Since I have been taking so much from the Magic Community for so long, I suddenly felt the urge to give something back - and since I think that StarCityGames.com is the coolest site on the web at the moment I thought I'd try to improve it even further by writing some strategy articles for you guys. I'm not too much of a Constructed player, but since I am an addict to eight-men-and-a-table type of things, I'll be sharing my Limited knowledge.

Let's start off with three facts you should know about me:

• I draft green
• I think green is very good in OOL draft
• Maybe it's the best color

I know that last statement is a little iffy, but I've been drafting green a lot in the last few weeks and months - and I must say that it continues to grow on me. For one thing, if you are sitting down to draft, everybody wants to be red or black. Now, if four people are black and four red (and sometimes even five), that makes you one of three green drafters - which is quite a likely and a typical scenario. And if that happens, then you should usually have the best deck.

Even with four drafters, a well-drafted and well-built green deck is still very strong. If you wanna 2-1 a draft every time, then green is your best bet. (How about winning 3-0? - The Ferrett) Green decks are the least likely to loose to manaflood due to the great number of fatties that you generally draft and play (what's that Glowering Rogon doing on the bench?), and since you'll usually be running at least nineteen mana sources (eighteen lands an elf or a Krosan Tusker), manascrews should not be happening too often either.

Now, in triple-Onslaught, it was a pretty commonly-accepted fact that green could only be paired with red or black and, if things went real wrong, with white - and whatever happened, you never ever paired green with blue. This, my friends, is no longer true. I've been experimenting with green in all its possible combinations, and I think that green has what it takes. It provides you with everything you need, except for evasion - but 6/6 creatures are, plainly put, too fat to fly. (Unless they're dragons - The Ferrett) Green now even offers creature removal in the form of Krosan Vorine and his uncommon friend, who I lovingly call Bronco Bill. Oh! And lets not forget good ol' Feral Throwback, the originator of the most amusing party blocks and the best friend of Vitality Charm.

With out further ado, the archetypes:

Green/Red
Probably the best green archetype - although this is a close call. All in all, I favor G/R due to synergy issues that GB does not always have. For one thing, you will most likely be handed just a bit more removal. Whereas G/B has to settle with Cruel Revival, Swat, or Skinthinner, you can expect to get something like two or three burn spells, plus Skirk Marauder or Sparksmith. The bigger plus is that you don't suffer as gravely from the lack of Legions Red as other color combinations, since all you want is Timberwatch Elf, some fat Beasts, and one or two of those Skirk Outrider dudes. Red's other plus is that it provides you with provokers, which are utterly sick with Timberwatch Elf. I don't really want to advise drafting or playing Hunter Sliver, but I have seen them used to great effect.

Red removal is at a premium in this archetype, since huge beasts force your opponent to gang-block and if such a situation arises, a simple Shock can destroy your opponent's entire board.... So in Onslaught, you should be trying to spend your early picks on burn. Don't draft Erratic Explosion too high, though, since you usually want to have quite a few one drops in form of Shock, Vitality Charm, Goblin Sledder, Wave of Indifference, and Birchclore Rangers. It is also very important to draft one Wave of Indifference or some other form of stallbreaker, like Taunting Elf - or preferably Krosan Groundshaker, who has of late skyrocketed in my personal evaluation from mildly playable to absolutely insane. Try to get as many tricks as possible in Onslaught and pass up the fatties, if needed. Then pray for Timberwatch Elf and fill out your deck with the beasts you need.

Green/Black
Admittedly, I haven't drafted Green/Black quite as often as many other people have, and much has been written about this archetype in the past - so I won't be giving away any secrets here. You all know about Nantuko Husk and Symbiotic Elf, and I have been told that Wellwisher and Shepherd of Rot are one hell of a team... But on the downside, Noxious Ghouls don't like elves, Swats and Severed Legions don't team well with Elvish Warriors, and one of the bigger dilemmas in Legions is Skinthinner vs. Timberwatch Elf. (And I assure you, Timberwatch is not always the right pick.)

Actually, this lack of synergy holds true for the entire portion of Legions, where you will be faced with quite a few tough decisions. Trying to find out how to draft G/B correctly is a complicated task, but also a very powerful weapon if you can manage it.

I think there are two routes to success here: One is the Zombie plan, with support of beasts and elves, Nantuko Husk, and Embalmed Brawler paired with some fast removal and big guys or some sort of evasion to deal the last few points are key to success here. Try to avoid too much GG in the casting costs...

Or you can go for the big green guys and let black help you out with some Dirge of Dreads and removal. You have to keep careful track of your zombie and beast count, 'cause when Embalmed Brawler and Berserk Murlodont show up in the same pack, you need to know what you should be picking.

