I’ve been playing cube drafts for about three years and it constitutes about 90 percent of my time playing Magic. I draft on a regular basis with a group of about twelve players from my local store ranging from low to high skill levels. I also draft with new players and out-of-state friends at pre-releases and PTQs. With such experience, I’d like to share a few of my thoughts about the keys to success in this format. The value of my advice will vary based upon the cards contained in each cube and player preferences, but these insights should be fairly universal and of use to any cube enthusiasts.

Efficient Use of Mana, More Than Any Other Factor, Wins Games

“I believe that long term success in Magic, and the definition of the best decks, is determined primarily by how much mana we can profitably consume.” -Michael J. Flores, Jockey for the Beatdown- 11/1/2010

Mike is spot-on. Regardless of your skill or the power level of the cards in your deck, the easiest way to lose games is by not making a play until turns there or four. Successful decks need to be able to use their mana every turn beginning on turn two (even if it’s cycling on realistically bluffing a counterspell). This rule has three important strategic applications:

1. Drafting & Constructing a Deck: be conscious of your curve and look for cards which provide multiple options at different mana costs. Additionally be aware of your color commitments; drafting several cards in two different colors with double (or more) colored casting costs will lead to inefficient mana use unless you are willing to highly prioritizing fixing. The most troublesome combinations for double many costs are in W/B and U/B.
2. Mulligan Decisions: As I general rule of thumb, I will mulligan away any hand in which my first action will be on turn four. I will mulligan away most hands in which my first action will be on turn three unless I have tempo-gaining cards such as Man-o-War, Venser, Shaper Savant, or Control Magic.
3. Game Play: The abundance of activated abilities and card draw ensure that Cube is a format in which you will almost always have something to do with your mana at any point in the game. Mana used now saves you from having to spend mana later for the same effect, so you should be looking to tap out (or come as close as possible) every turn. For example, given the option between keeping an Eternal Dragon in hand and cycling it turn two, you should almost always cycle it even if your hand is already land heavy. You’ll be taking one more card out of your deck, ensuring a late land drop, and giving yourself the option to recur the Dragon later. Another example: perhaps you hold back on turn three with Exclude and Repulse in hand. Your opponent attacks with some irrelevant 2/2 and passes the turn casting nothing. Here you should almost always Repulse the 2/2 to gain tempo rather than saving it in hopes or a more opportunistic use.

Draft a Fundamentally Blue, Red, or Combo Deck

This statement is not synonymous with the standard beatdown/control/combo archetype classification: you need to be playing with blue cards, red cards, or a combo deck. Additionally, if playing blue or red, those cards need to be doing some of the fundamental things which are the core strengths of these colors. These colors possess two key strengths largely absent from the remaining colors, each addressed below.

1. Abundance of relevant instants: the value of instant speed cards should be apparent to anyone who has played the game for any significant period of time (more options, the ability to essentially pool two turns of mana against an opponent’s one turn, surprise factor). In most limited formats instants are less powerful (or more costly) compared to sorcery-speed counterparts for the purpose of creating balanced limited formats. Most cube drafts owners, however, create their cube looking to include the most powerful cards in each given color. While balance is always a consideration in cube construction, it is usually focused upon card quantity within colors and casting cost, not power levels. As a result, cubes often contain an abundance of relevant, powerful instants in blue and red, the two colors which have, through the history of the game, been disproportionately given more powerful instants. While all colors have received many instant speed cards, not all are as relevant to cube. Examining each color:White: white’s instants vary from one-for-one spot removal (addressed below), artifact/enchantment tutors, damage redirection, disenchant effects, and lifegain. These cards often lack the ability to generate card advantage outside of limited situations.Black: almost all of black’s instants are spot removal, which is not very strong. Two important exceptions: Hatred (which can just win a game) and Corpse Dance (a card which can be played multiple times for great value depending on the deck).Green: green is severely lacking instants (my cube contains only Vines of the Vastwood, Stonewood Invocation, and Krosan Grip). Aside from the shallow pool of green instants to choose from, most green instants in other cubes open a player up to easy two-for-ones (most other pump spells, Harrow, etc.).

   Blue: Blue gets counterspells, card drawing, deck manipulation, tutoring, and bounce. Counterspells are rarely dead in this format, generate tempo, and sometimes draw extra cards. Bounce spells in my cube (Repeal and Repulse) can be grouped in with card drawing as generating card advantage and tempo. Tutoring and deck manipulation prevent dead draws and draw other powerful cards.

