I don't like Single Combat that much for limited. There will be decks that value it very highly - and situations where it uber wrecks (say you keep Kaya or Teferi and kill or bounce whatever they keep, or keep the 1/2 that trades 1 life per deathtrigger, the 2/2 that grows with death triggers, or somehow managed to make a 3 color deck with Meyhem Devil) - but I don't see it being that good most of the time in limited. I think the UW wrath looks better on average.

If you're in a spell heavy UW or UB control deck, SC will be amazing. Opp can't add to the board for a full turn while you can fire off draw spells or answer the one creature/walker they had left - but outside that type of deck it's almost unplayable (i.e I can't see myself putting it in tempo or midrange shell outside UB crats, but likely feel pretty good running the UW wrath in any UW build).

They cannot cast anything until your next turn, you can during your next turn, putting, in fact, you at an advantage.
It's about as good as Wrath of God, except it's an actual Wrath if you can also remove their last thing.
I could see it going down to 4.0, but that's the lowest I'd ever grade it.


Regarding the archetypes, I could try to generate some Sealed pools and look where I end up. Might not quite be what you're looking for and will definitely factor in personal preference before actually playing with the cards (my earliest exposure will be on Sunday at my local Prerelease).

You can't though - "Players can’t cast creature or planeswalker spells until the end of your next turn." You get to untap before your Opp gets a chance to rebuild, but you don't get to rebuild first.

...

Modulo, stop scrubbing around and READ THE CARD CORRECTLY.
Damn, that took more than a subtle hint and I'm an idiot. Sorry guys.

Eh, it's not as bad as my Opp earlier that fired off not one, but two damage based removal spells while I had The Wanderer on board. Speaking of, I rather like The Wanderer so far - given that much of the other removal in the set is tweaked such to not trivialize the Army tokens, I hadn't considered that The Wanderer can snipe one that's getting out of hand.

Another thing I noticed - proliferate appears to auto select all applicable choices on your side and none on your Opp's, so don't hurriedly click on each of your permanents and end up proliferating nothing (RIP Opp that accidentally deselected their Kaya on 2 loyalty). Fortunately, the confirmation button lists the number selected so you can verify it's correct if you take a moment to check.

I'm not sure Grixis control is going to work unless this is more of a midrange based meta.

In limited, the only time I'm going to try to **** with Grixis is if I draft Bolas. This a two color set unless you're G or splashing for a game changing bomb.

Re: red reviews:

I think you have to give Demolish a .5. It's a sideboard tool in Bo3 that has targets in the set. I'd be happy to have an answer to bring in vs the bomb land, proliferate land, man land, legendary creature land (that GR will struggle to bring down with their removal spells), or even Nissa animated lands. Maybe take out a fixing artifact in a greedy deck, and def happy to kill the white vehicle. It has uses, despite not being playable maindeck/Bo1.

I might give Nihiri combat trick a .5 as well. It's a pseudo trumpet blast at instant speed. If I'm RW with feather and District Dood, I might run a single copy. RW has effects that give creatures first strike on your turn, which make it a good deal better than otherwise is. It's not great, usually very bad, but I think a 0 is a card I never run (i.e. God-Pharaoh's Statue), and I can imagine a deck that would run a copy of this.

I'm not sure I disagree with your rating of Raging Kronch on balance, but that card will be a beast in RG beatdown. Love a card that makes Kronch Wrangler a 3/2 Trample T3 and turns on Turret Ogre on curve. If you ever curve wrangler into raging into the 4/4 proliferate, opp is on the ropes quick, facing 9 damage w/ 5 of it trample T4. I'm prioritizing him pretty highly in RG, seeing him as like a 3 there. And if I have Kiora too

Some early observations from sealed

Gods are absolute bombs. I'd switch color if I see them pack 2, and even debate heavily P3. I've seen them all in play and they all deserve a 5 rating. You will always play them in any deck you can support their cast requirements. I think it's safe to say Oketra is the best (best card in the set even), but they're all pretty busted. Ugin is the only other card on that level imo.

