Over the course of the past few months I’ve been accumulating SoM-Block booster packs from playing in events like Pre-releases, Game Days, and Nationals Qualifiers.  I usually try to resist the urge to crack packs, preferring to draft with them instead.  However I only draft about once a week, and M12’s release and corresponding limited format is fast approaching, so I knew I wasn’t going to use them all up in booster drafts before then.  So in the interest of having a hell of a good time, and convenient preparation for GP Kansas (SoM Block Sealed) I decided to get some friends together and play a mini sealed tournament.

We chose last Friday for the festivities.  The combination of a hockey game (boo Canucks!), not having to worry about work the next day and my girlfriend being out of the house made it the perfect night for card-slinging.

The cast of characters for the evening:

John – Casual Magic Player.  He played Magic in Junior High like many of my generation, but didn’t start up again until M11 came out and we dragged him into fun nights like this.

Mike – Casual Magic Player.  Mike and John are roommates.  They play a bunch of kitchen table games together and some MTGO as well.

Dave – “Retired” Magic Enthusiast.  Dave got me hooked on paper Magic with a Rise of the Eldrazi sealed event just like this after Duels of the Planeswalkers for the X-BOX lit the initial spark.  He has been playing on and off since Ice Age, and he’s currently on an “off” cycle.  We’ll see how long that lasts.

Me – Obsessive Magic Enthusiast.  I play paper magic twice a week, I travel to PTQs, I’m qualified for Canadian Nationals and I write for this here lovely website.

After everyone arrived, cracked their first beers, and put the game on TV, we set about deck building.  2 Packs of Scars of Mirrodin, 2 Packs of Mirrodin Beseiged, and 2 Packs of New Phyrexia were handed out to each person.

In the interest of creating an article out of the evening I recorded everyone’s sealed pool, as well as the decks they ended up with. If there are any 39-card decks or 85-card pools, I apologize in advance, but I think I got everything pretty darn near accurately recorded.

I’ve attached the sealed pools in Magic Online .txt format, and I invite you to build decks along with me and my friends and see how they compare.  Just download the text file, go to the Deck Editor in Magic Online, load them up and away you go!

I invite you to watch this video from Tom Martell of Channel Fireball for some deck-building inspiration.  He’s very thorough and meticulous, and I try to mimic his procedure for deck-building whenever I am building sealed decks.

Let’s start with John’s pool:
John’s Pool

[Deck title=John’s Sealed Pool]
[White]
1 Cathedral Membrane
1 Choking Fumes
1 Frantic Salvage
1 Kemba, Kha Regent
1 Leonin Skyhunter
1 Masters Call
1 Phyrexian Unlife
1 Puresteel Paladin
1 Remember the Fallen
1 Revoke Existence
1 Seize the Initiative
[/White]
[Blue]
1 Blighted Agent
1 Defensive Stance
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Oculus
1 Plated Seastrider
1 Scrapdiver Serpent
1 Steady Progress
1 Trinket Mage
1 Turn Aside
1 Vedalken Infuser
1 Viral Drake
1 Volition Reins
[/Blue]
[Black]
1 Blind Zealot
1 Dross Hopper
1 Dross Ripper
1 Horrifying Revelation
1 Instill Infection
1 Phyresis
1 Postmortem Lunge
2 Reaper of Sheoldred
1 Sangromancer
1 Scourge Servant
1 Spread the Sickness
1 Tainted Strike
1 Vault Skirge
1 Virulent Wound
[/Black]
[Red]
1 Cerebral Eruption
1 Furnace Scamp
1 Galvanoth
1 Koth’s Courier
1 Melt Terrain
1 Ogre Resister
1 Oxidda Scrapmelter
1 Rally the Forces
1 Ruthless Invasion
1 Slash Panther
1 Turn to Slag
1 Victorious Destruction
[/Red]
[Green]
1 Blightwidow
1 Carapace Forger
1 Cystbearer
1 Ezuri’s Archers
1 Glissa’s Courier
2 Glissa’s Scorn
1 Glistener Elf
2 Meliras Keepers
1 Mirran Mettle
1 Viridian Betrayers
1 Withstand Death
[/Green]
[Colorless]
1 Bladed Sentinel
1 Culling Dais
1 Glint Hawk Idol
1 Gremlin Mine
1 Gust-Skimmer
1 Mycosynth Wellspring
1 Necropouncer
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Origin Spellbomb
2 Pestilent Souleater
1 Phyrexian Digester
1 Phyrexian Hulk
1 Phyrexian Juggernaut
1 Foil Plains
1 Shrine of Loyal Legions
1 Silverskin Armor
1 Spin Engine
1 Strider Harness
1 Trigon of Corruption
1 Trigon of Mending
[/Colorless]
[/Deck]

