So here's the sealed pool I recently played with and managed to go 4-0 at an FNM. In an effort to save time, I'm only going to provide links for the cards I played.
White:
Ethereal Armor
Trained Caracal
Concordia Pegasus
Keening Apparition
Selesnya Sentry
Seller of Songbirds
Azorius Justiciar
Eyes in the Skies
2X Knightly Valor
Azorius:
2X Dramatic Rescue
Skymark Roc
Fall of the Gavel
Isperia, Supreme Judge
Blue:
Dispel
Downsize
Mizzium Skin
Chronic Flooding
Doorkeeper
2X Paralyzing Grasp
2X Stealer of Secrets
Tower Drake
Soulsworn Spirit
Voidwielder
Isperia's Skywatch
Izzet:
Blistercoil Weird
Izzet Charm
Thoughtflare
Firemind's Foresight
Red:
Electrickery
Street Spasm
Mizzium Mortars
Pursuit of Flight
Annihilating Fire
Splatter Thug
Viashino Racketeer
Survey the Wreckage
Tenement Crasher
Rakdos:
Rakdos Shred-Freak
Cryptborn Horror
Black:
2X Cremate
Drainpipe Vermin
Grim Roustabout
Ultimate Price
Dead Reveler
Stab Wound
Dark Revenant
Ogre Jailbreaker
Slum Reaper
Catacomb Slug
Zanikev Locust
Terrus Wurm
Golgari:
2X Golgari Longlegs
Grisly Salvage
2X Sluiceway Scorpion
Green:
Gatecreeper Vine
2X Aerial Predation
Axebane Guardian
Chorus of Might
Golgari Decoy
Rubbleback Rhino
Archweaver
Horncaller's Chant
Selesnya:
Sundering Growth
Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage
Centaur Healer
Common Bond
Coursers' Accord
Collective Blessing
Artifacts:
Civic Saber
Izzet Keyrune
Land:
Azorius Guildgate
Izzet Guildgate
Rakdos Guildgate
Temple Garden
First thought: Play ALL the colors! I had fixing for everything but Golgari, deep mono color pools with powerful guild cards, and options a plenty. Thankfully I pared the cards down to the playable piles and built all 5 guild combinations within my deck building time. Azorius, Golgari, and Selesnya were the first ones that came to mind, but I had to build all of them. Izzet didn't have enough dudes or way to punch through that damage. Rakdos suffered from the same problem.
Green and the guild cards associated with it had the ability to get me the rest of the way there, and opting for selesnya beefed up the dudes I played, and I got to be extra extra greedy. So I splashed blue for Isperia, Skymark Roc, and the 2 Dramatic Rescue. And I am glad that I did as I won my 4th round because of those cards.
The Deck that got there:
Creatures:
Concordia Pegasus
Gatecreeper Vine
Keening Apparition
Vitu-Ghaz Guildmage
Axebane Guardian
Centaur Healer
Selesnya Sentry
Seller of Songbirds
Azorius Justicar
Golgari Decoy
Skymark Roc
Rubbleback Rhino
Isperia, Supreme Judge
Archweaver
Instants:
2X Dramatic Rescue
Common Bond
Chorus of Might
Eyes in the Skies
Sorcery:
Coursers' Accord
Enchantments:
2X Knightly Valor
Collective Blessing
Lands:
Azorius Guildgate
Garden Temple
1X Island
7X Forest
7X Plains
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Pack Analysis for 01Nov2012
Hey all, sorry for the delay in this analysis. Busy busy week and not a whole lot of analysis going on, as you'll soon see:
Commons:
Terrus Wurm
Chorus of Might
Electrickery
Paralyzing Grasp
Dramatic Rescue
Rakdos Shred-Freak
Sunspire Griffin
Azorius Guildgate
Korozda Monitor
Stab Wound
Uncommons:
Dark Revenant
Rites of Reaping
Fencing Ace
Rare:
Utvara Hellkite
Boom! Hellkite is a crystal clear snap pick. It is a bomb and a half. You do need to untap with it and successfully attack, but once that happens, you don't have to attack with the Hellkite again. A quick review of the set shows there are 2 other dragons which are rare (Hypersonic) and Mythic (Niv).
