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.

I work from 8 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday, every week.  This, to me, is a pretty typical work week for most people my age and most of the more hardcore players of Magic.  When I get home I cook dinner, clean up a bit, do some laundry and try to wind down.  By the time all of this is done it is now close to 7:30 pm.  This is when I have to decide whether I want to try to innovate, tweak, test or do none of the above and actually have a life.  Most nights I choose to have a life.  On weeks like this, after the release of a new set, I choose Magic.  Team Chaotic, this week, has been toying with a couple of decks and each night has involved building, testing, failing, rebuilding and tweaking decks.  I think the bottom line here is that this process is incredibly time consuming.

Our store’s meta has not changed drastically over the past month or so.  Because our meta has not evolved much, we’ve been able to run the same decks practically week in and week out and take the Top 4.  My U/W Control has landed in the Top 4 for four consecutive weeks regardless of which of my teammates have piloted it.  This week things will be different.  With the availability of M11 people will surely want to bring new things to the table—Team Chaotic included!  I want to first breakdown what is involved in actually trying to create the next big thing.

First is the idea for a deck.  This is the easy part.  You find a card you want to try and abuse and then figure out your win condition around it.  You think of combos and other ins and outs of the deck.  You think of possible match-ups in the current meta. You think of what you’re going to face. You think of disruption. You think of anything involved in a game of Magic.  Building a good deck, to me, comes pretty fast.  With many similar manabases floating around the net, you can borrow them and change them around a bit to suit your deck’s needs.  Creating a deck, like this, can take anywhere from an hour to 3 hours, depending on how long you search for combos.  I use Magic Workstation so that I can digitally create my decks and test them before I bother physically building them.

So let’s say that I started this Monday night at 7:30 pm.  Upon finishing it is now probably anywhere between 8:30 and 9:30 pm.  At this point I’m starting to get tired from staring at a computer screen for 12 hours (I’m an IT guy).  So this usually would close out my Monday night.  It is now Tuesday night at 7:30 again, and now I’m finding time with my teammates to test out this deck and see if it can run the gamut of the regular decks in the meta.  Does it beat Jund?  Can it Withstand an onslaught from Burn?  Am I getting mana-screwed?  What is my typical hand? What is a hand I should keep? What is a hand I should mulligan?  All of this testing can easily run 3 hours.  After the 3 hours there is ALWAYS something to change in the deck.  At this point it is now Tuesday night at about 10 pm.  I make note of my changes and head to bed for the night so I can function at my job the next day.  Ok, it is now Wednesday night and we have two good nights of testing left until FNM.  It’s now 7:30 pm on Wednesday night and guess what…none of my teammates have time to test tonight; I decide to have a life.  Thursday night rolls around and we have this night to decide whether or not this deck will make the cut for the week.  After another 3 hour testing session we decide that this deck just isn’t going to cut it!  Now it’s Friday and I don’t have a deck to play!  Wait!  Isn’t there this wonderful source of all of the top decks from the latest and greatest tournaments?  Oh yeah, it’s called the Internet!  There are tons of net decks to browse from and test before the tournament on Friday night.  Before FNM, you run the net deck of your choice and tweak it for the meta of your store, then you’re good to go!  Who needs innovation??

Look, the bottom line here is that 90% of us aren’t Magic Pros; we have jobs to work during the day that does not leave much time for Magic planning, deck building or anything of that nature. My story above is completely hypothetical, but I’m sure it is a reality for most people.  Our time is very limited during the week to try and come up with the next big thing.  I may be generalizing that most of these pros don’t have full time jobs, but many of them have made bank enough to the point where they live, breathe and WORK Magic: The Gathering.  They have teams of pros around them and much more time than your average up and comer.  You want to know why all of the great decks are coming from PTQ regulars, Star City Open regulars and former champions?  They’re Professional Magic Players!  They have made a living out of winning and designing great decks.  Until I quit my job and decide to make Magic my lone profession, there is a very slim chance that you’re going to see “Bob Lanza’s (Insert Deck Name Here) Deck.  I don’t have the time; my team doesn’t have the time.  I can dedicate a good 20 hours a week to Magic and it still wouldn’t be enough.  So until then, I will continue to try and innovate each week – I have a fun deck to try out this Friday. But who knows, after further testing tonight and tomorrow it could fall flat and I’ll have to go back to the drawing board.  I totally understand that Patrick Chapin makes one great deck out of ten he builds but he builds, tests and modifies those ten decks over the period of time that I have to do one deck in a week.  So next time you find yourself struggling to find time for Magic, if you feel lost like you just aren’t capable of innovating the next big thing, perhaps, just perhaps, it’s not your ability, it’s just your ability to find the time.

