It’s feels awkward putting double colons in the title, but there’s just nothing to be done about that. Wrapped up the last draft with a bad beat to Farewell so time for the retroview!

Trophies

I won a lot of trophies in this format (#humblebrag) that sort of followed the arc of the format. There’s the “just take the great sagas and recur value”, followed by red-aggro being ignored, and the surprisingly spicy ninjas. But once the format settled and there wasn’t free value just laying around on the table, the format moved into an interesting direction where you had to build value.

This was a really good stage of the format for me because I had to flex the “make a lane” muscle, not just identify the open lane.

Most Drafted

Commons

This is a pretty funny spread. First, I started eating my vegetables and taking mana-fixing responsibly. Also my love for aggro-mountains with the Songshaper is maybe a biiiit too high, but I just love turning cards sideways! Finally, the hot tub kami was just good value, hilarious flavor, and often was the straw that stirred the drink: lifegain to buy time and re-casting sagas for value.

Uncommon

It is a little unusually to see two of the consensus “best uncommons in the format” amongst the most-drafted uncommons, since they are usually too contested to be drafted that regularly. Good for me I suppose. And the hoverbike, well, Crew 1, quasi-combat trick and turn-em-sideways in the red artifact deck is my jam.

Rare

Now we’re getting to the “small sample size” portion of the evening, but these were all fun cards. Lizard Blades were a genuine reason to put mountains in the deck as it can turn any card into a must-answer threat. Invoke Despair was a fascinating build-around, and it does tax your mana but pays you off. Reality Chip is the opposite. Aside from the best “types” line in the game, it was sneaky good. Can stabilize early (though it’s pretty nervous blocking with it) and then turns into a value powerhouse, stripping lands off the top of the deck, playing more cards &c. Really fun gameplay.

personal lessons

For me, Kamigawa was great practice in “making a draft lane”. I normally hate this, (see Kaldheim). I’m much happier reacting to a draft, dropping early picks to take an open lane and reap the benefits. But as the format matured, I found myself having to be more proactive in my draft, actively working to fit whatever powerful card I got early in a deck that maximized its effect. That was fun!

overall record

46 Drafts (a new record, thanks Arena Mobile!)
9 Trophies
58% Bo3 win-rate
64% Bo1 win-rate

Summary

Overall, I really enjoyed drafting this set. Every game was a fun game, a solid draft experience, and top-notch flavor and art. I wish there were more “build-arounds” and cards that shift pick orders. The draft was certainly never boring but it was fairly static. That red was only good as a solo color may have played a role in that. I would say that this is easily my favorite since Throne of Eldraine, good for an A- in my book.