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7 months ago ::
Nov 02, 2012 - 11:12AM
#1
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Date Joined:
Mar 17, 2012
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This thread is for discussion of the feature article " Price of Prgoress: Grading Homework", which goes live Monday morning on magicthegathering.com.
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7 months ago ::
Nov 04, 2012 - 9:23PM
#2
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This Deck was built in 0:07:37Total Deck Size: 4018 Lands --------------- 1 Island 7 Mountain 8 Swamp 2 Izzet Guildgate 17 Creatures --------------- 1 Bloodfray Giant 1 Desecration Demon 2 Frostburn Weird 1 Grim Roustabout 1 Lobber Crew 1 Perilous Shadow 1 Rakdos Shred-Freak 1 Rakdos, Lord of Riots 1 Rix Maadi Guildmage 1 Sewer Shambler 2 Splatter Thug 2 Tavern Swindler 1 Tenement Crasher 1 Volatile Rig 5 Other Spells --------------- 1 Assassin's Strike 1 Blustersquall 1 Electrickery 1 Launch Party 1 Traitorous Instinct With such strong red and black cards but few removals, I went for an aggressive Rakdos deck. I put in 18 lands coz with such strong cards, I want to minimize the chance of losing due to mana screw. Blustersquall is in there just in case I stall and needed a falter effect.
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7 months ago ::
Nov 04, 2012 - 9:42PM
#3
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Date Joined:
Feb 15, 2008
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 You are Red/Blue!
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7 months ago ::
Nov 04, 2012 - 9:42PM
#4
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Date Joined:
Jul 14, 2012
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7 months ago ::
Nov 04, 2012 - 9:46PM
#5
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7 months ago ::
Nov 04, 2012 - 9:52PM
#6
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This Deck was built in 0:04:34 Total Deck Size: 40 17 Lands --------------- 1 Island 6 Mountain 8 Swamp 2 Izzet Guildgate 17 Creatures --------------- 1 Bloodfray Giant 1 Desecration Demon 2 Frostburn Weird 1 Grim Roustabout 1 Lobber Crew 1 Perilous Shadow 1 Rakdos Shred-Freak 1 Rakdos, Lord of Riots 1 Rix Maadi Guildmage 1 Sewer Shambler 2 Splatter Thug 2 Tavern Swindler 1 Tenement Crasher 1 Volatile Rig
6 Other Spells --------------- 1 Assassin's Strike 1 Blustersquall 1 Chemister's Trick 1 Cremate 1 Launch Party 1 Traitorous Instinct
I think the two best decks to build out of this pool are Azorious or Rakdos. I chose Rakdos after seeing how little removal was in the pool. Launch Party and Assassin's Strike are basically it. The Rakdos deck gets to use both of your removal spells, has an agressive curve, and can win through both agression or a late game finisher. Splashed blue because the last few cards were just too unplayable without it.
Specific cards of note: - Frostburn Weird: This card is great even if your only one of the two colors and is amazing if you are both. Works on both offense and defense. - Lobber Crew: Another card I think should go into any red deck (and sometimes even get splashed for); it gives agressive decks reach and can be a win condition in a slower deck. - Volatile Rig: I was unsure about playing this, since it could potentially ruin your game plan by killing all your agressive creatures. I think in this deck it should be played as a finisher to get in the last points of damage: if they don't block it, it kills them. If they do, there's a chance it still kills them. - Blustersquall & Chemister's Trick: These two cards fill similar roles; they either let your agressive guys get in on the next turn, or buy you time to win with a finisher. There are better cards in blue to splash for (Voidweilder), but I felt that they were too slow, while these two cards advanced your agression plan (the one that needs the most help) - Cremate: I like to run this main deck. Sometimes you get lucky and it matters, but at worst it just cycles for B.
I think the Azorious deck would work as well, its actually very similar. It has an agressive flier plan backed up by powerful finishers. It really just came down to the removal for me.
