SOA drafting

[hamsandwich]

I thought I' would start a discussion thread on drafting strategies for SOA. I hope to hit a draft tomorrow(unfortunately I am working so will miss the midnight draft). My first thought is to draft a shard, mainly because it will be the easiest to build a mana base for. At the pre-release i was able to work in five colors due to the amount of tri color lands i happened to pull, and because of the obelisks and what not. Esper seems to be fast, so that may be my first choice, however, i just wanted to see if anyone was thinking of strategies yet. i feel like removal will be necessary, and also drafting the tri color lands.

if this is in the wrong place, let me know, i just thought we could use a good draft discussion for SOA.

[Tekkactus]

From playing in the prerelease, I learned that you probably want to focus on a Shard that includes White; it's definitely the strongest color. I haven't had a chance to booster draft yet, only Sealed, though. I am also interested to see how they differ.

[death by aggro]

From what I've seen, White is indeed a good base to build off of, especially in Esper-Aggro or Bant-Aggro/Control. That being said, the real "exploder" in this format is definetely Devour.deck. R/B/x as a whole seems a very good build, and Dragon Fodder into a 7/7 Thorn Thrash Elder on turn three is frighteningly easy to pull off in this format. This is definetely a deck to be on the lookout for, especially if you manage to pull one of the Rare Devour creatures as well (pretty much all of them are bombs).

[lionden_56]

I'm in the Beta for Shards on MTGO (so I'm drafting it non-stop) and I'm really liking rGw...it has good aggro, good removal, and a solid top end to the curve (lots of 5 power guys). Although if you can bet the cards you need the Esper deck is really, really good as well. As I'm typing this I'm drafting a wGu exalted deck...well, more like WgU...but I digress.

[Grumpherys]

I pulled off a 4th place with BUR tonight... I'm happy...

[Tresserhorn]

2nd with gRb

I really like red in this. It has alot of punishing finishers and a decent amount of removal. Pair that with Blacks removal and greens beasties, it's a pretty solid Shard.

[Grumpherys]

yeah I was beatin by GRB and it toped 1st place... I'm even building a deck constructed thats GRB now...

[gamerpunk666]

first with a WuB. esper is definetly the nastiest of the shards. master of etherium + etherium sculptor = a very big [card]master of etherium & lots of tiny pesky artifacts.

[Tekkactus]

9th with Rbu. Broodmate Dragon and Pancake Flipper are both limited hax and it was a mistake printing them.

[Yezzandrix]

I am ok with rares that win games, especially at 6 mana and three colors (even if that is easy to pull this time, it is still commitment). But I am not a huge fan of super-high-impact uncommons at three mana in a format that is not exactly overflowing with removal, considering the bombs/fatties you see running around... :-\

From your perspective: How devastating is Blightning in this current Limited? I found that one rather frigthening in theory...

[death by aggro]

Blightning is one of those deceptively good cards. Normally it's just a good tempo swing, but when used by someone who knows what they're doing, it can be pretty backbreaking.


This limited format is indeed turning out to be an interesting and strange one. If I've learned anything about SoA Limited so far, it's that you need to pay very close attention to the uncommon slot, as there are some pretty bombsy uncommons out there.