Here’s what I did:

1 Darkthicket Wolf
1 Dawntreader Elk
1 Hollowhenge Beast
1 Kessig Wolf
1 Nearheath Stalker
1 Night Revelers
1 Ravenous Demon
1 Riot Devils
1 Russet Wolves
1 Scorned Villager
1 Skirsdag Flayer
1 Somberwald Spider
1 Village Ironsmith
1 Villagers of Estwald
1 Alpha Brawl
1 Death’s Caress
1 Fires of Undeath
1 Grim Flowering
1 Rolling Temblor
1 Traveler’s Amulet
2 Wrack with Madness
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Evolving Wilds
2 Swamp
7 Forest
7 Mountain

I felt the red removal and the green creatures were the strongest options this card pool had–though combining these colors without using the aggressive tools available to it leaves it quite susceptible to flyers. You’ll be able to stall the ground, but one Stormbound Geist, Chapel Geist, or a Stitched Drake causes a ton of problems–none of your red removal can beat it, and you’re not fast enough to race it (and their presumed countermagic, bounce spells, or Claustrophobias). That’s why I added the black in to the pool–I was splashing for the flashback on the Fires anyway, so another Swamp gives us two removal spells that can profitably tangle with any flyer or bomb (save something with Undying). Stormbound Geist is a problem, but this deck can handle most anything else. I might be getting a little greedy, but with two colorless fixing spells and light mana requirements for our base two colors, we can afford to be a little greedy.

What did y’all do? As always, I’m curious–let me know!

~Anthony

The week before the event, I was miserable–there wasn’t a single standard deck I liked. I’d been playing Delver for a while, but once the PT debuted a new version of “Delver” that played Lingering Souls and Phantasmal Image, I immediately knew my U/W Delver would be the underdog–after all, my Midnight Hauntings and Geist of Saint Trafts would be trumped by their Lingering Souls and Images. Still, like the stubborn fool I am when I fall in love with a deck, I kept jamming games against Spirits with the old version of Delver, and I kept losing. Frustrated, I set out on a path to find a new deck.

Monday afternoon: Give up on U/W Delver, decide to play Ramp.
Monday evening: Play Ramp against U/B, cry myself to sleep, give up on Ramp.
Tuesday through Thursday: Talk about U/W Humans, convince myself I want to play Thalia against everything (more on this later).
Thursday night: Goldfish with Humans, cry myself to sleep, give up hope about Baltimore and decide to stay with Humans.
Friday afternoon: Test Humans vs. U/W Delver, lose; test Delver vs. R/G aggro, lose; life tilt.
Friday evening: Test Humans against R/G aggro, lose, life tilt, waver between U/W Humans and U/W Delver for infinite hours, decide on U/W Delver.

My thought process for Baltimore was play a deck I know rather than a deck that’s inherently strong and well positioned–this meant I was on a U/W aggro control deck, as that’s my go to for most formats. I just didn’t know what version of a U/W aggro control deck would be best against the field. Going into the GP, we determined that Spirits/Delver and Ramp would be the decks to beat (or at least, the most popular)–which then meant that U/B would be a great choice for the event. Furthermore, if you look at the PT results, one U/B player barely missed Top 8 at 9th place, which suggested that a good U/B list theoretically had the potential to get there. Thinking a lot of pros would realize the same thing (as it was also hinted in their articles from the week prior), I wanted to play a deck that beat them–i.e., Humans. Coincidentally, Thalia is the nut in this format due to Delver, Ramp, and Control having hard times dealing with her (it’s not random luck that some guy managed to Top 8 with four of them in his deck). Add in the fact that less people would expect Geist of Saint Traft and more people would pack Corrosive Gales, it seemed correct to play Humans. So why didn’t I?

The problem with Humans is that it doesn’t have a great matchup against the most popular decks I expected–Spirits/Delver and Ramp. The Ramp matchup is pretty shaky if you don’t have Destiny or Hero, but those suck against Spirits and Delver. Since I expected the Humans decks to be edged out by those three decks (Thalia notwithstanding), I didn’t want to play it. Plus, I was miserable playing the deck, so it felt like the wrong choice–Delver made me feel bad, but not miserable. I wanted to play the “best of both worlds deck” (i.e. 8x Wild Nacatl via Champion and Delver), but I thought the mana was terrible so I didn’t play that either. I ended up playing U/W Delver and sticking to what I knew best:

U/W Delver
3 Sword of War and Peace
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Geist of Saint Traft
1 Phantasmal Image
4 Ponder
4 Mana Leak
2 Gut Shot
1 Negate
1 Dismember
1 Mutagenic Growth
4 Vapor Snag
3 Midnight Haunting
3 Gitaxian Probe
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Seachrome Coast
3 Moorland Haunt
9 Island
1 Plains

Sideboard:
1 Dismember
2 Revoke Existence
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Dissipate
1 Dungeon Geist
2 Phantasmal Image
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Day of Judgement
1 Corrosive Gale
2 Celestial Purge

Props to Denniser and Terrance for helping me iron out the list. While Denniser went a bit of a different direction, Terrance and I felt that all we wanted to do was jam down a Sword and go to town–this turned out to work about less than half the time I drew a Sword. I think you can’t lean on Sword that hard anymore because the format isn’t only white creatures and control decks anymore–you need to play more equipment besides Sword of War and Peace. It was pretty great for me in the event, but there were times where I had it in hand and it did nothing, I had it in play and it did nothing, and I had connected with it and it did nothing. Overall, I’m going to think about the equipment the most.

