No, not the Angel. Double red for a card that is fine but not amazing is messing up a perfectly fine control deck for no reason, IMO.

I'd play Silent Observer, Twins of Maurer Estate, and Just the Wind. Over Epitaph Golem, Nagging Thoughts, Vessel of Malignity. Usually I'm quite happy when my opponent plays Skeleton Key, but you have a lot of evasion, and enough madness to play it over the Vessel.

Kindly Stranger is interesting. It looks like you can get to madness if the game goes long, it's a great late-game draw, and a removal magnet. It's better than the other options you have, just not as amazing as it is in a dedicated delirium deck. Just another cog for the engine.

River Trawler is a strange card. It looks strong, but requires open mana to be a real nuisance. Which usually gives the opponent either some free combat steps when you don't have mana open, or time to remove it, and you're left with an unimpressive Zombie token. I never played the card, but it looks clunky. I did win a match against a double Trawler deck, basically on tempo. The best case, it locks up the ground and you press your advantage in the air. Worst case, it prevents you from developing your board.

You did a good job drafting, so you have some good sideboard options. I think sideboarding is incredibly important in this format, where decks come at you from such different angles; if you're able to adapt even a little bit, it can go a long way.

I think trawler would be OK if UB was good, and there were a lot of good zombies. But the deck is kind of mediocre.

Oh man, I managed an unbelievable 3 drafts today with the internet being good!

UR featuring the Harbinger:



I'm not really sure what was going on here. p1p1 was Nahiri, and then blue was flowing, with both red and white being cut. So for a long time, I just drafted blue, white and red cards, with a preference for blue. Then in the middle of pack two, I noticed but did not take a Pyre Hound; a few picks later, another came, and I took it, more or less speculatively; and when the first one wheeled, white was relegated to a splash.

The matches were the kind I enjoy: long, intense, challenging, and (the most important point) I won them all. I remember countering two Rabid Byte with bounce in the same game; actually playing and winning a game with the Moondrakes; drawing three lands in a row with Nahiri, while the opponent kept hitting her for two each turn; never getting to flash back the Geistblast.

The most pleasant surprise was the Gargoyle. I never played with it before, and it won me at least two games after it flipped. And going 3-0 with this, that was a surprise too.

Congrats Zieht! I can never bring myself to pick Gargoyle, but every time I play against it it does great things for the opponent.

This lucky streak I'm on can't last, but I intend to enjoy it while it lasts. And brag a little

UR featuring the Harbinger, take two:



p1p1 was Welcome to the Fold, over Obsessive Skinner, Ulvenwald Mysteries, Village Messenger, Dead Weight. Very close; in the end, I went for the rare. I had not been impressed with what I saw playing against it, but wanted to try it out. p1p2 was Burn from Within over nothing much: Hinterland Logger, Veteran Cathar, Voldaren Duelist. I'd be fine with either the Logger or the Duelist, but Burn is a level above those two. And after a Lambholt Pacifist and Gatstaf Arsonists, p1p5 was Neglected Heirloom over Erdwal Illuminator. This was the pick that gave the direction to the whole draft. I just can't understand people not taking the Heirloom; like Marshall passing two of the best Werewolf card when forcing werewolves. p1p6 was Uninvited Geist, green and red dried up, blue was flowing, and luckily so was red in pack two. Nahiri was p3p1, but she ended up in the sideboard, mostly because of the Breakneck Rider. I really didn't want to mess up my mana in a deck that wanted to come out fast. Sideboard also featured Silent Observer, Insolent Neonate, Bloodmad Vampire, and Uncaged Fury. I took a long time deciding between Fury and Masquerade; in the end I convinced myself that with no Trample, Masquerade was better. I'm not sure though, what with all the 2-power flyers; Fury on an unblocked Nibilis is eight damage, but is also soft to all kind of tricks from opponent.

This deck played totally differently than the previous one. Wolfie was very solid, and Heirlooms were all-stars. In game one of the finals, I was stuck on three mana, and I dealt 10 trample damage to kill the opponent through blockers with a transformed Forgemaster on adrenaline rush, wearing two transformed Heirlooms. I also unlocked the achievement, transforming Uninvited Geist wearing a Heirloom. Unsurprisingly, that was game over.

