Shadowmoor Prerelease: Sealed Lessons

I am posting my sealed build, partly because I did well with it, but also because I can revisit it for laughs in a few months- when we know what is going on in the format. I regret not being able to play more blue/white, but I decide to go green/black for a few reasons. We had talked about how pairing enemy colors freed up more of the hybrid cards for inclusion. If I go G/B I only lose the W/U hybrid stuff, whereas if I go (for example) W/U I lose the hybrid G/R and the B/R stuff. I got to play most of my bombs this way as well. Maybe I should have gone W/B but then I lose dudes and gain removal. I tend to prefer running more dudes in sealed if possible, since sometimes you just win that way. The singleton mountain can be fetched by Farhaven Elf in case the Valleymaker is out.

Sealed Build:

8 Swamps
7 Forests
1 Mountain
1 Sapseep Forest

1 Medicine Runner A fine two drop, especially with persist guys.
1 Oracle of Nectars Bomb.
1 Rhys the Redeemed
2 Raven's Run Dragoon
1 Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers
1 Farhaven Elf
1 Juvenile Gloomwidow
1 Valleymaker He’s big.
1 Ashenmoor Gouger Turn three he is awesome.
1 Cultbrand Cinder Very solid.
1 Murderous Redcap Bomb.
1 Faerie Macabre Never regretted drawing her.
1 Inkfathom Infiltrator Solid.
1 Oona, Queen of the Fae Bomb.
1 Thornwatch Scarecrow

1 Barkshell Blessing
1 Shield of the Oversoul Your Mileage May Vary.
1 Giantbaiting Better than it looks.
2 Scar Gets persist guys to go away.
1 Incremental Blight Bomb.
1 Scarscale Ritual Quite good, especially against players with white removal that doesn’t kill your guys.

Sideboard:

Ballynock Cohort
Barrenton Medic
Goldenglow Moth
Inquisitor's Snare
Kithkin Rabble
Mistmeadow Skulk
Strip Bare

Curse of Chains
Mistmeadow Witch
Repel Intruders
Silkbind Faerie
Thistledown Duo

Consign to Dream
Deepchannel Mentor
Drowner Initiate
2 Kinscaer Harpoonist
2 Sinking Feeling
2 Whimwader

Fate Transfer
Helm of the Ghastlord
Oona's Gatewarden

Cinderhaze Wretch
Hollowsage
Smolder Initiate
Wound Reflection

Emberstrike Duo
Sootstoke Kindler

Bloodmark Mentor
Boggart Arsonists
Crimson Wisps
Intimidator Initiate
2 Mudbrawler Cohort
Power of Fire
Rustrazor Butcher
Smash to Smithereens

2 Runes of the Deus

2 Gloomwidow's Feast
Presence of Gond
2 Toil to Renown

Safewright Quest
Seedcradle Witch

Chainbreaker
Heap Doll

Madblind Mountain

Round One: White removal is really good.
I am mana flooded, but come out of the gates swinging Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers. Which is met with Curse of Chains. Then I drop Cultbrand Cinder. The first swing in- Inquisitor's Snare. Then I drop my Thornwatch Scarecrow. Nope. Gleeful Sabotage. I lose. Game two he plays his Wilt-Leaf Liege. Then he plays his foil Wilt-Leaf Liege. I could not resist doing the droll Captain Bondage Goth-esque “Nice. Open.” comment. He went on to go 3-1, losing only to our own Scoop_Phase (who 4-0ed the pod). Vengeance!
Lesson 1: Curse of Chains, Inquisitor's Snare, Last Breath, Prison Term. White may have the best removal at common and uncommon of all the colors in Shadowmoor. How often has that ever been said? Also, there will be that one time that you Curse of Chains your own dude that has an untap ability.
Lesson 2: You can run disenchants in the main. There are awesome enchantments, and lots of scarecrows. No fear. Do it.
Lesson 3: Finally, double Liege creatures are the bomb. Good luck opening them.

Round Two: Murderous Redcap is Amazing.
I play against a gentleman who is obviously pissed to be 0-1. He looks at me oddly when I shuffle his deck after he presents it. Game one I curve out with turn three Ashenmoor Gouger. I proceed to trade three of his guys for my Murderous Redcap. Win. Between games I go to shuffle his deck and he stops me, saying that I’m not allowed to do so, “Because it wears on the cards [he did not use sleeves] and is rude.” Dude is obviously pissed and I have no desire to be a jerk. I try to think of a way to tell him that actually, at higher level tournaments players are REQUIRED to shuffle their opponents decks, but instead of saying something that might diffuse the tension, I opt for “You don’t play at a lot of tournaments, do you?” I decided I did not need to bother trying to enlighten this opponent to the DCI floor rules, so just said “You know, never mind,” and cut his deck. I curve out again and win on 20 life. Afterward I apologize about the whole shuffling thing, telling him I didn’t mean anything by trying to shuffle his deck. He picks up his things, stands up, and walks away without responding.
Lesson 1: Murderous Redcap! Draft him. If you are green/white draft him. If you are blue/white draft him. If you are green friggin' blue draft him. No you can’t splash him. But if you are getting shipped Murderous Redcap at any point, more black and red will be coming your direction. I literally 4 for 1ed an opponent in my second draft of the day with him. It is entirely possible that he the best uncommon for limited in a set with tons of amazing uncommons.
Lesson 2: Sorry you’re losing man. I am all for good stewardship to less experienced players, but some guys are bound and determined to be pissed off, and not willing to learn anything either. I really do feel sorry for them, because I’ve been there. But the phrase “cutting off your nose to spite your face” comes to mind.

