Counter Burn

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Creatures (12) 4 Delver of Secrets 4 Snapcaster Mage 4 Chandra’s Phoenix Spells (23) 4 Mana Leak 3 Brimstone Volley 4 Gut Shot 4 Ponder 3 Dismember 3 Incinerate 2 Psychic Barrier Planeswalkers (3) 3 Chandra, the Firebrand Land (22) 4 Sulfur Falls 5 Mountain 9 Island 4 Copperline Gorge Sideboard (15) 2 Disperse 1 Quicksilver Geyser 3 Phantasmal Image 3 Slagstorm 3 Ancient Grudge 3 Flashfreeze

I ended up piloting this deck to a 3-1 finish and made the top 4, only losing to a Haunted Humans deck, which regretfully was my own cards and my own personal spin on the build. In my defense, he had the nut draw and my deck decided that it was terrible all at the same time. The changes I made were also a metagame call and I soon realized how good they were starting out with match 1.

While I won’t go into detail about all four of my games this week, I want to talk about my changes. First, and foremost, you may see a certain Planeswalker in there that you didn’t see before. I ran 3 copies of Chandra, the Firebrand in the deck so I could ping off little creatures with her, or for an added boost, I could copy a Brimstone Volley with its Morbid ability. In case you’re wondering, I got to do it on back to back turns in match 1 for a whopping 20 damage—talk about a blowout! The funny thing about Chandra is that she is a Gut Shot on a stick. When she resolves, unless the board is already flooded with big dudes, she essentially locks down the game for you from any */1 critter. I was also able to win a game on the night by pinging my opponent 5 times in a row, forcing him to throw an Incinerate at her instead of at my face. The next turn I ripped my own and it was good game.

The other change you might notice is that I dropped Vapor Snag from my deck all together. I decided that since I run 4 Mana Leaks, that Vapor Snag may buy me a turn, but it won’t win me the game the same way countering a big creature can. As a result, I ran Psychic Barrier, and that too was a star for me all night. I also decided on dropping 1 Brimstone Volley. After doing some reading, it made sense to me that Brimstone Volley is a terrible removal spell and that typically holding multiple copies of it in your opening hand is just bad. Finally my last change to the maindeck was dropping 4 Mountains and adding 4 Copperline Gorges. This was due to my assumption that Tempered Steel would be on the rise. My assumption was correct as I faced a Tempered Steel deck in Match 2. Let’s just say that I steam rolled that match.

The sideboard also saw some changes in the form of Slagstorm over Arc Trail. I found that if I’m on the draw facing an Honor of the Pure, Arc Trail typically doesn’t do much for me and that 3 damage was really the way to go even though it could potentially hurt me as well. Finally, the last change I made was the move over to Flashfreeze in the sideboard. This worked decently for me, but in the match-up against Haunted Humans, I really, really wanted Flashfreeze to be a Negate. Going forward that is what I will be using in place of Flashfreeze. Everything I Flashfroze on the night could also have been Negated.

Overall, this deck still throws people off and is quite competitive in most FNM metagames. Give it a shot if you’re looking for something that can play the beat down and/or control when necessary.

With that being said, I’d like to share 3 decks that I want to try and make work for the current metagame. I will warn you now, they are untested and I have just been spit balling while at work with these. I am open to any suggestions that you may have for them via Twitter @iplayislands or via the comments section at the bottom of the page.

I have really wanted to make Day of Judgment work again and I think I may be onto something starting with this deck list:

UW Control

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Creatures (5) 3 Snapcaster Mage 2 Consecrated Sphinx Spells (25) 4 Day of Judgment 3 Forbidden Alchemy 4 Mana Leak 3 Batterskull 3 Dissipate 4 Ponder 2 Oblivion Ring 2 Visions of Beyond Planeswalkers (4) 2 Karn Liberated 2 Gideon Jura Land (26) 4 Seachrome Coast 4 Glacial Fortress 2 Ghost Quarter 8 Island 8 Plains

Another archetype that I really want to work again is RUG. I think right now that even though I want Day of Judgment to work, that Slagstorm is the better sweeper. The only cards that really laugh at Slagstorm are Phyrexian Crusader and Hero of Bladehold being a close second. I think we’re starting to see a decline in the Mono-Black Infect decks that we saw last month and the month before at our shop and that Slagstorm is ready to make a triumphant return. With that being said, here is the RUG deck that I cooked up:

RUG Control

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Creatures (14) 4 Snapcaster Mage 2 Consecrated Sphinx 4 Viridian Emissary 2 Inferno Titan 2 Frost Titan Spells (20) 4 Mana Leak 4 Slagstorm 4 Incinerate 4 Think Twice 4 Beast Within Lands (26) 4 Sulfur Falls 4 Copperline Gorge 2 Rootbound Crag 4 Hinterland Harbor 3 Forest 4 Island 5 Mountain

I want to talk a little about Beast Within. I think it is a completely underutilized card at the moment, and when used correctly, it can be a well…a beast. Always Beast Within on your opponent’s Upkeep unless a situation requires you to do it otherwise. If you’ve got a Slagstorm to follow on your turn, you lose absolutely no tempo by blowing up something important on their side leaving them with a summoning sick Beast Token. Beast Within is a major catch-all right now as it can remove Oblivion Rings and other annoying Enchantments that may plague you. It is also really good at taking care of an opponent’s mana screw and putting them even more behind the eight ball. It’s not just good at taking care of that, but it helps take care of the best land in standard; Moorland Haunt. Oh you thought I was going to say Inkmoth Nexus or Kessig Wolf Run? Sure they’re dangerous, but neither is dangerous when you’re packing removal. Inkmoth is particularly vulnerable due to the fact that it is both a creature and an artifact and Kessig Wolf Run is worthless if you keep your opponent’s board clear of creatures. It is the simple fact that Moorland Haunt is live in almost every game it gets played is why it is the best land in standard right now.

