Welcome all to the Daily Dose of Guilds of Ravnica, and the last day of Prerelease week.
So far I've talked about the best Commons and Uncommons in the set, and even had a guide to help with combat tricks and removal cards. Yesterday I showed you a test deck build from a Prerelease kit to make you more comfortable building your own. Today I want to cover the play styles of all five Guilds.
Each guild and colour combination will have its style of play and way to build a deck. This doesn't mean that you're locked in to these colour combinations, however. But because of the seeded pack you'll receive (15 cards based on the guild you choose), most of the time your card pool will lead you towards playing one of the guild colour combinations.
Dimir (Blue / Black)
How it plays: Dimir has a lot of flying creatures that allow you to get through for damage in the air. It also has tons of cards featuring the new Surveil mechanic. This helps you with card selection by filtering your draws, and making sure that you always get a card you want during your draw step. Below are some cards that take advantage of every time you Surveil.
Dimir also has some of the best removal cards in the set allowing you take care of opposing creatures.
Some of the key cards:
Why choose Dimir?: If you like Evasion and being sneaky, this is the guild for you. Plus Surveil allows you to have less dead draws so that you’ll always be drawing action. But with so many flying creatures, you'll find that your creature selection will have less power and toughness, so be aware of larger creatures on the ground that could overwhelm you.
Boros (Red / White)
How it plays: Gotta go fast. Boros wants to play creatures in the early turns and aims to make them larger through the game thanks to Mentor. Boros also features a lot of damage removal spells to clear the way for your creatures.
The strength of this guild lies in its multitude of creatures. Finding ways to pump them up before they attack makes their Mentor ability that much better.
Some of the key cards:
Why choose Boros?: If you want to win games before your opponent has a chance to get going, this is the guild for you. Make sure to hold on to a few key spells to help your creatures so that they can get through for some early damage.
Selesnya (Green / White)
How it plays: Get lots of creatures out and go wide. The key with this guild is to put out a lot of small creatures early so that you can use them to Convoke your larger creatures out as soon as possible. Late-game convoke spells can act as mid-game cards if you get off to a quick start.
Some of the key cards:
Why choose Selesnya?: Do you like to play a lot of creatures? If so, this is the guild for you. You can also play some of the largest creatures and spells in the set with Selesnya allowing you to take over the battlefield and blast through your opponent.
Golgari (Green / Black)
How it plays: They key to Golgari is to pack your deck with as many creatures as possible. It doesn't matter if they die through combat or trades, you'll still use them from your graveyard thanks to Undergrowth. This also means that making trades in combat is far more beneficial to you than your opponent.
Some of the key cards:
Why choose Golgari?: Want to play tons of creatures and hold off for bigger threats later in the game? Then this is the guild for you. But be aware that patience is needed to play this guild to its fullest, since your payoff often won't come until the late game.
Izzet (Blue / Red)
How it plays: Izzet wants you to use all your spells to provide synergy with your cards while disrupting your opponent. That way, you can get in damage with your creatures.
Something to note here is that there are a lot of new Jump-start spells. If you have some in your deck, you'll want to make sure that you keep any lands in your hand instead of playing them immediately, since you'll need something to discard to activate Jump-start.
Some of the key cards:
Why choose Izzet?: If you like to be the strategist and have a good mix of creatures and spells, this is guild for you. Often you want to get a threat out early and use spells to take over the game.
And those are the guilds we'll be seeing this weekend. I hope this guide has helped you see how each guild is played, and pick a favourite. Let me know in the comments below if there is more information you’d like to have to help you prepare for Prerelease.
Thanks again for reading the Daily Dose of Guilds of Ravnica. Join me next week as I get into some Standard Deck Techs for each of the five guilds.
