Comments on: Shards Draft Dilemma: Oblivion Ring or Branching Bolt

By: tommy

tommy — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 19:55:41 +0000

Normally I wuuld pick O-ring over branching bolt. I prefer to draft G/W tempo decks splash blue or red.

However in this pack as it is very heavy with good Bant cards your second booster wont give you lots of it and those cards are also good/decent in naya builds. High risc those to the left will draft those cards.

By taking Bolt it will easier since there are no really good red cards left and 0 black. Cutting Jund will be a lot easier and putting yourself in a good position.
If jund dont come I would always be happy to draft naya.

By: Jon Becker

Jon Becker — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:16:28 +0000

It has to be the Oblivian Ring. Like Bob Baker and JMGH, I like the IDEA of 2:1s, but I don’t think I have ever actually 2:1′d anyone, ever, with Branching Bolt, and if I have, the flyer was a gargoyle which was promptly recovered with another gargoyle. Just doesn’t happen for me. Plus, bolt can’t get rid of the things ou typically use O ring to deal with - ridiculous dragons, Sigil, Plansewalkers, etc. You will always play it no matter our archetpe - you don’t need to t3 it, obviously - and getting a random white mana off an obelish, a tri land or a panorama is not in the least problematic.

Signaling seems like a terrible thing to worry about here, unless you’ve set yourself on a pre draft or post pack one shard or archetype and that specifically dries up. But by the time you can be sure of this, you are six picks in, and it doesn’t do you much good, other than to tell you you are likely 5coloring, and so you had better start sucking up fixers. And, if you are worried about getting archetyped out, for some reason, such is much more likely to be the case with a gold branching bolt than a single colored O-Ring.

BTW, Feral Hydra is immense, and I would likely take that over the Branching bolt second.

Vincent, unless you are playing with a bunch of gasping sea turtles, the draggon fodder isn’t lapping to you.

But hey, I like the Esper (OK, esper splash Cerodon and whatever else, but mostly esper), so what do I know.

By: Vincent Kong

Vincent Kong — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 09:21:18 +0000

I would take the Branching Bolt, for many of the reasons listed above, i.e. card advantage, combat trick, etc. but also because of value I place in signaling.

The remaining red cards, Dragon Fodder and Rip Clan Crasher, probably won’t be picked in the next 5-6 picks. You will likely wheel one of them, which you are glad to do in either a Jund or red aggro strategy. You send very strong green signals with the Feral Hydra, Topan Ascetic, and Rhox War Monk, while also sending strong White signals with the O-ring, Gargoyle, and War Monk. Obviously the tri-land is also a high pick for somebody else down to your left.

In this specific circumstance, given the strong signals, and the high probability of wheeling a reasonable playable in red, I would take Branching Bolt.

By: Bob Baker

Bob Baker — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:23:52 +0000

I think I’d probably take the Bolt because of the possibility of a 2-for-1 and the tendency of people to main deck cards like Naturalize. Also both Naya and Jund are very powerful archetypes and I don’t think I’d be upset to commit to either of them early. Also as long as you in end up in any non-Esper deck it will likely be easy enough to splash which ever half of the bolt you need to.

All that said. Hydra is pretty nutz so I wouldn’t fault anyone for taking it or an the O-Ring instead.

By: California

California — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:34:31 +0000

O-ring > red-green afro, always.

By: Fergus

Fergus — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:31:59 +0000

Honestly I take O-Ring if it’s first pack. You have no idea what you’re going to get passed and what kind of deck you’re going to end up in. The O-Ring is much much easier to splash if you’re struggling for playables and will fit in the vast majority of archetypes.

As for the pack you’re showing…the only other card I would consider would be Feral Hydra. He can be ridiculous but I don’t think you’d be doing wrong taking the O-Ring over it. I’m not sure I could take a Branching Bolt over the Hydra however.

By: JMGH

JMGH — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 23:58:35 +0000

I think Oblivion it’s the most obvious because we can use on every type of permanent (except lands) but, in my opinion, Naya it’s the most powerful color combitation in SoA draft and Bolt can be a 2×1 for only 3 mana.

If this is our first pick, it’s obvious what colours we need in the rest of draft (or not) but in this case, I’m conviced to pick Bolt for the idea of 2×1

See you.

By: Jacob Van Lunen

Jacob Van Lunen — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 23:21:04 +0000

O ring. Not close.

By: Karl

Karl — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 23:17:32 +0000

I might pick Feral Hydra. Is that ludicrous? Otherwise I’m definitely taking the Bolt…Gerard is right.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 21:24:32 +0000

Well it’s definitely between Bolt and Ring. It’s Bolt. It’s got a limited soul haha But seriously it is value vs. versatility, and i’d go for the gusto and pile-up the blowout card. Oblivion can be awesome but it’s safely awesome whereas Branching can be a complete kick in the beignets.