Gatecrash Draft Primer

July 28, 2024

I’ve already discussed the Simic Combine in a previous article. To wrap up the current season, this article will cover the other four guilds of Gatecrash: the Boros Legion, the Gruul Clans, the Orzhov Syndicate, and House Dimir.

Boros is about fast, naked aggression. Start hitting them on turn 3, and don’t stop hitting them until they’re dead. Boros decks live by the two-drop, and they die by the two-drop. A Boros deck without a turn 2 play and follow up on turns 3 and 4 won’t win many games. You’ll need at least six two-drops to have a strong Boros deck, and having seven or eight is even better. You don’t have to worry about having too many because the quality of your two-drops is so strong that they can compete with other people’s three- and four-drops.

A Boros deck without both white and red mana won’t win many games either, so the mana base will almost always be eight Mountains and eight Plains give or take a Boros Guildgate or two, which you very much want since they cut down on mulligans. In extreme cases, you can run fifteen lands if you have a Sacred Foundry or Boros Guildgate. Even when you end up with a higher mana curve than you would like, it’s almost always right to stick with sixteen since there are no mana sinks other than extort, Sunhome Guildmage, and Truefire Paladin. Splashing is almost never right, and the only remotely tempting card to consider splashing is Clan Defiance.

In terms of creature counts, due to battalion and the need to not miss spots on your mana curve you need a large number of creatures. You don’t want as many as Simic, where I said you need a bare minimum of seventeen and are happy to be at 20+, but I’d still say the bare minimum is fifteen and I prefer seventeen or eighteen. The good news is that these creature counts will emerge organically if you properly value men, and it’s rare that you find yourself in a position where you don’t have enough men in your deck unless the draft simply had none to take.

Occasionally, you’ll be short and need to prioritize, but it’s rare; generally, the worst-case scenarios involve running five-drops you’d prefer to avoid. The first one or two expensive cards are fine, especially if they are strong, but more than two cards that cost five or more starts to hurt and more than four is very bad. There is no such thing as “Big Boros,” only bad Boros.

Boros has a few subthemes: battalion, flying, Court Street Denizen, and Foundry Street Denizen. At a minimum, you will use one of these themes, and often you will use two or three; occasionally, you will use all four. Each of the themes depends on having the right set of enablers.

The battalion theme is about being able to turn all your creatures sideways to trigger battalion on Wojek Halberdiers, Daring Skyjek, Warmind Infantry, and friends. The three routes to making this plan work are to remove the blockers, to win the combats when they try to block your weaker creatures, and to assemble creatures that can’t be profitably blocked. Anything that doesn’t make it to 2/2 is highly vulnerable since either a 1/4 or a 2/2 can beat you in a fight. The ideal is being able to not get taken advantage of by a 2/3 either since there won’t be that many creatures that get bigger than that and you can have tricks for those.

Even if an attacker doesn’t hit hard, it’s fine as long as it doesn’t get picked off by blockers. Removing blockers, either by burning them or by borrowing them with Act of Treason, is also a good solution, but if every decent creature must be removed, then you’ll quickly run out of removal. This will stop you from saving removal for their best creatures, so this strategy is rarely effective as a primary plan. Winning combats with bloodrush, especially Skinbrand Goblin, which is very valuable to you since it does double duty as this and also as a two-drop, is excellent for getting you past a few 2/3 or 1/4 blockers. A good addition to this plan is to have a Court Street Denizen theme.

Plan two is flying. Boros has a number of excellent flyers, and if you emphasize them and concentrate your removal on enemy flyers, you can go over the heads of your opponents’ blockers. This is the place where removal shines most since there aren’t that many flyers in the format and many of them are large, so killing those guys will let you get through in the air, although it also makes removal of other creatures unnecessary. The key is that flying is additive. The more flyers you have, the more valuable it becomes to get more flyers and ways to enable flyers. It also lets you add Daring Skyjek to their number; a fully flying battalion that can’t get eaten is usually game over, and often you can afford to throw one ground attacker away per turn to hit them in the air for five.

