MTG War of the Spark pre-release Limited draft guide

The insanity of Magic: The Gathering newest expansion, War of the Spark, is unlike any Limited draft before. Containing 36 planeswalkers with static abilities and God-Eternals who can’t die, choosing the best draft cards in a draft has never been more important.

To ease drafting pains and which cards to sideboard in Sealed, we’ve put together a list of color, multi-colored, and colorless cards based on the ranking acronym B.R.E.A.D.

The acronym B.R.E.A.D has been around in Magic: The Gathering circles forever. It’s not a perfect system, however, it provides a solid baseline when drafting in Limited. The acronym breaks down as follows:

• B is for “bombs.”  A bomb is a card too good to pass up, something you want to acquire as a first pick. A bomb can be a planeswalker, creature, or even a removal spell. If no bombs are available, look for mini-bombs or top-graded removal cards.
• R is for “removal.” Removal cards eliminate threats and are extremely important in a Limited format.
• E is for “efficient” and “evasion.” E-cards make up the guts of the deck. They’re creatures who have efficient abilities (first strike, menace, static abilities), good mana costs, can evade blockers by flying, and have abilities such as “can’t be blocked.”
• A is for “aggro.” Aggro (filler) cards are one and two drop creatures and or removals that provide damage and tempo. They’re essentially filler cards when there aren’t any bombs, removal, or efficient cards available.
• D is for “doh.” As in Homer Simpson’s “doh.” Most of these cards end up in sideboards or don’t get played.

In Limited draft, the idea is to pick bombs first and come up with a color scheme for your deck. Next is removal cards followed by efficient and evasion ones. Likewise, in a Sealed draft when putting together a deck. Also, each booster pack in Limited will contain a planeswalker. In the history of MTG Limited, this has never happened before. Not all planeswalkers are bombs, though.

For each colored card, we’ve selected the best bombs, mini-bombs, efficient/evasion and filler cards to pick up in a draft. Picking bombs from each color scheme, however, will not win you the game. The following list is simply a tool to help find the right cards for a deck while avoiding the janky ones.

White

The white cards in MTG War of the Spark expansion contain combat tricks, aggro, flying, and removal that is good at stalling the game.

White/blue decks should focus on flying creatures, slowing down the game through removal, and beefing up creatures and planeswalkers with proliferate. White/green decks are good at stacking the board with tokens, beefing them up with proliferate, and ramping mana to drop big stompy creatures. And lastly, White/black decks are about stalling and sacrifice until being able to drop your win-condition.

Bombs in white

• God-Eternal Oketra
• Finale of Glory
• Gideon Blackblade
• Prison Realm

Mini-bombs

• Trusted Pegasus
• The Wanderer

Removal

• Gideon’s Triumph
• Wanderer’s Strike
• Divine Arrow
• Law-Rune Enforcer
• Bond of Discipline

Efficient and Evasive

• Ajani’s Pridemate
• Grateful Apparition
• Loxodon Sergeant
• Makeshift Battalion
• Tomilk, Distinguished Advokist
• Parhelion II
• Sunblade Angel

Filler aggro

• War Screecher
• Rising Populace
• Pouncing Lynx
• Battlefield Promotion

Blue

Blue cards in War of the Spark focus on the mechanics amass and proliferate, along with flying creatures, copying,  and removal. Blue/black decks are great for zombies, planeswalkers, and using amass. Likewise, blue/green decks are good for using proliferate and mana ramp, along with beefing up creatures and tokens with counters. Blue/white is good for stalling while blue/red decks use amass, spells, and flying creatures.

Bombs

• God-Eternal Kefnit
• Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor

Mini-bombs

• Eternal Skylord
• Finale of Revelation
• Tamio’s Epiphany
• Flux Channeler

Removal

• Callous Dismissal
• Kasmina’s Transmutation
• Narset’s Removal
• No Escape

Efficient and Evasive

• Ashiok’s Skulker
• Aven Eternal
• Commence the Endgame
• Contentious Plan
• Erratic Visionary
• Jace, Wielder of Mysteries
• Jace’s Triumph
• Rescuer Sphinx
• Spark Double
• Thunder Drake
• Tamiyo’s Epiphany

Filler

• Sky Theater Strix
• Stealth Mission
• Lazotep Plating

Black

Black cards in War of the Spark focus on amass, deathtouch, removal, direct damage, and bringing cards back from the graveyard. A Black/red deck is good for aggro and sacrifice while using amass and graveyard return to win the game. Black/green decks work well with removal, aggro, and mana ramp to bring out stompy creatures.

