I was eventually taught the BREAD method by a friend and LGS owner (we'll get to that in a minute). A few days later, I passed it on to my son during a 20 minute car ride. That night, we lost in a more spectacular fashion than any combined 3 previous experiences. He was ready to throw in the towel. I wasn't so happy either.
The only problem was, we didn't know we needed more pieces of the puzzle. After some trial and error, we found to be good at drafting you have to be in control of 3 key areas. And I'm going to give them to you right now, in a no-nonsense way that can help anyone who's new to drafting immediately improve their game.
I am by no means a drafting pro, but I'm becoming more confident. Of the past 6 times I've drafted at my LGS, I have had winning records 5 times (and out of twenty or so other competitors on average, I've come very close to making it to the top 4 once). The improvements in my son's game have given him confidence that one day soon he'll beat everyone in the room - and he turns twelve in just 2 days. That is a big difference from where we were just two months ago. It's all due to three important skills that I'm going to share with you now.
Curve (aka, The Casting Cost Conundrum)
Before we talk about BREAD, let's talk about curve - specifically, mana curve. When you select your cards, if you're new to drafting, you need to do two things until this becomes second nature.
First, you need to sort your cards into piles. From left to right (or whatever system works for you), the piles represent casting cost. Keep one pile off to the side for 'junk' picks, things you know you can't use in limited because it doesn't match your colors, is way too top-heavy to use, or is a value rare you selected but won't play. Pile one is 1 mana, pile two is 2 mana and so on. As you draft, the piles on the left half of your space must grow faster than the piles to the right. Drafting in a limited format, with 8 man pods on average is about 80% sending out small creatures to do quick initial damage and get your opponent on the ropes before they knew what hit them. If you happen to select a card with X in its casting cost, consider X=1 for this task placing it in a pile. (Yes, the more I learn the more I find out about different archtypes and formulas and on and on and on...but really, this is the basis for learning limited).
Ideally, you should have no less than 3-4 1 mana items in colors you can use (more can be better, depending on the set, strategy and colors you're trying for), 5-7 2 mana items, 3-5 3 mana items and the remainder spread out as you see fit. Yes, it seems like a lot. And to do this you may have to pass on a few uncommons or rares you'd be otherwise tempted to select. But would you rather be in a position post draw where you can envision your next 4 plays cleanly? Or would you want to be in a play position where after turn 3 you finally might be able to play a creature? I know which position I'd rather be in, every time.
You do end up with more cards than you should use in your deck. Keep in mind mana curve as you make selections to winnow down to 40 total cards.
Curve doesn't end with picking your initial cards. The other, simple rule you need to follow is keep your library between 40 and 42 cards (40 is better, but 41 to pull an extra Land isn't going to open the gates of hell, and 42 is possible to run...but there should be a definite plan that justifies running that many). Of those 40 cards, 16-17 should be creatures, 6-7 should be spells (artifacts, enchantments, instants, and sorceries), and the remainder should be Lands. This rule is a good starting guideline. You'll find (as I have with current block of RTR, GTC, and DMZ) that this model depends on your colors and plan of attack, but you'll do well enough using those numbers as a starting point.
That's Curve in a nutshell. There is some variation between sets, but until you learn to identify them, this process will help you a tremendous amount. There are plenty of theory driven, probability laden, extensively research articles out there, but in the end this is what they all seem to come down to. I'll likely end up writing separate articles on all of these topics later, but if you want to learn Curve in a way that will help you right out of the starting gate, stick with this. It will win you games.
B.R.E.A.D.
BREAD is a useful, but sometimes misleading acronym. It's misleading because without knowing Curve, you have the potential to do great things - or royally screw up.
My LGS friend who taught me BREAD obviously thought I knew about Curve first, otherwise he would have spent time on it. He's a bright guy and wants to see me winning just as much as he wants to see me teaching my 11 year old how to win. So let's look at BREAD and why it's not just for making a sandwich:
- Bombs - You need between 1 and 3...probably. Bombs are higher cost, more potent cards that can either swing for big damage or give you multiple . In Gatecrash, cards like Assemble the Legion and Aurelia the Warleader are bombs. Every set has its share, most of them are Rare or Mythic. Most bombs though are higher cost or strong commons that have favorable attributes for the late game - a 6/7 could be considered a bomb in the right deck.
