Pack 1, Pick 1
The Pack:
The Pick:
Arvad the Cursed is quite the powerful card, but starting with a gold card is often not the best place to be. However, I did want to mention Arvad as an option, because I wouldn’t be surprised if, given the architecture of W/B as an archetype, curving into Arvad the Cursed on five wins so many games that it should be in consideration. But for now I’m unsure if that’ll be the case.
Blink of an Eye is pretty good for a common, and in fact is probably the best blue common. That being said, I’m unsure if it’s a card I’d be happy to start off a draft with, which may say something negative about the color blue in this format. I’m not going to write off the color to start, but the commons seem a bit lackluster. I will note that if this is a slow format, then a lot of the blue commons, such as Divination, get much better. And while I don’t think the format is going to be all that fast, it doesn’t seem particularly slow either.
So, I think the pick is between Squee, the Immortal and On Serra’s Wings. And I don’t think it’s particularly close. While Squee is a pretty good card in Limited, I think On Serra’s Wings is near-broken. Squee can block indefinitely and just makes trading impossible, but On Serra’s Wings asks a question, and if that question can’t be answered, the game is over. And even if it does get answered, you likely got in a big life-swing anyway!
Pack 1, Pick 4
The Picks So Far:
The Pack:
The Pick:
When considering cards like Sporecrown Thallid, it’s important to understand that, while it’s technically mono-green, it exists to facilitate a plan in the B/G archetype. So starting off a draft with only white cards is not leading me down the path of valuing Sporecrown Thallid highly. It’s a reasonable two-drop for sure, but not a card I’m interested in taking here.
Merfolk Trickster is a tricky card. The double-blue cost isn’t as steep as one would assume on a two-drop because it has substantially more value when cast later in the game. There’s a lot of tricky play to the card, but in the right hands it can be very potent. That being said, it doesn’t strike me as the type of card that pulls me into blue, and hence I would rather stay open a bit longer.
I’m expecting Memorial to Glory to be a great inclusion in any white deck. Utility lands, when they have reasonable effects, are solid pick-ups. Remember the cycling lands in Hour of Devastation? They were all very good, and I expect this to be the same of this uncommon cycle (where the black, white, and blue are the best). I’m just happy to grab the land here and wait to get a strong signal to determine my second color.