1) How much have you played with the format, roughly?
Not a ton. Maybe ten drafts and 5 sealed events.
2) Which common was better than you expected?
Containment Membrane. I was pretty down on it but it ended up being one of the better removal spells. Expedition Raptor and Unnatural Endurance were other cards I didn't think necessarily had a place, even though I thought they were fine in theory, and both ended up being pretty important cards. Also the (non-Wastes) colorless lands - even though I thought they were all probably good, they all ended up way higher than that.
3) Which common was worse than you expected?
Expedite/Slip Through Space ended up disappointing. The UR tempo/Surge deck didn't really end up being a thing, so these didn't go anywhere despite being good enablers.
4) What's the most underappreciated card?
Hmm. This format ended up solved pretty fast... Maybe Negate? Blue in general doesn't get a lot of love, but if you ignore the tempo stuff and focus on trading well, it's still a fine color.
5) What's the worst common that people still play?
Searing Light, I think? Hard to say because when it's bad, you never see it cast, which is a lot of the time, but I see people play it in videos and on stream a lot and it just super underperforms.
6) What was your favorite archetype?
Uxxxx/colorless grinding.
7) Which archetype wasn't as good as you'd expected?
I already said UR, but honestly pretty much anything with red in it.
8) Which colors were the best and worst?
White is the best color. It's the deepest and the strongest and it isn't close. Colorless is the best if it counts as a color, though. Red is the weakest, I think, but it's still playable.
9) Thoughts on the format as a whole?
There are basically three archetypes in the format. White-based aggro, white-based control, and colorless-based control. Attempts at midrange in this format have generally not impressed me. The ground tends to get super horribly gummed up and you need to either plan to win before that happens, or else plan to take advantage of it by winning in the air, or via life-drain/burn or something. If you have a good colorless base for your deck (6+ lands that can produce any color, like Crumbling Vestige), you can do some incredibly greedy things with your mana - 5-color+colorless is a real thing. Don't invest a lot of mana into any creature that's vulnerable to removal because you're asking to be blown out by Oblivion Strike or Isolation Zone. That frequently means three-drops are abnormally good.
1) How much have you played with the format, roughly?
Drafted once a week at FNM.
2) Which common was better than you expected?
Can't go past Ondu War Cleric or Stalking Drone.
3) Which common was worse than you expected?
Kozilek's Translator never did enough for me.
4) What's the most underappreciated card?
There were quite a few, Sparkmage's Gambit did a lot of work in certain match-ups. Gravity Negator and Akoum Flameseeker were also underrated.
5) What's the worst common that people still play?
Eldrazi Aggressor. I see it all the time but I'm really glad when my opponent slaps that down.
6) What was your favorite archetype?
UR surge was by far the most fun to play, but was crippled unless you had a Jori En.
7) Which archetype wasn't as good as you'd expected?
UB control. Just never seemed to work out for whoever drafted it in my pod.
8) Which colors were the best and worst?
Best = white. Worst = blue.
9) Thoughts on the format as a whole?
I really enjoyed drafting Oath, despite a BW deck making the finals every week with almost certainty. There were a lot of fun archetypes and the support mechanic let you beat down with creatures you would never have expected to be useful. The colourless-matters stuff worked well, and it wasn't difficult to pick up the lands you needed. The common unconditional removal in black and white made drafting and playing bombs less enjoyable, but I guess there does need to be some way to stop every match being decided by who plays theirs first. Overall I give it an 8/10.
1) How much have you played with the format, roughly?
Maybe 12-ish drafts.
2) Which common was better than you expected?
Saddleback Lagac. Looks like a weird filler card but those +1/+1 counters ended up doing a lot of work.
3) Which common was worse than you expected?
Ancient Crab looked like it would be a solid defensive card but my blue decks never had a manabase that could reliably hit double blue on turn 3.
4) What's the most underappreciated card?
Unnatural Endurance and Vine Snare. Two very effecient combat tricks, that I saw a lot of people cut.
5) What's the worst common that people still play?
Elemental Uprising. There's just too many worst-case scenarios for it, and even when it works it's just a 1-for-1 on something small.
6) What was your favorite archetype?
2 color + colorless goodstuff splashing black for every Oblivion Strike I saw.
7) Which archetype wasn't as good as you'd expected?
I guess everyone is supposed to say R/U here but that archetype looked awful from the start tbqh. For me it's B/R devoid aggro. The ally and support decks were just so much more explosive.
8) Which colors were the best and worst?
Best: White. W/B allies and W/G support were the best archetypes, and white gave you access to both of them.
Worst: Red. I think the colors were fairly balanced but red was so skewed towards the early game
9) Thoughts on the format as a whole?
At first I thought the set was super boring and grindy, but once everyone started figured out how to draft the aggro decks it was fun for me. The main thing I disliked was how strong Oblivion Strike and Isolation Zone were. They outclassed the commons/uncommons by a huge amount and were even better than most of the rares. It made the drafting feel brainless a lot of the time.
