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Drafting Conflux Part 1: Naya January 30, 2009

Posted by James in : all, strategy, tips, limited, draft , trackback

I have already mentioned the best cards you can draft in Conflux. White and red are still the best colors, and Naya is still the best 3-color deck you can draft, and it is certainly the best colors you will tend to get in Sealed. Now that you know what the best cards are, I still need to mention the other “mentionable” cards that you should look out for when nothing better can be found:

Notable Commons and Uncommons

Today I will restrict the discussion to cards used in Naya. This is the complete list of all the cards you will want:

The very best (bombs)

Really good cards (first picks)

Good cards (second picks)

Notable Commons and Uncommons

The first thing we should notice is that almost all the cards worth mentioning on any of these lists work in a Naya deck. Giltspire Avenger, Nicol Bolas, Ethersworn Adjudicator, Sphinx Summoner, Charnelhoard Wurm, Blood Tyrant, and Drag Down are the only “best cards” that don’t work well in Naya, and all of them are rare except Drag Down. Most of the cards that can’t be played in a Naya deck are merely “notable.”

This article is specifically about what we need to know while drafting Naya. I already discussed the best cards for every shard, but we still need to take a closer look at the “mentionables” for Naya:

Green

Wild Leotau is a great early game beater, and will go nicely with Naya’s 5 power theme.

Filigree Fracture is a great Naturalize simply for the fact that it can give you a card.

Shard Convergence is the best mana fixing in the entire set. If any deck can play all 5 colors it is Naya. (I guessed that it would have this picture, and I was right!)


Gluttinous Slime is good for the simple fact that it has flash. The devour effect can be used when one of your creatures is about it be destroyed to make some use out of its death.

White

Gleam of Resistance is a potentially powerful combat trick. It is a little over-costed, but the landcycling ability might end up being even more important.

Paragon of the Amesha isn’t that great by itself, but it is worth playing if you splash for five colors.

Aerie Mystics is a 3/3 flier for 5 mana, which is what we expect. The Shroud ability will rarely be used in Naya, but it might be worth splashing for.

Rhox Meditant can be an underpowered 2/4 for four mana, but the ability to draw a card makes this perfect for a Naya deck.

Nacatl Hunt-Pride is a bit on the expensive side, but it is currently the best big white creature. The abilities can be an extra bonus if you are playing Naya.

Aven Squire is one of the best creatures. It is a lot like a 2/2 flying creature for only 2 mana, but it can also make another creature bigger because of its exalted ability.

Red

This creature is pretty underpowered, but if you are going to splash all five colors, then it can be worth playing.

Fiery Fall is overpowered by about 3 mana, but the cycling ability will often be more important than its damage.

Ignite disorder can be a very powerful removal spell against every deck except a Jund deck.

Hellspark Elemental is the perfect card for Jund or Grixis, but it can be a decent card for a Naya deck as well, just because the card itself is decent.

Multicolor

Knotvine Mystic is fairly good for mana acceleration, but it can be very hard to play for all three colors. I would much rather have a multicolor big creature than a multicolor mana acceleration card. Why? Because you probably won’t be able to play a 3-color card until your fifth or sixth turn anyway! Mana acceleration has pretty much lost its point that late in the game.

Conclusion

Notice that there is no 5-power theme worth mentioning in Conflux. There are only two new common creatures with 5 power worth mentioning. When playing in triple Shards of Alara draft I never thought the 5-power theme could ever work, but I found out it was possible. Now with Conflux the 5-power theme will be twice as difficult to pull off.

Although Naya is still the most powerful color, the “mentionable” cards found in Conflux tend to be a lot less powerful than the “mentionable” cards found in Shards of Alara.

Related:

Note: Since Conflux isn’t out yet, this article is speculative. I haven’t tested my ideas yet.

Comments»

1. Recoculous.com: Magic the Gathering Articles » Drafting Conflux Part 2: Bant - January 31, 2009

[…] Notice that this list is almost exactly the same as Naya’s. Except one thing: All the awesome red cards are gone. Red is so much more impressive than blue, and there isn’t a whole lot of creatures with exalted in this set. […]

2. Greg - February 3, 2009

You didn’t mention how outrageously good Gluttonous Slime could be. The ability to interrupt combat and remove your creatures (after they have blocked) is amazing…. especially in a set with so much life-link.

3. James - February 3, 2009

I mentioned Gluttonous Slime, but I didn’t talk about all the details. I’m not sure how much I like it yet, but stopping lifelink can be good.

It is certainly the only creature with devour in the set that could make a consistent difference for drafts. The Hellkite baby is terrible.

4. Recoculous.com: Magic the Gathering Articles » Drafting Alara Reborn Part 2: Naya - May 27, 2009

[…] Drafting Conflux: Naya […]

5. holgie - February 26, 2010

Hello, as you may already found I am recent here.
In first steps it is very nice if somebody supports you, so hope to meet friendly and helpful people here. Let me know if I can help you.
Thanks in advance and good luck! :)