M12 First picks

I did a practice sealed with Liz earlier today, to try and improve a bit after doing badly at the weekend. Deck I made was fairly similar to my last sealed deck, although with a bit less removal, but this time I had a Sorin's Vengeance - a card that I have nicknamed "I win" because every time I have seen it resolve, it wins the caster the game. 

Got some spare booster packs so thought I would do some thoughts about good first picks in M12. 


Pack 1
This was a very strong pack, notable cards include Gideon's Lawkeeper, Jade Mage, Volcanic Dragon, Azure Mage, Pentavus, Fireball (shiny :D yay). All the uncommons are really good, the rare is good, and there is one good common. 


I think I would discount Azure Mage first, followed by Jade Mage as the other cards seem more powerful. After that probably Gideon's Lawkeeper as that stops my opponent from winning and the others let me win. 


This comes down to Volcanic Dragon, Pentavus and Fireball. Volcanic Dragon is very powerful, and attacks straight away, and flies. Pentavus is a little slower (which might mean it is less desireable as the format is very fast, but very splashable). Fireball is splashable, and good, and scalable. Removable and a win condition. The downside to taking either it or the dragon is that the player you pass the pack to might think red is open (but at the same time we will be passing a good white and green card). It is a very tough choice, I think I would go for the Pentavus for the versatility. 


Pack 2
This pack is a little easier to pick from: Skywinder Drake, Stormfront Pegasus, Frost Breath, Roc Egg, Aegis Angel are the notable ones. Quite a lot of good white cards, but I think the Aegis Angel is the card to take - it is big and flies. Of the remaining cards, I would probably take Roc Egg (particularly if I had just taken the Pentavus from the last pack - it slows the game down a little until I can get to 7 to cast it). 


Pack 3
This pack has some interesting choices, but is easier to pick from than the last pack. Gideon's Lawkeeper, Stingerfling Spider, Consume Spirit, Mind Control. So Mind Control is the obvious choice here. If this was the second pick after either of the other packs looked at in this post, for both of them I would pick Gideon's Lawkeeper both times - with Pentavus it slows the game down until I can cast it, and with Aegis Angel it is in colour and helps stall a bit until I can cast the Angel.