Today were looking the basics of the Sealed Deck format. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, its the most basic form of Limited Magic playing, and the format that you'll be playing if you attend a pre-release this weekend. For those of you who do know what I'm talking about, Yes I'm going to repeat a lot of stuff you already know, and you're probably going to disagree with me somewhere. Fine, but any lip and I'll see you after class.
Now keep in mind, all of this advice is based on my own experience, but I've been counting and this will be my tenth pre-release so hopefully I know something useful by now. Also, Sealed may be my favorite format ever, so pardon my excitement. THIS SET LOOKS AMAZING! (okay, that was it. I've got it under control now. I think.)
 |
| This guy.... |
 |
| into this guy! Cmon! |
Basically Sealed Deck is this: You get six booster packs. You open them and build a deck. You play a lot of games of Magic in a short period of time with that deck, and you win stuff. Yay! If this sounds like fun, I'm right there with you. If this sounds intimidating, well, lets see if we can give you some guidelines to make it easier.
First, your deck must include at least 40 cards. Now, for those of you who just read that sentence as "Your deck must include EXACTLY 40 cards", good for you! You get gold stars. Honestly, while you can play anything you open, six packs of cards will be 90 cards you open, and only 40 will see play. Less actually, because of lands. The rules will allow you to play as many of them as you want, but you need to cut it down to your best so that you have a more competitive deck. Now, I know that I told you before to not worry about winning, and that holds true, but playing with the best deck you can build is much more fun than losing more matches and getting frustrated because you can't quite get your deck to go off how you want it to. So we are going to worry a little bit about making it easier for you to win. And that means the playing the minimum card amount so you get to your best cards faster.
So 40 cards, huh? What next, is there a number for how many lands I should play? YES! There is! and that number is 17. (Now out come the pitchforks.) Okay, so I know not everyone says you should play 17 every time, but if you have any doubt about it , just go with 17. Remember, you are playing with cards you didn't pick, but were randomly given to you. You'll have spells costing from one to likely seven mana in your deck, and 17 lands and 23 spells is the best ratio you can have. People far smarter and more experienced than I am have told me this number, and I have found it to be true. Drafting, where I can choose cards and make it so all my cards are specific costs and nothing is more than four mana, maybe I'll cut one. But never in Sealed. Play 17 lands.
| I am seventeen, I'll take ca-aare of you! |
Alright, now I'm done yelling at you. Here's where it gets fun. Pick your colors. Assuming you have a fairly even distribution, you'll have roughly 15-19 cards of each color to put into the 23 remaining cards you need. So two colors is pretty much a given. Three is an option, but I'd stick with two for your first few times with the format. Then again, this is admittedly the rule I break most often, so do whatever feels right. If adding three Mountains so you can play that Lightning Strike and Heat Ray you opened with your white soldiers and black zombies gives you the answers you need, then go for it, but you weaken your ability to cast your spells reliably when you do this, so be careful. I seriously recommend two colors for this reason: Watching your friend cast all his creatures while you stare at a hand of cards you can't play is the worst way to play Magic ever.
And finally, make sure you balance your spells between creatures and no-creatures. Sealed is a slow format, so your games will frequently get into 12 or 13 turns, if not longer. You will often hit seven or eight lands on the table before the game really swings on way or the other. Make sure you have lots creatures to play (12-17) and spells to remove your opponents creatures. Put in that seven mana Angel or your six mana kill spell because you will get there sometimes. Not every time, but often enough.
 |
| But do not play this card. No matter how tempted you are. Waaaay too expensive for Sealed Deck. Save it for later. Trust me. I've been burned before. |
So to wrap up: 40 cards, 17 lands, 12-17 creatures and the rest (6-11 spells) answers to deal with your opponents' creatures. And the best thing about a pre-release, ask for help. After your first match, see if your opponent has any deck tips for you. Talk with people while you're putting your deck together. Everyone is playing with cards they've never seen before. Sure, that one guy has read all the spoilers and been testing with proxies all week long, but you and everyone else are just there to have fun. So go have fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment