Do you like casting big, flashy spells that cause all sorts of chaos for free? If you answered yes then the MTG Arena Omniscience Draft will be right up your alley. Unlike other drafts, all of the card’s casting costs are absolutely free. This makes drafting quite different, as you don’t have to worry about assembling a good curve. Instead, you can focus on deploying the most potent threats, which does give this draft a bit of randomness.
This doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to improve your strategy both when playing and drafting. If you’ve never played an Omniscience draft before here’s everything you need to know about this format.
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Omniscience Draft Rules
The draft rules for Omniscience are pretty simple, even for inexperienced players. Every player will open packs and pick one card. Then that pack will be moved to the next player in line until every card has been selected. Broken up across three packs, you will pick a little over 40 cards before the draft is over. Since this isn’t physical MTG, however, this process is just simulated with bots.
Your deck must have a minimum of 40 cards in it and you’ll start with three cards, instead of seven, at the beginning of each match. Since you won’t need to play lands, you’ll obtain one mana of each color every turn. This can only be used for activating abilities, so keep that in mind when you’re drafting. Both life totals will be set at 20 and you can win matches through the normal methods.
Omniscience Draft Basic Tips
Since you start at three cards you will need to pick up a lot of draw spells. These can make or break matches, so prioritize cards that let you draw two or more. Omniscience is all about racing your opponent to play your meanest and deadliest cards. Being able to constantly fill your hand is a big factor in whether you win or lose. Counterspells are also extremely potent in this format since they are absolutely free. Try to pick up 2-3 when you are drafting. These should be your second focus since you want to limit your opponent’s resources as much as possible.
However, controlling the board is meaningless if you cannot win the game. Make sure to always be thinking about how to claim victory when you’re picking cards. This doesn’t mean just grab the best cards since that will make your deck unwieldy and easy to counter. Instead, try to draft synergistic cards that focus around a single winning strategy. This will ensure that your deck has more consistently throughout matches.
Keep in mind, in a deck without lands you’ll have to use some of the “draft chaff” or bulk cards. While this isn’t ideal, try to pick up cards that aren’t just vanilla creatures. As long as your lesser cards do something other than attacking and blocking then you should be alright.
Omniscience War of the Spark Tips
When drafting War of the Spark there are a few cards and archetypes you’ll want to consider. Since everything costs 0 mana, you can freely draft all five colors without any concern. This might be a hard habit to break if you’re not used to Omniscience Drafts. Additionally, you won’t have to worry about hitting a mana curve, so just disregard how much a spell costs when selecting cards. All that matters is what the spell does and how it will impact your strategy.
Unsurprisingly spells like Jace’s Triumph, Tamiyo’s Epiphany, and Elite Guardmage are all fantastic draw spells in this format. The “Bond” cycle is also quite excellent, as they can swing entire matches or set you up for a big play. Removal spells are especially important, so keep an eye out for Wanderer’s Strike, Despark, Angrath’s Rampage, and Tyrant’s Scorn. One spell that deserves some extra love is Totally Lost since it removes a creature and messes with your foe’s draw step.
You’ll notice we aren’t adding Rare or Mythic cards to this list, largely because it’s very hard to rely on them. Instead, picking the best Commons and Uncommons often means the difference between a poor or good deck. While it’s always nice to pull a Mythic, relying on big powerhouse cards is an impossibility. With that being said, avoid the Finale cycle entirely since you cannot dump mana into X. This makes these Mythics useless and not worth a spot in your deck.
Evasive creatures are quite strong and I won more than a few games thanks to Ashiok’s Skulker and Thunder Drake. Some other solid picks are Chainwhip Cyclops, Aven Eternal, Rescuer Sphinx, and Merfolk Skydiver. Most small, one mana casting cost creatures should be ignored until the very end. You want to aim for creatures that can either present a large body on the field or affect the board in a meaningful way.
Amass and Planeswalkers are also quite good in Omniscience Draft since it’s easy to proliferate and add counters. Kiora, Behemoth Breaker can draw you cards, Kaya, Bane of the Dead removes threats, and Samut, Tyrant Smasher messes with combat. Just like in Standard, Narset, Parter of Veils can be backbreaking to play against if you are top decking cards. If you’re going the Amass route, aim to secure some support cards like Vizier of the Scorpions or Gleaming Overseer. Invading Manticore is a great “two-for-one” and Eternal Taskmaster is an avenue to get dead creatures back. There will typically be a lot of board presence in Omniscience games, so overwhelming your opponent with monsters isn’t an uncommon occurrence.
