Fill the graveyard with permanent cards while developing blockers, then reuse creatures and unlock larger graveyard-dependent threats.
Fill the graveyard with permanent cards while developing blockers, then reuse creatures and unlock larger graveyard-dependent threats.
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?
Milling three supplies permanent cards and flashback options while the life gain and body buy time. Keep enough real threats to use the graveyard resources.
Do my actual cards enable this plan?
Reinforcements mills and stabilizes; Vanille can recover a useful permanent from the growing graveyard. Keep six permanent cards there before Exdeath’s end-step check if transforming is the goal.
Can I stop their strongest play and finish a stalled game?
Fill the graveyard with permanent cards while developing blockers, then reuse creatures and unlock larger graveyard-dependent threats.
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 Shinra Reinforcements or Vanille, Cheerful l'Cie.
Reinforcements mills and stabilizes; Vanille can recover a useful permanent from the growing graveyard. Keep six permanent cards there before Exdeath’s end-step check if transforming is the goal.
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.
Instants and sorceries do not count for Exdeath’s permanent-card threshold. Returning permanent cards to hand can postpone the transformation, so choose the resource that matters now.
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.
Instants and sorceries do not count for Exdeath’s permanent-card threshold. Returning permanent cards to hand can postpone the transformation, so choose the resource that matters now.
Exile graveyard resources before the end step or recursion resolves. Pressure the setup turns and avoid letting a repeatable recovery engine turn every trade into an advantage.
Summon: Fenrir63.1% GIH · 6,040 instances
Cloud of Darkness63.0% GIH · 12,449 instances
Sidequest: Hunt the Mark62.6% GIH · 5,537 instances
Town Greeter62.6% GIH · 19,575 instances
Coliseum Behemoth62.2% GIH · 6,332 instances
Sazh's Chocobo61.6% GIH · 5,293 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.
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.
Esper Origins 1GUse the cheap front to surveil and gain life, then flash it back for four mana to get a new 4/4 Saga with a finality counter. The final chapter boosts your other creatures after the Saga leaves, so maintain a board. You cannot simply cast the costless Saga face from hand.
Sazh Katzroy 3GEntry finds a Bird or basic land, making the front useful before an attack. Each attack adds a counter and then doubles all +1/+1 counters on the target; an existing counter-bearing or evasive attacker uses the growth especially well. Remove Sazh before attackers to prevent that trigger.
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
Gran Pulse OchuDeathtouch trades for large attackers while permanent cards accumulate in your graveyard. Its late activation is a mana sink, not a reason to keep a slow opening hand.
Undercity Dire Rat
Shinra ReinforcementsMilling three supplies permanent cards and flashback options while the life gain and body buy time. Keep enough real threats to use the graveyard resources.
Vanille, Cheerful l'CieMill two, then return a permanent card, including one just milled. Her entry value works without Fang; melding requires both exact named creatures and the printed mana.
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. |
Reinforcements mills and stabilizes; Vanille can recover a useful permanent from the growing graveyard. Keep six permanent cards there before Exdeath’s end-step check if transforming is the goal.
Fight On!
