familiar

I think charging rhino is just so much better than a frog. We aren't exactly swimming in 4 drops.
EDIT. Rhino costs 5 not 4. witch's familiar

Festergloom in a deck with two Mystics scares me. I think it's down to Familiar and Rhino. we kind of want to be the deck that just plays hard-to-deal-with threat after hard-to-deal-with threat until they run out of ways to deal with them. for that Rhino is obviously better. but on the other hand, we also need to survive to the point where we can start that process, and Familiar helps there. the question, then, is how many creatures we have that cost 3 or less that are good defense?

and the answer is one. we have a netcaster spider. everything else is either hard to cast early (invasive species) or has 1 toughness, making it potentially capable of trading but not of holding the ground. I think Rhino is the better card, but we need Familiar right now.

Razor, we have two spiders. I'd still want the familiar though.

so we do. missed one. that kinda changes things. we have a lot of other cheap stuff too, though most of it is ramp, so I don't know if we can fit in another 3-drop blocker. I'm gonna change to Rhino. with two mystics and two havens it's not even implausible that we'd have 5 mana turn 3.

I'm going to agree with razor. Rhino it is.

Rhino for me.

IDK, basing our entire deck on 2 mystics and 2 havens seems iffy.

I'll take the Rhino.

Pack 1:

Hornet Queen
Ancient Silverback
Netcaster Spider
Siege Wurm
Reclamation Sage
Phyrexian Revoker
Nissa's Expedition
Shaman of Spring
Necrobite
Hunt the Weak
Shaman of Spring
hunter's Ambush
Soulmender
mind Sculpt

Pack 2:

Garruk, Apex Predator
Netcaster Spider
Elvish Mystic
Gravedigger
Hunt the Weak
Verdant Haven
Invasive Species
Endless Obedience
Ensoul Artifact
Verdant Haven
Necromancer's Assistant
Undergrowth Scavenger
Soulmender
Radiant Fountain

Pack 3:

Elvish Mystic
Child of Night
Siege Wurm
Rotfeaster Maggot
Witch's Familiar

Next...

Mercurial Pretender
Tormod's Crypt
Black Cat
Invasive Species
Shaman of Spring
Verdant Haven
Krenko's Enforcer
Coral Barrier
Carrion Crow

Not sure if we want another Haven. Voting Carrion Crow because it fills a niche we don't have yet.

I like Crow, but unlike the Midnight Guard, I don't keep getting more impressed with it. If anything, I keep seeing it under-perform. Maybe that's just the matches I've been watching, but it feels it either loses races, or just gets beaten by better air. Still, I think it's the right pick. Carrion Crow.

I'll take the crow, but in this deck I would have been fine with the black cat, too.

I'd kind of like the Shaman of Spring. That card draw is a great boon, especially when we land her on curve (t3 or 4 depending on mystics)

crow is fine

Invasive Species

I'm never sorry to see this guy. Sometimes you don't have the fourth land, sometimes it bounces the Shaman or Gravedigger, or even the Queen in our deck, sometimes it gets rid of Oppresive Rays or Encrust.

I was thinking about species and ETBs, but every time I play against someone playing species with ETB creatures I just floor them.

Invasive species and crow are both solid cards... But this deck has 3 7 drop bombs (holding up regen for sliverback). And not much removal. I think the best card for this deck is... Black cat. If this was pack 2 I would take my chances with a three drop.

we're not aggressive enough to handle crow. Species is nice but there's a lot of times early where it'll set us back hard in order to play defense. I like either Shaman or cat, and cat is cheaper.

I'll swap to Cat over crow since it has some support