Going infinite on MTGO utilizing Limited play can be an arduous task, and one of the best tools available to the savvy drafter looking to bolster his or her cardroll is to get to know the obscure formats that are often overlooked, and almost always populated by tourists during their weekly or holiday runs.

One such format, Masters Edition, is a tricky format – It attracts a lot of attention by people looking to score that 200 ticket foil Force of Will, and people looking for something else to do than draft the current set, where they have pick orders memorized and full sets.

Masters Edition is maligned by many members of the MTGO community because it contains "terrible cards" – stuff from Fallen Empires, things with absurd casting costs by today's standards, and lots of landwalking and protection from [insert color]. What these naysayers often fail to realize is, that if all the cards are terrible, there are good terrible cards, too. It's all relative within itself.

All of these things put together make your average Force of Will Treasure Hunter completely clueless as they walk into Masters Edition drafts, and this is where you have an opportunity to continue chain running this format to accumulate a smorgasbord of old cards and hopefully yes, after a good number of drafts, enough Force of Wills to provide you with serious value for your time spent on what should be a rather laid back experience in comparison to competitive formats.

While other combinations are certainly viable, the colors you're going to find wide open, deep, and extremely strong in your average Masters Edition draft are Red/Green.

First of all, I don't think that anyone needs to be instructed how good Lightning Bolt is. But 2 cards in the common slot should not go overlooked – Brothers of Fire and Thorn Thallid. Yep, turns out in this format these little 1 damage pingers are absolutely ridiculous, where the board often becomes a bogged down and boring standoff, these damage outlets and landwalkers are often the difference between winning and losing a game. Acquire as many copies of these little guys as you can, assuming you're being given the option.

And if you do manage to find red available, one of the best (and often overlooked) creatures in Masters Edition is none other than the Mountain Yeti. Featuring landwalk and protection from a color on a single card, Mountain Yeti is a multipurpose machine that will consistently provide extreme value from the common slot. Get yourself as many of these sneaky snow covered creatures as possible – You'll be quite impressed how far a 3/3 double evasive frame goes in Masters Edition.

Fissure is just about as good as it gets for removal in Masters Edition, and is also available in the red common slot. These should be taken very high.

There are some great uncommons and rares for red as well, but I just want to touch on one real fast – Ydwen Efreet. This wall of text creature is often passed and can be acquired ridiculously late. Take him. You won't be blocking with him, so there's very little disadvantage, the 3/6 body for a mere 3 mana is enough to really start assaulting your opponent on offense.

Green offers several deceptively good commons – Shambling Strider is about as big as creatures get in this format, and Roots functions as green creature removal for just 4 mana. While both these cards may seem overpriced, Masters Edition is one of the slowest formats around. If your deck ends up being a little light on "real cards", you can attempt a budget combo with Roots and Wanderlust, which will provide a permanent 1 damage a turn. It sounds like a 4^th grade lunchroom combo, but it works here.

Dragon Engine is an excellent common slot creature that will fit into any Masters Edition deck, giving you something dangerous to do with your late game land flood and providing an early game blocker and scalable attacker.

If you're somehow unable to field red/green, which shouldn't happen often, you can take a peek at some of the other options available.

White has banding, which, if you understand how it works (and you should, before you decide to draft this set) can be very powerful, and features the protection from red Knights of Thorn. Order of Leitbur is fairly strong at the base level, but opponents fielding the aforementioned Brothers of Fire/Thorn Thallid will simply shred this and the rest of your 1 toughness board, leaving you with an Elder Land Wurm and a dream. Holy Light can be used as an interesting removal option assuming you have the deck to merit it. Unless you're absolutely being passed the best of the best in this color, I would look for other options.

Black is a better choice if you find others are forcing your preferred colors. Black has some excellent removal options in Feast or Famine, Phyrexian Boon, and Oubliette. Order of the Ebon Hand and Mindstab Thrull are two great common creatures, and if you can sneak that thrull through early you can gain serious card advantage and possibly the game. Avoid playing Erg Raiders, as Roots will leave you in a bind.

Blue has a few playable commons but dries up rapidly after the very powerful Phantom Monster. Many players will first pick Phantom Monster and not realize until it's far too late that this flying Hill Giant is the pinnacle of what blue has to offer in Masters Edition. You're not going to be able to Psychic Venom or Apprentice Wizard your opponent down, so if you do play blue, consider running it as a light splash.

Masters Edition feels as if it was fairly poorly designed in terms of Limited play balance. This is something you can, and should, use to your advantage for chain winning in a format where you'll be opening pack after pack looking to crack those Force of Wills while grinding away a collection of fun, older cards. The more recent iterations of the Masters Edition series, including the upcoming Masters Edition 4, are better balanced for Limited play.