   Red: Red is almost exclusively burn spells and Threaten effects (Grab the Reins and Word of Seizing). The true value of red’s instants, discussed below, is their flexibility to fight for board advantage or to burn out your opponent for the win.

2. The ability to win despite board position: Blue and red have the greatest pool of cards that give a player the option to “play their game” regardless of board position. Nearly all of the cards in White, Black, and Green affect only the board or advance the player in a defensive manner (such as life gain) as opposed to an active manner to win the game. These colors tend to generate tempo by casting spells in their main phase, destroying permanents, and curving out with their permanents. Blue, however, can often disregard board position through tempo-generating cards, while red has the option of sending all burn spells to the opponent once the red player loses board advantage.

These two qualities give any deck which utilizes these strengths a significant advantage over other decks which fail to do so. This rule leaves the remaining colors (black, green, and white) to be played in conjunction with blue and red card or together in combo decks. Competitive combo decks, including blue or red decks without instants include:

1. Reanimator decks: best centered around some recursive engine such as Recurring Nightmare or Corpse Dance.
2. Blue-based artifact decks: best centered around tutors and cards such as Tinker, Tezzeret, the Seeker , and the Thopter Combo.
3. Reveillark decks: best centering around either Crystal Shard/Blink effects or the Body Double/ Karmic Guide combo.
4. Stax Decks: more of a synergistic deck than a combo deck. Best centered around sacrifice effects such as Braids, Cabal Minion and Smokestacks combined with cards like Bitterblossom, Bloodghast, Crucible of Worlds, and Strip Mine.

Draft Archetypes Instead of Cards

This rule naturally follows the previous rule, but requires a little more explanation. Your goal with your first few picks should be to draft cards which create an engine for you to inevitably win the game. Instead of drafting independently valuable cards (Wrath effects, most card draw effects, most green creatures) you should seek out cards which create a synergistic deck. For example, when I take an early Upheaval, cards such as Greater Gargadon, Aeon Chronicler, Shelldock Isle, Tarmogoyf, Psychatog, and Tombstalker greatly climb in my pick orders.

This isn’t to say you must open the pivotal cards early to build the deck. You can often anticipate certain cards being passed to you in later packs, especially in smaller cubes (e.g. Braids, Cabal Minion, Oath of Druids , Opposition). The cards you can reasonably anticipate will vary based upon cube composition and the other player’s preferences, but you will often be surprised at how often you “get there.”

A special note regarding beatdown decks: you might be thinking beatdown decks are a generic catch-all for small creature decks. These decks, however, can be drafted in several different directions. For example, R/G can be drafted as (1) a sligh deck with one and two-drop creatures and 10+ burns spells, (2) a tempo based LD Deck with many two and three-drops with cards such as Avalanche Riders, Pillage, Molten Rain, and Thoughts of Ruin, or (3) a more high end deck with mana elves and 5 and 6-drop creatures. These archetypes are usually much more powerful when focused than merged and as such, you should be drafting cards appropriate for your archetype usually by the beginning of pack 2.

Overvaluing Creature Removal

When making additions to my cube, I try to only add creatures which either (a) are extremely efficient in terms of power level to casting cost (e.g. Tarmogoyf, Goblin Guide, Student of Warfare, Meloku the Clouded Mirror), (b) are resilient to removal (e.g. Simic Sky Swallower, Puppeteer Clique, Hellspark Elemental), and/or (c) give a player some value upon coming into or leaving play (e.g. Solemn Simulacrum, Cloudgoat Ranger, Pestermite). Spot removal has moderate to high value against the first category, very low value to the second, and limited value to the third. Wrath effects share many of the same problems. For this reason, creature removal should rarely be taken early in cubes with less than 1000 cards. I will almost always play a few, but rarely use early picks to do so.

