In this detailed Wilds of Eldraine guide, you can find information about Drafts, Pick Order, and Archetypes. Learn how to draft and what to pick in the current patch. You can also find a tier list of the best Limited cards.
Wilds of Eldraine Limited Tier List, Pick Order and Draft Guide
You can find the detailed video guide prepared by the author here. We strongly recommend you to watch the author’s video. Also don’t forget to like!
Roles
Some cards create “Role” Tokens. These are colourless Aura Enchantments that grant one of 6 different bonuses based on their type. As a quick way to remember, they all grant +1/+1 and a minor ability with the exception of “Young Hero” which gives a +1/+1 counter on attacking if the creature’s toughness is 3 or less (and can do so multiple times) and “Cursed” which makes a Creature 1/1 and is intended for an opponent’s Creature. Role Tokens go to the Graveyard when a new Role by the same controller is put on a creature. They immediately cease to exist, since they are tokens, but hitting the Graveyard matters for certain cards in this set. Look for cards that trigger when an Aura or Enchantment enters or goes to the Graveyard, cards with the Bargain ability, and cards that care about multiple permanents entering.
Bargain
As an additional cost to cast this spell, you may sacrifice an artifact, enchantment, or token. The spell will then gain the specified additional effects, or cost less mana. Role, Food, and Rat tokens are great things to Bargain away.
Celebration
Celebration rewards us for having two or more nonland permanents enter the battlefield under our control in a single turn. Look for Creatures that also make Role, Rat, Food, or other tokens.
Adventure
Adventure cards can first be cast as their “Adventure” Instant or Sorcery side and can later be cast as their Creature (or permanent) side. You can also skip the Adventure and just cast the Creature. If an adventure spell is countered by another spell or by having illegal targets, the whole spell is countered and the Creature side will not be available.
Adventures have been historically very powerful as built-in card advantage and synergize well with cards that care about Instants and Sorceries.
Food
Some cards create Food Tokens which count as artifacts, have the subtype “Food”, and can be sacrificed for 2 mana to gain 3 life. Certain cards will have other fun uses for Food. Food Tokens can also be Bargained.
Wilds of Eldraine Limited Tier List
Archetypes: Here is an overview of each Colour-Pair Archetype. We’ll want to end up in one of these by the end of the draft. I’ve grouped these into Tiers with 1 being the most powerful and 3 being decks to draft with caution.
Tier 0
Black-Red Rats. Signpost Uncommons: Totentanz, Swarm Piper, Callous Sellsword
Black-Red cares about our own creatures dying and the Rat creature type. Look for cards that make multiple creatures like Lord Skitter’s Butcher, Voracious Vermin, Edgewall Pack, and Ratcatcher Trainee. Then pump up your Rat army with Twisted Sewer-Witch, Gnawing Crescendo, and Tattered Ratter. Back for Seconds, Candy Grapple, High Fae Negotiator, and Torch the Tower are great ways to get some extra value by sacrificing Rat Tokens. From the Bonus Sheet, Impact Tremors and Raid Bombardment could be worthwhile build-arounds for a more aggressive build. Vampiric Rites gives some late-game value to our Rats in a more controlling build.
Black-Red is very well-supported and straightforward to build. Expect it to be a top performer early in the format.
Black-Green Food. Signpost Uncommons: Greta, Sweettooth Scourge, Gingerbread Hunter.
Black-Green is a midrange deck that wants to make a lot of Food Tokens and turn them into card advantage via Greta, damage via Sweettooth Witch and Hollow Scavenger, or creatures with Tough Cookie. Welcome to Sweettooth is good early and scales well into the late-game. Night of the Sweets’ Revenge lets us tap Food for mana and can give us an Overrun effect a turn or two later. At 4 mana it’s not ideal for mana ramp but can help us cast 6 and 7-mana plays. Food Tokens can also be Bargained away to Brave the Wilds, Candy Grapple, Back for Seconds, Agatha’s Champion, High Fae Negotiator, and Hamlet Glutton.
Brave the Wilds, Return from the Wilds, and Utopia Sprawl open the door to splashing Red removal, or any sweet off-colour Rare or Uncommon we might open.
Food is pretty easy to come by in this archetype. Between bargaining out Hamlet Gluttons, drawing cards, and being flung at the opponent, Food has enough utility to make me want to start this deck in Tier 1.
White-Red Celebration. Signpost Uncommons: Ash, Party Crasher, Imodane’s Recruiter.
