Kaladesh is finally upon us and that means a whole new Limited format to explore. Much like in Constructed, the early weeks of Limited tend to favor proactive strategies as everyone is still learning how best to exploit new mechanics and what the typical archetypes look like.
This set in particular is difficult to evaluate since no one knows exactly how easy it is to generate energy or how prohibitive crew costs are. I’ll be learning alongside you in these early digests, and I’m very interested to see how the polls shake out. I expect there to be plenty of disagreement and a lot of discussion past my opening remarks.
So Pack 1, Pick 1, Draft 1 anyone?
Right away I see an intriguing rare in Rashmi, Eternities Crafter. It’s a reasonable body that can run away with games by drawing you a card each turn, often gaining you tempo by casting the card immediately. Any card that can gain tempo and card advantage simultaneously is going to be intriguing, especially in draft.
If this were a test draft, I’d take the unique rare in order to learn, but our goal here is to make the best decision, and this pack has two premium removal spells in Welding Sparks and Revoke Privileges.
There are enough artifacts in Kaladesh that casting Welding Sparks for four or five damage isn’t unusual, although Revoke Privileges still answers more creatures. The enchantment is worse against utility creatures and Disenchant effects, however.
These two cards are incredibly close, and once I play more of the format I may develop a color preference that separates the two. I’m inclined to take one of them over Rashmi since they are both single-colored. While at the time I went with Revoke Privileges, I think Welding Sparks has the slightest edge because Fragmentize and the like are so easily maindeckable.
This doesn’t strike me as a great pack, which leaves us with a ton of options. I had a good experience with Riparian Tiger at my Prerelease, but I’m loath to take a non-premium five-drop this early in a draft. Aradara Express is more powerful but ultimately has the same issue–It’s generally much easier to fill out the top end of your curve than the bottom.
For that reason I would lean toward Reckless Fireweaver here, regardless of whether you took Welding Sparks or Revoke Privileges first. It’s important not to marry your first picks and try to take the best card from the early packs.
It helps that Kaladesh strikes me as an aggressive format since there are a number of good, cheap combat tricks, and vehicles, to support attacking. Reckless Fireweaver lets you mold races in your favor since it can block well while still getting through some damage.
I’m sure I’ll look back on this first Digest with some level of embarrassment, but mistakes are inevitable in Magic so it’s best to charge forward without fear and learn from experience. For now there’s no use fighting who I am: a two-drop fanatic.