This deck feels like it is the best of the decks that I am sharing and I will likely be working on this one as the weeks go on. I feel that this deck can only get better as time goes on.

The other deck that I was toying with is just based off of a concept already known to the world. Phantasmal Image + Lord of the Unreal = 3/3 Hexproof beat stick. I asked, what does Phantasmal Image + Dungrove Elder make? Well it makes a Hexproof */* beat stick that is tough to remove and gets bigger than a copied Lord of the Unreal. With that in mind I constructed this deck:

UG Aggro

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Creatures (15) 4 Dungrove Elder 4 Phantasmal Image 4 Delver of Secrets 3 Primeval Titan Spells (23) 4 Mana Leak 4 Ponder 3 Gitaxian Probe 4 Rampant Growth 4 Green Sun’s Zenith 4 Think Twice Land (22) 11 Forest 4 Hinterland Harbor 7 Island

There you have it, 4 decks to take in, digest, tweak and have fun with. Just remember that these decks are built purely based upon my observations of our store’s metagame. While they may (or may not) work for me, they may not be good for you. That is why you must go out and observe! Have fun with them and message me @iplayislands on Twitter if you have any questions or comments.

There will be some weeks that I don’t even play at Friday Night Magic, but that doesn’t mean I’m not researching, testing and tweaking some of the best decks out there. In case you didn’t already know from other articles, I’m somewhat biased toward blue. You can follow me on twitter @iplayislands. This past Friday I piloted the Blue Red Delver of secrets counter-burn deck.I’m going to get this out there first and foremost: my deck was not a stock 75.

Here is my list:

Counter Burn

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Creatures (12) 4 Chandras Phoenix 4 Delver of Secrets 4 Snapcaster Mage Spells (26) 4 Brimstone Volley 3 Dismember 4 Gut Shot 3 Incinerate 4 Mana Leak 2 Vapor Snag 2 Dissipate 4 Ponder Land (22) 9 Mountain 9 Island 4 Sulfur Falls Sideboard (15) 3 Manic Vandal 2 Disperse 1 Quicksilver Geyser 3 Arc Trail 2 Spellskite 3 Mental Misstep 1 Steel Sabotage

My reasoning for not including Stromkirk Noble and Grim Lavamancer are simple: they kinda suck right now. Grim Lavamancer feels terrible now that fetch lands are gone, and it also feels completely counterproductive being that I want to keep my graveyard for Snapcaster Mage. So instead of those creatures I added a package of “removal” in the form of 2 Dissipate and 3 Dismember. Dismember is really good right now and if you aren’t running it again, I highly suggest you take a look at your builds. I also included Gut Shot over Geistflame due to the fact that I can cast it turn 1 on the draw to kill off a Champion of the Parish or a Birds of Paradise. Not to mention baiting an attack from an Inkmoth Nexus turn two by playing an Island instead of a Mountain is just phenomenal! I’m going to say this now because I will be repeating it. There are a LOT of */1 creatures in this format that are worthy of just blowing up as soon as you see them. In hindsight, Dissipate was incredibly disappointing in the deck and at the end of the article I will discuss my modified build with the notes I was able take from the night’s events.

I piloted this deck to a record of 3-0-1 on the night. We split the finals and went home. I also was able to ID the last round. So without further ado, let’s get into the night!

Round 1

I had to immediately mulligan my hand to 6 against an unknown deck. Turn 1 he played a Champion of the Parish and I put him on UW Humans. The next turn he followed with more dudes and I was dead pretty quickly drawing no action, and no outs. It turns out he was Mono-White Humans.

Game 2 I brought in Arc Trails benching one Ponder and two Dissipates. I was soon on my way with a pair of flipped Delver of Secrets and Arc Trails clearing the way for the quick win. Snapcaster absolutely shined for me in this matchup as it was able to bring back Arc Trails to kill off what I needed.

Game 3 was almost a carbon copy of game 2. He couldn’t keep creatures on the board while I played a couple of Chandra’s Phoenix and swung in the air for the win. Arc Trail out of the sideboard is great against these tribal and token type decks because you can sit on it and two-for-one them all day. This was the type of matchup that I anticipated I would do well against simply because they have very little interaction against me. He was however packing Fiend Hunters and I lost a Phoenix to one. I was able to get it back with a timely Snapcaster Mage and Arc Trail + Gut Shot.

