THE BEST MTG DRAFT ARTICLE EVER WRITTEN!!! Ben Stark's, "Drafting the Hard Way" Breakdown

In this video I breakdown Ben Stark's seminal article, "Drafting the Hard Way." It is one of the most essential pieces of MTG content ever produced, and the best one ever written for draft, so I wanted to give it some exposure for folks who have never read it. I also add a bit of context and explain some of his examples because it was written almost 10 years ago so some of the references may be difficult for newer players to grasp.
Read the article yourself here: web.archive.or...
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#DraftingTheHardWay #MTGDraft #MTG

[@NicolaiBolas]

Remember to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE to support the channel, COMMENT with your questions, and SHARE with friends! Would you like to see more breakdown videos like this in the future?

[@Biege7531]

This is a great video. You do a great job of both explaining and elaborating the article. Please make more content like this, it's a great way to recycle content for views.

[@NicolaiBolas]

I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

[@ethansalerius7998]

Dropping a bomb rare hurts, but going 0-3 hurts a lot more. I know that, but I still find myself being greedy sometimes.

[@NicolaiBolas]

Improvement can be a slow road, but it sounds like you're on the right track!

[@lennartvandereijk6126]

It's indeed nice to have the full context given, much appreciated. #ChoosingTheHardWay

[@NicolaiBolas]

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@mikemcintosh9933]

I was not aware of this article. Thanks!

[@NicolaiBolas]

I'm so glad I was able to share it!

[@Blomm11]

Great read! #choosingtheHardway

[@NicolaiBolas]

I'm glad you liked it!

[@spieagentl]

Thanks for emphasizing that the rares/mythics/bombs in the first pack doesn't have to define what you'll be playing for the draft! I'm still new to MTG, and I always get nervous when drafting at the LGS or with friends, as I've cornered myself before based on the first pack or two I see. #ChoosingTheHardWay

[@raiseer]

I do the same thing. And most of the time I'm out without having drawn the bomb rare even once :) The most successful decks were always the ones, where I thought, I don't have anything powerful.

[@NicolaiBolas]

I'm so glad you liked the video! It is a big level up moment to be able to abandon your first pick, so it sounds like you are heading in the right direction.

[@tedhand6237]

Sierkovitz has a super interesting episode of Magic Numbers about "marrying the first pick" where he looks into 17 lands data to explore this problem.

[@jonjon43172]

Love this vid! I was having a terrible time at the start of ONE because I thought the colour imbalances meant you should avoid some archetypes. I've been having a lot more success realizing that drafting the open deck is the way to go (duh)! The small differences in power levels (if they are there at all) between archetypes (3-4%) doesn't out way the value of being in an open lane.

[@NicolaiBolas]

I'm glad you enjoyed the article breakdown!

[@BelegaerTheGreat]

BEST, MOST ME-APPROPRIATE VID OUT THERE BY FAR!

[@NicolaiBolas]

I'm so glad you liked it!

[@simonu5411]

Repetition is key to #choosingthehardway

[@NicolaiBolas]

I'm glad you liked it!

[@pce7617]

Thank you very much ! I love refreshing of basic concept content. (I don't know if my sentence is clear :/ Sorry for my English.)

[@NicolaiBolas]

It is very clear and I am so glad you liked my video!

[@Magistrixification]

So basically; Practice, practice, practice and hope for the heart of the cards.

[@NicolaiBolas]

That's not really the takeaway I got from the article. I think it is saying that it is better to consistently draft a good deck than to sometimes draft an insane deck and sometimes trainwreck. The best way to do that is to not get too attached to any one strategy and to maneuver into whatever is undervalued by the pod you are drafting with.

[@gamefan8552]

Sure anything that help to be better at draft.

[@tedhand6237]

Great idea for a video! I was just thinking about making something similar while reading Sam Black's big game little game article, and Am I the Beatdown, wondering if anybody has put together a bibliography of the best articles on limited. I'd be interested to hear your reaction to the recent Sierkovitz episode on signals where some of his findings seem to challenge Drafting the Hard Way.

[@pce7617]

Hello ! Could you please give me a link for the Sam Black's article you're talking about? I've found easily "Am I the beatdown" but not the Sam Black's one.

[@NicolaiBolas]

I'm glad you liked my video! Am I the Beatdown is definitely another one I have on my list for essential MTG Strategy Articles!

[@anthony3604]

What about in quickdraft ? The bot are they reading the signals ? #ChoosingTheHardWay

[@EsperVeltmanMusic]

#choosingthehardway

[@EvanHobson]

#choosingthehardway

[@NicolaiBolas]

I'm glad you enjoyed it!