As every draft format matures, we learn which cards work best together. Scars of Mirrodin draft is still young and it evolves as Tel-Jilad Defiance and Untamed Might become more or less popular. What cards should you hatedraft? Which card stitches your deck together? These are the questions that, when answered, lift you to the next level of draft. This article will gloss over basic theory of Scars drafting and then more importantly detail the specifics that make this format so enticing.
Most players have grasped onto the idea of a themed Scars draft deck. Your forty cards will be better if they feature the words Infect or Metalcraft across most of them. If you are halfway into either it will not turn out well. Oftentimes during a draft your card evaluations change as the needs of your deck change. Do you take Silver Myr or Lumengrid Drake in pack one? What about in pack three?
Metalcraft decks typically want at least fourteen artifacts, but if you have tempo cards that benefit from having three artifacts then it’s important to keep those artifacts low-costed so you can get them on the board ASAP. Is a Carapace Forager really that good if it can’t even race a Plague Stinger? And Lumengrid Drake is an overcosted 2/2 if you aren’t generating tempo. Meanwhile cards like Rusted Relic want even more than fourteen friends…
Simply, if you have more good artifacts to trigger your Metalcraft than your opponent, you will win more often.
Artifacts! If you you snatch up second-pick Myr in pack one, you’ll have a headstart going into the later packs. If you miss a Grasp of Darkness for it, so be it. Metalcraft makes ALL of your cards better and when you’re the only one who has them going into the final pack, you’ll be rewarded. A general rule is that if you’re ever torn about what card to take, lean towards the artifact. Don’t be afraid to play a Golem Foundry to keep the artifact count high. Sometimes even a Liquimetal Coating needs to make your deck in order to power up the other thirty-nine cards.
Every good artifact in your deck is one less for everyone else.
Givens. The biggest leap in my triple SOM drafts came when I realized how much better Vulshok Replica is than Moriok Reaver in NON-Red decks! Who cares about one toughness when it increases the power of all your other cards? Not just that, but the Replica is certainly better in everyone else’s deck. This is also true about Gold Myr versus Snapsail Glider and Trigon of Corruption versus colored removal. While that Ghalmas Warden looks sexy at 4/6, I’d rather have a Chrome Steed almost always.
You don’t need to have the best draft deck ever to be the best draft deck at the table.
Remember that you are playing those seven opponents you are passing cards to, and gimping their decks while improving your own is like double-dipping. And we all love getting second servings of awesome.
Meta-draft. If a pick choice is 50/50 for your deck, take away the cards that make other decks better. Are you still struggling with Slice in Twain versus Contagion Clasp? Maybe your green deck likes Slice, but it also loves Proliferating for the win. More importantly, the Clasp definitely makes your opponent’s deck better. Another similar relationship is Darksteel Axe versus any Infect creature. While you may want to cut off black and green cards, taking away the Axe from everyone else makes your deck great relative to theirs. In general, you had better have a great reason to pass Darksteel Axe. Cards that make all of your creatures distinctively better are one-of-a-kind.
Meta-game. Keep in mind the cards you are passing around (this is different from signalling.) If you passed a Trigon of Corruption then maybe grab a Snapsail Glider over a Vulshok Replica. Say that Grafted Exoskeleton got by you, then a Tel-Jilad Defiance becomes a good later pick. When you pass a card that can give you problems, grab the utility latepicks that deal with it. When you can consistenly answer a Tel-Jilad Fallen with an Instill Infection you’ll win way more.
Hate-draft. Don’t taze me bro! Have you figured out which cards Infect needs yet? A simple hatedraft of an Untamed Might makes that deck way less scary, agreed? Grabbing away a Neurok Replica means you don’t need to worry about blue’s tempo plays. Hatedrafts don’t need to be for bombs- just figure out which cards actually scare you.
My scariest commons by color (the midpick card that consistently makes their deck good):
White- Sunspear Shikari
Blue- Neurok Replica
Black- Plague Stinger
Red- Iron Myr, et al.
Green- Untamed Might
Curve. As you make it through your draft, keep the curve of your deck in mind. Curving means having cards to play at each turn. Tempo is the goal, and the curve of your deck is the best mechanic to generate it. Start low. In this set we have the wonderful mana Myr to help our curve, but everyone wants them. Grab them early or you might never see them again. The trick is to start low on the curve. You can always grab four and five-cost cards later, but you don’t want to be caught in pack three needing a handful of two-drops. Galvanic Blast should always be your pick over Turn to Slag until you have a specific metagame reason to need the Slag.
As you draft, put your picks in curve-order so that during review you have some extra time to analyze where your gaps are. Even guessing at where the card goes in your curve will give you a cue for what you still need.
Jump. Everybody Jump! Jump! Don’t be afraid to draft reactively and jump colors. Maybe that hatedraft Volition Reins is actually a better play than your three other white cards. During your review chances keep in mind that decks in this format often only have six to eight colored cards. If you already have five red cards going into pack three then there’s no need to chase average commons when a single new-color removal spell might be better.
