In case you forgot to read the title, this is the fourth day. See the previous installments (one, two, and three) to see how I’ve been stuck in a rut building decks. I’ll keep it short, because we’ve got a lot on our plate today. This series has been a blast to write. Please keep up your supportive and critical input in the forums.
One of the things that I’ve learned about Ravnica Sealed is that if you’re playing Golgari, you shouldn’t be afraid of running one or two more lands than you feel is the bare minimum. With Dredge, you’ll have a much better chance of not drawing dead. It seems obvious, but the point should still be made. Consistency is a fine point to feature in any sealed deck.
Pool Four
Boros Recruit
Lightning Helix
Guardian of Vitu-Ghazi
2 Selesnya Evangel
Selesnya Sagittars
Selesnya Sanctuary
Selesnya Signet
Drooling Groodion
Gaze of the Gorgon
Shambling Shell
Svogthos, the Restless Tomb
Woodwraith Strangler
Duskmantle, House of Shadow
Moroii
2 Goblin Spelunkers
2 Greater Forgeling
Indentured Oaf
Mindmoil
2 Rain of Embers
Sabertooth Alley Cat
Torpid Moloch
Viashino Fangtail
War-Torch Goblin
2 Boros Fury-Shield
Dromad Purebred
2 Faith’s Fetters
Leave No Trace
Oathsworn Giant
Screeching Griffin
Three Dreams
Wojek Apothecary
Elvish Skysweeper
Farseek
Fists of Ironwood
2 Gather Courage
Greater Mossdog
Perilous Forays
Stone-Seeder Hierophant
Transluminant
Blood Funnel
Brainspoil
2 Dimir House Guard
Dimir Machinations
Infectious Host
Last Gasp
Necromantic Thirst
Nightmare Void
Roofstalker Wight
Shred Memory
Undercity Shade
Vigor Mortis
2 Compulsive Research
Drake Familiar
2 Grayscaled Gharial
Induce Paranoia
Quickchange
Snapping Drake
Stasis Cell
Tattered Drake
Terraformer
2 Vedalken Dismisser
Vedalken Entrancer
Cloudstone Curio
Pariah’s Shield
White Space. It’s what’s for dinner. If you’re on a diet.
Boros mocks me. Boros Recruit is tolerable, but I want to play cards with more impact. Lightning Helix is impact writ large. (But it won’t take care of Razia, Boros Archangel.)
The Conclave gives us two Selesnya Evangels. They’ll muck up any board with 1/1s given any reasonable amount of time, and smile as they do it. They can add up to an early Guardian of Vitu-Ghazi, if you are lucky. Selesnya Sagittars gives us a solid defender that can take out any common flier in the format. We have a Signet and a bounceland for shaping our mana base as we like.
I’m left with a hollow feeling as I stare at the Golgari crew. Drooling Groodion guarantees you’ll rule the combat step if you untap with him. His cost is quite steep. On the other hand, turning a useless creature into Consume Strength feels like having Master Warcraft on a stick. Gaze of the Gorgon crops up yet again. I’m learning to appreciate this trick, though I still balk at its cost and unwieldiness. I suppose the odds of having it kill the correct creature go up when you are using it on defense. Shambling Shell is always pleasant to see, though Woodwraith Strangler isn’t.
Svogthos, the Restless Tomb is fiendishly devious, though it only comes into its own after a long and grueling series of topdeck wars. Just seeing the card in the pool makes my brain scream in frustration. Activating the land will only factor into play one in every four or five games in Sealed, but when it does come online, it’ll be a fine addition to your force. I’d only play it when running a two-color deck or lightly splashing a third color.
By comparison, Duskmantle, House of Shadow, is much easier to include. Its activation cost is much simpler, though it’s still a considerable drain on your resources. Dimir also gives us Moroii. Moroii is clinically insane. Trophy Hunters throw up their hands in frustration when he hits the table. His drawback can make a difference in a few games, but most of the time he’ll be the right man to do the right job. Moroii looks better when your primary focus is Golgari, but he’ll fit into any Dimir deck.
For the first time this week, Red has a bunch of men I can actually respect. Goblin Spelunkers don’t usually get the evasion in this format, but when they do, they’re golden. The rest of the time, they’re still Grey Ogres, and as such they can trade in fights. Greater Forgeling scares the pants off of people, since it can hit for a lot if they don’t get blocked. This pool has two of them. If they are relegated to blocking duty, they can slay Siege Wurms. Indentured Oaf hits hard and doesn’t slack off all that much. War-Torch Goblin ensures you’ll clear away their big blockers. He’s one of the few one drops I like in this format. Lastly, we have Viashino Fangtail, who is the best Red common in the set. He kills tokens and Nightguard Patrols. He can snipe at your opponent, or attack if the board’s clear.
