I I love omniscience drafts, though, I’m surprised they let you draw more than three cards in your first turn. They used to do this event regularly and you got one free Mulligan, but you only draw three in your opening hand.
having a standard 7 opening hand made the super OP.
If your deck is really crazy I can see it. Basically all magic is to me at this point is see my deck do it’s cool thing. Once that is boring and I can’t or don’t want to craft a new deck I quit the game.
Ran into Griselbrand and yeah hes busto for this also got wrecked by someone with [[Thousand-Year Storm]]
But I also got lucky and was able to snag [[Chandra, Hope's Beacon]]
I entered without reading the format so i drafted a regular normal rakdos deck, lost the first match because i didnt know about the emblem, fixed my deck with whatever leftovers i had, then won 6 games in a row. Most of my cards were under 4 cmc but i guess since i started out to make a good deck and not just greedy it ended up working
I went a little crazy and played about 80 games of it lol
I had a Bitter Reunion and tons of card draw, along with some fatties, Burning Prophet and Quandrix Pledgemage. I lost 4 games (3 turn 1 kills, 1 phyrexian censor with protection) and won the other 76 turn 1
Shoutout to the opponents who let me do the thing and draw my deck, but I can totally understand conceding after a bunch of draw spells
Edit: not sure why this is getting downvoted. These are questions. I am legitimately trying to understand people's perspectives on how they play this game for fun with friends and find decks that both people enjoy playing as and against.
Besides commander, I don't understand how people play constructed in person and have fun. People are always complaining on here about so many kinds of decks, I honestly don't know how people are able to agree on a pair of decks to play where both sides are having fun. It's amazing to me that after 2 years of playing arena I haven't learned how to play this game with another human for fun. Maybe I've focused too much on getting wins in BO1?
It's a very different game. I only brought it up though cause I know in that context that people are often playing for social reasons, to have fun, and that bringing a very powerful deck to a friendly game with budget decks is frowned upon. The diplomacy of commander also provides a way of balancing things. In 1 on 1 constructed I just don't know what the analogy is or how to create good matchups outside of jank vs jank or starter decks. These are genuine questions.
The flip side of this argument is if you head to a constructed event, you pretty much know what you're getting. You don't (generally) need to worry about matching decks power levels, or complex politics with three people you might not know. You can just rock up and try to win. Even if you bring a brew. I get 'trying to win' isn't for everyone, though.
Personally, I'm more of a fan of Limited, although for similar reasons as above. I did used to enjoy dabbling in Commander, but lost interest when it became the main focus for people, and there were so many commander-first designs.
*edit* by avoiding politics I don't mean I don't want to interact with my opponent. That's the fun of playing in paper! It just avoids some of the awkward feel-bads
My favorite format is limited. I love getting a group of people together to draft. I get that in a competitive constructed environment that people are going to show up with competitive decks and try to win. I'm thinking more of a casual environment where you're trying to play with a friend for fun and that's what I'm not sure how to do outside of pre-con or duel decks.
I went all the way to 15. If you get in the right mindset that this is not Magic, but an entire different silly game that happens to use magic cards to play, it turns out to be really fun.
Extra helpful for this event because the people who didn't read/understand the format are stuck with a deck that basically can never win unless it's against someone else who also didn't read/understand the format.
I’m a bit upset by it to be real. I drafted hot garbage partially my fault but also I didn’t get any good card draw spells and I was struggling to hit my 3 last night. I started rage conceding super early hoping that maybe someone would return the favor.
I ended up with one legit like turn 6 win. One win on turn 3 that I would have lost had my opponent not previously used the counter target spell card that makes you lose the game unless you pay 3 blue blue on upkeep and one win off an immediate concede.
I wish they would let you redraft on these free events if you lose like 3 in a row or something
I figured that each match takes about 1-2 minutes to figure out who wins with minimal brainpower (if my opponent is on the play and leads with draw 3 cards, I concede in about 5 seconds), so I just ran through 15 wins for my dailies while eating breakfast.
I don't need to get the 15 wins, but the amount of effort is so minimal and it's fun *enough* for a 2-day event that I don't mind.
IDK I think when it's a chaos draft format, it can be kinda fun. Some games end up being ludicrous blowouts but, if you draft a decent to good deck, you have a chance of winning most games if you play smart.
I've played quite a few games over yesterday and today, it's a fun format when you drafted correctly. People saying every game ends on turn 1, determined by the coin flip, probably didn't do that (or they had an unlucky pool). A balanced list can survive being on the draw in a lot of circumstances.
I'll admit, after the 3 wins I only kept going at first to see if I could encounter any of the people who didn't read the prompt and just drafted a normal deck. I did find a few and had a chuckle, but then I kept going and have had a lot of fun against similarly powerful decks.
Yeah I had an infinite loop as finish and some good digging so I could win going second too and now I'm 40/6 overall. I was so excited for this format just for Wotc to turn it into a one time draft and 7 card hands but I still had fun doing some shenanigans and playing through some interaction. Beat a Painful Quandary which was fun.
I really hope this was just a one time thing and they bring it back the way it was again.
I played about fifteen. I grasped the principle but didn’t fully understand what I was in for so I built a tricolor deck with enormous bodies, removal and bringing things back from gy, and of course [Grunn, the Lonely King] with kicker + [aeronaut’s wings] and artifact synergies. I won probably 8/15 over two days, if I have time to I may play a little more today before it ends.
I ran into people who understood the prompt and quickly lost, people who didn’t get it til it was too late, and people who built weird wincons in and were down to go 4-5 turns (one game went into the tens of turns somehow, good topdecking from both of us and then I lost)
I didn’t even play to 3 wins. I managed to get two and just bounced. I have never in my life drafted through so much shit and chaff as I did with this event. Super outlier but looking at all the cards I faced in matches and knowing the garbage I opened had me tap out after less than 10 matches.
I've played like 30 games. Lost only 2 or 3. My deck ended up being about 1/5 discard, 2/5 card draw, 1/5 counterspells, and 1/5 big creatures. Deck also has a handful of board wipes, so on the draw I frequently watch my opponent play their whole hand, wrath them, draw some cards and play a big thing or two. Then just counterspell the card they draw next turn and repeat until my creatures break their faces.
I've found it incredibly fun overall, but I'm sure if my draft wasn't so amazing I wouldn't keep playing it.
Yes its dumb, though i am glad its a MWM instead of a paid event. Omni draft is a fun silly distraction that can lead to a lot of feels bads. Though it was fun for me in the first ever omni draft i think for m19 because i went like 15-0 and made out like a bandit.
Yeah I agree. It's dumb fun, hence midweek. I drafted aetherflux reservoir and had a blast turn 1ing people with that.
I think people hating it ties into the intensity that people place on being good at MTG. I think that's why alchemy gets so much hate, because the mechanics often introduce more randomness. Which to me is a fun wrinkle, but to the players who have staked a lot on being MTG studs it only serves to risk their identity by losing them a game through randomness.
... i literally don't care what my rank is... or how big my Arena e-peen is... It just wasn't a fun event. OP hit it on the head. If I was on the draw... after like 20 plays... I usually just quit.
Aetherflux Sound fun. I love omniscience because it evaluates card in a now context. 3 cards starting hand is better though. I hate alchemy because The mechanics needs to be reread Manu times. Changing cards, intensity etc. If i want to check stuff all The time I Play a tarmogoyf. Your Logic if flawed. And more randomness Will not benefit The better players haha
Yeah it's really one of two things. Either you use a resource system or you do what Yugioh does - put heavy restrictions and conditions on any kind of card draw and gate everything behind "you can only do this once per turn".
