💿 Bronze To Mythic: Episode 16 - Starting Rank: Platinum 1 - MTG Arena: 📚 Foundations 📚

[@45itachi]

It is one of my most complete joys in life to listen to you bad-mouth an opponents deck quality, and then proceed to watch them kick your teeth in. Chef's kiss.

[@humanjackalope]

It was the hate for the wall and refusal to get rid of it until there was nothing at all to be done about board state that made me chuckle a bit.

[@shadowsun4055]

@@humanjackalope why didnt he just immediatly kill the wall? Seemed such an obvious play...

[@recusantvessel]

More often than not He’s usually right but this game is just ass incarnate now

[@qwormuli77]

@@shadowsun4055 Because generally it's a bad idea to waste removal on an early drop wall, but in this particular case it would have been a good choice in hindsight. Either you just go past, as it doesn't exert any pressure by itself or just bite the bullet and remove when needed. You can see how the game developed and what would have affected it on YT, but you obviously don't get that privilege when playing that said game. A good choice doesn't ensure good results and a bad choice doesn't ensure bad results.

[@julesandersn4251]

This series has really helped me feel a lot less bitter about my draft experience with this set. I’m far from a pro player so watching someone I respect running into the same issues I am is strangely comforting. Sometimes you can draft an insane focused strategy that checks all the boxes and just get absolutely dumpstered by random topdecks. There are so many random “bad cards” that you pick because you have no choice that end up meeting the perfect criteria to completely blow out a game state. The card quality is so all over the place that sometimes making picks feels like begging for even a scrap of value, especially in late pack 2 or 3 when you’re committed to a lane. But somehow my opponents have the perfect angle where their chaff just god combos my entire board on one crackback and I have to watch Rome crumble around my ears. I dunno, I’ve had plenty of cold runs in draft but for whatever reason Foundations is the most tilting draft experience I’ve had in quite a while. It seems like it should be fun on paper but every time I attempt it I only get frustrated, whether I do well or not. I’d be interested if you had any thoughts about it. Always thankful for your insight, here’s hoping we can figure this one out!

[@shadowsun4055]

What I noticed this set is that rarities matters way less... A lot of bad rares and uncommons and a lot of excellent commons.. it can be tricky

[@CraigColter-sh5re]

My man, I am upper mythic, and let me tell you something… This format is ridiculous at times. I drafted a straight napalm massacre of a deck yesterday, 5 on color rares and a mythic. So many good playables. I went 1-3. Sometimes that’s just the way shit goes. 85% of the time this format crawls, but when someone celestial armors on curve or has leyline axe in the opener, you really can’t do shit no matter how on point your deck is built.

[@andrewp6738]

Dang Jim, another 7-win run in under an hour! That’s impressive

[@thelifedragon2156]

why do you lie, you had be thinking he won this draft :(

[@therbi]

I thought you had a great deck and was a believer . I will also share that cup over the shoulder was my absolute favorite reaction followed by a gut punch. I believe you played well. Your opponents just top decked like champs. Win or lose, you are always a joy, Jim.

[@Rococorico]

17:10 Hands down BELIEVER, the draft was pretty straightforward, no nonsense. Sadly no Claws Out in the end, but I wouldn't pick differently given these opportunities.

[@PitBoss_ZA]

Nice curve, very light on removal and high quality finishers, Raise the past, Celestial Armor. Even a stupid Genesis Wave would have done. Not taking claws out was definitely a fumble in this deck as well as passing TWO Needletooth Pack. I literally started shouting at the screen.

[@CanadianOreoable]

My favourite part of B2M is Jim's sigh right before the intro plays. Big fan

[@MaKo-Myth-os]

Nonbeliever.... though less so by the end of pack 3. It did definitely feel like in pack 1 the lane was Black Green splashing White - but forcing white did pay off in pack 3. Unfortunately, that pay-off was mostly good life-gain cards in a deck without much life-gain support, so I'm expecting it to stumble against more focused decks. I think there were also some missed opportunities to pick up cards for fixing that could have allowed an easy Elenda splash - it definitely feels like there are blinders on at times without even noticing good stuff going late. (Though perhaps it is simply different evaluation of cards - I don't think I'd ever dismiss Infernal Vessel as a bad card!)

[@thelifedragon2156]

yeah, black was looking very open pack 1, but he passed so much black it probably got closed off and so white probably opened up as a result. the vessels are really really good cards. should not be dismissed. and yeah, picking up one on color, one off color dules over filler cards should be the default choice, but there was really only one opportunity to do that before elenda showed up. and even if he did take the one duel. there were some other really good options that pack so its still might not have been the pick. but yes. BG was the lane pack 1 for sure. he should have noted that eaten alive, then pie, then wardens, then rat, then vessel plus sage were being passed, then when he got passed another vessel, he should have just passed that one too. too late to switch at that point i think. too many good black cards were already passed, he would have been fighting over them pack 2, and he only had one good back at that point so thats no good. very important heuristic is to pay attention to what are the colors of the other good cards is in the pack other then the card your taking (other than p1p1 p2p1, cuz your not getting passed it). if one color is really good, pack after pack, you need to move in fast, and if for whatever reason you didnt, just avoid it.

[@deadNdivine12]

I blame that overlay he uses.. maybe it sways his card evaluation. I don't know.

