So, a completely off-color gate? A Hired Torturer ? Other filler-picks could be Maze Rusher and Boros Mastiff although the latter would probably suck against the Gatekeeper-lot with his 2/2 power. But! we only have one other 2-drop.

Boros Mastiff all the way. I've really been hoping for one or two 2-drop creatures. That's a very good thing in this format. This card would be a good score for us.

Last night, while we were being passed our 4th Orzhov guildgate, I did a house draft with some friends. Believe it or not, they were running this very format of triple DGM. I took 1st with naya aggro. No one else went naya. I had six 2-drop creatures, including one Boros Mastiff , and that early build was very hard for my opponents to deal with, lifegain or not. I think 2-drops are a pretty big deal here.

Funny thing: the most damage dealt to me was easily from a couple of Sinister Possession s. Each one that got played on me probably did about 8 points of damage(I got ahead early, so I pressed the attack and kept swinging). Neither was enough to kill me, but no single card hit me for more than that all night. Of course, the guy running Debt to the Deathless was one black mana short to play it before I killed him : )

I think I like the mastiff as well. But we should pick up another gate in the next pick or two ideally.

+1 Mastiff

Thing is, there might not be any more gates coming...

We're not taking an off colour gate anyway. I think I prefer the torturer here. It can block and kill bears, mana sinks are good and incremental damage and information. All that beats a vanilla bear with sometimes lifelink. Especially when the mastiff is unlikely to survive the first attack, seeing as he's one of very few ground creatures we'd have down early, and we have pretty much zero combat tricks. Mastiff is the right pick in a deck we're not drafting.+1 hired torturer

I agree with thebeardedshuffler I think the torturer is a better pick for our deck. We just don't have the firepower to turn the mastif into a lifelinker and that's what would make him better.

+1 Hired Torturer

We already have four 3-drops creatures, and ZERO 2-drop creatures. Let's have something to get onto the board on turn 2, shall we?

The torturer is not a great creature. He's playable as a 39th or 40th card if we don't have something better, and we already have one.

So let me get this straight, IF we happen to start with, or draw into, the mastiff REALLY early, we get to have a single guy down on turn 2! Who will die to anything at all, and be killed by any 3 drops they play to defend with.

Meanwhile, we have the torturer who can:

Block 2/X forever

Kill X/2 creatures

Use up mana when we have no instants for end of their turn (hint: practically forever given our pool so far)

Deal 2 damage every turn, and give us information about cards in opponents hands.

If we cast a boros mastiff, all we're going to do is not attack with it because they have a bigger dude, or hope to trade it with another bear. There's pretty much no scenario where this card brings us value. Instead of casting dudes, our first 3 turns will likely be casting sinister possession(s), then drakes. It'd be nice to have something that can block for us on the ground reliably, rather than a 2/2 that will, at best, trade.

You are seriously undervaluing the hired torturer. I always mainboard him if i'm drafting black and get him, because he provides long-term value. Of course, I always draft mastiffs if I'm in boros or naya aggro but, we're very much not.

Yeah. Torturer is cool. He's my pick. +1 Hired Torturer.

My concern is that we're going to end up holding cards and not being able to get all of our stuff onto the board due to a lack of low cost spells. I don't see us having 4 mana open for his ability very much(if ever) because we will have spent it by casting one creature during our turn. Meanwhile we could have had another dude on the board, even if only for help on defense, during T2 when we instead did nothing but play a land.

well if our deck "runs well" then we'd play a guildgate during turn 1 and 2 anyway, so we couldnt cast the mastiff since they come into play tapped.

as I count it it's 2 for mastiff, 3 for torturer, so we're picking the torturer. even if we don't use his ability, it's an okayish blocker that people would probably be wasting a combat trick on to get rid of.

torturer's ability that is.

Let's hope for early Sinister Possessions, then.

Calling the crew for pack 3, pick 7: vic, thebeardedshuffler, tigersfan774, VRonin, anewsome, GoldGhost012, xXBantbladesXx

Well, it seems the choice here is between Viashino Firstblade and Wear / Tear for the more dangerous enchantments that are Gleam of Battle and Gruul War Chant . If it destroys an additional cluestone, that's just a bonus.

I think we probably need the dude.

Firstblade.

Firstblade all the way.

+1 first blade.

Well, it seems it's already settled.

Yeah.. To be honest if he wasn't a surprise 4/4 when he etbs he wouldn't cut it. That werlar and tear is tempting as heck. There are some enchantments to worry about, but in just dgm draft slightly lower priority than normal rtr. I'll agree on the first blade.

While we wait for the next pack, have a comic.

HAAAA!!!

Calling the crew for pack 3, pick 8: vic, thebeardedshuffler, tigersfan774, VRonin, anewsome, GoldGhost012, xXBantbladesXx

So, no Boros or Rakdos Guildgates for us. We can hope that one of the Izzet, Selesnya or Gruul Gates from Pack 1-3 rotates and pick them, seeing as we desperately need to trigger our Keepers.

For this pack, I guess Obzedat's Aid ? I mean we don't really have a big creature-bomb that would be worth resummoning, but a destroyed Gleam of Battle could be worth getting back, or even a red gatekeeper if he's enabled.