Article ChannelFireball: Utility Land Draft

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
Article link: http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/cube-design-utility-land-draft/

So I've been experimenting with an idea lately that has been very positively received around here. First tried it for my birthday draft last month. Here's how it works.



1) Before the draft, lay out this pile of lands face up on the table:
MONO:
Flagstones of Trokair
Windbrisk Heights
Eiganjo Castle
Karakas
Secluded Steppe

Faerie Conclave
Shelldock Isle
Riptide Laboratory
Halimar Depths
Lonely Sandbar

Phyrexian Tower
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Volrath's Stronghold
Barren Moor

Barbarian Ring
Teetering Peaks
Ghitu Encampment
Forgotten Cave

Treetop Village
Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
Gaea's Cradle
Yavimaya Hollow
Dryad Arbor

ARTIFACT
Academy Ruins
Seat of the Synod
Vault of Whispers
Darksteel Citadel

UTILITY:
Tectonic Edge
Ghost Quarter
Rishadan Port
Mishra's Factory
Mutavault
Blinkmoth Nexus
Ancient Tomb
High Market

MULTI:
Grand Coliseum
Undiscovered Paradise
Murmuring Bosk

INNISTRAD
Moorland Haunt
Nephalia Drownyard
Kessig Wolf Run
Gavony Township
Vault of the Archangel
Desolate Lighthouse
Slayers' Stronghold

FIXING
Celestial Colonnade
Creeping Tar Pit
Lavaclaw Reaches
Raging Ravine
Horizon Canopy
Cascade Bluffs
Rugged Prairie
Fetid Heath
Twilight Mire
Flooded Grove


2) Assign table seating (give every drafter a number between 1 and 8).
3) Start the draft as normal.
4) After each pack, each player takes one land from the table.
Pack 1 goes players 1-8.
Pack 2 is players 8-1.
After Pack 3, each player takes two lands (first 1 through 8, then 8 through 1) .
 

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
jason -- after a bit of frustration with the manabases tonight (great draft otherwise though!), i'm gonna draw up a list and try this next week. i'd love to hear your thoughts on all of this:

so i've got 65 cycle-based fixing lands (10 Shocks 10 Duals 10 Fetches 10 M10 Lands 5 EVE Filters 5 Scars Lands 5 Shards Lands 5 WWK 5 APOC Painlands) and 5 rando fixing lands (City of Brass, Reflecting Pool, Horizon Canopy, Graven Cairns, Grove of the Burnwillows -- should i be adding Nimbus Maze and River of Tears too?) in already for a total of 70/405 ≈ 17% lands or 70/9 ≈ 8 lands/drafter. Assuming 6-7 of those make it into decks and drafters play 16-17 lands, we average 10 basics per drafter, so maybe keeping 5 and replacing the other 5 with funsies lands would make manabases more consistent and bizarre and interesting without generating excessive consistency.

raw list (91 lands):


academy ruins
alchemist’s refuge
ancient tomb
ancient ziggurat
arena
barbarian ring
blinkmoth nexus
buried ruin
cabal coffers
cathedral of war
cavern of souls
cephalid coliseum
city of traitors
contested cliffs
desolate lighthouse
dryad arbor
dust bowl
eiganjo castle
faerie conclave
flagstones of trokair
forgotten cave
gaea’s cradle
gargoyle castle
gemstone caverns
gemstone mine
ghitu encampment
ghost quarter
ghost town
grim backwoods
grove of the guardian
halimar depths
hellion crucible
homeward path
inkmoth nexus
karakas
keldon megaliths
kessig wolf run
kher keep
kjeldoran outpost
kor haven
krosan verge
lake of the dead
leechridden swamp
mikokoro, center of the sea
miren, the moaning well
mishra’s factory
moorland haunt
mosswort bridge
mutavault
mystifying maze
nantuko monastery
nephalia drownyard
novijen, heart of progress
oran-rief, the vastwood
pendelhaven
petrified field
phyrexian tower
polluted mire
rath’s edge
riftstone portal
riptide laboratory
rishadan port
rogue’s passage
shelldock isle
tranquil thicket
shinka, the bloodsoaked keep
shizo, death’s storehouse
slayers’ stronghold
soldevi excavations
springjack pasture
stalking stones
stensia bloodhall
svogthos, the restless tomb
tainted isle
tainted peak
thawing glaciers
tolaria west
tranquil thicket
treetop village
undiscovered paradise
urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
vault of the archangel
vivid crag
vivid creek
vivid grove
vivid marsh
vivid meadow
volrath’s stronghold
wasteland
windbrisk heights
yavimaya hollow



