Rough Drafts: Full Block Kamigawa
Hello everyone! It's time for another edition of Rough Drafts! This week we are headed to our final limited format of Kamigawa block, Champions/Betrayers/Saviors! So far, our journey through Kamigawa has been lackluster. We reached the finals in Triple Champions, but bowed out in the second round last week. This draft is our final chance to redeem ourselves before moving to 9th Edition and then to one of the all-time best limited formats in Ravnica.
Let's get to the videos, then we'll talk about my impression of Full Block Kamigawa limited. A quick reminder. If you enjoy the Rough Drafts series and the other video content on MTGGoldfish, make sure to subscribe to the MTGGoldfish Youtube Channel to keep up on all the latest and greatest.
Full Block Kamigawa: Drafting
Full Block Kamigawa: Round 1
Full Block Kamigawa: Round 2
Full Block Kamigawa: Round 3 (Finals)
Full Block Kamigawa
- First off, we finally won a draft on the plane of Kamigawa. Our basic strategy was to open bombs (like the Hondens), card advantage (Ninja of the Deep Hours), and undercosted Green creatures (Okina Nightwatch). I felt like our deck had a high percentage of cards that would be playable in a modern limited format, which is apparently enough in the arcane world of Kamigawa.
- After spending three weeks drafting Kamigawa, my overall impression of the set is that it has a ton of bad cards, and Saviors of Kamigawa doesn't help. While there are a handful of Commons and Uncommons that are playable, overall it might be the least powerful set in the entire block.
- In some ways Saviors of Kamigawa suffers from the same problem as Fifth Dawn, where the mechanics don't line up well with the rest of the block. All of a sudden we are suppose to care about the number of cards in our hand above all else, and while mechanics like Sweep are unique, they are also horrible. But hey, at least you can open One with Nothing.
Money Cards
There really isn't a lot of value to be found in Saviors of Kamigawa. It has four solid Rares, a couple of Rares worth about the price of a pack, and a whole lot of nothing. Even worse, all of the expensive Rares are horrible in limited (like most of the set), so if you open some money you are put in a position where you have to skip your first pick to cash in. That said, if you open one of the chase Rares in the set, you might as well take it because the good cards in the set are so few and far between that you probably aren't passing anything all that exciting regardless.
Resources
- Drafting Saviors. PVVDR breaks down everything you need to know about the Saviors limited format, focusing on the major themes of the block, spirits, arcane, and cards in hand.
- Drafting the Best Deck in Kamigawa Blockk. Julien Nuijten breaks down full block Kamigawa draft with the help of some pick orders and ideal decks.
- Putting it All Together -- Drafting the Kamigawa Block. Jeff Zandi talks about drafting Red-Green in Full Block Kamigawa.
- Why is Kamigawa Considered So Bad? Reddit takes a stab at answering the burning question about Kamigawa block.
Conclusion
Anyway, that's all for today. In all honesty, I'm glad we are moving on from Kamigawa block. While the limited format is unique, the novelty wears off quickly and drafting becomes a slog of choosing between six mana 2/2's and six mana 3/3's. As always, leave your thoughts, ideas, options, and suggestions in the comments. You can reach me on Twitter (or MTGO) @SaffronOlive.