Beta Rotisserie

[jatill]

I'm going to be running a Beta Rotisserie draft at my house this weekend. That means that I'm going to lay the entire set out on my table (1 of every card, except for ante), and the first person to draft picks one card for their deck, then the second person picks one, etc. When everyone has picked a card, the last person picks first in the 2nd round and drafting continues as such until everyone is done. We add basic lands and run the tournament. So obviously cards like Black Lotus and Ancestral Recall are the first picks, but overall what strategies do you think you would go for in the draft? I plan on trying for a U/B deck similar to my tournament deck this month.

PS: No, I do not actually own a complete beta set, but I have most the cards from Revised that will stand in for them.

[aww1979]

-take as much creature removal as you can get. Get Royal Assassin in particular; unless opponent has one of the few removal cards or Serra Angel, this is awesome
-get Sol Ring, and Demonic Tutor if possible. Sol Ring will be just as good as a mox, and Demonic Tutor will shine for the usual reasons, plus more, since you are basically playing highlander
-Mind Twist, Control Magic, Dark Ritual, Psionic Blast, Black Vise (even if you take Mind Twist), Mana Vault (turn 2 Sengir or turn 3 Mahamoti = win), Terror, Nevinyrral's Disk, any creatures with flying, any quick creatures

Some other tricks that might be worth doing, depending what cards are available:
-Cyclopean Tomb / Bog Wraith
-Sleight of Mind (with Gloom, Black Knight, opponent's Crusade, CoPs)
-Illusionary Mask

And, it's probably almost useless in this format, but Word of Command is so darn cool, I'd have to take it if I were playing black, just because.

[scherbchen1]

well it really depends on how you will distribute prizes.

a) no prizes, you pick a card and you keep it. boring and very inducive to "oooh, a Mox!" picking. just fun for the draft portion and hardly any deckbuilding exercise

b) play a draft tournament. winner gets 2 picks, runner up gets 1, third gets 1 and so on.

if the winner is in any way rewarded creature removal and reset buttons are key, I believe. reset buttons are, for example, wrath of god, nev's disc, balance. creature removal is swords, terror, control magic but also fireball/desintigrate which can be mid-late game winners in a stalled game.

as with any draft it comes down to your position and distribution of colours. can you cut off a colour in the first pack? is there a real game-breaker if you happen to pick 1st or 2nd? is there a colour that apparently is not getting picked when you are close to the wheel that offers solid critters (green is usually the candidate here)?

revised-ish drafts are usually rather slow. I'd rate mana acceleration far less important than card quality. Dark Ritual is an ok card. unless you can couple it with several uncommon or rare picks it is pretty weak in draft, though, and only offers the opponent to get an easy 1-for-1 (Unsummon a ritualed Hypnotic Specter) or 1-for-2 (bolt the selfsame Hypnotic Specter) or worse if he is worth his salt. Sol Ring is the sole exception as far as acceleration goes. Black Lotus is runner up.

there are few solid critters in revised-ish drafts. you want them and you want to be able to handle them. 14 Flying Men and 5 Ancestral Recall are unlikely to win you games. 1 Serra Angel, 1 Wrath of God, 1 Swords to Plowshares is more likely to and more probable.

the ground will get cluttered. lots of 2/3s and 1/1s facing off against 3/3s and 4/2s. reset the board with some gas in your hand, nuke the opponent via direct damage or simply have a better average quality of critters, evasion, or rely on that 2 card combo you drafted you might see once in all the games you play if you feel lucky...

I, personally, like blue/white control if I can get some key cards like Control Magic, other spot removal or bounce, card drawing, reset button(s) and flyers with toughness higher than 3. having white for first strike and banding never hurts.

[jatill]

I wonder if the momo-red deck will be viable? Fireball + Disintegrate + Earthquake + Mana Flare + Gauntlet of Might seems like a nice combination.

And what about Green? Are the fatties good enough? Force of Nature is freaking enormous, and Gaea's Liege can turn off an entire deck. Both can land as early as turn 3 with common acceleration alone!

This should be interesting.

