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By: one million words, Pete Jahn
May 19 2010 11:47pm
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The Gumby Brain Specialist Rises to the Task

If you don't get the title references - click here, you poor Python-deprived reader. 

I have now played in four sealed events.  Up until the very last event, my win/loss ratio was fine and I had earned a bunch of packs.  I thought I had a good handle on the format.  In this last event, however, I went 0-3 drop.  I took a game each match, but 0-3 drop is still 0-3 drop.  Sucktastic.  I really didn't feel I had much chance in any match - even the final, against an 0-2 opponent - and I was not sure of my build.   Where did I screw up.

I'll do this like an old-school tournament report.  I love those.  Like all reports, this one starts with the epic journey to the event.

I walked into the den and sat down at the computer.   I didn't get lost.

The sad thing is that this report is not going to get much better. 

Here's the card pool, broken down by color.  After that, I'll assess each color in turn.

White
 
Blue
 
Black
 
Red
 
Green
 
2 Haze frog (one FOIL)
Other
 

I had some comments about this card pool.  My first one was <CENSORED>

Generally, I am looking to accumulate cards for constructed.  That's the main reason I shell out the 24 TIX to play in events like these - that, and the thought that I may well win enough packs to draft a couple times.  Anyway, here are the constructed "playables" that I opened.

Devastating summonsKozilek, Butcher of TruthWall of OmensOustStaggershockGrowth Spasm

If I went to MTGOTraders, I could buy those cards for $  9.65.  That meant I started out about $15.00.  A couple weeks from now, when more people have drafted Wall of Omens, it will drop from the $1.75 resultuing from initial scarcity, as will many of the other cards.  In truth, I have abouth 2 TIX worth of cards.  I have to go 3-1 to break even.

Does this look like a 3-1 card pool to you? 

White:

Well, let' start looking at what we can build.  I normally start by cutting colors - colors which do not have enough power to be played.  I'm worried that this pool may cut too many colors, leaving me nothing to play.  Whatever.  Here's a list of the white cards I consider playable or better.  (That's using a pretty generous definition of playable, BTW.)  

2 Ikiral Outrider
1 Makindi Griffin
1 Oust
1 Smite
1 Totem-Guide Hartebeest
1 Wall of Omens
 

The Outriders are great (well, good) for tying up the ground while you win through the air.  This is especially true if you can add level counters for free (Venerated Teacher, I'm looking at you.)  Without the fliers, though, the Outriders are highly marginal.  They get blocked by every wall out there, and they don't stop any of the playable Eldrazi, even in multiples.  They do combo nicely with Smite, however. 

Oust is a very interesting card.  It should work reasonably well in constructed, in formats where Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile are not available.   In limited, it works well in aggro decks, like UW levelers, where it can temporarily eliminate a blocker.   It also does a nice job of knocking auras, umbra  and level counters off the bad guy's guys.   So far, my deck is not looking fast enough to really abuse it, but we'll keep it in mind.

Totem-Guide Hartebeest is a great way of finding auras and totem armors.   I drafted a nice little deck with three, plus multiple Narcolepsy and Guard Duties, as well as Drake Umbra and the like.  The Hartebeest is a fine when waering a strong totem or as a five mana enlightened tutor provided we have stuff to tutor for.  So far, all we have a is +0/+4 aura which gives the creature suckiness.   We may reconsider once we see the rest, but for now Hartebeest should be put out to pasture.

My one solid creature in white is a whitewashed Fighting Drake.  How sad.

Blue:

Here's everything worth considering.

1 Champion's Drake
1 Eel Umbra
1 Hada Spy Patrol
2 Halimar Wavewatch
1 Lay Bare
1 Narcolepsy
1 Sea Gate Oracle
 

Just how many auras would you have to play to make Aura Finesse a  trick worth playing?  If I had a couple good Umbras, especially some that gave shroud or really pumped toughness (and did something else worthwhile besides), then maybe.  If Finesse could move your opponent's auras, too, then it would be tech.  In this deck, it could move the Narcolepsy, or play games with the Eel Umbra, but that's about it.

