For some reason, Khans of Tarkir didn’t grab my attention. I immediately knew the set was objectively good, with all kinds of possible decks from two to five colors. Yet, when the format was all said and done, I drafted it about a dozen times total, which is quite low for me.
I had attributed this not to a lack of interest in the set, but to the fact that my wife had our first kid shortly before Khans of Tarkir‘s release. The thing is, though, that my son is way more of a handful than he was last year, and yet today, all I want to do is draft Battle for Zendikar. Considering how good Khans was, that must mean Battle is even better.
What’s really been drawing me in is the set’s difficulty. The format is very complex, with synergy playing a much more important role than in usual sets. A blue card that is excellent in black-blue may just be straight unplayable in white-blue. Figuring out this stuff is a joy, and after nearly 20 Limited events, I’m still trying to determine the proper balance between synergy and power.
What’s surprising is that I’m not even winning very much, yet I’m still interested in the format—usually, the formats I end up playing the most are the ones where I win the most matches. In this case, it’s the learning curve and the joy of discovery keeping me coming back, which is a huge endorsement for the design of the set. I’m hoping that more match wins will start coming eventually.
The need to reconsider many standard drafting practices is comparable to another issue I ran into recently: the need to reconsider one’s various outs for cards.
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Typo quibble: I’m assuming you meant 70 cents per 100.
If he didn’t, he’s a lunatic 😉
Which is to say that yes he definitely did.
Thanks for assuming I’m not a lunatic. Fixed this.
And I also missed it 🙁
You’re really falling apart … first that no shave video and now this? You alright man?
Great read Danny,
I have a system that is pretty easy to follow and works great for me.
I try to sell my higher priced cards on TCG and my lower priced cards that I have a lot of to buylists. For example, I sold a foil Jace, Vryn’s…. on TCG, doubling up my money. If I buy listed it, I would of only made 50% profit instead of 100%. I buy listed 50 Ojutai’s Command for $2.55 each because it saves me so much hassle from trying to sell them on TCG. Plus, I almost doubled my money anyways.
Card Kingdom is my favorite to buylist. Untapped Games is also really good.
I don’t know about your comment about IRL trading. I just went to SCG St Louis with my only real intentions being to trade and play in commander side events (cube is my current baby). I aquired probably $350 in 40 or so cube cards from trading. The trading on the floor was so good I didn’t even bother to play in the side events.
Good article, thank you!
I often buylist cards, because it is very easy for me to sell serveral cards as a whole. I only tried out CFB because I prefer strore credit. They have good buylist prices and their +30% are great. I also prefer CFB because they support free international shipping (I’m from Germany).
TCG is nice because if the card gets lost (postal service sucks), and you’ve followed TCG’s guidelines, usually they’ll cover you and you get paid anyway. Their customer service is pretty good