The 9^th Edition Spoiler has just been officially released and the release tournaments are coming up this weekend. Following that, there will be plenty of drafts online while players try to scrape together the ten pain lands, Hypnotic Specters, and Quicksands. While this certainly won't be the most popular format, some of you might want to get an idea of what you'll be getting into beyond glancing at the spoiler. So with an eye on draft, here is my 9^th Edition preview.

I've categorized each color's highly draftable cards into "Guys, Removal, or Other Tricks." Furthermore, I've rated each card as "A or B," where A is a high pick that I'll be very happy to make, B is a decent pick that'll be an almost automatic inclusion in a draft deck. Everything else is omitted as either filler or crap. Of course there is lots of room for debate as to whether or not a given card should have a given grade and will vary from deck to deck, but I assure you are pretty spot on, since they are tailored to my play. (Nice trick, eh? I just validated my position by asserting myself as the only possible expert on the subject.) Feel free to disagree in the forums, write your own article, or just be satisfied knowing how much smarter you are than me.

If you don't really care about the break out, you can skip down to the bottom for conclusions (which make less sense if you don't read the break out).

Let's Start it off with the Common White Guys:
B Aven Cloudchaser
B Aven Flock
A Pegasus Charger

Next, the Common White Removal:
A Master Decoy
A Pacifism

And the Common White Other Trick:
B Angelic Blessing

Moving to White Uncommon White Guys:
A Angel of Mercy
B Leonin Skyhunter
B Zealous Inquisitor

The Uncommon White Removal:
A Ballista Squad
A Chastise
B Vengeance

And the Uncommon White Other Trick:
B Inspirit

The White Rare White Guys:
B Blinking Spirit
A Master Healer
B Oracle's Attendants
A Serra Angel

The Rare White Removal:
A Blinding Angel
A Wrath of God

The Rare White Other Tricks:
B Story Circle
B Weathered Wayfarer
A Worship

Rolling into the Common Blue Guys:
B Aven Fisher
A Aven Windreader
B Giant Octopus
B Wind Drake

The Common Blue Removal:
B Dehydration
B Remove Soul
B Time Ebb

The Common Blue Other Tricks:
B Mana Leak

The Uncommon Blue Guys:
A Air Elemental
A Azure Drake
A Thieving Magpie
B Dream Prowler
B Phantom Warrior

The Uncommon Blue Removal:
A Confiscate
A Puppeteer

The Uncommon Blue Other Tricks:
B Tidings
B Treasure Trove

The Rare Blue Guys:
A Clone
A Fleeting Image
A Mahamoti Djinn
B Tidal Kraken

The Rare Blue Removal:
B Evacuation
B Temporal Adept

The Rare Blue Other Tricks:
A Archivist

The Common Black Guys:
B Hollow Dogs
B Looming Shade
B Razortooth Rats
B Drudge Skeletons
B Gravedigger
B Nantuko Husk

The Common Black Removal:
A Dark Banishing
B Enfeeblement

The Common Black Other Trick:
Would be Mind Rot if I rated it higher.

The Uncommon Black Guys:
B Bog Wraith
B Death Gazer
A Gluttonous Zombie
A Phyrexian Gargantuan

The Uncommon Black Removal:
A Nekrataal
B Consume Spirit
A Cruel Edict

The Uncommon Black Other Tricks:
B Diabolic Tutor

The Rare Black Guys:
A Hypnotic Specter
A Sengir Vampire
A Hell's Caretaker
B Mindslicer
A Mortivore
A Nightmare
B Will-o-the-Wisp

The Rare Black Removal:
A Grave Pact
A Royal Assassin

The Rare Black Other Tricks:
B Persecute
A Phyrexian Arena

The Red Common Guys:
B Hill Giant
A Sandstone Warrior

The Common Red Removal:
B Anaba Shaman
B Shock
A Volcanic Hammer

The Red Common Other Tricks:
Apparently Red isn't commonly tricky because I don't count Lava Axe out of spite for its smarmy flavor text. I hate smarmy flavor text.

The Red Uncommon Guys:
A Flowstone Crusher

The Uncommon Red Removal:
B Guerilla Tactics
A Blaze
B Flame Wave
A Orcish Artillery
B Pyroclasm

The Red Uncommon Other Trick:
B Threaten

The Red Rare Guys:
B Ruhk Egg
A Rathi Dragon
A Shivan Dragon
A Thundermare

The Rare Red Removal:
B Bloodfire Colossus
A Karplusan Yeti
A Shard Phoenix
B Wildfire

The Red Rare Other Tricks:
A Form of the Dragon

The Green Common Guys:
B Craw Wurm
B Giant Spider
B Kavu Climber
B Llanowar Elves
B Order of the Sacred Bell
A Rootwalla
B Spined Wurm
B Trained Armodon

The Green Common Removal:
The common way to remove creatures is to attack with Craw Wurms and the like.