For some reason the set was really unpopular locally. The store I go to had to switch to origins/conspiracy/grab bags a month ago because so few people were showing up.
1) How much have you played with the format, roughly?
Less than I wanted to - about 7 drafts, prerelease, and one 2HG draft.
2) Which common was better than you expected?
Ondu War Cleric. I knew it was not bad, but it turned out to be even better. HM: In 2HG draft, Jwar Isle Avenger was downright nuts.
3) Which common was worse than you expected?
I'd say Kozilek's Translator. I ended up cutting it more often than I expected. Also Tar Snare.
4) What's the most underappreciated card?
Tough question. I would say probably Sparkmage's Gambit, Pulse of Murasa or Unnatural Endurance.
5) What's the worst common that people still play?
Elemental Uprising.
6) What was your favorite archetype?
BW Life Cohort, RW Aggro Cohort
7) Which archetype wasn't as good as you'd expected?
UR Surge. Too situational.
8) Which colors were the best and worst?
Best - white. Worst...dunno, probably blue, because all the decks with this color I played or met were quite subpar.
9) Thoughts on the format as a whole?
I liked it more than BFZ only. Cohort ended up being far more playable than I expected, and the decks were not rock-paper-scissors, but actually full of interesting interactions. I frankly experienced some of the best and most interesting games in my recent memory with this format.
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1) How much have you played with the format, roughly?
About 7 drafts; 10 sealed events
2) Which common was better than you expected? Unnatural Endurance. I dislike combat tricks, but this proved to be among the best in the format.
3) Which common was worse than you expected? Gravity Negator. This looks like everything I want in a card (blue, flier, helps make more fliers), but it just never impresses. Searing Light is another big disappointment.
4) What's the most underappreciated card? Makindi Aeronaut. I love my white two drops, and this little guy works so well with both support and cohort.
6) What was your favorite archetype?
BW Allies. It was the best deck; it could beat down early and then take over late game via the cohort mechanic. The Ux Colorless decks were also enjoyable to play.
7) Which archetype wasn't as good as you'd expected?
RB Devoid/Aggro. It didn't line up that well with the format.
8) Which colors were the best and worst?
White was best. Worst is probably red, but it's not far and away worse than the non white colors.
9) Thoughts on the format as a whole?
It was OK. There were too many board stalls for my liking. I think it was a clear step down from full BFZ draft.
I'm surprised about opinions on elemental uprising. I've played it a few times, and it worked as advertised: eating an attacker, eating a just-played creature thanks to forced blocking (mostly in racing situation where people to keep back blockers), or an extra hasty 4 points of damage to end the game.
It's not a great card, but it's not an unplayable card, IMO.
I'm surprised about opinions on elemental uprising. I've played it a few times, and it worked as advertised: eating an attacker, eating a just-played creature thanks to forced blocking (mostly in racing situation where people to keep back blockers), or an extra hasty 4 points of damage to end the game.
It's not a great card, but it's not an unplayable card, IMO.
Well, "worst card that people still play" does kinda put it on the playable side of the fence, if barely.
1) How much have you played with the format, roughly?
I've done 20-25 paper drafts, with 6-10 people per draft
2) Which common was better than you expected?
I thought Saddleback Lagac would be okay but it's actually very very good. Same with Blinding Drone, I didn't take into account that if you're playing blue you're almost always playing colorless. Honestly this list could be much longer, there were many many commons that played better than expected. Things like Cinder Hellion and Akoum Flameseeker had places, and even something like Dazzling Reflection was a playable trick.
3) Which common was worse than you expected?
I thought Affa Protector would have some place because it has synergy with Cohort and Support but it's just incredibly mediocre and never really gets through.
4) What's the most underappreciated card?
People at my LGS finally caught on to Saddleback Lagac after like 5 weeks. Makindi Aeronaut is pretty underappreciated IMO. It does everything you could want in this set.
5) What's the worst common that people still play? Sky Scourer is so bad, and losing to it feels worse.
6) What was your favorite archetype?
G/W Support.
7) Which archetype wasn't as good as you'd expected?
Although I had moderate success with U/R Surge decks, it still wasn't the best archetype.
8) Which colors were the best and worst?
White is easily the best because it's not split between Colorless and noncolorless. Blue is the worst because it's only colorless so it commits you to picking lands and the payoff is basically just blinding drone. It's still perfectly playable, especially since it's still good in pack three.
9) Thoughts on the format as a whole?
It was a lot of fun, lots of different archetypes, but Oblivion Strike and Isolation Zone really warped the format. We haven't had such cheap unconditional removal at common in a while and both of them being in what were already the best archetype made it painful to not play B/W. It reminded me of Abzan (really just B/W splashing G)in Khans of Tarkir where I could draft some janky commons and removal and just win anyway. It got to the point that I was glad not to see Oblivion Strike or Isolation Zone early because then I could draft something else that's more interesting.
