Yesterday’s trivia:
Q: Which is more difficult, comedy or dying?
A: Hard to say. Subjects recruited to test both have been surprisingly reticent.
Q: Why do people hate the shuffler?
A: In ancient times, during the period of Yom Kippur, the rabbi would listen to his peoples’ sins and put them on a ritual goat. This goat would than be allowed to run free or “escape”, taking everyone’s sins with him. Thus began the New Year, sin free. And that, my friends, is the origin of the word “scapegoat”.
Q: What record did I set when I was born?
A: Largest baby born in my Pierre, SD hospital in 30 years: 11 pounds, 6 ounces. Sorry Mom!
We’re rolling right along now, with the sets that are still draftable! Let’s get it started.
Drafting: Invasion
A fun set with some interesting complexities. Green fixes things but then you have to play Green. It’s not bad per se, but the other combinations are definitely stronger than either G/R or G/W.
In fact, the best common in all of Invasion is definitely Repulse, although Agonizing Demise is pretty close. Either way, Armadillo Cloak is definitely overrated. The tappy apprentices are good but they do die to a lot. Zap is always being underdrafted.
The best two-color combination power-wise are R/B and B/U. These offer the most removal, the best gold cards, and the strongest bombs.
Three color styles, I can’t see anything wrong with R/B/U. You’re loaded up on good stuff, you have lots and lots of bounce to get you there, and Probe for the hereafter.
The White combinations are okay if they’re aggressive enough with lots of tappers. In G/W especially, I find Llanowar Knight to be a better grab than the Cloak from above. On the other hand, if you’re splashing White in a R/G deck, the Cloak looks a lot more appealing, especially on a Yavimaya Barbarian.
For Invasion, like Ravnica below, I find I need a good reason not to go 3 colors (or in the case of Green, 4-5). The two-color deck would happen if you don’t need anything from another color, or all the best picks are in your main two, both of which are rather unlikely. Sometimes you’ll be so fast or color-hungry that you have no room for colorless lands, but again, both are unlikely, especially in Invasion.
Green gives you very little in the splash department, which is ok, because you’re either speedy or playing it for the capacity to splash everything else.
White is the weakest color in Invasion but it’s also the most likely to get picked up, as it doesn’t have too much to splash, so you won’t be losing out on first picks as often. Probable White splashes include: Shackles, a tapping ability, Samite Archer, or the occasional Acolyte. For the rest,
Blue: Repulse, Recoil, Probe, Fact or Fiction, Exclude
Black: Agonizing Demise, Hate Weaver, Crypt Angel, Exotic Curse (but Black is really better as a main color)
Red: Tribal Flames, Zap, Scorching Lava, Breath of Darigaaz, Ghitu Fire(!), Plague Spores.
Note that triple I is really the only time to go two color, if ever. Planeshift has low colored goodies, and Apocalypse flips it all on its head.
+Planeshift
So you’re drafting Red and you have to choose between Magma Burst, Flametongue Kavu, and Thangarth. The answer is obviously FTK, probably the most broken Red uncommon in the history of the game, which is really saying something. Not just because it kills everything, and not just because it goes into every single deck. No, FTK is so off the wall because it was printed in the same set as the “return FTK to your hand” mechanic! The worst part about being on the receiving end of Flametongue is knowing you were going to take 4, then watch it be replaced by a Lava Zombie or Kavu Hunter. Hell, you could Hunting Drake it if you want to. Just silly. [Holy Pikula I hated being on the other end of that nonsense. – Knut, who loves III and IPA, but generally hated IIP]
Incidentally, that gating mechanic is part of the reason why the bounce in this block is so useful. The gating creatures are good, but not without their tempo vulnerabilities. Rushing River is a fine addition to any deck, and Temporal Spring after.
Overall, Planeshift is the weakest addition to the block. If you’re running all three sets, this is the time to get your deck ready for its third color. Death Bomb, Magma Burst, the Drake or River, Terminate, Hobble, maybe even a Charm. Although as we’ll soon see, playing an off color 3 does have benefits. By the way, can you believe you actually have to discard to Treva’s Charm? Like drawing a card for three different mana was just a touch too strong.