Round two opponent had a very solid mill deck, with two copies of the mill enchantment, the Scribe, and the Illuminator. Unfortunately for him, his second color was black, not green. I managed to kill him twice, but it was very close. If I had stumbled just a little, he would have milled me. My curve in game two was Wolfie, Nibilis, Nibilis, Skaab, Skaab, and it was barely enough.

It seems like I found my colors for Shadows.

Blue is pretty horrifically underdrafted. It's the "worst color" but it's far from unplayable. UB is sadly pretty bad, but UR, UG, UW are all reasonable if you get the right pieces.

Went 2-1 today with this...interesting...build:
1 x Manic Scribe
1 x Thing in the Ice
1 x Hinterland Logger
1 x Lambholt Pacifist
1 x Stitched Mangler
1 x Uninvited Geist
1 x Silverfur Partisan
1 x Aberrant Researcher
1 x Silent Observer
1 x Solitary Hunter
1 x Runaway Carriage
1 x Watcher in the Web
1 x Kessig Dire Swine
1 x Altered Ego

1 x Confront the Unknown
1 x Vessel of Nascency
1 x Neglected Heirloom
1 x Nagging Thoughts
2 x Aim High
1 x Moonlight Hunt
1 x Welcome to the Fold
1 x Jace, Unraveler of Secrets

8 x Forest
8 x Island
1 x Woodland Stream




I waffled...a lot...in the draft. Ulrich's Kindred was P1P1...then Aberrant Researcher, a few good Blue picks, wolves began to look open. Ended pack one with fairly solid blue cards and a few red and green wolves. Thing in Ice was P2P1, and then I was excited to finally get it and wanted to force U/R Spells...but nothing was coming my way and G/R wolves was obviously open. A few packs had no red or green so I got a couple more blue cards and Altered Ego...then P3P1 showed me Jace and I though...U/G?







Things: Runaway Carriage was dumb...I thought it might be good to enable Delirium but it was so much worse than the second Swine, so it always came out after game 1.
Thing in the Ice never did anything...I thought it would be a good early blocker/inevitability but I really didn't have enough spells and if I did it would have been winmore anyways.
Manic Scribe is actually a really good card. I lost to it before and pairing it up with Aim High and Neglected Heirloom gave me the advantage in a few games. Sure, you can mill them into a good draw, but I often milled away useful cards and when Delirium was on it actually put some good pressure on the opponent.

And that's it from this deck...I do want to mention that I lived the dream the other day...Erdwal Illuminator, Graf Mole, and Tamiyo's Journal in play with Jace's Scrutiny in hand let me search up Ulvenwald Mysteries on my next turn with an extra clue. Unfortunately the opponent immediately conceded so I didn't get to grab 9 life, 3 tokens, and a Tutor every turn, but it would have been fun.

UW card advantage machine.


I seem to end up in UW a lot lately. White is usually p1p1 (Odric in this case, Declaration in pack three), then you pick what white you happen to see, and read the signals for the second color. Blue is usually open, and when you get Illuminator p1p4 and Investigation p2p5, all is well.

This was my first 16-lander in a while. It has so much investigation I felt I could afford it. One match was easy, one was a close win, another a close loss. Deck was sweet. One game, I had Odric, Nearheath Chaplain, and Topplegeist in play together for two turns. Deck just needed one more cheap bounce, or a purge, and it would be great.

I'm still enjoying Shadows draft. Good times.

