I hate pick orders. Limited is about building a deck, not blindly taking the best card. Obviously removal is good, and bombs are too, but so is a mana curve. The value of any combat trick widely varies depending on the number you already have. Aim to have a deck that will play out smoothly with a definite game plan, and the right “pick order” should follow.
This breakdown aims to distance from this. Instead of pick orders, I’m laying out what each color actually looks like. These are your options up the curve and your creature size and basic abilities, and the pieces of this are what your deck is going to look like on average. I’ve included uncommons in a bit more detail as they pop up enough to relevantly change the outlook of a draft, but beyond that things rarely pop up. I’ve also yet to even see most of them in play, and it will likely take a while to learn how to accurately gauge how good some of them are.
White:
Playable Commons:
1: 1 (1/1)
3: 4 (2/3 Flying, 2/1 First Strike Flying, 2/2, 1/4)
4: 2 (2/2 Flying, 2/2 → 5/4 Flip)
5: 1 (3/5)
Removal: 5.5 (Avacynian Priest, Bonds of Faith, Smite the Monstrous, Rebuke, Urgent Exorcism, maybe Ghostly Possession)
Tricks: 4 (Feeling of Dread, Moment of Heroism, Spare from Evil, Village Bell-Ringer)
Notes on White:
White’s curve is fairly solid. You need another two-power two-drop for decent beats, are fine on threes, and maybe could use a five, but there are always solid options across the curve.
White is very similar to red in other sets. You have a bunch of conditional removal and reasonable small beats backed by reach (in the form of Falter). The difference is the conditional removal here is better against large guys that would hold back your team rather than small guys that would trade.
I would not hold tricks at a premium in white. You have a ton in color already and have even more removal to value over them in a color whose curve implies you want to be aggressive with heavy creatures.
Urgent Exorcism is much better than it looks. It is much more analogous to Celestial Purge in Core Set draft than Shatter. It’s fine against a large spread of decks which have blue or white due to the Spirits and removal Enchantment, but there are even splash targets across the board.
White is very deep. Expect to be fighting for it at a table.
Playable Uncommons:
2: 2 (1/1 → 3/3 flip, 2/2 Intimidate)
3: 2 (1/3, make 2 Flying 1/1s)
4: 2 (2/2 → 2 Flying 1/1s when it dies, 3/2)
5: 1 (3/3 Flying)
Tricks: Rally the Peasants
The uncommons in white are solid. Expect them to go highly, but not too early as they are mostly just dudes bar Slayer and Fiend Hunter (seriously, two Shriekmaws in one color?). All in all, white’s uncommons are going to provide a lot of power to what is already a strong aggressive base but aren’t necessary as the commons are fairly deep.
Blue:
Playable Commons:
1: .5 (1/1 → 3/2 Flying)
2: 3 (1/1 Millikin, +2/+2 Flying Enchantment, Stitcher’s Apprentice)
3: 3 (1/4, 2/3, 3/4 Flying Skaab)
4: 3 (1/6, 4/5 Skaab, 3/2 Flying)
Removal: 2 (Claustrophobia, Sensory Deprivation)
Tricks: 3.5 (Hysterical Blindness, Silent Departure, Lost in the Mist, maybe Frightful Delusion)
Card Advantage/Selection: 2 (Think Twice, Forbidden Alchemy).
Blue is very reasonable in this format, if not immediately exciting. Most of the creatures don’t actually win the game, so you need another color of finishers, but you have a massive ability to bog down their offense. You also have two very reasonable removal spells in the two enchantments.
I’ve heard rumors that the bouncing counterspell is well along the Cryptic Command curve. I haven’t played with it, but you should try it out.
Hysterical Blindness is actually just Safe Passage in disguise most of the time.
Frightful Delusion is most likely appropriately named. You will always be afraid it will happen to you, but it probably won’t.
4/5 Skaab is likely not going to kill them, as your 1/4s and 2/3s will just leave them with a ton of good blocks. The Flying War Paint (Spectral Flight) is one way to get around this, building your own Dragon. That card is going to be very underrated, as Auras always are, but it gets the job done even on a smaller guy.
Blue is going to pair very well with a color relatively solid in removal in a control-style draft. I’m no expert on these, but I know the tools when I see them. Think Twice specifically will be the main enabler here.
