Frontline Medic got handed to us on a silver platter. My vote is for Frontline Medic .

Frontline Medic if we're going bant, Crowned Ceratok or Shambleshark if we're sticking with pure simic

Again with the Frontline Medic . Pick that sucker up. He definitely gets my vote.

Frontline Medic with Crowned Ceratok as a close second.

Let's hope shambleshark comes back.

We already have one medic, so I would push much harder for Crowned Ceratok , as we can cast it more reliably in a base Simic deck. The ceratok is great for evolve, and giving all your +1/+1 countered guys trample is nuts. That said, 2x Frontline Medic is pretty dang bonkers.

Voting for Crowned Ceratok , but I think we're good either way.

Well, we get another medic! He's a great creature and the more dudes we get, the more likely it is that he will be useful in indestrucibilizing our squad. He gets my vote, again, because I think we can do bant really well. Hopefully the ceratok or shambleshark can come back, though it is quite unlikely, but maybe we will eat least get Crocanura , which is very good, or Assault Griffin which is also a little bit good. Altogether, this is a great pack for us.

Frontline Medic , hands down. We have some great white cards for splashing anyways.

This pack is the nuts. I really like Crowned Ceratok , so i won't argue if it gets picked.

That being said, my pick is Frontline Medic and a full switch to Bant. He will trigger Evolve consistently and reward us for being aggressive. He also has some loose synergy with Rapid Hybridization .

It's also fun to pseudo-hate-draft by picking cards that we can use well while keeping them away from the Boros crowd.

Frontline Medic , Elaine probably gave that to us since we signalled white in the first few picks.

Wow! Two bombs and two role players. I want to say Frontline Medic . Having two in our pool would just be nuts. Who doesn't like indestructible creatures? But all of our evolve creatures could gain trample with Crowned Ceratok .

Alas, we've only drafted two evolve creatures thus far. Not that we won't draft more of them when they come by. But I think the pick has to be Frontline Medic . I would still be ecstatic with the Ceratok, though.

Crowned Ceratok . I don't see how we can go white at this point, folks. It doesn't combo with either green(selesnya) or blue(azorius). Red could be splashed, but not white. Let's pick a card in our guild. That rhino and his ability will do very nicely for us.

To clarify, we won't be able to pick up a Selesnya Guildgate or an Azorius Guildgate . We would need those to splash white, would we not?

Frontline Medic we still have Prophetic Prism to help with the splash. plus,we don't want anyone else to have him either.

Dang, I would take this pack and let the other drafters take the rest.

Obviously, the top two picks are Frontline Medic and Crowned Ceratok . Neither is coming back around. The medic is lower on the curve, but the beast fits better with our base colors. Both will trigger evolve and both provide combat advantages for our other creatures. Of the two, I gotta go with Frontline Medic .

As for the rest of the pack, I will be thrilled if Shambleshark , Crocanura , or even Assault Griffin make it back around. We got some fish-crabs, a few croc-frogs, and an eagle-lion just to round out the menagerie.

Anyone else think Elaine is in red?

@vic: We have a Prophetic Prism .

Shambleshark , gets my vote, with Frontline Medic as a close second.

medic, we can counter our own Nimbus Swimmer , yaaa!

The medic is totally splashable and super awesome for us. My vote is for him.

@vic Plains are a thing.

Tough call between the Medic and the Ceratok. Like several others have said, I think Frontline Medic just barely gets my vote over Ceratok but I won't be disappointed if we choose the beast either (though Medic seems to have a pretty commanding lead right now).

Crowned Ceratok

Medic! Its actually amazing that this got passed to us a second time, but you gotta go with it even if it is hate drafting; cant have a boros pick this up or its all over.

I kind of feel obliged to vote for Crowned Ceratok for a really good evolve trigger, But Frontline Medic is something we cant pass up i guess...

Frontline Medic

Frontline Medic

there are 3 good simic cards, and im sure at least the croc will wheel. because of this I would rather go for a splash bomb. if we can add a small splash, but have that splash bring consistent value then its worth it

Crowned Ceratok ....

what the hell people. We are obviously in Simic, but as soon as people see a Frontline Medic they freak out.

Crowned Ceratok is an awesome card. Everything that's evolved gets trample? Yes please.

My vote goes to: Crowned Ceratok

Crowned Ceratok : a 4/3 trample for 4 has a nice clock to it and works well with our other evolve creatures Im sure we will get at least 2 more and it would be a shame to pass him by.