On my first day of orientation at the company I now work for, I found out that we get a 15% discount on laser eye surgery.  As a glasses wearer, I decided that this was a great opportunity for me to ditch them permanently—well not permanently, but for a while.  Let me back up a little bit first.  I have had glasses since the 8^th grade.  I have tried contact lenses and all I got out of that was red eyes and anguish; I looked like a stoner once I finally got my contacts in and I didn’t have the mellow feeling associated with being stoned.  Needless to say, I went back to glasses quickly.  I just can’t get anything near my eyes.  I have a tremendous blink reflex if anything gets in my eye or close to it; I tend to freak out.  Taking the initiative for this surgery was a HUGE step forward for me.  I got up the courage to visit a local Lasik place and get my “free consultation.”  After some eye torture there, I was told that I only qualified for the PRK surgery.  Apparently my corneas are too thin for traditional Lasik surgery.  I said great; let’s schedule an appointment for the actual “treatment” as they call it.  They checked to see if I qualified for a loan first before they scheduled a treatment time and date.  This should have really clued me in as to how they really operate over there.  I qualified for a loan big enough to cover the whole cost of the surgery, so we all know how that goes.  “How soon can you come in?”  I had to schedule things about a month out due to prior commitments, which put me at July 9^th.  Sure, I was bummed I’d be missing FNM and the Pre-Release, but the prospect of having 20/20 vision for a long time was just too overwhelming.

So, on the surgery day, I was nervous—they were going to BURN my eyes with a laser!  I got in, signed off on all the forms I needed and was on my way to the next waiting room.  I was given a Valium in pill form to calm me down.  The drugs did nothing.  I had no feeling of calm or relaxation; I was still nervous and keyed up. I sat waiting for a half hour while others went in under the laser before me and came out with a cool pair of sunglasses and a new lease on vision.  When it was my turn, it took some courage to stand up and walk into the FREEZING room.

****WARNING****

For those of you considering this surgery and don’t want to be traumatized by the actual procedure, I caution you to skip down to where I tell you it is safe to continue reading again

So here are the gory details of the procedure:  They first put you in a hair net and give you a pair of blue balls—that’s right, I was given two stress balls to squeeze during this whole procedure.  This to me was a baaaad sign.  If people tend to freak out and need stress balls, I knew I was in for a treat.  The first thing that they do is numb your eyes out with some crazy eye drops.  They wait a bit for them to numb up, then they cover one of your eyes and wedge in an eye speculum for the other.  In all honesty, that was the part I was most worried about and it was really nothing but a slight uncomfortable feeling.  The worst part came next.  Ya know the dentist tools that they use to buff your teeth when you get a cleaning?  Ya know, the rubber thing that spins??  They use some sort of version of that on your eyeball.  This is done to scrape away the epithelial cells so that the laser actually does what it needs to do.  After they buff your eye, they brush off what they buffed off and prepare your eye for the actual laser.  The laser is the easiest part!  They line it up over your eye, tell you to look at the red light and 17 seconds of snapping and a whiff of burned eyeball and your eye is done!  The worst part follows because your brain already knows what your other eye went through.  So the left eye was much more traumatic for me to the point where the doctor asked if I was given a Valium.  Anyway, they slap some “bandage” contact lenses on your eyes and send you on your way.  I was given a plethora of eye drops and a pat on the ass as to say “thanks for the three grand…schmuck.”