1) How much have you played with the format, roughly?
18 sealed leagues, 88 matches played, I 1-3'd twice
plus whatever I did before sealed leagues, but that's much less.
2) Which common was better than you expected?
Reality Hemorrhage. I still don't like the card much on principle, but I guess it takes a lot for burn spells to not be good.
3) Which common was worse than you expected?
Akoum Flameseeker. It isn't bad, but I thought the looting would be worth much more.
4) What's the most underappreciated card?
Maybe Stone Haven Outfitter. His ability is pretty irrelevant, but he's useful as an Ally bear, plus sometimes he attracts removal due to people expecting his ability to become relevant.
5) What's the worst common that people still play?
I'll interpret this question as "what's the worst common that YOU still play?" because people play all sorts of garbage. Eldrazi Aggressor. Not where I want to be, but I'll go there in desperate times.
6) What was your favorite archetype?
4 color good stuff enabled by a very lucky manabase with double Unknown Shores, double Crumbling Vestige, and an Evolving Wilds.
7) Which archetype wasn't as good as you'd expected?
UR surge
8) Which colors were the best and worst?
best = white worst = blue
9) Thoughts on the format as a whole?
A-/B+ Horrible color power imbalance, but we should expect that by now. From what I've read, limited is balanced around draft not sealed. What made this format great were decent fixing and powerful commons & uncommons. Good aggressive speed without being too fast. I've heard people say it's a draw first format but I don't think I like being on the wrong side of a turn four Lagac, or worse, Relief Captain. Conditional removal spells made games more interesting than they'd be if they weren't conditional - eg Tar Snare used in combat, Immolating Glare only working on defense, Sheer Drop requiring the creature to be tapped, Surge on Boulder Salvo influencing your sequencing. Also although the mana base lottery highly determined your ability to craft good mana, I liked the colorless mana cost for rewarding/punishing players who do/don't know how to build mana bases correctly.
1) How much have you played with the format, roughly?
Not that much, maybe 10-12 drafts.
2) Which common was better than you expected? Ondu war cleric. The BW deck was much, much, much better than I expected.
3) Which common was worse than you expected?
Not sure on this one. I tend to underate cards more than overrate.
4) What's the most underappreciated card?
Elemental Uprising No, seriously, I don't know. My LGS actually a lot of very good players, so they have good decks and I don't feel I have much to critique.
5) What's the worst common that people still play?
Walls.
6) What was your favorite archetype?
Ux, mostly UB.
7) Which archetype wasn't as good as you'd expected?
GR.
8) Which colors were the best and worst?
White is best.
9) Thoughts on the format as a whole?
I really hated the BW lifegain / drain deck. It was really good and super grindy, with interminable matches where they drain you a few points every turn while you kill their life drainer and try to have them not go up in life...
I find funny that different people interpret the 'worst card still played'so differently: worst that they still play, playable card that is the worst and, my interpretation, and what I thought was the intended and clearly correct one, the card that you still see play but should not be played.
PS: I think the format would have been more fun without vampire envoy. It tremendously helped the BW deck, protecting it from the air.
1) How much have you played with the format, roughly?
I've done 1 or 2 drafts every week since release.
2) Which common was better than you expected? Bone Saw; I didn't think it'd be worth a card for the small effect, but it's great as a surge enabler. It also does work in the ally decks to make your small fliers and first strikers into threats that need answers that much faster.
3) Which common was worse than you expected? Tar Snare. It's typically an overly expensive combat trick, and Unnatural Endurance would do the same thing more efficiently. When it can straight up remove something, it's typically a 2 or 3 drop, so it's not super efficient there either.
4) What's the most underappreciated card? Sparkmage's Gambit. It's a great sideboard card that helps get through extra damage in a board stall, or clears out small creatures in a race situation.
5) What's the worst common that people still play?
Either Searing Light or Eldrazi Aggressor. The former is a decent sideboard card, but I do still see people main deck it. Usually when I see people playing the latter, it's for synergy reasons. They have a bunch cards like Sky Scourer and Nettle Drone and would rather play another colorless creature than a better, colored creature.
6) What was your favorite archetype?
The ones I've enjoyed the most are white-based allies (WB or RW) and UR tempo.
7) Which archetype wasn't as good as you'd expected?
Blue-based control decks got a huge downgrade vs. BFZ draft. The format sped up a bit too much for them to really hold their own unless they get perfect opens.
8) Which colors were the best and worst?
Blue is definitely the weakest color overall, and white the strongest, but I think there's not a huge differential like there was with Green in BFZ. Even as the weakest color, blue is solid.
9) Thoughts on the format as a whole?
