I have had very mixed luck with my prerelease promos -- while they're usually playable, they're not usually super exciting. This time was different, and I got possibly the most valuable AKH prerelease promo (both current and long-term):
The rest of my rares (plus a couple of pretty lands pictured) gave me some dollar value, but not much that was super exciting for Sealed.
Pyramid of the Pantheon is a Shimmering Grotto (or Painted Bluffs) that eventually turns into a Lotus Vale, which is a bad mana investment, and Failure to Comply and Pull from Tomorrow seem better for Constructed play. Harsh Mentor is a creature you'll always play but whose ability is usually blank in Sealed. Sheltered Thicket and Never to Return are both cards you'll get good value from but never dominate a game with. And Gideon, well he played exactly like I expected, a huge lifegain spell that can sometimes attack (and that is very good, mind you).
One of the things that I don't like about playing Sealed is that you only use about 23 of your 90 new cards in your deck, and only 2 or 3 of the 5 colors, so I have been trying to get better at building quickly enough that I can put together two decks (assuming the power is there). Drafting more has definitely helped me, as (a) you have less time to build a draft deck and (b) sometimes the cut decisions are harder because the 20th - 25th best cards in your colors are all pretty good, which doesn't usually happen in Sealed. Long story short, I went in with the goal of building two decks. I didn't open any great cards with tricky build-around requirements, so it was pretty straightforward to throw together two decks this time around (with time left over). Here are "White-Black Zombie Aggro" and "Red-Green Reptile Control."
Both decks are pretty standard curve-out creature decks, but there are some important differences. The zombie deck is much lower to the ground, starting with creatures and finishing with combat tricks and big black removal spells that kill anything. The reptile deck starts with cheap removal spells and finishes with a nearly unstoppable Scaled Behemoth or other big beater. Also, with two creatures with reach and two Stinging Shot, this deck is better able to handle tough fliers. Instead of building one deck with a sideboard, the RG deck is the sideboard against almost anything that the WB deck can't handle, and it is also a change-up to throw out there if I see the opponent sideboarding against my WB deck. My plan going in was to play WB Game 1, then switch if I'm on the draw for Game 2 or if I feel like I need to. It's worth mentioning that I was very lucky to get good curves and solid creatures in both decks, plus I had a ridiculous number of good cheap non-creature spells for both decks. It's not always possible to build two decks worth playing.
For reference, here are the cards I didn't play. Blue wasn't horrible, but I didn't see anything exciting or particularly synergistic about it.
So how did it go?
Round 1 was against C, a regular who was also playing WB. In Game 1 I was on the play with WB, and I won by thwarting his attempts to get a good hit with In Oketra's Name by playing timely Djeru's Resolve. He had Finish (Start to Finish) in the graveyard but since it's not an instant, he left up mana and ended up not being able to play either spell. I played RG in Game 2 on the draw, winning again, with the Scaled Behemoth eventually dwarfing anything he could play. Both games were extremely close. He had the Masterpiece version of Bontu (the black god) in his deck but I never saw it. Win, 2-0.
Round 2 was against A, who was also working for the store. His deck was white-red, and he had a Harsh Mentor like me. I won Game 1 on the play with WB, then lost Game 2 on the draw with RG. In Game 3 I pulled WB back out on the play. He had an early lead, but I was able to stave off lethal hits with a growing Grim Strider. I baited an attack since he looked well in control and had 13 life, then I turned around and killed him on my turn by pumping my team of zombies with In Oketra's Name for the win. Win, 2-1.
Round 3 was against J1, another store employee. He was Jund (black-red-green). His deck was very strong. In Game 1 (WB), I hung in for a long time but wasn't able to make much headway because he was protecting his Baleful Ammit (lifelink) well and gained 12 life over the course of the game. I eventually wore his board down until we both had no creatures. We topdecked creatures for a couple turns, then he drew his promo Sandwurm Convergence, and I conceded with my life at 3 and his at 20. I switched to RG on the draw for Game 2. I had a reasonably good start, but he did some disgusting things with Warfire Javelineer and Supernatural Stamina to obliterate my board. Loss, 0-2.