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7 months ago ::
Nov 04, 2012 - 10:19PM
#7
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Date Joined:
Jul 12, 2006
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7 months ago ::
Nov 04, 2012 - 10:36PM
#8
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Date Joined:
Sep 30, 2010
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Copying out of the Respond Via Email window since it does not seem to work(?): Dear Nate Price, Regarding your article "Price of Progress: Grading Homework": I've taken quite a liking to the Sealed format and I really like this series, keep up the good work! I look forward to getting into some of the more advanced stuff, eventually. This week's Sealed deck builder is interesting! In this format, I really have a weak spot for aggressive white-blue decks and I quite liked the look of the relatively low curve they looked like they could provide. Ultimately, though, I think the pool is lacking a few ways to make smaller guys relevant (such as Teleportal and Dynacharge - which would also have made the triple Seller much better). The single Ethereal Armor and Swift Judgment is probably just short of being good enough. That build ended up looking like this in my hands (notable exclusion Sphinx, which might be wrong!): This Deck was built in 0:06:00Total Deck Size: 4017 Lands --------------- 7 Island 8 Plains 2 Izzet Guildgate 15 Creatures --------------- 1 Azorius Arrester 1 Crosstown Courier 1 Fencing Ace 2 Frostburn Weird 2 Isperia's Skywatch 1 Judge's Familiar 1 New Prahv Guildmage 1 Selesnya Sentry 1 Stealer of Secrets 1 Sunspire Griffin 1 Tower Drake 1 Vassal Soul 1 Voidwielder 8 Other Spells --------------- 1 Blustersquall 1 Dramatic Rescue 1 Ethereal Armor 1 Inaction Injunction 1 Inspiration 1 Righteous Authority 1 Swift Justice 1 Traitorous Instinct ... There's two Abyssal Persecutors in the pool, though! So perhaps Rakdos is the right way to go, even if it looks short a few playables? I decided to give it a shot and it's actually looking really solid - it has a ton of 2-drops as well as a Lobber Crew which makes Rakdos doable. It ended up looking like this: This Deck was built in 0:08:50Total Deck Size: 4017 Lands --------------- 9 Mountain 8 Swamp 18 Creatures --------------- 1 Bloodfray Giant 1 Desecration Demon 2 Frostburn Weird 1 Grim Roustabout 1 Lobber Crew 1 Perilous Shadow 1 Rakdos Ringleader 1 Rakdos Shred-Freak 1 Rakdos, Lord of Riots 1 Rix Maadi Guildmage 1 Sewer Shambler 1 Slitherhead 2 Splatter Thug 2 Tavern Swindler 1 Tenement Crasher 5 Other Spells --------------- 1 Assassin's Strike 1 Electrickery 1 Launch Party 1 Pyroconvergence 1 Traitorous Instinct Obviously, cards like Slitherhead, Perilous Shadow, Pyroconvergence and all of the 6-drops are not that impressive, but none of the cards are outright bad. I decided to put in the Pyroconvergence for reach (it also makes Slitherhead, Shred-Freak and Ringleader a little less unexciting) but perhaps the deck simply wants an 18th land instead. Cremate could go in too if you just want a cycle instead of one of the other marginal cards. I like the Electrickery with three first-strikers and a trampler, and actually think it's pretty decent in Sealed. Having a maindeck answer to Pack Rat is also fine even if it is unreliable. In the end, I think the color consistency of this build as well as the raw power of the rares in the 4-drop slot makes this build slightly better than the Azorius build.
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7 months ago ::
Nov 04, 2012 - 10:41PM
#9
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Lands 7 Island 6 Mountain 2 Plains 2 Izzet Guildgate
Creatures 1 Bloodfray Giant 2 Frostburn Weird 1 Hover Barrier 1 Isperia's Skywatch 1 Izzet Staticaster 1 Lobber Crew 1 New Prahv Guildmage 1 Runewing 1 Sphinx of the Chimes 2 Splatter Thug 1 Stealer of Secrets 1 Tower Drake 1 Voidwielder
Spells 1 Blustersquall 1 Cancel 1 Electrickery 1 Inaction Injunction 1 Inspiration 1 Mizzium Skin 1 Righteous Authority 1 Traitorous Instinct
U/R I found the other colours to be very mediocore, except for a couple of white spells for a splash.
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7 months ago ::
Nov 04, 2012 - 10:42PM
#10
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