Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Limited can be divided into two main “Pillar Archetypes”, not unlike Strixhaven a couple of sets ago.
These archetypes are Blue-Black Zombies and White-based Aggressive decks. These archetypes are excellent places to start your draft, as they sport a deep roster of powerful and synergistic Commons, and provide many viable “off-ramps” to various sub-archetypes.
Blue-Black Zombies
Blue-Black is currently the format’s most consistent and best deck. It is advisable to draft even when contested, similar to Red-Black in Adventures in the Forgotten Realms.
The deck’s gameplan is to generate a lot of Decayed tokens and tap or sacrifice them for an effect. Games will often be won by [Card]Siege Zombie[/Card] triggers, or by a big attack with all your decayed tokens. Your opponents will often find themselves unable to attack you for fear of a lethal counterattack.
Top Uncommons (in this order):
[Card]Morbid Opportunist[/Card]
[Card]Skaab Wrangler[/Card]
[Card]Infernal Grasp[/Card]
Top Commons (in roughly this order):
[Card]Organ Hoarder[/Card]
[Card]Diregraf Horde[/Card]
[Card]Siege Zombie[/Card]
[Card]Falcon Abomination[/Card]
[Card]Eaten Alive[/Card]
[Card]Revenge of the Drowned[/Card]
[Card]Olivia’s Midnight Ambush[/Card]
[Card]Defenestrate[/Card]
[Card]Ecstatic Awakener[/Card]
[Card]Crawl From the Cellar[/Card]
[Card]Flip the Switch[/Card]
“Off Ramps”
If you find yourself with a lot of Blue cards but Black is not open at the table, or vice versa, here are some viable archetypes to pivot into:
Blue-White Disturb Aggro and Black-White Sac Aggro:
I’ll discuss White in more detail below. These decks get to take advantage of White’s deep roster of Commons and some excellent multicolour Uncommons in the form of [Card]Devoted Grafkeeper[/Card] or [Card]Fleshtaker[/Card] and [Card]Rite of Oblivion[/Card].
The Blue-White deck is slightly more interested in cards like [Card]Baithook Angler[/Card] and [Card]Shipwreck Sifters[/Card], where Black-White will value [Card]Novice Occultist[/Card] and especially [Card]Ecstatic Awakener[/Card] more highly. [Card]Lunarch Veteran[/Card] is particularly good in both of these archetypes.
Blue-Green Self-Mill / Value
Look to mill your own Disturb and Flashback cards to generate extra value. Cards like [Card]Eccentric Farmer[/Card], [Card]Deathbonnet Sprout[/Card], [Card]Rise of the Ants[/Card], and [Card]Phantom Carriage[/Card] work well in this archetype. You also get access to the excellent [Card]Rootcoil Creeper[/Card]. It may be worth splashing [Card]Diregraf Rebirth[/Card] if you have a couple of high cost creatures. This deck can struggle to get enough removal, so try to pick up [Card]Clear Shot[/Card] if you can.
Black-Green Zombies
If you have a lot of the good Black decay cards, you can support them with cards like [Card]Eccentric Farmer[/Card], [Card]Brood Weaver[/Card], and [Card]Hound Tamer[/Card], but this is not a great place to end up in.
White-Based Aggro
The other “Pillar Archetype” of the format, these decks take advantage of White’s deep roster of aggressive Commons and Uncommons. Draft a low curve with lots of 2 and 3 cost cards, some 4’s and few 5’s or 6’s. White doesn’t have a lot of built-in synergy, but the other colours synergize well with White in their own ways.
Top Uncommons (in this order):
[Card]Ambitious Farmhand[/Card]
[Card]Odric’s Outrider[/Card]
[Card]Borrowed Time[/Card]
[Card]Gavony Dawnguard[/Card]
Top Commons (in roughly this order):
[Card]Search Party Captain[/Card]
[Card]Lunarch Veteran[/Card]
[Card]Gavony Silversmith[/Card]
[Card]Candlegrove Witch[/Card]
[Card]Gavony Trapper[/Card]
[Card]Homestead Courage[/Card]
White-Blue and White-Black, as discussed earlier, are the best of the White-based decks. If you are not seeing good Blue or Black cards in your draft, you can pivot into one of the following Archetypes:
White-Red:
Your typically low-curve Aggressive deck. Red offers [Card]Moonrager’s Slash[/Card], [Card]Falkenrath Perforator[/Card], and [Card]Harvesttide Infiltrator[/Card], as cheap aggressive Commons and you get access to [Card]Sacred Fire[/Card] and [Card]Sunrise Cavalier[/Card] as solid Uncommons. A single copy of [Card]Abandon the Post[/Card] is quite powerful in this deck.