Round 2

I am paired up against our very own @Jessehogie and his GW Humans deck. This match didn’t really turn out to be the match I expected it to be. He was very mana screwed and didn’t get to do much of anything in the 2 games that he lost. Game 1 he kept a 1 land hand and was blown out by Gut Shot and a Phoenix. I had an answer to everything that he was able to try to cast and we were on to game 2.

Game 2 I brought in the Arc Trails and ditched the Dissipates and Ponder (seeing a pattern yet?)I faced a turn 4 Thrun, the Last Troll. It was at this point I realized that I had absolutely no answer to this beast. Mental Note taken, he beat me to a pulp and we were on to game 3.

Game 3 he mulliganed a 1 land hand into a no land hand, into a 1 land hand into a 4 land hand. He kept his 4 land hand and we were off. I was able to draw some action early and put some pressure on, but he managed to draw another Thrun off the top for turn 4. I had already hit him twice with a Phoenix and knew we were off to the races. Another Phoenix evened up the race but he was starting to hit some action in the form of a Hamlet Captain. I blocked Thrun with one of my Phoenixes and hit him in the face with a Brimstone Volley for 5. This is where things got interesting as I was now in top deck mode as well. After hitting a Ponder I saw Snapcaster Mage, Brimstone Volley and Mana Leak. I drew the Snapcaster Mage leaving the Brimstone Volley on top for my next turn. I was then able to play the Snapcaster as a blocker bringing back my Brimstone Volley in the graveyard for another 5. A few turns later I was able to set up the same play for the win. This game was the toughest I had for the night and I’m thankful that he had to mulligan down to 4 as Thrun just ruined me.

Round 3

Round 3 I’m paired up against a Wolf Run Ramp deck with red in it. I have played that deck for the previous 4 weeks and know it well. My opponent just decided to play it Friday night to give it a try. He was playing a version I hadn’t seen yet, sporting Devil’s Play and Birds of Paradise. He seemed to be on a removal heavy package as well with fewer true threats in his deck. This to me was ideal because I was able to disrupt his tempo fairly easily.

Game 1 he played an Inkmoth Nexus and passed the turn. I played Island and said go. He followed with another land and tried to swing in with an Inkmoth Nexus which was met with a Gut Shot. I followed with another land and a turn 3 Phoenix to put on the pressure. He was able to drop another land and start ramping, but I was holding all of what I needed to win in the next few turns while he spent time ramping and not playing any threats. Finally I was able to get him within burn range and he tapped out for a Primeval Titan. I let it resolve knowing that he was dead on my upkeep.

Game 2 he was much more hesitant to swing with his Inkmoth Nexus and he kept them back for ramp and removal. He was able to hit my Delver with a Beast Within and then Slagstorm it all away. I was able to keep pressure on with Brimstone Volley and Snapcaster Mage. He then attempted to tap out for a Primeval Titan which was met with a Mana Leak from me and shortly thereafter it was over.

Round 4

I was paired up against 1 of 3 or 4 Mono-Black Infect decks at our shop. I was anxious to test things out against this deck. We had agreed to intentional draw before this round, but both of us were interested in testing things out. We ended up playing 6 games in the time it took for the round to end. I can tell you that at couple of good things and bad things came out of this matchup. First, I realized how terrible my sideboard strategy was against this particular deck. Second, he learned how to properly sideboard against my deck, and third, things were going to change for my next build. I ended up winning the first 2 games we tested and then proceeded to only win 1 of the next 4. We discussed my sideboard options and his and decided that most of my sideboard was worthless against him, especially my Manic Vandals. They just sat in my hand doing a whole lot of nothing.

All in all this deck performed very well (as I thought it would for our metagame). It is still under the radar as far as most metagames are concerned, but aside from Thrun, the deck is completely live against every other deck in the format. I would however make some changes as Dissipate was just horrible for me. The manabase is kind of shakey, but there was not one game where I was dead to mana screw. Ponder is really good at helping filter out any issues you might have along with digging for action when you’re getting low on cards. If I had to change the deck for this Friday, it would look something like this:

Counter Burn Revised

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Creatures (12) 4 Chandras Phoenix 4 Delver of Secrets 4 Snapcaster Mage Spells (26) 3 Dismember 4 Brimstone Volley 1 Geistflame 4 Gut Shot 3 Incinerate 4 Mana Leak 3 Vapor Snag 4 Ponder Land (22) 9 Mountain 9 Island 4 Sulfur Falls Sideboard (15) 3 Phantasmal Image 3 Burn the Impure 3 Crush 2 Disperse 1 Quicksilver Geyser 3 Arc Trail

Obviously now if I’m playing against an opponent with Green, I have to assume they are playing Thrun, the Last Troll and bring in the Phantasmal Images. They also double as removal against Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon as the only out I truly have against him is Dismember. Against decks that want to bring in Nihil Spellbombs, I can bring in Crush for instant speed removal, but it is also really good against opposing Sword of Feast and Famine and Sword of War and Peace along with any Lashwrithes or random equipment that could cause some problems. Burn the Impure is simply because our meta is flooded with infect decks. I suspect that the aggro deck of choice however will shift back to Tempered Steel after this past weekend’s worlds tournament. My bounce package is for threats such as Titans and Planeswalkers as well as any particularly annoying enchantments such as Oblivion Ring or Honor of the Pure. The reason I ditched Dissipate is mainly because the double blue mana wasn’t super easy to rely on, at least if I got hit with discard with a Phoenix in hand I was able to pitch that instead. Also you really still want to be able to play a Delver of Secrets and be able to counter a spell turn 3 if you didn’t have the turn 1 Delver. I also found myself siding out Dissipate every single game.