Like most people I like to start by looking at the rares.  The rares in this pool are:

[card]Kemba, Kha Regent[/card], [card]Phyrexian Unlife[/card], [card]Puresteel Paladin[/card], [card]Sangromancer[/card], [card]Cerebral Eruption[/card], [card]Galvanoth[/card].

Kemba and [card]Puresteel Paladin[/card]! Talk about synergy!  Let’s see what equipment to go off with those two!

[card]Silverskin Armor[/card], [card]Strider Harness[/card], [card]Necropouncer[/card].

D’oh.  [card]Silverskin Armor[/card] is not exactly what you want to be equipping to a Kemba.  Turning the relatively hard to kill 2/4 into juicy artifact is not really the best course of action.  With two mediocre equipment and and a 6-drop equipment in the pool, these two white rares end up being kind of vanilla.  Where’s [card]Bludgeon Brawl[/card] when you need it!?

Let’s look at the other strong non-rare cards in the pool.

Blue has [card]Viral Drake[/card] and [card]Volition Reins[/card].  Black has 2 [card]Reaper of Sheoldred[/card] and a [card]Spread the Sickness[/card].  Red has [card]Oxidda Scrapmelter[/card] and [card]Turn to Slag[/card]. Green has [card]Blightwidow[/card], [card]Cystbearer[/card], and 2 [card]Glissa’s Scorn[/card].  And there is a [card]Shrine of Loyal Legions[/card], a [card]Trigon of Corruption[/card], and a [card]Phyrexian Juggernaut[/card] that can fit into any deck.

When I started prepping for this article last night this pool gave me the most trouble, as there was enough good cards in all of the colors that I couldn’t decide which direction to go.  With considerable pondering, here’s what I would build had I opened this pool:

[deck title=U/B Infect by Sean Gifford]
[Creatures]
1 Blighted Agent
1 Oculus
1 Phyrexian Digester
1 Trinket Mage
1 Blind Zealot
1 Sangromancer
1 Vedalken Infuser
1 Viral Drake
2 Reaper of Sheoldred
2 Pestilent Souleater
1 Scourge Servant
1 Phyrexian Juggernaut
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Gremlin Mine
1 Culling Dais
1 Steady Progress
1 Instill infection
1 Trigon of Corruption
1 Spread the Sickness
1 Virulent Wound
1 Volition Reins
[/Spells]
[Land]
9 Island
8 Swamp
[/Land]
[/Deck]

This is definitely a deck that would let the opponent play first.  I got really cute with the proliferate/charge counter interactions.  [card]Steady Progress[/card] is not a card I would normally play, but with so many -1/-1 counters going on in a deck like this, I thought it was worth it.  [card]Vedalken Infuser[/card] is probably crossing the line, but his interaction with [card]Culling Dais[/card] and [card]Trigon of Corruption[/card] is undeniably interesting, if not powerful.

What did you come up with?

You went that direction huh?! Crazy!

What did John ultimately come up with?

[Deck Title=B/G Infect by John]
[Creatures]
1 Ezuris Archers
Glistener Elf
Vault Skirge
Blind Zealot
Cystbearer
Phyrexian Digester
Viridian Betrayers
Blightwidow
Sangromancer
2 Pestilent Souleater
Reaper of Sheoldred
Scourge Servant
Phyrexian Juggernaut
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
Horrifying Revelation
Mirran Mettle
Tainted Strike
Virulent Wound
2 Glissas Scorn
Mycosynth Wellspring
Phyresis
Instill Infection
[/Spells]
[Land]
8 Forest
8 Swamp
[/Land]
[/Deck]

John fell into a few traps here.  During deckbuilding I stressed to my less experienced friends that it was important that the cards you played in limited affected the board state.  Unfortunately John couldn’t resist the potential 3 life gained off [card]Sangromancer[/card] when he hit his opponent with [card]Horrifying Revelation[/card].  He’s also light on land for a deck with four 5-drops and a 6-drop.  John’s inexperience with the format bit him pretty hard.

