Omenspeaker
Wavecrash Triton

OK, I got this idea from Cato's cyclops thread. Cyclops in vacuum... sure OK. But what about Ill-tempered Cyclops vs. Borderland Minotaur - since I already mentioned that in the other thread, I give you 2 similar blue commons.

When do you want one vs the other? Or do you always favor one?

Obviously if you are crafting something with heroic synergy (UW or RU?) then you will lean merfolk. But omenspeaker is cheaper and scrys.
I think generally I lean Omenspeaker, but having an ordeal turn a triton into a 4/7 is irritating. Just so hard to kill!

What about UG or UB?

Probably both make the MD no matter what - but when would you board them in if they got cut?

I really love the triton and I'll try to craft a place for him in almost all of my blue decks. That said, omenspeaker is more universally good and since he's a pretty early drop with high toughness, he's really not a bad target for auras. I think in pure power, triton is stronger, so early in the draft, I'll take triton over omenspeaker. In a format like theros where synergy can be incredibly rewarding, I prefer to go for power over flexibility early on, otherwise, you end up in a loop where you say "well, I won't pick heroic because I don't have enablers" and "I won't pick enablers because I don't have heroic!" If you want heroic to work, you have to commit to it early and be ready to jump ship if it doesn't happen.

Later in the draft, if I'm low on enablers, or if I have a hole at 2 mana, I'll pick the omenspeaker.

I think it depends on your deck. If you draft the John Mathias special, durdle.dec, you'll probably want the omen speaker, but if you're building an aggro/tempo deck, triton is better. On the other hand, if you're building an aggro/tempo deck, do you even want 1/xs?

Trust me, you want that 1/x. First off, it's probably not going to stay 1/x. Even if it does, the damage you get through thanks to tapping their blockers and not having to worry about blocking them is far greater than the damage you'd have playing something with 2 or 3 power in the 3cc slot.

Hell, if you play aggro/tempo, you probably want the omenspeaker as well. In this format, the aggressiveness often comes from auras more than from the natural power of your creatures.

But wouldn't you get even more damage through if you played your pump auras on bigger guys with better heroic abilities?

Better heroic abilities? Have you played him? I mean, sure, if you got the guy that gives counters to all your team, or one of the rare cards, then play your auras on them, but otherwise, there aren't any heroic abilities that win you the game like triton does. You take away a blocker and prevent it from attacking. That means you not only get more damage through, you also get to attack with more creatures because you don't need to worry about blocking.

Now that you mention it, there aren't as many good heroic common creatures as I thought. Still, I stand by my point that "gets better with p/t boost" isn't a valid argument, because it applies to pretty much everything except skulking fugitive.

I like the triton more. 1 mana more but much much stronger.

I'm not saying it's good because it gets better with auras, I'm saying the low power isn't as big a deal for aggro and tempo in this format as it would be in most other formats because so much of the aggression comes from auras.

good discussion, I will make another one...

the triton is very strong even if you only have a bit of enablers since it can force through damage by removing blockers for 2 turns