Well, hello Angelic Skirmisher. How are you?

I'm good, I'm good. Why don't you come on over to our draft deck and hang out a bit? Don't mind the sharks.

Angelic Skirmisher

I'd take Angelic Skirmisher, hope for the charm to wheel and wish for a prism.

@apt142: LOL!!!

I'm in total agreement that we should take the bomb, Angelic Skirmisher.

Slam Angelic Skirmisher. Charm will table.

Double white is awkward. Angelic Skirmisher is super bomb-y and super awesome if you can cast her, though.

Still. Double white is awkward. I think I'd actually take Frilled Oculus here.

Angelic Skirmisher. By the time we get to 6 mana, we've probably drawn a plains or mana fixer or both, a 1-of shouldn't be hard to cast even with double white.

ouch still not what we really are looking for here. I don't think we really need more two drop dudes but Frilled Oculus has been an early game all star for me when i draft him. a third Simic Charm may be the best choice. but part of me wants to take the Angelic Skirmisher as a splashed bomb

Angelic Skirmisher we need a bomb to even out our curve. and it is amazing with each combat so during your turn give your creatures vigilance or firststrike then our their turn go for firststrike or lifelink.

Hum... I agree that double white is awkward, unless we're going for a full on Bant instead of just splashing white. I admit I don't have a lot of experience with the difference, though. Too bad we can't nab another Realmwright.

With that said, I think the Simic Charm is quite likely to wheel as I think we've seen in a previous pack. We've picked up a large number of 2 drop creatures at this point, so I'm not inclined to be as excited about Frilled Oculus either.

So I'm going to vote for Angelic Skirmisher unless I hear more compelling arguments for something else. If we don't take it, I hope we at least get the Charm.

yea, I'll finalize my vote for Angelic Skirmisher

The more I think about it, the more I think Angelic Skirmisher is a game-winner for us... IF we can cast her. That's the question.

Imagine vigilance + indestructible (Medics) on our turn, then first strike on opponent's turn.

You're living in magical Christmas land, sewellius. :)

The bomb seems to have all the votes, but I'll cast mine anyway. Angelic Skirmisher is the way to go this pack, and off to magical christmas land I ride!!

Frilled Oculus. We NEED this so so much and it won;t table. It is better than taking a hard to splash card we have little mana fixing for, which synergizes less with our deck than it could. With 3 or 4 shamblesharks we need to get an oculus. It is vital to this deck.

Frilled Oculus. It's extremely powerful.

its not gonna happen, because the bomb is to enticing (more than a white splash by this point) but I really wanted the oculus. Think about how much that can block. Most games boros is smashing your face and then you get an oculus with 2 mana up and suddenly they have NO attacks. you have to deal with it and as a potential 5/3 blocker for only 2 mana it is insane. If this skirmisher was absent I would snap-pick the oculus.

Changing my vote to Frilled Oculus.

Frilled Oculus. The skirmisher is tempting but really we're going aggressive here and I'd like to cut down to two colors if possible.

Gotta go with the Skirmisher.

Think about all the Shamblesharks we could evolve with a turn-3 Frilled Oculus, you guys. AND it can stomp face as a 3/5 if we have the mana up!

I mean, when are we even going to be able to play Angelic Skirmisher? Only when we have a Realmwright out? Maybe a Prophetic Prism + Plains? Two Plains, in a deck where white is only a splash?? Do we really want to restrict ourselves to a card that can only be played late game, and only we we meet a rather difficult threshold of mana fixing?

2 drops for everyone! Frilled Oculus is the pick.

Our 2 drop slot is really full right now. We need a bomb in the worst way or we're going to fizzle when everyone else is dropping their fatties. As this might be our last opportunity to grab a big creature in our colors, even if it is a bit awkward, I would grab the Angelic Skirmisher.

In addition, we won't have to play against it which is really good because we have very little removal, and it could really put an end to the game for us.

I'm starting to feel more doubtful we would ever end up playing the Angelic Skirmisher...Christmas land isn't as candy-filled as I would have liked.

However, if a game ever dragged on we would probably need a bomb like this to finish the fight. So, tournament drafters, tell me how likely we are to run a game that lasts 6 or more turns?

@sewellius My problem with Angelic Skirmisher is that we may need to wait more than six turns to play the angel, as there really is no guarantee that we'll get access to two sources of our tertiary color by that time.

Some people are treating Frilled Oculus like it's a bad thing that it's a two-drop, but its pump ability allows it to act like a creature that is higher in the mana curve. Top-decking a 2-drop 3/5 is significantly different than top-decking a 2-drop 2/2. Also, I really don't see running Daring Skyjek and Syndic of Tithes in the final deck anyway, so why not another decent 2-drop?

We don't necessarily need any more bombs than our massive Nimbus Swimmers, unless we can get something more on-color than a double white 6-drop. If we really want to push the whole Shambleshark + Frontline Medic aggressive battalion strategy, the oculus just fits much better.