Next up is Mike!

Mike’s Sealed Pool:
Mike’s Pool

[Deck Title=Mike’s Sealed Pool]
[White]
1 Banishment Decree
1 Dispatch
1 Divine Offering
1 Forced Worship
1 Leonin Skyhunter
1 Lost Leonin
1 Loxodon Convert
1 Masters Call
1 Seize the Initiative
1 Shriek Raptor
2 Kemba’s Skyguard
[/White]
[Blue]
2 Argent Mutation
1 Blighted Agent
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Impaler Shrike
1 Mindculling
1 Neurok Invisimancer
1 Numbing Dose
1 Riddlesmith
1 Serum Raker
1 Spire Serpent
1 Turn Aside
1 Turn the Tide
2 Vivisection
1 Volition Reins
[/Blue]
[Black]
1 Caustic Hound
2 Evil Presence
1 Geths Verdict
1 Go for the Throat
1 Ichor Rats
1 Phyresis
1 Relic Putrescence
1 Tainted Strike
[/Black]
[Red]
1 Assault Strobe
1 Blade-Tribe Berserkers
1 Bloodshot Trainee
1 Flameborn Hellion
1 Foil Galvanoth
1 Hellkite Igniter
1 Koths Courier
1 Ruthless Invasion
1 Scrapyard Salvo
1 Tunnel Ignus
1 Urabrask the Hidden
1 Volt Charge
1 Vulshok Refugee
1 Whipflare
[/Red]
[Green]
1 Creeping Corrosion
1 Ezuris Archers
1 Phyrexian Swarmlord
1 Pistus Strike
1 Rot Wolf
1 Tel-Jilad Defiance
1 Thundering Tanadon
2 Viridian Betrayers
[/Green]
[Colorless]
1 Bladed Sentinel
1 Contagion Clasp
1 Flayer Husk
1 Golden Urn
1 Golem Foundry
1 Gremlin Mine
1 Horizon Spellbomb
1 Hovermyr
1 Iron Myr
1 Myr Battlesphere
1 Myr Sire
1 Neurok Replica
1 Panic Spellbomb
1 Pestilent Souleater
1 Pierce Strider
1 Plague Myr
1 Shriekhorn
1 Signal Pest
1 Soliton
1 Sphere of the Suns
1 Spin Engine
1 Strandwalker
1 Trigon of Corruption
1 Vector Asp
[/Colorless]
[/Deck]

Let’s start with the rares again:

[card]Hellkite Igniter[/card], [card]Foil Galvanoth[/card], [card]Phyrexian Swarmlord[/card], [card]Myr Battlesphere[/card], [card]Creeping Corrosion[/card], [card]Tunnel Ignus[/card], [card]Urabrask the Hidden[/card].

Well red is certainly enticing.  Urabrask is a bonified bomb and an insane tempo card, and [card]Hellkite Igniter[/card] will end games quickly.  Let’s not forget the humble [card]Myr Battlesphere[/card], ready to take over once the 7 mana mark has been hit.  Looks like Mike just needs to stay alive in the early game in order to win his matches.

The other powerful cards:

White has [card]Divine Offering[/card] and [card]Forced Worship[/card], Blue has [card]Volition Reins[/card], Black has [card]Go for the Throat[/card], Red has [card]Volt Charge[/card] and [card]Whipflare[/card], and Green has a [card]Rot Wolf[/card].

What did you build?

Mike’s pool is really pretty good.  I ended up trying out three different colors paired with red, R/G Dinosaurs, W/R Aggro, and Finally U/R Control.  Always a sucker for Blue cards, here’s my favourite of those builds, and what I would have built had I opened this pool:

[Deck title=U/R Control by Sean Gifford]
[Creatures]
1 Riddlesmith
1 Myr Sire
1 Hovermyr
1 Plague Myr
1 Iron Myr
1 Koths Courier
1 Neurok Replica
1 Impaler Shrike
1 Serum Raker
1 Galvanoth
1 Urabrask the Hidden
1 Blade-Tribe Berserkers
1 Hellkite Igniter
1 Myr Battlesphere
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
1 Gremlin Mine
1 Sphere of the Suns
1 Contagion Clasp
1 Whipflare
1 Volt Charge
1 Trigon of Corruption
1 Strandwalker
1 Volition Reins
[/Spells]
[Lands]
10 Mountain
8 Island
[/Lands]
[/Deck]

