Invasion Draft: Blue Rares Gary Wise Rare Drafting It is a general understanding that rare drafting is just dumb. The goal of the competitive drafter should be to win his or her draft, not walk away with a mediocre deck, the contents of which will sell on e-bay for $25. The simple fact is that rarity should never be a factor in the cards one chooses in trying to draft the best deck. Or... While the above is generally true, there are exceptions to every rule. It's important when drafting to account not only for your own understanding of a format, but also for the knowledge those seven players you're drafting against are bringing with them. This means that early in a format, those players, assuming they've done a couple of drafts, should be familiar enough with the commons to know their pictures and the general gist of what they do. Not so with rares. What sets rares apart from commons is that with 24 boosters in any given draft and over a hundred rares in the set, it should take as many as 10-12 drafts for a player to be exposed to 95% of the set, sometimes more. This means that if your opponents are unprepared, while they will account for the possibility of common cards in your hand, they may not account for the rare ones. A good example of this was seen late in the swiss rounds at GP Dallas. Igor Frayman, one of the PT's top limited players, was playing with Phyrexian Infiltrator, a deceptively powerful rare, against Ed Fear. Ed, not knowing about a trick that, using the Infiltrator's ability twice, allowed Igor to maintain control of the 2/2 while sending Fear his worst creature in exchange for Ed's best, played assuming Igor couldn't do this. If Igor had been using a common card, Ed would probably have known all of the tricks involved with that card and would therefore have made decisions that were more appropriate to the situation at hand. In other words, if you have to choose between two equally powered cards, more often than not, the rare will be the better selection. Rare drafting can also play well in Rochester Draft. Many players, myself included, feel that taking cards one's neighbor might want is a dumb strategy, one which is often replied to with your neighbor paying you back in kind, but doing this with a rare can often be deemed forgivable. Take your neighbor's Slimy Kavu and you'll inspire their wrath. Take their Mage's Contest and they might understand. When you make the selection, take the card by the gold seal, it might make them understand. Doesn't mean they won't be pissed if you take their Master of Dragon though. Blue Rares Blind Seer Look under that freaky sombrero the Seer is wearing and you'll find Urza in disguise, and its no wonder. Extraordinarily powerful, the Seer not only provides the blue player with a 3/3 for four, a true rarity in this color, but also controls the table by doing everything from protecting one's creatures from Dark Banishing effects to negating Protection From abilities (aside from Kavu). In another format, the Seer may not be as powerful, but with so many cards relying on the colors of permanents in play, it is a deceptive bomb that can win the game. A 1st - 3rd pick. Breaking Wave This card seems to be really underrated. I've watched it so as late as 12th - 12th in Rochester Drafts, but it really shouldn't. Very similar to Ensnare, while the Wave costs more as an instant, it doesn't leave the caster vulnerable to a counter-assault as the Legacy uncommon does. If you get the Wave 7th or 8th, be grateful. A 5th - 7th pick. Collective Restraint Back in Rath cycle, there was this card called Propaganda. Two players would be racing one another, playing creatures as fast as possible, then one would which out Propaganda and three turns later they'd win. Collective restraint, while a little slower, can do the same thing. A 4th - 7th pick. Crystal Spray Now this is an interesting sideboard card. At three mana it may be a little expensive to main deck as three is a lot to pay for a cycling effect, but there are a lot of ways to gain card advantage here, meaning that there are worse things one could main deck. Making Protection from a different color, make Agonizing Demise kill non-blue creatures...there are a lot of ways to counter spells or effects here and the caster draws a card. A 7th - 9th pick. Distorting Wake Now this is an obvious powerhouse. For 6-7 mana, the caster can remove an entire defense from the field of play. In other words, its an ensnare that buys you three turns instead of one. A 1st - 2nd pick. Empress Galina A great sideboard card against Dragons. Seriously! An 8th - 10th pick. Mana Maze A great sideboard card against...um...against...A 13th- 15th pick Metatheran Aerostat This card may, more than any card in the set, allow its controller to outplay their opponent. A fair value as a 2/2 flier for 4, the key to the Aerostat is its ability. Attack, wait for block, damage on the stack...boom. Suddenly, a creature that can't be Excluded is in play, ready to block while the Aerostat is back in hand. It's a lot of fun to see the look on your opponent's face when they realize it's a lot better then they thought. A 2nd - 4th pick. Psychic Battle This card looks like it would be a lot of fun in multi- player. I'll leave it to Mr. Alongi to comment further a 11th - 13th pick. Sapphire Leech Two mana for a 2/2 flier sounds like a damn good deal to me, regardless of the detrimental effect. If you're only playing two colors, The Leech's drawback shouldn't be much of a problem. If you're playing three colors, be wary. A 3rd- 5th pick. Stormscape Master This may be the weakest of the Masters until you consider the colors it asks you to play. Don't worry about the other Masters: This one can win a game just as effectively as they can. A 1st pick. Teferi's Response Does your opponent have 2 Plague Spores? I know a way to really piss them off...a 10th - 12th pick. Temporal Distortion Before PT Dallas, Paul McCabe, Terry Borer, Eric Tam and the rest of the Toronto crew (Including a certain loudmouthed rookie) tried and tried and tried to make Freyalise Winds work. There was a reason. A 13th - 15th pick. Well-Laid Plans If you really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really want to stall out the mirror match (like I have this commentary), I guess this is a way to do it. What a bad way to finish off an article on a good color. A 11th - 13th pick.