Sample drafted deck: GW Heroic

Hi guys! For my first article as official writer for the blog, i'm gonna talk about a deck i drafted, so we can discuss it later in the comments. This article is gonna be the first of a series of articles with sample lists of the archetypes we've discussed before. This following days, we'll be talking about 4/5 color Green, UG heroic-tempo, and RG monstrosity, and we'll post decklists for them too.

Alright, so here's the list (the side only includes cards you might side in, off-color or bulk was a waste of space):

Heros:
1 Anthousa, Setessan Hero
3 Wingsteed Rider

1 Staunch-Hearted Warrior

Auras/tricks:

1 Chosen by Heliod

1 Leafcrown Dryad

1 Gods Willing

1 Boon Satyr

2 Observant Alseid

Removal:
1 Divine Verdict
1 Last Breath

Ramp/mana fix:
1 Opaline Unicorn

1 Nylea's Presence

1 Voyaging Satyr

Other creatures:
2 Nessian Asp

1 Nessian Courser

1 Lagonna-Band Elder
1 Setessan Griffin
1 Evangel of Heliod
1 Mistcutter Hydra

Lands:
8 Forest
9 Plains

Side:
1 Setessan Battle Priest
1 Ephara's Warden
1 Setessan Griffin
1 Shredding Winds
1 Yoked Ox

Well, this deck has two things to mention: On one side, we have 3 Wingsteed Riders. They are the best creature you can get in this deck, and they work very well. But we only have 5 heroic creatures. What makes the deck good is the support: 2 Nessian Asp, Mistcutter Hydra, and other common beaters like Nessian Courser.

This deck is more of an hybrid between heroic and plain aggro. There are three "bomb" cards, very efficient commons, and the Riders work amazingly. Also, there's good ramp/fixing, which ensures to get those turn 3 riders, and monstrosity on the asps.

The deck lacks a bit of removal. There's one Divine Verdict, which is good, and Last Breath, which is decent (though some people seem to hate it to death).

The idea now, is to talk about the deck in the comments, say what you like/dislike, or give us your own lists. I hope this helped you somehow.

Have fun drafting!

w00t.

Since we finally figured how blogs work (was about time, methinks), I've successfully used my now less than actual poop skills at using a blog to make Beu a co-author of this thingy with me! E-cupcakes and juice boxes for all!

UW Heroic

Hey readers, PhEnOm here. I'm going to discuss my favorite archetype of theros drafting. Heroic. In my opinion, only 3 colors have good heroic cards to make a whole archetype about heroic, and that's red/white/green. Black has some good heros, but it has no good targeting spells. Red has good tricks but not good heros. Green has the centaurs and the mini centaurs. But i am going to focus on my favorite Heroic deck: u/w. 

The heroic guys here are amazing and blue has some great targeting spells to help white. The only problem is that we don't have many other creatures, but we have better removal than in green. Lets look at some of these spells:

HEROIC ENABLERS:

Aqueous form is very good. Heros grow big easily, and scrying 1 every turn is very useful.

Fate Fortold is a 2 mana cantrip and you get your heroic trigger. And if they eventually kill your guy you get another cantrip. I can see running 1-2 of these. Chosen by Heliod is good because it draws, and it makes heros tougher.

Nimbus naiad costs 5, which is the best spot in the heoric deck especially white/blue you have this and the white one, i like this for my hoplites. Observant Alesid is very effective on the defense, and it makes both a good attacker and blocker.

Dauntless Onslaught is OP, it can be 2 giant growths in one package so thats 3 mana for +6 power. God's willing works well here also since they are going to try their darndest to kill these huge creatures you are pumping.

There are also some fillers like Hopeful Eidolon, and the Ordeals.

HEROS:

WINGSTEED RIDER: (all caps to show importance). This is our House. 2/2 flyer for 3 mana and it grows each time we buff it. This is our trump card. 2-4 are perfectly fine, you get more run them, up to 6 (Editor's note: if someone gets 6 of those, please tell us!). He will bring home the freshly cooked bacon.

Battlewise Hoplite: not as good as the rider cause he is on the ground but his scry ability is very good also. He's uncommon, so don't expect to get a lot of them.