Bombs

• God-Eternal Bontu
• Bleeding Edge
• Liliana, Dreadhorde General
• Massacre Girl
• Dreadhorde Invasion
• Finale of Eternity

Mini-bombs

• Eternal Taskmaster
• The Elderspell
• Ob Nixilis, the Hate-Twisted

Removal

• Liliana Triumph
• Ob Nixilis Cruelty
• Spark Harvest
• Toll of Invasion
• Vraska’s Finisher
• Price of Betrayal

Efficient

• Aid the Fallen
• Bolas Citadel
• Bond of Revival
• Command the Dreadhorde
• Davriel, Rogue Shadow
• Deliver Unto Evil
• Spark Reaper
• Herald of the Dreadhorde

Filler

• Banehound
• Dreadmalkin
• Lazotep Reaver
• Unlikely Aid
• Vampire Opportunist

Green

Green cards in War of the Spark focus on ramping land, providing multi-colored mana, proliferate, and stompy creatures. Black/green is likely the strongest color scheme followed by green/blue and green/red.

Bombs

• God-Eternal Rhonas
• Nissa, Who Shakes the World

Mini-bombs

• Awakening of Vito-Ghazi
• Paradise druid
• Planewide Celebration

Removal

• Band Together
• Giant Growth
• Snarespinner

Efficient

• Arlinn, Voice of the Pack
• Bloom Hulk
• Challenger Troll
• Evolution Sage
• Finale of Devastation
• Mowu, Loyal Companion
• Pollenbright Druid
• Thundering Ceratok
• Vivien, Champion of the Wilds
• Wardscale Crocodile

Filler

• Centaur Nurturer
• Arinn’s Wolf
• Kraul Stinger
• Vivien’s  Arkbow
• Vivien’s Grizzly

Red:

Red in War of the Spark focuses on direct damage, direct damage, and an aggro style of play. Green/red and black/red is likely the best combination of colors when drafting a deck. It also works well splashed in with two other color schemes.

Bombs

• Chandra, Fire Artisan
• Ilharg, the Raze-Boar
• Neheb
• Dreadhorde Champion

Mini-bombs

• Sarkhan the Masterless
• Jaya, Venerated Firemage

Removal

• Bolt Blend
• Bond of Passion
• Chandra’s Pyrohelix
• Jaya’s Greeting
• Krenko
• Tin Street Kingpin

Efficient

• Ahn-Crop Invader
• Devouring Hellion
• Deradhorn Twins
• Invading Manticore
• Spellgorger Weird
• Turret Ogre

Filler

• Tidbalt, Rakish Instigator
• Burning Prophet
• Finale of Promise
• Goblin Assault Team
• Grim Initiate
• Samut’s Spirit

Multicolored

Multicolored cards will fit into a two-color deck or can be used in a three or more color deck. Be wary of too many multicolored cards, as your mana needs to line up properly or you won’t be able to play your multicolored cards.

Also, try not to draft three or more colors in Limited, unless you’re an experienced player. Splashing a third color is fine, however, beginners to Limited draft play should try to stick to two colors decks only.

Bombs

• Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God
• Ajani, the Greathearted
• Roalesk, Apex hybrid
• Casualty of War
• Deathsprout
• Enter the God-Eternals
• Time Wipe
• Tolsimer, Freind to Wolves

Mini-bombs

• Elite Guardmage
• Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord
• Devkarrin Lich

Removal

• Despark
• Oath of Kaya
• Angrath’s Rampage
• Ral’s Outburst
• Solar Blaze
• Soul Diviner
• Tyrants Scorn

Efficient

• Bioessence Hydra
• Domri, Anarch of Bolas
• Domri’s Ambush
• Dreadhorde Butcher
• Feather, the Redeemed
• Haulti’s Raptor
• Leyline Prowler
• Living Twister
• Ral, Storm Conduit
• Kaya, Bane of the Dead
• Pledge of Unity
• Teferi, Time Ravler

Colorless and Lands

The War of the Spark expansion contains decent colorless cards, but not for Limited draft play. Try to avoid making artifact decks based on artifact planeswalkers. While these decks are good in Standard and Modern, they’re difficult to pull off in Limited.

Bombs

• Ugin, the Ineffable

Efficient

• Ugin’s Conjurant
• Blast Zone
• Karn’s Bastion
• Mana Geode

MTG War of the Spark releases April 25 on MTG Arena with Sealed draft, followed by Traditional draft. Pre-release drafts at LGS takes place on April 27, and all cards become available on May 3.