Limited Pointing

If you're curious about how "good" each card in the set is for Limited play, you might be interested in the following data. Collected from a wide selection of Sealed Deck and/or Draft pools, this page shows how often a given common card makes the maindeck as opposed to remaining in the sideboard.

The point values are based on WotC's internal Limited pointing system, with a couple of minor tweaks and clarifications. Here's a summary of what the values, ranging from zero to five, mean in this context. (For further reference, you can find two articles about this subject on the M:TG homepage; just Google "Limited Pointing" and they'll be very near the top of the results list.)

5.0: I will always play this card. Period.

4.5: I will almost always play this card, regardless of what else I get.

4.0: I will strongly consider playing this as the only card of its color.

3.5: I will strongly consider splashing for this card's color in order to play it.

3.0: This card makes me want to play this color. (Given that I'm playing that color, I will play this card 100% of the time.)

2.5: Several cards of this power level start to pull me into this color. If playing that color, I essentially always play these. (Given that I'm playing that color, I will play this card 90% of the time.)

2.0: If I'm playing this color, I usually play these. (70%)

1.5: This card will make the cut into the main deck about half the times I play this color. (50%)

1.0: I feel bad when this card is in my main deck. (30%)

0.5: There are situations where I might sideboard this into my deck, but I'll never start it. (10%)

0.0: I will never put this card into my deck (main deck or after sideboarding). (0%)

For the most part, the values given below are directly correlated with the percentage of the time a card makes the maindeck. Cards with very obvious niche uses, such as targeted enchantment or artifact removal, have significantly lower ratings than they might deserve, mostly because their primary use is to come out of the sideboard for games two and three. Very powerful cards (those that would rate above 3.0) are adjusted slightly upward based on how often they're splashed into decks that aren't necessarily maindecking that color. Finally, for clarification, "playing that color" is taken to mean "playing at least five cards of that color". (Without that stipulation, the pointing scheme breaks down slightly when considering obviously powerful yet color-heavy cards such as Overrun, Flame Wave, or Phthisis.)

Note: Limited pointing is subjective. It is virtually guaranteed that you will not agree with the rankings below. In fact, I hardly agree with them myself. But, playtesting is playtesting, and I have faith that my playtesters are doing the best job they can to create cohesive and powerful Limited decks. If you have comments about these rankings, feel free to let me know your opinion on the Comments page.

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Limited pointing current as of September 24th, 2013.

Number of card pools represented by the data: 53

Top Ten Commons, regardless of color:

White Commons:

Blue Commons:

Black Commons:

Red Commons:

Green Commons:

Colorless Commons:

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