Wow, looks like Master the way is going to win this one. I think that's a mistake since gold cards are restrictive and lock you in significantly early. I would take Azban Guide which is so much easier on the mana, plus lets you have a better and more relevant card (a big morph).
I really think that clumky removal that costs 5 mana is poorly placed on the mana curve, even if it cantrips.
If the guide wasn't in the pack than I would take MArdu Warshrieker.
Calavera: I don't understand your concerns about Mardu Warshrieker, since he is not, as such, a Grey Ogre, but a Hill Giant.
If you are referring to the fact that you don't want to play Morphs.... I just cannot agree with you.
Hill Giant is what I meant, sorry.
Morphs are good, but you won't always have one in hand to combo with the Warshrieker, and you have to activate Raid first. Again, it's playable, but you should probably be able to get it on the wheel.
On highland game vs smoke teller, i do think that the difference between 1 and 2 toughness isn't really important in this format, only being relevant to borderline playables barrage of boulders and heart piercer bow and a very small handful of c list creatures like sage-eye harrier and sidisi's pet. Basically i only play 2 drops in this format to stop other player's 2 drops or to trade up with a morph. You have to run a certain amount of them just to keep from being blown out by an aggressive opening backed up by bounce or falter or burn, slow as the format may be you can only play as slowly as the fastest deck you expect to go up against and someone at the table is getting that nut mardu or jeskai deck. So for me smoke teller and highland game are pretty much the same creature except i never plan on using smoke teller's ability so at least the highland game buys me an extra hit from an aggressive opponent.
Take all my pick ordering with a bag of salt though, i've only drafted kahns against human opponents twice now and before getting experience with the format i had generator servant as the best m15 common so i'm clearly not always on the right side of history.
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I can't believe people think Mardu Warshrieker is a card you're going to WHEEL! Even just as a 3/3 for 4 that's super-easy to cast in a set with demanding mana costs and a bunch of 2/2s...it's surprisingly solid. Add in the potential tempo play of a 7-mana Turn 4 and it's much better than a card that's going to wheel.
People trumpeting Warspeaker, have you played Coal Stoker before? It is basically the same card and also from a format with morphs. It was playable, but never a first pick and quite often wheeled. I would not be surprised if that is where it ended up in this format too.
As for Master the Ways, the closest card that compares to is Annihilate, which was first pickable. Ways will do a minimum of 2 damage (I almost never have an empty hand in limited, hold a basic), but can pretty easily do 3 - 4, which will kill almost as many creatures as "non-black" from Annihilate. Add on the fact you can hoard cards in hand and then go to the face to finish the match and it seems very powerful. Also see Spiraling Embers, a card I would pick early, but is much worse.
Very good pack choice Sene. Unplayable rare and a lot of similar power levels has led to good discussion. Hope it continues.
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Wow, looks like Master the way is going to win this one. I think that's a mistake since gold cards are restrictive and lock you in significantly early.
I disagree. (Assuming playing at most three colors.) UR limits you to two clans, while a mono-color cards limits you to three. It's not that much of a difference. Being removal that takes care of morph (or more) is relevant. It is slow though, but, hey, cantrip.
I can't believe people think Mardu Warshrieker is a card you're going to WHEEL! Even just as a 3/3 for 4 that's super-easy to cast in a set with demanding mana costs and a bunch of 2/2s...it's surprisingly solid. Add in the potential tempo play of a 7-mana Turn 4 and it's much better than a card that's going to wheel.
It wheels regularly in Cockatrice drafts. And the format has enough fixing that being easy to cast is not much of an advantage.
I can't believe people think Mardu Warshrieker is a card you're going to WHEEL! Even just as a 3/3 for 4 that's super-easy to cast in a set with demanding mana costs and a bunch of 2/2s...it's surprisingly solid. Add in the potential tempo play of a 7-mana Turn 4 and it's much better than a card that's going to wheel.
It wheels regularly in Cockatrice drafts. And the format has enough fixing that being easy to cast is not much of an advantage.
I don't think we should assume that Sene (the other 7 drafters) is a bad drafter though.
Watcher of the Roost. Flying is super good in this format, he fits easily into the best wedges, he has the added flexibility of two toughness if they have a 1/1 and he probably gains you 2 life for free. Warshrieker is a fine card, but I certainly don't like the idea of first picking it. If I were in the mood to jump right into a wedge P1P1, which I'm not unless it's a stupid bomb, I'd pick Abzan Guide - very powerful card. I'd need more experience with the format to judge Master the Ways accurately. It's probably good, since people have so much to do with their mana, but I'd rather have most of the other red burn spells.
Watcher of the Roost. Best card in the best color. It's not as powerful as some of the others, but it's evasive and fits well with one of the stronger proactive strategies of the format.