- Removal - This is tricky and depends largely on the style of deck you build. Think of removal as the great big answer to 'What If' situations. Optimally, you want removal that either A. Takes a card out by simply removing it from the battlefield or B. Does X amount of damage (2-3 points are best). Ideally, you want removal to be flexible and powerful. You should get at few of these for your deck, and more may be better depending on what you're attempting to do.
- Evasion or Efficient - Evasion refers to fliers, creatures with protection, hexproof, and Landwalk abilities (or anything else that limits what can block them). Efficient refers cards like an artifact that give you a two for one like a keyrune or a creature that is low cost but higher power. Compare a 2/2 for 2 to a 3/2 for 2 mana and you'll start to get the idea.
- Aggressive - I think of aggressive as your core creatures. What are you going to be attacking with? If it helps, I more often think the A in BREAD refers to 'Army'. Even though this is at the bottom of the list, you will spend the most time of your draft likely looking for creatures to fit this category.
- Deadwood/Dregs/Dross/Dipsticks/Deadweight - Whatever you call them, these are the cards that end up in your sideboard and will sit there most of the night. They are that 2/2 flier for 6 mana (literally worthless) or that card that doesn't do anything useful in this format (there are cards that sneak into a block that are not there for the block you're drafting, but rather to solve some earlier problem or future problem you don't know about).
How does BREAD help a new drafter? That's easy enough to explain. BREAD is the order you should make your picks in your average pack. Sometimes. Maybe. Actually, BREAD only works for the first five or so picks and it REALLY depends on a whole bunch of factors that may or may not be important from pack to pack. I know that doesn't help much right now, but if you've drafted more than a few times, you know already how confusing it can be.
So here is how you can use it more effectively than some robotic, "Must search for bombs first," technique.
For the first 2-3 packs after starting a round of selecting cards, look for Bombs, Removal and Evasion/Efficient cards. Don't look for them to be in any one color. Just pick what seems to be the best card at the moment. In Gatecrash, it could be Basilica Screecher, Frontline Medic, or even a Charm. After that, try to get the best, punchiest creatures you can. Remember your curve!
As you start each new pack, remember two things. First, sometimes your first pick should be a Common - if the Rare and uncommons are low value cards in terms of play ability look for a strong common that can help you. I'd go so far as to say almost half of my first picks out of a pack are commons. Be flexible. Once you are into pack 2 and definitely into pack 3, you should have your color strategy pretty well solidified and you should be looking to score cards that will support you. Even if this means passing the Mythic valued at $5, remember your strategy (don't pass the one worth $10, I'm not suggesting we loose our minds). Secondly, bombs come in many forms. Depending on what you're drafting, bombs could show up as many as 6 or 7 picks into a pack. So don't panic if it's not there at the beginning. These are two concepts my son and I really didn't get when we first started using BREAD - and wow, did we end up with some unplayable messes.
This is BREAD shorthand. Usable, friendly, easy to grasp. There is no reason to complicate it beyond this until you gain a base understanding in Curve, BREAD and some color strategy.
Speaking of color strategy...
This is BREAD shorthand. Usable, friendly, easy to grasp. There is no reason to complicate it beyond this until you gain a base understanding in Curve, BREAD and some color strategy.
Speaking of color strategy...
Color Strategy
Knowing the information above simply isn't enough. You also need one more important piece of the puzzle to draft effectively. This is possibly one of the most confusing concepts, so I'm going to keep it short and to the point. If you want to read about in depth color strategy, there are plenty of options out there. This is meant to get your feet wet and give you enough info to start to figure it out some on your own.
'Reading signals' is the process by which you look at what is being passed to you and make educated guesses as to what colors others are selecting. For each pack, it will probably take at least three to four passes to be sent your way before you have a sense of what the people passing in your direction are selecting. The earlier you can make a correct guess (such as red and blue are becoming scarce while you've seen a most packs still contain decent green and white) can help your draft considerably.
