it wasn’t hard. Can confirm that green is super good, top 4 decks that night had it including me, cause I splashed green for Orney Brushwag. Really fun set to draft ngl
I've been doing really well with almost mono green stompy. The rare green creatures are insanely overstatted. Green also has some great combat tricks to decimate the opponents board if they go for blocks.
Hello Hello Hello! Looking forward to your latest opinions on the set. I initially thought that this set was largely coming down to stat lines on consistent good creatures. But the more and more I draft it the more I'm feeling like this is a bomb heavy set with a lot of game outcomes being determined by the bombs.
I feel smart for a change. I thought people were undervaluing Green in the Preview lists. I would be happier, but my win percentage is sitting at the mid 20's. I really suck.
Surprised to see GW so low on your list when it's performing so well in aggregate. I seem to remember you were super low on green early. What was your reasoning for that, and does that change how you'll be structuring your predictions moving forward?
I don’t enjoy the “aggregate” draft data (I actually find it a bit irritating behemoth folks talk about it) so I base things on my experience and interactions with other players or content creators rather than anything like that. I actually drafted Green White in my first draft of the format and went 3-0, so I do like the deck, I just haven’t found myself drafting with or against it much since. I like playing slower Green decks a bit more so I gave those a higher priority in my rankings. Color rankings are always a bit academic for me as they don’t tend to drastically affect my play since the colors are almost always very close together anyway. Sometimes for a close pick I will use color rankings as a tiebreaker, but I am the sort of drafter that likes to find what is open and draft that rather than exert my will on the table. One thing I’m going to start doing more for color rankings is to add a little more weight to strong cards at higher rarities. Blue in Lost Caverns of Ixalan was good largely because its Uncommons were awesome and I think a large portion of Green’s strength in this format comes from Uncommons and even Rares, so I am going to probably consider those higher rarity cards more strongly when doing rankings in the future. When looking at my initial rankings though I’m pretty happy with the order other than where I put Green. Overall I think if I didn’t include any color rankings it wouldn’t really impact things as I think they are often more interesting as a talking point than as an actual strategic benefit due to the self correcting nature of draft.
@@tedhand6237 I meant draft data in general when I said "aggregate." I thought that's what you were referring to so I was trying to use consistent terminology.
Incorporating how frequently a deck comes together makes for an interesting archetype overview, thanks as always for sharing your thoughts. #LightningJunction
#LightningJunction Good stuff! Haven't drafted yet, but Bruse Tarl closed out the final game of my sealed prerelease. Looking forward to giving blue green a try.
I knew graveyards value was good. But i got stomped out hard... 0-3 I had all the great value cards like honest rustein and ankle biter and throw off the saddle, but they were no match against the other faster archetypes. Seems like outlaw aggro is the popular pick
Interested in the Outlaws of Thunder Junction Draft Cheat Sheet I showed in the video?
You can find a Free PDF version on the NicolaiBolas Patreon here: www.patreon.com/nicolaibolas
If you join the Patreon, you will also gain access to my Card by Card Tier List!
This is the first time in 3 years ive wanted to learn draft, and won a draft with wb sacrifice right after you posted a video with it. Thanks for all the otj content ive been watching a lot of it.
Your take on UR double spell seems to be spot on. It was very open for my first draft of OTJ, so i ended up with it. Certainly too much setup needed, and just falls behind in tempo when other colours can generate more accessible value throughout the match. I also encountered a surprising amount of enemy ward creatures that foiled my options such as Gisa, the Hellraiser and Spinewoods Armadillo, making double spell more restrictive. Went 0-3 for the first time as far back as I can remember! 😢
I watched one of your other videos and I am 5-1 right now in first draft ever. Ty so much.
I'm so glad you are finding success in your event! Thanks for letting me know and for the kind comment!
I've been out of the loop on this set. For the first half of this video, I thought you were calling the do-1-damage-on-landfall dual-color lands 'Crying Lands'. (Seems fitting.)
(I do now get that the term is actually 'Crime Lands' because these lands commit a Crime, by targeting your opponent.)
Won my first FNM magic last week with Rakdos Outlaws, got everything I wanted for it basically and colors were super open so it wasn’t hard. Can confirm that green is super good, top 4 decks that night had it including me, cause I splashed green for Orney Brushwag. Really fun set to draft ngl
Ended up milling someone out with laughing Jasper Flint
I've been doing really well with almost mono green stompy. The rare green creatures are insanely overstatted. Green also has some great combat tricks to decimate the opponents board if they go for blocks.
