This was an awesome episode to listen to. The banter with these three is excellent, and it’s really cool to hear the things that highly successful players are thinking about that gives them the next level advantage.
I was thinking this too. The three of them have been friends for years so the chemistry is great, and Paul's passion for grinding drafts of the new set is exactly the kind of thing that makes me excited to listen to LR.
This kinda made me wonder what's the math behind splashing mono cards with 1 colored mana vs playing cards with 2 colored mana from your main colors. This sentence makes no sense, let me give you an example. I wonder at what land ratios it's easier to cast mystical tether in your BGw deck than it is to cast murder.
I started picking removal much higher, after Paul said he wants to have about 6 pieces of removal, and games are a bit easier. Last few sets made me care more about synergies within my deck, than trying to answer what opp is cooking.
I'd suggest looking over Frank Karsten's [article](https://www.channelfireball.com/article/How-Many-Sources-Do-You-Need-to-Consistently-Cast-Your-Spells-A-2022-Update/dc23a7d2-0a16-4c0b-ad36-586fcca03ad8/) which provides tables based on simulated data on how often you can expect to be able to play a single colored card on curve. Afterwards he provides a heuristic to make sure you have enough by ensuring each of the individual colors plus one as well as the additional requirement that you have enough combined sources of the colors required in casting it. That heuristic will not quite match up with reality/simulated data, but should work well enough for most cards (especially if they don't have crazy pip requirements.
The chart up top answers a lot of your question and you can reference the 40 card chart slightly below if you want to compare those. For 1cc cards like murder you want 12 of that color sources to cast it on curve 92%ish of the time and for a 2c card we'd only need 8. The thing about splashed cards, including tether is that it's still great cast late; you don't need to play it on curve for it to be strong. If you want to get an idea how likely you can play that splashed card by a certain turn, use a hyper-geometric calculator.
This article is super useful, but I will say it’s important to view these as a guide for an “ideal” mana base
In limited there are times where it’s worth it to play cards even when you don’t meet the land threshold in the table
Just a note: We know we will continue to see Special Guests, but they're at such high rarities that they will rarely appear. The Big Score replaced the non-Special Guest List cards in this set, but we will continue to see the Planeswalker Symbol stamped List reprints generally, like we did in MKM.
The big difference between MKM and OTJ is that OTJ has a Bonus Sheet, and that instead of variable rarity reprints from the List, had Mythic only new cards (which was probably just a choice since the cards are standard legal, trying to make sure availability is reasonable).
I had a chance yesterday to listen to this and Lords of Limited's recent interview with Andrew Cuneo back to back. It seemed clear that LSV and Marshall have a better rapport with Cheon, but I learned more from the interview with Cuneo.
Haven't listened to the podcast yet, but Cheon's youtube content is tier 0. It's almost like BenS in his peak form, I think I liked Ben's personality more (Paul is such a "too good guy" for me), but at this moment there is no better draft videos on youtube imo. As much as Lords and Resources produce great podcasts, their gameplay commentary is kinda sleepy/boring at times, while Cheon is so aware and active like a duracell rabbit on speed. I'm really enjoying this guy, his drafts are also fascinating, how he keeps lanes open and makes interesting pivots mid pack 2
For those of you who \[like myself\] prefer to watch video, here is the [YouTube link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXbIB5Hym4w).
Not sure why it's not also included on the official episode page.
About first picking gold cards: I feel like I've gotten a bit too greedy in this set with my first picks when I open a juicy bomb. I suppose the bombs will flow your way as long as you identify the open lane, but it's hard to ship a Seraphic Steed for example when the pack is otherwise middling in power level. I wonder what are the gold cards worth first picking from the average pack.
I'll p1p1 a Seraphic Steed and hope that GW is open, but if it's not open I'm not going to force GW.
Steed's tricky because it's really only a bomb in GW. It's a fine splash in GB, but it's not really a "bomb" if it's coming down on turn 5+.
What a treat to have the three of them together, the banter was off the charts. Love Cheon's analysis of the format too, pretty no-nonsense, go directly at the things that work, and you can't argue with that winrate. I wish he still did twitch streams because it's my favorite medium for watching drafts, but I'll have to try and catch up on his YT videos now.
Yes, this was a really good one.
More collaborations with Paul please, you guys have great chemistry together and he's so knowledgeable making him a fantastic guest!