White-Red is an aggressive “go-wide” deck that gains bonuses when two or more non permanents enter the battlefield (keyworded as Celebration). Look for cards that can trigger Celebration by themselves such as Ratcatcher Trainee, Hopeful Vigil, Besotted Knight, Charmed Clothier, Edgewall Pack, Merry Bards, and Redcap Thief. Armory Mice, Gallant Pie-Wielder, Belligerent of the Ball, and Grand Ball Guest are solid Celebration payoffs.
White-Red will have some nice early starts but will risk running out of steam in the late-game. I’m starting this deck in Tier 1 due to a high power level and lots of support for this Archetype.
Tier 1
Blue-Red Spells. Signpost Uncommons: Johann, Apprentice Sorcerer, Frolicking Familiar.
Blue-Red asks us to play a lot of Instant and Sorcery spells. Aquatic Alchemist, Splashy Spellcaster, Frantic Firebolt, Hearth Elemental, and Unruly Catapult are all payoffs for this archetype that other drafters at the table will not want. Adventure spells like Beluna’s Gatekeeper, Picklock Prankster, Vantress Transmuter, and Ratcatcher Trainee are great ways to increase our Spell count without losing out on Creatures. Johann can even play Adventures off the top of the library! With 5 or more Adventure spells, Chancellor of Tales becomes an attractive option. Cheap and interactive spells such as Torch the Tower and Spell Stutter, or spells that draw cards like Johann’s Stopgap, Quick Study, and Witch’s Mark are our best non-creature options. From the bonus sheet, Curiosity combos quite nicely with Unruly Catapult.
While the raw power level is not as high here, Blue-Red will be a great archetype to lean towards after the first couple of weeks, once the top Archetypes start becoming more contested.
White-Black Bargain. Signpost Uncommons: Neva, Stalked by Nightmares, Shrouded Shepherd.
White-Black cares about enchantments being put into the Graveyard. The best way to trigger this will be the Bargain ability on cards like Kellan’s Lightblades, Back for Seconds, Candy Grapple, and High Fae Negotiator. Look for Enchantments that come alongside Creatures such as Besotted Knight, Charmed Clothier, Hopeful Vigil, and Conceited Witch (Role tokens are Enchantments). Ashiok’s Reaper and Knight of Doves are big payoffs in this deck. Warehouse Tabby and Wicked Visitor can get quite out of hand in multiples.
White-Black has a few more moving parts and looks to be tougher to set up than some other colour pairs. While it appears powerful, I’ll be starting it in Tier 2.
White-Green Auras. Signpost Uncommons: Syr Armont, the Redeemer, Woodland Acolyte.
White-Green wants to play a lot of Auras, which include Role tokens. Tanglespan Lookout is our big payoff along with Rimefur Reindeer. Keep in mind that putting a new Role Token on a creature will cause any others we control to go to the Graveyard, making Knight of Doves a potential payoff as well. Slumbering Keepguard and Redtooth Vanguard are solid early-game threats with late-game relevance. Role Tokens can also be bargained away to Archon’s Glory, Agatha’s Champion, Hamlet Glutton, and Troublemaker Ouphe. Look for Role Tokens that come alongside Creatures such as Besotted Knight, Charmed Clothier, Ferocious Werefox, and Redtooth Genealogist. Curse of the Werefox, Graceful Takedown, and Royal Treatment have nice synergy here as well.
Aura strategies come with the inherent risk of being blown out by Bounce effects and Instant-speed removal. In addition, the payoffs are a little slow. Therefore I’m starting White-Green in Tier 2.
Red-Green 4-Power. Signpost Uncommons: Ruby, Daring Tracker, Picnic Ruiner.
Red-Green is an aggressive midrange deck that benefits from having a creature with Power 4 or greater. Pressure the opponent with early creatures and then either grow one of those to 4 Power with Picnic Ruiner’s adventure or Bestial Bloodline, or do it the old fashioned way with 4-Power Creatures Minecart Daredevil or Verdant Outrider. We can then reap the benefits of Boundary Lands Ranger, Territorial Witchstalker, Ruby, and Picnic Ruiner. Garruk’s Uprising is a build-around that tends to fall a bit short unless we can reliably draw 3 or more cards with it.
Red-Green looks to have a solid amount of support and will benefit from Green’s ability to splash good Black cards. This is a good “back door” deck to move into if Black-Red or Black-Green doesn’t fully come together.
Tier 2
Blue-Black Faeries. Signpost Uncommons: Opera, Dreaming Duelist, Spellscorn Coven.
