BP05 Open 8 Guide (Patreon)

Overview

Want to win the Deus Ex Machina playmat? Look no further than this drafting guide to make sure you get the best of your 8 packs every single time.

Once again, Bma here with card evaluations for every single card in the set. The Open 8 guide this time will be for $5 subs and above.

How to use this guide

In general, drafting in Open 8 will become very easy when using my guide. On average you will run into two situations after opening 8 packs:

1) You drafted too many good cards

This is a great problem to have. It means that even if you do make some slight mistakes with deckbuilding, you will still be able to win. Just cross-reference with my list and pick only the cards that I consider to be strong. Ideally, you want to reduce your deck size to 30.

2) You drafted too few good cards

This resource helps you pick the 25 or so good cards that you do have, so long as you can cross-reference or memorise the material below. You then find the 5 or so cards in your pool that are the "least bad" and boom, deck is done.

That's all there is to it. Most of the time, "synergy" is overrated, just pick good cards and it'll work itself out (outside of the specific synergies I mention within the article).

I drafted a good deck but I lost, why? 

Reason 1: The variance factor 

This is the nature of BO1 formats with high variance. Sometimes you can draft the best deck in the room but not win the event. For example, imagine if you pulled 2 Israfil in BP04 Open 8. This is an insane advantage over practically all of your opponents.

But the odds of not drawing a single one in your top 15 cards? 24%.

In 24% of your games, it doesn't even matter that you drafted the most broken card in the set!

Reason 2: The piloting factor

Drafting a good deck is not the only component to winning an event. Sometimes, an inferior draft can beat a better draft due to player skill. Suppose you make a subtle misplay that the opponent capitalises on. Sometimes, that's all it takes to lose the game.

Forestcraft 

Izudia

Base form: Obviously, this card sucks without the ability to consistently have 3 or more hunter cards in your cemetery. However, if you do have that ability, this is effectively 5pp removal with 4/4 body, which is good.

Evolve form: IF you drafted both the base and evolve form, you're gaming. This can effectively be seen as a 6 damage storm with 5/5 body, which is fairly strong in this type of format for only 6 mana. That said, I'd caution against being too greedy with this effect. In some cases, you might be better off trading with their board over using the burn effect.

Spinaria

You will need to have drafted a pretty large amount of forest spells and followers for it to be worth slotting in a 3/5 5-cost ward. In this type of format, reaching Combo 3 will probably need you to be on 7 or 8 mana, at which point it's not even that good.

Apostle of Unkilling

Base: Barely playable as a 3/3 body (slightly understated).

Evolve: If you drafted both the evolve and the unevolved version, it probably makes the cut simply cause you can evolve it turn 3 going 2nd for a 4/4 rush. That said, if you drafted Servant of unkilling in particular, this card becomes a 6/6 for 4 mana, which is very good!

Morton the Manipulaor

This card is great, just play it if you draft it. All of the effects are very annoying to deal with, and the slight stat penalty is more than justified.

Fairy Torrent

Garbage. There are no pixies in this set lol.

Disciple of Unkilling

1/3 is a pretty weak stat line, and the ability to get a free hunter card is far too inconsistent. Only playable if you drafted a lot of hunter synergies.

Vengeful Puppeteer Noah

Pretty good. You can get 4 storm damage on turn 7, even without an evolve or any synergies. 3/6 stat line is not bad when considering the puppets can be used flexibly.

Mark of the Unkilling

I think this card is a skip without any Hunter or Puppet synergies. I think with puppets, you can afford to play 1 copy of this. The reason I don't like it much is because it works in such a way that your opponent will be able to attack with their follower first before you can answer it with Mark + Puppet. Due to the pp expenditure, you generally need to kill a big follower for this to get the right level of value.

Servant of Unkilling 

1-cost 2/2s are very strong in Open 8 and it forms the basis of any hunter-synergy deck.

Mechanical Bowman 

I think this card is very strong as long as you draft any efficient ways of generating EX zone cards. 5 damage while giving a 4-cost is broken in this format.

Flower Doll

Great 2-cost follower, that can be drafted regardless of whether you have the evolve or not. Puppet flexibility is always appreciated and allows this unevolved card to trade into 2/3 or 3/3 for 1 extra mana.

Automaton Soldier

Excellent 3-cost follower. 3/4 with Ward is slightly above par, and the flexibility of 2 puppets is fantastic.

