Magic Numbers

#193: How is Pick 2 draft different?

This week I look into Pick Two draft. Since its introduction it has become a popular variant of Magic, both because of how fast it is, how little it costs and a relativel

#192: Right cards for right decks in Hobbit

The format has stabilised after 2 weeks of turmoil and now is the time to actually look for solutions. And to do it, you better know what cards make which types of decks

#191: Early 17Lands draft data for The Hobbit

New set, new rules of engagement. How to use the early draft data to understand the latest Magic expansion limited format? General set stats, color power, what makes each

#190: The Hobbit draft deck Skeletons

Welcome to my eccentric, deck-centric set review. I look at some general stats for the new set, and fed with that information, set out to build functional draft deck and

#189: Right Cards for the right draft decks, MSH Edition

Format is now well developed and the pick orders stopped evolving - so it is time to start solving a static environment. And what better way to do it that re-evaluation o

#188: Early 17Lands draft data for Marvel Super Heroes

New format, new opportunities. We can start discovering the secrets of the MSH set, but you've got to start somewhere - and where better than with the early 17Lands data?

#187: Marvel Super Heroes Draft Deck Skeletons with the Skeleton Crew

Few days before the new set releases on Arena - why not see our vision of draft format before starting to draft? Our eccentric, deck-centric set review is back. We look a

#186: Journal Club (Mulligan and opening hand data)

This week we are trying something new. A journal club. And the reason for it is very simple - there are not that many Magic-related scientific papers out there. But last

#185: Reimagining limited deck clustering

This week we say goodbye to SOS and sending it off through testing some new deck clustering approach. This time it is capable of distinguishing sub-color pair builds. And

#184: Right cards for right draft decks, SOS edition

Card win rates can be misleading if you don't look at them with some amount of granularity. Two color pairs have a very different base win rate? Card played in both can l

#183: Early 17Lands draft data for Secrets of Strixhaven

New set is upon us, and it plays out sweet in Limited. I look at the early 17Lands data in order to figure out what works, what doesn't. But for this one, I think the mor

#182: Draft deck skeletons for Secrets of Strixhaven with the Skeleton Crew

New set is almost there, so it is time for my eccentric, deck-centric set review with the ever changing but ever wise Skeleton Crew. This time we have Zach Kagan and Tres

#181: Winning against your worst opponent, your own brain

No graphs in this seminar but we are looking at something that will help you in every format you play and, who knows, potentially also in your non-magic part of life. Tod

#180: The secret sauce of Pizza decks in TMT draft

Everything Pizza decks are the open secret of the TMT draft format. Some streamers chain one 5 color deck after another. And there is a good reason for that. Since it has

#179: Right cards for the right decks, TMT Edition

Even with only 5 supported color pairs, some cards are not universally good. And after learning about the best cards in the last episode, figuring out the ones that have

#178: Early draft data for TMT

New set, new rules and despite its small size TMT looks interesting. There is a variety of diverse strategies which are viable - aggro, control, tempo are all there. And

#177: Draft deck skeletons for TMT with the Skeleton Crew

Our deck-centric, eccentric set review is back - we cover the key aspects of the upcoming Turtle set. Get some head start over the rest of Arena folk by tapping into grea

#176: Right Cards for Right Decks, ECL Edition

Typal sets are tricky to navigate. How are we supposed to know if this particular Kithkin is OK in Elves or not? And how do we even start one of the unsupported color pai

#175: Early 17Lands Draft Data for Lorwyn Eclipsed

New set - new analyses. We look at the basics of Lorwyn Eclipsed - which color pairs are looking good, which are looking sus. Best cards at each rarity all in the sauce o

#174: Lorwyn Eclipsed Draft skeletons with the Skeleton Crew

Our eccentric, deck-centric set review is back. My class guests go through the skeletons of the 5 supported color pairs in Lorwyn Eclipsed, building functional decks usin