Guilds of Ravnica Most Improved for Best of One

Bigger Convoke Creatures

The entire point of convoke is to turn creatures into mana. The ideal scenario involves you playing creatures and lands to set up an early fattie, and in Guilds of Ravnica you are mostly stuck with one creature for one card invested and not token generators.

In Traditional draft, you often have hands with a couple more lands than you want and as a result a few less creatures. Those hands make Siege Wurm horribly clunky and that's why the card went from a game breaker in past convoke formats to mediocrity in this format. I'll play a Siege Wurm in my Traditional Selesnya decks if needed, but I would rather cut it.

In Best of One that whole too many lands thing isn't really an issue. The format makes curving out on creatures even more desireable. Siege Wurm is reasonable to cast almost every game, though still not something you want to draw multiples of. In Best of One I generally want a Siege Wurm, if not a second similar card.

Arboretum Elemental is still trash though. Nine is literally millions. I'm not big on Worldsoul Colossus either but it at least can be cast.

High Drops in Aggro

Light of the Legion was a contentious card in Traditional draft. I was always on the side of wanting a giant flier in my white decks, but other Pros made the argument that a card that costs six did nothing to advance your typical Boros or Selesnya game plan.

In Best of One, you draw significantly less two land hands and more three land hands. The odds of having turn six Light of the Legion from a two land hand are literally half the odds of having it on turn six starting with a three land hand. A six drop from a three land hand is actually easier to cast on curve than a five drop in a two land hand, and you would play a Barging Sargent in a Traditional draft.

Does this not violate what I said about six drops clunking up hands last week? Well, back to the five drop comparison. Yea, sure, your flawless Boros deck might be all cards that cost three or less, but usually you need some high drop hitters for quality and there isn't any better than Light of the Legion. Swathcutter Giant isn't bad either.

It's also a different role. You relied on Cold-Water Snapper to stabilize, and that's awkward. You rely on Light of the Legion to break games that have kept going past the point your main aggro cards are at their best.

Versatile Anti-Fliers

One of the spots you can sideboard heavily to shore up a weakness in Guilds of Ravnica draft is cards that beat flying creatures. Healer's Hawk, Skyknight Legionnaire, and Parhelion Patrol are all common threats you face that are scarier with the Best of One improvement to mentor strategies.

While you don't want potentially dead cards in your deck, both Hitchclaw Recluse and Crushing Canopy cover the spread. The Spider blocks random three power creatures, which includes fliers with mentor counters. Crushing Canopy kills Luminous Bonds and Maniacal Rage, though I'm still not sure if the enhancement auras actually get better in Best of One or are just overpopulated from less experienced drafters on Arena. The only matchup I don't want these cards against is Golgari, and at that point they are just a card that is worse in one matchup like many others.

Honestly, I probably should have started Crushing Canopy in more Traditional Guilds of Ravnica drafts. I was just adverse to non-creatures in green decks due to convoke and undergrowth, and only tended to draft those decks when they were open enough to get other removal.

Lifegain Bodies

There are a lot of lifegain creatures in the Selesnya colors. I would sideboard them all in against aggressive decks like Boros or Izzet, but even with a faster format why would I want to pre-sideboard here?

These are all solid bodies on their own. Three mana 3/3, convoke 3/4, and five mana 4/4 aren't insane head turners, but they all fight at rate against other creatures. I have sideboarded these in against Dimir decks in Traditional draft just to have more threats and less pump spells. If I'm fine having them across the board and they win me the most important matchup of Boros, that's a starter card to me.

Deathtouch Creatures

In Traditional Guild of Ravnica draft, I felt both of these deathtouch common creatures were fine but cuttable filler. They did their job and traded for things, but at the end of the day Spinal Centipede also trades for a card. I would rather have the slightly higher power creatures to pressure opponents who miss lands or spend time not building a battlefield and not have smaller creatures against Grixis control decks.

In Best of One draft, you have to face larger creatures faster. Douser of Lights is distinctly slower than Rosemane Centaur , but Pitiless Gorgon trades on the spot. If a Vernadi Shieldmate picks up a +1/+1 counter from Blade Instructor, Hired Poisoner picks off the 3/3 where a random 2/2 for two mana wouldn't. Your opponent can't Take Heart over your blocker, only the more expensive Sure Strike works. The sure trade is just really important, and you aren't running anyone over with mediocre beats to their good beats.