The Dragon was tempting but I think the Strike Leader is the pick. There is also the possibility that Reach of Shadows wheels and you can get it second pick. Hopefully you'll cut B and get decent stuff coming back pack 2
I'm thinking Shockmaw Dragon or even Reach of Shadows might be the pick here. Mardu Strike Leader seems great in some limited formats, but in this one he'll always run into a face-down creature, leaving behind a single Wetland Sambar, so on turn 3/4 he's a little better than a random playable morph, but he's a much worse topdeck. It's definitely playable, but I'm not sure it's better than removal or a big flyer. Abzan Beastmaster seems like it might secretly be an amazing build-around, but it's hard to go deep without knowing the format.
cause red is my color, and dragons are my favourite and this one is good i go with the dragon. there are not many good red cards besides him in this pack anyway, so the chances are high that some stay in it.
the black rare is solid too, and mb the removal will wheel so you can pick it.
I'd go with Reach of Shadows, solid removal that hits mostly everything outside of morphs/manifests.
After that my next choices would be Shockmaw Dragon (just a solid finisher) and Mardu Strike Leader. The Strike Leader certainly has the potential to run away with games, but if the board gets gummed up, as I find is often the case, then he's not nearly as strong. Not to mention this format revolves around 2/2 morphs so pretty much every deck will have blockers for him.
Dragon is a bomb. But still think the Rare is better since it is warrior that can generate infinite warriors. Warriors have many cards to support in KTK and I think it would fit better in Draft. Also, Dragon costs 2 Red, which is harder to cast.
I went for the rare. Warriors are a thing, trumpet blast/token deck is an option and I have a good starting point to build up on this. I do not like the Dragon as much here, because its double red, sort of forces me into temur because ferocious, and if I would consider mardu at any point with the dragon in my mind, the strike leader suits that strategy better. Reach of shadows is reasonable, but average, certainly not the pick for me.
Beastmaster's my pick---that's some card advantage that could get out of control, while synergizing nicely with a lot of stuff. There's too much Manifest/Morph for the 2-toughess Strike Leader to get much of anywhere, at least early.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Quote from Skullum »
that's not what happened at all. kamahl stabbed phage, akroma, and some old lady and they became korona. then korona got stabbed by her "prophets" and kamahl got drunk with a mutant centaur
Strike Leader. If it's able to connect once or twice it quickly grows out of hand, and the mere threat of its presence on the battlefield means that your opponent likely needs to dedicate at least one or two creatures ready to block him.
After much deliberation, I decided on the Strike Leader. I was really tempted to grab the Jeskai Sage (which may still be the pack), but it seems like often you could steal a huge amount of tempo from your opponent with the strike leader. Bear in mind that the strike leader only needs to attack to get the token, it doesn't have to get through. So it gets blocked and trades with something, and the warrior it leaves behind will still probably wind up trading with something. Finally, it's only one black mana so it's relatively easy to splash if black doesn't wind up being one of your main colors. The dragon and the beastmaster both lock you into a direction more than I'd like on first pick.
Several solid picks, and several that get out of hand if left unchecked:
Strike Leader is really tempting. Even if it trades with a morph on the attack, you still come out ahead of the deal. Doubly so with any good combat trick or backed up with removal.
Beastmaster is a bit of a slow-roll, but if you are in either Abzan/Sultai you shouldn't have the hardest time fulfilling the clause early with cards like Disowned Ancestor, Arashin Cleric, or Jeskai Barricade. And card advantage wins the long game.
The dragon is also extremely potent, and can make your opponent's blocks rather miserable and awkward. Also wipes out tokens, which are quite present in the set.
Reach of Shadows is also extremely good instant speed hard removal, which isn't heavily present in the set.
Overall, I think I may pick the dragon. A big evasive creature that wrecks aggressive decks and tokens, coupled with difficult blocking for the opponent is very good. It is by no means the only good pick, as there are arguments for a ton of cards in the pack. Still, dragon gives us good upside on whatever wheels, as it can slot into most any style of deck, be it more aggressive or more midrangy. A 4/4 flyer is just a good all-around creature.
I wouldn't call Reach 'hard' removal. It only works on multi-colored creatures (witch I fell will probably be in the minority). Still bad removal is still removal in limited
IMO the pick here is between the Strike Leader and the Beastmaster, and both are defensible. In fact they are pretty similar cards, in that if you draft the right stuff around them they can create a snowball of card advantage that takes over the game.
Personally I go with the Strike Leader, as I would prefer to play the kind of deck he leads us towards (i.e. Bx aggro). Curve him into any kind of removal/tricks and the opponent is in for a world of hurt.