The rest of Red is shaky, but still wafts the scent of potential. Sabertooth Alley Cat isn’t a bad finisher. You just have to remember that he costs three mana and two mana every turn after for your Phantom Warrior, instead of just the initial three that Blue has to. (And people say Blue gets the shaft these days.) If you’re willing to cough up the mana, it’s not the worst deal out there. Torpid Moloch will never be a superstar, but he’s a passable blocker. He might get to attack, someday. Two Rain of Embers make fine 23rd cards. They kill Saprolings. We round out the Red with Mindmoil, which is extremely expensive, but if you absolutely, positively must draw the card of your dreams, this may work for you.
White is light on the creatures and heavy on the removal and tricks. Two Faith’s Fetters can handle any major bombs. It can take care of Vulturous Zombie. It can get Sisters of Stone Death off your back. (Personally, I don’t care if I get a back massage from an ugly thing like them, just so long as it relieves the stress.)
I was watching drafts at Big Magic, Nagoya’s most prominent Magic store, and Boros Fury-Shield went late. Really late. Around eleventh or thirteenth pick. Boros Fury-Shield is like Captain’s Maneuver, except it’s infinitely cheaper. So what if it can’t kill the creature of your choice? It’s rubber, you’re glue. We have two of these beauties. Keep in mind that Boros Fury-Shield’s Red trigger resolves as part of the spell, though the damage prevention happens later. That’s another factor putting the card ahead of Captain’s Maneuver.
The pale creatures are a mix. Screeching Griffin is overpriced when viewed next to Skyknight Legionnaire, but at least you’ll be assured it’s getting through every time. Oathbound Giant can whip your slacking army into mean, fighting trim shape. I love this guy, even if he costs six mana. Wojek Apothecary, on the other hand, has too many instances where he helps out your opponent. If your deck is running lightly on Green and has many gold Boros men, then it’s fine. But since everyone and their brother plays Green in Ravnica Sealed, I can’t like the Apothecary.
White does have a fair amount of chaff. Three Dreams becomes optimal when you’re playing four enchantments in your deck, since when you’ve played it you’ve probably only drawn one so far. You want to be sure you’re getting three hits every time you play it. It’s a very finicky tool, so don’t anticipate it being good very often. Leave No Trace doesn’t hit artifacts. It’s also bothersome because when you destroy your opponent’s Faith’s Fetters, you don’t want to be trashing yours at the same time. Dromad Purebred costs too much to make enough impact when he hits the table. I don’t know if I would play the camel even if it handed over two life, not one.
Green has a modest array of creatures, though they’re a little faster and cheaper and smaller than you’d usually expect from the forests. Greater Mossdog is strictly better than Hill Giant, and will always get played when you’re playing green. This is one faithful pooch, folks, he always comes back when you want him to. Transluminant is a Grizzly Bear that can reach for the skies. I like Grizzly Bears. Elvish Skysweeper is a remarkably undervalued card that can trade with the likes of Razia, Divebomber Griffin, Snapping Drake, or Szadek, Lord of Secrets. Except you often aren’t throwing the Skysweeper at your opponent’s flier, but instead a disposable Saproling. And we can get more Saprolings with Fists of Ironwood.
Boy, with all these little guys in this deck, what I wouldn’t give for a Rally the Righteous.
Two Gather Courages are always wonderful in a deck filled with little guys. If you’ve got Selesnya Evangel in play, it’s easy to activate it and some other creature, make a token, then immediately use that token to pay for Gather Courage with Convoke. It squeezes every little last drop out of your mana and makes it work for you.
The rest of the Green cards don’t do a lot for me. Farseek is fine if your main color is Green and you’re splashing, but if you’re just using Green a little, don’t bother splashing for Farseek. Perilous Forays is just too expensive to get working most of the time, and you probably don’t need that mana anyway if you’re playing Boros. Perilous Forays looks a lot better in decks with a heavy W/G focus. Stone-Seeder Hierophant is a Fyndhorn Elder who can’t be bothered to give you that second mana every turn, and it costs one more. But at least it can produce non-Green mana. I’d only play it if your deck was running six or seven cards that cost six or more. Not that I want to be playing 40 card decks with that many pricy cards anyway.
My eyes light up when I look over the Black. Two Dimir House Guards draw the eye. So do Undercity Shade and Vigor Mortis. Dimir House Guards have a solid evasion ability. They’re fine blockers, guaranteed to make trades painful. Fear works much more reliably than in Invasion Block, where there were more gold creatures around. And it’s a lot more reliable than in Mirrodin Block. Add to that the sneaky Undercity Shade, and you have a solid team of evasive men.
In a format where most of the game winners cost five mana, Nightmare Void seems like a good card. Play beaters from turn 1 to 3, then play Nightmare Void once or twice, and you’ve made sure your opponent will have to topdeck his threats. On the other hand, you’re turning off your four-drops as well, so you’re paying a price for your spite. In Limited, this isn’t always the safest move. What would you do in this case?