[scherbchen1]

well, red has the problem of having very poor creatures in the common slot. then there is the CoP: Red issue. the dd component certainly makes it very strong if you can get the cards. traditionally red had been paired with green to make up for the lack of decent common critters in red and to provide some enchantment removal. or add some black if you get spot removal in that colour and just sod CoP. not like he is going to get both colour CoP out of the sideboard on the board in time and there is no Akroma....

green's fatties will certainly stall the ground (though I'd never play Force of Nature, myself. just asking for a Spirit Link or for being tapped with Icy Manipulator that one) but green kind of suffers from the "there is no card I'd first pick that would make me have to pick green...." syndrome. you will get decent cards and combat tricks most of the time. 2/2s for two and giant growth and spiders and stuff. solid to ok cards but no real gamebreakers. it works at times. just throw decent creatures at the opponent and have the threat of GG. some rares will give you hissy fits, though.

[jatill]

Remember, this is a Rotisserie draft, so there is just 1 copy of every card, and rarity doesn't matter. In this case, I think red's creatues might be the best (blue is better, probably), with a few premium fliers and large elementals.

[scherbchen1]

agh. I assumed I knew what a rot draft was but apparently I forgot.

well this puts a whole new shebang on the monored bit. you can pretty much can it. no yummy red x-spells in multiples for you in this draft. heck, you'll be lucky to snatch a Desintegrate.

Now I understand your comment about mana accelerators being picked early. I wouldn't. you first-pick a lotus in slot 1... which is nice as it leaves your colours open but when it wheels back to you you have a spoilerish card that can churn out a Dragon Whelp or something.

in this type of draft it is apparent what the other guys are picking. if you land a slot that is in spot 1, 2, or 3 it is actually a bit more difficult. beta has no gamebreakers like Akroma as far as limited is concerned.

if you get to pick early I'd vote for Wrath of God or Nev's Disk. if you get to pick in the medium range it really is dependant on the picks the guys before you made. if you get to be the wheel pick the best available card plus an artifact like Icy.

global effects (like wrath and disk) first. spot removal second. game-ending x-spells third and better-than-average critters last. unless you go for an aggro build if you do manage to get 2+ x-spells. being the wheel or close to it helps for an aggro build. especially as you can tell if you are going to get 2 decent x-spells or not.

if everybody else fights over them it is just as well because you get the juicy white/blue picks.

[monopoman]

I think removal would trump Black Lotus easily.

Wrath of God is pretty much better in Draft then acceleration ever was.

Ancestral Recall is a tougher pick though great for reloading the hand but again not as powerful as it is in constructed.

Balance
Wrath of God

Are by far better picks then either of those in such a heavy creature format like draft. Obviously Recall should go high but its not first pick quality.

Basically the way I see it everyone will be running slow decks since the fact that you can't load up on things like White Knight or other quick beaters means that global removal will be ridiculous.

We are talking battles between Craw Wurm and Shivan Dragon here.

[jatill]

I finally got around to this tournament 3 weeks late. We had 7 people, and I got to pick 6th, so no broken power for me. I got Control Magic + Mana Vault on the first leg, and then Terror + Royal Assassin the 2nd time through. Black ended up getting cut and just 1 person was in red (with Shivan, Fireball, Disintegrate, and Gauntlet of Might!) so I ended up in U/R fatties, splashing for Demonic Tutor and Terror.

I ended up losing only to the undefeated deck, U/W control. Personal Incarnation is quite a beating, and Armageddon killed me one game since I played all my lands hoping to draw Braingeyser.

Favorite moments:
-Against the mono-black deck I sided in Kormus Bell, and drew that in conjunction with Earthquake.
-Two players drafted decks capable of taking infinite turns (trivia - how did they do it?) One of them cast Timetwister 3 times on the same turn, and in the end, just got his hand Mind Twisted away.
-My opponent's turn great start of 3 Hypnotic Specter, turn 4 Jaymaday Tome was met with Control Magic and Steal Artifact Immediately. I still did not win that game!

Overall, it was a great time. The format worked out as well as I had hoped.

[aww1979]

Time Vault, Animate Artifact, Instill Energy

I'm not sure how the other one would do it, but I'm guessing just Timetwister/Regrowth and Time Walk.

[jatill]

Time Vault, Animate Artifact, Instill Energy

I'm not sure how the other one would do it, but I'm guessing just Timetwister/Regrowth and Time Walk.

Yup, those were the 2 ways. Sadly, neither ever happened even though Mr. Time Vault drew all 3 parts.