|
Urza's Saga Draft Tips Urza's Legacy Draft Tips
The first thing you have to remember is that a broken rare in constructed play is very often useless in draft. For example, I'd hate to see a Tolarian Academy, Dream Halls or Humility in a draft. However, as a rule of thumb, broken creatures are still broken in draft play.
Creatures are good. Because the chances of you drafting a combo are tiny, you
are going to win most every match with beatdown. This doesn't mean you draft bad creatures,
but you want 15-18 in a 40 card deck.
Evasion creatures are better. Everyone is gonna be trying to draft creatures too. You
need your creatures to be able to block theirs while being able to get past them. Flying, flanking,
and shadow, to an extent, should all be grabbed.
Evasion blockers are good. Anything that blocks fliers, or shadows, is going to be a handy
surprise tool.
Bigger really is better. In draft format, if it's hard to kill, it's good. A big creature is
definitely worth grabbing, cos your opponent will almost always take 2 or 3 blockers to kill it,
which gives you massive card advantage.
Creature kill is great. You won't always be able to block and kill his creatures without
losing some of yours, especially if they got lucky and opened a fattie. Any card that can off that fattie in a 1-for-1
exchange is great.
Direct damage is better, mainly because it can be used to finish off the opponent as well as killing his creatures.
How many of you would play Lava Axe in Type II? Trust me, draft it. 5 damage from one card is amazing.
Don't swap colours unless you have to. Ideally, you should go into the draft knowing which colours you
prefer in the set you're drafting. I generally head for green and black, but it's a matter of taste.
When in doubt over broken cards, take the one in the colour you prefer. It makes very little sense opening, say, a Rancor,
a Palinchron and a Parch, and taking the Palinchron even though you hate blue. Don't take it unless
you feel confident playing it.
Counterspells are best left to heavy blue decks. While they can come in handy, they take up space you could use for
creatures. Counterspells don't kill people.
Mana is extremely important. You should have 15-18 land in your deck, depending on your casting cost level.
A mana screw in draft is almost impossible to recover from. Any cards you can draft to grab you land or give you mana
are good, and may give you an extra slot for a creature. Mana creatures are especially strong.
Any card which combines one or more of these is broken. A fattie that deals damage, like Crater Hellion, or a creature that
gives mana, like Llanowar Elves, are must-haves.
Card advantage, retrieval and drawing are all good.If it comes back from the dead, lets you draw cards, or brings others out of the library, it's good.
If it kills more than one creature, it's good.
And a final hint...
Only grab foils if you need them! With the exception of a very few cards, I would never draft a foil just so I could keep it.
Especially in a tournament, that slot could be taken up by a card you're actually going to use, and the prize for the tournament may even
contain a foil or two.
|
Copyright 1999-2000 melginskeep@angelfire.com
| Magic: the Gathering | Back Home | Star Wars CCG | Pokémon CCG | Dungeons & Dragons | Online Bookstore |