Woooo, 3-0 with this little number:
1 x Ember-Eye Wolf
1 x Kessig Forgemaster
1 x Hinterland Logger
2 x Moldgraf Scavenger
1 x Bygone Bishop
1 x Howlpack Wolf
1 x Graf Mole
2 x Stoic Builder
1 x Harvest Hand
1 x Voldaren Duelist
1 x Thornhide Wolves
1 x Watcher in the Web

1 x Confront the Unknown
1 x Vessel of Nascency
1 x Neglected Heirloom
2 x Aim High
1 x Rabid Bite
1 x Uncaged Fury
1 x Ulvenwald Mysteries

1 x Arlinn Kord

1 x Stone Quarry
8 x Forest
6 x Mountain
2 x Plains




Draft was a bit odd. P1P1 was Mysteries over Bound by Moonsilver because Mysteries just gives such good value. Bunch of Green, first non-Green was Rancid Rat in an awful pack followed by Ember in the next pack and Uncaged Fury made me lean G/R. P2P1 was Arlinn and I was like "Yep, g/r"...then I got Bishop and was like...hmmmm, White Fliers and Green chumpers supported by a splash for Arlinn? Red won out though, although I had some oddly decent white picks when nothing else was in the pack. I decided to splash for Bishop because it sounded nuts if I got the engine going and value if I didn't. I never got any solid signals outside of seeing Erdwal Illuminator float by late in Pack 2 when I was already bouncing 3 colors.







Stuff: Bygone Bishop is just absolutely nuts. I paired up well, but it gave me so many clues and made trading far less risky, even without Mysteries on the board.
Arlinn Kord is a bit difficult to use properly. It's never fully clear which option is best, but I found myself using the unflipped +1 most since it left a defender and allowed me to threaten. It just seemed like you had to have a solid board to use Arlinn or she was just a spell. If you flipped her, her -1 often ended in a trade or her +1 didn't mean anything because the enemy would just counter and kill Arlinn. I probably didn't have the perfect deck for her though. Paired nicely with Bishop as I expected.
Nahiri's Machinations is just friggin insane. I've played with it once and the pressure it creates is palpable. I haven't ever beat it when it was on the board either. Continually impressed with it.

Yea, Mysteries is just plain bonkers.

I played a sealed this morning+afternoon and I thought I assembled a monster of a deck. Like, felt like the best deck I had ever made out of a sealed pool. And it romped over my first opponent. But my second, third, and fourth opponents each had either one Ulvenwald Mysteries or one Call the Bloodline, and on those cards alone (which they *always* drew and early!) I went 0-2-1 in those matches when I would have absolutely smoked otherwise. As uncommons in limited, such abundant token generation is ridiculous. Of course it doesn't help when my opponents drew into them literally every time while I never drew into my enchantment removal.

That deck is odd. Well done to win the draft with it.

I would always pick Bound over Mysteries. Bound is one of the best pieces of removal you can get. Mysteries are a combo piece. No contest. And just what is Traverse doing in the side? You are splashing for an early drop, and it's a tutor late.

Sealed is very different. You can't beat token generators unless you have a lot of evasion in your pool. Or you plan to deck them

I played a super interesting match against a UW deck in the friendly league the other day. Startled Awake. Engulf the Shore. Not forgotten. Multiple Thraben Inspector. Erdwal Illuminator. Fleeting Memories. I almost feel bad about winning with, basically, just an Elusive Tormentor and some strategically placed removal.

It's very hard for me to judge the strength of a sealed pool accurately. It's also much more draw-dependent. Not necessarily the bombs, you just can't count on a good curve out in seled. And if it happens, it's usually game.

Thanks, yeah I wasn't able to get a phenomenal draft so I mostly stuck to picking the best cards.

While Bound is great removal, that's all it is. Especially the way I play (I tend to build my decks with trading in mind since I rarely get removal), Mysteries tends to turn each of your creatures into a Removal Spell/Cantrip that puts a body on the board. The value you get from it is undeniable. It can be enhanced as part of a combo, but it's real combo is "play creature, gain card advantage." Think about it, each creature you lose is a 2 for 1 for the enemy. They lose a spell or a creature and you lose a creature but get a card and a creature, especially late game...and it's at Instant speed.

