Pack 1, Pick 2
The Picks So Far:
The first pick of this draft wasn’t very interesting, since this is one of
the best rares in the set. But the second pick provides an interesting
decision…
The Pack:
The Pick:
While I don’t think the pick is Whisper Agent, I’d like to point out that
you’re probably not taking Whisper Agent high enough. It’s good in Izzet,
Dimir, and Golgari, which makes it function pretty much like a colorless
card. Blue decks like counterspells in this format, which makes the flash
on Whisper Agent more relevant than you would expect. While it isn’t a card
I’m looking to first pick, I’ll happily pick it up early on in this draft.
I think this pick is between Artful Takedown and Kraul Harpooner, and I
think the pick is quite close. Artful Takedown is splashable in Golgari,
and Finality is splashable in Dimir. While the rest of the world is down on
green, I’m not and have no problem taking this Kraul Harpooner. The fact
that Harpooner is a removal spell that Find can bring back is a reasonable
tie-breaker and why I’m going to take Kraul Harpooner here. I do think that
the pick could go either way, though.
Pack 1, Pick 3
The Picks So Far:
The Pack:
The Pick:
Between Rosemane Centaur and Rhizome Lurcher, the Centaur is the better
card. But neither of them are cards I want to start my draft with. Even
though I have Find//Finality, I think Centaur is enough better to take the
cake here. So the real decision is between Rosemane Centaur and
Sinister Sabotage.
It might sound odd that I’m considering Sinister Sabotage here, but trust
me when I say that Cancel is better than ever in Guilds of Ravnica Limited. Archetypes care about spells, there are
so many instant-speed cards to cast that you’re rarely wasting mana, and
most decks have some number of expensive spells. The bonus from surveil is
pretty huge, too.
So which card is better between Rosemane Centaur and Sinister Sabotage? I
think it’s Sabotage, but with two green cards in my pool, does the Centaur
take the cake? I don’t believe it does. Finding your lane in this format is
so important that you should take the best card out of the first four or
five packs every time regardless of the cards you have in your pool. I can
still be Dimir and splash Finality, so I’m going to take Sinister Sabotage
here.
Pack 1, Pick 4
The Picks So Far:
The Pack:
The Pick:
This pick offers green cards and another counterspell. While Devious
Cover-Up spawned its own archetype in the format, Sinister Sabotage is
still a better counterspell, and I don’t feel the need to take Cover-Up so
highly. And, as I mentioned previously, for the first picks in pack 1, a
reasonable heuristic is that you should take the best card in the pack
regardless of what you have so far.
The pick is Conclave Cavalier, and I don’t think it’s very close.
Pack 1, Pick 5
The Picks So Far:
The Pack:
The Pick:
I think that many players are a bit too high on Hired Poisoner. The card is
fine, but it gives your opponent the option of whether or not they want to
trade, and generally giving your opponent a choice isn’t where you want to
be. It isn’t too hard to wait until you draw that Dead Weight before
attacking with your Vigorspore Wurm, which means that Hired Poisoner
doesn’t really trade that far up even though it has the potential to. I’ll
play it in my black decks if I have to, but I’m never upset if the little
Assassin ends up in my sideboard.
Mission Briefing isn’t a very good pickup either. I’ve had a deck that made
it work by utilizing the spell synergies alongside powerful rares like
Ritual of Soot and the requisite mana to cast Mission Briefing, but those
scenarios are few and far between. While this start is arguably a good one
for Mission Briefing because of Find, It’s still not a great pickup.
Solidifying a good manabase is too important, so this pick is Dimir
Guildgate by a reasonable margin.
Pack 1, Pick 6
The Picks So Far:
The Pack:
The Pick:
This draft has taken us on quite the ride. This pack makes me think that
Selesnya is open, and with a Conclave Cavalier and the potential to wheel a
copy of Rosemane Centaur, it’s important to make this realization. If I end
up Selesnya, both Blade Instructor and Parhelion Patrol will be quite
solid. And Centaur Peacemaker can be good if the five-color version of
Selesnya is where we want to be.
However, I think the pick is Golgari Guildgate. At this point in the draft,
there are three potential base color-combinations: Golgari, Selesnya, and
Dimir. Because Finality is in my pool, I can be almost 100% sure that
Golgari Guildgate will make my deck in order to open the door to cast my
bomb. This is more valuable than taking any of the other cards in this
pack, and so I believe Golgari Guildgate is the pick.
If you’re curious how the draft and the games went, I streamed this draft.
You can watch the video here!
