Triple Champions of Kamigawa drafts are upon us, and last until downtime on the 24th of February. A draft costs 10 tickets, 100 play points, or three packs of Champions + 2 tickets to enter, is single elimination, and pays out (in play points) 200-100-50-50. It is not phantom. It is followed by one week of Champions-Champions-Betrayers drafts (February 24-March 2), and then one week of Champions-Betrayers-Saviors (March 2-9).
I played some Champions block drafts back then, but admittedly not too many, and the drafts I did were all with complete draft newbies (including myself), so they didn't help much. I also haven't played the format since, so I'm going to be of little help this time around. I've heard good things about the format, though (triple Champions and CCB, at least), with in particular LSV always rating it highly. I guess I'd be looking out for him streaming a few drafts to gain some insight.
One thing I do know is that the format is quite grindy, with the creatures being overall pretty underpowered compared to what we're used to these days. The best common is almost assuredly Glacial Ray, but I also recall Kabuto Moth being quite strong.
Valuable commons/uncommons: Sensei's Divining Top - 3.98 Ghostly Prison - 1.92 Lava Spike - 0.35
(No other commons/uncommons are worth more than 0.10, so it's a bit barren down there)
Haven't been able to find as many primers on this as for the MIR formats, so I'm relying more on base card evaluation. We probably should mention the Dampen Thoughtdeck, in case anyone isn't familiar with it.
I went very deep on Zuberas for my first draft, I'll report back how it worked out.
Edit: 2-1, losing the finals to some intense flood. The Zuberas actually felt pretty strong, but it should be noted that the one time I cast Devouring Rage it was bugged to only give +3/+0.
Blue in general doesn't do a whole lot in this set (other than Dampen Thought shenanigans, but changes radically with Betrayers and the Ninja. Once Betrayers 'goes live', you generally want to pair either Blue or Black with a Bushido color. Also, Lantern Kami is quite good when it allows you to play t2 Ninja of the Deep Hours.
Oh yes. Sliver's image reminded me of Strength of Cedars. That card is an utter blowout.
AntiC7: Yeah, that looks like a pretty good deck... Nice job!
I don't think Kitsune Healer is good at all. I mean, you have no Legendary creatures, so it's 4 mana for a 2/2 Samite Healer. That's... not too good, IMO.
Well, now that Devouring Rage and Greed have been hotfixed, I'm back to forcing 5C Zuberas. Seems to be working out pretty well so far -- it's nice that you can take all the hondens and get Orochi Leafcaller very late.
ATTACHMENTS
Event 7 -- Zubera Combo
Screenshot 1 -- Glorious
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I primarily play limited, so most of my spoiler season comments view cards through that lens.
How high should you value the cards Rend Flesh and Rend Spirit? I've played with Rend Flesh casually before where it's closer to being a terminate than a restricted removal but of course Kamigawa is absolutely full of spirits. Eyeblight's Ending is really good in Lorwyn but Elves aren't nearly as prominent there as Spirits are here.
What about the Hondens? I'm assuming it's best to evaluate them based on only having one, rather than the dream where you get a bunch of them. I'm thinking it's probably Blue > Red > Black > Green > White in terms of power. Blue one is obviously amazing as a one-sided Howling Mine and crazy if you have multiple shrines. I'm sure it's probably a fairly frequent first pick over most cards but the bombiest of rares. Red one being good is dependent on how many x/1s are running around, I'm assuming there's some number though. Black seems good if you draw it early, if you draw it late less so. Green is kind of marginal but if games go long it can really generate a nice stream of creatures, and if there's an overrun effect of some kind it could matter. I could definitely see Green being better than Black, not sure there. White doesn't seem very good but if there's a white control deck maybe it does something useful?
Are there any Pack Rat-level rares to be aware of? (Obviously Jitte once Betrayers is in but what about triple Champions?). The legendary Dragons are all bombs of course and Meloku is in the format, anything I'm missing?
