+1 Syndicate Enforcer

Some good picks in this pack. Aside from the Orzhov gate, the Thrull would serve as a nice speedbump to slow down our opponents.

+Syndicate Enforcer

He's a decent extort creature. But I almost wonder if, at this point, we'd be better off with a guildgate.

Wait no, those are in literally every DGM pack. Nevermind.

+1 Orzhov Guildgate

Fixing is good. And there's no guarantee that Dragon's maze will have the gates we need (Orzhov, Boros, and Rakdos most likely). However, the enforcer wouldn't be bad, it's just I think we need to take good fixing when we get it.

+1 Dutiful Thrull

These things helped me a ton in my Pre-Release.

+1 Syndicate Enforcer

Extorting body. I also like Dutiful Thrull , a one drop regenerating chump blocker that can sit and take punishment for us all day. It's something to think about, especially if we're going down the Stab Wound , bleed them to death route.

+1 Martial Glory

Here's my reasoning. First and foremost, I really want to see a Brozhov deck out of this draft. Next, this is a 2-cost trick that just might result in Removal if played right (think about who's piloting the deck here). Furthermore, there are no true "Bombs" in this pack so the next step is "Removal"... What are our choices? Naturalize ? Pah. The Glory is within our colors (50/50 to be exact) and it's cheap; meaning it can get the job done early if we need it to. Also keep in mind, we've drafted a Guardian of the Gateless and this little combat-trick could wind up giving us a 2-for-1 trade...

+1 Syndicate Enforcer

But Orzhov Guildgate is a very good alternative coz it's in our main colors

+1 Orzhov Guildgate

As excellent as the Syndicate Enforcer or Dutiful Thrull would be for our deck, we can't pass up this opportunity for colour fixing. As was mentioned above, just because every DGM pack has a guildgate/shockland, doesn't mean we will get the ones we want.

Don't forget about the MILLIONS of cluestones in the DGM packs.... Mana-fixing is almost a moot point with those buggers....

Those cluestones are so much worse than the Keyrunes, except for late-game when you can afford to give up the colour fixing, which is usually when you don't need the draw...

But yes, there is lots of them.

I think I have an entire monster box full of extra Cluestones from the packs I opened :/

+1 Syndicate Enforcer

Extort and a decent body.

+1 Syndicate Enforcer

While I understand the concern and desire to grab the guildgate, we simply need more bodies right now than we need the fixing that is guaranteed to be in DMZ. The dutiful thrull is not a bad option either, but the enforcer is simply better. extort with all of our other "ping" options can be devastating. But at the end of the day We need some more monsters for the deck.

+1 Syndicate Enforcer

Finally! Some Extort!

+1 Syndicate Enforcer

Good magic card.

+1 Syndicate Enforcer

As much as I would like to grab a Guildgate here, I feel, we still need to grab a few more creatures in GTC. Letting those gates go breaks my heart though.

+1 Syndicate Enforcer

Not much of a competition

+1 Dutiful Thrull

During pack 1 I was all on board for the stab wound + extort plan. but this is pick six in GTC and we are just seeing our first extort card. One that is not impressive at all, only good if we already had some more extort to push with him. The Thrull fits our plan much better in that we can just block with him all day. Effectively shutting down one non-flying non-trample creature on the other side, giving us time to get an angel out. I just really do not feel the enforcer will be worth the four mana we spend to get him out most of the time.

+1 Dutiful Thrull

I couldn't have said it better myself, TheBearShaker.

+1 Dutiful Thrull

very tough call. I could be talked into the enforcer. My thinking is, extort is nice but not so essential that we need grab it over the thrill. The thrull is one of the best defensive creatures in the format, and really hard to kill. As I say I'm open to argument on this one.

-1 Syndicate Enforcer
+1 Dutiful Thrull

Now that I think on it, I do prefer the stalling game plan that we initially set out to do.

+1 Dutiful Thrull

cheap regenerate? yes please

Torn between Orzhov Guildgate and Dutiful Thrull .

Syndicate Enforcer is easily my #3 choice. He just isn't very impressive to me, overall. But he's okay. The Thrull would make for great stall, and a 1-drop option. Overall, I think he's the better creature for the cost. We're really going to want BW mana fixing, and I think people are overestimating how much we're going to get from DGM. In ONE pack of DGM, we're not going to both see AND pick very many.

+1 Dutiful Thrull

See comment above by TheBearShaker couldn't agree more.

