Going Infinite?

Have you ever heard the phrase "I'm trying to go Infinite" around the Magic Table? For this longest time I must have sounded like an idiot after I heard this. When a player would say this to me I would commiserate with the player and start complaining how there seems to be less and less infinite combos. While I do believe the lack of infinite combos is true I was totally talking about the wrong subject. The players weren't talking about deck building choices; they were talking about Magic Online.

It's almost ironic. Online decks that have infinite loops are a major downer. If you're playing one you run into a time situation. Sure you might have an infinite life engine but by the time you've clicked "okay" enough and "yes" on any "may" ability you have no time to win. Even hitting F6 every turn won't buy you enough time. On the other side of the screen being the opponent in an infinite is about as exciting as watching paint dry on YouTube. So having an infinite deck goes against the way the game is played Online.

However, Going Infinite is probably the best goal for an Online Gamer. As I understand it, going infinite is where a player wins enough in prizes to offset the cost of playing and yields enough extra to pay for future gaming as well. When you have it good you are basically being paid for playing. Admittedly you're only getting paid in Tickets or Cards but just playing for free can be golden. Let's not forget about the Player Rewards you get every month just for playing.

The Means

I've done a little research on going infinite and have found that the vast majority of experts say you should target Block Constructed as your goal. Within the confines of Block you have many factors that help you seal the deal.

First is the card pool. There are just less cards in Block than any other environment. This makes the acquisition of cards for your deck much easier. The major hurdle to going infinite is the start up costs. Building a deck good enough to win consistently will cost a few greenbacks. And then you want to be sure that the deck can remain in the prize winnings long enough to recoup your investment. The smaller card pool also helps this factor since there are just less potential recipes to prepare for. So if you build and play well enough you can buy in cheap and stay king of the mountain for a while.

How does this make money? If you build a good enough deck you can enter into many different "tournaments" that have a prize purse. Each can earn you multiple packs for a very low cost per pack. Then the cards from that pack can be traded/sold to garner the tickets you originally invested for the entry fee. Use those tickets and do it again. If you and your deck are good enough then you can just rinse and repeat.

I personally find Daily Events to be the best average. In the Dailies you play 4 rounds Swiss. If you win 4 you get 11 packs and if you win 3 you get 6. The entry fee is 6 Tickets so you can come out paying between $1.00 to $0.55 per pack. Premiere Events are also potentially lucrative. Their rounds depend on number of entrants and have a top 8. If you make top 8 your 10 ticket entry fee will get you 9 to 36 packs. Cost per pack then would be between $1.11 to $0.28 per pack. Could you imagine paying these prices in the real world?

Of course these Events are available in all other Constructed Formats as well.

How I roll

I choose a different course for my enjoyment. Those who read me know often know that I build decks for casual play. The all Spike mentality it takes to go infinite in Constructed isn't my forte. So I take a different route. It's harder to truly go infinite with but I find the enjoyment factor much higher.

I use Draft to potentially "get there". In Draft we have more options for tournaments and we have easier access. You see the Daily and Premiere events are all scheduled while Draft queues are firing off all the time. The "play when you want" of drafting makes it my way to play. My life seldom lets me sit down for the hours it might take to play a Premiere and when it does MTGO's schedule doesn't accommodate with the right event at that time.

Draft has 3 basic choices: 8-4, 4-3-2-2, and Swiss 3-2-1. Each has their own advantages but all have the same cost, 3 packs and 2 tickets. First let's look at the 8-4. 8-4's are a single elimination tournament for an 8 man pod. If you make the final 2 you get 8 packs for winning and 4 for losing. But remember you have to go 2-0 to get anything at all. The 4-3-2-2's work the same way except you only have to make the top 4 to win the prize. Basically that means win your first round. And the final choice is the 3-2-1 Swiss. Here, you play 3 rounds no matter what and for each win you get a pack. So of the 8 people in your pod one will get 3 packs, 3 will get 2, 3 will get 1, and 1 will get nothing. Basically you have to decide how good you are. The potential gains of 8-4 are tempting but the risk is higher. Swiss has low risk but also has narrow gains. I personally have settled into 4-3-2-2's as my mode of choice. I can come out ahead and when I miss it takes less time to bomb out.