The white honden is a lot better than it looks, though I wouldn't play it in aggro deck without any other Hondens. Having almost any two is very strong, and they are uncommons that sometimes go fairly late, so I pick them a lot more highly in pack 1 than 2 or 3 (if I don't have any yet).
I'm currently playing this Dampen thought deck with 3 of them, and the game where I curved turn 2 eye your only land into Honden, Honden, Honden was one of the best draft related moments in a while.
Edit: Both Rends are solid maindecks. Some decks will have almost no non-spirits, and some will have almost no spirits, but most decks will be somewhere between 30/70 and 70/30. Being able to splice onto Rend Flesh is nice. Obviously it depends on your curve a little, but I'd rank the black removal spells Befoul>Rend Flesh>Rend Spirit>=Pull Under, with Pull Under still being a default maindeck.
Yeah, I cruised to 6-0 without even once really caring about anything the opponents did. I actually took two of the Hazes at the end of pack 1, as a combination hatedraft/speculative pick, so getting two Dampens in pack 2 was really nice.
Edit: The strongest rare aside from the 6 you mentioned is probably Kumano, Master Yamabushi, so nothing that comes close to the Rat.
frostwielder is way undervalued. its got a bunch of unexpected synergy that can turn it into more than a pinger. (blue untappers, the red flip pinger and the other stuff that needs it to be already damaged)
just did my first attempt at a devouring greed deck. mixed results.
really liking heavy black decks with demons and ogres. the two 5/4s are brutal with ogre support.
Come to think of it, there are versions of the dampen thought deck (good versions) that probably can't beat you if you add 250 forests in sideboarding. You need to be pretty careful though, since that will end very badly for you if they have a Glacial Ray or a power 2+ creature.
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I primarily play limited, so most of my spoiler season comments view cards through that lens.
I haven't been playing much CCB since I discovered that Waxmane Baku was bugged to be 1:Tap any number of target creatures on MTGO. Really hope it gets fixed for full block, although from what I can tell Saviours really lowered the quality.
Edit: Still bugged for full block. Pretty much breaks the entire experience for me, so these last two weeks have been horrible from a consumer perspective and also from the perspective of trying to leave behind advice for people to use 5 years from now.
I kind of felt like a troll for doing this, but I sided in a Mindblaze in game three when I knew I would be on the draw. I picked it up on the wheel and it did win me the match. It's kind of a silly card, but it was hilarious.
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Don't start nothin' won't be nothin'
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I played some Champions block drafts back then, but admittedly not too many, and the drafts I did were all with complete draft newbies (including myself), so they didn't help much. I also haven't played the format since, so I'm going to be of little help this time around. I've heard good things about the format, though (triple Champions and CCB, at least), with in particular LSV always rating it highly. I guess I'd be looking out for him streaming a few drafts to gain some insight.
One thing I do know is that the format is quite grindy, with the creatures being overall pretty underpowered compared to what we're used to these days. The best common is almost assuredly Glacial Ray, but I also recall Kabuto Moth being quite strong.
Value-wise, the set isn't the best, but it does have some cards that are worth a few tickets, at least. As of February 17th:
Through the Breach - 12.70
Forbidden Orchard - 8.06
Boseiju, Who Shelters All - 7.80
Minamo, School at Water's Edge - 5.16
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker - 4.78
Azusa, Lost but Seeking - 4.57
Night of Souls' Betrayal - 4.21
Valuable commons/uncommons:
Sensei's Divining Top - 3.98
Ghostly Prison - 1.92
Lava Spike - 0.35
(No other commons/uncommons are worth more than 0.10, so it's a bit barren down there)
I went very deep on Zuberas for my first draft, I'll report back how it worked out.
Edit: 2-1, losing the finals to some intense flood. The Zuberas actually felt pretty strong, but it should be noted that the one time I cast Devouring Rage it was bugged to only give +3/+0.
Interested in Custom Card Creation.
My Cube:Cardinal Custom Cube
A custom version of a third modern masters: MM2019
(filter->rarity to see in set rarity).
Best Common is either Glacial Ray or Kabuto Moth, indeed, Sene.