@some peoples: It is both possible and smart to play three colors in a draft, as long as you get a little bit of color fixing. We have both Prophetic Prism and Realmwright , so splashing white for a few bombs is no big deal. Not all fixing has to come from Guildgates.

@Cdawg44 - I don't think most people are "freaking out" over Medic. At least, I know I'm not. With only one white pip in his cost, he's a very reasonable splash - even if it's unlikely we'll be running enough white to cast him on turn 3 like some people seem to think we will - and he can turn combat steps into a nightmare for the opponent. Plus as a 3/3 for 3 he's always going to be a solid, relevant presence on the board himself.

Ceratok is hardly a bad pick, and I don't think anyone here has said that. Most people, like myself, are saying that it's a close call and while they're voting for Medic they'd be happy with the Ceratok. I certainly love the rhino's potential to just end the game on the spot by essentially nullifying their blockers. The Medic's potential upside just gives it a slight edge in my book.

While I really like the Ceratok as well I think the correct pick here is the Frontline Medic .

I also think we should take the Frontline Medic . Clearly, Crowned Ceratok is a good pick, but with already having a copy of Frontline Medic , along with Prophetic Prism and Realmwright , it does seem that we are in a prime position to go bant.

Well if we do go G/U/W, then we will need to get another fixer. I don't think that a single Prophetic Prism and the Realmwright will be enough. And we know we won't get a guildgate for white. My experience with drafting has been that when running a 3 color deck, you need at least 3 fixers. We would need another prism.

Goody: The problem in is fitting them and and still leaving room for enough Forests and Islands to be reliable.

vic: Last Tuesday I did a draft where I was Gruul and splashed for a double blue (the Medic is only a single white) with no guild gates at all. I only had 3 islands, 2 Prophetic Prism s, and 2 Verdant Haven s (and the lifegain actually won me one game) and had no problem casting any of my cards be they red, green, or blue. I know we only have the 1 Prism and no Havens but we also have the Realmwright and a decent chance of still getting some gates. Splashing a third color is not as hard as you are making it out to be and we still have plenty of time to get some more mana fixing.

Oh and also on Thursday, I drafted a Boros deck splashing for a couple of double black cards and only 1 Boros guildgate and 1 Prism for mana fixing and went 3-0 for the night and no mana problems either.

@vic: It's really not that hard to do as long as you balance the numbers right. Running all basics is perfectly safe for doing two colors and a splash. Just today I had a Orzhov deck that splashed blue; the color weights ended up being somewhere around 3/4 of the color was WB and only a quarter was U, if that; I had no guildgates and had no issues with color screw.

I do think that some people's expectations of having enough plains to cast Medic on turn 3 is silly (pending what else we pick up, of course) but he's fine as a later-game drop as well.

Well there is Verdant Haven to consider. It's in our colors. And those hang around late. I suppose we might be able to pull it off. I wouldn't feel comfortable with only the two fixers we have for white right now. But a haven could change that.

The next thing we would have to hope for(to justify running the medics) is to have the kind of creature base to find ourselves in a position of swinging with 3 or more. Maybe. If we don't, then those medics are just 3/3 for 3.

Since we are mainly Simic, I should hope we have enough creatures to be swinging with 3 or more otherwise we are in big trouble.

I agree that we need to beef up the creature count. But there is time for that.

I don't expect we'll be able to cast Frontline Medic on turn 3. It's not likely that we'll draw a copy, even with two in the deck, until turns 6-8. However, Medic makes late weenies draws worthwhile. Top-decking a Shambleshark on turn 8 isn't something we'd normally want to happen. It would just attack into some bigger. The Medic allows us to do that.

I'd argue the Crowned Ceratok is a better late game top deck for a Simic deck than a Frontline Medic , since it has the immediate impact of a higher power for Evolve, and insta-Trample. It can enable a game-winning alpha-strike the turn it hits the field. The Medic cannot.

We already have one splash color medic. Do we really need two?

Frontline Medic .

I'm going to vote Crowned Ceratok just because with all of the evolve triggers you'll be having in your deck, the trample and possibly extra evolve trigger from it ETB'ing will definitely be more relevant.

I can't express any particular preference given that value is no object here.

I can't express any particular preference given that value is no object here.

Frontline Medic is the clear winner. Moving along.