P1p1: Kind of interesting. I think Ancestral Blade has more staying power than the other 2-drops, so I run with that. P1p2: Bag of Holding vs. Herald of the Sun. And a common missing? That’s very strange. Definitely take the Bag. Maybe there was a foil? P1p3: Three strong white cards. Aerial Assault is removal-ish, but I think the flexibility and cheaper cost of Gods Willing is superior. P1p4: Bishop of Wings over nothing.
I asked the brain trust at the Lords of Limited Discord about one particular pick, P3p7:
Brightwood Tracker is a C-, nice to have one of as a mana sink. The Gauntlets is usually a bad card. BUT my deck was well-positioned to make it awesome! Lots of cards that wanted buffs, high-toughness creatures. It could have helped me steal a game or two.
Assessment
Pretty easy to find my lane in white and green. I read pack 1 as being Green being open-ish and got moderately paid off in pack 3 with pick three Rabid Bites. The red in pack 2 was tempting but ultimately not for me.
It was brought to my attention that I completely overlooked a piece of iconic removal.
Okay, well the first lesson is that I’m an idiot and not to be trusted. It is interesting how recent these cards are though. Righteous Blow is from Avacyn Restored and then this paradigm lay fallow until Impeccable Timing reappeared in Kaladesh. However, once I got over my embarrassment (and my rationalization engines started kicking in) I started to wonder, are these cards really removal? Or… is it just a combat-trick on steroids? Let’s compare:
So, what are the differences between these two cards? Interestingly, Bladebrand’s cantrip nature isn’t terribly important. Since your creature is almost certainly going to die, you’re just replacing the creature with a card from your library. Imagine if Bladebrand read: “Sacrifice a creature. Destroy target attacking or blocking creature.” I would argue that it would play nearly exactly the same way. They both function relatively similarly on your attack, since the attacker is still blocked. There is more difference on defense. Bladebrand needs a creature whereas I.T. can wipe out an attacker without board presence, a key advantage for I.T.
There are some other minor differences: Bladebrand also works better with your first-striking creatures and is worse when facing first-striking creatures. Bladebrand can bring down an opposing bomb (as long as you can block it) whereas I.T. really can’t. But they have the key similarity that they *don’t* hit creatures that aren’t engaging in combat. Since those are often the creatures that you need to kill most (Risen Reef etc.), that’s a major functionality gap.
When evaluating removal, it’s worth breaking down the four dimensions of What Removals Does For You.
Removing oppo’s blocker
Killing utility creatures
Answering opponent’s bombs
Handling oppo’s aggressive attackers.
Weigh these four variables against the cost. The reason why Lightning Strike is so fantastic is that it aces three of these tasks, only falling short on answering an opposing bomb, at the very reasonable cost of 2-mana. Consign to the Pit does do all four of these, but at 6-mana the cost is significantly more prohibitive.
Given how Impeccable Timing (and its peers) only handle three of these functions, I think they should be evaluated more as combat tricks. Since they do wipe out early attackers, they are helpful for control decks. But the inability to hit utility creatures, not removing blockers, and decreasing utility against Big Bombs, is enough to tip the scales to “Not Removal”.
P1p1: Gravedigger vs. Ancestral Blade. Power level & desire color. Close, I think I just generally like low-to-the-ground decks and trying to make an under drafted color work. Plus I just love white! What can I say.
P1p2: Chandra’s Outrage vs. Cloud-Kin Seer (uncommon missing). This is a tougher choice. I really like Cloud-Kin Seer
P1p3: Very weak pack. Bow vs. a random Temple? Yuck. Bow I guess.
P1p4 is more interesting. Beserker vs. Syphon vs. Scuttlemutt.
I think Berserker is the most powerful in the vacuum (good 2-drop), Syphon is just fine removal, and Scuttlemutt is the most open. I want to take the good 2-drop, but I’m feeling sufficiently unsettled where the colorless fixing card felt like the more disciplined choice.
I ended pack 1 in pretty clear UR. White is nowhere to be seen and there was a late Fenlurker too, but that’s about it.
Pack 2 is just incredibly dry. Shocked to see Red and Blue both so dry when I can’t recall passing anything aside from the Chandra’s Outrage. Pack 2 I get some more pieces and end up with… this?
