MarcosPMA's picture
By: MarcosPMA, nn
Jul 28 2016 12:00pm
5
Login to post comments
2095 views


Hello and welcome to another edition of Sealed Success!  Eldritch Moon is officially out and I like this set a lot.  At FNM I had the option of a draft or to play Standard, and the choice was clear from the start, draft it was!  We did triple Eldritch Moon and it's something I was excited about doing.  Normally you don't draft triple small sets because the cards are repetitive and the themes aren't fleshed out enough for a small set.  They're there to build upon themes present in the large set, not to mention the cards are generally weaker in a small set.

Triple Eldritch Moon

Because of how small a small set can be, you'll end up seeing the same commons over and over again, leading to decks that of less variety but with more consistent power level.  The trade-off in consistency is that generally speaking the power level of cards will be flat, so you'll have a lot of okay cards to battle with.  In Eldritch Moon seeing the same commons over and over is actually a good thing.  For one, you want to have as much chances as you can to meld Graf Rats and Midnight Scavengers.  At the low end I imagine a draft pod opening about 2-3 of each card, with some pods going into the 4-5 range.  Ideally you want to start on Midnight Scavengers as that card is worth playing without Graf Rats, and if someone wants to block you they'll be forced to take a weak card.  If you start the other way around, people have more incentive to take away Midnight Scavengers as even conditional Gravedigger effects are good.

Secondly, Take Inventory and Galvanic Bombardment are much more powerful in multiples.  The Galvanic Bombardment is better here than Take Inventory as multiple removal spells are better than multiple card draw because one is good no matter what whereas the other is dependent on the cards you have in your deck.  Sure, drawing four cards for 2 mana is great, but if your deck is bad then it's not doing anything.  In the situation where your deck is bad, at least removal can help you make forward progress.  Regardless, both are great and you'll be better equipped to exploit them in triple Eldritch Moon.

This is what I ended up drafting:

EMN Draft
- 39 Cards Total
Black
1 (Wailing Ghoul:emn)
1 (Graf Rats:emn)
2 (Midnight Scavengers:emn)
1 (Rise from the Grave:emn)
1 (Certain Death:emn)
1 (Dark Salvation:emn)
7 cards
Green
1 (Gnarlwood Dryad:emn)
1 (Kessig Prowler:emn)
1 (Noose Constrictor:emn)
1 (Foul Emissary:emn)
1 (Shrill Howler:emn)
1 (Bloodbriar:emn)
1 (Swift Spinner:emn)
1 (Backwoods Survivalists:emn)
1 (Tangleclaw Werewolf:emn)
1 (Crop Sigil:emn)
2 (Prey Upon:emn)
12 cards
Artifact
1 (Field Creeper:emn)
1 (Terrarion:emn)
2 cards
Colorless
1 (It of the Horrid Swarm:emn)
1 cards
Land
9 (Forest:soi)
8 (Swamp:soi)
17 cards
 

 

 (Note from the Manager:  We are still working out bugs with the deck creator, this will be fixed.)

I first picked a Murder, then at some point got back to back Midnight Scavengers, so I was pretty clear on wanting to meld a Chittering Host.  I didn't know what my second color was going to be, and at some point I thought I would be white but I changed course after seeing a late Crop Sigil.  This meant that no one wanted to be G/B Delirium, so I made a hard push into that strategy.  I wanted to see if there were any rewards for it, and while I don't think I did, I do think I ended up drafting a good value deck.  The two Midnight Scavengers let me trade early and not be down cards while Rise from the Grave works well with the Crop Sigil or the dead creatures in my opponents graveyard.  The entire draft ended up coming down to whether or not the table was going to let me have a Chittering Host.  The person to my left started with an early Midnight Scavengers so they too were on that plan, but I didn't mind fighting since they can have pack 2, pack 1 and 3 were not going to be kind for them.  They did end up getting passed a Graf Rats, and after quite a long time looking at the pack they sighed and passed me the Rats, which I instantly took without looking at the rest of the pack. 