Round 4 I was paired with J2, who said he mostly plays EDH. Since we were both 2-1, we decided to split the prize and play for the uneven pack (3 wins gets 7 packs and 2 wins gets 0, so it makes sense to split 4-3 unless you like to gamble). Game 1 I was WB, and my horde curved out excellently. He had Oketra (white god), but when he cast it he had no other creatures so it didn't do anything. I stayed with WB in Game 2 because I hadn't drawn Gideon the whole tournament. And I drew Gideon! I also drew only plains, so Gideon's job was mostly defense. Gideon probably gained me a virtual 15+ life by turning off attackers and upticking, and I was able to attack with him once (although knowing I wouldn't draw swamps for a while, I probably would have continued upticking that turn too). He had Curator of Mysteries for his promo, and once he broke through Gideon, it was game over pretty quickly. He was completely flummoxed when I came back with RG in Game 3 ("Oh my god he has a second deck!"). We got off to a fairly even start, but he drew a third bomb creature in Angler Drake and made me replay my stuff while he attacked from the air. I was just too slow and lost a good game. Loss, 1-2.
By the numbers, I was 2-2 in matches and 5-5 in games. WB Zombies was 4-2 and RG Reptiles was 1-3. I do think both decks were good, but neither was amazing. The guy who handed me my prerelease pack was jokingly grumbling that he should have kept that one because of the Gideon promo, but he had an actually amazing WUR deck and went 3-0, split (Drake Haven, Approach of the Second Sun, Glorybringer, and a ton of cycling).
I think it was odd that I opened no gods, monuments, or trials, and only 2 cartouches, but it also made deckbuilding easier. I also had minimal cycling, embalm, and -1/-1 counters cards. I did use exert a lot, and it was fun and a little tricky to play. For one thing, you have to decide whether you're exerting at the same time you attack, and it only took me one opponent asking "Are you exerting?" before I caught on. As always, I made a couple minor mistakes just because I wasn't used to these cards, but so did my opponents. The worst I can remember are forgetting to play a 2-drop because I thought it was a 3-drop, and not using cycling on my own turn when I needed to draw a land to play.
Cards that I liked included In Oketra's Name, which at 2 mana and instant is not bad even as just a trick that can also be played as a finisher. It does need zombies to work best. Djeru's Resolve was also quite good, especially since it has cycling. I was on both sides of Djeru's Resolve surprises. Cartouche of Solidarity feels like a ridiculous value for 1 mana. Grim Strider and to a lesser extent Thresher Lizard both grew very easily in my decks, and it's fun that you can grow them as a surprise in addition to playing an instant from your hand. Quarry Hauler never used its ability in 3 times I saw it played, but I'm sure it's great when it happens. It's really hard to get great exert value out of Devoted Crop-Mate since you're either sending a 3-drop to his doom or losing him for a turn to resurrect a 2-drop. Blighted Bat looks like it should be really bad, but I was on both sides of fights where Bats were the only things getting through for attacks, and I wasted big removal spells on them. The Scaled Behemoth is a legitimate bomb monster if you can cast it.
Here's what I walked away with. Yay!
The four-sided die was a giveaway for completing some kind of quest -- I got it just by asking the store employee. I'm not really sure what it's for. I don't think it's for brick counters since brick counter cards only need 3, but I can't think of anything else that would make sense.
When Battle for Zendikar came out almost 2 years ago, they designed a prerelease box that doubled as a pretty good deck box. Then after that block they kept fiddling with the design and making boxes that were prettier and more useless than the last. This time I was skeptical, but despite having a stand-up sarcophagus gimmicky shape, I actually like this one because it is good for Limited. When the deck slot is stood up, you can fit a deck, your extra cards, and your tokens all standing up for easy access. I don't like putting my cards all the way away during a draft while I change seats, but I've spilled my whole deck on the floor a couple times while trying to shortcut it. See how nice this was for my two prerelease decks and extra cards? Thanks Wizards!
Last, they printed a new token card that has punch-out bits to use for embalm, exert, bricks, and -1/-1 counters. Well, I figured out how to use it pretty quickly. Just throw the whole card on an exerted (or embalmed, if you don't have the appropriate token card) creature, and voila! And if you're using bricks or counters, just use dice like normal.
As always, I had a great time. I think AKH will be a fun set to draft (and Strike Zone is also holding a Sealed format PPTQ tournament May 13, so I'll be doing Sealed again too).
Have any thoughts about the prerelease or Amonkhet? Ideas for how I should have built my deck(s) better? Please share in the comments.
I like your plan of building two different decks. It seems like it could be really good when you run into unfavorable matchups, but I haven't ever heard of people doing it.
ReplyDeleteI can't claim it as my own idea -- someone at one of the prereleases we did at Bad Wolf told me he liked building two decks, and I've toyed with the idea for a while. I think it really depends on the card pool. Sometimes you can splash your best off-color cards in the main deck, and then you lose a lot of the power that a second deck would have, but it's worth it to just play one stronger deck. In Kaladesh, I realized afterward that I could have made a good second deck and moved my best artifacts back and forth between the two.
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