The 48 hours after PRK are absolute hell.  I had two other surgeries last year and I’d take either of them over PRK.  With them, at least, I was able to distract myself with crazy ideas for magic decks and movies, and TV and well…ANYTHING YOU CAN USE YOUR EYES ON!  These 48 hours are pain in the dark with nothing to distract you from the pain.  When I say nothing can distract you from the pain, I mean the pain of each heartbeat pulsing to your burned corneas–each heartbeat making the migraines caused by this surgery worse.  The Loritab I was given did nothing for me.  It made my skin numb and gave me cotton mouth.  I also tried Tylenol PM to sleep the first night, and that just made me feel drunk and sick to my stomach.  I did NOT sleep for over 36 hours.  I STRONGLY recommend purchasing some audio books. I had nothing of the sort and resorted to listening to the TV in my world of blind pain.

****OK KIDS, SAFE NOW****

On Sunday, I was able to open my eyes without the assistance of my fingers and take some quick peeks at where I was walking.  This helped tremendously as I had walked into a door frame and several walls during my blind period.  All I can say about this particular surgery is that you really need to stick to the eye drop plan that they give you.  I have followed this by the book, and as a result, I was able to open my eyes fully after 4 days.

I feel like I got so far behind with Magic articles and such that I’m scared to try and innovate something new for this week’s FNM.  We all know M11 is legal as of this Friday and I don’t have any of my new decks planned yet—oh wait, I’m not playing this week anyway.  This (hopefully) is my last FNM hiatus for the summer.  I’ve got a DCI ranking to improve upon and some player reward points to rack up!  I do have some deck ideas floating around in my head—Emeria knows I’ve had the time being blind for four days!  So until next week, think about that PRK surgery—I didn’t!  The jury is still out on whether it was worth it…

Cultivate: There have been many Jund builds that featured cards like Rampant Growth and I fully expect to see them make the switch to Cultivate. It may cost one more but you get another land for that extra colorless. Combine that with cards like Lotus Cobra (which I run in a Jund build) you will have some serious mana production.

Fling: This is a card that I feel will fly under the radar until someone wins a Pro Tour with it. It has many uses outside of Jund but I can see someone using Fling to get chump blockers out of Sprouting Thrinax or using it in combination with Abyssal Persecutor. Attack with the Persecutor and other creatures, Fling the Persecutor for 6. Yeah, I can see that happening.

Garruk’s Companion: Better than Putrid Leech? Maybe in the right setting. Being a 3/2 trampler is huge against Elspeth and her chump blockers. It can’t be pumped out of Bolt range, but facing any deck that doesn’t have a quick answer, it can run over most creatures in its mana range.

Grave Titan: While harder to cast than Broodmate Dragon, this sucker is much better. Getting 10 points of damage out of 6 mana is nuts with any card, but throw in deathtouch and the fact you keep getting 2/2 zombies everytime he attacks, yeah I would take that over Broodmate Dragon any day. I can see some sort of ramp with Cultivate to get him out fast.

Mitotic Slime: Some people will replace Sprouting Thrinax with this but I don’t see the reason. One of the things that is so attractive about Sprouting Thrinax is having a 3/3 out turn 3 that turns into chump blockers. Granted the Slime is out of Bolt range, I just don’t see it being fast enough for much use.

Nantuko Shade: Another possible replacement for Putrid Leech. I think it is too black dependant to make any noise, but I won’t be surprised if someone tries it.

Obstinate Baloth: The Great Sable Stag of M11, this card is a Jund hoser and a great Jund sideboard option in the mirror. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it main decked in certain meta’s where Jund is heavy.

Plummet: Another good sideboard option to take out those pesky Baneslayer Angel‘s flying around.

Primeval Titan: This is a great card but I really don’t see the use for it in Jund. By the time I have 6 mana the only other land I would want is manlands. Compared to Grave Titan, I really don’t see a place for it.

Sylvan Ranger: Replaces Borderland Ranger, but I never saw a reason to run it.

I am sure there will be other cards included in the various Jund builds, but I feel the ones I listed will lead the pack. I am looking forward to seeing what the next Jund evolution will bring and hopefully I will be one of the innovators!

