In this season of giving, and in this air of pleasantry and decoration and frivolity, you will all now be blessed with all the knowledge to stomp noobs in your Holiday drafts. Just be sure to do it nicely, Santa is watching…
You may have heard Innistrad is the best Limited set since Ravnica. I’m here telling you Ravnica: City of Guilds doesn’t hold a candle to this format [editor's note: this statement is not even close to true]. Sealed Pools, apart from being predominantly White, offer many deck-building strategies. Drafts offer even more choices. Part of what makes this format so enticing is the ability to build with awkward synergies, to utilize the graveyard, and to dig into an archetype that grabs cards ignored by other players. Never before has there been a format that can hand all eight players a powerful and unique deck.
I’ll give a summary of the common archetypes: the key cards, the pick orders. Also you’ll get a run-down of the ‘wacky’ archetypes: the cards that make the deck purr, the rares that put you there. After each description I’ll offer a Fed Rating (how good the deck can be if you’re handed all the cards for it) and a Wrecked Rating (how low can it go.)
UW “Skies”
It’s always a deck. Grab the Pacifisms of the set, take efficiently-powered flyers, and then a few X/4s to hold the ground. The Spirit tribal theme in Innistrad makes building “Skies” fairly easy. Battleground Geist coming anytime after second pick is often a signal to me to jump in. Prioritize the three-cost evasive creatures, then the three-powered ones. It’s important to not dwell too long on four-drops, because they clutter your curve and disrupt the tricks you’d rather play in that window.
There’s no Stormfront Pegasus that guarantees a fast start for this deck, but the slew of Bears in White means you’ll always have something to do, but it won’t be Silverchase Fox winning your games. The deck relies so heavily on cheap tricks tempo plays that I’d say Silent Departure is better in this deck than Brimstone Volley is in any other. Other all-stars include Moment of Heroism, a trick that will win a ground fight while gaining five life and setting your life total above your opponent’s. Almost as important as the bounce, Feeling of Dread wins games. Take a head-on race and then tell your opponent that he has to skip his next two combat steps. See how they react.
The fact that UW spotlights good tricks means that a card like Delver of Secrets is actually playable here. The Delver, popular because of its flipped side, Insectile Aberration, is generally NOT GOOD. It takes the right number of tricks to play him, and those decks tend to play control and can’t late game a 1/1. In this deck, however, your arsenal of bounce and tap and pump actually attracts the bug. Make sure not to overdue it; this deck needs a creature to drop on every turn after the first.
Most overrated card in the set
Pick order
Village Bell-Ringer (and any other ground creature with at least three toughness.)
Fed Rating: 10/10
Wrecked Rating: 5/5
UGb “Self Mill”
I won’t make you wait long to read about Self Mill, mostly since it’s the coolest deck. If you haven’t seen it in action, you’re in for a treat. Self Mill uses the graveyard as a resource for card advantage and sometimes game-breaking spells. You can try a control, aggro, or even combo shell, which makes this deck very fun to play and very versatile to build. Many cards in the set feed the graveyard: Forbidden Alchemy is the first to most people’s minds because of it’s popularity in Standard, but it usually doesn’t work as well as Armored Skaab or even Mulch. In a super-aggressive milling list, Memorys Journey and Runic Repetition let you fix draws and never lose to inability to draw.
Building Self Mill is about the enablers, but the deck can’t exist without the finishers. The best card in this deck by far is Spider Spawning. To state it simply (and boldly), this is the best Limited card in the set when applied correctly. It is better than Olivia Voldaron, better than Bloodline Keeper, and better than Devils Play. It’s easier to splash, and it wins games more reliably. In this deck it often makes 6-7 Spiders, a force strong enough to three-for-one them while biding time to flash it back and make even more. In a late game, expect to only need a pair of combat steps to end the game after casting this monster.
That Spider Spawning wreaks havoc from the Uncommon slot is great news for the archetype, which otherwise needs to look for rares. Mirror-Mad Phantasm is a one-stop fill-your-graveyard shop, but costly, and Mythic. It works well with Laboratory Maniac, and will turbocharge your flashback goodies like Gnaw to the Bone, so I’ll use the Spirit as a signal to jump into the archetype. The other bomb for the deck is Kessig Cagebreakers. While much more fragile than the Spiders, this rogue can end games in a single swing. Splinterfright is solid in the aggro shell, but it’s hard to tell it to stop, and so you’d better be ready to punch in hard.