I’ll say it again, this deck is fun to play, it is live against every deck in the format right now and is still under the radar. Give it a shot, practice with it, and you absolutely need to know when you’re the beat down and when you’re control. It also has the ability to switch gears between the two quickly allowing adaptability over the course of a game. If you have any questions, DM me or tweet at me, I’ll be happy to answer them.

So here’s the plan:  I will be playing either the “Infect and Defile” deck or the “Into the Breach” deck.   If I had my choice I’d go with “Into the Breach” as it is much more my speed than playing Infect.  I’m not going to break down the cards in the deck or their synergy until I get my hands on them and play them in a FNM.  The decklists can be found on the mothership here: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/648 Although they look fun, I’m not personally convinced they will pack a Wallop or even be competitive.  These feel more like kitchen table decks to be competitive there, not for the real deal or even something as low level as a FNM.

My experiment is simple.  Play the deck JesseHogie doesn’t and make Top 4 at our store.  Can it be done?  Will the lack of the Mythic Rarity in these decks really affect the outcome of matches?  Will “sub-par” cards be able to win the night?  It has been done before.  This will be a great challenge for myself and JesseHogie, and I hope to be able to take home a Top 4 with one of these suckers.  Stay tuned kids.

Until next time…

Expect more stuff after the holidays!

Decklist – Scars of Mirrodin Release – Top 4 finish

Artifacts:
Contagion Engine x 1
Nim Deathmantle x 1
Trigon of Corruption x 1
Grafted Exoskeleton x 1
Myr Galvanizer x 1
Contagion Clasp x 1
Darksteel Axe x 1
Leaden Myr x 2
Vector Asp x 2
Bladed Pinions x 2
Ichorclaw Myr x 1
Strider Harness x 1
Copper Myr x 1
Corpse Cur x 1

Black:
Geth, Lord of the Vault x 1
Carnifex Demon x 1
Skinrender x 1
Painsmith x 1
Plague Stinger x 2
Tainted Strike x 1
Contagious Nim x 1
Blackcleave Goblin x 1

Green:
Tangle Angler x 1
Tel-Jilad Fallen x 2
Copperhorn Scout x 1
Wing Puncture x 1
Ezuri’s Archers x 1
Blight Mamba x 1

Land:
Forest x 10
Swamp x 10

Pretty much a G/B infect deck. Combine that with Contagion Engine and Contagion Clasp and you get a lot of poison and -1/-1 counters. My only lost came in my first match and it came to the eventual tournament winner playing a mono white deck.

The deck plays pretty straight forward, attack attack attack. If they block, they get the counters that keep increasing due to the Engine/Clasp combo. If they don’t block, the same thing happens but with poison counters. I never had an issue with mana, the thing I feared the most. I never feel comfortable with the land count while playing a Limited event but I think I nailed it with this one. I was somewhat disappointed with the performance of Geth and Carnifex. Every time I played the card (when I actually drew it) they got an Arrest cast on them. I mean every single time too. Looking back this allowed for my infect creatures to pound through but I still wanted to use my big boys.

I would strongly advice giving infect a chance if you have the right pool. A few infect creatures will not do the job and a lot of infect creatures wont do the job unless you have a way to get them through unhindered or a way to add on the poison counters with proliferate. I saw a lot of decks fail because they didn’t have the right support (which happened to me last week).

Sealed– 1^st 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!

White:  I’m not seeing a ton of removal in this set, so keep an eye on Arrest.  While not removal, it sure should take care of that fattie you’re facing.  With the Abundance of equipment in this set, if you pull a couple of Auriok Edgewrights, be sure to play enough equipment in your deck to not only equip these bad boys, but allow the requirement of Metalcraft so you can do some major damage.  Any Planeswalker you pull will do some damage in a sealed tournament, and Elspeth Tirel is no exception.  Look for her to be clearing boards everywhere at pre-releases this weekend.  Glint Hawk isn’t only great for sealed, but he might find his way into some constructed decks.  I’m not entirely sure how much of an effect Indomitable Archangel is going to have on sealed, but I think it has potential to flat out end games.  A 4/4 flier for 4 is nothing to mess with in sealed and will have to be dealt with quickly regardless of whether its Metalcraft condition has been met.   As far as Kemba, Kha Regent goes, I’m not entirely sure how I feel about her.  Being that I still haven’t seen great removal, and she’s a 2/4 out of “bolt” range, I think this card could potentially be an amazing chump blocker-producer-thingamajig.  That’s my technical term for great blocker.  The fact that you could potentially spit out 2 or 3 2/2’s a turn is beyond good because on top of that you’re still casting spells.  The tough part is, I feel like you’re going to have to invest all your time on equipping this kitty instead of focusing on other threats.  Leonin Arbiter while amazing in eternal formats and quite possibly a standard near you, will probably not make much of a dent in sealed.  If you’re going tribal with the Myr, then you’d better hope you have a ton of em in your sealed pool, but if you don’t, Myrsmith can potentially fill in the gaps.  The final 3 cards in white are all potential game enders.  Sunblast Angel has one of the biggest bodies in the set as a flier, and destroys those pesky tapped creatures.  Tempered Steel is a great boost to all of the artifact creatures in this set, and could potentially give your deck that extra push you need while you’re building it.  And finally there is True Conviction.  To me this card is to sealed as Eldrazi Monument is to constructed.  Stick this card, and win the game, period.

