There are 2 good common goblins (and one is like a 《Dragon Fodder》), and a few uncommons and a rare. I think the power level is super high with a few goblins. Special mention goes to 《Lich’s Caress》, a bit expensive but unconditional removal +3 life is always good.

There are definitely some interesting choices here in 《Thorn Lieutenant》, 《Angel of the Dawn》, and 《Aven Wind Mage》. But I feel that the clean removal spell is just the best pick you can make here.

I think it’s a hard pick between 《Thorn Lieutenant》 and 《Lich's Caress》 but since it’s the first time I’m drafting, I would pick the rare here. 2/3 for 2 is a good body and has a nice ability.

This, to me, is a very tough pick given that I do not have any practice with the set. 《Thorn Lieutenant》, 《Volley Veteran》 and 《Lich's Caress》 strike me as the best three cards on paper, but 《Shock》 or 《Aven Wind Mage》 could be the right pick if the format turns out very tempo-based and 《Sift》 might be a sleeper bomb (remember the time 《Divination》 was the best common? Well…). Since the first-pick options are fairly close regarding our first pick, and the pack is very deep, I will be looking at potential wheels. Here, I see 《Rabid Bite》 and 《Rhox Oracle》 (which has to be much better than it looks and will definitely be a solid common), which makes me want to first-pick 《Thorn Lieutenant》.

A good goblin 2 drop is a bit worse than other colors cards, but I prefer to stay in this color in this pick since Blue-Red doesn’t look very aggressive.

《Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire》 looks awesome, but 3 colors just isn’t where I want to be this early. The other cards I’m considering are 《Shield Mare》, 《Mirror Image》, 《Sparktongue Dragon》, 《Gallant Cavalry》, and 《Skeleton Archer》. There appears to be a lot of sweet Enter The Battlefield creatures in this set, so I like taking the 《Mirror Image》 here.

I like picking bombs in this core set formats and this one seems very strong.

《Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire》 looks like a powerful card for sure; even though both players need to sacrifice, you get to choose, which is huge. It also goes kind of well with my first pick since green has 《Gift of Paradise》 for fixing and 《Thorn Lieutenant》 already is a mana dump. Other options would be 《Take Vengeance》, which I suspect will be a card I’d want in GW should I play it, and 《Sparktongue Dragon》 which looks very solid. I think it is the safest choice here, since it represents very little commitment (i.e. should be good in pretty much any red deck) and pushed towards the same midrange direction as my first pick, so I’ll pick 《Sparktongue Dragon》.

Works really well with tokens and is a decent body. Black is a bit open but we have passed two removals already.

Just going with another solid removal spell here. Passing 《Skymarch Bloodletter》 and 《Vine Mare》 doesn’t feel great though!

Hexproof always seems like a mistake in a limited format, so I’m happy picking the Hexproof guy here.

To me the best two cards here are quite clearly 《Strangling Spores》 and 《Gargoyle Sentinel》. I do suspect that strangling spores will play out worse than it looks, and I remember 《Gargoyle Sentinel》 as a solid card that I enjoy playing in any non-aggressive deck. It is definitely the weaker of the two, and I am starting to let black go a little bit with this pick, but I feel like the flexibility is worth it. 《Gargoyle Sentinel》 is my pick.

Trying to stay on Red-Black.

Starting off with 3 removal spells in the first 4 picks feels good! Now time to look towards filling our curve.

Here we have the 《Daggerback Basilisk》 but since I am trying to splash, I think the safe pick is 《Manalith》.

Not much to love about this pack; the best cards here are 《Enigma Drake》, 《Militia Bugler》 and 《Dwindle》 and none of them works well with my first pick. The only option for me here if I want to pick a green card would be 《Daggerback Basilisk》, but it is not quite 4th pick worthy. I would rather remain open a little bit, so I guess I’ll pick 《Dwindle》 that goes well with my other two picks.

Super strong card.

This card seems great! Fits nicely into our deck and although it doesn’t feel good to pass on color dual, I think we can afford to for a card this strong.

This card seems very good so that might put me on Red-Green splash black.

《Volcanic Dragon》, 《Star-Crowned Stag》 and to a lesser extent 《Salvager of Secrets》 look good here and green is just not there. It is already a bit late to make Salvager of Secrets work I think, but 《Volcanic Dragon》 seems completely fine as a 5th pick and I am willing to pick here it.

In case we need to splash colors.

Just a powerful land that serves as fixing for us to be able to splash some powerful cards that we might get.

Nothing exciting here so I will focus on fixers.

《Trusty Packbeast》 seems a little late here, and I could pick it to remain open. But I can also just pick 《Rupture Spire》 and be even more open, which seems like a stronger option since I am likely to receive some multicolor card worth splashing later on.

The best goblin common to me. Special mention goes to 《Knightly Valor》, a super strong card. I didn’t think it would be here.

This card just shouldn’t be here this late! Super powerful and easily splashable, sign me up!

Solid 3 drop.

I have no idea how good 《Knightly Valor》 will be in a new set. Its power varies a lot depending on the removal available, but it cannot be too bad anyway. Still, there is a fine playable in 《Boggart Brute》, and red is the one color I know I want to play at this point. I will be happy picking it at this point, and I’ll keep my option open regarding any second color. 《Boggart Brute》.

A good 2 drop.

In Dominaria, lots of powerful enchantments and artifacts are listed in that set, so having this makes us feel safe. Others are not appealing to us so let’s get a hold of this now.

Nothing green or red that I like here and maybe we can build a Black-Green splash red deck if black seems open, but I would rather be on the Red-Green splash black because of the red picks we have until now.

A whole bunch of nothing for me here. I guess I’ll pick 《Child of Night》, but black is unlikely to come back pack two.