Around the Web: Frank the Fanatic Heads to Memphis
bdm | December 9, 2008 | 11:25 amIts funny. I was talking to Andre Coimbra yesterday and he was lamenting the loss of Frank Karsten from the rolls of active authors as he was agonizing over his deck choices and pick orders prior to departing for Memphis. Then links to these two illuminating pieces appeared in my inbox courtesy of ManaMaze publisher Sven Djit of the Netherlands.
Have you ever wondered how a Pro player arrives at a decision about what deck to play in a given tournament? Well, I am not sure the linked article will provide any insight into how most people arrive at that decision but it does show you how Mad Genius Frank Karsten can grind numbers and data mine to not only arrive at the deck he wants to play but the exact configuration of the 75 cards in the deck. This is an excellent metagame overview from the much-missed Frank Karsten with a bonus link to his triple Shards pick order for all commons and uncommons in the first pack of a draft. There are a lot of surprises in here such as Resounding Thunder over Oblivion Ring, Corpse Connesieur being as high as fourth, and Branching Bolt being as low as he has it.
That’s a cool idea I suppose, but I don’t think the list he wound up with is very good. He’s obviously an excellent player, so it’s probably fine anyway, but still. I think that the real problem with this approach is that there ultimately isn’t that much data [from a statistical perspective], so it isn’t clear that averages should be trusted for such minute decisions as 1x Ponder. While 82 lists isn’t nothing, there isn’t any real statistical validity to it. Just like testing 10 game sets, you really have to go with the feel of it.
Does anyone know how he complies the information?