Table of Contents
- 1. Lands
- 2. Ubiquitous Rares
- 3. Ubiquitous Mythic Rares
- 4. Specific Rares
- 5. Specific Mythic Rares
- 6. Junk/Extremely Specific Rares
- 7. Junk/Extremely Specific Mythics
- Lands
- Ubiquitous Rares
- Ubiquitous Mythic Rares
- Specific Rares
- Specific Mythic Rares
- Junk/Extremely Situational Rares
- Junk/Extremely Specific Mythic Rares
- End Step
Hello everyone! Today I’m going to harken back to my very first article here on MTG Arena Zone, a Wildcard Crafting Guide! With a new set coming out, Wildcards are always going to be strained so many players like to know ahead of time what are the safest crafts so they don’t waste all of their wildcards. With that, I combed through the entire set and separated every single Rare and Mythic into particular categories so you know how safe they are to craft. Here are the parameters I used:
1. Lands
Lands should always be your first priority as those are generally going to be the most ubiquitous cards in Standard. The cycle of painlands are all extremely safe crafts.
2. Ubiquitous Rares
This is a pretty general category, but what I mean here is to next craft Rares you see in multiple decklists. Examples of this could include Fable of the Mirror-Breaker or Wedding Announcement as they see play in functionally any deck that can cast them. Furthermore you want to start with Rares as Mythics are going to be much harder to stockpile.
3. Ubiquitous Mythic Rares
Although you generally want to avoid crafting Mythics if you’re just upgrading budget decks, there are plenty of Mythics that see so much play they are very safe crafts. The most popular ones that come to mind are something like The Meathook Massacre or The Wandering Emperor as they’re cards that have literally no replacement.
4. Specific Rares
These are Rares that may see minimal play or only see play in one to two strategies. They can be good cards, just narrow, such as Halana and Alena, Partners or Edgar, Charmed Groom.
5. Specific Mythic Rares
These are Mythics that see minimal or small amounts of play. These are definitely the last thing you want to craft as these will be hard to use in other strategies with cards like Spectral Adversary or Elspeth Resplendent.
6. Junk/Extremely Specific Rares
These rares are unlikely to see any play and even if they do, it’s likely in one strategy that can somehow make good use of their effect. Unless you have an excess of Wildcards, I would generally avoid these.
7. Junk/Extremely Specific Mythics
These Mythics are unlikely to see any play and even if they do, it’s likely in one strategy that can somehow make good use of their effect. Unless you have an excess of Wildcards, I would generally avoid these.
The best way to use this list is as a means of deciding which decks to go for based on how likely the cards you craft can be applied to other strategies. So if you have limited Wildcards to spare, crafting decks that have a high amount of Ubiquitous Rares or Mythics is definitely your best bet, or a budget deck that forgoes as much rares and mythic rares as possible (expect a full update for Dominaria United soon!):
As a final note, these cards aren’t in order within their grouping, they’re just in color order. With that out of the way, let’s get to the list!
Lands
*To avoid confusion, I want to make clear that lands like Plaza of Heroes and Thran Portal aren’t autocrafts, despite being Rare lands. I would say Plaza of Heroes is a Specific Rare where Thran Portal is between Specific and Ubiquitous. Right now it’s probably closer to Ubiquitous, but when the other painlands come out, it’ll see substantially less play.
Ubiquitous Rares
As it stands I would say there are no Ubiquitous Rares. The closest would be The Raven Man, but we’ll have to see how the metagame developes.
Ubiquitous Mythic Rares
- Liliana of the Veil*** – Great for multiple formats as well
- Sheoldred, the Apocalypse* – Likely to only need one to two copies for most decks rather than a play set
- Shivan Devastator* – Likely to only need one to two copies for most decks rather than a play set
Specific Rares
- Archangel of Wrath
- Stronghold Arena
- Temporal Firestorm* – Currently overshadowed by Burn Down the House, however if you need that effect, may be better to craft this as you’ll have it for an additional year
- Urborg Lhurgoyf
- Defiler of Faith
- Defiler of Dreams
- Defiler of Flesh
- Defiler of Instinct
- Defiler of Vigor
- Valiant Veteran
- Vodalian Hexcatcher
- Shadow-Rite Priest
- Rundvelt Hordemaster
- Leaf-Crowned Visionary
- The Cruelty of Gix
- The Elder Dragon War* – May be a Ubiquitous Rare, on the fence here
- Quirion Beastcaller
- Leyline Binding* – May be a Ubiquitous Rare, better in older formats so it’s tough to say
- Academy Loremaster
- Drag to the Bottom* – This card is very powerful, but Standard’s current mana isn’t conducive to making this card good
- Llanowar Greenwidow
- Danitha, Benalia's Hope
- Aether Channeler
Braids Arisen Nightmare Annointed Peacekeeper - Silver Scrutiny
- The Raven Man
- Radha's Firebrand* – May be more Ubiquitous Rare as it’ll be a 4 of in all Red Aggro decks
- Herd Migration
- Temporary Lockdown
- Haughty Djinn
- Evolved Sleeper
- Squee, Dubious Monarch
- Llanowar Loamspeaker
- Ertai Resurrected* – Very strong card, just not many decks can support it
- Rivaz of the Claw
- King Darien XLVIII
- Astor, Bearer of Blades
- Nemata, Primeval Warden
- Golden Argosy
Specific Mythic Rares
- Serra Paragon – May end up being Ubiquitous, keep an eye on this one
- Sphinx of Clear Skies
- Jaya, Fiery Negotiator
- Silverback Elder
- Jodah, the Unifier
- Rith, Liberated Primeval
- Shanna, Purifying Blade
- Soul of Windgrace
- Zur, Eternal Schemer
- Sol'Kanar the Tainted
- Timeless Lotus
- Karn's Sylex
- Weatherlight Compleated
Junk/Extremely Situational Rares
- Vodalian Mindsinger
- Urza Assembles the Titans
- The Phasing of Zhalfir
- Chaotic Transformation
- Keldon Flamesage
- Threats Undetected
- Stenn, Paranoid Partisan
- Meria, Scholar of Antiquity* – This card seems powerful, but unsure what home it has. May end up seeing no play
- Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief
- Ratadrabik of Urborg
Jhiora, Ageless Innovator * – This card seems powerful, but unsure what home it has. May end up seeing no play
Junk/Extremely Specific Mythic Rares
Vesuvian Diplomacy - The World Spell
- Ajani, Sleeper Agent
- Karn, Living Legacy
End Step
Dominaria United is very interesting as there are a lot of powerful cards, but they seem to be much more situational compared to the Rares and Mythics from most other sets. This may make it more difficult to cast a wide net of decks when spending your wildcards, but finding a powerful deck that you like to spend your wildcards on is generally my recommendation anyway!
Come join our Discord community to discuss the new set with us!
If you want to have a direct line with the most competitive members of the MTG Arena Zone team, consider getting Premium and reaching out on Discord!
I hope this guide helps you decide on which deck you should go for next! Thanks for reading!