I ended up winning the draft because of it.  Chittering Host entering play is quite the devastating effect as not only do your creatures hit harder, they all gain menace!  More than likely a Chittering Host meld is going to lead to a game winning attack.  I was able to meld them together every match, and every game they melded I did not lose.  Outside of Chittering Host, I had a pretty good value deck that could grind opponents out.  I could use Prey Upon on my Gnarlwood Dryad and their best creature, then get it back with a Midnight Scavengers.  Crop Sigil was basically a draw 2 cards on delay, but I got to choose what cards I wanted from my graveyard.  Foul Emissary as emerge fodder for It of the Horrid Swarm was a great turn 3/4 play that put me so far ahead against what my opponents could muster at that point in time.

I didn't get much from my prize packs, but that's how it goes sometimes.  With that said, let's look at my 2nd prerelease pool.

Sealed Pool #2

WHITE

                

BLUE

                

BLACK

         

RED

                 

GREEN

               

MULTI/ARTIFACT/LAND

      

Pool Analysis

One of the first things I saw in this pool was that I had a Tamiyo, so my first thought was to build a deck with Tamiyo in it.  Before that of course, I split my cards into all five colors and then took out the unplayables from the pool.  I saw that my black was virtually unplayable, so I cut the entire color very quickly.  From there I knew a Tamiyo deck would have to be some mix of white/blue/green and that it would have to be an attacking deck, so I first laid out white/blue and white/green both with a splash for the missing color.  I found that while blue had card draw, it didn't have what it took to use Tamiyo well, so blue would have to be the splash color.  White/green seemed fine, but with close to little removal and not a fast draw, I was due to lose to more powerful decks.  Tamiyo is a good card, but you need pressure and a board presense to make her powerful and I was afraid I couldn't really do it with white/green.  In all honestly my decks with Tamiyo had more blue cards/mana than was worth it, and I knew playing it was going to be a bad idea.  I looked at white/red because I knew with tricks and a bit of luck I could use Subjugator Angel to great effect, something that I thought would be an issue with white/green.

I really really wanted to play a deck with Tamiyo, but as I looked over it I was telling my friend who was building his deck right in front of me: "If I want to win I need to play this shitty white/red deck."  And so this is what I built:

Prerelease Deck #2
 
Creatures
1 Sigardian Priest
1 Thermo-Alchemist
1 Hanweir Militia Captain
1 Gibbering Fiend
1 Dawn Gryff
2 Brazen Wolves
1 Bloodmad Vampire
1 Convicted Killer
1 Impetuous Devils
1 Insatiable Gorgers
1 Apothecary Geist
2 Faithbearer Paladin
1 Vildin-Pack Outcast
1 Subjugator Angel
1 Bruna, the Fading Light
17 cards

Other Spells
1 Cathar's Shield
1 Borrowed Hostility
1 True-Faith Censer
2 Borrowed Grace
1 Angelic Purge
6 cards
Lands
8 Mountain
1 Geier Reach Sanitarium
8 Plains
17 cards
 
Cathar's Shield

 

It still looks bad looking back on it when you compare it to what you would expect at the minimum from a sealed deck.  There's barely any removal in the deck and you're interacting mostly at sorcery speed.  There's a lot of creatures that don't do any special and they're not particularly strong either. My red/black deck that I had previously played was strong and had ways to make its creatures bigger, not to mention it could play quite quickly.  This deck was slower and didn't really have a trump, or so I thought.