+Apocalypse
Woah we’re upside down! Apoc was a crazy little number that made good drafting from the previous two sets a mistake for the third. Being considerate to your mana base meant your R/G/W deck loses out on Consume Strength, or Savage Gorilla, or lots of other goodies. The problem is that the gold cards in Apocalypse are slightly stronger than Invasion, but there are a lot less of them. This often resulted in people getting befuddled and running a 6-6-6 mana base, which almost guarantees you a straight out game loss.
Instead, Apocalypse was about planning ahead of time. You need to know what commons you can expect to get, and plan for them without messing up your consistency too badly. Some people draft 3 color-off right from Invasion forward, to maximize their picks in Apocalypse. This is a risky strategy because sometimes packs just don’t open your way. However, it does have big rewards when it works. RU/(bw) and GB/(ur) were the two most common ways of approaching this scheme.
White remains the worst color over the whole block, with the B/W gold cards particularly bad. R/W is alright, but that usually turns into a R/U/W. RU definitely has the strongest common and uncommon cards, with Jilt being especially crazy nuts. Readers might guess I’m also a fan of Illuminate.
Finally, do not underestimate the land switching cards. Dream Thrush is definitely the best of these, but even the silly Kavus or Reef Shaman can do very good things for you and bad things against them. You only need to -1 a Tribal Flames, or just remove a color for a turn to get a fantastic edge. That plus the pain free color fixing for yourself (and the occasional + to Flames or Ordered Migration) makes these kinds of cards worth including at least one of, if possible.
It’s too bad Invasion block packs are becoming more valuable, as you really need a number of drafts to get the nuances down of this really interesting block. It’s one I definitely recommend.
Odyssey
Graveyard matters, how mortifying. There are two simple questions: Do you want cards in your graveyard, and how do you get them there? The first one you can deduce while you’re drafting, or the color will let you know it’s a good idea. The second one is a touch more engaging. Sure, through normal give and take, cards end up in the trash. The choice you have is taking the initiative, i.e. are you in such a good place when you hit threshold, it’s worth getting there at any price? Let’s find out.
White has two particularly good commons that enjoy threshold: Hallowed Healer and Mystic Zealot. Both cards have impact even before you hit 7, but once you do, things get very interesting. Zealot in particular is quite strong, and is definitely White’s overall best common. White also has a few particularly good rares and uncommons at threshold, although the reliability of getting these is much less. White does lack a bit in getting its graveyard filled. Its main route is discarding cards to abilities or cantrips that feed into itself. Second Thoughts is a wide open trick that’s still playable, but Shelter is a definite gem that you run as many as you can grab.
Blue in Odyssey, and throughout the entire block, is especially relevant as a color that can help every other color do its thing more effectively. In straight Odyssey, Blue is very very strong. The chance to pick up multiple Æther Bursts has lots of appeal, especially with Green’s fat and threshold dependence. Psionic Gift also plays well with Green’s limited removal and direct damage capabilities. Finally, Blue is The color for making a big graveyard, with the oft-first picked Cephalid Looter, the cheapest of cantrips, and general card draw. All this plus good efficient fliers makes Blue an excellent color in OD.
As stated above, Green is quite good but really enjoys getting to 7. Aside from Wild Mongrel, it’s not particularly popular, which can give a Green drafter quality late uncommons like Crashing Centaur or Metamorphic Wurm. Green also gets two of the better flashback spells in Beast Attack and Roar of the Wurm. Finally, Diligent Farmhand and Werebear both provide quality acceleration early, and useful extra effects late. The Farmhand and Rites of Spring in particular give good splash potential, which comes into play with Ghastly Demise, Bursts, and Judgment cards.
Speaking of Demise, Black is a good if unspectacular color in Odyssey. It’s got some decent removal, with Afflict often going way later than it should, especially considering this block’s interests. The creatures aren’t particularly impressive, but Black kill and disruption combine nicely with almost every other color. B/W is the exception, as aside from inherent discard abilities, it has almost no good way to get threshold. Black at this point was taken just for the sake of taking, to set things up well for #2
Red is similar to Black here in that has some decent removal but weak creatures. Get enough Flame Bursts and Salvos and you can do some great things, but without all of that you have a very weak pile. Chainflinger is the common creature of choice. Enhanced, it can run the board all by itself, although you’d still take Flame Burst over it generally. Ember Beast is another fine creature with the statistics Red really wanted. Red and Green work particularly well together, in big part because of Ember Beast and Green’s solid earlier drops.
