I like Master the Way here, as it is a decent removal spell that also draws you a card, and I like doing both those things whenever possible. After that, the next best card is probably Burn Away.
There's a case for taking Abzan Guide, based on the idea that there's a ton of red and blue in the pack, and trying to take the lone Abzan card - as long as the person passing to us isn't also in white, there's a good chance we can cement ourselves into some BW/x deck and let the people to our left fight over URx.
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Hooting Mandrills is my first instinct, but you're sending a pretty bad signal that way by passing See the Unwritten, which for all I know could end up being a bomb. Green in general feels like a trap here.
I think I'd go with the nearly-unconditional removal spell in Burn Away. I probably end up in Mardu, since blue and green are gonna get cut pretty fast after this, though Ponyback Brigade might make a mess of things.
ETA: Mystic is a perfectly acceptable pick too of course. My concern there is the same as with Mandrills though - there's a lot of solid blue in the pack, so you'd better be ready to pick up your other colors pack 2. I'm also just not a fan of Master the Way, for the reason Hammer gave - drawing 1 card for 5 mana seems pretty bad, especially if you're topdecking. Would it have REALLY been pushed so much to just be Spiraling Embers + Divination for a discounted cost?
I'm stuck between Mandrills, Burn Away, Mystic, and Ponyback Brigade. I think Mystic or Burn Away would be the right pick as Mystic is unblockable and Burn Away is removal + grave hate.
Not as straight forward as #3, but basically comes down to 3 cards:
Burn Away: One of the strongest removals in the format and wrecks delvers as a bonus
Mandrills: Solid beefy creature that should come out early and cheap in almost any deck
AND
See the Unwritten: It is kinda early, but I feel like this is being seriously underestimated.
Its obviously much more suited for constructed play, but digging through 8 cards to find 1(2-Ferocious) decent-good creatures is not to be taken lightly. This is an easy pick for a Temur player, really synergizes with Sultai, and still very viable for Abzan. In limited you should have mostly creatures anyway so it should rarely be a dud.
It may not be quite a "bomb". still too early to tell but imo definitely gives the other 2 a run for their money.
However, even with my defense of Unwritten I still think I'm gonna have to go with Burn Away, as its not too expensive and it's instant speed removal for practically any creature.
This one is slightly more challenging. There're so many close picks here. I'll probably err to the side of a rare. Getting 2 creatures out seems fairly doable since we've 4/2 bears lying around.
It's close, but I think Burn Away is the pick here. Kills virtually everything at instant speed, with occasional upside thanks to the built in graveyard hate. Extremely easy to splash, and the instant speed plays well with Prowess. Other cards considered:
Ponyback Brigade - Probably the slightly stronger than Burn Away in raw power level, but not by enough to make the 3-color commitment for.
Hooting Mandrils - Good beater, just got trumped by good removal.
Master the Way - Probably the highest upside of any card in the pack, creating 2-for-1's or doming the opponent for a ton of damage when it works. Unfortunately there are also going to be those times where it only deals 1-2 damage. Close call between this and the Burn Away, but ultimately the reliability and easier casting cost of the Burn Away give it the edge.
See the Unwritten - I feel like most decks would rather just play a 6-drop beater in this slot and cast a big creature reliably rather than hoping to hit one. But if you get the deck with a bunch of 4+ power guys AND some delve (i.e. the Hooting Mandril deck) then this looks amazing.
This isn't a particularly easy decision. There are a lot of candidates here, but I think master the way has to win out due to it's potential for card advantage.
chose mystic, because of the unblockable body. burn is a close second. but i rather pick a creature
if see the unwritten was in the second or last pack i would pick it more easily if i knew i was in green. but for my first pick i don't even know if im going with green or have to drop for another color later on. to risky
There's nothing risky about picking a mono-color card. It's not splashable, true, but at some point you have to decide if it's worth it, and I think it is. Creatures get pretty big in this set, especially with the big morphs running around, and I think that it's going to be really easy to get a lot of value out of See the Unwritten, particularly in Abzan or Sultai where you've got the black delve spells to take advantage of the other half of this card. It's the most powerful thing that I could be doing, by far, and it's not that much less consistent than the other options.
this is a tricky pack because of all the good commons, I voted burn away but mystic of the hidden way seems like great pick too considering it can be a threat even if you are stuck with only three land. there is better more common removal than burn away too.
I'd snatch up that See the Unwritten. It's a fantastic build-around-me card. I especially like it with the common tricolor morphs (of which we conveniently have a green one in the pack - Abzan Guide). You can also use it to help fill your graveyard for stray delve cards.
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There's a case for taking Abzan Guide, based on the idea that there's a ton of red and blue in the pack, and trying to take the lone Abzan card - as long as the person passing to us isn't also in white, there's a good chance we can cement ourselves into some BW/x deck and let the people to our left fight over URx.
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I think I'd go with the nearly-unconditional removal spell in Burn Away. I probably end up in Mardu, since blue and green are gonna get cut pretty fast after this, though Ponyback Brigade might make a mess of things.
ETA: Mystic is a perfectly acceptable pick too of course. My concern there is the same as with Mandrills though - there's a lot of solid blue in the pack, so you'd better be ready to pick up your other colors pack 2. I'm also just not a fan of Master the Way, for the reason Hammer gave - drawing 1 card for 5 mana seems pretty bad, especially if you're topdecking. Would it have REALLY been pushed so much to just be Spiraling Embers + Divination for a discounted cost?
Burn Away: One of the strongest removals in the format and wrecks delvers as a bonus
Mandrills: Solid beefy creature that should come out early and cheap in almost any deck
AND
See the Unwritten: It is kinda early, but I feel like this is being seriously underestimated.
Its obviously much more suited for constructed play, but digging through 8 cards to find 1(2-Ferocious) decent-good creatures is not to be taken lightly. This is an easy pick for a Temur player, really synergizes with Sultai, and still very viable for Abzan. In limited you should have mostly creatures anyway so it should rarely be a dud.
It may not be quite a "bomb". still too early to tell but imo definitely gives the other 2 a run for their money.
However, even with my defense of Unwritten I still think I'm gonna have to go with Burn Away, as its not too expensive and it's instant speed removal for practically any creature.
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Ponyback Brigade - Probably the slightly stronger than Burn Away in raw power level, but not by enough to make the 3-color commitment for.
Hooting Mandrils - Good beater, just got trumped by good removal.
Master the Way - Probably the highest upside of any card in the pack, creating 2-for-1's or doming the opponent for a ton of damage when it works. Unfortunately there are also going to be those times where it only deals 1-2 damage. Close call between this and the Burn Away, but ultimately the reliability and easier casting cost of the Burn Away give it the edge.
See the Unwritten - I feel like most decks would rather just play a 6-drop beater in this slot and cast a big creature reliably rather than hoping to hit one. But if you get the deck with a bunch of 4+ power guys AND some delve (i.e. the Hooting Mandril deck) then this looks amazing.
There's nothing risky about picking a mono-color card. It's not splashable, true, but at some point you have to decide if it's worth it, and I think it is. Creatures get pretty big in this set, especially with the big morphs running around, and I think that it's going to be really easy to get a lot of value out of See the Unwritten, particularly in Abzan or Sultai where you've got the black delve spells to take advantage of the other half of this card. It's the most powerful thing that I could be doing, by far, and it's not that much less consistent than the other options.