Play the bounce lands.

If I could offer you only one tip for Ravnica Limited, playing bounce lands would be it. The benefits of playing bounce lands has for been proven (Rich Hoaen said this of the Grand Prix Richmond Top 8, that he went on to win: "I had four bounce lands in my first Draft, and five in the second. I wasn't able to get any in this Draft, which should say something about the quality of these drafters."), whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

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It has become a popular choice to draw first, even among pros. The primary reason you would choose to draw first is to decrease the odds of a mulligan. Getting your mana right and card advantage are more important than tempo in this environment, which would seem to suggest that drawing first is correct, especially in Sealed. I would absolutely agree… were it not for the bounce lands.

From Brain David-Marshall's coverage of the semi-finals match between Rich Hoaen and Adam Chambers at Grand Prix Richmond: “Adam came out of the gate fast in game 2 with Caregiver and Courier Hawk. The double land he played on turn 2 was Rolling Spoiled, and he was set turns behind. He regrouped with Izzet Boilerworks which prompted Rich to comment, ‘You chose to draw first?'”

Choosing to draw first and playing bounce lands both accomplish the same thing: they sacrifice tempo for card advantage and mana fixing. You do not necessarily have to choose one or the other, but at some point you have to stop sacrificing tempo. Bounce lands do not mix well with drawing first, and bounce lands are much more efficient card advantage and mana fixing. Do not forget that playing first is generally going to be advantageous for your opponent, and, even if you think it might not be for yourself, it probably is correct to choose to play for this reason. There are times where you should be choosing to draw first, just as there are times where you would want to play four Compulsive Researches, but these times are the exception, not the rule. Whether you should play or draw will change from deck to deck and from matchup to matchup, but as a general rule of thumb you should be playing first.

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It is very common for Limited Dimir decks to have identity crises where they can't figure out if they are Mill or Aggro. This can cause some difficult decisions during deckbuilding, as well as during play. I think the following is a fundamental question Dimir decks need to ask:

“On my third turn, given no other information, if I am holding a Dimir House Guard with two Swamps and an Island in play and have Snapping Drake and Vedalken Entrancer as transmute options… what is my play?”

The Snapping Drake will almost always be the best choice if you are looking to attack an opponent's life total, as it has an extra power over the Dimir House Guard and better evasion. The Vedalken Entrancer is obviously the best threat for a dedicated Mill deck, but in less dedicated decks it can still be a better choice than the Snapping Drake. The Entrancer goes on the offense while still providing an able-bodied blocker. If you are looking for a single threat to win the game with, Vedalken Entrancer is often the way to go, as things like blockers, Clinging Darkness, Devouring Light, and Thundersong Trumpeter can answer Snapping Drake but fail to stop an Entrancer. The Dimir House Guard will not generally be the best threat but is often going to be the best blocker. The House Guard is very good at making double blocks that trade one-for-one, even with a trick from your opponent.

I claim that this question is fundamental because it answers what your deck's main strategy really is. Though it is generally accepted that there are two main archetypes within Dimir decks, there are in fact three main strategies: Aggro, Mill, and Control. Most people lump the Control and Mill strategies together as a single archetype, but they are distinct. Dedicated Mill decks are happy racing with an opponent, valuing cards like Induce Paranoia and Psychic Drain for their ability to win races. A Mill deck does not need to answer every threat the opponent has, only enough to ensure that it can win the race. Dimir Control decks, on the other hand, try to answer each and every one of your opponent's threats and win with the board under full control. Vedalken Entrancer is generally a better threat for Control decks than Snapping Drake for the reasons mentioned above, but what threat Control decks actually use to win the game is largely irrelevant. In actuality, Lurking Informant is probably the best threat for a dedicated Control deck.

The answer to the question above tells you what your primary strategy is: Snapping Drake for Aggro, Vedalken Entrancer for Mill, and Dimir House Guard for Control. The Snapping Drake representing Aggro and Entrancer representing Mill should be fairly obvious, but I feel the House Guard needs more explanation. The Control deck plays under the assumption that if it can answer every threat the opponent presents, then it will win the game. Therefore, on turn 3 the Control deck will not be looking for the best threat, but the best answer; given no other information, this is going to be Dimir House Guard.

Of course, it is almost always correct to transmute the House Guard for the Drake or Entrancer. Control decks in Limited are apt to encounter threats they cannot answer, and games will come down to races; it is essentially impossible to play a truly dedicated Control deck. No Limited deck is going to completely fit one of these three strategies. Dimir decks, more than any other color combinations in Ravnica Limited, have difficulties determining what their primary strategy is. If you do not know what your primary strategy is, how can you expect to be able to correctly draft, build, and play your deck? Answering the transmute question on turn 3 is certainly not easy; answering it on pick two of the Draft is downright impossible, but trying to do so is still important.