Green/Blue
Yes, you can draft green/blue; fat dudes that gum up the ground plus fast fliers work quite well in combination, Mistforms make otherwise suboptimal cards like Wirewood Pride a lot more playable (and make everyone's favorite elf dude even sicker). Choking Tethers is also excellent in this archetype, as is Crown of Ascension.

In general, I would not advise forcing this color combination - but it's a perfect solution to drafts gone wrong. With green and blue being the two most underdrafted colors from my experience, it's not a problem collecting twenty-two playables even if you switch colors late in pack one or early in pack two. A nice side effect of this strategy is that cards like Lavamancer's Skill (or whatever other removal you picked early) are a perfect splash in this deck, due to green's mana fixing ability and the low mana requirements of both of your main colors.

Important cards to draft are Imagecrafters, Mage's Guile, and similar tricks. Invigorating Boon, if you happen to get one, can be a reason to move into green/blue - and of course, you want all the fliers you can get.

In Legions, you really want to pick up all the Echo Tracers and Krosan Vorines you can get, since they are the closest thing to removal that these colors can provide you with.

Green/White
The only time when I might advise you to force this combination is when you open Akroma's Vengeance. But otherwise, this is probably the worst color combination there is. With multiple Pacifisms it can actually be quite good, since you have the best beats the format provides. You just don't have anything else. You have almost no synergy except for fliers and Timberwatch - oh yeah, and of course Grassland Crusader. Try drafting Akroma's Blessing, Taunting Elves, Deftblade Elite, and other provokers, not only as removal but also to force through damage and distract their best blockers. Try to get as many combat tricks as possible, because you will need them.

What Does A Green Draft Deck Look Like?
No matter what color I pair it with, I usually end up being almost mono green and splashing a second color. The typical deck will consist of eighteen lands, eighteen to twenty creatures, and two to four combat tricks or removal spells. You really want to have at least one Wirewood Elf or Birchlore Ranger if you have a few elves - this allows you to play six to eight of the big beasts, and even more if some of them morph.

Don't be afraid of playing up to three or maybe four seven-mana spells because they can easily end games on their own. Against white and blue decks, you will often have to side out some of the fat since they can easily curve you out; Glory Seeker, Morph, Flier, unmorph Echo Tracer will easily break your neck If you start playing spells on turn 3. You will want four or five two drops to handle these kinds of draws, ranging anywhere from the almighty Wirewood Elf to his bear like brothers or even the Wall of Mulch. Having at least six or seven morphs or other three-drops is also essential.

And just in case I hadn't mentioned it: You need a stallbreaker. I have taken this advice so far as to even splash Red for Wave of Indifference, taking it first pick.

Mana Acceleration:
Any form of mana acceleration is good in this format; even Elvish Guidance can be a powerful sideboard option. Wirewood Elf is definitely the real star here, though; what makes him so good is that he breaks the rules of the format, because if you cast Snarling Undorak before your opponent does anything at all this can only be described with one word: Unfair.

Another card that I totally underestimated at first is Wirewood Channeler. Four mana seems like a hefty price tag for a guy who just produces mana... But once you cast Enormous Baloth on turn 5 for the first time, you'll understand what I'm talking about. Another card that was underestimated at first and considered to be only marginally better than an off-color morph is the useful little Birchlore Ranger. I like running one of these in pretty much every deck that doesn't run Erratic.

One little Elf I am not good friends with is the Elvish Pioneer. Although he can function as a Time Walk if your opponent is going first, he never makes the cut in my decks. Generally, you will always want to run eighteen land, plus one or two accelerators. Pick them high because you can often pick the fatties late.

Who's the Beatdown?
Generally the green player in this format is considered the control player: Cards like Wirewood Savage and Spitting Gourna make this quite clear. You often have to overcome the opponent's offense before you are able to set up your own win condition... But then again, what about the aforementioned turn 3 Undorak? He likes to attack.

This, I think, is a very central issue of Limited Magic and probably the greatest difference to Constructed, where the role of the aggressor and the defender are often set in stone before the first spell is cast. In Limited, however, these roles are often determined by your draw (or at least by the result of the die roll), and will often switch during a single match. The most common mistake I witness every day is when people misjudge the situation and play too defensively, or attack when they are in no situation to race and throw away the game in one attack step.

Admittedly, it's not easy to always judge these situations correctly and I often find myself in the red zone when I should be watching my life total - but generally, I think going on the offense is always better than sitting back and wait 'til your opponent drops his bombs. If I have a bear on turn 2 and my opponent does nothing, I am most definitely going to try to beat down even if I have a solid mid- to late-game plan in hand in form of Wirewood Savage and beasts. For one thing, if your opponent is either screwed or flooded, it is always the best plan to end the game in quick fashion. Those early points of damage will also go a long way to winning you the game with a Falter effect or getting ahead in the damage race.

Attack if you can, control if you must. This is my motto.

And since I'm not a big fan of picklists, that's all, folks!

Alex Mack
mackaber1@gmx.net