White-Green:
Another low-curve Aggressive deck that leans heavily on White but gets some support from Green, in particular [Card]Harvesttide Sentry[/Card] which is excellent in this deck. [Card]Dawnhart Wardens[/Card] and [Card]Join the Dance[/Card] are also solid Uncommons. Don’t worry about building towards Coven, it will happen naturally, but you will need to think ahead in-game to make sure you have it. This deck will struggle to pick up enough removal, so [Card]Clear Shot[/Card] is once again a priority.
Archetypes to Avoid
I have not found Red-Green Werewolves to be viable, as the creatures are too expensive on average, and nearly all the common removal dunks on them.
Red-Black Vampires can come together, but it is not supported well-enough at Common to be drafted consistently.
Red-Blue is in a similar situation. The low power level of Red’s Commons makes it difficult to put a good deck together consistently.
Draft Navigation
Pivot Colours
Since Blue and Black pair well with White and pair well together, any of these three colours is a great place to start a draft. They act as excellent “Pivot Colours” by allowing you to move between archetypes depending on what is being passed to you. White is perhaps the most flexible, as all four of its colour pairs are viable. I recommend avoiding Red and Green early on as they lead to fewer viable archetypes.
Pick Order
Rares
Take only rares that will fit well into Blue-Black Zombies or White Aggro. I would avoid [Card]Tovolar, Dire Overlord[/Card], for example. I would happily first-pick something like [Card]Ludevic, Necrogenius[/Card], and I would consider taking something like [Card]Rem Karolus, Stalwart Slayer[/Card].
Best Uncommons
Again, we want to take Uncommons that fit well in Blue-Black Zombies or White Aggro. The best Uncommon in the set is [Card]Morbid Opportunist[/Card]. Here are the rest, in no particular order:
[Card]Ambitious Farmhand[/Card]
[Card]Bladestitched Skaab[/Card]
[Card]Borrowed Time[/Card]
[Card]Gavony Dawnguard[/Card]
[Card]Infernal Grasp[/Card]
[Card]Nebelgast Intruder[/Card]
[Card]Odric’s Outrider[/Card]
[Card]Overwhelmed Archivist[/Card]
[Card]Skaab Wrangler[/Card]
Best Commons
Take Commons that fit well in Blue-Black Zombies or White Aggro. The best Common in the set is [Card]Organ Hoarder[/Card]. Here are the rest, in no particular order:
[Card]Diregraf Horde[/Card]
[Card]Eaten Alive[/Card]
[Card]Ecstatic Awakener[/Card]
[Card]Falcon Abomination[/Card]
[Card]Revenge of the Drowned[/Card]
[Card]Search Party Captain[/Card]
[Card]Siege Zombie[/Card]
From here, look for the key Commons and Uncommons as listed for each archetype previously.
Draft Strategy
Picks 1-4:
Take the best card.
Picks 5-8:
Take the best card.
Start to form a picture of what colours are being passed to you (aka “Reading Signals”). For example, if you see [Card]Diregraf Horde[/Card] Pick 5, and some more solid Black cards Picks 6-8, there is a good chance the players to your right are not drafting Black (AKA Black is “open”). This means you can reasonably expect to see good Black cards in Pack 3 as well, as those same players will be passing to you again!
Picks 9-14:
These are the cards no one at the table wanted. If you are seeing playable cards of one of aforementioned “Pivot Colours” (Blue, Black, and White) it is possible that no one else at the table is drafting that colour and you should strongly consider moving in.
End of Pack 1:
Ideally, you have identified your main Pivot Colour (Blue, Black, or White). This is the colour you have the most quality cards of, or is the most open, and hopefully both!
You may have also identified an open Secondary Colour as well. If so, great! Keep it in mind for Pack 3.
You are hoping to not be heavily invested in Red or Green at this point. If you are, try to take cards that will play well with the White cards, as you will be hoping to move into White in the coming packs. In the case of Green, you could also move into Blue.
Packs 2 & 3:
You are likely pivoting between two or more colour pairs. You will continue to prioritize cards of your main colour, and let the good cards you get passed and/or the good synergies present in your card pool push you towards your secondary colour. You can decide on your secondary colour as late as Pack 3 if you are deep enough into your first colour.
For example, I have 5 good White cards, 2 good Red cards and 2 good Blue cards by the end of Pack 1. I have determined that White is open from my right. I am now pivoting between White-Red and White-Blue. I will continue to prioritize good White cards through Packs 2 and 3. If I see a great Red or Blue card, or a White-Red or White-Blue signpost uncommon, I will pick those and let them push towards drafting White-Red or White-Blue. I will also keep an eye on the synergies I have in my pool. If I have some good Disturb cards, I will want to prioritize Blue more, as Red does not offer any good Disturb synergies.
Ignore signals in Pack 2 for the most part. The packs are moving in the opposite direction and therefore the signals will be completely different from Pack 1, and will not inform you of what to expect in Pack 3.
Good luck in your drafts. Thanks for reading!
vampiri con tutti i payoff migliori della strategia e sono stato tirato giù da tutti i X/4+ presenti nel formato
ogni. Singolo. Draft.
