Draft. Roasted on a Spit

I talked about EDH a lot lately because its pretty much the only format I have the opportunity to play, not having a consistent playgroup and all, but today I would like to talk about another format that makes me super excited to give it a try.

After seeing the guys on the WOTC site Rotisserie Draft a set (Lorwyn i think), I really wanted to try the format out.  It seems making good first pick in Rotisserie is a difficult task with all 200+ cards to choose from in a large set.  I set out to get a complete MTG set and ended up choosing Time Spiral.  It is one of the best new(er) sets and has a lot of fun older cards in the timeshifted set that I already owned so it wasn't hard to complete the set. 

A couple of years later and I still have not drafted with the set, but I do have some ideas on how to draft well in a Rotisserie.

1. Figure out what the most powerful color was in the set you are drafting.  In Time Spiral limited, I remember red being extremely powerful.  With Bogardan Hellkite, Rift Bolt, Kher Keep and a bunch of other bombs, red seems like a solid first choice.  However don't rely on this too much as people will catch on to your strategy and start hate drafting your color.

2. Know the value of the cards in the set.  While card value isn't a game mechanic, it will often tell you which cards are pretty good.  Any card that maintains a value over $5 online tends to be a strong card.  Bogardan Hellkite is always a good card to have in a deck, as is Akroma, Angel of Wrath and Psionic Blast.

3. Removal is always good.  Take removal as high picks in any drafting situation.  Even Eternity Snare is a good card in draft.   Heck it even replaces itself.

4. Never stick to a single strategy if you are hosed so much its no longer viable.  If someone hates you out of the deck you are trying to build, go for something else.  Use the good cards you have already as a splash in a different deck and let go of the original plan you had.  If you can't do this, you will end up with a sub-par deck.

That's all I have time for today, I hope to have a permanent playgroup soon so I can report some ACTUAL experience with this format, but until then...

Use YOUR shoes as counters!

-Shoe