The Green Common Other Tricks:
A Giant Growth

The Green Uncommon Guys:
B Anaconda
B Hunted Wumpus
A Llanowar Behemoth
B River Bear
B Viridian Shaman
A King Cheetah

The Green Uncommon Removal:
B Elvish Bard
B Needle Storm

The Green Uncommon Other Trick:
B Blanchwood Armor

The Green Rare Guys:
A Ancient Silverback
A Emperor Crocodile
A Force of Nature
A Maro
A Verdant Force

The Green Rare Removal:
A Silklash Spider

The Green Rare Other Tricks:
B Biorhythm
A Might of Oaks
B Utopia Tree

The Uncommon Artifact Guy:
B Phyrexian Hulk

The Uncommon Artifact Removal:
A Icy Manipulator
B Rod of Ruin

The Uncommon Artifact Other Trick:
B Fellwar Stone

The Rare Artifact Guys:
B Dancing Scimitar
B Jade Statue

The Rare Colorless Removal:
A Quicksand
B Aladdin's Ring

The Rare Artifact Other Tricks:
A Loxodon Warhammer
B Disrupting Scepter
B Jester's Cap
A Slate of Ancestry
A Vulshock Morningstar

Based on that breakout, what do I think about each of the colors?

On White:
Of the six common desirable picks, three were A's (50%). Of the seven uncommon picks, another three were A's (43%), and of the nine rare picks, five were A-caliber (56%). For commons and uncommons, there were five evasive creatures and five removal-classed cards, one of which is reusable. (I do not consider Master Decoy as reusable, as it only permanently nullifies one card.) Only two of the uncommons require a serious commitment to white. Outside of the rares, the quality picks are easily splashed.

On Blue:
Of the eight common desirable picks, only one earned an A (13%). Of the nine uncommon picks, five were A's (56%). Of the seven rare picks, four were A's (57%). For commons and uncommons, there were seven evasive creatures and five low-powered removal cards. Blue's strength is the uncommon evasion, most of which requires double Blue.

On Black:
Of the eight common desirable picks, only one got an A (13%). Of the eight uncommon picks, four were A's (50%). Of the eleven (!) rare picks, eight (!) were A's (73%). For commons and uncommons, there were two evasive creatures and five removal-classed cards. Black's power is in the high-quality rares and removal. In keeping with the character of Black, most the best cards require a heavy Black commitment. In fact, of the A-rares, only Hell's Caretaker is easily splashed.

On Red:
Of the five common desirable picks, two got A's (40%). Of the six uncommon picks, two earned A's (33%). Of the eight rare picks, five were A's (63%). For commons and uncommons, there were no evasive creatures and eight removal cards, two of which are reusable. Half of the rares are also removal. It doesn't show up in the A and B lists, but Red has a lot of depth in the fillers. If the format ends up being more about bears than giants, Red will be a powerhouse.

On Green:
Of the nine common desirable picks, two were A's (22%). Of the nine uncommon picks, two were A's (22%). Of the nine rare picks, seven (!) were A's (78%). For commons and uncommons there were no evasive creatures and two removal-classed cards. I do not consider Elvish Bard reusable, because by the time he's online, he generally won't survive for a second attack. Although there are a lot of A's, they're mostly just good green guys. Might of Oaks is the only Green A-card without its own numbers in the bottom right hand corner.

On Colorless:
There's some good stuff there, and don't underestimate the Quicksand-it will always make your deck.

"Whatever," you say? "So where are you going with this?" you ask.

Core set Limited has usually been about broken rares and hill giants. This looks to be true for 9^th Edition as well. (However, there may be an anomaly and I will not be surprised if a Red/White tempo deck archetype ends up being dominant. The deck would get the most out of the abundance of bears, common fliers and lava axes for the finish, not unlike the old Green/Red goblin draft decks of Saga block. I always lost to those as I always drafted a more controlling deck of other colors.) Considering that most of the broken rares cost lots of mana, it looks like this may be another slow format. If so, then Form of the Dragon, may be the most broken rare of all.

Considering the abundance of decent guys in all non-Blue colors, removal will be at a higher than average premium. Red has the most, and happens to be the most splashable. Black removal requires too much of a commitment and therefore is easily cut and the guys, while plentiful, are not exceptional. White's shallow removal and splashable evasion makes for a nice support option. Blue... well, I'm scared of Blue. Its strengths are not common, and require a strong commitment. If you commit to Blue, the best you might hope for is a Blue/Green big guys and flier deck that relies on a Rod of Ruin, a Remove Soul, and one Dehydration for removal. While that might make for a winner, I'm generally not bold and daring enough to take that road.

So, that's why I expect to be drafting Red this weekend at the release tournament and recommend you do the same-unless you're at my table.

Online, paying attention to your signals will be especially important as core set "chase-cards" are drafted more aggressively than in the land of paper. Don't ruin your draft by taking a second pick Enfeeblement if you just shipped a Dark Banishing so you could snatch up that Karplusan Forest.