Origin's White

One part to become good at a draft is to know your colors. At least your favorite color. By knowing your color, you'd be able to at least have some sort of image what card you'd want. When you realized you are lacking card to fill your mana curve, for example, knowing what you want will be better than desperately picking any weak card to fill what you need. That sure is a difficult part of a draft, but as I don't think I'll play another format I might be better to be good at limited.

Talking about limited, Marshall Sutcliffe just released a very good article for those learning to get better in draft, can't wait to practice it later! Here's the link: http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/limited-information/cabs-theory-2015-08-19

I guess I can put them on practice on this post. Let's see, White has been a color most familiar to me since release of Origins, and I know it's powerful, and often deemed overdrafted. I don't think the store where I play shows such habit though. Maybe because drafting there is more casual fun rather than competitive fun for them, and yeah sure it is. Well, let's get on the review!

First Pack First Pick Rares
Solid rares that will never let you down. Those are good signal to got or send if you got them in the 2nd pack.

Generally Good Cards
Those are card is supposed to be solid choices. If you read the article I shared above, this is supposed to be filled with cards that only and only affects the board (CABS). You might recognize some "mediocre" or uninteresting cards in here, such as Heavy Infantry or Knight of Pilgrim's Road. The reason is, in my opinion, because being mediocre or just "generally good" is enough. You have your wit and other support cards to push that mediocrity into a win as long as you avoid inefficient cards and inefficient plays. And I think you'll see that other colors might not get this many playables. Uncommons are very powerful so you should prioritize in getting those first.

Cards That Fill Specific Purposes
Now this is the rather tricky part. I believe that there is almost no useless card. It always depend on how you play them (still, there are few that you should almost always avoid, like Bellower Lizard).

You play them when: you want to counter specific strategy like tokens-producing or bringing creatures back from the graveyard. I think this is more a Constructed card rather than a limited one, seeing how small its scope is. I don't think you want to first-pick a sideboard card.

You play them when: your enemy don't have Thopters or anything with reach or anything with flying. I don't really understand what the Wingmare is trying to achieve. Maybe its also more of a Constructed card?

You play them when: you already got multiple enchantment, ideally top tier ones like Claustrophobia or Suppression Bonds. Cheap enchantment like Infectious Frenzy works too. Auramancer with cards like Weight of the Underworld works nice as well. 4/4 flier is bonkers.

You play them when: you know you will have a ton of mana. Green mana ramp deck sounds like an idea.

You play them when: you are on the draw and is facing an aggressive, land creature decks. You can also depend on it if you want to block good early Renown creatures, like other good white decks, for example.

You play them when: You know your opponent have good enchantment or auras like Claustrophobia.

You play them when: you play an aggresive deck, especially those with Renown. Able to tap creatures is one key element that could help you trigger your Renown creatures.

You play them when: you can consistently field 3-power creature. The risk is huge as your opponent can just either bounce or lock enchanted creature using Claustrophobia or Suppresion Bonds. Interesting cards that might ensure this card works is sacrificial ones like Blazing Hellhound, Nantuko Husk or Fiery Conclusion.

You play them when: you need sideboard card to gain extra life so you can survive an early aggresion, alternatively, when you know your opponent's deck is slow, this could help you too. This card is also good if you are trying to enable Spell Mastery!

You play them when: you can attack with more than one creature. Two is OK, three is great. You don't have to be an aggressive deck, as any pump spell is quite significant to win almost every equal battle. Kytheon's Tactics should be downright amazing when you have creatures with prowess. The spell mastery bonus is impressive, so you should try to enable that as well.

You play them when: you are sure you can consistently play a creature over some turns. Again, aggressive decks will appreciate it if they can consistently trigger it. Watch for the cards like Dragon Fodder that can be cast at instant speed, as they just became a very powerful combat trick now. Cards that gives you more than one body, such as Ghirapur Gearcrafter, should also get a good priority to bolster your attacks.

You play them when: you have (and play) good Auras.

You play them when: you need a sideboard cards to defend against aggresive deck. After all, getting life AND getting a body to defend hopefully could buy you some time to draw removals. 3/3 might seem weak but the set doesn't seem to be filled with strong common/uncommon fliers either.


White Summary
So thats it for white! White is a strong color in the set. It has 6 first-pickable rares out of 10 rares (including Mythic). By the way I forgot to put Starfield of Nyx into list of situational cards but I guess you can treat it the same with other enchantment-related cards. White has 13 solid creatures that is spread well across the curve, 2 good combat tricks, 3 removals, and one great support card in form of Knightly Valor. Lastly, white has 13 situational cards that you could tailor your deck with.