Definite upgrade from BFZ. Cohort plays a lot better than it initially read and is probably one of the best mechanics in the set for limited. I do wish there were more build-arounds that let you tackle deck-building from different angles along the lines of Spider Spawning or Secret Plans. I also wish the BG archetype were a bit stronger, because it has an interesting play style, but does it's thing a little too inconsistently. Overall, I liked the format. I'd rate it about the same as triple Theros.
1) How much have you played with the format, roughly?
A million.
2) Which common was better than you expected?
All of them? This set had a loooooot of strong commons. Probably the set I picked a common P1P1 most often, not close (I skipped original Ravnica, for the record.) I think my pick is Seer's Lantern. The deck that wanted this card REALLY wanted it, and it's not often that you realize the board is at parity and you're about to lose to a mana rock.
3) Which common was worse than you expected?
I ended up kind of hating both white 3-drop Allies, Kor Sky Climber and Kor Hooktangler or whatever (the 3/1). They're both super fragile, not amazing to support onto, and so useful offensively that trading them on defense felt horrible. Plus you always saw them in the same pack, and ended up with a million of them and no War Clerics.
Steppe Glider. My favorite sneaky unbeatable uncommon.
5) What's the worst common that people still play?
I've seen people jamming Lavastep Raider every draft for the past 3 days for some reason, but that hardly seems fair -- everybody's just bored.
This one's hard, because most of the commons had at least one justifiable use, and I only ever saw like 1 Untamed Hunger. I guess I'll echo Sky Scourer, but I never see people jamming a bunch of copies and it seems just fine.
6) What was your favorite archetype?
G/W nerds and R/W equipment. (Note: These were not great archetypes.)
7) Which archetype wasn't as good as you'd expected?
U/R devoid fell completely off the table, B/R devoid was way too janky at the 2-drop slot, and U/W had a complete identity crisis despite powerful uncommons.
8) Which colors were the best and worst?
1. White 2. Black 3. Green 4. Red 5. Blue
9) Thoughts on the format as a whole?
I had an incredible dim view of the format during spoiler season and after the first few weeks, but it finally grew on me and I actively looked forward to coming home to draft it most days. Probably slightly worse than triple BFZ overall. 6.5/10.
1) How much have you played with the format, roughly?
20+ on Cockatrice.
2) Which common was better than you expected? Shoulder to Shoulder definitely. I thought it was better for a fliers deck, but even just plugging this on a bear on T3 was a powerful play.
3) Which common was worse than you expected? Sweep Away. I ranked it as Blue's No. 2 common initially, but it's definitely much worse than that.
4) What's the most underappreciated card?
People finally caught on, but for a while Zulaport Chainmage went around the table a lot.
5) What's the worst common that people still play? Sky Scourer, probably, though not that often. People seem to steer clear of the terrible stuff from what I've seen.
6) What was your favorite archetype?
I had more fun with 3+ color goodstuff, often in Green for Pulse of Murasa hilarity. I also enjoyed WU quite a bit mostly for back-to-back Roiling Waters.
7) Which archetype wasn't as good as you'd expected?
UB Eldrazi. Whatever this deck can do, 3 color goodstuff can probably do better.
8) Which colors were the best and worst?
White is the best without a doubt, and I predicted as much from the beginning. The worst colors are tied between Blue and Red, but that's more for them being narrow in playstyle rather than because they're unplayable like Green was in BFZ.
9) Thoughts on the format as a whole?
No sir, I don't like it. My biggest gripe is that this format has a crap ton of hard-to-interact-with plays from a T2 Bone Saw>Goblin Freerunner to Ondu War-Cleric+Vampire Envoy gaining 12+ life a game, many of them at common no less. Also, for me this format wasn't particularly interesting to solve mainly because the dominating strategies (Cohort and Support) are straightforward.
1) How much have you played with the format, roughly?
25 Drafts, 10 Sealed
2) Which common was better than you expected?
Vampire Envoy
3) Which common was worse than you expected?
Wastes
4) What's the most underappreciated card?
Spatial Distortion
5) What's the worst common that people still play?
Gravity Negator
6) What was your favorite archetype?
Red/ Black aggro
7) Which archetype wasn't as good as you'd expected?
UR Surge
8) Which colors were the best and worst?
Black best, Green worst
9) Thoughts on the format as a whole?
It was a solid format. As is the case about 90% of the time, adding a small set made the format worse, but it was still a good format. The fact that the format was not completely dominated by tempo was a large plus.
I enjoyed the format quite a bit for a while, but unfortunately the white-black allies deck is significantly too powerful in my view with just commons and a few uncommons. If I draft that deck then my win seems inevitable unless I experience significant mana issues, and losing to the deck seems mostly inevitable once I see my opponent has it. I don't try to force it, because I think the colors are drafted as a high priority, but it seems that at least one drafter has it if not more than 1 since there are so many cards which fit the archetype. It just isn't much fun when one player has a much better deck than anyone else.
So my postmortem is that it was a fun format, but had a significant flaw, similar in some ways to BFZ's significant flaw in green being so weak.
