So I’ve had this pile of cards sitting on my desk for the last week, just staring at me. I have to tell you, at this point I’m a little afraid of it. I attended the Guildpact prerelease just like the rest of you and had a jolly old time. After recording an unimpressive record in my solo flight, I won the teams competition flanked by my boys Jim Ferraiolo and Chris “StarWarsKid” McDaniel. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Limited in the last week, it’s that we’ve entered a brave new world.
Ravnica Sealed was all about taking your Green cards, pairing them with White or Black and then figuring out just how far you could stretch your manabase to work in whatever bombs you opened. Considering that R&D tests mostly Sealed when they develop Limited, I’m surprised that they let Green be so completely dominant, but all that’s behind us now and doesn’t merit much further comment. Tiago Chan likely won’t be playing exclusively Green/White decks for the rest of the block like he has up until now and I – well, I have to figure out a new Limited format and hope I do half as well as I did in the old one.
The introduction of Guildpact brings a format where card pools spread themselves across seven guilds, tempting the weak and the stupid alike to roll the dice by playing all bombs and hoping to get lucky with their draws. Don’t let that be you. I figure that probably 40% of all games in this format will be decided by mana issues (as opposed to the usual 20%), meaning finding the balance point between consistency and power in your pool will be the most important thing you can do. Thus we come to the opening rule of Guildpact Sealed:
Rule #1 – It (Still) All Starts With Green
I believe that most formats build on their predecessors. States 2005 built on Gifts Ungiven as a foundation, and Ravnica/Guildpact Sealed will build upon the fact that Green was the stone nuts in Ravnica Sealed. It remains the only color that allows you to accelerate out threats while fixing your manabase at the same time. Guildpact certainly delivers less than you are losing from Ravnica in the way of color-fixing, with only Silhana Starfletcher and Wild Cantor providing any help, but something is better than nothing, particularly since you now have more goodies than ever to try and splash for. Try not to be overzealous with the physical love you show the Civic Wayfinders you open – they still need to be in playable condition for the Grand Prix/Pro Tour Qualifiers.
Take a look at the following card pool and build your own Sealed deck before we walk through it together to examine what each color gives you.
White
Ghost Warden
Shrieking Grotesque
Benevolent Ancestor
Gate Hound
Nightguard Patrol
Conclave Equenaut
Auratouched Mage
Benediction of Moons
Shadow Lance
Guardian’s Magemark
Seed Spark
Selesnya
Tolsimir Wolfblood
Guardian of Vitu-Ghazi
Green
Elves of Deep Shadow
Starved Rusalka
Silhana Starfletcher
Golgari Brownscale
Nullmage Shepherd
Ghor-Clan Savage
Bramble Elemental
Gruul Nodorog
Farseek
Primeval Light
Perilous Forays
Black
Lurking Informant
Stinkweed Imp
Restless Bones
Mortipede
Sewerdreg
Disembowel
Cremate
Shred Memory
Clinging Darkness
Necromancer’s Magemark
Brainspoil
Dimir
Twisted Justice
Blue
Surveilling Sprite
Steamcore Weird
Repeal
Train of Thought
Compulsive Research
Flight of Fancy
Gigadrowse
Induce Paranoia
Stasis Cell
Muddle the Mixture
Izzet
Petrahydrox
Wee Dragonauts
Red
Torpid Moloch
Viashino Slasher
Sell-Sword Brute
Bloodscale Prowler
Ordruun Commando
Surge of Zeal
Smash
Fencer’s Magemark
Flame Fusillade
Boros
Sunhome Enforcer
Rally the Righteous
Lightning Helix
Orzhov
Angel of Despair
Blind Hunter
Castigate
Mortify
Artifact
Boros Signet
Gruul Signet
Sunforger
Lands
Boros Garrison
Orzhov Basilica
Duskmantle, House of Shadow
Nivix, Aerie of the Firemind
Skarrg, the Rage Pits
Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree
Svogthos, the Restless Tomb
………
If I were good at poetry
This would be where
I’d write silly lines
In couplet or simple rhyme
But instead I’ll leave that to Stevenson
And stick to dots from now on. [For that, we all thank you. — Craig]
Following the first rule, let’s take a look at how constricted we are in terms of splashing. Green delivers a Starfletcher, Elves of the Deep Shadow, and Farseek – nothing impressive, but enough to build on. Expanding out from there, you have access to both Boros and Gruul Signets, plus Karoo times two in Boros Garrison and Orzhov Basilica. This is pretty solid, giving you some direct help in playing every color except Blue for your deck. The mana for this deck won’t quite be as flexible as the incredibly hot yoga instructor you’ve been drooling over every time you go to the gym, but sex that good can kill a man, so count yourself lucky.