+Torment
The Black set was designed for Black’s dominance and it does not disappoint. Many, many strong Black cards give a large variety of first picks. The big problem is having so many that you the person on your right thinks it’s open, or the person on your left jumps in anyway, just to grab a piece of the goodies. Black was a gamble in Torment, but of course, the benefits were very high.
On the common and uncommon side, you’ll happily first pick: Chainer’s Edict, Sickening Dreams, Cabal Torturer, Crip-Tigue, Slithery Stalker, Faceless Butcher, Gloomdrifter, Grotesque Hybrid (big time), Soul Scourge, and Carrion Wurm. That’s quite solid for a small set, and doesn’t even take into account adequate cards like Waste Away or Organ Grinder, and really doesn’t take into account lots of broken rares. Were I Green/Blue going into Torment, I would look long and hard at adding Black for Laquatus’s Champion. It’s definitely that good.
On the flip side, Green and White are supposed to be the weak colors in Torment. Green is actually okay, just shallow. Good threshold and madness cards allow the Green deck to find a little something in the set. White, on the other hand, is real trash. Floating Shield is quite useful and flexible, and Teroh’s Faithful puts a freeze on your opponent’s aggression. Occasionally the bird gets usage, but generally speaking, White is really awful in Torment.
Blue gets two fantastic commons in Deep Analysis and Aquamoeba. The beast fills a lot of useful roles in any deck it finds itself in, and Deep A just draws cards. Really, you want multiples of both in any Blue deck. After those two, Skywing Aven is fine and you have some good uncommons to work with. One less pack of Æther Burst hurts, but there’s enough here to make up for it. Blue continues to thrive in the block.
Red has a great common removal spell, three broken uncommons, and not a whole lot else. Red continues to play a supplementary role in the army department, where hopefully your creatures come from the other half. Incidentally, this is why U/R was generally the weakest combination in Odyssey block, yet still workable.
+ Judgment
Black goes flippy doo, and Green and White get on top. In theory… Black actually isn’t too bad in Judgment, just rather under-represented. Toxic Stench is fine, although highly splashable in G/W or Blue builds. In the same vein, Red is -1 common as everyone takes Arcane Teachings and finds room for it. Fantastic, easy to cast commons seem to work like that.
Green is a fine if unspectacular color in Judgment, surprising for the people who expected Green to mirror Black’s dominance from the previous set. Instead, we get decent, fairly-costed creatures and adequate tricks. Another two-mana accelerant is welcome, but it’s definitely not enough to outright save a Green deck gone awry.
White is similar although definitely in better shape. White/Blue particularly shines here, as the threshold turns on your Battlewise Aven and Vigilant Sentry, in addition to the previous sets’ cards. You also get Mirror Wall, a fine blocker that turns pretty sick as a regular 3/4 for four. White also gets the hugely annoying Shieldmage Advocate and Prismatic Strands. Both cards give major trouble to Odyssey’s entire Red philosophy, which makes Red the overall weakest color in the block.
Finally, Blue remains the strongest. It never has a bad set, and it still enhances any kind of stratagem a drafter might need. Blue is underwhelming in Judgment, but since every other color is as well, it’s not too bad off. Blue does have the awesome Wormfang Drake for great offense, and should you be lucky enough to find a Wonder, games seem to fall into your lap.
Onslaught
Sparky outright dominates colors, much less strategies. Failing him, Lavamancer’s Skill on the right guy, perhaps a 1/4 guy, also seems effective. And together, well it’s no wonder that R/U is by far the strongest color combination in triple Onslaught. Red in particular is savagely overpowered. Incidentally, Mistform Wall got worse under 9th Edition, but that probably doesn’t come up too often these days.
