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By: toolazy2stand, Josue Ledesma
Jun 06 2011 11:13am
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Hello all, and I’m back after a short bout of absence (classes were a bit killer) with a brand new limited format (for me at least) and a brand new set.  I was excited about New Phyrexia because it added such a different element to the game, especially limited, that we haven’t really seen except for Time Spiral Block (which I did not draft in). 

The phyrexia mana costs makes the format quicker and makes it so decks you face are much more unpredictable (Instant speed spot removal in G/B?  No way!  Oh..Dismember) and, it might just be me, but I think the average power level of a NPH pack is just stronger than in MBS or SOM precisely because mana costs are so much looser.  But, let’s see what I learned in my online Prerelease.

Be Mutagenic Growth Wary Apostle's Blessing of Gut Shot off Act of Aggression color Dismember tricks Marrow Shards

Now, I was a bit wary of trying a sealed deck, much less recording for PureMTGO because I did horrendous in my physical pre-release even though I had amazing cards.  Here, the cards I was dealt weren’t exactly terrible but didn’t really match up to the power level of the physical sealed deck I made weeks prior.  Also, I never really make two decks in sealed, I know some people might just in case and to keep opponents off guard but I never saw any push to any other color and I just tried to play the best cards available.

At the time of writing this article, I’ve already done 2 drafts and 2 sealeds and I have to say I’ve done pretty well.  One thing I do want to say about sealed deck is that it’s a different kind of monster than draft.  Maybe it goes without saying but because you’re not making your own picks (as you would in draft) considering a deck archetype, sealed tends to be slower.  For that reason, the stronger cards matter much more when you’re facing an opponent.  By stronger, I don’t mean bombs (we all know they should be played) but I mean higher impact cards.  A few times in draft and sealed, I’ve seen Hovermyr being played.  I don’t think Hovermyr is a good cards at all; in draft maaaybe if you picked up a lot of equipment, but otherwise it’s just a 1/2.  Yes, it has vigilance, and yes, it has flying, but those abilities don’t matter if the creature it blocks is going to die (and having 1 power means it will kill very few creatures too). So let's look at what I pulled.


The first thing I did was look at the rares/mythics.  It's important to do this in most format, and especially in SOM block because there are so many bomb rares in the format.  The rares, and the few powerful cards might be enough to make you play that color and not lack playables.  This is especially true because of the high amount of artifacts and the new phyrexian mana cost cards. The way I try to think of it is, when building a sealed deck, once your colors are set and you’re trying to get the overall feel of the deck and make those last minute choices, the important thing is to try to minimize the amount of low-impact cards the deck has; meaning, if you topdeck a particular card, how bad/good will it be?  For that reason I played 16 lands because I also had cards like Fume Spitter, 2 Myr, and Mycosynth Wellspring which do very little if they’re topdecked. 

Ok, now for the actual deck.  I felt pretty good about it, like I said, I just tried to pick up the strongest cards (eschewing blue because its only card that pushed me to the color was Argent Sphinx) and I had quite a few Skinrender-esque creatures (and a (Skinrender itself!)) that gave me confidence in the card advantage game.  Most of my removal was low cost and the only thing that I was really scared of was multiple bombs, namely, colored bombs.  I only had one real removal spell that could deal with a non-artifact bomb (Parasitic Implant) and I didn’t want to face more than one.  Other than that, I thought it was strong enough to take me far but, and I didn’t realize this until later, I did make some mistakes in deckbuilding, the biggest one being playing a Gremlin Mine over the (usually better) Shatters and (Glissa’s Scorn).  However, they served similar purposes and I didn’t think it would make a difference (once I found out).  So, for Round 1…

No bombs but...Skinrender Arc Trail plenty of two for one's Tormentor Exarch Acid Web Spider

 

I lost.  It’s always hard to lose the first game of any tournament just because it brings your morale way down.  I knew my mana base would be a bit sketchy stretching three colors but I didn’t think I’d be screwed that badly.  I definitely had outs (a swamp, wellspring, spellbomb etc), but they came too late for it to matter.  I was never really in this game, the only reason I took long to lose was because my opponent made some pretty terrible attacks (as in, he didn’t attack with everyone) and he had the game won a few times but didn’t make the correct play.  That was the only takeaway of the game, that he was prone to make mistakes, but it’s really more of a freebie than something you should change in terms of playstyle. 