As I played the games I realized that the only reason I was winning was due to Cathar's Shield.  I didn't really make much of +0/+3, but when almost every creature trades and/or is small, being able to have a good attack is such an important thing when you're playing a lot of creatures.  Not only do you get a boost to toughness, you get vigilance.  In a deck like this, vigilance is absolutely necessary in order to keep attacking while protecting your own life total.  I can't sit on defense forever because my creatures aren't built to do that.  I must end the game at some point, and the sooner I do it the better it is for me.  Cathar's Shield on Dawn Gryff or Faithbearer Paladin makes combat so much better for me and allows me to swing the race in my favor.  Cathar's Shield also made Borrowed Grace a much better card than it already is.  I knew going into the sealed format that the escalate cards would be good, but when you already get to make a good attack/block, those cards get that much better.  One game I had a Vildin-Pack Outcast with Cathar's Shield and attacked as a 4/7 vigilant creature.  My opponent had to commit to a double block and didn't play around a Borrowed Grace.  Once it was said and done my creature lived and not only did theirs die, they lost out on the best chance to kill my creature.  Heck, the same situation occurred with a 2/5 Convicted Killer and the result was the same as well.  Cathar's Shield makes it so early on you have "free" attacks and your opponent must at some point commit more resources on a creature that isn't worth that much.

Magic 2010 Draft

Core set draft!  I like core sets since they're generally easier to draft when compared to other expansions.  The archetypes are mostly the same and there's not anything fancy or complex that you need to watch out for.  Draft good cards, removal plus threats and you'll have a good chance at winning games.  I read that red was not good in the format, so I went into the draft with that in mind.  I don't think my decisions change if I think red is good, I definitely take Doom Blade over Goblin Warchief every single time.  Going into green instead of blue was likely a mistake, but it's something I couldn't do anything about by the time I realized it.  At least I'm aware of what I could have done better as opposed to not knowing.

Conclusion

Rudeness aside, I enjoyed my Magic 2010 draft and look forward to drafting triple Zendikar when it comes out.  I actually won my first Zendikar draft so maybe I can do that again this time.  I feel lucky to have gone 4-0-1 with my sealed pool given the fact that I wasn't too impressed with the deck I played.  I really wanted to play a Tamiyo deck but I had this feeling that I wouldn't do well with it and I'm fortunate that I listened to myself.  

The prerelease is this weekend for Magic Online so I'll be doing an EMN Sealed League and potentially a draft as well to go along with the flashback draft of the week.  If you have any comments, questions, or concerns leave them in the comments section below.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

3 Comments

Cathar's Shield vs Cathar's Staff by MichelleWong at Fri, 07/29/2016 - 00:50
MichelleWong's picture
5

Nice article, interesting to read, thanks.

I recommend you avoid the card CATHAR'S SHIELD. It is very overpriced for the effect you get. I do not doubt your comment that it helped you in that particular match, but will that Shield be good in an average match?

My advice is: If you're ever thinking about playing with Cathar's Shield, just stop and remove that thought from your mind! There will be something better to take. Eric Froelich publicly rated Cathar's Shield as an "F" (the worst possible rating on his scale), and I think he is correct.

The card Geist-Fuelled Scarecrow is a good card, whether you are playing an Aggro, Midrange or Control deck. May I ask why you do not like this Scarecrow for your Sealed Deck No.2?

Thank for your the comment by MarcosPMA at Fri, 07/29/2016 - 04:51
MarcosPMA's picture

Thank for your the comment :)

I certainly wouldn't take the Cathar's Shield highly in draft, I expect it to table almost every draft and it should be pick around 10th-15th.

My opinion on Cathar's Shield is more an observation about creature sizing in Eldritch Moon. Creatures will trade frequently, so if you're able to have a trump you have an advantage in battle. There are some decks that don't need a Cathar's Shield, nor should it go in every deck.

My deck in particular needed the effect because the creatures were pretty bad in combat without it. The Cultist's Staff likely would have been as good, although vigilance was quite a boon to have in some of my matches.

I didn't play the Geist-Fueled Scarecrow because I felt my best option to victory would be to swarm the battlefield with creatures, and at some point I might want to cast two creatures in one turn. The body itself is good, but I thought the loss in tempo would hurt me too much.

I hope that answers your questions!

Scarecrows by MichelleWong at Fri, 07/29/2016 - 06:35
MichelleWong's picture
5

Your points are kindly noted Marcos, thanks.