Three-color? This sure isn’t Alara when it comes to playing multiple colors. It barely has any mana fixing. Horizon Spellbomb is very lonely when it comes to finding land, and it’s not even particularly good. It costs four mana for full effect. But that doesn’t mean you can’t play multiple colors! Since your deck has so few colored cards, don’t be afraid to play something like two Carapace Foragers, two Lumengrid Drakes, and a handful of white cards. Your mana-base for that deck can easily survive with 7-5-5. Somewhere over the rainbow there’s a Mana Myr to help if you need it. And many decks can afford some splash lands to pay for off-color Replicas and Spellbombs.
The secret’s out. Drafting is hard. Even pros don’t have a consensus strategy. If you watched Top8 coverage of GP Toronto (featuring two players from the draftmagic.com van – Dave Howard and Steve Zhang,) you’ll know that Brad Nelson toiled over a firstpick Necropede versus Oxidda Scrapmelter. Personally I think he’s crazy for it but it shows the diversity of opinions when that Necropede spun to him 9th-pick. Every draft will play out differently, but keeping your opponents on your mind will help you build the best deck at the table and win more drafts.
-Roberto Castro-Mahoney
Coming Soon! Why the hardest set to Team-draft is the easiest to win.
Good article Berto. I agree with a lot of it, but there’s just no way Chrome Steed is that much better than Ghalma’s Warden. Warden is solid even without metalcraft.
Warden is playable at 2/4. Even in core sets you get better than that. Granted it blocks all the 2/2 etc but blocking is for suckers. taking away chrome steed makes everyone else’s metalcraft worse and both of them attack for 4. also steed is more likely to land big and make cards like snapsail glider or carapace forager hit right away
I disagree with the philosophy that you talk about when it comes to 50/50 picks. I think the best play when you encounter something like that is to think about your own deck and see which card is 51 to the other’s 49 and take that. Defensive drafting in an eight person draft is much less valuable than increasing the strength of your own deck.
Doing this also allows you to more accurately judge the strength of cards for later drafts because you can judge how well the card you thought was better preformed. If you follow the strictures of this article you will play with considerably more Chrome Steeds and Contagion Clasps and not get a feel for as many Ghalma’s Warden and Slice in Twain style cards. This will pollute your own experience so that you learn less about the format from each individual draft.
One last critique, I don’t agree that Untamed Might is a middle pick in green. That is green’s best common by leaps and bounds, in my experience.
Overall a fine article. As always with opinion pieces, such as this, take with a grain of salt.
i totally agree that untamed might is green’s biggest threat but somehow i always see it in midpick range. i’ve seen far more untamed mights than stingers or shikaris.
Cystbearer is MILES better than Untamed Might
Miles is a weird way to phrase that. I will cede that Cystbearer is strong and it is probably even better (perhaps even by miles) in infect. However, Untamed Might is the scariest card to play against in infect and is incredible even without infect cards. A lot of things eat a 2/3 in the format. Not a lot of things stop any infect creature from being lethal.
Regardless of which card is better than the other, I think it is strange to label Might as a mid pick in green. I don’t think there is any contention that it is one of green’s top two commons.
Chris, did you read my reply? It is not strange to label it mid-pick. It IS strange that it spins to mid-pick.
Tel-Jilad Fallen contends. So does Carapace Forager. Basically all 4 of them are solid picks in green and none of them stand out the way that Arrest does for White and Galvanic Blast for Red.
Also, I generally would pass Might after I get 2 unless I have multiple Stingers/Ichorclaws.
The fact is, first: You see Untamed Might fairly often after 4th pick.
and second: Untamed Might makes Green decks better.
so third: It fits into the category I created.
I pretty much disagree with many thing mentioned in this article and I do that after having played about 50-60 Drafts of SOM and won quite a bunch of them.
1. Mana Myrs are overrated.
2. Hatedrafting is pretty terrible if you have decent cards in your colors (exceptions go for very strong cards such a voilition reigns and arc trail). Just make sure you have enough playables in the end.
3. Chrome Steed is good and I take him over Warden just because I can get Warden later. If I could not, I would pick the warden higher. Way too often the Horse stays 2/2 for 4 mana which is terrible. Also the warden is big game vs. Infect.
4. Hating Infect is not needed at all if you have a decent strategy against them which I won’t deliver here.
Shinato I think you miss the purpose of much of the article.
3. Precisely Steed>Warden which is why it goes earlier. Warden does have its uses tho.
2. The hatedraft I mention has nothing to do with Volition Reins or Arc Trail.
1. I don’t know what you mean by overrated. I value them generally 3rd and they are better thn Snapsail Glider and 2/2 Replicas.
