I’ve just finished reading Brian Tinsman’s article, “Designing Rise,” and at the end, he said, “In the end, I wanted to make a set that was as fun as your first week of Magic. The point was to recapture that sense of wonder.” I believe that he succeeded admirably.
I won a draft at the prerelease, but after that, my record in drafts between then and FNM was 1-9. I went 1-1 at FNM, and then got a bye. Clearly, I had a lot to learn in this format. Fortunately, Patrick Chapin and Alex West were in town, and I had plans to draft all day Saturday and Sunday. I went across town Saturday morning for our 8:00am draft, and I went home at a little after 1:00am, after drafting 5 times. In those 5 drafts, I never did better than 2-2. Brian mentions that this set was hard for experienced players, but in general, I wasn’t having the same conclusions he seems to imply. It wasn’t that I was refusing to play big creatures, but something definitely wasn’t working. Sunday morning we started drafting at 10:00am at my house, and I guess I learned a lot on Saturday, because I managed to turn everything around and go 14-1 on Sunday. I’m going to try to share what I can of what I’ve figured out, but this is a strange format, so it’s going to be hard.
I haven’t read a full set review online, but I’ve heard bits and pieces, and found them generally appalling. I’m definitely not alone in taking some time to get used to this set.
I’m loving it, by the way. This set highlights exactly what makes Magic so fun. The constant sense of discovery, and the fact that, even after all the Magic I’ve played, I still have to start over and work my way up the learning curve every few months. Not only that, but I can track my progress through competition and my results. Losing over and over made this set extremely fun for me.
So where was I going wrong? I think I had a lot of preconceptions about how the format worked. Specifically, there were a lot of deck types that seemed interesting to me that I wanted to try. Like UW Levelers with Champion’s Drakes and Venerated Teachers, GW Aggro Auras with Aura Gnarlid – those were the two I was most excited about at first. As drafts went on, RB aggro with lots of removal and whatever creatures you happened to find also looked pretty good. Some Eldrazi Ramp decks were awesome, but it seemed hard to get the green spawn producers, since they were so good in other decks too. In one draft on Saturday I tried moving in on a third pick Training Grounds, which I’d seen do completely insane things with levelers, but I couldn’t figure out if I was getting more levelers in white or black, and it turned out, someone else also had a Training Grounds and was taking all the levelers he saw on the other side of the table. As a result, I ended up with a pretty awkward three solid color deck that wasn’t very good.
I kept running into problems where the pieces for the deck I wanted just wouldn’t be there. I was Green Black in one draft, and all I needed was some removal, but the only Black removal spell I saw in the entire draft was a third pick Last Kiss. I don’t remember what was holding me to Black, but it certainly didn’t work out.
Eventually I decided that this set wasn’t about figuring out whether the Aura Gnarlid deck or the Leveler deck or the Eldrazi Ramp deck was better, it was about drafting what was open. Brian Kowal mentioned at one point that he couldn’t remember the last time he had been drafting a set for a week and had no idea what the relative power level of the colors was, but that was the case here. It was time to return to the only real advice we ever got from Mike Hron: “Draft the good cards.”
This sounds obvious, but at least for me, it really isn’t, and when it’s appropriate, I have to constantly remind myself, cycling it through my head like a mantra while drafting. For me, it’s far more natural to draft decks or synergies, sometimes taking a card that generally isn’t as good, but that I plan to put to good use over a better card, particularly in a set like this, where there are so many cards that clearly work together. In this case, I think the interesting synergies can come later, based on the cards that happen to be available later, and for at least the first five picks of a pack or so, I shouldn’t have a plan in mind, and I should just take the good cards.
That’s fine advice and all, but the trick, particularly in this set, is to figure out what the good cards are. Is Kozilek’s Crusher a good card? What about Caravan Escort? Hyena Umbra? These aren’t cards that are easily evaluated in a traditional terms because there aren’t very many cards like them, and even if there were, they wouldn’t exist in a format like this one.
First of all, almost anything can be good, in this set, as far as I can tell. It was said at one point between drafts on Sunday that this set is like drafting a cube, in that you can draft a deck to do basically whatever you want. Cards like Shared Discovery go extremely late, because almost no one can consistently use them, but when the right deck happens to come together, they can be insane.
