Invasion Draft: White Commons Gary Wise Contained within you'll find a listing of the set's White commons and some marginally organized thoughts on what makes them good, or makes them lacking. White/Green The white green deck is aggressive. What RG has always been, WG is now. When you're drafting this archetype, one should always keep an eye on aggression, with common cards like Llanowar Knight, Armadillo Cloak and Explosive Growth allowing you to apply pressure and keep it on, and hopefully win the race. In this deck, the powerful 'Master Decoys,' Thornscape Apprentice and Benalish Trapper, more often then not will serve to get rid of an annoying blocker rather than pin down an important attacker. While WG doesn't have the kill or bounce that other color combinations have, it is able to combat those colors in two ways: first are the superior 'tricks' the combo has, like the aforementioned Explosive Growth or Aggressive Urge. Second are the two most powerful color hosers in the format: Crimson Acolyte and Obsidian Acolyte, both of which can be game winners. Also, if you get yourself a way to produce blue mana, don't forget to get yourself a Glimmering Angel or two. Put an Armadillo Cloak on the untargetable and the duel is all but over. White Commons Ardent Soldier Best in: UW. The Soldier, which you'll almost never cast without paying the kicker, is only a mediocre creature even when you do make its payment. The reason it's best in UW is two fold: first, it pins down the ground while your flyers attack, and second it is an excellent target for Wings of Hope. A 8th-10th pick Benalish Lancer Best in: UW. Basically, any huge ground creature White can provide will be better with Blue then Green because of Green's surplus of ground pounders. The Lancer can either trade itself for a Kavu Aggressor or Scout, or can wait to be a board dominating 4/4 first striker. Not a first pick, once you have it, you know you're playing it. A 4th-6th pick Benalish Trapper Well, everyone's been calling the Trapper and his Apprentices 'Master Decoys', but they don't quite measure up for one simple reason: 6th Edition rules. That said, the Trapper can still dominate the table and is therefore likely White's best common. Works very effectively with Shackles. A 1st-3rd pick Capashen Unicorn Well, desperate times call for desperate measures. If it's late in the draft and you haven't gotten a Dismantling Blow, you probably want to get yourself a Unicorn. That said, the casting cost, activation cost and summoning sickness issue just add up to way too much for this to be efficient. Get the Dismantling Blow. A 10th-12th pick Crimson Acolyte From what I've seen thus far, the Crimson and Obsidian Acolytes are amongst the most underdrafted cards in the format at present. Players seem to disregard the importance of a strong sideboard in booster draft, but the fact is that cards like this one can single handedly win a game against a red player, and that is of value. One cute little combo I've found here was the use of the Acolyte along with Rampant Elephant and Tidal Visionary, making the blocking creature Red and the elephant pro-Red in order to start picking off opposing creatures one by one. A 6th-8th pick Dismantling Blow UW. One way of classifying a new draft format is to look at whether or not one should play artifact/enchantment kill in the main deck. While the verdict is still out on that one, a lot of players are taking the attitude that you do not main deck the Blow if only because others are trying to avoid playing anything that it targets, creating an interesting paradox. Regardless of what you decide, you want to make sure you have one in your forty-five cards, because when you pay the kicker in destroying the Armadillo Cloak on the attacking creature, you know you've basically won. A 6th-8th pick, the longer you wait to get one, the higher it gets, if you already have one, its value lowers. Glimmering Angel In every draft format that I can remember, 2/2 fliers for four mana have been playable. Throw in an excellent ability that can single-handedly beat some decks and you have a really solid card. Great in UW as a finisher or in a GW that splashes blue, The Angel is going to be a staple for the next year. A 2nd - 4th pick Holy Day While you never want this card in your deck, if you're desperate for one more card you could probably do worse, or at least in your weaker decks it will be sideboardable against a combat trick-laden deck. A 13th-15th pick. Obsidian Acolyte OK, rant number two. The only difference between the Crimson's playability and the Obsidian's is that black is the color that is more played. This means that the Obsidian is even more likely to see your main deck then the Crimson, especially in Rochester draft where you can keep track of how many players there are of each color. A 6th - 8th pick. Orim's Touch WU. One of the many combat tricks that WG has, the Touch is better in a UW deck that has to protect itself from opposing tricks and burn. A Solid main deck card, I wouldn't pick it too high, because you'll get them late eventually. An 8th-10th pick. Prison Barricade OK, I seem to like this card a lot less then others do. While some see a 2/4 for four as being 'solid' I see such a card being weak, with Benalish Heralds providing an excellent basis for my argument. Yes, the Barricade has the added bonus of being able to come out on turn two, but you'll very seldom find yourself wanting to do this. If you're desperate for a body in your deck, it's playable, but don't sell the farm to get it. A 10th-12th pick. Protective Sphere The only time I could see myself bringing this in would be against a deck with Dragons, and even then you have to be pretty desperate. A 15th pick Rampant Elephant WG. When I first saw this card, I wasn't too impressed, but it's starting to grow on me. In a creature lock? The Elephant will get you out, providing you an opportunity to swarm for the win. Just be careful to avoid over-committing: That Repulse/Recoil will kill you. A 7th - 9th pick. Razorfoot Griffin Once again, 2/2 flying with a strong ability for four mana makes for a good deal. Unlike the Glimmering Angel, this card can just stop an opponent's early offensive efforts. Also unlike the Angel, though, it can be easily removed allowing the floodgates to open. Don't worry about it though: you should be attacking anyways. A 2nd-4th pick. Restrain The antithesis of the Elephant, when I first saw this card, I thought it could be great. Then I realized it only prevented the damage dealt by an attacking creature and saw its limitations. While Restrain could conceivably turn into card advantage, the simple fact is that it lacks the versatility needed to be a good card, especially in a formats where the tapping of all potential blockers with 'decoys' is a viable strategy. Any cantrip that can conceivably allow card advantage is main deck playable, but you can usually do better. A 9th-11th pick. Reviving Dose You really have to be desperate to play this card. It just doesn't do enough. A 15th pick. Shackles How does WG handle a Master? Shackle it up. That's how. This thing is great because of the format it's being played in, with the three Decoys virtually assuring that the creature you want to have tapped will be tapped. The fact that later in the game this card will keep jumping from target tot target just makes it better. A 3rd-5th pick. Strength of Unity If you're playing the 5 color Harrow deck, this card can be a game breaker, but you generally don't want to play it, as four mana is an excessive cost with Repulse, Recoil and other bounce in the format. A 10th-12th pick. Sunscape Apprentice WG. One of my favorite under-appreciated cards of all time was Infantry Veteran, a 1 cc 1/1 that tapped to give target attacking creature +1/+1. The Apprentice is everything the Veteran was and more, throwing off an opponent's math while pumping on offense or defense. Throw in the blue ability and you have a solid late pick card that you shouldn't be ashamed to play main deck. An 8th-10th pick.