Hey guys welcome to another edition of Forcing the Will! This week I am going to trail off a little bit from my usual Legacy article and bring you guys a little something different. I am going to be showing you guys a little sample of a Mirage/Visions/Weatherlight draft in hopes that when you guys see the MVW Nix Tix you will jump in. Looking at the WOTC Nix Tix schedule I don’t see any more MVW drafts on the schedule, but the list only goes until midway June so expect some MVW Nix Tix ques sometime after June. The biggest complaint I hear from people about this format is that they have no idea about the format. Well guys I used to have that same attitude towards MVW that was until I jumped in a draft. Up until that point I was not a very successful drafter online, but after playing my first MVW I finally won my first draft online ever! It was an amazing experience, and after that I just kept joining the matches and just kept winning. I owe a lot to MVW it has made me the drafter I am today, and it wasn’t long before I started to winning the 8-4 drafts.
Enough about me though. Why is MVW so important you ask? Well let me tell you! First of all MVW has a ton of tournament staples for Legacy such as Phyrexian Dreadnought, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Tithe, City of Solitude, Undiscovered Paradise, Natural Order, Null Rod, Abeyance, Firestorm, Mystical Tutor, Enlightened Tutor, as well as Classic/Vintage staples Vampiric Tutor, and Flash. Looking at the list you will notice almost all of these cards are relatively expensive with Lion’s Eye Diamond leading the way at 68 tickets a pop. So for those who are complaining about the prices it is extremely important to draft this set to fill in the demand of these cards. I will tell you that from personal experience these MVW drafts will pay for themselves very easily even without cracking these staples. I have cracked many of my Legacy staples I use from these drafts, and if you are fortunate enough to pull a foil version consider yourself RICH! Even the commons are worth some dough, like Crypt Rats at 4 tickets, Dark Ritual at 1.75, and Fireblast at 2.75. This is just some of the cards that are worth some money and we haven’t even touched the uncommons and many rares that are worth well over 3 tickets, but the point is this set is worth money. For more references on these prices check out Marin’s article here.
Moving on from the importance and financial value of this set I will now go through the top cards in each of the sets in this block. First of all I will go through the Top 10 picks from each set. I would like to note that these are based on overall drafts and not my personal picks.
Top 10 Mirage Block Picks
Going through the Top 10 picks overall you will notice many of them are rare so don’t bank on opening them, but just know which cards are highly picked in this set.
Next I present the top uncommons in each color from each of the sets.
Top Mirage uncommons in each color
VISIONS TOP 5 UNCOMMONS IN EACH COLOR
RED
BLACK
1. Nekrataal
2. Necromancy
4. Vampirism
WHITE
5. Relic Ward
GREEN
3. Kyscu Drake
5. Wind Shear
BLUE
3. Dream Tides
4. Foreshadow
5. Ovinomancer
WEATHERLIGHT TOP 5 UNCOMMONS IN EACH COLOR
RED
2. Lava Hounds
BLACK
2. Necrotog
WHITE
GREEN
1. Barishi
3. Fallow Wurm
4. Artic Wolves
BLUE
1. Cloud Djinn
2. Abduction
Next up we have the top 10 and top 5 of all the commons of each color from each of the sets.
MIRAGE TOP 10 COMMONS IN EACH COLOR
RED
1. Incinerate
8. Flare
9. Chaos Charm
BLACK
2. Drain Life
4. Enfeeblement
6. Feral Shadow
7. Fetid Horror
10. Dirtwater Wraith
WHITE
1. Pacifism
10. Mtenda Healer
GREEN
1. Jungle Wurm
5. Giant Mantis
10. Gibbering Hyenas
BLUE
4. Boomerang
6. Power Sink
7. Thirst
8. Merfolk Seer
9. Dream Cache
10. Sea Scryer
VISIONS TOP 5 COMMONS IN EACH COLOR
RED
1. Fireblast
3. Rock Slide
BLACK
1. Crypt Rats
WHITE
GREEN
1. River Boa
2. Warthog
BLUE
1. Man-o-War
2. Breezekeeper
3. Undo
WEATHERLIGHT TOP 5 COMMONS IN EACH COLOR
RED
1. Firewhip
2. Lavastorm
5. Thunderbolt
BLACK
1. Shadow Rider
WHITE
GREEN
BLUE
2. Manta Ray
3. Ophidian
5. Sage Owl
Last of all we have a list of some of the multicolor and artifact spells. There are not a whole lot of these in the block so they are clumped together in one category.
TOP 10 MULTICOLOR/ARTIFACT/LAND CARDS
3. Basalt Golem
4. Mind Stone
8. Mundungo
9. Simoon
10. Quicksand
There you have it the top picks from each set. I would like to take a moment and go through my personal #1 picks for each color of commons from the entire block. My #1 White common in the block goes to Empyrial Armor. This White common is by far the most insane enchantment I have ran across in any draft. I draft white very often in hopes of getting one of these armors and equipping it to a low mana cost flier and beat down for the win, and is a fun card to combo with Infernal Harvest. Empyrial Armor gets my #1 common in the whole block award. My #1 Red common in the block goes to Kaerveks Torch. I know Incinerate is picked more overall, but from personal experience if I get passed a Torch I will splash a lone Mountain in my deck just so I can include it for the kill shot. My #1 Black common in the block goes to Crypt Rats. Crypt Rats has the ability to single handedly wipe away an entire board as well as deal that extra few points of damage to an opponent. Rats becomes an all star in a format where removal is key, and there’s no better removal than a board sweeper. My #1 Blue common in the block goes to Man-o-War. Man-o’-War is a tricky little jellyfish being able to bounce an opponent’s annoying creature can open the door for the win. There are also quite a few tricks you can pull with Man-o-War such as pairing up with Civic Guildmage for an infinte bouncer/blocker combo. My #1 Green common in the block goes to River Boa. Not only does this card has evasion from those pesky Island players, but he can become a useful blocker with his regeneration. Do not underestimate this snake it could be the last mistake you make. These are my top common picks in the block, but I would advise you to try the set out yourself and make your own decisions.
