Hum, Simic Keyrune or Hands of Binding... Although a Naturalize could also do some work.

Simic Keyrune gets my vote. Soul Ransom is pretty sweet but we aren't about to spash a 4th color for it and since it has almost tabled I don't think we need to worry too much about it being used against us.

Simic Keyrune is probably our best pick. It accelerates, mana fixes and is hard to destroy.

Simic Keyrune for the above reasons. And I'm happy to see it. With this, we are probably all set for mana fixing, which is a relief.

Simic Keyrune or Hindervines Im leaning toward the keyrune, but I always love having a combat trick up my sleeve.

Simic Keyrune

Hands of Binding.

I've never been impressed with Simic Keyrune. You rarely ever use the 2/3 hexproof creature mode, and we already have two mana artifacts in our deck. And ramp doesn't seem all that important for us, Angelic Skirmisher aside, and even then it doesn't help with the double white cost. We have such a low curve with all of our two-drops, having a Hands of Binding to keep up tempo and apply lots of early game pressure seems like a good idea for us.

We're a little light on removal, after all.

dorminjake I think your logic is sound, but Hands of Binding is conditional on getting a particular critter thru unblocked(cipher). We're low on flyers. I don't know if we can count on that working. What do you think?

I would also say that we want ramp for Gridlock, Nimbus, and even Rust Scarab. I'm hoping to see another Leyline Phantom too. And if we don't get another guildgate, then I'd feel better having the Keyrune.

What are the thoughts on Hindervines? Seems pretty solid against any non-simic decks, almost like a Frontline Medic batallion swing. Ne ver seen how it plays though, but I can imagine that it is fairly conditional.

On the other hand, if we do get another gate...it would be pretty nice to have either the Hands of Binding(if it gets onto an early flyer) or the Hindervines to keep them really off balance worrying about combat tricks. It's honestly a close call between the 3 for me.

Hindervines, when we release the sharks of war on an all-out attack on our opponent but not kill them, we can use Hindervines to either save our creatures or ourselves while still dealing damage to them.

Hindervines

Hands of Binding is the best card. The keyrune is mediocre, the hands can take over a game easily.

I think it may be worth keeping this pick's discussion open for a while.

I have never ever been disappointed with Hands of Binding. It has consistently been an MVP for me. You don't even need an unblocked creature, you need your opponent to only have one creature. Or just have a Shark in hand, flash in after alpha strike, go in unhindered. Keyrune is handy because it's a creature that's very hard to get rid of, but it's definitely on the weaker side. Vines is nice and all, but is beaten by the other cards available and is a bit pricey.

keyrune's not worth it in an aggro deck like we have. The cloudfin, nimbus swimmer, skyjek, and especially the sprite and drakewing krasis carry hands of binding like a boss. It is also kinda like removal, which we're skimping on a bit. Vote for hands of binding

Hands of Binding can most definitely NOT take over games. It can keep one creature locked down, sure, but as soon as they have two creatures, they'll be able to swing with one of them every turn. The only worthy carriers we would have for the Hands of Binding would be our cheap fliers, which we have few of.

If you notice my post Goody, I showed we have 5 cheap fliers for 3 or less mana. That means we'll reliably be able to get a flier who can get in for damage consistently. It is also better than the keyrune and naturalize, because we are an aggro deck in non-red where a Mugging effect is priceless, especially a repeated one.

Nimbus Swimmer should be a bomb, not a cheap flier most of the time. It's a bit of a waste to get a 1/1 flier for 3.

Daring Skyjek is very conditional, even if we have lots of low-cost creatures...

And almost removal is not quite the same as removal, they'll still have their creature when they cast Executioner's Swing on our guy.

With that said, Hands of Binding is not bad at all, and it definitely keeps up tempo; I just think our 3-slot is very empty (3 cards) and we could always use acceleration for our combat tricks and Nimbus Swimmer. Even if they keep killing off our creatures, the Simic Keyrune keeps us in the game and can even get counters from Ivy Lane Denizen if we're desperate for a beefier creature.

More importantly: what wheel will (:p)? The keyrune is much more likely to wheel than the hands. My vote is torn.

