Draft Table #3: Post PTQ Ramble

On Saturday morning this past weekend, a ton of us from MTG Casual Net assembled at the Kissimmee, Fl for a 1/170 shot at an invite to Pro Tour Honolulu 2012. Unfortunately, none of us made it. But, I have to admit it was one of the best experiences I've had playing magic and is definitely something I won't forget anytime soon. 

The morning started with everyone meeting up and hitting up those trade binders hard core. After registration, we started registering a sealed pool, then passed that sealed pool two seats over. We received this new sealed pool, verified its contents, then passed it again two seats to the left. This new pool we received, would be the one we constructed with. Fortunately, I had this sweet card to play with. 

Garruk Relentless

The mighty green planeswalker was as good as you'd expect him to be. He won every game he saw play in, which sadly wasn't that many. I also had a Geist-Honored Monk in my pool, so I decided to do a G/W token theme, which looked like a lot of fun. My record was 2-3 before I dropped after having some insane wins and very close losses. I ended up playing a lot of U/W decks or W/x decks that kicked my butt. Here are my field notes from the games. 

I must say, White is probably the best color in Innistrad sealed, considering creatures with power greater than 4 are a liability, since most of the decks with W/x had access to Smite the Monstrous (a card I definitely underestimated). My big fatty green creatures got crushed by this removal spell, along with Rebuke, which are both Commons! I also think that Green is probably the weakest color, because it lacks strong Morbid abilities and creature death enablers, which are abundant in the other 4 colors. Furthermore, the Green creatures are generally larger with a higher mana cost than non-Green creatures, so the copious amount of removal in the format preys upon destroying your tempo by destroying these creatures. I also observed the power of 2/2 creatures first hand. Creatures with 2 power and 2-3 toughness were surprisingly very good and overwhelmed opponents that weren't able to put more dudes on the board. I think Innistrad sealed is very similar to M12 with respect to the power of 2/2s and it's very interesting to see the similarities in power level of these Grizzly Bears between M12 and Innistrad. 

Evan Forster also researched Innistrad Sealed and tested a multitude of online sealed pools. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to post these notes before the PTQ here in Fl. For anyone who's preparing for upcoming PTQs out of state, these field notes might help you guys out more. 


'With the PTQ in Kissimmee fast approaching, Innistrad sealed is getting a ton of focus. Most people consider sealed deck the most random Magic format. Any player could open Garruk Relentless, Devil's Play, or even no playable rare at all. However, you'll always have something worth playing in your pool, whether it be a bomb rare, removal, evasive creatures, or a flexible mana base. The main problem with the format is you can't have it all. You have to decide which pile of cards you can do best with and run with it. Let's take a look at some of the better commons and uncommons in Innistrad so far.

White: In white, you get some cool cards in the common slot starting with Doomed Traveler, a 1/1 for 1 white that replaces itself with a spirit token when it dies is solid and has synergy with cards that require you to sacrifice a creature. White also has its usual cheap fliers, such as Chapel Geist and Voiceless Spirit and has some interesting combat tricks like Village Bell-Ringer. My favorite pick for the best uncommon is Fiend Hunter, a card I'm never disappointed to see in my pool. Journey to Nowhere was a strong card in limited and getting a 1/3 body attached to it is a sweet bonus. My honorable mention is Mausoleum Guard that forces your opponent to deal with 4 power, 2 of it evasive, in 3 dudes for 4 mana. 


Blue: Blue gets a few sweet tools too. Claustrophobia is one of the better blue removal cards and can help shut down an opponent's bomb or leave the way for your dudes to swing in for game ending damage. Blue has quite a few card draw and digging spells like Forbidden Alchemy and Think Twice. My favorite reason for playing blue is Invisible Stalker. And he's a HUMAN creature. His human creature type gives him all those little bonuses of the equipment for humans, including Butcher's Cleaver, which ends games very quickly. 


Black: In Black, you get some solid removal at the common level with Dead Weight. Enchanting an opponent's werewolf creature, then causing it to flip will usually be enough to kill it. Vampire Interloper is an aggresively costed flyer and is very strong for aggro decks. Markov Patrician can generally trade with one of your opponent's creatures and gain you 3 life in the process. If you do manage to clear the ground for this lovable lady, she can quickly swing the game in your favor. Finally, the key uncommon for Black is Diregraf Guel, this SUPER efficient card is a better version of Grizzly Bear for black. Plus it has some synergy as a zombie with other zombie themed cards in the set, which, sadly, there aren't that many. 

Red: Red is a color which usually includes good removal, and it doesn't disappoint in Innistrad. Brimstone Volley is a 3 mana lightning bolt, BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! If you kill a creature right now, it will trigger its Morbid clause, then we'll send you 5 damage for the price of 3! This card has given me trouble in every match I've played against it. Chump blocking and combat trades becomes cautious with cards like these because one false move could get you blown out of a game. Acting as more removal, you have Pitchburn Devils. Although expensive, it can trade with any creature as large as a 6/6 since it Lightning Bolts when it dies. I also like Tormented Pariah and Reckless Waif. These werewolves are on the sweet spots of the limited curve. Most players will have the most trouble playing spells on turn 1 and on turn 5, so it seems like both of these guys have a better than average chance of flipping one turn after they've been played. Good luck racing these guys.