Plans three and four are Court Street Denizen and Foundry Street Denizen. Foundry Street Denizen is a minor subtheme, but if you can turn two or three free picks into strong one-drops that often hit for two, then you have a huge leg up on racing and triggering battalion. The problem is that he will often go dead and you’ll effectively be a card down. If you go down this road, you’ll need to emphasize speed even more than usual along with having lots of red creatures. A lot of people will go down early and hard, but in exchange you’re giving up the long game, so it’s important to own that and not try to hedge your bets.

For Court Street Denizen, you’re picking up an entire new game plan of tapping down blockers to clear the way for your armada. This allows Boros to have a long game in a way that it wouldn’t otherwise, have unless you get one by playing cards that are more expensive than you would like. Court Street Denizen also works well with your best non-rare six-drop, Urbis Protector, and vastly improves the value of Knight Watch at five. Even one Court Street Denizen makes it acceptable to run Knight Watch, and multiples make the card quite good since it doubles as a Falter. If your deck is mostly white creatures, and especially if you have spells that make multiple white creatures, Court Street Denizen goes way up in value, and it’s reasonable to expect to get it late, including wheeling it in sufficiently deep packs.

Boros is also the archetype that benefits most from sideboarding. There are two groups of opponents. Against Orzhov, Dimir, and Esper opponents, you need to worry about your creatures being eaten by blockers and allowing them to win by removing the ones that matter once they’ve blanked enough of the ones that don’t. This means you need as many good men as possible, even if it means being a little expensive and you need to get rid of cards that don’t impact the board permanently like Act of Treason because you’re not in a race.

Against Boros, Gruul, and Simic, you do the opposite and move in on cards that win races for you. Whoever stays on the offensive will have the advantage; you can’t afford to be blocking against a Gruul deck, and they can’t afford to be blocking against you. Also good here is Smite, which can help a lot in a race if you can technically block but which is often effectively dead against Orzhov and Dimir. Once you are sure you will get a tight set of playables, you can put a higher priority on getting both configurations to be strong rather than taking only cards that go both ways. If you fall behind, you need to avoid such cards when you have the option to make sure you get to 24.

During the early part of the draft, it’s important (like all the other guilds) to decide if you’re in or out and draft accordingly. Boros has a lot of very good gold cards, so cornering the market pays off, but it’s also deep enough to survive a two-way split and still be quite good. If you know you want to be in Boros, you need to prioritize the gold cards to try to discourage others from joining you; a late option on one of the good gold cards will often happen and is a strong signal that Boros is open. Even if you have to take a worse card to do so, avoid passing such misleading treasures.

Prioritize even terrible cheap cards over the filler-level expensive cards early on because you will usually get enough expensive cards for free or from picking top-shelf ones and often you’ll end up with more than you can play even in a bad deck without trying—in fact, this happens most often when your deck is going to be bad. Later on, if you know your curve is low, you can take solid four-, five-, and six-drops over bad two- and three-drops since you know your curve can handle it. Do it too early and you can end up with a train wreck of a mana curve.

Without further ado, here are my Boros card rankings. Note that these rankings, like the Simic ones, don’t care about flexibility or signals, only the value of the card to your deck. Where they differ substantially from Boros master Paul Rietzl list from before the Pro Tour, I note the disagreement:

Windmill Slam

Aurelia’s Fury
Firemane Avenger
Assemble the Legion
Boros Reckoner
Frontline Medic
Gideon, Champion of Justice
Aurelia, the Warleader
Truefire Paladin
Wrecking Ogre

