+1 Contaminated Ground

screws up their mana (hopefully) and goes along with our little enchantment life ping theme

+1 Contaminated Ground . Pure synergy.

I'd almost just wait on the Contaminated Ground since with the other cards in this pack I expect it to wheel back to us.

+1 Guardian of the Gateless

Expensive, maybe, but I think it would be lovely to have to stay defensive. And just imagine how terrified an opponent might be if it had Ethereal Armor on its back, blocking their entire army and strategically picking off the best of the pack.

I love when the rare in the pack is nigh unplayable. Makes the discussion better.

The two cards that stand out for our current build are Guardian of the Gateless and Contaminated Ground . The first is AMAZING at stalling the board, or taking down a few pesky creatures at once. The second is equally good at color-hosing a player running anything but black.

Honestly, I think it would be most entertaining to take Contaminated Ground for the sole reason that it's a common and we may be able to grab more than one. Spending our first 3 turns or so stacking that enchantment is pure profit and lulz. I can't say that that's the best choice, but it makes me happy thinking about it.

That being said, the better card is clearly Guardian of the Gateless . I just think that Contaminated Ground is better than normal in this format, where every piece of colored mana you can get is vital.

+1 Contaminated Ground

For the simple fact that I believe we can get up to 3 of these in the main deck.

I call it "Best-Gamble-Ever.plan"

+1 Guardian of the Gateless , since we have a much better chance at another Contaminated Ground .

Oh the grounds also helps with hindering our opponent by making their gates basic swamps so that cards like the ogre become less effective. But I think the guardian has more potential. It's a close second and I might be persuaded

+1 Guardian of the Gateless . There is a much greater chance the Contaminated Ground will wheel back to us, and we kinda want that flying angel. If we want the enchantments to do our dirty work, we need solid blockers to hide behind.

-1 Contaminated Ground

+1 Guardian of the Gateless

I'll cave to actual reason. Was hoping we could draft the bad plan and run with the entertainment. Let's hope the Ground wheels.

+1 Guardian of the Gateless . Nothing to add to the discussion.

There were 10 flyers that we saw in the RTR packs.

There are 3 alone in just this pack.

+1 Guardian of the Gateless We're going to need some air control

+1 Guardian of the Gateless

+1 Guardian of the Gateless

+1 Guardian of the Gateless

Synergizes with our delaying tactics, if we can get an Ethereal Armor to pop down onto it we can laugh our way to the bank

+1 Guardian of the Gateless

Ground is a terrible card. It can hose an opponent who's being color-greedy - which is certainly more relevant in this format, now - but most of the time, unless we get super lucky and chain the, together, it's nothing more than a minor inconvenience. They just won't tap that land unless the spell is worth 2 life, which is generally a very easy decision to make.

Balustrade Spy is also worth considering, as a 2/3 flyer is solid. But Guardian is a more solid choice.

For God's sake, people... +1 Skarrg Goliath .

Also really wishing we would have taken that 2nd golari gate now. C'mon, we can splash a 3rd color, and that 3rd color can be green. We have one Golgari Guildgate already, and most of this pack is crap.

I can't believe anyone is seriously considering Contaminated Ground over a bomb that we can run. The Skarrg Goliath can be a game winner. Even if it's the only green we run, we should do it. We would be fools to pass up on this chance.

I guess the rationale is that Skarrg Goliath would take too long to enter the game. Well I might agree with that, except that we're building a stall deck. Think about it...

+1 Guardian of the Gateless

The rare IS playable but we're not maining green and I hate to splash for a double cost. The Guardian is an amazing card though. If we want to go for a defensive strategy, she's tough to beat and makes combat really hard for our foes.

I see the ideal behind the goliath but not the practicality. A stalled board state means they likely are holding removal to deal with the bomb we're hoping will end the game. Further, we'd not only have to draw it, but also the mana sources to cast it. Yes, we CAN splash a third colour, but this is not the shining beacon that we might hope. There's an equally strong card that is in our colours, and once we get two packs passed, we'll know which colours we have a good chance of grabbing for ourselves. Also being passed a drudge beatle means to me that nobody is super-invested in green. Why turn down a bear with upside?

The only other card we should consider is Ordruun Veteran but I'm not willing to pass up the guardian for the possibility that boros will be open for us.

