Today’s release day for Innistrad: Crimson Vow on Magic Arena and Magic Online, and paper prerelease is this weekend! We’ve done some reviews on the cards, but now it’s time to dive into Limited. Today we’ll be looking at some of the archetypes that you can play in the format, and some key cards that you’ll want to make sure that you pick up for your decks.
Green White Humans
Humans got a ton of support int his set. Their new mechanic, Training, really helps beef up the team. Some critical commons and uncommons to pick up are
Parish-Blade Trainee
Parish-Blade Trainee
Training (Whenever this creature attacks with another creature with greater power, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.)
When this creature dies, put its counters on target creature you control.
,
Dawnhart Disciple
Dawnhart Disciple
Whenever another Human you control enters, this creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
and
Resistance Squad
Resistance Squad
When this creature enters, if you control another Human, draw a card.
. If you open up a
Torens, Fist of the Angels
Torens, Fist of the Angels
Training (Whenever this creature attacks with another creature with greater power, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.)
Whenever you cast a creature spell, create a 1/1 green and white Human Soldier creature token with training.
you’re in a great spot to go with this deck.
Vampires
Vampires is obviously the key creature type in this set, and there’s a lot of ways that you can go with the deck. Vamps are in 3 colors this set, and you have a uncommons and rares in each of the 2 color pairs. I think that Black and Red have the stronger common and uncommon vampires, but there’s definitely some benefit to being in White. Look to pick this up if you find an early
Edgar, Charmed Groom
Edgar, Charmed Groom
Other Vampires you control get +1/+1.
When Edgar dies, return it to the battlefield transformed under its owner's control.
or some of these uncommons. Big shout out to
Vampires’ Vengeance
Vampires’ Vengeance
Vampires' Vengeance deals 2 damage to each non-Vampire creature. Create a Blood token. (It's an artifact with "{1}, {T}, Discard a card, Sacrifice this token: Draw a card.")
as being a 1 sided board wipe.
Azorius Auras
The Disturb mechanic returns in this set, but now, most of the cards with Disturb are creatures on the frontside, and Auras on the back, which is very cool. With this deck, you’ll want to find a fair bit of flyers for your auras. The best one is
Stormchaser Drake
Stormchaser Drake
Flying
Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell you control, draw a card.
, which will draw you a card when you cast the Aura and target it. Probably the best rare that you can get for this deck would be
Dorothea, Vengeful Victim
Dorothea, Vengeful Victim
Flying
When Dorothea attacks or blocks, sacrifice it at end of combat.
Disturb {1}{W}{U} (You may cast this card from your graveyard transformed for its disturb cost.)
as the aura is essentially
Geist of Saint Traft
Geist of Saint Traft
Hexproof (This creature can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.)
Whenever Geist of Saint Traft attacks, create a 4/4 white Angel creature token with flying that's tapped and attacking. Exile that token at end of combat.
.
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Dimir Zombies
Zombies make a comeback in this set and in strong fashion. Their mechanic is a returning one, Exploit, which involves sacrificing a creature to trigger an effect. One card that’s super sleeper good for this deck is
Biolume Egg
Biolume Egg
Defender
When this creature enters, scry 2.
When you sacrifice this creature, return it to the battlefield transformed under its owner's control at the beginning of the next end step.
. It’s a fantastic blocker, but is also perfect fodder for our exploit creatures. Headless Rider[/tooltip] or [tooltips]Geralf, Visionary Stitcher are great rares to pick up for this deck.
A Note on Werewolves
Werewolves and Wolves do show up in Crimson Vow, but there aren’t really as plentiful as Midnight Hunt. While a Werewolf aggro deck is possible, you’d need to have quite a few rares line up to really make it worthwhile. There are some commons and uncommons for the archetype, but the power of them is fairly tame compared to the rest of the set, and my assessment is that these are fantastic splash creatures.
Sultai Self Mill
This is a pretty interesting archetype. There’s a bunch of cards in the set that are Self Mill cards, and they primarily show up in Green, but there’s some blue and black cards with it. The hard part about this archetype is that Mill itself is a strong choice for draft formats that can support it because you can easily deck your opponents out. You’ll need to have a few solid pay offs to close the game out, otherwise you risk milling yourself out. Key cards here are definitely
Vilespawn Spider
Vilespawn Spider
Reach
At the beginning of your upkeep, mill a card. (Put the top card of your library into your graveyard.)
{2}{G}{U}, {T}, Sacrifice this creature: Create a 1/1 green Insect creature token for each creature card in your graveyard. Activate only as a sorcery.
and
Mulch
Mulch
Reveal the top four cards of your library. Put all land cards revealed this way into your hand and the rest into your graveyard.
.
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Notable Cards to Draft
There’s quite a few really solid cards in the set as well that could go in multiple decks.
Abrade
Abrade
Abrade
Choose one —
• Abrade deals 3 damage to target creature.
• Destroy target artifact.
is a fantastic removal spell if you’re in red. It’s a constructed all star, and while we may not get a huge benefit of the artifact destruction, 3 damage for 2 mana is a solid rate.
Fierce Retribution
Removal is an essential piece of draft decks.
Fierce Retribution
Fierce Retribution
Cleave {5}{W} (You may cast this spell for its cleave cost. If you do, remove the words in square brackets.)
Destroy target [attacking] creature.
gives us the flexibility to have a cheap, conditional removal spell, or an expensive, unconditional one.
Valorous Stance
Valorous Stance
Valorous Stance
Choose one —
• Target creature gains indestructible until end of turn. (Damage and effects that say "destroy" don't destroy it.)
• Destroy target creature with toughness 4 or greater.
is a must include for white creature decks. Having the ability to give one of your creatures indestructible, possibly to trade in combat, or to kill a big blocker / attacker is invaluable.
Thirst for Discovery
Thirst for Discovery
Thirst for Discovery
Draw three cards. Then discard two cards unless you discard a basic land card.
may be the best draw spells in the set. In draft, your mana base is going to be nearly entirely basic lands, so we can often discard a basic to this. This is a must play.
Serpentine Ambush
One of my favorite combat tricks in this set is
Serpentine Ambush
Serpentine Ambush
Until end of turn, target creature becomes a blue Serpent with base power and toughness 5/5.
. 2 mana for a 5/5 is a great rate, and can even help protect some of our creatures from removal. I value this one very highly if I’m in blue.
Hero’s Downfall
Hero’s Downfall is another premier removal spell. This used to be a rare when it was originally printed, and now that the rarity was downshifted, this is much easier to draft. One thing that can turn a draft on it’s head is the presence of Planeswalkers in your game, so having a clean way to deal with them, as well as creatures, is important.
Blood Betrayal
We’ve seen plenty of these effects before in Magic’s past, but Blood Betrayal feels incredibly strong here. In this format, combat is definitely more important, so having a way to change the dynamic of combat is very important.
Rending Flame
Rending Flame is a very powerful removal spell. 5 damage for 3 mana at instant speed is great. The fact that it can also deal with planeswalkers is also very good.
Weaver of Blossoms / Blossom-Clad Werewolf
Mana creatures are often a solid pick up for limited as it helps you fix your mana. Since this is a common, it could be worth picking up early, since they’re going to go quick.
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