Draw Two

Insane, right?  Irencrag Pyromancer is exactly the type of rare I hope to open in Limited; takes some building around but offers real power when you do.  Draw two works just like it did in Modern Horizons, although there seems to be an emphasis on enabling it rather than starting the reward when the condition is fulfilled, and scaling up from there.  We're losing Cycling, which was the biggest Draw Two enabler, but we have Opt at common at the very least to help turn on the mechanic.  The number one thing to remember about Draw Two is it's much easier to trigger on your own turn vs. the opponents.  This should dictate how you play with the mechanic, and will mean that any time you can trigger the ability on your opponents turn will have some surprise value.

Most of the cards we'll be playing with have been substantially less powerful than the rare that tops the article, such as Bloodhaze Wolverine here.  Still, this card turns your Opts into combat winning tricks that cantrip, and that combination is pretty enticing on it's own.  If you can't trigger Draw Two this card is pretty anemic but serviceable, especially if you have the stomach for some serious bluffing.  If you attack Bloodhaze Wolverine into your opponents 2/3, it's so heinously bad for your opponent to block that they generally can't risk it, just make sure there's a card in the set you could have for the mana you're repping!!
 

On the other side of the spectrum is Steelgaze Grffin which is a much more powerful card on its own.  It'll hold down the fort nicely as 2/4s typically do, and here you're just turning your draw spells into burn spells once you can take an aggressive stance.  Just like Bloodhaze Wolverine, this card is pretty awful if you can't trigger it consistently, but unlike the Wolverine it's not a 2 mana creature, and should just never make the deck if it's bad.  Another knock against this card is that by the time you're casting it, it's a lot less likely you're going to have cards left to trigger it, and it'll be tough to save them for after you're casting your 5 drop and live to tell about it.




I'm hoping most of the cards are closer to Bloodhaze Wolverine and further from Steelgaze Griffin, although you're absolutely going to want both if them in your  U/R Draw Two decks.


Enablers are the most important part of this archetype, so we're definitely going to need to see more Opt style cards if this is going to be a premier Throne of Eldraine archetype.


Until next time,
Kevin
@sealedawaymtg on Twitter