Green gets Beast/Elf, both pretty effective tribes, especially with Wirewood Savage. Vitality Charm is also an incredible trick. If you can get around the death dealing Red cards, Green is pretty good. Luckily for its fans, Green gets its own broken common four months later.
White isn’t unplayable with adequate tricks and some good fliers, but its people are at such odds with each other it seems like you’re drafting with half the quantity, unlike the previous colors. You’ve got a very good creature enchantment, but also a number of very poor ones. White also gets a boost in the next set, but in Onslaught it’s pretty weak unless you get a great very many Gustcloaks.
Black gets strong point removal, good card advantage options, and decent creatures. The Husk works well with a lot of strategies, and is a good creature type to boot. If you’re not with Red, Black is something of a necessity in Onslaught, just to deal with the crazed creature abilities in this set and the next. Some folk do say a W/U soldier/flier strategy is sound, but I believe it gets playable only in the full block.
+Legions
Another popular set that a lot of the competitive community finds insufferably dull. Those 19 creature/4 spell decks really start to wear down the excitement level. While I do respect the results of never lacking for playables, the stream of morphs and average men dull the mind.
Obviously, any creature that can double as kill is highly valued here. Green doesn’t have it, but it does have some useful efficient creatures and Timberwatch Elf, a.k.a. Peacekeeper. Sparksmith is still the stronger of the two dumb commons, but Timberwatch is searchable and enhanced with Wirewood Herald. Either way, you don’t want to see those two at the other side of the table.
Blue has the astounding Echo Tracer, as well as Mistform Seaswift, an excellent beater and Skill target. Keeneye Aven is another fine flier that’s an auto inclusion. Finally, Wall of Deceit. Wow.
White gets amplify, easily one of the more flawed Limited mechanics in recent memory. This is unfortunate for White, once again an unexciting color. The provoke creatures are good in Green and White, but really start to shine with the last set. For this one, you’ll take Deftblade Elite, but it won’t be a superstar. White gains some more good two-drops, and some more flight, but still lacks the oomph needed to interact effectively. Soon, soon.
+Scourge
White gets the kick it needs here with Dragon Scales’s board influence. In addition, a very useful morph, a very useful pair of landcyclers, and even a couple of solid tricks. It’s all about the Scales, but after that White still gets the critical action needed to round out a deck.
Green gets a pair of fine landcyclers, and not much else. There is hope of the broken Forgotten Ancient of course. What were we thinking?
Red gets a helpful landcycler and some surprisingly abundant removal. Rock Jockey was a card a lot of people didn’t care for, but I’m the original 3/3 fan. 1-2 of those guys, some Torrents, and you’ve still got the best color available.
Black ends on a very strong note as well with some adequate removal, a great landcycler, and a few other efficient guys. It’s a little slow, but the power is still there to wrap up a build nicely. It’s unfortunate that Zombie Cutthroat, and to a far, far lesser extent Putrid Raptor, goes into any deck but their castable options still make them particularly shine with Swamp players.
Blue gets a very nice card draw spell and some pseudo-removal. Frozen Solid was never it was cracked up to be, although you’ll play it. But the landcycler is great, and Raven Guild Initiate is surprisingly good in a lot of directions. Another Skill target never hurts.
I myself found the Onslaught block rather pedantic, but I know some people who really enjoyed it. Personally, I think players can do better.
Mirrodin
After this distaste/blandness of the previous block, Mirrodin seemed like it would be pretty fun and interesting. Of course it still had its broken board plowing Red common, but at least this time you needed a Bonesplitter to make it sick(er).
Red was once again far and away the strongest “color”, which earns quotes because chromatic representation was so small in the set. But Red has useful removal for every relevant permanent type, in addition to the silly goblin and good ol’ Rusty. The broken Red uncommon this time around doesn’t actually Wrath their board, merely their two best cards. Two steps forward…
Green was funny in Mirrodin because it had actual relevant removal for the first time in ever. It helped, although Green really played best as a very aggressive color with lots of Predator Strikes, Tel-Jilad Chosen, and Fangren Hunter type cards. A good Green deck was quite powerful and could handle what it needed to en route to the attack phase, a welcome change. Bad Green was still pretty bad however.