The Best Cards You’re Probably Passing

The following is a few cards from each color which I believe players tend to undervalue:

1. Guardian of the Guildpact: probably undervalued because of unfamiliarity. Very few things kill him, so he’s usually either an indestructible wall or unblockable, which makes him deadly with equipment.
2. Mana Tithe/ Force Spike: almost always a one-mana Counterspell. It can often mean the difference between a win and a loss for a control deck on the draw.
3. Remand: few cards gain tempo like Remand. This card can easily make me keep an otherwise must-mulligan 2-land hand. Similarly, Venser, Shaper Savant also provides backbreaking tempo and gains additional value if you have any means to reuse him.
4. Looter il-Kor: I have won more cube drafts because of this card than any other. He is passed very late, rarely draws a removal spell from most opponents, is deadly with equipment, and smoothes out your draws. I feel that if he hits an opponent three or more times that I cannot lose the game.
5. Corpse Dance: You can easily draft a deck around this card abusing ETB abilities or creatures which die during an endstep (Ball Lightning, Skizzik, Blistering Firecat).
6. Dusk Urchins: a solid creature at home both in a beatdown or a control deck, developing the board and drawing cards. It will almost always give you a two-for-one and sometimes more.
7. Greater Gargadon: one of the few first-pick quality red cards. This enormous threat prevents your opponent from targeting your creatures for value (e.g. Control Magic, Capsize with Buyback, Ribbons of Night). It also has great synergy with mass LD cards such as Armageddon, Upheaval, Balance, and Obliterate.
8. Ingot Chewer: I always try to run at least one or two maindeck answers to artifacts and this comes with a serviceable body attached. The evoke cost becomes very useful in playing around counterspells and for storm decks (if your cube supports those).
9. Rude Awakening: passed way too late way too often. Resolution usually = gg.
10. Briarhorn: a pump spell without the potential two-for-one opponent’s removal spell. Flash gives this card a very fundamentally blue feel.
11. Tanglewire: played turns 3-5 in an aggressive deck usually wins the game.
12. Epochrasite: the Rodney Dangerfield of artifacts. This card is amazing for stopping beats and plays very well with Upheaval or Armageddon effects.
13. Spellbound Dragon: I’m pretty sure Wizards intended this guy to cost six. It will filter hands while putting an opponent on a short clock.
14. Plaxmanta: blowout. After Looter il-Kor, this card has won me more games than any other. Card advantage and a massive tempo swing all for 2 mana.
15. Shelldock Isle: For forgoing 3 mana, you usually flip a card from your deck of a higher casting cost. Highlights include Upheaval, Obliterate, and Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. Be mindful of LD spells if you’re considering putting a combo piece underneath.

My No-Pass List

There are almost no cards I would draft over the following: Reveillark, Balance, Ancestral Recall, Vedalken Shackles, Upheaval, Treachery, Recurring Nightmare, Mind Twist, Sol Ring, Black Lotus, Umezawa’s Jitte, Skullclamp, Sword of Fire and Ice, and Library of Alexandria. With the exceptions of Upheaval and Sword of Fire and Ice, I would take all of the above cards over the five moxes most of the time.

Quick Note on Mulligan Rules

My group has a mulligan rule whereby if you have 0, 1, 6, or 7 lands in your opening hand, you may show your opponent your hand and take a free mulligan. You may repeat this process until you keep a hand or take a real mulligan. If you mulligan, you may once again take a free mulligan if you show a hand of 0, 1, 5, or 6 lands. This patterns continues of 0, 1, max hand size -1, max hand size. All players must play at least 15 lands to avail themselves to free mulligan. I highly recommend this rule as it makes cube drafting much more enjoyable than regular mulligan rules.

In Conclusion

These insights are, again, subject to cube contents and player preferences. While players can utilize any strategy with various degrees of success, these are the strategies which have provided me with the most success in this format. Hope you enjoyed!

-Doug Lambert

I had a lot of fun with this- I won a few games where my opponent had Grave Titan and Myr Battlesphere on the board, just because I was able to Pestermite/Parallax Wave/Time Walk/Yawgmoth’s Will/Cryptic Command out a few extra combat steps, or attack for lots with a pumped Looter il-Kor. I’m also a big sucker for decks that can use Ninja of the Deep Hours, and this fit the bill. Ready for the decklist?