Blue-Black’s Signpost Uncommons are perhaps the best on raw Rate. This archetype wants to beat down our opponent in the air while disrupting their game plan. The major Faerie payoffs are Piclock Prankster, Ego Drain, and Faerie Fencing, which are all at Uncommon. There is also a small Flash subtheme built around Dream Spoilers. The best Common Faeries are Snaremaster Sprite and Barrow Naughty. Curiosity fits well here from the Bonus Sheet.
With so little support at Common, I don’t expect this deck to come together very often, though it will be quite powerful when it does. I’m going to start Blue-Black in Tier 3, but be on the lookout to draft it if its key Uncommons are coming around late in Pack 1.
White-Blue Tap. Signpost Uncommons: Sharae of Numbing Depths, Threadbind Clique.
White-Blue is a tempo-aggro deck that wants to disrupt our opponent’s creatures while attacking with our own. Along with our two Signpost Uncommons, Solitary Sanctuary AND Icewrought Sentry provide bonuses when we tap opposing creatures. Prioritize cheap and incidental ways to tap such as Rimefur Reindeer, Snaremaster Sprite, and Vantress Transmuter rather than more mana-intensive options like Frostbridge Guard and Three Bowls of Porridge. Bitter Chill is premium removal and also fits the theme. Support this theme with disruptive spells like Spell Stutter, Johann’s Stopgap, and Misleading Motes to keep opponents off balance.
White-Blue will be a little more difficult to build than other archetypes. The Tapping options are a little clunky, and its options at lower mana values are not as strong as the other colours. It will reward more experienced players and is still worth drafting if you can get multiple Signpost Uncommons.
Blue-Green Mana Value 5. Signpost Uncommons: Troyan, Gutsy Explorer, Tempest Hart.
Blue Green wants to ramp up to 5 or more mana as quickly as possible. Stormkeld Prowler, Up the Beanstalk, Galvanic Giant, Skybeast Tracker, and Tempest Hart all call out 5-mana spells specifically, but none give all that exciting of a payoff. Ramping into multiple Hamlet Gluttons should be the main plan here. Beluna’s Gatekeeper and Obyra’s Attendants provide early interaction and are respectable Creatures to ramp into. Splashing Black removal spells will likely be necessary to compete with more aggressive strategies.
The Ramp strategy is always vulnerable to drawing all Ramp and no payoffs or vice-versa. It also has trouble interacting early and invests multiple cards into single threats, making it weak to removal. The Signpost Uncommons are also among the weakest. Draft with caution.
Overall Strategy
Start with Flexible and Powerful cards and let the good cards and Signpost Uncommons we get passed determine our final Colour Pair Archetype.
Based on the Archetype evaluations above, I recommend biasing slightly towards Black, Red, and Green, and slightly away from Blue. Please treat this biasing more like a “tie-breaker” between picks than a firm rule. All 10 colour pairs are draftable and can make strong decks. These Tiers will change as the format evolves and we learn more about it.
Pick Order
As always, use your own judgment. If you think a card not mentioned here fits into one of these categories, go with it! The exercise of evaluating cards in terms of these categories is more important than the exact ordering of the cards. Within each category, I’ve ordered the cards alphabetically by colour. I’ll be using the Limited Resources grading scale this time around.
A’s – Bomb Rares
If it looks good, it probably is good. Generally speaking, the best rares are powerful, one colour, and don’t cost more than 6 mana. Consider which two-colour archetypes your rate might fit best in to help inform future picks.
Here is a list of the Rares and Mythics I would recommend first-picking if you open them:
Colourless:
- Hylda’s Crown of Winter
White:
- Archon of the Wild Rose
- Regal Bunnicorn
- Spellbook Vendor
- Virtue of Loyalty
Blue:
- Asinine Antics
Black:
- Ashiok, Wicked Manipulator
- Lord Skitter, Sewer King
- Spectre of Mortality
- Virtue of Persistence
- Bitterblossom
Red:
- Realm-Scorcher Hellkite
- Redcap Gutter-Dweller
Green:
- Gruff Triplets
- Defense of the Heart
Multi-Coloured
- The Goose Mother
- Hylda of the Icy Crown
- Talion, the Kindly Lord (choose 2)
- Decadent Dragon
- Heartflame Duelist
- Mosswood Dreadknight
- Twinning Twins
- Restless Cottage
- Restless Vinestalk
B’s – Top Uncommons & Commons. These have a high power level, are efficient, colourless or one colour, and fit in multiple archetypes. These include the set’s Premium Removal:
Colourless:
- Edgewall Inn
White:
- Cheeky House-Mouse
- Discerning Financier
- Gallant Pie-Wielder
- Glass Casket
- The Princess Takes Flight
- Grasp of Fate
Blue:
- Bitter Chill
- Icewrought Sentry
- Picklock Prankster
Black:
- Candy Grapple
- High Fae Negotiator
- Lord Skitter’s Butcher
- Taken by Nightmares
- Twisted Sewer Witch
Red:
- Ratcatcher Trainee
- Torch the Tower
- Witchstalker Frenzy
Green:
- Agatha’s Champion
- Hamlet Glutton
- Tough Cookie
- Utopia Sprawl
Build-Arounds
Build-Arounds are cards that be quite powerful if we are able to draft enough support. We typically want to take these in the first half of the draft (up to Pack 2 Pick 8) so we have time to draft supporting cards. Here are some Build-Arounds not yet discussed.