The deck has huge upside, and often you get archetype-fulfilling picks ignored by other players like Ghoulcallers Bell, Gnaw to the Bone, and Selhoff Occultist. If you don’t get the game-enders though, you can easily end up with an 0-3 deck. The splashability of the Black Flashback costs help the deck remain streamlined, but UG suffers from lack of removal.
Pick Order
Fed Rating: 10/10
Wrecked Rating: 1/5
BR Vampires
Vampires is amongst the fastest decks in the format, relying on early pumps of Bloodcrazed Neonate and the winged beats of Vampire Interloper. The key to this deck (which markets many underpowered creatures) is to steal the game’s momentum and translate it into a win before your opponent can recover. RB has barely any sizable creatures, and loses aerial wars, so Crossway Vampire and Nightbirds Clutches are paramount to getting damage in.
The biggest strength of this archetype is the selection of removal. Red and Black both have multiple cheap removal spells that you can leverage into an early-game dominant position. Also, because the tribe is under-drafted, you can pick up archetype bombs like Vampiric Fury and Clutches late. Grab removal first, and follow it up with as many bodies as possible. The Crossway and Clutches often spin, so keep an eye out for them in your opening fourteen and watch them come back to you ninth.
Night Revelers is an underrated card. Giving the prevalence of Humans in the set, this guy basically always has sexy 4/4 Haste and can turn defensive positions into aggressive ones. Rotting Fensnake is another underused weapon, but is good in different situations. The Zombie Snake hits harder than all other 4-drops so he’s a fantastic precursor to Crossway / Clutches. His five power also has the upside of trading with flipped Werewolves and other beefy creatures. Lastly (and perhaps most importantly) he turns on Corpse Lunge, an otherwise mediocre card. A 5-powered Lunge is good enough to kill almost every threat in the set.
Usually you’ll jump into this deck to follow a bomb like Heretics Punishment, but the average dorks in this list always spin around, so it’s never a bad place to be. When nothing stellar presents itself, I often end up in R/B aggro, or the deck we’ll see next: G/W.
Pick Order
Geistflame (Creatures are paramount, so this is as much a hatedraft as anything)
Fed Rating: 8/10
Wrecked Rating: 3/5
She helps too
GW Aggro
This is the easiest deck to build and play. Turns two through five- just drop a dude and swing. If the board clogs, prepare to travel! The complexity in drafting this deck is identifying the correct order of the threats, since they all look like Bears and flying Ogres. Generally, the drafting sequence goes from highest-powered to lower, so that you can maximize your damage whenever there is a gap. The deck preys upon a stumbling starter relying on brutal precision and consistency. Make sure you get enough guys (AKA tons) because you can’t afford to miss a creature drop before turn four.
One of the big tricks to playing this deck is understanding your opponent’s next move. If you think he’s setting up a Silent Departure or Smite the Monstruous, spread out your travel counters. If you see the Rebuke coming, don’t feed your best creature. Make him stew and hold it waiting for that 4/5 flying Chapel Geist. A huge advantage you can lean on is the ‘forced trade.’ When you know your opponent WILL block this turn for a trade, and WILL leave it back next turn for the same trade, there’s no rush to make that trade. It’s a forced block because you know he’ll have to make it. Instead, you can trash the board with more creatures and make your opponent dissect a complicated position! The ‘forced trade’ is much like a ‘pin’ in chess. You know the opponent can’t maneuver his piece without taking exorbitant damage for it.
This is a “safe” deck and will always get playables since White is so deep. You will lose to better creatures and/or cheaper tricks from streamlined decks (see, Silent Departure), but those decks are hard to build and not every table can even support one. Make sure to hatedraft Spider Spawning as you see it because that one card destroys this entire deck.
Pick Order
Travel Preparations (it’s often safer to first-pick other cards to stay mono-colored)
Moment of Heroism (and all other pump)
Fed Rating: 8/10
Wrecked Rating: 5/5
Well, there’s an exhaustive run-down of some of the most popular draft decks. Come back next week for the conclusion of this article. Happy Holidays!
