Now that the PTQ season is in full swing, we are being treated to a slew of Sealed deck articles. At least us Premium subscribers. Go on, you know you want to subscribe to StarCityGames.com Premium, it’s only $30 a year.
Anyway, first there was an article by Chad Ellis where he makes a rather persuasive argument for splashing pretty much every time, because you’re playing to make Top 8 and you’ll have to beat the 4-0 decks to do so. You’ll need power to compete with them, not just consistency. He mentioned that for the same reason he always maindecked Annul in Urza’s block sealed because 4-0 decks were bound to have some broken artifact or enchantment. What I would argue is that this also applies to the current format. You should always maindeck Terashi’s Grasp or Wear Away because the list of valid targets is long and many of them can create horrible autolose situations.
So, do I agree that you should always splash? Not entirely. Playing a risky manabase to increase the power level of your deck can reap amazing awards, but it can backfire, and you’ll usually lose to manascrew at some point in the tournament. Most of those 4-0 decks will have maximized their power at the expense of a reliable manabase and gotten somewhat lucky in the first four rounds. If they start having mana issues when they play you in round five, and your consistent deck of doom can pounce on that, then you don’t need to splash any extra power to take down the mighty 4-0. You’ve just got to see what works best in the specific card pool you open.
Then there was an article from the Magic Jerk, Michael Clair. He says that sealed deck is all down to luck and play skill, so deck construction doesn’t really matter all that much and the way to prepare for a sealed deck tournament is to draft lots. I hate this attitude. He puts no effort into preparation and gives himself a get-out clause if he screws up his deck construction. Stop blaming others, such as Lady Luck, God or Wizards for your failures and own up. What a jerk! (Isn’t it great when people offer you ways of insulting them that just don’t seem so bad because they call themselves that.)
On Saturday I headed down to Nottingham, 120 km over the hills. I wouldn’t call them mountains, though to my surprise there was still snow lying on the top! In mid-April! Unfortunately, we took some winding country roads, so I was feeling somewhat ill on arrival, though that went away after a little walk in search of a convenience store.
During the usual infinite wait for them to hand out the product, I have a chat with Bill Johnson, as I always have when the two of us are at a tournament together (or at least ever since we both had our first PTQ Top 8 together last February). There was one difference this time though, he was quoting myself at me, telling me things he agreed on and saying how good it was that there was an Englishman other than Craig Stevenson writing about sealed deck because some of the jokes in Sealed Revealed were wearing awfully thin.
Anyway, he asked which Betrayers common I would most like to open, suggesting it might be Waxmane Baku. Although I hadn’t really thought about this question I said Gnarled Mass without hesitation. I’m not saying that it’s the best common in Betrayers, that title goes to Horobi’s Whisper with Waxmane taking the silver, but Gnarled Mass is just the one that works best for me. It’s a great 3-drop in a color that doesn’t have many of them, a 3-drop that has no drawback and doesn’t trade with your average 2-drop. I also love Green in this format.
So we receive our cards and I open the pre-registered deck. What’s the first card staring back at me? A Gnarled Mass! What’s the second card? Another Gnarled Mass! I almost fall off my chair laughing. If anyone reading this sees me at a PTQ, please come up to me and ask me what five rares I want to open. Please! Of course I almost choke to death when I see that my card pool also contains 2 Takeno’s Cavalry. [For more on Mr. Dingler’s adventures with the Calvary, please check out last week’s article. – Knut] It was one of those card pools with lots of two-ofs. Why couldn’t it double-up on Waxy Bobs as well? Enough talk, on with the pool.
