Twitter conjecture had me believing this to be a fast format. This is an incredibly common early sentiment, as it's just easier to figure out proactive/aggressive strategies than slower ones, and they also prey on stumbling players much more effectively. It's not. The above deck easily went 3-0 6-0, and I wouldn't describe any of my draws as of high quality, although I did draw Lochmere Serpent more than average. Value is important here, but you still need to do something on each turn of the game, just like in every Limited format of the past 5+ years that I've been playing.
Despite my pristine record this deck has some notable flaws and I made multiple clear mistakes during drafting. I did some classic waffling between White and Black as second colors, and didn't commit hard enough once I had 2nd Covetous Urge and Lochmere Serpent. There was some early speculation on U/W with Shinechaser and Dance of the Manse (with ants in my pants, no less), which I'm not unhappy about, but once I open Lochmere Serpent in pack 2 I should have committed. Lochtwain Gargoyle, Jousting Dummy, and Mystical Dispute shouldn't have made the main deck, the first two if I draft correctly and don't miss playables with needless waffling, and the 3rd if I use my noggin and run 18 lands, as this deck is incredibly interested in playing a land every turn.
Covetous Urge was substantially better than I expected it to be, and makes me feel a lot more confident that the format is relatively slow (a 4/10 on the scale I'd say, with 10 as fastest). Every game I was able to cast it on curve as I wasn't getting pressured enough by early creatures, and once I took a spell from my opponent and cast it myself it felt like I was miles ahead. As when it misses it still can grab anything out of the graveyard, the only real downside is when you're getting beaten on hard enough that you can't afford to spend that much mana not affecting the board. That seems relatively rare, and the card is incredible as a result.
Midnight Clock
In my set review I panned this card heavily, and this is easily the card I was most wrong about already. As this triggers during each upkeep, as long as you're paying attention this is 40%ish faster to trigger than it would be otherwise. Getting this a pile of turns sooner is incredible, as the effect is so gamebreaking that it usually wins you the game right then and there. It's much better than I thought even in the late game as well, as triggering in both upkeeps means that it often won't be too slow if you draw it late, as long as you're not dead in the water. While I don't think this card is incredible in Draft, in Sealed I think this is one of the best Blue rares. It's still good in Draft, don't get me wrong, but it's closer to a 3.0 vs. a 4.0 in Sealed.Random Prerelease Musings
- Deck building in this format is incredibly hard. I've been mono color multiple times in Sealed, which I wouldn't have expected, but I also played against the classic "Bad Mana but Powerful" Sealed decks and they looked quite playable as well. 18 Lands should be a hard default, as hitting land drops is so important, and games generally revolve around the expensive cards.
- Probably choose to play? The format is slow but proactive, I believe having the extra turn does wonders for most decks. Only about 1-2% worth of wonders, but it's hard to turn down win percentage that you receive by answering a yes or no question correctly. The jury is still out on this one, and I wouldn't be shocked if play/draw was 50/50 and it was irrelevant what you choose generically.
- Absolutely maindeck the first Disenchant effect, but not the 2nd. I was incredibly happy having the ability to kill problem Artifacts/Enchantments during game 1's, but not so much so that I would have liked a 2nd if I had one.
- Black is king, White is really bad, all of the other colors feel good but seem to exist on a similar level. I'd had Green 2nd early on but a lot of the strengths I thought it had haven't seemed to matter much, such as using Rosethorn Acolytes to do lots of splashing. Splashing is rough without Spinning Wheel/the rare Evolving Wilds, so I'd try to avoid it unless I have Garruk specifically.
- The Royals Scions, speaking of Planeswalkers, was incredible for me. I opened it a bunch like an incredibly skilled magician, and it was both easy to protect due to the massive loyalty and gave me multiple effective attack angles at the same time . While there's definitely some deckbuilding constraints involved, The Royal Scions should actively pull you toward splashing it or playing U/R.
Kevin
@sealedawaymtg on Twitter
No comments:
Post a Comment