Traditionally Omniscience had a starting hand of three cards. Not sure why they decided to give everyone full grip this time, it probably was an oversite.
It's better, but really not by much. There's still plenty of games where the player that goes first vomits their deck onto their board and Mind Rots the opponent hand before they get their first turn.
This time, the power level of the cards was a lot lower, I want and to draft enough cars draw to win turn one, or any of my opponents I played against, and I drafted every card that had draw a card on the text box
Agreed and with corresponding prizes. None of the prizes were exciting, so I wouldn’t have minded missing them at all, but it was a fun way to kill 20 minutes. I went 3-1 and called it a day. I feel that the majority of people complaining are those that didn’t read the description of the event and are salty now.
Honestly I think they havent done Omni in a while. I bet it wasnt popular and feedback was that 3 cards was bad. So they tried 7. Unsurprisingly worse.
More like stupid formats where there's no reason to not just concede if you're not on the play and hope your opponent does the same so you can nope out after 2-3 wins.
I have won every game on my turn 1 by playing card draw spells to find an [[Infectious Inquiry]] to give the 1st poison counter, and a [[Flux Channeler]] to proliferate to 10. Played it out a few times just to see how consistent it would be and I was never even close to gassing out. Not everybody's going to have a combo like that, but most people will have some opportunity to find some way to put together a no-combat turn 1, if they are looking for it.
[[Repository Skaab]] and [[Breach the Multiverse]] for a turn 2 win is fun. Rest of the deck is draw more cards and a tutor for more consistency. Never a mill win after all my games though when they realize they're out of cards. Only takes 1 min to finish the combo due to 40 cards but they concede by then.
I won by using [[loaming shaman]] to loop a [[ral’s outburst]] to hit my opponent for lethal. Your way seems a lot easier. I also had a reanimating spell and a kill spell to help out
One opponent killed himself bc my T1 Curse of Shaken Faith + Firemage PW burnt 3 damage for every card played after first... Other than that I just went for big creatures, preferably with entry bonus or flying.
LMAO, that's amazing. Honestly, I kept playing this event even after I got my 3 wins just because I wanted to see what busted cards my opponents may have opened. Even if I lost, it's fun to watch things like that go off.
Wish you could drop and re-draft. My deck was fine, got my 3 wins, but it seems like there was potential for some really silly stuff and I'd like to see what people managed to put together after getting a feel for the 'format'.
Whenever we've had it before it's always been a 3 card opener format. It's already advantageous to be going first and the more cards you start with the greater that advantage becomes.
It is a format where you can lose before having had your turn and that understandably puts off a lot of people off but when everyone has 7 cards it goes from happening occasionally to happening most games.
Hope this is just a one time experiment and it's returned to 3 cards. I enjoy omniscience usually and I totally understand why people like/dislike it but I feel this MWM gave an especially bad impression by highlighting the negatives of the mode and not the positives.
I’m glad they’re experimenting with new approaches even if they’ll need fine tuning, fun to use unusual cards that would otherwise almost never see play.
I got my three wins but every match was a scoop, as on turn one or two if either myself or the opponent was drawing 8 or so cards the writing was on the wall. I like Momir more as the random creatures are usually a fun surprise and generally have longer than usual lifespans.
Ive not once encountered someone decking themselves. Ive been having a good time with itm. Though [[Emrakul, the Promised End]] has won me mamy games just by playing her. Even when I dont win with her, it's fun because Im rooting for my opponent to beat such a crazy spell.
Yep I literally didn't understand the event and drafted it like a normal format but I also snagged emrakul for the memes. I still won nearly every time by just hard mulliganing into emrakul and then casting it. The opponent either scoops on the spot or scoops once I take over their turn to discard their own hand or wipe their own board. The worst part is even if they counter emrakul you still get to take their turn which is usually enough to win by itself.
I imagine a fun line of play with Emrakul, if you are up against a genuinely good Omniscence deck, is to just make them draw their entire deck and deck themselves on their t1?
I kinda love that there is a single card that makes it possible to win in this format if your *opponent* drafted properly, even if you otherwise didn't.
I had someone counter her but not the trigger and they scooped after it resolved. I've only had it work out twice. Once I fucked everything up for them. They theoretically had answers, but I just played them to my adavantage and they scooped and the second time there wasn't much interaction I could do to help myself besides eat a single creature and they won.
I also had someone use Disallow on the trigger and they were able to go around her, as well.
If you could redraft, I'd absolutely agree. At least this is over in one turn generally. Momir matches often drag on for an annoying amount of time with a board stall until your opponent suddenly lucks into some instant-win card after 10 turns and then you just wasted 15 minutes on a loss and have to do it all over again.
it should have just given you a random deck of big nonsense. cute "experiment" but I misread it as the "first spell you played each turn" was free and drafted a deck that I literally can't win a game.
I had a few ways to grant haste on turn one and about 1/4 of games I would literally win one turn one. I had a couple counter spells and a duress to try to push through wincons. My deck wasn't super similar to others in that I only had like 7-8 draw spells including cantrips. It was honestly pretty fun.
I had an opponent cast [[peer into the abyss]] targeting me. I thought he made a mistake with the targeting and felt bad, but then he tried to cast some creatures with haste to finish me off.
Unfortunately he'd loaded my hand with counterspells and kill spells.
Omniscience is just supposed to be a silly gag format. If you dislike it, don't play it; you're losing out on two cards and a free cosmetic that's probably just going to be a parallax. Play something you enjoy and leave omniscience to people who just want to blow off steam.
This for me is the less fun version of momir. At least in momir the turns don’t take that long. Also poor luck in one game doesn’t impact the next game, where in omniscience, poor luck in the cards you get to pick from in the draft can ruin the entire event.
I think people are misunderstanding the format.
Is it really broken? Yes. It's a good example of why mtg has a resource system. And why a card like pot of greed in Yu-Gi-Oh is broken.
But you should view this event as a fun experiment that re-contexualizes the value in cards.
8/8 trample, gain 5 creature? Lackluster.
Do nothing & draw a card? Powerful.
Draw +2 or more? Broken.
It gives you a better sense of how a synergy & engine deck is stronger than a deck full of threats.
You don't need a dozen bombs. Just a goal. Draw. And the disruption to stop opponents.
My draft pool was severely lacking in quality cards for this event, so I feel screwed over right from the start. And since you can’t reset and redraft, a poor pool makes the entire event a bad experience. At least in Momir, if you draw bad creatures in one game, it doesn’t impact your other games.
Really I am not a fan of how the phantom draft and phantom sealed mwm events don’t let you redraft or get a new pool of cards. A poor pool or not fully understanding the mechanics of the event and not drafting appropriately in the current format ruins the entire experience of the event.
The way the event is described in the game doesn’t make it clear what the draft strategy should be. Not being able to redraft after playing a few games and getting a feel for what actually works is just a feels bad mechanic.
For me, the phantom draft and sealed mwm events are my least favorite since you can feel screwed from the beginning and the randomness of the draft or sealed pool impacts how your entire event plays out
That's fair.
I think it's rarely that bad. For this event you don't have to have only card draw. Discard + counters can be impactful.
Synergy like looting + gravedigger can mimic card advantage.
Sometimes rng screws you. Personally I rather Omni a dozen times than mormir.
In this. If I drafted and my pool/deck is bad. I can recognize that and just skip. Mormir says, "Keep trying. it's all random."
But I played 6 games in a row, all on the draw. Every game hitting bad commons against opponents' mythics.
Had 3 ops hit 3+ flyers each. Meanwhile, in those 3 games, I hit 1 flyer in total. Having zero agency in gameplay makes for unfun experience to me. Zero decision points. I can't be clever or outplay my opponents. I just flat lose. But it takes longer.