Angelic Skirmisher
Sunhome Guildmage
Five-Alarm Fire (Paul does not think it’s this good)
Firefist Striker
Foundry Champion
Syndic of Tithes
Mugging
Wojek Halberdiers
Daring Skyjek
Skyknight Legionnaire (Paul has this higher than the good two-drops)
Boros Elite
Holy Mantle (I keep wondering where this belongs; Paul thinks it’s a little lower)
Skinbrand Goblin
Rubblebelt Raiders (1RRR is harsh, but it’s amazing in play)
Hellkite Tyrant
Guardian of the Gateless
Hellraiser Goblin (high variance depending on if you can pull this off)
Homing Lightning

Always Play

Warmind Infantry
Legion Loyalist
Armored Transport
Boros Charm
Knight of Obligation
Ember Beast
Madcap Skills (decreasing marginal value)
Blind Obedience (never had this, so not sure about ranking)
Spark Trooper (very unsure about this one, had it once)
Viashino Shanktail

Happy to Play

Court Street Denizen (once you know you’re there, this moves to first pick)
Sacred Foundry (moves up if you know you can get to 24)
Burning-Tree Emissary (the RR->1R is more annoying than it looks; Paul hates it)
Gift of Orzhova
Cinder Elemental (Paul had this much higher)
Assault Griffin
Molten Primordial
Massive Raid
Angelic Edict (this gets worse very rapidly as you add more copies or other five-drops)
Arrows of Justice
Ordruun Veteran
Urbis Protector
Boros Guildgate (moves up if you know you can get to 24; only first one is worth caring)

Card 24 / In One Configuration

Nav Squad Commandos
Bomber Corps (perfectly fine if you need twos or want more)
Luminate Primordial
Scorchwalker
Fortress Cyclops
Act of Treason (anti-aggro build; much higher pick if you know you have your other build)
Ripscale Predator
Knight Watch (up with Denizen, down a full level if it’s too late)
Debtor’s Pulpit (others like, but I’ve been unimpressed)
Aerial Maneuver
Shielded Passage (decreasing marginal value big time)
Pit Fight (high variance based on what creatures you have)
Towering Thunderfist
Beckon Apparition (battalion / flying plan)
Foundry Street Denizen (high variance)
Prophetic Prism

Sideboard Material / For the Desperate

Zarichi Tiger
Smite (but it’s good sideboard material)
Boros Keyrune
Basilica Guards
Dutiful Thrull (Orzhov Guildgate can help, and sometimes you need battalion)
Riot Gear
Hold the Gates (only this high because Sam Black says it happens; never seen it myself)
Murder Investigation
Glaring Spotlight
Mark for Death
Furious Resistance

Worthless Cardboard (In No Particular Order)

Skullcrack
Shattering Blow
Illusionist’s Bracers
Tin Street Market
Structural Collapse
Guildscorn Ward
Crackling Perimeter
Razortip Whip

Gruul is a lot like Boros except that your cards don’t go as deep, you have the real option to go bigger, and people don’t like it as much. A seventeen-land Gruul deck is viable, but the best decks are sixteen lands and have lots of bloodrush effects. You can get away with eighteen lands or running acceleration and having a very high curve, but you’d prefer not to. If you cut off Gruul cards early, you will often get it alone, which is very good.

It’s nowhere near as good as Boros (see: every Sealed Deck tournament), but it is currently vastly underdrafted online. In particular, there aren’t entry points. No one thinks that Zhur-Taa Swine is a card they want to be first or second picking to start a draft, and most players will take at least Syndic of Tithes and Daring Skyjek over every Gruul common at this point. By being willing to pull the trigger early, you can corner the market. It’s good to have an escape route, but the first mover advantage is not to be underestimated.

The pick order here is more static: you pick the best card until you get to 24, adjusting for how you are doing on early drops and on cards that can win combats. If you’re short on either, they move rapidly up. If you have plenty of bloodrush, it moves modestly down, but overloading on it is perfectly fine. It’s not that extras are bad; it’s that having at least some is quite good and you already have some.

