The Theros Beyond Death prerelease is just now winding down. Everyone who went received a chance to play with the brand new cards in a limited environment (myself included). Now that we’ve had a chance to experience how the cards play, we can see which cards (and mechanics) are all-stars in limited and draft. For this list, we’ll go over the top cards to draft in Theros Beyond Death. However, there won’t be any mythic rares on this list (they’re a bit too obviously good).
5. The Omen Cycle
All five of the Omens are extremely flexible and versatile in their own right. Each provides a great amount of value. Whether it’s making tokens, getting a land, recovering a creature, etc, each Omen is fantastic at instant speed. Later in the game, they also function to help improve your draws through the scry mode on them. You don’t always have a use for your mana in the late game of limited, but the omens all provide an excellent outlet for it.
In addition, they are all enchantments that add devotion and help fill your graveyard for escape. On top of this, they are all common! This makes the Omens worth inclusion in any draft deck.
4. Storm’s Wrath
You can’t go wrong with a Wrath, no matter the format, and Storm’s Wrath is no exception. Most creatures in Theros Beyond Death limited have 4 toughness or less, so it’ll kill almost everything (including your own creatures). It can function as a great 3-4 for 1, but be careful; some cards in this set (such as our third pick) have ways to let your opponent dodge removal quite effectively.
3. Karametra’s Blessing
Pump spells don’t always look like much, but Karametra’s Blessing goes above and beyond. For only one white mana, it can pump a creature and give it hexproof and indestructible. Since most of the creatures in the set are enchantments (and white’s limited theme seems to be enchanting your creatures), you’ll often get its full power. This card comes in the common slot, too, so expect to see plenty of this in draft decks soon.
2. Staggering Insight
It isn’t hard to take one look at Staggering Insight and realize that it’s absolutely disgusting. Any repeatable card draw effect is stellar in a limited setting, and Staggering Insight is no exception. On top of this, it also adds an additional point of power and lifelink. Effectively, it’s a souped-up Curious Obsession. The mana cost is slightly restrictive (but not as restrictive as our number one pick), but that shouldn’t stop you from splashing for this fantastic uncommon.
1. Dream Trawler
It’s no secret to anyone that Dream Trawler is the biggest and best limited bomb of the format. It’s effectively a 5/5 flying lifelink for 6, which is already a fine deal. On top of that, though, it draws you cards and has the ability to give itself hexproof. There isn’t a ton of instant speed removal in Theros Beyond Death limited, so having the answer to instant speed hexproof is rare. It stabilizes the board and often wins the combat damage race on its own. If you see this card in your pool, slap it in right away.
A necessary inclusion: Escape in general & hate for it
This is less an honorable mention and more a necessary inclusion. Escape lets decks grind over and over again, easily keeping with opponents. Sometimes you may find you want your escape creatures to die, rather than have them stick around on the battlefield. Nothing stays dead in Theros Beyond Death, that’s for certain. There are many good cards with escape, so it’s hard to just choose one to represent them on this list.
On that note, you may find graveyard hate worth drafting solely because of this. An excellent choice to hate on graveyards is Tyramet Chosen from Death. It lets you sit back and eat the graveyard every turn, a bit like Scavenging Ooze. You’ll get a bit of incidental lifegain along the way as well and effectively eat away at your opponent’s resources.
And that concludes our top 5 list! Are there any cards we missed? What bombs did you have good luck with in limited? Let us know down in the comments below!