Red
1 Frost Ogre
1 Kami of Fire’s Roar
1 Ogre Recluse
1 Hearth Kami
1 Blademane Baku
1 Battle-Mad Ronin
1 Ishi-Ishi, Akki Crackshot
1 Akki Rockspeaker
1 Frostling
1 Akki Avalanchers
1 Devouring Rage
1 Sowing Salt
1 Flames of the Blood Hand
2 First Volley
Black
1 Kami of Lunacy
1 Deathcurse Ogre
1 Okiba-Gang Shinobi
1 Skullmane Baku
1 Blood Speaker
1 Villainous Ogre
1 Nezumi Ronin
1 Nezumi Bone-Reader
1 Pull Under
1 Devouring Greed
1 Night of Soul’s Betrayal
2 Blessing of Leeches
1 Ragged Veins
1 Psychic Spear
Blue
1 Teller of Tales
1 Soratami Mindsweeper
1 River Kaijin
1 Mistblade Shinobi
1 Student of Elements
1 Kaijin of the Vanishing Touch
1 Ribbons of the Reikai
1 Minamo’s Meddling
1 Eerie Procession
1 Counsel of the Soratami
1 Eye of Nowhere
1 Phantom Wings
1 Psychic Puppetry
1 Peer Through Depths
1 Reach through Mists
White
1 Genju of the Fields
1 Kitsune Diviner
1 Bushi Tenderfoot
1 Split-Tail Miko
1 Kabuto Moth
1 Waxmane Baku
2 Takeno’s Cavalry (sob!)
1 Patron of the Kitsune
1 Samurai Enforcers
1 Terashi’s Cry
1 Cage of Hands
1 Call to Glory
1 Vigilance
Green
1 Venerable Kumo
1 Order of the Sacred Bell
2 Gnarled Mass (yeah!)
1 Dripping-Tongue Zubera
1 Orochi Ranger
1 Humble Budoka
2 Traproot Kami
1 Gale Force
1 Serpent Skin
1 Kodama’s Might
Artifacts and Lands
1 Hair-Strung Koto
1 No-Dachi
1 Minamo, School at Water’s Edge
1 Tranquil Garden
As usual, Blue can be dismissed almost immediately in this card pool. Unusually, it is even easier to dismiss Black for anything except possibly a splash of Pull Under. White is an easy inclusion, sporting two of the marquee 3-drops, the awesome Genju of ridiculous lifegain and the bombalicious Patron, as well as the pool’s best removal spell in Cage of Hands. The choices here came down to whether the secondary color should be Green or Red, and what should be splashed. As the Red was lacking in what it does best (burn), I went with the Masses. After saying beforehand the Betrayers common I most want to open is Gnarled Mass I could hardly leave two of them in the board.
Creatures (17)
1 Kitsune Diviner
1 Bushi Tenderfoot
1 Split-Tail Miko
1 Ishi-Ishi, Akki Crackshot
1 Dripping-Tongue Zubera (S)
1 Orochi Ranger
1 Humble Budoka
1 Kabuto Moth (S)
1 Waxmane Baku (S)
1 Genju of the Fields [S]
2 Gnarled Mass (S)
1 Order of the Sacred Bell
1 Ogre Recluse
1 Venerable Kumo (S)
1 Samurai Enforcers
1 Patron of the Kitsune (S)
Other Spells (5)
1 Kodama’s Might (A)
1 First Volley (A)
1 No-Dachi
1 Serpent Skin
1 Cage of Hands
Lands (18)
1 Tranquil Garden
3 Mountain
7 Plains
7 Forest
Spirits: 7+1
Arcane: 2
The creature quality in this deck is awesome. When others are playing 2/2s, I’m playing 3/3s, when others are playing 2/3s, I’m playing 5/4s. Tim Aten and others keep saying that creature quality is largely irrelevant and whether or not a sealed deck is any good depends on the quality of the spells, but when your creatures are this big, this efficient and fit such a nice curve, then nothing short of the full black removal package will get them out of it. Let’s compare the W/R/b build.
Creatures (16)
1 Kitsune Diviner
1 Bushi Tenderfoot
1 Frostling (S)
1 Split-Tail Miko
1 Ishi-Ishi, Akki Crackshot
1 Battle-Mad Ronin
1 Blademane Baku (S)
1 Hearth Kami (S)
1 Kabuto Moth (S)
1 Waxmane Baku (S)
1 Genju of the Fields [S]
1 Ogre Recluse
1 Kami of Fire’s Roar (S)
1 Frost Ogre
1 Samurai Enforcers
1 Patron of the Kitsune (S)
Other Spells (6)
2 First Volley (A)
1 Cage of Hands
1 Pull Under (A)
1 No-Dachi
1 Devouring Rage (A)
Lands (18)
2 Swamp
8 Mountain
8 Plains
Spirits: 7+1
Arcane: 4
This pool just doesn’t have an awful lot of good non-creature spells, so playing a deck like this stuffed with mediocre guys isn’t going to get you anywhere, even if it doesn’t have the mana issues that come with Gnarled Masses. The spells in this deck aren’t even any better, I’d much rather have Kodama’s Might and Serpent Skin than First Volley and Pull Under. I think I definitely chose the right colors, though I did make one mistake. I really should have played the Devouring Rage over Ishi-Ishi. The lover of goats is great when he comes down on turn 2 and sticks around a while against a spirit-heavy deck, but if he comes out on turn 6 or later, as might happen in the splash color, he’ll be giving you much less love than the goats. This deck often had trouble finishing off an opponent after a reasonably fast start and Devouring Rage can provide just the finish that’s needed here. That might have stopped the wretched draws this deck kept having in the endless mirror matches.