+1 Dutiful Thrull

for reasons stated above. That card is surprisingly bitchy to deal with. One of the best turn one plays ever.

I think I can already hear Elaine facepalming about this pick, though.

Never, ever, ever pick a guildgate over a mainboardable card. There is no purpose to mana fixing if you aren't playing any good cards anyways. Hitting every land drop is good. Hitting every land drop and then playing awful cards is bad.

+1 Dutiful Thrull

I remember how good Drudge Skeletons is at 2cmc.

Risky as hell to pass up the Orzhov Guildgate , but I'm (barely)willing to gamble that we'll get 1 more BW fixer in this pack, and 2 in the next. If we want 1st place, I think we have to be a little ballsy on this one, and take the overall better card. I feel confident that no one else is in BW as main colors, so it might work. I would like to help our Ogre, though.

Damn, tough one. I hope I'm not wrong.

+1 Dutiful Thrull

I was at first thinking Syndicate Enforcer , but there has been a good argument for the thrull that I now feel it has a better benefit to us over the enforcer. Also, I hope we see another Orzhov Guildgate .

+1 Dutiful Thrull

i was going to pick Syndicate Enforcer but previous posts convinced me

-1 Syndicate Enforcer

+1 Dutiful Thrull

The lack of extort cards and the regeneration of the thrull gives the thrull the edge.

+1 Orzhov Guildgate

gotta pick em at some time to support Ogre Jailbreaker and Armory Guard , and I wouldn't pass this one up.

+1 Dutiful Thrull

I wanted to vote for Syndicate Enforcer and make the case that it's only halfway through GTC and we still have all of DGM, but the Thrull here makes too much sense. If it were a lower CMC extort creature it wouldn't be a question. I still think he's not a bad pick though.

Ugh, Orzhov Guildgate is tough to pass too... But we will see more fixing. We may not see many more cheap stall cards.

+1 Syndicate Enforcer

+1 Orzhov Guildgate

+1 Dutiful Thrull

Ugh. As I am wanting to try for a RBW deck, this pack has multiple picks I would like to take. Both guildgates are tempting, as is the enforcer and even the glory. For already stated reasons I am suppporting the Thrull choice here.

+1 Dutiful Thrull

+1 Dutiful Thrull

I agree with the reasoning given for it above.

Can't vote on this one. Too torn between gate and thrull.

+1 Orzhov Guildgate

While it's true that pack 3 has gates, it also has other good cards, gatekeepers, and all the other drafters are thinking the same "I'll worry about fixing in pack 3." If we can get some of our fixing out of the way now we'll be able to pick more good cards over fixing in pack 3.

The thrull and enforcer are OK, but I'd rather pick up a gate here and then something good over a gate in pack 3.

Do we, as a community, that at least 1 of these gates will table for us?

@drakanar: None of the gates will table in my opinion. Last Thoughts is the most likely card I think.

I'll be perfectly happy with Dutiful Thrull . I categorize him as a "not losing" card, rather than putting him in the "winning" column. Meanwhile Syndicate Enforcer straddles the categories. However, I also agree with all the positives written above. Thrull is arguably the best anti-tempo card in limited.

It's tough to let Syndicate Enforcer go, though. Sadface.

This may sound controversial but I'm going to go ahead and say it anyway. Guild Gates are not very important unless you are drafting a gate strategy (there are a few but I don't like them).

Colour fixing is nice, and will help our deck. But proper distribution of land and good shuffling/mulligans will see us through even if we end up with no practical gates. While I certainly am all for us taking gates when there's nothing main-boardable in a pack, doing so right now is insane. At this point the only colour fixing we should consider over cards like the thrull and enforcer would be a Prophetic Prism or possibly a keyrune.

Also, cluestones are horrible and unless we get a LOT more extort than we look like we're getting, we shouldn't main board any at all unless we are seriously low on playables.

+1 Orzhov Guildgate

thebeardedshuffler - I agree that the gates aren't critical for fixing, like some people seem to think. However, there's a reasonable likelihood that we will end up in a minor Gate-themed deck; we already have two cards that likes them, and Maze has the fantastic value Gatekeeper cycle, and snapping up the black, white or green Gatekeepers would be great for the slower plan we seem to be trying for.

Also, I've only gotten to play in about four Maze limited events so far, including the prerelease, but I like the Cluestones much more than most of the Keyrunes. I rarely found it worth the mana to turn the Keyrunes into creatures anyhow, and being able to cash e mana rock in for a card later when I don't need it is quite nice.

