Hey everyone, it’s Gerard Fabiano here.
I haven’t written a Magic article in quite sometime now. Maybe I’ve been busy with other things, or maybe I haven’t had much to say. Regardless, I’m here now to help you guys draft and play better in Alara block drafts. Pro Tour: Honolulu is coming up, and that’s going to have six rounds of draft… But even if you are not going to the Pro Tour, there are Magic Online drafts, FNM drafts, Nationals drafts, and just plain fun drafts with your buddies. I am going to give you guys ten tips about the format, and share my explanations along the way. Let’s get started!
10) Draft Your Deck To Beat Five-Color
With the new set containing nothing but multicolor cards, many players try to go Five-Color in draft, ensuring they are able to play all these new and strong cards. My friend Ben Lundquist was the one who told me about the “make sure you beat Five-Color” idea, and it makes a lot of sense. Five-Color decks tend to be slow and very dependant on their mana, so the best way to draft a deck geared to beat it is to draft with an aggressive state of mind. If your first pick in pack 1 is an Executioner’s Capsule or a Rhox Charger, take the creature. Rhox Charger has an effect on your beatdown plan, since the exalted should come into effect and hit for another point of damage immediately. If you already have two guys swinging in, that’s great too. Five-Color decks don’t really care if you can kill one of their threats, because once they take over the game with a powerful spell such as Voices of the Void, or just through their superior overall card strength, that Executioner’s Capsule won’t help you much. You need to beat them before they take off, and that’s why you should take the Rhox Charger here. Another example is Soul’s Fire versus Arcane Sanctum. Take the Soul’s Fire, and worry about your mana later if it seems you are heading past two or three colors. A card like Soul’s Fire fits perfectly into your aggressive plan.
9) Cascade Is Good, But It Isn’t A Boss
Antonino De Rosa is a Boss. Cascade is merely average. On Magic Online, I see so many people playing the weaker cascade cards simply because they have cascade. This doesn’t make much sense. Captured Sunlight is bad. It is a four mana sorcery that gains you four life, and so many people play it. Yes, it does have cascade, but cascade is random. What if you flip over an Oblivion Ring with no permanents in play, or a Soul’s Fire with no creatures? It only gets you a three-mana card or lower, so I don’t believe the hype about a card like this is. Stormcaller’s Boon is another bad card people play, as is Ardent Plea. Don’t be fooled by the fact that these cards seem good just because they have cascade. Just play better cards in your deck. There are some good cascade cards, such as Bituminous Blast and Bloodbraid Elf, because they are good on their own and the cascade is simply the bonus. That’s exactly what cascade is: a bonus. Cascade is not a card. Make sure you don’t fall for the hype.
8) Play With High Casting-Cost Cards
So many people show me their deck and say something along the lines of “look at my curve, it stops at five!”
That’s not a good curve.
A good curve goes all the way up to seven mana. When you are drafting, don’t be afraid to pick some high-mana stuff, because a good curve (more often than not) will involve two six-drops and one seven, so you can be ready for late game.
7) When The Full Block Is Available, Some Cards From The Earlier Sets Get Worse
Many cards from Shards of Alara have become a lot weaker now that we only have one pack of it, instead of the full three, or even two. One card on this list is Blighting. There was a time when I would take Blighting over Magma Spray. Being able to get three or four Blightings in your aggressive Red/Black deck was just so good. Players have a tough time dealing with limited resources. Jon Sonne taught me this fact when he won Grand Prix: Philadelphia in 2005 – I won it in 2008 (sick brag). He used a Goblin deck that featured 4 Wastelands and 4 Rishidan Ports to prevent his opponents from having the option of playing multiple spells per turn. His opponent would be put to the test every turn, being forced to make the right decision else they fall victim to his goblin beatdown. It is the same with a double Blighting game early on. You are leaving your opponent with limited resources, and they are in a spot where they need to either choose to keep lands and have the chance of flooding out, or keep spells and have the chance of not hitting the land drops that they need to cast those spells. Blighting is a lot weaker now, as it is very difficult to pick up multiples, and having one in a deck doesn’t really impress me.
Other cards that got a lot weaker are Blood Cultist and Vithian Stinger. When you have pingers in your deck, you want more than one to be able to take down two toughness guys. With just one in your deck it doesn’t do too much, and the lack of Fatestichers out there is just another reason to stay away from ever first picking a Vithian Stinger. [Does Stun Sniper help the Vithian Stinger’s cause a little? — Craig.] Another card that got worse is Sanctum Gargoyle, since the steady chain of them is probably not going to happen, and it’s much less likely you to get that Call to Heel to compliment their strategy.