Descisions descisions.... I painfully vote for...

Angelic Skirmisher

Frilled Oculus

Gah, this deck needs some beef! I hate that the Skirmisher has a double white cost. It is exactly the kind of bombish card we need.

Simic Charm will probably table. So, I gotta vote for Frilled Oculus.

Christmasmonth begins! The good March bringeth, and I say we taketh away an Angelic Skirmisher!

Angelic Skirmisher this won't be as difficult to put out as everyone thinks it will, we have the ramp, we have the mana fixing, and plus, do we really want someone else to have one? or even the slight possibility of two? This could give us an edge at mid to late game, and another win condition. Even if this doesn't end up in our deck we'll certainly get the Frilled Oculus or Simic Charm the next time this runs our way.

Roll with the Simic Charm or Frilled Oculus, I don't trust the Angelic Skirmisher's lies for one minute.

I immediately thought the Angelic Skirmisher, but dorminjake convinced me: I vote for the Frilled Oculus.

Tossing my support behind Frilled Oculus. I don't believe our commitment to white is that strong such that we could reliably get 2 white up to cast the angle and the oculus is needed to evolve our other creatures HELLO 3 toughness.. plus he makes attacking and blocking a headache for opponents any time we have 2 mana open. Even if our sharks have evolved 1x the oculus will still evolve them again.

Angelic Skirmisher.

And boy am I really hoping we get a chance at another Prophetic Prism. Or more Simic Guildgates to allow room for more Plains. I know it's WW, but I think we have to risk it at this point. It's our only bomb, and fits our deck style. We don't need a 3rd charm. 2nd choice: Frilled Oculus

Also I think the Oculus will wheel. We seem to be the only simic deck. Frankly, I'm not sure we should run 3 charms anyway. I'm 50/50 on that prospect.

Okay, I think I've decided to vote for the Frilled Oculus instead. It seems our deck will be designed to sit with two mana open for a number of possible tricks to use on our opponents. The Oculus's ability will fit right along with this tactic.

I really hope someone doesn't manage to use that Skirmisher against us, though.

Frilled Oculus is a card we want most, as it will let us actually survive against a fast (boros) deck - but it really should wheel.

It may not end up being playable in the deck, but my vote is for Angelic Skirmisher.

Casting a vote for Angelic Skirmisher. It's double white, but it's at least a lateish double white, and it's a superbomb - especially for our deck's style, I think. Based on some of the last pack's offerings it seems Simic isn't being too heavily drafted, so this Oculus might wheel, or we might see another one. (They are only common, after all, so seeing more isn't a ridiculous chance.) We definitely don't want another Simic Charm; they're good, but not 3-of good, and we need more creatures than we need more tricks. Besides, same logic as the Oculus - this Charm might even wheel if we really are the only Simic here.

Angelic Skirmisher, pretty confidently. If we run 3 Plains, Prophetic Prism, and Realmwright, it will be out turn 6 if we draw it... a lot of the time. And it's an amazing card.

Charm and Oculus are okay, but it would be a mistake to pass Skirmisher to someone else. At least one is likely to wheel.

Got to say I'm not a fan of three color in draft. I usually think that 2 is pushing it. That's why I would stay away from Angelic Skirmisher in spite of how obviously strong a pick it is here. Frilled Oculus Is the next obvious choice here. but you've already got a really large amount of creatures in here. I would have to vote for Simic Charm. Combat tricks are very underrated in limited, but they can substitute for removal if they're played correctly.

2 color is not pushing it in draft... 3 is hardly unimaginable in a set built around two-color combos. The Frontline Medics are auto-include anyways.

Angelic Skirmisher. We're going to splash for white anyway, and we have some manafixing already. It's a bomb, and it can win us the game when it goes down. It's worth it.

Seriously. B.R.E.A.D. is dying screaming at us to take the Angel. Guess where the Angelic Skirmisher is: Bomb, up top. Guess where Frilled Oculus is: Defense, down at the bottom.

Not only is it an evasive bomb, it gets to work as soon as it drops. And I personally ran a simic splash gruul for only about 4 cards, and I had 0 mana problems with only a single Prophetic Prism for fixing (3 simic guildgates though).

Just make the right choice and take the bomb. Two white mana isn't that hard to do, especially by turn 6 or later, and the upside is enormous.

Goody, I agree about Skirmisher, but Oculus isn't really a defensive card - just because his butt is bigger than his power doesn't mean he's primarily defensive. He attacks as a 3/5 on turn 4 if you want him to, and that's quite aggressive. There's almost no deck that can effectively block a 3/5 in the turn 4-5 range, and if they can, they're probably tossing away two creatures or one good one. I'd actually put him in the Abilities category, since his ability puts him as an effective threat-of-activation attacker, rather than in the Dudes category of BREAD.

Skirmisher wins it. Next.