Draft Deck Meta

March of the Machine: The Aftermath 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.

Golgari card breakdown - 2 decks, 40% of meta

Creatures

4.0 This looks really good. It is sort of a 4-mana 1/1 that gives you a 3/3, and still has the additional upside of helping anything that transforms into a Phyrexian. Note this works not only with the Incubator tokens but also all the cards that transform using Phyrexian mana, so there are a wide swath of cards this makes better, and it already has a great baseline. 4.5 1x in 50%

3.5 UB is a mill deck in this format – interested both in self-mill and milling the opponent and getting value out of it, so that does mean having cards in your graveyard for this is pretty likely. A three mana 3/1 flyer is already passable, and the fact that you can cast an instant or Sorcery from either graveyard is a pretty big deal. You won’t always have the mana to do that, and the graveyard’s won’t always be stocked even in Blue-Black, but even just getting a one mana spell out of it is going to feel amazing, and it sort of scales the longer the game goes. 3.6 1x in 50%

4.0 Making this your Companion is going to be a challenge, especially if the format is one where you need to add to the board by turn two, and it probably is. The good news? Keruga is great in your main deck. Even if it just draws you one card on ETB you’ll be very happy, and it can often draw you multiple cards 4.4 1x in 50%

2.5 This is an ugly stat-line, but between ramping your mana and messing with Battles, this seems like it has some pretty real utility. Some mana dorks are all but useless late, but because this can do things with Battles, that’s less likely. 3.2 1x in 50%

4.0 A 5-mana 4/4 Flyer is still a nice baseline, and this throws in a whole lot of extra value, including the ability to end the game with Poison. Regeneration and Haste are great things to have too – it makes it very hard to deal with this. 4.7 1x in 50%

3.0 This is a nice reprint. It is basically two Phyrexian Ragers! It has the potential be a three-for-one, and the trade off is playing something below-rate that also hurts you a little bit. Still, the first copy of this seems like a solid inclusion. 3.7 1x in 50%

3.0 A 6-mana 6/5 with Reach and Trample is right around a 2.0 these days, but don’t underestimate Forestcycling! Unlike your other 6 drops, you can throw this one away if you draw it early and grab a land drop you desperately need, and when it comes time to cast it, it isn’t usually a creature your opponent can just ignore. 2.2 1x in 50%

2.5 This is either a 4-mana 4/4 that can’t be blocked by small stuff, or a 4-mana 3/3 that gives something else a counter and makes it harder to block for a turn. I think both of those modes are going to feel like a pretty good investment. 1.8 1x in 50%

5.0 This has great base stats, and while her ETB isn’t great in the later stages of the game, it certainly subtracts from your opponent’s board in some way or another. Like with the rest of these, transforming this isn’t exactly easy, but by the late game it is pretty likely you’ll be able to turn her into a Saga, and you may get it done even earlier if you’re playing Blue-Black -- and once this is a Saga, it is going to be pretty hard for you to lose. 4.9 1x in 50%

3.0 A two mana 1/1 with deathtouch is a little bit below rate, but it does trade for anything, and the creature this can become late is a big problem for your opponent. 3.4 1x in 50%

3.0 When you actually cast this thing, it has a big impact on the board – either coming down as a monstrous 7/7 with Menace, or coming down as a 5/5 that gives something else two counters as well as Menace until end of turn. This gives it the ability to immediately impact the board when it comes down, while still sporting a sizable and problematic body. The downside here is that you just don’t always get 7 mana in Limited, but this makes sure that isn’t too much of a problem for you, since you can just pitch it to search up a Swamp if that’s what you need to do 2.6 1x in 50%

3.5 You get a 2/2 upfront, and then on the next turn you have the option of making this a 3/3 and getting a 1/1. That’s a pretty nice thing to have around if you don’t have anything to do with three mana, and at some point you’re certainly going to have the time to transform this. It isn’t the most massive upgrade ever, but you do end up getting two Saprolings and a 3/3 in the long run. 4.2 2x in 50%

1.5 This is a bear that can buff itself when you have some extra mana lying around. We’ve seen many cards like this in recent years, and most of them haven’t been especially impressive. You just don’t find yourself with a bunch of mana lying around until the later stages of the game, so this is often irrelevant between about turn 2 and turn 10, and that’s a problem. 1 1x in 100%

