Some of you might remember [my post from SOS](https://www.reddit.com/r/lrcast/comments/1tjoxhw/from_burning_20k_gems_to_mythic_in_sos_limited/?utm_source=chatgpt.com), about burning 20k gems before I finally got to Mythic. A few people asked what my rank and win rate actually were, so this time I kept track, and I'm posting the numbers alongside the story.

**Before HOB: MSH**

Before HOB there was MSH, and MSH went badly in a specific way that I think is worth describing.

The first half was fine. From Gold 3 to Diamond 1 I went **71–41 (63.4%)**. Then I tried to make the final push to Mythic and fell apart: **27–34 (44.3%)**. I got frustrated, tilted, kept queueing anyway, and I lost more. Eventually I stopped playing MSH altogether and finished the set stuck at Diamond 1.



**Starting HOB**

When HOB came out, I wasn't planning a Mythic grind at all. I was just curious about the set.

I also didn't do the prep. I didn't study the full card list beforehand, and I didn't watch any pro drafts. That wasn't some deliberate strategy, and I'm not recommending it. But it did have one effect I ended up liking: for the first few days, my opinions about the format came from my own drafts and games. Afterwards, I could check them against 17Lands and find out where I was right or wrong. The risk of reading the data first is that you absorb it without ever finding out what you would have thought.



**Early HOB: Green**

I started in green, mostly BG. From Gold 1 to Platinum 3 in Premier Draft, I went **22–18 (55%)**, plus one lucky 7–2 Sealed run.

At that point I was fairly convinced BG was where I wanted to live.



**Arena Direct**

I hadn't played Arena Direct since SOS. My first two attempts were bad, both BR 1-2, with plenty of mistakes that I couldn’t blame on the pools.

On the third attempt, I built a BR deck as well. It didn't feel dramatically stronger than the first two, and I mostly just wanted to salvage the entry. Somehow, I went **7–1** and won the Collector Booster Box.

Arena Direct made me look at BR differently. I started suspecting BR was stronger, or at least more reliable for me, than the green decks I'd been prioritizing. When I finally checked 17Lands later, the data broadly lined up with my read.



**Focus on the first two turns**

From Platinum 3 to Diamond 3, I stayed almost entirely inside B/R/G, mostly BR, and went **38–24 (61.3%)** in Premier Draft.

If I have to point to one change that mattered most, though, it wasn’t the colors; It was the early curve. I started prioritizing two-drops much more heavily, and I was happy to run two or three good one-drops.

HOB punished me hard for doing nothing on the first two turns, and it punished me worse on the draw. When I checked, HOB Premier Draft was sitting at roughly a **54.6% on-the-play win rate** — noticeably higher than MSH or SOS.



**The problem still bothers me**

As I climbed, I started facing more and more black decks as more drafters figure out the best color in the set.

That produced a question I still can't answer: what actually makes one BR deck better than another BR deck? How should I draft and play to get an edge in a mirror match? I noticed the problem; however, recognizing the problem and actually knowing how to solve it are two different things.



**Quick Draft: Exploit the bots**

I hadn't touched Quick Draft in a while, but when HOB Quick Draft opened, I tried one for fun and went 4–3.

The record was mediocre. The information wasn't. The bots were wheeling black cards that should never wheel. \[\[Desolation Prowler\]\], \[\[Down, Down to Goblin-town\]\], \[\[Gnashing of Teeth\]\], \[\[Crude Bent Blade\]\], and \[\[Gollum, Silent Slinker\]\] all went extremely late.

So black became the easiest thing to build with. From Diamond 3 to Mythic, I went **30–23 (56.6%)** in Quick Draft, and entered Mythic at **#680**.



**One more draft**

Last time, in SOS, I stopped the moment I hit Mythic with a similar rank, and then drifted out of the top 1200 without playing again. This time I wanted one more event to give myself a buffer.

BR again, 7–1.

That took me from roughly #680 to **#244**.



**The numbers**

* Premier Draft: **60–42 (58.8%)**
* Quick Draft: **37–24 (60.7%)**
* Ranked draft total: **97–66 (59.5%)**
* All HOB events including Sealed/Arena Direct: **113–73 (60.8%)**
* **28** events, **6** trophies



**#244 doesn't mean I am above average**

After the first few drafts, I stayed almost entirely inside B/R/G. I barely played white or blue, and I still don't feel confident drafting either one, even when it's clearly the open lane. Good drafters sit down, read the table, and play whatever the draft hands them. I can't do that yet.

***I got this result by narrowing, not by broadening.***

The Quick Draft portion deserves its own asterisk. Finding a bot tendency and leaning on it is part of Quick Draft, and it boosted my rank, but it isn't the same skill as navigating a human pod. If HOB Quick Draft hadn't had that hole in it, I don't know where I'd have ended up. So I'm happy with #244. I just don't think #244 means I suddenly became an all-around drafter.



**For Pros, I’d especially like advice on**

**1. How do you train yourself to draft colors you're uncomfortable with?**  
If the table is clearly handing you white, but you know you're much worse at drafting and playing white, do you move in anyway and accept some short-term losses as practice? Or is there a better way to learn those unfamiliar lanes?

**2. What actually decides the BR mirror in HOB?**  
Is it mostly curve? Being on the play? Specific uncommons? Card advantage? Knowing when you're the aggressor? Something else entirely?



Good luck out there, and happy drafting!

From burning 20k gems to #244 Mythic + an Arena Direct Box: Reflections from a below-average Limited player