I don't have enough instants or sorceries to see playing Echo Mage.  OTOH, Hada Spy Patrol and the Wavewatches are the best creatures so far, and might make at least a blue splash playable.  Lay Bare, though, is UU, so not splashable, and blue does not seem to justify playing lots of Islands.  

Black:

Please, please black, show me a Drana.  Just one.  Failing that, at least give me something playable.  

No Drana. Here's the list of playables.

2 Bala Ged Scorpion
1 Bloodrite Invoker
1 Corpsehatch
2 Last Kiss
1 Nirkana Revenant
1 Skeletal Wurm
1 Vendetta
1 Virulent Swipe
1 Zulaport Enforcer
 

Yay - playables!  I see two good removal spells, and one good creature, and ...

well, some other stuff.  We are clearly playing black.  Corpsehatch, Nirrkana, Vendetta, both Last Kisses and the Enforcer will be in regardless.  Scorpions are generally sideboard, but beggars can't be choosers.  Skeletal Wurm is so very expensive, but if you get it in play and can keep regen mana up, your opponent had better have evasion and/or blockers.

Red:

Red has some nice cards in Rise.  I sure would have liked to see some of them.  Here's what I have, without those I can immediately eliminate because I don;t have the right deck.  For example, I can't play  Brood Birthing, because I have almost no spawn producers.  Here's the list of cards I could almost see playing, if I cock my head to one side and squint real hard. 

1 Battle Rampart
1 Brimstone Mage
1 Forked Bolt
1 Lavafume Invoker
1 Staggershock
1 Vent Sentinel

 

Brimstone Mage is a fine card.  Staggershock makes me feel happy.  (I almost said "all warm inside," but that's a stupid pun.)   Forked Bolt could be sided in against decks with lots of x/1s, like Kor Line-Slinger and the new looter.   Beyond that - well, Battle Rampart and a single Vent Sentinel does not move me into the walls archetype.  (Besides, the walls archetype doesn't really work.) 

Red looks like a splash.

Green:

 Finally, green.  Green is often pretty decent in Rise, and I was really hoping for the hook-up here.  I didn't quite get it, but it is not terrible. 

1 Ancient Stirrings
2 Aura Gnarlid
1 Broodwarden
1 Growth Spasm
1 Might of the Masses
1 Ondu Giant 
1 Stomper Cub
1 Wildheart Invoker

 

First off, the mana fixing is not too bad.  Ancient Stirrings can help find lands, or colorless spells.  In this deck, colorless also means the two Prophetic Prisms, or Kozliek.  That's not too bad.  After that, I have both Growth Spasm and Ondu Giant to find lands for splash colors.  However, the creatures are not that exciting.  The Aura Gnarlids are insane beaters, if you have auras.  I have a very few, and very bad, auras.  Broodwarden is great if you have token producers, but other than Corpsehatch, I have none that I'd really want to play.   Still, it is a 4/4, so I might play it regardless.

Stomper Cub and Wilheart Invoker are the two green creatures - other than the Rampant Growth Giant - that I'm happy to see.

My colorless  cards include the Prisms, Kozilek and some walls, plus Pathrazer of Umalog.  Without better ramping, I doubt I could ever resolve Kozilek, and I'm quite certain I could never get enough mana together to cast the Pathrazer. 

I expect that I will end up UBG, possibly splashing the Staggershock or Oust.  Staggershok seems better.  Let's look at that build. 

Blue  (6)

Black  (7)

Green  (5)

Splash & Colorless  (5)

1 Brimstone Mage

 

1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth

2 Prophetic Prism

This is not good.  It is four colors, but the mana fixing is decent.  It wants lots of colored mana - lots of 3GG and 3BB type costs.  Some of the levelers also require colored mana, meaning I will be unlikely to be able to level up the Brimstone Mage, for example, quickly.  I am also unhappy with 17 lands:  I want 18.  I just don't know what to cut.  I could cut Kozilek - but then I'm not as certain I would want 18 lands anymore.  I am also not totally sold on Might in a deck with this few creatures, but what could I play over it?  Broodwarden - another 3GG creature?

