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Magic Numbers

Magic Numbers is a podcast about Limited format in Magic: the Gathering. The idea is to use data to try to crack current format, or try to answer longstanding questions in Magic and by answering the questions making the listeners better at drafting, deckbuilding and general strategy. The target audience is intermediate to advanced players, but rest assured, determined beginners will also find useful information that will allow them to level up. The podcast is an audio version of my Twitch seminars, so if some parts are confusing, it was designed to be watched on YouTube or live on Twitch.

Latest Episodes:

#75 - First Look at MOM draft data Apr 21, 2023

Show notes

New format is upon us and first day data, even if based on smaller sample sizes is an excellent way of getting an edge over less invested players by identifying best colors, color pairs, cards that surprised and disappointed us in the first few days. And guess what? That is exactly what I will be talking about today. Get your edge against the people who ignore the draft data. But pretty please - do not fall into a trap of thinking that early data means the format is solved. Those are excellent indications but if you don't approach them flexibly, you may fall into a trap of not evolving with the format as a player.

Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://patreon.com/sierkovitz⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work.

This podcast is sponsored by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠mtgazone.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business.

Reminder: This podcast is a recording of a stream, which relies heavily on graphics. Check the youtube recording of it to see any graphs that are hard to imagine in the audio-only format. https://youtu.be/8fp2oRrfk08

Find all other things Sierkovitz here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

#74 - Theory crafting buildarounds Apr 21, 2023

Show notes

Before each set I will now try to make an episode on theory crafting. MOM looks like a fantastic set to build around. In this episode, I explored the types of buildaround, how to design buildarounds, give some practical examples and try to speculate on some interesting cards from MOM that have a buildaround potential.

Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://patreon.com/sierkovitz⁠⁠⁠⁠ to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work.

This podcast is sponsored by ⁠⁠⁠⁠mtgazone.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business.

Find all other things Sierkovitz here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz⁠⁠⁠⁠

#73 - Personal Data with Numot the Nummy Apr 11, 2023

Show notes

This week I had a great pleasure to have a very special guest: Numot the Nummy. A streamer extraordinaire, with Pro Tour credentials and most importantly, a limited specialist. We looked at Numot's ONE data - a format he didn't like and performed somewhat under par for his standard (still an insane win rate of over 60%, but some people have higher standards than that). Which cards did he overdraft, which cards did he value too low, which cards proved successful in his builds? All of that available in the seminar.

We also learned that Numot is a true "drafting the hard way" drafter - unlike my many previous guests, and applies that approach to a great success, so if you think you, like me, use preferences in draft a little bit too much, it is worth looking at this episode and following Numot to see how he does it. You can find him at https://www.twitch.tv/numotthenummy or follow him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NumotTheNummy And if you still don't, I highly recommend it. He was an awesome, well informed and generous guest, and his streams are among the best in business.

Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠https://patreon.com/sierkovitz⁠⁠⁠ to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work.

This podcast is sponsored by ⁠⁠⁠mtgazone.com⁠⁠⁠ - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business.

Find all other things Sierkovitz here: ⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz⁠⁠⁠

#72 - Lords in Limited Apr 04, 2023

Show notes

This week I look at the impact lords, creatures giving power and/or toughness bonuses to a tribe, give to the archetypes they are printed in. But that is not all, we look into week 2 of SIR and have a reverse engineering approach on the MOM spoilers.

Patreon: ⁠⁠https://patreon.com/sierkovitz⁠⁠ to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work.

This podcast is sponsored by ⁠⁠mtgazone.com⁠⁠ - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business.

Find all other things Sierkovitz here: ⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz⁠⁠

#71 - Shadows over Innistrad Remastered Draft Data Mar 26, 2023

Show notes

First dive into the data of the new-old format. What is peculiar about SIR packs, which colors are the strongest, most open and underdrafted. Which color pairs do best and what cards allow them to do so. I look at the best cards in each color / color pair, at the hidden gems that have high win rate but Arena users are not drafting them highly. At least not yet.

Patreon: ⁠⁠https://patreon.com/sierkovitz⁠⁠ to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work.

This podcast is sponsored by ⁠⁠mtgazone.com⁠⁠ - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business.

Find all other things Sierkovitz here: ⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz⁠⁠

#70 - Sideboarding in Draft Mar 23, 2023

Show notes

This episode looks at a relatively understudied aspect of limited: sideboarding. I look at general trends in sideboarding - when people do it, when they don't and how much sideboarding is a good thing.

I also dive into recent few years of limited formats to find the star cards in terms of sideboarding. The ones who are almost exclusively sideboard cards, the ones that are the most effective as sideboard cards and the ones that are potentially sideboarding traps. Based on those cards I also try to speculate on the general idea of what makes a good sideboard card.

Patreon: ⁠https://patreon.com/sierkovitz⁠ to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work.

This podcast is sponsored by ⁠mtgazone.com⁠ - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business.

Find all other things Sierkovitz here: ⁠https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz⁠

#69 - Archetypist, ONE Edition Mar 23, 2023

Show notes

Time to look at the draft deck composition data and look at the secret successful sub builds in ONE. In this episode I look at the ONE decks in each color pair and cluster them based on how similar they are. After doing that, I calculate the win rate of each deck and its closest relatives. Based on that I can find clusters of successful sub-builds in each color pair. Using the archetypist tool I developed with Pekka Pulli, you can explore that data set on your own. Some sub builds are logical and intuitive: there is a WB toxic deck, RG oil deck. But some will raise a few eyebrows, because not many know RW Toxic is a thing - but it does exist, is successful, even if you will only have it open in your pod every 50 drafts or so. Enjoy the seminar, but if you want to explore the tool, visit https://archetypist.netlify.app/

Patreon: ⁠https://patreon.com/sierkovitz⁠ to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work.

This podcast is sponsored by ⁠mtgazone.com⁠ - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business.

Find all other things Sierkovitz here: ⁠https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz⁠

#68 - Fast format, Furious players: Analysing the speed of ONE draft Mar 10, 2023

Show notes

Lot has been said about the unique speed of ONE draft format. But is there a good basis to vilify this format as something that is extremely fast? I look deep into format game length data and try to unravel what is driving the speed of ONE and how does it compare with other formats. I also look at the cards that allow you playing long games and what can be useful in making control decks in ONE limited.

Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work.

This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business.

Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz

#67 - Drafting with Bots Feb 28, 2023

Show notes

ONE Quick Draft is available on Arena now and it may be a good idea to play a couple of those, as they will offer you a fresh look on the format. Why? The bot and human metagame are sufficiently different from each other to offer a slightly different experience. I talk about what is special about bot draft and offer some advice on how to abuse those differences for your benefit. How to conceptually approach bot draft and in what ways it is a different form of Magic. Color power in a format is a combination of card power and card availability, and as far as the power doesn't change, the availability does. In what ways in ONE bot draft different? Which colors, strategies, cards are more and less available and what does it mean for you?

Patreon: https://patreon.com/sierkovitz to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work.

This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business.

Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz

#66 - ONE with all... color pairs Feb 21, 2023

Show notes

This week I look at why ONE is different from all other recent formats. Why there are so few great commons? What causes the imbalance in color power and why I strongly believe white is by far the most powerful color at common in the set and also why you still should draft preferentially red.

On top of that we look at all the color pairs and figure out their best cards, their hidden stars and traps at both common and uncommon level. Spoiler - you will see a lot of Annex Sentries as top uncommons.

This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business.

Find all other things Sierkovitz here: https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz

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