Draft Deck Meta

Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths 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.

Selesnya card breakdown - 41 decks, 1.98% of meta

Creatures

2.5 The Capridor is immune to damaging spells, and even gets bigger from them, which is kind of cool. That type of effect is a little situational, but you can actually take advantage of it yourself – sometimes it is right to turn your Divine Arrow into a combat tricks, especially because it turns this into a 5/7 that can end the game in a hurry. It is also a great creature to have at the bottom of a mutate pile, because Flying + that ability are pretty sweet. 2.9 1x in 27%

3.0 This is a Grizzly Bears with some nice upside. Making mutate creatures bigger and gaining you a bit of life is a very real bonus. And, I think your average Green deck will probably have 3-5 cards with Mutate, so it will be triggering regularly in most decks in this format. Something to keep in mind too, is that if you Mutate ON to this, it will start putting counters on the new Mutate creature, something that might be the ideal path to take sometimes 3.4 1x in 29%

2.5 This gives you two bodies with one card, and 4/4 worth of stats. In most sets that a solid card, and that’s what it is here. 2.1 1x in 29%

2.5 A three mana 2/4 with Vigilance is fine, and so is gaining 1 life every end step -- which is what it is when it is alone. The fact you gain more life the more Vigilance creatures you have is nice additional upside, but still not something amazing. I think this is just decent, and not much else. 2.9 1x in 29%

3.0 Like all one-mana cyclers, this is a pretty high pick, and way better than it looks! It can be a big defensive creature if that’s what you need, but you can also just throw it away to look for something better – while also triggering all of your cycling payoffs. 2.7 1x in 29%

2.0 This is some decent stats for three mana, especially because with Vigilance, he will often be able to attack on boards where he also happens to be a good blocker, and Vigilance lets him do both. 1.7 1x in 32%

2.0 Neither option here is great, but neither is bad, either. 1.4 1x in 34%

3.5 A three-mana ⅔ with Reach is usually playable, and this has good mutate upside. You can use it to lend reach to a creature who really needs it, if you are mutating it and putting it underneath a big creature, but the more valuable option will usually be to Mutate with this on top, since it will be a ⅘ who also gains the abilities of whatever is underneath it. 4 1x in 34%

4.0 Wow, this is real good, even on its own. A 4-mana ⅗ with Vigilance would probably be nice, and then this counts itself with its ability, so it can tap stuff down on its own. Being able to attack with this AND use that ability is seriously nice. Plus your other Vigilance creatures get that upgrade too, and it synergizes with them as well as it does the Felidar. 4.4 1x in 34%

2.5 This card is a real overperformer. A one-mana 1/1 with Trample is pretty laughable, but the ability is surprisingly effective, and you end up in situations where you can use it twice more often than you’d think! The Brushwagg is also great for mutating on to, since Trample and that ability are much better served on a larger creature. 2.4 1x in 37%

2.5 Making it so the only way it dies in combat is if your opponent has one creature that can do 3 damage is surprisingly effective, and grants it an evasive ability -- albeit a weak one. A 4-mana 4/3 is usually playable-ish anyway, and the upside here is real. 1.6 1x in 37%

2.5 This starts out with some pretty unimpressive stats, but the real value here comes from the Mutate, which will often give a pretty nice boost to one of your creatures – Flying AND a +1/+1 counter. Now, Mutate is inherently risky, and this isn’t the kind of mutate card that gives you some sort of value that sticks around no matter what – this will just die, and that will suck sometimes, but this can also be a pretty nice card for aggro decks trying to win in a hurry. 3.2 1x in 37%

2.5 Most of the time you’re going to go with the Flying option -- but sometimes First Strike will be better. It is nice on turn three, and then later in the game a nice thing to mutate on top of thanks to the keyword ability it brings with it. 2.1 1x in 39%

3.5 This isn’t QUITE Master Decoy -- they are identical other than that this costs an additional mana to tap stuff down -- but that’s close enough to Master Decoy to still be a pretty high quality common. Tap effects tend to be great, and it is a kind of pseudo-removal that is good all game long. It is better than usual in this format that is loaded up with huge monsters and Mutate, where tapping down one guy is bigger than it normally would. 2.5 1x in 46%
Instant, Sorcery