Blue:  Patrick Chapin covered Argent Sphinx here: http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/misc/20130_Exclusive_Preview_Argent_Sphinx.html

I agree with everything he says about this card, but I’d like to add that in a Metalcraft deck in sealed, this is going to be beyond a nightmare to deal with.   Disperse can be nice to buy you a turn near the end of the game or bounce a nasty infect creature about to hit you with lethal poison counters.  Darkslick Drake and any flier is great in sealed, keep an eye on these guys, you will face them, and they will be a nuisance.  I’m not sure how I feel about Dissipation Field in sealed.  I feel like by the time it’s doing anything for you, it’s probably too late—the same goes for this card in constructed, I feel like it is a wasted slot in most decks.  Grand Architect is just great all around.  For sealed you might have to try and focus your deck more around blue creatures in order to really make him work, but none the less, he will be effective for powering out some of the more expensive artifacts.  Quicksilver Gargantuan looks to be the second biggest body of the set so far, so keep that in mind when you’re looking for a bomb to play—this guy is it!   Any card drawing is great in sealed, so if you’re going to run blue, consider Riddlesmith, much like Crystal Ball in M11, it can help you dig for answers quicker than the traditional draw-go.  Shape Anew is probably terrible unless you’re running only powerful artifacts in your sealed deck.  With that being said, I want to see it work in constructed.  Steady Progress might be asking a bit much to just draw a card, but add Proliferate in a deck that has tons of counters, and now we’re talking.  Stoic Rebuttal while probably really nice in constructed Metalcraft decks, might not be amazing in a sealed deck—I’d sideboard this when necessary.  Thrummingbird is my favorite blue card in this set and I feel like it will give people fits in sealed and constructed.  There aren’t a TON of fliers in this set that come out turn 2 and really start getting to work.  Trinket Mage will be pretty good in this set if you need to Snag a low costed artifact for a combo, say like Chimeric Mass or any of the Spellbombs, but in general you’re going to be paying 3 for a 2/2.  Vedalken Certarch will annoy many people this Saturday and through many sealed and draft tournaments.  This is fantastic control against an artifact heavy deck while protecting your heavy artifact deck.  Good investment, probably, at worst he’s a 1/1 for 1 and an early drop to help out Grand Architect.  Finally in blue we get Volition Reins.  Cool, I can take over your Planeswalker!  I think this card will be seen more though taking over people’s Platinum Emperions and locking their life totals.

Black:  Normally I’d say “meh” at Carnifex Demon, but this guy is the biggest flier in the set so far.  6/6 that can really take out a lot of the board is just bomb-licious in sealed.  Exsanguinate in anything other than multiplayer is not going to be very good.  Geth, Lord of the Vault on the other hand will likely win you the game if you can stick him and untap with him in sealed.  Yes, he’s that good.  Grip of Darkness might be our best removal against the */4 bodies in the set and everything smaller.  If you can get multiple copies of this and are running black, you should be in great shape.  Remember, removal is very important in Limited formats.  Hand of the Praetors…now this is a card I can get behind.  I think Infect decks could be viable for constructed, but sealed I’m kind of in the air on.  I think if you pull a slew of creatures and abilities with Infect and pull this dude, you’re going to be in great shape, if not, don’t force him into your sealed because he’s the rare.   Ichor Rats look pretty good, but again, don’t force infect if it’s not viable.   At the very least, they take a blocker down by -2/-2 if they get blocked and killed.  I think a lot of people are going to forget the Wither ability that is built into Infect and may underestimate it.  Memoricide won’t be good in sealed main deck, and in fact, it may not be good in a side board either, in all honesty, it may only be good for removing planeswalkers before they’re cast, that’s it.  Moriok Reaver is a vanilla 3/2 for 3, good, moving on!  Necrogen Scudder is a 3/3 flier with a slight drawback.  I would have rather had him give you poison counters rather than ping you for 3 life, but it is what it is, a third turn 3/3 flier can be pretty damaging.   Necrotic Ooze is a tough one to predict because in the right sealed deck, it can be a total powerhouse, otherwise you’re looking at a 4/3 for 4—which still isn’t terrible, but I’d rather not hit that as one of my rares when I bust open packs.  (Now that I’ve said this, I’m going to crake a Necrotic Ooze on Saturday).  I feel like Painful Quandry will win games in sealed, and might find its way into some control decks that splash black.  Painsmith would be nice if it wasn’t artifact spells that triggered its ability, but that wouldn’t really make sense now would it?  Plague Stinger is probably my favorite black card right now.  Much like Thrummingbird, you’re going to have to deal with it fast or you could potentially be in trouble.  My second favorite black card follows it in the spoiler as Skinrender.  This card should be given a look due to the fact that it acts as nasty removal/nerfing of your opponent’s creatures.  This card can potentially 2-for-1 every time it is cast.  Any card that can act like that is a good one in my book.  Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon might be hard to play in constructed where you will be inclined splash other colors.  I mean let’s face it, this card really costs 3{B}{B}{B}.  In sealed, this card won’t necessarily need to be hasted, it just has to live one turn and you have a nasty 4/4 flier that Regenerates to deal with.  Oh yeah, did I mention it’s got Infect too?  Wow.