Mark of the Six

This card is surprisingly very playable! It lets you play more risky/aggressively and can catch the opponent off guard (baiting them into lethal if they don't have card pool knowledge). This can also help you "delayed engage" the enemy follower, and negating 5+ hp for 1 mana is insane value.

In some ways, this card will warp the format and the way people play. I think you should pretty much always aim to clear the enemy board before going face if they have 1pp open.

Swordcraft

Octrice, Omen of Usurpation

I think without the Evolve version, you would usually not play this card. The main reasoning is that it's understated, milling 2 cards doesn't achieve anything, and you will probably never be allowed to use the 8pp effect. Conversely, with the evolve available, this card is fantastic and acts as a +1 and can even cheat tempo/play points if the opponent has 8 or more cards in the grave.

Magna Legacy

The "downside" of this effect hardly matters if you are getting 4 AOE damage and an 8/8 on top of it. Very strong card.

Apostle of Usurpation

Do not play without the evolve effect. However, very strong if you do have it, as 4 damage ping with 4/5 body is fairly strong.

Empyreal Swordsman

Fantastic card for this format. 5/4 stat line while hitting any follower for 4 damage and 2 to the leader is great tempo. If they can't clear it, you can get the effect multiple times...

Confront Adversity

Mildly understatted (2/2) but comes with ward, which can be challenging to clear in some game states. In addition, scales very well into the late game and punishes the opponent for playing a 6-cost. Therefore, I think this card is worth playing due to the potential upside.

Disciple of Usurpation

It's a 3-cost 3/2 storm follower at the minimum, which you should generally be quite happy with. In addition, in the late game, it does 5 damage instead. As such, it's an insanely powerful card that should be put into any deck.

Fervent Machine Soldier

3/4 statline is generally good for a 3-cost follower. Effect can search Empyreal Swordsman (very good) and Captain Meteo. The only other commander is Machine Artisan, Geno. I think it's worth considering adding Genos even in situations where it would otherwise not be played if you can search Empyreal Swordsman off Fervent.

Machine Artisan, Geno

In general, there are not enough amulets in the format to make use of this card's effect. As such, you should only really play this card if you also have the evolve (due to being 3/3 on evo).

You can also consider playing this card if you drafted both Fervent Machine Soldier and Empyreal Swordsman.

Servant of Usurpation 

This card is great! At minimum, it's a 2/2 1-cost, which is always worth playing, but with enough luck on your side, this card can even become a 3/2 or more, which can win the game singlehandedly.

Captain Meteo 

Strong boss monster, with, or without the evolve. As it immediately does 4 burn damage, it can be used as a finisher in some situations. In addition, considering the format, you can also use 1pp to give it rush, so yeah, it's a good card.

Gravikinetic Warrior

4/4 isn't the worst in the world, but I would only play this with a deck that can reasonably play token followers (in which case this card can be a huge swing on turn 4).

Usurping Spineblade

3 damage 2-cost quick spells are always welcome, especially when it comes with upside.

Avaritia

Considering there are a lot of good thief cards, it can be worth including this depending on your pulls. Usually will be one of those 29th/30th card inclusions.

Runecraft 

Raio, Omen of Truth

There's a pretty decent amount of "Mage" cards in the Rune pool, so technically, a 7/7 on turn 7 that effectively clears any follower is certainly not bad (2 with 1pp rush or evolve). Evolve being drafted too would necessitate its inclusion due to being a potent finisher.

Lishenna, Omen of Destruction

Puts the opponent on a clock for the rest of the game. I think this card is good, but the main issue is that it doesn't help you if you're behind due to what is quite frankly, a very pathetic 2/4 stat line. If your deck looks like it's going to have issues stabilising the early game, this might be a cut, despite how bad it might feel to do so.

Apostle of Truth

The fanfare may as well not exist. If you have the evolve card, go ahead and play it, otherwise, ugh, maybe it's ok for Raio fodder, but otherwise this card kinda sucks.

Safira, Synthetic Beast

I think you want to draft this when you can reasonably expect 2 rune followers to be in the grave before playing this. 4/6 rush is very good, maybe even 3/6, frankly. But anything less and it's underwhelming.

Destructive Refrain 

A card that is literally only playable if you pulled Lishenna, and drastically increases the consistency and the ability to stabilise when going for the strategy.

