Xenan Everything-But-Mandrakes (7-1, draft)

P1P1 Shadowcreeper, P1P2 Kudzu's Technique = "hey, can I finally force mandrakes?"

Proceed to see no other mandrake support cards or payoffs for ultimates. Alas. On the other hand, I found a pile of miscellaneous other synergies, so.... between the relic, relic weapon, and ambush / fast spell synergies, things actually felt pretty cohesive, making use of all the synergies except the ones actually supported in the faction pair. Definitely one of the weirder decks I've drafted.

The two main things I'd call out are Recon Tower and the market. Recon Tower put in a lot of work, allowing me to play a relatively grindy game. There are a ton of X/1s in the format, and its ping was incredibly relevant. As for the market... I only ever used two of the cards in it (Restorative Process and Blade of the Worthy), but they were both incredibly relevant as mana sinks in the lategame. Going Time Etchings -> Restorative Process -> recur Coveted Gemstone -> grab Blade of the Worthy was a line that actually came up multiple times. Critically, Recon Tower let me hit SSSS influence to actually play Blade of the Worthy. I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've ever actually been happy to be running it - it was a perceptible upgrade over the Sludge Blade in my sideboard.

Other than that... Blurhaze Wurm put in a lot of work, since I had plenty of fast spells. Kudzu's Technique looks a lot better when it also draws two cards.