Fun combo note: Iron Bully w/ Boar God. Obviously flashing in some huge beef is a thing you want to do, but if you've played all that out, Iron Bully is a surprisingly nice flash in. It gives a small buff to one of your other attackers, and menace means opp has to devote 2 blockers and let beefier stuff connect, or it bounces back to hand afterwords to repeat trick next turn. Also, with the proliferate available in green, it's not a terrible T3 play for your curve.

2nd fun combo note: Kiora + Soul Diviner. She enters play with 7 loyalty counters, allowing Diviner to draw twice right away at a total cost of 3 loyalty if opponent isn't pressuring and repeating next turn - or draw at a slower pace and untap Diviner for a decent blocker vs early plays.

Kasmina's Transmutation is pretty close to premium removal. Yes it has its downsides, and they're worth noting, but it's the best way to answer gods (mill and discard more final but more difficult). There are static, activated, or death triggers on enough creatures to keep it relevant/important even in draft where Gods will be a little more rare. There aren't a ton of ways to answer enchantments in WAR (Return to Nature that you'll never see in Bo1, Deathsprout you'll rarely see at rare and unsplashable, a handful of bounce or blink effects, and Ugin at rare), so I think it's better than some give credit. Not premium cause there are ways to get punished, but it's a cheap answer to threats other great removal spells can't touch or only delays.

Hit 7-0 with this list:

2 x Law-Rune Enforcer

1 x Martyr for the Cause
1 x Pouncing Lync
1 x War Screecher
1 x Pollenbright Druid
1 x Battlefield Promotion

1 x Trained Pegasus
2 x Arlinn's Wolf
1 x Vivien's Grizzly
1 x Iron Bully
1 x Jiang Yanggu, Wildcrafter
1 x New Horizons

2 x Mowu, Loyal Companion
1 x Vraska, Swarm's Eminence
1 x The Wanderer

1 x Wanderer's Strike
1 x Thundering Ceratok

1 x Sunblade Angel
1 x Arlinn, Voice of the Pack
1 x Kaya, Bane of the Dead

8 x Plains
9 x Forest


Cards in sideboard not used: Ob Nixilis's Cruelty, Spark Double (my P1P1), Teyo's Lightshield x2, Centaur Nurturer, 2 Wardscale Crocodile, Primordial Wurm. I decided not to splash any of these options in spite of the Centaur Nurturer and New Horizons just to have a solid mana base.

I was disappointed to end up GW when I had P1P1'ed Spark Double while passing another Arlinn, but the deck played out surprisingly smoothly. I had the opportunity to pick more 2-drops but figured four, in combination with two 1-drops, were sufficient. In hindsight that might've been a bit optimistic since I declined to play Pollenbright Druid on empty boards. Aside from that, I decided to run New Horizons instead of Teyo's Lightshield because I had three 6-mana bombs, and I also chose the Ceratok instead of the Crocodile (which probably works better with +1/+1 counters) because I figured I might need something to block with. In hindsight, this might've been a mistake.

In any case I never drew Ceratok so it didn't matter. Pegasus also did nothing, although I'm sure it's more a case of bad luck for the card. Vraska I drew only once, but she kept me in the game when her 1/1s forced opponent's big army token to stay back. Otherwise the deck did well. The scariest game was against a UR opponent who had the 4/4 "target creature can't block" card with me at 8 life. The Law-Rune Enforcers bought some time but then opponent played Jaya and proceeded to nuke all my 2-toughness creatures (I had so many ...), including with a Blindblast. When I finally reached 6 mana, I decided to risk casting Angel into open mana instead of Wanderer's Strike on the 4/4. Angel resolved, I got even greedier by casting Arlinn next over Strike, and a few chump blocks later I out-grinded opponent.

Kaya was surprisingly hard to cast, but very impactful if she resolves.

Here are a couple of 7 wins piles from me:



I´m loving Red and Blue on this format!

The Kronch is also one of the few early creatures that can activate Turret Ogre on curve. If you need the Reach on curve it sucks to lose the 2 damage

Challenger Troll + Angrath, Captain of Chaos = All creatures with Power 4 or more are unblockable

I stand by this take for sealed where Gods are encountered more often, but it’s not a good take for draft where they’re much less common. Seemed like Gods were in every other deck in sealed, but I rarely see them in draft. Transmutation is closer to replacement level removal there.

