By Charlie Rinehart-Jones
While a little cliché, I thought a good article to write would be a fun, easy, and simple one. So I’m going to show you some Khans of Tarkir packs and I’ll tell you what I think is the clear first pick.
Pack One
Out of this pack the best card is clearly Mantis Rider, I am of the school that it is not a good idea to pick a three color-card first because it is often too constricting. So two of the best one-color commons really jump out at me. Mystic of the Hidden Way and Debilitating Injury and while Mystic of the Hidden Way is in the best color I would probably pick debilitating injury, because most of the other strong cards in the pack are black. In addition, Injury fills a harder spot to fill on the curve, which is very good in this format.
Pack Two
This next pack is a pretty great way to start your draft, as I said before it’s not about picking the most objectively powerful card and more about picking what keeps you open to the best possible deck. So while Armament Corps is a bomb, you have a great single color threat that is a great card in a lot of archetypes. So the clear pick here is Master of the Pearls. Although it should be duly noted that Armament Corps one of the best uncommons in the set and is a great card.
Pack Three
I mean when you look at this pack, there are really two cards that stand out as first picks, Spellsnatcher and Chief of the Edge. While going into two colors right off the bat isn’t all that bad. I really like the game that Spellsnatcher brings to my blue decks I say this because when you play it as a morph on turn three-five, your opponent will normally not have the means to play around it on turn six or seven, when you can activate it and generate a lot of value. It also helps that blue is the best color, which makes it all the more easy to pick Kheru Spellsnatcher.
Pack Four
I get it, I probably sound like a broken record, but while Savage Knuckle blade is definitely the best card in the pack. Picking up an extremely solid one-color card as your first pick leaves you open. Arc Lightning is absolutely fantastic in this format, probably the second or third best removal spell and while red isn’t all that exciting, it is definitely a color that will be able to utilize Arc Lightning in 99% of decks. If it’s your local FNM and you want to have a blast, go ahead and take the Knuckleblade, but if I’m in a GP or PTQ top eight i’ll be taking the Arc Lightning every single time.
Pack Five
Some words of wisdom here, GHOSTFIRE BLADE IS AN ABSOLUTE BOMB. While Aerialists, Flayer, and Palace are all first-pickable cards. Ghostfire Blade is one of the best cards to open in your first pack. It goes in nearly every deck thanks to morphs and is a great card to help you get value off of your face-down or otherwise mediocre morphs, and even if you couldn’t get value off of morphs and Bonesplitter-esque effect is absolutely insane in this format. Out of the other three cards, I would probably take Opulent Palace because the Tri-lands are everything you want and more in a lot of ways. While Ghostfire Blade might not be as flashy as some of the other rares and mythics, don’t be fooled the card is almost the ideal pack one pick one selection.
Pack Six
I’ll leave this last pack here and you can tell me and the other writers at SpellSnare.com what you would pick first.