I like turtles.
Is it possible to dislike turtles?
Rotting Fensnake dies to half a Geistflame and it gets disarmed by every other creature (especially by a Doomed Traveler, a Village Ironsmith,…) . In my opinion, it is unplayable!
your story is cool
Geistflame is worse than bloodcrazed neonate? You’re so wrong I don’t even know what to say. Avacynian pilgrim is also much better than Dave Chapel for the g/w deck. And the r/b deck isn’t vampires all that often. You go right on ahead and pass me those geistflames while you take the bloodcrazed neonates and lets see who wins. The other decks pick orders are more flexible based on playstyle than r/b, but your evaluation of geistflame is beyond wrong. Also, night revelers = worse than geistflame.
The card you rated lowest, geistflame, destroys every creature you have on your r/b list except a 3/2 for 3 and a 4/4 for 5. gl winning a draft to save your life.
I don’t know how you could write a whole article on Innistrad constructed and not talk about werewolves at all. I’m pretty sure Moonmist is a card that is changing the format more than any other card right now. Werewolves are a great draft choice as many novice players won’t grab them because they think they are giving away their draft strategy by putting the card down in front of them. It only takes a few removal spells and some beefy two-siders to put together a formidable draft deck. Add Moonmist to the equation and you are almost guarenteed success.
Appreciate the content but one draft a week is not really good enough for a site called draft magic. I think one of the main reasons people use the site is that your drafts were frequent and quickly uploaded as opposed to some other sites out there. Now you’ve lost this angle and started looking at constructed and so on I may as well just use channel fireball.
I… I just don’t understand why you keep posting articles here. You clearly have no understanding of the format, as evidenced by your hilariously inaccurate pick orders (and the fact that you think pick orders can even be rigidly defined). The other comments are correct as well. Please, leave the draft strategy to the professional players. Or at the very least, post a video draft yourself so we can see how effective your theories actually are. My suspicion is that you can’t draft, which explains why you’ve never posted video content here.
The only logical explanation is that you are purposely posting inaccurate content with the hope that ignorant magic players will adopt your views and start losing drafts in order to increase your own win percentage. If that is your goal, you truly sicken me, Berto.
@Everyone
we’ve been a little low on content lately, since everyone is being frustratingly lazy, and having Berto’s article is better than nothing. Rest assured there will be drafts next week and into the future.
@Darthsphincter
I noticed when editing the article that he didn’t even have pilgrim on the UG list AT ALL. So I threw it in, but I didn’t want to put it too high, since even though he is wrong in a lot of areas, it’s still Berto’s article.
I didn’t notice how low the Geistflame was, and if I had I would have moved it to above the Interloper. Regardless of this being Berto’s article, there is no need to post blatantly incorrect information.
Well clearly I need to speak up here…
on RB…
Geistflame is only low on the pick chart for the deck to exemplify that you need DUDES for RB. I would not be bothered by anyone taking it higher than any of the creatures. Rotting Fensnake is very playable but only for the right reasons.
@whoflungpoo
If you read to the Happy Holidays! at the end you’d notice PART II is coming out next week. rofl. You silly person.
@Random Scrub
Truthfully, I don’t post videos because I play MODO on a 9-inch netbook that can barely run MTGO, let alone Camtasia too.
A little more about Roberto Castro
Berto hasn’t paid for a Magic event since 2007. He uses his winnings in credit or in trade to buy into more events. Apart from just playing events, Berto’s Magic collection has paid for several months rent. He’s a boss. What has he done this season?
Invitational Sealed Finalist (draft top8), lost finals to a bad ruling (the acting judge got dejudged)
1k Sealed / Draft top8 Winner
PTQ combined record 37-11-2 this season, finishing top32 all 6 times in the world’s most competitive region. Top4 last week.
MTGO- signed up on Nov. 17. In 2 weeks won $400 in product, defeating 3 Channel-Fireball players and a few lesser named pros along the way.
