One of the important things to recognize in drafting MMD is what color the artifacts are. Goblin Replica is obviously Red and Razor Golem is obviously White, but what color are the other artifacts? The ones that don't have Blue mana symbols, or the word"Forest" on them.

There's one particular class of artifacts that have a profound impact on MMD drafts: Equipment. I wanted to try to lend some insight into what you should be thinking when you draft your Equipment. Almost all of them are playable in some type of deck (admittedly, in cases like Dead-Iron Sledge, those cases can be quite rare), so let's go through them and pick out their ideal mates. Obviously, some cards are just good in every archetype. When I say that Sword of Fire and Ice is best in a Black deck I'm not saying don't draft it for your Green/Blue deck. What I'm talking about here is the decks that maximize their abilities

Banshee's Blade
Relatively cheap to play and equip, the Banshee's Blade is a difficult card to judge. It provides no immediate benefit by itself, and it sometimes feels like a"win more" kind of card. It's best in White decks with creatures that get better just from being equipped. Other things you're looking for are creatures that you will send into the Red zone often, either because they're big and tough and will force bad blocks, or because they've got some form of evasion that you can rely upon.

Bonesplitter
Originally trumpeted as the best Equipment, Bonesplitter's popularity has fallen by the wayside somewhat. It's still a really good card, but it often shows up with other great commons, and that's one of the reasons it's not an auto-first pick. Bonesplitter plays well with many of the White weenies but it is also surprisingly good with Red creatures. The Red creatures in MMD tend toward the unexciting (especially the commons not named Spikeshot Goblin) and Bonesplitter can help to give your creatures some real oomph. While Bonesplitter is also very good with evasion creatures, I've found that if I'm playing an evasion heavy combo like U/B, I'm more concerned about keeping my creatures alive than making them bigger.

Dead-Iron Sledge
The much-maligned Sledge. The Sledge isn't looking for an archetype, so much as a combo engine. Any deck that generates a lot of tokens can benefit from the Sledge. Nuisance Engine, One Dozen Eyes, Genesis Chamber, Infested Roothold, Spawning Pit, and Wirefly Hive are all uncommons that can generate many tokens. I drafted a double Nuisance Engine deck in which the Sledge allowed me to stop every non-flyer my opponent had. It's not great, but it can be playable.

Empyrial Plate
Empyrial Plate is the kind of card that goes perfect with Black. It makes your evasion creatures huge and it protects all those weak Nims. It can also help you win the damage race in a"suicide" type deck. And just so you know, there are decks where the Plate isn't God-like. Any deck that wants to win quickly will always underutilize the power of the Plate. I would still play the Plate in a U/R fast affinity build, but it would be suboptimal.

Fireshrieker
Doublestrike is very good, but there are some important things to realize about the Shrieker. Primarily, three to cast and two to equip (or 3-2) is getting near the steep end of the curve for Equipment. By no means is the card unplayable, but it is something to remember. If you're playing White, you're probably better off with other Equipment. Black and Green are probably the best colors to utilize the power of the Shrieker. Black gets evasion and high power, low toughness creatures (in other words, creatures that would be happy just getting first strike...) and Green gets you sturdy, often times regenerating, creatures that won't force you to move the Equipment too much. While I would play the Shrieker in almost any deck, I have cut it before in U/R affinity decks that just didn't want to be wasting turns to play something that's only going to give me a little bit of extra damage. You really want to be averaging four damage or more from Fireshrieker and Green and Black are the best colors for the job.

Golem-Skin Gauntlets
I know I said that all the Equipment can be playable, and I know I found a use for the Dead-Iron Sledge, but wow is this card bad. About the only deck I can see playing it is in a heavy White deck with five or six other pieces of Equipment and a lot of the good equip friendly creatures. [I saw a couple of decks in Columbus running this card this weekend, including two very fast U/x Affinity decks with multiple Neurok Spies. - Knut]

Heartseeker
Well, it's expensive, but it sure can produce when you need it to. MMD drafts often go a long time and you will often find yourself in a standoff. Heartseeker breaks standoffs wide open. This works well with non-tapping creatures and in Green decks that can more easily support the mana requirements. So from that we can say it should be in W/G. However, I wouldn't hesitate to play this in any deck if I felt I was light on standoff-breaking cards.

Leonin Bola
Remember back in the day when tapped blockers didn't deal combat damage. Boy would this have been good back then. It's still pretty terrific now, but it's not a card you usually want in multiples. It's especially good in White where you've probably got a couple creatures that don't tap to attack. If you're playing online, make sure you place a stop during your declare attackers step, and during your opponents beginning of attack phase.

