If a flood of Sultai cards wheel around, I'll be glad to have it. It's as good as the war name aspirant, the card which I'd need to cut to play sultai at this point (and just splash the knuckleblade).
Obviously, I'm kicking myself right now for just spiking the skullhunter in the last pack. If I do end up playing black, that pick will look silly. So it goes.
Actually, the Embodiment of Spring seems better. I'm not crazy about the tracker or the potential to go four or five color and play the headhunter or war behemoth. And if I end up heavily in UG, the Embodiment is a good early drop.
Well, we're getting to the crap. I really don't want to play scaldkin, but I could see using the Valley Dasher.
Thanks, Sene, for clearing out this backlog so quickly!
That Mardu Roughrider may seem out of place, but I suspect a lot of players have wised up to how lousy the three-color aggressive cards are. I could see a mardu player taking the salt road patrol over it, if he wasn't confident in his mana base yet.
Crippling Chill. I'm not a fan of the rug morph, and the chill is terrific in UR tempo. I've first-picked crippling chill, so this is a treat at p6.
More high-costed removal for the black players to my left. I'm really hoping they bite on WB or bug control, which, despite sharing two of my colors, doesn't really want the same cards as me.
I'm a huge fan of the kirin. Not sure what it's doing here.
The creatures are a little tempting, but I'm happy to pick up the Rugged Highlands.
The knuckleblade is fine on turn 8, but he steals games on turn 3 or 4. I'm keeping my eyes on the prize.
Even though I'm passing them, I'm glad to see the red creatures here, as well as the ponyback riders last pack. I don't want to compete with a red aggro deck to my right. It's hard to say what's being cut at this point, although blue is thin.
War-Name Aspirant. Happy to grab a premium 2-drop.
UR is a strong deck that is well documented, but there is also a secret GR deck that doesn't get a lot of press. Basically, you just grab a bunch of strong 2 and 3 drops and smash face with green tricks and red removal. The deck punishes fancy mana bases and anyone who opens t1 go, t2 go, t3 morph, t4 morph. Key commons are savage punch, awaken the bear, summit prowler, and alpine grizzly.
A lot of black cards, but they're not that exciting. I hope the skullhunter and debilitating injury, along with this pack, puts more than one player to my left into BW, clearing the way for me in p2.
...and if I'm supposed to be taking the initiative and jumping over to black, well, I'm not biting yet. I'm pretty happy with how my UR picks match up against the warriors right now.
It's a powerful, evasive threat. Runner up is the winterflame, but there are very few strong fliers in this set, and the aerialists is one of them. Also, between the flock being a morph and the aerialists being a 6-drop, I'm not even committing myself to main blue yet.
I'm passing a bunch of skullhunters, and I'm okay with that.
Be careful about going mardu over boros when drafting aggro. I've often taken a leaping master over a mardu skullhunter, because I value a simple mana base. Having to prioritize lands just so you can play two and three drops in three different colors is rarely the right choice for an aggro player.
The real mardu deck, as people have mentioned, is tokens. But think of it as more of a resilient midrange/combo deck than aggro. It's all about trumpet blast and "going wide."
There are lots of "secret" aggro decks as well, in basically any color combination. The key is to have cheap creatures and cheap pump, and be in just two colors. I'm partial to GW and GR. When you build these decks, keep in mind that a third to half of your opponents will open t1 go, t2 go, t3 morph, t4 morph. Build your deck to punish this open, and you'll do fine. t2 highland game, t3 alpine grizzly, t4 bear bunch attack is your nut open, and is generally more effective and easier to assemble than the nut opens from the "known" aggro decks (wr, wu, ru, wb, rb).
Go aggro r or w to get your sea legs. You're almost guaranteed to go 2-1 if you can get 16 one, two and three drops. That will give you a chance to see what other decks players are building and get a feel for what's in the cube.
I'm a big fan of Ub and Uw control. Check out Cheon's drafts for examples.
As Sliver Lord said, the "value" is actually quite good. I draft the mtgo cube a lot, and tend to only need to buy in once or twice during any given cycle.
If a flood of Sultai cards wheel around, I'll be glad to have it. It's as good as the war name aspirant, the card which I'd need to cut to play sultai at this point (and just splash the knuckleblade).
Obviously, I'm kicking myself right now for just spiking the skullhunter in the last pack. If I do end up playing black, that pick will look silly. So it goes.
Ainok TrackerThanks, Sene, for clearing out this backlog so quickly!
That Mardu Roughrider may seem out of place, but I suspect a lot of players have wised up to how lousy the three-color aggressive cards are. I could see a mardu player taking the salt road patrol over it, if he wasn't confident in his mana base yet.
More high-costed removal for the black players to my left. I'm really hoping they bite on WB or bug control, which, despite sharing two of my colors, doesn't really want the same cards as me.
I'm a huge fan of the kirin. Not sure what it's doing here.
The knuckleblade is fine on turn 8, but he steals games on turn 3 or 4. I'm keeping my eyes on the prize.
Even though I'm passing them, I'm glad to see the red creatures here, as well as the ponyback riders last pack. I don't want to compete with a red aggro deck to my right. It's hard to say what's being cut at this point, although blue is thin.
UR is a strong deck that is well documented, but there is also a secret GR deck that doesn't get a lot of press. Basically, you just grab a bunch of strong 2 and 3 drops and smash face with green tricks and red removal. The deck punishes fancy mana bases and anyone who opens t1 go, t2 go, t3 morph, t4 morph. Key commons are savage punch, awaken the bear, summit prowler, and alpine grizzly.
A lot of black cards, but they're not that exciting. I hope the skullhunter and debilitating injury, along with this pack, puts more than one player to my left into BW, clearing the way for me in p2.
...and if I'm supposed to be taking the initiative and jumping over to black, well, I'm not biting yet. I'm pretty happy with how my UR picks match up against the warriors right now.
It's a powerful, evasive threat. Runner up is the winterflame, but there are very few strong fliers in this set, and the aerialists is one of them. Also, between the flock being a morph and the aerialists being a 6-drop, I'm not even committing myself to main blue yet.
I'm passing a bunch of skullhunters, and I'm okay with that.
The real mardu deck, as people have mentioned, is tokens. But think of it as more of a resilient midrange/combo deck than aggro. It's all about trumpet blast and "going wide."
There are lots of "secret" aggro decks as well, in basically any color combination. The key is to have cheap creatures and cheap pump, and be in just two colors. I'm partial to GW and GR. When you build these decks, keep in mind that a third to half of your opponents will open t1 go, t2 go, t3 morph, t4 morph. Build your deck to punish this open, and you'll do fine. t2 highland game, t3 alpine grizzly, t4 bear bunch attack is your nut open, and is generally more effective and easier to assemble than the nut opens from the "known" aggro decks (wr, wu, ru, wb, rb).
I'm a big fan of Ub and Uw control. Check out Cheon's drafts for examples.
As Sliver Lord said, the "value" is actually quite good. I draft the mtgo cube a lot, and tend to only need to buy in once or twice during any given cycle.