I’ve been having an absolute blast drafting this format so far. It’s still quite fast, but it there are substantially fewer non-games due to speed (in my experience so far, at least). I have been most impressed with the blue aggressive decks, not necessarily because they are the best thing that you can do, but because they work out much better than I expected. Spellweaver Eternal is the real deal, and I take it highly now. In fact, I think it may be the best blue common.
This has to do with how powerful afflict is as a mechanic. There is a large density of incidental reach in this set, so cards that do incidental damage can compile into a strategy. Having cards with afflict in your deck essentially just sets your opponent’s life total to fifteen at the beginning of the game. Which also means using cards like Unsummon to get in damage is more relevant.
Just some food for thought. Anyway, let’s check out this pack!
Pack 1, Pick 1
The Pack:
The Pick:
I’m going to start this off by saying that there is way too much hype around Angel of the God-Pharaoh. Six mana for a 4/4 flier is just below rate! I don’t want to play a six-drop that doesn’t often singlehandedly win me the game. That was a huge problem with Winged Shepherd. I cut that card all the time from my deck because when I cast it, it just wasn’t good enough. Losing vigilance for +1/+1 and changing the best part of the card, cycling for one, to be more expensive…I’m just not excited. I could certainly be wrong, though.
Disregarding this rant, the pack is good. Overwhelming Splendor is one of those cards that looks back-breaking in Sealed, but you should rarely include it in your Draft deck. While it’s extremely powerful, eight mana is a lot! I’m all for trying out ridiculous mythics and build-arounds in the beginning of a format. But I think our other options are better by way too much to justify this pick.
Sifter Wurm is very good. When you cast the card, it should be the biggest creature on the batltefield. On top of that, you gain some life to stabilize and are guaranteed (almost) to draw gas for the next two turns. This is certainly worth paying seven mana for. Additionally, seven mana is less of a problem for green than it is for other colors. In fact, Oasis Ritualist, a common in green, by itself facilitates Sifter Wurm on turn 5! I do have an issue first-picking a seven-drop, though. While it is a very powerful card, I think you’ll find the next card to be one of the best uncommons, or even cards, in the entire format.
I’m slamming Banewhip Punisher here. This card is amazing. I’ve heard plenty of people compare it to Daring Demolition, which does not do it justice. I understand where you’re coming from, but this card is cheaper on its face and more flexible. Sometimes you kill a one-toughness creature. Sometimes you gain extra life by blocking another creature and killing the creature you placed the counter on. Banewhip Punisher has a ton of use cases, all of which are great. There are no commons that come close in power level, and I would take it over most uncommons and even rares.
Pack 1, Pick 4
The Picks So Far:
Looks like we have a W/B Zombies deck a-brewing! The only card here I’m attached to is Banewhip Punisher, so I could certainly jump ship from this plan, but for now I’m going to keep Zombies in mind.
The Pack:
The Pick:
You may be surprised to see Hour of Revelation still here after a couple of picks. I’m not. The card isn’t actually very good in Limited. You see, there’s a huge difference between five and six mana when it comes to a battlefield wipe. You are almost never casting this card on turn 6 (especially because of WWW in the casting cost). This means you lose the value of holding back your creatures to get most of your opponents. It’s just not worth taking here.
Doomfall is a card I find difficult to evaluate. Both halves of the card are so overcosted that I don’t know if I want to include it in my deck, but flexibility is quite valuable. I’m pretty sure that this card is good in Sealed, but I’m not convinced that you should put it in your black Draft decks.
I’m going to take Mummy Paramount here. I have been extremely impressed with the card so far. There are a ton of incidental Zombies, so in most color combinations, it attacks as a 3/3! And in W/B, it’s sometimes even larger. I’m happy to pick it up, and this should solidify me into a nice W/B Zombies strategy!