4. Again, not the hatedraft I talked about. No matter how good your strategy is against them, Untamed Might is scary. It makes a single late-game Stinger gg. Obviously ArcTRail, Trig of Corruption, Necropede, Perilous Myr are great against infect. I will take them over XG anyways. Doesn’t stop the truth that a 7th pick hatedraft Might is more important than an off-color Saberclaw Golem or Soliton or Vulshok Heartstoker.
Thanks for your comments tho! Do you mind gracing us with your anti-Infect plan or are you winning a ProTour with that info? (there are no ProTours.)
And for the record, Yes Ghalma’s Warden is better with an artifact count of ~9 or less. If you have more than that and even a couple want Metalcraft then Steed is better.
Overall, I agree with much of this article; good stuff. However, I think Chris is right about hate-drafting. If I’m 50/50 on whether or not a card will make it into my deck, I definitely take that over something that would be an auto-include in another deck–unless it’s a bomb or something really strong against my deck in particular.
I agree that Steed is better than Warden, overall. Steed comparatively can be seen as “Metalcraft 2.” I’d much rather hit metalcraft a turn earlier than have an extra two toughness; although, as has been mentioned, if it looks like reaching metalcraft is otherwise going to be precarious, Warden is much safer as vanilla.
I will continue to be afraid to play Golem Foundry. Liquimetal Coating is alright, especially if I have a decent amount of artifact removal/Tel-Jilad’s Defiance, etc.
Here’s a card I’ve been fascinated by lately that I can’t figure out how playable it is: Culling Dais
Well the Anti-Infect play usually depends on the deck you are playing.
Lets start with the colors. In general if you play white you got Soul Parry (play these in a smart way, not just to prevent two unblocked infect creature’s damage), Loxodon Wayfarer and Seize the Initiative along which a card which is generally strong and still underrated in Sunspear Shikari (this with a lifestaff can shutdown some infect decks almost on its own). Blue is generally weak to infect as it has no tools to make combat more profitable and the stats of the creatures are worse. Plated Seastrider, Disperse are still decent (Off-color Vulshock replica’s do their job very well in blue vs. Infect). Red is obviously the strongest color against infect as it has the good removals in Arc Trail, Galvanic Blast and Embersmith. I did not count in the otherwise good Turn to Slag, just for the fact that it is too slow. If they rely a lot on 2/1 guys add Kuldotha’s Rebirth. Black has the removal which are self explanatory and Moriok Reaver which also goes very late and is a solid card on its own. You could also side in own infect cards if you otherwise can’t deal with them. Artifacts offer a lot to the arsenal to combat infect. I think I don’t have to mention the outstanding cards which are always great. Bladed Pinions on the other hand is disliked by many players and is a beating in infect but more so against it as you generally have the better creatures in terms of stats anyway and no they won’t get shrinked to death anymore.
The basic gameplay against infect is not to try to race them in any way because this is stupid anyway. You should try to play like an aggro control game if you can. Fliers help a lot with this. Glint Hawks, Glint Hawk Idols and any other cheap fliers are great as they only have plague stinger to combat this which is happily use my removal for. They usually won’t have as much removal as you have fliers in a good deck. Fly over them while you hold the ground with you bigger guys. That’s one point why I dislike Chrome Steed a bit. He is worse than the Warden in this matchup as you trade a lot on the ground and won’t have metalcraft too often. It is known that Infect is weak on defense so if you can get them there early, you can definitely do that as well, just make sure not to get blown out by a timely removal followed with an Untamed Might.
These are some points about the Infect matchup and the colors to combat them. I am certainly missing some points but I hope you can get something out of this.
To the Myr statement, it is true that they are good and valueable….in most decks. If you have less myrs built you deck more heavy in the 3CC Slot and you should be fine, if you have a few add more 4CC stuff and 5CC stuff, it is pretty self explanatory and intuitive. You should consider this stuff while drafting in the second and third pack a lot. I’ve just recently drafted a UW deck without a single myr but with Sunspear Shikari’s, Silvok Lifestaff’s, Trinket Mage and all this small stuff along with just a few 4 drops (3) and 5 drops (2) and it worked out very well. I did not feel bad because i could not accellerate as it was generally not needed at all. The more myrs and other draw dependant cards you play, the more bad draws you will get and of course also some more broken draws, which in my opinion rarely outweight the bad ones (personal experience). I do play Myr if I have to in my decks, not whenever I can do it. I pick them around 4th-7th as they are by no means bad.
One last thing I forgot to mention is that of the colored myrs, Silver Myr is the best one in my opinion. I’ll let you figure out why.
Update: Chrome Steed is definitely better than Ghalma’s Warden in most cases. I admit that now. Mana Myrs are more important than I thought but still not as important as many people think. They go up to 3rd-5th for me.
Once again another useless article by a dumbass that can’t even top 8 a ptq
I have several top8s under my belt, thank you.
I dont know berto i wouldn’t say several… but nice article
sweet
Thanks for an idea, you sparked at thought from a angle I hadn’t given thoguht to yet. Now lets see if I can do something with it.