As many of you.. Well probably don’t know, Magic the Gathering will always be my first love. It is the game that started getting me so into card games and i will probably always devote a good amount of my life to it. With the release of Ikora, Magic’s latest set, we see some big monsters come into battle and I have dove head first into the chaos to play a ton of my favorite magic format: Draft.
My overall view on Ikoria draft is that it is an amazing format. You get to do really power things with some wicked rares and mythics but commons and uncommons more than hold their own weight. I will be talking about what I consider to be some of the best commons and uncommons so far in the set with the limited amount of time the set has been released. Just bare in mind that this info is subject to change once the format is more explored and I will be doing a follow up article once the dust has settled. Now Let’s get to it:
So far drafting Ikoria has been a ton of fun and it will probably be one of my go tos when asked about favorite draft formats. As it is usually true in limited, this set gets a lot of this weight from it’s commons and uncommons and today I will be going over my picks for the top commons and uncommons for each color excluding multicolored cards (like Zenith Flare). Let’s get to it:
Black, to no one’s surprise, has some of the best removal in the set. Blood Curdle, Dead Weight, and Heartless Act are all fantastic magic cards and I would be very happy first picking any of them.
Red also has the other half of premium removal in the set. Fire Prophecy, Flame Spill, and Rumbling Rockslide are great removal spells and I would be happy first picking them as well.
Green is going to be the color that I will most likely be the most off on. While there are good cards I don’t feel like any of the green commons and uncommons are 1st pickable.
Humble Naturalist is the closest thing to a 1st pickable card. The only reason that I would say it’s not is because there are a lot of other cards that you would want to first pick over it. It is a good card however, allowing you to easily cast mutate creatures that are slightly off color or just letting you play your creatures a turn ahead of schedule can be a huge advantage. Being a 2 mana ⅓ is also great.
Titanoth Rex is the next card on the list. While expensive cards are not usually high picks pack 1, this beast has the advantage of having cycling as well as being able to put a trample counter on one of your creatures. This isn’t exactly an insane advantage but being able to get it into the graveyard so early as well as getting one card deeper into your deck. Unbreakable Bond targeting the Titanoth rex is definitely a real combo and something you should watch out for.
The final green card is Migration Path. Cards like this usually have the downside of being really bad to top deck in the late game, but thanks to cycling, that downside is mitigated. Going from 4 mana to 7 mana the next turn with a land drop is a great way to get the edge on your opponent and put yourself ahead. While not a 1st pick I would keep my eye out in starting in pick 4 if you think you are going to play green.
White has some good options this time around as well. The first being a classic white common: Pacifism. This card has always been a good pick and a solid card. It gets rid of a blocker and attacker on your opponent's side as well as being a noncreature spell that a lot of cards care about. I would be very happy first picking this card.
Swallow Whole is right behind Pacifism I think. You do have to jump through some hoops and it is conditional but getting rid a creature forever for just a single mana I think makes it worth it. This card is a first pick but is behind most of the rares and mythics of the set.
Checkpoint Officer is not a flashy card by any means but it pulls its weight and then some. Especially because of how slow this format is, tapping down your opponents best creature every turn can be very advantageous. This card is not a first pick, I don’t think, but it is definitely a card that you should be looking for around pick 4-5 if you are drafting white or you are just not locked into a second color yet.
Last, but not least, we have blue:
Capture Sphere is a card that I am happy to see reprinted again. Not only just it give off poke ball vibes which are very nostalgic for me, it is also just a great answer to some of the big, nasty monsters that are in the format. I would be happy with this as a first pick.
Essence Scatter is such a powerhouse in formats where creatures are the main focus. Being able to easily trade 2 mana for your opponents 6-8 mana creature is a huge deal as well as simply trading one for one in the early game. This is one of the first cards I look for when a pack is opened.
Neutralize has massively impressed me. “1UU: Counter Target Spell” has always been decent in limited but this version has a huge edge in cycling. That means that if you are holding this and your opponent just doesn’t play something that you care about then you can simply cycle this and no longer have a dead card in your hand. This always makes it no longer a dead top deck which cancel affects have the downside of being. There are cards that I would first pick over this, but it’s still a high priority for me when drafting blue.
Conclusion
This set feels amazing with almost every color having great low rarity options as well as definitely having bombs that it can open. The game play is interactive and thrilling as well as challenging. If you have not yet, I highly recommend giving Ikoria Draft a whirl. Stay tuned for my article on the best multicolored and colorless commons and uncommons! Till then happy drafting and I’ll see you in the ques!