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1) How much have you played with the format, roughly?
2) Which common was better than you expected?
3) Which common was worse than you expected?
4) What's the most underappreciated card?
5) What's the worst common that people still play?
6) What was your favorite archetype?
7) Which archetype wasn't as good as you'd expected?
8) Which colors were the best and worst?
9) Thoughts on the format as a whole?
[b]2) Which common was better than you expected?[/b]
[b]3) Which common was worse than you expected?[/b]
[b]4) What's the most underappreciated card?[/b]
[b]5) What's the worst common that people still play?[/b]
[b]6) What was your favorite archetype?[/b]
[b]7) Which archetype wasn't as good as you'd expected?[/b]
[b]8) Which colors were the best and worst?[/b]
[b]9) Thoughts on the format as a whole?[/b]
Not a ton. Maybe ten drafts and 5 sealed events.
2) Which common was better than you expected?
Containment Membrane. I was pretty down on it but it ended up being one of the better removal spells. Expedition Raptor and Unnatural Endurance were other cards I didn't think necessarily had a place, even though I thought they were fine in theory, and both ended up being pretty important cards. Also the (non-Wastes) colorless lands - even though I thought they were all probably good, they all ended up way higher than that.
3) Which common was worse than you expected?
Expedite/Slip Through Space ended up disappointing. The UR tempo/Surge deck didn't really end up being a thing, so these didn't go anywhere despite being good enablers.
4) What's the most underappreciated card?
Hmm. This format ended up solved pretty fast... Maybe Negate? Blue in general doesn't get a lot of love, but if you ignore the tempo stuff and focus on trading well, it's still a fine color.
5) What's the worst common that people still play?
Searing Light, I think? Hard to say because when it's bad, you never see it cast, which is a lot of the time, but I see people play it in videos and on stream a lot and it just super underperforms.
6) What was your favorite archetype?
Uxxxx/colorless grinding.
7) Which archetype wasn't as good as you'd expected?
I already said UR, but honestly pretty much anything with red in it.
8) Which colors were the best and worst?
White is the best color. It's the deepest and the strongest and it isn't close. Colorless is the best if it counts as a color, though. Red is the weakest, I think, but it's still playable.
9) Thoughts on the format as a whole?
There are basically three archetypes in the format. White-based aggro, white-based control, and colorless-based control. Attempts at midrange in this format have generally not impressed me. The ground tends to get super horribly gummed up and you need to either plan to win before that happens, or else plan to take advantage of it by winning in the air, or via life-drain/burn or something. If you have a good colorless base for your deck (6+ lands that can produce any color, like Crumbling Vestige), you can do some incredibly greedy things with your mana - 5-color+colorless is a real thing. Don't invest a lot of mana into any creature that's vulnerable to removal because you're asking to be blown out by Oblivion Strike or Isolation Zone. That frequently means three-drops are abnormally good.
Drafted once a week at FNM.
2) Which common was better than you expected?
Can't go past Ondu War Cleric or Stalking Drone.
3) Which common was worse than you expected?
Kozilek's Translator never did enough for me.
4) What's the most underappreciated card?
There were quite a few, Sparkmage's Gambit did a lot of work in certain match-ups. Gravity Negator and Akoum Flameseeker were also underrated.
5) What's the worst common that people still play?
Eldrazi Aggressor. I see it all the time but I'm really glad when my opponent slaps that down.
6) What was your favorite archetype?
UR surge was by far the most fun to play, but was crippled unless you had a Jori En.
7) Which archetype wasn't as good as you'd expected?
UB control. Just never seemed to work out for whoever drafted it in my pod.
8) Which colors were the best and worst?
Best = white. Worst = blue.
9) Thoughts on the format as a whole?
I really enjoyed drafting Oath, despite a BW deck making the finals every week with almost certainty. There were a lot of fun archetypes and the support mechanic let you beat down with creatures you would never have expected to be useful. The colourless-matters stuff worked well, and it wasn't difficult to pick up the lands you needed. The common unconditional removal in black and white made drafting and playing bombs less enjoyable, but I guess there does need to be some way to stop every match being decided by who plays theirs first. Overall I give it an 8/10.
Maybe 12-ish drafts.
2) Which common was better than you expected?
Saddleback Lagac. Looks like a weird filler card but those +1/+1 counters ended up doing a lot of work.
3) Which common was worse than you expected?
Ancient Crab looked like it would be a solid defensive card but my blue decks never had a manabase that could reliably hit double blue on turn 3.
4) What's the most underappreciated card?
Unnatural Endurance and Vine Snare. Two very effecient combat tricks, that I saw a lot of people cut.
5) What's the worst common that people still play?
Elemental Uprising. There's just too many worst-case scenarios for it, and even when it works it's just a 1-for-1 on something small.
6) What was your favorite archetype?
2 color + colorless goodstuff splashing black for every Oblivion Strike I saw.
7) Which archetype wasn't as good as you'd expected?