Comparing Warshrieker to Coal Stoker: 'Shrieker is a mana fixer, which increases its relevance. Also, morph wasn't nearly as present in that format as this one (with a grand total of three common morphs in Time Spiral, and none in red - even in the full block red only got one common morph, and it was usable in any non-red deck). Coal Stoker was a Storm enabler, not a morph enabler.
Warshrieker contends pretty reasonably for best common in the set. That said, I'd still pick Master the Way over it.
I can't resist chiming in here, since Time Spiral was "my" format: Coal Stoker was okay-ish, but not particularly impressive back then, since mana burn was a thing and quite frequently you just had to take three. Later though, without damage on the stack, it got quite good. You often paired red with blue, which had a lot of morphs, and you also had storm. He was really good with Empty the Warrens and Grapeshot. Also, there were more cards with activated abilities (like Basalt Gargoyle and Flowstone Channeler) that you could activate while also playing Coal Stoker on the same turn.
Point being: while there were perhaps fewer morphs in Time Spiral block, there were arguably more other applications for the card. And, not to mention, creatures were a little smaller in general then.
Disclaimer, I have drafted this set about a dozen times.
That being said my pick choice would go,
Abzan Guide > Sultai Scavenger > Watcher of the roost
At worst guide is a colorless 3 mana 2/2, at best its a 4/4 life link beast.
Flying is that important in this format I put the flyers ahead of everything else. There are a lot of board stalls in this format, flyers break those stalls in most cases.
Master the way looks cool, but rarely plays out like you would think.
I'm not sure why people are so super impressed with Abzan Guide. I mean, I'd be pretty happy to play a 4/4 lifelinker for 3CC, but I wouldn't necessarily think I was getting a crazy good deal on it. Upping the cost to 3CDE does not make me more excited to play it, nor does letting me spend a whole extra turn morphing it for the privilege of still overpaying for it once I decide to flip it. I've tried it and found it to be inefficient and vulnerable to excessive types of removal. This is not what I want to be doing with my turn 3, or my turn 5, or honestly with any of my turns.
People aren't used to it yet but 4/4 is actually kinda piddly in this format.
(which is a significant bonus everywhere it appears)
I definitely don't see that. I think a lot of people are going to learn hard lessons when just assuming they can spend turn 3 on a morph all the time, instead of just when they absolutely don't have any other 3-drops to play.
Some morphs are cards which are very much improved by being able to run something genuinely powerful high on the curve without having to sacrifice a 3-drop in your curve. Plenty of other morphs are just middling creatures that get eaten by the good ones, and punish their owners for being inefficient with their mana. I'm currently pretty comfortable with my rule of thumb being that 4-toughness or lower morphs (without evasion or some kind of important utility) are mostly not worth it, and 5-toughness or higher ones are. It works for me, and lets me not have to worry about Abzan Guide ever being any kind of dominating presence, or even something that stays on the board for longer than a turn.
I'm pretty sure I would take Sultai Flayer here, as it's a solid card in any deck with green in it, whereas Warshrieker shines in mardu/aggro. Lot's of good choices, really hard to say which one is right.
I agree that Abzan Guide is being somewhat overrated; 4/4 has been a little on the wimpy side for a 5-drop for a long time now, and this set is not an exception. Even among commons that cost 5 to unmorph, there are three that beat the Guide in combat, putting it solidly in the middle of the common morphs, stats-wise, and well below the median amongst the good common morphs.
I do like it a lot in Abzan decks just because I think that Abzan is very good at establishing inevitability but can be vulnerable to getting tempo'd out, so I really like having sources of lifegain. But I don't think it's the kind of stellar card that makes me want to take something in three colors right off the bat.
I have lost just 6 games (out of 21) in three ktk drafts so far trust me :).
The abzan guide is basically the only way to beat mardu, however I don't want to pick it this early I will take it later if I am in azban. Its solid and key to azban working but we aren't abzan yet.
I like flayer is also pretty good.
I haven't used master the way but two colours this early that isn't an out out bomb not really worth it.
If I were drafting, I'd be taking Watcher of the Roost. I'm a big fan of taking mono colored cards early because it leaves you open to three clans and it's evasion which is something I think many people are under-rating. It's also cheap, good in a race, and in one of the best colors.
Why are some people calling Watcher of the Roost a "cheap flier?" It's kind of overcosted. If you hard-cast it, it's worse than Wind Drake. The 2 life is cute but is offset but the unlucky occasions when you don't have another White card in your hand or revealing it would be negative value (like a combat trick or instant removal). It can ambush a flier I guess and trade with it.
Either way, it's not cheap. It's actually mildly expensive because it has multiple modes. Could still very well be the best card here but a cheap 2/1 Flier costs 1W.