pared down list (62 lands):

academy ruins
ancient tomb
ancient ziggurat
arena
blinkmoth nexus
cathedral of war
cavern of souls
cephalid coliseum
desolate lighthouse
dryad arbor
dust bowl
eiganjo castle
faerie conclave
forgotten cave
gaea’s cradle
gargoyle castle
gemstone caverns
ghitu encampment
ghost quarter
grim backwoods
grove of the guardian
hellion crucible
karakas
keldon megaliths
kessig wolf run
kher keep
kjeldoran outpost
kor haven
krosan verge
leechridden swamp
miren, the moaning well
mishra’s factory
moorland haunt
mosswort bridge
mutavault
mystifying maze
nephalia drownyard
novijen, heart of progress
oran-rief, the vastwood
pendelhaven
phyrexian tower
polluted mire
riftstone portal
riptide laboratory
shelldock isle
tranquil thicket
shinka, the bloodsoaked keep
shizo, death’s storehouse
slayers’ stronghold
stalking stones
tainted isle
tainted peak
thawing glaciers
tolaria west
tranquil thicket
treetop village
urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
vault of the archangel
volrath’s stronghold
wasteland
windbrisk heights
yavimaya hollow

final lists (45 lands):

m (10)
desolate lighthouse
gavony township
grim backwoods
kessig wolf run
krosan verge
moorland haunt
nephalia drownyard
slayers’ stronghold
thawing glaciers
vault of the archangel

w (4)
eiganjo castle
karakas
kjeldoran outpost
windbrisk heights

u (6)
academy ruins
cephalid coliseum
faerie conclave
riptide laboratory
shelldock isle
tolaria west

b (5)
phyrexian tower
polluted mire
shizo, death’s storehouse
urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
volrath’s stronghold

r (5)
forgotten cave
hellion crucible
keldon megaliths
kher keep
shinka, the bloodsoaked keep

g (5)
dryad arbor
pendelhaven
tranquil thicket
treetop village
yavimaya hollow

x (10)
cathedral of war
dust bowl
gargoyle castle
miren, the moaning well
mishra’s factory
mutavault
mystifying maze
stalking stones
tectonic edge
wasteland

questions:
color-balancing seems unimportant to me, am i wrong about this?
i excluded kor haven, gaea's cradle excluded for power-level concerns, are they fun?
cycling lands only in jund colors? to support loam / give a sense of identity. ('cycles' of these cards are hard to come by and completely playable cycles maybe impossible outside this one)
any duds i'm including?
any gems i'm missing?
support section (edit): primeval titan, crop rotation, expedition map, realms uncharted, scapeshift, sylvan scrying -- y/n to these?
hate spell section (edit): incendiary command, hidden herd, rith’s charm, skyshroud war beast -- how about these?
 

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
Hi Chris, I moved your post over here. Color balancing is indeed pretty unimportant. I even include some fixing here, but, my method is not fully tuned yet either.

Gaea's Cradle has not been overpowered. Kor Haven may be tedious, but at least it's not Maze of Ith. I would say, try it and see what you like.

Off the top of my head, I see Ancient Tomb missing. It's kind of a gamble and a skill tester, but sometimes people are really confident and go for it, and it pays off big time.
I would recommend to just try it, and see what gets taken. We play with 4 picks (1 after Pack 1, 1 after Pack 2, 2 after Pack 3) and that has worked well. We did 3 before, but there were less experimental picks and more standard stuff. But that completely depends on the configuration of your list. Since we have some fixers, those pretty much all get taken each draft.

The other thing I do is take out the ones that never get taken. You don't want to clog the table with cards people have to read and get confused by.