2.5 I start to be very interested in tricks once they have the possibility of allowing you to 2-for-1 your opponent for very little mana, and that’s definitely what we have here. In addition to that, because indestructibility is granted, you can use it to blank most removal spells too -- and generally at a price much cheaper than what your opponent is paying. This has a fine floor of +1/+1 and indestructibility, and a very impressive ceieling when you can give two things the boost -- and yeah, sometimes that will blow out the opponent. 3.1 1x in 12%

2.5 This is another situational card with Cycling. When this works, it can devastate your opponent. When it is useless (and it will be more often than not) you can Cycle it. 1.9 1x in 12%

1.5 The best tricks cost very little mana, and this doesn’t really deliver there. Still, it does give a pretty nice boost and permanently gives your creature Flying. That last part means that it can help you get in for lethal, or really alter a race in a hurry. Still, it has all the risks that tricks have – it is situational and you risk getting 2-for-1’d. 1.4 1x in 15%

2.5 This isn’t an amazing trick, two for +2/+2 is nice, but not something that would even make the cut all that often. The defensive side of things is kind of interesting, in that the boost is permanent if you use it when you’re blocking. The thing that really saves Will of the all-Hunter from being terrible, though, is Cycling! It is a big deal in this set, and that makes this a solid playable for sure. 2.5 1x in 15%

1.0 This doesn’t give a big enough boost to help your creature win combat often enough, and a Reach counter isn’t very exciting. 1.2 1x in 17%

2.0 Most of the time, this will just be Green Divination, which is fine, but not amazing. Sometimes it will draw you more – but sometimes it will also draw you less. 2.1 1x in 17%

2.5 All the cards with Cycling in this set are way better than they look. They are functionally split cards that you can just cycle when what they do doesn’t matter. Plus, if you’re in RW you’re really looking for a critical mass of these and will just jam all of them into your deck. And..yeah, sometimes this effect doesn’t matter, since you need to be going wide. But you can just cycle it away! Then, when it does matter, it will feel pretty great. 1.7 1x in 20%

2.0 If you can set this up reliably to get two cards back from your graveyard, it is a decent thing to have a singleton copy of, since in the late game it can really pull you ahead. 1.2 1x in 20%

3.5 I really like the places they chose to put Cycling in this set -- and this is a great example of that. When you need to ramp or find mana of a specific color, this does the job really well. In fact, if you have a couple of these, it even potentially enables you splashing a double colored card. But one of the downsides of ramp spells like this, is that if you already have all the mana you need, casting it might not be the optimal thing to do. Instead, you can just Cycle it away and try to find something else. As I’ve been saying a lot -- this makes cards that have effects that have diminishing returns, or that have narrow effects, a lot better than they would be otherwise. 3.5 1x in 20%

2.5 This is situational for sure, but this format has a whole lot of big bois, so it is a little better than usual. It is also an Instant, which means you can sometimes really get a blow out. 2.4 1x in 27%

1.0 This is modal, but none of the effects on it are especially good. 1.6 1x in 27%

3.0 This is certainly situational, but also fairly efficient. You’re going to be spending only two mana to kill something, which will usually be less than your opponent paid for their creature. It might fall a little short of premium, but it is a nice removal spell. 2.8 1x in 29%

3.5 One White mana to exile a tapped creature is pretty good. It might be situational, but it is crazy efficient. Obviously, this isn’t quite that -- it makes you tap one of your creatures to pay for the cost, and that won’t always be a cost you can easily pay. The upside is that the creature you tap also gets a +1/+1 counter, though -- so you get to kill something and make one of your creature’s permanently bigger, and that feels really good. You upgrade your board while significantly downgrading your opponents’, all for one mana! 3.6 1x in 29%

4.0 This is a great removal spell for Green. First, it is NOT a fight card, but a “punch” card – that is, your creature damages the opposing creature, but it doesn’t get damaged itself! That makes it much less risky, even if you do need to be a little careful, since if your creature that is Ramming Through gets killed in response, you get 2-for-1’d. But the upside here is well worth that! As an Instant, you will more easily find situations that aren’t risky, AND it has the Trample upside that will sometimes be crazy. This is premium removal. 3.6 1x in 39%
Enchantment, Artifact

2.5 The crystals all provide good fixing – something you want a lot of the time in this format – and they all have Cycling, which means when you draw one and don’t really need the fixing, you can just throw it away to draw another card. 2 1x in 2%

