Now that Scars of Mirrodin has been in stores for more than a week, it's time to get serious about drafting it. Last week, I discussed the basics of how I power draft Scars. This week we get into some specific examples of card evaluation.

I do have color preferences in Scars draft, but when power drafting this format, it is more about the archetype than the color combination. No matter what colors I draft, I draft a heavy artifact base with cards that synergize well with playing lots of artifacts. I typically like to play lots of powerful creatures with Metalcraft. This will often directly dictate what colors I end up drafting. For example, I frequently draft White and rarely draft Black. White has good Metalcraft, good removal and good flying. Black has good creature removal, but can't destroy artifacts, has little synergy with artifacts and not much flying.

Here is my order of color preference in Scars:

1. White
2. Red
3. Blue
4. Green
5. Black

When drafting most sets, it's all about reading and sending color signals. When I power draft Scars of Mirrodin, it's all about card evaluation and deck synergy. If I fail to send or read signals optimally it's not a big deal, since I usually play less than ten colored cards anyway. Let's examine a couple packs I opened so I can give you some examples of what I'm talking about:

Pack 1:

[draft]Silver Myr

Oxidda Daredevil

Neurok Invisimancer

Ferrovore

Chrome Steed

Screeching Silcaw

Lumengrid Drake

Blistergrub

Carapace Forger

Glint Hawk Idol

Painsmith

Abuna Acolyte

Exsanguinate

Spikeshot Elder[/draft]

Let's look at the order that I would favor these cards if they were the first pick overall:

1. Spikeshot Elder- This guy is a bomb. He's cheap. He's in one of my favorite colors. He can remove creatures over and over. Even if you can't make him bigger, there are lots of one toughness creatures to be killed in this format.
2. Glint Hawk Idol- My favorite common in the set. It's a cheap artifact that helps me get to Metalcraft. Its activation cost uses my favorite color. With the amount of artifacts I play, it's good even if I don't end up playing White. It's a 2/2 flyer for two mana which is a very big threat in this format. It's hard to stop it with Sorcery-speed cards, such as Turn to Slag and Arrest.
3. Chrome Steed- A colorless 4/4 for four mana. No matter what colors I draft, it's making the cut and it'll be a big threat. It gives me another artifact, while being bigger than almost everything else four or cheaper.
4. Lumengrid Drake- I'm pretty happy playing Blue in this set and flyers are great in this format, like many limited environments. Add to that the ability to bounce a creature and you've got a solid first pick. With the amount of equipment, counters and Auras in Scars, bounce is excellent.
5. Carapace Forger- Not in one of my favorite colors, but a 4/4 for two is still worth a first pick. The nice thing about this card is that most Green drafters are drafting Infect, so you can often get this card surprisingly late. I would be reasonably happy to have two of these as my only Green cards in a Red/Green artifact deck.
6. Silver Myr-Now we're getting to the cards I would be unhappy to have to first pick. The good news about the Silver Myr is it's making the cut no matter what colors I'm playing. I always like to have 2-4 Myr in my decks. It's great if they're in one of the colors I'm playing, but it's fine if they're not. It's especially cool to run Silver Myr in a non-blue deck if I'm also running a card like Neurok Replica.
7. Painsmith- I like all of the Smiths in Scars draft. I rank them:

   1. Embersmith
   2. Myrsmith
   3. Riddlesmith
   4. Painsmith
   5. Lifesmith

   The first three are all cards I'm fine first picking. The main reason I wouldn't want to first pick Painsmith is because it's Black. However, in an aggressive Red, White or Blue artifact deck, adding Painsmith and some Black removal could still make for a fine deck, especially if you had a Bleak Coven Vampires or a Grasp of Darkness.

