Right so everyone is pretty excited about Dragons Maze, and everyone I talk to have already expressed there opinions of the new cards that we all get to peak at.
With all these guild cards, and the multicolor possibilities, it is impossible to know what you'll be up against. Yet there are some good strategies that'll bring your sealed deck to the next level!
In the how to play section, I will be expressing my opinions of each of the guild mechanics and the very powerful interactions between them, as well as the some of the popular mana fixing options that will be necessary to run a solid three color deck.
Feel free to comment, argue, post, and make new remarks on old things in the comment section. Not only Feel free to, but I encourage you to!
The first thing I would like to point out is, the Dragons' Maze set will be a much slower set then the previous two. It fortifies the block with more guild interactions, several new legendary creatures, and plenty of mana fixing options that are cheap and available. Those of you worried about keeping up with Aggro in this standard, you FINALLY have a much needed sigh of relief.
Let us take a look at our mana options then shall we? We are all familiar with the Keyrunes, chromatic lantern, the various gates of all the guilds, and for those of you who stalk wizards; the new cluestones. When you open your packs up, you are pretty much guaranteed six gates of some sort. If you are lucky, you'll have a few matching. Additionally, artifacts that tap for mana are entirely too common not to run in a deck that you build on the spot. Cluestones add additional draw power late game, and Keyrunes can change into creatures to swing with. With all this available to you, don't rule out three or four color decks immediately.
The Guilds:
Selesnya:
Selesnya hits at home for me, and is definitely going to be the guild I run with when I show up at my shop. Cards I am expecting to see? Well Call of the conclave for certain, seller of song birds, eyes in the skies, chorus of might, and a few others. Even if I don't get those, I am choosing it for one reason: Populate. It grabs a speed boost in dragons maze (were as most sets are decelerating) with wake the reflections which is a common. But some immediate foresight and past experience, has proven some strong synergy with boro's battalion, and simic evolve. One of my very first decks built out of gatecrash was indeed a Naya Legions deck, which was all about swarm. Simic can get uncontrolable with the right cards evolving with token production. Populate lose strength with detain, however the combo of the two can definitely slow down the other player while you build up on your tokens. All that said, I am expecting a definate combo with selesnya + orzhov, seeing as the fuse card is both those colors. Selesnya tempo adds so many different options and support to the table it definitely makes for a hard to beat color.
Simic:
Simic is all about making creatures that get lethal quick. Yet it is very reliant on a constant stream of creatures and counters. The major down fall to this guild: It isn't completely auto pilot! You have to know what you are doing! Not only that, you can't just grab any card that suits the colors. Yet the synergy with Evolve is massive. With scavenge, bloodrush, detain, populate, all bring fresh new combos to the table there are some very interesting things you can do. Cards to look for? Well the same ones you've been playing over and over, forced adaptation, bio shift, gyre sage, what have you. If you get the cards you need, this is more than leathal. Pump them up with evolve, then bloodrush them for some trample, or continue to pump them up with scavange? Perfect. Drop a creature, detain there blocker, swing for a bunch? Definitely. Counters and counter spells, simic has plenty of support to make a good deck biased around creatures.
Gruul:
Whats the enticing part about this guild? IT always has combat tricks. Swing, and bloodrush them to run over your opponents. Offers quick burn support, and is almost unstoppable when you add in scavenge. Gruul is all about fast, cheap, and definitely gets you more bang for your buck. Green Red Black with the Gruul Golgari Combo is looking like it will be a powerful mix. Otherwise, bloodrush doesn't seem to combo with too much, except to give added combat tricks.
Golgari:
Dredge and Scavenge. Which one to choose... BOTH! Dredge gets your stuff back at the cost of putting it in your graveyard, and scavenge buffs your stuff at the cost of exiling something and some mana. Its sorta cheating that they have two mechanics! Dredging and scavenge already work wonderfully with simic, but what about the others? Scavenge is an obvious plus one, since it buffs your creatures, but lets take a nice long look at dredge. Golgari and Dimir have some incredible grave play! Last thoughts? Give trample your cipher fodder, and then buff it with scavenge? All the while you are dredging to put more stuff on the field? It wouldn't be hard to pull! Dredge and Extort has the potential to take the game, since you can always get a spell and play it. Orzhov also features some good grave play with beckon arbitration.
Orzhov:
Orzhov is all about that life gain and life loss. Yet take a second look! They have amazing flying support as well! That amount of evasion makes Extort+ Cipher an instant win very powerful life gain deck. How? Well, swing over the top, cast a copy, extort the copy. Puts you very well out of kill range. That will defiantly be a good staple of the prerelease. Extort and Unleash can help is also an amazing combo, it doesn't trigger the extort, but it lets you swing in quickly, and keeps some life gain so you don't need to worry about blockers. Extort and Populate? Get a token get a life! It can be effective when you need stall for an overwhelming swing! Detain adds in some extra stall. However you run orzhov, it is a powerful mechanic.
Azorius:
The thing about this one, it combos really well with cipher! So you can start to see how esper in the dragons maze will be nearly unstoppable if it is built and ran right. Detain, Extort, Chiper. Detain is a good combat trick, just like blood rush. They don't combo with anything, but they definitely make attacking your opponent a lot easier. This is one of the most Auto Pilot mechanics. Drop a creature, stop the big one, swing out. It'll serve its purpose. You are looking for bounce, flicker, and things of that nature.
Izzet:
Overload. Izzet is all about not having dead draws. You can save your spells for late game, or use them immediately for some quick effect. Burn Counter is strong enough on its own but it pairs with blood rush, battalion, detain, and cipher. USA will possibly be the strongest build for this guild, pairing with boros for aggro or azorius for control. Izzet is an amazing support guild, and gives you some awesome things. Take a quick note though! Most of izzets creatures buff draw or copy instant and sorcery spells! So if you run some cipher, they'll constantly get the buff. The gruul bloodrush? Maybe, but you'll be looking for UWR or UBR.
Rakdos:
Think Removal support. Think Aggro. Think quick kills, and you have the game. Pair this one with gruul and you got the right Idea. IF you are aggro this is your second choice. It pairs very well with scavenge as well, and dredge for grave play. Another amazing support guild if you want a more mid-range deck.
Boros:
The most popular guild in gate crash. Very fast, very strong, and always indestructible. IT pairs with overload pretty well (dynacharge and Battalion for game) and add much needed aggro and control support! It likes Populate, it likes Extort, and it likes bloodrush. If you aren't looking for any combos, and just want to beat your opponent to death, it and any of its buddies will be the colors to do it.
Dimir:
Cipher. I mentioned its combos, and Esper will be broken. Combo with izzet? Definately, especially with all those sorcery spells going off!!