This deck is really clunky, and not a masterpiece of creative interactions like the U/B one I built from John’s pool.  It didn’t really have to be.  I crammed the bombs in (Urabrask, [card]Hellkite Igniter[/card], [card]Myr Battlesphere[/card], and [card]Volition Reins[/card]), a smidgeon of Ramp ([card]Sphere of the Suns[/card], [card]Plague Myr[/card], [card]Iron Myr[/card]), and all of the removal available to the colors ([card]Gremlin Mine[/card], [card]Contagion Clasp[/card], [card]Whipflare[/card], [card]Volt Charge[/card], [card]Trigon of Corruption[/card]). Toss in a few defensive creatures to fill up holes in the curve ([card]Myr Sire[/card], [card]Hover Myr[/card], [card]Neurok Replica[/card], [card]Koth’s Courier[/card], [card]Blade-Tribe Berserkers[/card]) and away we go.  If this deck can weather the storm of the first 9-10 turns it should be able to take over the game with the 6 and 7 drops.

Here’s what Mike ultimately ended up with:

[Deck Title=W/R by Mike]
[Creatures]
1 Signal Pest
1 Hovermyr
1 Iron Myr
1 Myr Sire
1 Plague Myr
1 Tunnel Ignus
1 Kembas Skyguard
1 Koths Courier
1 Spin Engine
1 Vulshok Refugee
1 Galvanoth
1 Urabrask the Hidden
1 Myr Battlesphere
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
1 Assault Strobe
1 Dispatch
1 Flayer Husk
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Panic Spellbomb
1 Divine Offering
1 Sphere of the Suns
1 Whipflare
1 Masters Call
1 Volt Charge
1 Forced Worship
[/Spells]
[Lands]
8 Mountain
7 Plains[/Lands]
[/Deck]

This deck is a little schizophrenic.  [card]Signal Pest[/card] and [card]Myr Battlesphere[/card] don’t often share a deck with one another.  Similar things can be said for [card]Assault Strobe[/card] and [card]Forced Worship[/card].  This is a trap that I personally fall into a lot when I’m drafting, focusing closely on the power level of the individual cards I’m picking up, but not really planning my entire deck out, and whether it will be aggro or control.

Aside from the obvious tension between aggro cards and control cards in this deck, John didn’t do too bad for one of his first attempts at Sealed deck.  Though I did have to beg him to put [card]Volt Charge[/card] in after I spotted it sitting in the sideboard.

Next up is Dave!

Dave’s Sealed Pool
Dave’s Pool

[Deck Title=Dave’s Sealed Pool]
[White]
1 Accorder Paladin
1 Apostles Blessing
1 Blade Splicer
2 Choking Fumes
1 Inquisitor Exarch
1 Kembas Skyguard
1 Phyrexian Rebirth
1 Priests of Norn
1 True Conviction
1 War Report
[/White]
[Blue]
1 Ardent Recruit
1 Bonds of Quicksilver
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Mirran Spy
1 Psychic Barrier
1 Quicksilver Geyser
1 Spire Serpent
1 Trinket Mage
1 Vivisection
2 Wing Splicer
[/Blue]
[Black]
1 Dross Ripper
1 Grim Affliction
1 Horrifying Revelation
1 Mortis Dogs
1 Nested Ghoul
2 Parasitic Implant
1 Plague Stinger
1 Spread the Sickness
2 Tainted Strike
1 Vault Skirge
1 Virulent Wound
[/Black]
[Red]
1 Blade-Tribe Berserkers
1 Burn the Impure
1 Flameborn Viron
1 Gnathosaur
1 Koth’s Courier
1 Ogre Menial
1 Oxidda Daredevil
1 Oxidda Scrapmelter
1 Shatter
1 Slash Panther
1 Volt Charge
1 Vulshok Refugee
[/Red]
[Green]
1 Acid Web Spider
1 Alpha Tyrranax
1 Carrion Call
1 Glissa’s Courier
1 Glissas Scorn
1 Glistener Elf
1 Greenhilt Trainee
1 Mycosynth Fiend
1 Untamed Might
1 Viridian Corrupter
1 Viridian Emissary
[/Green]
[Colorless]
1 Bladed Pinions
1 Copper Carapace
1 Core Prowler
1 Darksteel Myr
1 Gold Myr
1 Golden Urn
1 Golem Foundry
1 Hex Parasite
1 Hovermyr
2 Iron Myr
1 Insatiable Souleater
1 Moriok Replica
1 Mycosynth Wellspring
1 Myr Reservoir
1 Peace Strider
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Piston Sledge
1 Shriekhorn
1 Spin Engine
2 Sylvok Lifestaff
1 Tangle Hulk
2 Trespassing Souleater
1 Trigon of Mending
[/Colorless]
[/Deck]