It's important to remember that draft pack disbursement is left, right, left. The smaller the pod (group of players in your draft selection pool), the better your chance of reading most of the table while still in Pack 1. While you may make your guess by the third or fourth pack, keep an eye on the rest of the packs as they come to you. If you're in an 8 man draft, packs 7 and 9 of the first turn are almost as important in figuring out your draft strategy as the first few packs sent your way. Let me put it another way. When packs 6, 7, and 8 hit you and they each have 2-3 blue cards and 2-3 green cards in them, then NO one at your table is likely to be playing Simic (a guild that uses those colors). This is a GREAT time to start going in that direction if you haven't already.
When playing in sets that are designed around color pairings (such as Return to Ravnica and Alara), it's also important to remember that you can keep yourself more open to later shifts in color selection by picking strong mono-colored cards over gold cards.
Getting Salty
Sometimes, there is no strategy that will help. You could misread what signals are being passed to you when you establish your color strategy. You could open packs (and be passed more of them) that just don't have strong cards. You could end up with almost nothing worth playing because you changed strategy mid-draft due to adjustments from signals you thought you were receiving. Even worse, depending on the skill levels of your fellow LGS players and how many show up to play, improvement can take some serious time on your part.
Don't get salty over it. First off, you'll never learn by quitting early. Try to play it out, making adjustments to your deck as you go. You'll learn more through adversity than you will by playing two rounds and going home. Look at every game of MTG as a learning experience, even when you feel you know every card interaction. When you do stick it out, you have a chance for some late round wins as well as an opportunity to win a random drawing for a pack and a promo card.
Most importantly, you may find a great combination either by accident or by watching others play you. It doesn't pay to quit - and it certainly doesn't pay to get mad about it. Sooner, rather than later, you'll put together Curve, BREAD, and Color Strategy. Until then, remember, it IS just a game.
Knowing the information above simply isn't enough. You also need one more important piece of the puzzle to draft effectively. This is possibly one of the most confusing concepts, so I'm going to keep it short and to the point. If you want to read about in depth color strategy, there are plenty of options out there. This is meant to get your feet wet and give you enough info to start to figure it out some on your own.
'Reading signals' is the process by which you look at what is being passed to you and make educated guesses as to what colors others are selecting. For each pack, it will probably take at least three to four passes to be sent your way before you have a sense of what the people passing in your direction are selecting. The earlier you can make a correct guess (such as red and blue are becoming scarce while you've seen a most packs still contain decent green and white) can help your draft considerably.
It's important to remember that draft pack disbursement is left, right, left. The smaller the pod (group of players in your draft selection pool), the better your chance of reading most of the table while still in Pack 1. While you may make your guess by the third or fourth pack, keep an eye on the rest of the packs as they come to you. If you're in an 8 man draft, packs 7 and 9 of the first turn are almost as important in figuring out your draft strategy as the first few packs sent your way. Let me put it another way. When packs 6, 7, and 8 hit you and they each have 2-3 blue cards and 2-3 green cards in them, then NO one at your table is likely to be playing Simic (a guild that uses those colors). This is a GREAT time to start going in that direction if you haven't already.
When playing in sets that are designed around color pairings (such as Return to Ravnica and Alara), it's also important to remember that you can keep yourself more open to later shifts in color selection by picking strong mono-colored cards over gold cards.
Getting Salty
Sometimes, there is no strategy that will help. You could misread what signals are being passed to you when you establish your color strategy. You could open packs (and be passed more of them) that just don't have strong cards. You could end up with almost nothing worth playing because you changed strategy mid-draft due to adjustments from signals you thought you were receiving. Even worse, depending on the skill levels of your fellow LGS players and how many show up to play, improvement can take some serious time on your part.
Don't get salty over it. First off, you'll never learn by quitting early. Try to play it out, making adjustments to your deck as you go. You'll learn more through adversity than you will by playing two rounds and going home. Look at every game of MTG as a learning experience, even when you feel you know every card interaction. When you do stick it out, you have a chance for some late round wins as well as an opportunity to win a random drawing for a pack and a promo card.
Most importantly, you may find a great combination either by accident or by watching others play you. It doesn't pay to quit - and it certainly doesn't pay to get mad about it. Sooner, rather than later, you'll put together Curve, BREAD, and Color Strategy. Until then, remember, it IS just a game.
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