Could I have built a better deck?  What would you have done differently?  This build is hardly the last word.

Round One:

I had noticed an interesting coincidence in my three Rise sealed events, including this one - the winner of the entire event played in my first match.  That's kinda OBV when I go 4-0, but it was also true when I lost round one.  In this event, my round one opponent won match and the event.

Game one, I had to take two mulligans to fix bad mana.   He didn't, and he was on the play.  He also had a straight UB deck with tons of levelers and at least two Venerated Teachers.  

The UB levelers deck looks for these commons:

Champion's DrakeFrostwind InvokerSkywatcher AdeptVenerated TeacherHalimar WavewatchNull ChampionZulaport enforcer

He also had a Consuming Vapors on turn four that blew me out.  Game two, I sided in the Forked Bolt, but my Last Kisses held him off while the Halimar Wavewatch became 6/6 Islandwalkers.   Then they won me the game.

Game three I mulliganed into Mountain, Forked Bolt, Island, 2 Halimar Wavewatch, Swamp.  Fine.  His turn one Zulaport Enforcer  looked like an excellent target for the Forked Bolt, but I really wanted a two for one, so I dropped Wavewatch and passed.  He played a Prophetic Prism on turn two, so I held the Bolt.  Null Champion costs 4 to level up, after all.  However, on his turn three, he dropped a Venerated Teacher, and suddenly the Enforcer was a 3/3.  That, plus a couple Champion's Drakes and the Consuming Vapors to kill both my Wavewatches, was enough.  More than enough.    

Round Two:

Once again, my opening hand was too colorful for my lands.  So was my six, and my five was mediocre at best.  His draw, on the other hand, was hardly mediocre.  He was GB, and had some fast ramping into a turn five (Pelaka Wurm).  I had drawn my Vendetta, so I killed it.  He had Cadaver Imp, and replayed the Wurm shortly thereafter.  I managed to do some careful double blocking and used Might and removal to kill the wurm a second time, even though he also had a pump spell.  However, he had a second Cadaver Imp, and I was out of gas.

Game two I managed to blow out his creatures and started to beat him down with some random little dude (Oracle or Sea Patrol, IIRC)   We were both playing off the top of our decks, then he played this.

Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief  

Yeah, like that.  I think he lost his round one being mana screwed, or maybe he drew badly.

Drawing Drana is not drawing badly.

Round Three:

My opponent was playing a RGW ramp deck with an Aura Gnarlid subtheme, or maybe it was a Gnarlid deck with a ramp subtheme. 

Aura Gnarlid runs off cards like this:

Aura GnarlidSnake umbraboar umbraHyena umbra

RG Ramp decks like these:

Emrakul's HatcherNest InvaderGrowth Spasmkozilek's predator

which ramp into these:

artisan of kozilekpelakka wurmulamog's crusherhand of emrakul

Game one was long and somewhat drawn out, but he got there in the end.  I sided in my Aura Gnarlids, the Oust, a Plains for the Moutain and the umbra.  Game two my Gnarlid got larger than his creatures,  thanks partly to a Guard Duty he dropped on my Champion's Drake, and I managed to get there despite his turn two Beastmaster, turn three Snake Umbra start.  

Game three was semi-epic.  I got beat down early, but stabilized.  I got a huge Wavewatch out, but the 6/6 had to sit home because I had very little life.  Eventually, I got my Drake and started eating 4 point chunks out of his life total.  All he had was lots of mana and spawn tokens - then, at nine life, he cast this:

Gelatinous Genesis

I was suddenly faced with seven 7/7s.   I knew it was bad when all his spawn tokens started disappearing - but seven more monsters?  It was demoralizing.  I conceded, and dropped.  I wasn't having fun anymore, and I could not win packs.

So, what went wrong?

Parts of this sound like I just had bad luck.  My pool wasn't amazing.  My opponents had some luck - but not that much.  (Okay -except Drana.  Drana is stupid good and getting one was lucky.)  Overall, though, I feel there should have been a way to at least get this to 2-2. 