Iron Staff Mechanic

Pretty exceptional if you drafted 1-cost 2/2 followers, as this then becomes a 6/6 minimum for 5 mana. With Evolve, it's 6 mana for 9/9 in stats lol, pretty insane. Is also a mage, for what it's worth.

Truth's Adjudication

I think this card is playable, mainly due to its flexibility. I think it's rare to have two mages on the field, but any one of these effects is workable in a vacuum. Draw 2 is likely going to be the most common usage type, but it can open up lethal patterns or clear followers in an emergency.

Monochromatic Destruction

It costs too much for what it does.

You might consider it with Lishenna, but even then, it's not great. The best scenario for this card is when it kill Disciple of Usurpation.

Disciple of Truth

Understatted garbage. Only play with Raio, pretty much.

Disciple of Destruction

I don't know how often you are ever getting off his draw 2 effect. However, he is definitely playable due to 3/4 stats with ward.

Servant of Destruction

Another card that's only really playable with the evolve version. It can be used even without any Idol synergies, as the evolve effect is actually quite strong for 4pp (one of which can be cheated via evo point).

Honest Cohort

This card is playable simply on the basis of being a 3 damage, 2-cost quick spell.

Metaproduction

I think this is a skip in most cases. The odds of missing is too high to justify playing, regardless of how many spells you run, I think.

Dragoncraft

Galmieux, Omen of Disdain

Sadly, you have to draft both the base and the evolve for this card to be particularly useful. Actually an insane card if you manage to though, since it represents a massive tempo swing due to being able to replay any 2-cost or lower omen card while clearing enemy board and pinging leader.

Electromagical Rhino

3/7 storm for 5 mana is actually fine, maybe even good (this is basically what this card is). The only way to pull more than 1 copy of this is if your box happens to have the LG version AND the SL version at the same time (exceptionally rare).

Apostle of Disdain

There's two components here, let's tackle them separately.

1) If you draft the evolve version of this card as well, this card is worth playing. There are a lot of Omen Cards in this set, so being able to search top 5 cards and adding two to hand is actually very strong. Plus, when it trades, it becomes 4 attack.

2) Is this card worth playing without the evolve? I think the answer is, that it depends specifically on if you drafted cards like Disdainful Rending in particular. I don't think a 3/4 storm is that good anyways when considering the hoops.

My current thought is that this card is a -skip- IF you do not get the evolve and/or multiple rendings.

God Bullet Golem

What a weird card! A 7/7 for 6 cost is not necessarily bad, but half the advantage is lost as it can't attack leader. And activating the effect actually represents negative tempo in most cases too!

I believe this card is a skip. It's also vulnerable to the opponent's Confront Adversity.

Disdainful Rending

The "cost" is trivial and can snowball games irreversibly in the early game, while still finding opportunities to clear followers in the mid and late game. Exceptional.

Disciple of Disdain

You might run this if you drafted enough Disdain cards, but only in that scenario, as a 1/2 for 1-cost is not good in most cases.

Cursed Stone

Slightly understatted but one of the better 2/2s to play (without evo).

If you do have evo, as is usually a rule, it's an auto-include in your deck.

Amethyst Giant

I suspect this simply costs way too much mana to be good. If it manages to come down, it's obviously game-winning but turn 9.... Seems like it's simply too much.

Servant of Disdain

One of the best 2-cost followers in this format. Answers all 2/2s while drawing a card. Also has an overflow effect to ping a follower and also draw a card, which is very relevant!

Silver Automaton

Wow! 4/5 ward with 2 puppets (in EX) for only 4 play points!? This card will feel sooooo good slamming it going first. Great card.

Airship Whale

5/5 isn't the worst for 5-mana, but usually a skip without evo.

With evo? BROKEN! You will rarely "miss" with the evolve effect, which gets you maybe 9/10 in stats lol.

Colossal Construct

Strong "boss monster". Effectively cost-less "clear a follower" while creating a 6/7 on board. A little expensive, so probably don't want to run too many copies, but definitely one of the best common boss monsters to cap out your curve.

Total Domination

I think I need to actually try this card in Open 8 to evaluate its true strength. Obviously very playable if you pull a lot of the disdain package, but unsure if you can run this without it. I think my default answer is "no", due to consistency issues, despite the occasional upside.