8. Ferrovore- This card will rarely make the cut. It has synergy with artifacts and at least it's Red.
9. Neurok Invisimancer- I like to play aggressive decks and this card fits in nicely. The fact that it's double Blue, one toughness and not an artifact means I rarely run it, but it's definitely playable.
10. Screeching Silcaw- This could be a fine sideboard card, given that there are some decent 1/1 flyers in the set.
11. Abuna Acolyte- A cheap White card that can help you win the 1/1 vs 1/1 battles that happen in Scars.
12. Oxidda Daredevil- A cheap Red threat. The number of 1/1s people play makes it barely playable though.
13. Blistergrub- A sideboard card for a color I don't like to play.
14. Exsanguinate- Perhaps it could be a finisher in an aggressive mono-black deck.

Pack 2:

[draft]

Plague Stinger

Echo Circlet

Steady Progress

Lumengrid Drake

Wing Punctuate

Horizon Spellbomb

Loxodron Wayfarer

Stoic Rebuttal

Ichorclaw Myr

Vulshok Heartstroker

Palladium Myr

Golem Artisan

Volition Reins

Platinum Emperion

[/draft]

1. Golem Artisan- It's great to first pick an artifact that has the potential to be a bomb. While I'm not super happy first picking a 3/3 for five mana, I do think most people underrate this card. In a deck full of artifact creatures, when you untap after playing this guy, your opponent's in trouble.
2. Palladium Myr- I was a little surprised to found out how good this guy is. He's a 2/2 for three colorless mana, which means he can block all the random 1/1s that are usually floating around the battlefield. He's another artifact and he's a single permanent that produces two mana. Even if you don't have any expensive cards, you can use him to equip or activate abilities. Also he's a Myr, so he works with cards that combo with them.
3. Lumengrid Drake- See above.
4. Volition Reins- This isn't a great first pick, but it's much like Mind Control, which was one of the very best draft picks in Magic 2011. Mind Control wouldn't be as good in this format, because games are less often dominated by a single creature. Despite being harder to cast than Mind Control, it's still really powerful to remove their best threat and add it to your team.
5. Horizon Spellbomb- If you happen to end up playing Green, this is a very solid pick. A cheap artifact that gives you card advantage and smoothes your mana.
6. Loxodron Wayfarer- The fact that this is the next best card in the pack speaks to the shallowness of this pack. At least it's White and it stops almost every ground creature in the format for only three mana. Since it's not an artifact and it only attacks for one, it rarely makes the cut. However, in a deck with lots of flyers, it can be a solid fit.
7. Stoic Rebuttal- I don't like the fact that it's a reactive double blue card. However having a counter for your opponent's bomb is good in pretty much every Limited environment.
8. Vulshok Heartstroker- It's Red and aggressive, but as a 2/2 for three that's not an artifact it rarely makes the cut.
9. Steady Progress- If your deck ends up with enough cards that like Proliferate, this is a fine card. Otherwise it's pretty bad.
10. Wing Punctuate- It could be an okay sideboard card.
11. Echo Circlet- At least it's a cheap artifact. An equipment that doesn't make your creature bigger or help you draw cards is rarely worth playing.
12. Platinum Emperion- I guess if you and your opponent are both playing slow control decks, it could be an okay sideboard card.
13. Ichorclaw Myr- I love passing Infect cards, because it increases the chances that the player next to me will draft Infect. It's possible I could sideboard it in, in part because it's a cheap artifact. Ironically, I'm most likely to bring in against Infect decks.
14. Plague Stinger- See above. It's even worse though, because it's Black.

Even more than most other formats, this is one where it's a good idea to first pick a colorless card. However, if it's a Red or White card that has Metalcraft or removes creatures or artifacts, that's a pretty exciting first pick. While each of these packs only had about seven good playables, it's pretty common for Scars packs to be very deep for players drafting artifact decks.

For you the packs will often go slightly deeper, because a couple people will be drafting Infect and will take cards you don't care about. If you're drafting Infect, a pack can dry up pretty fast. One of the benefits of running a deck full of artifacts is how deep it makes packs for you. So worry less about sending or reading the right color signals and focus more on what will work best in the deck you want to make.