Draft Deck Meta

Core Set 2020 Draft Deck Metagame

Draft deck metagame only consists of decks with the maximum number of wins (3 wins in Traditional and 7 wins in Quick and Premier drafts).
Select an archetype to see the popular cards used in winning decks of that group.

Dimir card breakdown - 8 decks, 22.86% of meta

Creatures

2.5 This has decent stats and lifelink in a set that cares about gaining life, so it is something you play pretty often. 2.3 1x in 25%

3.0 I always feel alright about playing a Ravenous Rats or two in my deck, and that’s basically what this is. While it is harder to cast, it also makes the opponent exile the card, and it can pump itself late. Now, that pump effect is incredibly expensive, and I don’t think you should ever play this and count on being able to make it huge, but when it is already attached to a creature who goes after a card in the opponents’ hand, it is a decent thing to add and hey, sometimes late it can just turn into a win condition. 2.9 1x in 25%

4.5 Provided your deck has Black as a primary color, and you’re running 8 or more Swamps, I think this card will be great. If you are mono-colored in Black – if that’s possible – it will become completely absurd, but you don’t have to go that far to abuse Dread Presence. I think more often than not, you’ll go with the “Phyrexian Arena” option and draw a card when you play a Swamp, but sometimes draining your opponent or killing a creature and gaining 2 life will be great too. The one downside this has is that it is horrendous on a splash, but that’s not much of a downside, really. Even just triggering one of those abilities once feels good, and it becomes a value engine in the long run. 4.8 1x in 25%

3.0 I am pretty much always happy with one mana 1/1 death touchers. They are great in more defensive decks, because they can trade for anything. Adding lifelink here is a nice touch, because sometimes you’ll have to go on the offensive with this and force your opponent choose between trading a big creature for it, or just taking it – and now, just taking it has some extra consequences, because you can potentially find yourself a repetable source of lifegain if they do. Still, while this card is efficient at what it does, like more 1/1 deathtouchers, it isn’t like it is gamebreaking – but it is a nice card. 4 1x in 25%

3.5 5-mana ¾ Flyers tend to be pretty solid in Limited, and this one comes with a useful creature type and a nice additional ability. By making removal spells cost two additional mana, your opponent won’t be able to utilize their mana more effectively than you in most situations. With 4 toughness, really cheap removal just doesn’t deal with this, so your opponent is likely paying 4+ mana to take it down, and that really isn’t too bad. This is a key common for Blue decks, and one of its best. 3.6 1x in 25%

3.5 I love this kind of card. Most of the time, a one mana 1/1 flyer isn’t anything special, because it quickly becomes outclassed by pretty much every other flyer or card with reach in the set. Spectral Sailor does have the same problem, but once it can’t attack anymore, it has a powerful mana sink ability that just takes over the game if your opponent doesn’t stop it. Basically, the Sailor can do a few damage early in the game, and it can also help you win games that go long. 4.6 1x in 25%

1.0 // 3.0 One mana 1/1 flyers are some of the most overrated creatures around but they usually aren’t good because of how quickly they get outclassed, so that is the base grade we’re looking at here. However, if you can draw a card off of them you’re talking about a much better card. Because this one has such an ugly baseline, you probably need 3+ Miscreants before they become worth playing, and once we’re talking about 4+ I think it becomes a solid card. 3 1x in 25%

2.0 This has reasonable starting stats and the ability to attack sometimes as a 2/1, which isn’t bad. It also isn’t good, but yeah. 3 1x in 25%

3.5 This is one of Black’s best Commons. Sure, it doesn’t do great on the vanilla test, but if you can attack with this even once on a board where the best your opponent can do is trade, I think you’ll be pretty happy. Even moreso if your opponent chooses not to block at all, because then your card advantage will snowball. Obviously if they do trade with it, you end up netting a 2-for-1. Now, there will be board states where you just can’t attack with it, and it becomes a pretty mediocre blocker in those cases, and obviously that holds it back a bit --- but there are enough ways in this format to get it evasion or pump it that the Thief is usually able to rumble a lot more often than you’d expect. 3.2 1x in 25%

3.5 This has Wind Drake stats while also loading your graveyard and gaining you life, two things Black decks are interested in in this format. That makes this a key Common for Black deck. 2.9 1x in 25%

4.5 It seems kind of crazy to call a one drop a bomb, but that’s what we’re looking at here. It is certainly vulnerable at first, but it tends to grow rapidly, and its activated ability makes it very difficult for you to ever come out ahead against in Combat. Being so small is definitely a weakness, but the upside there is that this is a must-kill card on turn one, and if your opponent can’t do something about it, they’ll be dead in a hurry. 4.8 1x in 38%