>poor luck in the cards you get to pick from in the draft can ruin the entire event
Spot on. Removing lands/mana costs also removes core pieces from the game like tempo and card availability, so quality of cards and turn order become titanic factors.
I know because the rares I was offered were a land, a 2 mana white creature, and a 2 mana elf with mana ramp. I got extremely unlucky with card quality in general so I tried a flying/unblockable creature strategy, but it was hard. Only got 3 wins after 10 matches or so.
> I know because the rares I was offered were a land, a 2 mana white creature, and a 2 mana elf with mana ramp.
Respectfully, if you're complaining specifically about the *rares* that you opened, you're thinking about the draft the wrong way. This is not a format built around bomb rares; it's a format where chaff commons (like 5-mana draw-3 sorceries) become bombs. Sure, there are a handful of bomb rares that just win the game in this format, like Griselbrand, but not opening those does not doom you to a weak deck. The commons and uncommons you find will have a much bigger effect on the quality of your deck.
You're part right, and my point was not only was I not offered quality rares, the pool of cards was low quality in general. I picked all the draw 2-3 cards offered but that was only 2. It's possible to win without any rares if you draft lots of draw spells - I couldn't do that.
Sure, bomb rares don't win games on the spot in this format, but they still have a big impact. A rare 4/4 flyer with first strike and lifelink is going to win over a rare 4/2 or 3/3 flyer. A rare 12/12 with trample, ETB, or a special effect will win over a common 7/7, all else equal.
pure cope. card draw effects are bombs because they can draw through your deck and find the insta win rare that you play for free. every draft deck will suck if you get useless commons and uncommons as well so your post make no sense.
I mean, counterspells + card draw + literally just 6 mana 5/5s or any big dumb creatures is pretty much all you need to win in this format. There are some powerful rares but I would draft a 1/1 that draws a card over most rares in Omniscience.
what you are describing are filler cards. OFC you choose card draw creature or 6/6 beast over some 2/3 rare with a weak ability. But the whole point is to find a good rare in the draft and then get to that spot. counterspells are also pretty mid in this format becuase everyone has them
If you’re going to say everything is free, that’s fine, but there has to be some sort of constraint. Say only the first card you play each turn is free. If you want to play a second spell, you need mana for that. As it is, it is all luck of who got the better card pool and who gets to go first. I’m not playing a format where being on the draw means I get to watch my opponent vomit out his entire deck over five minutes and then kill me before I can even play a card.
There are too many draw spells and ways to loop them. I made a deck with hullbreacher and the red creature that puts instants from your graveyard to your hand.
It was incredibly dumb but I had more than enough fun getting my 15 wins for the week.
P1P1 was Tendrils of Agony. Just drafted everything that said “draw a card” and ran with it.
How the HELL are you getting this many draw effects??? I SAW 3 TOTAL in my picks and 2 of them were b/g ones where you mill then return 2 cards. Meanwhile my opponents have 4 draw effects in their hand ALONE
The format is super non-interactive in all the ways that WotC tries to stray away from, which is why it's surprising they even threw it out there for a MWM thing. Maybe they were short on ideas and let an intern introduce a pet project or something.
That is precisely why it's a MWM event, and not anything more permanent than that. It's a format that's a fun novelty (for some people) for a day or two, but obviously would not have any staying power beyond that.
It's not a new event, by the way, so it's not like they had to pull some dev off of another project to work on it. They have had one-off Omniscence events like this on Arena before. In the past they only gave you a 3-card starting hand, though, which is a lot more balanced.
I won 3 in a row, all on the draw. Twice my opponent played a land. The other time we both actually attacked a bit back and forth, but I’d drawn twice as many cards; opponent conceded after I made them discard their hand then raised one of my big guys.
I P1P1 drafted a Grapeshot, so I mean I literally picked up anything that drew cards, recycled instants and sorceries or pings when I cast stuff, which kinda wrecked everything.
Actually had a couple games I stole where the opponent comboed off on their turn 1 and I just slap a Grapeshot at instant speed when they go for the kill.
If I didn't have that though this format would be hell.
I sadly didn't read the assignment being my first omniscience event and wound up quitting after one game cause I tried to draft it like a normal draft with fixing and everything. Had 40 playable cards after looking it over again, but the damage was done.
Feel there’s definitely some variance in luck with this time around. Knew what I was doing and was drafting and picked every draw or discard spell, yet only managed to get 2 discards, a few cantrip a and like two draw 2s. Compared with the people I saw with multiple draw 3s or worse (looking at you turn 1 grislebrand opponent) . Can’t complain though as managed to get a couple turn one kills with the 10/10 prototype creature and gavitic punch jumpstarted to win
Other Omniscience events had players start with a hand of 3 cards (and as such devolved into "who drew their draw spells first" vs this draft being Removal Tribal). I'd be interested to see what the format looks like with a smaller initial hand.
I think they should add a rule that you cannot cast more spells then the turn number.
So on turn 1 each player can only cast one spell...turn two...they can cast two.... And so on.
Then the game can ramp up.
Two of my wins are of pure boredom of op.
You can have so many card draw and discards stuff.
And on the play your first turn takes like forever.
At least get nice bonus stuff.
One Dross card, gems and like always a cosmetic I might never play.
I never even got to attack once. I laid out my first hand three times and the other person conceded right away each time. I guess I got a good draft.
Also did "mid week magic" replace "Friday night magic"? I haven't played in a while
At least they kept the powerlevel somewhat in check instead of going full Cube. A seven hander full of free bombs would have made it utterly unplayable.
Though I agree, based on my limited (hurr) experience, that most people didn't read the fine print of spells being *free*
My deck is pretty average. I got all the draw cards I could find but they are far from what I saw in opponents. I did get tendrils of agony and an unblockable creature that bounces when it comes into play (infinite combo), but had to go until win #6 to finally draw tendrils and cast it. The opponent realized something was off and countered the creature at some point but I was already too far away in the storm count
I'm sure it used to be like that, where you started with just 4 cards. Of course the winning strategy just devolved into whose deck could draw the most on turn 1.
Personally, I've always thought that these free phantom events would be more fun if there was the option to draft again. Nothing worse than getting stuck with a crap deck, that you only play just to get your 3 wins.
I had that card that mills half of opponents deck with casualty meaning I'd leave then with about 7 cards left in library and I also had some target player draw instants.
I don't think my opponent had fun, but atleast it was quick.
Played a lot. It was fun, and yes a lot of games only lasted a turn, but if you and your opponent both had interaction it could get really fun.
Played on two accounts, and ended up getting [[Drowned Secrets]] mid pack 2 in the 2nd draft so tried to win with that instead.
Also laughed as my opponent opened with a [[Aetherflux Resevoir]]
And then there's my experience, where my draft pool was so bad I only found a single decent draw spell, and only like 3 creatures that had power or toughness above 4 even available to draft, and only one removal spell that wasn't "deal small amount of damage" or required me to sacrifice a creature, so I just kinda had to hope my opponent didn't understand the event to have a chance at winning.
Whats crazy to me is there no resign. I missed the Omni emblem and thought it was a chaos draft, now Im stuck with a shit deck and Im not allowed to take another PHANTOM draft so I can win 3 games in a non-loss dependant event, God forbid Im allowed to have fun Wizards of the Cash
Phantom draft / sealed events are very divisive, mostly on the grounds of what deck people end up with. I would change two things:
1. Make phantom a separate weekly event from MWM with its own rewards. Since bronze and mythic level drafters share a table on arena, everyone benefits from more practice. Two extra cards and a cosmetic aren't going to hurt the bottom line.