Rares:

[card]Blade Splicer[/card], [card]Hex Parasite[/card], [card]Myr Reservoir[/card], [card]Phyrexian Rebirth[/card], [card]Phyrexian Revoker[/card], [card]True Conviction[/card].

With 3 Artifact Rares and 3 White Rares, this should be pretty straightforward.  The Artifact rares are mostly sideboard fodder.  [card]Phyrexian Revoker[/card] is obviously not at its best in a limited format, but sometimes you just have to beat [card]Viral Drake[/card].  [card]Hex Parasite[/card] is very powerful against an infect opponent, wiping your creatures clean of -1/-1 counters after they’ve clashed in combat.

The other powerful cards:

Blue has 2 [card]Wing Splicers[/card]; Black has [card]Grim Affliction[/card], 2 [card]Parasitic Implant[/card], and a [card]Spread the Sickness[/card]; Red has [card]Burn the Impure[/card], [card]Oxidda Scrapmelter[/card], [card]Shatter[/card], and [card]Volt Charge[/card]; Green has [card]Acid Web Spider[/card], [card]Glissa’s Scorn[/card], and [card]Viridian Corrupter[/card].  There is also a [card]Piston Sledge[/card] that any deck can use.

Your turn again!

Now me!

I’m a sucker for removal, and both Red and Black were calling out to me.  In the end it was red that stole my heart.  Here’s what I would have built had I opened this pool:

[Deck Title=W/R Aggro by Sean Gifford]
[Creatures]
1 Accorder Paladin
1 Gold Myr
1 Inquisitor Exarch
2 Iron Myr
1 Oxidda Daredevil
1 Vault Skirge
1 Blade Splicer
1 Kembas Skyguard
1 Spin Engine
2 Trespassing Souleater
1 Blade-Tribe Berserkers
1 Oxidda Scrapmelter
1 Peace Strider
1 Slash Panther
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
1 Copper Carapace
1 Burn the Impure
1 Mycosynth Wellspring
1 Shatter
1 Piston Sledge
1 Volt Charge
1 True Conviction
1 Phyrexian Rebirth
[/Spells]
[Land]
7 Mountain
9 Plains
[/Land]
[/Deck]

I rarely build aggressive decks limited decks, probably since most of my training in limited comes from watching LSV’s video’s on Channel Fireball, but the aggressive nature of this pool could not be denied.  [card]Piston Sledge[/card] and [card]Copper Carapacer[/card] are both great aggro equipment, and there is enough evasion in this deck to really put pressure on your opponent, even if you have to pay 2 life to get it.  There is that internal struggle between aggro and control again in this deck with the inclusion of [card]Phyrexian Rebirth[/card], but the power level of rebirth is just so strong.  It’s possible that one of the mana myr should be replaced with a more aggressive creature, but their inclusion should make getting to 6 for [card]True Conviction[/card] that much easier.

Here’s what Dave ended up building:

[Deck Title=U/W by Dave]
[Creatures]
1 Accorder Paladin
1 Gold Myr
1 Hovermyr
1 Inquisitor Exarch
1 Blade Splicer
1 Kembas Skyguard
1 Priests of Norn
2 Trespassing Souleater
2 Wing Splicer
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
1 Copper Carapace
1 Apostles Blessing
1 Bladed Pinions
1 Mycosynth Wellspring
1 Trigon of Mending
1 Choking Fumes
1 Piston Sledge
1 Bonds of Quicksilver
1 Vivisection
1 Quicksilver Geyser
1 Phyrexian Rebirth
1 True Conviction
[/Spells]
[Land]
12 Plains
5 Island
[/Land]
[/Deck]

Dave couldn’t resist the synergy between [card]Blade Splicer[/card] and [card]Wing Splicer[/card] and thus ended up in Blue/White.  Unfortunately [card]Wing Splicer[/card] was the only creature he added from Blue.  I think [card]Trinket Mage[/card] and [card]Copper Carapace[/card]/[card]Sylvok Lifestaff[/card] would have been a strong addition.  As it is, he ended up a little light on the creature side at 11, a fairly low number for a still ostensibly aggressive deck.  Don’t worry, Dave learned his lesson on [card]Trigon of Mending[/card] the very first time he drew it, it sure helped that he was playing against an infect deck.