Playable Uncommons:
2: .5 (Invisible Stalker)
3: 2 (Civilized Scholar, 2/1 Flying)
4: 0
5: 2 (3/3 Flying, 4/4 Flying)
6: 1 (6/9 Skaab)
Other: Dissipate, Curiosity, Grasp of Phantasms
Blue is a little light in Uncommons, but they mean it. There are three very viable win conditions, a “Time Stretch,” and one of the best recent Looters.
The amount of insane Civilized Scholar is should not be underestimated. The usual problem of Looters not affecting the board is solved by him just turning into a 5/1.
Invisible Stalker isn’t that good. Compare to the red pinging Curse (Curse of the Pierced Heart).
Black:
1: 1 (1/1 Deathtouch)
2: 2.5 (2/1 Flying, 2/2, maybe 1/1 regenerator)
4: 1 (5/1)
5: 1 (4/3)
Removal: Corpse Lunge, Dead Weight, Victim of Night
Other: Altar’s Reap, Brain Weevil, Ghoulcaller’s Chant, Night Terrors, Bump in the Night
Black is extremely shallow. You have almost no real creatures, just a bunch of conditional spells. Your removal isn’t much more on the line of Smother than Doom Blade. Corpse Lunge is very similar of Dead Reckoning, which was mediocre in ZZW; Dead Weight is good but doesn’t kill the big commons; and Victim of Night kills rares but none of the common monsters (all of them are Zombies, Vampires, or Werewolves!). I guess you have Typhoid Rats?
You have a bunch of cool effects, but most don’t actually do things late game on a clogged board. I would want them depending on matchup and maybe lean towards things like Weevil in a slower control deck, but it is easy to saturate on them.
What you do have is a decent number of two-for-ones. Altar’s Reap, Brain Weevil, etc.
That all said, I’m excited to light some people on “fire” with Bump in the Night. I love me a good Lava Axe/Searing Flesh.
Playable Uncommons:
1: 1 (2/2)
2: 0
3: 2 (2/2 Flying → 5/5, 2/2 and grows)
4: 3 (3/2 First Strike, 2/2 Flying, two 2/2s)
5: 1 (4/4)
Other: Unburial Rites, Tribute to Hunger, Morkrut Banshee
Black’s uncommons mirror white’s in a lot of ways. Mostly just good bodies, but all significant upgrades to what would be along the curve there. Same thing, expect to be able to get them fairly regularly but pick them high.
Morkrut Banshee is less of a pure Shriekmaw and more of a Gatekeeper of Malakir (in that it kills a random body just to get value) or Bone Splinters (in that you have to bin a relevant guy). It still has a huge body and does this, but be aware.
Red:
Playable Commons:
1: 1 (+2/+2)
2: 3 (2/1, 2/1 that grows, 1/1 → 3/3 First Strike)
3: 4 (3/2, 1/2 Firebreathing, 3/1 First Strike, 2/3)
4: 1 (3/2 → 6/4)
Removal: 3.5 (Brimstone Volley, Harvest Pyre, Geistflame, Ancient Grudge)
Tricks: 3 (Nightbird’s Clutches, Crossway Vampire, Traitorous Blood)
Other: Curse of the Pierced Heart
Red has a solid aggressive curve, as expected. The lack of a four slot is interesting, but looking around, that seems to be the general trend. Red’s creatures are also mostly above the curve in size, which is very atypical (more on both of these later).
Red is very solid on ways to deal with the larger guys. Even though the removal isn’t there, red has a bunch of tricks that blank the high drops for the necessary span to get in damage.
Ancient Grudge is not a card I would maindeck. The number of common artifacts is just too low. Expect to bring it in regularly when you see something you want to Shatter.
Geistflame has been nothing but awesome. There are more than enough x/1s that you can easily two for one. Even if you just get a guy and then upgrade a trade, it is good, and the worst case is it is just an expensive Shock that can flip wolves back to men.
I expect Curse of the Pierced Heart to be very reasonable in this color. While I hated on Invisible Stalker, that guy was in a color where you would be pinging them from 15+ as opposed to 7 or less. You obviously don’t aggressively take the card, but I’ve played my fair share of Onyx Goblets and been fine with it. Just watch your non-creature count.
Furor of the Bitten is going to be much better than people think. Size is huge in this format, and even the random guys turn into real monsters with this card.
Playable Uncommons:
1: 1 (1/1 → 3/2)
2: 0
3: 2 (1/5 → 5/5, 2/2 that grows)
4: 1 (2/2)
5: 1 (3/3 + number of guys they have)
6: 1 (4/2)
Removal: 2 (Into the Maw of Hell, Rolling Temblor)
Other: Desperate Ravings, Burning Vengeance, Curse of the Nightly Hunt
Red doesn’t have that much to offer in the uncommon realm. The cards are either snap high picks or mediocre bodies, with no solid midrange cards. Don’t expect to see the good ones floating around 5-6th pick.