0.5 This has terrible stats and doesn’t do anything other than have those stats. 1.3 1x in 38%

3.0 She costs 7 mana for a 3/3, which obviously enough is horrendous – but she does offer the potential for a three-for-one, since she gives you back two spells in your graveyard. You need both a deck that is interested in playing the long game, and enough instants and sorceries that you can consistently get back two with it. Luckily, that is relatively easy to pull of in controlling Blue decks in this format, where Scholar of the Ages is often a nice late play that stabilizes you. Still, you can’t really play it anywhere else. 2.8 1x in 38%

3.5 Any time Forts Lynx shows up, it ends up being one of Blue’s best commons. It is just an amazing card for tempo, doing a pretty reasonable Man-O-War impression. Adding to the board while also making your opponent’s best creature more or less disappear from it for a couple of turns is great. The Lynx is at its best in aggressive decks – that’s because this type of effect means your opponent can’t block with that creature for two turns, and it only means they can’t attack for a single turn. It is also an Elemental! 3.7 1x in 38%
Instant, Sorcery

0.5 This is sideboard material, like usual. Most opponents just don’t have the targets for this to matter. 0.9 1x in 12%

1.0 It is easy to imagine the ideal situation with this card. I mean, you get to bounce the whole board and then put something back, right? Well, it turns out having enough nonland permanents to get that additional effect is pretty darn difficult, and if you do have that many, you also just bounced a bunch of your board. And sure, you did get to put something back, but you also just paid 6 mana and your opponent is going to rebuild a lot more than you will be able to on their next turn. So, yeah, this just isn’t very good. 3.8 1x in 12%

3.0 Gravedigger is always a nice card in Limited, this costs half as much for a creature half the size, and still returns something from your graveyard to your hand. Getting a 2-for-1 is harder with a 1/1, but a two mana 1/1 with this effect seems pretty nice 2.7 1x in 12%

4.0 Without Bargain this is premium removal, with it, it’s one of Black’s best commons. It can deal with so much when you Bargain, and there’s plenty of fodder around 4.3 1x in 12%

2.0 The prevalence of treasure, especially in Black-Red, will make this better than it looks. This kind of effect often plays a lot like Tormenting Voice, which is to say – its pretty replaceable, but I think this will be better than usual thanks to the fact it is good with treasure and it produces treasure. It of course still comes with the upside of being able to sacrifice a creature in response to removal, at which point you really aren’t going down a card either. 2.2 1x in 12%

1.0 This type of effect is very replaceable. It gives you some card selection and all that, but a lot of the time you end up cutting these for cards that are more impactful. 2.1 1x in 25%

2.5 One mana to return a creature is an awesome rate, because you’re basically always going to come out ahead in terms of tempo – since you’re going to be bouncing things that cost a heck of a lot more than one mana most of the time. Additionally, bounce effects let you blow out opponents who are overly reliant on Auras or combat tricks. Finally, in a pinch you can use it to save your own creature, which will be worth it some of the time. 2.8 1x in 25%

4.0 This is an Instant that kills things for three mana. That might not be exciting, but it IS premium removal. 4 1x in 25%

2.5 I’m not a huge fan of counter-magic in Limited for the most part. It basically feels like bad removal most of the time, because it is removal that only works if you have mana up at the exact right time! And normally I am really out on 4-mana counter spells, but Bone to Ash is a 2-for-1, and that really makes the risk worth it a lot more – especially because it is a hard counter that counters the most common spell-type in Limited. It just isn’t hard to get your opponent with this, though I would advise leaving mana up just to use it when you could be doing something else, and instead just wait until this is all you have left to do, or for a turn where you couldn’t use your mana. 3.1 1x in 25%

1.5 // 3.5 Against someone who is playing Green and/or White, this is pretty incredible – two mana to destroy a creature or planeswalker at instant speed is the kind of efficiency we just don’t see. Kind of silly that it has that 1 life clause attached to it, but hey – that’s additional value I guess. You can get away with maindecking this because there are enough opponents who will have stuff this can target, but you still mostly want to bring it out of your sideboard. 2.5 1x in 25%

2.0 This is a reprint we have seen several times, and every time it is pretty solid. You have to 2-for-1 yourself, but the fact that it lets you kill anything makes that worth it in many cases, since you can take down your opponent’s bomb. Its value does go up in situations where you have creature tokens, or creatures who give you value when they die, but I still think it is just a decent removal spell, the kind you play if you don’t pick up some of the better ones that are out there. 2.6 1x in 25%

