Dragon's Maze Limited: A Second Pass

Posted on June 4, 2013

Full block Draft has been hard to figure out. It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. Triple Return to Ravnica was a disaster for me, as I had managed to lose my entire bankroll on Magic Online. Triple Gatecrash was another story, as I used the ABG (Always Be Gruul) system to great success. My account was flush with packs again, and I was ready for the next set to come out.

So far, my results in Dragon's Maze-Gatecrash-Return to Ravnica Limited have been inconsistent to say the least.

Sometimes, I win the Draft easily. Other times, I’m scrounging for playables. I don’t want to be one of those people who blames bad luck for poor results, but I honestly feel as though I’m in less control of my fate in the 8–4 queue than I normally would be. I’m doing well enough that I don’t have to reach for my credit card, I suppose, though it’s more of a treading-water situation than it is actually coming out ahead. I don’t claim to be an expert in the format, but I have some idea of what I’m doing at least. I’ll share what I’ve learned from my twenty or so Drafts in the hopes that you’ll find something there of value.

In my experience, the most successful decks in DGR Limited are the ones with consistent mana. A two-colored deck splashing one or two cards of a third color is where you want to be. I’ve also had success with decks that have one main color and two secondary colors. This is hardly a shocking revelation, I know, but it’s really easy to get off track and start taking cards of every color during the Draft. Before you know it, you’re staring at a pile of cards that have too many different mana symbols and not enough Guildgates. Staying disciplined is really important in this format, especially in pack one. Dragon’s Maze is low on playables, with only a handful of the commons being any good, most of which are multicolored. I normally hate playing Cluestones and Keyrunes, but they become necessary in three-colored decks—another reason I like to stay in one guild. My distaste for Guildgates has lessened, and I’m willing to take them much higher than in triple-Return to Ravnica or triple-Gatecrash. In an actual two-colored deck, you don’t need them, but they are nice to have for splashing a third color. For example, if you want to splash an Auger Spree in your Boros deck, you’ll actively want to pick up Rakdos or Orzhov Guildgates. Boros Guildgates are much less of a priority. Remember that mana-fixers such as Gates, Cluestones, and the like are there to help you play your splashed cards. They’re a lot less useful when they tap for mana that you already have abundant access to.

Ben Stark is someone who’s opinion I respect a lot, and if you haven’t done so, I recommend you check out his article on the subject. It’s shaped a lot of my own learning process, but I do deviate from his methods from time to time. This mostly happens when the packs simply don’t cooperate with me. I’ve definitely had Drafts in which I haven’t passed a single Beetleform Mage or other decent green or blue card pack one and seen zero Simic cards pack two. I’ve had other Drafts in which pack one was a hot mess with no good way to gauge where colors or guilds are open. You need to be able to think on your feet and make the best of a bad situation when your plan isn’t working out.

I’m going to briefly run through the five Return to Ravnica guilds as well as Dimir and comment on what cards I’m looking for in pack one and what direction I would want a typical Draft to go. Stark has already done a pretty good job of explaining the strategy behind drafting Gruul, Simic, Boros, and Orzhov, so I don’t want to rehash what he’s already said. My preference is, of course, to open or be passed a bomb rare and build around it, but it’s not as though you can rely on that.

Selesnya

There aren’t any good commons for Selesnya in pack one, so rares aside, I only commit to Selesnya early for Unflinching Courage or Trostani's Summoner, both of which are easily splashed. Bronzebeak Moa is an excellent creature, but it isn’t a card I would typically first-pick. Alive // Well is a good one as well, but you can easily just play the Alive part in any green deck. I typically like to pair Selesnya with Golgari, with white being the splash color. This allows you to pick up Grisly Spectacle in pack two.

Azorius

I hardly ever draft Azorius, so you may want to take my advice with a grain of salt here. The only Azorius cards worth drafting early in pack one are Ascended Lawmage and Jelenn Sphinx. Deputy of Acquittals is decent, but it’s hardly amazing. I guess a reason I hardly ever draft this guild is that there are very few good white and/or blue commons in pack one. Haazda Snare Squad is the best one, followed by Runner's Bane, and then, the quality drops off significantly from there. I will say that Jelenn Sphinx is gross in a Selesnya deck that has access to a lot of populate. A base-white deck that splashes blue and black also works quite well, as you can take advantage of all those late Pilfered Plans pack one and pick up a bunch of extort creatures pack two.

