I think that I may have broken a record this weekend, having drafted Prophecy a total of nine times in the last two days. I’ve used this time to really take a good look at the set, and while I’ve only used one (count it, one) Prophecy card in a constructed deck, I’ve used or encountered all of them in the drafts. I’m going to devote the rest of my column to my thoughts on Prophecy, because in my next column I plan to move right along into Invasion. Why dwell on the present when you can look ahead to the future, right?

The card popping up the most in combos seems to be Coffin Puppets, a card that I stated was good weeks ago. The reason that it is good is because of the Legendary Spellshapers, of course. You can discard the Coffin Puppets as one of the cards required to activate the ability, then return them to play during your upkeep by sacrificing two lands. In the case of Mageta, the Puppets become doubly good, as they can take the dirt nap from his ability if they’re in play and still come back. Very good draft card, and if you’re even considering playing black, be sure to take Coffin Puppets if you open it in a pack or are passed it. In constructed, I get the feeling that it won’t be heavily played, but neither will Task Mage Assembly, another good draft card.

White actually produces some good draft choices, which it’s been lacking in the past few sets. Diving Griffin is, well, just plain good, and Troubled Healer pays its way as well. The power of Shield Dancer and Mirror Strike in draft can’t be stressed enough; in a way, they act like a better version of Laccolith Rig. Throw in things like Excise and Reveille Squad, and you have a solid drafting color. Oh, and there’s that little thing called Mageta the Lion, too.

I have now drafted Latulla, Keldon Overseer a total of four times over the last two days. That’s right, I’ve opened a pack with Latulla three times and been passed one once. A reusable Blaze in draft? Yeah, that’s pretty strong, I’d say. Probably the best thing about Latulla (besides the obvious) is that she’s a 3/3. That makes her pretty hard to kill, especially in draft. After all, even Rhystic Lightning, the best burn card in the set, can be bumped down to only dealing two damage. I made a comment on someone else’s article about my belief that Latulla is the best Legendary Spellshaper in draft, and I stand by that claim. In a set with a very small amount of direct damage, the Blaze spellshaper almost becomes the best by default. Besides, combined with the likes of Fault Riders and Keldon Arsonist, she can absolutely devastate opposing decks. In fact, Latulla’s one of the main reason that I used red in every deck that I drafted this weekend (that, and red is pretty damn good in Prophecy).

Still, the strongest color in draft seems to be blue. While the other colors are definitely contenders (with the possible exception of green, which is good in constructed but bad in draft), blue is able to deal with the most amount of threats. Blue has probably the best card in Prophecy draft, which is Withdraw. Somebody should make it against the law to play against me with this card, because there were times that I was about to scream when it was cast. It’s THAT powerful in draft. For only two mana, you can conceivably bounce two creature’s back to their owner’s hands. It’s like a blue Hymn to Tourach…uh, sort of. You get the idea, I’m sure. You know, blue is famous for bouncing like black is for discarding, so the blue Hymn would bounce…oh, never mind.

I suppose that I’d better back up my statement above about green not being very good in Prophecy draft. Well, it’s not, and yes, I’ll elaborate. Now, green does have a few cards that can be useful, such as Spore Frog, but as a whole it just doesn’t match up to the other colors. I mean, Pygmy Razorback? What genius thought that up, anyway? I’d rather use a Grizzly Bear. There’s just nothing gamebreaking that green can rely on. It’s an okay color to splash in decks that rely on another color or two, but not as a standalone.

