This is the next installment of what promises to be an interminably long series. You never know how many days may be in a week, after all. Cutting up these Ravnica sealed decks should unlock greater wisdom and understanding of the format.
See yesterday’s installment here.
We’ve all sat down at the draft table, praying that our first pack will contain a crazy bomb. Betrayers pack? You tell yourself “please, God, please, I’ll be a good person for the next week at least, just give me a Jitte!” You might even do a good deed or two outside your wonderful card life, because you need the good karma. (Really, you ought to be doing good things for other people anyway.)
Former superstars from Kamigawa that made you jump up and down in rapture as you opened them included Meloku the Clouded Mirror, Kumano, Master Yamabushi, Kagemaro, First to Suffer, and Kodama of the North Tree, Who Is Missing a Comma from Its Name. What unabashed powerhouses can we hope to open in Ravnica’s sprawling metropolis?
Hour of Reckoning is solid. Just be sure you have some tokens to survive the aftermath.
If you’re playing an aggro deck, Loxodon Gatekeeper is ridiculous. Your opponent’s creatures can’t block on the turn they come into play. How sweet is that? Easily one of Boros’s best creatures.
Hunted Dragon does twelve damage over two turns, usually. That’s enough to win most races.
Glare of Subdual is ridiculously powerful and may be the best Limited rare of the set.
Tolsimir Wolfblood is a wonderful efficient creature that can keep summoning 4/4 legendary tokens. Voja will worry your opponent to death.
Vulturous Zombie enjoys a friendly bloodbath just as much as anyone. He can do ludicrous damage after a combat phase or two. He flies.
Which do you rate highest? Is there one I haven’t listed? Bring your thoughts to the forum. In the meantime, here’s the day’s work laid out for us.
Pool Two
Boros Garrison
Lightning Helix
Rally the Righteous
Searing Meditation
Skyknight Legionnaire
Centaur Safeguard
Gaze of the Gorgon
Golgari Rotwurm
Shambling Shell
Consult the Necrosages
Lurking Informant
Perplex
Watery Grave
Barbarian Riftcutter
2 Incite Hysteria
Reroute
Sell-Sword Brute
Smash
Sparkmage Apprentice
Surge of Zeal
Torpid Moloch
Viashino Fangtail
Viashino Slasher
Warp World
Bathe in Light
Benevolent Ancestor
2 Caregiver
2 Conclave Equenaut
Concerted Effort
Devouring Light
Dromad Purebred
2 Festival of the Guildpact
2 Nightguard Patrol
Votary of the Conclave
Bramble Elemental
Dryad’s Caress
Elves of Deep Shadow
Farseek
Goliath Spider
Life from the Loam
Root-Kin Ally
Scatter the Seeds
Sundering Vitae
2 Transluminant
2 Trophy Hunter
Brainspoil
2 Clinging Darkness
Darkblast
Disembowel
Mortipede
Necromantic Thirst
Sewerdreg
Strands of Undeath
Vigor Mortis
Compulsive Research
Drake Familiar
Drift of Phantasms
Flow of Ideas
Grayscaled Gharial
Induce Paranoia
Mnemonic Nexus
Surveilling Sprite
Tattered Drake
Vedalken Dismisser
Wizened Snitches
Peregrine Mask
Terrarion
When bash.org stops having issues, then I’ll be able to properly fill the white space area with stolen jokes. For the time being, please instead find white space here.
Most Limited writers go through Sealed pools by analyzing colors. They also tend not to write articles by throwing yarrow sticks. Like a good resident of Japan, I’ll conform to convention. (I already spent three hours cleaning today, I don’t want to make any more work.)
Boros has a decent selection of Gold cards. Lightning Helix is a no-brainer and easily worth splashing in a deck with White. Rally the Righteous is a vicious game ender. Skyknight Legionnaire brings the pain quickly, and will trade with almost any flyer later on. Boros Garrison helps condense a deck’s mana. I love these bounce lands. Searing Meditation, on the other hand, will require at least four or five mechanisms for life gain to make it into the deck. In draft formats, I can imagine it being exploitable. Presently it looks bad.