Endless mirror matches? Well, that’s what you get having two draws after round three. The draw bracket is full of G/W/x decks. Isn’t that great? It was almost like constructed playtesting. So let’s look at the matchup.
Vs. the mirror
In this matchup you are almost always the beatdown, as your guys are just better than theirs most of the time. Getting a quick start with turn 3 Gnarled Mass can easily be crippling for them. If you don’t have a fast start, the game will almost always go long, as you are very good at staying alive with Genju and Patron. Other key cards in this matchup are No-Dachi, Serpent Skin and especially Kitsune Diviner. The dreaded Traproot Kami stops your beatdown and the Diviner can keep him down. Seeing a Diviner on the other side of the table is also bad news and it’s almost always the right target for First Volley. This matchup is favorable and doesn’t really require sideboarding, though the second First Volley might be an idea. (The Devouring Rage is assumed to have been put into the maindeck).
Record against this deck: 5-2-2 (Win ratio 70-30)
So let’s have a look at what happened when I faced some of the other 65 players.
Rd.1 vs. Zhongda Gao (R/W)
Game 1 I get out the Genju and No-Dachi and beat him down by equipping it every turn. So, how many games have you won by beating down with a Plains carrying a sword? When he was down to two life with only one blocker I equipped the No-Dachi to my Kitsune Diviner and attacked with it and a plains. This is clearly the sort of game they had in mind when they designed a block around flavour. Game 2 I get plenty of beats in and he has trouble finding creatures, though he has lots of removal, but nothing to contain the Genju, though he did kill three of my Plains. I miss an opportunity to kill him by alpha-striking. The following turn he plays Kiki-Jiki to complement his (Caged) Moonlit Strider and I think I’ve blown it because I can only get one damage through before he comes back by soulshifting every turn. Then I realize that I’m outthinking myself. K-J + Caged Strider = Only one blocker. Even if he has the choice between three blockers (K-J, copied Strider, real Strider). So I attack with my three guys for the kill. Whew!
1-0
Rd. 2 vs. Pete Norris (G/W/r)
Game 1 I fail to mulligan a hand that had no play before turn 4 and Pete quickly dispatches me with his turn 3 Gnarled Mass. Game 2 I get Serpent Skin on Order of the Sacred Bell and even Blind With Anger has nothing on a huge regenerator, ably supported by the Genju. Game 3 I have an early Genju but he very soon gets me down to four with a Devouring Rage, sacrificing Iname, Life Aspect and three other spirits, getting all but name back. I then started playing very defensively and it gets to the point where I’m dead to his Hundred-Talon Kami next turn unless I gain some life. So I attack with the Genju and activate it four times to gain eight life. I then start beating down with the Genju and a No-Dachied Gnarled Mass, and they are soon joined by the Patron. Time is called, and on the fifth extra turn I get him down to 1 life with myself on 22. If only I had started attacking a turn earlier! Rats! I don’t feel too bad, as Pete is a local, a good guy and a great player, until the end of the tournament, when I realise this was the mistake that once again cost me top 8. Of course I might not have made it anyway as I would have had to play against better opponents/better decks.
1-0-1
Rd. 3 vs. Daniel Godfrey (B/G/R)
Game 1 he kills my Ogre Recluse and my Order of the Sacred Bell with Blind with Anger and kills most of my other creatures with his endless removal, but I manage to pull it out with a Serpent Skinned Mass. Game 2 he kills all my stuff and finishes me off with Devouring Greed. Game 3 he plays a turn 1 Nezumi Shadow-Watcher and forgets to attack with it on turn 2 into an empty board. That cost him the match as he gets me down to one life on the fifth extra turn. So, one draw I should have won followed by a draw I should have lost. A win and a loss would have been so much better than two draws. Oh well, four more wins and I’m in.
1-0-2
Rd. 4 vs. James Shipley (G/W/x)
Both games I curve out beautifully and he’s somewhat screwed, so after going to time twice ending in draws I’m done in less than ten minutes this time! In game 1 I actually managed to flip Bushi Tenderfoot, though he could have easily prevented that had he sacced the Child of Thorns that was blocking it. Not that it really mattered, there was just no way he was beating turn 3 Gnarled Mass.