Windmill Slam

Clan Defiance
Rubblebelt Raiders
Wrecking Ogre
Skarrg Guildmage
Domri Rade
Ghor-Clan Rampager
Ground Assault
Gyre Sage

Experiment One
Wasteland Viper
Rubblehulk
Firefist Striker
Disciple of the Old Ways
Burning-Tree Emissary
Zhur-Taa Swine (you can get these shockingly late; if you’re short later, this moves up)
Slaughterhorn
Five-Alarm Fire

Always Play

Hellraiser Goblin
Legion Loyalist
Skinbrand Goblin
Skarrg Goliath
Hellkite Tyrant
Crocanura
Warmind Infantry
Scab-Clan Charger
Viashino Shanktail
Armored Transport
Pit Fight
Boros Reckoner (the best reason to play unequal mana; might be low here)
Miming Slime (bloodrush setup can be very strong)
Gruul Charm
Homing Lightning
Madcap Skills
Crowned Ceratok (it’s hard to find good four-drops these days)

Happy to Play

Massive Raid
Stomping Ground
Arrows of Justice
Gruul Guildgate
Signal the Clans (ideally with four bloodrush guys and four large men)

Card 24

Greenside Watcher (goes up if you have Gruul Guildgate; don’t play others just for him; emergency two-drop)
Spire Tracer (decreasing marginal value unless you’re all-in)
Gruul Ragebeast
Ruination Wurm (most underrated Gruul card and a Martell special)
Rust Scarab
Scorchwalker
Act of Treason (same high variance as in Boros)
Ripscale Predator
Bomber Corps (when low on twos, move this up)
Burst of Strength (decreasing marginal value)
Foundry Street Denizen
Ivy Lane Denizen (this is very hard to make into a good strategy)
Prophetic Prism

Sideboard Material

Tower Defense (actually fine—ok, almost fine)
Towering Thunderfist (feels worse than it actually is, if it comes to it)
Verdant Haven (must be all-in)
Borborygmos Enraged (serious mana sources only, please!)
Biomass Mutation
Riot Gear
Hindervines
Naturalize (I brought this in today, but I never drew it)
Ooze Flux (you will almost never get there)

Worthless Cardboard (In No Particular Order)

Bioshift
Razortip Whip
Skullcrack
Skyblinder Staff
Structural Collapse
Tin Street Market

Orzhov decks run along a spectrum from offensive to defensive. The most defensive builds will play lots of removal spells and will often play blue. These decks are all about grinding you to death. Many attacking decks rely on having critical mass of attackers to get past defenses and trigger battalion. If you can play enough removal spells, you can break up their ability to attack you by stranding their bad creatures and leaving you in control of the game, free to pick your opponents apart extort trigger by extort trigger. These decks like having defensive cards, unlike the other three guilds, because they don’t rely on having to attack in order to win, and when they do it frequently isn’t on the ground. The curve must still be kept low, but there’s room to go to seventeen or even eighteen lands.

The more offensive Orzhov decks are more like frustrated Boros decks. You use the same white battalion cards and the same curved out offense but backed up by more removal, more flyers, and a lot more extort triggers. A Court Street Denizen theme is possible, and a Shadow Alley Denizen theme is better than it looks if you can get the black creatures, especially if you were otherwise dangerously low on cards, since the Denizens are free and a number of the prominent black creatures are cheap. If you can get in some quick damage and keep your curve low, you can finish them off with extort triggers. When I draft Orzhov, this is the way I’m looking to go. Often, it won’t be possible.

The same way that Boros is looking for two-drops, Orzhov is looking for extort creatures. The more extort creatures you have, the better your game plan will work. You can definitely have more triggers than you can pay for, but later on they will all pay off. The cumulative effects are devastating, plus the more of them you have, the more you can build your deck around triggering them and include more cheap spells or even an eighteenth land in extreme cases.