Red:  Barrage Ogre is a “meh” card to me, even if you can bring back artifacts from the graveyard a lot, this card is still going to be underwhelming.  At 3{R}{R} it’s going to be hard to justify sacking artifacts to its ability when you have a 3/3 body on the battlefield instead.  Bloodshot Trainee however can potentially lock down your board position if you can manage to equip it and protect it.  This will destroy creatures till you play your finisher and then its good game.  Like Painsmith, I feel like Embersmith will kind of fall flat compared to Myrsmith and Riddlesmith.  Galvanic Blast will be fantastic in a Metalcraft deck.  It’s 4 damage people, not 3.  That’s a kicked Burst Lightning for {R} if you control 3 or more artifacts!  Goblin Gaveleer could potentially be as dangerous as Auriok Edgewright, but I’m seeing the Edgewright winning that battle.  Koth!  Koth will be great at powering out big critters in sealed and giving people fits.  Pretty sure he alone will win games.  Kuldotha Phoenix will be great if you can discard it and use its Metalcraft ability, otherwise triple red is going to give you problems in a sealed pool.   Molten Psyche just spoiled today will be fun and could potentially put the game away at the end of a match.  Will I maindeck it if I run red and pull it…probably.  Oxidda Scrapmelter will be a must have if you’re playing red.  This card is another 2-for-1 that will help you in your early game tempo.  Scoria Elemental is a Lightning Elemental on steroids, but not speed.  6/1 is nothing to sneeze at, but I feel like 1 toughness is just a little too fragile for this Limited format.  Shatter in an artifact heavy set, need I say more?  Spikeshot elder can ping Scoria Elemental all day with its ability, he is one of the reasons why I feel that 1 toughness won’t cut it, in fact I’d try to avoid a ton of those critters if possible.  Tunnel Ignus if said wrong sounds like a sexual act.  The only act you’ll see this card doing in sealed is sitting on the bench.  This is another rare I don’t want to crack open.

Green:  There are a good amount of cards in green that I like for sealed, but I’ll start at the top and work my way down.  Asceticism is a card that I’m 50/50 on part of me feels like this could end games with its Regenerate effect for all of your creatures, but the other part says this kinda sucks.  With so many cards with Infect, Regenerate tends to lose its luster.  Speaking of Infect, let’s start with green’s Blight Mamba.  Unless this guy gets -1/-1, he is going to give people fits.  Once again, the built in Wither is going to be hard to deal with on a regenerator.  Carapace Forger and Ezuri’s Brigade are going to be tough to deal with when Metalcraft conditions are met.  I think Metalcraft is going to be really good in sealed, and possibly on the same level if not better than Landfall was in Zendikar.  Cystbearer is a good addition to a B/G Infect deck at the 3 slot.  Look for this archetype in your store during sealed and during constructed because I think both are highly viable.  Engulfing Slagwurm is the epitome of a finisher.  Block with it and you destroy what it blocks and gain life.  They block it; you destroy the blocker and gain life.  They don’t block it, you just took 7 to the face.  Damn. Ezuri’s Archers are the card that Thrummingbird and Plague Stinger don’t want to see.  It’s a pretty awesome creature with Reach and it can lock down the skies of attackers with 4 toughness or less.  Ezuri, Renegade Leader while good on his own, will absolutely own in constructed elf decks.  I don’t think we’re going see his Regenerate ability used as much as the Overrun.  In sealed I don’t see this guy making a ton of an impact being that there aren’t a ton of elves out there.  Genesis Wave makes me go “huh?”  I feel like in order for this to be good you need to probably spend somewhere around 10 mana.  In which case, shouldn’t you already be winning if you have 10 mana available?  This is a win more card, the end.  Liege of the Tangle makes me scratch my head.  It’s good, and I think for sure it will win you the game the turn you can attack with it in sealed, but in constructed; this card could be a major disaster.  I think you have to play smart with this card.  Don’t animate all of your lands, remember, they become 8/8’s as well.  Animate 1 and you’re swinging for 16 damage next turn.  I can see why this guy is mythic.  Putrefax is a card my teammates and I have gone back and forth on.  After some pondering, this card in my Humble opinion is good.  I think it’s great in sealed and quite possibly great in a B/G Infect deck in constructed as a finisher.  Let’s not forget, you’re dealing with 5 Infect damage here.  Better have that bolt ready. Slice in Twain is asking a bit much to destroy an artifact or enchantment in constructed, even though it draws you a card, but in sealed, it can be a huge turnaround for you.  I’d likely maindeck this puppy.  Tangle Angler can be another nuisance by Withering down blockers that can’t kill it.  I want multiples of this guy in sealed.  Finally in green there is Withstand Death.  Sorry, I think even in sealed I’m not wasting a slot on this card.