I haven't made too many changes to the main cube because of these things. I do run Primeval Titan, who is a house here. Your suggestions sound interesting, but, hey, you're on the frontier. I haven't tested all this stuff yet. But if they interest you, by all means try the cards and report back here. One card someone mentioned in the old thread that should work in this setting is Skyshroud Elite.

EDIT: I know you have posted otherwise, but people love love love Halimar Depths here. Lots of play there, especially with fetchlands.
Ghitu Encampment is a much needed inclusion (I think).
Blinkmoth Nexus too.
 

Eric Chan

Hyalopterous Lemure
Staff member
Finally! A thread on this! I know you're scooping your own article to talk about this sweet idea, but I think people are bursting at the seams to discuss this. ;)

Quick question. I noticed you have Gemstone Mines in your main list rather than in the utility pile. Any reason for that? I actually had cut Mines a while back from my main list, and was thinking of putting it into the utility draft, so I'm just curious how you arrange your five-color fixers.

Edit: How can Flagstones of Trokair be abused? Or is it just for synergy with Armageddon?
 

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
Quick question. I noticed you have Gemstone Mines in your main list rather than in the utility pile. Any reason for that? I actually had cut Mines a while back from my main list, and was thinking of putting it into the utility draft, so I'm just curious how you arrange your five-color fixers.

You know, it's still something I'm trying to work out. The original idea was to get most of your fixing from the main cube, and I might be removing some of the 5 color lands from the utility draft. I wish I had some sound rationale to give you on this one, but hopefully after I write about it interested parties will start to refine the idea.

I also think that, like Sphere of the Suns, Gemstone Mines is very powerful (moreso than people give it credit for) and you can shape your turns around how many counters it has. 5-color untapped fixing on Turn 1 is pretty great, although usually you can sequence in such a way to have it hit the table later.
 

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
I wonder if this would work as a white land:
Image.ashx


The ol' Knight of the Reliquary trick.
 
Imagine how much fun it would be if all those worldwake spell lands had the appropriate basic land type... crack a fetch to save your guy from spot removal seems like the most powerful by quite a bit, but a flash 0/1 blocker is pretty cool too. And the others aren't without their uses. You know.... cause fetchlands weren't good enough already...
 

Eric Chan

Hyalopterous Lemure
Staff member
I wonder if this would work as a white land:
Image.ashx


The ol' Knight of the Reliquary trick.

You know, when you listed Secluded Steppe up above, I actually thought it was Sejiri Steppe. It can kind of work as a pseudo-Falter, too, a la Smoldering Spires.

One that I'm sitting on the fence about myself is Eiganjo Castle. Other than Isamaru and Thalia, though, are there a lot of legends in white..? Or even in general? Wish I could sort my cube quickly using TappedOut or something to get that info.
 

FlowerSunRain

Contributor
Like I said before, I have blatantly stolen this idea. However, I have used to push most of my manafixing out of the cube into the supplemental draft. The only mana-fixing lands still in the cube are the Ravnica Shocklands, Onslaught/Zendikar Fetchlands and the 5 color lands. This was done for a few reasons.

First, it took a lot of redundant cards out of the cube.
Secondly, I play a large cube and it is always immensely frustrating when all 5 Black/White Duals come out and yet none of the Red/Green ones show up. Guess what colors you've been drafting?
Third, it severely restricts the range of quality in the draftable manabases. Sure, you are always going to be guaranteed to get 4 duals, but you can never get 10. And unless you get lucky AND draft them aggressively, you won't get silver bullet fetchlands that can get you access to 4 colors.

I do agree it gets sort of arbitrary which lands go in the cube and which ones go in the supplemental draft. The main question, I think, is asking which cards do you want everyone to always have access to and which ones you don't.

I have Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth in the supplemental draft so the person who wants to play Liliana of the Dark Realms can always get it. I have Volrath's Stronghold in the cube because I don't want to see that card every draft.
 

