Many players believe white-based aggro is not a good strategy in Kaldheim Draft, but I strongly disagree. A good white aggressive deck is a contender with all the best decks in the format, but it requires some deckbuilding finesse. For example, Goldvein Pick is better than Bound in Gold in the best white aggressive decks.
That may sound extremely odd but I stand by it. Goldvein Pick is such a beautifully designed common. It’s almost equip zero with some ramping and fixing upside. I know this is probably hard to swallow, but I strongly recommend inflating Goldvein Pick in your own pick order just to get some more experience playing with the card. It looks unassuming, but is so impressive whenever I play with it (especially in white decks with Battlefield Raptor).
Pack 1, Pick 6
The Picks So Far:
The Pack:
The Pick:
Return Upon the Tide is arguably the most powerful card in this pack, but it’s a black card so we can only consider it as a splash in Simic. I don’t mind it in Simic with a couple copies of Ravenous Lindwurm and Grizzled Outrider as top-end. It can especially be powerful with a good snow manabase to turn on Pilfering Hawk as a reliable discard outlet. However, it’s not like the reanimation spell plays an important role in that archetype. While I can see taking it here, I don’t think I’ll miss the card even if I end up in Simic snow.
Strategic Planning, Undersea Invader, and Roots of Wisdom are the only on-color options in this pack. If you find yourself enticed by these options, I think it’s important to reflect and recognize that you aren’t leaving open other avenues and tunnel-visioning too hard on Simic. These three commons are almost always relegated to the sideboard. Given that, I would rather speculate on a card that can have more impact on another archetype, even if that archetype has a low probability of being drafted from this seat.
Run Amok is a fantastic card in any red aggressive deck. I could see taking this card with a slightly different architecture of previously drafted cards. For example, Run Amok will work if this pool leads towards Boros or Gruul. It won’t with Izzet. There are some variants of Izzet that love Run Amok, but the blue cards in this pool are not at their best in that variant, so drafting that variant from this position isn’t as idea. If Saw it Coming was a Berg Strider, Run Amok would be more enticing.
Both Run Amok and Return Upon the Tide are reasonable hedge-picks, but I think they pale in comparison to Rune of Sustenance. An aura that gives lifelink and draws a card is a playable, yet unexciting card. However, a card that builds a lifelink Equipment is immensely powerful. Loxodon Warhammer is one of the biggest Limited bombs of all time since turning every creature into a lifelinking threat is nothing to scoff at. While not every deck can leverage that potential, I think having access to it early in the draft is worth more than anything else this pack has to offer.
Pack 1, Pick 11
Before you make your decision, I want to point out a previous pack: Pack 1, Pick 4. There’s some important information to glean from this pack that may be relevant to make the best decision at this juncture. Can you figure out what that is?
The Picks So Far:
The Pack:
The Pick:
The pattern in the Pack 1, Pick 4 pack is that there were no blue commons, which means a blue common was taken out of the pack. When you add the fact that no good blue cards were taken after Pack 1, Pick 2, This lowers the efficacy of Gnottvold Recluse and Disdainful Stroke as a pick. That’s because both of those options pair best into a Simic deck according to the current pool.
I believed that, with this pool and the signals I have seen, a white aggressive deck is more likely to be where this particular draft will yield a reward. And with Rune of Sustenance already, picking up Battlefield Raptor and biasing towards and Equipment-based white deck seemed like a really strong strategy.
Pack 2, Pick 6
The Picks So Far:
The Pack:
The Pick:
At this stage, I’m most likely Selesnya or Azorius. And there’s a reasonable likelihood that the Selesnya deck splashes blue or that the Azorius deck splashes green. This is a strong argument for Glacial Floodplain, which has the nice boosted effect of supporting Berg Strider for either Bant variant.
Mistwalker and Bind the Monster are good blue cards, but they’re not blue cards I go out of my way to splash given that they have particular windows where they’re good, while also not being immensely powerful.
Hence, for me, this pick is between Kaya’s Onslaught and Glacial Floodplain. I’m honestly not sure what the correct pick is, but I went with Floodplain. My deck can be seen below, and as you can see, I regretted this pick — I wish I had taken the Kaya’s Onslaught. That being said, if I had had the opportunity to take Rune of Flight, I would be happier with the Glacial Floodplain to help splash that in my Selesnya Runes deck.
And, an important last note: let this trophy be an example that it’s okay to throw away your first few picks. Shimmerdrift Vale is the only card I ended up playing from my first five picks of this draft!
