Listen, I understand the hate.
From the controversial-at-best greyscale art to The Professor declaring it “the laziest, most cynical” Draft product, Innistrad: Double Feature (DBL) was considered dead on arrival. There wasn’t a single person I could find who was excited about this set. Consider that even a turd in a punchbowl is championed by those who love chaos.
The reality is that Innistrad: Double Feature is the Crocs of Limited formats: ugly as sin but highly functional. It feels great. Yet most people don’t want to be caught dead associating with it for fear of being ostracized.
While I think the backlash will soon face its own backlash and own a few Sealed boxes myself, if you haven’t at least tried the digital product, you’re cheating yourself. This is the best modern Draft set I’ve played since Khans of Tarkir.
I want to clarify that I’ve been playing almost exclusively on Magic Online (MTGO), where I’m currently second on the leaderboard with eleven (11) trophies. The reason is twofold:
- Magic Arena only offers Best-of-One play, which is a miserable experience with such powerful cards.
- The packs are built differently for each piece of software.
Let’s start with the packs themselves, one of the few smorgasbords available in a post-COVID world. On MTGO, you’ll receive an extra rare and uncommon in each pack, plus a “silver screen foil card” that could be any of the aforementioned, so you’re never hurting for playables. I’m regularly looking at 45-47 cards and having to make tough decisions.
Compare that to Magic Arena, where you get one extra rare in your opening pack. That’s it. I highly recommend trying to remember your MTGO password and logging on for DBL.
Approaching the Second One
While we were promised a curated set for Draft purposes, jamming everything together here is a feature, not a bug. Instead of being given a clear directive, we’re left to find our own synergies and occasional windfalls. This rewards players with a deep knowledge of the interactions in Innistrad: Midnight Hunt (MID) and Innistrad: Crimson Vow (VOW), but punishes those whose evaluations are stuck too firmly in either one.
Voldaren Ambusher is the perfect example of a card I was never thrilled to play in MID. In DBL, I’ve found it easier to accumulate a critical mass of palatable Vampires when I’m not forced to fill out my curve with Famished Foragers and Mounted Dreadknight. Cloaked Cadet was clunky in VOW with training as an underwhelming mechanic. Combining it with MID’s Gavony Silversmith or Contortionist Troupe reinvents it quicker than dating Pete Davidson. Don’t even get me started on Bladebrand with Ballista Watcher.
Not every theme receives a glow-up in DBL, though. It brings me no joy to say that butts are dead, as Ancient Lumberknot is nigh-unplayable here. Simic seemed like an obvious beneficiary, but I’ve found the work it takes to make your Slogurk, the Overslime and Grolnok, the Omnivore work don’t justify the payoffs. It’s too easy to come by powerful creatures or extra cards here.
Philosophically, this is absolutely a “Drafting the Hard Way” set, meaning you should be taking the best card in the pack while looking for your lane. The volume of playables means that I’m less concerned about having to abandon early picks if they’re not going to flow, knowing I’ll be fine. I don’t consider myself in a color until a few picks into the second pack.
Paths to the Festival
I’ve had the most success when I’ve approached DBL with the same philosophy as Vintage Cube: do something powerful or do something fast. Less experienced drafters will compromise their manabases and win rates trying to splash something irresponsible later in the draft.
In the powerful camp, you have decks that are base black or white. In the former, Dreadfeast Demon remains the best creature you can cast in the format, but Sorin the Mirthless; The Meathook Massacre; Henrika Domnathi; Toxrill, the Corrosive; and Voldaren Bloodcaster are all gas. So is Grafted Identity (even more busted with better targets to steal) along with Hullbreaker Horror; Dreamshackle Geist; Lier, Disciple of the Drowned; and Organ Hoarder, which is legitimately good enough to be mentioned here.
If you can’t get into Dimir, I’m fine pairing either color with white, as Azorius and Orzhov are both powerhouse archetypes, with Azorius skewing the most aggressive, even if it’s extracting value from disturb and pinging away through the air. Orzhov moves away from the lifegain synergies of VOW into a deck that accrues value through its graveyard and powerful removal suite. That said, I don’t think you have to completely reinvent these decks from previous iterations. Esper colors are the Chiefs vs. Bills divisional round game: it truly doesn’t feel like there’s a loser there.
In the fast camp, we have base-red decks. Boros lacked an identity over these last two sets, so players are sleeping on it in Draft queues. Is it Vampires? Training? Day/Night? Does it matter? It’s capable of the fastest starts, has a strong density of two-drops, and has access to evasive threats in white that can finish games.
My runner-up is Izzet Aggro, a deck that somewhat cares about instants and sorceries with Delver of Secrets and Festival Crasher making their respective returns. (Downgrade Wedding Invitation accordingly.) Consider, Startle, and Neonate’s Rush are your premium cantrips, but don’t discount Ancestral Anger. While it’s rare to stack them up, they’re still worth speculating on late.
Finally, Rakdos Vampires is arguably the best it has ever been. Unfortunately, everyone else knows that. Fight for the right to suck blood at your own risk.
Acid Raining on Green’s Parade
Despite powerhouses like Avabruck Caretaker and Tovolar’s Huntmaster, I consider green nearly undraftable in DBL. A last resort, but like the resort in Nine Perfect Strangers, where you feel a drug-induced dysphoria by winding up in green/anything.
First, you’ll be the most equipped to splash, which means that people inevitably try to splash. This leads to durdling, the death knell of a successful draft in this format. With decks chock-full of removal, your Weaver of Blossoms or Reclusive Taxidermist can be easily disrupted.
Second, you have almost no early-game. It feels like everyone is stacked with one-drops and you’re supposed to say “Snarling Wolf, pass…” without crying. Every common two-drop is something I’d be disappointed to wheel. In a world where Traveling Minister and Lantern Bearer exist, that’s not good enough.
Lastly, in a format as powerful as this, you’re heavily punished for not playing synergistic cards. When you’re drafting green, many of the core archetypes aren’t linear like Vampire or Spirit strategies. The lone exception would be Gruul Werewolves, but it was so comically bad in MID that you’re only gaining so much here, like freshly shaved truffles on a Little Caesar’s Hot-N-Ready.
Let the Games Begin
Remember that DBL is all about doing busted things, so draft your bombs and play to their strengths without straying into the esoteric. While the value in terms of cards might not be where previous sets are, the play points are flowing. I promise this is the most fun you’ll have drafting this year.