I guess everyone is supposed to say R/U here but that archetype looked awful from the start tbqh. For me it's B/R devoid aggro. The ally and support decks were just so much more explosive.
8) Which colors were the best and worst?
Best: White. W/B allies and W/G support were the best archetypes, and white gave you access to both of them.
Worst: Red. I think the colors were fairly balanced but red was so skewed towards the early game
9) Thoughts on the format as a whole?
At first I thought the set was super boring and grindy, but once everyone started figured out how to draft the aggro decks it was fun for me. The main thing I disliked was how strong Oblivion Strike and Isolation Zone were. They outclassed the commons/uncommons by a huge amount and were even better than most of the rares. It made the drafting feel brainless a lot of the time.
For some reason the set was really unpopular locally. The store I go to had to switch to origins/conspiracy/grab bags a month ago because so few people were showing up.
Less than I wanted to - about 7 drafts, prerelease, and one 2HG draft.
2) Which common was better than you expected?
Ondu War Cleric. I knew it was not bad, but it turned out to be even better. HM: In 2HG draft, Jwar Isle Avenger was downright nuts.
3) Which common was worse than you expected?
I'd say Kozilek's Translator. I ended up cutting it more often than I expected. Also Tar Snare.
4) What's the most underappreciated card?
Tough question. I would say probably Sparkmage's Gambit, Pulse of Murasa or Unnatural Endurance.
5) What's the worst common that people still play?
Elemental Uprising.
6) What was your favorite archetype?
BW Life Cohort, RW Aggro Cohort
7) Which archetype wasn't as good as you'd expected?
UR Surge. Too situational.
8) Which colors were the best and worst?
Best - white. Worst...dunno, probably blue, because all the decks with this color I played or met were quite subpar.
9) Thoughts on the format as a whole?
I liked it more than BFZ only. Cohort ended up being far more playable than I expected, and the decks were not rock-paper-scissors, but actually full of interesting interactions. I frankly experienced some of the best and most interesting games in my recent memory with this format.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
About 7 drafts; 10 sealed events
2) Which common was better than you expected?
Unnatural Endurance. I dislike combat tricks, but this proved to be among the best in the format.
3) Which common was worse than you expected?
Gravity Negator. This looks like everything I want in a card (blue, flier, helps make more fliers), but it just never impresses. Searing Light is another big disappointment.
4) What's the most underappreciated card?
Makindi Aeronaut. I love my white two drops, and this little guy works so well with both support and cohort.
5) What's the worst common that people still play?
Elemental Uprising.
6) What was your favorite archetype?
BW Allies. It was the best deck; it could beat down early and then take over late game via the cohort mechanic. The Ux Colorless decks were also enjoyable to play.
7) Which archetype wasn't as good as you'd expected?
RB Devoid/Aggro. It didn't line up that well with the format.
8) Which colors were the best and worst?
White was best. Worst is probably red, but it's not far and away worse than the non white colors.
9) Thoughts on the format as a whole?
It was OK. There were too many board stalls for my liking. I think it was a clear step down from full BFZ draft.
UR Blue-Red Control
Modern:
UBR Grixis Control
UWR Jeskai Control
It's not a great card, but it's not an unplayable card, IMO.
Well, "worst card that people still play" does kinda put it on the playable side of the fence, if barely.
I've done 20-25 paper drafts, with 6-10 people per draft
2) Which common was better than you expected?
I thought Saddleback Lagac would be okay but it's actually very very good. Same with Blinding Drone, I didn't take into account that if you're playing blue you're almost always playing colorless. Honestly this list could be much longer, there were many many commons that played better than expected. Things like Cinder Hellion and Akoum Flameseeker had places, and even something like Dazzling Reflection was a playable trick.
3) Which common was worse than you expected?
I thought Affa Protector would have some place because it has synergy with Cohort and Support but it's just incredibly mediocre and never really gets through.
4) What's the most underappreciated card?
People at my LGS finally caught on to Saddleback Lagac after like 5 weeks. Makindi Aeronaut is pretty underappreciated IMO. It does everything you could want in this set.
5) What's the worst common that people still play?
Sky Scourer is so bad, and losing to it feels worse.
6) What was your favorite archetype?
G/W Support.
7) Which archetype wasn't as good as you'd expected?
Although I had moderate success with U/R Surge decks, it still wasn't the best archetype.
8) Which colors were the best and worst?
White is easily the best because it's not split between Colorless and noncolorless. Blue is the worst because it's only colorless so it commits you to picking lands and the payoff is basically just blinding drone. It's still perfectly playable, especially since it's still good in pack three.
9) Thoughts on the format as a whole?
It was a lot of fun, lots of different archetypes, but Oblivion Strike and Isolation Zone really warped the format. We haven't had such cheap unconditional removal at common in a while and both of them being in what were already the best archetype made it painful to not play B/W. It reminded me of Abzan (really just B/W splashing G)in Khans of Tarkir where I could draft some janky commons and removal and just win anyway. It got to the point that I was glad not to see Oblivion Strike or Isolation Zone early because then I could draft something else that's more interesting.