3.5 That draw you a card every turn are very powerful, it is the kind of card advantage that just becomes insurmountable for your opponent. And sure, you DO have to meet a requirement to draw that card, but even if you can’t draw a card, a +1/+1 counter every turn is nice too -- and obviously it also means that you will be able to get your creature big enough to start drawing cards with it eventually. 3.3 1x in 2%

2.0 I have a hard time getting behind Auras that don’t give you some sort of value to offset the colossal risk of getting 2-for-1’d -- and this doesn’t do that. Which is even worse because it costs 7 mana, so you will take a huge tempo hit too. Still, it is the kind of card where, if you get to untap, you have a good chance at winning. It is a very swingy card, but if you are good at making mana and have several evasive creatures, it will probably make the cut. 3.6 1x in 2%

3.0 That can be truly devastating in some situations, where you have say 4 humans in play, and can just tap down both of your opponent’s blockers at the end of their turn. This means that this card is useful in multiple scenarios, whether being aggressive or defensive. Still, the Human deck is one that doesn’t always come together well in this format, and I think that hurts this card a little bit. 2.4 1x in 2%

1.5 You’ll play this if you end up with enough flash in UB, or if you’re desperate for removal, OR if you have Lurrus. But that’s pretty much it. 1 1x in 5%

0.0 // 3.0 You can't really play this unless you have a ton of counters, and that is very far from a foregone conclusion in this format. Still, if you do end up with a lot, having somewhere to save them is pretty powerful. 4.2 1x in 5%

2.5 The crystals all provide good fixing – something you want a lot of the time in this format – and they all have Cycling, which means when you draw one and don’t really need the fixing, you can just throw it away to draw another card. 2.3 1x in 10%

1.5 This is an interesting Vigilance payoff, and you’ll play it sometimes if you have enough Vigilance, because in those scenarios it gives a big boost for only one mana. You’ll cut this a lot, though. 1.3 1x in 22%

4.0 Pacifism is a great card every time we see it in Limited -- which is a lot! Two mana to take away what are normally the two most important things creatures can do Limited -- attacking and blocking -- is just amazing efficiency, and it makes Pacifism a premium removal spell. 3.7 1x in 34%
Planeswalkers

5.0 Well, this is a bomb. Her static ability means that a decent chunk of the time, you effectively have an additional card in your hand. And it is even possible to rip through more than one card if you have enough mana and creatures on top of your library. Additionally, her +1 is very effective at protecting her, and that’s usually something you want with your Planeswalkers in Limited. Getting a 3/3 is nice, especially because it can have Reach if you want it to. Sometimes you play a walker and yeah, you can make a creature token -- but your opponent has flyers so your Walker isn’t staying around. This Beast does a good job of locking things down even in the air. Her -2 is also quite powerful, especially because it synergizes so well with her static ability, which will make it more likely you can cast a creature on a given turn. Vivien’s one weakness is her relatively low Loyalty, and the fact that she doesn’t exactly raise it quickly -- but that’s nitpicking, especially because she will frequently do a good job of protecting herself with the Beast token. 5 1x in 15%
Lands

3.0 As always, these provide nice fixing, and the 1 life is a solid bonus. 1.7 1x in 7%

3.0 As always, these provide nice fixing, and the 1 life is a solid bonus. 2.4 1x in 7%

3.0 As always, these provide nice fixing, and the 1 life is a solid bonus. 1.8 1x in 7%

3.0 As always, this provides excellent fixing. It lets you splash a card off of only a single basic land, and that’s great consistency. Even in a two color deck, the impact it has on your mana is substantial. 2.9 1x in 27%

3.0 As always, these provide nice fixing, and the 1 life is a solid bonus. 1.6 1x in 37%
Top Rated Cards

4.0 A 4-mana 4/4 with Reach and Trample is great. Mutate Naturalize is nice too, as is being able to put this on to something to make it a 4/4 and give some extra keyword abilities. I always like being able to run mainboard Artifact and Enchantment hate, and this makes that really easy. 5 1x in 10%

4.0 This can just be a 4-mana ⅗ with lifelink, a pretty attractive card already.It also holds on to the Mutate upside even if you just cast it normally, so that if mutating ever happens in the future, you still get those Cat tokens. You can also cast it for the mutate cost, and either put it on top of or under another non-Human creature you control. If the creature is bigger than 3/5 you probably want to put the warden underneath it, effectively giving a big creature lifelink and making a couple of tokens. If it is smaller, you probably want to put it on top, making whatever it is into a ⅗ with lifelink, plus whatever abilities it had, and you also get those two 1/1 tokens. Either way, you’re getting a great deal. 4.8 1x in 12%

