MTG Salvation

The Umara Raptor keeps the options for the deck open. I don't think passing the Hexmage/Sell-Sword sends a strong signal to go Black, especially after the Baloth and Cobra Trap (which was underrated in 1-1, I feel, although the Nighthawk was the right pick) has already been passed. This pack is passing a Vines and a Territorial Baloth (which is nearly as strong as his bigger brother, surprisingly), which would convince me if I were third that Green is not being strongly considered - only the Mold Shambler in common and River Boa in uncommon are convincingly better than the cards I was passed in the first two packs, I think.

Nighthawk isn't a great splash normally, but there is plenty of color-fixing opportunities in Zendikar so it's not right out if Black ends up as a splash.

There is the possibility that the rare that was drafted in this pack was a Rite of Replication, Sea-Gate Loremaster or Sphinx of Jwar Isle, any of which would be picked ahead of the Raptor in blue, but even if that was the case, we aren't forced to fight over blue and the Raptor is an easy splash and a great flyer.

That said, if Quests start becoming seriously irritating in draft (I haven't done it enough to see if some of the better ones are bombs or just strong), then the Hexmage will jump in everyone's estimation and it'll be better to pick it early. Right now, I'm choosing the Hexmage simply because it'll be harder to find one in general.

Seriously, I don't see why this is close at all. The Raptor is much, much better than the Hexmage. And there are no signals right now, so all of this "don't go into white, cut black, etc" is useless. The packs are randomly generated, and this is pick 2, with a rare missing. Plus, if anything, we are passing a green signal with the 2 Baloths and Vines.

Just take the best card in the pack, and that happens to be Raptor (it's even in the deepest, and arguably the best colour in the set).

Raptor easily. The person took the rare which means there is no signal. Blue is an underrated color which means it should be relatively uncontested. Hexmage is a great constructed card but not a second pick in limited.

To be honest, I like to branch out into different colors first pack unless I'm getting a really strong read and raptor lets us do that a lot better than the hexmage. For all we know the guy to the right just took Bloodwitch and is going to be grabbing every vampire that goes past him.

I'd rather have two colors, at least early on. Makes it a lot easier to shore up your weaknesses and gives you extra opportunities in P2P1 and Pack3. We also won't have signaled what we are in yet. We've said that green is wide open, but other than that it's too early for a strong signal.

Picking up a card in a different color doesn't mean that you're immediately abandoning all your earlier picks (all 1 of them). It's just bad drafting to insist on taking a much, much worse card to stay in a color when you have absolutely no indication that it's open.

And blue is just absurdly deep in this format, in addition to simply being blue. Black is actually surprisingly shallow, as well as being the love of every scrubby drafter I think I've ever played with (no that it's terribly relevant here, I just think it's generally overdrafted in practically every limited format this side of Time Spiral).

Odds are we will see another hexmage. Take the blue card to keep our options open and hope for a wind rider eel.

Quote from Pyrodwarf

Odds are we will see another hexmage.

Saying nothing of the actual packs involved in this exercise, this statement is incorrect. There are 60 uncommons in Zendikar. There will only be 72 uncommons (plus maybe a foil here or there) opened in the entire draft. So the odds of opening more than one copy of the same uncommon are roughly 1-in-3.

When you factor in that 5 of the other uncommons are already known, the odds of there being another Vampire Hexmage in the card pool are only 30%. And even if does appear, that doesn't mean this seat will have a shot at it.

So the odds are against.

I think alot of the decisions on this pick are less about the cards and more about the colors they represent. Also, no one can claim to know what will be over/under drafted or what wins in a set that pre-released less than a week ago. It would be just as valid to say that after M10 everyone will be trying to force blue for flyers. Either pick is going to work in our favor with lower level drafters, either letting them get into a color we are sliding away from or pushing them early out of black setting us up for removal in a light format.

raptor is better mana costs aside, and requires less colour commitment. i'd prefer 2U over BB even though my first pick was 1BB. nothing wrong with blue/black, and it keeps our options open if black is not flowing.

I hate packs like this where you've got everything clumped up. Is Caller of the Gales more of a sealed card?

I went with the hexmage. We can still get into another color (most likely blue) later.

So many people Overlook the fact the Trailblazer's Boots Give Evasion and it Sticks around. There are SO MANY Nonbasic Lands in this set... and All of you are picking the hexmage or the Raptor, Picking the hexmage sends bad signals, yes. but isn't the point of sending a bad signal meant to confuse your opponent?

The Bird is equally insane, yes. but I'd prefer Complete Unblockability over flying anyday. due to the number of nonbasics in this set alone, it's an obvious pick for me.

I enjoyed when someone played a Trailblazer's Boots against me at the Prerelease. I wasn't running any non-basics (just the way my pool turned out). So he played:

Trailblazer's Boots - 2
Artifact - Equipment
Equip 2
Equipped creature is equipped.



I assume he figured Game 1 was just bad luck, because he didn't sideboard it out either!

Quote from BK7

Odds are we won't.

My bad. I ended up with three between my sealed and a side draft, so I guess that skewed my perception. Both decks I had in the pre-re were Bx aggro. Black seemed to lack a mid/late game strat. I had to run green or blue for my fat. I would be happy in BU.

