I have a Zada EDH deck. I know how to play Zada. Thus, I was very happy when she came around during a wacky draft on Wednesday.
My name is Zada; I'm a hedron grinder. Okay, I'm getting ahead of things!
We had six drafters. This was my first wacky draft of 2025, so I had picked my packs accordingly:
- Foundations, for all the good things I'm bringing from 2024.
- New Capenna, because of New Year's Eve in NYC.
- Mystery Booster 2, because who knows what the heck could happen in 2025. (And definitely not because it was burning a hole in my pocket.)
Here's what we all opened:
My draft went really well. Zada was my fourth pick. I was also really excited when the playtest card from my third pack tabled.
This would have been a really interesting draft to do progressive-style, where you choose each pack after drafting the previous one. Then I could have tried to pick packs with good cantrips for Zada.
I had enough lands and enough cards that were irrelevant to the deck that it was pretty easy to put it together. Here's how that looked:
No forests, but plenty of green sources.
We decided to do single-game rounds and were able to complete the round robin! I was matched up first against an Izzet spellslinger deck. They had an early strong combo going with Erudite Wizard and Furtive Analyst. I flipped my Khenra Spellspear early and thought I was going to win off of the Spellstalker's swings. I got a bit too bold and swung all out to put them at 11 while I was at 6. I then played Dreamdew Entrancer to freeze and block. Sadly, my opponent said no with Rewind. 0-1.
Nevertheless, I felt good going into the second round, this time against a Jund player who was at their first draft. This game was fast, because Gitaxian Spellstalker is real good. My opponent was at 11, but I realized I could win off of the double-prowess triggers. I played Imprisioned in the Moon, attacked, cast There // They're // Their to make the Spellstalker unblockable, then Crumb and Get It (without the gift, I think). My opponent cast Savor to put it back to 9/9, but I had a final trick up my sleeve.
I did not bargain it.
Stonesplitter Bolt for zero put it back at 11/11 and hit for lethal. 1-1.
In the third round, I was up against a player running a synergistic Dune-Brood deck (the colors, not with the actual nephilim) they named "Lifegain Soup". (I was the only one who went WUBRG. I'm regaining my reputation. They were close, though!)
Their secret commander was Rocco, Cabaretti Caterer, the only red card in their deck. I drafted a lot of removal, but had still built up quite the board as our game progressed.
Thankfully, my commander showed up for the first time. Zada helped me block a big attack.
I swung back the next turn with the combined power of They're (even though I only chose one creature: Zada) and Fists of Flame to win. 2-1.
I got cocky going into round 4 against a Golgari deck. Once again there was a secret commander: Polukranos, Unchained.
I foolishly kept a six-land hand. I had no answers to Polukranos, who ate me for dinner. 2-2.
In the fifth and final round, I played against an Esper deck with lots good value. Zada showed up, but I had to throw her in the way during a big combat. We had a few combats that acted like board sweeps, but they continued to outvalue me. After the last one, they played High Fae Trickster at the end of my turn, then equipped and attacked on my turn for my death. 2-3. This opponent ended up winning the draft on this win.
This was such a fun draft and reminded me just how much I love chaos drafting! I love getting to play a bunch of different people and see awesome combos across the board. Not only combos, I love to see the creative things people pull off in their decks. This night was no disappointment.
Happy Magicking!
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