Favored Hoplite: not as good on offense but he is very nice on the D. since his ability makes him live forever. Phalanx Leader is only good when you have more creatures, but heroic decks are usually low on them.

Wavecrash Triton: This guy is very good, his ability is HUGE tempo. He clears blockers, nullifies threats and stops bombs.

SUPPORT TO THE DECK:

There are more but those are the heavy hitters from blue. Another reason why i like pairing with blue here is the removal blue has perfectly placed: Voyage's End, Griptide, and Sea God's Revenge. They are all playable in this deck. White has Divine Verdict and Last Breath.

Mnemonic Wall is good if you have instant enablers.

DRAFTING AND PLAYING:

A lot of your heroic enabler spells will be late picks as most of them get overlooked unless other people want heroics. Our guys are harder to find at times but since our House is a common we should have no trouble getting at least 2 of him. When playing this deck 17 land is perfectly fine at times since our early game is very important. Try to not keep any hands with less then 3 mana in it and no less then 2 plains. this deck wants to be on the play. The ideal hand is 3 lands 2 heroic dudes and 2 targeting spells.

I hope my words have helped you in some way. May all your opponents be mana screwed when you need to win big. PhEnOm out.

-PhEnOm (Fixed by Beusapu)

Theros Archetypes: GW Heroic

Hi! I'm Beusapu again! So, with the color primers finished, we're gonna post here archetype guides, with information about how to draft a deck, when to do it, and which are the best cards. For my article i've chosen my favorite archetype: GW Heroic.

GW heroic is, in my opinion, the best heroic deck. UW is faster and more all-in, and RW has better heroic enablers, but being green gives us the best creatures.

A heroic deck should have, more or less, 14 or 15 creatures. Counting we have 17 lands, that leaves us with 7 spots for heroic tricks, which is a lot (and we also have bestow creatures!).

DECK BREAKDOWN:

The heroic guys:

We have the best heroes at common, really big creatures. Wingsteed Rider is awesome, probably the best of them. It's easy to play this on turn 3, and be attacking for 4 or 5 on the air next turn. Another great hero is Staunch-Hearted Hero. It's a bit slower than Rider, and it doesn't have evasion, but this guy will grow very fast, usually being a 6/6 on turn 5.

At uncommon, we get the all-star Centaur Battlemaster. Play him on turn 5, swing for 6 (at least) next turn. One of the best options, and a very high pick. White has Fabled Hero and Phalanx Leader. The first is good if we have cheap or cantrip auras, while the second gets much better with more creatures.

The heroic enablers:

To trigger heroic, we have a lot of auras. The bestow nymphs are great. Leafcrown Dryad is obviously good, but her white sister, Observant Alseid, is epic. There's nothing better than vigilance when you have a 5/5 flying creature, and this girl is just "kill me or lose".

Chosen by Heliod is also great. An aura that draws and triggers heroic is great value. We also have two cool uncommon tricks: Dauntless Onslaught and Warrior's Lesson. The first one can be a 3x1 or even a 4x1, while the other is almost a green Ancestral Recall!

The Support:

Not all our deck can be heros and heroic enablers, and this is the part where green shines more than blue. White gives us good removal, and green good beaters. Nessian Asp and Nessian Hunter are very good. Setessan Griffin, a card that's usually bad, becomes really good in GW colors, being a 5/4 flier on its own.

At uncommon we get the most awesome creature we could get: Chronicler of Heros. A 3/3 for 3 is already good, but when it draws a card (and we have heroic and monstrosity for that) it's just one of the best. Also, it's a very good way to see if someone else is drafting the archetype.

SPLASHING:

Theros is a set where you can easily splash, and blue is the best option. We get tempo removal (Griptide and Voyage's End), some great uncommon (like Horizon Chimera), and a lot of evasion: The blue nymph, and Aqueous Form.

DRAFTING THE DECK:

This deck is quite easy to draft. Try to get all copies you can of the best heros first, since having a deck with a bunch of heroic enablers and no heros is lame. Centaur Battlemaster can be picked over other good cards if you want to go heroic. Try to get the two bestow dryads, they are really good, and obviously, get the good cards green and white have: Divine Verdict, Last Breath, Nessian Asp…

We also have the best enchantment removal, perfectly maindeckable.