2.5 4 mana for 3 damage is pretty steep, but the fact you can hit any target AND you gain 3 life does enough to make this solid removal, though I wouldn’t say it is premium. 3 1x in 38%

2.5 This kind of card is basically always something Black decks want one copy of in Limited. It is basically a Black Divination, but one with powerful card selection, since you know you’re going to get your two best creatures back. 1.9 1x in 38%

3.5 One mana to give something -2/-2 almost always enables you to trade up, and that is always a powerful thing to do. The other great thing about this type of effect is that unlike a Shock-type effect, you can use it to weaken your opponent’s creature AND you can block the creature and kill it – while probably keeping your blocker alive too, so in some ways it is more flexible than damage. 2.9 1x in 50%
Enchantment, Artifact

0.0 This is bad. It is easy to imagine situations where you put this on an opposing creature and steal it when it dies, or put it on one of your creatures that you know will die – but it a lot harder to guarantee your creature dies than it looks, and you often end up spending 3 mana for a minimal effect. It is notable too that the creature you put it on pretty much already has to be worthwhile, and capable of trading with something, otherwise it really isn’t worth it. 1.1 1x in 0%

1.5 This thing is just too slow and asks for way too much. It isn’t the worst finisher ever if you need one, but you’re mostly hoping you find something better. 1.4 1x in 12%

2.5 I always like to have one copy of the the Black card that gets you two creatures back from the graveyard, and that’s what we have here. For 5 mana you get those two creatures and a blood token, and that’s a pretty reasonable rate, especially because you’re paying it in two installments, and can pay the larger part at instant speed! You don’t normally want to overdo it with copies of this kind of card because they tend to not be great early, but this offsets that a bit since it does give you Blood before the other part of the card becomes useful. But yeah, getting two creatures back late can often give you what you need to win the game. I think the first copy of this is a 2.5, with diminishing returns after that. 2.2 1x in 12%

0 1x in 12%

0 1x in 12%

3.0 This seems like it is in the lower range of “premium” removal. These sorts of cards seem to be getting worse these days, since so many creatures have ETB abilities. Still, it can deal with any creature or planeswalker, and that’s nice! The double White is a bit of a downer too, as you can’t splash it. But yeah, sounds like I’m super down on it - and I guess I am, at least with how good these type of effects used to be. But this is still one of White’s best Commons! 3.7 1x in 12%

3.0 This card will just win you games that get to mid-game or later since it lets you loot like crazy, and filter your draws to the point that you are just drawing better than your opponent. Sometimes, we really wish we didn’t have to discard when we looted, and this helps with that, because if you ever need to get back something you looted, you can always fire off that second ability to get a bunch of cards back. 4.5 1x in 25%

1.5 Equipment that just boosts power doesn’t tend to be amazing, though it does work well on things like tokens, since they become much more formidable. 2 1x in 25%

3.0 This is a little clunky to be sure, as 4 mana is way more than you normally want to be paying for a removal spell that doesn’t even fully remove a creature, but it does the job well enough. It isn’t quite premium removal, but it is fine to play. 3 1x in 25%
Planeswalkers

0.0 // 2.5 Sadly for Sorin, there just aren’t enough Vampires in this set for him to be very good, since ALL of his abilities are all about Vampires. Now, the +1 can at least give ANY creature deathtouch and lifelink, and that’s not completely horrendous. You probably need at least 5 Vampires to play Sorin, and even that isn’t really a critical mass for him to be great. 4.9 1x in 12%

5.0 This Chandra is crazy powerful. Sure, she costs 6 mana, but she definitely gives you 6 mana worth of value thanks to her suite of powerful abilities. She can wipe the board of small creatures with her -3, her -X gives her spot removal, and she can increase her loyalty by giving your opponent an emblem. One of these emblems isn’t anything special, but the fact that she raises her loyalty and can just keep sticking emblems on your opponent means that things will really snowball. In short, she can protect herself by killing creatures, and she can win you the game with her emblem. She is probably the biggest bomb in this set. 5 1x in 12%

