Rise of the Eldarzi is well suited to power drafting. Like most draft formats, there is more than one good archetype possible, but only one approach is best for power drafting. One of the biggest keys to power drafting is consistency. This is the guiding principle when drafting Rise.

First, we eliminate some of the colors from consideration. Before we choose which ones we need to decide what the best possible archetypes are in Rise. Let's consider the strengths that are unique to of Rise of the Eldrazi: levelers, Eldrazi, rebound, spawn, invokers, defenders and totem armor.

The best archetype for building around levelers is Blue/White. The large number of cheap and efficient levelers combine with Time of Heroes, Venerated Teacher and Champion's Drake to have the potential for a potent draft deck. The first two times I drafted with Rise of the Eldrazi, I drafted Blue/White and I won both of those drafts easily. Unfortunately this was a pretty obvious archetype that quickly became popular to draft. And thus a risky archetype to draft. Risky because without the right numbers of levelers and cards that combine with them it can be unstable. Risky because White is weak without the Blue. Risky because decks with lots of removal can kill key levelers and make the rest of the deck weak.

Decks built around defenders and totem armor have even bigger potential problems. Totem armors do nothing on their own and when you do have a target for them, you run the risk of being two-for-oned by removal or cards like Induce Despair. Defenders have the obvious limitation of not being able to attack and being particularly weak when not in play in the right combinations.

Decks featuring Eldrazi are popular, but also quite risky. The main problem is running a card or cards in your deck that are useless until you hopefully get to 8 or more mana. In addition, what if you build your deck defensively enough to get to that point in the game and your opponent draws an Eldrazi and you don't? This isn't the kind of consistency required for power drafting.

Rebound, spawn, levelers and invokers are useful for power drafting. Before I discuss exactly what my strategy is for drafting Rise is, let's look at what the best commons and uncommons are in each color:

Red

1. Staggershock
2. Flame Slash
3. Heat Ray
4. Forked Bolt
5. Kiln Fiend
6. Brimstone Mage
7. Emrakul's Hatcher
8. Wrap in Flames
9. Spawning Breath
10. Traitorous Instinct

Green

1. Bramblesnap
2. Beastbreaker of Bala Ged
3. Pelakka Wurm
4. Nest Invader
5. Kozilek's Predator
6. Might of the Masses
7. Aura Gnarlid
8. Wildheart Invoker
9. Prey's Vengeance
10. Boar Umbra

Blue

1. Domestication
2. Enclave Cryptologist
3. Narcolepsy
4. Regress
5. Venerated Teacher
6. Drake Umbra
7. Merfolk Skyscout
8. Skywatcher Adept
9. Sea Gate Oracle
10. Champion's Drake

White

1. Knight of Cliffhaven
2. Mammoth Umbra
3. Time of Heroes
4. Dawnglare Invoker
5. Caravan Escort
6. Kabira Vindicator
7. Oust
8. Totem-Guide Hartebeest
9. Emerge Unscathed
10. Makindi Griffin

Black

1. Corpsehatch
2. Vendetta
3. Induce Despair
4. Nirkana Cutthroat
5. Last Kiss
6. Bloodthrone Vampire
7. Dread Drone
8. Pawn of Ulamog
9. Null Champion
10. Bala Ged Scorpion

White has the weakest list and Red has the strongest. One of the ways to see this is to then make a list of the top cards using all five colors:

1. Staggershock
2. Bramblesnap
3. Flame Slash
4. Corpsehatch
5. Domestication
6. Vendetta
7. Heat Ray
8. Beastbreaker of Bala Ged
9. Enclave Cryptologist
10. Pelakka Wurm
11. Induce Despair
12. Forked Bolt
13. Knight of Cliffhaven
14. Nest Invader
15. Kiln Fiend

As you can see, White doesn't have many cards that you are excited to open and Red has many of them. The key to power drafting in Rise of the Eldrazi is to draft a removal heavy, hyper-aggressive deck. If close to 100 percent of your deck is four mana or less, it's easier for you to have good early draws. With tight synergy in your deck, many of these cheap cards can be as powerful as expensive cards if the game goes on for a while. Levelers, invokers, Bramblesnap, Kiln Fiend, Bloodthrone Vampire, Might of the Masses and Aura Gnarlid are examples of inexpensive cards that can quickly become powerhouses that far exceed their casting cost as the game progresses.