Black has Terror, which for some reason people thought would be poor in metal world. Obviously its not, and is definitely Black’s best common and fine card to cast off of Leaden Myr. Black was the odd “color matters” color, which just meant you needed extra spaces of drafting to make it main, but it played just fine. Black necessary X = X.
My personal favorite trick occurred with Black. I would start with Barter in Blood in the opening hand, which as everyone knows is quite obvious once you go to four mana and play nothing. So instead, I would just stop at three mana, which sometimes meant discarding at 8 cards; whatever was needed to look like screw. Lo, they would play their best creatures to take advantage of my “condition”, where I would then drop land #4, and etc. It was loads of fun. “Nice topdeck, sack.”
Blue provided the juice for Mirrodin’s best mechanic in every format, that of course being Affinity. The best Affinity deck would be better than anything else, with absurdly cheap Myr Enforcers and Thoughtcasts in play. Blue also had a few useful other cards, including Aether Spellbomb, the best card its ever been compared with yet.
Finally, White is the other combo color, also giving its owner explosive draws with the perfect mix. The equipment-needing cards weren’t bad on their own and turned downright deadly when armed. Unfortunately, Affinity still trumps this action since mid combat removal doesn’t 2:1, unlike White. However, White does offer the rather crazy Blinding Beam, easily hitting the top 3 commons of the set, making it exceedingly powerful in almost any deck that could find room. There wasn’t really a penalty for splashing colors in Mirrodin, but it wouldn’t become nearly as common until the block developed.
Finally, the Myr were all excellent and a welcome addition to everything. On color needs slowly shifted to off when 5th Dawn rolled around, but even in the beginning, a Manakin was better than nothing. The artifacts in general, while pervasive, were not exactly hard to place for draftability.
+Darksteel
Affinity got a little weaker with the loss of a pack of artifact lands, but the Quicksilver Behemoth was awfully good when it was good. In addition, the land-affinity creatures made fine early drops when appropriate, allowing Affinity to still have its explosive potential and still remain the overall strongest archetype.
Darksteel in general didn’t change the power structure too much, and was actually more of a lead in to 5th Dawn. On its own, the Arcbounds were a little worse, Ingot was a touch less useful, and Bola and Skullclamp were only good with Trinket Mage.
Red got a pair of excellent removal spells and some poor creatures. Black got a pair of adequate removal cards and some really strong, evasive creatures. Green took a bit of a hit, White treaded water, and Blue still remained strong to its core strategies. The biggest note of this set was one less Myr, which the really efficient drafters definitely felt.
+Fifth Dawn
The Green Sun’s emergence from the panopticon was a sign of great, disquieting import to the metalloid citizens of Mirrodin. Would this 5th Dawn be an omen of good, or was it a sign of recurring dominance by the wicked Memnarch? Glissa Sunseeker was determined to find out, by…any…means…necessary.
Well, they certainly knew how to spin a yarn back in the day. 5th Dawn saw a heralding back to Onslaught, as everybody got random 2/2s for three. The sunburst mechanic was rather interesting, as it definitely rewarded drafters who planned ahead. The sunburst cards themselves were definitely strong, especially in the low to mid commonalities.
Trinket Mage was easily the best common in the set, finding broken stuff from the previous two sets, or merely useful knick-knacks from this one. Blue itself was rather weak, acting more as a third color/enabler than having a particular identity as a power color on its own.
White, on the other hand, did get a jump with the highly efficient Loxodon Anchorite and Leonin Squire. Both provided ample card advantage and often had effects that could control the board. White also got a solid if unspectacular piece of removal, that while a vulnerable, was still welcome.
Black got the underrated Lose Hope, an Afflict on the cheap, and the darn good Blind Creeper. Sometimes he died a sad death, but more often he did 9-12 on the way out. A drawback is a drawback only if it matters.