Isamaru, Hound of Konda
Goldmeadow Harrier
Looter il-Kor
Mistral Charger
Calcite Snapper
Kor Sanctifiers
Mirror Entity
Pestermite
Wake Thrasher
Man o War
Lodestone Golem
Ninja of the Deep Hours
Cloudgoat Ranger
Exalted Angel

Ancestral Recall
Counterspell
Disenchant
Time Walk
Dimir Signet
Scroll Rack
Yawgmoth’s Will
Cryptic Command
Fact or Fiction
Parallax Wave

Arcane Sanctum
Celestial Colonnade
Scalding Tarn
Scrubland
Volraths Stronghold
5 Island
5 Plains
1 Swamp

1 Fire-Lit Thicket
1 Forest
1 Lavaclaw Reaches
4 Mountain
1 Raging Ravine
1 Stomping Ground
1 Strip Mine
6 Swamp

1 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Dauthi Marauder
1 Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
1 Graveborn Muse
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Hearth Kami
1 Kargan Dragonlord
1 Keldon Marauders
1 Keldon Vandals
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Nekrataal
1 Nezumi Graverobber

1 Animate Dead
1 Arc Trail
1 Bitterblossom
1 Earthquake
1 Flame Javelin
1 Grim Monolith
1 Pillage
1 Scroll Rack
1 Sword of Body and Mind
1 Terminate
1 Thoughtseize
1 Umezawa’s Jitte

I would have given a lot for Sarkhan the Mad in this draft.

Anyway, we have a tradition where we put one card in our
sideboard face up while we play. It’s called the “threaten”, and it’s supposed to be a good card you aren’t playing or something that would have been good for your opponent. Justin’s threaten was Dark Confidant, which we put in about a month ago but haven’t yet seen in a draft through bad luck.

We were both pretty anxious to see Bob in action, and my deck seemed like a good fit, so after our regular games I added Dark Confidant to my deck to give him a spin. It ended up being pretty uneventful simply because my deck was already stronger, but he had a good showing, drawing some cards without killing me.

I wanted to write about this, not so much because the games were remarkable, but because I really like the idea of testing new cards in this way instead of just letting nature run its course. I think it’s especially important for cards like Dark Confidant that are more archetype-dependent.

Side note: I won one of the regular games with this pretty sweet turn: Justin was at 5 and I was at 4. He’d stabilized (playing a mono-blue deck with Shackles) with Meloku and a bunch of tokens, and he was going to win on his next turn. I had six lands in play. I had Earthquake in my hand, so my plan was to draw the game with Earthquake for 5. On my turn, I realized I could do one better- Animate Dead Keldon Marauders, and Earthquake for 3.

In another game, Justin killed when I was at 2 by Bribery-ing for Keldon Marauders, leaving me to die to Bitterblossom with lethal on the board.

Did I mention I’m thankful for the Cube?

Note: This was a Winston draft, so it’s a little different to describe what is going on. I’ll do my best, but let me know if something isn’t clear.

Also, I am drafting here with my cube, which is similar but not identical to Evan’s.

Drafting

I win the die roll and choose to pick second (since this means I might see more cards, and might get early signals). Justin passes the first pile, so I see two cards in my first pick:

I’m happy to take this pile. A Mox will always make it into my deck, and I like getting into red with the knowledge that Justin doesn’t intend to be there. Pillage is going to be best in an aggressive deck, and RW is my favorite aggro color combination, so right off the bat I’m leaning towards that.

Justin passes the first pile again, so for my next pick I see:

At the point, I’m very happy to be in RW, and this pile will be playable if I end up aggro (my goal) or more midrange.

The next time around, I see

which is clearly nowhere I want to be. I look at the next pile and see

so I’m moving on again. In the last pile, I see

which freaks me out a bit, but I reason that if I push Justin into UB control, that’s a pretty good matchup for my theoretical RW deck. I pick

off the top. Nothing I want to play, but I don’t want to face it either.

In my next pass, I see

I’m totally psyched about this. Nobilis is the perfect high end for the deck I want to draft. For my next pick, I take

My deck isn’t shaping up to be super fast, but I’m happy with what I’ve got so far, and I haven’t passed anything I’m too afraid of. On my next turn, I see

which I clearly let go, and then

Again, nothing I’m looking for. In the last pile there is:

I pick off the top and get

I haven’t seen anything that I want to Portal yet, but maybe I’ll get lucky and find a Reveillark.

On the next pass, I get

in the first pile. That’s awesome- Adamaro can be a huge problem for control decks, and I’m currently putting Justin on blue, mostly because I’m not there. I take

next. That’s good- I’m lucky that the right fixing is showing up in this card pool. My deck feels underpowered to me thus far, but I don’t think I’m being cut off, and I’m not scared of the power level in other colors. After this pick, though, I think Justin is more likely to be in black than blue.