If I had to play in a Standard event tomorrow, however, this is what I’d do:

-1 Growth, +1 Probe; -1 Gale, -1 Revoke, -1 Day, -1 something, +1 Dungeon Geist, +1 Jace, Memory Adept, +1 Batterskull, +1 Divine Offering

I really like Costa’s sideboard, even if I don’t like his Stalker/Pike choices main deck. I don’t want to play with Curse of Pierced Heart against aggro decks (but it probably rocks against control, and I guess you can side it out)

On to the matches!

Round 1–Bye

Round 2–Jund Ramp
My opponent had to deal with turn 3 Geist, turn 4 Image on Thrun + Leak on his turn, turn five Leak, turn six Snapcaster Leak in game one. Game two, he mulls to four and gets a turn 6 Grave Titan…countered by my Ponder into shuffle/topdecked Mana Leak. Geist takes it home again.
2-0; 2-0

Round 3–4cc Unburial Rites Control
My opponent was playing a U/W/R/b control deck that featured Sun Titan, Elesh Norn, Unburial Rites, etc. I lost game one, came back game two off a strategic Geist, and won game three with a ton of Delver/Vapor Snag pressure.
4-1, 3-0

Round 4–Solar Flare
These games were intense, so I don’t remember all the details–I lost game one, to the nuts, won game two, then took game three after dealing with a ton of resistance.
6-2, 4-0

Round 5–Hippo Blade
Amazing deck–basically R/W Swords + Titans and some midrangey creatures like Solemn. If you want more details on it, there was a deck tech in the Pro Tour coverage. Game one, my opponent goes for a turn four sword hit off a nexus just to be blown out by Vapor Snag. Game two, I counter all his spells and bash with Delvers.
8-2, 5-0

Round 6–U/B Control (Pat Cox)
I find out I’m paired against Pat Cox, crap myself, and settle in for a long game against (what I expect) is U/B Control. Turns out he was playing control as I Probe his hand to see infinite removal spells, black mana, and no blue sources. Pat bricks on blue for six or so turns while all my creatures trade with his removal. I stick a Geist, bash for a while, and eventually defeat his mana screw. Game two, I Probe turn three to see infinite targeted removal, Snapcasters, and a dearth of countermagic, so I slam a Geist and ride it to victory. Pat seemed a little salty afterwards, which was to be expected–I got pretty lucky in some of the games, and those Probes were quite invasive.
10-2, 6-0, defeated my first pro player

Round 7–U/W Humans
I smash my opponent game one with a Sword of War and Peace. While we’re shuffling, he says he’s never played against Delver and doesn’t know if he has a good matchup or not–he finds out game two when he gets crushed again with Vapor Snags and Dungeon Geist.
11-2, 7-0, first Day 2 locked up

Feeling elated, my nerve calm a bit, though I still feel the fire to succeed–it’s my first Day 2, but all that means is I’m in a new tournament.

Round 8–U/W/b Delver
He plays Porcelain Legionnaire and Lingering Souls game one, which handily defeats me. Game two, I Mutagenic Growth his Phantasmal Bear (the only thing it did all day), then we stare at each other having kept otherwise reactive hands. Thankfully he doesn’t see any Lingering Souls, and I grind him out. Game three, I mull to five and die to two blind Delver flips and three separate copies of Lingering Souls.
12-4, 7-1, slightly salty

The first loss always stings, but not as much as the last.

Round 9–U/W Delver (Jesse Hampton)
I’m not sure if it was a true mirror, though the card numbers were quite close. Jesse draws Moorland Haunt and Geist to my nothing game one, and game two he sideboards better and sees more Geists, Snapcasters and Images than I do. I get crushed.
12-6, more salty, but not out of it

Day 1 ends, we go out to dinner, and I try to sleep afterwards while people argue about some random girl who was at the event and how much Izzy loves some dessert people were talking about at the restaurant.