Crashed really hard with a weird Esper control deck in WAR draft, then went 7-2 with this list:

3 x Sky-Theater Strix
2 x Burning Prophet
1 x Chandra's Pyrohelix
2 x Jaya's Greeting

1 x Aven Eternal
1 x Spellkeeper Weird
1 x Devouring Hellion
2 x Spellgorger Weird
1 x Narset, Parter of Veils
1 x Tibalt, Rakish Instigator
1 x Invade the City
1 x Crush Dissent

1 x Goblin Assault Team
1 x Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion
2 x Relentless Advance
1 x Tamiyo's Epiphany

2 x Totally Lost

8 x Mountain
8 x Island


Cards in sideboard not use: another Invade the City (I actually had two for like 6 games in the streak, then realized I wasn't casting it and subbed one copy out for Crush Dissent), Teferi's Time Twist, Kiora's Dambreaker, Ahn-Crop Invader, Invading Manticore, Naga Eternal

Deck was very consistent and I tempoed out people pretty often. I think it was a good draft. I lost two games, once to mana screw and the other to an opponent who had Nissa, the 2-mana merfolk proliferate guy, and Tamiyo. There was no way to win that one, I couldn't even fly over his ground creatures because he had Arboreal Grazer. Card-wise, Invade the City underperformed (at best it was a 3-mana Relentless Advance). Chandra's Pyrohelix wasn't good either (Jaya's Greeting is way better than this card), and Neheb never mattered except for one game where he was stuck in my hand since I only had one red mana (sheesh). Totally Lost surprisingly overperformed. I was sufficiently ahead in tempo that it would win me the game quite often.

Two opponents played Ashiok against me. It's a bit scary to face this planeswalker, especially since it eats my Invade the City, but it was also basically a lifegain spell since I was never in danger of decking.

Playing tip I realized this run: don't scry Neheb to the top if your play for the turn is going to be Narset ...

Next draft, P1P1: Finale of Promise, Eternal Skylord, or Jaya's Greeting? I'm leaning towards the Finale simply because it's a Mythic, but idk.

I'd take Skylord. Finale is not as good in Limited.

If you want to take it for your collection, there's nothing wrong with taking Finale here though.

Skylord

One of my final WAR drafts. I'm currently 5-0. I think I have decided that Stealth Mission is my favorite card. I've won so many tournaments due to having 2 or 3 in a deck.

2 x Grim Initiate
1 x Samut's Sprint
1 x Erratic Visionary
1 x Narset's Reversal
2 x Sky Theater Strix
1 x Burning Prophet
1 x Jaya's Greeting
2 x Nahiri's Stoneblades
1 x Aven Eternal
1 x Stealth Mission
1 x Ahn-Crop Invader
1 x Tibalt, Rakish Instigator
1 x Rescuer Sphinx
1 x Thunder Drake
1 x Ral, Storm Conduit
2 x Ashiok's Skulker
1 x Sarkhan's Catharsis
1 x Kiora's Dambreaker
1 x Bond of Passion
8 x Mountain
8 x Island
1 x Interplanar Beacon


Top cards not included:
Feather The Redeemed
2 Invading Manticore
1 Teferi's Time Twist

I couldn't put Feather in due to the WW. Everytime I toyed with the manabase, even removing Beacon, I just wasn't happy. Especially with Rescuer Sphinx in the deck.

I've won the game by copying Stealth Mission to swing with a Drake and Strix.

I once played Ral on T8 with only 4 land in play. Opponent was at 10 and I had a Catharsis in hand. I had 1 flying blocker and he had a Drake a Strix and Aven Eternal. I knew I could keep 2 loyalty on Ral so I Scry'd away a Jaya's Greeting in search for the 5th land. Opp played Kaya so I thought I was hosed. He instead opted to remove my Ahn-Crop Invaderr (to be fair, it was why he was at 10 in the first place) and swing with all 3 flyers to the face. I opted for no blocks putting me at lethal next turn. I lucked out and drew a land. Copied Catharsis with Ral for 12 damage!