6) When The Full Block Is Available, Some Cards From The Earlier Sets Get BETTER
Some cards from Shards of Alara get stronger rather that weaker with the release of Alara Reborn. One card that is a perfect example of this is Resounding Silence. Back when there were three packs of Shards of Alara, people could easily play around Resounding Silence by not attack into you when you randomly left open four mana (or even eight mana when you’re deep enough in the game). Now it’s different, and you will have to go with your sick reading skills to determine if your opponent has or doesn’t have it. Qasali Ambusher is another card that got so much better, because even less people ever even played around this card, and it’s so much of a swing your favor when you get someone to walk into it and jump their guy. Other cards on the list are spells such as Agony Warp and Branching Bolt, since it will be easier for you to two-for-one your opponent.
5) Don’t Pick Cards That Are Worse Than What You COULD Get
Let’s say its pack 1, and looks like you are heading in the greedy direction. You get passed your pack, and for your sixth pick you have the option to take a Cavern Thoctar or a Druid of the Anima. Take the Druid. The reason behind this is that Cavern Thoctar is a slow big guy that doesn’t really have an instant impact on the game. In Alara Reborn, you may be able to pick up Enlisted Wurm, or more likely Gorger Wurm and Sigiled Behemoth. All of these cards play the same role as the Thoctar, and could actually be better. The basic tip here is don’t take something you can get later. The Druid is unique because a two-drop mana ramp card is hard to find in this Block (yes, there’s Trace of Abundance, but the point still stands).
4) Filigree Fracture Is A First Pick
I presume that many of you guys didn’t play back in Invasion Block. I did, and Slay was a Boss. Filigree Fracture is even better. For three mana at an instant speed, you can turn the game around with what some would consider a tenth-pick card. With the Borderposts out there now, this can help you blow out your opponent early and get a huge jump on them from which it will be very tough for them to recover. Think about it… Even if your opponent isn’t Blue or Black, they more often than not will have artifacts and Enchantments in their deck, and being able to use the Fracture as instant speed to kill an Oblivion Ring is just as good. It also falls under the “unique” category of cards. Sure, you can first pick a Wild Leotau, but he just falls into the category of “another guy that you can always pick up later.”
3) There Is No “Correct” Amount Of Mana You Should Play – Decide When You’re Building Your Deck
Many people have this mindset that you should play seventeen lands. But think about it: sometimes you have decks that need more mana. I don’t mean just one more… I am talking about playing a twenty-land deck. Now I’m not saying “go play twenty lands in your draft decks,” but a lot of people don’t even consider it. Look and see how high your curve is, then look to see how many activated mana abilities you have, then finally look at how much card drawing you have. If you have ways to draw cards and cycle through your mana, then set your mana totals accordingly. Don’t be afraid, and be prepared to think outside the box and play the amount of lands you think is right.
2) Learn The Strength Of The Rares By Talking To Your Friends
With Alara Reborn being the Fresh New Set, you probably haven’t had a chance to play with all the rares yet. This is where I see even the best players make drafting mistakes, because they are unsure how good a rare is because they haven’t seen it played very often. So for you guys, I will go through all the rares now. I’ll tell you how good they are on a scale 1-10, so you can get a feel for them. This scale won’t be 100% accurate, because a scale for these cards all depends on the deck and many other factors, but this should help you form your own opinions.
Aven Mimeomancer — 5
Blitz Hellion – 5
Cloven Casting – 3
Dauntless Escort – 9
Deathbringer Thoctar – 6
Defiler of Souls – 6
Dragon Broodmother – 9
Engima Sphinx – 10
Fight to the Death – 4
Filigree Angel – 5
Finest Hour – 5
Glory of Warfare – 5
Identity Crisis – 4
Jenara, Asura of War – 10
Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund – 10
Knight of New Alara – 7
Knotvine Paladin – 5
Lavalanche — 10
Lich Lord of Unx – 6
Lightning Reaver – 7
Lord of Extinction – 7
Madrush Cyclops – 7
Maelstrom Nexus – 5
Maelstrom Pulse – 10
Mayael’s Aria – 3
Meddling Mage – 3
Mycoid Shepherd – 8
Necromancer’s Covenant – 9
Nemesis of Reason – 8
Predatory Advantage – 3
Retaliator Griffin – 5
Sages of the Anima – 6
Sen Triplets – 7
Soulquake – 5
Sovereigns of Lost Alara – 7
Spellbound Dragon – 9
Spellbreaker Behemoth – 6
Sphinx of the Steel Wind – 10
Thought Hemorrhage – 2
Thraximundar – 9
Time Sieve – 2
Unscythe, Killer of Kings – 4
Uril, The Miststalker – 8
Vedalken Heretic – 4
Wargate – 5
10) Play Well
Be tight, and think your plays through. You’re a Boss!
Thanks for reading, guys. Let me know what you think in the forums, unless you thought it was bad. If that’s the case, this is the time for silent reflection.
Gerard