I pick Hooting Mandrills for having low color commitment and a high power ceiling with even just a couple of cards in the graveyard. Fits great in about any Sultai, Abzan, or Temur deck.
I pick Hooting Mandrills for having low color commitment and a high power ceiling with even just a couple of cards in the graveyard. Fits great in about any Sultai, Abzan, or Temur deck.
This. A 4/4 for 4 is pretty great in limited, and that's usually what the mandrills will be.
Additionally, I would stay away from picking any of the Sultai cards in the pack since, no matter what you take, whoever you pass this to will see BGU as open.
I'd be very tempted to just take the Sultai Ascendancy here. With all the mana fixing available (you can probably wheel the Embodiment of Spring or the Sultai Banner), the manacost shouldn't be too specific and being able to scry 2 + enable Delve is extremely strong. Additionally, while passing Ascendancy definitely signals that Sultai is open and is likely to put someone into those colours, actually taking the Ascendancy doesn't directly put anyone else into those colours.
If not Ascendancy, I'd take Hooting Mandrills instead.
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This is one of those picks that's impossible to make without knowing the meta game. I think the three gold cards are quite a bit better than the rest of the cards in the pack, but we don't know yet wether or not you can reasonably pick them early and expect to play them. I think Mandrills is clearly the safest pick in a vacuum, but it wouldn't surprise me if Sultai Ascendancy of Winter's Flame turned out to be better. (And no, I don't think this pack sends a signal so strong that it'd keep me out of sultai.)
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Winter flame or scaldkin
A first pick flyer is never bad and the removal is always nice
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I like Winterflame for being a flexible control/burn card so I guess I would pick that. The Hooting Mandrills are pretty good, too, but considering how things work, I wouldn't be surprised to see some more come around in later packs, so I would just take that Winterflame and then if the Hooting Mandrills came around I would think of going Temur.
Like others have said, you'd have to know the metagame and viable archetypes.
gotta agree with mandrills. I think a good way to evaluate delve is to ask yourself if you would be happy to play this card for 2 mana less. a 4/4 for 4 with trample is fabulous
also low color commitment, plus it plays fine in abzan, temur, or sultai
I went with Bring Low as some flexible removal, but the other choices picked so far (Ascendency, Mandrills, and Winterflame) all seem pretty reasonable to me. If I weren't concerned about milling myself out with Ascendency, I would go straight for that. Mandrills are pretty amazing and will go in almost every deck, but I prefer to grab removal over creatures, if they're roughly equal.
For me it comes down to Mandrils vs Winterflame. Winterflame seems really strong in a format with Morph, and if you can draft an aggressive deck, which I think both of those wedges can do, then it becomes an amazing tempo play. Mandrils is the safer pick, just a solid drop that should play well in anything and doesn't really commit you to much.
Ultimately I think Winterflame is probably the best pick, at least for me. It is the most "powerful" card and leads me to where I want to be (i.e. the aggressor).
For me there are 4 cards to consider picking: Mandrils, Scaldkin, Bring Low and Winterflame. I think the Mandrils is a bit below the others, as it is "only" a dumb beater. I think the pick comes down to how fast the format is. If it is fast, I think the pick is either Bring Low or Winterflame. Scaldkin shines in a slower format. In the end I feel Bring Low is the safe pick as it is solid removal and least color requirements.
Personally I would only think of grabbing the Bring low or hooting mandrills for the fact that they don't fit you into a clan but honestly it depends on what you picked first.
More than likely I would pick the mandrills because my #1 rule in limited is Bombs win, closely behind this rule is #2 removal wins, but the bomb wins out here mostly because bring low cannot go to the face or deal with opposing bombs (unless they are Abzan or randomly have a +1/+1 counter). I tend to try not to lock myself into colors until there is a pick too good to pass up such as a really good bomb like butcher of the horde or great removal like crackling doom. The multi colored cards are good in this pack if you happen to already have some good pieces to take advantage of sultai ascendancy but none of them warrant trying to jam into specific combinations this early.
EDIT: Also kin-tree invocation seems pretty awesome with big butts in abzan and can also fit into sultai.
Winterflame or Scaldkin. Mandrills are solid but there are plenty of beaters and I'm actually not sure how often I'll necessarily have cards to delve with when I need it.
How the hell is the pick here NOT Kin-Tree Invocation ??? I get that you want to stay open in certain colors, but You know your going to get one of those stupid uncommon walls late, and possibly pushing out a 5/5, or 6/6 on turn 3 is too good to pass up, at worst he's gonna be a 3/3 for 2, which is already punching above his weight in limited; mandrills is decent but the upside on spirit kin is too high.
