So I played in a Grand Prix trial yesterday in which I made top 8 with an "A-Team" sealed, and then won the draft so I got my Byes. (I live in Salt Lake anyway, so I was going, but I hope to see some of you guys there.)
But my question stems from the draft that happened afterward. Blue was wide open (I got a fifth pick Ætherspouts first pack???) and seriously under-drafted, yet both finalists were blue (me with UB and my opp with UR). I'm wondering if people underrate how good blue can be in M15 draft?

The problem with blue is the quality of it's creatures. If you can get a draft where very few people are in blue (I'm talking like, maybe one other person besides you) then you can probably pick up the few quality creatures available. The blue control cards are pretty good, but few people play straight control in limited (especially with the low quality of the counterspells in M15) and the common Void Snare is a card disadvantage and doesn't cause nearly the tempo loss that Unsummon, at instant, would.

5th pick Aetherspouts is a little silly though. At least half your pod skipped out on it so I'd be curious to know what cards they DID pick, there could be very good reasons. I'd take it with the hope that I could get some Nimbus' and Frost Kittens, maybe some of the blue spells that bounce two creatures (one makes you bounce one of your own, but that has synergy with Frost Kittens) to maybe splash Blue. I wouldn't intentionally pick blue as my main color.

*Along with Polymorphists Jest, Aethespouts might be two of the best (nearly) one sided board wipes in the game so if I see them I try to at least get blue as my second color unless I see them pack3 and am already invested elsewhere.

I guess the short answer is, yes, we might be underrating blue. Everyone I talk to seems to think blue is the weakest color in M15, and I agree.



*Obviously Mass Calcify is a better wipe, but it's more costly and not necissarily one sided if you're not running monowhite, and running mono in limited is rare.

I just wondered because every time I had the Spouts cast against me, I lost. It wasn't close. It's not evacuation where they return to hand. Now you're either stunting card draws or pushing spells to the bottom of your opp's library. I almost fell out of my chair when that got to me in the first pack that late. If you're given that strong a signal that no one to your right is playing blue, you take it and smile.

For my draft, blue was all about tempo and evasion. Surprisingly though, my MVP was Military Intelligence of all cards. Drawing extra cards for doing what I planned on doing anyway, attacking with evasion, was huge. I buried my opponents with card advantage.

On Void Snare, I agree it's not great and not a high pick, but it can be really good card in a tempo deck since it's only one mana and if you're putting pressure on your opponent, it allows you to cast another creature besides (hopefully my favorite card to pair with it Illusory Angel.

I agree with everything you said.

I haven't gotten a chance to play with Military Intelligence yet but hopefully one day. Card Advantage just wins games, and free card advantage is even better.

I had 2 void snares to deal with soul of phyrexia. He was sad.

Trickiest part of blue is dealing with 4/4s. Unless you get a wall of frost.

Military Intelligence has served my well so far. Card advantage can just pull you out of so many jams. I had 2 in a sealed pool, and there was at least 1 game where it was a dead draw because I couldn't stick the creatures, but a lot of the time it just turned on a lot of attacks. Having two was especially good, because one digs for the other, and together your card advantage becomes unstoppable.

It was the last card I added to the deck. I'm very glad I added it. ^_^

My sealed pool was what I call an "A Team" sealed, because of Hannibal's phrase "I love it when a plan comes together". Basically, those are sealeds that have one or more combination of cards that, if you hit them, turn it from a good deck to a great one. For instance, my sealed had 2 x Triplicate Spirits, Raise the Alarm and Sanctified Charge, 2 x Generator Servant, Soul of New Phyrexia and Siege Dragon. Things like that. Deck was good on its own, but there were times where it was fantastic.