+1 Guardian of the Gateless

This guy is probably the best staller in the set with an ability to attack in the sky. 5 mana is not really much in this format where pluayers quite often do nothing for the first 2 or 3 turns.

I also believe that Contaminated Ground will table. Players who are also in black will pick Balustrade Spy , Corpse Blockade and Gutter Skulk over Contaminated Ground . There is a decent chance that we will get it back.

I keep getting notifications that there are new posts to this thread but I can't see them. Is there something wrong with TappedOut, or is it me? Clearing cache and cookies didn't help.

Sometimes the Notification times aren't accurate and in order.

Like, for me, it says someone posted 34 minutes ago and was 2 posts ago, but the actual post is more than an hour ago and at least 10 posts back.

Although there are a few on my notification list that I can't find at all. Not sure what's up with that.

Exactly. The notifications are telling me that mossflower commented an hour ago, but there is no such post here.

+1 Guardian of the Gateless . It's the king of doing work.

I can't believe you people are seriously considering FIRST PICKING horrible cards like Contaminated Ground . Hell, I don't want that junk at all.

+1 Guardian of the Gateless

I do hope Contaminated Ground wheels, it's a great card to sideboard in against any slow deck that isn't black.

-1 Contaminated Ground

+1 Guardian of the Gateless

Caving into reason as well

+1 Contaminated Ground

We are really looking like we can lock down opponents right now. People really underestimate the power of this card. Especially in a starting hand. If you draft several of them they become insanely powerful. Not allowing an opponent to use their lands (assuming they aren't playing Black, but if they are, they still take the two damage). Controlling the tempo of the game is strong.

Also, the Contaminated Ground can change gates, making cards that react off of gates less powerful.

+1 Guardian of the Gateless

Contaminated Ground is something I would take with the 5th or 6th pick. It might wheel for us, but it's not something you take when there are plenty of good cards on the table.

I agree with vic though. Skarrg Goliath is a B.R.E.A.D-fed bomb. Get one swing with it and you have changed the game. Bloodrushing is not something our opponent's will expect from our colors, either. Aside from that, there's not much common removal that deal with a creature that big. He's safe from any two burn spells as well cards like Executioner's Swing . The guardian fits our deck better, but the Goliath is worth investigating.

+1 Guardian of the Gateless

If you've never played with this card in draft, it can pretty much be at worst a Time Warp to buy you a whole new turn, which also tends to wipe out one of their attackers anyways. And against a populate deck, or an orzhov deck where they have many little guys, he blocks as a 4/4 and is a beast.

Contaminated Ground is alright, but not worth picking here. It's too conditional to have any real use, because our opponent needs to be fairly color screwed when we play it, which is unlikely in this format.

+1 Guardian of the Gateless

Skarrg Goliath is awful. It costs nine mana, and dies to Putrefy . If we ever get to nine mana in a draft, not only is that more than we actually need, but this is not going to be tha card we want to cast. It is too easy to remove, and it doesn't help our extort.

+1 Guardian of the Gateless

The people voting for Skarrg Goliath must not have played limited in this block, they are forgetting about Smite which almost every white deck will run. Nothing worse than losing your 9 mana bomb to a single W common...

+1 Guardian of the Gateless

Altough it's kinda costy, it's a 3/3 flyer with a pretty nice skill.

+1 Guardian of the Gateless

Is awesome. If we want Contaminated Ground there is a good chance it will table.

"doesn't help our Extort" is REALLY bad logic right now. We have exactly zero Extort cards, and there are none in this pack. We need to pick cards that are good by themselves, not just good with Extort triggers.

+1 Guardian of the Gateless

One question... the other drafter are watching our picks, right?! That is BAD!

+1 Guardian of the Gateless

@Absinthman

I DID make a vote earlier, but I don't see it here anymore. I noticed a similar effect happened to me a few days ago, where I made a post, but it appeared somewhere in the middle of all the comments, instead of at the end.

Is this something peculiar to me? =(

+1 Guardian of the Gateless , I don't see why people are considering Contaminated Ground , it sort of works with our deck, but the angel is better and the ground has an actual chancing of coming back.

The Contaminated Ground was considered more for the troll factor than anything. Drafting 3 or 4 of them would make a super troll deck.

The idea has since been shut down by the masses.

+1 Guardian of the Gateless

Only other reasonable (and probably better as it's a bomb) option is the Goliath but I like Guardian more for this deck.

