Theros drafting is not without it's nuances, and one of them is the 10-card uncommon cycle in the guilds' colors, and more often than not, you might see one of these which lies in one of your colors, but not solidly in both. This would mean that you might want to splash them in your deck using one of the many cards in Theros draft that fix your mana for you. One in particular comes to mind
Traveler's Amulet, a reprint from Innistrad where it didn't really see much of a spotlight, but in Theros' unique nature, and the playable uncommon cycle, more often than not you'll want to splash a third (or even a fourth) color. Without much further ado, here's the uncommon cycle.
Battlewise Hoplite looks amazing from the outset, and yes, it most certainly is. He turns combat tricks into scry cards, and is efficiently costed, to boot. Heroic is indeed incredibly strong in Theros draft, and Hoplite is no exception. The problem lies in it's mana cost, UW. Unless you're deep in these two colors, I wouldn't recommend splashing for this card, because you always want to hit him turn 2 if possible.
Shipwreck Singer is another efficiently costed 2 drop, and it has three very strong abilities. Forcing attacks is usually rather strong in limited, usually meaning you can take out a creature without much trouble if you have a creature which is stronger. Added to that, it has Shrivel on a stick, which is never bad. Flying is always a combat-positive ability as well. The problem with this card, and why it falls short a lot is that Shrivel and forced attacks don't really cut it in Theros draft. The mana inefficiency of this card and it's intensive mana cost let it down, and is only really good in grindy decks, which don't seem to feature much in Theros draft. Add to that black isn't the strongest color, and you've got a card that just falls short of the quality margin.
Think Goblin Piledriver of Theros draft. Already it looks brilliant, and looks like a sure thing in aggro decks in Red and White. Unfortunately for this card, we aren't in triple Gatecrash draft. It is still a great beater to land on turn 2, but it gets outclasses late in the game. Ideally with this card, your deck doesn't WANT to go into late game, but most games end up going there. Your deck would need to curve fantastically for this card to work (think Akroan Hoplite into Wingsteed Rider) but it sure can work. I haven't tested with this card enough, and my drafts never lead me into R/W aggro, so I can't speak much more on it's efficacy. Feel free to drop a comment if Akroan Piledriver has done something for you, and I'd always love to be regaled by draft stories.
"Destroy target enchantment" is a very good ability to have on a card in Theros draft. Enchantments feature quite heavily (including enchantment creatures) and 2 damage tacked onto that is clearly a card you'd like to have in your arsenal, whether to simply destroy problem enchantments or bring in the final points of damage to make your swing lethal. In red/green decks I would most certainly play it, but would be hard pressed to actually splash for this card. More often than not, it's better left out if not in your colors.
Spellheart Chimera is a card I could see in fringe Standard decks, which means I think it's pretty good. And add to that that Theros is more of a combat-trick format and you have a card of off-color gold. If you see this card late in a pack, and are in a deck which features heroic, I say go for it. It's highly worth the splash, and flying is more than good in this format. At even 2/3 it's rather good, and it can be a lategame beater. Definitely worth the splash if you're either in blue or red.
This card is rather well placed in Theros draft. Not only is it mana efficient, a decent powered creature to beat with, in either green or white heroic decks, you end up with creatures that receive +1/+1 counters off of Heroic triggers (see Staunch-Hearted Warrior, Wingsteed Rider) and lategame it can draw you cards. A brilliant card to run in solidly G/W decks, and well worth a splash if you're in one of his colors. However keep in mind he's a mana-intensive Nessian Courser at times, so you'd want to run him in primarily Heroic-centered decks. He's also pretty good with Monstrosity, but Monstrosity is quite the mana sink, and you'd perhaps end up playing him before getting to Monstrosity mana.
Horizon Chimera. Everything about this card screams at me, wanting me to play this rather awesome flyer. Every single ability on this card is immensely combat-positive and massively tempo-positive as well. He (or she) holds auras like a champ, and flies, to boot. Quite the card for G/U decks and is well worth a splash in either green or blue. Quite a brilliant card to have in your deck, and mid to late pack, I would snap it up.
This card reminisces of Serra Angel, but falls short greatly. While Serra Angels would be windmill slammed in MXX drafts, this one sits limply on your side of the field, mana intensive with a poor regeneration shield. However it's one redeeming quality is it's flying, which is quite desired in Theros draft. If you're thirsty for creatures and are solidly in W/B, go for it.
This is our multicolored Minotaur Lord, unfortunately it does very little on it's own. If you end up with numerous Minotaurs or a Rageblood Shaman somewhere in your packs, you could opt to run him. If you do end up running Kragma Warcaller (usually better in multiples) there's a good chance you would be in R/B anyway. It can be efficacious in the right kind of deck, but on it's own it's rather poor.
Saving the best for last, we have Pharika's Mender. Quite easily one of the easiest splash choices in the format, it's a high power/high toughness beater which nets card advantage. Beautiful. There's not much to be said about the Eternal Witness of this draft format, being an easy mid-pack choice for your deck. These are very highly-valued cards, and getting one or multiples shore up your deck quite well.
Well, I hope you found this informative, and as always, have fun drafting!
Cheers,
Brick
Brick
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