The first thing I want to touch on is the likelihood of all the original Planeswalkers being back in the set.  One can assume that this is the case but I’m going to go on record and say it makes logical sense to put all of the original walkers into a core set.  With this being said, is this going to really change things up? I’m going to go out on a limb and say maybe (lame answer, I know).  Right now, these walkers aren’t seeing a ton of action due to the emergence of three of the most powerful walkers created to date;  Elspeth, Gideon, and Jace 2.0.  Come October, we say bye to Elspeth (my current favorite) and look forward to a new batch in Scars of Mirrodin…or do we?  I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that we can’t guarantee new walkers in Scars, however, I think that it would be a bad idea not to print any.  With that being said, there could be some nice synergy with the core walkers and any from Scars.

I now want to talk about the cycle of Titans in this set.  These guys are cool and each of them is dripping with flavor—even you Frost Titan!  I talked about Sun Titan last week and referred you to Flores’ article.  This week I want to talk about the potential for Primeval Titan.  To be honest, the first time I saw this card, I read it as “basic lands and put them into play tapped.”  After looking at the original price of the card, I took my time reading it and realized that this guy fetches two LANDS for you.  Now I’ve been seeing a lot of people harping on the fact that this guy dies to removal and all you did was fetch to lands and spent six mana on a Harrow that grabs non-basics.  Wait, really people, it dies to removal?  Is that the best you can come up with?  This guy is not a waste.  What would you pay to fetch two non-basics and put them into play tapped?  Eldrazi Temple?  Eye of Ugin?  Two man-lands?  Two Tectonic Edges?  Let’s also not forget we get a 6/6 trampler!  This guy can get out of control fast if they don’t have the removal for him.  But I think this guy is going to see some standard play in Turboland and possibly Valakut Ramp.  I think it is a bit of a Squeeze on Valakut Ramp to have those forests out there but also, like a lot of people are saying, this guy allows these deck builders to thin out their decks a bit and get rid of the clunky Khalni Heart Expeditions.  Look for this guy in a deck near you!  Grave Titan just looks fun.  I don’t know if he’ll see the Standard scene or not.  A lot of Jund players don’t want to spend 6 mana any more in their decks as they’ve gotten even more aggressive.  It’s hard to go wrong with a 6/6 creature that poops two 2/2’s right out of the gate and two more each time it attacks.  Did I mention he has deathtouch?  Inferno Titan and Frost Titan, to me, are a bit underwhelming for Standard.  Inferno, because most red decks that would utilize his ability aren’t running high casting cost creatures and Frost, because his ability is just soft control.  His “semi-shroud” ability isn’t really worth mentioning either.  Honestly, unless you cheat him out on turn 2, your opponent isn’t going to have much trouble paying 2BR for a Terminate.

So I’m still waiting on a Merfolk lord out of blue.  Is it the one pictured on the booster packs?  Who knows?  I almost want to see Merfolk Sovereign back because he/she has nice synergy with Scroll Thief.  Take two damage and I draw a card.  I’d like to see some others as it looks like the Elf tribe could possibly make a comeback with the rumor of Imperious Perfect also being in this core set.  And where is the goblin lord?  Will we see Goblin Chieftain back as well?  With Ember Hauler hanging around will goblins be viable again?  There are just so many questions still left to be answered…

One thing I do know is assuming that we will see all five of the core walkers back, that leaves us with 2 mythic rare cards left to be spoiled.  I’d wager as well that they’ll be in black and red unless they didn’t balance out the mythic placement.  There are still a couple of question marks as far as the booster pack pictures are concerned.  What’s that Lich looking thing?  Could this be a mythic creature for black?  As this week rolls on, we’re bound to see more of the rare cards spoiled on wizards’ website.  I don’t know about you all (how many of you are there anyway?) but I was not blown away by Angelic Arbiter this morning.  I think it might find its way into some sideboards at best…and that’s some risky tech if you ask me.  At that late a stage in the game, does it really matter if you’re locking your opponent?  Ugh, I realize that all cards aren’t created to be amazing, or to see Standard play, but this card had me shaking my head.  EDH and Limited bomb, absolutely. Other than that it’s shiny and cool, but that’s about as far as I see it going—oh and it’s a foil in the intro packs.  I see myself pulling a foil of this on top of the intro pack one based on my track record of doing this.