[@florentnoisette6123]

hard believer, this deck looks insane. i was worried at some point during the draft, but yeah, insane deck at the end.

[@MrJustintreat]

Going believer in this one. Looks good, nice curve, good removal, great card quality

[@salomar77]

Well, what a relief after your previous draft :). You were in the right lane, your decks looks good, believer!

[@phillipsullivan9614]

Multiple buttons were hit during the watching of this video. I have paid the toll magic man

[@dice_dragon23]

Believer! I hope to see a very swole pridemate

[@masterdecoy80]

JD and the quest to make snarespinner good XD 3 win prediction!

[@RetroMTG]

LFG!!!! No Simic, no Simic, no Simic…. 🙏

[@gaymerweirdo8780]

What an utter heartbreaker that you could’ve easily taken 7-x

[@Executorkronos]

Believer! Kick some ass jim!

[@TheEvolver311]

Believer deck looks clean enough to overcome the green 💚

[@fraginatrix]

Sultai decks and having Koma, name a more iconic combo (you can't)

[@BearMedine]

Leroy Jenkins makes me smile every time

[@deadNdivine12]

"The wall destroyed us". Me remembering he cut Reclamation Sage...

[@TheBlueSasquatch]

Believer! Nice, clean draft here.

[@daltongrimes7850]

Haven't even watched the draft yet, but I'm feeling good about this one! 7-1!

[@wyvern-augury]

Looks like a good aggressive deck to me BELIEVER

[@phillipsullivan9614]

40:03 "esper? Three colors? In this economy

[@kmhanley2]

I'll say I'm a believer. Let's go.

[@ronalddarnell3455]

Win or lose, I am entertained.

[@steveomac385]

Squad Rallier is so good especially in go wide, how is it ranked so low? Such an amazing mana sync.

[@danielolsen3514]

I think you conceded early against the esper deck. Match 4. With pick and bite down. You can gain 4 and kill the vamp. Going to 9 life against 8 power on board. It's still unlikely to win. But a top deck removal or rec sage the following turn could have led to a win.

[@aroadtorome7683]

A humble offering for the almighty algorithm.

[@benwilliams5786]

BELIEVER. Nice cheap curve, and yet plenty of removal. Even with as little life-gain as you have, Cat Collector is that insane, and will probably win a game with just that and a healer's hawk.

[@GuyAxelburg]

BELIEVER! RUN EM DOWN!!

[@davidwitt5585]

I think consideration should have been given to Eaten Alive P1P3. It seemed like you already just kind of zeroed in on being Selesnya because of your rare, when Anthem would be pretty easily splashable. As I say that, Felling Blow and Bake Into a Pie in the next pack. Seems you're off to a decent Selesnya start...but I don't think you had to be. Next pick brought a Wardens and then the following pick had a burglar rat. Admittedly, I'm not through the draft and haven't seen the games....so I'm not sure where you end up....but just giving my commentary once I feel like our paths/choices diverged.

[@davidwitt5585]

done with the draft, deck seems alright.

[@rickbaer112]

totally agree. black was obvieously the way to go

[@humanjackalope]

I wonder if passing that krenko was a mistake. Red was super open first pack and splashing either white or green seems doable especially since white was drying up and is heavily drafted. Still at end of pack 2 when posting, no idea how it will age

[@thelifedragon2156]

maybe, red was open a fair but black was the real super open color pack 1. so yeah iduno

[@aaronruby2233]

Believe in the greeeeeeen

[@00mongoose]

Yeah, thats just magic...

[@clagen86]

I had to take a break from drafting this set. Way too tilting.

[@shadowsun4055]

Believe it or not I just lost to a guy using 2 wrath of gods in a row on my full of crestures board... I couldnt believe when the second one came on the draw.

[@moocowp4970]

All i know is i was promised Diamond the draft before this one, so you're contractually obligated to do it this episode :P

[@Arcadio_Castellanoz]

BELIEVER. I accidentally saw the runtime but I don’t care, I think our deck of sh*tters is pretty sweet.

[@swishin2922]

These BTM videos have been awful short lately...

[@koolaiddude7685894]

Jim is a trophy speedrun champion tho

[@TheFranchiseCA]

Split between blazing fast trophies and struggling to 1 or 2 wins.

[@FrankDTank16]

You need to clean up your drafting and playing Jim. That hydra would've been great pick while you only knew you were green. And the missed damage from attacking improperly really hurt that one game.

[@walrusassociation9317]

Beaver

[@trustsfundbaby7344]

always funny when a deck with 13 1 and 2 mana plays get mana screwed.

[@L3FTLUNG]

+1

[@thelifedragon2156]

11:45 i duno jim, condemn is a cheaper card, your alittle light on removal. and its pretty soild removal too. i think its fairly close well this deck is looks pretty solid. BELIEVER, super aggressive low curve go wide anthem deck. seems good...59mins eh? well here hoping you just have a ton of really fast wins

[@recusantvessel]

Ignoring the short video duration, NON BELIEVER this just seems like a middle of the pack G/W play stuff on curve and hope for the best, Match 2 really exemplified that little shitters in G/W just isn't gonna always get it done

[@lordjaraxxus3864]

NONBELIEVER. 1 mass pump effect is not enough. We are gonna get drowned in value by bigger decks and we cant finish the game.

[@rickbaer112]

Taking Hawk right after saying white dries up an noticing that it wouldn´t be open from the other can´t be a good choice