When sideboarding, you’ll want to have distinct plans for when facing other Orzhov or Dimir players and for when you’re facing aggression. There’s no point in having defensive cards against other defensive decks, although anything with extort is always worth keeping, and in those matchups drawing first is often correct. It’s important to get into a drawing first type of mentality and good to pick up cards like Purge the Profane as part of that strategy.

Against Boros decks, you’re looking to survive the assault, so you’ll want to go up on defenders and often further lower your curve, but keep in mind that the late game isn’t yours unless you are playing the cards to earn that. Against Gruul decks, you need to figure out if you’re facing big men or small men; small men you fight like Boros, but big men becomes about having as many answers to a huge monster as possible and speed is less important. It’s also important to force them to use up their bloodrush effects early on or at a minimum to not be afraid of them.

Against Simic, you are in trouble if their deck operates properly, but often they will not have enough good cards to put you under the proper pressure. Remove the creatures that cause the most trouble, preserve your answers, and hope your opponent doesn’t get there.

Orzhov is also the guild that is in the best position to splash. Blue offers you Dinrova Horror and Bane Alley Broker often on the very cheap and a few other similar cards. If you’re short on cards, splashing blue or even red is a viable solution, but this only applies to the defensive builds.

And now, the card rankings for Orzhov:

Windmill Slam

Angelic Skirmisher
Deathpact Angel
Frontline Medic (better in aggressive, but amazing either way)
Gideon, Champion of Justice
Crypt Ghast

Alms Beast
Guardian of the Gateless
Boros Reckoner (you can play more land, which lets you lean to white)
Wight of Precinct Six (variance based on how much milling and removal you can assemble)
Syndic of Tithes
Killing Glare
Grisly Spectacle (IT’S A TRAP! unless you’re already Orzhov)
Lord of the Void
Kingpin’s Pet
Vizkopa Guildmage
Daring Skyjek (better in aggressive)

Always Play

Holy Mantle
Basilica Screecher
Knight of Obligation
High Priest of Penance
Cartel Aristocrat (you can often wheel this, but I have no idea why)
Undercity Informer
Gift of Orzhova
Luminate Primordial
Thrull Parasite
Dutiful Thrull

Happy to Play

Boros Elite (up one in aggressive, down up to two in defensive)
Basilica Guards (up a level in defensive, down two in aggressive)
Urbis Protector
Smite (up one in defensive, down one in aggressive)
Treasury Thrull
Blind Obedience
Arrows of Justice
Executioner’s Swing (can get it late, decreasing marginal value)
Gutter Skulk (multiples are fine)
Devour Flesh (variance based on how much you need a turn 2 play)
Balustrade Spy
Assault Griffin
Angelic Edict (decreasing marginal value unless you are in all-removal world)
Vizkopa Confessor
Godless Shrine
Court Street Denizen (requires aggressive and white-oriented to be good, but can be very good)
Debtor’s Pulpit
Syndicate Enforcer
Orzhov Guildgate

Card 23

Gateway Shade (high variance based on mana options and needs)
Deathcult Rogue
Shadow Slice (evasion and extort move it up; aggressive builds only)
Death’s Approach (goes up if you have mill effects)
Armored Transport (up a level in aggressive, down one in defensive)
Corpse Blockade (up one defensive, down one aggressive)
Shadow Alley Denizen (this is its own entire subtheme, and yes it can win drafts)
Knight Watch
Shielded Passage

Sideboard Material

Immortal Servitude (if you have a very big two or three slot)
Aerial Maneuver (can be a desperation card 24 in aggressive builds)
Beckon Apparition
Hold the Gates

Worthless Paper

Undercity Plague
Coerced Confession
Contaminated Ground
Dying Wish
Glaring Spotlight
Guildscorn Ward
Horror of the Dim
Illness in the Ranks
Illusionist’s Bracers
Shattering Blow
Skyblinder Staff

There is no House Dimir. It is undraftable. There are only four guilds in Gatecrash. Fnord.

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