My next time through, I see

which I pass, and then immediately regret. It’s not a card I want to face, and I think Justin will play it. The next pile has

… nothing for me there, and the final pile has

Boo.

I pick Serra Avenger off the top- a gift. After that pick, though, I start to worry that my deck isn’t going to come together. Maybe the pieces I’m looking for – early creatures and token makers- aren’t even in the card pool. The next pick doesn’t make me feel any better. I see

and pass it, and then see

I’m scared of Monolith (what if Justin’s black deck involves Decree of Pain or Profane Command, or he ends up switching to UB with the Oona he picked up?), so I take the pile.

My next pick is no better. I see and pass

then

and then

taking Thawing Glaciers off the top. Yikes. I take

first on my next pick, as it might be worthwhile if my deck doesn’t end up they way I want. On my next pick, the green keeps flowing- I see

then

and then

and take

off the top. On theme!

After that, I see

Not where I want to be at all.

Next is Garruk- crap! – but I reason that I can pass it, since Justin will take the first pile if he is in green. After that, I flip over

a white card, but not a creature or burn or anything I’m particularly looking for after my last few lackluster picks. I take

Firespout

off the top,

which I’m happy to have, especially since i have a Temple Garden in my pile. Next, I pass

then

The next pile contains

I’m happy to take it this time- two playables seem better than a random card.

On my next pass, I leave

and then take

He’s a good dude for the more midrange deck I now think I will be building. On my next turn, I pass over

and then take

Next, Nevinyrral’s Disk and Engineered Explosives have been added to Qasali Pridemage, but it’s still not for me.

I take Pianna, which isn’t optimal for me but might be ok.

Things start to look up with

and then

after passing

The next time through I decide to take the first pile, since Eternal Dragon has been added. He can fix my mana early, and come back if the game goes long, and I’d like to have a way to fetch my Temple Garden if I run it.

I see Relic and Unmake next. Unmake is a stretch manawise, but awesome removal- I think it’s worth the pick.

The next time through, I go the whole way down the line, passing

then

and finally

before being rewarded with

off the top.

Next I get Jitte in the first pile,

and then

Talk about a series of picks that did a lot for my deck.

After passing the whole row…

and then

…I end up getting Genesis off the top.

The pick after that is Time Walk, which I don’t think I will be splashing but I also don’t want to pass.

My last pick nets me

Deckbuilding

This draft started out pretty rough – I assume you believe I’m not cherry-picking this now! – but it shaped up a bit towards the end. Here’s what I built:

Adamaro, First to Desire
Eternal Dragon
Giant Solifuge
Guardian of the Guildpact
Hellspark Elemental
Kor Skyfisher
Nobilis of War
Pianna, Nomad Captain
Serra Avenger
Skizzik
Student of Warfare
Yosei, the Morning Star

Banefire
Martial Coup
Pillage
Rolling Thunder

Crib Swap
Return to Dust
Sudden Shock
Unmake

Black Lotus
Crystal Ball
Mox Pearl
Umezawa’s Jitte

Plateau
Thawing Glacier
9 Plains
6 Mountain

My deck certainly isn’t the dreamiest, but it has some potentially quick draws and doesn’t just lose in the mid-to-late game. Jitte doesn’t hurt, either. It’s also not the best Nobilis deck, since it lacks token makers, but the haste guys are pretty synergistic as well.

As I learn after our first game, Justin is running a midrange BG deck, splashing red for Blazing Specter and Void. He has a ton of removal and token-makers to go along with Creakwood Liege.

Games

Game 1: I have a pretty sweet start with turn 1 Skyfisher off a Mox, and turn 2 Hellspark. I follow up with Adamaro, while Justin has Twinblade Slasher and man lands. I get him down to six, but I’m dead drawing and my hand is Martial Coup and lands. Justin plays Void for two, getting my Skyfisher and Martial Coup. I keep drawing lands, and die to Deranged Hermit and Raging Ravine.

