Primer

I can almost taste it, the palpable reality that soon I will return to Ravnica, city of guilds. It’s been a long time since this plane was front and center in the realms of Magic: The Gathering, but I can sense that the community at large is rabid with desire. We all want to get our hands on the newest spells and real estate and who can blame us? The spoilers promise a diverse and interesting experience.

Being a limited format junkie I have been pouring over the spoilers trying to suss out strategy for the upcoming drafts. It’s a lot more difficult to create a sound game plan for Sealed as you are unaware of what the pool you will receive might contain. This go around however we do know one rare spell (or land in Selesnyas’ case) that we are guaranteed to be allowed to sling.

I have used this knowledge to attempt to formulate a deck building strategy for this weekend’s prerelease extravaganza. That strategy follows.

Guild Recruiting

Unfortunately for moi, my guild of choice, Orzhov, will not be released until next year when Gatecrash fills out the block more fully. However the diversity and sheer flavor tastiness of all the Return guilds is more than adequate to sate my thirst until I can battle for Gold and Glory. That being said, there was initially too much flavor for me to select a guild to represent during the prerelease.

After much careful deliberation (and a lot of help from the spoilers) I decided to go with The Golgari Swarm. The reason is two fold. First of all, I am a sucker for Nurgle, who is the Lord of Decay in the world of Warhammer, and secondly, I love the art and ability of the Golgari prerelease foil, [card]Corpsejack Menace[/card].

Enlisting the knowledge that we are allowed, nay encouraged, to use these prerelease foils in our sealed decks I have begun to formulate a strategy that involves building a game state where +1/+1 counters really matter for me. This led me to take a deep look at splashing for Red in order to maximize the Rakdos ability: Unleash. I figured that as a creature heavy strategy in a format usually dominated by creatures this was a step in the right direction.

G/B/r

The crux of my plan really teeters on how well my mana fixing is. This is key as @Marshall_LR pointed out to me on the tweet box. I am hoping for several things in this area. Firstly one or two [card]Gatecreeper Vine[/card]s would be ideal as they really help fix the mana situation and act as simple blockers, not that they can block much though. These along with an [card]Axebane Guardian[/card] would make producing the splash color much easier and with both creatures at common rarity the possibility is promising. A more uncommon mana fixer would be [card]Seek the Horizon[/card] but with only 18 uncommon slots and a slight chance of getting a bonus card it’s not at the top of my list for uncommons. Getting Gates that produce my colors is what I’m looking for, especially if I end up with a couple [card]Gatecreeper Vine[/card]s, but what I’m really hoping to find is an [card]Overgrown Tomb[/card] in one of my rare slots. That is overtly obvious however.

With a plan for mana fixing it now comes down to what to do with all that precious and varied mana. The strategy here is to find creatures who synergizes with [card]Corpsejack Menace[/card]. I’m looking for Scavengeable creatures such as [card]Korozda Monitor[/card], [card]Sewer Shambler[/card], [card]Terrus Wurm[/card] and most of all [card]Trestle Troll[/card] and [card]Sluiceway Scorpion[/card]. I would also like to see [card]Daggerdrome Imp[/card] as his evasion and lifelink make him an ideal target for Scavange counters. A splashable creature that I would also like to see is [card]Splatter Thug[/card]. He is decent as an aggressive three drop and becomes even better if I can cast him once my [card]Corpsejack Menace[/card] is on the battlefield. The reason that these are the creatures I’m looking for is due to the simple fact that at common the likelihood of my pool containing them is greatly increased.

My top uncommons for creature slots are [card]Slitherhead[/card] for its free Scavange cost, [card]Dreg Mangler[/card] due to its ability to get into the action quickly and possibly [card]Thrill-Kill Assassin[/card]. [card]Rakdos Ragemutt[/card] would be a great target to hit with Scavange counters in the late midgame and fits the ideal curve nicely.

If I can augment this core group of cards with some solid spells such as [card]Auger Spree[/card], [card]Stab Wound[/card], [card]Golgari Charm[/card], [card]Giant Growth[/card], [card]Grizzly Salvage[/card], [card]Rights of Reaping[/card], [card]Treasured Find[/card], [card]Savage Surge[/card], and [card]Golgari Keyrune[/card] I should be able to craft a capable deck.

As for my hopefuls, the rares, I really want to find spells like [card]Abrupt Decay[/card], [card]Desecration Demon[/card], [card]Jarad’s Orders[/card], [card]Death’s Presence[/card], and/ or [card]Deadbridge Goliath[/card].

I would get all of these cards in a perfect world but I know that this will not be the case. As long as I can stay true to my plan of aggressive creatures and +1/+1 counter technology I feel like my deck may turn out a solid showing at the prerelease.

For the Swarm!

Warning, Wrenches in My Plan

The removal in the set includes spells such as [card]Auger Spree[/card], [card]Arrest[/card], [card]Avenging Arrow[/card], [card]Annihilating Fire[/card], [card]Mizzium Mortars[/card], [card]Explosive Impact[/card], [card]Assassin’s Strike[/card], [card]Abrupt Decay[/card], [card]Dreadbore[/card], [card]Stab Wound[/card], [card]Street Spasm[/card] and [card]Izzet Charm[/card]. Spells like [card]Ultimate Price[/card] don’t deal with the format’s biggest threats and many of the sweet creatures are out of the two damage range that cards like [card]Guttersnipe[/card] and [card]Pyroconvergence[/card] create; however, the latter two spells could wreak havoc if their controlling player can string a couple instants and sorceries together.

I fear that the lack of consistent and cheap removal in G/B will cause problems, as will any powerful over the top fliers. Spells such as [card]Rest in Peace[/card], [card]Syncopate[/card], [card]Cancel[/card], [card]Backlash[/card] and [card]Supreme Verdict[/card] really mess with my strategy. Those and any spells that return my counter laden creatures to my hand or library.

Hopefully I can play around my opponent’s most disruptive spells and don’t run into too much Detaining. If all goes well I like my chances.

The End Before the Beginning

In closing I just want to make it clear that like most Magic fiends I am over the top for this weekend. Much fun will be had I’m sure and in the end that’s all that matters, right?

I hope you all gather and sling spells, enjoy the flavor, and above all welcome all of the new comers to our fantastic culture. Their new blood is what really drives the continued support for the game we all love.

88’s
~LC