How the hell is the pick here NOT Kin-Tree Invocation ??? I get that you want to stay open in certain colors, but You know your going to get one of those stupid uncommon walls late, and possibly pushing out a 5/5, or 6/6 on turn 3 is too good to pass up, at worst he's gonna be a 3/3 for 2, which is already punching above his weight in limited; mandrills is decent but the upside on spirit kin is too high.
I don't know that I want to use my first pick to assemble a two-card interaction resulting in one fat but very blockable creature when the pack contains an evasive green beater for approximately the same opportunity cost but melded into a single card :/
Yea, I think we need to ask ourselves a few questions when it comes to tough choices. If you're in green, the mandrills are an auto-include. The ascendency feels like it's better in constructed rather than limited. Although those who played Thassa know that their draws immediately become more quality as the game drags. Sultai Ascendency basically GUARANTEES a quality draw.
I have to agree that hooting Mandrils is probably the safest choice here.
While Sultai Ascendency is definitely a strong card, I feel like Sultai is probably the weakest clan in limited and committing ourself to it this early just won't be worth it.
Bring Low is one of the weaker removals, and while Winterflame is really solid, even if we take it we will be sending a signal that Red/Blue is pretty open and it definitely doesnt top a beefy cheap creature like Mandrils.
I say take the Mandrils and pick up one of the 2 green combat tricks when they table, or the Banner if it still happens to be there (probably won't as mana fixing is pretty important in wedge).
I'd happily take Sultai Ascendancy here, if only to test the idea that increasingly the quality of my draws is going to win games. Sometimes it's worth experimenting in draft.
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This. A 4/4 for 4 is pretty great in limited, and that's usually what the mandrills will be.
Additionally, I would stay away from picking any of the Sultai cards in the pack since, no matter what you take, whoever you pass this to will see BGU as open.
If not Ascendancy, I'd take Hooting Mandrills instead.
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Like others have said, you'd have to know the metagame and viable archetypes.
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also low color commitment, plus it plays fine in abzan, temur, or sultai
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Ultimately I think Winterflame is probably the best pick, at least for me. It is the most "powerful" card and leads me to where I want to be (i.e. the aggressor).
More than likely I would pick the mandrills because my #1 rule in limited is Bombs win, closely behind this rule is #2 removal wins, but the bomb wins out here mostly because bring low cannot go to the face or deal with opposing bombs (unless they are Abzan or randomly have a +1/+1 counter). I tend to try not to lock myself into colors until there is a pick too good to pass up such as a really good bomb like butcher of the horde or great removal like crackling doom. The multi colored cards are good in this pack if you happen to already have some good pieces to take advantage of sultai ascendancy but none of them warrant trying to jam into specific combinations this early.
EDIT: Also kin-tree invocation seems pretty awesome with big butts in abzan and can also fit into sultai.
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I don't know that I want to use my first pick to assemble a two-card interaction resulting in one fat but very blockable creature when the pack contains an evasive green beater for approximately the same opportunity cost but melded into a single card :/
UR Melek, Izzet ParagonUR, B Shirei, Shizo's CaretakerB, R Jaya Ballard, Task MageR,RW Tajic, Blade of the LegionRW, UB Lazav, Dimir MastermindUB, UB Circu, Dimir LobotomistUB, RWU Zedruu the GreatheartedRWU, GUBThe MimeoplasmGUB, UGExperiment Kraj UG, WDarien, King of KjeldorW, BMarrow-GnawerB, WBGKarador, Ghost ChieftainWBG, UTeferi, Temporal ArchmageU, GWUDerevi, Empyrial TacticianGWU, RDaretti, Scrap SavantR, UTalrand, Sky SummonerU, GEzuri, Renegade LeaderG, WUBRGReaper KingWUBRG, RGXenagos, God of RevelsRG, CKozilek, Butcher of TruthC, WUBRGGeneral TazriWUBRG, GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
While Sultai Ascendency is definitely a strong card, I feel like Sultai is probably the weakest clan in limited and committing ourself to it this early just won't be worth it.
Bring Low is one of the weaker removals, and while Winterflame is really solid, even if we take it we will be sending a signal that Red/Blue is pretty open and it definitely doesnt top a beefy cheap creature like Mandrils.
I say take the Mandrils and pick up one of the 2 green combat tricks when they table, or the Banner if it still happens to be there (probably won't as mana fixing is pretty important in wedge).