Total Competitive Events: 8
Total Record: 49-13-4
Total payout: ~$800
To the haters, sure, none of this matters til I win a fucking Qualifier. Between being a teacher, student, athlete, poker-player, and judge… playing Magic professionally becomes slightly hard. What have YOU done lately?
And I like turtles, too.
Wow Marlon, don’t touch my shit.
I must agree with #m0ar videos boss, I enjoy this site for its videos/drafts and other unique projects (brewing on a budget, standard constructed, etc) it has done. However, the site has been greatly lacking in substance as of late. Though we can all agree that its understandable that all of you have lives outside of magic, and can’t upload a draft every day. But as a ‘consumer’ it is not a excuse I want to hear.
Your product is in high demand – and if you wish to have site succeed you should consider adding more content, from different players, on different subjects. EDH, Legacy, Modern, Timmy (dumb/goofy combos/decks), Standard constructed, etc.
A great example available context you could have is, Mr. Boyks. I wouldn’t rate Mr. Boyks as a great drafter (surely better than myself) – However I enjoy his videos. He offers a lot of insight on his picks, and how he hopes to build a deck. Almost on par with the roster Draftmagic is currently highlighting (front page).
Maybe Draftmagic should look at the community it currently has. Hold contest, events something along those lines. Rookie drafter of the week! Community member post a video of themselves drafting, hopefully providing some good insight and commendatory. Something…Anything.
Now, to comment on the above article – Though I appreciate the effort by Berto, I find almost all his conclusions outdated. Limited for ISD is bit trickier than drafting tribal or fliers. Its not like M12, it has its own METAGAME. Currently the best archetype to draft is graveyard G/U, next would G/W (still), BR Vamps would be third. However all of these will change. W/U Delver is amazing if you have one or two midnight haunting and feeling of dread. Ragerthrower R/W (rally) is another amazing archtype. Seeing zombie tribal would be awesome (rooftop storm is still not getting picked, haazah!) like constructed – the current environment has many stellar archetypes. And simply suggest ‘fliers’ and BR vamps isn’t what we would expect as fans of this site.
For the record, Avacyn’s Pilgrim is gravy in GW decks. It should never be picked over a real threat, but is fine to supplement a curve, especially if you are playing with Human interactions.
I forgot to respond to this very particular point: pick orders
YES picks are versatile and changing the order of picks definitely depends on the cards already in your deck, the cards around the table, but this format has the ability to fuel EIGHT DIFFERENT powerful decks at one table! It’s important to know how high you should be taking your cards, and what the trickle-downs of neighbor archetypes will provide.
As an example, Armored Skaab is one of my favorite 1-2-3 overall picks of the draft because it’s fantastic in several decks. It’s not better than a Victim of the Night, but it fuels bigger and better decks. Pick orders i something I generally reject, except in this set it’s important to know where other decks are valuing their removal, evasives, and average dudes.
I hope you found this article informative, and we shall see the rest next week.
Vagabond- you cannot force a deck going into a draft. If a deck like UGb is drafted by 2 players, or even a neighboring player with Burning Vengeance… it falls on its face. The deck relies on ONE card Spider Spawning and I hatedraft it all day.
The “metagame” you speak of exists within every individual draft. It’s up to the drafter to identify where the ‘hole’ is and jump in and build a bonkers deck.
I’m a fan of the Falkenrath noble where does it fit in? I actually tend to splash it in any deck. And ive done more a black/blue self mill deck with unburial rites, ghoulcallers chant etc. Is this bad. Splashing in spider spawning.
Falkenrath Noble is the best Uncommon in the set. Spider Spawning can do more broken things, but outside of Rares it’s the tops of the p1p1 list, and is immediately splashable in any deck. I didn’t go into Uncommons much unless they define an archetype, simply because building a deck relies on the commons you know will be there.
@Castro,
Well of course – I guess I should’ve pre-texted my suggestions by saying if the picks are there you should go… And I think with ISD forcing decks has become the norm. If I open township, and 2nd pick a hunter I’m going to force G/W – because even with mediocre creatures township in limited wins games. If I see that 4 delvers are opened I’m going to consider using them. You have to be open minded, but knowing what archetypes work best isn’t flawed.