4.0 This is one of the premier cycling payoffs, since if you play it on turn one it can huge quite rapidly. It also has Cycling itself, so if you draw it late and you have another Cycling payoff you’re trying to win with, you can just cycle it away! 4 1x in 12%

4.0 Pacifism is a great card every time we see it in Limited -- which is a lot! Two mana to take away what are normally the two most important things creatures can do Limited -- attacking and blocking -- is just amazing efficiency, and it makes Pacifism a premium removal spell. 3.7 1x in 34%

4.0 Wow, this is real good, even on its own. A 4-mana ⅗ with Vigilance would probably be nice, and then this counts itself with its ability, so it can tap stuff down on its own. Being able to attack with this AND use that ability is seriously nice. Plus your other Vigilance creatures get that upgrade too, and it synergizes with them as well as it does the Felidar. 4.4 1x in 34%

4.0 This is a great removal spell for Green. First, it is NOT a fight card, but a “punch” card – that is, your creature damages the opposing creature, but it doesn’t get damaged itself! That makes it much less risky, even if you do need to be a little careful, since if your creature that is Ramming Through gets killed in response, you get 2-for-1’d. But the upside here is well worth that! As an Instant, you will more easily find situations that aren’t risky, AND it has the Trample upside that will sometimes be crazy. This is premium removal. 3.6 1x in 39%

4.5 This guy doesn’t stay dead, and I always like that, especially in Limited where that type of resilience is crazy. And sure, you have to have something for it to Mutate with, but that isnt’ a big ask. Usually, it will lead to a heavily upgraded creature -- normally you’ll be putting Brokkos on top to get the 6/6 trample, and then you will of course have any abilities of the cards underneath it, which is pretty sweet. The whole graveyard thing means that you will always be able to drasticaly upgrade a creature, even from your graveyard. All the Apex creatures have hybrid mana in their cost too, which means it is easier to paly this than it might seem at first glance, as you don’t even necessarily have to splash anything, since two-color decks can pay for the Mutate cost. 4.9 1x in 2%

4.5 Even on its own, it is pretty likely that the Crusher will make a dinosaur when it attacks. As a 5-mana 6/6 with Trample, it has the kind of size that is a real problem. And, if you happen to have something with trample in play the turn you play it, it can actually impact the board right away when that creature attacks! This thing will just snowball as more dinosaurs with Trample get made, and it will take over the game. 4.4 1x in 2%

4.5 Yorion is generally not going to be worth going the companion route with, since you have to go with sub-par cards to get there. Kind of a funny thing is that BEFORE companion got nerfed, it was actually worth doing, but having to pay 3 mana at some point to grab Yorion downgrades things enough that I’m less inclined to want to go all in on companion. But the good news is, Yorion is still a bomb in your deck! The efficient stats and the flicker effect are just great. 4.8 1x in 5%

4.5 This is pretty silly for an Uncommon. It definitely feels like it could have been a Rare as a result of how complex and powerful it is. So, let’s break this down. At worst, you have a 5-mana 6/6. But this gives you SO much more! If you pay its Mutate cost, or mutate something else on to it, it has a very powerful Mutate trigger that lets you put permanents on to the battlefield for free! You can also make sure it Mutates that first time by paying the Mutate cost for it and putting it on one of your creatures. The first time it Mutates, you get the top permanent from your library -- and sure, good chance it is a land, but a free land isn’t a bad thing. You also have a reasonable chance of hitting something real. Then, if you really stack the Mutate high here, things will get really silly. The free permanents really offset the risk of going all in one mutate creature -- and this is really what the Starrix wants you to be doing. 4.4 1x in 27%

5.0 Making Keruga a companion might look a little risky, because it means you’re not doing anything on your first couple of turns – but it is actually easier than it looks. First, this format isn’t crazy fast, so it has that going for it. Second, there is a lot of Cycling int his set, so even if you technically are meeting the Companion requirement, you can still cycle on early turns before getting to three mana. Generally, Keruga will be like a 5-mana 5/4 that draws you two cards – and sometimes way more than that! Sure, you have to pay 3 to get it into your hand and all that, but it is well worth it. It is also a companion that still feels like a bomb even if you don’t mean the companion requirement. 4.5 1x in 2%