You want to have a low curve, and mana fixing like Voyaging Satyr and Nylea's Presence, to play the Wingsteed Riders on turn 2.

Splashing blue is also easy, if you have one or two Unicorns, and see blue cards passing, don't doubt to get them.

Another good thing is that there are a lot of rare bombs we can first pick, and that work very well with the deck, like Boon Satyr, Celestial Archon, Anthoussa Setessan Hero, or Mistcutter Hydra, and they all work very well in the deck.

 Well, i hope this helped you, and until next time, have fun drafting!!!

-Beusapu

The Off-Color Cycle

 Since I went over splashing for some chase uncommons yesterday, I'll be talking about splashing for a lot less rare cycle of cards, and whether they're worth playing at all. This set of cards is a 10-card cycle, again in guild colors, one in the cost, and an off-color activated ability.

 The Azorius colored one of the cycle is pretty much filler in most decks, but it can be quite the wall. It has massive toughness, and it does fly, evasion being highly sought after in this draft set. It's off-color ability seems underwhelming at first, but given enough mana, it can potentially turn a lethal swing into one much less fatal. If you do end up running this Lion/Ram headed monstrosity, it could be worth it to splash for it's ability, or even just let it be as a massively tough flyer.

 A mini-Juggernaut, efficiently costed and very tough, Deathbellow Raider is a very solid card to play on turn 2. Think Riot Piker of DGR draft, but far better, due to it's off-color ability. Add to this that this set is highly Voltron-oriented, and you can have a hell of a swinger turn 3 or turn 4. In red decks not featuring black, but are more aggro-oriented, this card could be played as is, usually seen in RW or RG decks. In such a strat, more often than not you wouldn't have the mana necessary to sink into his regeneration shield, so it's not really worth it to splash for his ability. A very niche (and somewhat poor, by experience) strategy is RB Minotaurs which also features this card, and  this will be talked about somewhere in the future.

 Perhaps the worst of this cycle, the Golgari-colored creature is a 6 mana 3/3 which is already highly inefficient. It has a forced block activated ability with a -3/-3 death trigger tacked on. This means that it can, in perfect scenarios, take out X/6s, but why even bother with a two color card like this when you can, for instance simply play Sip of Hemlock at a much similar mana cost and come out with more advantage? I have been informed however that this card has done work for some people, but I find it a little hard to believe and more of wishful thinking. If this card HAS done work for you, please do leave a comment, or message me on Cockatrice. I always do love to be told fun draft stories!

 Our Dimir-colored common in the cycle is Returned Phalanx, another brilliant common in the cycle. A two mana 3/3 is always a brilliant two-drop, regardless of it's defender. Whether it's just a wall to stop short aggro strategies, or as a semi-mobile attacker, it's very good in solidly Dimir colored decks. It's also very useful in non-blue black decks to stop short those early plays, and trade with 3/3s profitably. Although in those decks it's better off in the sideboard. It isn't usually a good idea to splash for it's off-color activated ability because you want it out of the gate fairly quick, getting in points of damage or stalling the board effectively.

 The Boros-colored common of this cycle is also very good in Theros draft. Think of it as the Executioner's Capsule of this draft format and as I've mentioned earlier, "Destroy target enchantment" is extremely relevant here. In aggro strategies, it comes out swinging on turn 1, and threatens the loss of your opponent's enchantments later in the game. I also find it extremely cute as it's considered a red source of enchantment removal, technically anyway. Quite the card to run in any red/white aggro strategy, and splashing for her ability isn't really recommended, unless you're hard pressed for enchantment removal.

 As always, our Izzet card of the cycle deals damage, as Izzet is prone to do. This card is pretty decent filler, and it's shock is quite good tempo. However it doesn't do all that much work, by experience, in Theros draft. I could see it being potentially decent tempo, and combat-positive. It could also bring together the final points of damage in a game, giving you a victory quite out of the blue (pun intended). Because it's a blue card, get it? Aah, I'll show myself out. But not before the rest!

 Satyr Hedonist is a brilliant card to have in any R/G deck, the Red Dark Ritual ability some serious ramp in this format. It enables a turn 3 Nessian Asp, or even late game, it enables Monstrosity in a lot of large R/G creatures. In fact, it is a key piece in an R/G ramp strategy which will also be discussed later on. Not only does it carry with it a Dark Ritual, it's also a 2 power creature for 2, which is quite effective in bringing in the early beats if you don't need it's mana. Quite the common to run, but I definitely don't recommend splashing for it's ability. In non R/G decks it's simply a 2/1 for 2, which is rather ineffective in this draft format.