@ VRonin - No, they are not. The other drafters are friends of KC who are not on-line here at Tappedout.

If the problem with Skarrg Goliath - which I did not vote for - is that it dies to removal, well... most creatures do. That's what removal does. Only those other creatures are well within range of roughly three times as many removal spells, plus death by combat damage. Cards that say "destroy" or "exile" will be a problem, but most of them come in white and black. You may recall that I've been a big proponent of cutting white and black when possible. Several of them are also sorceries, which doesn't help against bloodrush.

If the problem is that the Goliath costs nine mana, fret no more. Or, at least read the card. It's seven to bloodrush and eight to cast. And this is a slow format.

I still think Guardian of the Gateless is the better pick for our deck, but the Goliath is a two turn clock. That fact should not be ignored.

+1 Guardian of the Gateless

Last draft I played, this was the most useful card my Orzhov opponents had, hands down. Not to mention we really need an air creature, as was already discussed before.

Also, Contaminated Ground seems useful, but as someone pointed out, it is a very undervalued card, hence much more likely to table anyway.

I'm not a fan of Skarrg Goliath . The bloodrush effect is nice, but everything is super expensive. We do have some workable green, including a gate, but I'm still not convinced the heavier commitment is worth it.

+1 Guardian of the Gateless

+1 Guardian of the Gateless

cartwheelnurd, your point in favor of this card earlier (vs. populate decks where it blocks 1/1's) is mis-stated. ~ get's +1/+1 for each creature it blocks. If they swing in with 15 1/1 tokens it will eat them all with 3 toughness to spare.

. . . and be warned, if I see a Holy Mantle , I will vote for it. Two for ones notwithstanding.

+1 Guardian of the Gateless . What more do we need to say?

If we see extorter's we need to prioritize them.

+1 Guardian of the Gateless

I'm 90% confident the next card out of this deck will be Sapphire Drake and I'd like to have an answer to this and all the other fliers we're going to be facing. Also 90% likely that Contaminated Ground will come back around.

+1 Ordruun Veteran

I'm alone on that pick, I know, but red is something we might want to consider splashing for removal. I love this dude in limited, and we've already got a decent aggro deck building. I dislike Contaminated Ground because it is rare to get it out when it matters. It only seems like it would be a good card, but it rarely does what you hope it will.

Guardian of the Gateless is really expensive, and could easily be a bad draw, but this pack doesn't have much going for it. Gutter Skulk is a great card, but it's too early to be drafting it.

+1 Guardian of the Gateless

I don't trust the contamination, but the Guardian's always had my back in a fight.

+1 Guardian of the Gateless

And if that freaking Contaminated Ground wheels, I want it want it want it!

Very few individual spells will kill the Skarrg Goliath . The fact that you can think of something that does is not a reason not to take it.

Our build should keep the game going long enough to cast him, and swing with him. Or...the bloodrush surprise could be a finisher right there. Bombs don't come around very often. We're being presented with one that we can play. We may not get any more.

There's a very strong chance that we don't draw 50% of our lands AND Skarrg Goliath AND can play him AND swing with him next turn before the game is over. He's very likely to be a dead draw.

Any card in limited over 5cmc needs to have a very substantial effect because it needs to completely turn the game to your favor when it's played. Skarrg Goliath is just a big body with trample. It's not worth it.

The problem is not that the goliath dies to removal, exactly. It does, of course. The problem is that by the time we are likely to cast it, they will have drawn removal and, so far, we have very little they would have wanted to spend it on. The problem with a defensive strategy, or perhaps the virtue, is that the enemy doesn't want to waste kill spells on creatures that are not a threat. Knocking down defenders just to get through with creatures isn't something most players want to be doing in limited, unless they feel it will win the the game for certain.

If we go for game winning bombs, we need them to be an easier splash, or in our colours. The only exception to this is if we open an AEtherling in DGM, because it's practically unbeatable and we'd have to force blue as a splash.

The Guardian will also die to removal and it is a defender worth wasting a kill spell on if they have no deathtouch. But they'll still be loathe to do so unless they have to. We do not yet have a win strategy exactly. Stab wounds can get us there, and hopefully some extort. We need to focus on muscle that is on colour in the next couple of packs, or a reasonable splash (meaning red or blue, prefer red personally). Green doesn't get us much in this pack with our two main colours and the golgari in CGM isn't great, save for putrefy.

Moving along.