Whiplash Trap

Demolish , Whiplash Trap , and Crypt Ripper are the only ones worthy of consideration. Demolish can be handy in a sideboard, but I don't think that we're too worried about artifact or land-based threats given the packs we've seen. Even a Valakut won't hurt us- we'll win by the time they get out five mountains.

This leaves Whiplash Trap for our deck or Crypt Ripper as a hate pick. Whiplash Trap can be a very useful card, but only in certain limited circumstances; at its best it removes token creatures or buys large amounts of time.

I don't think we need to do either of these things, particularly. Whiplash Trap might still be useful AGAINST our deck, however, so we might pick it to keep it from hosing us later.

Then we have Crypt Ripper . Dude takes 4, so he's slow, but he can be a real pain in a deck that has lots of black mana, and I suspect based on the last round of drafting that someone sitting pretty close to our right is drafting heavy black, so we might be handing them a Crypt Ripper if we fail to hate it.

Not sure what to vote for at this point, both seem like good choices. Preliminarily I'd be in favor of Crypt Ripper .

I vote Whiplash Trap . It could be useful for us, and it could be useful AGAINST us. I don't know that Crypt Ripper is really THAT much of a threat.

I mean, your point about Valakut being not a threat because we should win before they get out enough mountains. Doesn't that same point apply to swamps and thus make Ripper less of a threat? He won't hit the board before turn 3 or 4 anyhow.

We could always hate draft the Island . Those can be mean in control decks. JK:)

I stick with Whiplash Trap

@magnor The analogy to Valakut breaks down a bit because Valakut doesn't stop attacks or develop into a serious threat IMMEDIATELY. It'll just start plinking for three damage every other turn or so. Crypt Ripper, at the very least, can be a 6/6 or 7/7 the turn after he is cast. That can change the tide of the game in a way that Valakut cannot.

Still, the point is well taken. He is unlikely to affect the game too much in a battle vs. our deck, being expensive.

I am some what torn here... hating the ripper, seems like a good idea... on the other hand we can actually use the trap... albeit only situationally... but the player drafting black to our right is most likely playing multi color as it is hard to come up with enough of any 1 color to play mono anything when drafting like this... and it would appear that there haven't been a ton of good black cards coming around, so that lends credence to him likely playing multicolor and maybe not black as his primary color.... In any event i think i stick with the card we can actually use in our own deck Whiplash Trap it is. Plus this satisfies all those who didn't get it in the last pack.

Whiplash Trap is one of the cards I really like starting as a 1-of, it's a fine tempo play and lets us bash. Yeah the crypt ripper would be a decent hate-draft, but I'd pick the playable here.

Also didn't we see some late vampire-lacerators? I'm just speculating, but hopefully that means there's not anyone too heavy into black that will capitalize too much on the CR. Plus we have like 4x burst so we can just kill it when they are tapped out! w00t.

Whiplash Trap

Trap

I think we can handle the Crypt Ripper, that's what we have the removal for.

The trap, on the other hand, we don't have much of an answer for, could be annoying, and we have potential use for.

I'm not keen on traps in general, especially this one as it is no good when top-decking; we may well be stuck on 4 lands because of the Living Tsunami , thus unable to pay the hard cost, and if the opponent is top-decking as well, he won't be playing more than one creature.

Still, I think it's the best card in the pack, so I vote Whiplash Trap .

I argued for it last time, I'll argue for it again: Whiplash Trap .

Not that any of this matters, it's eldrazi time now!

i am a huge fan of Crypt Ripper

Demolish

Most of our opponents will be playing at least two colors with very little mana fixing. Trashing their only forest while they keep drawing plains can set them back several turns. Plenty of time for us to build up our advantage on the battlefield.

I'm torn between Demolish and Whiplash Trap but the Trap is probably going to do us more good ultimately if someone starts popping out a couple critters a turn.

Whiplash Trap or Demolish . Thing is, I don't think we've even seen any artifacts to be scared of - and killing off a land could be fun, but we wouldn't have a chance to do it until later in the game, at which point our opponent would have likely drawn enough land that losing one isn't the worst thing in the world. The trap, on the other hand, is also late game (unless they're really aggro) and lets us slow their roll considerably...

let's do Whiplash Trap .

also, seeing Inferno Trap and Territorial Baloth missing from that pack is kinda scary.