Not a very interesting P1p1. Risen Reef vs Pacifism, Agonizing Syphon. Though gold, Risen Reef is just head and shoulders above. This DID lead to an interesting P1p2
Classic example of how “pick orders” change with context. Murder is clearly better than Rabid Bite in a vacuum. But my P1p1 is a powerful gold card with some green in it. That’s enough to tilt me towards trying to stay “on color” and take the R.B. If my P1p1 was some random good red card, I definitely would have taken the Murder since there was no previous picks that had any influence.
Pack 1 ends with me confident about green and very little else. Pack 2 I ruin the table but cutting HARD into red and get rewarded (probably unjustifiably) with a P3p1 Drakuseth! Well that’s clear enough I guess.
Heyo! That’s a P1p1 bomb! Choice of TWO Chandras (sucks passing Baby Chandra though).
Signals: P1p6 Goblin Smuggler is a little late, which raised my hopes that red would be open. P1p9 Fathom-Fleet Cutthroat is nice going with my earlier black removal. I waffled between RB aggro and control, with the tail end of pack 3 putting me in aggro.
Interesting Picks
P3p2: Meteor Golem vs. Audacious Thief vs. Goblin Smugger (#2) This was tough. Meteor is the best card in the vacuum while both three-drops are powerful. I eventually went with the Golem only to have massive aggro cards slip through to me, including another two Smuggers in the middle of the pack. Right call at the time, but boy this deck would love a thief.
A recent LR had an entertaining roundtable discussion that touched upon the white’s low standing over the past few sets. While I think there’s a hefty amount of recency bias (it wasn’t too long ago where white had a surplus of unstoppable bombs), one of guests said something interesting: white totally lacks an identity and this leads to a lot of variance in strength from set to set.
One of the things that has made Magic enduringly great is how well they nailed Alpha. It’s tremendous how many mechanics and “color identity” remain a solid foundation 25 years later. Green (mana-elves & big creatures) ramps, blue (Divination, counterspells, fliers) controls, stabilizes, and gains resources. Red (Shock, haste, menace) attacks early, often, and hard. Black (doom blade, deathtouch, sacrifice) has great removal and win-conditions. Now they all don’t do this in every set but having a coherent identity makes it easier to design and play. Let’s throw in a favorite Rosewater-ism: constraints breed creativity.
Conspicuously missing from the list above is white. White is defined by, uh, stuff? Being good? Justice? Let’s try and define this a little better by looking at what I would consider these the exemplar white cards from Alpha.
Ugly opening with no power and no real clarity either. I took an Evolving Wilds over a Winged Words. Yeah. That bad.
I start veering wildly around and end up with some sort of Naya pile. Doesn’t feel great Bob! Looking back, I don’t see a lot I could have done differently. The mana is alright (lots of Naya lands were wheeling) but no real OOMPH.
Well that was a strange draft. Veered into white in the middle of it since my read of the turn was that there were very few white drafters. That said, I certainly didn’t get paid off in any meaningful way! It didn’t cost me much (a Netcaster Spider, maybe an Overcome that this deck wouldn’t want) so it seemed a reasonable speculation with the massive angel in P2p1. But still, quite odd.
After the unqualified success of our first trip with Lil’ Chandra, we tempted fate again and did another two week trip with her!
Have a plan for the plane
When Lil’ Chandra was last on an airplane, she was a tiny nugget, easily contained, easily pleased with a bottle, and happy to snuggle on your chest and fall asleep. None… none of those things are true anymore. There are opinions, there is a schedule, and there is mobility. For our 9-hour flight, she skipped her nap, was delirious for four hours, and then collapsed two hours before landing. Both ways. Aside from the basics (food), I recommend bringing the following:
Nothing beats drafting disappointed after disappointing with yet another 1-2 finish. I did not make good choices here. Though I do have a glorious track record of being despondent over decks that end up going 3-0. So maybe the jinx will work. (Note: it will never work if you’re counting on it)
P2p2: Do I take Shock over Spectral Sailor? In vacuum, the Sailor is way more powerful, but I’m already leaning aggro. Do I drop it?
P3p1: Scampering Scorcher vs. Cloudkin Seer
P3p6: I think I definitely should have gone Shock over Uncaged Fury. When you’re highest power is 2, the Fury might not be enough.
P3p8: I can’t defend picking a third-pack bow over Bird Grabber (which is a sad state of affairs for this deck)
CMU over on the Lords of Limited Discord had some great feedback on how I committed way too early to red.
Benalish Dad 