4.0 A 4-mana 4/4 is a pretty solid rate, and this can transform into a creature that can drastically upgrade another attacker every time it gets in there. 3 1x in 100%
Instant, Sorcery

4.0 This is a great deal whichever way you cast it. Without Convoke this would be good. With it, its great. 4.4 2x in 0%

4.0 Making three 3/3s with Menace and Vigilance is quite good for six mana, so the fact that this ramps you too is a nice cherry on top 2.5 1x in 50%

3.5 This is a nice removal spell for Green, and will feel especially nuts when you have a legendary to target. There are enough legendaries in the set, partly as a result of Multiverse Legends, that you will actually cast this for one mana sometimes 3.2 1x in 50%

1.0 We see this type of card every now and then, and usually its unplayable. Animating a land or incubator for a single turn usually isn’t worth doing, but this one does make things a little interesting, since it forces something to block it. This can allow this to feel like a super situational, roundabout way to remove an opposing creature. You can also animate a land and block it as a surprise, but this is usually a dangerous proposition. So yeah, It still feels like this is still far too situational to be worth using, though. 0.5 1x in 50%

3.5 We’ve seen this card at Sorcery speed before, and it was pretty good. As an Instant, it gets significantly better! This is easily premium removal, and pretty much a lock to be one of Black’s best Commons, if not the best. 4.4 1x in 50%

0.5 One thing to keep in mind is that destroying a battle doesn’t let you cast it transformed. A battle has to be “defeated” for that to happen, and the only way to make that happen is to remove the counters on it one way or another. This simply puts in the graveyard. In other words, you want to use this on a battle you are defending. This targets a whole bunch of stuff, but I’m still pretty skeptical it will find something useful to do on a regular basis, so I’m starting it in the sideboard. 1.8 1x in 50%

0.0 There aren’t enough noncreature nonlands for this to be worthwhile. Sure, you can maybe rebuy a Battle, or get rid of some incubators that haven’t transformed, but that’s too narrow. 0.9 1x in 50%

3.0 This can sometimes trade up, but more often than not you break even on mana or worse when you cast this – for me, that keeps it from being a premium-level removal spell – instead it is merely solid. 3.5 1x in 50%

3.5 We have seen this card before, only without the battle part, and it is always premium removal for Green because it can deal with things so efficiently. You always run the risk of getting 2-for-1’d when you cast it if you aren’t careful, but because this is an Instant, finding a spot where your opponent can’t respond is relatively easy. 3.3 1x in 50%

3.0 6 mana is a lot, even for removal – mostly because you end up paying more than your opponent did for their creature a lot of the time, and that tempo hit can be rough. However, this is an Instant, and it gives you something that will eventually be a creature. If you have 8 mana lying around, this will feel like an 8-mana 3/3 that exiles something on ETB, and the fact you can spread it out in two installments is nice. 4.1 1x in 50%

3.0 Black usually gets a nice common that returns creatures from your graveyard to your hand, and this looks like a really good version of that to me. Milling three for both players gets your pretty close to meeting the “reverse threshold” type requirements that several cards have, and it also increases your chance of being able to get back two creatures. It is also an Instant which isn’t something we often see. This means you can use this on the end of your opponent’s turn, and then cast something you get back on your turn which is nice. You don’t usually want more than one of these, because they are so bad in the early game – but honestly, the first copy of this card looks like a must-have for most Black decks, and especially Black-Blue. 2.7 1x in 50%
Enchantment, Artifact

2.0 If you play this on an untapped land, you can immediately transform the Incubator, and that’s nice – it means you can actually add something to the board when you play this, and the problem with most cards like this is they don’t do that. This also does a pretty good job of fixing and ramping your mana. 3.1 2x in 0%
Planeswalkers
Lands
Top Rated Cards

3.5 This is a nice removal spell for Green, and will feel especially nuts when you have a legendary to target. There are enough legendaries in the set, partly as a result of Multiverse Legends, that you will actually cast this for one mana sometimes 3.2 1x in 50%