There’s some other goodies in Black. Brainspoil and Last Gasp are reliable removal spells. Roofstalker Wight doesn’t look at your library like Cruel Deceiver, but he’s still a 2/1 for two, so he’s certainly playable. Shred Memory and Dimir Machinations don’t go in here unless there’s a bomb we need to tutor for. Infectious Host doesn’t inspire any warm feelings, and no opponent will ever let you play Necromantic Thirst and let you hit him with it. On the other hand, if you really want to make sure your creature gets blocked, I suppose it could be passable bait. That’s really stretching to find some use out of Necromantic Thirst.
My Blood Funnel was foil. That might make me feel better for having opened it.
Nah.
Another day, another Blue pile of mediocrity. I like Snapping Drake, and Vedalken Entrancer is endearing. Everything else makes me turn my nose. Stasis Cell costs far more than Dehydration, and doesn’t even tap the guy. It’s far worse than Mystic Restraints. I don’t understand why people play it. Induce Paranoia only works in one deck archetype, and you’re rarely going to get it to work properly in Sealed. Terraformer is a very pricy mana fixer, and Vedalken Dismisser is just way too expensive to be worth it and throw down a 2/2 onto the table.
I don’t want to build Golgari/Selesnya. I don’t want to build Golgari/Selesnya. I really don’t want to build Golgari/Selesnya. How can I go into the intricacies of the new sealed format when I don’t even address two of the set’s colors in the build section?
Build A:
1cc: Elvish Skysweeper, Gather Courage x2
2cc: Selesnya Evangel x2, Transluminant, Fists of Ironwood, Farseek, Lightning Helix, Selesnya Signet
3cc: Goblin Spelunkers, Boros Fury-Shield x2
4cc: Greater Mossdog, Indentured Oaf, Screeching Griffin, Viashino Fangtail, Faith’s Fetters x2, Gaze of the Gorgon
5cc: Greater Forgeling x2, Selesnya Sagittars
6cc: Oathsworn Giant
5 Forest
5 Plains
5 Mountain
Selesnya Sanctuary
Build B:
1cc: Elvish Skysweeper, Gather Courage x2
2cc: Selesnya Evangel x2, Transluminant, Farseek, Fists of Ironwood, Last Gasp, Selesnya Signet
3cc: Shambling Shell
4cc: Dimir House Guard x2, Greater Mossdog, Screeching Griffin, Faith’s Fetters x2, Gaze of the Gorgon, Vigor Mortis
5cc: Brainspoil
6cc: Drooling Groodion, Oathsworn Giant
Both builds have a glut of two and four-drops. This looks to be a regular feature of the sealed format.
The BGW deck just has stronger cards. Red has the better curve, and the direct damage of Boros Fury-Shield is a potent attraction. But the Forgelings just aren’t as potent as the kill spells of Black. We need to be able to exploit the curve jumping to four and skip through the three slot.
At the same time, we don’t want to have too many cards that cost five or more in a sealed deck. If you have four playable mana accelerants, then it may be worth considering. The black build’s mana is just that much tighter than the red build.
Why did I bother to put that poor RGW deck up there? It’s important to document your mistakes, and figure out why you were drawn to them. I wanted to try the faster, angry Red cards. That was an error. It was a case where I irrationally wanted to make a quality build without using the same color combination as the last three pools. I then recalled Mick Jagger’s poignant words. We can’t always get what we want.
Will we go with Selesnya and Golgari in five out of five builds? We’ll wrap up this series tomorrow with addressing forum comments, one more pool, and final thoughts.
Eli Kaplan
[email protected]
gaijineli on efnet
BONUS SECTION:
Here’s one of those wacky decks I am considering running at Aichi Prefectural Championships, though it needs a bit more testing. It has a bad matchup against Boros Deck Wins, but has good game against Gifts and Enduring Ideal decks, as well as random matchups.
“Gotou Deck Wins”
designed by Yuusei Gotou
4 Glimpse the Unspeakable
4 Traumatize
4 Vulturous Zombie
4 Putrefy
3 Brainspoil
3 Plague Boiler
2 Psychic Drain
2 Recollect
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Elves of Deep Shadow
3 Kodama’s Reach
2 Dimir Signet
4 Yavimaya Coast
2 Llanowar Wastes
2 Underground River
8 Forest
3 Island
3 Swamp
Sideboard: (my design)
3 Persecute
2 Cranial Extraction
4 Hideous Laughter
3 Naturalize
1 Kodama’s Reach
2 Pithing Needle
The deck is a one trick pony, but has a lot of redundancy. Get a Vulturous Zombie out, then untap, Traumatize the other guy, then swing for ridiculous amounts of damage. If you don’t have the Traumatize, you can use Glimpse of Knowledge to just mill the opponent out. All you need to do is swing twice. Decking your opponent is certainly an option. Everything else is either tutoring to get the combo off, or mana acceleration to get the combo off faster.
I am considering cutting a Brainspoil and two of the Plague Boilers for a Meloku of the Clouded Mirror, Persecute, and Grave-Shell Scarab. Grave-Shell Scarab is a wonderful card for baiting out the counterspells against decks with counters. The deck cries out for card draw as well. This probably will get moved to the back burner and I’ll play White Weenie, but I figured I’d just throw it out there and see if you guys think I’m off my rocker.