Key cards & Deck Archtypes

My greatest weakness in sealed is I draft a few good cards early and then stick to that plan NO MATTER WHAT comes down the pike. So I'm trying to do some homework and memorize some tells that a particular clan or deck style is open. This is more than just keeping an eye out for Murderous Cut (which everyone loves!) because being passed that late is so blatant, even I can't miss that. I'm looking for key engine cards. These aren't necessarily first picks by any means.

 

Abzan (Outlast)

The Outlast creatures are so good and the mechanic of giving "everything with a +1/+1 counter _____" is SO good that you don't normally see too many of those late. With it being a late game play, Abzan needs to gum up the early game. 

  

Mardu (Horde)

In many ways mardu is the easiest to build because you swarm early and swarm often. There's a fair amount of overlap with Jeskai in the sense that you have small creatures running around with some combat tricks. Still, with the Warrior keyword and some white/black that isn't terribly relevant to the Abzan, here are some good ones.

      

Delve Engine

The Delve cards are really, really good and most decks benefit from throwing in a few. However there are a few cards that really help the Delve engine get going early by populating the graveyard.

  

 

The key "good" delve cards are as follows:
     

Tricks & Tempo (Jeskai)

This seems like the hardest deck to build, but it does offer the clearest "build around me" uncommon in Quiet Contemplation. You need enough tricks to respect Prowess but enough creatures to pull it off. Jeskai creatures aren't the biggest but they do have a fair amount of flying (given how rare it is in the set)