3.5 You get a 2/2 upfront, and then on the next turn you have the option of making this a 3/3 and getting a 1/1. That’s a pretty nice thing to have around if you don’t have anything to do with three mana, and at some point you’re certainly going to have the time to transform this. It isn’t the most massive upgrade ever, but you do end up getting two Saprolings and a 3/3 in the long run. 4.2 2x in 50%

3.5 UB is a mill deck in this format – interested both in self-mill and milling the opponent and getting value out of it, so that does mean having cards in your graveyard for this is pretty likely. A three mana 3/1 flyer is already passable, and the fact that you can cast an instant or Sorcery from either graveyard is a pretty big deal. You won’t always have the mana to do that, and the graveyard’s won’t always be stocked even in Blue-Black, but even just getting a one mana spell out of it is going to feel amazing, and it sort of scales the longer the game goes. 3.6 1x in 50%

3.5 A two mana ⅓ that gains 3 on ETB is usually a 2.5, so the fact this has late game upside that turns it into a 3/3 that will kill something is pretty nice. 3.9 1x in 50%

4.0 This is a great deal whichever way you cast it. Without Convoke this would be good. With it, its great. 4.4 2x in 0%

4.0 Making three 3/3s with Menace and Vigilance is quite good for six mana, so the fact that this ramps you too is a nice cherry on top 2.5 1x in 50%

4.0 A 5-mana 4/4 Flyer is still a nice baseline, and this throws in a whole lot of extra value, including the ability to end the game with Poison. Regeneration and Haste are great things to have too – it makes it very hard to deal with this. 4.7 1x in 50%

4.0 Making this your Companion is going to be a challenge, especially if the format is one where you need to add to the board by turn two, and it probably is. The good news? Keruga is great in your main deck. Even if it just draws you one card on ETB you’ll be very happy, and it can often draw you multiple cards 4.4 1x in 50%

4.0 This looks really good. It is sort of a 4-mana 1/1 that gives you a 3/3, and still has the additional upside of helping anything that transforms into a Phyrexian. Note this works not only with the Incubator tokens but also all the cards that transform using Phyrexian mana, so there are a wide swath of cards this makes better, and it already has a great baseline. 4.5 1x in 50%

4.0 There are lots of Phyrexians in this set, including all the Incubate tokens, so a Phyrexian lord is already fairly well positioned! Offering +1/+1 and one turn of menace to your Phyrexians is going to have a big impact on a lot of boards, and the Butcher doesn’t stay dead either! 4.7 1x in 50%

4.0 This three mana 3/3 comes with some pretty nice ETB options. Early it is a reasonably efficient creature, and the later the game gets, the more likely you’ll be able to both pay the mana for the effects and make use of them. Even just gaining 4 and blowing up an Incubator is going to feel good for five mana, and exiling graveyards has some meaning in this format too. 4.5 1x in 50%

4.0 A 4-mana 4/4 is a pretty solid rate, and this can transform into a creature that can drastically upgrade another attacker every time it gets in there. 3 1x in 100%

5.0 This has great base stats, and while her ETB isn’t great in the later stages of the game, it certainly subtracts from your opponent’s board in some way or another. Like with the rest of these, transforming this isn’t exactly easy, but by the late game it is pretty likely you’ll be able to turn her into a Saga, and you may get it done even earlier if you’re playing Blue-Black -- and once this is a Saga, it is going to be pretty hard for you to lose. 4.9 1x in 50%

5.0 Like past Glissas, this one looks amazing. Her trigger happens at combat, so you are going to get some value out of her right away, and all three options are sweet. If you’ve already got a nice board, giving all of your Phyrexians First Strike and Deathtouch will make it impossible for your opponent to block effectively – if you’ve already got some incubator tokens that you need to transform, she can do that – and if you need to build out your board, she can give you incubator tokens. Because she gives you real value right away and snowballs from there 4.8 1x in 50%

Golgari	18 matches	2 decks
40.00% of Metagame
Temur	9 matches	1 decks
20.00% of Metagame
Selesnya	9 matches	1 decks
20.00% of Metagame
Simic	8 matches	1 decks
20.00% of Metagame

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March of the Machine: The Aftermath Draft Deck Metagame

Golgari card breakdown - 2 decks, 40% of meta

Creatures

Instant, Sorcery

Enchantment, Artifact

Planeswalkers

Lands

Top Rated Cards

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