I'd expect to pay 3 mana for a 2 power flyer, it's not typical to have 2/1 flyers for 2 these days.
I never said it's a 'cheap flyer.' I said it cheap, mostly in relation to the other options (Flayer and Master the Way). But beyond the efficiency, which I do admit isn't ideal, I like that's it's one color and an evasive threat. Evasion is quite important in this format as the ground tends to get gummed up a bit.
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I really think that clumky removal that costs 5 mana is poorly placed on the mana curve, even if it cantrips.
If the guide wasn't in the pack than I would take MArdu Warshrieker.
I believe you're in the minority there.
Take all my pick ordering with a bag of salt though, i've only drafted kahns against human opponents twice now and before getting experience with the format i had generator servant as the best m15 common so i'm clearly not always on the right side of history.
WUBRGWBGURW
UBRGWURWBGU
BRGWUBGURWB
RGWUBRWBGUR
GWUBRGURWBG
As for Master the Ways, the closest card that compares to is Annihilate, which was first pickable. Ways will do a minimum of 2 damage (I almost never have an empty hand in limited, hold a basic), but can pretty easily do 3 - 4, which will kill almost as many creatures as "non-black" from Annihilate. Add on the fact you can hoard cards in hand and then go to the face to finish the match and it seems very powerful. Also see Spiraling Embers, a card I would pick early, but is much worse.
Very good pack choice Sene. Unplayable rare and a lot of similar power levels has led to good discussion. Hope it continues.
2nd place behind Paulo after round 3 of Pro Tour M15
(finished 8-8, but beat Alexander Hayne and Ben Stark)
I disagree. (Assuming playing at most three colors.) UR limits you to two clans, while a mono-color cards limits you to three. It's not that much of a difference. Being removal that takes care of morph (or more) is relevant. It is slow though, but, hey, cantrip.
It wheels regularly in Cockatrice drafts. And the format has enough fixing that being easy to cast is not much of an advantage.
I don't think we should assume that Sene (the other 7 drafters) is a bad drafter though.
Warshrieker contends pretty reasonably for best common in the set. That said, I'd still pick Master the Way over it.
Point being: while there were perhaps fewer morphs in Time Spiral block, there were arguably more other applications for the card. And, not to mention, creatures were a little smaller in general then.
Now carry on
That being said my pick choice would go,
Abzan Guide > Sultai Scavenger > Watcher of the roost
At worst guide is a colorless 3 mana 2/2, at best its a 4/4 life link beast.
Flying is that important in this format I put the flyers ahead of everything else. There are a lot of board stalls in this format, flyers break those stalls in most cases.
Master the way looks cool, but rarely plays out like you would think.
All that said, Azban Guide is my pick.
People aren't used to it yet but 4/4 is actually kinda piddly in this format.
I have drafted on cockatrice a time or three. Not sure why that matters?
I definitely don't see that. I think a lot of people are going to learn hard lessons when just assuming they can spend turn 3 on a morph all the time, instead of just when they absolutely don't have any other 3-drops to play.
Some morphs are cards which are very much improved by being able to run something genuinely powerful high on the curve without having to sacrifice a 3-drop in your curve. Plenty of other morphs are just middling creatures that get eaten by the good ones, and punish their owners for being inefficient with their mana. I'm currently pretty comfortable with my rule of thumb being that 4-toughness or lower morphs (without evasion or some kind of important utility) are mostly not worth it, and 5-toughness or higher ones are. It works for me, and lets me not have to worry about Abzan Guide ever being any kind of dominating presence, or even something that stays on the board for longer than a turn.
I do like it a lot in Abzan decks just because I think that Abzan is very good at establishing inevitability but can be vulnerable to getting tempo'd out, so I really like having sources of lifegain. But I don't think it's the kind of stellar card that makes me want to take something in three colors right off the bat.
I love fliers
I have lost just 6 games (out of 21) in three ktk drafts so far trust me :).
The abzan guide is basically the only way to beat mardu, however I don't want to pick it this early I will take it later if I am in azban. Its solid and key to azban working but we aren't abzan yet.
I like flayer is also pretty good.
I haven't used master the way but two colours this early that isn't an out out bomb not really worth it.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
Cheap flier
Flayer would be my follow up.
Either way, it's not cheap. It's actually mildly expensive because it has multiple modes. Could still very well be the best card here but a cheap 2/1 Flier costs 1W.
I never said it's a 'cheap flyer.' I said it cheap, mostly in relation to the other options (Flayer and Master the Way). But beyond the efficiency, which I do admit isn't ideal, I like that's it's one color and an evasive threat. Evasion is quite important in this format as the ground tends to get gummed up a bit.