The Best Commons and Uncommons By Color for Edge of Eternities Draft

Focus Fire | Illustration by Borja Pindado

Jumping into a new Draft set can be daunting. What do you take for your first pick? You’re looking at 13-14 brand new cards with a lot of text to read through, and you know you’ll probably pick something that ends up being bad.

Here are my picks for the best commons and uncommons for each color in Edge of Eternities to arm you with a bit of extra information ahead of your drafts. These will absolutely change as the format progresses, so take these picks with a pinch of salt.

Let’s get started!

Commons

Galactic Wayfarer | Illustration by Quintin Gleim

White

#4. Focus Fire

White removal that only hits attackers or blockers usually falls a bit flat, but Focus Fire is a cut above the rest. It only costs 1 mana, so it’s really efficient. Despite the need to count how many creatures and/or spacecraft you control, it always does at least 2 damage.

#3. Dockworker Drone

White’s best commons in a set usually include a good 2-drop or two, and Dockworker Drone is white’s best common 2-drop. It’s even perfectly suited for the +1/+1 counters archetype, though I’d happily play it in anything.

#2. Knight Luminary

Back in Lost Caverns of Ixalan, Oltec Cloud Guard ended up being white’s best common. Although Knight Luminary doesn’t have flying, it makes up for that in some way with warp, which gives you a few extra ways to utilize it.

#1. Banishing Light

This is always a safe pick for the best white common. We’ve seen Banishing Light several times since it was first printed many years ago, and it’s always good.

Blue

#4. Illvoi Galeblade

There’s a lot to like about this card. It’s very innocuous, but blue’s archetypes all seem to like Illvoi Galeblade. It’s a 1-drop flier for blue/red aggro, and it’s a 1-mana spell to help enable double spelling in blue/white. Both other blue decks will love the ability to block with this and sacrifice it to prevent some damage while they draw a card.

#3. Lost in Space

We’ve seen lots of different variations of the Lost in Space formula, and it’s very good more often than not. Sometimes, it’s even the best blue common in a set, like it was in Streets of New Capenna.

#2. Cryogen Relic

I can’t resist the card advantage. It’s very easy to get two whole cards out of Cryogen Relic while you only spend 2 mana, and that sounds great to me.

#1. Cryoshatter

This really just looks like the blue Swords to Plowshares. It’s as simple as that. Cryoshatter is a reasonable removal spell and it only costs 1 mana, which is always desirable.

Black

#4. Decode Transmissions

A black Divination is bound to be pretty nice. You can even turn off its downside every now and again, so why wouldn’t we want to play Decode Transmissions?

#3. Gravkill

Four mana is a lot these days, but Gravkill is still a good, clean answer to anything you need to get rid of, and that’s always going to be desirable.

#2. Gravpack Monoist

While you don’t get both right away, Gravpack Monoist is still a 2/1 flier plus a 2/2 for just 3 mana. That’s a really efficient set of stats spread across two bodies. Even if you’re not planning on sacrificing it, this is just good value.

#1. Depressurize

This is a funny design, and the fact that it’s so cheap is what puts Depressurize at the top of EOE’s best black commons. It may prove to be less useful than a typical Last Gasp, but it should still be effective.

Red

#4. Bombard

This is fairly mediocre, but it’s still removal at the end of the day. You just need to be able to deal with annoying permanents, and Bombard is a fine, albeit inefficient way to do it.

#3. Oreplate Pangolin

I’m interested to see how this blue/red artifact aggro deck lands. If it’s good, Oreplate Pangolin will be one of the reasons for it. It gets so big so quickly!

#2. Zookeeper Mechan

Zookeeper Mechan is literally a Druid of the Cowl with upside, in red. That’s pretty incredible to be honest. These cards have always been great in green, and now that we have one in red it’s bound to be just as good.

#1. Plasma Bolt

Plasma Bolt does a pretty good imitation of Lightning Bolt, the best burn spell ever printed. Given that, how could this not be one of red’s best cards in Edge of Eternities?

Green

#4. Diplomatic Relations

Note: This card has received errata such that the first target must be a creature you control.

Removal is always worth counting among a set’s best commons, even if it’s more inefficient than we’d hope. These sorts of effects at instant speed tend to work out well, even if Diplomatic Relations opens you up to the occasional blowout.

#3. Galactic Wayfarer

Three-mana 3/3s are fine, though they need some reasonable upside before they become playable. A Lander token is more than enough to satisfy that, so Galactic Wayfarer is a great card to fill your curve and accelerate you to your bigger plays.

#2. Sami’s Curiosity

I said it in the main Edge of Eternities set review, but Sami's Curiosity is essentially a green Wayfarer's Bauble, and that was an incredible card in its own right. If you’re trying to ramp into something, this is going to be one of the best commons you can pick up to do that.

#1. Gene Pollinator

Gene Pollinator may be a somewhat controversial pick, but I’m really high on this mana dork. Yes, it’s conditional, but the condition of having something else to tap doesn’t seem all that hard to fulfil.

Uncommons

All-Fates Stalker | Illustration by Lius Lasahido

White

#4. Seam Rip

White’s uncommons in Edge of Eternities are fairly average, so Seam Rip ends up the bottom card among the best. It’s very restrictive, but costing 1 mana isn’t something that should be underestimated. After all, Portable Hole was very good, and there are some very powerful cheap creatures in the set.

