P1P1 #21–BLACKJACK! OR SOMETHING! (Let’s get on with the picks, eh?)

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This is a tough pack in that there’s no card that really sticks out but there are a lot of strong pieces to powerful decks. Lingering Souls, Wheel of Fortune, Underground Sea, Sewer Nemesis, Thassa, and Llanowar Elves are all good. Even the other cards are nice and arguments could be made for any of them, but I feel like the 6 I mentioned are the strongest for me.

Lingering Souls is not broken by any means but is a nice threat that fits in white, black, or both colored decks. 4 1/1 fliers is a serious threat, spreading the damage across a bunch of bodies that have evasion. Souls is also awesome on the defense, blocking so much, and it’s a fine card to pitch to discard since you’re getting close to a card’s worth of value with two 1/1 fliers for 1B. Ultimately it’s not the pick here for me for a couple reasons. One is that there are better single colored cards. Lingering Souls CAN be easily splashed off of, but I’d rather stay more open with just one color instead of trying to hit that second color. Second, I just feel like it’s not the best card to pick here and that the others not only leave me more open but are better. Not that Souls is necessarily bad–not even close–but I’d pretty much always take some of the other selections first.

Wheel of Fortune is awesome and I feel like I’ve said a lot about it recently in a p1p1, so I’ll hold off here, but it’s worth noting we’re probably getting a black card here so if we take Wheel we should keep in mind the reanimator strategy and either go RB or try and splash Wheel.

Sewer Nemesis is a serious bomb and even more seriously underrated. While he’s much better in an unpowered cube where he’s not as dead when you’re playing way ahead of the cube, he’s still super strong in decks that plays spells and puts things in yours or your own graveyard. The incremental mill can be a big pain in the ass when it hits your opponents, and in your own graveyard strategy it’s a free dredge-like effect that won’t tear apart your deck. I like Sewer Nemesis more than most because I’ve always felt that 10/10s for 3B seems like a good deal. I probably won’t pick it here since finishers are still a dime a dozen, but if it wheeled I’ll take that as a sign that I should be black.

Thassa is cool and rewards you for being heavy blue, something I’ve never had an issue committing to. Free scrys are nice on the upkeep, and making things unblockable will close out many games quickly. I’m less inclined to throw Thassa into a deck that can’t activate her since she is that much worse, but if my deck is full of awesome cards then Scrying for them every turn would be great. I most likely wouldn’t pick her here since it influences me to go heavy blue, something I’m willing to do off a passed pick or a less-good pack, but I wouldn’t fault anyone for picking her here.

Llanowar Elves. Dakota McCarthy would look at this pack and say “Sam would pick that” and he wouldn’t be far off. I love green about as much as I love blue in cube and the most important part of a good green deck are the 1 drops. Sending Tarmogoyf along shouldn’t be a signal, so taking the Elves here does a good job of cutting off blue. Even with that being said, I probably don’t take Llanowar Elves here since it is kind of a lame-duck pick. Not that the card isn’t strong, but there are plenty of 1 drop elves and there is an outside chance that I do wheel the elf even with another green drafter; they could take one of the other strong cards in the pack as an off-color choice and pass the elf along under the same thought.

When it comes down to it, I take Underground Sea here. Not the most exciting pick by a long shot, but there are a lot of reasons why fixing is good. First off, if I’m either color I’ll want to splash the other. If I’m blue I’ll want to splash the tutors and mind twist that I highly prioritize. If I’m black I’ll want to splash the power I’m not going to pass or the card draw that doesn’t sieve me dry of life. And if I end up as both–a definite possibility–then Underground Sea is obviously good to have. It’s not the craziest pick, but I’d be happy with it and I’m going to wheel a black card I might want to play so there’s that.

What would you choose? Why am I an idiot? Let us know in the comments, and thanks for reading!

Skyler’s Cube