- Cursed Courtier – Bargain away the Role token! Or put another Role on it to make the Cursed Role fall off.
- Griffin Aerie – Look for seven or more ways to make food and multiple Griffin Aeries.
- Intangible Virtue – A White-Black deck with Knight of Doves, multiple Warehouse Tabbies and other ways to make Rat Tokens.
- Chancellor of the Tales – Draft five or more Adventures.
- Tanglespan Lookout – Draft at least five ways to make Role Tokens
Synergy
The opposite of Build-Arounds, Synergy cards will work well if our deck meets certain criteria. They typically have a lower ceiling on power than Build Arounds but are certainly worth paying attention to. We’re typically looking to draft these late in Packs with hopes that they make our deck.
- Gingerbrute – a great place to put Role Tokens (particularly Young Hero) in an aggressive deck
- Prophetic Prism – if you need fixing and have good Bargain spells
- Hopeless Nightmare – you’re in White-Black and have both Enchantment to the Graveyard payoffs and Bargain spells.
- Not Dead After All – you have creatures with Enter the Battlefield abilities and care about the Role Token.
- Flick a Coin – if you have Spells payoffs, want the fixing, and/or have ways to Bargain away the Treasure Token
- Collector’s Vault & Hatching Plans – you’re a Control Deck that can afford to be slow and has Bargain Spells.
- Eriette’s Tempting Apple & Twisted Fealty – either very aggressive or have multiple Callous Sellsword (Burn Together).
Combat Tricks. I wanted to highlight the good combat tricks as they tend to over perform on 17Lands but are generally not high picks.
- Archon’s Glory
- Moment of Valor
- Water Wings
- Rat Out
- Monstrous Rage (closer to a B level card)
- Royal Treatment (closer to a B level card)
Draft Guide
Picks 1-3:
- Take the best card. Mono-coloured cards will leave us more open going forward.
Picks 4-8:
- Continue to take the best card. We may have cards in multiple colours, and that’s ok. Start to form a picture of what colours are being passed to us (aka “Reading Signals”). For example, if we see a few solid Black cards Picks 4-8, there is a good chance the players to our right are not drafting Black (AKA Black is “open”). This means we can reasonably expect to see good Black cards in Pack 3 as well, as those same players will be passing to us again! We may also see a late signpost Uncommon, indicating its colour pair may be available.
Picks 9-14:
- These are the cards no one at the table wanted. If we are seeing several playable cards of one colour, it is possible that no one else at the table is drafting that colour and we should strongly consider moving in.
End of Pack 1:
- Ideally, we have identified our main colour. This is the colour we have the most quality cards of, or is the most open, and hopefully both!
- Staying as close to one colour as possible will leave us with more options going forward.
Packs 2 and 3
- Continue to take powerful cards of our main colour where possible. Let the good cards we open or get passed determine our secondary colour and final archetype.
- Ignore signals in Pack 2 for the most part! The packs are moving in the opposite direction, so the signals can be completely different from Pack 1. It is normal to not see as many cards of our main colour in Pack 2, so don’t panic! Pack 3 is passed to the left once again and we will be rewarded for staying the course.
Deck-Building Tips
- Play two colours. Avoid splashing a third colour at all costs unless the deck is specifically designed to support multiple colours.
- Play 17 lands. This number can be reduced to 16 in a deck without any creatures that cost more than 4 mana.
- Play a low-curve. Most limited decks want six or more 2 Mana-Value creatures, around four 3 Mana-Value creatures, some 4 Mana-Values creatures, and very few cards that cost 5 or more mana. We want to have a creature in play by turn two or be able to interact with our opponent’s creature.
Thank you for reading and watching. Good luck in your drafts!