Leonin Scimitar
It's cheap. It pumps power and toughness. It's cheap. That's what you need to remember. Obviously the cards it compares to most are Vulshok Morningstar and Bonesplitter. While most people, myself included, would rather have the Bonesplitter in all cases, I think the Scimitar beats out the Morningstar in some decks. Equipped White type decks want to be playing creatures, not Equipment. The Morningstar takes four mana to get onto the first creature whereas the Scimitar takes only takes two. Additionally, your creatures are going to be charging into the red zone a lot, so paying only one to reequip can become an positive. The decision of which is better hinges on the fragility of the creatures and whether you're winning with hordes or with a few quality creatures.

Lightning Greaves
A terrific card that can be a first pick in many packs. The Greaves changes the way your opponent plays the game. They have to fear a giant coming out and pounding them, and it forces your opponent to play reactively. Lightning Greaves absolutely excels in Blue/Black decks where your creatures already have evasion, and all you're doing is looking to protect them. The fact that it shortens the clock one turn and is free to equip just makes it all the better.

Loxodon Warhammer
Some call it the big dumb hammer. Some people claim they never lose when they play it. I personally think it's a lot for three to play and three to equip. While I've never lost once I attacked with it, I've also won many games because I killed either it or the creature it was on after my opponent paid six mana. The Warhammer is very, very good but it doesn't win games by itself - it needs good, sturdy creatures. Therefore Green is its best friend. In fact, it fills out many of Green's problems. In this set, Green seems to be one of the slowest colors. The Hammer helps you recover from a slow start. Green can usually afford the mana best, so we can mitigate the major drawback of the Hammer. Finally, Green provides us the sturdiest group of creatures in the game. Regenerators, untargetables, and big fat creatures are all welcome hosts for the big dumb hammer.

Mask of Memory
It's interesting to me how a card can be so slow to ascend the ranks of quality in draft. I admit that I underestimated this card at first as well. Maybe it's that it grants +0/+0, or maybe it's that it helps you win in a more subtle way. Maybe people were just turned off because of the discard. For whatever reason, Mask of Memory was one of the later additions to the"Equipment is cool" brigade. Mask of Memory depends on combat damage to a player, so it obviously is dependent on evasion. It also becomes less powerful in a deck that hits hard. Blue is the ideal deck to use this with. Weak, but plentiful flyers, and Neurok Spy give the Blue mage a host of choices. The Mask also really shines in a deck with bombs. If your deck is solid, you will still benefit from the card advantage and filtering, but you won't be drawing into that one"I win" card.

Nemesis Mask
Nemesis Mask is expensive, and it doesn't usually win games outright. It does provide a breakthrough effect, but it will often not be quite enough. Nemesis Mask doesn't shine unless you've got lots of creatures that do stuff when they are blocked, of which there are precious few in MMD. It could work well in combination with Dead-Iron Sledge, Ogre Leadfoot, Duskworker or Tel-Jilad Wolf. But you'd have to have a pretty narrowly focused deck before it became really worthwhile. The one situation in which I can see it being amazing is if you have a deck that already uses Dead-Iron Sledge well, (perhaps with Nuisance Engine or Infested Roothold), because any two of those cards generate pretty good synergy, and all three of them combine to make an"I win" scenario.

Neurok Hoversail
One of the few truly Green pieces of Equipment. The Hoversail is especially important to Green decks in this block, as there are no good Hurricane effects to defend against flyers. With Tel-Jilad Archers and Tangle Spider you can get by on defense, but the Hoversail also allows Green to have some much needed evasion. Red finishes a distant second in terms of using the Hoversail well.

Nightmare Lash
I'm going to earn major *duh* points for this one, but you need lots of Swamps for Nightmare Lash to be good. This card is good enough that you should probably force Black, if possible, for the rest of the draft when you get one. However, the Nightmare Lash also affects what color you should pair with your Black. There are two things to keep in mind when you get the Lash. It's expensive to use both, in terms of initial mana cost and life invested, and it doesn't inherently grant evasion. That being said, Green and Blue become easy choices for partners. Green gets you sturdy creatures that will hopefully prevent you from having to reequip the Lash. Blue gets you evasion that will hopefully end the game early.