Now for my Pool!

Sean’s Sealed Pool:
Sean’s Pool

[Deck Title=Sean’s Sealed Pool]
[White]
1 Apostles Blessing
1 Auriok Sunchaser
1 Banishment Decree
1 Loxodon Partisan
1 War Report
[/White]
[Blue]
1 Corrupted Conscience
1 Defensive Stance
1 Dissipation Field
2 Oculus
1 Phyrexian Ingester
1 Plated Seastrider
2 Quicksilver Geyser
1 Steady Progress
1 Vapor Snag
[/Blue]
[Black]
1 Dementia Bat
2 Flesh-Eater Imp
1 Grim Affliction
2 Parasitic Implant
1 Phyresis
1 Phyrexian Rager
1 Relic Putrescence
1 Scourge Servant
1 Whispering Specter
[/Black]
[Red]
1 Assault Strobe
1 Blade-Tribe Berserkers
1 Blisterstick Shaman
1 Concussive Bolt
1 Goblin Gaveleer
1 Gut Shot
1 Koths Courier
1 Moltensteel Dragon
1 Slash Panther
1 Tormentor Exarch
1 Victorious Destruction
1 Volt Charge
[/Red]
[Green]
1 Alpha Tyrranax
1 Blight Mamba
1 Blightwidow
1 Carrion Call
1 Ezuris Archers
1 Fangren Marauder
1 Glissa’s Scorn
1 Glistener Elf
1 Leeching Bite
2 Lifesmith
1 Maul Splicer
1 Meliras Keepers
1 Mirran Mettle
1 Molder Beast
1 Praetors Counsel
1 Quilled Slagwurm
1 Rot Wolf
1 Spinebiter
2 Wing Puncture
[/Green]
[Colorless]
1 Alloy Myr
1 Blinding Souleater
2 Horizon Spellbomb
2 Ichor Wellspring
1 Iron Myr
1 Mycosynth Wellspring
1 Myr Turbine
1 Peace Strider
1 Phyrexian Hulk
1 Razorfield Rhino
1 Rust Tick
1 Shrine of Boundless Growth
1 Strider Harness
1 Sylvok Replica
1 Training Drone
1 Trespassing Souleater
1 Trigon of Infestation
1 Trigon of Rage
1 Vector Asp
1 Vensers Journal
[/Colorless]
[/Deck]

What rares did I open?

[card]Dissipation Field[/card], [card]Myr Turbine[/card], [card]Venser’s Journal[/card], [card]Praetor’s Counsel[/card], [card]Phyrexian Ingester[/card], [card]Moltensteel Dragon[/card].

I guess it’s only fair that the most active player opened the [card]Dissipation Field[/card], [card]Venser’s Journal[/card], [card]Praetor’s Counsel[/card] pool.  There’s always [card]Moltensteel Dragon[/card]!

What other strong cards are in the pool:

Blue has [card]Corrupted Conscience[/card].  Black has 2 [card]Flesh-Eater Imp[/card], 2 [card]Parasitic Implant[/card], [card]Grim Affliction[/card].  Red has [card]Blisterstick Shaman[/card], [card]Tormentor Exarch[/card], [card]Volt Charge[/card].  Green has [card]Blightwidow[/card], [card]Fangren Marauder[/card], [card]Spinebiter[/card], and [card]Glissa’s Scorn[/card].

What would you build!?  Tell me! Now!

Ok now me.

This pool is fairly lopsided with almost no white, and almost as much Green as there is Colorless.  In order to put together enough playables to make a deck it was pretty clear I would have to involve Green.  Luckily I wanted to anyway.