Now the double red commits you pretty hard to red and ramping up to 8 doesn't come easy in Red, Black, or Blue, so Keyrunes going forward are pretty valuable to you.
If the rare was a softer pick, Stab Wound and Dramatic rescue come to mind.
Looking at the overall sealed pool we're building, This deck is leaning even more towards Rakdos and Jund. It's got one of my favorite removal spells and a damn fine bomb.
Commons:
Terrus Wurm
Chorus of Might
Electrickery
Paralyzing Grasp
Dramatic Rescue
Rakdos Shred-Freak
Sunspire Griffin
Azorius Guildgate
Korozda Monitor
Stab Wound
Uncommons:
Dark Revenant
Rites of Reaping
Fencing Ace
Rare:
Utvara Hellkite
Boom! Hellkite is a crystal clear snap pick. It is a bomb and a half. You do need to untap with it and successfully attack, but once that happens, you don't have to attack with the Hellkite again. A quick review of the set shows there are 2 other dragons which are rare (Hypersonic) and Mythic (Niv).
Now the double red commits you pretty hard to red and ramping up to 8 doesn't come easy in Red, Black, or Blue, so Keyrunes going forward are pretty valuable to you.
If the rare was a softer pick, Stab Wound and Dramatic rescue come to mind.
Looking at the overall sealed pool we're building, This deck is leaning even more towards Rakdos and Jund. It's got one of my favorite removal spells and a damn fine bomb.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Pack Analysis 25Oct2012
Hi and welcome back!
Today I'll be reviewing the second pack in this first volume of pack analysis, and if I can find the time, reviewing my sealed deck building from last Friday's FNM. Here's what the randomness of the universe (and WOTC'S collation algorithm) gave us this week:
Commons
Axebane Guardian
Catacomb Slug
Concordia Pegasus
Doorkeeper
Downsize
Essence Backlash
Eyes in the Skies
Hussar Patrol
Rakdos Guildgate
Survey the Wreckage
Uncommons
Azorius Charm
Izzet Charm
Phantom General
Rare
Volatile Rig
Yikes. So, unlike last week there's no card that leaps at and screams PICK ME PICK ME! Volatile Rig lives up to its name and is nowhere near the consistency that I like in my draft decks. Catacomb Slug has a great back end, but a vanilla creature for 5 will make it's way to you again (and still will probably get passed). By the time you're able to cast Survey the Wreckage, they've probably already gotten their use out of that land. 4 mana counterspells aren't fun to play. 4 mana counterspells that only target a specific type of card aren't fun to play. 4 mana counterspells that need 2 types of mana aren't fun to play. I believe I've made my point on Essence Backlash.
All that being said, we still have plenty of options for our first pick. Downsize and Doorkeeper are fine for keeping you alive, and Doorkeeper adds an alternate win condition.
Concordia Pegasus holds off early Rakdos drops and has evasion. Phantom General is almost a fair Intangible Virtue, all be it more fragile. And flashing in 2 blockers, or end of turn Eyes in the Skies is a great way to catch the opponent unaware.
Axebane Guardian is a great card. Splashable for acceleration. Fixes your mana. Blocks all day long. Doesn't help you get back when you're behind though.
Rakdos Guildgate lets you fix your mana or enable a splash.
Azorius Charm impacts board tempo at it's best, and at it's worst it just cantrips (which is still pretty good for white). Remember what I said about flashing in a blocker? Hussar Patrol does that with the same combined power, twice the toughness and trades in Vigilance for Flying.
Izzet Charm is a workhorse. It is a situational counter (for half of Backlash's cost), it lets you double loot, or it's a removal spell.
