Sealed Deck Exercise Winner #1
By Christina “cecillbill” Page
1.17.05

Back in late November I held a Sealed Deck Exercise Contest where the chosen winner (or winners) would receive a Rare Promo card from Pojo. The exercise was setup to give players who are unfamiliar with Sealed deck events a glimpse into what you’re required to do when you build decks from a random card pool. For experienced players the exercise was more or less a warm-up to keep their Sealed deck building skills sharp. I received 12 solid entries and settled on two winners, milleniumskillet and MrCruiseAlot. I chose their submissions because both duelists offered very in-depth explanations of their choices. I don’t necessarily agree with every single card choice they made, but on the whole I believe they constructed strong decks. Here’s the card pool readers had to work with when constructing their decks:

Base Set Pack
Teleportation
Stinger Worm
Toel, Vizier of Hope
Pangaea’s Song
Burning Mane
Aqua Hulcus
Writhing Bone Ghoul
Burning Power
Senatine Jade Tree
Steel Smasher

Rampage of the Super Warriors Pack
Volcanic Arrows
Ur Pale, Seeker of Sunlight
Sword Butterfly
Shtra
Bone Piercer
Explosive Dude Joe
Boomerang Comet
Botail Dragon
Masked Pomegranate
Baraga, Blade of Gloom

Shadowclash of Blinding Night Pack
Re Bil, Seeker of Archery
Gregoria, Princess of War
Volcano Smog, Deceptive Shade
Three-Eyed Dragonfly
Purple Piercer
Aqua Jolter
Skeleton Thief, the Revealer
Gulan Rias, Speed Guardian
Keeper of the Sunlight Abyss
Gregorian Worm

Shadowclash of Blinding Night Pack
Trox, General of Destruction
Ancient Giant
Locomotiver
Milieus, the Daystretcher
Kolon, the Oracle
Kamikazee, Chainsaw Warrior
Shadow Moon, Cursed Shade
Blasto, Explosive Solider
Whisking Whirlwind
Sword of Malevolent Death

Shadowclash of Blinding Night Pack
Alcadeias, Lord of Spirits
Photocide, Lord of the Wastes
Three-Eyed Dragonfly
Fu Reil, Seeker of Storms
Volcano Smog, Deceptive Shade
Amber Grass
Cannon Shell
Sarius, Vizier of Suppression
Exploding Cactus
Blasto, Explosive Solider

Milleniumskillet’s Sealed Deck Entry

Milleniumskillet’s submission immediately caught my attention. He approached Sealed deck making in the manner that most experienced players do, first separating cards by civilization and then analyzing his strongest and weakest civilizations. Rather than recapping Milleniumskillet’s decision or delineating the card choices I would have made (since I already did that bit with my first Sealed deck article) I’ll simply let you read Milleniumskillet’s analysis and offer some brief comments at the end:

First, I separated all the cards into five separate piles, for each of the different civilizations. There were 5 Water, 13 Light, 10 Nature, 8 Fire, and 14 Darkness cards. There were more Light and Darkness cards, which was to be expected since three packs of Shadowclash of Blinding Night were used. Since there were so few Water cards I decided not to put them in my deck pile. The odds are not high to be able to play them if I were to place them in this "special" deck.

I wanted to narrow down the field of cards, so the next step was to look through the individual civs to cut the deck size down. The one card that caught my eye was Alcadeias, Lord of Spirits. The problem was that there wasn't another Angel Command in the card pool to play off of, so I took it out of the deck pile. So I looked through the Light civ to get my defense in order. I wanted to put all blockers in the deck, so I placed in the deck pile: Senatine Jade Tree; Milieus, the Daystretcher; and Sarius, Vizier of Suppression. In a limited format you need all the defense you can get. Next, I looked to see if there were any shield trigger creatures. Luckily, there were so I added Kolon, the Oracle and Amber Grass. I then looked through the spells. They were not all that impressive, so I disregarded them. Instead of Whisking Whirlwind, and a one turn deal, I decided to have a creature that had the same effect in my deck. This is why Toel, Vizier of Hope is in the deck. I know it's Death Smoke or Crimson Hammer Bait, but I am willing to take the risk. Then, I saw Re Bil, Seeker of Archery. This card is very good. It powers up my other light creatures and has the double breaker ability. In limited format, double breaker is a good quality to have. Ur Pale, Seeker of Sunlight is only good in a mono-Light deck, so I tossed it out. I thought that I needed so more umphf in the Light civ, so I added Fu Reil, Seeker of Storms and Gulan, Space Guardian. I am not going to have that many Darkness shield triggers so Fu Reil will most likely not hurt me.

