XMage Draft Historical Society

Double Masters 2022 is a three color set with all ten three color combinations supported. All cards except one new land, Cryptic Spires, are reprints of existing cards. The set contains 332 cards: 91 commons, 80 uncommons, 120 rares, and 40 mythic rares. Draft boosters contain 16 cards: 8 commons, 3 uncommons, 2 rares or mythics, 2 foils of any rarity, and 1 Cryptic Spires. Because the two foils are of any rarity you may encounter packs with three or even four rares/mythics!

Fixing / Ramp

Fixing is available, but not plentiful, with the full 10 card cycle of Ravnica bounce lands included at uncommon rarity.

Every Double Masters 2022 pack contains a new land, Cryptic Spires, that allows the drafter to specify, during deck construction, which two colors of mana it taps for. However, at the time of writing, this card is not implemented in XMage and so we will allow players, during deck construction, to swap each drafted copy of Cryptic Spires for one of the following ten dual lands: Meandering River (WU), Submerged Boneyard (UB), Cinder Barrens (BR), Timber Gorge (RG), Tranquil Expanse (GW), Forsaken Sanctuary (WB), Highland Lake (UR), Foul Orchard (BG), Stone Quarry (RW), Woodland Stream (GU). After round 3 has ended the draft logs will be made available to verify no extra lands were added to decks.

Mechanics

As a reprint set, Double Masters 2022 contains many more mechanics than would be seen in a standard limited format. In addition to the usual evergreen mechanics seen in all sets use, Double Masters 2022 also features:

Basic Landcycling (1 card): https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Cycling#Basic_Landcycling [cards]
Bestow (1 card): https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Bestow [cards]
Bolster (1 card): https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Bolster [cards]
Cascade (2 cards): https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Cascade [cards]
Converge (1 card): https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Converge [cards]
Convoke (1 card): https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Convoke [cards]
Cycling (3 cards): https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Cycling [cards]
Dethrone (2 cards): https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Dethrone [cards]
Embalm (1 card): https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Embalm [cards]
Evoke (3 cards): https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Evoke [cards]
Exalted (2 cards): https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Exalted [cards]
Flashback (7 cards): https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Flashback [cards]
Haunt (1 card): https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Haunt [cards]
Heroic (3 cards): https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Heroic [cards]
Mentor (1 card): https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Mentor [cards]
Outlast (3 cards): https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Outlast [cards]
Prowess (10 cards): https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Prowess [cards]
Raid (1 card): https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Raid [cards]
Ripple (1 card): https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Ripple [cards]
Scavenge (1 card): https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Scavenge [cards]
Strive (1 card): https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Strive [cards]
Support (1 card): https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Support [cards]
Suspend (2 cards): https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Suspend [cards]
Unearth (3 cards): https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Unearth [cards]

Deck Archetypes

Though all ten three color combinations are supported, some archetypes are more supported and obvious than others. There is a lot of overlap between archetypes so most cards slot into two or more deck archetypes. Though four and five color piles are viable, most decks want to be synergistic - often two colors splashing a third - rather than just a pile of good stuff. In addition to there being more rares or mythics in every pack, this being a Masters set, expect cards to generally be more powerful / generate more value than in a standard limited set.

The cards shown for each archetype below are not necessarily the best commons and uncommons for that archetype, but are an example of cards that might go in that deck.

Heroic Aggro

Classic creatures plus combat tricks deck. Look for creatures that give an extra effect when targeted by your spells. Being an aggro deck, this works better when limited to two colors. Prowess creatures can work well in this deck too.

Blink / Flicker

Cast creature spells with powerful Enters The Battlefield effects, then trigger them again with blink, flicker and bounce effects.

+1/+1 Counters

Go wide with cheap creatures and then make them big with +1/+1 counters. Mostly a GW deck that splashes black for rares like Abzan Ascendancy or mythics like Ghave, Guru of Spores.

Prowess / Spells Matter

Creatures with Prowess pay off when casting the noncreature spells in your deck. Look for spells that you can cast more than once or spells you can cast for no mana.

Sacrifice / Aristocrats

Create cheap fodder for your sacrifice payoffs and grind your opponent down.

Graveyard Growth

Self mill creatures into your graveyard as reanimation targets and/or generate an army of spiders with Spider Spawning.

Graveyard Midrange

Use your graveyard to accrue value over time while keeping pressure on your opponent. "Could be the trickiest archetype to draft in the set," according to lead set designer Bryan Hawley.

Classic Jund

A grindy midrange deck that wants to be both aggressive and resilient while using removal to keep the board clear. Less of a synergy deck and more of a pile of good stuff.

Midrange Ramp

Generate lots of mana to drop big creatures and spells early on turns three and four. This archetype wants players to spend lots of mana every turn.

Big Ramp

Ramp, draw cards, play big creatures, kill opponent. Similar to the midrange ramp deck but wants to keep ramping to produce more mana and play the larger rares and mythics like the 10+ mana eldrazi.