2-0-2
Rd. 5 vs. Russ Davis (U/W/r)
Here’s the obligatory elimination match against the mate I drove to the PTQ with. We both mulligan but I get the curve of doom with turn 3 Gnarled Mass followed by Kabuto Moth, and he doesn’t find a way to stop Mothra from owning the red zone and soon succumbs. Game 2 he is completely screwed and fails to find any creatures beyond a Devoted Retainer. Even though it had a General’s Kabuto on it I could ignore it thanks to my Split-Tail Miko. He bounced my Genjued Plains when I tried to attack with it but it all just didn’t matter. I think round 1 was the only round where I neither won in less than 15 minutes nor failed to finish the match in time. It just didn’t happen halfway today.
3-0-2
Rd. 6 vs. Paul Wright (G/W/b)
He also has Patron of the Kitsune and Genju of the Fields, and his deck was built much more defensively, quite understandable considering he not only had real removal like Rend Flesh, he also had several additional bombs in Yosei, the Morning Star and Kodama of the North Tree. Game 1 Traproot Kami proves an all-star at slowing me down, I get him down to nine life before he finds his Patron and stabilizes. Soon Yosei joins the party, I find Kitsune Diviner to contain him when I’m on five life, but eventually he Rend Spirits his own Yosei for the win. Game 2 I feel more in control, he has the Patron again, but had I drawn my removal for it (i.e. my own Patron), I think I could have won it. Of course, time ran out, ending the match 1-0 to him. Should I have conceded in game 1 to leave enough time to finish game 2? Perhaps, though there never seemed to be a good moment for the concession. Oh well, another draw wouldn’t really have helped.
3-1-2
Rd. 7 vs. Adam Thomas (G/W/R)
Of course we weren’t playing for more than a few boosters and it’s been a long day, so it’s not surprising if a few mistakes creep in. Adam on the other hand made so many mistakes it wouldn’t be fair to repeat them here. He wasn’t really mentally there at all. Again I’m done in about 15 minutes.
4-1-2
I end up in 13th place. Another near miss with a solid card pool and some obvious mistakes. All because I slept through the moment I needed to switch from control to beatdown. You really need to be prepared for that with a card pool like this that can very effectively do both.
Well then, next try. The following day I descended on Birmingham, 165 km away, attended by 89 players, a lot less than expected. Fortunately they had pre-registered all the decks, and I was handed this:
Red
1 Soul of Magma
1 Ronin Cliffrider
1 Ogre Recluse
1 Kami of Fire’s Roar
1 Akki Underminer
1 Brutal Deceiver
1 Blademane Baku
1 Battle-Mad Ronin
1 Goblin Cohort
1 Torrent of Stone
2 Ire of Kaminari
1 Stone Rain
1 Crushing Pain
Black
1 Iname, Death Aspect
1 Gutwrencher Oni
1 Blood Speaker
1 Gibbering Kami
1 Takenuma Bleeder
1 Nezumi Ronin
1 Skullsnatcher
1 Ashen-Skin Zubera
1 Call for Blood
1 Eradicate
1 Horobi’s Whisper
1 Waking Nightmare
1 Rend Spirit
1 Stir the Grave
1 Ragged Veins
Blue
1 Teller of Tales
1 Quillmane Baku
1 Callow Jushi
1 Kami of Twisted Reflection
1 Graceful Adept
1 Floating-Dream Zubera
1 Teardrop Kami
1 Swirl the Mists
1 Eerie Procession
1 Toils of Night and Day
1 Peer Through Depths
1 Consuming Vortex
1 Phantom Wings
1 Reach Through Mists
White
1 Silverstorm Samurai
1 Hundred-Talon Kami
1 Kitsune Healer
1 Kabuto Moth
1 Kitsune Blademaster
1 Devoted Retainer
1 Empty-Shrine Kannushi
2 Kami of False Hope
1 Terashi’s Cry
1 Terashi’s Verdict
1 Quiet Purity
1 Mending Hands
Green
1 Patron of the Orochi
1 Vine Kami
1 Kodama of the Center Tree
1 Harbinger of Spring
1 Order of the Sacred Bell
1 Kami of the Hunt
1 Orochi Eggwatcher
1 Budoka Gardener
1 Matsu-Tribe Sniper
1 Orochi Leafcaller
1 Traproot Kami
1 Feast of Worms
1 Joyous Respite
1 Kodama’s Reach
1 Serpent Skin
1 Roar of Jukai
1 Time of Need
Artifacts and Lands
1 Jade Idol
1 Pinecrest Ridge
How good is Time of Need in most decks? Awesome! In this deck it’s rubbish. The only vaguely playable rare is one of only five rare creatures in the block that can’t be found with Time of Need. Iname, Death Aspect and Patron of the Orochi can sneak into decks as 22nd/23rd cards, so ToN is a tutor that can find your dregs. Awesome! I remember opening this deck and feeling a tingling anticipation as I flicked through to find the rares, and felt completely dejected when I realized that they were all more or less useless. At that moment I had a breakdown in attitude and basically mentally gave up on the day. I knew I would drop early and I knew that I would try to blame it on the card pool. I also knew that it would really be my own fault.