Here’s what I ended up building:

[Deck Title=B/G Infect by Sean Gifford]
[Creatures]
1 Blight Mamba
1 Alloy Myr
1 Phyrexian Rager
1 Rot Wolf
1 Sylvok Replica
1 Whispering Specter
1 Blightwidow
2 Flesh-Eater Imp
1 Scourge Servant
1 Spinebiter
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Horizon Spellbomb
1 Leeching Bite
1 Mirran Mettle
1 Glissas Scorn
1 Trigon of Rage
1 Grim Affliction
1 Carrion Call
2 Parasitic Implant
1 Trigon of Infestation
[/Spells]
[Land]
9 Forest
8 Swamp
[/Land]
[/Deck]

As soon as I saw that I had 2 [card]Flesh-Eater Imp[/card]s in my pool I was pretty sure I was going to run infect.  Luckily that was what my Pool had in mind as well.  I laid out all of the infect creatures, and once I saw that my pool was a little top-heavy I decided to cut [card]Glistener Elf[/card].  It’s possible I should have kept him in, as he is pretty decent Flesh-Eater fodder once he has outlasted his usefulness.  My initial build had [card]Apostle’s Blessing[/card] for a little slice of instant speed evasion, but I ended up cutting it for [card]Trigon of Rage[/card] instead, as I already had a decent amount of evasion (3 Fliers, [card]Spinebiter[/card]) and the pump on [card]Trigon of Rage[/card] is just ludicrous.

My pool had a bevy of Wellsprings, but unfortunately there was no artifact sacrifice or bounce effects available in my colors, what I would have given for a [card]Phyrexia’s Core[/card].  I ended up going with [card]Horizon Spellbombs[/card] for card advantage, and I was pleased with them.

The one problem I had with this deck was in the removal.  [card]Parasitic Implant[/card] is pretty slow, and I suffered against Dave’s deck and his [card]Quicksilver Geysers[/card].  I could have splashed Red for [card]Volt Charge[/card], [card]Tormentor Exarch[/card], and [card]Blisterstick Shaman[/card] as this is certainly one pool that is not lacking for color fixing ([card]Mycosynth Wellspring[/card], 2 [card]Horizon Spellbomb[/card]s, [card]Alloy Myr[/card]).

Now that you’ve seen the decks, let’s find out how the rounds went.

Round 1
In round 1 I was paired against Mike, Dave and John played eachother.

In Game 1 the first creature Mike laid out was a [card]Koth’s Courier[/card], and he followed it up with a [card]Flayer Husk[/card].  I was immediately on a pretty scary clock.  In my last available draw step, at one life I was able to draw [card]Grim Affliction[/card] to go along with my [card]Sylvok Replica[/card] to reduce [card]Koth’s Courier[/card] to a 0/1, buying me enough time to finish Mike off with my assorted infect beaters.

A decently aggressive draw topped off by a Spinebiter was enough for Game 2.

John won a game with [card]Sangromancer[/card], but in the end Dave prevailed to take their match down 2-1

Sean 2-0 Mike
Dave 2-1 John

Round 2
In Round 2 I faced down Dave’s U/W Evasion deck.  He got me in a quick game one, but I was able to take game 2 out of no-where with [card]Carrion Call[/card] and [card]Mirran mettle[/card].  Game 3 was again mine as Dave struggled to find enough creatures to keep my forces at bay.  His [card]True Conviction[/card] and lone defender looked to keep him in it, but unfortunately I had the [card]Sylvok Replica[/card] to finish things off.

John and Mike faced off and the elder Mike was able to bring John to a whimpering heap, utilizing the power of [card]Koth’s Courier[/card] once again.

Sean 2-1 Dave
Mike 2-0 John

Round 3
Round 3 was rather anti-climactic as It was fairly evident I would win our little tournament.  Next time I will have to do the match order differently.

In Round 3 I spanked John quite quickly as he struggled to draw land for his high mana cost creatures.  [card]Flesh-Eater Imp[/card] does not have much patience for an empty board.

Dave and Mike had an epic match, and at one point Dave decided to pull the trigger on a [card]Phyrexian Rebirth[/card] on a very cluttered board.  Unfortunately for him Mike had the removal for his Horror Token, and he was forced to start over, suiting up his [card]Priests of Norn[/card] with a [card]Copper Carapace[/card] and hoping to get there for the full 10.  He got there.

Sean 2-0 John
Dave 2-0 Mike.

The final result:

3-0-0 – Sean
2-1-0 – Dave
1-2-0 – Mike
0-3-0 – John

We spent the rest of the night slamming back beers, eating pizza, and chatting about Magic, Hockey, Video Games and Jeopardy.  What a life.

See you next time!