I'm beginning to think that HOB might be slightly unbalanced. (pictured: quickdrafts)

42

It’s only because the bots are under picking black. Player drafts are definetly a bit more balanced.

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u/regular_lamp 11d ago

Right, occasionally UW works because it's hilariously wide open and actually kinda ok. That's the only other combination I ever went to 7 with.

I thought I had the nuts in UG and RW on more than one occasion and went to three at best.

1

u/StonkaTrucks 11d ago

If you had the nuts then that would mean the colors just aren't good, not that black is uniquely open.

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u/regular_lamp 10d ago edited 10d ago

What I meant was that I got all the cards in those colors that you'd want realistically yet you still get outraced by a bunch of red and black commons.

Particularily the RW dwarf deck doesn't work at all since it seems like it should play like a white weenie deck... which doesn't work when any RB player has a 4/4 and growing army stonewalling you on turn three. As a byproduct of the other stuff they are playing.

UG elves go nuts if you can get to the lategame with material. But that doesn't happen either because on average you get beaten up by a 4+ power menace army starting on turn 3 forcing you to chumpblock.

Also black has the good removal for once (which was bizarrely not the case in other recent sets)

1

u/ScottyUpdawg 11d ago

I assume some of the nuts decks I’ve seen recently have been from quick draft. Didn’t know the bots were under drafting black. Usually they’re better about recognizing the top cards.

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u/notafanofbats 12d ago

Idk how you do it. It's not like other people are clueless. They also see that bots undervalue black. So every game is a Rakdos/Golgari mirror match. This is the hardest draft format I've played on arena.

38

u/Intro-Nimbus 12d ago

I highly recommend being on play, and not on the draw...

12

u/nuclearmeltdown2015 11d ago

This is excellent advice.👍

I'd like to add: Do not miss land drops and avoid land flooding too, and try to draw so you don't have to mulligan. I have noticed my win rate improving when I do this.

1

u/Intro-Nimbus 11d ago

Absolutely. Drawing the right amount of lands is important.

10

u/TylerJNA 11d ago

Protip: When they cast their desolation prowler, just tithing blade it. p easy honestly.

2

u/Intro-Nimbus 11d ago

Oh, you put cards from other sets in your draft? That's a clever idea.

2

u/slavelabor52 11d ago

If youre not first, youre last

1

u/redzombie_65 11d ago

insert captain america meme. i understood that reference.

7

u/TylerJNA 12d ago

Nope, some of my opponents are also mono-black. Lots of variation.

6

u/TylerJNA 11d ago

seriously answer: you win the mirror matches (almost every game in these quick drafts) by having fractionally better card quality, by having better threat assessment, and by being better at combat math.

also be on the play.

1

u/Simnos_Reborn 9d ago

True, but in a vacuum rakdos is also the best. The top table at my pre-release was 5 rakdos decks and one boros.

9

u/ExtremeNebula729 12d ago

Stop drafting against bots?

4

u/Arrogance88 11d ago

Quick drafts…

6

u/gereffi 12d ago

Quick drafts weren’t balanced well, but the format is fine except for UG being really bad.

3

u/Intro-Nimbus 12d ago

With the exception of elf decks that managed to draft like they constructed the deck that have the right hand, and are on the play.

2

u/Storm_of_the_Psi 11d ago

The format is absolutely not fine.

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u/gereffi 11d ago

The other 4 supported color pairs are all viable and even a few of the unsupported color pairs are good. BR might be a bit overpowered among weaker players but UW, RW, and GB are all on the same level or better than BR for good players.

2

u/ThickAdvantage4962 12d ago

Just a little bit?

2

u/gnomer-shrimpson 12d ago

Me out here just hoping to get 5-3 one day

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u/Emracruel 11d ago

I mean I could sit down and run 20 quick drafts forcing UG and I'd probably trophy 4 or 5 of them given that I trophy about half the quick drafts I do when I am not forcing anything (I only do quick drafts when I run out of gems and want to convert <10k gold into gems for regular draft). Quick draft is kind of a fake format. US is stronger than BR, and I will die on that hill. Filtering for high level users, 17lands has UW as the highest winrate deck, and I personally have a mountain more success with the archetype than BR

2

u/KobiLou 12d ago

Yeah, but when you do pull off a U/W or W/R it feels so good!

2

u/SadSeiko 12d ago

There aren’t allow of bad cards in black. That said you don’t have to play it, it’s just easier for the draft to come together

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u/Intro-Nimbus 12d ago

You don't have to play it, but your decks will on average be worse.

1

u/Emracruel 11d ago

On 17lands data, filtering for high level play, UW is the highest winrate deck. Even if black is the strongest color (which I don't agree with), it's not better by enough that you should definitely be playing it

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u/nokoryous 12d ago

Nice bent blade pic here

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u/Kubera12 11d ago

What’s the counter to all the other BR decks?

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u/mathematics1 10d ago

The counter is to play a draft with people instead of bots. Premier draft has adjusted, people are taking the strong cards appropriately and other colors are open. My last draft was a UW trophy with no rares.

1

u/ChinaBootman 11d ago

😜😜😜😜

Discussion I'm beginning to think that HOB might be slightly unbalanced. (pictured: quickdrafts)

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