5.0 A 4-mana ¾ flyer is already a great rate for Limited. Then, this has a super powerful ability. Making all of your non-flying creatures come back from the graveyard with flying is insane. The Broodmoth will frequently destabilize the board. I mean, think about it -- you play your Moth, and suddenly you can attack with a bunch of creatures you may not have wanted to attack with before. This puts your opponent in a nasty situation, where they have to decide whether to just take damage, or block them and let them come back as Flyers. In many ways, this means the Broodmoth has an immediate impact on the board, since it will in most cases at least make combat hard for your opponent, even if they untap and kill the moth right away. 5 1x in 7%

5.0 Well, this is a bomb. Her static ability means that a decent chunk of the time, you effectively have an additional card in your hand. And it is even possible to rip through more than one card if you have enough mana and creatures on top of your library. Additionally, her +1 is very effective at protecting her, and that’s usually something you want with your Planeswalkers in Limited. Getting a 3/3 is nice, especially because it can have Reach if you want it to. Sometimes you play a walker and yeah, you can make a creature token -- but your opponent has flyers so your Walker isn’t staying around. This Beast does a good job of locking things down even in the air. Her -2 is also quite powerful, especially because it synergizes so well with her static ability, which will make it more likely you can cast a creature on a given turn. Vivien’s one weakness is her relatively low Loyalty, and the fact that she doesn’t exactly raise it quickly -- but that’s nitpicking, especially because she will frequently do a good job of protecting herself with the Beast token. 5 1x in 15%

5.0 A 6-mana 7/6 that fights something when it comes into play is already a bomb, and there’s a lot more text than that here! It can blow up artifacts or enchantments, and bounce a Human to make himself indestructible. Sure, those two things won’t always come up, but because the baseline is so good, I don’t really care. Kogla does ask for triple Green, but that’s not the biggest ask by turn 6 in a two-color deck. 4.7 1x in 22%

Sultai	1846 matches	217 decks
10.50% of Metagame
Golgari	1818 matches	214 decks
10.36% of Metagame
Orzhov	1765 matches	208 decks
10.07% of Metagame
Boros	1251 matches	147 decks
7.12% of Metagame
Jeskai	1216 matches	144 decks
6.97% of Metagame
Abzan	1195 matches	141 decks
6.82% of Metagame
Mardu	1026 matches	122 decks
5.91% of Metagame
Rakdos	995 matches	117 decks
5.66% of Metagame
Simic	990 matches	116 decks
5.61% of Metagame
Dimir	748 matches	90 decks
4.36% of Metagame
Temur	685 matches	79 decks
3.82% of Metagame
Izzet	653 matches	76 decks
3.68% of Metagame
Azorius	408 matches	48 decks
2.32% of Metagame
Jund	388 matches	47 decks
2.27% of Metagame
Gruul	374 matches	43 decks
2.08% of Metagame
Bant	365 matches	43 decks
2.08% of Metagame
Selesnya	351 matches	41 decks
1.98% of Metagame
Esper	280 matches	33 decks
1.60% of Metagame
Naya	206 matches	24 decks
1.16% of Metagame
Grixis	198 matches	23 decks
1.11% of Metagame
Four Color (Non-red)	154 matches	18 decks
0.87% of Metagame
Four Color (Non-black)	143 matches	17 decks
0.82% of Metagame
Four Color (Non-green)	113 matches	13 decks
0.63% of Metagame
Four Color (Non-white)	95 matches	11 decks
0.53% of Metagame
Four Color (Non-blue)	74 matches	9 decks
0.44% of Metagame
Mono Black	58 matches	7 decks
0.34% of Metagame
Five Color	57 matches	7 decks
0.34% of Metagame
Mono Blue	31 matches	4 decks
0.19% of Metagame
Mono Green	25 matches	3 decks
0.15% of Metagame
Mono White	24 matches	3 decks
0.15% of Metagame
Mono Red	8 matches	1 decks
0.05% of Metagame

Decks by color

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Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths Draft Deck Metagame

Selesnya card breakdown - 41 decks, 1.98% of meta

Creatures

Instant, Sorcery

Enchantment, Artifact

Planeswalkers

Lands

Top Rated Cards

Enter The Battlefield Prepared