From all these, I narrowed it down to Izzet Charm, Eyes in the Skies, and Axebane Guardian. The Azorius cards aren't as strong, and Eyes in the Skies lets me copy whatever, the bird token, a centaur, a knight, so I like that flexibility over the Hussar Patrol. Concordia Pegasus is great for the early attackers, but soon gets outclassed. Removal is worse in this set than most, but being a monocolored flyer opens it up to more hurt and a greater chance for a 2 for 1. The General needs the tokens for his ability to be relevant, otherwise he's a worse Hill Giant. Downsize just keeps you alive, not win, and Doorkeeper has a non zero chance of tabling. The Guildgate is another fine card, but not first pickable. Not with the other three cards in the pack.
So, I tanked on this pick for quite some time, and my pick is Axebane Guardian. All three of these cards are first pickable in a pack like this, so I had to look at the pack as a whole to make my call. There are 6 cards with blue in the casting cost, 5 for white, 3 Red, 1 Colorless, 1 Black, 1 Land and 1 Green. Taking the good green card in the pack helps make sure the player to the left doesn't go green and makes it more likely I'll see good green in pack 2.
Now, for a sealed pool, this pack makes me a sad panda. My cards are all over the place and some fixing. Combining it with the pack from last week, the Guardian and Guildgate make me lean even more towards a Jund build, but we'll see where packs 3-6 take me.
Cheers!
Today I'll be reviewing the second pack in this first volume of pack analysis, and if I can find the time, reviewing my sealed deck building from last Friday's FNM. Here's what the randomness of the universe (and WOTC'S collation algorithm) gave us this week:
Commons
Axebane Guardian
Catacomb Slug
Concordia Pegasus
Doorkeeper
Downsize
Essence Backlash
Eyes in the Skies
Hussar Patrol
Rakdos Guildgate
Survey the Wreckage
Uncommons
Azorius Charm
Izzet Charm
Phantom General
Rare
Volatile Rig
Yikes. So, unlike last week there's no card that leaps at and screams PICK ME PICK ME! Volatile Rig lives up to its name and is nowhere near the consistency that I like in my draft decks. Catacomb Slug has a great back end, but a vanilla creature for 5 will make it's way to you again (and still will probably get passed). By the time you're able to cast Survey the Wreckage, they've probably already gotten their use out of that land. 4 mana counterspells aren't fun to play. 4 mana counterspells that only target a specific type of card aren't fun to play. 4 mana counterspells that need 2 types of mana aren't fun to play. I believe I've made my point on Essence Backlash.
All that being said, we still have plenty of options for our first pick. Downsize and Doorkeeper are fine for keeping you alive, and Doorkeeper adds an alternate win condition.
Concordia Pegasus holds off early Rakdos drops and has evasion. Phantom General is almost a fair Intangible Virtue, all be it more fragile. And flashing in 2 blockers, or end of turn Eyes in the Skies is a great way to catch the opponent unaware.
Axebane Guardian is a great card. Splashable for acceleration. Fixes your mana. Blocks all day long. Doesn't help you get back when you're behind though.
Rakdos Guildgate lets you fix your mana or enable a splash.
Azorius Charm impacts board tempo at it's best, and at it's worst it just cantrips (which is still pretty good for white). Remember what I said about flashing in a blocker? Hussar Patrol does that with the same combined power, twice the toughness and trades in Vigilance for Flying.
Izzet Charm is a workhorse. It is a situational counter (for half of Backlash's cost), it lets you double loot, or it's a removal spell.
From all these, I narrowed it down to Izzet Charm, Eyes in the Skies, and Axebane Guardian. The Azorius cards aren't as strong, and Eyes in the Skies lets me copy whatever, the bird token, a centaur, a knight, so I like that flexibility over the Hussar Patrol. Concordia Pegasus is great for the early attackers, but soon gets outclassed. Removal is worse in this set than most, but being a monocolored flyer opens it up to more hurt and a greater chance for a 2 for 1. The General needs the tokens for his ability to be relevant, otherwise he's a worse Hill Giant. Downsize just keeps you alive, not win, and Doorkeeper has a non zero chance of tabling. The Guildgate is another fine card, but not first pickable. Not with the other three cards in the pack.