Selesnya has a Centaur Safeguard. He can kill a three toughness attacker but dies to Saprolings. He has Final Fantasy sidekick hair.
(ominous sounds of crickets chirping)
Moving right along, Golgari brings Shambling Shell and Golgari Rotwurm. Both are solid creatures and provide quality beats in the midgame. I love Rotwurm’s ability to just end games, but the gods are cruel and rarely allow me to draw him in the many games I’ve played with him. Gaze of the Gorgon looks good at first glance, but it can’t be used to save your creature staring down a Last Gasp or Brainspoil. I just don’t care for it, though many disagree with me.
Following the trend I’ve noticed, Dimir just doesn’t look like it can compete. Without 4/4 flyers for four, the gold cards don’t seem to merit paying attention. Consult the Necrosages is good but not worth splashing for, and Perplex doesn’t appeal to me. It just has too many outs to be worth playing. Lurking Informant is too expensive and too small. But at least there’s a Watery Grave here to console me and my wallet.
The Red does this pool no favors. Viashino Fangtail is the only creature that rates above passable. Two Incite Hysterias merit some consideration. So does Sell-Sword Brute. His drawback isn’t very severe, considering how inexpensive he is. Barbarian Riftcutter fooled me for a while, making me think he’s good, but you want to be able to mana screw your opponent early in the game, not late, and so his two for one advantage lacks substance.
I also hold a lower opinion on Sparkmage Apprentice. There just aren’t that many one drop creatures you need to get rid of in the format. He makes a passable supplement to a red deck that features three or more pingers, but otherwise I’d give him a miss.
The rest of the Red looks bland. Viashino Slasher is simply too petite to merit playing. For two mana, I want a Selesnya Evangel. Reroute and Smash are strictly for sideboards, Surge of Zeal is unplayable, and Warp World is an eight mana sorcery that will not win you the game.
White has a core of good creatures and good spells, but will require fine tuning to be effective. Two Conclave Equenauts offer good, if expensive, air beats. Two Nightguard Patrol always gets two thumbs up from me, and they work well in conjunction with Convoke. Benevolent Ancestor is another fine defender that keeps your men on the table.
There are also four great spells. Festival of the Guildpact is a one-mana White cantrip that can have extra benefits attached. It’s strange to see a format where White has one-mana cantrips and Blue doesn’t. Devouring Light is a mean, spiteful, nasty removal spell, and Bathe in Light counters removal and provides evasion and combat slaughters.
With flying, first strike, and vigilance already present, it’s worth thinking about Concerted Effort. Fear gripped me as I saw the card then flipped past Benevolent Ancestor. “Does this mean that if I have Benevolent Ancestor in play, all my creatures gain defender too?” Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. The benefit only triggers at the beginning of each player’s upkeep, however, so don’t try to be too crafty.
Caregiver seems too weak for a one-drop. The same goes for Votary of the Conclave. Three mana to activate a Drudge Skeleton costs too much. Dromar Purebred doesn’t seem completely awful in a slow deck, just mostly awful.
Green has some decent men. Transluminants offer early offense, and can come in for flying later. The flyers will have little trouble coming through since your Trophy Hunters will scare the skies clean. Bramble Elemental and Root-Kin Ally pass the grade for big creatures. Elves of Deep Shadow are painful to use in many cases, but in conjunction with Convoke their mana comes painlessly.
To be honest, Goliath Spider is too slow to work most of the time. He blocks flyers for a turn, then attacks. That’s enough to make him worthy if you need a big finisher for Green. He looks at Selesnya Evangel and cries. Admittedly, Evangel isn’t in every deck, so maybe I’m being too fussy. I’d probably play the card if it had Convoke, though. In the same vein, Scatter the Seeds is just too expensive for most decks, and when it hits the table all you get are some cheap little men. Not my idea of a good time, unless you have multiples of Rally the Righteous.