Something to keep in mind is that there are a lot of 2/2s running around due to Bushido, and that it is one of the reasons Red is so good.
Soulshift is a thing. Those who played MM2 know this, but it's important to note that it's more of a GB strategy in triple CHK.
Important Soulshift cards in CHK:
Burr Grafter -- For a one-shot, he makes combat math miserable.
Scuttling Death -- Should be fairly clear.
Thief of Hope -- Same
Goblins are kinda crappy.
Important Samurai:
Kitsune Blademaster -- Really stalls the ground, and few people want to block him.
Nagao, Bound By Honor -- This guy is really annoying.
Blue in general doesn't do a whole lot in this set (other than Dampen Thought shenanigans, but changes radically with Betrayers and the Ninja. Once Betrayers 'goes live', you generally want to pair either Blue or Black with a Bushido color. Also, Lantern Kami is quite good when it allows you to play t2 Ninja of the Deep Hours.
Oh yes. Sliver's image reminded me of Strength of Cedars. That card is an utter blowout.
I don't think Kitsune Healer is good at all. I mean, you have no Legendary creatures, so it's 4 mana for a 2/2 Samite Healer. That's... not too good, IMO.
Interested in Custom Card Creation.
My Cube:Cardinal Custom Cube
A custom version of a third modern masters: MM2019
(filter->rarity to see in set rarity).
What about the Hondens? I'm assuming it's best to evaluate them based on only having one, rather than the dream where you get a bunch of them. I'm thinking it's probably Blue > Red > Black > Green > White in terms of power. Blue one is obviously amazing as a one-sided Howling Mine and crazy if you have multiple shrines. I'm sure it's probably a fairly frequent first pick over most cards but the bombiest of rares. Red one being good is dependent on how many x/1s are running around, I'm assuming there's some number though. Black seems good if you draw it early, if you draw it late less so. Green is kind of marginal but if games go long it can really generate a nice stream of creatures, and if there's an overrun effect of some kind it could matter. I could definitely see Green being better than Black, not sure there. White doesn't seem very good but if there's a white control deck maybe it does something useful?
Are there any Pack Rat-level rares to be aware of? (Obviously Jitte once Betrayers is in but what about triple Champions?). The legendary Dragons are all bombs of course and Meloku is in the format, anything I'm missing?
I'm currently playing this Dampen thought deck with 3 of them, and the game where I curved turn 2 eye your only land into Honden, Honden, Honden was one of the best draft related moments in a while.
Edit: Both Rends are solid maindecks. Some decks will have almost no non-spirits, and some will have almost no spirits, but most decks will be somewhere between 30/70 and 70/30. Being able to splice onto Rend Flesh is nice. Obviously it depends on your curve a little, but I'd rank the black removal spells Befoul>Rend Flesh>Rend Spirit>=Pull Under, with Pull Under still being a default maindeck.
Interested in Custom Card Creation.
My Cube:Cardinal Custom Cube
A custom version of a third modern masters: MM2019
(filter->rarity to see in set rarity).
Edit: The strongest rare aside from the 6 you mentioned is probably Kumano, Master Yamabushi, so nothing that comes close to the Rat.
Interested in Custom Card Creation.
My Cube:Cardinal Custom Cube
A custom version of a third modern masters: MM2019
(filter->rarity to see in set rarity).
just did my first attempt at a devouring greed deck. mixed results.
really liking heavy black decks with demons and ogres. the two 5/4s are brutal with ogre support.
The poster child for this shows up in Saviors with Raving Oni-Slave.
Interested in Custom Card Creation.
My Cube:Cardinal Custom Cube
A custom version of a third modern masters: MM2019
(filter->rarity to see in set rarity).
Edit: Still bugged for full block. Pretty much breaks the entire experience for me, so these last two weeks have been horrible from a consumer perspective and also from the perspective of trying to leave behind advice for people to use 5 years from now.
Interested in Custom Card Creation.
My Cube:Cardinal Custom Cube
A custom version of a third modern masters: MM2019
(filter->rarity to see in set rarity).