Scars of Mirrodin Pre-Release Report
Pre-Release Report (RegentCid33)
Sealed– 1st Place
Decklist:
I can’t remember my actual sealed pool because my prize packs mixed with my sealed pool. I did however manage to keep my winning deck separate from my other cards.
Auriok Edgewright x1
Kemba’s Skyguard x2
Indomitable Archangel x1
Bellowing Tanglewurm x1
Cystbearer x1
Carapace Forger x2
Ezuri’s Brigade x1
Wall of Tanglecord x1
Ichorclaw Myr x1
Gold Myr x1
Copper Myr x1
Blunt the Assualt x1
Fulgent Distraction x1
Dispense Justice x1
Accorder’s Shield x1
Grafted Exoskeleton x1
Trigon of Infestation x1
Ratchet Bomb x1
Contagion Engine x1
Rusted Relic x1
Barbed Battlegear x1
Horizon Spellbomb x1
Tumble Magnet x2
It’s hard to remember exactly how all of my matches went, so I’m just going to highlight some of the better cards in this deck and why if you see these, you really, really need to put them in your deck.
First and foremost, I want to touch on Auriok Edgewright. I only pulled one and got to play it in only one game. It drew a lot of attention from my opponent and was removed some 3 turns later. I didn’t ever get to attack with it because at the time I hit Metalcraft, he was blown off the board. Indomitable Archangel on the other hand single-handedly won me a match. It gave my important artifacts Shroud. Now normally this isn’t a big deal, but when your opponent can’t Remove them and you get to keep Metalcraft active, you tend to win games. At the end of game 3 I was able to attach equips to it and swing for 10 Infect damage in the air—yikes! Ezuri’s Brigade however was the trump card in my deck. I had this card out turn 4 in some games and had Metalcraft. Being that most people had no answer to this guy, he won me many games in a quick and painful fashion. Plus equpping him with Grafted Exoskeleton, he was a 10/10 trampling Infect critter.
Now onto the Artifacts. I want to start with an all-star in the form of Tumble Magnet. This thing is just nuts in Sealed. I tap your blockers and either hit with Infect damage, or I tap your attackers and allow myself another turn to buy time. I found myself using this card more often than not to tap a darksteel creature so that I could punch through some damage every now and then. Trigon of Infestation helped me so much in the way of creating chump blockers, it wasn’t even funny. I almost think this card is viable in constructed play—it was that good for me! Rusted Relic was awesome in this format as well. I very often had a 5/5 by turn 3 due to having a Myr or two on the battlefield. I mean honestly how do you deal with a 5/5 by turn 3? This card is a must run in this limited format. This stalled out so many people from attacking the second I dropped it and had Metalcraft active. I have two more cards to discuss in my deck, and both of them were my huge removal. The first is Ratchet Bomb. Man this card causes so much fear its amazing. This I feel is going to do better in constructed than it will in sealed, but just ratcheting this thing once or twice stalls out so many people. They just don’t want to waste a turn dropping a creature I can blow up. And forget dropping this thing late game. I can set it up to what I need, sac it, and clear my opponents chump blockers so I can go in and hit hard. This is a must run in sealed, and I now know the power it will bring to constructed in about a week’s time. Finally I’d like to talk about an amazing piece of removal for limited: Contagion Engine. There are so many */1 creatures in this format that it alone can clear the board. Untap with it though, and crazy things can happen. I had people scoop after I dropped it because they just didn’t have an answer to my one sided Day of Judgement.
So that was my sealed experience. I can’t really believe I pulled off the win, but going undefeated and drawing into the top 4 is quite a good feeling. Oh yeah, I also pulled an Elspeth Tirel out of my prize packs! It was a great time, a great learning experience, and I think I have a really good feel for potential archetypes in Scars of Mirrodin limited. I’ll be gun-slinging again next Saturday at the official Launch party!