Spread counters across useful creatures, then use trample and Haliya’s combat reward to keep pressure and cards flowing.
Spread counters across useful creatures, then use trample and Haliya’s combat reward to keep pressure and cards flowing.
Commit when repeated useful cards and enough support make a complete deck in these colors.
Four checks while you draft
Can I affect the board before the payoff?
An early artifact creature carries a counter and passes its counters to another creature when it dies. Keep a worthwhile receiving creature before trading it away.
Do my actual cards enable this plan?
Give an existing attacker a counter with Drix Fatemaker or Enhancer before combat. Fatemaker supplies trample so a small blocker cannot stop every point.
Can I stop their strongest play and finish a stalled game?
Spread counters across useful creatures, then use trample and Haliya’s combat reward to keep pressure and cards flowing.
Choose the missing job before another reward that needs it.
The key card is present but its support is thin.
Prioritize useful support such as Dockworker Drone or Drix Fatemaker.
Give an existing attacker a counter with Drix Fatemaker or Enhancer before combat. Fatemaker supplies trample so a small blocker cannot stop every point.
Your deck already enables the plan but is losing the early turns.
Take a castable early creature or efficient answer before a second expensive payoff.
Haliya needs two white mana. More counter payoffs do not replace early bodies or the sources needed to cast the five-mana legend.
The support is missing
Favor independently useful creatures and interaction if the narrow support does not arrive.
Repeated useful cards are clues, not proof that the colors are open.
Haliya needs two white mana. More counter payoffs do not replace early bodies or the sources needed to cast the five-mana legend.
Answer the trample or card-draw engine before combat. Exile avoids Dockworker Drone’s death transfer, while toughness reduction can beat indestructible.
Larval Scoutlander60.4% GIH · 3,652 instances
Rayblade Trooper60.3% GIH · 6,702 instances
All-Fates Stalker60.0% GIH · 5,743 instances
Meltstrider's Resolve59.9% GIH · 5,232 instances
Glacier Godmaw59.6% GIH · 4,543 instances
Starfield Shepherd59.3% GIH · 5,596 instances17Lands ↗ · Jul 29–Sep 1, 2025 · at least 100 card-in-hand instances in this pair’s no-splash decks. Choose the job your deck needs first.
Cosmogrand Zenith 2WBuild useful two-spell turns and choose between extra bodies and strengthening the board you already have. A cheap follow-up after casting Zenith can trigger it immediately; do not hold necessary early plays solely to chase future counters.
Ouroboroid 2GGIts first combat trigger grows your entire board, including itself, so cast it before combat and keep enough creatures to share the counters. Power changes before resolution affect the size of that reward; answer it before the first combat trigger when possible.
Celestial Colonnade A tapped white-blue land becomes a flying vigilant threat for five mana. It can tap for mana after attacking because vigilance kept it untapped, but activating it does not protect it from creature removal. Do not animate a land that entered this turn and expect it to attack.17Lands Premier Draft ↗ · Jul 29–Sep 1, 2025 · 100-instance minimum
Dockworker DroneAn early artifact creature carries a counter and passes its counters to another creature when it dies. Keep a worthwhile receiving creature before trading it away.
Brightspear Zealot
Weftblade EnhancerDistribute its two counters where they improve combat or enable counter rewards. A cheap warp use can strengthen existing attackers without waiting for the full creature.
Knight Luminary
Drix FatemakerIts entry counter and trample for your counter-bearing creatures can improve an attack immediately. Warping gives that temporary trample support, then lets you cast it again on a later turn.
Sunstar LightsmithExamples apply the printed rules; judge the board, costs and timing.
| One-pick | Sealed |
|---|---|
| With one pick, fill the missing early play, answer or support card before adding another narrow payoff. The plan must work without drawing its key card. | Compare complete builds from the cards you opened. Keep the castable curve and interaction even if the draft theme is only partly supported. |
Give an existing attacker a counter with Drix Fatemaker or Enhancer before combat. Fatemaker supplies trample so a small blocker cannot stop every point.
Biosynthic Burst