 

In game 2, things went much more smoothly, because I drew all my colors.  He was a bit stuck on mana and his draw was a bit slow.  The Pith Driller on a myr during one of the turns really played well because he did nothing with his 4th mana and setting him back a turn meant another turn would pass without him having a play while I developed my board.  Here I realized how good Pith Driller is .  Having four toughness makes for an annoying wall and the fact that he kills or even shrinks something when he comes into play makes it that much harder to get through.  In this game I also realized one of the biggest weaknesses of my deck: I had no fliers.  While I did have removal, against large fliers, I probably wouldn’t stand up a chance.  I also wanted to point out that I was a bit hasty in using my removal, specifically the Parasitic Implant on a mere Pith Driller, but I really wanted to start putting pressure on him before he drew out of the awkward spot that he was in.  If he had like 6 or 7 lands on board and 3+ cards in hand, I definitely would’ve waited, but I really wanted to take advantage of the fact that he had fallen behind.  Looking back, I think I should’ve used the Grim Affliction in order to save the Parasitic Implant, but I liked having instant speed removal.  Luckily, all he was able to muster was two (Glint Hawks Idols) that quickly died, followed by him.  The other thing I had to notice was that he was color screwed (out of green).

 

In the last game, it was barely one.  Not only was my draw very good (my eventual draw that is, my opening hand was very awkward), but his draw just seemed pretty terrible.  Again my two for one in Tormentor Exarch (quickly becoming one of my favorite cards), and tricks in Leeching Bite and (Apostle’s Blessing) pulled their weight big time, gaining so much tempo that he didn’t have much to do concerning my big 5/4 Thundering Tanadon and his 2/2 sidekick.  He also didn’t play too much; a Hex Parasite was the last relevant card he played before his (Glissa’s Scorn) got countered by my (Apostle’s Blessing), and he easily died in a few swings. 

So, I felt pretty good with the deck; if I had all three colors, I felt super comfortable in terms of keeping the game under control and winning with it.  I didn’t really have any crazy bombs, but my cards were solid enough that, if played well, I wouldn’t have trouble winning a few more matches.

 

In Game two, I felt really good as well.  I didn’t have all my colors until later in the game, but I had the two main colors and like I said before, I felt in control for the latter half of the game.  I would’ve felt entire in control but the Chancellor of the Dross opening in the beginning of the game scared the ___ out of me.  A 6/6 flier lifelinker was something I couldn’t deal with, and would definitely die to so I had low hopes from the beginning.  Etched Monstrosity came out and didn’t die right away and did a great job of just being a fat beatstick.  Turn 4 5/5 without any Phyrexian mana?  That’s hard to beat, and coupled with my almost endless removal, most creatures wouldn’t survive long enough to trade or even chump block him.  My opponent was also stuck on 4 lands after I killed his 2 mana myr so at that point I knew the Chancellor of the Dross wouldn’t be a problem at all.  I won by Volt Charge burnout again and saw my opponent at -1 before he died (I had to click “OK” on the proliferate).

 

By this point, I had won my last 4 games in a row, but two were to mana screw on my opponents end.  I wasn’t very satisfied with this win (note: I didn’t say happy), as he was stuck on mana and one colors, even though he was playing three.  However I did have a good draw and I think there were few cards that could’ve gotten him out of it.  I had cards like Tormentor Exarch and Skinrender that needed him to have  a creature I could kill, but because he wasn’t playing anything, I was stuck with them in my hand (not that it’s a bad thing), so I don’t it was a case of “if I had my lands I would’ve won” type of thing.  However, I think that with my hand being the way it was, it could easily run over any clunky kind of hand (ex: turn 2 play, turn 3 play, no play til turn 6 in terms of creatures) because I had the two for ones that left  a beater on the board.

 First Chancellor of the Dross then Chancellor of the Spires...great.

Round 3 Game 1 scared me again with another Chancellor reveal (of the Spires kind), but similarly my opponent was never able to muster the mana to actually cast him.  My hand was pretty good after I mulliganed a no lander- which was one of the pluses of my deck.  As long as I had all or at least Green and Black in my starting hand, I was pretty favored in having a good hand because my deck was good overall.  I started out pretty aggressively with a turn two Porcelain Legionnaire and a Pith Driller on a Spined Thopter just kept the pressure on.  I think one of the key moments that really just changed the game to being slightly in my favor to being in my favor completely was when my opponent chose to Rust Tick my Pith Driller instead of my Legionnaire while he had only a Suture Priest for one other creature.  Of course I knew he had to have a trick but, depending on what it was my Leeching Bite could’ve been able to take care of things. He tried to (Apostle’s Blessing) his priest, but my bite let my Porcelain Legionnaire survive while simultaneously taking out his priest.  It was a huge swing in tempo and board presence and also two for one’ed him.  From there, the fact that he was hurting for lands and was just trying to stabilize did little in the face of a Thundering Tanadon which allowed me to just bash in repeatedly until I won.