I'm going to continue on the guildgate-hate-train, kind of.

While I don't agree with taking a guildgate here, I do understand the push for it. But why are all the people, that are voting for the gate, voting for Orzhov Guildgate ? If you are trying to fix your mana, shouldn't you be trying to fix our splash? I mean, our two main colors seem pretty set in white and black so we will already want a good chunk of plains and swamps. with Firemane Avenger it seems pretty safe to say red will be our splash. but we wont want to load our decks with mountains. our color fixing is called "fixing" so we can hit our main colors and our splash easier.

TL:DR

If you feel the need to pick a gate here pick Boros Guildgate , but really just go with the Thrull

+1 Dutiful Thrull

Had an epiphany . . . Dutiful Thrull is the best blocker this deck could ask for. Why? Because if they have a really, truly big bomb out their we can stab it, but we won't kill it. Dutiful Thrull can block it's residual damage over and over again, leaving them to bleed out.

@TheBearShaker: You pick the Orzhov Guildgate first because we have a lot more Orzhov cards. In a three color deck, you can get screwed out of any of your three colors. Not having red is a lot less hurtful than not having black or not having white.

Absinthman is right: None of the cards we would want are likely to table. Of the cards being discussed, the Dutiful Thrull is most likely to get back to us, as someone must be playing both white and black to use it fully.

• 1 Syndicate Enforcer

it's the kind of card we need to make the deck work. dutiful thrull isn't good enough

@Arachnarchist

You think that nobody else is playing W/B, and yet this is the first pack we see an extort card? I guess I question your logic...

+1 Syndicate Enforcer

Ouch, counter-epiphany. Arachnarchist's argument about Thrull wheeling is too strong, nobody else will see it the way we see it.

A large majority of extort cards are mono colored. Any Boris decks will grab any Syndic of Tithes they can. Any black deck will play Basilica Screecher s, especially dimir. Slower white decks will gladly take Basilica Guards the multicolored extort cards are all uncommon. My point is the lack of extort does not mean somebody else is in white AND black.

+1 Syndicate Enforcer
Decent body, and the extort's not bad on the upper end of a curve.

Do not plan on ANYTHING coming back from this pack, I'm pretty sure once we get back to this pack we will be in autodraft mode, only one card will be left and we will be forced to take it.

Arachnarchist: The lack of Kingpin's Pet and Knight of Obligation , however, are pretty good reasons for me to guess someone else here is Orzhov. Pet because he's a common - at least one was in one of these packs, and it's not here now. That's one card, and thus not the strongest sign, but the fact we haven't seen any good white or black cards, and especially no white and black cards, tells me something's up.

I'm sticking with the Gate not because it's fixing (you undervalue on-color fixing, by the way - it's just as useful to have on-color dual lands as it is to have splash-color duals) but because it's a Gate, and thus works well with the Jailbreaker, Armory Guard and the Gatekeepers we hopefully pick up in Maze. Thrull is a good card and I don't hate it here, but I want to pick up Gates while we're in a pack that doesn't have anything shouting at us to take it.

TheBearShaker is right. Forest and one other card will be the only things to wheel in this pack. That one card probably will not be the Thrull. Someone will take or hate it.

There was another Thrull in pack 2 pick 2. It will be interesting if that comes back around. That pack also had Knight of Obligation and Knight Watch . One Thousand Lashes came to us two picks later. Hard to imagine there was a better Orzhov card in that pack. So, I think Arachnarchist's idea is plausible.

Gatecrash has 103 commons, there are only 80 commons (regularly, foils can affect this) in a draft. There are 23 commons, more than a fifth, that were not in the draft. Kingpin's Pet might be one of those 23. Also, there are 3 clearly Orzhov-aligned cards in this pack. If another player is as strongly into Orzhov as we are, this pack must have been very Orzhov heavy.

On a side note, I just read Knight of Obligation s flavor text. LOL

+1 Syndicate Enforcer

Arguably the hardest pack we've faced so far. We have fixing across all our colors via the two guildgates, a very aggressive 2 drop to strengthen our red and push Battalion, a great blocker with regenerate on color (for cheap), and an extort body.

I'm going to vote for the extort trigger because it's mono-colored and can potentially trade up while extorting on defense for a couple points.

+1 Dutiful Thrull

This little guy is boss on defense

+1 Orzhov Guildgate or Boros Guildgate

While the Dutiful Thrull is a great card, I think a gatekeeper in DGM would be a much better pick.

