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When we last left our intrepid heroes, they were tangling with the Blue-and-White of the Azorius guild, with a handful of Simic refugees sneaking in. I figured I’d spare you all a wrathful analysis of the reaction to the Azorius Guild. I will summarize for those who are really interested:

“You could give people a chocolate-coated Pernicious Deed which dispensed free-thinking and exceptionally available Swedish Lingerie models, and they would still complain about the activation cost.”

Ah, set reviews! The article you write when you’re not writing an article! The structure is already laid out before you, and all you need to do is find a hundred and seventy-five ways of saying “Could be good in limited.” Better still, most set reviews are nauseatingly long (and, when you’re not Rizzo, most dailies are by definition short), which means that splitting it into five pieces is a saucy little way to rip through the set without getting everyone thoroughly fed up on the matter.

The Ferrett struggles with – gasp – real life Magic as he awaits the release of MODO Dissension so he can crawl back into his cool, fluorescent-lit cave. And in doing so, he opens up a pack of cards that provide, as is depressingly usual, a host of options to play with but no strong singular theme….

The Tuesday before Dissension went on sale, a friend of mine told me that she bought a Fat Pack at Meijer. Naturally, hearing that the set was on sale early, I thought what anybody would think: “Oh, sweet. Here’s my chance to do a little consumer advocacy!”

Yes, that’s right… I decided to bust them.

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!).

Abe takes inspiration from the new Dissension cards, and spills forth a number of new decks. Looking for the edge in your casual game? Abe has the answer.

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.