CML

Contributor
YO thanks for moving it, was tipsy last night and did not realize which thread it was.

will try halimar, ghitu, blinkmoth, cradle, haven, tomb, gemstone mine

eric: i think sejiri steppe is a little too specialized, eiganjo is sweet though. not cipt is a big asset of course

revised list:

m (8)
desolate lighthouse
gavony township
kessig wolf run
moorland haunt
nephalia drownyard
slayers’ stronghold
thawing glaciers
vault of the archangel

w (5)
eiganjo castle
karakas
kjeldoran outpost
windbrisk heights
kor haven

u (6)
academy ruins
cephalid coliseum
faerie conclave
shelldock isle
tolaria west
halimar depths

b (5)
phyrexian tower
polluted mire
shizo, death’s storehouse
urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
volrath’s stronghold

r (6)
barbarian ring
forgotten cave
keldon megaliths
kher keep
shinka, the bloodsoaked keep
ghitu encampment

g (6)
dryad arbor
pendelhaven
tranquil thicket
treetop village
yavimaya hollow
gaea’s cradle

x (9)
blinkmoth nexus
dust bowl
gargoyle castle
miren, the moaning well
mishra’s factory
mutavault
tectonic edge
wasteland
ancient tomb

added crucible to the list of support cards

i think i want to try drafting all 45 post-p3, is it more fun when you stagger it?
 

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
We used to do it all after Pack 3, but it's really lame if you are banking on some build-around all draft and don't actually get it because somebody nabs it first. I prefer the staggering and think it works much better. Try them both though, see what you like.
 

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
Imagine how much fun it would be if all those worldwake spell lands had the appropriate basic land type... crack a fetch to save your guy from spot removal seems like the most powerful by quite a bit, but a flash 0/1 blocker is pretty cool too. And the others aren't without their uses. You know.... cause fetchlands weren't good enough already...
Fetching Dryad Arbor or Murmoring Bosk is a ton of fun. Wish there were more useful cards with basic land types.
 

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
You know, when you listed Secluded Steppe up above, I actually thought it was Sejiri Steppe. It can kind of work as a pseudo-Falter, too, a la Smoldering Spires.

One that I'm sitting on the fence about myself is Eiganjo Castle. Other than Isamaru and Thalia, though, are there a lot of legends in white..? Or even in general? Wish I could sort my cube quickly using TappedOut or something to get that info.
Goose of Saint Traft

Also, they don't have to be in White to be useful. The whole point is that a lot of these cards are narrow.
EDIT: Deckstats lets you sort your list and separates Legendary from non-Legendary.
 

CML

Contributor
as a narrowish card with little opportunity cost to include in a deck but too soft of an effect to justify the opportunity cost of including it in cube, "ganj castle" is perfect for this kinda draft.

i shouldn't say that it's 'strictly better' than a plains because of the existing footage of my winning a match due to wasting it, and the mercifully nonexisting footage of my killing myself with it. there's not a lot to this card, but more than i'd've thought -- enough that it's hard to be descriptive without playing with it first

edit: jason: will stagger it. 2 - 1 - 2 or 1 - 2 - 2 or some other arrangement?
 

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
Ah, you're going 5 picks? Might be a lot, especially if your stack is only 45 cards. I would make sure your stack is deep enough so that people are still excited to make their last pick. With 5 and a small stack you might have many people who just take something and leave it in their sideboard. That probably isn't where you want to be.

My personal preference is to back-load the picks if you have more than 3. So 1 - 2 - 2 sounds best there.
 

CML

Contributor
9 players * 5 cards / player = 45 cards, 'everything getting picked' and 'still [sometimes] excited to make a last pick]' as in a normal one of my cube drafts. i guess this could end up not working? 1-2-2 with 54 cards maybe
 

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
Well, the original rationale was: these cards are narrow and only are worth playing in the right circumstances, so we want to have lots of narrow ones that end up in the right hands. Like, it's okay for us to have a land that people only want to use 10% of the time here. Once we have people draft 100% of the lands we start to defeat the purpose. Like, if you're going to do 45 with people taking everything, why not do 48 and draft packs of 17 instead of 15?

It also can make the whole table not feel excited about the concept, or feel there is something unfair, if one player still wants a 5th land and there's just trash for all the rest. I personally like the dynamic of having ~60, with 32 taken each time. It's a different 32 each week, and brings some texture to the experience. But I'll elaborate more in the article.
 

