Invasion Draft: White Uncommons

Gary Wise
Adaptation

For the last year or so, when asked what makes a good Limited player (or drafter, per se), my first answer has been the ability to adapt. Anyone can memorize lists like the following and figure out what the best card or best card in their colors in any given pack may be, but what makes a drafter good is the ability to spot a pattern in the cards they have received and the understanding of when to follow up on those patterns.

Now, more then ever, those patterns are going to be making themselves apparent in the form of gold cards. When drafting with The Rule, whatever your personal rule may be, you have to be open to the idea that no particular draft strategy is going to work 100% of the time. This means that in order to come away from the draft table with as good a deck as possible as often as you can, you have to be capable of spotting those moments where you have to stray from your chosen path.

My personal Rule right now involves the drafting of both blue and black, with my contingency plan being to switch to RB or UW when BU doesn't seem to be working too well. Amongst the reasons I've chosen this plan of action is that I won't be wasting picks. If my first few choices are Black, then I see a 5th pick Plague Spores, I might make the switch because a) there's a strong card that requires both R and B available, suggesting no one wants that particular color combo, and b) I haven't wasted any picks in making such a switch. Conversely, if my first four picks are blue in the majority, I won't always switch to BR, but a 5th pick Stormscape Apprentice might cause me to switch to a base UW.

Making this approach easier is Invasion's allowance of three-color decks. While I prefer sticking to two colors, if blue and black are feeling a little dry, the option of branching into white or red as a third color is there. Yes, Green is available also, but when making such an expansion, I prefer to leave myself open to the power gold cards that will come later in the draft that only neighboring colors can provide.

In essence, what I'm saying is that just reading a number of lists is not enough. In draft, there are skills that can only be developed through experience, and this is one of them. Try to develop a rule that suits your particular style, but when doing so, make sure you have a back up. Without one, you'll find yourself sticking too hard to one particular strategy, and you'll suddenly find yourself at the 0-3 table.

Now, for the white uncommons.
White Uncommons

Angel of Mercy
Flying is good. Big creatures are good. Combine those two attributes, give it a nice extra ability, and its good. The Angel is obviously a very strong card, and with its casting cost being what it is, it's an easy and worthwhile splash. A 1st-3rd pick.

Benalish Emissary
GW. A tad overcosted and marginally suited to the main deck, the Emissary is a suitable sideboard card against decks with questionable mana bases, especially if they rely heavily upon Fertile Ground. This card's stock rises if there's a Keldon Necropolis in your draft. Keep an eye out for it. A 7th-9th pick.

Benalish Heralds
UW. The only problem I ever had with Jayemdae Tome as a draft card was that if you tried to use it aggressively, your card advantage would be eclipsed by the board position you'd compromised early. The Heralds, on the other hand, hold down the fort while producing a card a turn. An excellent card. A 1st-3rd pick.

Blinding Light
An interesting card, Blinding Light obviously has its uses. Offering synergy with cards like Shackles, it is very possible to draft a deck whose creatures are 90% white, if you include WG or WU creatures, so you can either main deck it or sideboard it in against non-white decks, or at least those decks that try to set up a ground defense. An 8th - 10th pick.

Liberate
Wow this card goes late. Constantly I see Liberate go 13th or 14th and I just don't get it. Very playable, Liberate is very capable of trading with a higher draft pick, protecting your creatures from kill or bounce, allowing you to save a creature after combat damage is on the stack or removing an unwanted enchantment. It shouldn't be going early, but it's definitely playable. A 7th-9th pick.

Pledge of Loyalty
While not a main deck caliber card, the Pledge will always be good in the mirror match, whatever that mirror match may be. An 8th-10th pick.

Rewards of Diversity
This card just doesn't interact with the rest of the game enough to ever be played. A 13th- 15th pick

Ruham Djinn
One of the less impressive of its kind, the Ruham Djinn can still be a dominant force in any game in which its cast. Probably best in 5CG, the Djinn is a slow card in a format with a lot of slow cards, so I wouldn't take it too early. It is playable, so once you have it, you might as well use it. A 4th- 6th pick.

Samite Ministration
This card is awesome. A high pick, the Ministration is...what? It doesn't affect creatures? Never mind, it ain't great. A 13th - 15th pick.

Spirit Weaver
A very solid little creature, the Weaver's ability doesn't get used nearly as often as the threat of it does. Unfortunately, its inability to offer itself some measure of protection makes it less then amazing. A 6th - 8th pick.

Teferi's Care
This one's pretty obvious. If you don't have Dismantling Blow, you want this in your sideboard. If you do, then you don't need it. An 8th-10th pick.

Wayfaring Giant
Well, when I first saw this thing, I thought it was a piece of junk, but it's amazing what a couple of Harrows can do. At 4/6 in a 4-color deck, the Giant is playable, but in 5CG it's pretty hard to stop. Don't pick it early as you'll probably get it late. A 6th - 8th pick.