Quote from Ravarshi

So many people Overlook the fact the Trailblazer's Boots Give Evasion and it Sticks around. There are SO MANY Nonbasic Lands in this set... and All of you are picking the hexmage or the Raptor, Picking the hexmage sends bad signals, yes. but isn't the point of sending a bad signal meant to confuse your opponent?

What is the advantage of intentionally confusing the person who will be passing to you in pack 2?

Quote from Ravarshi

The Bird is equally insane, yes. but I'd prefer Complete Unblockability over flying anyday. due to the number of nonbasics in this set alone, it's an obvious pick for me.

It's not Whispersilk Cloak even though the mana cost is similar. The card is far less powerful. For it to do anything at all your opponent has to have a non-basic land, and I'm not sure how often you'll run into those in draft as of yet. Is it playable? Possibly, but I wouldn't sink a second pick on it.

Quote from Sophomoros

It's not Whispersilk Cloak even though the mana cost is similar. The card is far less powerful. For it to do anything at all your opponent has to have a non-basic land, and I'm not sure how often you'll run into those in draft as of yet. Is it playable?

It's really not. Nonbasic lands just don't come up a whole lot in Limited, even in this set. I could see picking it in order to sideboard in against somebody who had a bunch, but only very late in a pack. It's never maindeck playable.

Seeing as it's second pick, it's way too soon to assume that black is open or that black is our color. I'm for the much more open (and objectively better) Raptor.

Even if it simply said "unblockable" it wouldn't be playable. Whispersilk Cloak was pretty awful the first time around; in M10 it was good but only because the shroud+unblockable combination generally put you on a clock you had (almost) no outs against. The fact that defense was very easy in that set made that particularly relevant. Without the shrould though, it's much easier to gain tempo against it by messing with the equipped creature, and this format is much faster.

Very close call, but after a little deliberation I'm going with the Raptor.

And who voted Sell-Sword?

Does Hexmage actually do anything? I haven't played with the set yet, so I have yet to see how aggressive a lot of the decks will actually be, but it looks like Hexmage will become irrelevant by about turn 5. Raptor here. I admit that I might not have a good sense of the speed of this format though.

Quote from Thallid Ice Cream Man

Does Hexmage actually do anything? I haven't played with the set yet, so I have yet to see how aggressive a lot of the decks will actually be, but it looks like Hexmage will become irrelevant by about turn 5. Raptor here. I admit that I might not have a good sense of the speed of this format though.

It does a lot actually. There are a lot of smaller toughness creatures that can't attack into a 2 powered first striker. Furthermore, its second ability is more useful than one may imagine.

People are way too afraid to commit to a color. Just take the best card in the pack and let your first pick guide, you, but not make you choose a strictly worse card. Frankly, I view the two options as being fairly even in power, but the first pick allows Hexmage to edge the bird out. Its not like you are going to splash for just Nighthawk anyway, so keep the dream alive and take the Hexmage

I vote Hexmage, and force black if at all possible. We want as many Lacerators and Guul Daaz as possible.

IMO, Hexmage is just as good as the Raptor, so no reason to branch out into a second color/give a marginally bad signal.

To the two people who picked Vines of Vastwood: we just passed a Baloth. Not sure why, but we did.

I'm going to have to go with the Raptor on this one, too. Getting good, solid, evasive creatures wins many a game. The Hexmage is nice, but, as stated, putting such a heavy commitment into black (especially for a card like Hexmage) in the second pick seems slightly foolhardy. Although, I do admit I've made that same kind of choice many times, lol.

Am I missing something, or is there pretty much no reason to go vampires in this format? The only reason to pick the hexmage is to aim for B/x aggro, and I'm pretty sure B/U is the best you can possibly hope for. Shoring up black's aggressive creatures with evasion, bounce, and countermagic seems like a REALLY good idea. The only other path I would consider is B/R, but it's far less consistent and this pack leaves no indication that red is open. B/G can be good, but I don't see us going green at this point (although it is a possibility depending on what signals we get later - I prefer UG either way). And BW is pretty much out of the picture I think.

So basically the routes I would consider taking here are BR, BU, and mono black. I don't think hoping for BR is a good idea at this point, so the only logical reason I would say for aiming for mono black over UB is so that you can attempt to force, which I think is a bad idea since we don't have a very good concept of what the format is going to be like. I'd rather go for BU here and accept the loss of a hexmage if it turns out that blue is not open.

Consider also what happens if black is not open - we sacrifice 2 of the first picks instead of 1, which is pretty awful, especially in a format like this where you will probably be scrounging for playables, what with all the land everywhere. I definitely advocate Raptor here.

As a final point, consider that Raptor followed by any single ally makes it pretty much the best blue common (debatably on par with windrider eel). Following it up with 2 allies makes it a complete blowout. Color considerations aside, it is much much stronger than a 2/1 first strike with a tougher casting cost and a nearly irrelevant creature type.

Picked Umara Raptor - hoping we can subdue the fanboyism and get a relevant flyer.

Quote from PDog Crusader

Picked Umara Raptor - hoping we can subdue the fanboyism and get a relevant flyer.

Voted the same and completely agree. Stop forcing colors in the first three picks of the draft and pick the best cards!