Now we’ll address the second rule for Guildpact Sealed:
Rule 2) Bombs and Removal Still Rule, But…
Look, bombs and removal are what makes Limited so great. However, if Guildpact is at all like Ravnica (and it should be, since we’re like, still playing Ravnica cards and stuff), there are enough answers to the bombs to make it a very skilltesting format. Onslaught Limited was a place where you just lost to people’s bombs. Ravnica, in spite of having a lot of sexy bombs, is much more of a threat vs. answer, punch vs. counter-punch format. Because of this, good players will tend to err on the side of consistency when building their decks. There is nothing worse than staring at a handful of bombs with your thumb planted firmly in some place uncomfortable, waiting for the right mana to be able to cast them. Sadly, a lot of people are going die just like this, so be careful about shaking hands when you win.
Let’s take a look at what each color from the card pool above has to offer.
White
Straight White gives you four solid men in Ghost Warden, Nightguard Patrol, Shrieking Grotesque, and Conclave Equenaut, plus a maybe-guy in Auratouched Mage. In terms of spells, you get Shadow Lance (highly playable if you are running enough Black) and Seed Spark, a card that will lack for targets less than before the introduction of Guildpact. White starts off okay, but suddenly turns very attractive when you look at the Guild cards that are available to you. We’ll get to those in time.
Green
Green is solid but unspectacular. It provides dudes, mana fixing, and uh… well, that’s it, actually. Thankfully, that’s generally going to be enough to make it playable in your Sealed pools. Nullmage Shepherd is quite strong in Sealed, helping to blunt early offensives and take away Signet and aura access for your opponents, provided she has backup. Any color sporting two useful 4/4s also deserves consideration, since that’s about as large as animals get in the common slot these days. The other thing Green does is turn on Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree and Tolsimir Wolfblood, one of which should probably have the word “bomb” stenciled in place of the Selesnya Guild watermark, and goshdarnit if they don’t work well in tandem.
Black
In Ravnica, you were playing Black almost exclusively for the removal spells, since there was a total of one common animal (Dimir House Guard) that rated “very good” status. (To be fair, Sewerdreg was almost always playable, and Stinky and Mortipede are solid citizens, but it’s fair to say Black’s non-Guild creatures weren’t exactly its strong point). Guildpact changes this a smidge with dooders like Ostiary Thrull, but we didn’t get any of those, so we’re back to running Black mostly for removal and guild elements.
Disembowel, Brainspoil, and Clinging Darkness are welcome additions to almost any card pool, but some players will have to change their pants after seeing both Mortify and Angel of Despair in the same pile. Sadly, there ends the quality spells in Black, as you miss out on Joel S. Houseman, the Thrull, and the Imp and are stuck with the same old poopers in Mortipede, Stinky, Lurking Informant and the Dregs. I love a Blind Hunter more than most, but a man needs creatures in Limited. Even looking at guild mana, there are only two here that make me want to play them and both require White.
Blue
Blue gives you four outstanding spells in Repeal, Compulsive Research, Train of Thought, and Flight of Fancy. Every one of these equates to card advantage and is good in the late game, which is where Sealed frequently ends up. Unfortunately, you lack respectable men in this color, and don’t get any of the good Izzet enablers either. We aren’t playing Blue unless it’s as a splash to draw cards in the late game.