So that’s all I’ve got for you this week.  Enjoy the next week and a half of spoilers. I hope they keep things fun and interesting like they have so far.  Wizards has done a fantastic job keeping things under a better lock and key for this set than ROE.  I’m sure there will be one or two more surprises on the horizon with this one.  Finally, I have no idea what to play at FNM this week.  Suggestions??

Spoiler season for the latest core set is here and in this week’s Act of Reason I’d like to talk about the cards we’ve seen spoiled so far and which ones I like for sealed.  First and foremost, I don’t claim to be a sealed pro or anything special. Much like all of my articles, I can only write based upon my observations and experience.  I’m going to break down each group by color.  So with that, let’s begin!

White:

Obviously Baneslayer Angel is a great card to see back; especially to those of us who already own a playset.  I really don’t have much else to say about this card other than it’s still amazing, but while playing in sealed, keep a close eye on it.  I mean this from both sides of the card. Be hesitant to cast it early as your main threat as there is quite a bit of removal in this core set.  For the other side of the coin, if you know someone pulled it—and you will, hold your removal for it.  This card will lock up the game if left unchecked.

With most sealed events there are two creature types that Thrive:  fliers and fatties.  I want to talk about a couple other fliers that I really like.  I love seeing Goldenglow Moth back in action. This card is going to be a major nuisance in sealed.  Plop a Holy Strength on it, and bam, you’ve got a viable blocker, attacker, and life gainer all in one!  I also really like Cloud Crusader; flying and first strike, bonus!

Another card I’d like to touch on is Sun Titan.  All I have to say is that I can’t wait to see this card broken in the format.  For more information read Flores’ article here. I completely agree with him.  Finally to wrap up white, I want to highlight Condemn, Pacifism, and Safe Passage.  We all know Condemn is going to replace Path to Exile. Being an uncommon, keep your eye on this one because if you’re splashing white, you need this in there.  Pacifism will save your butt from a big creature early and likely swing the tide to your advantage, but if that doesn’t do it, a timely Safe Passage might.  Honorable mention goes to Elite Vanguard in this group. A 2/1 on turn 1 can get dangerous fast, especially if it’s followed with another on turn 2.

Edit:  After writing this article, more cards were spoiled—I want to take a look at Knight Exemplar.  Because Knight of the Reliquary wasn’t good enough, let’s permanently make it indestructible with Knight Exemplar.  This card is replacing Dauntless Escort in Mythic Conscription decks.  As far as sealed is concerned, I’m not afraid of it. There’s not much of a chance you’ll see too many tribal knight decks in a sealed tourney.  I’m sure I’ll be eating my words in a few weeks…

Blue:

Tons of people have talked about Aether Adept and how it is the replacement for Man o’ War.  I’m not going to say much more other than I like the addition to blue and the possibilities as early soft control.  Back on topic for sealed, I love Air Servant!  He taps fliers while you attack with him!  This guy is like Dawnglare Invoker plus.  He lets you bombard your opponent with your airborne army, while you keep theirs at bay.  I also like Augury Owl and all of the Scry spells. They bring fun back to blue, not only for sealed, but for constructed.  Jace’s Ingenuity is also a nice card for sealed and standard.  Need drawing power, check, need it at instant speed, you got it!  Finally for blue, one you want to really keep an eye out for is Mind Control.  If you’re running blue and you leave this card on the side you’ll really want to kick yourself.  “Nice Baneslayer.”  *Yoink* “Mine now!”  Honorable mention for blue has to go to Diminish.  I love this card paired with Cunning Sparkmage, but for sealed, pair it with Prodigal Pyromancer and we’re good.

Edit:  Mana Leak!!!!! Nuff said about that.  Time Reversal, wow…this card makes me happy. I’m not sure how to abuse it quite yet; give me some time to think about it.  But seriously, they made a functional reprint of Time Twister!  This card could be sick in sealed as well!