4.5 She only starts at 2 loyalty, and that means she will not be using her -3 right away – however, here +2 is a pretty good way to protect her – flyers are often a big problem for planeswalkers, and giving something -2/-0 makes it a lot harder for the creature to kill you. So if you can use her +2 ability to help keep her alive, you can then make an Elemental Bird token on the next turn – and then sort of repeat the pattern. If you get one Bird out of her, you’re already doing pretty well – after that, you’re going to just take over the entire game. I think overall, she is pretty great – but keep in mind that she isvulnerable on board states when your opponent is going wide. 4.8 1x in 12%
Lands

0 1x in 12%

0 1x in 12%

2.5 If you get to three or more artifacts, this gives you some nice incidental life gain, and can also be used to tutor up an artifact. Getting to three artifacts isn’t a stretch, but you also won’t always have an Artifact really worth tutoring up. Obviously, this gets better in an artifact-heavy deck that has some super powerful Artifacts, like a Gearhulk or something. 4 1x in 12%

3.0 This can be whatever mana you need it to be, whereas the other lands in the format just produce two colors. Evolving Wilds is even worth it in a 2-color deck because it makes your mana so much better, but obviously it is really good in decks with 3 or more colors as well. Running 1 basic land of your splash color along with the Wilds now means you have 2 copies of that land, and that’s pretty nice. 3.8 1x in 38%

2.5 If you need fixing, this is a decent place to get it. There are also a few cards in the set that care about lifegain, which might mean they are a little more useful than usual in some decks, but mostly they just make your mana better. Even if you’re just 2 colors, taking these over filler is sometimes a good call, since they really make your mana so much better. 2.1 1x in 62%
Top Rated Cards

3.5 Any time Forts Lynx shows up, it ends up being one of Blue’s best commons. It is just an amazing card for tempo, doing a pretty reasonable Man-O-War impression. Adding to the board while also making your opponent’s best creature more or less disappear from it for a couple of turns is great. The Lynx is at its best in aggressive decks – that’s because this type of effect means your opponent can’t block with that creature for two turns, and it only means they can’t attack for a single turn. It is also an Elemental! 3.7 1x in 38%

3.5 One mana to give something -2/-2 almost always enables you to trade up, and that is always a powerful thing to do. The other great thing about this type of effect is that unlike a Shock-type effect, you can use it to weaken your opponent’s creature AND you can block the creature and kill it – while probably keeping your blocker alive too, so in some ways it is more flexible than damage. 2.9 1x in 50%

4.0 Woo boy, this is one of the sweetest signpost uncommons we’ve ever seen! Elemental decks are really well supported in this Limited format, so Risen Reef ends up triggering a whole whole lot in most cases, and even on its own, it triggers its own ability, and that’s a good fail case to have! It gets particularly silly with cards that make multiple elementals. This is better than most of the rares and mythics in this set. 3.8 1x in 0%

4.0 Without Bargain this is premium removal, with it, it’s one of Black’s best commons. It can deal with so much when you Bargain, and there’s plenty of fodder around 4.3 1x in 12%

4.0 So, if you just have one card in your graveyard when you play him, you’re getting a 3-mana 1/1 with deathtouch and flying. That’s not a pretty statline, but it is evasive and can trade with anything, and I think that if that’s what this always was, it would probably be playable. Once you get 2 or more mana costs in your graveyard, he’s going to start looking pretty nice. Now, the downside is that playing this on turn three isn’t very easy. But that isn’t a huge problem because the keyword abilities mean it will be relevant all game long – provided at least one card is in your graveyard. Sometimes it ends up being absolutely massive too. 5 1x in 12%

4.0 This is potentially the best Common in the format, and certainly the best one for Blue. 3 mana for a 2/1 flyer is already passable – especially one with the elemental type in this format. The cantrip is what really pushes this over though – you can easily get 2-for-1s out of this because of that card draw, and that’s a pretty great thing to have on a creature that can also threaten your opponent in the air pretty reliably. Even if you play it late and can’t really attack, you’re still getting some use out of this card thanks to the extra card you draw, too. You jam this into pretty much every Blue deck in this format, and you want every single one of them you see. 4.5 1x in 12%

4.0 If you break this card down, and take away parts of it – it is still pretty good. If it was a 3-mana 1/3 with death touch it would be an alright card. The same is true about a 3-mana 1/3 with lifelink? What about a 3-mana 1/3 that loots on ETB or when it does damage? That’s a pretty solid card. If you take all of these “fine” and “solid” cards and jam them together though, I think you end up with a great card. This gives you card selection the minute it comes down, trades with anything, and gains you life as a decent blocker. Then, the whole deathtouch thing can also be used more aggressively, to attack your opponent when they have no good choices to block it, and if they don’t block it, you get to loot again. 3 1x in 12%