Izzet

This is another guild I rarely draft, although the difference between Izzet and Azorius is that I’m often in both of these colors. This is to say that I rarely have both red and blue as base colors—either I’m splashing red in a blue deck or vice versa. Most commonly when I’m in these colors, it’s because I’m drafting Gruul and Simic packs one and two. In this case, green is the main color, and Izzet is the splash, so I’m not really looking for cards that require both red and blue. There are a few exceptions, however. Blast of Genius is a good finisher and/or removal spell, and I can rarely pass up on anything that says, “Draw three cards.” Fluxcharger is normally a very solid card, but these decks tend to be creature-heavy, so it’s not at its best here. The real star is Turn // Burn, which is almost always a two-for-one. In pack three, I’m normally looking for Splatter Thugs, but I will pick up Izzet Guildgates when possible.

Rakdos

Rakdos decks actually have some pretty good options pack one, mostly because of the high quality of aggressive red cards such as Punish the Enemy and Rubblebelt Maaka. Even Riot Piker is decent. I’ve drafted this deck a few times because I’m apparently really good at opening or being passed Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch, but Carnage Gladiator is a good enough reason to draft it as well. More so than the other guilds, I try very hard to keep Rakdos decks to strictly two colors. You need for Grisly Spectacle and for Annihilating Fire, so splashing a third color can be awkward. It can still work, of course, though obviously, it’s slower and less consistent than straight Rakdos. In pack two, you’re looking to pick up any and all Grisly Spectacles as well as red bloodrush creatures, and you can hope to be rewarded in pack three.

Golgari

I probably end up drafting Golgari more than any other guild. You don’t need me to tell you that Putrefy is a good card, but the other Golgari uncommons are also quite good. Korozda Gorgon is a nightmare for most decks to attack through and has insane synergy with evolve creatures. Rot Farm Skeleton is a card-advantage machine. It hits hard enough that your opponent is forced to trade actual cards for cards in your library, filling up your graveyard with scavenge creatures in the process. It turns Down // Dirty into Demonic Tutor and Drown in Filth into Terminate. Drown in Filth isn’t normally a card I main-deck, mind you, but it becomes good in multiples and is especially good when you’re able to fill up your graveyard quickly. In pack two, Balustrade Spy is a great enabler, as you will often target yourself with the ability. Unlike the other guilds, I actively look for a third color to splash. As I said before, I often splash white so I can scoop up all the neglected Selesnya cards pack one. You can free-ride from people cutting off Gatecrash builds in pack one by grabbing whatever happens to be open in pack two. Golgari happens to pair exceptionally well with all but one of the Gatecrash guilds (Boros), so there’s a high density of quality cards to choose from. Pack three gives you some good options for mana-fixing in Axebane Guardian and Gatecreeper Vine, so you usually don’t have issues casting your spells, though you should still pick up Gates wherever possible.

Dimir

This is normally where I would say, “Last but not least,” but in this case, it really is least. This is coming from someone who actually liked drafting Dimir in triple-Gatecrash. That isn’t to say that you can’t draft a good Dimir deck, you just need a few more things to go your way for it happen. As a rule, I’ll only jump into Dimir early if I open Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker. The card is a bona fide bomb and will win you the game if your opponent doesn’t immediately answer it. If you are lucky enough to open him, you’re going to want to grab as many removal spells and defensive cards you can. It’s no use milling your opponent if you’re dead on board, so you need to make sure you can survive the early game and answer your opponent’s bombs. In pack one, you’re looking for Pilfered Plans, Gatekeepers (along with Gates), and Murmuring Phantasms as far as the commons go. Warped Physique and Haunter of Nightveil are the premium uncommons, so you shouldn’t pass those, but in general, you can table Dimir cards in packs one and two. You can splash red or white for additional removal spells such as Smite or Auger Spree, but I would keep the splash to a minimum. I have an example of a successful Dimir Draft at the end of this article. It has been my favorite deck so far, and I really wish I recorded the matches, as they were insane. Full disclosure: I was really lucky with the rares I was passed, so you shouldn’t expect that to always happen. Case in point: The second time I opened Mirko Vosk, I was crushed Round 1 by a Boros deck.

I hope you guys found my drunken ramblings somewhat useful and that you can use them to improve your Draft results. I may not be winning as much as I’d like, but at least the games are fun for the most part (when I’m not missing land drops or otherwise unable to do anything, that is). I’m planning on playing some Standard this weekend in Windsor and Niagara Falls, so if you see me at either event, feel free to say “hi.” Until next time, happy drafting, and enjoy the Nutter Butters Dimir Draft below.

Nassim Ketita

arcticninja on Magic Online

www.youtube.com/nketita