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Yes, I'm a loser at booster draft. Trouble is, it's the format my local FNM does, so unless I get better, it's either the Sunday tournaments (and I don't have a powerful enough constructed deck for that) or nothing.

I've drafted three times. First time, I actually came in 10th out of 18; I guess I got lucky. Second time, 22nd out of 23rd. Third time, 24th- dead last. I had a creature heavy deck, but was completely oblivious to the fact that the player on my right was in my colors, and yanked every bomb. I was grabbing lots of fliers and evasion, but my deck died when it hit mid-game, since I didn't have any creatures with a power greater than 2. How do you know what you're missing when you never see it in the first place?

Anyway, I need some help and general advice. Third draft, my problem was signaling, obviously. Second draft, the issue was selecting colors too early. I pulled a Mercurial Chemister first pack, and locked myself into Izzet immediately. My first draft was obviously beginners luck, as I opened two major bombs in the same color in my first two packs- Niv-Mizzet, and Jace. So I'm pretty sure I know what I did wrong each time, I just don't know enough to really avoid it.

So- some questions.
-How long do I wait before selecting colors? I guess just grabbing the best cards for the first three or four picks in every pack, then seeing what I've got from there?
-Where does ramp/color fixing rank on priority in general? When should I grab a keyrune or guildgate over a 2/2 flier? (Okay, the Azorius Keyrune -is- a 2/2 flier, and was the only reason I lasted to mid-game in my third draft games at all.)
-Should I actually separate my picks into BREAD piles to make sure I'm getting enough bombs? It's probably obvious to everyone else at that point what I'm doing, but right now, I'm more worried about getting a playable deck than anything else. (FNM does zone drafting, so I'm not too worried about mixing up the card piles.)
-Are there any obvious hints for signalling that I can pick up? (In general, I'm Mr Oblivious, so I need a signal to tap me on the head like a rubber mallet.) The player to my right was flabberghasted I'd picked the colors I did once all the picks were done, since he knew he'd yanked all the bombs.

Plus any general advice would be appreciated!

Jan 2, 2013 -- 9:49AM, GeekyDad wrote:

Thoughts on the cards-
Voidweilder- temporary removal combined with defense, but expensive. (I know a lot of people say it's good, I just haven't seen it in play.) If I've got other cards with effects that trigger when something enters or leaves the battlefield, its value goes up significantly.
Centaur Healer- half a thragtusk for 3 mana. Looks like a solid card, but not a bomb. Life gain shouldn't be a goal in and of itself.
Drudge Beetle- fills in the gaps if you're low on creatures, but the ability is overpriced. Of course, in draft, you can actually get the mana needed to scavange it for late game. A 2/2 for 2 isn't fantastic though, considering the next card-
Call of the Conclave- 3/3 for 2 is good, can be out on turn two for major damage unless they can deal with it. Do I have populate cards to work with?...

If I had to rank these, I'd pick Call of the Conclave, Centaur Healer, Voidweilder, and Drudge Beetle, in that order.
Am I way off?

Well done!

Voidweilder also kills tokens, gets rid of enchant creatures (the stab wound on your creature), the knightly valor on your opponent's creature, bounce a creature of yours that gives you a benefit: Centaur healer , azorius arrester ; an opponent's creature with scavenge counters on it, a problem creature back in your opponent's hand so you have the time to get your board situated or maybe draw that card you need, the guy blocks like a champ!

Call of the Conclave wins games in the opening hand. It's incredible how cards that are EASY to come by in draft Druid's deliverance , rootborn defense , eyes in the skies make centaurs every turn, and then you just win...

Drudge Beetle is nothing special. He can be useful to look for in draft has he can help with what rstme was talking about, the mana curve. We might be light on "two drops" this guy fills the void and gives a nice little bonus later in the game.

Centaur Healer is pretty solid. Rakdos hates this guy as can kill or trade off a lot of their early plays and the life gain is enough time for a board stabilization in selesnya.

I also agree that you can't let the results get you too down.  Everyone has those times where they get an amazing deck in draft but scrub out simply due to bad draws.  Then many people have the most horrible decks, but happen to draw the 1 or 2 good cards in their deck every time and enough mana to cast while the opponents have mana issues and win.  I know I've had many examples of both.

