Quote Originally Posted by ajfirecracker View Post
Who care about the element of surprise if you've gotten to the point where you can draw?

Hive Mind is a deck that keeps pace with us, not one that blasts past us. It can only combo out as soon as Turn 4 (or 5 or 6, depending on how many 2-mana lands they draw) unless it gets Show and Tell, Hive Mind, and a Pact. That seems pretty bad. Even then, it's only Turn 3 unless they also have a 2-mana land, which pushes their god-hand up to 4 cards. They can also go for Turn 2-3 Emrakul, attacking to little consequence on Turn 3-4, and killing us on Turn 4-5. That's certainly enough time to bash through a single, not-dying blocker (so we have Bridge to lean on).
I understand your logic, but you also are forgetting Hive Mind runs Grim Monolith and can legitimately cast Hive Mind the second turn with a Pact, not even requiring a Show and Tell to win the game. It's just another avenue the deck takes in its winning strategy. I would like to know logistically what this deck's percentages are in the Hive Mind match-up (don't get me wrong: I'm an advocate of this deck).

Also, has anyone considered Unmask as an option (main or board) as a free outlet to discard a card from your hand Turn One when forced to be on the play Game Two? That seems relatively good against Relic as their Turn One will only be able to hit the Unmask and not the enabler (Unmask has to resolve before they can activate Relic). From there you can opt to 'slow-Dredge' and force an opponent into cracking his or her Relic earlier than wanted.

Of course, you could Unmask an opponent and take the Relic, but it seems more important to discard your own card rather than bank on a gamble they have a Relic in their opening draw while triple-Time Walking them in the process.