Venser gets his own slot here, it doesn’t look like there will be any other multicolored cards in this set other than him.  This guy is great, he also can potentially win you games in sealed, but I don’t see things being slow to the point where you’ll get to use his ultimate.  I see this guy dropping, using his -1 and ending the game.  If the colors were in the color pie with Infect, this guy would be beyond good for sealed.

Artifacts:  There are around 55 artifacts spoiled at the time of writing this article, so I’m only going to touch on 10 or so because by now you might be bored to death by me stating the obvious about cards in this set already, so here we go!  Argentum Armor, play it in sealed, it’ll end the game.  Chimeric Mass will be great, calling it now.  Contagion Clasp and Engine are very interesting.  I’d like to see them work, I think they can in sealed and really do damage, but I’m not entirely sure how well they’ll do in constructed play.  Obviously the Myrs could be good depending on how many you draw.  I do want to touch on Myr Battlesphere.  God I love this card!  I see it potentially filling a hole in U/W control decks, but in sealed, this card could also potentially end games.  The Darksteel stuff can be pretty good—I’m looking at you Darksteel Juggernaut!  But…with all the Infect around, these can go bye bye fast.  I think Etched Champion can be a beast to deal with in sealed, but can also just as easily be shut down with other artifacts like Ichorclaw Myr.  Golem’s Heart will be a useful charm, and I’m considering running it maindeck if I pull one or two.  Memnites are going to be incredibly useful, but at uncommon, we may not see as many of these as we really want in a sealed pool.  Mindslaver is one that you will want to be on the lookout for at your pre-release.  I think this card can potentially finish your opponent off pretty quickly—on the other hand, they could have a card in their hand and you could totally whiff on your activation of your Mindslaver, be careful with this one.  I almost feel like this is going to be a card I maindeck and end up playing 4 matches before I realize it’s just not good for sealed.  Molten-Tail Masticore will be a factor and it will win you games despite what anybody says, this card is the real deal.  We’ll be seeing plenty of this card in the next year or so.  Mox Opal I think in sealed is going to be incredibly underwhelming and will waste a card slot where you could be playing a creature or bomb.  Hang onto it for constructed, I’m just saying don’t waste a slot in your sealed deck with it.  Now we get to some of the more interesting cards like Platinum Emperion.  If you’re not facing Infect, you will win the game by playing this card.  Precursor Golem can be fun in sealed, at worst you got 3 3/3’s for 5.  At best, you pump all 3 with a combat trick.  Don’t forget to read the card, sorcery or instants get copied, you can’t enchant all three of em with one spell.  I’m not worried about this card having a hard time in sealed unless it gets hit with Grip of Darkness.  I think that Prototype Portal can be nasty in this format as well, but I’m wondering if you’re going to have to spend too many resources on getting it to work.  Tapping X each turn to copy a mediocre artifact just doesn’t seem that great, and tapping a ton to copy a great artifact just seems like a major waste of resources.  I’d avoid this one if possible.  Now we get onto Ratchet Bomb.  Yes please.  I will play this in sealed. I will play this in constructed.  This is way too useful to not include.   Oh look, we got an artifact Craw Wurm in the form of Razorfield Thresher that costs 1 more.  At least the flavor text is good.  Rusted Relic will be good in Metalcraft decks, a 5/5 in this format will be tough to beat.  Semblance Anvil is also a good pick for me.  Yes, I’ll exile a Memnite and get my Artifact and Creature cards  get reduced by 2—love it!  Steel Hellkite is going to be tough to deal with, look out for this guy as a finisher in a lot of decks.  Better know what you need to save your removal for, cause this guy warrants a Shatter!  Hard to say no to a flying Engineered Explosives.  Oh and now we get to the Sword of Body and Mind.  Its good ok, people have talked about this for months since it’s been spoiled, its great in sealed, and can be good in constructed, just wait.  I think the Trigon cycle will be useful in sealed as well, anything that sits there and does stuff for only 2 mana can be dangerous, especially the Trigon of Infestation.  Chump blockers with Infect?  Sure!  And finally, the big daddy, the pre-release card:  Wurmcoil Engine.  What can I say that hasn’t already been said?  Look for this to Wreak Havoc at pre-releases and standard soon.  This can potentially replace quite a few of the Titans.

So there you have it, almost 3500 words later, you have my preview on what has been spoiled.  I hope this hasn’t been just me stating the obvious about cards and has given you some Insight into things to go after in your sealed pool, and things to avoid.  I am very excited about the pre-release and release of this set; I’m hoping to take home a 1^st place finish this Saturday.  I won’t be playing FNM so in place of my FNM Report, I’ll post my sealed pool and how I did.

