Are we? I suppose if you exclude Fodder and Piledriver, we're low, but I don't think we necessarily should. Granted, we'd need to pick the common goblins a little more aggressively for Piledriver to work, but those goblins are already good red commons.

I was counting the goblins! We have 1 real creature, a 4 drop. We have 3 other "creature" cards but they are mostly chump blockers.

And how exactly does a 2/2 for 4 help that problem?

Empath and Recluse are decent picks.

2/2 for four is meh, but it draws gas a good portion of the time, and if it whiffs it at least moves random stuff like lands to the bottom of your library. Our deck isn't aggressive enough for me to want to take the meh combat trick over the meh value dude.

Recluse is an okay blocker and fits into our slightly slower game plan so far, and there's really nothing better in the pack.

The last three picks are all unplayable stuff and don't really matter.

Llanowar Empath, Hitchclaw Recluse, Demolish, Reclaim, and Swamp it is.



Pack 2, Pick 1
1 x Gaea's Revenge
1 x Whirler Rogue
1 x Eyeblight Massacre
1 x Necromantic Summons
1 x Might of the Masses
1 x Volcanic Rambler
1 x Dragon Fodder
1 x Cobblebrute
1 x Grasp of the Hieromancer
1 x Vine Snare
1 x Maritime Guard
1 x Charging Griffin
1 x Knight of the Pilgrim's Road
1 x Auramancer
1 x Forest


1. How good is Gaea's Revenge?
2. Is Whirler Rogue so good and was blue open enough that we should just take it?
3. Can we just go all-in on goblins?

I'd take Gaea's Revenge here. Yeah, it's a 7 drop but the card is so hard to deal with once it hits the board.

Lightning Javelin and Zendikar Incarnate are the only two good red cards we have, we can drop red if we wanted. But it seems pretty obvious that we are green so I'd take the green bomb here and see what great cards are passed to us pack 2.

Gaea's Revenge is a solid card. It's huge, unremovable a lot of the time, and immediately brains them for 8 damage the turn it comes down.

I would take it over the Rogue because we're definitely going to be green.

I think we have to take revenge here. Rogue is better but blue wasn't even open (other than the random disperse).

I would play a Pilgrimage in this deck, but I will try to get one cheap.

Blue felt as open as any color. All of the following was passed to us:

3-Skaab Goliath
4-Screeching Skaab
5-Ringwarden Owl, Disperse
6-Turn to Frog
8-Screeching Skaab, Stratus Walk

Not the greatest assortment of cards, but playable ones from lackluster packs. I think there's enough value to taking Whirler Rogue for it to be a worthwhile selection, especially in a format this notoriously fast. All that said, I don't think it's enough better than Gaea's Revenge to take in this specific spot. I too will be on the lookout for a cheap Nissa's Pilgrimage, perhaps a Mage-Ring Network as well.

Revenge is a dish best served leafy.



Pack 2, Pick 2
1 x Orbs of Warding
1 x Fleshbag Marauder
1 x Angel's Tomb
1 x Lightning Javelin
1 x Pharika's Disciple
1 x Caustic Caterpillar
1 x Wild Instincts
1 x Aspiring Aeronaut
1 x Weight of the Underworld
1 x Llanowar Empath
1 x Knight of the Pilgrim's Road
1 x Elvish Visionary
1 x Infectious Bloodlust
1 x Mountain

Gaea's Revenge

I actually don't think it's very hard to deal with, all it takes is a deathtouch blocker, or a few chumpers while you deal the last points. But it can steal games due to haste and being unexpected, as it's a rare. And some decks really don't have answers to Revenge.

Rogue is such a big commitment to a color we really haven't seen much of. Revenge gives us a solid game plan, and it's early enough so that we can build our deck accordingly. Ideally, we want to be GR ramp, and we have a surpsrisingly solid start, after those terrible first few boosters.

Elvish Visionary

This pack is extremely rich for us. There are two fine removal spells here, and while Instincts have been tabling lately, the same can't be said for the Javelin. Still, Visionary is what I want multiples of in any green deck, and the way to get them is to pick them high. The next on my list would be the Tomb, and if there's enough support, I might switch to that. But not to the removal.

I could see taking the Fight spell over the Lightning Javelin, but no way am I taking the tomb here. Or Elvish Visionary. They are both fine cards but removal is removal, and this deck is going to need it.

We're low on relevant bodies. I like Disciple here.

I agree with the Revenge pick, but the card is just a little above meh. It's a 7 mana dude without evasion in a format everyone plays a million 2-drops to block you into oblivion.

Pharika

There are 4 solid green cards in the pack here - not including caterpillar. If we don't wheel one we are totally hosed anyway.

I am with Zen, take the removal. My vote will be for the Javelin since that will almost certainly cause a green card to wheel.

Disciple isn't good enough to take over removal right now, and we have enough picks left to get bodies.

My gaze draws immediately to three cards: Elvish Visionary, Lightning Javelin, and Wild Instincts. Disciple is a fine card, but another 4-drop creature in a world where filling that part of your curve is EASY. Tomb is also a fine card, but doesn't stake a claim and isn't necessarily better than the three highlighted cards. (Though I think I like it better than the average.) Taking two-drops has become a solid practice in this format. You need to start your deck early to keep up with all the fast, active decks roaming around. But I still think Visionary is worse enough than the removal options. Javelin and Instincts are very comparable; Javelin is less risky and more versatile, but Instincts is more brutal and a great tempo play. I agree with those that say we could abandon red if need be, which pushes me toward taking Wild Instincts. The two are so comparable that taking the one more likely to make the deck just makes more sense.

Which brings us currently to:

1 - Wild Instincts
1 - Elvish Visionary
2 - Flame Javelin
2 - Pharika's Disciple

I'll wait for more votes before initiating a tiebreaker.

Actually, the tie right now is between Javelin and Disciple, both with 2 votes. Visionary and Instincts have 1 each.

Ya, I meant that they were tied at 2. *edits*