One last thing I would like to say before I show you a sample draft is that there is no one best color in this draft. You should pick cards based on what you opened as well as what cards are being passed your way. Sometimes you can’t get the color you want no matter how hard you try to force it, but I can say that I have personally won a MVW draft with each different color. So if the color you planned on drafting isn’t flowing don’t be afraid to venture into other colors, and try out new combos you see while drafting. I now present a draft to you along with footage of each of the rounds from the draft.
THE DRAFT
MVW Deck Building
MVW Round 1
MVW Round 2
MVW Round 3
I hope you found this article to be insightful and full of useful information. I would like to encourage as many people as possible to join these drafts next time they are available. If you have any questions or comments please let me know. I appreciate all feedback both positive and negative I have been receiving, and until next time may the Force of Will be with you!
Owen Robbins
I stopped watching after Gm 1 Match 1. You sound like me several years back “like yea.” “So, so, so, so” suck my toe. “So… ummm… yea…” You REALLY need to stop saying all those on a per/sec basis. Its more annoying than 3+ chinese girls chatting it up in Mandarin and Bunch of Japs saying “Ehhhhhhhhhhh” at the same time for no reason whatsoever and a bossy Korean.
Over the 2-3 years I have unconsciously corrected my habit of speaking (I spoke that way before). “But yea…” Its most likely due to doing study abroad several times. Point is- the manner at which you speak makes you sound like the standard 14-20 (maybe 21) year old.
Also, I made that mistake with Tbolt which cost me the game and match. I quickly realized its not a 1st pick anymore. In your grade scale of commons for Wlight you mention Firefiend being better than Tbolt but you dont take it P3P1. Am I missing something?
The format is not bad at all. Played 15x. Perhaps a bit too much and only cracked Dreadnought and Vamp Tutor. Its similar to Zen when one person is stuck on 3 lands they are most likely going to lose BADLY. Not being able to curve into a 4-5-x drop is VERY disappointing and will likely end in a loss when playing against the slightly more aggro colors.
Thanks for the Vids. Looking forward to some Legacy =)
First of yes I do say those fillers way to much, and that’s something I need to work on. By the way correct on the age 21. As for the rating of the commons before I go over the list I specifically said “I would like to note that these are based on overall drafts and not my personal picks.” I was simply showing you what players pick overall and not my own personal preferences. I also needed some removal for fliers so in that situation Tbolt was the best option for me I believe. Once I get my account back I can start focusing on Legacy videos, but until then I will be doing just plain articles. Thanks for the reply I will work on my videos more for you.
I love you, Owen. And I myself am prone to say the word “basically” on a more than frequent basis. At least you’re not dropping ‘f’ bombs while you search for something to say.
Nice article, btw!
Great article, love the MVW videos
Decent draft but poor deckbuilding. Gossammer chains and missionary are decent filler and annoying, but reusable fogs won’t win you the game when your opponent has better threats than you. Lightning cloud’s also quite mediocre in the deck. Mind stone, guided strike, and flare (any 2 for 1 cantrip essentially) are very good in this format.
Thanks for all the love Trav and Cbarg!
To geodishy I would beg to differ. I have played this format enough to know that yes Mind Stone, Guided Strike, and Flare are really good, but Chains and Missionary are very good cards. Those two have won me more games than I can tell you, and I used to have the same idea you did but after actually using them they are very underrated. If you watch the videos you will see the chains saves me from huge threats and fliers that I can’t block. Also Missionary allows me to gang up while blocking to kill a creature and leave my guys untouched and I can repeat this process which makes them superior to the other 3 cards in my opinion. I’m not using those cards to be a threat, but they allow me to build up enough to overtake my opponents, or keep them from attacking. I was also unsure of lightning Cloud when I played the deck, but I can tell you the card is good and it was very useful.
Thanks for all the comments guys!
Love the article, Just 1 question, kinda new to MTGO, was wondering where I could find MVW drafts at. I have been doing a lot of m10 drafts but can’t seem to find a location to do the MVW as I am very interested in drafting the set.
DRock10 the MVW block has rotated out of the regular draft, but it does come back time to time in the nix tix events. A full list of these can be found HERE. It looks like we won’t be having MVW for quite some time, but rest assured that it will be back, and I hope this article is useful for when it does come back.
Thanks for the MVW draftvideo, love those drafts!
None of these videos work for me, they all claim: “Video not found.”
Sure Mirage/Visions/Weatherlight isn’t really important right now, but I love draft videos, and videos that don’t work are always a sad sight.
Just a little heads up. If I am the only one with this problem I apologize -_-
It happened to all the the older videos when we updated the site I’ll have them look into it.
Videos are fixed. We tried to switch the embed code after the move but a few of the vids slipped through undetected. Enjoy!
They’re up and working now, great!