CML

Contributor
I like it, seems like a way to deal with the power level range. Obviously Gavony is a million times better than Eiganjo Castle. At what point is a land better off in the main Cube? should such lands be cut from the main cube? a cube without a wasteland or a gavony sounds like a sadder cube that week
 

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
What I try to think about is creating an interesting decision dynamic in both the main cube and the utility land draft. Fetchlands, Shocks, ABUs, Wastelands are all in high demand and fiercely competed for by all players.

Then in the utility draft, my current set-up has this nice tension between taking additional fixing and taking some high-power land like Volrath's Stronghold or Mishra's Factory. If we didn't have some fixing in there, there would be a more clear pecking order for which lands you want. This dynamic gives you room to maneuver, make mistakes, over/undervalue fixing, etc. Overall though it's mostly a function of narrowness, with a few borderline cases.

Maybe one way to think about it is that in the main cube, you have to pick that card over a spell. In the utility stack, you have to pick it over another land. Hopefully you create a set-up where those respective decisions are still interesting. I would not want a land in the utility-stack that is auto first-picked (e.g. Maze of Ith).
 

CML

Contributor
thanks again for the thorough explanation! i think i'm gonna keep all the dedicated fixing lands in the cube for next week, but the theory behind your idea is very convincing indeed. more 'focused' drafters (like last time's gw little kid) often end up wasting picks, so that might alleviate that. have you noticed manabases being more consistent now?

agree about maze of ith, i always tell people that of course it's too powerful in cube since it's a blank against half the decks in legacy and the ones it isn't a blank against run 4+ ways to kill it and it is still insane. i wonder though if there exist 'mazes of ith' -- lands that are just way more powerful / desirable than the rest -- in my following list. (for the record i haven't found wasteland to be one of those, nor even volrath's, though i think it's better than wasteland -- i'd be most concerned about kor haven and cradle). again the plan is 54 lands (or 6 * # of drafters) in the pool, 45 picks (or 5 * # of drafters) total.

m (10)
desolate lighthouse
gavony township
kessig wolf run
moorland haunt
nephalia drownyard
slayers’ stronghold
thawing glaciers
vault of the archangel
krosan verge
gemstone caverns

w (5)
eiganjo castle
karakas
kjeldoran outpost
windbrisk heights
kor haven

u (7)
academy ruins
cephalid coliseum
faerie conclave
riptide laboratory
shelldock isle
tolaria west
halimar depths

b (7)
phyrexian tower
barren moor
shizo, death’s storehouse
urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
volrath’s stronghold
leechridden swamp
bojuka bog

r (6)
forgotten cave
barbarian ring
keldon megaliths
kher keep
shinka, the bloodsoaked keep
ghitu encampment

g (8)
dryad arbor
pendelhaven
tranquil thicket
treetop village
yavimaya hollow
gaea's cradle
mosswort bridge
oran-rief, the vastwood

x (11)
cathedral of war
dust bowl
gargoyle castle
miren, the moaning well
mishra’s factory
mutavault
mystifying maze
stalking stones
wasteland
tectonic edge
ancient tomb
 

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
Sounds good Chris, let us know how it goes. Definitely interested in seeing how specific cards perform. Many of the ones you list were in our stack, but never taken.
 

CML

Contributor
which ones? i guess i'm more concerned with the ones that are if not 'auto-first picks' then at least tower above the others in power. i'd be inclined to move those ones back to the main cube, but first we'll have to see how it goes!
 

CML

Contributor
the utility land thing was a smashing success! everyone loves playing with weird lands. they shored up some archetypes and invented others that before were simply impossible. the 6 lands/person thing worked well too, it really encouraged newer players to take more fixing with their 'real' picks and freed everyone up to consider how much they could warp their manabases to accommodate these lands (instead of just tossing in basics). anyway do take a look at the "3-0 decks" thread, lands with decisions are great fun. i'm gonna do the same thing next week (only 2 lands after every pack instead of 3 after p2/p3 because i won't be as stoned, i hope). fucking great idea jason!! write the article!!
 
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