18 sealed leagues, 88 matches played, I 1-3'd twice
plus whatever I did before sealed leagues, but that's much less.
2) Which common was better than you expected?
Reality Hemorrhage. I still don't like the card much on principle, but I guess it takes a lot for burn spells to not be good.
3) Which common was worse than you expected?
Akoum Flameseeker. It isn't bad, but I thought the looting would be worth much more.
4) What's the most underappreciated card?
Maybe Stone Haven Outfitter. His ability is pretty irrelevant, but he's useful as an Ally bear, plus sometimes he attracts removal due to people expecting his ability to become relevant.
5) What's the worst common that people still play?
I'll interpret this question as "what's the worst common that YOU still play?" because people play all sorts of garbage. Eldrazi Aggressor. Not where I want to be, but I'll go there in desperate times.
6) What was your favorite archetype?
4 color good stuff enabled by a very lucky manabase with double Unknown Shores, double Crumbling Vestige, and an Evolving Wilds.
7) Which archetype wasn't as good as you'd expected?
UR surge
8) Which colors were the best and worst?
best = white worst = blue
9) Thoughts on the format as a whole?
A-/B+ Horrible color power imbalance, but we should expect that by now. From what I've read, limited is balanced around draft not sealed. What made this format great were decent fixing and powerful commons & uncommons. Good aggressive speed without being too fast. I've heard people say it's a draw first format but I don't think I like being on the wrong side of a turn four Lagac, or worse, Relief Captain. Conditional removal spells made games more interesting than they'd be if they weren't conditional - eg Tar Snare used in combat, Immolating Glare only working on defense, Sheer Drop requiring the creature to be tapped, Surge on Boulder Salvo influencing your sequencing. Also although the mana base lottery highly determined your ability to craft good mana, I liked the colorless mana cost for rewarding/punishing players who do/don't know how to build mana bases correctly.
Not that much, maybe 10-12 drafts.
2) Which common was better than you expected?
Ondu war cleric. The BW deck was much, much, much better than I expected.
3) Which common was worse than you expected?
Not sure on this one. I tend to underate cards more than overrate.
4) What's the most underappreciated card?
Elemental Uprising No, seriously, I don't know. My LGS actually a lot of very good players, so they have good decks and I don't feel I have much to critique.
5) What's the worst common that people still play?
Walls.
6) What was your favorite archetype?
Ux, mostly UB.
7) Which archetype wasn't as good as you'd expected?
GR.
8) Which colors were the best and worst?
White is best.
9) Thoughts on the format as a whole?
I really hated the BW lifegain / drain deck. It was really good and super grindy, with interminable matches where they drain you a few points every turn while you kill their life drainer and try to have them not go up in life...
I find funny that different people interpret the 'worst card still played'so differently: worst that they still play, playable card that is the worst and, my interpretation, and what I thought was the intended and clearly correct one, the card that you still see play but should not be played.
PS: I think the format would have been more fun without vampire envoy. It tremendously helped the BW deck, protecting it from the air.
I've done 1 or 2 drafts every week since release.
2) Which common was better than you expected?
Bone Saw; I didn't think it'd be worth a card for the small effect, but it's great as a surge enabler. It also does work in the ally decks to make your small fliers and first strikers into threats that need answers that much faster.
3) Which common was worse than you expected?
Tar Snare. It's typically an overly expensive combat trick, and Unnatural Endurance would do the same thing more efficiently. When it can straight up remove something, it's typically a 2 or 3 drop, so it's not super efficient there either.
4) What's the most underappreciated card?
Sparkmage's Gambit. It's a great sideboard card that helps get through extra damage in a board stall, or clears out small creatures in a race situation.
5) What's the worst common that people still play?
Either Searing Light or Eldrazi Aggressor. The former is a decent sideboard card, but I do still see people main deck it. Usually when I see people playing the latter, it's for synergy reasons. They have a bunch cards like Sky Scourer and Nettle Drone and would rather play another colorless creature than a better, colored creature.
6) What was your favorite archetype?
The ones I've enjoyed the most are white-based allies (WB or RW) and UR tempo.
7) Which archetype wasn't as good as you'd expected?
Blue-based control decks got a huge downgrade vs. BFZ draft. The format sped up a bit too much for them to really hold their own unless they get perfect opens.
8) Which colors were the best and worst?
Blue is definitely the weakest color overall, and white the strongest, but I think there's not a huge differential like there was with Green in BFZ. Even as the weakest color, blue is solid.
9) Thoughts on the format as a whole?
