In a recent discussion with a friend, I was asked my thoughts on the first pick they’d made - red Overload.
In previous discussions, our group has discussed the merits of taking cards like Pound For Pound early in Monarch draft, to stay open to reading the signals. The argument my friend made was similar: “There wasn’t much else in the pack, and by taking Overload I guarantee a playable for my deck, rather than something I might not be able to play.”
What Does Staying Open Actually Mean?
Sometimes, card game phrases are used so often that we miss what the actual point of the phrase is. There’s a key difference between taking a card that aligns with your plan of staying open, and taking the card solely because it doesn’t strictly commit you to a class.
My definition of 'staying open':
"Being open to the possibility that you can change what you’re drafting based on the signals you’re receiving."
or, more simply,
"Take the best cards."
In fact, this is the crux of the point I want to make here: no single pick commits you to anything. In a draft of Monarch, we’re treated to the luxury of a whole 45 picks, aiming to get to at least 30 cards (hopefully with a few equipment thrown in). We can abandon a whole pack’s worth of cards, although I usually wouldn’t recommend doing so.
Being open means that you are willing to abandon picks if either your class doesn’t have cards available, or if there’s clear indications that other people aren’t taking cards of a particular class and it would be good for you to make the switch. As for how best to judge when it’s right to switch vs staying the course, that’s what limited is all about: evaluating the power level of the cards in the draft, the quantities of each, and the tradeoff of what you’re losing against what you’re gaining.
One trick that’s helped me is to try and draft as though my first three picks hadn’t happened. In Flesh and Blood generally, having a single powerful card is less important than having a cohesive balance of costs, a consistent balance of power, & a good distribution of resources. To use an extreme example, if you start the draft with three great Boltyn cards, and then are passed a fourth-pick Soul Reaping in a pack with a few other Chane cards, then your deck will likely be more powerful should you take the Soul Reaping and try to be in Chane. By reading the signals, you can see that the other players are clearly neglecting him.
But You Always Get to Play Your Overload!
But the point is, I don’t want to play Overload. It’s never going to excel, and a red two block that just attacks for three doesn’t really play into the gameplan of most decks in the format. For almost all decks, any class card that blocks three would be preferable, which is what we’ve given up the option of when we pass the Overload pack one. It’s better than a Cracked Bauble, but you’d hope that the cards in your deck can meet that bar. If we’re so hard up for playables that we regret missing out on a marginal card, we were probably drafting the wrong deck for our seat anyway.
I’ve chosen poor Overload as my scapegoat, but this is a lesson that can always be applied no matter the format. If you take a mediocre playable solely because it doesn’t commit you to something, you’ll hurt your drafting over the long run. Conversely, this is exactly what makes generic 6-power cards & great equipment like Blood Drop Brocade excellent things to start the draft with: you’ll always get to play them, and you’ll always want to.
For Monarch draft in particular, this is another reason why the powerful light cards (Illuminate, Invigorating Light) and the powerful shadow cards (Lunartide Plunderer, Howl from Beyond) are so good: you’ve got a higher chance of being able to play them in the deck you end up in. However, this actually applies to the generics as well. Brandish is a fine card, assuming you have a weapon you’re looking to attack with. For Levia it’s not amazing, and for Prism it’s certainly not what you’re after. But to be fair to Brandish, even constructed all-star Belittle (which I admit time may have proven me wrong on) is pretty bad in Levia and Prism, with their focus on massive attacks.
To summarize:
Take the good cards.
Be willing to give up the good cards.
Draft to win, not to avoid losing.
Don't take Overload.
