I got to build the BW Exalted deck with Nefarox and Captain of the Watch at the top of the curve and tons of removal. I went 3-1, losing to a mirror deck with Attended Knight, Battlefilght Eagles, Knight of Glory, and Intrepid Hero -- the only two games I lost.
I list my decks by casting cost:
Duty-Bound Dead Tormented Soul - Vile Rebirth
Ajani's Sunstriker Aven Squire Aven Squire Walking Corpse War Priest of Thune - Pacifism Pacifism Ring of Xathrid Show of Valor
Crusader of Odric Guardians of Akrasa ServantofNefarox
Bloodhunter Bat Bloodhunter Bat Primal Clay - Divine Verdict
Essence Drain
Captain of the Watch Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis - Public Execution
I won't post my whole pool, but I'll just say I had very few good blue or black cards, and a million 4 and 5 drops in red, including Hellkite, but only one cheaper card: the aura. As powerful as the top end red was, that would've left too few low-cc creatures in my deck filled with cards that otherwise favored aggression; also it depended too much on the dragon instead of a cohesive strategy. So I ended up with this instead:
I went 3-1 with that deck. Most people had better cards (2 Murder s, Yeva, Nature's Herald and Rancor; 3 Murder s, 2 Oblivion Ring s, Pacifism + fliers), but fortunately a constant flow of bad creatures seems to null removal-heavy decks. My one loss was because I didn't realize Odric had first strike and I completely threw away the match by attacking into him.
I think our decks are comparable, and yours might even be better with a couple adjustments: -1 Farseek - What are you ramping into? Your Xathrid? +1 Bloodthrone Vampire - It's another low drop creature to take advantage of your Blights and Rancor, and you have Rats, an Elf, and Beetle that love to get sacrificed.
A more debatable trade: -1 Mark of the Vampire - Mark is a good card, but you have Bat, Primadox and Baloth as you're only great targets (most the rest become 3/3s, which are not threatening). Also, having 2 increases your chances of awkward Primadox moments, not to mention the inherent card disadvantage to begin with. +1 Sign in Blood - More cards, however bad, is still good, and probably better than spending 4 mana and a card to turn a 2/2 into a 4/4.
-2 Forests, +2 Swamps. Even without my adjustments, you had a couple cards to worry about and no , not to mention being able to play a Blight + another black card in one turn.
I wanted to work in Disentomb because of your Enter-Battlefield abilities and reliance on Xathrid or Primadox to win the longer game, but there were no spells I wanted to cut for it.
Also, if you weren't being aggressive then losing is your own fault. You have some cool late game shenanigans with Xathrid and Primadox, and the deathtouch that will get you there, but in Sealed that's not powerful enough to overcome the bonkers cards you'll face. Instead, attacking as much as you can and breaking board stalls with Kitesail , Crippling Blight , Cower in Fear and derailing a race with Public Execution was probably your best bet. Maybe you did that and just got unlucky, I don't know.
I don't like either of Anime's decks seeing as most decks have at least a couple pieces of removal, so 6-7 creatures is not nearly enough. I would also consider Highwayman's deck because it focuses completely on stalling the board until you can get Sands or Xathrid or Primadox/Slime in play. It might even be better, but it still makes me nervous.
I was blessed with the stone cold nuts in terms of removal in my sealed pool this tournament. White had triple Pacifism and Planar Cleansing, green had a pair of Prey Upon and at least one deathtouch guy, but i ended up going red/black. You'll see why after I post my deck.
Cower in Fear Giant Scorpion Public Execution Turn to Slag x2 Volcanic Geyser x2 Murder x3 Harbor Bandit Reckless Brute Vile Rebirth Walking Corpse Veilborn Ghoul Krenko's Command Mind Rot Furnace Whelp Servant of Nefarox Volcanic Strength Goblin Battle Jester Rummaging Goblin Elixir of Immortality
8 Swamp 8 Mountain 1 Island
Ended up going 4-1, my only match loss due to a game 3 where I got landscrewed. Best moment was actually in game 1 of that match where I was nearly dead staring down a board of Sublime Archangel, Serra Avenger and a Clone of it, and some other beaters. I take one last big hit and popping my Elixir in response to the damage, gain life to survive one more turn, shuffle the graveyard and cut. There's only one card that can save me for the win and that's a Volcanic Geyser. Guess what I topdeck. Draw, tap everything, burn to the dome, win. I'll never forget the reaction.
I did not have a very good pool until the last pack...JACE!! I went back and saw that I had two Fogs, a Safe Passage, two Revive's, two Primal Huntbeasts, an Archeomancer, three vedelkin Entrancers. Pair that with a Gilded Lotus and a Stormtide Leviathan and I went 5-0!! Never lost a match, but I did almost tie with a guy because I just did not draw anything but finally dropped Stormtide after he O-Ring'd Jace with four cards left. I had a real good time!!
I won't post my whole pool, but I'll just say I had very few good blue or black cards, and a million 4 and 5 drops in red, including Hellkite, but only one cheaper card: the aura. As powerful as the top end red was, that would've left too few low-cc creatures in my deck filled with cards that otherwise favored aggression; also it depended too much on the dragon instead of a cohesive strategy. So I ended up with this instead:
I went 3-1 with that deck. Most people had better cards (2 Murder s, Yeva, Nature's Herald and Rancor; 3 Murder s, 2 Oblivion Ring s, Pacifism + fliers), but fortunately a constant flow of bad creatures seems to null removal-heavy decks. My one loss was because I didn't realize Odric had first strike and I completely threw away the match by attacking into him.
