Listen, sometimes I’d just rather mash the draft more button than tell you guys about, okay? The Baby Dragon is shifting gears from four-wheel drive to two wheel and is growing increasingly possessive of her toy trucks. The preemptive screech when a classmate comes over to play is effective. And worrisome. So let’s crash in with what I’ve been up to! I’ve been streaming a little less, as I’ve found that trying to talk and play Magic resulted in me doing both poorly. When combined with the Raptor Momma trying to get her C.V. in order to apply for a promotion, the upside of me shouting, “WHERE’S MY LAND DROPS?!” has been limited. On the plus side, I’ve drafted over a dozen times already! I’m recording results on a new tab, the Draft Record. Here you can see my deck layout and my draft. There has been some really fun ones, and some brutal regression to the mean.

My first 7 drafts of Guilds went well, each time hitting 2-1,w ithout even sniffing the finals. There’s been some very interesting moments where I felt like it could have gone either way, but the question of whether or not I’m playing “high-floor/low-ceiling” is one that will have to wait. It’s interesting playing a set with only 5 archetypes. It makes the non-guild pairings just about completely untenable.

Find your lane

The emphasis on the 5 guilds makes finding your lane paramount. There was a fun draft where we started with some decent Dimir cards, only for the signals that Selesnya is completely open to be impossible to ignore. Being the only drafter of a color combination is incredibly powerful as you’re effortlessly wheeling your gold commons and uncommons.

Second, there is a clear split between the guilds that can support more than one drafter at the table and those that cannot. Boros, Izzet, and Dimir can support two drafters at the table; Selesnya and Golgari can only support one. I think it comes down to the relatively weakness of green’s commons and uncommons. That said, I would not avoid those two guilds a priori. I’ve had a pretty good run with Selesnya and Golgari by wheeling a lot of gold cards. But you definitely can’t be fighting with someone at your table.

The Cool Kids

Boros

My learning from M19 is that aggro is a variant of a combo deck: it just needs something to make your 2/2s effective later. My friends, Mentor is that thing. Given how there are two perfectly playable 3-drops with Mentor, the emphasis is really having quality early plays. You really want the good 1-drops and 2-drops, as it’s a pretty steep drop-off from Healer’s Hawk, Goblin Banneret, etc.

Prioritize: good 1/2-drops

Wheel: cheap combat tricks, Demotion, playable 3-drops
Avoid: too many 4/5-drops.

Dimir

I have only drafted one Dimir deck and it was Not Good, so I’m not an expert. But it looks like a classic control deck: defensive creatures, removal, card draw. The ubiquity of the Surveil mechanic means that you can benefit from having more variety in your deck (say, both defense AND offensive 4/5-drops) because you churn through so much, you can find the tool you need. Channel Fireball had a good write-up here; almost certainly better than my unsubstantiated ravings.

Izzet

Definitely the most complicated deck to draft since there’s the aggro and control version. They both share a joy of Jumpstart but they have different feels. The Aggro version is going to rely on the creatures that benefit from spellcraft: the wall, the minotaur, Wee Dragonauts. The Beamsplitter mage is a beater with the Maximize Velocity/Altitude cards. The control version has more card draw, burn and can afford to take its time. LoL and LR both agree that the control need more on rares and uncommons, where the aggro deck can definitely get there with just commons and select uncommons.

“You can’t sit with us” table

Selesnya

It felt like people have really been avoiding the Selesnya decks, which is understandable given how green is a little underpowered. I definitely subscribe to the Lords of Limited theory that you want to be an aggressive CABS-style deck, using an assertive curve and cheap tricks. Convoke is more of a frosting play with your Vigilance creatures than a combo deck of token-makers to cheat out a Siege Wurm. Another thing holding back Selesnya is that the Convoke payoffs aren’t… great. Frankly, the only two I’ve really liked have been the Rosemane Centaur (4/4 Vigilance) and the Flight of Equinauts (4/5 Flying)

Prioritize: Cheap combat tricks, good 2-3 drops
Wheel: Convoke 4/4 Centaur, Flight of Equinauts, cheap Vigilance creatures.

Golgari

Much like Selesnya, you need to be confident that you are the only Golgari player at the table. Undergrowth fits a similar role as Convoke: a payoff mechanic after curving out. Since Undergrowth rewards creatures in the graveyard, it behooves you to cast early drops and trade aggressively. Creatures with ETB (either ‘enter’ or ‘exit’ the battlefield) are best. Attack, trade aggressively, pressure your opponent where they have to use removal/tricks early. Then land the high drops and finish. Go crazy-high with creatures, 17-18 is not unheard of. Sometimes you can have more sacrifice synergies (lots of Rats & Cats) and sometimes you’re the beatdown. Vary your spice accordingly.

Prioritize: 3-power creatures (esp. in 2/3-drop slot), ETB creatures

Wheel: high casting cost payoffs, gold cards
Avoid: combat tricks