Thanks everyone for using Draw3Cards! August was a very good month for us: Yearly stats and Monthly Stats
1

Given a first Zendikar pack that has:

  1. Sea Gate Loremaster
  2. Primal Bellow
  3. Living Tsunami
  4. Runeflare Trap
  5. Desecrated Earth
  6. Heartstabber Mosquito
  7. Harrow
  8. Ior Ruin Expedition
  9. Molten Raveger
  10. Trapfinder's Trick
  11. Soul Stair Expedition
  12. Oran-Rief Survivalist
  13. Umara Raptor
  14. Zektar Shrine Expedition

Which card do you pick? (one card per answer)

flag

5 Answers

4

Tsunami for sure. It's power level is just too good. While you could get a Harrow 5th pick I don't think you could get this then.

alt text

Where's the good blue in this pack except Umbra Raptor?

link|flag
I'm confused by rares :) – ripper234♦ Oct 19 at 22:51
I agree with coldfirero -- Ior Ruin Expedition always finds its way out of my deck in favor of some real power (same argument about card advantage), and Trapfinder's Trick could've been good with way more traps, but at the current state of affairs it's pretty useless. So the Tsunami and Loremaster are the only good blues here, and both are worth picking IMO. – Avish♦ Oct 20 at 8:01
If you think both are first-pick material, then by picking either of them you risk the person to your left picking the next one! Then in the second pack you'll get zero blue. I guess it's possible to pick only blue for the first pack and then choose your second color in the next one. I'll try that next time. – ripper234♦ Oct 22 at 4:32
2

I never quite understood how card advantage wins the game without a very specific setup, so for me Loremaster has a place in a constructed deck, but not in a draft (particularly because of its reliance on allies which are hard to draft right).

Harrow is always good, but rarely excellent -- unless you go for a very landfall-reliant deck which, again, is hard to decide at first pick.

The tsunami... I'm intrigued by it. It might combo well with any landfall cards or with the common spell-lands -- for example Teetering Peaks or Turntimber Grove (which is relevant to another question). These are all easy enough to draft later on, so I think I'd go with the Tsunami here. At least until I lose miserably with it.

link|flag
I heavily considered it, but then went with Harrow, simply because there's too much blue in this pack. I tend to do this too much, and I think it's a mistake - letting go of card quality in favor of signaling. – ripper234♦ Oct 19 at 22:43
For a decent example of card advantage in a draft, see Torch Slinger – ripper234♦ Oct 19 at 22:47
How is Torch Slinger related to card advantage? It's a creature-shock. So yeah, it's two cards in one, but how does that fact help my deck? – Avish♦ Oct 20 at 7:59
Torch slinger is a 2-4-1. If you remove one creature and get a Grey Ogre, you have made "two cards". If you remove one creature, and block/kill another, you've 2-4-1'ed your opponent. See also Nekrataal. – redsai Oct 25 at 1:32
2

Tsunami wins by far, you only have to have a couple of Landfall effects for it to be immense, it also flies.

Also, a good example of card advantage could be Harm's Way, which is also very nice in drafts.

link|flag
1

Devil's advocate time:

Harrow.

Lets face it, there's a lot of good blue in that pack. Set up the guy to your left in that color and start cutting green now. Harrow is a great card that doesn't even color commit you, just commits you to a solid Landfall theme. (Or just really nice color-fixing.)

And if you're in green, I bet that Oran-rief guy will wheel for you ;->

I should have noticed that Primal Bellow was a great mono-green card. Though I'm not sure it would make it around the table, you'd be at the mercy of everyone since you don't have a chance to signal right.

link|flag
That was my choice. I took the harrow and ended up drafting only green for the first and third packs. I got two Journey to Nowheres And a Luminarch Ascension in the second pack, but still the deck wouldn't hold its own. I played against a blue deck with lots of fliers, and simply didn't have enough action against it. – ripper234♦ Oct 22 at 4:30
That's why I love spidersilk net. Essential in drafts, in my opinion. – Avish♦ Oct 22 at 8:50
0

Tsunami without a doubt. its a 4/4 flier for 4 with a drawback easily turned to advantage. Even if there was no way to use it for your advantage its still miles better than harrow. Few critts can stop tsunami on their own and most blue fliers cost 2 or 3 cc so it wont stop you from playing cards even though you stall at 4 mana (asuming cast turn 4).

This is a format where outside blue, white has the only good fliers (mosquito is only relevant for its removal ability) and even there you pay 5 for a 3/3.

link|flag

Your Answer

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.