I think our decks are comparable, and yours might even be better with a couple adjustments: -1 Farseek - What are you ramping into? Your Xathrid? +1 Bloodthrone Vampire - It's another low drop creature to take advantage of your Blights and Rancor, and you have Rats, an Elf, and Beetle that love to get sacrificed.
A more debatable trade: -1 Mark of the Vampire - Mark is a good card, but you have Bat, Primadox and Baloth as you're only great targets (most the rest become 3/3s, which are not threatening). Also, having 2 increases your chances of awkward Primadox moments, not to mention the inherent card disadvantage to begin with. +1 Sign in Blood - More cards, however bad, is still good, and probably better than spending 4 mana and a card to turn a 2/2 into a 4/4.
-2 Forests, +2 Swamps. Even without my adjustments, you had a couple cards to worry about and no , not to mention being able to play a Blight + another black card in one turn.
I wanted to work in Disentomb because of your Enter-Battlefield abilities and reliance on Xathrid or Primadox to win the longer game, but there were no spells I wanted to cut for it.
Also, if you weren't being aggressive then losing is your own fault. You have some cool late game shenanigans with Xathrid and Primadox, and the deathtouch that will get you there, but in Sealed that's not powerful enough to overcome the bonkers cards you'll face. Instead, attacking as much as you can and breaking board stalls with Kitesail , Crippling Blight , Cower in Fear and derailing a race with Public Execution was probably your best bet. Maybe you did that and just got unlucky, I don't know.
I don't like either of Anime's decks seeing as most decks have at least a couple pieces of removal, so 6-7 creatures is not nearly enough. I would also consider Highwayman's deck because it focuses completely on stalling the board until you can get Sands or Xathrid or Primadox/Slime in play. It might even be better, but it still makes me nervous.
Interesting comment about the farseek . I'm quite a fan of deck thinning even in 2 colours, where I agree it is suboptimal. You're probably right though that I discarded the vampire too quickly - I was already aware that my kitesail, mark of the vampire and rancor were putting a lot into one creature and I guess I didn't want to exacerbate the situation by saccing my creatures too. I played the deck aggressive, but perhaps with this tweak I could have played it moreso.
I found that against I would side in sign in blood when I was playing against bomby fliers (I encountered both the angel and the legendary demon), and needed to get to my plummet s or public execution . In doing so, I would inevitably side -1 forest for +1 swamp. The tended to be helpful when I had a 2 drop followed by a rancor + another 2CC spell, which more often would be a spell costing (there are four in the deck).
Due to popular vote, the Midnight Prerelease was 3 rounds instead of 4 or 6. I went 2-1; of the 5 games I won, I resolved Sands of Delirium in 3 of them, and in those 3 I won by milling. I had enough 2-drops and instant/flash spells that I could spend most/all of the mana on milling when I had the artifact on the battlefield. The other two games I won by regular combat damage. In the one game I resolved Vedalken Entrancer , I only used it to attack :P
So I would disagree with Highwayman, and say that Sands is a very playable card, without having to back it up with other milling cards (although I did have a lot of control/defensive cards).
Due to popular vote, the Midnight Prerelease was 3 rounds instead of 4 or 6. I went 2-1; of the 5 games I won, I resolved Sands of Delirium in 3 of them, and in those 3 I won by milling. I had enough 2-drops and instant/flash spells that I could spend most/all of the mana on milling when I had the artifact on the battlefield. The other two games I won by regular combat damage. In the one game I resolved Vedalken Entrancer , I only used it to attack :P
So I would disagree with Highwayman, and say that Sands is a very playable card, without having to back it up with other milling cards (although I did have a lot of control/defensive cards).
I'm beginning to think that you and others are right about sands, and I dismissed it prematurely. I still think it needs decent blockers for the card to be viable, and I'd venture that your watercourser, fog bank, augur, faeries and sentinel spider would have filled that roll.
Flinthoof Boar (u) Timberpack Wolf (which I never drew in the tournament!) Aven Squire
Attended Knight Crusader of Odric (u) Centaur Courser
2x Roaring Primadox (2u) Primal Huntbeast Griffin Protector Healer of the Pride (u)
Silklash Spider (my other rare) Serra Angel (u)
Other Spells Prey Upon
Pacifism Giant Growth
Oblivion Ring (u) 2x Safe Passage
2x Captains Call Divine verdict
Thats a main deck with 16 basic lands, 2 rares (one of which is a dual land), 7 uncommons and 15 commons.
Sideboard cards over the matches included:
2x Ring of Thune (started round 1 with one in the deck - after game 1 round 2 I never played them again) Erase Naturalize Glorious Charge (flirted with this one - I never drew it so was hard to evaluate) Plummet (goodbye nighthawk!) and my other Mythic Elderscale Worm (I planned to put him in for long matches, after siding in and casting him in game 2 round 1 he never found my hand again. He didn't really combo with much in my deck really).
I got a Jace in the pool too, but nothing fun to play in Blue so I went for beloved combo. Write up has more details, but Primadox is amazing with a reasonable density of ETB creatures. I also cast him onto an empty board twice so that I had a blocker. The 6 points he saved me taking won me that game. Dropped 2 creatures the next turn then never looked back.
Managed to steal 5 wins with Door to Nothingness. The last of which was keyed on playing on an Acidic Slime get rid of an Oblivion Ring which had taken hold of the Door.
I was personally quite suprised with how powerful Gem of Becoming was. It kept thinning the deck by 3 cards, and essentially drawing me 3 for an instant 3 mana investment when I would pop it. The rest of the deck was a battery of removal spells, draw, and delay spells all to help me get to the door. I probably should have main boarded the other Wild Guess rather than Rise from the grave looking back.
I particularly liked Rummaging Goblin, since the art epitomized how I felt playing the deck.
