Discussion: Archetypes of EMN Draft
Limited forum
Posted on July 31, 2016, 2:46 p.m. by Dracoson
Now that I've got a few drafts under my belt, I thought I'd share some of my impressions with the community, and maybe get their thoughts on some of the other archetypes (I'd really like to know how well 
Spells comes together, as I have neither drafted nor played against it yet).
The big one that I wanted to share was 
Zombies. It was possibly the weakest deck in Triple SOI, but it has shot up the ranks in my estimation. The removal is there (Murder obviously, but I've also been impressed with Ruthless Disposal and even Borrowed Malevolence). You can use Wretched Gryff to good effect especially with some of the blue Emerge enablers, and Liliana's Elite and Haunted Dead. Cemetery Recruitment often comes late in the packs, and it's great as a 1 or 2 of. The biggest drawback seems to be that you aren't going to get passed too many of the best cards in the deck, but you can still get most of the key pieces. Generally, you are going to end up here because you first took either a black bomb or one of the top tier removal spells, and the next few picks lined up with them.
Anyone else have the same thoughts on the archetype? How about another? What have you been drafting?
Unforgivn_II says... #3
I won my draft with a UG Enchantment deck, with a White splash for Balance, Mesa Enchantress and Armadillo Cloak. I had basically no removal (just one Gaseous Form), and not enough creatures as well. I felt terrible about it going in, but Ancestral Mask, Elephant Guide and Armadillo Cloak are just that good, especially when you slap them on a Phantom Monster. Jetting Glasskite was also a huge bomb, even though you can't enchant it (although I had to for lethal one game. Targeted it once, ate the counter, then used the second aura for the win). My draft was incredibly bad (the guy to my right was drafting blue), and while I do think the archetype has promise, I wouldn't recommend it.
July 31, 2016 11:52 p.m.
@Unforgivn_II, we're discussing Eldritch Moon Draft, not Eternal Masters. Eternal Masters is EMA.
August 1, 2016 12:30 a.m.
@PhotogenicParasympathetic, I considered doing an article after the full spoiler was released, but when I outlined it, it was quite a bit bigger than I had expected. In any given format there's generally somewhere between 5-10 distinct archetypes. The balancing act between giving each archetype enough substance while keeping a reasonable article length (probably something like 500 words) is daunting. I don't know,maybe If this generates enough discussion, I'll try to figure something out for Kaladesh.
August 1, 2016 1:18 a.m.
Unforgivn_II says... #6
So sorry. I saw the "EM" in EMN and just assumed. My bad
August 1, 2016 2:04 a.m. Edited.
Oletorpedo says... #7
Having only played the format three times, i don't have a full grasp on the format yet, but i'll weigh in on my first impressions.
The W/G humans deck is really solid when it comes together.Important commons include Crossroads Consecrator, Backwoods Survivalists, Prey Upon, Choking Restraints and Sigardian Priest. There are a number of uncommons as well. The deck is beat down, and is at its best when it can flood the board with potent threats early.
Red beatdown is also a thing, splashing one of the other colors. Does not rely much on synergy, but you could potentially go B for a more streamlined vampire/madness-deck or green for a werewolf deck.
(if you want to go full on madness, Olivia's Dragoon is a must have, preferably more than one.)
Delerium has also gotten a lot of neat cards with EMN, the big ones being Backwoods Survivalists and Boon of Emrakul IMO.
Have not yet seen a dedicated U/G emerge deck yet, and i suspect it being because it wants a lot of uncommons.
PhotogenicParasympathetic says... #2
This sounds like a solid start to an article series. Talk about different draft archetypes, key cards to look for, things worth value drafting, things worth hate drafting, etc. And, you'd only need to do one every couple months as draft changes.
Heck, I'd read it.
July 31, 2016 6:27 p.m.