So, I tanked on this pick for quite some time, and my pick is Axebane Guardian. All three of these cards are first pickable in a pack like this, so I had to look at the pack as a whole to make my call. There are 6 cards with blue in the casting cost, 5 for white, 3 Red, 1 Colorless, 1 Black, 1 Land and 1 Green. Taking the good green card in the pack helps make sure the player to the left doesn't go green and makes it more likely I'll see good green in pack 2.
Now, for a sealed pool, this pack makes me a sad panda. My cards are all over the place and some fixing. Combining it with the pack from last week, the Guardian and Guildgate make me lean even more towards a Jund build, but we'll see where packs 3-6 take me.
Cheers!
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Pack Analysis 18Oct2012
So, one of the most important skills in Magic is card evaluation. Whether it is going over iterative brews of a constructed deck, or looking at a pack in limited, you need to be able to tell if a card is worth going in your deck. So, in an effort do work on analysis and maybe generate some discussion, here's the breakdown in a pack I purchased:
Commons:
Annihilating Fire
Armory Guard
Coursers' Accord
Dead Reveler
Deviant Glee
Dispel
Golgari Guildgate
Selesnya Guildgate
Stealer of Secrets
Trestle Troll
Uncommons:
Dryad Militant
Goblin Rally
Thoughtflare
Rare:
Carnival Hellsteed
First off, let's look at this as pack 1 pick 1 in a draft. Several cards jump out at me right off the bat: the 2 Guildgates, the Hellsteed, Trestle Troll, Thoughtflare and the Annihilating Fire. Mana fixing is always a good thing, especially in Gold focused blocks like RTR will be. Trestle Troll is a sold blocker that does work. Reach, Regenerate, and a good back end are very important in a format with beefy flyers like Chaos Imps. Thoughtflare is looting on steroids, and everybody loves looting. Carnival Hellsteed is an amazing card even when you don't unleash it. It won't lose in creature combat and a minimum toughness of four puts it out of the reach of a lot of removal in the set. Removal like Annihilating Fire. I played Incinerate for 1R, I'll still play Incinerate at 1RR. All the other cards in the pack are too narrow (Dispel), Outclassed by other cards (Dead Reveler, Coursers' Accord, Goblin Rally, and Armory Guard), risky to play or jump through hoops to make work (Deviant Glee and Stealer of Secrets), or don't really impact the game (Dryad Militant)
All that being said, the two cards that it really comes down to for first pick are Carnival Hellsteed and Annihilating Fire. First picks you're going to want a card that has impact on the board unless that card effectively says "You win the game". Mana fixing, while important, will be around in the next few picks and you can grab something if there is nothing supporting your colors. Thoughtflare is another great card, but doesn't impact the board or directly win you the game. Trestle Troll is a great card when you're behind because it helps you stabilize, but doesn't help you move forward after that. Carnival Hellsteed does both.
So, it then comes down to those two. Dude or Spell. Carnival Hellsteed fits nicely into the "bomb" category of creatures. Powerful, efficient, and can take over a game. The only way you're dealing with this particular bomb is with a removal spell. Arrest, Detention Sphere, Paralyzing Grasp, Auger Spree (if it's not unleashed) and Dreadbore. All of these stop this card with minimal hoops to jump through (Tapped, not unleashed, etc.). One card not in that list? Annihilating Fire. 3 damage doesn't crack it's normal toughness and in order to kill it, you're going to need to throw enough bodies in front of it to put 6-7 toughness in its way just to get that 1-2 damage through to kill it. By all means, 4 for 1 yourself.
Pack 1 Pick 1: Carnival Hellstead.