Day 2:
Round 10–Esper Tezz
My opponent bricks on lands game one while I smash him, then I counter every spell he plays game two and ride a Geist to victory.
14-6, 8-2

Round 11–R/G Aggro
I win game one off of Geist and counters, lose game two due to a bad keep on my part (no white mana), then win a close game three because my opponent punts. I have an Image out copying his Strangleroot Geist. He plays Hellrider, Blasts my Image, my Image returns copying his Hellrider, then he attacks with both his guys. I block his Hellrider with my Image, my Image lives, then I kill him later on with the Image and a Geist of my own. If he Blasted my Image before playing Hellrider, I probably would have lost.
16-7, 9-2

Round 12–U/W Delver
My opponent draws better than I do (more Geists/Snaps/Ponders to my none of those), and I lose games 1 & 2. I’m probably missing something here and need to test this match up a lot more…
16-9, 9-3 and playing for Top 16-32

Round 13–U/B Zombies
I get crushed both games. Not much to say here, really, though game two was at least close…ish.
16-11, 9-4 and playing for Top 64

Round 14–G/W Tempered Steel (Chris Mascioli)
Not what I expected to see on Day 2, but it was a decent choice for the event. I was a bit bummed at this point, but at least I got Chris to smile–that was more unexpected than facing Tempered Steel, honestly. Unfortunately, I blow most of my luck in the match on the smile and in game one with triple Delver flipped by my turn three to his mulligan to five, then get crushed in game two and lose an interactive (yet lopsided) game three to 3x Tempered Steel & 2x Etched Champion (though I did handle two of the Tempered Steels just fine).
17-13, 9-5, not worth playing for the PWPs

So it was a crappy way to end a great run, but hey, what can I expect? I didn’t even like any of the decks going into the event; I’m certainly not complaining that I did well…though apparently, “well” is relative–some people think it doesn’t matter to just Day 2. You know what? Screw the haters–it matters to me. Another thing off the bucket list, and now we’re on to the next one on the list–Top 64. One step at a time friends, one step at a time.

Just keep swimming,

~Anthony

Link is here: http://www.wizards.com/magic/sealeddeckbuilder/index.html?draftid=20120223

This is by far the hardest one I’ve done yet. Looking at the rares, we have one really good blue one and decent red/green/black ones. We’re going to need to figure out what colors pair well in order to determine a deck.

Off the bat, we can eliminate white–nothing much is going on in that color. However, we can’t cut any of the other colors right away. Black has a great rare and two Moans so it’s a possibility, blue has great flyers and a bomb rare, green has good dudes, and red has great removal. Overall, it’s going to come down to the pairing of colors.

Blue needs to pair with a color that has a lot of creatures or mill enablers in order to work–it has too many guys dependent on exiling creatures in the graveyard and lacks enablers to get them there in the first place. I initially thought U/B was the way to go, but without enough guys to put in the yard, it’s not going to work out well. We can’t pair blue with red either, since red lacks sufficient creatures. We could pair blue with green, but then we’re lacking any real removal, and that’s not something I like to do in sealed. We’re probably cutting blue, which leaves us with red, green, and black. Note that if we had any enablers, then blue would be the choice for this pool–a Mulch, a Faithless Looting, a Forbidden Alchemy, etc. Let’s look at our other options.

Black’s greatest strength is in its two Moans–that card is really powerful. After that, we’ve got the 5cc flyer and a Boneflinger. Note that if we’re aggressive enough, those Bumps are going to be sweet. However, looking at the combination of red/black, we see that it lacks enough relevant creatures. That means we’re going to need green.

Our deck choice now revolves around whether we pair green with red or with black. I think that red’s removal is good enough reason to pair red with green–black’s just more shallow than red when we’re considering which color compliments green more. Therefore, let’s see what a red/green deck looks like:

1 Ashmouth Hound
1 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
1 Crossway Vampire
1 Forge Devil
1 Gravetiller Wurm
1 Grizzled Outcasts
1 Heckling Fiends
1 Hollowhenge Beast
1 Kessig Wolf
1 Nearheath Stalker
1 Orchard Spirit
1 Scorned Villager
2 Somberwald Dryad
1 Ulvenwald Mystics
1 Wolfbitten Captive
1 Blazing Torch
1 Brimstone Volley
1 Curse of Stalked Prey
1 Grim Flowering
1 Into the Maw of Hell
1 Wild Hunger
1 Wrack with Madness
9 Forest
8 Mountain

We’re going to have to be a little aggressive to win with this pool. It’s not pretty, but it’s what we have to work with. We could splash for Bumps or Boneflinger, but I’m not sure it’s necessary. If we find ourselves needing the reach against a deck without forests, then I can see cutting the Dryads and the Curse for 2 Bump and a fixer. Our deck is designed to beat the forests decks with evasion and the non forest decks with speed. My guess is that white/x decks will be hard match ups, unless they have forests, which will make it a bit easier. Most our creatures will be able to put decent pressure on the slower blue decks, or at least enough pressure combined with our removal to secure the win.

As always, let me know what you would do with this pool!

~Anthony

My friend Charles Fitzgerald recently made Top 8 of an SCG IQ at Kings Games in Brooklyn–this is his story.

It’s 1:30 am…..I have the IQ in a few hours and still can’t sleep. I find my deck box and realize I should write it down on paper, that way I don’t have to pull out my deck for all to see beforehand. I counted 65 cards….how the hell did I get to 65? No wonder I was off on Thursday. It was time to stop fooling around and start making good choices…I wanted to make this one count.