LOL that’s not forcing… You opened a bomb, then got passed a signal that at least half your deck is open. FORCING is sitting down to a draft knowing the color combo you will play, or declaring openly that you’ll be picking Spider Spawning over anything.
Saving the werewolf write up for part 2?
Don’t waste your time. You should be glad Marlon made edits to this article so that you don’t look like such a jackass. He should have been the one to write it in the first place…
And posting your “winnings” this year means nothing to me or any of the other serious players on this site. I hate to be such a troll here, but you aren’t doing yourself or this site any favors by posting information that is innaccurate. The results speak for themself, and until you post some winning draft tournaments on here or show some serious analytics pertaining to current formats its going to be very hard for your to gain any sort of respect from the users of this site. I could see if this was the first time you wrote a crap article but it seems to be a trend with your submissions.
Of course this article will be controversial. We all have different opinions on powerlevels of cards. At any rate, I appreciate the article and the additional content. Marlon, you gotta get after these dudes to make more drafts and contribute more, or possibly get some of the more amateur people doing draft vids. I can’t get high and NOT watch drafts. I mean, cmon.
Respect to Roberto for coming back to the comments to defend both your ability and your decisions in the article.
A lot of people don’t seem to look for other people’s point of view on a topic, they look to have their own opinions reaffirmed. If people take this attitude then they learn nothing so the joke is on them.
@whoflungpoo, I chuckled to myself at the idea that winning a MODO draft and posting it here would make things more impressive (and persuasive) than an 80% win-clip in competitive events. lol. Get real!
you most play really good, because youre wins sure arent from draft skill
So if I told you I could fly based on some flight logs I have with the FAA; that would be better proof than me actually flying a plane? All I’m saying is that it would be a lot more beneficial to you and your credibility as a columnist if you were to walk people through your decisions as you draft online, like all the other people on this site do.
You make some pretty bold claims in regards to drafting Innistrad and all I’m trying to point out is that if you don’t want people to troll your articles so hard then post a video to back up your claims. Or if you can’t, have one of the other drafters create a video based on your article.
I like this guy. He’s funny, knows what he’s talking about and doesn’t give anything close to a f*#k. More of him please.
Surprised at all the negativity. Pick orders are so arbitrary and impossible to define in a vacuum — by the time you’re actually choosing between, say, Interloper and Geistflame in a BR deck, the content of your deck so far is going to be the biggest factor by far in trying to decide which card to take. Pick orders are good pretty much only useful to provoke discussion and debate. But instead of actually talking about Interloper vs. Geistflame etc., people are calling each other names.
If you’re a pro-level player who reads every strategy article expecting to know more than the author, why are you bothering to read this in the first place? And if you think this site provides too little or too weak of content, why are you looking on this site for content?
I bet we can’t find two players on this thread to post identical pick orders for a single deck the author talked about. Solid article overall. Happy holidays.
Come on guys, use common sense. He has “pick orders” up for specific decks. If your b/r aggressive deck is going to win it needs creatures, not geistflames. That being said, pick the fucking flame since neonate is tabling
trololololololol….
Thanks for the insight, man, I appreciate it. The _free service_ from someone who _does know what they’re doing_ is appreciated. Pity we can’t see you in action so that we could get to know how your brain works a little better, the way that we get to see Marlon, but even so it’s good of you to get the conversation rolling by giving us your take on some cards.
After all, anybody who knows anything about draftng knows that it’s a slightly different take on the value of cards that often leads to a victory. I learned that the first time I watched a competitive draft, back in the Ravnica days in Prague.
i think pick orders are fairly stupid in this set. im not saying your deck choices or types ar e bad, just that these orders can change drastically with each whatever you have picked so far in a draft.
2 things really stood out at me….. night revelers is rarely playable in any deck, let alone a worse than patrician in a RB deck that wants 15 lands?
and pilgrim is the best green common in any deck with green… period end of story. how many games have you lost with an unanswered t1 pilgrim ?
Hey, I just wanted to say–after reading all the hate filled and general level of vitriol dense comments, that keep doing what you do “Berto”. Not everybody reading this article is a top drafter, and a lot of folks are brand new to drafting, and I’m sure they appreciate what you have to say. There are a lot of “haters” all over the internet who will “dis” anything you say. I however enjoy reading your articles and, while I don’t agree with everything you say, I usually come away with something. So thanks!