Black:

It’s where the removal is at, but I want to touch on the powerful Nightwing Shade for sealed.  Pumpable is good in sealed, but a flier to boot; yes please!  We then have your Reassembling Skeleton – your multipurpose, non-trample, blocker.  Reassemble him at your opponent’s end step and untap on yours.  Finally, we know that Doom Blade is back but I want to talk about Necrotic Plague a bit.  This card is an enigma to me.  2BB to destroy an opponent’s creature and then one of yours.   Then it’s rinse and repeat while there are still critters on the board.  I just want to say I love the flavor this card is covered with, but as far as sealed is concerned, it’s only conditional removal.  I have no creatures and my opponent has one, bam – bye, bye birdie.  Honorable mention goes out to Stabbing Pain and Unholy Strength.

Red:

Now here’s a color that has me a little hesitant to play sealed.  I’m seeing a ton of burn and burn related spells here and not a lot of good creatures to protect my Planeswalker butt.  I want to touch on how good Act of Treason is in sealed.  You take your opponent’s biggest creature away from them, swing out and win.  More times than not it works, just watch out for the occasional Safe Passage and Fog.  Now Fling on the other hand paired with Act of Treason is just a downright dirty play for all of five mana.  Highlights in the burn category, for me, include Lightning Bolt, Lava Axe, and Prodigal Pyromancer.  My sleeper for red enchantments is Volcanic Strength.  I feel like it does so much against red that it’s a must run.  Honorable mention for this group, for me, goes to Arc Runner and Ember Hauler.  Arc Runner on a clean board is nasty for three mana.  A hasty 5/1, that doesn’t go away, means you need an answer fast.  Ember Hauler, I feel ,can be great given the right deck in sealed and it could be the card that wins you the game with that last point of damage.

Edit:  Hording Dragon.  I really, really, want this card to be good. It’s dripping with flavor but I just don’t see it fitting into constructed play (yet).  Combustion however…wow!  Let’s really take care of that big bad Baneslayer with M11.

Green:

I like a lot of cards in green right now for sealed, so I’m not going to touch on them all. I do want to talk a little bit about some of green’s fatties.  I scoffed at Yavimaya Wurm until I read the card again and realized that it had Trample.  It’s a much more functional version of Craw Wurm, yippee!  Granted an unchecked Craw Wurm is still damaging but this guy runs through blockers if they can’t kill it.  Garruk’s Companion; a 3/2 trampler is also a nasty card at two green mana.  Look to face multiples of this in your events.  While this card isn’t exactly a fattie, I place it there simply because of its destructive capability.  If you really want to talk about a fattie, look no further than Greater Basilisk.  This guy can also Wreak Havoc if left unchecked.  My sleeper for green, so far, is probably Wall of Vines.  This card is going to protect you in the early game while you ramp up using Cultivate to drop bigger creatures.  Finally, honorable mention, and also “watch out for,” goes to Plummet.  Being that you can only run four of this in constructed; I want to run as many of this as possible in sealed.

Edit:  Well we got the Jund hoser spoiled that Aaron Forsythe talked about – Obstinate Baloth.  This card is going to find a home in so many decks; limited and constructed.  I love the symmetry of it.  A 4/4 for 4 mana that gains you 4 life when it enters the battlefield and can’t be discarded.  Overwhelming Stampede will see play as well, even with some potential to replace Overrun in some decks.  I like its potential for a REALLY BIG swing.

Edit2:  I’d also like to talk about a couple of the artifacts that have been spoiled.  My teammates would not let me post this article without talking about Juggernaut.  I HATE this card.  Of course by hate, I mean love.  This card is going to hose U/W control unless they have an answer to it.  I see it making its way into some sideboards just to walk past Wall of Omens and Wall of Denial.  I also like Gargoyle Sentry in sealed a lot.  This guy could potentially give people fits.  Big ups to MTGSalvation for posting all the spoilers, without which I wouldn’t be able to talk about all of this today.

On a final note, I got my first 1^st place in a FNM last week.  I made top 4 for the 2^nd week in a row and they were nice enough to give me the victory.  And for the “awwww” factor, I gave my prize packs to a new kid, from what I could guess was under 15, who showed a lot of guts coming to a FNM filled with 25+ year olds. I hope he comes back!  I’m taking a hiatus this week from FNM in favor of a graduation party.  Until next week!