The next civilization that I rummaged through was the Darkness civ.  The first card that caught my eye was Trox, General of Destruction.  Discarding cards from your opponent's hand is always good; especially in limited play.  That is the reason why I placed him in the deck pile.  There were not any darkness blockers so I looked to see if there were any shield trigger creatures.  So I included Gregorian Worm and Locomotiver.  Next I tried to see if there were any spells.  There were none to be found.  Then, I looked at the other creatures.  Photocide, Lord of the Wastes was an obvious choice to add in my deck pile.  It has so much power for so little mana.  Its side effect about not attacking your opponent is a drawback that I can deal with.  I did not want to destroy any of my creatures so I got rid of Stinger Worm and Baraga, Blade of Gloom.  I also took Skeleton Thief, the Revealer out of the deck pile because of its attack power to mana ratio.  Also, I'm not going to have that many Living Dead in this deck in order for his effect to work.  Writhing Bone Ghoul would be the only other Living Dead that I include in this deck, but only as a speed attack.  For more speed, I added Bone Piercer and Purple Piercer.  Next, I saw the effect of Shadow Moon, Cursed Shade and immediately put it in the deck to pump up all my Darkness creatures.  I also needed more power in this civ. I included in the deck, both Volcano Smog, Deceptive Shades and Gregoria, Princess of War in my deck.  I know that Volcano Smog makes Light creatures and spells cost more but I can always use them as mana instead.

The next civ to be gazed upon was Fire.  I first looked at its spells.  Again, not all that impressive, so I ditched the Sword of Malevolent Death and Burning Power.  I kept Volcanic Arrows just in case I am having trouble with a creature.  I'm not too thrilled about losing a shield in order to play this, but sacrifices need to be made.  There was one shield trigger creature; Kamikaze, Chainsaw Warrior so I added him to my deck pile.  Blasto, Explosive Soldier is a good card in this deck since there is a good chance of having at least one Darkness creature on my side of the field.  Add some rush with Explosive Dude Joe.  To add more power to the deck, Boltail Dragon was included.  Also, it has the double breaker quality.  Did I mention that double breaker is good in limited play?

The last civ I covered was Nature.  I looked at the one spell card and in less than two seconds, turned the other way (Pangaea's Song).  Next, I looked at the shield trigger creatures.  Cannon Shell was the only one, so guess what, I included him in my deck pile.  It is a good card at the beginning of a match, but not in the late game.  Lastly, I looked at the normal creatures.  They all looked good, for a swarm.  Exploding Cactus is good since there are some pretty nice odds that there will be at least one Light creature on my side of the field.  For power, I included Ancient Giant.  For the end of a match I included both Three-Eyed Dragonfly.  For swift attacks, I put in Burning Mane and Sword Butterfly.  I included Steel Smasher just in case I was dealing with a pest on the opposing side.  Lastly, I placed in my deck pile Masked Pomegranate for the late game also.

So the synopsis is that the main cast is Darkness and Light civs.  The supporting cast is Fire and Nature civs.  Rush, Defend and Power. My proposed sealed deck:

Darkness: (11)

Bone Piercer
Gregoria, Princess of War
Gregorian Worm
Locomotiver
Photocide, Lord of the Wastes
Purple Piercer
Shadow Moon, Cursed Shade
Trox, General of Destruction
2x Volcano Smog, Deceptive Shade
Writhing Bone Ghoul

Light: (9)

Amber Grass
Gulan Rias, Speed Guardian
Kolon, the Oracle
Milieus, the Daystretcher
Re Bil, Seeker of Archery
Sarius, Vizier of Suppression
Senatine Jade Tree
Toel, Vizier of Hope

Fire: (6)

2x Blasto, Explosive Soldier
Boltail Dragon
Explosive Dude Joe
Kamikaze, Chainsaw Warrior
Volcanic Arrows

Nature: (9)

Ancient Giant
Burning Mane
Cannon Shell
Exploding Cactus
Masked Pomegranate
Steel Smasher
Sword Butterfly
2x Three-Eyed Dragonfly

35 cards in total

35 cards you ask.  The reason why it is 35 is because just in case the match goes on longer than expected.

Mana cost average: 4.14 approximately, which is a balance between low and high cost cards.

Comments: On the whole I think Milleniumskillet made a strong deck. If I were to change anything about his deck, then I’d start by shaving the deck to 30 cards. I know what you’re thinking: didn’t I construct a Sealed deck that had 34 cards? Yes, I did but after the event I realized that my deck would have been stronger had I kept the count down and made better omissions to fit in my Fire splash. I’ve done well with 30-34 cards, but it greatly helps to stay as close to 30 cards as possible. Also, the 5 cards I’d shave from Milleniumskillet’s deck are ones that I shy away from in Sealed—cards that can harm me too much or that could help my opponent too much. I’d cut out Gregoria Princess of War (do not want to pump my opponent’s Photocide or worse), the 2 copies of Volcanic Smog (too much of the deck’s base is Light), Shadow Moon (opponent’s Darkness guy’s get the pump too), and Milieus, the Daystretcher (it’s a blocker but it would tax my Darkness creatures too).

Tomorrow, I’ll present the second winner’s Sealed deck entry.