Trade efficiently, use selection and flashback to keep resources flowing, and finish with evasive threats after stabilizing your life total.
Trade efficiently, use selection and flashback to keep resources flowing, and finish with evasive threats after stabilizing your life total.
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?
Choose the mode that buys enough time without consuming the whole turn. Higher modes increase mana spent but leave mana value two.
Do my actual cards enable this plan?
Use cheap interaction to make a safe Locke attack for filtering, then keep mana to stop the strongest return attack. Revelation can set up later flashback without requiring a combat connection.
Can I stop their strongest play and finish a stalled game?
Trade efficiently, use selection and flashback to keep resources flowing, and finish with evasive threats after stabilizing your life total.
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 Ice Magic or Resentful Revelation.
Use cheap interaction to make a safe Locke attack for filtering, then keep mana to stop the strongest return attack. Revelation can set up later flashback without requiring a combat connection.
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.
Sanctum stops activated abilities but not static or triggered abilities. A tapped engine can remain dangerous even when it cannot attack.
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.
Sanctum stops activated abilities but not static or triggered abilities. A tapped engine can remain dangerous even when it cannot attack.
Pressure before their extra cards become castable. Spread threats so one removal spell or expensive Ice Magic mode cannot erase the whole attack.
Baron, Airship Kingdom62.7% GIH · 204 instances
Sidequest: Card Collection62.0% GIH · 5,549 instances
Fatal Push62.0% GIH · 2,216 instances
Sidequest: Hunt the Mark61.8% GIH · 6,836 instances
Swallowed by Leviathan61.1% GIH · 8,201 instances
Overkill61.1% GIH · 6,042 instances17Lands ↗ · Jun 10–Jul 14, 2025 · at least 100 card-in-hand instances in this pair’s no-splash decks. Choose the job your deck needs first.
Cryptic Command 1UUUChoose the two modes that solve the current turn, often a counter plus a card or tapping blockers plus a card. Three blue symbols make this a demanding splash. If the only chosen target becomes illegal, the spell does not resolve even when its other mode would draw or tap creatures.
Urza, Lord High Artificer 2UUThe Construct grows with your artifacts, while spare Equipment and tokens can tap for blue mana through Urza’s ability. Even a newly entered artifact creature can pay that cost. Keep an artifact board for both mana and threat size, and remember a land exiled by the five-mana ability still needs an available land play.
Ardyn, the Usurper 5BBBEight mana and three black symbols require substantial mana support. Cast before combat to turn a creature in either graveyard into a hasty, lifelinking 5/5 Demon immediately; that token remains. Graveyard removal before the trigger resolves can stop the copy, and the printed cost makes a casual splash unrealistic.
Smuggler's Copter 2Crew one turns a small creature into a flying attacker or blocker, and either action can draw then discard. A creature that just entered can crew it, but a Copter that just entered still normally cannot attack. The rummage supports flashback and permanent-count graveyards without losing the Vehicle after combat.17Lands Premier Draft ↗ · Jun 10–Jul 14, 2025 · 100-instance minimum
Resentful RevelationFind the most useful of three cards and put the others into the graveyard. That setup supports flashback and permanent-count rewards; do not mill blindly when your library is low.
Combat Tutorial
Ice MagicChoose the mode that buys enough time without consuming the whole turn. Higher modes increase mana spent but leave mana value two.
Sephiroth's InterventionDestroy a creature and recover two life. Use the life to stabilize rather than waiting so long for an ideal target that another attack is lethal.
Examples 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. |
Use cheap interaction to make a safe Locke attack for filtering, then keep mana to stop the strongest return attack. Revelation can set up later flashback without requiring a combat connection.
Stuck in Summoner's Sanctum