 Our Orzhov off-color card is Scholar of Athreos, and true to Orzhov, her ability is a drain. Now, this drain is enormously useful in Theros draft. Not only is it a 1/4 for 3, highly efficient and a wall, it also performs a secondary function in unblockable life loss and tempo advantage. Lategame people start to fear her, and for good reason. I recommend splashing at least two swamps for her in your deck, because a double activation can be quite devastating.

Agent of Horizons, in true Simic form, has a brilliant evasion ability, though slightly mana-intensive. At the very least, it's a three power swinger for green decks, and absolutely shines in UG decks. Theros being an enchantment format, anything you put on him becomes worth even more than on other creatures. Such evasion on a green creature is very rare, and much desired. So I would indeed splash for his ability, and he can definitely bring home the last few points of damage to win.

 Setessan Griffin, in Selesnya colors, is a quirky card. This card is obviously good in draft, 3 power flyers for 5 always do well, but with a caveat. It can Rootwalla up if need be, and swing for 5. This card is strange because it's mana cost isn't what's restricting, it's the activated ability. For this card, you're not splashing for the ability, but for the CARD itself. You want to play this card in decks dominated by green, splashing white for this beauty. I wouldn't recommend more than two copies usually in a single deck, because you probably can't activate two at a time, usually, and a 3/2 for 5 that flies on turn 5 isn't really the greatest in Theros draft. This Griffin can most definitely bring the game home, quite quickly, in fact.

Until next time, draft hard and draft well, and above all, have fun!

Cheers,

Brick

Splashing Colors in Theros (Greed might be a sin but it sure is fun! :D)

 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

Theros Primer #6: Green

  Hi, i'm Beusapu and i'm gonna make the green Theros primer, since Brick prefers writing the interesting articles, like the one about 2-color uncommon (coming soon!).

In my opinion, green is tied with blue for the best color in draft. It has some problems, and it lacks some removal, but it has the biggest creatures and most efficient mana fixing.

Just like in M14, green has the best power-CMC relation. We have huge commons and uncommons, and also a lot of ramp.

The most important of green is that it's exactly the opposite of white: Our commons are very efficient, and we'll be getting playable commons most of the time.

The best example of this is Nessian Asp. At 5 mana, we get a 4/5 creature with reach. That's much better than the classic "spiders", and it's awesome when we need a wall, or when we need a beater. The Monstrosity will make i the best creature in the table, by far.

Other efficient bodies are Nessian Courser, Leafcrown Dryad, Agent of Horizons (very good with blue and Bestow) and Vulpine Goliath. Another two commons that are very good are Staunch-Hearted Warrior and Sedge Scorpion. The Warrior is very good with Heroic enablers, specially in the GW deck, and the scorpion works well against huge creatures (which are everywhere, even in blue). Voyaging Satyr is very good, it ramps to monstrosity, and gives access to double costs easily.

Our removal includes the great Time to Feed, Shredding Winds, and also good enchantment removal, which is perfectly maindeckable.

Most uncommons follow the same pattern: Efficient beaters with reasonable costs, like Centaur Battlemaster, Nemesis of Mortals, Nylea's Emissary and Pharika's Mender (not monoG, but worth a splash).

Finally, a quick guide about the best green archetypes:

-GW heroic. Awesome, and much better than UW heroic. We have the growing heros, good heroic enablers, and Chronicler of Heroes, which is great.

-UG tempo: Green gives us the big, cheap guys, and blue the tempo spells. Voyage's End, Griptide and Horizon Chimera are the best cards blue gives to us.

-GR aggro: Green and red have the best creatures at common and uncommon, and red gives us the best removal. We have lots of combat tricks, and our creatures will be always the biggest.

-Black: Well, black is the weakest color probably. It has good removal, and Pharika's Mender, so i recommend splashing it into two-color decks with green. We have the commons Voyaging Satyr and Nylea's Presence, so it's gonna be easy to get the black mana.

- Beusapu