Game 2: I mulligan once into a slow hand with two lands, Pianna, and Jitte. I find Eternal Dragon a few draws in to get my third land, but we trade removal and I don’t get to equip the Jitte. Justin plays void again, this time getting Rolling Thunder and the Jitte. The decisive turn comes when Justin plays Blazing Specter while I have two mana up, forcing me to discard Crib Swap. That leaves the way clear for Ink-Eyes, who grabs Eternal Dragon and takes the game.

After this game, I boarded out Eternal Dragon and a Plains for Temple Garden and Firespout. I don’t really need to have green since his creatures are mostly on the ground, but it can’t hurt to have the possibility of Firespouting both ways.

Game 3: I have turn one Student of Warfare into turn two Hellspark. Justin is stuck on lands, and find Pillage. Giant Solifuge seals the deal.

Game 4: I start with Student again, and this time follow it up with Skizzik. I barely win this one due to damage from Justin’s Phyrexian Arena and my own Rolling Thunder and Banefire.

Game 5: Solifuge takes this one down singlehandedly. Justin has plenty of removal but it almost all targets, and every time he plays a creature I manage to remove it.

Game 6: I have Lotus into turn two Nobilis this game, which quickly dies to Terror. I follow up with Serra Avenger, and Justin has Phyrexian Arena. I play out a Guardian of the Guildpact, which holds off Twinblade Slasher. I attack in since I’m ahead of life and can race, but Justin has Ink-Eyes for my Nobilis on the next turn. Whoops. I rip a Martial Coup, but it’s not good enough as Justin’s follow up Gleancrawler wins the game.

Game 7: Unfortunately, our final game is pretty anticlimatic- I have Student and Hellspark again (how many of those am I running?) and finish it with a Banefire.

My draws were pretty good in this game, but I also attribute my wins to Crystal Ball, which I cleverly didn’t mention in my game recaps, but which definitely showed up and helped me dig for burn in a couple of games. I was pretty surprised by how good it was- I love the card, but I thought it was going to be too slow to be excellent in my deck.

I also wanted to mention my decision to not splash for Time Walk. I usually would advocate splashing a card of that caliber in almost any deck, but I didn’t have any fixing or dual lands, and I was worried that a lone Island could really mess up my already intense color requirements.

It was definitely pretty fun to have a draft where the powerful equipment- Jitte and Sword of Vengeance- didn’t dominate. A few of the games were repetitive, but towards the beginning of the series we had some really fun, swingy games.

Let me know what you think about posts like this in the comments! One thing I would definitely do differently in the future, if I do another draft walkthough, is to keep track of more details from the games. If the Winston draft format doesn’t translate well, I could also do this only when I do a normal draft. Other suggestions or comments? Please let me know!

This is assuming this is Pack 1 Pick 1. Imagine picking a card (Pick #1) and then imagine seeing this pack without that card (pick #2). Then imagine the pack without either of those cards (Pick #3), etc.

This pack generated from TappedOut.net, the MTG Deck Builder

Got ourselves some tutors, some beats, and beats that burn. Choices?

This is assuming this is Pack 1 Pick 1. Imagine picking a card (Pick #1) and then imagine seeing this pack without that card (pick #2). Then imagine the pack without either of those cards (Pick #3), etc.

This pack generated from TappedOut.net, the MTG Deck Builder

Lots of interesting picks here — Wrath, burn, Planeswalkers, fixin. Your choice?

This is assuming this is Pack 1 Pick 1. Imagine picking a card (Pick #1) and then imagine seeing this pack without that card (pick #2). Then imagine the pack without either of those cards (Pick #3), etc.

This is assuming this is Pack 1 Pick 1. Imagine picking a card (Pick #1) and then imagine seeing this pack without that card (pick #2). Then imagine the pack without either of those cards (Pick #3), etc.

Wrath, Hermit, Disk, burn, planeswalkers and more — what say you?

This is assuming this is Pack 1 Pick 1. Imagine picking a card (Pick #1) and then imagine seeing this pack without that card (pick #2). Then imagine the pack without either of those cards (Pick #3), etc.

Look, there’s Sophie! (Sword of Fire and Ice = SoFI = Sophie). Mox, Wasteland, all kinds of goodies.

This is assuming this is Pack 1 Pick 1. Imagine picking a card (Pick #1) and then imagine seeing this pack without that card (pick #2). Then imagine the pack without either of those cards (Pick #3), etc.

Good beaters, bombs, and answers. Wow, good luck choosing your four!