Because it must pull cards from the past, it’s no surprise that Dominaria Remastered has pretty low average individual card quality, which I am looking forward to getting back to. It looks to me that there will be far fewer auto-pick commons based upon their power level, with more emphasis on synergies instead.
This article offers a crash course on the ten two-color pairs in Dominaria Remastered Limited, the archetypes suggested by Mark Rosewater in his “Mastering Dominaria Remastered“ article, and alternate archetypes I recommend (if any).
Azorius Blink / Flyers
The outlined archetype for Azorius is Blink / Flicker. While there seem to be some awesome bounce or Flicker effects between the two colors, with cards like Momentary Blink or Wormfang Drake, it leaves a lot to be desired in terms of awesome enters-the-battlefield effects from the creatures, Auramancer being one of the best if you have the enchantments to support it. I still feel like I’ll be trying to teach Icatian Javelineers how to impersonate a Prodigal Sorcerer.
Instead, the color combination just looks to be a solid flyers deck. Both colors offer great flyers like Aven Fisher or Phantom Flock, with enough interaction to keep opponents at bay with cards like Pacifism or Man-o’-War.
Dimir Madness
Blue has discard enablers in both Aquamoeba and Frantic Search, with payoffs in Circular Logic, Obsessive Search, and Deep Analysis to a lesser extent. Black helps fray your sanity with Undead Gladiator, Urborg Syphon-Mage, and Zombie Infestation, with amazing payoffs in both Dark Withering and Ichor Slick.
Rakdos Goblins
I’ve always been a fan of Swamp Goblins, and they’re on a Dralnu’s Crusade this time. It’s a pretty straightforward archetype, looking to deploy lots of small threats and eliminate anything in your path. Fireblast and Skirk Prospector can possibly help you get some Empty the Warrens win conditions going. But for the most part, I would assume you’d want to be playing Wretched Anurid and Mogg War Marshals and flooding the battlefield as soon as possible.
Phyrexian Ghoul seems like one of the best creatures for the deck, and Howl from Beyond turns tiny creatures into kill spells or Fireballs. There’s also a cool inverse to the deck: instead of throwing Goblins at your opponents, you can give it a whirl with Deadapult. Black does have a decent amount of Zombies, but I would like to think this card would be more of a happy pickup if you’re already deep into black with a good number of Zombies, rather than altering your deck too much to make it work.
Gruul Cycling
Gruul is trying something new, sporting cycling payoffs via Lightning Rift and Invigorating Boon. Keep in mind that these trigger when your opponents cycle as well. Aside from that theme, traditional Gruul beats are on the table as well. There are some great mana rampers here, like Werebear or Radha, Heir to Keld. In addition to great threats like Symbiotic Beast or Kavu Primarch, Gruul looks like it will be a great guild if you’re on Team Avarax!
Selesnya Threshold
Not only do we get some really strong threshold creatures like Werebear, Nomad Decoy, and Mystic Enforcer, Selesnya gets its very own creature-land that is absolutely terrifying in Nantuko Monastery. White does very little to help fill up the graveyard in a timely fashion; instead, you’ll need to rely on green, with cards like Fa’adiyah Seer, Crop Rotation, and cyclers. If you have a lot of great threshold cards, I could see this being a home for Millikin!
Orzhov Life
There aren’t really any exact synergy pieces for this deck. Instead, it pushes you to find the balance between lifegain and life loss. There are quite a few black cards that make you lose life, like Wretched Anurid, Flesh Reaver, or Phyrexian Scuta. While there’s one decent white card that gains you some life in Cleric of the Forward Order, it’s not really a dedicated archetype, and will likely just look like a midrange deck, leveraging removal and strong creatures.
Boros Aggro/Auras
I’m actually excited about this deck, as there is a nice diversity of enchantments and payoffs. Griffin Guide will likely be the best enchantment to hit your creatures, but Sun Clasp can be decent as well. Red offers Lightning Reflexes and Undying Rage, both of which seem fun to play with. The payoffs are Valduk, Keeper of the Flame; Tiana, Ship’s Caretaker; and Ridgetop Raptor. Auramancer will probably be the #1 common in this deck.
Izzet Storm (Heck Yeah!)
Storm decks are very difficult to play as well as build. But when they come together, it makes for really fun games where every decision matters. The payoffs here are Grapeshot, Empty the Warrens, and Storm Entity. While it is definitely possible to hit someone with a big Grapeshot to end the game, the most likely win condition will be a swarm of Goblins.
There are some really awesome enablers. I’ll break them down by color. In blue, you get High Tide to combine with Frantic Search, Peregrine Drake, Snap, or Cloud of Faeries to cheat out a lot of mana; another great card for the sequence is Deep Analysis to get you more spells. Red gives you Coal Stoker, Fireblast, and (if applicable) Skirk Prospector. There’s a more kid-friendly Izzet deck with Quicksilver Dagger, Hermetic Study, and Horseshoe Crab if the storm deck doesn’t quite get there.
Simic Ramp
Simic is advertised as the ramp deck once again, headlined by the ever-annoying Tatyova, Benthic Druid. Green has both mana acceleration like (once again) Werebear or Wild Growth, and heavy hitters like Symbiotic Beast and Kavu Primarch. Blue’s role in the relationship shifts more to addressing the battlefield via Man-o-War or Snap. Blue has a couple of payoffs for mana via Glintwing Invoker or Aven Fateshaper, though neither seems overly exciting.
Golgari Rock
If you’re unfamiliar with “The Rock” archetype, picture a control/ramp deck that finishes the game with giant creatures. Golgari seems pretty well set up to employ this strategy via black’s kill spells like Terror or Ichor Slick paving the way for your Kavu Primarch, or uncommon!? Spiritmonger. I’m not quite sure moving this card from rare to uncommon is the right move, as this creature has historically run amok in any Limited set it has shown up to, but I guess we’re about to find out!
There are definitely three-color combinations to explore, but the basic two-color archetypes are a good place to start for our first drafts. The set looks awesome, with some very fun throwback mechanics. I hope the article set some groundwork for you to dominate the first Dominaria Remastered draft!
Lose and Learn, Learn and Win!