My first booster draft was the last FNM draft of the 2013 Core set at my local store before the release of Return to Ravnica made that the new drafting set.

Since then, I've been drafting anywhere between one and three times a week with only a handful of exceptions, addicted to the format (and the game itself, something I'm quite new to) and have grown from consistently ending up 7th or 8th out of 8 people in a single draft to holding my first flawless "1st place" at the end of the year, and on average ending up 3rd or 4th.

Practice is a huge element, learning from both mistakes and examples which cards are or are not as reliable or significant tools to victory, and which ones ended up as dead weights every time you played them. Your response to Urzasapprentice on the cards he gave seemed just about perfect (though I would personally consider Voidwielder a better bet than Centuar Healer because of how strong bounce and quasi-removal effects are in Return to Ravnica). 

In response to your questions, though, here's my advice from what I've learnt over time. I cannot stress enough that they are just my own opinion and I am very new to Magic the Gathering relative to most people on the forum, so take everything I say with a pinch of salt.

Selecting Colors

While some people at my store would disagree, I find it's usually simplest to make your first 2 or 3 picks under the assumption you're going to play a specific guild, usually chosen depending on the best cards on offer in the first two picks. Let's say, first pick Dreg Mangler (after seeing an unimpressive Rare like Conjured Currency ) and second pick a Thrill-Kill Assassin . In this example, you're ready to play Golgari colors (Green-Black) and should stick to that, and you have two strong creatures to start with. That said, if need be you should still be particularly open to taking some GOOD white or Red cards in case you want to shift your focus or just splash into Rakdos (Black-Red) or Selesnya (Green-White) colors.

If you get to your third pick, its not usually easy to see what colors the people near you ARE playing...but you can probably see what they're NOT playing. In this circumstance, if I saw a Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage or a Call of the Conclave , I would make the assumption nobody that the two people to my right are not playing Selesnya Colors yet. If you get to your 9th pick and you're seeing commons like Centaur's Herald , then I would take it and change to playing dedicated populate-based deck then and there, because its clear not many other people on the table are fighting for cards to enable these decks.

The later you see what you'd call 'good' cards, the more sure you can be that not many people are playing those colors. 

In general, start with 2 colors in mind, and if you find yourself struggling to get many playables by 6th pick, then try to move into an adjacent 'guild' if possible. Like giving up the Green-Black Golgari for the Black-Red Rakdos, where you might still be able to make use of some of the cards you've already got, while opening yourself up to a hopefully less-contested color of card. Try to keep at least one of the 2 colors you chose at the start.

By the start of Pack 2, you should be locked in to at LEAST 1 of your 2 colors. By the end of Pack 2, you should now know what colors you're playing for certain and what cards you need to finish your deck (say, creatures or removal or high-costs or low-costs or mana fixing if you're playing 3 or 4 colors).

Hopefully that wasn't all too confusing. To summarize: Choose two colors, and be ready to give up one of them if better cards present themselves.


Ramp and Color Fixing

Guildgates and Transguild Promenades are of very little value if you're getting enough good cards (enough 'playables') in two colors on their own. Guildgates of your guild are good to pick if there's nothing else of interest, but they're rarely much more valuable than simple basic lands. True, they prevent you from being screwed on a color as easily, but they also slow you down - and if you're only playing 2 colors mana fixing like them is rarely necessary.

In particular, if you're playing Rakdos colors you might steer away from the Guildgates because they slow you down - not something Red/Black handles well. Compare to Golgari or Selesnya, who can usually afford the slower nature of the guildgates for their reliability, because these guilds aim for the late-game.

If you're playing 3 or more colors, THEN mana fixers become necessary, or at least useful. If I'm playing Green/Black with a handful of Red cards (like Rakdos, Lord of Riots , Hellhole Flailer and Cobblebrute ), then a Rakdos Guildgate is valuable, and useful even if it takes me a while before I draw any red cards after playing it. Also, because I'm splitting my land already, Golgari Guildgate should decrease the chances of me being left without Forests or Swamps when I need them to play my cards.

The Keyrunes, though, tend to be good cards even in two-color decks, though they shine most when used for mana-fixing as well. While, again, fast-paced decks will be slowed down by them, they serve multiple purposes. They ramp, provide fixing AND can double as creatures for blocking or attacking. They're usually good picks regardless of your guild, as long as they're in your colors.