Supersun: do you know where they get these statistics from?

"Limited (draft/sealed) analysis comes to mtggoldfish! We have acquired replay data from the weekend's Theros pre-release drafts and have crunched data on what the most powerful colors and cards are. Head over to the Limited page for a summary of the format, or check out the All Card Stats page for analysis on each card in the set."

That being said, take those stats with a grain of salt as it's hard to think of every factor of why a stat came out the way it is. Boulderfall being a good example of a card that looks good on paper because of the specific stats they are showing, but realistically being a lot worse then those stats imply.

@Supersun What I meant when I said green was that both white and red have two instant buffs, one common, and one uncommon (the uncommon buffs being super strong of course). Green as the only one has two common buffs: Savage Surge and Feral Invocation, plus the uncommon one which can be pretty strong too in the right situation. This makes the green buffs quite easier to get. That was my point. I'm not saying white and red aren't feasible.

I'm not going to vote quite yet, but I'm between the 3 cards being debated right now as well.

Triton Tactics is a bomb combat trick for U. It can easily swing a game, just like Weapon Surge (linking this one because it's goofy) could in the last draft.

The Asp is a big body that is semi-aggressively costed, and hoses flyers. It's a bit vanilla, but big and vanilla can still do some work.

I do really like Artisan, though. The ability to copy the biggest threat on the board made Phyrexian Metamorph into one of the strongest cards in Standard for a while. Artisan gets to do that and also upgrade later if she needs to.

There's also a key point with Artisan that nobody has mentioned yet. We don't need combat tricks to activate her. Bestow targets. So do Ordeals. Don't think "but their creature could be wearing pants." Instead think "I copied your biggest creature, and MINE is wearing the pants."

She also only costs 2, which is a big deal. There will be a time where she can't transform, but a vanilla creature for 2 is way better than a useless bomb for 6. Worst-case she's a cheap blocker.

@NobodyPicksBulbasaur: You are of course correct that we don't need tricks to copy. The discussion was about surprise copying, that's when the tricks come in. Phyrexian Metamorph and other clones are powerful because they don't need anything else besides themselves. The Artisan depends on us drawing into right cards.

The thing is that neither us nor the enemy need to have played his threats when artisan can be cast (which is VERY early), and she can change her form pretty quickly and constantly in this format.

I still think she's a very viable pick, as well as the triton tactics. I'd love to go UX.

I think Triton Tactics is our best pick here, as sad as it makes me to lose the artisan

+1 TT

Let's try for more discussion between the reliable cards in the pack.

The asp is a reliable creature with a big butt. It dodges both common removal spells in the format, and stops flyers like a boss. He also leans us into green slightly, which has enchantment removal and more creatures.

Tactics is way more situational, but can be overpowering if used exactly correctly. It needs a board presence to work properly. It leans us towards blue, which has tempo plays and Annul.

I'm going to un-vote here until some better arguments are had.

-1 TT
+1 ?

+1 TT for me

Votes cast so far:

+3 Triton Tactics (additional +1 from Supersun highly probable)
+2 Nessian Asp
+1 Artisan of Forms
2 votes remaining - NobodyPicksBulbasaur, bhrusson0

I'll re-plus the TT. Seems like a majority likes it.

Don't vote for something because the majority like it. That completely defeats the point of voting lol.

Never be afraid to just abstain from voting if you are doubtful of your pick.

Seen way too many times something wins because people bandwagon a vote and a choice has too many non committed votes to for people that might want to switch later to overcome. (coughcoughGazeofGranitecoughcough)

Well, my vote would go towards Artisan, but that would be like voting for Ralph Nader. Just not gonna happen.

Could just specify that you want to vote for artisan, but if it's between TT and asp to vote for TT instead. We can be a bit more flexible here since there are only 8 people unlike voting for the president where there are a few billion.

I mean if we are running into the "lesser of 2 evils" scenario already with the current system with only 8 people then we either need to change the system or be more flexible with the current system.