Bloodcraft 

Valnareik, Omen of Lust

Technically under-statted, but playable regardless, provided you draft any amount of sanguine synergy. Unless your opponent sees you playing this throughout the day, it's unlikely they will play around the strike effect, which can be lethal out of nowhere.

Worst case scenario, you can just play it as a 2-cost follower on turn 2, sometimes you don't get punished for having under-statted 2-costs.

Ruleneye, Omen of Silence

Slightly under-statted, with slight upside by making opponent spells cost more (probably not relevant, in most cases).

The main thing is that his Necrocharge 10 effect, which will come live in the latter half of the game, is actually fairly strong.

Auto include if you managed to draft his evolve as well.

Apostle of Lust

Although he engages himself to do so, he represents potentially 6/7 in stats depending on what 2-cost he brings back with his effect, which is very strong.

Apostle of Silence

The "under 3 cards" effect is sometimes relevant, especially if the opponent goes first or if you drafted a bunch of the silence package. However, there are many games where it will never proc. Nevertheless, a 4/4 for 4-cost is okay, even if it doesn't do much else.

Card is exceptional with the evolve version, as it can then also ping the enemy follower for 3 (and, in some cases, destroy it outright).

Disciple of Lust

There's only really two cards that would make this card playable in my eyes. The first is Valnareik, the second is Servant of Lust evolve. I would skip this in almost every other scenario (unless my draft necessitated full aggro)

Masked Puppet

I think based on how many early games play out, it's actually a little underwhelming as you can't play the puppet on turn 3 going first, which automatically makes their 3/3 turn 2 evo value trade unpunished.

However, this card is very strong with evolve, as it gives you massive amounts of control on the board while potentially threatening a scaling 5/4.

Wings of Lust

Honestly a pretty good 1-cost spell. Even though you can rush your followers for 1pp anyways, sometimes, you might use that effect anyway cause you don't have the spare pp for rush and you want to do 2 damage to a follower. The cycle effect is also good to use when the rush effect isn't relevant.

Silent Purge

Excellent card that synergises with the other Silence omen cards. 4 mana hard removal that forces a discard can easily win you games!

Servant of Lust

I would be very careful when using this card without the evolve. It's definitely playable as a 3/1, but you might consider using this to trade with the enemy followers rather than going face. The reasoning is that there's a lot of puppet generators in the format, which makes you vulnerable to tempo swings.

The evolve effect is great though, even without the lust package, it does 2 damage to an enemy follower...

Servant of Silence

You might sometimes get her effect off which is nice. But for the most part you'll play her simply cause she's a 2/3 2-cost.

Hamelin

I quite like this card. 3/2 statline is exceptional when going first and the opponent doesn't open with a 1 cost 2/2. It can also be used to copy (most commonly) puppet cards, which makes this card have even higher potential upside.

Embracing Wings

HARD REMOVAL FOR ONLY 3 MANA. Play as many copies as you pull!

This card's existence is why value trading is probably the main approach to BP05 gameplay. Also gives you free Valnareik if it happens to be in cemetary.

Thunderous Roar

This card is great. Even without Necrocharge, 3 damage 2-cost removal is usually not bad at all. And you can also just make them discard a card if you happen to have the mana floating. Obviously in late game, being able to do both at the same time is very strong.

Also helps enable Apostle of Silence.

Havencraft

Marwynn, Omen of Repose

With evolve, auto-include. It's so hard to clear an 8/8 with aura and ward, even if they do get an extra turn. In some cases you can just leave it standing, then pose the question during your next (unskipped) turn after hitting them for 8 damage.

Without evolve, 4/4 for 4 mana is okay but probably skipped under most drafts.

Deus Ex Machina

Is one of those cards that ensures you never lose a resource war. 4/6 is a decent statline for a 5-cost too.

It's funny cause this card can definitely be skipped if your draft is very strong. However, I would still expect this card to see play in most situations!

Apostle of Repose

Definitely a skip without evolve, but fairly strong with evolve point, even though you have to let them engage their follower first in order to kill it.

Hakrabi

The rare 4/3 3-cost statline WITH ward. Warding this on turn 3 going first means practically nothing can trade into this and survive, preventing the concept of the value trade. That said, in most cases you are probably still not warding this so you can secure 4 damage on turn 4 and then have it warded after.

For the most part, I would consider the fanfare to not exist in this format.

