Johnny Theorycraft: M15 & opposites attract

Aaaaand I'm back in the game! M15 pre-release was just a bundle of fun so it starts me on the cycle of thinking that drafting will be fun. Then I'll lose, curse this stupid game and everyone who plays it, and go back to Dota2. But until then, let's theorycraft it up! I'm going to focus on potential draft synergies in M15. The theory behind the theory is that you'll win 50% of your games if your draft deck functions competently (decent mana curve, a few kill cards, etc.) 25% will come from luck and the final 25% comes from having an edge via the metagame, synergies, etc.

Postulate: the dual land selection "means something" Wizards didn't just pick them out of a hat.
























All opposite pairings. Fascinating. So I'm going to start there in the search of synergies. Let's start with Red & White. Boros? Do we still call it that? Anyway, perusing the spoiler list shows an interesting recurrence. Red/white are the only colors that have cards that contain Aura in the text.

















Are these cards any good? Well 4 to drop a 2/3 isn't *great* but how much is a 2/2 flier with firebreathing worth?  Some nifty card advantage might ensue. Boonweaver Giant is an absurdly expensive potential gamebreaker, especially if he comes in with something that gives him haste, or vigilance, or similar. Heliod's is a nice way of accuring some card advantage, especially if you have some flexible enchants that can also remove. What's nice about these is that these cards aren't such amazing uncommons that they'll be snapped up immediately. They actually have a chance of going around a few times. This gives you an edge if you Have A Plan. This leads to the natural question of what the Aura distribution looks like. I'm counting only non-rare, non-weird (Verdant Haven etc.)






































 
























Unsurprisingly white is a grand-champion with three beneficial and unreliable removal. Black has a weak buff, unreliable removal, and a pretty decent removal/direct damage. Red has two weak buffs, blue is blue, and the less said about green the better.

Also of note is that the only two rare Auras are red and white and pretty strong in sealed:

















Is this to say that you should drop everything and desperately take Auras in your next draft? Of course not. But keep an eye out for the potential to snag some uncommons that work very well with the commons that you're sure to see later in the draft.