Exactly, we can allow ourselves to be more flexible here. If you're voting for something you think is not gonna happen, add a secondary vote in brackets as a potential stall-breaker. But don't get discouraged from your prefered vote in the first place.

I'm going to change my vote. More heroic enables will come along, but the artisan is quite and will probably be worth it in the long run.

-1 Triton Tactics

+1 Artisan of Forms.

+1 Triton Tactics
(And if not Triton Tactics, give my vote to the Asp then).

Frankly, all 3 are good cards, but I believe that taking TT will set the table up better for us.

If we take the Asp we have to worry about the person to our near right that will grab the Satyr.

If we take the Artisan we have to worry about the person to our near right that will grab the TT.

If we grab the TT, we are going to influence the packs to our right away from blue by the strong white and green cards in the pack, and even if Artisan gets picked I don't believe it'll be taken until at least the 4th pick which will give us some space between us and the next people that grab blue from this pack.

That and frankly out of all 3 cards Artisan is the card that has the highest chance to table and I believe may have a realistic chance of tabling as well unlike the other 2. If it doesn't it'll give us some pretty decent information about the table especially if the Benthic Giant is missing from the pack as well.

Alright, I'll take the advice to vote with an if clause

-1 TT
+1 Artisan (but default to TT if Artisan has no chance)

Current state:

+3 Triton Tactics (Supersun, VRonin, GoldGhost012)
+3 Artisan of Forms (RussischerZar, NobodyPicksBulbasaur, Dallie)
+2 Nessian Asp (Absinthman, Riceeman)
bhrusson0 seems to be AWOL. I'll try and find out what's happening.

Because the deadline is within an hour, I'm going to break the tie by changing my vote from Nessian Asp to Triton Tactics. This makes Triton Tactics our pick. Sending to Caley.

The pack from the right has arrived. Unfortunatelly, I'm a bit in a hurry right now, so I'll post my thoughts on it later. The pick is due tomorrow, same time pick 1 was.

+1 Sea God's Revenge.

Such a powerful removal tool. I had it played against my twice yesterday in Sealed and it messed with my game so much.

...+1 Sea God's Revenge?

I mean it's near bomb level removal.

What I'm REALLY interested about is what common the the people to our right grab out of here.

I mean they passed a Wingsteed Rider which means the common must have been fairly good. Only thing off the top of my head I could think of first picking over anything else in that pack is a Lightning Strike which would mean that there's a good chance the people to our right are considering red, and after we pass this pack someone to our left will DEFINITELY be looking at white.

The thought that someone could be drafting a Ordeal of Heliod and a Wingsteed Rider is a bit terrifying. Though Triton's Tactics and Sea God's Revenge is also a terrifying first 2 picks.

Well, this makes our first pick pretty darn amazing. Revenge is just one of the best cards in the set. Wingsteed Rider is kinda sad to see go, but it also helps us suggest White to the person on our left. I have no idea what common they picked over Sea God's Revenge, would love to see what it is and the justification. :P So from a really close, tight pick to this windmill slam... :P

+1 Sea God's Revenge

Sea God's Revenge is no doubt the most powerful card in this pack. It's a game ender. I'm strongly in favor of taking it. However, I don't want to be hasty so I will raise a topic for a dscussion. We could also consider taking the Wingsteed Rider. It is probably the best white common in the set and it interacts very well with the Tactics. The problem obviously being that if the team to our right take ordeal, they will snatch the Revenge next, and we'll be looking at the possibility of two UW teams sitting next to each other.

@Supersun: I was thinking exactly the same thing with the only difference that I also considered Grey Merchant of Asphodel to be their potential pick. People seem quite eager to draft it as a theme quite early. However, we must also keep in mind that there is a chance they had a foil in their pack, in which case, they might also have taken an uncommon or a rare.

Still, even considering every card in the set, the things you would first pick over our friend has to be a pretty short list.

Might be a good idea to ask KrazyCaley if any of the cards in our pack are holographic. If any are it would narrow down the information of what they picked.