Hi guys, drafted a 8-man draft yesterday or rather, the day before since it is already past midnight here. Just wanted to share what I drafted and some thoughts. Anyway,

Main Deck (40 Cards)

16 Lands
8x Plain
8x Mountain

13 Creatures
1x Firedrinker Satyr
2x Hopeful Eidolon
1x Arena Athlete
1x Cavalry Pegasus
1x Leonin Snarecaster
1x Setessan Battle Priest
1x Anax and Cymede
1x Observant Alseid
1x Spearpoint Oread
1x Two-Headed Cerberus
1x Heliod's Emissary
1x Purphoros's Emissary

11 Others
1x Dragon Mantle
3x Gods Willing
1x Titan's Strength
1x Battlewise Valor
2x Chosen by Heliod
2x Divine Verdict
1x Portent of Betrayal

Swapped In:
1x Ray of Dissolution for a mountain. The opponent had Chained to the Rocks and Gift of Immortality.



Frankly, I didn't have much high hopes for this deck so I was really surprised at how well it performed.

My opening pick was Anax and Cymede, then Battlewise Hoplite, then Purphoros's Emissary. I chose the Hoplite because it looked good and I was thinking maybe I could go blue too or blue-white instead if I couldn't get any good red cards. The emissary convinced me to go for a R/W deck. It turns out there were two other guys drafting Boros colors as well. During deck-building, one question I had was whether to go tri-colored and include blue in, which I ultimately decided against.

As for the deck itself, I really want to bring attention to Gods Willing which was a real gem. So much that even now, I still feel guilty for not replying "Gods Willing" when my friend asked me suddenly about the best common to draft in the set. I was pretty much hopping between the first few cards that came to mind which includes Nessian Asp, Savage Surge, Battlewise Valor and Gods Willing. I ended up replying Battlewise Valor, which did a pretty good job too. Alright, back to Gods Willing. I admit that the consistency of having 3 copies gave me an even better impression of the card but there wasn't a time when I wasn't glad I drew it. Since the main strategy of the deck is to sticker bestow and auras and then swing, having protection becomes really important. As far as I remember, it blocked off Curse of the Swine, Lightning Strike, Sip and a Gorgon's deathtouch from my main solo attacker. In the last match, I used it to prot white my Cerberus and swung for the win for 8 damage with a Titan's Strength, my opponent only had white creatures. If I sound biased towards Gods Willing, I probably am.

I like this deck really and I would write about every card, like how good Anax and Cymede is, how Divine Verdict turned the situation around and how nice cantripping auras are, etc. Too draggy though, so I would like to point out some things.

Hopeful Eidolon is really, really good and the lifelink is insane. Saved me from a race against another Boros. I was down to two where I would be easily finished from by a lightning strike which I knew he has 3 copies of. I managed to draw it and sticked it on Anax and Cymede, thus pulling me out of the danger zone. However, my advice would be against playing it as a 1-drop since every time I did, I kinda regretted it. The early one or two drops of damage isn't worth it.

Dragon Mantle works surprisingly well, the firebreathing gets intimidating and heals for even more with lifelink. I managed to combine it with Purphoros's Emissary during one game and it became a really pressing threat. The Satyr shares the same intimidation but its drawback needs management.

And that's all from me.

Edit: Oh, and if I may add in, Setessan Battle Priest might look 'bleh' at first glance but the 3 toughness is a plus and the lifegain pulled me ahead of the race and stablized with a Chosen by Heliod against a 4/3 Minotaur.

This is quite similar to a draft I had the other day, which ended up not going as well as I thought it might. It did show that Cavalry Pegasus is an absolute rocket in R/W, combining with a really large number of humans at common and uncommon to give aggro decks a lot of reach.

I quite like R/W in Theros, I think it's got a lot pulling for it and has enough tools to get the game done quickly, plus Pegasus and co if someone lands a Monstrous Nemesis against you (also happened to me).

The cantripping auras surprised me a lot as well, I just ran them as heroic triggering filler, but was pretty happy with them.

After this draft, I like R/W too. It did surprise me since my impression of Theros is that it is slow with all the big creatures and spells flying around. Think I am gonna try for U/W or R/U next if the opening pack presents such a chance.

Sadly, I can't comment much on the pegasus since I only managed to drew it twice in all of my matches. I remember getting in some damage with it on the game I got it out early. For the other game, I drew it late in an un-salvageable situation. I did see how my friend, who was playing 'Boros' in a different draft pod, dominated the champions match with it. Really impressive stuff, that pegasus.

I had a Pegasus in a couple of my matches - and I found it very effective with R/W, as R/W is predominantly Humans. I wouldn't want too many of them, because they're so small, but a couple would fit a weenie Human army just fine.

R/U is a lot of fun actually - I had a 3-0 R/U deck last night, but it was less aggro than tempo. I'll put a decklist up later tonight I think.

I drafted RW last night, but I think I did something to piss off the magic gods again. Match two I drew 7 lands in a row game one, and game 2 I didn't draw any. I think the trick here is balancing your combat tricks with your removal--I moved too far into combat tricks and not far enough into removal, I think.

Hmm, strictly-speaking, my decklist only has two removals which are the Divine Verdicts. However, the situation differs accordingly to the total card pool and opponents. I was thankful that two divine verdicts managed to get passed to me. On a side note, removals in Theros seems kinda clunky.

Yeah, I dropped a match to consecutive divine verdicts, voyage's ends, and an annul on an emissary. I kinda have a love/hate relationship with the premium removal, since it's almost all reactionary.

Kinda reminded how my pre-release R/G deck went against my friend's B/R deck with his Underworld Cerberus and hordes of removal. I still have no idea how I won him since I lose every single re-match against him after that.

Variance is variance, though I feel like it's been hurting me more lately than helping.

I think in a RW strategy you might want to load up more on creatures and removal against blue. Sea God's revenge, griptide, and voyage's end just ruin the synergy. It's better to cast threats, even dinky ones, than get blown out. I think that's the deck's worst matchup, probably UW or UB.

Or just get a couple of Gods Willing if possible. The only blue I got matched up with was a U/G that had a Curse of the Swine and Griptide. Saved me both times.