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Streets of New Capenna (SNC) Draft Strategy Guide

Tap any card name to preview it, tap the name again to close. All card data from Scryfall set SNC (513 cards, released 2022-04-29).

Format basics

• Standard booster draft set (8-player pods, 3 packs, 1 pick per pack). Also works great for Sealed or any casual draft.
• Three-color "family" set: five crime families, each a color shard. Draft a two-color pair within a family and splash the third. Most SNC decks are 2 colors + splash, not true 3-color piles.
• The format is fast and tempo-driven. Cheap creatures and early plays win games; durdly do-nothings lose. White was the best color by win-rate, with Brokers and Obscura as the top families.
• Fixing matters: five common sac-fetch lands (one per family) and five common ETB-tapped duals, plus the five rare triomes: first-pick quality fixing that cycles away when flooded.
• Treasure tokens are everywhere (e.g. Jewel Thief3/3, Gala Greeters1/1), making splashes easy.

Mechanics

• Shield counters (Brokers): if a shielded creature would be destroyed or take damage, remove a counter instead. One-shot regeneration; great on double-strikers.
• Connive (Obscura): draw 1, discard 1; if you discarded a nonland, put a +1/+1 counter on the creature. Card selection + growth; fuels the "five mana values in your graveyard" cards.
• Casualty N (Maestros): as you cast, you may sacrifice a creature with power N+ to copy the spell. Trading a board piece for a doubled spell.
• Blitz (Riveteers): cheaper cost for haste + "dies → draw a card", sacrificed at end of turn. Aggro that never loses card advantage.
• Alliance (Cabaretti): triggers when a second creature enters on your turn. Rewards going wide with tokens.
• Hideaway (rares): exile a card face-down on entry; free-cast it when you hit the condition.

The 5 families

Top commons: the workhorses

• Inspiring Overseer2/1 (flying, draw + gain 1) is one of the best commons in recent Magic. Take it over almost anything non-bomb.
• Jewel Thief3/3 (vigilance trample + Treasure): stats, keywords, AND color fixing.
• Removal:
  • Strangle (3 dmg)
  • Murder
  • Kill Shot
  • Hold for Ransom
  • Light 'Em Up (casualty)
  • Deal Gone Bad
  • Incriminate
  • Witness Protection
  • Run Out of Town
  • Prizefight
• Make Disappear (casualty counterspell) and Raffine's Informant2/1 (connives) are the glue commons.
• Civil Servant2/3, Snooping Newsie2/2, Body Dropper2/2, Jetmir's Fixer2/2. These gold 2-drops define your family.
• Echo Inspector2/3 (flyer), Corrupt Court Official1/1, Crooked Custodian3/2.

Snap-pick bombs

• Titan of Industry7/7 (reach/trample, ETB choose two): splashable in any green deck.
• Ob Nixilis, the Adversary: with casualty, two planeswalkers on turn 3.
• Elspeth Resplendent
• Sanctuary Warden5/5
• Raffine, Scheming Seer1/4
• Ziatora, the Incinerator6/6
• Jetmir, Nexus of Revels5/4
• Falco Spara, Pactweaver3/3
• Lord Xander, the Collector6/6
• Urabrask, Heretic Praetor4/4
• Vivien on the Hunt
• Void Rend
• Unleash the Inferno
• Hostile Takeover
• Corpse Explosion
• Depopulate (the set's true wrath)
• Obscura Interceptor3/1
• Mysterious Limousine
• Soul of Emancipation5/7
• Endless Detour

Engines:

• Brokers Ascendancy
• Rabble Rousing
• Fight Rigging
• Ledger Shredder1/3
• Professional Face-Breaker2/3
• Jinnie Fay, Jetmir's Second3/3
• Tenacious Underdog3/2
• Ziatora's Envoy5/4
• Workshop Warchief5/3
• Gala Greeters1/1
• Extraction Specialist3/2
• Evelyn, the Covetous2/5

Triomes:

• Spara's Headquarters
• Raffine's Tower
• Xander's Lounge
• Ziatora's Proving Ground
• Jetmir's Garden

All three colors + cycling. First-pick them over medium playables.

Trap cards

• Meeting of the Five
• Bootleggers' Stash
• Arcane Bombardment
• Angel of Suffering5/3 (self-mill without payoff)
• Halo Fountain
• Luxior, Giada's Gift
• Even the Score
• An Offer You Can't Refuse (giving 2 Treasures is brutal)
• Tavern Swindler2/2
• Cement Shoes
• Suspicious Bookcase0/4
• Evolving Door
• Cut Your Losses
• Wiretapping
• Cemetery Tampering
• Shadow of Mortality7/7

Avoid slow do-nothings. This format punishes them.

