MTG Arena Dominaria Drafting Guide: Best Limited Archetypes

Learn how to draft the best possible color pairs in Dominaria limited events with the help of this guide to MTG Arena.
Learn how to draft the best possible color pairs in Dominaria limited events with the help of this guide to MTG Arena.

MTG Arena, a new digital product based on Magic: The Gathering, has recently launched Dominaria as its latest set of cards, and players will be able to test it out in Drafting Leagues starting on May 11. You will get the chance to draft a deck of 40 cards and win various rewards depending on your win rate.

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Dominaria includes 269 new cards that offer a lot of maneuverability in terms of archetypes that you choose to play. This guide will cover the most effective color pairs that you should be looking for when drafting in Dominaria limited events.

Blue-Red Wizards

    

The most exciting color pairing in the current set is blue-red. The synergy that Wizards create together can easily dominate almost any kind of match-up. The power of counter spells, such as Wizard’s Retort, and burn spells, such as Wizard’s Lightning, will leave no chance for your opponents.

Here are the main blue and red Wizards you need to draft for this pairing to work:

  • Naban, Dean of Iteration
  • Naru Meha, Master Wizard
  • Adeliz, the Cinder Wind
  • Academy Journeymage
  • Merfolk Trickster
  • Firefist Adept
  • Ghitu Journeymage

Combine your non-creature spells with Naban to deal twice as much damage, and then push Naru Meha and Adeliz to buff up your other Wizards. Also, don’t neglect simpler cards like Tolarian Scholar. Although it may not do much on its own, in this type of deck, it will work like a charm.

White-Black Knights

    

White-black is another pair that has a huge potential. History of Benalia, a new Saga card, is especially interesting in this type of deck. If you can draft it, then you will surely win, especially if you have Call the Cavalry, which summons two more knights. As a result, you will have 16 points of damage just from these two cards.

The rest of your deck should contain the following knight creatures:

  • Aryel, Knight of Windgrace
  • Danitha Capashen, Paragon
  • Benalish Marshal
  • Knight of Grace
  • Knight of Malice

The last two white and black knights work especially well together. They give each other +1 attack and First Strike. If you can add Kwende, Pride of Femeref to the combination, then they will also have Double Strike, and that’s a sure win.

Red-Green Elves

    

Since the return of Llanovar Elves and the introduction of Song of Freyalise, you can start churning out big creatures with great ease. For example, such beasts as Steel Leaf Champion or Thorn Elemental can be pushed a couple of turns earlier. But there’s a lot more when it comes to ramp archetypes in Dominaria drafts, which synergize with the old Kicker mechanic pretty well.

Here are the main spells you need to have in order to push your big threats early on:

  • Elfhame Druid
  • Llanowar Elves
  • Llanowar Scout
  • Marwyn, the Nurturer
  • Hallar, the Firefletcher
  • Song of Freyalise

When you have your ramp ready, you can start churning out your kicked red and green creatures, such as:

  • Baloth Gorger
  • Grunn, the Lonely King
  • Untamed Kavu
  • Keldon Overseer
  • Skizzik
  • Verix Bladewing

White-Blue Flash

    

Currently, white-blue pair is probably the strongest archetype, considering all the neat things you can do with it. However, if you have very few historic spells in your deck, it may be a bit hard to accomplish anything.

So here is a list of white and blue historic spells you ought to have in your white-blue deck:

  • Raff Capashen, Ship’s Mage
  • Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
  • Lyra Dawnbringer
  • On Serra’s Wings
  • Shalai, Voice of Plenty
  • In Bolas’s Clutches
  • Karn’s Temporal Sundering
  • Time of Ice
  • Zahid, Djinn of the Lamp

On the other hand, it can be hard to draft so many rare cards, so you can focus on drawing artifacts instead, and combine them with more common white and blue spells, such as these:

  • D’Avenant Trapper
  • Serra Disciple
  • Artificer’s Assistant
  • Relic Runner
  • Sage of Lat-Nam

Black-Green Tokens

    

Saprolings are everywhere! These little green tokens can take over any game in the blink of an eye. The best way to spawn these little creatures is to draft black and green Fungus creatures that create and buff Saproling tokens.

Here are the cards that will provide you with the best synergies for black-green token decks:

  • Slimefoot, the Stowaway
  • Sporecrown Thallid
  • Deathbloom Thallid
  • Thallid Omnivore
  • Yavimaya Sapherd
  • Thallid Soothsayer

But this list is not limited by Fungus creatures only. There are also a few really good spells that will fit the bill just right:

  • Fungal Infection
  • Vicious Offering
  • Fungal Plots
  • Saproling Migration
  • Spore Swarm

With the help of these five deck archetypes, you will be able to consistently win one game after another and earn high rewards. For other Magic: The Gathering guides at GameSkinny, visit the links below:


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Serhii Patskan
Serhii is the Writer at GameSkinny. He's been writing for GameSkinny since 2015. Before that, he's been writing for various outlets and playing video games, which eventually turned into a passion. The video games that have contributed the most to his enthusiasm for writing about this industry are Magic: The Gathering, Dark Souls, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.