Invasion Draft: Black Commons Gary Wise Blue/Black Well, to be honest, while I will draft any type of deck as the cards dictate, this is my favorite two-color combination. Combining the controlish elements of UW with the aggressive brutality of RB, the UB deck kills with hard to stop creatures while controlling the tempo of the game by not only destroying an opponent's permanents, but their hand as well. With solid cards like Probe, Recoil and Ravenous Rats working towards this cause, this combo can be a nearly unstoppable force. With this combination forging together the concepts of card advantage and aggression, it is sometimes easy to get lost in the many solid Blue and Black spells in a way that leaves you with too few creatures. As a result, you should keep a close watch on how many you have. While thirteen is enough, fifteen is better. Black Commons Agonizing Demise BR. While the kicker makes BR the deck of choice for the Demise, the difference is negligible. This is likely the best common card in the format, which is testimony to how balanced the format is. Just like any 'Dark Banishing,' the Demise's positive attributes include an instant-speed effect and versatility, but it may be better than the banishes of the past because of Blue's ability to change a creature's color, meaning that it can potentially be used to eliminate black and non-black creatures alike. A 1st-3rd pick. Bog Initiate Well, if you draft a really bad four-color deck that includes a number of Soul Burns then maybe...A 15th pick. Cursed Flesh While far from brilliant, the Flesh is an important card in that it is a relatively late pick that can trade for the Apprentices. When your 7th pick trades for your opponent's 1st pick, you've gotten a very good deal, even if the trade is just 1 for 1. While you wouldn't take Cursed Flesh too highly and you definitely don't want too many, if you get one, you'll probably play it. A 6th-8th pick. Duskwalker One of the two best common mono black creatures in the set, the Duskwalker is none the less not as good as predecessors like Fen Stalker. Not only does it cost five mana (assuming you're paying the kicker), but it also exists in a format where one of three 'Master Decoys' can tap it, making it, effectively, 'just another creature'. Regardless, you need to attack with something. You won't do too much better. A 3rd - 5th pick. Exotic Curse UB. Exotic Curse is better in UB then RB simply because RB has a lot of ways to take out a lot of small creatures. While the Curse is never as good as Agonizing Demise, it is a very strong card that you shouldn't be overly ashamed to take first in a pack. A 2nd-4th pick, moves up in 5CG. Firescreamer BR. In my opinion, this has very possibly been the single most overrated creature in the format thus far. Any time you pay four mana for a 2 toughness creature, you want it to be difficult to stop, but the Screamer offers itself no protection. It doesn't matter how many Mountains its owner has available to pump it on offense, because their opponent can trade their own Grey Ogre for the Screamer if it attacks. Acceptable in a RB deck with a lot of kill, that's the only time you should be playing it. An 8th-10th pick. Hypnotic Cloud UB. While better in UB then RB, I actually like this card most in a 5cGreen deck. The poor man's Probe, the Cloud can be painful to watch resolve on turn five or six. A 7th-9th pick, its only this low because you only want 1 and it goes surprisingly late. Mourning A very solid card, Mourning seems to be undervalued right now. Much like Despondency, Mourning is a recurring device of suppression that allows its owner time to find those breakers they haven't yet drawn. If you draft it, play it. It's that simple. A 4th-6th pick. Nightscape Apprentice From what I've seen so far, there are only two times you want to play this card. The first is when your deck isn't great but does contain a Shivan Emissary. The second is when you're playing an aggressive RB deck that wants to kill in the first 7-8 turns. The first strike ability can make this little guy playable, but you really don't want to go there if you can avoid it. An 10th-12th pick. Phyrexian Battleflies How main deck playable this card is generally comes down to your need for a route to victory. Not entirely effective in a beat down deck, where the plan is to use up for mana for the first 7-8 turns of the game, this is more a way to deal damage once you've gained control. That said, the Battlefly is a card that you don't want in your deck, but that should always be considered. A 7th-9th pick. Phyrexian Reaper When I first saw this card, I dismissed it as being over-costed, but I now see the error of my ways. While its special ability is negligible, the day of the 3/3 for 4 seems to be in the past, and that means we have to accept whatever replacements we can find. The Reaper will never be brilliant, but there isn't a lot that isn't green that can stop it single handedly. A 5th-7th pick. Phyrexian Slayer BR. Like its big brother, the Slayer has a negligible special ability but again, a 2/2 flyer for 4 mana is acceptable. With blue's standards going a little higher as far as flyers go, you're going to pick this earlier in a BR deck. A 3rd-5th pick. Ravenous Rats UB. While these little rodents look pretty crummy, they actually lend themselves very well to the ideas behind the UB archetype. Always taking one card with them, there are definitely times where the Rats will provide card advantage, or at least allow you to group block with a mediocre 2/2 to eliminate an opposing 3/3. A 6th-8th pick. Recover The only issue with this card is whether it's fast enough to be effective. Not only does the caster have to wait for one of their own creatures to die (which can be a task if you don't force it) but they also want to be able to wait for a worthwhile target. Regardless, at its base we find our old friend card advantage. That's good enough for me. A 5th - 7th pick. Scavenged Weaponry There are those who believe that any cantrip is a good cantrip, but this is not always so. If you put too many small-effect cantrips in your deck, you can suddenly find yourself drawing into your land all too frequently. I believe that Scavenged Weaponry is a card that fools a lot of drafters into thinking its good, but in actuality, the possibility of an 'in-response' creature kill combined with the not-always-good deck thinning effect leaves a mediocre card you never really want to play. Could be sideboarded to protect your weenies from Plague Spitter and the like. An 8th-10th pick. Soul Burn RB. I find it surprising how late this card goes sometimes. I watch RB players take cards like Plague Spores over it and shake my head, thinking 'they just passed an X-spell'. Playable in UB, the Burn obviously finds its true power in RB. A 2nd-4th pick. Tainted Well If you play this card, I really don't want to know about it. A 16th pick. Urborg Phantom UB. One of my favorite concepts on which to judge a card is its versatility. The Phantom can't block, doesn't evade, can be blocked and killed by just about everything and has no toughness to speak of. A 3-power creature for three, you could conceivably use this out of desperation as a damage source, but realistically, it just isn't very good. Its special ability allows you to wait for a time when it's trading with a decent blocker, but lets be realistic, it just isn't going to happen. An 8th-10th pick. Urborg Skeleton Simply, this card will make your deck if you have game winning bombs you need to wait for. Providing its owner a way to stop a fast onslaught, you'll only find yourself paying the kicker if you have a lot of mana and nothing to do with it. A 8th-10th pick.