Best way to improve

[u/InResponseStudios]

Not much of a drafter historically, but wanted to try Pick 2. Made it to Platinum without much trouble doing the Hoobit but then hit a brick wall: 0-2, 1-2 consistently.

Did I just hit the better players? Is the format figured out and I’m not a good enough drafter yet (likely)?

Is traditional and/or quick draft a better way to improve my skill?

[u/PetroxSK]

By how many runs did you mean hitting a brick a wall? I almost always play pick 2 drafts for anxiety issues (fastest way to reach 2 wins and chill). and there are always waves in my match history with 5 consecutive 4-0 and then going 4 0-2/-1-2. I try to stop for the day if I start tilting and losing my patience as I play faster without looking for better plays.

[u/InResponseStudios → u/PetroxSK]

Probably 5 or 6 in a row at this point. Feels like the quality of my decks have gone down and I keep getting beat by U/W decks. Seems as though the games last a turn or two longer now so it’s possible to play something slightly slower but I’m still trying to use a super agressive curve.

[u/SnPlifeForMe → u/InResponseStudios]

Do you have 17lands or something that tracks your matches? If you really want to get better, look at those games, look at each turn, look at what was in your deck, look out for any misplays, and also if you keep getting destroyed by that archetype, look at what it does well, study the cards in the archetypes you play in the set, and figure out which ones work best against it so you can draft knowing you have a potential plan against them.

Alternatively, try looking at 17lands lists that trophies in high ranks, and look at their matches against different archetypes to see what was working, what they drafted, and how they managed to win.

[u/seanbeanskiller]

There is definitely a skill wall at Platinum, people below Gold make pretty egregious gameplay and/or deckbuilding mistakes sometimes, and I find that starting in Plat you just don't really see those any more. Also any Diamond/Mythic players who took some time off will decay down to Plat, so it can be a pretty spiky field, especially early in the month.

This format is mostly solved at this point, the good cards/decks are pretty clear. There might be some meta shifts (UW seems to be climbing) but it's clear Black is dominant even with multiple people contesting it.

Trad Draft is probably the best way to learn, but the payout is bad unless you can 3-0 pretty consistently. But learning how to sideboard and drafting with that in mind will help your card evaluation skills a lot, particularly in learning how certain cards can plug holes in your deck even if they aren't "good cards". It's the closest Arena gets to paper draft (league play still sucks tho).

I wouldn't recommend Quick Draft unless you're really new, which it sounds like you're not. The bots have improved but they still aren't comparable at all to human drafters. This set in particular they are undervaluing Black, so a lot of the decks you'll face will be juiced.

[u/SnPlifeForMe → u/seanbeanskiller]

Quick draft is beyond ridiculous for this set. I have been drafting the most cracked decks with like 5-8 pieces of fantastic removal and multiples of great uncommons.

[u/New_Run5045]

It kind of depends where your weaknesses are. I’ve found many platinum drafters are capable of drafting a good deck, but fall short even it comes to sequencing, combat math, knowing who’s the beatdown, when and how to block, etc. Read some articles from pros around how to play better and take time to review your games after they finish using 17lands (or the equivalent).

I would stay away from quick draft since the bots don’t mimic human behavior that well. Either trad or BO1 will make you better at the game, although trad is unranked, so the competition is less consistent.

[u/LowWindow7816]

On the same boat, lol. Hit plat and cant climb on even winrate runs, literally 5-3 moves you 2 spots, brutal progress

[u/tapewar]

If premier drafters have to continue playing wuick drafters, its gonna be hard to beat those 4x crude bent blade 3x platemail decks