I’m fairly sure the secret is out, but Hanweir Watchkeep is very good. 1/5 defender extends the game well, and 5/5 is giant once they run out of things to keep it flipped.
Desperate Ravings is still a two-for-one if you can flash it back. Play it if you can.
Burning Vengeance is number-wise a little short on flashback cards to be consistently drafted even if there are enough of that specific card, but it will happen to you at some point.
I don’t know if Curse of the Nightly Hunt is good. Let me know about your experiences with the card. I imagine it is very good against blue (lots of bad attackers) and not so good against white (lots of good attackers and lots of guys so they can play more and still block).
Green:
Playable Commons
1: 1 (1/1)
2: 2 (2/1, 2/2 pumps to 4/4)
3: 3 (2/2 “Flying”, 2/3 → 4/6, 3/4 Defender)
5: 2 (4/4 → 7/7, 2/4 → 4/6 Reach)
6: 1 (6/6)
Removal: 3 (Prey Upon, Naturalize, Ambush Viper)
Tricks: 4 (Travel Preparations, Spidery Grasp, Ranger’s Guile, Moonmist)
Other: Caravan Vigil, maybe Mulch
Oh, so this is where all the real creatures went.
First off, compare these flip cards to red’s. You go from mediocre to very good in red, and in green you go from above the curve to very good. Expect that color’s wolves to go late, and this color’s to disappear early.
Beyond that, you have the only Hill Giant in the entire set, and it has an upside that makes it a Blastoderm. You have the usual Craw Wurm variant, and your two-drop upgrades to as big as the other colors’ five-drops when you have mana to spare. Add all of these and Ambush Viper together, and Prey Upon reveals itself to be the true Doom Blade of the set. Take it as such.
Naturalize is part removal; the Auras beefing size are so good, as +2/+2 is almost always a full blocker worth of extra damage, and there are artifacts. It’s also part Reanimate, as it takes out the blue and white removal. I would not hesitate to maindeck one of these.
Green is really lacking in mana-efficient tricks, as are most colors. Spidery Grasp is another way to punish attackers, but costing three is a large issue for a combat trick on offense. Part of the incentive of conditional cards like that is you get to punish them for playing into it, and most of the time you just trade Spider Grasp for their single blocker at around even mana investment. Okay, but not the best.
Ranger’s Guile is much closer to Withstand Death than Vines of the Vastwood.
Travel Preparations isn’t really a “trick” per se, but I expect it to mess up a lot of combat math people set up the previous turn.
Moonmist has been decidedly mediocre. Too hard to set up for value, and it is easy enough to flip your Wolves if you wanted to anyway. Too often just a Fog in a format without an Overrun to stop. I would board it against decks with lots of Falters, but that’s about it.
As always, expect green decks to be heavy green due to playable count and be able to splash two other colors to shore up the removal shortage via Caravan Vigil and Shimmering Grotto.
Playable Uncommons:
1: 1 (Wreath of Geists)
2: 2.5 (2/2, 2/2 → 3/3 Intimidate, maybe Boneyard Wurm)
3: 0
4: 2 (3/3 → 5/5 Regenerate, 1/1 that grows)
5: 1.5 (4/5, maybe Spider Spawning)
Removal: Bramblecrush
Not much to see here.
Wreath of Geists is much better than Boneyard Wurm outside of blue. I don’t expect either to get above three usually, four at most, and the pump is better when on the small end, as it makes their blocks even worse on your midrange guys as opposed to just being another small idiot. In blue I can see it getting to five or six, where Wurm becomes a real guy, and the Aura disadvantage starts becoming an issue.
Lumberknot is unreal. For those who don’t remember Algae Gharial, that guy was a windmill slam and won games singlehandedly. The format isn’t quite as nice as Jund was for him, but he no longer has to grow to absurd sizes to swing into 5/xs and live through a pump (the card was too good to trade “just” for their five-drop and trick).
I expect Spider Spawning to be very deck/color dependent. More blue to fuel it to 4+, where it starts to get good.
As for Bramblecrush, see Naturalize, then let it kill some of the most problematic rares (the lands and planeswalkers). Very undervalued, and I would definitely sideboard this often if I had it, if not starting it.