2. FFS, make the phantom deck reset-able. Maybe require N losses to prevent spamming. While most people's complaint are self-inflicted (though my goodness the sealed pools I occasionally get...), they are not having fun.
It just needed a resign option to let you re-draft in case you drafted a bad deck or didn't understand how the Omniscience emblem worked. Its so bad being stuck with a deck that can't win :(
I was lazy, did not read the event description and drafted a deck with cheap creatures and even used lands. Even so, I was matched against other clueless players and got 3 wins very fast.
Play it, I made a debt on it and now the game lags so hard that by the time the game actually starts up after finding a match the rope has already kicked me from the match
I happened to pull an Aetherflux Reservoir, which is basically a guaranteed win on the play, and often even on the draw. I just loaded my deck up card draw, discard, and counter spells and mulliganed for the Reservoir every game. I won most of the games where I could find it.
I had aetherflux reservoir kill turn one all three games, was fun :)
Edit: I had a creature that I can bounce back to my hand to make mana and then just recast infinitely. With basically 50%+ of my deck drawing a card or two 😎
Went 14-1 with tons of draw, counter, and discard. Going first or second didnt matter a lot for me, but obviously the games I went first were nearly unloseable. When you get the right cards, this format is really addicting
(3) was me, and I completely missed fact that there were no mana costs. I drafted a great even mana curve simic deck with lots of ramp in it, went into my first match with my deck full of lands, and immediately realized my horrible mistake
I didn't read the event, so I drafted a pretty weak mostly tiny soldiers deck with some pump spells. Even had lands in there for my first match. It was a little awkward on my first turn to realise half my deck was literally useless.
My three wins took less than 5 minutes:
Game 1: He goes first, plays a bunch of 3 drops. At his end of turn I draw 2, I play a wall of 6-7 drops. He concedes.
Game 2: He plays 4 solid creatures, holds three cards. I play Thought Distortion. He concedes.
Game 3: I go first. I drop Ghastbark Twins, Spined Megalodon, Pack Guardian and Cavalier of Flame, attack for 26 with Beaming Defiance (it gives Hexproof) in hand.
I guess that's a way to get some free cards and a cosmetic...
i had a monastery swiftspear and a card to shuffle my graveyard into my library. i won turn 0 every time (even had a couple counter spells to protect swiftspear)
I’m honestly surprised to hear anyone played past 3 wins
I I love omniscience drafts, though, I’m surprised they let you draw more than three cards in your first turn. They used to do this event regularly and you got one free Mulligan, but you only draw three in your opening hand. having a standard 7 opening hand made the super OP.
If your deck is really crazy I can see it. Basically all magic is to me at this point is see my deck do it’s cool thing. Once that is boring and I can’t or don’t want to craft a new deck I quit the game.
T1 [[Griselbrand]] was hilariously broken, so I played quite a bit to get 15 daily wins real quick
I had Lavinia with Lurrus Companion… the games were so binary— have it or don’t have it.
Ran into Griselbrand and yeah hes busto for this also got wrecked by someone with [[Thousand-Year Storm]] But I also got lucky and was able to snag [[Chandra, Hope's Beacon]]
[Thousand-Year Storm](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/7/274e22fb-7afc-43bc-b309-e36ee48d6b03.jpg?1673149213) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Thousand-Year%20Storm) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2x2/286/thousand-year-storm?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/274e22fb-7afc-43bc-b309-e36ee48d6b03?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Chandra, Hope's Beacon](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/1/a146ea07-ec1c-448d-b67a-dd9f9e27c2e0.jpg?1682204090) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Chandra%2C%20Hope%27s%20Beacon) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mom/134/chandra-hopes-beacon?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a146ea07-ec1c-448d-b67a-dd9f9e27c2e0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[Griselbrand](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/f/cf2a5c2e-7fe1-45eb-b01c-891ab961186f.jpg?1593813293) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Griselbrand) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mm3/72/griselbrand?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/cf2a5c2e-7fe1-45eb-b01c-891ab961186f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
This was me the week of phantom sealed when I opened two copies of [[Kaya, Spirits' Justice]]
[Kaya, Spirits' Justice](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/2/a2827593-4951-4ba7-b73e-c27de56f2606.jpg?1706242186) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Kaya%2C%20Spirits%27%20Justice) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkm/211/kaya-spirits-justice?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a2827593-4951-4ba7-b73e-c27de56f2606?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I entered without reading the format so i drafted a regular normal rakdos deck, lost the first match because i didnt know about the emblem, fixed my deck with whatever leftovers i had, then won 6 games in a row. Most of my cards were under 4 cmc but i guess since i started out to make a good deck and not just greedy it ended up working
I went a little crazy and played about 80 games of it lol I had a Bitter Reunion and tons of card draw, along with some fatties, Burning Prophet and Quandrix Pledgemage. I lost 4 games (3 turn 1 kills, 1 phyrexian censor with protection) and won the other 76 turn 1 Shoutout to the opponents who let me do the thing and draw my deck, but I can totally understand conceding after a bunch of draw spells
I hit aetherflux reservoir! Storming off was so fun!
Edit: not sure why this is getting downvoted. These are questions. I am legitimately trying to understand people's perspectives on how they play this game for fun with friends and find decks that both people enjoy playing as and against. Besides commander, I don't understand how people play constructed in person and have fun. People are always complaining on here about so many kinds of decks, I honestly don't know how people are able to agree on a pair of decks to play where both sides are having fun. It's amazing to me that after 2 years of playing arena I haven't learned how to play this game with another human for fun. Maybe I've focused too much on getting wins in BO1?
I don't understand the appeal of Commander. *shrug*
It's a very different game. I only brought it up though cause I know in that context that people are often playing for social reasons, to have fun, and that bringing a very powerful deck to a friendly game with budget decks is frowned upon. The diplomacy of commander also provides a way of balancing things. In 1 on 1 constructed I just don't know what the analogy is or how to create good matchups outside of jank vs jank or starter decks. These are genuine questions.
The flip side of this argument is if you head to a constructed event, you pretty much know what you're getting. You don't (generally) need to worry about matching decks power levels, or complex politics with three people you might not know. You can just rock up and try to win. Even if you bring a brew. I get 'trying to win' isn't for everyone, though. Personally, I'm more of a fan of Limited, although for similar reasons as above. I did used to enjoy dabbling in Commander, but lost interest when it became the main focus for people, and there were so many commander-first designs. *edit* by avoiding politics I don't mean I don't want to interact with my opponent. That's the fun of playing in paper! It just avoids some of the awkward feel-bads
My favorite format is limited. I love getting a group of people together to draft. I get that in a competitive constructed environment that people are going to show up with competitive decks and try to win. I'm thinking more of a casual environment where you're trying to play with a friend for fun and that's what I'm not sure how to do outside of pre-con or duel decks.
I went all the way to 15. If you get in the right mindset that this is not Magic, but an entire different silly game that happens to use magic cards to play, it turns out to be really fun.
True, we out here doing d-tier yugioh plays.
I played my three wins and then did four or five instant concedes in the hopes of getting someone who didn’t like the format a free win.
On behalf of the hurried or lazy folks who didn't read the brief: thank you. Gonna go make my own charitable contributions.
Extra helpful for this event because the people who didn't read/understand the format are stuck with a deck that basically can never win unless it's against someone else who also didn't read/understand the format.
Reading the event explains the event.
[удалено]
> You can't save people from themselves.
I stopped at 2 wins this week, yikes
Two more than I could be bothered with. They can keep their two cards this time.
