Invasion Draft - Rare Artifacts and Lands

Gary Wise

Juntu Stakes
This is my favorite sideboard card in the environment. While starting it may be a bit risky due to the possibility of crippling your own weenies and/or a lack of 1-power creatures in your opponent's deck, nothing shuts down an army of tappers faster or more efficiently than the Stakes. It's especially effective with cards like Mourning and Cursed Flesh. A 6th - 8th pick, higher if you have little kill.

Lotus Guardian
I am proud to say that at PT Chicago, I did a draft in which the Guardian was actually tapped for mana. That said, when you have the 7 mana required to get this thing in play, you won't need its special ability too often. Easy to kill for a seven mana creature (Dismantling Blow, Agonizing Demise) the Guardian is worth playing, but it isn't a first pick caliber card. A 3rd- 5th pick.

Phyrexian Altar
Maybe some deck builder with more skill than I will come up with an interesting combo deck for the Altar, but I guarantee that it will have at least 60 cards in it. A 12th - 14th pick.

Phyrexian Lens
While I'd prefer to use Fertile Ground, Harrow, Utopia Tree or one of the many other ways to produce many colors of mana, if you're five colors and need to make sure you can get all five, this is a viable way to do it. Three mana and a point of life seems like a lot to pay for one mana though. A 10th - 12th pick.

Planar Portal
This may be the hardest card in the format to accurately evaluate. The Portal is obviously extremely powerful, but at the same time, something as cheap as a tapper costs 13 mana to cast (6 for the portal, 6 for the activation, 1 for the Apprentice). In other words, if you draft this card, you're in it for the long haul. I've taken cards like Ravenous Rats over this thing, just because its pace doesn't suit an aggressive deck. If you think you can take and keep control of the game for that long, try it out. A 5th - 7th pick.

Tek
I don't know if this card was named for the similar sounding slang, but it should have been. I've heard Gab Tsang refer to this as a Dragon, and he isn't far off. Ever cast a third turn Harrow and 4th turn Tek? You'll understand what Gab is talking about. Obviously, Tek isn't great in every color combo. The GR deck's 2/2 trampling first striker for 5 is less than awesome, but play blue or black and you won't regret drafting this beast. A 1st - 3rd pick.

Tsabo's Web
A viable sideboard choice against Keldon Necropolis, there are worse cards you can use for those decks where you've only drafted 20 playables and need a way to fill out your deck. Throw in the fact it has a price tag... a 11th - 13th pick.

Urza's Filter
Sorry kids, this may be cool in your fun decks, but 4 mana is too much to pay for a card that lessens the casting costs on your Shivan Zombies by zero. Could be fun in multi-player. A 13th - 15th pick.

Keldon Necropolis
This is the best non-red reason to play red I've seen in a long time. The Necropolis wins the unwinable games, providing a non-colored damage source and giving its controller a strangle hold on the table, allowing them to trade their 2/2s for opposing 4/4s or for two 2/2s. A 1st - 3rd pick.