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B.R.E.A.D. - A simple guide to drafting

Hi there!

Since lots of people will probably be coming over to check out LoR and many of them might not have played other card games before, I decided to make a quick write up on the concept of B.R.E.A.D and how to choose cards in draft.

Quick disclaimer though - these concepts are usually meant for singe card picks in draft like in MTGA or HS Arena, and those games also have way less synergy dependencies than in LoR imo. (For example if you have 2 Ashes in your deck you might want to pick up any freeze card that shows up no matter what other options are given) so it might be less accurate.

Anyways, onwards to B.R.E.A.D.

B.R.E.A.D stands for Bombs, Removal, Evasion, Aggro, Duds/Dirt. Its a way to remember what to prioritize when you pick cards in draft modes.

  • Bombs - Anything can can singlehandedly win games if the opponent doesn't deal with is (see Removal). In LoR these are usually champions which are in limited supply in expeditions, so it doesn't apply to LoR as much as it does to other games. Just remember when you get your 3rd and 4th (is there a 4th? cant remember) champion pick take one that works well with your deck. Also, things like The Harrowing or Cataclysm can be bombs as well.
  • Removal - Any card that can remove an opponent's bomb. In expeditions you will run less optimal decks, and if you cant remove the enemy Teemo which is hitting your nexus every turn from turn 1 then you wont stand a chance. LoR is a very combat focused game with lots of interaction with burst spells which makes combat tricks like buffs\freeze\barrier also kind of pseudo removal, so keep an eye out for those.
  • Evasion - Evasion is something that lets you get through to the opponents face with your creatures. Elusive for example is amazing in LoR because there aren't many creatures with elusive to block with. Overwhelm is also strong, and even Fearsome is a type of evasion, although its not as good as the others. You could even consider Challenger a type of evasion for other creatures, Leveled up Elise for example can smash face because all the spiders take up all the blockers.
  • Aggro - Efficient creatures that will provide board presence and will cause your opponent to waste resources to deal with them. To be honest from what I've seen from LoR control can be very strong, but usually in expedition a control deck wont stand a chance against an aggro deck that curved well, or even a mid range deck that pumped out a bunch of strong creatures for cheap like through Freljord deck buffs.
  • Duds - Any card that does not fit one of the previous categories usually isn't very good, but I'm glad to say there aren't many of these in LoR! Almost every card that doesn't fit in one deck can find a home in another. This is because LoR is built on very synergistic cards that depend on what the rest of your deck does. If its champions with their level up conditions or even cards that get stronger whenever you do specific things in the game like stun/recall/target/kill allies/cast a spell/whatever.

Like I said this guide isn't perfect because LoR is a very different game and very synergy dependent. if you have a deck full of cards that benefit you a lot by freezing enemies or by killing your own units, then cards that help you do that should be higher in your priorities. This is just a general guide to help people pick cards and make better decks.

Good luck in your expeditions friends!


  • riot_kuaggie

    Posted 5 years, 10 months ago (Source)

    Do you guys have anything in mind for if drafting becomes too one-dimensional? I think the core idea (and the trades especially) is great but if the optimal draft strategy becomes "pick the same bucket every time" it's not super engaging imo

    Yup! Ideally the format always asks you the question do you want power or do you want synergy and we hope the answer differs from draft to draft!

    When we built the system originally we made sure to have lots of knobs to turn for balance (both on a bucket level and on the meta level you’re describing)- examples being number of cards in a bucket, specific card rarity & what cards are offered the most frequently in trades. Right now we’re focused on tooling so that it’s easier for a designer to make changes and quickly be able to analyze the impact of those changes- the current top item is making trades more interesting

  • riot_kuaggie

    Posted 5 years, 10 months ago (Source)

    To be honest, I’ve reached 6 or 7 wins consistently by doing the following:

    Just draft the same category as many times as possible. When forced to pick a different category, look for solid cards which fit your need.

    For example, I recently picked the hecarim category (death and dust, I think it’s called) every single time it was presented and I got 7 wins. For my other picks, I chose good removal or synergy cards like combat tricks.

    When offered a trade, just use your brain. I will say that drafting multiple copies of a great card is actually a good idea. I had like 5 copies of onslaught of shadows. Originally I thought this was a bad idea, but it actually turned out to be very consistent and powerful. 5 is more consistent than 3, in other words

    My experience with the format has also been pretty similar to this. BREAD drafters will often have a better deck at the start of their run, but will start to fall behind drafters who went for synergy as their deck becomes more focused with trade picks. Curious & excited to see what y’all discover to be the best/most consistent strategy though!




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