MTG Salvation

Haha. This is great because I'm a Peasant Cuber myself, so when I see Kitchen Finks and Strix in the same pack I'm like "INSTANT 1ST PICK!". Being a cube with rares, I have to think a bit harder here haha!

I can't say I'm a big fan of building around Purphoros as a 1st pick here. Usually in rare cubes, the ramp strategy is my favorite as it lets you crank out the bombs faster. I think I take the Sylvan Caryatid and probably wheel the Sakura-Tribe Elder. Reveillark is a sweet card no question, but I'll take the awesome mana fixer, who doesn't die, and not feel bad about it.

There definitely wasn't a clear cut 1st pick card in this pack, so you can't really fault anyone for going in any direction here.

Nothing here to make me go into a color. Take an okay dual, stay open.

Badlands.

Eh, nothing too exciting here it seems. I think Purphoros is too limiting to first pick, so I think the pick is probably just Reveillark, with a nod to Opiomancer as a great alternative that probably won't table. At least it's assumed that something decent will come back in either some rampy creatures or removal.

Quote from Lasserini

The strong clock argument I don't understand --- By turn 4 you could be playing Koth, Hero of Oxid Ridge, Hellrider or heck Keldon Champion and just be done with it.

But I'll admit that my view on red in cube is very aggrocentric and doesn't leave much room for a red strategy that wants to get to Devotion 5 or play a ton more creatures after its 4drop.

/Not meant as a post directed against you in person, mostly I just fail to see why half see him as the best 1st pick. Perhaps I'll have my horizont widened by the end of this draft!
Happy new years!

You pick Purphoros early and then attempt to draft token makers. It's for red midrange decks and not aggro. He's pretty awesome in Naya tokens and curving him into Siege-Gang Commander, Deranged Hermit, or Cloudgoat Ranger is pretty savage. The devotion is usually just a bonus.

Cheers,
rant

Ok looks like the Lark wins over the God

On to pack 2. (Role playing time!)

You get a pack from Nicol Bolas and hand your pack off to Elspeth. Garruk looks at Karn in disbelief asking "What the hell was in the pack when you took it?".

Some really strong contenders here. We could take Crystal Shard and start working on a blink/bounce deck or Phyrexian Metamorph because it can be brought back with 'lark and is generally pretty damn cool. An argument could be made for any of the white cards. Nighthawk is a generally great creature that can be 'larked back to play. Arena and Plow Under are just raw power.

I'm picking Crystal Shard because it synergizes with 'lark and with 'lark sets us down the road toward a fun and powerful deck.

Cheers,
rant

Phyrexian Metamorph

I'm tempted by most of the cards in this pack. There are the obviously powerful cards like Phyrexian Arena and Plow Under, and there are our few Reveillark targets as well. Beyond that, all of the cards in this pack are reliably powerful and would likely be appropriate in the same deck as the Reveillark we already picked.

The card that stands out the most to me is Phyrexian Metamorph, because the Johnny in me wants to go deep.

And a happy new year~

I get this pack IRL after first picking 'lark and I almost immediately windmill Crystal Shard because **** yeah, let's build that deck. Here I can really put some thought into what my pick is and why.

I think with Reveillark, there's two options for paths you can take. One is a degenerate deck that really abuses him and two is a basic white aggro deck that curves out at five and just uses the 'lark for value in the late game. The first path gives us options of Crystal Shard or Metamorph here. Both are solid picks and both are good in the degenerate Reveillark decks. The second path gives us options of the two white shadow dorks or a Mana Tithe. At that point it really just becomes a question of what deck are you looking to build in this draft. I think the most fun deck to play will be the one that really abuses Reveillark and because of that, I think I'm still going to take Crystal Shard. I choose Shard over Metamorph because, well, I like to play Shard decks. I could see going either way between those two, though.

My pick: Crystal Shard

Phyrexian Metamorph is very powerful and it goes very well with our first pick of Reveillark. Crystal Shard also goes well with it, but at this point I'd rather have the most powerful card that works even if we're not building blink.dec. So, I would pick Phyrexian Metamorph, hoping to wheel the Shard.

Metamorph

Lark is a nice card and metamorph essentially allows us to turn a lark death into the best creature on board.

Sadly, knowing pringles cube, 'lark combo isnt supported fully (Body Double)

Phyrexian Metamorph. I love everything about it and it gets pretty good with 'Lark, too. Crystal Shard is probably better with 'Lark, but Metamorph leaves us open in case we need to be flexible.

Phyrexian Metamorph.

Crystal Shard is also excellent in our deck and hopefully it will wheel, as the only other deck I can see wanting to pick it highly in pack 1 is UG tempo-aggro who opened on Sword into Gilded Drake or something. Possible, but seems likely that we'll get it back, while Metamorph is just insane in every circumstance and perfect with the 'Lark.

Crystal Shard

Synergy with Lark and overall awesomeness!

Phyrexian Metamorph, one of the best creatures of the cube. It often is a Sword or Jitte.

As a bonus it works very well with Lark.

Metamorph and Crystal Shard both work well with 'lark, but Metamorph is a much stronger card.

Easily Phyrexian Metamorph.

Metamorph/Crystal Shard goes in the deck we want to build, but Metamorph is overall stronger and will be better if we fail shot in synergy.

Metamorph so.

I agree the pick is between Shard and Metamorph. If we get the blink deck Shard may have the higher best case scenario but Metamorph is still good with Reveillark and will probably make our deck even if we are not playing blue. Also, I think there is a greater chance of Shard making it back round.

My pick: Phyrexian Metamorph

For me, the pick comes down to Phyrexian Metamorph and Crystal Shard, with Crystal Shard fitting better with the strong ETB theme we'd want with Reveillak and it has a much higher power payoff in my opinion.

My pick is Crystal Shard.

Phyrexian Metamorph

Crystal Shard: 4
Phyrexian Metamorph: 12

Looks like Crystal shard will not be getting picked.

Archmage because it's really good with both cards that we already have.

My pick: Glen Elendra Archmage

From this pack, I like Deep Analysis, Glen Elendra Archmage, Flickerwisp, and Imperial Recruiter. I wouldn't fault anyone for taking any one of this four cards. I'm really torn between the 3 ETB creatures; the Archmage is very good, Flickerwisp cements us one the blink deck, and the Recruiter has the potential to be absurd; imagine if we get (for instance) Kiki-Jiki later!

It's close, but I think my pick here is Imperial Recruiter.

Three great cards for us in Archmage, Flickerwisp,and Recuiter. I'm going with Glen Elendra Archmage because it's the least likely to wheel of any of these (although in this pack I don't think any will wheel) and the most objectively powerful. Sad to pass Flickerwisp, but I think Archmage is much stronger on its own but also synergizes nicely with what we have.

Cheers,
rant

Glen Elendra Archmage.

Works well with our 1st pick and is just a powerful card. Flickerwisp is solid too and synergizes with our 1st pick as well, but Glen Elendra can have a bigger impact on the game imo.