A quick survey of the Green spells reveals little. Farseek is fine but not special. Sundering Vitae is a great trick and can hit crucial artifact and enchantment bombs. You can use it to turn your opponent’s Faith’s Fetters into an awful life gain spell that kills one of his creatures. Dryad’s Caress looks just too slow to be playable. Life from the Loam doesn’t do anything for me either. So I get more lands from the graveyard. So what? If I was playing with Saviors cards, that might be nice, but as it stands, forget it. Life from the Loam is a bad Dredge enabler.
Black has quite a number of quality cards, but so many of them require double black in their cost. Sewerdreg has evasion most of the time. Vigor Mortis will bring back any of your fatties and make them bigger. Brainspoil and Disembowel take care of your opponent’s threats. There’s also a Mortipede. He can be fairly vicious with Strands of Undeath or Gaze of the Gorgon, both which by chance happen to be in this pool as well.
Darkblast is one of those cards that I really can’t quite place. You’ll still trade cards, but Darkblast helps you protect your expensive investments. If you’re playing with lots of big men, Darkblast’s value goes up, but in a deck of cheap beaters, it doesn’t go quite as far.
Clinging Darkness is another card I don’t like. It can stop a big Green fattie dead in its tracks. But at the same time, that fattie usually has a body left over to block with. Not great tempo. (Disagree? Bring it to the Forum.) Bathe in Light and enchantment removal also turn this card into bad times. If your deck has tons of evasion, I can see Clinging Darkness being quite handy. It’s much better in Dimir than in Golgari. By contrast, Strands of Undeath fits much more naturally in Golgari. The card advantage is critical, but having a regenerating fattie helps as well.
Ignore Necromantic Thirst. Everyone else does. Nothing to see here. Go back to your homes.
Looking through Blue, there are no good creatures. Surveilling Sprite is a flying Floating-Dream Zubera without the combo potential. Drift of Phantasms is a flying defender that, like Steven Seagal, is hard to kill. (I wonder if Drift of Phantasms is also banned from hosting Saturday Night Live again?) Other than those two, there are no creatures that merit consideration. Tattered Drake costs five mana. Vedalken Dismisser is only a 2/2 with a Time Ebb attached. That’s far too slow against an aggro press. Drake Familiar is rarely playable. (It makes for a nice combo deck in draft with lots of Galvanic Arcs, however.) Wizened Snitches does a poor job of imitating Drift of Phantasms, and comes with another potential drawback.
We don’t have the Dimir support to make Induce Paranoia work as it should. Mnemonic Nexus is almost completely useless against most decks. Flow of Ideas is ridiculously expensive and costs seven and is only playable if you have a Terraformer. Compulsive Research is the only blue spell I’d want to play in this deck.
Having dismissed Blue, we are left with a pair of colorless artifacts. Peregrine Mask doesn’t do much for me, but could be sideboarded in against a Dimir aggro deck. Terrarion shows some promise, however.
I sorted out my spells and creatures and cut the Red and Blue from consideration. After cutting a bit more, here’s how I sorted my cards.
Creatures
1cc: Elves of Deep Shadow
2cc: 2 Transluminant
3cc: Centaur Safeguard, 2 Trophy Hunter, 2 Nightguard Patrol, Benevolent Ancestor, Shambling Shell
4cc: Mortipede
5cc: 2 Conclave Equenaut, Bramble Elemental, Root-Kin Ally, Golgari Rotwurm, Sewerdreg
For purposes of calculating creature mana cost, I factor Convoke spells as being one mana less in cost.
Spells
1cc: 2 Festival of the Guildpact, Terrarion, Darkblast
2cc: Farseek, Bathe in Light
3cc: Sundering Vitae, Devouring Light
4cc: Vigor Mortis, Disembowel, Strands of Undeath, Concerted Effort, Gaze of the Gorgon
5cc: Brainspoil, Scatter the Seeds
The first thing I notice is that the double black spells are strong, but there just aren’t enough black creatures to allow yourself to commit too heavily. So the double black spells will have to go.