Scythe of the Wretched
This might be the hardest card to quantify on the list. Obviously, it's bomblicious with Spikeshot Goblin. But what other cards does it mesh with? There's a real lack of plinkers in these sets, so what you're looking for is colors that can maximize the bad blocks that this might force. White gets you some first strikers and some Equipment friendly creatures. Black gets you some Nims that can use the toughness boost, and may not even care if they get blocked or not. The reequip cost of the Scythe is going to be the big drawback to the card and Green is the best mana color. So what kind of deck is really looking for the Scythe? I'm not sure.

Shield of Kaldra
It sure is expensive. At four to play and four to equip it's one of the top 5 in cost. But what it grants is pretty good. How then do we break it? Leonin Den-Guard and Razor Golems can give your opponent fits during all attack phases, but 4-4 is a lot to be spending in a White deck. I'd rather have it on something that is going to really hurt my opponent. Either something big and beefy, or something with evasion. So let's look at Green, Black, and Blue.

Black and Blue both benefit from the indestructible protection. Their creatures tend to be weak and small. Green, on the other hand, uses its indestructible trait as a form of pseudo evasion. It's tough to block that indestructible Fangren Hunter when it comes barreling over. I'd say the Shield works best with slower Green/Black or Green/Blue decks (Blue/Black tends to be a pretty fast deck, so you're unlikely to want to waste time paying eight to protect a 3/2 flyer).

Skullclamp
Ahh... the Clamp. The new Warhammer. This time we have an actual contender for the phrase"Bah-roken." It's cheap at 1-1. It grants a power increase. It gives card advantage. It's uncommon. If ever there was a card that should have been rethought this is it. White benefits the most of any color from the Clamp. It gains card advantage (that it doesn't normally have) and any equip bonuses from its creatures. It also has the largest contingent of first strikers in the format (Skyhunter Patrol, Auriok Glaivemaster, Titanium Golem) to help minimize the toughness loss. Every other color will be happy to include the Clamp, but you should truly fear the White mage who lucks out and opens one.

Slagwurm Armor
I've waffled a lot on Slagwurm Armor. I find that it's either useless or my MVP. Obviously it goes best in a Black deck to help with the Nims. It really doesn't have a place in any other deck though. I have noticed that its power has gone down with all the good Black creatures in Darksteel. I'm sure there are still some decks that can utilize the Armor well, but it's definitely weaker in MMD than in MMM.

Specter's Shroud
I can't figure out why this card hasn't gotten more press. It's cheap, gives a power boost, and forces discard. It's not a Sword or Clamp, but it's definitely in that solid second tier of Equipment cards. It should definitely not be going twelfth like it did last night for me. Blue/Black will benefit the most from the Shroud. Shortening the clock and perhaps deleting an answer from your opponent's hand are both good. As I've mentioned before, these decks have fragile creatures, so you want a card that's cheap to reequip and look... the Shroud fits that bill as well.

Spellbinder
You're obviously going to need instants to make this one work. You're also going to need evasion. White gives you both of these and the Spellbinder might actually make something bigger as gravy. Altar's Light, Blinding Beam, Raise the Alarm, Roar of the Kha, and Purge can all end up being incredible. Unfortunately there's not really another color that can use the Spellbinder efficiently. If I'm playing White, this is probably a first pick if I've managed to grab some good instants. If I'm any other color, then I'll probably look for something else.

Surestrike Trident
Don't get fooled. Cheap to play and expensive to equip is the opposite of what you want in Equipment. The Trident's ability to give first strike is largely irrelevant. By the time you can pay for the equip cost, you'll probably want to just throw it at the dome. And if you can afford to pay the equip cost twice, you'll probably just want to throw it at the dome twice. This card is a lot like the Heartseeker in that it can break stalls. If you've got a Green deck with a lot of defense, but no real breakthrough, this could be the card for you.

Sword of Fire and Ice
It's hard to express how good this card is. This is one of those cards that does everything. Protects your creatures, give card advantage, increases power and toughness, grants evasion... Black mages that get this card will often just win. A Black creature with the Sword on it needs only fear Purge and Arrest. Blue mages also have enough inherent evasion to really punish their opponent with the extra card and two damage. And to all those people who complain about the Hammer... This is cheaper to equip.

Sword of Kaldra
Another 4-4 card. Can we assume that the Helm of Kaldra will be similarly costed? The Sword does a lot more for you than the Shield. The Sword puts even the lowliest Myr at 6/6. It forces your opponent to trade at best, and usually they'll chump block. Fangren Hunter is a great wielder of the Sword, but I'd rather just play it on an evasion creature and win. Again, it's a slow card that wants to stay away from the quick archetypes (R/U and U/B in my experience). My vote goes to W/U decks that go from having somewhat slow clocks to only needing to hit twice with this.