Red was a little weak in the common department, but Rain of Rust was playable and Vulshok Sorcerer was absolutely amazing. This sorcerer/sorceress was deeply effective against a lot of strategies, and turned pretty sick in multiples. As a Red/Blue drafter, you were often faced with Mage/Sorcerer decisions, and it was always quite tough. Trinket Mage is better in the abstract, but the potential for multiple Sorcerers count for a lot. For example, while I would take Magma Jet over the first Vulshok, I probably wouldn’t if it was going to be my third. That scenario did not come up particularly often, but it’s always worth evaluating a pick in the likelihood of getting multiples. Some cards just play a lot better in tandem.
Green ends on an adequate note, giving two decent two drops and the really strong Ferocious Charge. The good cards seemed to go awfully quickly, but there was usually enough mediocrity to get enough playables. All in all, a decent drafting experience.
Champions of Kamigawa
Straight Champs, you had the choice of going spirit nuts or splice crazy. Those were by far the two best archetypes, although a good Green deck could compete. It would involve Sakura-Tribe Elder into multiple Order of the Sacred Bell and hopefully a Kodama or two. Some Rends or Rays could play clean up.
By far though, the most obscene archetypes were the infinite Glacial Ray/Dampen Thought decks or the multiple Devouring Greed builds. The reason why they were so strong was that most of the cards needed were in the common spot, and a lot of those cards weren’t desired by other players. For example, while Glacial Ray was snatched quickly, Peer Through Depths would easily table, and River Kaijin never got respected anyway.
By the same token, Befoul or Kabuto Moth could go early, but the spirits were in such great supply that you would never lack, making a couple Devouring Greeds early a very safe gamble. My personal favorite archetype was double Greed Zubera craziness, flavored to your liking. Kami of Fire’s Roar would often be better than Yamabushi’s Flame in this archetype, a pick that had many people (suckers) scratching their heads.
There were of course other options than the archetypes mentioned above. First pick a dragon and rid him/her/it to victory; a quality plan since Mirage days. Certain other cards of higher rarity lent themselves to builds like: Budoka Gardener, Kiki-Jiki, Seshiro The Annointed, or even the Hondens. There was enough flexibility and innovative power to make trip Champions an interesting experience, at least for a while.
+Betrayers of Kamigawa
A decent set, but one that didn’t play particularly well with the previous. Each color got at least one really good common, which were: Torrent of Stone, Horobi’s Whisper, Gnarled Mass, Shimmering Glasskite, and Waxmane Baku.
Some people have said that Okiba-Gang Shinobi is actually a better pick than Horobi’s Whisper. It is a close call, although in CCB I would say Whisper wins out. However there are some times when it’s a runaway, like a B/U deck with lots of splice options for the Whisper, or a B/W deck with Moths guaranteeing the ninja to get through multiple times. Basically, take which card you think you need more, although extra removal is rarely a bad thing. I do believe the balance shifts slightly in the next set, although it’s still very close.
With the ninjas in general, most are pretty good. A lot of people swear by Mistblade Shinobi, and everyone digs Ninja of the Deep Hours’ style. Throat Slitter is a pure bomb, and should be drafted and splashed as such. Jitte is in this set too, a card that tends to help out anyone who didn’t quit the game in disgust.
As stated above, Betrayers’ big flaw was not really helping the themes of the previous set. Less arcane and less spirits meant the two heavy archetypes from before got a lot worse. It equates to less planned, innovative drafting and more merely “adding cards”.
+Saviors of Kamigawa
Zzzz. There are some people who absolutely despise the full block drafting experience, and while their vehemence is surprising, one needs to respect their passion.
In actuality, it’s not that bad, it’s just a lot less fun than the previous two. Once again the Champions archetypes and mechanics are weakened so much that it’s barely even remains an option.
Red and Green were the big winners of Saviors, with Red getting a couple of strong removal spells and Green filling out its curve plus getting great spirit/arcane cards. Green also got the highly useful Shinen of Life’s Roar, a card no one was giving full credit to for the first few weeks of CBS. Whoever were the first people to pick up on its value, they won an awful lot of extra games while the rest of the world played catch-up.
White is decent, but gets very little to enhance its stronger spirit theme from the previous. For example, Waxmane Baku was by far White’s best pick previously, but Saviors makes you play with Shinen of Star’s Light to power it up this time around. Again, it becomes less about style and more about drafting regular cards, a more luck-based and dull scenario.