Red
Red got some extras out of Guildpact, but most of the ones you want to play are Guild affiliated. It’s possible that the Gruul/Selesnya combo will now become the best archetype for Sealed deck, but the base Red men (once again) aren’t anything to write home about. In fact, if I were intentionally trying to pick a deck that says “you had a pretty crappy draft”, this would be the motley crew I’d choose, right up the curve. Dipping into the guild elements gets you Sunhome Enforcer and Petrahydrox (which sounds like the active ingredient for some Neutrogena product), both of whom are respectable but not good enough to force the color. The spells are where we come alive, giving you Lightning Helix and the absolutely absurd Flame Fusillade. I see a splash in our future here (maybe even including Rally the Righteous), but I doubt I’ll do much more than that.
Lands and Artifacts
I’d be a little pissed about getting this card pool for my deck, since an astounding five uncommon slots are occupied by guild lands. I mean, sure, Skarrg, the Rage Pits and Vitu-Ghazi are both great in Sealed, and Svogthos is at least playable, but daddy needs men! Would it have been too much to ask for a Guildmage or two? Aaanyway… the artifacts are the real treat in this category, giving you two mana fixers and another bomb card in Sunforger, while you’ll happily gobble up the two extra karoo lands since they’ll help a splash or two.
After all of that, here’s the tally for removal spells and bombs:
Removal
Brainspoil
Clinging Darkness
Disembowel
Mortify
Lighting Helix
Flame Fusillade
Angel of Despair
Bombs
Tolsimir Woldblood
Sunforger
Angel of Despair
And some consideration given to Vitu-Ghazi
So what did you come up with? Personally, I’ve come to the conclusion that Guildpact Sealed is going to be terribly difficult and should perhaps come with some sort of warning label like “Has been known to cause brain hemorrhages in laboratory rats,” but I shall soldier on, if only because there’s a Grand Prix coming this weekend and we all need the practice. I’m far from certain that my build is right (I assume it’s close though – maybe three or four cards off), but it does lead us to the third rule of Guildpact Sealed that I wanted to discuss today, which is this:
Rule 3) Always Be Prepared to Kill Your Darlings
With this card pool you have spells and men sprawling across at least four colors, and hit a fifth if you insist on playing any of the Blue spells. (I think this would be a mistake, but if you feel otherwise, let me know.) You clearly want to play both the Black and the Red removal spells, but how do you do that and still find enough creatures to fill your deck? Here’s what I’d likely play:
Creatures (14)
- 1 Elves of Deep Shadow
- 1 Bramble Elemental
- 1 Conclave Equenaut
- 1 Golgari Brownscale
- 1 Guardian of Vitu-Ghazi
- 1 Nightguard Patrol
- 1 Nullmage Shepherd
- 1 Tolsimir Wolfblood
- 1 Angel of Despair
- 1 Blind Hunter
- 1 Ghost Warden
- 1 Gruul Nodorog
- 1 Shrieking Grotesque
- 1 Silhana Starfletcher
Lands (16)
Spells (10)
This build is rather frustrating, but it does try to maximize your best cards while not completely submarining your manabase to do it. I don’t like running two double-Black spells with only four true sources, but Brainspoil and the Angel are both very good and it felt better than running Lightning Helix, Shadow Lance, or something like Ghor-Clan Savage (which can be very good, but is pretty stinky when it is not). Plus, the elves and Farseek will help out enough that I felt I could get away with this build. Yes, you are still going to lose games because you can’t cast either White spells or Black spells, but in spite of the fact that I left both double-Black spells out of my first two builds before settling on this one, I don’t think that can be helped here. Two-color Sealed decks are now a thing of the past – sketchy mana is officially the new pink.
How good is this deck? Pretty good, provided you get your mana on time. You certainly have bombs and removal, but your guys aren’t anything special — minus a six and a seven-drop. You’d have to trade guys early, use removal to deal with problem creatures, and kill your opponent with fliers, tokens, or bombs. Fourteen men plus Vitu-Ghazi should at least give you a chance, and you are playing six of your seven removal spells. Somebody good could probably make Top 8 at a Pro Tour Qualifier level field with it, but it’s certainly not the type of thing you’d see in the Undefeated Day 1 lists at a Grand Prix.
Think I screwed up? Feel free to fill me in via the forums. I’ll be playing in my first Grand Prix in almost two years on Saturday and require all the help I can get before then. I’ll be back with another build on Friday, which will include a very special guest star, making it sound strangely like an episode of 7th Heaven.