Now another important question: how does Guildpact affect Dimir decks? In Draft, with essentially only two packs to draw from, pure Blue/Black decks will become almost unplayable, and the days of playing two colors in Sealed are officially over. Dimir decks will more than likely be splashing Red or White, especially in Draft. Winning through milling is certainly still going to be viable even after losing a pack of key cards, but Mill decks are going to have to be much less aggressive millers and much better Control decks. Trying race with 1/3 less milling cards is generally going to be a losing proposition. The Izzet and Orzhov guilds add plenty of great Control options for Dimir decks. Though I do not really want to get into the specifics, I have to mention how good a three mana removal spell that also serves as a win condition is, and how insane Gelectrode is in a deck that runs very low creature counts. The new challenge Dimir decks will be facing is deciding whether they want to transmute for Faith's Fetters or Viashino Fangtail.

In “Now I Know My ABC's”; Mark Rosewater said that, “A card that granted all cards transmute” was “really, really, killed for power reasons.” Makes you consider how effectively you are using transmute.

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I love drafting Boros. Love it, love it, love it. My profile on Magic Online says that I force Boros 95% of the time. In reality, it is more like 60% of the time, but I have 95% in my profile to scare neighbors off of Boros so that I can Draft it more often. Even forcing Boros that often, I win more with it than any other color combination. I give you this background not because I think you care, but because it should help you to properly interpret this section: I am highly biased in regards to how good Boros is, but I am very good with the guild and know what I am talking about.

There are a lot of misconceptions about Boros. It is commonly believed that Boros, in general, cannot compete in the late game with any other guild. If the initial weenie rush fails, then Boros just rolls over and dies. It is true that Boros has a horrible late game in the traditional sense of pumping out Siege Wurms and drawing cards, and if you try to Draft/build/play Boros decks like other guilds you will fail, and likely come to the conclusion that Boros has no late game. But Boros does have a very strong late game strategy: reach.

Allow me to clarify. Boros does not have very good reach in the Constructed Magic sense: that it can win from a creature-less board. A creature-less board is extremely rare in Limited, and thus I claim that a different definition is necessary for Limited: the ability to win the game from a "weaker" board position by directly attacking your opponent's life total. Incite Hysteria, Rally the Righteous, Viashino Fangtail, Coalhauler Swine, Boros Fury Shield, Galvanic Arc, and even evasive creatures are all examples of cards that give Boros decks reach. And those are just the commons.

Yes, I claim that Screeching Griffin gives Boros decks reach. Yes, I consider it a strong late game card. Yes, Boros beats late game Siege Wurms with late game Screeching Griffins. The guild's late game strength is derived from its early game strength. Boros is correctly identified as an aggressive weenie deck. However, the strategy is not to win on the back of the fast rush, but to use that initial onslaught to set up the late game. Sometimes you will be able to win quickly, but it is far more likely that your opponent will be able to stabilize. You do not have to get aggressive with your removal or trades, frantically trying to push through damage. Boros is quite adept at dealing damage through clogged boards, and in fact these boards tend to favor Boros because of this, despite the fact that this means Boros has to win the late game. Keep in mind that the goal of Boros' early game should be to set up its late game; sometimes this means making bad trades to force damage through, but far more often this means allowing the board to stabilize.

That said, even in more controlling Boros decks, it is almost never correct to play Benevolent Ancestor over Sell-Sword Brute (maindeck, that is). The Brute can often get in for some early hits, and helps punish an opponent that stumbles. Defensively, the threat of the Brute entering the red zone deters attacks nearly as well as the Ancestor. The best defense is a good offense. By playing Benevolent Ancestor over Sell-Sword Brute, you give up a lot of advantages to have a creature that is only slightly better at prolonging the game, and very rarely is that tradeoff going to be worth it. I use these two creatures as examples, but the same principle applies in general.

Another complaint about Boros is its lack of depth. Everyone can appreciate the power of "the" Boros deck: the lone Boros drafter with triple Thundersong Trumpeter, triple Viashino Fangtail, triple Galvanic Arc, etc. These decks just win through sheer card power. But most Boros decks cannot win through card power because Boros has an overall lower power level than every other guild, when looking at the cards in isolation. But the cards synergistically coalesce into a powerful strategy, and the strength of a Boros deck is much greater than the sum of its parts. The synergy is not obvious like, say, Izzet's (pre-Guildpact) synergy, which boils down to two cards combining well together. Boros' synergy is that each and every card is synergystic with each other card, through pursuing the same strategy. While I certainly don't have a problem smashing face with nutty Boros decks, my favorite decks are the ones chock full of Sabertooth Alley Cats and Coalhauler Swines.