Hello Hello Hello! Looking forward to your latest opinions on the set. I initially thought that this set was largely coming down to stat lines on consistent good creatures. But the more and more I draft it the more I'm feeling like this is a bomb heavy set with a lot of game outcomes being determined by the bombs.
It's definitely very value driven. Bombs are a big part but also graveyard recursion and engines like Intimidation Campaign for Demir.
Never was a green player- but I'm happy for it being in the spotlight for once in a long time.
loving sterling keykeeper as a crime commiter, and slows down stompy decks
I feel smart for a change. I thought people were undervaluing Green in the Preview lists. I would be happier, but my win percentage is sitting at the mid 20's. I really suck.
Just about to use my draft tokens! Lightning junction!
Good luck! I’m glad you liked my guide!
Surprised to see GW so low on your list when it's performing so well in aggregate. I seem to remember you were super low on green early. What was your reasoning for that, and does that change how you'll be structuring your predictions moving forward?
I don’t enjoy the “aggregate” draft data (I actually find it a bit irritating behemoth folks talk about it) so I base things on my experience and interactions with other players or content creators rather than anything like that. I actually drafted Green White in my first draft of the format and went 3-0, so I do like the deck, I just haven’t found myself drafting with or against it much since. I like playing slower Green decks a bit more so I gave those a higher priority in my rankings. Color rankings are always a bit academic for me as they don’t tend to drastically affect my play since the colors are almost always very close together anyway. Sometimes for a close pick I will use color rankings as a tiebreaker, but I am the sort of drafter that likes to find what is open and draft that rather than exert my will on the table. One thing I’m going to start doing more for color rankings is to add a little more weight to strong cards at higher rarities. Blue in Lost Caverns of Ixalan was good largely because its Uncommons were awesome and I think a large portion of Green’s strength in this format comes from Uncommons and even Rares, so I am going to probably consider those higher rarity cards more strongly when doing rankings in the future. When looking at my initial rankings though I’m pretty happy with the order other than where I put Green. Overall I think if I didn’t include any color rankings it wouldn’t really impact things as I think they are often more interesting as a talking point than as an actual strategic benefit due to the self correcting nature of draft.
It's not just in aggregate for all players though. Among top players GW still has the edge over GB by a whole percentage point.
@@tedhand6237 I meant draft data in general when I said "aggregate." I thought that's what you were referring to so I was trying to use consistent terminology.
I just went 7-1 with Golgari splashing steed and fractured identity that was ridiculous, fractured identity won me multiple games on its own.
Incorporating how frequently a deck comes together makes for an interesting archetype overview, thanks as always for sharing your thoughts. #LightningJunction
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Fantastic breakdown! Really good analysis to understand the format!
Thank you!
#LightningJunction Good stuff! Haven't drafted yet, but Bruse Tarl closed out the final game of my sealed prerelease. Looking forward to giving blue green a try.
Epic player, cant wait for your modern horizons and bloomborrow drafts
Can you clarify Blue Green Ramp? Other than Bonnie paul, are you basically just playing counterspells/removal until you hit your green bombs?
It doesn't have a crazy theme going on really. Just playing good cards and trying to win with big stuff in the lategame.
I knew graveyards value was good. But i got stomped out hard... 0-3
I had all the great value cards like honest rustein and ankle biter and throw off the saddle, but they were no match against the other faster archetypes.
Seems like outlaw aggro is the popular pick
NICOLAI IM watching this video AS IM IN A DRAFT NEXT TOO YOU WHAT THE HELL also i stole a mana drain that was going to be passed too you
I’m glad you enjoyed being in my pod.
Thanks for the info, gonna use it at draft tomorrow. #lightningjunction
Nice Going
I’m glad you liked it!
It would be so helpful If you put the last 2 sets (aswell) on the screen when you talk about the speed of the format (comparing)
Great guid! #lighting junction
I’m glad you liked it!
#Lightning junction. Thanks for the video.
I’m glad you liked it!
#LightningJunction x2... m'yeah, slow on the pick-up
I’m glad you liked it!
#LightningJunction thanks so much.
#lightning junction
🙏🙏💪🏻🙏💪🏻💪🏻
I’m glad you liked it.
#lightningjunction
#LightningJunction
I’m glad you liked my video!
@NicolaiBolas I always watch your videos before I play limited in Arena and they are a big help! Appreciate the effort!
#LightningJunction