@dcarpntr- I'd be very okay with this, actually. We wont play the piker, probably, so if we're going to take a card we wont use, we should make use of it (ironic).

I would say Trait Doctoring just because it's a one-cost activator, but then again there probably aren't many legal targets for it. Can you change the word "swamp" to "island" on a basic land? It seems like you could do that. The card itself does nothing at all though, so I'll probably agree that we hate the "kill target cyclops" card:

+1 Clear a Path

None of these cards really help us and one of them really hurts us.

Plus one Clear a Path

Nothing here is really maindeckable. Let's get rid of someone's obvious best sideboard card against us.

+1 Clear a Path

+1 anti-skyclops cannon.

Looks like Clear a Path it is.

Agreed

Clear a Path

Finally, GOOD fixing. I wonder why the gate wasn't scooped up. Green is completely playable at this point if we take Simic Guildgate .

Hahaha. Let that be a lesson to us all: Ignore fixing, and get free guildgates passed to you at the bottom of pack 3.

Good times, good times.

Good pack for us. We needed a solid green source.

I still say we only splash green for Blood. My guess is the Mage isn't worth it for the drop in consistency we'll see if we get too greedy in green.

Yep, just have to hope nobody grabs Clear a Path and actually plays red, but there's no helping that at this point. Besides, with 7 cyclopses they aren't going to stop this deck with one or two kill spells.

+1 Simic Guildgate

Clear a Path was the right choice every time we've hate drafted it. Every time we've let it go by, it's also been for the right reasons.

We let it go by now because we have a playable card in Simic Guildgate . I still can't believe it tabled back to us. We are getting so lucky with this draft.

+1 Simic Guildgate

I'm also up for cutting Beetleform Mage and only running Blood.

Based on this we should see the Maze Glider come back around two packs from now then, right? Yeah I'll keep hoping...

Just playing around in cockatrice right now and based on 14 creatures and 16 lands (assumed no cluestones now) we still need one more creature if we don't want to run the riot piker or maze rusher. Unless we're going to play murmuring phantasm? In any case that leaves us with activators to pick from as we have 4 instants we are for sure running (dragonshift, punish the enemy and 2x weapon surge) and 6 sorceries for sure (5x hidden strings + dragonshift) that leaves us with 3 uncovered clues as optional. My land base is currently 7/7 mountain/island + 1 forest + 1 guildgate.

Seriously go draw some sample hands with this deck. Consistency doesn't come close to describing how smooth this is going to run.

Back again from another family visit, been a lot's of them since I'm on my summer vacation atm :). Two words (well a word and a compound word) +1 Simic Guildgate . I don't know how we got it and who was insane enough to pass it to us but we want it weather we run Beetleform Mage or not (although personally I think it would be insane not to run it).

That Simic Guildgate is like a bed of moss for our skyclops to come home to every night after another brutal day of alpha-powered destruction. They deserve a home, they deserve their rest, they've earned it.

+1 Simic Guildgate

I love blue and green

But Clear a Path could end us.

Fixing or skyclops?

Clear a Path is effective removal against our deck, but it will only come in after side-boarding and at the end of the day can only remove one cyclops. Plus it will only be in one opposing deck whereas the guildgate will be available in every game we play.

+1 Simic Guildgate

@Prevailed,

We've taken 3 Clear a Path under the premise of "hate drafting." But hate drafting has a time and a place. We do not hate draft on cards because our deck has a weakness against that card. We hate draft when there is nothing in the pack that makes our own deck better (there are a few other times where it is appropriate, but those are rare, and probably because the card is a bomb rare that we can't let go by).

What are the odds in someone having that one card at that one time that ruins us? Not very high. So hate drafting a card that could hurt our game plan when there are cards available in the pack to make our deck better is the wrong time to hate draft. Now is exactly that situation where we have a playable card in the guildgate. It's something we'll actually use. So why hate draft a card we'll never play now over a card we will play? It only makes our deck worse.

Also, we have not drafted every Clear a Path that we've seen. We've gotten most of them, but not all. And we only took them when there was nothing better to take. So someone out there already has at least one.

We aren't helping ourselves by taking sideboard removal over playable mana fixing that is much needed right now.

We take the gate here. Green fixing is delicious.

We can argue about Beetleform Mage when the time comes. For now, we shouldn't be thinking that far into this pick. It's prime fixing and we lucked out; lets snag it and worry about what what we exclude from mainboard later.

I'm thinking that running 1 or 2 copies of Uncovered Clues may be to our benefit. I ran about 30 test games today and, while not a frequent issue, occasionally found myself sitting there with an armada of cyclopses and/or fluxchargers and nothing to do with them for a few turns. This has not happened often - maybe 10% of games? - but it does happen on occasion. My issue there is we know there's at least one Debt to the Deathless running around out there and giving that guy a couple of extra turns may end up being fatal.

I'm sure you guys will be running your own trial games as well in the coming few days as this wraps up so no doubt there will be plenty of discussion on that front.

Wow. Just did a test game. Blood makes a turn 4 win easy.

Turn 1: Land.
Turn 2: Land.
Turn 3: Land, Cyclops.
Turn 4: Land, Hidden Strings, Hidden Strings, Blood (Burns them for 10), Swing for 10 with 2 tapped blockers.

I love this deck, and if I could play it in standard, I would. Sad days where you're limited to 4 Cyclops in a deck. Sad, sad days.

isn't it more damage if you play Blood after attacking (meaning after ciphers)? Not that it is necessary, but who ever said that this deck is necessary?

@TiredTofu - im building a deck based on this just for casual play with Wee Dragonauts , Kiln Fiend and Hands of Binding as well as the usual suspects. It's pretty good. But what makes our draft deck beast is that almost 18% of our deck is cyclops. That kind of consistency is just going to dominate.