And as for Traverse...yeah, it was the last card I cut and I thought about it for a long time. I wasn't sure how easy the deck could turn on Delirium and the only cards I could think to cut for it was Stoic Builder or Bishop (which would make Traverse an almost useless include) and I was worried about the viability of my creatures. Basically, I wasn't certain how often I would need a Plains and I wasn't sure tutoring any of my creatures would be worth it if I could even turn it on. Honestly, I was just worried it would be a dead draw late game Turns out, I got Delirium quite a bit (mostly due to my poor handling of Arlinn )...also, never sided it in because I kinda forgot about it. I got a bit lucky on my land draws, there wasn't a single game where I didn't have all three colors in the first three turns (or a Stone Quarry that I wasn't playing in order to curve out better).

As for sealed...yeah. I feel like the better you get at draft the worse you get at sealed. I used to be awful at draft and great at sealed...now I can't seem to win a sealed match while I'm consistently top 3 in draft (I count it as top three since 80% of my losses are to the winner of the draft...I don't know how I always get paired up with the winner before the finals so often).

The draft games I lose are over by turn five. I'm not dead yet then, but it's over. Like, Olivia's Bloodsworn or Heir of Falkenrath on turn two, followed by any number of Voldaren Duelist. Mysteries are too slow for that kind of game. If you stabilize, get a Mole on board and gain some life, sure, you will probably win. Otherwise, trading is not very much what I do in draft. But that may be personal preference. Like, drafting UW tempo, or UR spells. I'm definitely looking for a Mole or an Illuminator before I decide to go into the Mysteries deck, since without them it just does not work.

As for Bound, every deck needs one or two removal spells. Otherwise you just die to some stupid enchanted early beater. It also prevents defensive trades And unless they have instant-speed ways to get rid of their enchanted creature, you can always move it to the most relevant threat. Good removal is very hard to get, unless you're blue.

TL;DR: drafting for fun, I'd take the Mysteries. Otherwise, Bound.

Lots of trading is like...the defining quality of SOI draft matches...sure, in other formats it may not be the strategy, but in SOI there is a lot of trading going on. Mysteries turns each trade, or each loss to a combat trick, or each piece of the opponents removal, into card advantage. Its really not terribly slow either and gives you solid insurance.

Besides, if you're using Bound on Bloodsworn you're in really bad shape anyways. Think about it this way against aggro: after turn three, all your defensive trades to maintain your lifetotal give you inevitability...and since most aggro dudes are X/1...those tokens also trade for their late editions.

Mysteries literally fits in every type of deck...

An aggro deck...it allows you to keep attacking with very little risk. Once they start trading for your creatures, you get to reswarm the board through cheap card draw and creatures.
A mid-range deck...pretty much where it fits best, nullifies their non-Enchantment removal and make combat less risky for you.
A control deck...a bit weak in this deck, but this is typically the U/G version of the Clues deck. Put up a strong defense and get an engine going.

Bound fits into every deck too, and isn't a bad card, but I just don't value it as highly as Mysteries. Bound is stable, Mysteries has potential to be insane but is otherwise stable.

Edit: Thats my reasoning P1P1 though, obviously if I'm W/G and Bound comes up late and I don't have a lot of clues, Bound gets picked over Mysteries.

Well, if you manage to trade with aggro, they are doing it wrong. Aggro has Rush of Adrenaline. Take damage, lose your guy. Aggro has Stensia Masquerade. Chump my guys, yours die, any of mine that get through get bigger. Red also has Magmatic Chasm and reach to close out games. Above all, you cannot afford to play a do-nothing card against aggro on turn three.

Werewolves have Howlpack Resurgence. No chumping for you. UW has fliers and tap effects. Again, no trading. RW has Nahiri's Machinations. That one is arguably the weakest, since it does allow chumping. GW has Equestrian Skill. That is sideboard, but if your whole plan is to chump, it gets the job done.

This may sound funny coming from a guy who won Shadows drafts by decking all opponents, or by playing a totally controlling Call the Bloodline deck, but the format has evolved. Hinterland Logger is a legitimate first-pick now. The two uncommon Vampires are amongst the best cards you can open. I was passed a Geralf's Masterpiece the other day. Probably by some guy who wanted to kill me by turn four. A turn-one Village Messenger from the opponent when you're on the draw can just be gg.