This deck is a refresher. I just got done playing another UR draft deck. Had 3 Strix, 2 Stealth missions, 2 Drakes and a Role Reversal. In one game I was able to Role Reversal a Saheeli Token for a Feather the Reedemed. This allowed me to keep playing Nahiri's Stoneblades on a flyer and Ashiok's Skulker. I still couldn't win that game... That deck went 3-3. Go figure, since they were very close. Ral is the major difference though.

So I P1P1'ed Finale and tried to force another UR spells deck, and was rewarded with 7-2. One loss I punted hard (didn't even notice I was dead on the counterattack given the 2-mana red instant he'd been telegraphing), the other I punted even harder (who knew that it's not enough to select spells with Finale, one must also choose to cast them??).

1 x Augur of Bolas
3 x Burning Prophet
1 x Callous Dismissal
2 x Kasmina's Transmutation
1 x Finale of Promise

1 x Tibalt, Rakish Instigator
2 x Honor the God-Pharaoh
1 x Narset, Parter of Veils
1 x No Escape
2 x Spellkeeper Weird

1 x Ral's Outburst
1 x Tamiyo's Epiphany
1 x Relentless Advance
1 x Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor

1 x Totally Lost

2 x Invading Manticore
1 x Bond of Passion

8 x Mountain
9 x Island


Was worried I lacked win conditions, and indeed I lost one game due to running out of win conditions (that was the game I cast Finale for no value). Finale was okay, not super powerful, but okay and provided a lot of value as a late-game card. I never cast it for 12 though. Totally Lost overperformed again. It felt like a combat trick that trumps all tricks, as well as a fog effect on crucial turns. Many other cards performed solidly as well, such as Tamiyo's Epiphany (wow this card is a powerful card draw spell) and the three Burning Prophets. However it did feel like the deck had no outstanding cards other than Ral's Outburst and to a lesser extent Kasmina, so I'm rather surprised at the 7-2.

Augur of Bolas surprisingly underperformed - it never blocked anything relevant, and not big enough to do much damage. Spellkeeper Weird also surprisingly underperformed - activating it was very expensive and I seldom did it, and while it was on the battlefield its body wasn't that impactful.

The very last game I played was epic. Opponent beat me down with an early Aven Eternal that got boosted by New Horizons and later Pollenbright Druid, and I didn't have anything big enough to block a later 3/3 army token as well. At 7 or so life left, I cast Totally Lost on the Aven Eternal. He played Enforcer Griffin, and I was fortunate enough to have Kasmina's Transmutation in hand to handle it, but still dropped to 2 life. He played Aven Eternal, and I killed it with Bond of Passion. But I still didn't have anything to block his army token, and when he went on to play Wardscale Crocodile, I found myself having to chump block twice a turn. And then he played Law-Rune Enforcer!! Fortunately for me I did have both Invading Manticore in hand. The first one produced two blockers, but the 4/5 was tapped by the Enforcer, and I had to chump block twice. Next turn I played the other Manticore, while he bricked. He passed intending to tap one of the 4/5s at end of turn. I played Burning Prophet + Kasmina, again producing two blockers, although I again had to chump block twice when he tapped both 4/5s. The next attack, he tapped one 4/5, the other 4/5 traded, and again I had to chump block. I untapped with a 4/5 and Burning Prophet ... and then I noticed he's at 8 life ... was able to play Epiphany, drawing Narset, which drew Callous Dismissal, and had exactly enough mana to cast them all to attack for exactly 8. gg! Epic game.

Been ages since I last drafted WAR, how would you guys build this?



Considerations:

- Clearly Jace is a bomb, but the mana cost is very painful. I have four ways to get the mana though (Jiang Yanggu passive, Firemind Vessel, Interplanar Beacon, New Horizons). Worth it?
- I've got tons of proliferate synergies. Flux Channeler however requires noncreature spells to trigger.
- 5/3 hexproof is a great recipient for +1/+1 counters. So is Iron Bully (who also enables it), but I vaguely remember that this card is rather low-power.
- I don't remember if the format is aggressive enough for Snarespinner to be good. Neither do I remember if Dovin is appropriate in the format.
- I don't have too many ways to trigger Kronch Wrangler, but even triggering once is strong because of the proliferate.

Thoughts?