Drafting Shadowmoor, Magic the Gathering's Newest Expansion Card Set

With every new Magic the Gathering expansion set, there are new strategies to apply and new combos to discover. Shadowmoor, the newest set, was recently released on May 2, 2008 and one of big things Magic players are realizing in Shadowmoor draft is the importance of color. Color matters in the new Shadowmoor environment. Whereas the overarching theme in the previous sets (Lorwyn and Morningtide) was tribes, color now takes center stage.

Mono-colored Decks

Shadowmoor has many cards that are much more effective if you take note of color considerations. For example, the Cohort common cycle encourages drafters to build mono-colored decks or decks with many cards of the same color. Here is one of the Cohorts.

Briarberry Cohort
Cost: 1U
Type: Creature - Faerie Soldier
P/T: 1/1
Rules Text: Flying. Briarberry Cohort gets +1/+1 as long as you control another blue creature.

Briarberry Cohort is mediocre unless you have at least 7 blue creatures. However, the more blue creatures you have, the more effective Briarberry Cohort becomes.

The common Initiate cycle is similar. Let's look at Intimidator Initiate.

Intimidator Initiate
Cost: R
Type: Creature - Goblin Shaman
P/T: 1/1
Rules Text: Whenever a player plays a red spell, you may pay 1. If you do, target creature can't block this turn.

If you play Intimidator Initiate, make sure you have a lot of red spells. Otherwise, Intimidator Initiate will just be a vanilla 1/1. And vanilla 1/1s are never good in draft.

There are also uncommon cycles that lead drafters in picking many cards of the same color. The creatures in the Mentor cycle give an ability to other creatures you control of the same color. For example, check out Corrosive Mentor.

Corrosive Mentor
Cost: 2B
Type: Creature - Elemental Rogue
P/T: 1/3
Rules Text: Black creatures you control have wither. (They deal damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters.)

Each of the colors has an uncommon creature that gets bigger depending on the number of permanents you control of the same color as the creature. Here is the white creature in this cycle.

Kithkin Rabble
Cost: 3W
Type: Creature - Kithkin
P/T: */*
Rules Text: Vigilance. Kithkin Rabble's power and toughness are each equal to the number of white permanents you control.

Two Colored Decks

So far, we've only looked at cards that encourage building mono-colored decks. Does this mean drafting mono-colored decks is the best strategy? Not necessarily. There are also many cards that encourage building two color decks.

The scarecrow common cycle are artifact creatures that gain abilities if you play more than one color. For example, Rattleblaze Scarecrow is a great creature in a deck filled with many black and red creatures.

Rattleblaze Scarecrow
Cost: 6
Type: Artifact Creature - Scarecrow
P/T: 5/3
Rules Text: Rattleblaze Scarecrow has persist as long as you control a black creature. (When this creature is put into a graveyard from play, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, return it to play under its owner's control with a -1/-1 counter on it.) Rattleblaze Scarecrow has haste as long as you control a red creature.

Here is a powerful cycle of common enchantments that fit perfectly in two color decks.

Fists of the Demigod
Helm of the Ghastlord
Runes of the Deus
Shield of the Oversoul
Steel of the Godhead

And there are many multicolor hybrid creatures that work very well with these enchantments. For examples, Shield of the Oversoul turns Medicine Runner into an indestructible, flying 4/3 creature.

Conclusion

As you draft Shadowmoor, keep track of the colors you are drafting and how many cards of each color you have. Some cards are better in mono-colored decks while other cards are more effective in two color decks. By keeping track of the colors you're drafting, you'll be able to value your future picks more accurately and your final draft deck will be stronger.