Welcome back to another limited article. As always when a new set comes out everybody is interested in how it works, how it is different to what we are used to, and in case of a second block set: Do we have the same speed?

To be fair Amonkhet was one of the fastest formats in quite some time as we saw decks with 15 lands and several one drops. When there is a format that fast there are always some ups and downs. An up is certainly the fairness of rare bombs. They are more expensive and sometimes you just get overrun before you can even cast your rare cards.

This is over now! Regarding the speed of the format it changed a lot. This format is definitely on the slower side of the spectrum.

How can this happen if the format was that aggressive before?

First of the cartouches are almost gone. They were the initial reason that the format was that fast and aggressive as they basically made blocking impossible. They are still there, but to a way lesser extent and therefore the cartouche strategies are not that good anymore.

Ramp is also a thing in the new format. You have enough powerful cards to ramp into and the Ramp cards do some work, as you have one of the best commons in the set in form of 《Oasis Ritualist》. If ramp is valid, you can assume that expensive cards should make up for their cost and in this set they do.

Unfortunately the new Gods are all way to broken for limited. They are 2 colors, which makes it more unlikely to play them, but if they hit the battlefield they generally close out games within one or two turns.

If there is a format where ramp is valid, there is enough space for control, as this beats the rare decks in a reliable fashion. Counterspells are good answers to rarebombs and also discard and removal help a lot. Removal is also improved by a lot, as most of them are at instant speed or super efficient like 《Unquenchable Thirst》, which also ranges within the top commons of the set, as it basically deals with every creature for the cost of a lousy two mana.

Carddraw also got better with this set and you do have a new great blocker in form of 《Wall of Forgotten Pharaohs》. I think this card is still underrated even though everybody keeps talking about it all the time. Last but not least there are Cycling Lands, which make it possible for control decks to play more lands, find their key spells and even generate more card advantage in the late game if you have things that benefit from the desert effect or if you can play 《Tragic Lesson》.

This all may read like there is no way aggro works, but that is also not the case. Red-White-Aggro works basically the same way as it did before besides the fact that you have less cartouches and trials. I even think that the best color combination works the best as an aggro deck, so let’s just jump right into our color combinations.

Archetype

Blue-Red

For me this is the best color combination in Hour of Devastation Draft. While it used to be a spells deck in Amonkhet draft, we now have an aggro/tempo deck that tries to curve out as fast as possible and gain tempo advantage in form of bounce spells like 《Unsummon》. Prowess is your keyword, so keep in mind to maximize the number of spells that go well with creature, and as usual: pick the cartouches very high!

Key Cards:《Unsummon》, 《Spellweaver Eternal》 , 《Khenra Scrapper》 and all kinds of removal/bounce spells.

White-Blue

This archetype is one of the more controlling ones. You try to stall the ground with walls and win with the fliers you eventually will pick up. You have a lot of removal, especially with 《Sandblast》 and 《Impeccable Timing》 and 《Sandblast》 within combat. There is a chance you could be aggressive with this archetype with 《Oketra's Avenger》 and 《Aerial Guide》, but as your removal are combat based it is strictly worse than UR. So I would advice drafting the control type for this color pair.

Key Cards:《Wall of Forgotten Pharaohs》 , 《Aven of Enduring Hope》 and 《Solitary Camel》.

Blue-Black

Another Control Archetype, which plays out similar to UW except for the black cards that are holding the ground a little better and is more Cycling based. You will find your bombs and have ways of recursion , so you can focus on not losing the game. This combination also has an aggressive version which looks very much like UR, but your creatures are a little less aggressive and you don’t have burn spells. Either way I would prefer it over the UW deck.

Key Cards: 《Torment of Venom》 , 《Unquenchable Thirst》, 《Scrounger of Souls》.

Blue-Green

This archetype is one of the few that look almost like the ones in Amonkhet Draft. There it was ramp and nothing really changed, besides it performs better than before because you have better cards. There is a high change that you will splash a color or two because getting fixing is easy and you want some real game-enders.

Key Cards:《Oasis Ritualist》 , 《Bitterbow Sharpshooters》 , 《Aerial Guide》.

White-Black

Zombies are still all over the place but it changed from the last format as you are losing 2 Packs of 《Binding Mummy》 but got 《Mummy Paramount》 which is not that much worse. All the compareable cards are slightly worse and grinding your opponent out could be more difficult, as the cards are a little bit less exciting for both early and lategame. It is still a valid strategy, even though I am not too high on it.

Key Cards: 《Mummy Paramount》 , 《Khenra Eternal》 , 《Lethal Sting》.

White-Red

Still is straight up aggro as it was in Amonkhet but once again the absence of cartouches is an issue, even though you get some really nice tools and Exert kicks in pretty handily as well and brings a bunch of insane uncommons like 《Vizier of the True》 and 《Resolute Survivors》. Commons did get replaced in a good way, even though your deck will most likely be half a turn or a turn slower than in the old format, due to a higher average casting costs.

Key Cards: 《Dauntless Aven》 , 《Khenra Scrapper》 , 《Open Fire》.

White-Green

Here we have an Exert theme as well, just as it was before just slighty worse. You do have the upside of 《Synchronized Strike》 in one pack, but overall it plays out as it did in the old format and therefore it is also worse than the RW Deck and there is not a whole lot more to say.

Key Cards: 《Dauntless Aven》 , 《Ambuscade》, 《Rhonas's Stalwart》.

Black-Red

I am still not entirely sure what is the best way to draft it, but I assume it is some sort of midrange Deck with a whole lot of removal, a high number of cycling creatures and your early Drops are just there to stop the bleeding. So you want some walls, value cards and generate small advantages on all parts of the game and win with the last creature standing. I tried several aggressive builds but it never really worked out for me.

Key Cards: 《Wall of Forgotten Pharaohs》 , 《Wretched Camel》 , 《Scrounger of Souls》.

Black-Green

I really hated this archetype in Amonkhet as I always had the feeling that there was something missing in the -1/-1 Theme and in a slower build it did not keep up with the fast decks of the format and fell short against the slow ones. Now this is not the case anymore and the counter theme is almost gone and we are in a nice Midrange World and that’s where BG wants to be. A little removal, a little grind and some monsters to close out the games.

Key Cards: 《Lethal Sting》 , 《Bitterbow Sharpshooters》 , 《Ambuscade》.

Red-Green

I used to like this archetype in Amonkhet and it has not changed a lot, so Inciter into 2drop, 3drop and some pump spells to push damage through. Also this deck lost the cartouches and some part of the good curve but it is still decent.

Key Cards: 《Rhonas's Stalwart》 , 《Ambuscade》 , 《Frontline Devastator》.

Until next time, Oliver