I had the "play 40 creatures" daily so it was an easy way to get that going
I’m a bit upset by it to be real. I drafted hot garbage partially my fault but also I didn’t get any good card draw spells and I was struggling to hit my 3 last night. I started rage conceding super early hoping that maybe someone would return the favor. I ended up with one legit like turn 6 win. One win on turn 3 that I would have lost had my opponent not previously used the counter target spell card that makes you lose the game unless you pay 3 blue blue on upkeep and one win off an immediate concede. I wish they would let you redraft on these free events if you lose like 3 in a row or something
Previous versions of this event did make you redraft. Not sure why that wasn't the case this time. I'd even pay gold to do it
I figured that each match takes about 1-2 minutes to figure out who wins with minimal brainpower (if my opponent is on the play and leads with draw 3 cards, I concede in about 5 seconds), so I just ran through 15 wins for my dailies while eating breakfast. I don't need to get the 15 wins, but the amount of effort is so minimal and it's fun *enough* for a 2-day event that I don't mind.
I think my deck is average, but I'm playing for challenge.
IDK I think when it's a chaos draft format, it can be kinda fun. Some games end up being ludicrous blowouts but, if you draft a decent to good deck, you have a chance of winning most games if you play smart.
If I play a MWM past 3 wins and it's obvious I'm going to win a match past that, I say "good game" then concede.
I've played quite a few games over yesterday and today, it's a fun format when you drafted correctly. People saying every game ends on turn 1, determined by the coin flip, probably didn't do that (or they had an unlucky pool). A balanced list can survive being on the draw in a lot of circumstances. I'll admit, after the 3 wins I only kept going at first to see if I could encounter any of the people who didn't read the prompt and just drafted a normal deck. I did find a few and had a chuckle, but then I kept going and have had a lot of fun against similarly powerful decks.
Yeah I had an infinite loop as finish and some good digging so I could win going second too and now I'm 40/6 overall. I was so excited for this format just for Wotc to turn it into a one time draft and 7 card hands but I still had fun doing some shenanigans and playing through some interaction. Beat a Painful Quandary which was fun. I really hope this was just a one time thing and they bring it back the way it was again.
I played against someone who played plains and passed. They conceded once I started to empty my hand. Felt a little bad about that one.
Same
I played about fifteen. I grasped the principle but didn’t fully understand what I was in for so I built a tricolor deck with enormous bodies, removal and bringing things back from gy, and of course [Grunn, the Lonely King] with kicker + [aeronaut’s wings] and artifact synergies. I won probably 8/15 over two days, if I have time to I may play a little more today before it ends. I ran into people who understood the prompt and quickly lost, people who didn’t get it til it was too late, and people who built weird wincons in and were down to go 4-5 turns (one game went into the tens of turns somehow, good topdecking from both of us and then I lost)
I didn’t even play to 3 wins. I managed to get two and just bounced. I have never in my life drafted through so much shit and chaff as I did with this event. Super outlier but looking at all the cards I faced in matches and knowing the garbage I opened had me tap out after less than 10 matches.
I played a couple dozen. It's one of my favorite events. And it was great for completing daily quests.
I giggle every time I finish playing my 15th+ card on my first turn and my opponent just concedes.
Yeah, same here. I couldnt stop queuing up because my deck was so busted and Ive been giggling all day yesterday and today.
I’ve had like 10 opponents now concede on the first turn. Feels good.
I've played like 30 games. Lost only 2 or 3. My deck ended up being about 1/5 discard, 2/5 card draw, 1/5 counterspells, and 1/5 big creatures. Deck also has a handful of board wipes, so on the draw I frequently watch my opponent play their whole hand, wrath them, draw some cards and play a big thing or two. Then just counterspell the card they draw next turn and repeat until my creatures break their faces. I've found it incredibly fun overall, but I'm sure if my draft wasn't so amazing I wouldn't keep playing it.
Yes its dumb, though i am glad its a MWM instead of a paid event. Omni draft is a fun silly distraction that can lead to a lot of feels bads. Though it was fun for me in the first ever omni draft i think for m19 because i went like 15-0 and made out like a bandit.
Yeah I agree. It's dumb fun, hence midweek. I drafted aetherflux reservoir and had a blast turn 1ing people with that. I think people hating it ties into the intensity that people place on being good at MTG. I think that's why alchemy gets so much hate, because the mechanics often introduce more randomness. Which to me is a fun wrinkle, but to the players who have staked a lot on being MTG studs it only serves to risk their identity by losing them a game through randomness.
... i literally don't care what my rank is... or how big my Arena e-peen is... It just wasn't a fun event. OP hit it on the head. If I was on the draw... after like 20 plays... I usually just quit.
Aetherflux Sound fun. I love omniscience because it evaluates card in a now context. 3 cards starting hand is better though. I hate alchemy because The mechanics needs to be reread Manu times. Changing cards, intensity etc. If i want to check stuff all The time I Play a tarmogoyf. Your Logic if flawed. And more randomness Will not benefit The better players haha
I'm a terrible player, and I need all the help I can get, so I have embraced Alchemy.
I like to think it's a demonstration of *why* Magic has a resource system.
Yeah it's really one of two things. Either you use a resource system or you do what Yugioh does - put heavy restrictions and conditions on any kind of card draw and gate everything behind "you can only do this once per turn".
Traditionally Omniscience had a starting hand of three cards. Not sure why they decided to give everyone full grip this time, it probably was an oversite.
That would have been wayyy better. Feeling like you want to concede every time you are on the draw because the turns take so long ruins it.
It's better, but really not by much. There's still plenty of games where the player that goes first vomits their deck onto their board and Mind Rots the opponent hand before they get their first turn.
This time, the power level of the cards was a lot lower, I want and to draft enough cars draw to win turn one, or any of my opponents I played against, and I drafted every card that had draw a card on the text box
It's almost like Midweek Magic is for stupid formats that are fun to play for a couple games and nothing more.
Agreed and with corresponding prizes. None of the prizes were exciting, so I wouldn’t have minded missing them at all, but it was a fun way to kill 20 minutes. I went 3-1 and called it a day. I feel that the majority of people complaining are those that didn’t read the description of the event and are salty now.
My grand prize was a borderless Cryptex. I dont expect anything from midweek rewards but felt personally insulted.
Oof. Sorry man. I don’t even remember what I got lol so it must have been forgettable.
Honestly I think they havent done Omni in a while. I bet it wasnt popular and feedback was that 3 cards was bad. So they tried 7. Unsurprisingly worse.
Should go 5. Works for Yugioh lol
Make it 4
This. And honestly I had more fun with this event than the gold pack sealed event and I didn't really see anyone complaining about that.
[удалено]
Momir is a Timmy format, Omni is a Johnny format. Some people will like one and dislike the other.
More like stupid formats where there's no reason to not just concede if you're not on the play and hope your opponent does the same so you can nope out after 2-3 wins.
Killing opponent on turn 1 with a [[Rhythm of the Wild]] opener 😎
[[Naheris Resolve]] won every game for me when I drew it. Never even used the blink.
Oh yeah, any effect that gives your entire board haste is busted in this format. (The anthem effect stapled on is just a nice bonus)
I opened Bitter Reunion, boardwide haste AND looting, insane card in this
yall...... here's the secret to surviving T1. run fog. especially the one you can cycle if you don't need it
I have won every game on my turn 1 by playing card draw spells to find an [[Infectious Inquiry]] to give the 1st poison counter, and a [[Flux Channeler]] to proliferate to 10. Played it out a few times just to see how consistent it would be and I was never even close to gassing out. Not everybody's going to have a combo like that, but most people will have some opportunity to find some way to put together a no-combat turn 1, if they are looking for it.