4.0 This is an Instant that kills things for three mana. That might not be exciting, but it IS premium removal. 4 1x in 25%

4.5 She only starts at 2 loyalty, and that means she will not be using her -3 right away – however, here +2 is a pretty good way to protect her – flyers are often a big problem for planeswalkers, and giving something -2/-0 makes it a lot harder for the creature to kill you. So if you can use her +2 ability to help keep her alive, you can then make an Elemental Bird token on the next turn – and then sort of repeat the pattern. If you get one Bird out of her, you’re already doing pretty well – after that, you’re going to just take over the entire game. I think overall, she is pretty great – but keep in mind that she isvulnerable on board states when your opponent is going wide. 4.8 1x in 12%

4.5 Provided your deck has Black as a primary color, and you’re running 8 or more Swamps, I think this card will be great. If you are mono-colored in Black – if that’s possible – it will become completely absurd, but you don’t have to go that far to abuse Dread Presence. I think more often than not, you’ll go with the “Phyrexian Arena” option and draw a card when you play a Swamp, but sometimes draining your opponent or killing a creature and gaining 2 life will be great too. The one downside this has is that it is horrendous on a splash, but that’s not much of a downside, really. Even just triggering one of those abilities once feels good, and it becomes a value engine in the long run. 4.8 1x in 25%

4.5 It seems kind of crazy to call a one drop a bomb, but that’s what we’re looking at here. It is certainly vulnerable at first, but it tends to grow rapidly, and its activated ability makes it very difficult for you to ever come out ahead against in Combat. Being so small is definitely a weakness, but the upside there is that this is a must-kill card on turn one, and if your opponent can’t do something about it, they’ll be dead in a hurry. 4.8 1x in 38%

5.0 This Chandra is crazy powerful. Sure, she costs 6 mana, but she definitely gives you 6 mana worth of value thanks to her suite of powerful abilities. She can wipe the board of small creatures with her -3, her -X gives her spot removal, and she can increase her loyalty by giving your opponent an emblem. One of these emblems isn’t anything special, but the fact that she raises her loyalty and can just keep sticking emblems on your opponent means that things will really snowball. In short, she can protect herself by killing creatures, and she can win you the game with her emblem. She is probably the biggest bomb in this set. 5 1x in 12%

5.0 He might be expensive, but Jin-Gitaxias definitely gives you your mana’s worth. Because he counters instants and sorceries, it is going to be very hard for your opponent to kill him, which means you’ll usually be able to untap and take advantage of the fact that he gives you copies of your own instants, sorceries, and artifacts. This format looks like it has enough of those things – especially Artifacts – that you don’t really need to build around Jin-Gitaxias, although he does get even better if you have a bunch of those things. Either way he’s a bomb. 4.9 1x in 12%

5.0 This might cost 7 mana, but there’s a reason it does – stealing an opponent’s permanent is one of the most powerful things you can do in the entire game. It is essentially always going to give you a 3-for-1, because it is effectively a removal spell – since it takes away your opponent’s permanent – and then gives it to you. Then, you also have a 2/3 body too! We see effects like this cost 6 or 7 usually, and many of them are less permanent because they involve an Aura. Those cards are already pretty great, but Agent of Treachery makes sure you keep the creature most of the time – do note that they can still bounce the creature back to their hand. On top of all of that, Blue and White have ways to flicker or blink creatures, letting you use this ETB more than once, at which point your opponent is basically just done. The part about drawing cards if you have 3 or more of your opponent’s permanents is basically win-more, because once you have 3 of their permanents they are effectively dead. But yeah, this is a massive bomb. 4.9 1x in 12%

Dimir	61 matches	8 decks
22.86% of Metagame
Azorius	60 matches	7 decks
20.00% of Metagame
Orzhov	36 matches	5 decks
14.29% of Metagame
Izzet	26 matches	3 decks
8.57% of Metagame
Gruul	26 matches	3 decks
8.57% of Metagame
Selesnya	17 matches	2 decks
5.71% of Metagame
Simic	18 matches	2 decks
5.71% of Metagame
Golgari	17 matches	2 decks
5.71% of Metagame
Boros	17 matches	2 decks
5.71% of Metagame
Mono White	8 matches	1 decks
2.86% of Metagame

Decks by color

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Core Set 2020 Draft Deck Metagame

Dimir card breakdown - 8 decks, 22.86% of meta

Creatures

Instant, Sorcery

Enchantment, Artifact

Planeswalkers

Lands

Top Rated Cards

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