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Mastering Masters Edition 4

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Masters Edition 4 is a very solid format to apply "going infinite" philosophy to, offering several cards that will pay for the full cost of a draft outright and a myriad of smaller cards you can comfortably rare draft for value in 4-3-2-2 brackets while you prepare for 8-4.

You're going to be on the lookout for Library of Alexandria and Mishra's Workshop. Not only are these cards the most expensive in the set, but they will also enable you to win games. Mishra's Workshop takes a little deckbuilding around, but the Library should give you a definitive game win any time you draw it in your opening hand.

Master's Edition 4 also features the complete set of original dual lands, and although their value has declined due to this reprinting, they are still in-demand rares that should retain decent prices, as Master's Edition formats have relatively short lifetimes and quickly become nice formats during their nix-tix runs. Along with the dual lands, Sinkhole, Maze of Ith, Sol Ring, Time Vault, and Demonic Tutor are all profitable choices depending on what you may have to sacrifice to pick them up (most of them you'd like to play anyway).

As far as drafting the set goes, it's generally a slow format. You can attempt to turn the speed on with a deck built around Righteous Charge, Goblin Shrine, or Urzatron into Ebony Rhino, but typically these strategies are one trick ponies that sacrifice too much and can be defeated by sound drafting.

And there's something else very important to frame your Masters Edition 4 drafts around – Artifacts are almost as prevalent here as they are in Scars of Mirrodin. There's a lot of them, and almost every deck is going to have plenty, making removal spells that might be passed by at first glance very powerful.

Detonate, Dust to Dust, Primitive Justice and Divine Offering are passed up by novice drafters for more flashy cards, but these spells are as good or better as some of the Scars of Mirrodin artifact removal spells that go very high in the pick order.

My colors of choice, if they are available, are red and blue, with white fairly close behind.

Red is flooded with a deluge of powerful commons and uncommons. Detonate, Fireball(!), Lava Flow, Primitive Justice, Roc of Kher Ridges, Rockslide Ambush, Ogre Taskmaster, Fire Imp, and Two-Headed Giant of Foriys are all incredible picks, and you'll notice many of them are removal.

Goblin Firestarter is also a great late-pick option for defeating some of the format's dangerous 1 toughness drops like Cloud Spirit, Phantasmal Forces, and Talas Researcher.

Blue's common/uncommon slots are also potent. Aggressive flyers like Cloud Spirit and Phantasmal Forces can end a game before the opponent even has a chance to hit back, while the original Counterspell and False Summoning can shut anything down.

Giant Tortoise provides a solid ground defense, Owl Familiar is great for finding land early or throwing it away later, and Symbol of Unsummoning provides excellent tempo for your flying assault without losing card advantage. Air Elemental, Prodigal Sorcerer, and Talas Researcher occupy the go-to uncommon slots.

White has a lot to offer as well. With the aforementioned artifact removal options, white boasts some solid creature removal with Just Fate and Swords to Plowshares and an impressive aerial package containing Serra Angel, Spotted Griffin, Wild Aesthir, and Wild Griffin.

Black is not without merit, but many of the cards it hinges on are in demand and reside in uncommon slots. If you're looking to play black you'll have to pay premium mana costs for your staple evasive creature, the Prowling Nightstalker. Sengir Vampire is around and an excellent choice if black is being pitched around the table.

You've got Terror and Soul Shred to handle your removal needs and some wonderful cards like Dakmor Plague to clean boards, but outside of that you'll have to commit to dangerous risks like Foul Spirit to get the job done. It might look real nice getting 3 points of air on the board but you're going to regret paying that land when it gets hit by a removal spell or just runs into any of the other efficient blue or white flyers.

Green is ill advised. While green contains an eclectic mix of artifact hate and 3 power creatures (and the set number you need to be considered a "real" creature is 4 power, able to go through Giant Tortoise and Yotian Soldier) and some landwalkers. There's no removal outside of Bee Sting and Crumble, and Radjan Spirit is a poor substitute for Giant Spider.

Squall can be a sideboard solution to flying swarms and there's plenty of artifact hating creatures here if you face an Urzatron build, but generally steer clear of this color completely. Dropping piles of Ironhoof Ox starting on turn 5 and continuously churning them out may not seem like a bad idea, but you'll be way behind and at the mercy of anything with evasion.

Artifacts – There's lots of them, and a lot of them are great choices to occupy your deckspace. Due to Urza Land inclusion in Masters Edition 4, it's actually possible to build your entire deck around giant artifacts like Ebony Rhino/Obsianus Golem/Diabolic Machine and some random X spells like Fireball, Howl from Beyond, Braingeyser, or even just a charged up Dragon Engine.

If you're not looking to Tron it up, there's still plenty of excellent artifacts to choose from. Yotian Soldier has the essential 4 toughness for all your ground blocking needs, Primal Clay lets you choose the right solution for the situation, and Grapeshot Catapult can take out potentially deadly flying threats.

Icy Manipulator makes an appearance in the uncommon slot and is exceedingly useful in almost any situation, and Horn of Deafening is highly underrated for what can often be a game breaking ability in a format that almost all damage comes from creatures.

Clay Statue is another great creature suited to both offense and defense, Clockwork Avian provides something to compete with the other 4/4 flyers, and Aesthir Glider can fill slots that you don't have "real" flying creatures for. Onulet is playable again, but not as strong as it was in Masters Edition.

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