Now, looking at this pack as a pack in my sealed pool makes me very excited about Rakdos or Jund. I've got the Hellsteed, Annihilating Fire, Deviant Glee, and Dead Reveler for a straight up Rakdos deck. (Yeah, Deviant Glee is a big pointer for "Please 2 for one me" but it is nice with the deathtouch we see in other cards). And then I've got Trestle Troll and Golgari Guildgate for splashing green.
I'll try and do one of these a week, and keep a running tally of the cards and every six packs, I'll try and build a sealed deck out of the pool.
Commons:
Annihilating Fire
Armory Guard
Coursers' Accord
Dead Reveler
Deviant Glee
Dispel
Golgari Guildgate
Selesnya Guildgate
Stealer of Secrets
Trestle Troll
Uncommons:
Dryad Militant
Goblin Rally
Thoughtflare
Rare:
Carnival Hellsteed
First off, let's look at this as pack 1 pick 1 in a draft. Several cards jump out at me right off the bat: the 2 Guildgates, the Hellsteed, Trestle Troll, Thoughtflare and the Annihilating Fire. Mana fixing is always a good thing, especially in Gold focused blocks like RTR will be. Trestle Troll is a sold blocker that does work. Reach, Regenerate, and a good back end are very important in a format with beefy flyers like Chaos Imps. Thoughtflare is looting on steroids, and everybody loves looting. Carnival Hellsteed is an amazing card even when you don't unleash it. It won't lose in creature combat and a minimum toughness of four puts it out of the reach of a lot of removal in the set. Removal like Annihilating Fire. I played Incinerate for 1R, I'll still play Incinerate at 1RR. All the other cards in the pack are too narrow (Dispel), Outclassed by other cards (Dead Reveler, Coursers' Accord, Goblin Rally, and Armory Guard), risky to play or jump through hoops to make work (Deviant Glee and Stealer of Secrets), or don't really impact the game (Dryad Militant)
All that being said, the two cards that it really comes down to for first pick are Carnival Hellsteed and Annihilating Fire. First picks you're going to want a card that has impact on the board unless that card effectively says "You win the game". Mana fixing, while important, will be around in the next few picks and you can grab something if there is nothing supporting your colors. Thoughtflare is another great card, but doesn't impact the board or directly win you the game. Trestle Troll is a great card when you're behind because it helps you stabilize, but doesn't help you move forward after that. Carnival Hellsteed does both.
So, it then comes down to those two. Dude or Spell. Carnival Hellsteed fits nicely into the "bomb" category of creatures. Powerful, efficient, and can take over a game. The only way you're dealing with this particular bomb is with a removal spell. Arrest, Detention Sphere, Paralyzing Grasp, Auger Spree (if it's not unleashed) and Dreadbore. All of these stop this card with minimal hoops to jump through (Tapped, not unleashed, etc.). One card not in that list? Annihilating Fire. 3 damage doesn't crack it's normal toughness and in order to kill it, you're going to need to throw enough bodies in front of it to put 6-7 toughness in its way just to get that 1-2 damage through to kill it. By all means, 4 for 1 yourself.
Pack 1 Pick 1: Carnival Hellstead.
Now, looking at this pack as a pack in my sealed pool makes me very excited about Rakdos or Jund. I've got the Hellsteed, Annihilating Fire, Deviant Glee, and Dead Reveler for a straight up Rakdos deck. (Yeah, Deviant Glee is a big pointer for "Please 2 for one me" but it is nice with the deathtouch we see in other cards). And then I've got Trestle Troll and Golgari Guildgate for splashing green.
I'll try and do one of these a week, and keep a running tally of the cards and every six packs, I'll try and build a sealed deck out of the pool.
Hello, World
Hi and thanks for clicking on this. The point of this blog is to talk about Magic: The Gathering, specifically the limited format. I'm no great player, but hopefully writing my thought process out and having other people take a look will help improve my ability to play, and maybe give some other folks a bit of insight and a new perspective.
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