This pick keeps coming up again and again and I have not been able to narrow in on the right answer. At the drafts at Finkel’s the consensus seems to be that you take Oblivion Ring over Branching Bolt. I was talking with Gerard Fabiano the other day and apparently both he and Heezy prefer the Bolt as it allows you to “not go white” according to the GP Philly winner.

The logic seems to be that taking a green- red card leaves you open to better color combinations down the road; red-black splashing green, red-green aggro (which I have to fight with my iPhone not to auto correct to “red-green Afro”), or even Naya, in which case the Ring would also be fine.

Personally I love the Oblivion Ring. It is a much more versatile answer than Branching Bolt and can deal with anything from a creature to an enchantment to a Planeswalker. While I find Esper to be a challenging deck to pull off succesfully I would happily jump on the Bant-wagon if there was a Squire, Charger, Monk, or Paladin for the follow up pick.

With the Ring you do leave yourself open to blowouts from a well-placed Naturalize or Resounding Wave but more often than not it gets the job done.

Which card do you normally pick when faced with this dilemma? Is there anything in this pack you would first pick Ahead of either removal spell?

Feral Hydra
Seaside Citadel
Rhox War Monk
Topan Ascetic
Branching Bolt
Oblivion Ring
Akrasan Squire
Sanctum Gargoyle
Rip-clan Crasher
Dragon Fodder
Jund Panorama
Etherium Sculpter
Dreg Reaver
Viashino Skeleton

Today was a little longer than expected but the format was still fast enough that I was able to enjoy a leisurely dinner with Mike Turian and Randy Buehler at the staff hotel. The restaurant here is pretty absurd. Randy and I also grabbed lunch here and when we had the tomato soup we knew we were coming back.

They bring out this large white bowl with a dollop of marscapone cheese drizzled with reduced balsamic vinegar and a basil oil which gets drenched in a shower of steaming hot soup at your table. Utterly amazing both times I had it today.

I also had, what is apparently a house classic, a tuna tartar that was perfumed with apple brandy as my entrée. It is among the very best meals I have ever enjoyed at a Pro Tour.

Afterwards we went to the bar and did the only thing you can do after a long day of watching 400 of the world’s best play Magic: The Gathering. We busted out a box of Shards of Alara and started drafting.

I was talking with Randy last night about drafting an actual shard as opposed to simply taking mana fixing and the best cards that come along. Normally I choose the latter strategy but when I opened Stoic Angel and was passed another it seemed like I wanted to be Bant.

The problem is that you end up taking weaker cards that are on-shard while passing ridiculous picks in each direction. I passed crazy stuff to Bill Stark while I stubbornly fought for Bant with drafters to my right. I shoulda just first picked a tri-land.