Ok, so maybe it's more like a 49% win rate if you include that bonus, but it would take hundreds of games.

It's a risk, but it could be worth it if you like the competition.

I wouldn't recommend one of those budget decks for the standard events. They're really great for getting you to Platinum rank and getting daily wins, especially for new players, but the standard events would be full of top tier decks and you'd be much better off using a deck like that if you have one.

Yeah it's not necessarily a huge expense to get a few gems each week/month, but I know some people are on tighter budgets than others. I just get the Mastery Pass Pre-Order Bundles at the moment for each set, because it's the most gems for my money, basically giving me 3,400 gems for $15 every 3 months or so.

Sometimes that can happen with draft events unfortunately. I've had a few 0-3 events in the past few sets, even though my overall win rate is pretty good. Having a second account to practice on is definitely a good idea, that's really helped me a lot. If you haven't seen it already, here's a video I made on 10 general drafting tips, if that helps - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jbKmfNOGvbPce6s.html

@@gameschooldadMTG thanks for the reply. Yes I saw your video but thank you for suggesting/linking it. Will revisit as I go. Gonna keep trying on that second account and hopefully get better

Maybe try explorer over historic. It's much more fun (less power creep). I have mythiced with home made artisan decks. The true statement here is mastering the deck or decks you choose to play

@@woodworkingmelbourne949 I have enjoyed historic but agree some of the power creep is surreal. I’d like to try everything really, so I’ll try explorer. It seems that mode may be more akin to the magic I knew of the past no?

@@JadamH give it a go for sure. You don't always need a top deck and plenty of scope to get creative with unique deck builds 🙂

If you want to avoid the risk on your main account, you could try what I did and make a second account just for drafting practice until you get used to the format. Still, I've had drafts where I get 0 wins occasionally, but the average win rate works out pretty good. If you'd rather not take the risk at all, then buying packs is still a valuable alternative.

Great point!

I've had decent sucess with mono red, but I did even better with mono black.

If you find that you're getting a good win rate in other games, it might be worth entering using that deck. There's always the risk of getting unlucky, but it's a solid choice.

I run either mono-red haste/direct damage or a green/white enchantment boost deck. Both have gotten me to Diamond (last month) and mythic (in May). If I had to pick just one, I'd run my mono-red. But, yes, I have seen mono-black dominate.

No, Esper Control and Azorus are meta, they are going to crush you. Play mono black

Wow, that's great 👍

Deck list please?

@@ananthakrishnankrishnan7287 Deck 4 End the Festivities (VOW) 155 17 Mountain (ANB) 114 4 Monastery Swiftspear (BRO) 144 4 Phoenix Chick (DMU) 140 4 Play with Fire (MID) 154 4 Kumano Faces Kakkazan (NEO) 152 4 Voldaren Epicure (VOW) 182 4 Lightning Strike (DMU) 137 4 Mechanized Warfare (BRO) 139 2 Bloodfeather Phoenix (MOM) 132 2 Feldon, Ronom Excavator (BRO) 135 2 Reckless Impulse (VOW) 174 1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance (NEO) 276 2 Strangle (SNC) 125 2 Riveteers Requisitioner (SNC) 121 a small note the meta is always changing and so is the win rate from a pick 69 it falls to 62 and now is back at 64 so changes to the meta need to be down if you want an optimal performance im lazy so I let it as it is. over 165 games I won 107-58 (64%) on the play 74% on the draw 54% weak against decks like mono blue or black strong agents small swarming decks like mono W or toxic 9 rares small combo bloodfeather ponix can be dropt with Voldaren Epicure and later combot with End the Festivities with is a sourcery and damage the face of the opponent. so for 2 mana you can potentially nuck the board and get your phoenix beck on the borde hope this helps you

There have been a couple of bugs that people have been able to exploit, specifically the Ninja's Kunai bug a few months ago. People that specifically exploit these bugs have had suspensions or bans in the past. Other than in those specific instances, I don't think there are generally cheaters on the game. Some people try to force their opponents to concede by running out their timer for as long as possible, but that's about the worst you'll usually see.

@@gameschooldadMTG Thank you for your answer.

There are BO1 Standard Events and Traditional ones. As far as I know, the Hand Smoother is effective in all BO1 formats.

Since Platinum was so difficult, I never even tried to fight in Diamond very much when I got there. Maybe I should give it a try? Lol

Yeah I go up and down in platinum in constructed. Difficult to climb the ladder to Diamond from there

Depends how you think of it. I wouldn't call time playing the game an expense. If playing the game felt like a chore, I probably wouldn't do it.

True statement. You'll also won't win often without skill.

Some people definitely skip this step.

@@classicalteacher nope you will #mono w

Unfortunately. Sometimes though all the skill can't beat the Shuffler in mtga.

@@METAL__MECHANIC well Here is a Good Tipp to have Fun Play android netrunner Not mtg

Lucky winning streaks are bound to end eventually in a game that involves random card draws.

@@gameschooldadMTG yeah not so random random when 70% winrate drops to 10. 1-10 games ok but not every singel game after playing to long