Tuesday, May 8, 2012

6-0

Here's what I opened from three packs of M12 and three of Avacyn Restored, as we sat down to do a Sealed 'tournament':

Artifacts
Haunted Guardian
Wurm's Tooth
2 Angel's Feather (really? Yeesh)

Land
Dragonskull Summit

Green
Timberland Guide
Druid's Familiar
Elvish Archdruid
Bountiful Harvest
Trollhide
Llanowar Elves
Runeclaw Bear
Naturalize

Blue
2 Stern Mentor
2 Havengul Skaab
2 Aven Fleetwing
Galvanic Alchemist
Peel From Realit
Gryff Vanguard
Favorable Winds
Fettergeist
Merfolk Looter
Skywinder Drake
Djinn of Wishes
Mist Raven
Alchemist's Apprentice
Chasm Drake

Red
Rite of Ruin
Dangerous Wager
Riot Ringleader
Volcanic Dragon
Act of Treason
Goblin Fireslinger
2 Manic Vandal
Gorehorn Minotaurs

White
Devout Chaplain
Holy Justiciar
2 Peregrine Griffin
Guardian's Pledge
Angelic Wall
Call to Serve

Gideon's Lawkeeper
Griffin Sentinel
Righteous Blow
Farbog Explorer
Timely Reinforcements
Spectral Gateguards
Stormfront Pegasus
Stonehorn Dignitary
Pacifism
Moonlight Geist
Elite Vanguard
Herald of War
Cloudshift


Black
Human Frailty
2 Essence Harvest
Warpath Ghoul
Soulcage Fiend
2 Devouring Swarm
Zombie Infestation
Gloom Surgeon

Bone Splinters
Drifting Shsade
Driver of the Dead
Duskhunter Bat
Distress
Crypt Creeper
Mind Rot
Reassembling Skeleton
Death Wind
Smallpox

Sitting down with a bunch of guys and beer, with no prize on the line, it's hard to call it a tournament but...whatever.

What I played:
8 Swamp
8 Plains

Bone Splinters
Drifting Shade
Driver of the Dead
Duskhunter Bat
Distress
Crypt Creeper
Mind Rot
Reassembling Skeleton
Death Wind
Devouring Swarm
Smallpox
The black was a selection of removal and discard with flying creatures. My experience has told me that limited formats hate discard so if it can be run, it's frequently brutal.
Cloudshift
Gideon's Lawkeeper
Griffin Sentinel
Righteous Blow
Farbog Explorer
Timely Reinforcements
Spectral Gateguards
Stormfront Pegasus
Stonehorn Dignitary
Pacifism
Moonlight Geist
Elite Vanguard
Herald of War
Peregrine Griffin
The white had a lot of early beats, with plenty of evasive creatures and some removal. I've been told time and again how great Timely Reinforcements is in Limited so when I saw that, it was a real pull into that color.

It was hard to cut down to 41 cards but I did OK on mana all night, which was good. All of my games were close, or at least they felt close, and I was often eking out wins at the last minute.

One particularly lucky play had me with 4 Plains, a Swamp and a Smallpox in hand, confronted with a creature I couldn't block due to not having any black creatures and his being enchanted with Predator's Gambit.

He dropped a Demonlord of Ashmouth and I was pretty sure I was in for a bad time, until I peeled a Swamp off the top. One Smallpox later, he's got nothing and I'm attacking with a Drifting Shade. SUPERLUCK!

Speaking of: the Drifting Shade was my MVP. In my second matchup, a pumped Shade was what helped me get past a Kruin Striker with Angelic Armaments. I am really surprised how good a Shade is in Sealed although I shouldn't be: a scalable creature that has evasion? That's going to be solid. Still, I put it in more because it would be a flyer and am very happy with how things turned out.

In the last game of my third matchup, I had just been hit by an Archwing Dragon when I peeled off a Distress, cast it and saw the Dragon and a Angelic Armaments. I swear that card is stalking me. I chose the Armaments and here's why: the Dragon has to be cast every turn. Since I can't kill it, if any of his other creatures get flying I'm boned. I had a Bone Shards in hand but that couldn't stop the Dragon-it could take out another creature but it can't destroy the artifact. On top of that: since the Dragon has to be re-cast, that means that he's going to spend 4 mana on that and not on something that might help create an advantage for him. I can keep pumping my Drifting Shade, cast other creatures as needed and maintain the edge.

Turns out: that was the correct choice. I was able to increase my pressure on him while he kept trying to race with the Dragon and in the end, it wasn't enough. So huzza, Armaments, you need to abide by the Court Order.

Most asked question of the night: Can I double pair Soulbond?
A: No.

Also, Soulbond is now to be known as Vegas Wedding, due to the duration and frequency of it.

2 comments:

  1. My rockstar was the 2\4 life-link flying white angel equipped with the +3/0 trident. I got down to 4 life and ended up winning with 44 life. She kept me alive when faced with demons, mean green 6/6 creatures, whatever anyone threw at me.

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  2. Damn. That's good stuff but a definite reminder to have artifact removal.

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