The imminent release of a new set is undoubtedly an exciting time for most mtg’ers. Foraging through spoilers for the latest tech and attempting to break new cards is always an exciting time. Undoubtedly the best thing about the release of new expansions is the Pre-Release tournaments that accompany them. I find these to be the tournaments I look forward to most due to the relaxed atmosphere and the excitement of opening new product.

For those who have yet to view them spoilers are available at www.brainburst.com and an Apprentice patch is available at www.e-league.org.

I have done a few practice builds of Odyssey- Torment Sealed to get a feel for the environment and familiarize myself with the cards. Hopefully this article can help new players in the daunting task of constructing their first sealed decks as well as providing experienced players with a little insight into the format.

Sample Build #1
1 Odyssey Starter, 2 Torment Boosters

The first thing I do after receiving my cards is to lay them down into colours and sort them by card type. Not only does this help establish your playable colours but also it is useful in checking your deck registration sheet. Receiving a Game Loss for another person’s mistake is not a good way to begin a tournament.

Without further ado:

Artifact and Land:
Charmed Pendant
Abandoned Outpost

Black:

Childhood Horror
Decompose
Execute
Famished Ghoul
Afflict
Coffin Purge
Frightcrawler
Gravedigger
Overeager Apprentice
Patriach’s Desire
Zombie Assasin
Ichorid
Gloomdrifter
Strength of Lunacy
Faceless Butcher
Psychotic Haze
Cabal Torturer
Putrid Imp

Blue:
Cultural Exchange
Balshan Beguiler
Aboshan’s Desire
Aven Fisher
Aven Windreader
Escape Artist
Peek
Thought Nibler
Aquameoba
Cephalid Snitch
2 Hydromorph Guardian
Skywing Aven
Coral Net
Liquify

Green:
Druid’s Call
Howling Gale
Sylvan Might
Diligent Farmhand
Druid Lyrist
Krosan Archer
Krosan Avenger
Moments Peace
Muscle Burst
Rapid Elephant
Narcassism
Dwell on the Past
Krosan Consciptor
Invigorating Falls

Red:
Ashen Firebeast
Spark Mage
Barbarian Lunatic
Chainflinger
Dwarven Grunt
Pardic Swordsmith
Demolish
Pyromania
Accelerate
2 Petravark
Pardic Lancer

White:
Angelic Wall
Confessor
Patrol Hound
Pilgrim of Justice
Ray of Distortion
Second Thoughts
Shelter
Reborn Hero
Strenght of Isolation
2 Militant Monk
Floating Shield
Aven Trooper
Mystic Familiar

Next I remove cards deemed unplayable, thus leaving;

Black:
Childhood Horror
Execute (SB)
Famished Ghoul
Afflict
Coffin Purge (SB)
Gravedigger
Patriach’s Desire
Zombie Assasin
Ichorid
Gloomdrifter
Strength of Lunacy
Faceless Butcher
Psychotic Haze (SB)
Cabal Torturer

Immediately Black stands out as a contender with 11 Cards with main deck potential, including plenty of removal (Afflict, Patriach’s Desire, Faceless Butcher, Cabal Torturer, Zombie Assasin, Gloomdrifter ** Amazing**). The creature base is solid if not spectacular. Generally Black creatures in this format require Threshold to be optimal and this is the case here. Childhood Horror, Zombie Assasin, Ichorid and Cabal Torturer require a full graveyard to be optimal. Let’s see if Blue, the colour best suited for obtaining threshold can help.

Blue: (Playable Cards)
Cultural Exchange
Aven Fisher
Aven Windreader
Escape Artist
Peek
Aquameoba
2 Hydromorph Guardian
Skywing Aven
Coral Net
Liquify

Alas, no Cephalid’s but blue does provide a number of solid creatures.
(Aven Fisher, Aven Windreader, Hydromorph Guardian, Skywing Aven)
Evasion (in this case Flying) is a necessary trait required to win games by breaking through stalemates.

With that in mind a Decklist so far;

1cc
Peek
Coral Net (Green is a major force in the format)
Putrid Imp

2cc
Strength of Lunacy
Aquameoba

3cc
2 Hydromorph Guardian
Skywing Aven
Liquify
Afflict
Cabal Torturer

4cc
Childhood Horror
Famished Ghoul
Patriach’s Desire
Ichorid
Gloomdrifter
Aven Fisher
Faceless Butcher

5cc
Aven Windreader
Zombie Assasin

6cc
Cultural Exchange

The curve is horrible. Splashing a colour (2 Drops- Patrol Hound, Angelic Wall) cannot rectify this situation, as it is unlikely you will
A) Draw the splash card early
B) Draw the right mana early.

gimmelooter.dec

x9 Swamp
x7 Island
x2 Mountain
x1 Peak
x1 Coral Net
x1 Putrid Imp
x1 Strength of Lunacy
x1 Aquameoba
x2 Hydromorph Guardian
x1 Skywing Aven
x1 Liquify
x1 Afflict
x1 Childhood Horror
x1 Famished Ghoul
x1 Patriach’s Desire
x1 Ichorid
x1 Gloomdrifter
x1 Aven Fisher
x1 Faceless Butcher
x1 Aven Windreader
x1 Zombie Assasin
x1 Cultural Exchange
x1 Chainflnger
x1 Barbarian Lunatic

Noteable SB:
x1 Execute
x1 Coffin Purge

In the end I went for a small red splash. Chainflinger causes huge problems for the U/W Mage and Barbarian Lunatic can trade 2-1. (Sac AFTER damage is on the stack)

I wouldn’t mind opening this on Saturday. I would back myself to do well, perhaps only having problems against a fast R/G Deck.