You can't really "go infinite" in 4-3-2-2's since only the winner gains a pack and selling the extra cards doesn't really garner the 2 tickets back all the time but you can play a lot for little investment. So I draft with the goal of set redemption. Each draft gains cards and eventually I should be able to collect a full set and redeem them into to real life. I am really close to a full M11 set. The chase rares will be hard to get but it's a fun goal. What I would like to share with today is my Draft Strategy.

My M11 Draft style

About 5 to 6 weeks ago I was looking through my M11 encyclopedia of cards and decided that there was a really good deck theme in the available commons. I also noticed that a lot of the cards that fit that theme were routinely passed so I decided to change my strategy. I had been drafting Red/Black with heavy emphasis on removal for most of my drafts and had some moderate success but I decided to change to Blue Mill. Since then I've participated in a dozen drafts and have kept track of my endeavors. In a dozen 4-3-2-2's my average winnings is just over 2 packs per draft. Since I only use the packs to pay my next entry I've come out costing about $6 per draft. In one of those drafts I scored a Foil Primeval Titan which I sold for 49 tickets. So I've only paid $23 for 36 packs.

Drafting Blue mill is dangerous though. If 2 players are going for it neither will come out ahead. But I'm a generous soul so I'll share my pick order with you. Sure, that means that I'm more likely to see somebody else stealing my cards before I get to pick them but with Scars about to be out I'm cool with that.

The Commons.

1. Jace's Erasure
2. Tome Scour – Both of these should be self evident since I am playing mill.
3. Preordain – Solid pick for blue with the Erasure bonus in late game.
4. Mana Leak – Best disruption available
5. Phantom Beast – I know some of you doubt this but creatures in this deck are there for defense. Assuming I never turn him sideways how many target spells are actually played. The ONLY time I've ever had a problem was when my opponent was using Infantry Veteran.
6. Ice Cage
7. Harbor Serpent – Most games he's a big wall but blue is a popular color so Islandwalk can make you the beatdown deck.
8. Foresee
9. Azure Drake – This guy can move up in picks if you also notice a lack of fliers available. The lack of fliers in your choices means that someone else is grabbing them up. Fliers are a weakness for this brand of mill.
10. Cancel
11. Augury Owl – Manipulation plus a chump blocker. Once killed a Titan with Diminish.
12. Negate
13. Unsummon
14. Aether Adept
15. Armored Cancrix
16. Cloud Elemental – Seeing flying bump on Azure Drake. Same here.
17. Scroll Thief
18. Maritime Guard

The Uncommons

1. Jace's Ingenuity
2. Mind Control – Both of these go above any common
3. Call to Mind – This probably slips in under Mana Leak
4. Wall of Frost – Under Leak but still above Beast
5. Air Servant – Slips to Foresee slot. If both where there I would have a hard time choosing
6. Water Servant – About the same
7. Sleep
8. Azure Drake
9. Alluring Siren
10. Flashfreeze – Sideboard fodder.

The Rares/Mythics

When it comes to rares many are first picks. These are in no particular order since you only get one choice.

First picks are: Traumatize, Frost Titan, and Jace Beleran

Later picks are: Clone, Conundrum Sphinx, Redirect, and Stormtide Leviathan.

Always pass rares are: Leyline of Anticipation, Mass Polymorph, Merfolk Sovereign, and Time Reversal.

Other Colors

Unfortunately you can't always stay Mono Blue. It is a popular splash color for a lot of players so most of the time you need to augment your game with a secondary color yourself.

1. White – White adds a lot of cards that benefit our defense and are often available later. Siege Mastodon is a prime example. For us he easily fills in the defensive role but in a White based deck he is to slow and too weak. Going white also augments our flyer base. Attacks from the air are a definite weakness and extra blockers can go a long way. Cards like Pacifism are great but are often scooped up before you realize you need an extra color.
2. Green- Although they are "enemy" colors Green and Blue play well together. Greater Basilisk is a very formidable card for this archetype. It has the big butt we need and serves as removal if they try to attack into it. A surprise Fog can often finish the game.
3. Black – I would almost put Black as a more preferred color than green except the most valuable cards in Black are gone before you realize that you're splashing. You might see a Doom Blade in Pack 3 but you're likely to have passed it by in the earlier packs.
4. Red – I find Red the least synergistic to our plan. I can't talk from any kind of experience though as I have never tried to mix these colors. I just don't see the value in the Red commons when I am really looking for a long game.

That's today's class. Enjoy the weekend.