This deck has quite a bit of removal, and it obviously needs to be B/X/y where either X or y is Red. On the downside, the creatures in this deck are weak overall, and there is no finisher, neither a bomb creature nor a breakthrough card such as Strength of Cedars or Devouring Greed. Unless you count the two Green flip cards. This thinking led me to build this B/G/r deck:
Creatures (15)
1 Orochi Leafcaller
1 Matsu-Tribe Sniper
1 Ashen-Skin Zubera (S)
1 Skullsnatcher
1 Budoka Gardener
1 Orochi Eggwatcher
1 Kami of the Hunt (S)
1 Nezumi Ronin
1 Takenuma Bleeder
1 Gibbering Kami (S)
1 Blood Speaker
1 Order of the Sacred Bell
1 Ogre Recluse
1 Gutwrencher Oni (S)
1 Patron of the Orochi (S)
Other Spells (8)
1 Torrent of Stone (A)
1 Horobi’s Whisper (A)
1 Kodama’s Reach (A)
1 Waking Nightmare (A)
1 Eradicate
1 Rend Spirit
1 Stir the Grave
1 Serpent Skin
Land (17)
1 Pinecrest Ridge
1 Mountain
7 Forest
8 Swamp
Spirits: 5
Arcane: 4
This deck has several problems, the most glaring one I fixed by siding out Patron of the Orochi for another Mountain. This deck needs 18 lands. How I ever expected to cast the Patron I will never know. I was torn to the last minute between this and a B/R/w build, splashing only for the Kabuto Moth. I decided on the above build because the other included mediocre five-drops in Ronin Cliffrider and Soul of Magma. Of course, the answer would have been to expand the splash. Here’s what I should have played, with the benefit of hindsight.
Creatures (15)
1 Goblin Cohort
1 Ashen-Skin Zubera (S)
1 Skullsnatcher
1 Battle-Mad Ronin
1 Blademane Baku (S)
1 Nezumi Ronin
1 Takenuma Bleeder
1 Brutal Deceiver (S)
1 Kitsune Blademaster
1 Kabuto Moth (S)
1 Ogre Recluse
1 Gibbering Kami (S)
1 Blood Speaker
1 Kami of Fire’s Roar (S)
1 Gutwrencher Oni (S)
Other Spells (7)
1 Eradicate
1 Torrent of Stone (A)
1 Horobi’s Whisper (A)
1 Waking Nightmare (A)
1 Rend Spirit
1 Terashi’s Verdict (A)
1 Stir the Grave
Lands (18)
4 Plains
6 Mountain
8 Swamp
Spirits: 7
Arcane: 4
The only thing the Green deck has going for it are the two flip cards that can act as finishers. I did win one game thanks to a horde of 11/11 elemental tokens. The flippers are however terribly fragile, and the B/R/w deck has even more removal and higher creature quality. The two-drops are more aggressive and can better support a strategy of dropping a dude and then killing all their dudes until the opponent goes: “Dude, where’s my life?”
Even had I come up with the right build I wouldn’t have stood a chance on that day. My heart just somehow wasn’t in it anymore after seeing that pool. Maybe that’s why so many people are convinced that it’s all down to luck. They don’t have the right attitude. They don’t stand up to the bad card pool and tell it that it can’t keep them down. It must be defeated. It shall be defeated. One day someone will beat me, but it won’t be today and it won’t be you, bad card pool or you, awesome bomb in an opponent’s deck.
So remember: The reason people can’t win with bad card pools is because they let them get to them. With the right attitude you can defeat your opponent, your bad card pool and your Bruce. All you need is to want it. Next week I will have a better attitude and I won’t go 2-2 drop. Neither will you. No more self-pity. No more playing the blame game. That’s the way to success. I should become a self-help guru. Anyone have any suggestions how I can turn this into a money-making scheme?
Next week: The madness that is PTQ London – London, a look back at all the PTQs so far and a discussion of the 17/18 land issue.
Martin
martin underscore dingler at hotmail dot com