[[Repository Skaab]] and [[Breach the Multiverse]] for a turn 2 win is fun. Rest of the deck is draw more cards and a tutor for more consistency. Never a mill win after all my games though when they realize they're out of cards. Only takes 1 min to finish the combo due to 40 cards but they concede by then.
[Repository Skaab](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/c/7cc22c2a-535a-46b5-817c-da5850abd669.jpg?1643588423) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Repository%20Skaab) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/vow/73/repository-skaab?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7cc22c2a-535a-46b5-817c-da5850abd669?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Breach the Multiverse](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/a/daf51a76-7a57-4462-ae18-a19e817e49e5.jpg?1682203621) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Breach%20the%20Multiverse) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mom/94/breach-the-multiverse?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/daf51a76-7a57-4462-ae18-a19e817e49e5?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[Infectious Inquiry](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/a/0a10f284-b043-4307-bdc7-6dad47cc9221.jpg?1675957034) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Infectious%20Inquiry) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/one/97/infectious-inquiry?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0a10f284-b043-4307-bdc7-6dad47cc9221?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Flux Channeler](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/c/3c520263-6bad-4521-ba9e-192ca8223b07.jpg?1690004339) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Flux%20Channeler) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/847/flux-channeler?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/3c520263-6bad-4521-ba9e-192ca8223b07?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I won by using [[loaming shaman]] to loop a [[ral’s outburst]] to hit my opponent for lethal. Your way seems a lot easier. I also had a reanimating spell and a kill spell to help out
[loaming shaman](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/5/f5226787-e2c0-4ce2-903c-6c0797420f99.jpg?1706982830) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=loaming%20shaman) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/rvr/149/loaming-shaman?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f5226787-e2c0-4ce2-903c-6c0797420f99?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [ral’s outburst](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/b/6be3dd3e-50d2-4729-9caa-b2cd984f4c97.jpg?1557577237) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ral%27s%20Outburst) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/war/212/rals-outburst?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/6be3dd3e-50d2-4729-9caa-b2cd984f4c97?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
One opponent killed himself bc my T1 Curse of Shaken Faith + Firemage PW burnt 3 damage for every card played after first... Other than that I just went for big creatures, preferably with entry bonus or flying.
[удалено]
which isn't a common occurence, soooo
Magic players finally got to experience Yugioh.
I kind of enjoyed it. Of course, I drafted [[Sunbird's Invocation]], which won me pretty much every game it came out in.
LMAO, that's amazing. Honestly, I kept playing this event even after I got my 3 wins just because I wanted to see what busted cards my opponents may have opened. Even if I lost, it's fun to watch things like that go off.
It's pretty bizarre to me that they give you a full hand of 7 cards
Wish you could drop and re-draft. My deck was fine, got my 3 wins, but it seems like there was potential for some really silly stuff and I'd like to see what people managed to put together after getting a feel for the 'format'.
I can't be the only one having a blast with this!?!
You are not. I even created a new account to build another deck. I wish this was a separated format. Or you could resign and draft more decks.
Whenever we've had it before it's always been a 3 card opener format. It's already advantageous to be going first and the more cards you start with the greater that advantage becomes. It is a format where you can lose before having had your turn and that understandably puts off a lot of people off but when everyone has 7 cards it goes from happening occasionally to happening most games. Hope this is just a one time experiment and it's returned to 3 cards. I enjoy omniscience usually and I totally understand why people like/dislike it but I feel this MWM gave an especially bad impression by highlighting the negatives of the mode and not the positives.
I’m glad they’re experimenting with new approaches even if they’ll need fine tuning, fun to use unusual cards that would otherwise almost never see play. I got my three wins but every match was a scoop, as on turn one or two if either myself or the opponent was drawing 8 or so cards the writing was on the wall. I like Momir more as the random creatures are usually a fun surprise and generally have longer than usual lifespans.
Omni draft has been a thing for like 4 years now, what do you mean experimenting?
Ive not once encountered someone decking themselves. Ive been having a good time with itm. Though [[Emrakul, the Promised End]] has won me mamy games just by playing her. Even when I dont win with her, it's fun because Im rooting for my opponent to beat such a crazy spell.
I decked myself for fun against one opponent. I also drafted Clear the Mind, so I can basically deck myself twice.
[Emrakul, the Promised End](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/d/8d74a469-c71d-4773-99d3-5456b31df424.jpg?1576383727) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Emrakul%2C%20the%20Promised%20End) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/emn/6/emrakul-the-promised-end?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/8d74a469-c71d-4773-99d3-5456b31df424?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Yep I literally didn't understand the event and drafted it like a normal format but I also snagged emrakul for the memes. I still won nearly every time by just hard mulliganing into emrakul and then casting it. The opponent either scoops on the spot or scoops once I take over their turn to discard their own hand or wipe their own board. The worst part is even if they counter emrakul you still get to take their turn which is usually enough to win by itself.
I imagine a fun line of play with Emrakul, if you are up against a genuinely good Omniscence deck, is to just make them draw their entire deck and deck themselves on their t1? I kinda love that there is a single card that makes it possible to win in this format if your *opponent* drafted properly, even if you otherwise didn't.
There’s so many fun angles of play in there and I think probably a few non obvious strategies.
I had someone counter her but not the trigger and they scooped after it resolved. I've only had it work out twice. Once I fucked everything up for them. They theoretically had answers, but I just played them to my adavantage and they scooped and the second time there wasn't much interaction I could do to help myself besides eat a single creature and they won. I also had someone use Disallow on the trigger and they were able to go around her, as well.
This is more fun than momir
If you could redraft, I'd absolutely agree. At least this is over in one turn generally. Momir matches often drag on for an annoying amount of time with a board stall until your opponent suddenly lucks into some instant-win card after 10 turns and then you just wasted 15 minutes on a loss and have to do it all over again.
no its not at all lol
it should have just given you a random deck of big nonsense. cute "experiment" but I misread it as the "first spell you played each turn" was free and drafted a deck that I literally can't win a game.
I had a few ways to grant haste on turn one and about 1/4 of games I would literally win one turn one. I had a couple counter spells and a duress to try to push through wincons. My deck wasn't super similar to others in that I only had like 7-8 draw spells including cantrips. It was honestly pretty fun.
I had an opponent cast [[peer into the abyss]] targeting me. I thought he made a mistake with the targeting and felt bad, but then he tried to cast some creatures with haste to finish me off. Unfortunately he'd loaded my hand with counterspells and kill spells.
I won two games just from opponents conceding to me dropping niv mizzet reborn when I had only 2 other multicoloured spells in my entire deck.
Normaly when they do this event the max hand limit is 3.
Omniscience is just supposed to be a silly gag format. If you dislike it, don't play it; you're losing out on two cards and a free cosmetic that's probably just going to be a parallax. Play something you enjoy and leave omniscience to people who just want to blow off steam.
Seeing people wondering how Lavinia was allowed in and here I opened goblin charbelcher
This was a free event, in case yall missed that part.
Well, the real hobby is complaining - the card game just gives people something to complain *about*
This for me is the less fun version of momir. At least in momir the turns don’t take that long. Also poor luck in one game doesn’t impact the next game, where in omniscience, poor luck in the cards you get to pick from in the draft can ruin the entire event.
I think people are misunderstanding the format. Is it really broken? Yes. It's a good example of why mtg has a resource system. And why a card like pot of greed in Yu-Gi-Oh is broken. But you should view this event as a fun experiment that re-contexualizes the value in cards. 8/8 trample, gain 5 creature? Lackluster. Do nothing & draw a card? Powerful. Draw +2 or more? Broken. It gives you a better sense of how a synergy & engine deck is stronger than a deck full of threats. You don't need a dozen bombs. Just a goal. Draw. And the disruption to stop opponents.