Hands of Binding gets the nod from me. this card can take over drafts. hell I even run two of it in my latest standard deck. While we may not have the most evasive creature base for it. it should still get some work done for us.

we don't really need any ramp, and I'm not too worried about hitting blue or green (we need to "fix" the white end of our mana) so the Simic Keyrune doesn't seem too vital. While Hindervines is a nice combat trick I prefer the aggressive or tempo combat trick of Hands of Binding as opposed to the defensive fog like effect

Hands of Binding without a doubt. At worst it taps something down, which is already a huge advantage in our deck. At best it holds off their bomb while we continue to apply pressure.

Scratch that, this pack won't wheel lol. I guess my vote is for Simic Keyrune, but it's a 60/40 split between it and Hands of Binding.

I think it's true that hands is better than hindervines and simic keyrune, but it is always good to have a naturalize. While we do have rust scarab, it is really slow and needs to be blocked to activate. While we won;t want to destroy an artifact, thee are some enchantments tht would be bad to play against, like Blind Obedience, Gift of Orzhova, or One Thousand Lashes (i guess orzhov gets all the good enchantments) plus the Soul Ransom in this very pack. I still vote for hands of binding but Naturalize is always powerful and will definitely be snatched up soon.

Don't forget Assemble the Legion. That card is a major bomb in limited.

Aside from those 4 threats, there isn't a lot of use for Naturalize. You can off keyrunes with it, but that's not typically a very productive move.

Hands of Binding gets my vote. If you can get that down and attached to one of our early attackers it can let us get in as much early damage as possible. Which seems to be the game plan of this deck.

I think we have to go with Hands of Binding so that we can have creature control. It's not removal, but it can be a pain in the butt to deal with if you don't have removal. And getting to tap down two creatures the first turn it resolves can cripple our opponent.

The keyrune is nice, and Naturalize is always good for the sideboard, but the best card we can pick right now is Hands of Binding.

Hands of Binding. It's going to gain tempo for us.

I realize I'm not likely to be on the winning team with this vote, but I actually would like to pick up Naturalize. We've seen a lot of cards like Madcap going around, and having a cheap way to punish people playing sloppily with their auras.

Hindervines feels like a trap to me. Yeah you can blow people out with it if things are right, and our deck is most likely to be right for it. But for every time where you get to blow out a combat with it, I think there will be at least two more times where it's just sitting in our hand, a dead draw that could've been something useful. Fog is only marginally playable when it costs 1 mana, now you're asking me to hold up 4?

Personally, I think the best picks for us are either Naturalize or Hands of Binding.

I took the liberty of looking over what has actually passed thru the packs that Naturalize could remove for us, and wanted to share:

Creature Auras and Equipment (Similar effects):

Soul Ransom, Agoraphobiax2, Dying Wish, Murder Investigation, Gift of Orzhovax2, Madcap Skillsx2, Guildscorn Wardx5, Way of the Thiefx2,Forced Adaptationx4, Primal Visitationx3, Riot Gearx5

Artifact Creatures:

Millennial Gargoylex3, Armored Transportx5

Others:

Simic Keyrunex2, Prophetic Prism, Hold the Gatesx4, Illness in the Ranks

Contaminated Groundx2, Skygamesx3, Tin Street Marketx3

So, the question is, are there enough threats to us here in this list to warrant picking a removal for them? A number of them are not so threatening... but all of these are cards that -have- been picked up by our opponents.I'm currently leaning toward Naturalize at this point. I don't think Hands of Binding would be bad bad pick at all, though.

Hands of Binding

Easily the Keyrune. I don't think hands of binding is as good as everyone else does, and a 2/3 blocks a lot of ground creatures well in the format.

Our deck is an aggressive deck. Hands of Binding is an aggressive card. Simic Keyrune is not.

I like that the Keyrune is a mana sink, but it's not a good one. A 2/3 on turn 9 isn't going to mean much.

If we're worried about our white splash, I could see a rationale for taking the Keyrune. But I think we're OK.