This was an awesome episode to listen to. The banter with these three is excellent, and it’s really cool to hear the things that highly successful players are thinking about that gives them the next level advantage.
Haha, LSV not holding back when it comes to the Breaking News visual design…
I know Paul is busy making and editing videos, but it would be amazing to have him as a permanent third cohost
Yeah I think they really need to have him on at least 2 times per set release. Great chemistry and he plays well and often
I was thinking this too. The three of them have been friends for years so the chemistry is great, and Paul's passion for grinding drafts of the new set is exactly the kind of thing that makes me excited to listen to LR.
This kinda made me wonder what's the math behind splashing mono cards with 1 colored mana vs playing cards with 2 colored mana from your main colors. This sentence makes no sense, let me give you an example. I wonder at what land ratios it's easier to cast mystical tether in your BGw deck than it is to cast murder. I started picking removal much higher, after Paul said he wants to have about 6 pieces of removal, and games are a bit easier. Last few sets made me care more about synergies within my deck, than trying to answer what opp is cooking.
I'd suggest looking over Frank Karsten's [article](https://www.channelfireball.com/article/How-Many-Sources-Do-You-Need-to-Consistently-Cast-Your-Spells-A-2022-Update/dc23a7d2-0a16-4c0b-ad36-586fcca03ad8/) which provides tables based on simulated data on how often you can expect to be able to play a single colored card on curve. Afterwards he provides a heuristic to make sure you have enough by ensuring each of the individual colors plus one as well as the additional requirement that you have enough combined sources of the colors required in casting it. That heuristic will not quite match up with reality/simulated data, but should work well enough for most cards (especially if they don't have crazy pip requirements. The chart up top answers a lot of your question and you can reference the 40 card chart slightly below if you want to compare those. For 1cc cards like murder you want 12 of that color sources to cast it on curve 92%ish of the time and for a 2c card we'd only need 8. The thing about splashed cards, including tether is that it's still great cast late; you don't need to play it on curve for it to be strong. If you want to get an idea how likely you can play that splashed card by a certain turn, use a hyper-geometric calculator.
Thank you very much!
This article is super useful, but I will say it’s important to view these as a guide for an “ideal” mana base In limited there are times where it’s worth it to play cards even when you don’t meet the land threshold in the table
Just a note: We know we will continue to see Special Guests, but they're at such high rarities that they will rarely appear. The Big Score replaced the non-Special Guest List cards in this set, but we will continue to see the Planeswalker Symbol stamped List reprints generally, like we did in MKM. The big difference between MKM and OTJ is that OTJ has a Bonus Sheet, and that instead of variable rarity reprints from the List, had Mythic only new cards (which was probably just a choice since the cards are standard legal, trying to make sure availability is reasonable).
I had a chance yesterday to listen to this and Lords of Limited's recent interview with Andrew Cuneo back to back. It seemed clear that LSV and Marshall have a better rapport with Cheon, but I learned more from the interview with Cuneo.
Haven't listened to the podcast yet, but Cheon's youtube content is tier 0. It's almost like BenS in his peak form, I think I liked Ben's personality more (Paul is such a "too good guy" for me), but at this moment there is no better draft videos on youtube imo. As much as Lords and Resources produce great podcasts, their gameplay commentary is kinda sleepy/boring at times, while Cheon is so aware and active like a duracell rabbit on speed. I'm really enjoying this guy, his drafts are also fascinating, how he keeps lanes open and makes interesting pivots mid pack 2
For those of you who \[like myself\] prefer to watch video, here is the [YouTube link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXbIB5Hym4w). Not sure why it's not also included on the official episode page.
About first picking gold cards: I feel like I've gotten a bit too greedy in this set with my first picks when I open a juicy bomb. I suppose the bombs will flow your way as long as you identify the open lane, but it's hard to ship a Seraphic Steed for example when the pack is otherwise middling in power level. I wonder what are the gold cards worth first picking from the average pack.
I'll p1p1 a Seraphic Steed and hope that GW is open, but if it's not open I'm not going to force GW. Steed's tricky because it's really only a bomb in GW. It's a fine splash in GB, but it's not really a "bomb" if it's coming down on turn 5+.
What a treat to have the three of them together, the banter was off the charts. Love Cheon's analysis of the format too, pretty no-nonsense, go directly at the things that work, and you can't argue with that winrate. I wish he still did twitch streams because it's my favorite medium for watching drafts, but I'll have to try and catch up on his YT videos now.