Dominaria United: Limited First Look

Published: 9/05/2022

Subscribe Premium $10/month

Checkout with Stripe

I'm really looking forward to playing DMU. I'm planning on playing one sealed RCQ and am writing this to prepare. DOM was one of my favorite sets for limited ever and this one looks potentially just as sweet. In this article I'll discuss what I see as the major themes and give my ranking of the commons.

Multicolored

Despite there being no gold commons this set is extremely multicolored. With the full 20 possible off color kicker cards at common and again at uncommon. All of them seem to be good to premium limited cards assuming you can kick them. And most are playable but weak even if you can't. At uncommon there is an additional 20 gold cards, 2 legendary creatures for every 2 color pair. If you count kicker cards as gold this set is even more gold than SNC.

The fixing is also quite good. If you count Floriferous Vinewall image then the set has 3 common green fixers. Most sets have one or two. The set also has two common fixing artifacts but neither are great. Also 10 common dual lands. Thanks to having the basic land types they'll be premium picks with domain. They may have finally made a playable Shimmering Grotto image as well in Crystal Grotto image.

The themes blend across the colors too. Domain is of course a five color theme but spells matter is in every color but green. Every color has some cards which pair well in a sacrifice deck. The defender deck is in esper colors.

All this is to say there will be a lot of pressure to splash in draft. My sense is the two color pairs each have a theme you'd be better served sticking to if possible though. The best decks will resist the temptation to splash a lot.

Spells

There's a spells theme in UWRB. What's interesting is there are two slightly different decks between UW and UR. UW has Raff, Weatherlight Stalwart image which play well with counterspells, of which there are slightly more than normal with Essence Scatter image and Negate image as well as Protect the Negotiators image and Ertai's Scorn image which isn't really better than Cancel image. On the other hand the UR cards like Balmor, Battlemage Captain image, Najal, the Storm Runner image and Ghitu Amplifier image want you to play more spells proactively, pre or during combat. In the middle there's Tolarian Terror image which plays well with both.

UB has Rona, Sheoldred's Faithful image and Vohar, Vodalian Desecrator image as payoffs. But if you go all the way from white to black or white to black you switch themes to sacrifice and go wide.

Sacrifice

The sacrifice deck is centered in black with some draws to every other color but mostly white and red. Lagomos, Hand of Hatred image and Aron, Benalia's Ruin image are good payoff and enablers for the deck. Bone Splinters image is really good with Captain's Call image and other Soldier generators. In red In Thrall to the Pit image, Warhost's Frenzy image and Garna, Bloodfist of Keld image will be good pick ups.

Domain

Domain is naturally in every color but thanks to land the tutors Scout the Wilderness image and Slimefoot's Survey image will naturally want to be in green. For each green two color combination there is a gold legend with domain and one without domain which hints more at that color combination's particular flavor.

Defenders

There are 5 common walls and 4 uncommon payoffs centered in esper. The most important card for this deck by far seems to be Wingmantle Chaplain image. It seems to be the only card powerful enough to justify playing the inefficient Shield-Wall Sentinel image. A downside for this deck is outside of the Sentinel all the common walls seem like reasonable inclusions for other decks. Sacrifice decks will be happy to play Gibbering Barricade image, spells decks won't mind an Academy Wall image and domain decks will be happy with Floriferous Vinewall image.

Go Wide

This is sort of Captain's Call image the set with a red captain's call, Keldon Strike Team image, a green one, Scout the Wilderness image and a black one, Phyrexian Warhorse image. There's plenty of payoffs too. At common there's Charismatic Vanguard image and Heroic Charge image. Don't be tricked by Warhost's Frenzy image looking like Trumpet Blast image, it's an excellent card. Every white legendary gold card either pays you off for having a wide board or makes soldiers. Queen Allenal of Ruadach image does both.

Commons Ranking

White [+]

Blue [+]

Black [+]

Red [+]

Green [+]

Artifact [+]

Instants

common

uncommon

rare

Miscellaneous