By Christina “cecillbill” Page

Water Civilization

In a few sets in the past, Water didn’t provide nearly as many good picks for Limited as other civilizations. That largely was the case because Water’s offerings were too expensive or too situational. However, Epic is a totally different story. There are some great picks here for Sealed. 

Aqua Ranger 

This is a decent creature for the format. It can’t be blocked and is indestructible. So, you can suicide it into something and gain it back as an option. As it doesn’t have an effect like double breaker, you should weight this against your other card choices. There aren’t many blockers in the set, but Ranger can be nice to have on reserve because someone will pack whatever blockers they pull. 

Rating: Medium 

Emperor Quazla 

There isn’t any Cyber Lord evobait in this set, so you can’t play Quazla if you’re doing Epic-only Sealed.

Rating: Unplayable 

Aqua Grappler 

I like this guy’s effect. Card drawing is difficult to come by in Sealed. So long as you attack with some guys before Grappler, you’ll be able to net some draws. It’s a great effect to have popping off when you also have Turbo Rush effects activating—especially if those Turbo Rush effects kill your opponent’s creatures = much card advantage. The effect is optional, so don’t be greedy and deck out with it. 

Rating: High 

Candy Cluster 

It’s a 3 mana hitter—that’s one reason to love it for Sealed. It can’t be blocked...that’s another reason to love it. Doesn’t have staying power, but it’ll get the job done whether you want a shield break to activate Turbo Rush effects, to gain a lead, or to hit something very small. 

Rating: High 

Eureka Charger 

It’s a very useful spell. 4 mana to draw a card and build more mana. If you don’t have a hitter to drop, then it’s a great 4 mana play. A worthy inclusion, but it shouldn’t take valuable space away from hitters. 

Rating: High 

Grape Globbo 

I don’t really care about its effect. It’s 2 mana—that is speed—and that matters most. But, hey, why not go ahead and peek at your opponent’s hand since it’s so cheap? You get to see what threats and answers he has available, and that might help you make some decisions.  

Rating: High 

Illusion Fish 

It’s decent even if you can’t use its Turbo Rush effect. It’s definitely better if you can use its Turbo Rush effect because it’s guaranteed to hit something. 

Rating: High 

Lalicious 

This creature isn’t horrible; it’s just not solid in comparison to other late game choices in the set. Looking at your opponent’s hand and his top card is information gathering and can be helpful. But, it doesn’t have a ton of impact on the game since you can’t reliably time things like discard to the effect in this format. It’d run it if I needed more hitters in late game spots, but my policy is to choose great effects for the price first, like double breaker. Yes, I should have rated Darkness’ Scream Slicer at Medium because its destruction effect is much better than Lalicious’ peek effect.  

Rating: Medium 

Marine Scramble 

Helps you seal a win late game, kill off guys, or activate Turbo Rush effects. Not too many blockers lurking about, but you never know when they’ll get played.  

Rating: Medium 

Prowling Elephish 

It’s a blocker—the main reason to run it. It can attack if you need it to hit something or break a shield.  

Rating: High 

Vikorakys 

Vikorakys has a sweet Turbo Rush effect. If its effect activates, then you get a Crystal Memory effect. Pull that bomb fattie, blocker, or key removal spell that you need. It’s 3 mana, so it’s relatively speedy. 

Rating: High 

Wave Lance 

It’s removal…and 3 mana…so it’s an auto-pick for me. Can slap away a blocker or scary hitter. And, if that scary hitter is a Dragon then you get to draw a card. It’s excellent either way. 

Rating: High 

Water Summary 

# High: 8
# Medium: 3
# Low: 0
# Unplayable: 1

Maybe I’m being too generous with some card picks here, but Water has an excellent spread of card choices for Epic Sealed in my opinion.  

Final Thoughts

There are a lot of playable cards in this set for Epic-only Sealed. Really, only the two Evolutions without evobait are strictly impossible to play in Epic-only Sealed. But, cards like Terradragon Gamiratar will also likely end up in the “skip it” pile for many players, and the other Evolutions aren’t going to be easy to get out if you run them and can’t search your deck (if you don’t get a solid amount of evobait, then skip them). As mentioned before, the Turbo Rush effects are going to be very killer, as that can’t be reliably checked, so gobble them up. Don’t forget to consider synergistic plays like Bakkra and Scream Slicer + Dragons and Dragonoids—pairings like those can have solid impact on the duel. Several of the cards in this set require expert play when using them, so be sharp! Good Luck!

 

 

 

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