And Boros Fury-Shields. Boros Fury-Shield is my choice for the card that best represents the Boros strategy: it wins damage races, it provides amazing reach for Limited, and is subtly powerful. Boros Fury-Shield (and how severely underrated it is) is probably the single greatest reason I have been as successful as I have been with Boros. You would be amazed just how often Fury Shield is better than Galvanic Arc.

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I hate drafting Golgari. Hate it, hate it, hate it. I only Draft Golgari about 5% of the time. Golgari is the exact opposite of everything I love about Boros. In my opinion, Golgari has the highest power level cards when viewed in isolation, yet is the worst guild in Draft. It has almost no synergy, and its strategy is simply to play good cards. Golgari relies on card power to win, and, though aggressive starts backed with removal can certainly win games, Golgari generally has to out-bomb an opponent to win the late game. With lots of removal, and yes, lots of bombs, Golgari is reasonably able to do this. However, this reliance on bombs is a serious issue, and Golgari has to get lucky with how the packs open in order to do well. I realize that I probably just suck at drafting Golgari and that it is not nearly as dependent on card quality as I think it is, but I can only impart my experiences.

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Out of all of Ravnica, the card that has been the hardest for me to rate is Pollenbright Wings. My first thoughts on the card were that it could certainly win games, but was extremely situational and would be useless far more often than it would win a game. The number of games I have lost to the card have reinforced its power in my mind, yet whenever I play it, it's either a blank or a win more card. Other 1800+ players I have talked to seem equally divided on the card, with opinions on it ranging from a total bomb to barely playable. I think part of the problem is that I don't play against the card properly. I can't get two recent Sealed matches out of my mind.

The first match was against a horrible player. In game 2 of the match he proceeded to not make his land drop turn 3, after playing a bounce land (and not discarding) on turn 2. He then wrecked me with Pollenbright Wings and Sandsower. There was nothing I could do about it that game; I was playing a three-color guildless deck (U/G/R for those in the Guildpact mindset) and had only Galvanic Arc and Char for removal. I drew neither all game and Sandsower was quite adequate at tapping down all my fliers. My loss in game 3, however, was entirely my fault. My first mistake was not boarding into my more consistent Green/Black deck with better removal. (What can I say, I am a sucker for synergy. How could I pass up the opportunity to play a deck with Mark of Eviction, Flight of Fancy, Galvanic Arc, Fists of Ironwood, Dowsing Shaman, double Tidewater Minion, Viashino Fangtail, and Wojek Embermage?) My second mistake came on my third turn, when I took out a Selesnya Evangel with Char. I end up losing to a Pollenbright Wings that Char would have owned, and the Evangel, though certainly a huge nuisance, would almost assuredly not have cost me the game. In fact, with Viashino Fangtail and Wojek Embermage in the deck, the Evangel was arguably not even much of a threat.

In the second match, it was game 1 against an aggressive Selesnya opponent. I was playing a mostly Control Dimir deck and was facing a Greater Mossdog to my empty board at the start of my eighth turn, with life totals 20-13 in my opponent's favor. I tapped out to play Belltower Sphinx and to transmute a Clutch of the Undercity for Vedalken Entrancer. (My only other options were Dimir House Guard and Snapping Drake. How fitting.) I had Brainspoil and Strands of Undeath in hand to my opponent's three cards. My opponent spent his next turn Brainspoiling my Sphinx. I then played the Entracer and the Strands on him, knocking my opponent down to one card- Pollenbright Wings. I could only stare at the Brainspoil in my hand (with no transmute targets left) and hope to draw into one of my seven outs (two Vedalken Dismissers, Disembowel, Snapping Drake, Szadek, Dimir Doppelganger, and Dimir House Guard to transmute for Snapping Drake) on my next turn, which I of course did not.

Did I misplay here? I am not sure. I made the most mana efficient play, but at that point I was one turn away from playing off of the top of the deck and had eight lands in play. Mana efficiency should not have been a priority. The one play I find dubious is transmuting on my eighth turn. The transmute I made was the only transmute that could have cost me that game. Would it have been worth not transmuting on that turn to keep my options open? Was going for the Entrancer a mistake? I chose it because I felt I was in control of the game and was looking for the best threat, which, for the reasons described above, I deemed to be the Entrancer. I can't stop thinking about this play, and I still cannot determine whether I actually misplayed or not. I think the play I made is the most obvious, and seems to be correct regardless of what actually happened in the game, but holding back the transmute or making a different transmute would have been such a good play that I am not convinced that my play was really correct. Let me know what you think in the forums. Also be sure to let everyone hear your opinions on Pollenbright Wings - I still don't know how to rate it any better than I know the right play here. [For the record, I think it's completely ridiculous… in Sealed at least. – Craig]

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Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the bounce lands.

Josh Utter-Leyton
wrapter on MODO
jwul@aol.com