Artifacts and Lands:
There really isn’t a good curve here, so I’ll just go card by card.
The equipment is fairly good. Upgrades are a lot larger, as so many of the creatures are interchangeable. Pumping power only is significantly worse, as your guys still trade, but I’m not going to turn down, say, Silver-Inlaid Dagger and complain how it is just Bonesplitter and not Trusty Machete.
Oddly enough, the artifact guys are just bigger than the regular ones. Keep this in mind; it incentivizes boarding Shatter effects.
Geistcatcher’s Rig. Stingerfling Spider. I don’t understand the difference. Just first pick it and be done.
Demonmail Hauberk seems good to me, but I might also have a deranged love of Auras. +4/+2 is massive.
Blazing Torch is basically tap a guy to Smother in this format. One of the better removal spells.
Inquisitor’s Flail is much better than it looks. Your 2/xs still trade for theirs, but it makes them also trade for their 4/xs. The difference between this and Silver-Inlaid Dagger isn’t’ very far most of the time.
Color Combinations:
WU: Blue-white fliers and turtles is still an archetype as it has been since 1993. Pay attention to Stitcher’s Apprentice synergies. A quick glance shows Doomed Traveler, Unruly Mob, Elder Cathar, and Mausoleum Guard.
UB: Utilize black’s two-for-ones and blue’s ground stall to draw your random generic win condition while up full hand sizes of cards. Using Skaabs to manage Ghoulraiser is pretty solid.
RB: Things look moderately set up for the usual mono-two and three-drop beats, but I think you are likely short on creatures. Red would be the heavy color for Crossway Vampire and also because black isn’t deep enough to support the requirement. I can’t imagine this is the optimal aggressive color combination, but you could just end up here with a hodgepodge of janky cards trying to hit 20.
RG: Monsters and red removal. Harvest Pyre is both mediocre due to the fact you are heavy on guys that don’t trade, leaving you with a light graveyard, and very good as it maximizes Woodland Sleuth and Make a Wish.
GW: Monsters and white removal. White covers people trying to fly over your head or make blocks with their Durkwood Boars. Red covers people aiming for double blocks or fast Falter beats. I wouldn’t be shocked to see G/w/r often.
WR: Red fills in white’s need for good twos well and the removal suites complement each other to cover the spread. Easily the best aggressive color combo. Just don’t overvalue Falters and other situational tricks, as both colors are set on those to begin with. You also have to decide between Crossroad Vampire and Chapel Geist. Don’t make your mana bad to run both.
RU: The creature suites here do not work well together. Small guys early into small fliers and turtles. Avoid this barring strange Burning Vengeance shenanigans.
UG: Between Wolves, random green guys, and Skaabs, this is the Dinosaurs of this block. Spectral Flight is key here. Also keep in mind that Stitcher’s Apprentice works well with morbid and that you have to tools to make the Lhurgoyfs work hard where no one else can. Oddly enough, the blue cards aren’t very synergistic with Wolves, as the Unsummon of the set is sorcery speed. Splashing is a very definite option here.
GB: You opened black removal and/or bombs and then got shipped green. I don’t see that much real overlap here.
BW: Black has two 2/x two-drops to fill in where white lacked. White has Falters to make the mediocre black x/1s not embarrassing to attack with. See RB, only a bit less janky.
General Themes:
-The format just jumps from Goblin Piker and Grey Ogres to Durkwood Boars. There is only one common Hill Giant and a couple 2/3s for three. This means that bounce spells and spot removal that kill a 4/4 are strong, as there are lots of chances to gain huge tempo swings. You also are going to be trading a lot on the low end, so keep this in mind. This also makes Auras good, as it is much harder to set up profitable double blocks.
-Flip cards break the above paradigm. Either have access to your own or be prepared with ways to turn them back.
-Removal is very conditional. Saving your 1-2 answers for their bomb is going to be very important as you should have enough small removal to start with.
-There are enough two-for-ones to support a grinder deck, especially as most of them help you double spell to flip Wolves. Just remember that trading in combat is a fair portion of how these decks get value, as the endgame is your opponent being at zero cards to your four, not three to your seven.
-There are combat tricks, but blowouts are most likely occurring on double blocks rather than being for tempo.
-Attacking is dangerous against green and white players with three mana up. Don’t lose your bomb to a random trick this way.
While this is a fair synopsis of the format early on, a lot of the interpretation is up to you. Keep this in mind, draft well, and don’t be afraid to get wild.
And if that fails, just learn to open more planeswalkers.