Drafting strategy

• Commit to a family, not a shard: draft one 2-color pair with a splash. Five gold commons + five fixing lands per family make the pairs obvious.
• Stay open through pack 1: first-pick bombs and removal; triomes and Jewel Thief3/3-type cards keep every door open.
• Respect the speed: prioritize 2-drops (Inspiring Overseer2/1 counts double) and cheap interaction. An early Crooked Custodian3/2 or Civil Servant2/3 curves into family payoffs.
• White is the deepest color (Overseer, Kill Shot, Hold for Ransom, Raffine's Informant2/1); blue is the shallowest. Pair it with white or black for Obscura tempo, or green for Brokers counters.
• Fixing signals: late Brokers Hideout-cycle lands or late triomes = that family is open. Zero fixing wheeled = be ready to pivot to whatever 2-color pair the table left you.
• Treasures are real fixing: Professional Face-Breaker2/3, Stimulus Package, Ognis, Jetmir's Fixer2/2, Security Rhox5/4 all pay for splashes.
• Sacrifice fodder matters in decks: Blitz creatures die naturally at end of turn. Feed them to casualty spells (Ob Nixilis, Forge Boss3/4, Fatal Grudge, Body Dropper2/2).

Deckbuilding numbers

• 40 cards, 17 lands (16 if you're pure aggro with low curve; 17 + 1 extra if 3-color).
• 15 to 17 creatures, with 6+ at 2 mana value. This is a curve format.
• 3 to 5 removal spells; the set has deep removal at common, never leave home without Strangle-tier interaction.
• For a splash: 2 to 3 sources for the splash color (one family land + 1 to 2 Treasures/fetch effects).

In-game tips

• Combat tricks to play around: Boon of Safety (shield counter that kills your attacker in a trade), Revelation of Power (+2/+2, often flying/lifelink), For the Family (+2/+2 or +4/+4), Antagonize (+4/+3), Majestic Metamorphosis (surprise 4/4 flying blocker), Refuse to Yield (+2/+7), Slip Out the Back (phase out), Most Wanted.
• Shield counter math: one shield counter negates ONE hit, including one-shot wipes. Double strikers with shields (Disciplined Duelist2/1) are the best attackers in the set.
• Blitz = free card: every blitz creature that dies draws a card. Chump-blocking them is fine; letting them hit you repeatedly is not.
• Connive correctly: discard lands when you're flooding; keep nonlands to grow your connivers. Track your graveyard's mana values for the "five mana values" cards (Syndicate Infiltrator3/3, Aven Heartstabber1/1, Tainted Indulgence, Snooping Newsie2/2).
• Casualty timing: sacrifice a creature that was going to die anyway (chump blocker, blitz leaver). Copied removal like Light 'Em Up can 2-for-1 boards.
• Play around counterspells: Make Disappear and Obscura Charm are common. Don't slam your best spell into open blue mana mid-game.
• Call In a Professional beats shield counters (damage can't be prevented). Remember it exists before you trade into a shield.

Expensive cards to keep an eye out for

Top 20 by TCGplayer Market price (US$) among cards you can open in Draft Boosters (the full main set). The list below is regenerated on every site build; tap Refresh prices for a live recompute. Prices are for regular-frame versions; borderless, showcase, and gilded-foil treatments run higher and are mostly Collector Booster-only. The eighteen Commander-only cards from SNC Set Boosters can't be opened in Draft Boosters, so they're not listed. Several entries are draft traps (see above) — value picks only.

Top 20 by TCGplayer Market price · generated 2026-08-26 · Refresh prices

1. Jetmir's Garden — $16.63 (rare · triome)
2. Raffine's Tower — $13.72 (rare · triome)
3. Xander's Lounge — $13.50 (rare · triome)
4. Spara's Headquarters — $13.48 (rare · triome)
5. Jetmir, Nexus of Revels5/4 — $10.42 (mythic)
6. Ziatora's Proving Ground — $9.79 (rare · triome)
7. Ledger Shredder1/3 — $9.59 (rare)
8. Halo Fountain — $7.28 (mythic · trap)
9. Professional Face-Breaker2/3 — $6.81 (rare)
10. Angel of Suffering5/3 — $4.81 (mythic · trap)
11. Luxior, Giada's Gift — $4.81 (mythic · trap)
12. Elspeth Resplendent — $4.69 (mythic)
13. Arcane Bombardment — $4.35 (mythic · trap)
14. Slip Out the Back — $4.35 (uncommon!)
15. Lord Xander, the Collector6/6 — $3.21 (mythic)
16. An Offer You Can't Refuse — $3.20 (uncommon · trap)
17. Brokers Ascendancy — $3.04 (rare)
18. Cut Your Losses — $3.02 (rare · trap)
19. Falco Spara, Pactweaver3/3 — $2.74 (mythic)
20. Raffine, Scheming Seer1/4 — $2.49 (mythic)