u/TheCatsMeow1022

For anyone that regularly plays the format, what are your thoughts on the state of the format and the concept in general? Does the meta feel like it stays fresh? Does Wizards still regularly balance cards? Is it generally more expensive to play than paper formats?

I absolutely loved this format for the first week or so and felt like I was finding a lot of success with my decks. Some of that was being in a lower tier for sure and I had some luck opening good rares. But the last 5 or 6 drafts have felt kind of miserable basically going up against 4 or 5 color decks nearly every game. I think one of the beauties of Magic is the color wheel and how each color is usually strong in its own ways, so it’s frustrating to play against decks that do everything all the time.

Plus arcane omens is maybe the most feels bad card I’ve played against in a long time. Multiple times opponents have gotten me to discard 5 strong cards with it. Definitely moving counterspells up my pick order…

Anyone else feel the same?

I’ve gotten much better at reading the open lanes in drafts but I feel like that pretty much always means I am in whatever archetype the table dictates.

However, sometimes I hear great players (even LSV or Marshall) talk about being able to play one archetype significantly more than others. Is that just forcing it and sometimes living with a worse pile of cards? Or does forcing an archetype early in pack 1 sometimes push others at the table into the other archetypes?

I’ve forced a number of drafts in my early limited days and know sometimes you end up with a truly garbage deck, so I like trying to stay in the open lane. But want to better understand if there’s a more active approach or if you should technically always be more passive.