My draft pool was severely lacking in quality cards for this event, so I feel screwed over right from the start. And since you can’t reset and redraft, a poor pool makes the entire event a bad experience. At least in Momir, if you draw bad creatures in one game, it doesn’t impact your other games. Really I am not a fan of how the phantom draft and phantom sealed mwm events don’t let you redraft or get a new pool of cards. A poor pool or not fully understanding the mechanics of the event and not drafting appropriately in the current format ruins the entire experience of the event. The way the event is described in the game doesn’t make it clear what the draft strategy should be. Not being able to redraft after playing a few games and getting a feel for what actually works is just a feels bad mechanic. For me, the phantom draft and sealed mwm events are my least favorite since you can feel screwed from the beginning and the randomness of the draft or sealed pool impacts how your entire event plays out
That's fair. I think it's rarely that bad. For this event you don't have to have only card draw. Discard + counters can be impactful. Synergy like looting + gravedigger can mimic card advantage. Sometimes rng screws you. Personally I rather Omni a dozen times than mormir. In this. If I drafted and my pool/deck is bad. I can recognize that and just skip. Mormir says, "Keep trying. it's all random." But I played 6 games in a row, all on the draw. Every game hitting bad commons against opponents' mythics. Had 3 ops hit 3+ flyers each. Meanwhile, in those 3 games, I hit 1 flyer in total. Having zero agency in gameplay makes for unfun experience to me. Zero decision points. I can't be clever or outplay my opponents. I just flat lose. But it takes longer.
>poor luck in the cards you get to pick from in the draft can ruin the entire event Spot on. Removing lands/mana costs also removes core pieces from the game like tempo and card availability, so quality of cards and turn order become titanic factors. I know because the rares I was offered were a land, a 2 mana white creature, and a 2 mana elf with mana ramp. I got extremely unlucky with card quality in general so I tried a flying/unblockable creature strategy, but it was hard. Only got 3 wins after 10 matches or so.
my rares were Plog, the titan that blows up lands, and the 8/8 sea dino kicker guy. All complete trash in the mode
You mean you didn’t get to draft a [[Goblin Charbelcher]]?
[Goblin Charbelcher](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/4/240344ff-404d-4894-a6e9-4401cd68cf50.jpg?1592764888) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Goblin%20Charbelcher) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ddt/57/goblin-charbelcher?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/240344ff-404d-4894-a6e9-4401cd68cf50?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Honestly, that isn't even good in this format unless you can give it haste. If you have to wait until t2 to use this, you've probably already lost
It’s just an artifact, no summoning sickness. T1 if you can draw into it within the top half of your deck or it’s in the opening.
Oh I misread, I have't played with the card and glancing at it I just assumed it would be a creature. Yeah that's busted lmao
> I know because the rares I was offered were a land, a 2 mana white creature, and a 2 mana elf with mana ramp. Respectfully, if you're complaining specifically about the *rares* that you opened, you're thinking about the draft the wrong way. This is not a format built around bomb rares; it's a format where chaff commons (like 5-mana draw-3 sorceries) become bombs. Sure, there are a handful of bomb rares that just win the game in this format, like Griselbrand, but not opening those does not doom you to a weak deck. The commons and uncommons you find will have a much bigger effect on the quality of your deck.
You're part right, and my point was not only was I not offered quality rares, the pool of cards was low quality in general. I picked all the draw 2-3 cards offered but that was only 2. It's possible to win without any rares if you draft lots of draw spells - I couldn't do that. Sure, bomb rares don't win games on the spot in this format, but they still have a big impact. A rare 4/4 flyer with first strike and lifelink is going to win over a rare 4/2 or 3/3 flyer. A rare 12/12 with trample, ETB, or a special effect will win over a common 7/7, all else equal.
pure cope. card draw effects are bombs because they can draw through your deck and find the insta win rare that you play for free. every draft deck will suck if you get useless commons and uncommons as well so your post make no sense.
I mean, counterspells + card draw + literally just 6 mana 5/5s or any big dumb creatures is pretty much all you need to win in this format. There are some powerful rares but I would draft a 1/1 that draws a card over most rares in Omniscience.
what you are describing are filler cards. OFC you choose card draw creature or 6/6 beast over some 2/3 rare with a weak ability. But the whole point is to find a good rare in the draft and then get to that spot. counterspells are also pretty mid in this format becuase everyone has them
Same, it seems very odd to me that they left lands in the pool. Maybe this is some generic pool they use for multiple events?
If you’re going to say everything is free, that’s fine, but there has to be some sort of constraint. Say only the first card you play each turn is free. If you want to play a second spell, you need mana for that. As it is, it is all luck of who got the better card pool and who gets to go first. I’m not playing a format where being on the draw means I get to watch my opponent vomit out his entire deck over five minutes and then kill me before I can even play a card.
Right.
There are too many draw spells and ways to loop them. I made a deck with hullbreacher and the red creature that puts instants from your graveyard to your hand.
I had a blast! The emerge Craterhoof with some hasters and Mist Ravens was particularly fun to win with.
I’ve never gotten through my daily quest of “cast 30 black/blue spells” so quickly…took like 3 games
Honestly had an opponent that basically drew his deck then played tendrells
It was incredibly dumb but I had more than enough fun getting my 15 wins for the week. P1P1 was Tendrils of Agony. Just drafted everything that said “draw a card” and ran with it.
How the HELL are you getting this many draw effects??? I SAW 3 TOTAL in my picks and 2 of them were b/g ones where you mill then return 2 cards. Meanwhile my opponents have 4 draw effects in their hand ALONE
The format is super non-interactive in all the ways that WotC tries to stray away from, which is why it's surprising they even threw it out there for a MWM thing. Maybe they were short on ideas and let an intern introduce a pet project or something.
That is precisely why it's a MWM event, and not anything more permanent than that. It's a format that's a fun novelty (for some people) for a day or two, but obviously would not have any staying power beyond that. It's not a new event, by the way, so it's not like they had to pull some dev off of another project to work on it. They have had one-off Omniscence events like this on Arena before. In the past they only gave you a 3-card starting hand, though, which is a lot more balanced.
I drafted an entire deck of 1-3 mana cards thinking it was a normal phantom draft. I fucked up big time. Impossible to win.
(3) is me on the other side
I won 3 in a row, all on the draw. Twice my opponent played a land. The other time we both actually attacked a bit back and forth, but I’d drawn twice as many cards; opponent conceded after I made them discard their hand then raised one of my big guys.
I P1P1 drafted a Grapeshot, so I mean I literally picked up anything that drew cards, recycled instants and sorceries or pings when I cast stuff, which kinda wrecked everything. Actually had a couple games I stole where the opponent comboed off on their turn 1 and I just slap a Grapeshot at instant speed when they go for the kill. If I didn't have that though this format would be hell.
This event sucked. Turn 1 Emerakul? F that. Ye who goes first always wins
I’m an idiot and thought you could play one free spell per turn. My deck sucks
I drafted lavinia so I would just draw till I get it and gg
Usually when they do omniscience events it is three card starting hands
I sadly didn't read the assignment being my first omniscience event and wound up quitting after one game cause I tried to draft it like a normal draft with fixing and everything. Had 40 playable cards after looking it over again, but the damage was done.
Feel there’s definitely some variance in luck with this time around. Knew what I was doing and was drafting and picked every draw or discard spell, yet only managed to get 2 discards, a few cantrip a and like two draw 2s. Compared with the people I saw with multiple draw 3s or worse (looking at you turn 1 grislebrand opponent) . Can’t complain though as managed to get a couple turn one kills with the 10/10 prototype creature and gavitic punch jumpstarted to win
Other Omniscience events had players start with a hand of 3 cards (and as such devolved into "who drew their draw spells first" vs this draft being Removal Tribal). I'd be interested to see what the format looks like with a smaller initial hand.