#3. Rayblade Trooper

The +1/+1 counter archetype looks very well supported, and Rayblade Trooper is one of its best payoffs. You can get any one of your creatures into combat safe with the knowledge that they’ll replace themselves when they die.

#2. Starfield Shepherd

Sometimes you just have to take the card advantage. Starfield Shepherd is like a white Mulldrifter, in that it’s a 5-mana flier that draws you two cards. If you get one of these early, you can make sure to prioritize some 1-drops to give this a few more options to search for.

#1. All-Fates Stalker

All-Fates Stalker is already my pick for the best non-rare card in Edge of Eternities. I’m bound to be wrong, but I’m planting my flag early. It’s good removal, a big tempo swing, and extremely versatile thanks to its warp cost. It’s just brilliant.

Blue

#4. Specimen Freighter

Bouncing two creatures at once is a powerful ability, even for 6 mana. I’m a little skeptical about the ability to station Specimen Freighter, but if it’s not as hard as I’m picturing, this’ll be a very strong card in EOE Limited.

#3. Tractor Beam

Four mana is a tad expensive, but Tractor Beam is pretty decent removal. It answers just about anything and sometimes gives you a big advantage by being able to steal something with a good ability. Imagine stealing a Dawnsire, Sunstar Dreadnought with this!

#2. Mechan Assembler

The ability to create 2/2 tokens without having to spend any extra mana is very powerful. Mechan Assembler just represents a lot of free advantage and board presence if it survives for a few turns, and that’s usually something you want to prioritize.

#1. Codecracker Hound

Codecracker Hound is an easy pick. Sibsig Appraiser ended up as one of the best non-rare cards in Tarkir: Dragonstorm, and this is the same card with upside. What’s not to love?

Black

#4. Umbral Collar Zealot

Black honestly has about eight different cards that would all be good enough to place among EOE’s best black uncommons, so I had to pick the absolute best of them. Umbral Collar Zealot looks very important for black/red sacrifices. The ability to sacrifice something without paying mana is extremely powerful, and something that you ought to prioritize early.

#3. Vote Out

If you know how these lists tend to work, you won’t be surprised by Vote Out. It’s good, clean removal that can often cost just 1 or 2 mana or that you could even cast for free if you need to.

#2. Tragic Trajectory

It shouldn’t be too hard to enable Tragic Trajectory’s void ability, assuming you don’t have to do it every turn. The ability to answer any creature for just 1 mana is a huge payoff that’s worth working towards.

#1. Monoist Circuit-Feeder

Monoist Circuit-Feeder is the biggest payoff that artifact-based decks, especially blue/black, have to offer. Not only can you kill just about anything, but you also get a 4/4 flier and a big power boost out of the deal. The power boost might also be very handy to station a spacecraft, which gives you an even bigger tempo swing. This card is busted, and I hope I get to draft a lot of them.

Red

#4. Systems Override

Any Threaten effect in a set where sacrifice is a supported theme in red is going to be well worth taking. In the right deck, Systems Override is essentially unconditional removal with upside, exactly the kind of card you want to see in Limited.

#3. Territorial Bruntar

This big ramp payoff does a great job of making combat difficult for your opponent while it also provides you with inevitability in the form of a constant stream of extra spells. Ramp decks have an inherent fault in that they tend to run out of things to do far quicker than other decks, and Territorial Bruntar helps to mitigate that very well.

#2. Cut Propulsion

For the most part, Cut Propulsion should just kill any creature outright. In fact, 64% of EOE’s creatures and nearly all of the spacecraft die to this. That’s a good enough rate in my eyes.

#1. Invasive Maneuvers

The 2-mana instant that deals 3 damage is nearly always going to be among a set’s best commons and uncommons. It’s not even that difficult to get Invasive Maneuvers up to 5 damage and kill a lot more creatures with it, which makes it much more versatile than other similar cards in Edge of Eternities.

Green

#4. Eusocial Engineering

All the previous versions of this design have been mediocre. Why is this one going to work? The warp cost makes a big difference. It essentially gives Eusocial Engineering an additional mode of giving you one or two 2/2s for just 2 mana before getting the full cost enchantment later on. That’s more than enough of an upgrade over the original design of this card.

#3. Larval Scoutlander

Potentially accelerating you to a 6-drop on turn 4, Larval Scoutlander is an incredibly powerful ramp spell that’s also an excellent enabler for landfall triggers and great color fixing. It’s basically everything you want it to be.

#2. Glacier Godmaw

This mini-Craterhoof Behemoth is a very powerful ramp finisher. The Lander tokens in Edge of Eternities make casting something this expensive a lot easier than it would be in a regular set.

#1. Atmospheric Greenhouse

I’m quite liking this green/white +1/+1 counters theme, and Atmospheric Greenhouse is one of the biggest enablers for it. This looks very similar to Ridgescale Tusker, and it’s just such a beating from which few decks will be able to recover.

Wrap Up

Codecracker Hound | Illustration by Julia Metzger

Draft is, in my opinion, the best way to play Magic, so I’m really looking forward to my first Edge of Eternities draft, and I hope you are, too!

Are there any Edge of Eternities commons and uncommons that you’d rank more highly? Let me know in the comments below.

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Until next time, take care of yourselves!