Ancient Protector

Errr, this is a skip lol. You can't afford to waste 3 play points, and if they can drop you to 0 hp in the first place, they can probably do it again.

It's basically a win-more card.

Disciple of Repose

I really like this card's effect. Makes it pretty flexible and you can also leave it standing for recurring value.

Unidentified Subject

I'd probably only play this card if I got the evolve version (draw 2 cards is nice). Otherwise, it's too restrictive with how it gains stats, and a 3/7 is not particularly good.

Silver Cog Spinner

Very nice 4 cost follower with a strong 5/4 statline. Both of the effects are pretty good in my opinion, either you tempo 7/6 (or 7/7) worth of stats, or you draw a card with the 5/4.

Servant of Repose

Pretty playable simply because it's a 2/3 with slight upside. Gaining 1-2 hp can sometimes make the difference.

Demon's Epitaph

Worth playing with or without the Evolve. With the evolve, the discard is not steep when you consider that this practically guarantees 5 damage to the enemy leader (but more likely 8+ lol).

The Saviors

Especially good with Marwynn, as tutoring him will set up a very strong turn 4 power play - however, the banish effect is also rather playable (though sometimes a bit awkward). Can be skipped or included as a 29th/30th card type of thing.

Ancient Amplifier

This card is pretty great in my opinion. While a 2/3 ward is understated for 3 mana, you need to consider the following:

A) It draws a card

B) You are supposed to leave the card standing on turn 3, then spend 1pp on turn 4 to make it a 4/3, which is VERY good.

Of course, you could just also draw it on turn 4 onwards, in which case it's a 4pp 4/3 that draws a card.

Neutral

Mjerrabaine, Omen of One

5/5 rush is fine. I don't think it's particularly easy to proc his other effects without opponent helping you discard (nor would I build my deck around it). If you can proc his other effects, cool, just consider it a bonus (only possible in the late game usually).

With Evolve, the fact that he refreshes himself makes him twice as good, allowing him to clear an enemy follower and THEN refresh and force an answer from the opponent.

Gilnelise, Omen of Craving

Drain is so rare to see and is a very powerful keyword. The 3/5 statline is quite difficult to clear on turn 4.

I think the burn damage effect is sort of whatever, but the ability to search Apostle of Craving/Craving's splendor is pretty good, specifically if you have Craving's Splendor in deck.

The effect to draw 3 cards will almost never happen, but all the more power to you if you pull it off.

There's an argument that this card could be skipped if you draft neither the Apostle of Craving nor the Craving's Splendor if the rest of your deck is already good enough.

Apostle of Craving

Useless without either Gilnelese or the evolved version of this card.

Otherwise, it is a dramatically understated card, where you can already give rush to your followers for 1pp in Open 8.

Lyrial, Archer Throne

Very good on curve, as there's very few 5 attack followers on turn 3/4 in particular. However, later in the game, this will just get autocleared. So overall, I think the card is worth playing, but it does have these tradeoffs.

Feena, Dynamite Devil

3/2 2-cost with upside. This is actually one of the ideal 2-costs to have as it cannot be value-traded over by most 2-cost evos (of course, does die to 1 cost 2/2s but can't win em all)

Rosa, Mech Wing Maiden

Quite good with the evolve, but I think is a skip in every other circumstance, as 1/3 is too unimpactful, even with ward.

Enlightenment

I think this card is actually really good! Leaving the Mjerrabaine synergy aside, the +1/1 effect is very good in the early game. Making a 3/4 3-cost into a 4/5 is extremely difficult to deal with, for example, and lets you snowball really hard.

Craving's Splendor

This card is very strong. 4 damage removal for 3 mana AND 1 healing is very useful. It's even a quick spell!

Obviously, it's even better if you manage to pull Gilnelese.

Cat Cannoneer

Skip without evolve.

Absolutely insane with the evolve effect. It's a 4/4 you can leave standing while using the 3/1 to trade off their board... You could even just leave the 3/1 standing and go for 7 damage the next turn, if you should so be inclined to race.

Steel Demolitionist

2/3 2-costs followers are always playable. The ability to banish a card in the EX area can definitely come up later in the game, specifically with puppet generators.

Gliesaray

1 mana, 2 damage ping is always playable (though possibly one of your last 5 cards to put into your deck).

Obviously insane with Gilnelese on board, but can't really count on that, considering she's a legend rarity card.