AuthorEli Kaplan

Veteran Japan reporter and Sealed Deck workhorse Eli Kaplan steps in for the Ferrett, with a satchel of issues and miscellaneous thoughts as he brushes up for Grand Prix: Hiroshima.

In the final edition of this excellent Daily series, Eli brings a hot card pool to the table. He discusses his build and evaluates cards, as usual… plus he questions the sexuality of a certain Dimir Lobotomist. A fine article to round out an enlightening week.

I drafted Gruul/Izzet/Simic today, and it rejuvenated my soul. Playing Simic is like starring in an Herbal Essences shampoo commercial. My guys have Trample (yes!). They can jump over the other guy (Yes!). They even regenerate (Oh God, YES!).

I like the flavor of the Dissension guilds. They saved the best for last. Normally, White/Blue is as squeaky-clean and good as a bunch of unreformed paladins. Lawful neutral to the core, and light on the good. It’s nice to know that Wizards openly acknowledges the color combination as being obnoxious. Rakdos killers may not be good neighbors, but at least they’re sociable and throw the best parties.

In every Sealed pool, there is one true build. One that, taking out the issue of play style preference, is the best. Remeber, there’s always a right play and a wrong play. The optimal play is not always the one you expect it to be… but there is always a right play and a wrong play. (In the case of Sealed builds, there are many, many, many wrong plays.) That’s what this series hopes to illustrate.

With the release of Dissension, we’ve finally got all ten guilds of Ravnica represented in what has been one of the most challenging Sealed blocks of all time. The tension between playing (mostly) consistent three-color builds and powerful but shaky four-color builds makes for exciting games. This week I’ll be poring over a new build each day.

Eli, our Man in Japan, brings us a Sealed cardpool with some of the tastiest cards in the game. It’s not all roses, however… the build proves tricky. Just how can we harness the raw power of these bombs? Plus, a new view on the validity of the Invitational.

Rochester is the format that the countries are playing at Worlds this Saturday to determine who’s on top… And Eli walks you through the essentials of the format and some of the basic Ravnica strategies so you can follow the action! If you’re not familiar with Rochester, start here. If you are but haven’t done it in Ravnica… Start here, too. Oh, heck, just start here.

Seasoned Japan veteran Eli Kaplan tells you everything you absolutely need to know about Worlds in Yokohama, except for what to play and how to play it.

Another day, another Sealed pool. With than two weeks for Ravnica, are you ready for the Prerelease tournaments? Polish your skills and see how your thoughts stack up to Eli’s. As a bonus to today’s offering you also get an incredibly Japanese Vulturous Zombie combo deck to ponder for States. Wild tech? Yesiree!

Before we examine today’s card pool, let’s take a look at how one of the rules of Limited has shifted.

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.

Eli Kaplan, resident Magic gawker in Japan, makes his leap to Featured Writer status with a stint on SCG Daily. In this series, he promises to smash you over the head with Sealed deck builds, to get you ready for Magic Online’s Ravnica prerelease.