Green: Starting right off we see is green removal, Yes, I'm talking about Ambush Viper. A green version of Go for the Throat, it can destroy non-flying creatures. Prey Upon gives Ambush Viper a run for its money as both best green removal and quite possibly the best green common, because of how much it can do in limited. It enables Morbid and is efficient and effective removal. Even though it does take a bit of work on your part, it's definitely a card that I would want multiples of in any green deck. Grizzled Outcasts is one of the most efficient double faced cards, a 4/4 for 5, which is not unplayable by itself, but has the added bonus of possibly transforming into a 7/7 beatstick. At uncommon, I'm looking at Boneyard Wurm. While not the next Tarmogoyf, this guy is reliably a big beater, especially in creature heavy decks. I just wish he had Trample.'

Major shout outs to everyone who attended, Sean Wang, Jason Daughtery, Evan Forster, Gyula Goreczky,  Stephen Poindexter, Joe Biscuiti, Matthew Deyarmin (XP), and anyone else I forgot to mention. Hope to see you guys again very soon! 


Interested in more Magic content? Check out every series on the MTG Casual Network Archive!

-David J. and Evan Forster

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Draft Table #2: Innistrad Sealed

The Pro Tour Qualifier in Kissimmee, Fl is coming up very soon and a lot of members on MTG Casual Net are planning to attend. I'm really excited to meet everyone and crack open some fresh Innistrad product. When you sit at the table and wait for the judge to give the go ahead to start opening your 6 packs, what should you be looking for?

Since the PTQ is going to be a huge event with a lot of pressure for players to perform well, deck building can be a daunting task. In comparison to the Innistrad prerelease, players will be enforcing the rules a bit more, people have put in their practice for a couple weeks, and you'll run into players with a much higher skill level. What can you do to prepare? First preparations are obviously to familiarize yourself with the set. Take a look at the Innistrad Spoiler and take some focus on the commons and uncommons and do a subconscious ranking of what cards seem very strong and what interactions work well together (ChannelFireball and The Magic Show also have their own reviews). A cute trick I pulled the other day was using Stitcher's Apprentice and Falkenrath Noble to force my opponent to lose a life and me to gain a life every turn. Small synergies like that win games and knowing about these subtle synergies will give you a huge edge over the competition. Sometimes interactions like these can be difficult to see, so I'd recommend getting together a small group, like a team, and prepare before the PTQ and discuss all the cards in the set to get the best idea of how to construct your deck after opening the packs. 

Since the format is Sealed, it's very different from draft in terms of preparation. I would recommend getting  a group of friends (or that team) and opening 6 boosters of Innistrad and individually make a deck from the same set of 6 boosters. Compare differences and choices and figure out what the best method of building a deck from those boosters. 

Some guidelines I've found from Innistrad is the composition of 16 lands and 24 spells. Personally, I've always ran 17 lands, but I feel Innistrad is a fast enough format to not necessarily need the extra land, unless you have a lot of flashback cards with high flashback costs or are running a 3 color deck. Also, you want to have more spells so you have more control over your opponent's transform triggers. Having more spells allows you to prevent your opponent's creatures from transforming or by playing two spells, cause them to transform back. In this format, I wouldn't play more than 3 colors. The set supports 3 colors well enough if you have the right cards in your sealed pool, but probably would run into problems with 4+ colors. 

For Innistrad specifically and werewolf creatures, I'd recommend playing the ones with decent mana cost for what the 'day' version of the card. A 3 mana 2/3 is more than acceptable in Villagers of Estwald; however a 1/1 first strike for 2 mana in Village Ironsmith might not be the best investment. 

For your bomb cards, most of the rares are pretty strong. Probably the best bomb card in the set is Devil's Play. 2 Fireballs in 1 card is enough to give you a creature kill spell in the early game and a huge burn spell in the late game to finish off your opponent or your opponent's bomb. Furthermore, any creature with 3 toughness or more is generally very strong because they evade death to Dead Weight, Geist Flame, and other small removal cards, which there are plenty of! Also, having creatures with flying are always good, especially if they have a lot of toughness to evade removal and block all the little guys in the format. Furthermore, most of the flashback cards are bombs too, since they act as two spells and give you a lot of value in the late game. The player with more flashback cards has the advantage in the match right out the gate. 

Another key piece of advice is sideboarding in between Game 2 and 3. Remember, that your entire sealed pool is your deck and sideboard. If you feel a certain strategy isn't working in the rounds, don't hesitate to drop a color or adopt a new one. I've had several instances where matches were won because I splashed/cut colors and my opponent was not expecting it. When constructing your deck, keep in mind cards that aren't in your colors that could be splashed with Ghost Quarter (destroying your own land, yes. i did it to win a game), Shimmering Grotto, and Traveler's Amulet. A piece of removal or a rare bomb could be just what your deck needs to survive the swiss round grind. 

For my final recommendations, I suggest making sandwhiches the night before and bringing food with you, since it's going to be a long long long day. Also, don't forget to visit the ATM, so you have the money you need for cards at the vendors, side events, and for other expenses. Last thing is probably the most important; watch your stuff at all times. I know there were a lot of problems with theft at Gen Con 2011 and these big events have a lot of people who are disrespectful with other's belongings, so be careful and have a friend watch your stuff if you ever have to leave it unattended.

From first glance at this set, I think Innistrad sealed will be a lot of fun and the PTQ this coming weekend will be a huge event with tons of side events. Hopefully if you're reading this, I'll see you out at the Kissimmee, Fl PTQ hosted by Phoenix Games on Oct 8th. Until then, Magic players.

Interested in more Magic content? Check out every series on the MTG Casual Network Archive!

-David J.

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