The color combos that best synergize to achieve this approach are Blue/White, Red/Green, Red/Black, and Black/Green. So not surprisingly, I draft some combination of Red, Black and Green every time. I think Red is powerful enough that I try to force Red and add either Black or Green depending on what is being passed to me. In the event that I'm getting really good Black and really good Green without getting any Red, Black/Green becomes my back-up plan. This has the advantage of having almost no wasted picks, since I don't pick any White or Blue cards and it also helps me send better signals to the person drafting behind me. I never counter-draft in the first pack, because I would love to have an unusually late quality Blue or White card get the player to my left to switch into Blue or White if they aren't already in it.

The idea is to draft/build a deck focused on high-powered two-drops like Kiln Fiend, Bramblesnap, Nest Invader and Bloodthrone Vampire. The nice thing about Kiln Fiend is its synergy well with Red and Black removal, as well as cards like Might of the Masses and Prey's Vengeance, which are all cards you want to be playing with lots of anyways. The nice thing about cards like Bramblesnap, Nest Invader and Bloodthrone Vampire is that they synergize well together and reward you for playing with lots of creatures and token generation, which are also things you already want to be doing lots of.

One of the ways to ensure your deck is highly consistent is to avoid playing with many cards that are situational. I generally go old school and make my deck consist entirely of good creatures and creature removal. That means not playing with cards like auras, equipment, and land search. The big exception I make to this rule is Might of the Masses and Prey's Vengeance. They have synergy with Kiln Fiend and with playing a large number of creatures. Also, since they cost just one mana, you don't risk losing tempo like you can with auras and equipment. Finally, since they are instants, you can actually save your creatures with them, not just risk being two for oned.

A card you can usually get without using a top pick, but is a crucial part of this archetype, is Wrap in Flames. After you have built up a quick attack force of creatures, it will be the card that finishes your opponent, just when they think they have stabilized. Also, it's flexible enough to be used in other situations as well: I love to use it to get a big chunk of damage through while also picking off one or more crucial one toughness creatures, like Dawnglare Invoker or a leveler. If I feel that one of the only things that could prevent me from winning is a quick Eldrazi or multiple turns of chump blocking, I've even been known to use it just to blow up some Eldrazi Spawn.

Cards like Beastbreaker of Bala Ged, Null Champion, Brimstone Mage, Nirkana Cutthroat and Wildheart Invoker are great, because they are early game plays that also provide you with powerful uses of your mana if you mana flood or you unfortunately do get to the late game. A low mana curve is crucial, I frequently win games without playing anything more than four to cast. If I do play something that costs five, it often represents adding multiple creatures to the board like Dread Drone, Emrakul's Hatcher or even better Corpsehatch, making cards like Bloodthrone Vampire, Bramblesnap and Might of the Masses especially scary. As long as you keep your expensive cards to a minimum, a creature like Stomper Cub can also be a fine component for the top of your curve.

Rebound cards like Staggershock, Prey's Vengeance and Virulent Swipe are strong to begin with, but if you are fortunate enough to pick up some Kiln Fiends, then they can be significantly more powerful. While I love me some Kiln Fiends, if you are playing with low numbers of instants and sorceries or don't use them wisely enough, then Kiln Fiend is just a 1/2 for two mana, which is obviously pretty lame.

Perhaps my favorite thing about power drafting Rise of the Eldrazi is not having to worry about Eldrazi and if my opponent does have them, knowing they are just cluttering up their hand or perhaps hitting the board just in time to witness my final attack finishing off their master. So try ignoring Blue and White while forcing Red, when drafting Rise of the Eldrazi. Keep the curve low and avoid situational cards. Prioritize removal and powerful two drops while you are drafting. Focus and speed on synergy as you build your deck. Now that you understand the basics of power drafting, next week it will be time to get started exploring the details of each specific draft archetype.