So, M15 is in Gatherer, and this makes it feasible to compile the best commons lists. I thought it might be interesting to try this with no (or very little) experience of the set, and see how my thinking will change after a month or so.

White:
Pretty disappointing at first glance; also a bit schizophrenic, split between aggro and life gain. And pretty flat in power level in the playable spells group. I settled on the three below, but there are at least three more quite close:
Pillar of Light
Midnight Guard
Triplicate Spirits
I think Spirits are a bit hurt by the need to have two or three creatures available for convoke purposes. Still a very solid card, especially with the two "pump all" spells at common. Depending on how viable the ww archetype will be, this may well be the best white common.

Blue:
Well, at least the plan seems clear here: stall, bounce, counter, fly over for the win, or send in some beef with the Pathmage. The tempo tools are not really here, though we do have the two commons combo of Lynx and Peel from Reality. For now, these strike me as the best three:
Welkin Tern
Amphin Pathmage
Frost Lynx
I had Void Snare as the third, but then I noticed it's a sorcery. Bummer. Well, a combo with the blue Dragon.


Black:
Now we're talking. Lots of nice options and synergy, with Child of Night and Covenant providing the means to pay for the Vamp and card draw. We have evasion, card draw, removal, everything:
Flesh to Dust
Covenant of Blood
Sign in Blood
Two removals and card draw. For some reason, I though Flesh to Dust had convoke; even without it, it's still premium removal. I nearly put Stab Wound at third, I have great memories of that one. But I also like drawing cards.

Red:
A bit disappointing, but only because I just looked at black. is returning to its old ways: cheap, efficient beaters backed by cheap red and good black removal. I definitely want to try this out. Some of the creatures are really interesting, like Borderland Marauder, but for now, I like the red Golden Hind better:
Lightning Strike
Heat Ray
Generator Servant

Green:
Hm, I have a feeling that there is a lot going on here that will take some time to figure out. Seems like some green creatures want to be bounced for cards and counters, but it may be too slow to really work; or not. But a turn two Centaur Courser can still win games, so first place is not really in question:
Elvish Mystic
Netcaster Spider
Siege Wurm
The best common Spider I can remember comes second; yes, Deadly Recluse is close, but this doesn't die to Wind Drake. And Wurm is just solid, and oh so green; but I can see something else replacing it after a few drafts.

There are also some colorless commons. Bronze Sable is OK, and the rest are filler unless you are heavy into Shrapnel Blast and other artifact-loving cards.

So, what do you think? I heard some of you enjoyed the prerelease. Any thoughts on drafting the set?

For the record, Heat Ray isn't common.

Pillar of light: no way is this a top common. Your rankings must be skewed by playing sealed, because this hits a grand total of 4 playable common creatures.
Midnight guard: I mean, I'll play it, but I don't think it's top 3 really.
Sign in Blood: probably not top 3. I'd put rats or crow over it.
Heat Ray: not a common
Generator Servant: also probably not top3 worthy. I'd put Borderland Marauder and Enforcer up here instead.

Stab Wound is also not a common in this set

Pillar of Light strikes me as a card that gets worse in multiples, not to mention what Cato says.

I like Razorfoot Griffin over Midnight Guard in white. Maybe even Raise the Alarm but that's only for pure convoke. Raise/Cats/Pillar are all pretty close.

In blue I like Peel and Encrust over Pathmage, but they are all pretty close.

I think I might like Carrion Crow a little more than Sign in Blood. Hard to say, maybe the first SiB is best. The CIPT clause on crow isn't insignificant. Rats might be better than both, considering the lack of good black blockers.

I like Borderland Maurader as 3rd Red common. Krenko's Enforcer over Generator... BUT if you pick one Generator you gotta pick 'em all.

I think the green is right.

Sorry about the commonality mistakes, they should work a bit on Gatherer. I will use MtGO next time.

My thinking on Pillar is that you don't want to hit commons with it; you want to hit their big critters, white should be able to handle the small ones. I don't like Razorfoot, but Raise the Alarm could be very good with convoke. A 2/3 that can attack and then untap to block seems fine. I remember it was very annoying in Innistrad.

Anyway, I am so going black for the online prerelease. And I don't expect to face many Islands.

Cards like Heat Ray show up as common because they were common in another printing. MTGO will give you the same behavior. You just have to double check on your own.

Bad idea to pick your color before you start. If you sit between two ppl who open a black rare, you'll go down in flames

I'm pretty sure he's talking about sealed with the seeded pack, not draft.

Razorfoot+white auras just absolutely evicerated my UB flyers.

Yes, sealed with the seeded pack.

And you're right about MtGO. I shall point this out in the feedback thread. In fact, I'll submit a bug. When show all versions is checked, filtering for commons should show only common versions of a card.

Blue actually has more playable common than white. But triple spirits is better than almost all of them.

Red, black and green are at the top. Blue and white are nowhere near in term of card quality. They made blue even more of a support color now, and they apparently got of the "White has better commons and undercosted stuff" train.


I count 13 very playable commons in black and red and 15 in green. Though green doesn't have nearly as many tricks.