Sword of Light and Shadow
There's a line from a Friends episode in which Chandler mocks Ross by saying,"Oh, I know, this must be so hard. Oh no, two women love me. They're both gorgeous and sexy. My wallet's too small for my fifties And My Diamond Shoes Are Too Tight." This is how I felt when I read about people debating between the two Swords. They're both incredible, get over it. I'd have to say the Sword of Light and Shadow is more of a match for Green decks than the other Sword. The pro-Black ability eliminates most of the creature kill that really hurts Green, and the life gain and creature revival can really help a slow color regain it's footing.

Viridian Longbow
After all those articles on StarCityGames.com about how good the Longbow is, I'm surprised to continue to see it go late in Magic Online drafts. Every time I read that it's a first pick card, I always thought they were just using hyperbole to try to create some buzz. No offense to those players, but the Longbow is not what you form a deck around. It's a card that needs a certain type of deck. You need mana to really use the Longbow effectively. That means Green or Red, as they're the decks most likely to go long in a game. The only other time I'd really want the Longbow is if I've got no way to break stalemates. Even then, I'd rather have the Surestrike Trident to throw at my opponent.

Vorrac Battlehorns
If this had been printed in OLS, it would have actually been playable. All those efficient non-trampling Green creatures would have killed for this card. In MMD, I think this is the one and only truly unplayable piece of Equipment. If I had a W/G deck with a lot of Equipment-oriented White creatures, and a lot of big Green creatures and I was really hurting for Equipment I might consider the Battlehorns... nahhhh.

Vulshok Battlegear
The comparison of the Leonin Scimitar, Vulshok Morningstar, and the Vulshok Battlegear is an interesting education in how important casting cost and equip cost is. As a card slides towards the expensive end of the scale, it will generally shift toward Green. In general, I'd say the colors go Black, Blue, White, Red, Green in terms of mana production and creature stability. When I say mana production, I don't just mean that color's inherent ability to produce mana. I mean the average mana production of a deck with those colors in it. A Green/Red deck will almost always have a greater capacity to produce mana on any given turn then a Blue/Black deck. This means that, in the case of the Battlegear, it will be able to be utilized better by a Red/Green deck then a Black/Blue deck.

Vulshok Gauntlets
Leonin Den-Guard, Razor Golem, and Yotian Soldier all shine with the Gauntlets on. It is clearly a White card, and I think I'll get few arguments. It is also a pretty nice addition to Green decks that try to clog up the red zone with Tel-Jilad Exiles and Tangle Spiders, and can use it for mana with a Viridian Joiner. Finally, it can be a true pain for your opponent to deal with when you can slap it on tokens repeatedly. My draft last night featured a single Vulshok Gauntlet that would repeatedly land on insect tokens made by my Infested Roothold. My opponent didn't like that too much.

Vulshok Morningstar
A great fit for Black decks with a lot of Nims. They'll be much harder to take down and they'll hit a lot harder. It's also, pretty terrific in Red decks that need their creatures to be decent instead of crappy. An Ogre Leadfoot with a Morningstar is pretty bad for most decks. The only problem with the Morningstar is that it doesn't fit into most deck's curves well in MMD. When I've had it, I'll often find myself playing turn 2 Myr, turn 3 some creature, and turn 4 Morningstar on the creature and attack. While that's solid and nothing to sneeze at, I would usually rather have played Scimitar on turn 1 and equipped it turn 4 while playing a third creature.

Whispersilk Cloak
Wow, is this card good. It's clearly a Black/Green card, as the clock it creates is a short one. Nim Lasher become downright scary once the Cloak goes on it. Green has all kinds of creatures that want to wear the Cloak as well. At 3-2, it's a bit expensive, but the inherent ability to protect your creatures makes it an easy investment. I've gotten one of these three times now, and every time I've played it I've either won or come very close to winning, thanks to the Cloak.

Worldslayer
Okay, Timmy. Go play with your cool toy. Seriously, this card was mockable until Darksteel was released. It's still pretty silly, but I would keep an eye out for Darksteel Gargoyle in combination with this. If you get the Worldslayer late and manage to get a Gargoyle in Darksteel, you've got a combination that could do some damage. Other than that I got nothin'.

Thanks for reading and as always send your comments, complaints and money to laxrulz777@hotmail.com