This isn’t an easy deck to get into. Thanks to what I can only assume is a shift in design philosophy and not just a half-decade long coincidence, we’ve had it real good for the past five years. Decks of the same color pair are often going to have similar themes, but may want a slightly different subset of cards, again leaning more into micro-synergy than macro. With Core Set 2021 coming to Magic Arena tomorrow, Gavin Verhey used today’s episode of Good Morning Magic to break down how to draft the ten allied-colored pairs in the set. You’ll usually play Furious Rise since it’s pretty good here, especially if you’re playing Short Sword on your smaller creatures to 4-power. I’ll happily play the first three copies of these cards and, in some decks, I find myself wanting them even more. Rousing Read and Roaming Ghostlight are super close when it comes to the top blue common. Nine Lives | Illustration by Paul Scott Canavan. If you’re looking for interaction, it’s more practical to just play combat tricks. Ben made a super solid case for Seasoned Hallowblade being better in M21 than Baneslayer and while I’m not *quite* there, just goes to show how good Hallowblade is. Your email address will not be published. Sanctum powers up your Blue sanctum, allowing you to draw 2 cards a turn, but also the passive lifegain really adds up. It essentially turns +1/+1 counters into +2/+2 counters, and I'd lean to taking it highly. You usually have to open or get passed Obsessive Stitcher and really go for it. We've updated our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. There are some formats where you’ll main-deck Smite the Monstrous, Plummet, or Naturalize effects, but this isn’t one of them. For our final trick of the night, I want to leave you with some thoughts on a few cards. Red provides the thing red mostly does in this set, plentiful removal. Can even break down to a general heuristic:Don't be afraid to first pick [very powerful 2c card] and whiff, be afraid of passing and regretting. There are enough playables in sets these days that you can afford to bob and weave your way through the draft and without being at risk of not reaching 23 playables. The fun never ends when you're playing Superfriends so let's see what cards Kaladesh bring to one of TheAsianAvenger's favorite archetypes. This is likely the best deck for Swift Response in the format though as there will be a lot of tapped creatures trying to get at you. White provides very little in the way of card draw and because most of the cards skew aggressive you aren't getting that much out of them. This hand gets a bit better against a midrange or controlling opponent, but I believe that you should be making mulligan decisions assuming your opponent is a beatdown deck if you’re in the dark. Also don't forget about Epitaph Golem it can be a very potent sideboard card against you in BO3, and if you've seen it you might want to keep a removal spell or counterspell handy for it if your deck might struggle to close out the game in other ways than milling. With that in mind, here are some you’re likely to run into. Not a card I’m looking to take early but will snap later if it looks like my deck will be able to make good use of it. This makes Pestilent Haze a potentially extremely powerful card with a potential drawback of killing your own creatures, but because you'll be prioritizing high toughness creatures this is also the deck best at negating the symmetry of the card. I am by no means an expert at drafting these decks, but Lords of Limited has a great episode on how to draft these decks if you’re interested in some shrine nonsense. The format has a few rules of engagement that, if you’re not following, will typically leave you lost in the fray and drafting a deck that won’t function within the confines of the format. A similar card to Double Vision but works off of a slightly different subset of cards. This M21 Draft Guide can help you do just that. Thankfully Green, Black, and Red also have some nice card draw spells. In-depth deck building advice is tricky for this M21. Each pair has a signpost uncommon card to help lead you in drafting them. Magic: The Gathering’s Core Set 2021 has been out for a little bit now, and you’ve probably been sinking your teeth into the Limited Draft format as much as we have. Before the set released people had it pegged as a top Common. Alpine Houndmaster does a super Whisper Squad impression as the signpost Uncommon, grabbing two decent two-drops, while being a very good attacker itself. Hope you enjoyed the article though! Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. An archetype can end up feeling weak when its best cards are desired by every on color drafter and it's more niche cards are just begrudging playables. When you end up with a good late game incentive like Ugin, the Spirit Dragon or Sublime Epiphany, consider the fact that getting to the point in the game where those cards are castable isn’t a given, and your deck will have to be heavily skewed towards facing the aggro decks of the format. You can cut a land or two depending on how many 1-mana cantrips you end up with. It can use the loot effects well to power up Rise Again, while also providing some unique options. Want to reach 7 wins on Arena and get lots of Gems? The above would be a fine hand in most formats but, seeing as we don’t have a guaranteed play until turn 3 and that play doesn’t block particularly well, this is closer to a mulligan than a keep. You may even be lucky enough to get hooked up with Pack Leader, which is often a bomb in this deck. Micro-synergies, on the other hand, are a bit less pronounced. Let’s go over each removal spell in the format and dive a bit deeper into what separates the premium stuff from the cards you don’t even want to touch. Concordia Pegasus is the only other true 1–2CMC flyer in the UW color pairing, and even at 3CMC you're only picking up 3 additional flyers in Mistral Singer, Vryn Wingmare, and Skyscanner and none of them are that impressive in the color combo though Singer and Scanner can be solid. Showcasing offbeat brews from around the internet. You can throw Tutelage into a baseline prowess deck and attack from a different angle however and that can be difficult for your opponent to know how they should approach the game, and your high density of card draw means you'll be able to close out a game in short time. I tend to try my best to stay in one color for the duration of pack one and sometimes pack two if my seat allows it. Tutelage is my pick for a top two Uncommon in the set, but because it attacks on such a unique axis it is a deck unto itself. The signpost Uncommon for Azorius in Watcher of the Spheres is super powerful providing both mana discounts for flyers and a 2-drop flyer that can punch through for 3 in the air if you've cast a flyer that turn. You'll feel a little out there picking a Wall of Runes over a Mistral Singer but sometimes it's what you need to do. We’ve become so accustomed to our sets being filled with powerful cards across the board that when we see cards that are slightly underpowered, we often categorize them as unplayables.