It may be time for some changes. You may think that you’ve got limited with Scars of Mirrodin block figured out, but New Phyrexia may just have something to say about it. NPH brings some new elements into play that should have an impact on the best way to approach Scars block limited.

When it comes to draft, I have a couple maxims I live by:

1. There will always be an archetype that is better than the others.
2. If everyone drafted it, it would no longer be the best one.
3. There will always be plenty of people willing to not draft the best archetype.

As a result, I usually lean heavily toward drafting the best or second-best archetype every time. At the first draft Pro Tour, the best color was Red, followed by Black and Blue, in part because they had the best spells: Fireball, Disintegrate, Howl from Beyond, Drain Life, Power Sink, and Spell Blast. Leading up to the PT, I went to several draft tournaments and learned that these were easily the strongest colors. I was a little worried that everyone would realize this at the event and it would be a free-for-all, but I decided I wasn’t going to be the chump stuck drafting Green and/or White. I drafted R/B or R/U at every table, and I finished third at that Pro Tour. During the Mercadian Masques draft PT, Blue/White Rebels was the way to go, and I drafted it at every table and made Top 16. I even drafted it to the left of someone else doing it, and went 2–1 at that table.

It’s not always this simple, of course. If you happen to become an expert at a powerful draft archetype that no one else is drafting, sometimes that can be even better. It depends on the set/sets you’re drafting with. When playing in the Tempest block draft PT, I had just that good fortune. It was commonly accepted that Red/White Shadow aggression was the best archetype (and it was). I had discovered an overlooked Black/Green archetype designed around Endangered Armodon. It was all about creatures either big enough to be friends with the Armodon or spike creatures that I could move when I drew an Armodon. I drafted mass removal for weenies with high picks: Evincar's Justice and Nausea. Not only were the Black removal cards great against Shadow rush, but they didn’t kill any of my creatures. Since neither Black and Green were popular colors and Endangered Armodons were considered useless cards that tabled over and over (but a 4/5 for 4 in my deck), my decks were awesome. I finished ninth on tie-breakers.

Scars block doesn’t require as much subtlety. Before the addition of New Phyrexia, I was a firm believer in drafting aggressive Red/White Metalcraft every time. The quality of the commons/uncommons in Red and White were high enough that there are usually plenty of juicy choices the first few picks, even if the person feeding you is drafting the same thing. The beauty of it is that you want to draft as many artifacts as possible, so it’s hard to ever have a pack without any playables for you to choose from. Ordinarily, if you ended up with only eight or nine colored playables that you got early in packs before those colors dried up, you’d be in trouble. Now it’s pretty much what you’re shooting for. The other good news is that while Red and White are somewhat popular, Metalcraft itself isn’t. Cards like Auriok Sunchaser and Ghalma's Warden frequently go very late in drafts.

I forced Red/White Metalcraft at both tables at the Star City Games Draft Open in Massachusetts, and I won the tournament. I’m not saying other archetypes aren’t viable, and I’m sure many of you have glorious stories of drafts you’ve won using Infect or some kind of Green dinosaur deck, but I’m saying that Red/White Metalcraft is the best archetype. If for some reason I was able to convince everyone that I was correct, I would become incorrect. While the other seven drafters at my table were only taking Red, White, and artifact cards, I would start drafting B/G Infect. I have no fear of this, however; there will always be plenty of people who think I’m crazy.

What about the addition of New Phyrexia, though? New Phyrexia introduced one major new mechanic and a couple interesting new cycles of cards. These will be important to consider when attempting to draft and play Scars block optimally. Let’s start by considering the implications of the new mechanic: Phyrexian mana.

There are three things that the existence of this mechanic seems to suggest to me:

1. Aggressive decks benefit the most from it. Being able to use your life as a resource to play cards faster than normal and even to play cards without the corresponding color of mana in your deck allows you to gain greater tempo. Commons like Slash Panther, Spined Thopter, Mutagenic Growth, Porcelain Legionnaire, and Immolating Souleater all seem perfect in an aggressive deck that’s keeping the pressure on the opponent’s life total in the early game and keeping your own life total unmolested in the process.
2. Infect seems hurt by this. Not only do none of the Phyrexian-mana cards have Infect, but if you’re trying to poison your opponent, he can use his life as a resource with no penalty imposed by you.
3. The fact that your opponent may want to use this mechanic is another reason to play aggressive decks. The faster you can lower his life total, the weaker you make this mechanic for him.

Obviously, these conclusions just reinforce my desire to play an aggressive deck, and the fact that so many of the Phyrexian-mana cards are artifacts goes well with my inclination to play Metalcraft. There are also a couple interesting cycles of cards introduced in New Phyrexia:

• Every color has a rare 7-drop that has an ability you can use by revealing it when it’s in your opening hand; these are the Chancellors.
• Each color also has an uncommon Shrine associated with it. They have charge-counter abilities and can receive charges faster if you’re playing the related color.

Obviously, both of these should have much less impact on the format than Phyrexian mana, but especially in the case of the Shrines (since the Chancellors are rare), it’s worth considering their impact. The first question is, which Shrines are best in draft?

1. Shrine of Loyal Legions – This is really scary on turn two, especially when you’re playing against a White deck. Early in the game, it’s a cheap artifact to help you get Metalcraft, then just when your opponent thinks he’s going to stabilize, this makes a great finisher.
2. Shrine of Burning Rage – Damage that can be used either on players or creatures is always powerful in limited. It may be a little slow, but it serves as another cheap artifact while you’re waiting for the counters to build up.
3. Shrine of Piercing Vision – Basically a slow tutor that helps you get to Metalcraft while you’re waiting. The fact that you have all your mana available the turn that you use it is exciting; you can get an expensive bomb that’s just right for the situation and play it immediately.
4. Shrine of Boundless Growth – Generally not good in limited. If you’re playing a couple 7-drops (I don’t recommend it) and maybe an spell or two, this might become an exciting card.
5. Shrine of Limitless Power – Usually going to be really bad in limited. Spending a total of 7 mana to not affect the board or life totals isn’t great, plus your opponent has time to either save up some excess land or more likely empty their hand of important cards.

None of these cards are particularly helpful to an Infect strategy, and they all at least help you get Metalcraft. The top two not only help you kill your opponent with damage, but happen to be the two colors I most want to play anyway: Red and White.

As far as the Chancellors go, this just means that there are going to be an even greater number of powerful 7-drops that people are going to be tempted to draft and play. As a result, this means even more incentive to draft and build a deck that tries to kill your opponent before he gets to 7 mana.

Obviously, there are cards that benefit Infect in New Phyrexia, but part of the problem is that some of the best are in colors other than Black or Green, which makes it harder to draft a good Infect deck. Lost Leonin is a powerful Infect card, but when you’re drafting a White Infect deck, you’re gonna be in trouble when you open your Scars of Mirrodin pack and there aren’t any White Infect cards.

So what I’m saying is, keep drafting aggressive Red/White Metalcraft. I’ve felt it was the way to go since the introduction of Scars of Mirrodin, and every additional set has made me even more certain that it’s the way to go. Phyrexia may be new, but the best archetype to draft isn’t.