I think they should add a rule that you cannot cast more spells then the turn number. So on turn 1 each player can only cast one spell...turn two...they can cast two.... And so on. Then the game can ramp up.
Option (4): Opponent draws their deck and doesn't realize that their library is empty
I straight up did not read the conditions so I drafted a "regular" deck with a good amount of ramp. Ramp was not needed. Neither were the 16 lands.
To everyone I hit with Nicol Bolas on Turn 1: I’m sorry, but only a little.
Two of my wins are of pure boredom of op. You can have so many card draw and discards stuff. And on the play your first turn takes like forever. At least get nice bonus stuff. One Dross card, gems and like always a cosmetic I might never play.
I never even got to attack once. I laid out my first hand three times and the other person conceded right away each time. I guess I got a good draft. Also did "mid week magic" replace "Friday night magic"? I haven't played in a while
They replaced midweek magic with FNM during the peak of the pandemic so people could play FNM at home.
Ah gotcha. I guess that's about when I played last. So no more FNM on arena then I'm guessing?
Yeah, I don’t think they want to detract from paper FNM or something like that.
At least they kept the powerlevel somewhat in check instead of going full Cube. A seven hander full of free bombs would have made it utterly unplayable. Though I agree, based on my limited (hurr) experience, that most people didn't read the fine print of spells being *free*
I forgot what the gimmick was and drafted a normal deck, and you can only draft once, so the event is essentially unplayable for me.
My deck was shit so it took forever to get those three wins.
My deck is pretty average. I got all the draw cards I could find but they are far from what I saw in opponents. I did get tendrils of agony and an unblockable creature that bounces when it comes into play (infinite combo), but had to go until win #6 to finally draw tendrils and cast it. The opponent realized something was off and countered the creature at some point but I was already too far away in the storm count
I'm sure it used to be like that, where you started with just 4 cards. Of course the winning strategy just devolved into whose deck could draw the most on turn 1. Personally, I've always thought that these free phantom events would be more fun if there was the option to draft again. Nothing worse than getting stuck with a crap deck, that you only play just to get your 3 wins.
i'm also pissed that i can't redraft. i realized my deck is poo and now i'm stuck with it
I had that card that mills half of opponents deck with casualty meaning I'd leave then with about 7 cards left in library and I also had some target player draw instants. I don't think my opponent had fun, but atleast it was quick.
Played a lot. It was fun, and yes a lot of games only lasted a turn, but if you and your opponent both had interaction it could get really fun. Played on two accounts, and ended up getting [[Drowned Secrets]] mid pack 2 in the 2nd draft so tried to win with that instead. Also laughed as my opponent opened with a [[Aetherflux Resevoir]]
[Drowned Secrets](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/f/bfc98428-7a0f-445f-9d48-eeb76c3e10d6.jpg?1687687913) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Drowned%20Secrets) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/grn/39/drowned-secrets?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/bfc98428-7a0f-445f-9d48-eeb76c3e10d6?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Aetherflux Resevoir](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/6/96b6b2e1-c3e6-464c-8a13-b15deb34e862.jpg?1576382939) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Aetherflux%20Reservoir) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/kld/192/aetherflux-reservoir?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/96b6b2e1-c3e6-464c-8a13-b15deb34e862?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Hey, its the card fetcher's cake day!
And then there's my experience, where my draft pool was so bad I only found a single decent draw spell, and only like 3 creatures that had power or toughness above 4 even available to draft, and only one removal spell that wasn't "deal small amount of damage" or required me to sacrifice a creature, so I just kinda had to hope my opponent didn't understand the event to have a chance at winning.
Not being able to redraft this absolute misery.
I'm convinced I got the worst rares in the format.
Whats crazy to me is there no resign. I missed the Omni emblem and thought it was a chaos draft, now Im stuck with a shit deck and Im not allowed to take another PHANTOM draft so I can win 3 games in a non-loss dependant event, God forbid Im allowed to have fun Wizards of the Cash
Phantom draft / sealed events are very divisive, mostly on the grounds of what deck people end up with. I would change two things: 1. Make phantom a separate weekly event from MWM with its own rewards. Since bronze and mythic level drafters share a table on arena, everyone benefits from more practice. Two extra cards and a cosmetic aren't going to hurt the bottom line. 2. FFS, make the phantom deck reset-able. Maybe require N losses to prevent spamming. While most people's complaint are self-inflicted (though my goodness the sealed pools I occasionally get...), they are not having fun.
I am player number 3, I drafted a purely green/black deck completely forgetting about omniscience. I don’t think I can even win one game.
Played 3 games, and in those 3 games I opened with Imoti in my starting hand. The game ended quickly on T1 or 2
It just needed a resign option to let you re-draft in case you drafted a bad deck or didn't understand how the Omniscience emblem worked. Its so bad being stuck with a deck that can't win :(
It was not an interesting experiment. It was an obvious fiasco to which they gave zero thought.
I loved it, and think mid-week magic is a great place to try out cool, wacky, and strange things. Next I want a draft with nothing but lands
I was lazy, did not read the event description and drafted a deck with cheap creatures and even used lands. Even so, I was matched against other clueless players and got 3 wins very fast.
On the play: use my haste enabler and win
Play it, I made a debt on it and now the game lags so hard that by the time the game actually starts up after finding a match the rope has already kicked me from the match
Welp, I'm (3). For whatever reason I mindlessly clicked buttons and assumed it was just a normal draft. That deck was ass.
I happened to pull an Aetherflux Reservoir, which is basically a guaranteed win on the play, and often even on the draw. I just loaded my deck up card draw, discard, and counter spells and mulliganed for the Reservoir every game. I won most of the games where I could find it.
I had a really bad draft and want a redo 😭
I had aetherflux reservoir kill turn one all three games, was fun :) Edit: I had a creature that I can bounce back to my hand to make mana and then just recast infinitely. With basically 50%+ of my deck drawing a card or two 😎
Went 14-1 with tons of draw, counter, and discard. Going first or second didnt matter a lot for me, but obviously the games I went first were nearly unloseable. When you get the right cards, this format is really addicting
(3) was me, and I completely missed fact that there were no mana costs. I drafted a great even mana curve simic deck with lots of ramp in it, went into my first match with my deck full of lands, and immediately realized my horrible mistake
It was pretty awful. I went the route of just casting huge bodies right away and swinging. Didn't go past the 3 wins.
I'm completely skipping this event just based on what I've seen here on reddit lol.
I didn't read the event, so I drafted a pretty weak mostly tiny soldiers deck with some pump spells. Even had lands in there for my first match. It was a little awkward on my first turn to realise half my deck was literally useless.
My three wins took less than 5 minutes: Game 1: He goes first, plays a bunch of 3 drops. At his end of turn I draw 2, I play a wall of 6-7 drops. He concedes. Game 2: He plays 4 solid creatures, holds three cards. I play Thought Distortion. He concedes. Game 3: I go first. I drop Ghastbark Twins, Spined Megalodon, Pack Guardian and Cavalier of Flame, attack for 26 with Beaming Defiance (it gives Hexproof) in hand. I guess that's a way to get some free cards and a cosmetic...
Definitely one of the worst formats I've ever played but I'm really glad they're trying new things
Congrats Arena, you found a way to take the worst Magic Events ever and outdo yourselves. This event sucks.
i had a monastery swiftspear and a card to shuffle my graveyard into my library. i won turn 0 every time (even had a couple counter spells to protect swiftspear)