 

So for game two, we actually had a real match, except that I got incredibly lucky twice in the game which just helped me win.  Also, during sideboarding, I realized the mistake I made in not putting in (Glissa’s Scorn) while keeping Gremlin Mine.  In the match he (again) revealed a Chancellor of the Spires and took a few of my removal but the Skinrender and the Arc Trail I used early on just set him back pretty far behind.  He didn’t play anything on turn 6 and it seemed like he was just looking for the 7th land, but when I swung with my creatures, the momentum of the game completely switched around when his freshly cast Sunblast Angel wiped out two/thirds of my army leaving me with an Acid Web Spider (which in its own respects had a fat enough butt to hold on the angel.  However I knew the Chancellor was coming up next so I had to figure out what my game plan was.  Luckily I did have the Parasitic Implant but I knew I would take some amount of damage in.  I thought the Implant would be enough to stabilize the board until he played his mythic rare- the Batterskull.  At that point (you can even hear it in my voice) I essentially lost all hope and just tried to call (Glissa’s Scorn) to the top of the deck or else I’d lose.  To my complete surprise, I did draw the (Glissa’s Scorn) and thought I could just outdraw him from there because I still had some tricks and removal in my hand.  Unfortunately, there was a second time where I had to draw (Glissa’s Scorn) when he brought Batterskull back thanks to (Razorfield Griffin).  Like a (luck)sack, I did draw it again and I also needed him NOT to have another land in order to bounce Batterskull.  From there, I was still on the back foot, he had two fliers out and was amassing his little army, but so was I with Mortis Dogs, Thundering Tanadon and a Tormentor Exarch that took out his Snapsail Glider on the way.  It’s stalemates like these that I really like a card like Mortis Dogs because it tilts the game enough in your favor that your opponent is forced to make trades; and when I had more creatures on the board, trades are not something he was happy about making.  After that bloodbath, I was left with 3 creatures and he only had a Blinding Souleater and I got the concession.

 

In the Final Round, I had a long drawn out game that could’ve (maybe not) mattered by my mistake of not putting in (Glissa’s Scorn) in favor of Gremlin Mine.  During the game, I was a bit mad at myself for that mistake, thinking it cost me the game.  If I had (Glissa’s Scorn), I definitely would’ve used it on the Trigon of Corruption BUT the Gremlin Mine allowed me to kill Clone Shell before it was able to Imprint any possible bombs so really the game could’ve gone either way.  His deck didn’t seem overpowered and we did go back and forth on the 1 for  1’s, but the biggest game-changer was (Life’s Finale) which was just devastating.  In these modern limited formats, pure wrath effects (Day of Judgment) aren’t as good as they used to be, but Life’s Finale’s upside of taking creatures out of the library just limits your opponents topdeck options so badly.  This is especially true in the late game, where two players are just looking for haymakers that’ll hopefully win them the game.  So the Life’s Finale, in addition to clearing my board, took out my Skinrender, my Etched Monstrosity, and an Acid Web Spider leaving me with a few creatures, including two Myr, that I would topdeck.  His Trigon of Corruption just got stronger with every turn I didn’t play a creature and eventually his Spire Monitor finished me off.

 Life's Finale Kind of a beating

Game two was probably the most frustrating out of the whole tournament.  I won’t say I would’ve won if I drew my red mana, but the match would’ve gone a whole different direction if I had drawn a mountain even late when he played his second Insatiable Souleater.  His Hovermyr and Souleater would’ve been dead and he would’ve had to pull the trigger on his (Life’s Finale) quicker, giving me more chances to get the board developed.  I also didn’t play perfectly.  When I saw the video again, there was a point where I (finally) had a mountain and I attacked into a Plated Seastrider with my Acid Web Spider.  He blocked and I chose to use the Tormentor Exarch to finish the Strider off instead of Arc Trailing him for two and the Strider for leaving him at 6.  I still had the Volt Charge in my hand so he was effectively at 3 life and wouldn’t have known it.  By keeping the Exarch in my hand, the (Life’s Finale) wouldn’t have been so devastating and I wouldn’t have to Pith Driller a Moriok Reaver, I’d instead Exarch it.  However, the Volition Reins he used and the active Trigon of Corruption might’ve just killed me regardless.  I was also frustrated at the staggeringly large number of lands I drew while still staying in two colors, but that happens; sometimes at the most unfortunate times, sometimes when you need lands. 

So I went 3-1, which was pretty good, considering I went 0-3 drop in the physical prerelease.  I got my packs and learned a little bit more about the Sealed format in general.  A few things before I go, concerning this limited format

  • Playing three colors is pretty acceptable and usually a good idea BUT only if your deck allows you to splash.  I only splashed because I had a Mycosynth Wellspring and a Horizon Spellbomb that gave me a good chance to have my three colors.
  • A sealed format is almost always slower than its draft format, so build your deck accordingly.  While New Phyrexia may have sped things up, I still think it's a good idea to draw first in order to get that extra card.
  • In a good deck v good deck, games usually come out to whoever grinded out the most card advantage.  As the game goes on, virtual card advantage matters more than usual.  Life's Finale's extra effect usually doesn't do much, but when a library has less than half it's starting cards left, missing those three creatures will matter a lot.   

  Join me next time (week maybe?) when I tackle an all NPH draft and tell you the things I’ve learned.