Quote Originally Posted by Nidd View Post
That hand is 0 pressure, 0 CA beyond the initial Thoughtcast and has no lategame. It's all in on drawing into something relevant.
What I learned while piloting my list was figuring out what each of my hands can do and I wouldn't consider attacking for 1 with lifelink relevant at all. Just like you mull hands with 3 or more 0 mana dorks without big followups.
Strix often invalidates draws which are kind of all in on a single big dude and is guaranteed CA.

Again, give the list a whirl and figure out your gameplan with each hand.
You would be attacking for 2 with lifelink, making it easier to keep that hand and naturally draw into something, because the lifelink slows down the damage you could be taking while you are fishing. It's not irrelevant.

Anyway, my point wasn't that replacing Baleful Strix would make that sample hand suddenly awesome. I'm aware that hand is still a bad hand with Vault Skirge in it, but I think one of our differences lies in our definitions of a 'keepable' hand. My point is that the hand would be keepable with Vault Skirge because 2 power on the offense is better than 0, your only land is a land that can't be destroyed by Wasteland, you can play Thoughtcast for (1)U next turn or play Etched Champion if you draw a land. That's a lot better than what you're likely to encounter when you're mulliganing with a deck that runs 15-16 land. You say to figure a gameplan with each hand, and I've explained how you have more than one game plan in the sample hand I've described if you had Vault Skirge instead of Baleful Strix.