In the absence of any other combat tricks, I’ll play Darkblast. I don’t like it, but I’ll do what I need to do.
If we count a sacrificed Transluminant, the deck has four flyers. That’s enough to make Concerted Effort a virtual Levitation. We’ll call it a 23rd card for now.
The mix now looks like
1cc: Elves of Deep Shadow, Terrarion, 2 Festival of the Guildpact, Darkblast
2cc: 2 Transluminant, Farseek, Bathe in Light
3cc: Centaur Safeguard, 2 Trophy Hunter, 2 Nightguard Patrol, Benevolent Ancestor, Shambing Shell, Devouring Light, Sundering Vitae
4cc: Mortipede, Disembowel, Strands of Undeath, Gaze of the Gorgon
5cc: 2 Conclave Equenaut, Bramble Elemental, Root-Kin Ally, Golgari Rotwurm
That’s three or four more cards to cut. Since we have no Saproling producers, I’ll boot the Bramble Elemental. Sundering Vitae is nice, but it just doesn’t have the kick I’m looking for. Darkblast finally gets the cut, since we already have Bathe in Light, Devour in Light, and Gaze of the Gorgon.
The final deck looks like this.
1cc: Elves of Deep Shadow, Terrarion, 2 Festival of the Guildpact
2cc: 2 Transluminant, Farseek, Bathe in Light
3cc: Centaur Safeguard, 2 Trophy Hunter, 2 Nightguard Patrol, Benevolent Ancestor, Shambling Shell, Devouring Light
4cc: Mortipede, Disembowel, Strands of Undeath, Gaze of the Gorgon
5cc: 2 Conclave Equenaut, Root-Kin Ally, Golgari Rotwurm
Here’s the visual layout.
1: CSSS
2: CCSS
3: CCCCCCCS
4: CSSS
5: CCCC
There are four cantrips to pad out a nice, tight curve. The card draw helps us get to our quality creatures. I’m not thrilled with this deck, but the pool wasn’t very strong, so I think this is about as good as it gets. If I had my druthers, I’d have one or two more evasion guys. That way, the flyers could nip in for a bit more damage. You might even be able to turn Festival of the Guildpact into Fog.
As is the norm for any sealed deck article, your comments and thoughts are greatly appreciated. Please direct your attention to the forums. Then proceed to the gift shop, where we will relieve you of your hard-earned money. You will enjoy the sombrero.
Eli Kaplan
[email protected]
gaijineli on efnet
— Bonus section
I’ve seen these cards at work in Limited. Don’t play them whenever possible. Do not take a victory lap when your opponent plays them though.
Cyclopean Snare
Like Puppet Strings, but unfathomably worse. It costs two to play and three to activate. It only taps one creature. If you’re planning to use it every turn, that will be five mana, plus your dignity. Your opponent may or may not take American Express. The threat across the table is not going to go away, you’re only forestalling the inevitable. If you have an evasion guy doing what evasion guys do best, you may be able to milk a win from the Snare, but the vast majority of the time you’re going to be unhappy with the results.
Dark Heart of the Wood
You’re playing at least two colors, so you’re not going to be able to sacrifice most of your land. You gain nothing from this card until late in the game. It would be a nice little combo with Searing Meditation, but that would require you to play four colors and have lots of Forests lying around. Dark Heart of the Wood may feed your nostalgia, but that’s all it will feed.
Carrion Howler
Ok, he has a few upsides. His activation cost is a piddly one life. Throwing a card on him that gave him evasion and a toughness boost could make him an absolute terror. (Serra’s Embrace, for example.) The dog can trade with a Bramble Elemental. (Unless it has Pollenbright Wings.) Most of the time, he won’t be worth the investment.