The cards i'm looking at here are Fate Foretold and Leonin Snarecaster. We can't tell if we're really aggressive or not yet, but I'm leaning towards the Snarecaster because I think we need to start filling out our curve and Snarecaster's a fine guy. Fate Foretold could be really useful if we pick up some Battlewise Hoplites and Wingsteed Riders though, so it's close.

Leaning towards the Snarecaster but withholding my vote for now.

I had the same thoughts as Riceeman. Whilst currently we have no heroics, it seems out of place to be drafting for it. But then again, we -might- pick some up in the next packs. I too will withhold my vote.

Definitely Leonin Snarecaster

We already have 2 amazing heroic enablers (technically 3) so we don't need to be in a rush to pick up more yet, especially subpar ones, before we even have any Heroic cards in the first place (we've only seen a handful, just to keep in mind. There's a good chance that Heroic decks are in high demand which means the table may be weak to a tempo midrange deck).

Leonin is a fine 2 drop, and probably one of the easiest best 2-3 drops that we can get in color, but unlike many other 2 drops he's still useful even late in the game. A 2 cmc spell to tap an opponents creature has a time and place even late game especially when we need to push through the last bit of damage and tap a giant asp preventing us from doing so.

+1 Leonin Snarecaster

(also, Leonin Snarecaster can in a pinch act as a Heroic trigger)

wait, not sure about that,...need to check the rulings on that.

@Supersun: Abilities don't trigger heroic. Only spells. But I agree with your other points.

Yeah. Abilities don't interact with heroic but that's not of any consequence anyway. Supersun actually said exactly what I was going to say. Leonin Snarecaster is easily the best card for us in this pack and it has great utility.

+1 Leonin Snarecaster

Picking up a Fleetfeather Sandals at some point could also be a nice thing, especially if we go for the lategame. But at the moment I guess the Snarecaster would be better.

I'm down with that pick. The above reasoning is all very valid.

+1 Leonin Snarecaster

Only problem with the sandals is it tends to be one of those card that looks great on paper, but ends up being one of the first cut from the deck.

If we are White, we are running Leonin Snarecaster.

Dat tap ability.

+1 Leonin Snarecaster

@ Supersun: I think it's a good card as a one of in a lategame deck, not so much in an aggressive deck.

Giving a big dude like Stoneshock Giant or Benthic Giant flying and possibly haste (if you have enough mana to do equip it in the turn he gets out) is a big deal. The flying is even good on the defensive since it (kind of) prevents things like the Stoneshock Giant monstrosity trigger.

It's best on Benthic Giant so your opponent can't suddenly Shredding Wind it.

I always wondered why Shredding Winds is one mana more than Plummet. Is there any interaction I'm not seeing that would make it better than just to flat out destroy something?

Not that I can think of unless there's a card like Stardust Dragon in Magic lol

I'm pretty sure that they were just trying to avoid cheap flat out destruction effects in Theros for draft. It seems like their intent was that they wanted creatures to primarily be dying to damage and not destruction.

With Shredding Winds at least if they play it on your stupidly large Wingsteed Rider you have a chance of dodging it by playing a pump spell instead of getting demolished by a 2 cmc spell.

Agree with all the above.

+1 Leonin Snarecaster

Well, problem is that Shredding Winds is 3, not 2 :P

Regardless of the Shredding Winds comments,

+1 Leonin

Played him in my prerelease deck and did not regret it.

+1 Fate Foretold. Card advantage for the contrarian voter.

Sorry guys not to participate much in the debate but work is keeping me busy :(

It's not that easy to actually to get a +1 off of Fate Foretold.

The only way to really get a +1 with it is attaching it to a monster that your opponent has to kill with the help of another spell (removal or a combat trick).

If you attach it to a monster and simply use that monster as a blocker so it dies you aren't actually gaining any advantage (though the card does prevents you from losing CA from the block).

It's best use is to attach it to a wall that the opponent has trouble killing and using it to "punish" your opponent for trying to kill that wall with a combat trick.

That being said, so far we are in fairly aggressive colors while this tends to be more of a deterrent.

Leonin clearly wins here. Sending our pick to Caley.

+1 Borderland Minotaur

When a Borderland Minotaur tables...you know red is ridiculously open.

While I like Coastline Chimera and would prefer 3X over 2XX when the choice is between an aggressive and a defensive pick when we are running both red and white we need to go with the aggressive pick. We aren't winning any endurance battles as red and white and Borderland Minotaur is one more card that will go nicely with the terrifying midgame route our deck is shaping up to be.

Pack 8 is up. A few thoughts about it:

Shipwreck Singer still remaining in this pack suggests that the black player to our right is not running U/B. So I guess that blue and black are somehow distributed between the two teams sitting to our right. That card is awesome. I had it in sealed on MTGO a couple days ago and it wreaked havoc. I don't think we're going that way though.

Borderland Minotaur is also a good sign that red is somewhat open to the right. 4/3 for 4 is a good deal.

For me, the pick is between Borderland Minotaur and Coastline Chimera, but it really depends on which route we are going to take. Minotour is and aggressive pick which pushes us further to red, of which we currently have only one card and we're not certain whether we run it, while Coastline Chimera supports mid-game stalling.

As for Stymied Hopes.... Well, you may get something huge with it and Bestow makes it much better in this set, but I'm not a huge fan of this card because there is always a chance that it will sit in our hand and do nothing.

Oh, and I completely forgot to add my preference. I like the Minotaur better because we need ways to kill our opponents and the 4 power is exaclty the thing that does that. And yeah. Borderland Minotaur on pick 8 means that red is not somewhat, but actually pretty open.

+1 Borderland Minotaur

Yeah, I'm a little surprised that Shipwreck Singer is still in this pack.

I think it is a pretty clear signal that the people to our right are not playing B/U, and more importantly it might infer that they have already dedicated to their colors as if they were either B or U, but were unsure about their 3rd color that they should take the Ship in case they end up in that combo (especially if there are no other great choices in the pack).