You Make the Pick #6

Hey Zoners! Grandpa Growth here. Journey into Nyx has finally been released and you know what that means! It is time for more "You Make the Pick" action. Obviously we have to start off by cracking a few packs of the new set. Let the drafting commence!

So, we have a pretty interesting pack here: a tough to evaluate rare, strong uncommons, and several playable common cards to choose from. Let's begin at the top.

The Green and Red commons are poor at best; we won't be taking those.

The White is only slightly better. Two playable cards, but nothing worth taking early.

Rotted Hulk is no good, but Bloodcrazed Hoplite is solid and Black/White heroic was a real deck in Botg/Theros/Theros, so it is probably still good in the full block draft.

The Blue commons are by far the strongest: all three are very good, but not necessarily in the same deck. If I were going to first pick one, it would be Font of Fortunes because it can fit easily into any deck, even with only a light Blue splash. The other two want to be in a more aggressive tempo-based deck. I haven't had much success with that strategy for Blue decks so far in Theros draft. If I am playing Blue I want to have the better late game.

Moving on to the uncommons: Knowledge and Power just can't be good. This type of effect has been hit or miss in previous formats at converted mana cost three. Five is simply too much for me to attempt this. Spite of Mogis is okay in certain decks, but not something I want to first pick. Strangely, it probably goes in the same deck as Knowledge and Power and both may wheel. Brain Maggot is just an awesome card and I would be happy to first pick it. I stand by the statement that Black was the strongest color in the previous format. I would imagine that has to extend into the third set as well.

Finally, we arrive at Mana Confluence. The card is financially valuable, so some may snap-take it on that basis. I have a different idea...WE'RE FORCING FIVE COLOR! It is my favorite thing to do in any format. Do I think it is a good idea to try in your 8-4 cue? No. Is it going to fun, and awesome, and totally appropriate for a casual draft or a Swiss cue? Absolutely. If we take confluence here, we will almost certain wheel Market Festival and be well on our way to a solid mana base. From there, who knows? But we can take whatever we want in packs two and three and play all of it!

So you know what I would do...the only question left it is: what would you take?