If we pick up the guildgate here we put ourselves in a good position for picking up any on color gatekeepers that we want in the next pack.

So while Dutiful Thrull is the best card in the pack imo, I still think the guildgate is a better pick in the long run since that will open up some better cards that we can pick in DGM, and it's not like we are going to miss the Dutiful Thrull that badly. Out of all the cards we might have to sacrifice to grab an on color gate the Thrull is probably one of the better ones to pass up.

I still wholeheartedly believe that the best pick in this pack is Martial Glory . However, as I'm the only one that attempted to table it, if it becomes a tie you can re-cast my vote for the Dutiful Thrull .....

Dutiful Thrull will NOT table.

When we get this pack back there will be 2 cards left in the pack including the Forest. Out of every card in this pack do you really think the Thrull is going to be the one that remains?

Someone's going to be running Black/Red or something and is only going to get off color picks like, Forest, Naturalize, and Thrull. Thrull is probably going to be the number one off color hate pick card in the pack.

+1 Syndicate Enforcer
-1 Orzhov Guildgate

Those of us voting for guildgates should consider our second choices, as we are not going to get our way.

By my count:

18 Votes for Dutiful Thrull (Counting bluemax87

15 Votes for the Syndicate Enforcer

6 Votes for Guildgates

Ehh, I wouldn't switch votes, but clarify a second vote if the Guildgate isn't in the running. I'm sure KrazyCaley can easily enough adjust the vote to whatever has a chance.

-1 Orzhov Guildgate or Boros Guildgate

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

+1 Orzhov Guildgate or Boros Guildgate

OR if the Guildgate doesn't stand a chance.

+1 Dutiful Thrull

+1 Dutiful Thrull

This is a tough pack.

I don't think Syndicate Enforcer is the right pick here. For extort to be a valid tactic we would need a lot of extort cards; if this were a GTC draft it'd be plausible. DGM might have zome extort but I don't think it'll be enough to make the enforcer worth it right now.

Dutiful Thrull is a good pick for our current strategy as it stalls at any pont in the game.

I really think that the guildgates are worth taking a look at, however. We only have one, and it fixes for green which we might not even splash. There's bound to be gate-centric cards we'll want in DGM, not the least of which are the gatekeepers.

But if you think about the other players, if everyone is doing the smart thing (taking playables before gates), then we will see more gates in the last few packs of GTC. And if people are taking gates now (someone has to take the gates eventually), they won't need as many in DGM.

I think the gate situation will balance itself out. As long as we take the right gates when the opportunity is ripe, we'll be fine.

Exactly. When there's no mainboard cards, we can take gates. But we can do fine without any gates if it comes to it.

+1 Dutiful Thrull

I would take the guildgate, but that seems to be going nowhere.

+1 Dutiful Thrull

We need more meat, and he has a lot of sustain. There's not enough extort to abuse the Enforcer with. Without cheap card to cast, Extort is a lot less useful anyway.

+1 Dutiful Thrull

I really wanted to vote for the enforcer for a multitude of reasons but we need more body's and thrull has self sustain and barely beats enforcer for what we are looking for atm.

-1 Syndicate Enforcer

+1 Nothing . . . I should have stuck with my original Switzerland vote. Returning to it.

I think that having a quality 1-drop to start with in our main color would be MUCH better than an overpriced 3/2. I agree that we're not likely to get much mileage out of that extort, if any. Quality 1-drops are great, imo.

Also Dutiful Thrull + Pit Fight can take out a decent quality critter, while not losing our guy. But I do hope the gamble pays off, and we can still get some gates.

+1 Dutiful Thrull

Man... this is a rough pack.
Just... whoof. I dunno guys. Are we shooting ourselves in the foot here, not going with a Guildgate? I know it's been discussed to death. But wow.

+1 Dutiful Thrull

Regeneration is awesome.

TridenT- Ditto, man. I hear you.

KrazyCaley, be honest here, are you just drawing this out to hurt us all? We're dying man . . . the feels. . .

+1 Syndicate Enforcer

+1 Dutiful Thrull

Sorry to disappoint anyone still making a case for an extort deck, but it just doesn't seem to be in the cards(!). Syndicate Enforcer is an overcosted, subpar card to begin with, and without any other extort synergy it isn't worth it to take.

Syndicate Enforcer

+1 Syndicate Enforcer .

It hurts us if it's played against us, and while we don't necessarily have the extort plan going, the Enforcer is a decent card anyway.

+1 Dutiful Thrull

@Kravian Patience, patience. Working on it now.