Anyway, next column will be about Invasion, or rather what should be included in Invasion. Heck, I’ll probably do it about Invasion and Seventh to take up more space.

to the way cards really come in packs irl. so i would say, green is a high quality draft color, 2nd only to red, because of cards like fault reiders, spurr grappler, and keldon berserker, which are huge amounts of damage fast. thrive is a good card in the right color combination. it works excellet in green/blue, it pumps up fatties to be even bigger, and makes you fliers unstoppable. well iake, what do you have to say about THAT! i am surprised more people havent expressed there oppinion about prophecy. maybe it would help you people trust my oppinions more if i told you my limited rating was 1873 (thats the truth!) feel free to check, my name is murray evans, DCI# 517672 hope these tips work for you. i dont really like avatars or winds in draft, cause like i said, this is a fast beatdown format and games dont last long enough for these to be cast, but plague wins, vitalizing winds, and denying winds are sure game winners when cast in the right situation, avatar of woe and fury are deadliest of the avatars.

NOTE: THIS ONLY APPLIES TO 3x PROPHECY DRAFT, NOT MM NE PY!

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I know one thing.. iakae will be mad when he reads you two guys comment's and see that you misspelled his name

Where's the creature elimination? Where are the gamebreaking commons and uncommons? If you are lucky enough to get a good rare, what are the odds that it is green?

Contrary to what you say, I do NOT base my draft decks around rare drafting. In fact, I took an Abolish over an Avatar of Woe at one point. Drafting is my strongest format, which is saying something because I'm a damn good constructed player. So you're completely wrong there, Harbringer. Just because I chose to mention some of the rares that I picked up doesn't mean that I banked my entire strategy on them. In fact, I can't think of a time where I ran more than two rares in the deck at a time.

Oh, and by the way, all of these drafts were done sitting at a table with twelve other people, actually opening packs and building decks. Netdraft is a horrible substitute for real life, wouldn't you agree? And congrats on your rating, I suppose. I made Pro Tour status at the age of sixteen back in the day. Sorry, not too impressed. I've learned from watching and playing against the best and the brightest in Magic, so sorry if I don't accept everything you say without a grain of salt thrown in.

You are ESPECIALLY wrong about Black being the worst color in draft. Sorry, but that's the truth. Black is just damn strong if you know how to play it right. Steal Strength and Despoil provide a level of control not found in any of the other colors, Rhystic Syphon is the equalizer in Prophecy, Pit Raptor is devestating if you can judge when to play it, Fen Stalker requires your opponent to keep lands untapped or face the consequences...the list goes on and on.

I think that I'll take this time to point out that you actually supported my opinion, Harbringer, whether you knew it or not. After all, I DID say:

It’s an okay color to splash in decks that rely on another color or two, but not as a standalone.

You spent most of your time talking about color combinations.

There's a huge advantage for the Avatars and Winds in draft, and that's the slower pace. It's not very often that there's a quick draft kill if all the participants know what they're doing, so that gives you time to build up quite a few lands. The Avatars become simply amazing in draft, especially the Avatar of Woe and the Avatar of Fury. It's almost a no-brainer to take the Avatar if you pull it in your first pack, or even the second. I specifically mention the Avatar of Fury because, in draft, your opponent easily gets ten lands into play, making its lowered casting cost trigger.

All of the Winds obviously are powerful in draft, with the possible (POSSIBLE) exception of Denying Wind. I've found Plague Wind and Searing Wind to be particularly strong. In two seperate drafts, I was able to get both Latulla, Keldon Overseer and Searing Wind, and let me just say that you'll never find a more powerful combination in draft.

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Lt. TheMauler
G.A.B's blue team

I finished a sealed torny that I won just friday. 3 packs per person.

My deck looked something like this:
3 Spiketail Hatchling
1 Withdraw
1 Costal hornclaw (MVP #2)
1 Gulf Squid
1 Spore Frog
2 Wild Mights
3 Pygmy Razorback
4 Marsh Boa
1 Vinara Snapper
1 Verdant Feild
2 Darba (MVP )
1 Rib Cage Spider
2 Rhystic Shield
2 (Rebel for 3 gain 2 unless they pay 2...)
1 Abolish
4 Troubled Healer (GOD)
1 Flowering Feild
2 Celestrial blah blah blah
1 Elefant Tokenz
Lands Lands Lands...