IMO the dragon is being severely overrated by many here. All dragons are not created equal and all formats are not equal. In this format a 6-mana 4/4 flyer with a so-so ability is playable but far from exciting. I'd much rather have any number of morphs that provide a play on turn 3 or turn 8, a huge advantage over the dragon that is limited to the late game. At 6-mana in this format I want a true game changing bomb, not just a kinda-big flyer. If he was 6/6 or had a real game-changing ability it would be a different story...of course then he wouldn't be an uncommon. Maybe when Dragons is released this guy gains a lot of value, maybe the format slows down and there will presumably be more dragons around to take advantage of his trigger (huge difference in this case if you can attack with two dragons at the same time). But right now I think it is a middling pick, not even close to being the first card taken out of the pack.
I wouldn't call Reach 'hard' removal. It only works on multi-colored creatures (witch I fell will probably be in the minority). Still bad removal is still removal in limited
I had the same first impression, but it actually works on any colored creature, including mono-colored ones. I wish they kept that wording...
Strike Leader for me too, it's just good value as a baseline, plus has the ability to really run away with the game.
Leader was tempting, but then I realized that the dragon could kill any of those tokens, so when it comes down to which I'd rather have on my side, the dragon has the bigger advantage.
I have neither the skill to correctly and accurately analyze this set in the context of current and future formats after 12 hours of exposure, nor the hubris to delude myself into believing that I do.
Strike Leader's tempting but I think I could definitely build around the Beastmaster. I'm probably more likely to go in some green direction than black in this season.
msun: Knives scoop ice cream.
Highroller: No they don't, knives don't scoop. Spoons scoop.
msun: Well, knives SHOULD scoop icecream.
Highroller: We have spoons that do it. Moreover, the shape of a knife that would scoop ice cream would make it horrible for performing the functions of a knife.
msun: Highroller, you bring up spoons as though they were the utensil used for scooping ice cream.
Shockmaw Dragon is my first instinct because bombs are good and who can resist a dragon. However, if I decided I was gonna force Abzan I would pick the Beastmaster. Reach of Shadows and Grim Contest are both tempting, but I feel like in pack one Grim Contest has a decent chance of coming back because people may not know if they could use it.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
the black rare is solid too, and mb the removal will wheel so you can pick it.
pretty close between those two i think.
After that my next choices would be Shockmaw Dragon (just a solid finisher) and Mardu Strike Leader. The Strike Leader certainly has the potential to run away with games, but if the board gets gummed up, as I find is often the case, then he's not nearly as strong. Not to mention this format revolves around 2/2 morphs so pretty much every deck will have blockers for him.
Strike Leader is really tempting. Even if it trades with a morph on the attack, you still come out ahead of the deal. Doubly so with any good combat trick or backed up with removal.
Beastmaster is a bit of a slow-roll, but if you are in either Abzan/Sultai you shouldn't have the hardest time fulfilling the clause early with cards like Disowned Ancestor, Arashin Cleric, or Jeskai Barricade. And card advantage wins the long game.
The dragon is also extremely potent, and can make your opponent's blocks rather miserable and awkward. Also wipes out tokens, which are quite present in the set.
Reach of Shadows is also extremely good instant speed hard removal, which isn't heavily present in the set.
Overall, I think I may pick the dragon. A big evasive creature that wrecks aggressive decks and tokens, coupled with difficult blocking for the opponent is very good. It is by no means the only good pick, as there are arguments for a ton of cards in the pack. Still, dragon gives us good upside on whatever wheels, as it can slot into most any style of deck, be it more aggressive or more midrangy. A 4/4 flyer is just a good all-around creature.
Personally I go with the Strike Leader, as I would prefer to play the kind of deck he leads us towards (i.e. Bx aggro). Curve him into any kind of removal/tricks and the opponent is in for a world of hurt.
IMO the dragon is being severely overrated by many here. All dragons are not created equal and all formats are not equal. In this format a 6-mana 4/4 flyer with a so-so ability is playable but far from exciting. I'd much rather have any number of morphs that provide a play on turn 3 or turn 8, a huge advantage over the dragon that is limited to the late game. At 6-mana in this format I want a true game changing bomb, not just a kinda-big flyer. If he was 6/6 or had a real game-changing ability it would be a different story...of course then he wouldn't be an uncommon. Maybe when Dragons is released this guy gains a lot of value, maybe the format slows down and there will presumably be more dragons around to take advantage of his trigger (huge difference in this case if you can attack with two dragons at the same time). But right now I think it is a middling pick, not even close to being the first card taken out of the pack.
I had the same first impression, but it actually works on any colored creature, including mono-colored ones. I wish they kept that wording...
Strike Leader for me too, it's just good value as a baseline, plus has the ability to really run away with the game.
My bad, thanks.
Reading is tech!
Everyone should learn from this
Playtesting | Karador, Ghost Chieftain | Narset, Enlightened Master | Ephara, God of the Polis
Established | Gahiji, Honored One | Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker | Opal-Eye, Konda's Yojimbo | Rubinia Soulsinger
Retired | Medomai the Ageless | Diaochan, Artful Beauty
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Close behind is the dragon, as flying beatsticks also get responded to or win you the game.