Hands of Binding

(My goodness. Zero people are even splashing Dimir?! Soul Ransom and Lazav, Dimir Mastermind table?!)

Soul Ransom is grade A removal too. Worst case, you draw two cards and they discard two cards and lose a creature. Best case, you beat them over the head with it a few times before that happens.

Someone thought Elaine was splashing Dimir, in which case she probablly -will- snatch up this Soul Ransom we are about to pass to her. Maybe she's the only one? I would have thought Mortus Strider a nice renewable chump blocker for anyone with Dimir too.

Hands of Binding

Hands of Binding

What a show of hands!

switching from Simic Keyrune to Hands of Binding the community has spoken and i agree with there reasoning.

Hands of Binding for sure. Simic is all about keeping the game under control and out of your opponent's reach until you have such a strong board presence he is overwhelmed. The keyrune is certainly an okay pick but I think you really want to get the hands of binding here, you already have 2 prophetic prisms in your deck and a UG mana fixing artifact isn't what you need anyway, you're actually looking for the Selesnya or Azorius ones which obviously aren't an option. A 2/3 might be nice to trigger evolve but you're unlikely to get a lot of use out of it. An extra white mana could easily take it's place. Hands of Binding on the other hand will help you establish that board control until something like the Skirmisher or Gridlock can win you the game.
Hindervines is a terrible choice if you look at your decklist thus far. You actually have a shortage of evolving creatures, and probably will only ever have 2 or so tops out at a time. Naturalize is of course usually a sideboard card as too often in limited it is a dead card in hand.

If we get just one creature up on them and manage to cipher Hands of Binding it will turn the game in our favor very quickly. Picture this: opponent goes first, land, pass. our turn, land pass. land, 2-drop anything not hasty, pass. Us, land, pass. Them, my opponent is open, land, creature, attack, pass and then we flash Shambleshark. Our turn 3 we hands of binding their turn 3 creature, then attack with Shambleshark ciphered up. Boom.

Ok, so we tap down 2 creatures for a turn and have a 2/1 shark. He very likely could throw down another creature we can't get through and then he gets to untap all of them the next turn. So in the end, we have hit for 2 damage and have a tap spell ciphered to a shark. Where is the "Boom?"

Either that or he uses removal on our shark and then untaps 2 creatures to our...whatever we play turn 4. So then we have used 2 cards to do 2 damage and are starting turn 4 with no board presence compared to 2 creatures that will be untapping next turn. Now I see the "Boom," it's for our opponent.

I think it's worth pointing out that Simic Keyrune will not trigger evolve. Evolve happens when a creature enters the battlefield. Simic Keyrune enters the battlefield as a manarock.

That said, I'm sticking with Simic Keyrune. Yes, it helps to have B/G manafixing. Fixing for white would be preferred, but simic fixing is still worthwhile. Last night, I drafted Boros and had three games where I had a single Mountain or Plains and needed a second so that I could cast a spell and use activated abilities on the same turn. At one point I had 5 plains and a single mountain. Sucked.

This deck wants to be dropping multiple threats each turn. Or, dropping a threat and a combat trick. We need proper mana for that.

Simic Keyrune i like the mana fixing, and as for a keyrune, it doesn't suck that bad if we turn it to a creature.

Hands of Binding has the votes by a 2 to 1 margin. Moving along.

Looks like most people have voted hands... i don't feel that strongly about any of these cards... so i will go with the pack on this one and vote Hands of Binding. I really wonder about that Hindervines though. could really blow some one out.

I've thought about it, and I'm sticking with the Simic Keyrune. The WW bomb puts us in that situation. Having the WW angel means we need to increase our plains count. In a 40 card deck, by turn 6(13 total cards into the deck), we need to be at 2 white sources. We have 3 fixers for it, so we're probably talking 4 plains to reliably have 2 total W sources by T6. That cuts into our Islands and Forests.

I'm worried that if we have an many plains as we need to reliably cast a T6 Angelic Skirmisher, we will risk having some games without early blue or early green. Either one is a huge problem for our shark deck. It would actually kill us.

We need the blue-green fixing. Consider the math. We really do.

Simic Keyrune