Definite upgrade from BFZ. Cohort plays a lot better than it initially read and is probably one of the best mechanics in the set for limited. I do wish there were more build-arounds that let you tackle deck-building from different angles along the lines of Spider Spawning or Secret Plans. I also wish the BG archetype were a bit stronger, because it has an interesting play style, but does it's thing a little too inconsistently. Overall, I liked the format. I'd rate it about the same as triple Theros.
A million.
2) Which common was better than you expected?
All of them? This set had a loooooot of strong commons. Probably the set I picked a common P1P1 most often, not close (I skipped original Ravnica, for the record.) I think my pick is Seer's Lantern. The deck that wanted this card REALLY wanted it, and it's not often that you realize the board is at parity and you're about to lose to a mana rock.
3) Which common was worse than you expected?
I ended up kind of hating both white 3-drop Allies, Kor Sky Climber and Kor Hooktangler or whatever (the 3/1). They're both super fragile, not amazing to support onto, and so useful offensively that trading them on defense felt horrible. Plus you always saw them in the same pack, and ended up with a million of them and no War Clerics.
Also Pyromancer's Assault. Which is uncommon. Oh well.
4) What's the most underappreciated card?
Steppe Glider. My favorite sneaky unbeatable uncommon.
5) What's the worst common that people still play?
I've seen people jamming Lavastep Raider every draft for the past 3 days for some reason, but that hardly seems fair -- everybody's just bored.
This one's hard, because most of the commons had at least one justifiable use, and I only ever saw like 1 Untamed Hunger. I guess I'll echo Sky Scourer, but I never see people jamming a bunch of copies and it seems just fine.
6) What was your favorite archetype?
G/W nerds and R/W equipment. (Note: These were not great archetypes.)
7) Which archetype wasn't as good as you'd expected?
U/R devoid fell completely off the table, B/R devoid was way too janky at the 2-drop slot, and U/W had a complete identity crisis despite powerful uncommons.
8) Which colors were the best and worst?
1. White 2. Black 3. Green 4. Red 5. Blue
9) Thoughts on the format as a whole?
I had an incredible dim view of the format during spoiler season and after the first few weeks, but it finally grew on me and I actively looked forward to coming home to draft it most days. Probably slightly worse than triple BFZ overall. 6.5/10.
20+ on Cockatrice.
2) Which common was better than you expected?
Shoulder to Shoulder definitely. I thought it was better for a fliers deck, but even just plugging this on a bear on T3 was a powerful play.
3) Which common was worse than you expected?
Sweep Away. I ranked it as Blue's No. 2 common initially, but it's definitely much worse than that.
4) What's the most underappreciated card?
People finally caught on, but for a while Zulaport Chainmage went around the table a lot.
5) What's the worst common that people still play?
Sky Scourer, probably, though not that often. People seem to steer clear of the terrible stuff from what I've seen.
6) What was your favorite archetype?
I had more fun with 3+ color goodstuff, often in Green for Pulse of Murasa hilarity. I also enjoyed WU quite a bit mostly for back-to-back Roiling Waters.
7) Which archetype wasn't as good as you'd expected?
UB Eldrazi. Whatever this deck can do, 3 color goodstuff can probably do better.
8) Which colors were the best and worst?
White is the best without a doubt, and I predicted as much from the beginning. The worst colors are tied between Blue and Red, but that's more for them being narrow in playstyle rather than because they're unplayable like Green was in BFZ.
9) Thoughts on the format as a whole?
No sir, I don't like it. My biggest gripe is that this format has a crap ton of hard-to-interact-with plays from a T2 Bone Saw>Goblin Freerunner to Ondu War-Cleric+Vampire Envoy gaining 12+ life a game, many of them at common no less. Also, for me this format wasn't particularly interesting to solve mainly because the dominating strategies (Cohort and Support) are straightforward.
25 Drafts, 10 Sealed
2) Which common was better than you expected?
Vampire Envoy
3) Which common was worse than you expected?
Wastes
4) What's the most underappreciated card?
Spatial Distortion
5) What's the worst common that people still play?
Gravity Negator
6) What was your favorite archetype?
Red/ Black aggro
7) Which archetype wasn't as good as you'd expected?
UR Surge
8) Which colors were the best and worst?
Black best, Green worst
9) Thoughts on the format as a whole?
It was a solid format. As is the case about 90% of the time, adding a small set made the format worse, but it was still a good format. The fact that the format was not completely dominated by tempo was a large plus.
I enjoyed the format quite a bit for a while, but unfortunately the white-black allies deck is significantly too powerful in my view with just commons and a few uncommons. If I draft that deck then my win seems inevitable unless I experience significant mana issues, and losing to the deck seems mostly inevitable once I see my opponent has it. I don't try to force it, because I think the colors are drafted as a high priority, but it seems that at least one drafter has it if not more than 1 since there are so many cards which fit the archetype. It just isn't much fun when one player has a much better deck than anyone else.
So my postmortem is that it was a fun format, but had a significant flaw, similar in some ways to BFZ's significant flaw in green being so weak.