Black gets a couple of pieces of good removal and some useful uncommons, but Black ends up pretty weak in Saviors overall. It’s a far dip from the previous two sets where Black definite held highest honors.
Blue gets a great flier, an unimpressive removal card and like every other color, lots of trash. Ho hum, a disappointing finale to an otherwise decent experience.
Ravnica
What’s that? We’ve reached the present!? What a fun decade-plus it has been. Who doesn’t love traipsing down memory lane?
Ravnica is, in my estimation, one of the more enjoyable drafting experiences in years. Furthermore, it looks like it will remain fun for the entire block, which as we’ve seen is a rare trend indeed. Instead of going over each color, I’d just like to discuss a few succinct points I’ve picked up since this block began. Critique at your pleasure.
Golgari/Selesynya are roughly equal in my eyes, in that you’re G/B splash White or G/W splash Black. While you can do two color versions of these guilds, you really don’t need to or want to. The third color makes up for the holes the two-color guild would find itself in. Civic Wayfinder is definitely not getting the attention it should as a pure card advantage, splash happy engine. It’s not sheer power, but it enables oh so nicely. The Wayfinder also allows you to go off guild effectively. Both R/G and G/U are pretty effective color combinations, especially considering what you give up.
Boros is the wild archetype of Ravnica, but since everyone seems to avoid it, you can pick up a very strong deck. Most people agree that the best Boros deck is better than the best deck another guild could make. With that power comes risk of course. Boros has a poor late game, and certain cards from the opposition make winning a chore. A wide open Boros run gives you the 3-0 tools if you’re willing to take the risk. For the record, I believe the hyper-aggressive Boros decks to be way too chancy, instead preferring a bit of control element. Viashino Fangtail goes far later in other peoples’ pick orders than mine, for example. Conclave Equenaut also has degrees of playability. Even Benevolent Ancestor can have a place, especially if you’re loaded up with Legionnaires. That said, Boros’ best common creature has to be Veteran Armorer. This guy is great, so good in multiples, and allows you to keep turning everything sideways. Every time I see him later than 4th pick I’m shocked, especially since he’s amazing in Selesnya as well.
Dimir is the guild that can give Boros the run for its money as best unopposed deck. I’m sure by now everyone has seen the severity of a really good mill deck, a far better version than its unexciting B/U flier mirror. Incidentally, why is no one giving any kudos to Surveilling Sprite? All Dimir tires to do is either plink in the air or survive until the late game and this card does both admirably. I’d be happy with four in a deck, yet he tables constantly. Give him some play time people.
Finally, five combos of Ravnica Limited. This is a great set; there are lots more.
Dimir House Guard + Mausoleum Turnkey: The Turnkey is definitely amazing, especially when you play him on turn 4 after transmuting on turn 3. A good start to the game.
Necromantic Thirst + Surveilling Sprite + Thoughtpicker Witch + Dimir Infiltrator: Necromantic Thirst is definitely a Black/Blue card, but it’s not as unplayable as people make it out to be. This combo is probably a game winner, and all the cards come really late. Feel free to mix and match; Stinkweed Imp and Thirst also combo nicely.
Dogpile + Selesnya: Dogpile is playable as a hopeful 2-3 points of damage in Boros, but it’s a total victory condition in token crazy GW. A few Scatters and Fists and you’ll want a card that lets you play it for 5-7 damage anywhere you choose. It’s an excellent finisher when things get muddled.
Tunnel Vision + Junktroller: A rare combination, which is good because it’s an instant win. TV very bad!
Seed Spark + Terrarion: Seed Spark is another card that doesn’t get full respect, which is surprising because it’s always maindeckable. Who doesn’t have a Signet or Strands or something in play? Should that rare case arrive, pop your own Terrarion for no card disadvantage and a quick Raise The Alarm.
That’s it, that’s everything! Tomorrow: how to draft the future.
Bonus Trivia:
1. What is the better first pick in Masques: Snuff Out or Vendetta?
2. What was the better overall pick in Saviors: Promised Kannushi or Godo’s Irregulars?
3. Which came first, the chicken or the egg?