The first and most important thing for you to know is your meta.  Please do not bring a net deck to your FNM because it won X Tournament; this means nothing! I have casually brought decks to friends’ houses and was ceremoniously beaten down so badly I questioned how the deck even managed to Top 8 let alone win.  I’ve said it before, but with Net Decking, you must know your meta!  Study not only your matches each week but other players as well.  Did you sweep your first match in a matter of minutes?  Go observe the other matches.  Pay attention to other decks that are sweeping the tournament scene.  Read up on things at places like www.starcitygames.com and www.tcgplayer.com. Know the people you play against. Know their tendencies.  Do they bring the same deck week in and week out? Do they switch things up?  Are they a perpetual home brew dude (that’s not necessarily a bad thing either folks)?  Are they likely to be swayed to play the latest tournament winning deck?  Every single one of these factors needs to be taken into account each week whether you choose to play a net deck or a home brew deck.  I’m going to keep harping on this because I am a firm believer that knowing your meta is 75% of the battle on topping your FNM.

Ok, you know your meta, great, what next?  Next comes the research.  Take a long look at the decks that you think you want to play.  Now pick two or three of them.  Refer to “Time Stretching” and base this decision on how much testing you can get in during the week.  Now the other half of this is having a keen memory.  Do your best to create the decks that you saw last week at FNM.  I use Magic Workstation to create and test decks.  It is a fantastic tool albeit simple.  It can be found here:  http://www.magicworkstation.com/downloads.php.  Testing a net deck is just as important as testing a home brew.  How will you know how the deck will perform in your meta if you don’t test things out?  By test out I mean give it a good 5-10 games against the competitive decks at your store.  Don’t play a best out of three and decide “ZOMG THIS DECK IS AWSOME!!!11one.”  Really run it through the gauntlet.  Learn its weakness at your store.  The other half of this is to look at the net deck and ask yourself, “Do I need this deck to look exactly like this?”  Are there cards that you can add or take away that fit better with your meta?  For example:  For a while I was running UW control at our store.  Our store was swing with big critters that would punch through cards like Wall of Omens with ease.  I decided to step things up and go with Wall of Denial in place of some other cards.  With an 0/8 Flying Shrouded wall, I was able to even stop RDW flat in its tracks.  Was that in the original net deck, no. But for our meta, Shroud and 0/8 was nearly unstoppable while I set up with Sphinx of Jwar Isle—which is what I subbed in for Baneslayer Angel.  Some things just work and testing is a huge part of that. Don’t be a Clone. Try new things in net decks. Not a single one of them is perfect and I don’t think any pros claim them to be.

With most net decks I take their sideboards with a grain of salt.  A sideboard is specific to what they expect to see.  A good sideboard plan is important as well.  DO NOT copy the sideboard of a net deck unless you know for sure it is THE sideboard for your meta.  I almost always ignore net deck sideboards based on the fact that they have to plan for a gigantic tournament crowd.  Most shops only have turnouts in the 20’s, unless it’s a super shop.  You know what you’re going to face, you know the people you play against and therefore should know what to sideboard.

Ok, you have your deck picked out for the week.  You have it sleeved up and ready to play.  You have your perfect sideboard picked out.  You are ready to go right? Wrong!  How comfortable are you with playing this deck?  Do you know what hands to keep?  How comfortable are you with straying from your normal game plan?  Does the deck have a single weakness that you have to protect?  How tight of a player are you?  Not everybody is the best player out there (myself included).  Having the cards only gets you half of the way there.

**Begin Mini Rant**

If you read my “Losing Sucks” article, you’ll note that I ran a Mythic Conscription deck…miserably.  That deck pooped on me because I didn’t do any of the stuff I just suggested early in this post.  I didn’t test, I didn’t learn how to play the deck properly and I didn’t know what a good opening hand was.  I tapped poorly and did EVERYTHING wrong.  For this I was handed a 1-3 night at FNM and walked away miserable.  I don’t want you to walk away miserable and I haven’t either since I changed my ways.  I learned the hard way that just by playing a net deck you aren’t guaranteed a victory.

** End Mini Rant**

So, this Friday when you sleeve up your deck, think about what you’re doing. I mean really sit back and think about what you’re doing.  Just as much love needs to go into a net deck as it does a home brew.  After playing UGR Titan Force last Friday, I learned a couple of things about the deck even post testing.  It was the tournament that really taught me what I can change in this deck.  I plan on changing things up for this week in hopes of making it even better.  Don’t get discouraged if your deck doesn’t work for you just like any other deck. Sit back and re-evaluate.  Remember that Mythic Conscription deck that pooped on me?  I fixed it, learned it and piloted it to a 4-0 night.  I’ll say it again, constantly evaluate your meta,   I can’t stress this enough!  You too can net deck. Don’t let anybody tell you it’s cheating or cheap or an unfair advantage.  If they want to bitch at you, tell them to make something to beat it.  Otherwise they don’t have any ground to stand on. Better yet, YOU come up with something to beat it!  That way you’ll have a step up on everybody else.  The trick here is being a step ahead of everybody at your shop.  I’m likely going to play the same net deck I ran last week with some minor tweaks to make up for the weaknesses I discovered, but will I run it again next week, and the week after that?  Not likely. People are smart. They will find a way around it. So, as you test your net decks, find some you like, learn your meta and know when to switch things up.

When people say that net decking is a cop out, I ask them why?  When they throw the typical “There’s no innovation in it,” or “It’s not fair,” I tell them that there is much more to playing these decks than simply slapping them into sleeves and tapping cards.  There is just as much preparation in these decks as there is a good home brew.  Let them whine at you, but you now know that you’re on the winning end—not because you net decked, but because you prepared.