Welcome to an Ikoria Draft Guide! In this Ikoria Draft Guide I discuss the Top 3 Commons for each color, I rank each Color based on its power level, I sort the color pair Archetypes from best to worst, I go over all the relevant Combat Tricks at the Common and Uncommon rarities, and finally I discuss some cards that are Traps and some good Combos to know about in Ikoria! If you are trying to get ready for your Prerelease or your first Draft of Ikoria, this Draft Guide has all the information you need to crush your competition! Remember to like, share, and subscribe to support the channel! Feel free to discuss any element of the guide in the comments and I will gladly respond with my thoughts or answers!
GUIDE UPDATES:
0:37 Top White Commons. Snare Tactician is #1 because Cycling is super powerful. Drannith Healer takes the #2 slot as a nice early play that also has excellent cycling synergy. Pacifism moves down to #3 because you still need some removal.
1:15 Top Blue Commons. The #2 and #3 Blue Commons are probably just Startling Development or Frostveil Ambush because they can then be played in Red White Cycling, but for a cards that actually goes in a Blue deck, Dreamtail Heron is #2 and Of One Mind is #3.
2:00 Top Black Commons. Bushmeat Poacher is #2 because Sacrifice synergies are well supported in this set. Durable Coilbug is #3 because of the aforementioned Sacrifice synergies and because it is a good Mutate target.
2:40 Top Red Commons. Drannith Stinger replaces Rumbling Rockslide at #2 because Cycling is so strong in the set. Prickly Marmoset remains at #3.
3:49 Top Green Commons. Migratory Greathorn is #1 because the Ramp and Fixing it provides is invaluable for Green strategies. Honey Mammoth is #2 because the lifegain and big body are just what Green needs to close games. Greater Sandwurm is #3 because it is another great finisher and can even be Cycled early.
4:49 Color Rankings. The revised ranking (from best to worst) is Red then White then Black then Blue then Green. The Cycling cards were all a bit better than expected which bumps up Red and White, Blue is not as deep as some of the other colors which is why it falls in the ranking, and Black has a bit more synergy and its cards line up well, which is why it climbs. Green is the worst color, but it is still fine to play and the disparity is not massive.
5:56 Archetypes. There should be an "Unreal Good" tier just for Red White because RW Cycling is the best deck in the format and it is not particularly close. WB and RB are Top Tier. UG, UR, GW, and GB are Mid Tier. UB, RG, and UW are in the Low Tier. Drafting what is open is still more important than the Tiers though, and all the archetypes are viable when you get the right cards.
17:44 Traps. Whisper Squad is not a trap, the card is actually solid. Even if you can only get 2 copies of the card it provides you with good synergies for your Sacrifice decks and can sometimes even provide some Human synergy as well. Getting more than 2 copies makes it even better.
19:46 Combos. The best combo in the set at Common and Uncommon is Porcuparrot + Boot Nipper (or another Deathtouch enabler like Grimdancer). When you Mutate Porcuparrot onto a Deathtouch Boot Nipper, all of the pings now have Deathtouch so they will kill any creature, regardless of size. Another great combo is Titanoth Rex or Void Beckoner + Unbreakable Bond or Back For More. With this combo you cycle a massive creature into your Graveyard, and then bring it back with a Reanimation spell way before you would have been able to cast it normally.
To support my content and receive EXCLUSIVE rewards, check out our Patreon here: / nicolaibolas
You can join the NicolaiBolas Community Discord server to discuss all thing's Magic here: / discord
If you want to catch me playing live, I stream several days a week on Twitch. My channel is called NicolaiBolas and can be found here: / nicolaibolas
This channel is partnered with TCGplayer, so when you are buying cards, boosters, or boxes, be sure to use my link to support the channel directly: bit.ly/TCGplaye...
#Ikoria #IkoriaDraft #IkoriaDraftGuide