After Round 11 of Pro Tour Nagoya had concluded and all the draft results were in, we checked to see which players managed a perfect performance with 40-card decks:
Player | Draft 1 | Draft 2 |
Sze Hang Chan | Green-White Infect | Black-Green Infect |
Francesco Cipolleschi | Green-White Dinosaurs | White-Blue Evasion |
Patrick Dickmann | White-Blue Evasion | White-Blue Metalcraft |
Tsuyoshi Fujita | White-Blue Evasion | Blue-Red Metalcraft |
Nassim Ketita | Red-White Removal | Blue-Red Aggro |
Ben Stark | Black-Green Infect | Red-White Metalcraft |
Looking at the decks drafted by the six players who went undefeated in the draft portions, we see that the trend was to be aggressive. Six of the twelve undefeated decks were blue based. These decks each had their fair share of flying and unblockable creatures like Spined Thopter, Trespassing Souleater, and Gust Skimmer. Conveniently, these creatures being artifacts means that they fit perfectly in metalcraft builds as well as the traditional evasion decks.
Infect proved to still have what it takes to win a draft pod. All three of the undefeated Infect decks were green based. Not only did green provide quality infect creatures like Cystbearer and Rot Wolf, but each of these decks took advantage of the pump spells green had to offer. Untamed Might and Mutagenic Growth lead the charge, but the occasional Mirran Mettle made the cut.
As with most trends, there are exceptions. Two undefeated decks managed to take a slower more controlling route to victory. Red-White removal had been a powerful archetype in the earlier draft formats. Shatter and Arrest still prove to be valuable spells that can efficiently answer your opponent's threats. Dinosaurs like Thundering Tanadon and Alpha Tyrranax often saw play in many archetypes, but one Green-White deck managed to get to 3-0 by combining the two.
If you are looking to follow along with the pros and their draft picks, check out the draft viewers posted from the top table during each day of coverage.