Remember, Magic is a GAME! Play competitively but have fun.

Good Luck to all of those who are going.

I hope you enjoyed this short article and learnt something from it. I encourage you to post the deck YOU would have made as well as any comments.

Ben

Aquamoeba does NOT strike me as a playable card. I'd rather play Escape Artist than Ameobas. Also, Ichorid is nigh-useless in limited IMO. The chance that you'll actually be doing something with it, something other than just ramming it blindly into Mystic Zealot or like, is quite small. Not to mention you MAINDECKED Coral Net.

You had Diligent Farmhand, Muscle Burst, Krosan Avenger & Archer, Rabid Elephant, Narcissism and Sylvan Might from green... yet you chose to play red's clearly less optimal cards over it? Even white had better cards than red, with Angelic Wall (you ARE playing control), Patrol Hound, Second Thoughts, Shelter, REBORN HERO (This guy can be sick in limited) and 2 Militant Monks (finally a healer that can also attack).

In fact, I probably would have only splashed blue for that deck for the fliers, instead of making it main colour by the logic that "it gives threshold" (which it doesn't for your deck).

quote:

---

Originally posted by Trnothr:
I wouldn't trust the Apprentice as a perfect sealed imitator. The cards it gives are not perfectly random, there are several card combinations that show up time after time. That, and the possibility of foils is not taken into consideration.

Aquamoeba does NOT strike me as a playable card. I'd rather play Escape Artist than Ameobas. Also, Ichorid is nigh-useless in limited IMO. The chance that you'll actually be doing something with it, something other than just ramming it blindly into Mystic Zealot or like, is quite small. Not to mention you MAINDECKED Coral Net.

You had Diligent Farmhand, Muscle Burst, Krosan Avenger & Archer, Rabid Elephant, Narcissism and Sylvan Might from green... yet you chose to play red's clearly less optimal cards over it? Even white had better cards than red, with Angelic Wall (you ARE playing control), Patrol Hound, Second Thoughts, Shelter, REBORN HERO (This guy can be sick in limited) and 2 Militant Monks (finally a healer that can also attack).

In fact, I probably would have only splashed blue for that deck for the fliers, instead of making it main colour by the logic that "it gives threshold" (which it doesn't for your deck).

---

Well I gather from your comments that you would have g/w or a combination of g/w/u. I dislike both of these combinations as their is virtually no removal. Hallowed Healer, Chainflinger, Nantuko Disciple and Cephalid Looter (ALL Commons) will completely own you.

Coral Net: In this format it is quite reasonable to expect the majority of decks to be playing either green or white. The only other viable decks are U/B and B/R.

I do however agre with your choice of splash. White does seem to be more viable (Patrol Hound, Angelic Wall, Second Thoughts, Reborn Hero, Shelter)

I would play the following:
x1 Putrid Imp
x1 Strength of Lunacy
x1 Patrol Hound
x1 Angelic Wall
x1 Shelter
x2 Militant Monk
x1 Reborn Hero
x2 Hydromorph Guardian
x1 Skywing Aven
x1 Liquify
x1 Afflict
x1 Cabal Torturer
x1 Childhood Horror
x1 Famished Ghoul
x1 Patriach’s Desire
x1 Ichorid
x1 Gloomdrifter
x1 Aven Fisher
x1 Faceless Butcher
x1 Zombie Assasin
x1 Second Thoughts
x7 Swamp
x6 Plains
x3 Island
x1 Abandoned Outpost

Against U/W I would side in the Red just to play Chainflinger it really is that good.

Black is clearly (well, maybe not all that clearly as green had some awesome cards as well) the best colour you got there! When did I say you were supposed to cut that out of your deck?

Some of your picks still suck for that deck though. Putrid Imp? Come on, it's 1/1 for B with minor abilities, neither of them gamebreaking. Mystic Peninent was never very good limited card, and this is just worse.

And why is that Ichorid still there? What part of "it's not good in limited" did you not understand? You got 6 other black creatures there, and Zombie Assassin is likely to remove itself from the game rather than go into your graveyard. Ichorid won't do anything in your deck, except maybe 3 damage for 4 mana. IF your deck would have like 10 black creatures and the capability to constantly exchange those creatures for opposing ones, Ichorid might be playable.

Coral Net is still not maindeckable, and even less by the logic that someone's bound to play either green or white. I mean, so what if you're pitted against red/green? What if they don't play any green creatures 'til midgame, and even then that Coral Net is only going to help them to get rid of excess land to achieve threshold faster... and when R/G reaches threshold, it kicks arse very fast.

EDIT: Don't tell me what cards are good and what are not, considering you play Putrid Imp and Ichorid over Gravedigger.