Round Three: Aggro Wins (also, don’t play with 47 card sealed decks).
Yeah, nobody reading this blog is going to learn anything by me recounting how hitting your land drops and curving out wins against opponents who can’t buildi a 40 card deck. Also Rhys the Redeemed is a reasonable rare. It really needs to be dealt with in about three or four turns, or sick things occur. I will say that my opponent was a genuinely pleasant human being who was enjoying himself regardless of wins or losses. We did some trading later. I think he had different reasons for being at the prerelease than I did. Nothing wrong with this.
Lesson 1: There is no lesson. Actually there is a red/black aggro deck (Giantbaiting FTW!) out there waiting to be built in draft, but that’s a story for another night.

Round Four: Down to the wire
Game one I am very flooded and he cannot take advantage of it. I feel like I am ready to win because my Faerie Macabre is plunking away, but then he gets a blocker. He could have won this game by choosing to attack about two turns earlier, but is uncertain and doesn’t press his advantage. When he finally has overwhelming board presence he comes in. Next turn I rip Oracle of Nectars and now I am gaining more life than he can attack for. He Memory Sluices with the conspire, milling 8 away. I have 7 cards left in my library. With almost no offense left on the board, I have to be seriously worried about decking. Then I rip… Oona, Queen of the Fae! The turn I cast her I still can mill him for four (yes, I had 11 mana. It was very late-game, I know), then I untap, mill for ten, GG. Game two is a race. I see a Prison Term I didn’t in game one, and it is the key for him. Also key were the two Gloomlances on two of my green guys. Rough Beats. I get him to 7 life, that’s it. Now we have five minutes for game 3. I know I can tempo him out with the right draw. I see what I want and I keep. He is a little slow on the play speed, but I only warn him once and he is moving just as fast as I am. I begin my attack with a few dudes on the board, swinging in for four a turn. He plinks me to 18 and then time is called. He leaves his only guy back as a blocker. He is at 12, me, 18. A judge is there immediately. I get turn one of extra turns. I have a decision to make. I can either play another guy and swing for 3 with my Raven's Run Dragoon (leaving my Medicine Runner back against his 2/3 blocker) and cast another dude or I can cast Incremental Blight targeting his 2/3, my Prison Termed Oracle of Nectars, and the Raven's Run Dragoon. Then I swing in to his empty board for 4. I only have 3 turns, and in three turns (if he has no other blockers) my four power of guys will get there. But if he drops another guy (with power less than three) next turn I can two for one him on the Incremental Blight. I decide that the chances of him laying another blocker with under two power are probably better than the chances of him laying no creatures at all, and so I swing for three, drop the extra dude (can’t remember what it was, but I think it was Faerie Macabre) and pass turn. Turn two of extra turns, he lays a one-butt. He has to play for the draw, even though at 2 wins 1 loss it gets him nothing, because he can’t race me when I’m at 18 and he’s at 9. So he passes turn with two blockers. I play the Incremental Blight, wipe his board, swing in for 7 (taking him to 2), he has no tricks to stop me. Turn four he lays a blocker but turn five my guys pile in and get there on the final turn! Hell of a match. He is a great sport and extends the hand, “Good game!”s all around, all that sort of thing.
Lesson 1: There is a mill deck floating around there somewhere. Scoops got milled for 12 cards in one turn. In sealed! Drowner Initiate turn 1, Drowner Initiate turn 2, turn 5 Memory Sluice with conspire, paying all four Drowner Initiate triggers. Opening Oona, Queen of the Fae would help, too.
Lesson 2: Play your bombs. But you already knew that. Oracle of Nectars. Oona, Queen of the Fae. This is sealed. Make the mana work.
Lesson 3: Incremental Blight is really good. Don’t expect to see these going too late around the draft table. Double black is a commitment, but it is really worth it.

I went 3-1 and got 3 packs. There are so many other cards I want to discuss, but I am out of time and energy tonight. Next week I want to discuss drafting Shadowmoor, and I will hopefully have a few more drafts under my belt to help.
T