Aside from taking the good cards, there are some things you have to be careful about. Cards like Dawnglare Invoker put some constraints on the format. Specifically, if you draft a slow deck with no removal, no matter how many Eldrazi or other finishers you have, you won’t be able to win any games against Dawnglare Invoker, so your deck is pretty bad. The first time I ever played against an active Dawnglare Invoker I was playing GUW with now way to get the Invoker out of play, and I had an extremely dominant board position with far more cards than my opponent and at least one Eldrazi in play. When I realized that I had no way to win the game because I wasn’t prepared for a 2/1 flying common, I was pretty disgusted.
“The Wall Deck” is another one that people seem to like to try that doesn’t work at all. As Brian Tinsman says in his article, the walls are intended to keep you in the game to cast your real winners, not to lock up a game forever. This set is designed very carefully not to allow long term stalemates, and The Wall Deck wants to set those up with 4 toughness creatures, and just falls apart when your opponent hits 8 mana with almost any deck. Vent Sentinel is not a plan.
This format is about winning. Not losing doesn’t come close to getting it done. You can draft some control decks, but remember that you need to have a very solid plan to actively win.
So, the good cards, what are they? I haven’t played enough to have a solid list, and this list is constantly changing some, but here’s a list of commons and uncommons in each color that I’d actively look to pick in the first 3-4 picks of a draft, very roughly in the order I’d want them:
White
Oust
One mana to get a permanent off the board is excellent, and the fact that it deals with Umbras puts it over the top.
Knight of Cliffhaven
I still like to be aggressive in this format, particularly when I get late game evasion out of the deal. This guy’s stats are awesome, and the fact that there are cards that actively want you to have levelers pushes him even further.
Dawnglare Invoker
A perfectly respectable body for 3 mana that just wins the game if I hit 8 mana and my opponent can’t answer him? It’s fragile, but not much of an investment, so it’s well worth it.
Mammoth Umbra
This costs a lot, but it can win the game. The fact that Totem-Guide Hartebeest is in its color and would love to be able to find it makes me want to take it early significantly more than I would otherwise, which is part of why I rate it so highly.
Wall of Omens
I’m torn on this card. It’s clearly an amazing value, but I don’t know how valuable it actually is, and I’ve had decks aggressive enough that I’ve cut it before.
Totem-Guide Hartebeest
The “murderlope,” as we’ve taken to calling him, has reasonable defensive stats, built in card advantage, excellent toolbox potential, and can easily double your count on a lot of first pick quality cards. It gets completely absurd if you have Eldrazi Conscription, a fact that puts Eldrazi Conscription as the non mythic I most want to open in this format (competing with Drana).
Makindi Griffin
Good, solid stats, nothing flashy.
Caravan Escort
One of the best aggressive creatures in the set, and an excellent way to turn on Champion’s Drake.
Blue
Domestication
I should hardly need to explain taking a Control Magic highly in Limited. This one is hurt by the fact that it can get destroyed by pump spells and doesn’t take a higher percentage of creatures in this format than it would in most formats, but helped by the fact that you can find it with Totem-Guide Hartebeest.
Enclave Cryptologist
I haven’t played with this card yet, but it looks pretty absurd on paper.
Drake Umbra
Like Mammoth Umbra but better. Wins the game very quickly if the opponent can’t answer it.
Narcolepsy
In a lot of ways, this is the best removal spell in the format because it deals with Umbras and Eldrazi, and again, you can tutor for it. On the other hand, it doesn’t deal with Invokers or some other utility creatures.
Regress
Bounce has never been as good as it is in this format, and this is the only bounce spell.
Hada Spy Patrol
A solid attacker that plays particularly well with all the Blue support for levelers.
Skywatcher Adept
Almost the same card as Hada Spy Patrol.
Deprive
Counterspells are much better than they normally are in this set, and this might be far too low for this card.
Frostwind Invoker
He’s expensive, but evasion is at a premium, and all the Invokers are pretty good.
Black
Vendetta
The next two can definitely make cases for being better than this, but one mana is such a low price, and instant speed removal is at such a premium in this set.
Corpsehatch
Removal for large creatures is valuable and hard to come by, and Eldrazi Spawn are awesome.
Induce Despair
One of the best ways to deal with Umbras; the only problem with it is that it’s “a bad topdeck.”
Nirkana Cutthroat
This guy’s efficient for Black at every level, and a complete monster when he’s ultimate. Umbras are the only way to beat him in combat.
Pawn of Ulamog
I feel like this might be higher than other people rate him, but I’ve been pretty impressed. Spawn are really useful, and you get value even if they kill him.
Last Kiss
This is pretty low for an instant speed removal spell, but there are so many problems it just doesn’t answer.
Null Champion
He comes out very aggressively, and with a bit of removal, can kill someone in a hurry. We’re low enough that I’m not really sure he’s better than Bala Ged Scorpion or Cadaver Imp though.
Zulaport Enforcer
Not much worse than Null Champion. I like levelers a lot.
Red
Flame Slash
I continue to rate low cost removal particularly highly. It helps that this is the best way to deal with a lot of different important cards in the set.
Brimstone Mage
Sometimes he just wins games, but really, he’s slow enough that I’d prefer Flame Slash.
Staggershock
The same problem as Last Kiss, but it can go to the dome for 4 and it’s a complete blowout when it kills two creatures.
Forked Bolt
Narrow, but only a single mana for a potential 2 for one.
Heat Ray
Instant Speed removal that can theoretically kill a large creature.
Rapacious One
There are so many ways to take advantage of this effect that it’s pretty easy to win if he gets to attack. I’m willing to pay six for that.
Emrakul’s Hatcher
Not much needs to be said.
Green
Beastbreaker of Bala Ged
Sometimes you play him on turn 2, level him up, he lives, and suddenly it feels like you’re playing a completely different format.
Aura Gnarlid
Nice walls. Umbras are excellent, and this guy is hard to beat if you stick almost anything on him.
Joraga Treespeaker
In a format where there’s a lot to do with mana, high-picking one of the best creature accelerators ever is probably a good idea.
Boar Umbra
Oakenform sometimes steals games. This does the same thing at a fraction of the risk. And Aura Gnarlid and Totem-Guide Hartebeest are both common.
Nest Invader
Putting this guy over Kozilek’s Predator feels a little weird, but Green has a glut of good four-drops, and this guy’s awesome no matter what you’re trying to do.
Kosilek’s Predator
Another card that’s excellent no matter how aggressive you want to be or how you want to use your tokens.
Pelakka Wurm
I don’t like expensive spells much, but seven is a reasonable enough number that I don’t feel like I have to devote my entire strategy to getting him onto the battlefield, and he’s always a pretty huge swing.
Overgrown Battlement
Ramping is nice, and blockers are nice, but I’d rather be attacking.
Bramblesnap
Tokens and Umbras make both his pump ability and his Trample awesome.
Wildheart Invoker
This would be higher if it weren’t for a fear of having too many four-drops. Tokens make it very easy to threaten his ability, and then blocking becomes extremely difficult.
Colorless
Artisan of Kozilek
If I’m going to cast Eldrazi, I’d like it to be this one. There’s a lot of value there. I take this relatively low compared to colored cards I really like.
Dreamstone Hedron
It’s not the plan I generally want to be on, but it is a powerful effect.
Ulamog’s Crusher
I feel similarly about him and Pelakka Wurm. He’s not as good, but at least I’ll be able to play him regardless of what color I end up if I need a finisher.
Those are the cards I want early, but again, they can change a lot depending on context, and there are a lot of other cards I might take over them depending on said context. In general, I’m trying to avoid high risk, high reward cards. Similarly, I almost never drafted cards with Ripple in Coldsnap.
That’s it for specific advice, but I will say that there’s a ton of value to be gained in this format by getting creative and looking for synergies. I would also guess that over half the cards that a lot of people think are unplayable are actually very good with the right support.
In conclusion, the way that I believe it is currently correct to draft this format is to look for straight power level early, and then get creative with your plan to win with those cards later, but always err toward furthering your plan over stopping your opponent.
Thanks for reading…
Sam