Wasn’t gonna say anything until I read in the comments that falkenrath noble is the best uncommon. Seriously man? Are you not familiar with slayer of the wicked fiend hunter and unburial rites?
Get some drafts up here Roberto, you’re not giving us enough free value as it is :P
And to everyone else: Yeah, dude is really good.
First of all your article is nothing new to anyone who has drafted innistrad 5-10 times, but thats not the point. You are extremely arrogant throughout the article and in the comments where you come off as very petty in your arguments. Then you go on to brag yourself up even though i’m sure nobody even knew who you were until they visited this site ( i sure didn’t and i look at multiple magic content sites every day.)
What you don’t seem to understand is that you are privileged to be able to contribute to a site like this and you have a responsibility to the fans/contributors to this site. Yes sometimes things go slower than expected and you can’t post new content all the time, but you alienate your viewers by calling them haters instead of explaining the situation, it is acting like a fucking douche bag that makes people not like you, not anything else. If you are to busy to care about this site then maybe being a contributor isn’t for you.
If i was Marlon Egolf i would definitley reply to the readers like he did because some of your picks are dead wrong. Your UW “Skies” list seems fine. The “UGb” list is all wrong though, the first four picks should be- (Forbidden Alchemy, Deranged Assitant, Armored Skaab, Mulch)– in that order. The deck really only consists of two things, the engine, which is those 4 cards, and the win condition which can alternately be Spider Spawning and or any bomb you open in your colors. Dark Thicket Wolf while being a solid 2 drop, is better suited for an aggro deck, i’d say that sticher’s Apprentice is better because it gives you free chump blocks and fills your graveyard.
With th “BR” deck i wouldn’t call i vamps
continued from above——
Giest flame is great removal and should be taken over dorky creatures as you can move into BR control or UB control if you don’t get them.
In the GW aggro list, Avacyn’s Pilgrim should but near the top, it is better than Avacyn’s priest because i’d rather have an aggressive curve than less aggresive one. Also villagers is better than orchard spirit because it is entirely less vunerable to removal, it is a human so bonds doesn’t work, its a were wolf so VOTN doesn’t work, dead weight doesn’t kill it out right, ect. also being able to have villagers become a 4/6 is as relevant as the spirits evasion.
ALSO, How can you miss prey upon, it belongs in every green deck period. major punt on this article
correction—– you can move into BR control or UR control if you don’t get the dorky creatures.
@ Draft Magic– Please replace roberto he is an elite a-hole and i’m sure there is someone just as good who could replace him.
@ roberto— Everyone at CFB is definitely a cut above you on the important people of magic list, not only are they more succesful but don’t act like an assclown like you… and if you remove any of my comments it proves you just can’t take the heat, it wouldn’t look good to curse and then remove someone else’s comments for cursing would it?
Wow, some major hostility there. I know I was on his case for the content as well, but chill out bro, it’s an opinion piece, no need for name calling. Certain people have certain strategies that work well for them, and while I don’t agree with many of the points made in this article, it is HIS article. You make some valid points yourself in regards to the constructed decks he wrote about. You should submit an article to Vito, I’d be interested to read it and it seems like you have a lot to say…
Agreeing with the last comment. Assclown? For forgetting/underrating Prey Upon in a green common pick order (and getting a little defensive about it)? In a free article? You’d think the guy is a serial killer from all the hate on here.
This is a game. The ability of a segment of the Magic community to correctly rate Prey Upon has ZERO value.
(And who is being wronged by apparently mistaken picks, anyways? Presumably only beginners who haven’t understood very much about the format. But none of the anger seems to be indignation on THEIR behalf. It’s the readers who think they think they are SMARTER than the author — and thus not taking his advice ANYWAYS — who are complaining.)
And with that, I’m going to go experiment with picking Falkenrath Nobles more aggressively and see how things turn out…
My two cents as a terrible drafter. Skirsdag High Priest is pretty good in vampires since your guys die so easily and you have a lot of them. It’s pretty alright if you get stalled out.