Agreed.
+1 Hidden Strings

Some have yet to speak but it's definitely majority for Hidden Strings . I'll let KC know

I'm all for hidden strings guys. Out of town and Internet is spotty.

No worries!

New pack.
Decisions, decisions.

Plus One Nivix Cyclops

The rest of our deck is almost completely useless without this little gem, so we might as well keep up the plan of going all-in with them.

I'm not so sure here. We already have 6 of these bad boys, and while they are the backbone to our deck, Hidden Strings is fantastic even without a cyclops out. Tapping down 2 blockers is going to so often be game ending. Having 7 instead of 6 cyclops isn't going to affect our gameplay too drastically, whereas drawing a Hidden Strings could seal the deal in mid game. 6/40 seems like plenty of a card that's very dependent on if we have instants and sorceries. Strings is stand alone. I'd like to see what others have to say about either card, since they are our 2 main choices (although it's never too late to splash orzhov for Sin Collector ... :P )

On one hand, a seventh cyclops means consistent creatures by turn 3, but a 6th Hidden Strings increases our quality activators for our 6 cyclopi and 2 fluxcharger.

I'm torn. Not even sure which one I'm leaning towards. I'll vote later after taking some time to think and see what other people think.

I say Hidden Strings Activator works just as well sometimes better then the activate-ee.

My issue with Hidden Strings here is that it is absolutely a strong card, but doesn't do anything if we don't have a Fluxcharger or Nivix Cyclops on the field. I think it's more important to hit cyclops critical mass before we hit activator critical mass.

Basically, the Strings is a stronger stand-alone card, but without a Cyclops we'll just be tapping down blockers making room for a.... Wind Drake ? Riot Piker ?

Here's my thoughts. If we have even one cyclops, it isn't super likely to go away very soon. We can bank on it sticking around. We need to focus on getting him his wheaties--more activators. Also, Uncovered Clues get's better with more Hidden Strings .

+1 Hidden Strings .

I can't deny the first point. One cyclops getting through all the time is still consistent damage. That's a good thing. I'm just worried about having a hand full of strings with no clops to back 'em up. Could just be me, but I feel like that would be a really embarrassing way to lose.

I think the second point is backwards, though. The more Hidden Strings we get, the less likely we are to run Uncovered Clues at all. I see the Clues as a filler slot that digs to our other cards in a pinch. Its chance to brick makes me like it less than if it was just another Strings, even if the Clues does give us a chance to play 2 spells in one turn.

Thoughts?

I think it's also worth noting that Nivix Cyclops is much better in multiples than Hands of Binding . One HoB can clear the way for multiple cyclops, giving us 8 damage for one spell. Getting 8 damage out of one cyclops would require 2 HoB in one turn.

I like another cyclops, and wondering how pure Izzet we can go.

We are at

5x Hidden Strings

2x Weapon Surge

1x Dragonshift

1x Punish the Enemy

1x Flesh / Blood

Seems to me we are pretty set in instants and sorceries unless we are going to go above 25% instants/sorceries.

Am a bit offline today, so will cast my vote just in case. Good discussion is going on,but will be tough for me to stay on top of it.

+1 Nivix Cyclops

Also a Hidden Strings has been shown in almost every pack here. There's a chance we'll get another one. This is the first Cyclops we've seen in a while.

Very true, and I suppose that having a fleet of skyclops makes it harder to attack into us than Hidden Strings does (cyclops good on offense and defense).

I'm cool with another cyclops. Either way this sucker is hands down THE MOST CONSISTENT DRAFT DECK I HAVE EVER SEEN.

Actually, I just went threw the Google Doc of the draft history and this is the last pack that has Hidden Strings or Nivix Cyclops . We will not see any of these again for the rest of the draft.

The best we can hope for is a Wind Drake in the next pack, and after that there is a possibility of seeing up to two more Maze Glider . I highly doubt we will see the Simic Guildgate or Izzet Guildgate come around to us again.

So what is more important to us? Hidden Strings #6, or Nivix Cyclops #7?

Really bad typo there. Should be "through" instead of "threw."

I like the ten spells we already have. Agog posted what we currently have, and it seems more than sufficient. Going more than 25% spells just seems goofy.

My argument here is that we have other strong creatures besides the cyclops, and they're all evasive which increases the chance of a cipher trigger. The Mage, glider, fluxcharger or even a wind drake can benefit strongly with strings. It's not an alpha strike for game, necessarily, but it's still a very strong consistent play. Heck, strings even has great synergy withl riot pikers first strike. Cyclops needs strings, whereas strings can work with just about everything else we have. 6 cyclops seems like plenty in order to get 1-2 out during a game. We want as many triggers as possible and strings gives us that, even if we go above 25%

If we take another Cyclops, I really don't want to play Riot Piker. i don't want to play it anyway. It's almost always terrible after turn 4. And even if we play it on turn 2, we still want to play a cyclops on turn 3 and then we have to turn the piker sideways so it can die to a 3/3. Then we say go as we sigh longingly for something different. I'd rather play Murmuring Phantasm over Riot Piker. It fits our plan to stall until we alpha strike better.

Enough ranting. I do think 10 spells is probably enough. I'm going to vote for Nivix Cyclops , but it will not hurt my feelings if we take the Hidden Strings instead.

Ok. I'm flip-flopping again.

I think 6 a piece is the best chance we have for this deck to do exactly what we want all the time. Let's not get greedy imagining 3+ skyclops destroying face in a single turn (although it's still very possible). I'm voting for another Hidden Strings , for the reasons Darkness1835 mentioned.

Counterargument:

Setting up a bunch of cypher triggers doesn't help our aggressive strategy because it happens after combat. We do have the non-overloaded Weapon Surge trick, but that's more of a novelty option than a consistent play.

So the votes between Cyclops and Strings are even at 3 a piece. We still need to hear from Draugo and TiredTofu. Perhaps this is finally going to be our first stalemate and Darkness gets the deciding vote?

I like either pick here, but I'm going to go with the better activator over a 7th copy of the Cyclops. I really feel like we're going to always have one or two on the board and will mostly just be looking for ways to punch them through defenses for damage and this card works very well for that scenario.

Very good debate though guys, sorry I've been out of town this weekend. Home now though!

+1 Hidden Strings