Tell me what I should have done differently in the comments. 

PRJ

"one million words" on MTGO, eventually - but for the next little while, I'll be wearing a DCI judge shirt at GP DC and then Pro Tour San Juan.  See you there!

 

7 Comments

Mistakes I see by Jyalt at Thu, 05/20/2010 - 00:22
Jyalt's picture

--you played too many colors... 4 is too many; heck even 3 is too many unless the third is only a small splash (you do have prisms to go 3)
--you didn't play the better blue cards you did have. Lay Bare is surprisingly good at stopping game winning spells after turn six or seven. Stuff like Eldrazi and Gelatinous Genesis. Echo mage is ridic once levelled if you actually can use the ability. Staggershock you for 6 EOT, 6 on my turn? Pretty good.
--Last Kiss doesn't actually kill anything you want it to kill, and is best in SB. It's good against some bombs (Tuskcaller), but against others, especially Drana decks, is a dead card.

I'd have tried this U/B/r
1 Champion's Drake
1 Hada Spy Patrol
2 Halimar Wavewatch
1 Narcolepsy
1 Sea Gate Oracle
1 Lay Bare
1 Echo Mage
1 Eel Umbra (save my guy in response to your removal, sounds good)
9 blue

1 Corpsehatch
1 Nirkana Revenant
1 Skeletal Wurm
1 Vendetta
1 Zulaport Enforcer
5 black

1 Brimstone Mage
1 Staggershock
1 Vent Sentienl
1 Forked Bolt
4 red

1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
2 Reinforced Bulwark (more early D... needed)
2 Prophetic Prism
5 colorless

17 lands
9 islands
5 swamps
3 mountains

While I can't claim to know the format that well yet. This build is better than what you ran.

comments and a suggested build by mattlewis at Thu, 05/20/2010 - 00:53
mattlewis's picture

I think you under rate Bala Ged Scorpion and Sporecap Spider. Both are extremely solid cards that always make the cut for me.

My build would be B/G with a Splash of red. Red would be for Devastating Summons and Brimstone Mage, and possibly Surreal Memoir. You want Kozilek in the deck. Maindecking Naturalize is something I'm playing around with.

I would not run Staggershock, as the deck already features a similar effect on colour.

I'd run 18 lands, no Prophetic Prism. 8/8/2 , Forests/Swamps/Mountains.

2 Last Kiss
1 Vendetta
1 Virulent Swipe
1 Corpsehath
1 Perish The Thought

1 Devastating Summons

1 Growth Spasm
1 Spider Umbra

1 Kozilek

1 Broodwarden
1 Ondu Giant
1 Stomper Cub
1 Sporecap Spider
1 Bramblesnap
1 Aura Gnarlid

1 Brimstone Mage

2 Bala Ged Scorpion
1 Bloodrite Invoker
1 Nirkana
1 Zulaport Enforcer

You did a pretty bad job by this isnt the n... at Thu, 05/20/2010 - 04:34
this isnt the name i chose's picture

You did a pretty bad job making that deck, i can seee why you went 0-3. Your blue was weak. There was no need to play it at all. The only strong colors you had were black and green, with a few good removal spells in red. I wouldve made something like what mattlewis propsed, except i wouldnt play with perish the thought, and i for sure wouldve played the staggershock.

Kozilek is very playable in sealed, unless you have a really quick deck. He is a game winning bomb and would fit perfectly into the black green splash red deck you shouldve made.

Your pool was somewhat weak, but you easily couldve gone 2-2 or 3-1 if built right.

And bala ged scorpion kills tons of things, walls, levelers, etc. Always a maindeck card, at the very worst its going to be a 2/3 that kills a spawn token.

Yeah, poor deckbuilding. by DeckWizard at Thu, 05/20/2010 - 12:24
DeckWizard's picture

I would've absolutely cut Blue from the get-go. GBr is pretty obviously the way to go, unless you prefer to splash white over red (which I don't) for Oust, Smite, Wall of Omens, and Eland Umbra. You have some ramp, solid beaters and plenty of removal, not to mention Kozilek is a game ending bomb.

I also agree with the above poster - the scorpion is awesome in this format. Even if it just kills a spawn token, you've gotten some card advantage. And often it will kill a leveler, a wall, or one of the multitude of 1 power creatures in this set.

I could easily see this pool going 3-1.

Pool by Steve at Thu, 05/20/2010 - 12:27
Steve's picture

Jyalt - really? You cite the main problem of his build as having too many colors "4 is too many; heck even 3 is too many unless the third is only a small splash " and then propose a 4-color build?

I think the best deck here is GBr. For me, blue has been underwhelming unless you get the key cards, while with GBr you're deck would have been more stable. Mulligans happen, but you specifically reference half of the ones you made due to bad colors in your opening hand. I would have built..

1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
2 prophetic prisms

2 Bala Ged Scorpion
1 Bloodrite Invoker
1 Corpsehatch
2 Last Kiss
1 Nirkana Revenant
1 Skeletal Wurm
1 Vendetta
1 Virulent Swipe
1 Zulaport Enforcer

1 Ancient Stirrings
1 Broodwarden
1 Growth Spasm
1 Might of the Masses
1 Ondu Giant
1 Stomper Cub
1 Wildheart Invoker

1 Brimstone Mage
1 Forked Bolt
1 Staggershock

Even though Last Kiss, Forked Bolt, and Bala Ged Scorpion are situational, I still think they are good enough to run. I get why you wanted to run blue, with a couple of decent cards, but how often with you get tour kiss/staggershock together with a fully leveled mage for a nice turn, compared to how often you'd rather just have that 2nd green mana for stomper cub? Playing all the best cards in a sealed pool never works, you really need to punish the people that do with a more stable deck.

Ultimately, your sealed pool really had no identity anyway, so you couldn't really have a focused archetype, and I would have been happy with 2-2.

Did you read my post?: by Jyalt at Sat, 05/22/2010 - 18:08
Jyalt's picture

I proposed a three color build with 4 red cards. You could even cut them and run those 2 Scorpions and 2 Last Kiss (terrible IMO) if desired. I'm not sold on the 'greatness' of scorpion yet. He's a solid card for killing spawn tokens, but I haven't actually killed a real, potential threat with him yet. I've ran him quite a few times, and Scorp hasn't even killed anything that would have changed the game. I would certainly side him in against Tuskcaller or the Looting Leveller.

As for his blue being bad, sure it's not broken or anything, but he has Halimar Wavewatch x2 (the best blue common creature) and a Lay Bare to stop random dot bomb. If he doesn't run blue and they play Drana, he dies to it. With blue, he can at least hope for Lay Bare.

so im in my 8th sealed deck, by whiffy at Thu, 05/20/2010 - 14:12
whiffy's picture

so im in my 8th sealed deck, having only payed 24 tix and 2 urzas saga boosters to start it all off. Imo, your green is ultra week and dosent offer anything but fixing. with two prisms however i would have just gone ubr. 4 colors was your first mistake, not playing every removal spell maindeck in the colors your playing is #2(forked bolt out of the board. its rough since you dont have anybombs but kozilek, but there is so much synergy you dont even need bombs to 3-1 this format. out of the 8 sealeds i have played green has been in i think 6 or 7 of my builds with black and or red being in 6-7 as well. The base g splash b,r for removal deck is pretty good and the removal is deep enough to make it most of the time. only time i dint play g was a sick ub lvler deck that hated me (2-2) and the only time i didnt play b or r was an even sicker wg deck that had linsalva(what a bomb)

i went
3-1 brg
3-1 brg
4-0 brg
2-2 ub
2-2 gr
3-1 wg
3-1 brg
and the one im in now at 1-0 after rd 1 is also brg.

unfortunatly i have opened up bupkiss in most of these events. out of the 8 sealed decks i got sinvala, all is dust, awakining zone, and a foil wall of omens as cards worth more then 3 tix.

hope that helps people for the next 5 days. cheers.