Anyway, never mind. It seems that these days, when I draft Shadows, I don't plan to let opponents block. Or live long enough to cash in Mysteries.

I mean, if you're not convinced, you're not convinced, but beyond the fact that every final I've played has either been aggro or a deck with mysteries in it, everything I read about draft says mysteries is a top quality card.

It sounds like you get a lot more lucky in drafts than me though because I can never just "plan on not letting opponents block". I see what comes my way and build the best deck I can.

Edit: Oh yeah, and turn 1 Village Messenger is just nuts.

Well...2-1, once again losing to the winner of the draft prior to the finals . This is the reason I rarely go Single Elim...

1 x Insolent Neonate
1 x Village Messenger
1 x Ember-Eye Wolf
1 x Gibbering Fiend
1 x Sanguinary Mage
1 x Hinterland Logger
1 x Convicted Killer
1 x Ulrich's Kindred
1 x Breakneck Rider
1 x Voldaren Duelist
1 x Solitary Hunter
2 x Pack Guardian
1 x Incorrigible Youth
1 x Thornhide Wolves

1 x Lightning Axe
1 x Rush of Adrenaline
1 x Magmatic Chasm
1 x Senseless Rage
1 x Aim High
1 x Uncaged Fury
1 x Fiery Temper
1 x Howlpack Resurgence

7 x Forest
10 x Mountain












Things: Uhhh, not much really.
Village Messenger was surprisingly lack-luster in every game. First time I never got a first turn flip despite having it first turn in every game but two.
Ulrich's Kindred continues to be the best Wolf enabler in my opinion. The wolf deck wants to be attacking and has lots of tricks and Ulrich is a wonderful curve. More often than not they don't block on turn 4 out of fear of an Ulrich activation, you get 3-6+ damage through and play your 4 drop post combat. When they do block, its often just as acceptable to activate for removal. It was an INSANE combo with Howlpack Resurgence in hand though. Turned a low-level trade and what was expected to be a chump into a board wipe with no loss on my end and damage pushed through one time and was, admittedly, overkill a second time when the opponent attempted to trade board wipes except for Ulrich but instead got a one sided board wipe since all the p/t matches were equal.
I ended up siding in Dual Shot every game since my opponents road blocks were always X/1's, which is new. Most of the time I'm facing X/2s or X/3s. But I never drew it . Would have really helped in the round I lost since they had Wicker Witches and Devilthorn Foxes that my combat tricks just didn't protect me from a loss.

Edit: Oh yeah, here was an interesting choice: P2P7: Fiery Temper, Stensia Masquerade, Rush of Adrenaline, or Skin Invasion.
I had: Ember-Eye Wolf, Village Messenger, Convicted Killer, Hinterland Logger, Ulrich's Kindred, Solitary Hunter, Thornhide Wolves, Dual Shot, Olivia's Bloodsworn, Pack Guardian, Howlpack Resurgence, and Breakneck Rider at the time.

I obviously took Temper, but it was tough. I was clearly building an aggro deck and Masquerade's first strike would have been very nice, but no real vamp support (and also sending several good vamp cards to the opponents), Rush is a very clear include in aggro but I thought I might see another, skin invasion has interesting uses in aggro (I like to put it on my own guys so trades are profitable and it makes the enemy avoid killing it often, so extra damage). It was made even more painful knowing I was gonna see Swamp on the wheel since it was the last pack

Are there stats available on what cards appear in winning decks the most? I know mtggoldfish used to maintain their "Limited Analysis" section with such details, but they haven't posted an update there since 3xBFZ (when Roil Spout was the dominant uncommon); no Oath and no SoI.

I would expect the 3 most dominant uncommons in Shadows limited are Mysteries, Bloodline, and Recruiter, but would love to see actual stats.

That's a good question actually, I found this:
http://www.channelfireball.com/articles ... rad-draft/

Which speaks to Ziehtnoba's opinion, but my search did not return a list of cards in winning decks. I really would like to see it though.

Edit: I just checked "winning decks" on mothership but only found one draft, in which neither of the cards showed up anywhere, and that isnt enough info anyways.