With what's been spoiled so far, what do we think the best mechanic in sealed is going to be? I really am unsure of what will work best.
It's tough to say with so few cards revealed.
I have a feeling Boros will do very well in limited formats, with white agro and flying creatures and red burn to back it up. Batallion seems pretty strong to back it up, too.
Simic will likely run line Selesnya - if you get the good cards to play with their keyword, it will be powerful, if not, you'll be weak.
Dimir has potential with its unblockable aspects. Limited has less removal and less answers for threats like unblockable.
Gruul is tough to judge. Blood rush is super powerful, but needs card draw or it'll run out of fuel extra fast. If good enough card draw is printed in green or red (or even blue, I could see splashing Simic with gruul) then bloodrush is going to get really scary.
Orzhov could get out of hand too. All those life-linking-pings from their keyword is going to set a tempo that is tough to handle. Remember {blood artist}? Well, an orzhov deck is going to be doing that every turn, and doesn't have to have a creature die to do it.
I like boros and orzhov for sealed, myself. But it's still too early to say.
Having seen more, I believe dimir stands a fighting chance.
Cipher is my favorite mechanic ever, but I don't think it'll be great in Limited. Same with Evolve, although I've never personally played a game of Sealed or Draft so I shouldn't be giving too much commentary on the subject. Still, in terms of Limited Extort looks best, but Cipher is definitely best in Constructed. Battalion doesn't show too much promise anywhere except an Odric deck (Commander, maybe, if enough monowhite Battalionbis printed, which I doubt) in my opinion, and Bloodrush is a huge variable based on who's using it. I have a feeling it'll impact Modern more than Standard, with all the Jund running around. Again, though, I have much more experience playing against Modern decks than Standard.
Quote from: Testset on January 05, 2013, 11:53:45 PM
I think Cipher will be difficult to utilize in Draft. If you're picking Cipher cards, evasion will be a premium, since you won't be able to smash your way past your opponents' defenses with {U}{B}.
However, going BUG might pay off. If you cipher an evolved creature, he might demand constant chump blocking, which makes him a quasi-removal.
Keep in mind: cipher is almost like an aura. Granted, you still got the intital effect, but part of the value is banking on getting repeated use from it. Otherwise, it's an overcosted instant/sorcery. Getting the creature destroyed may not quite be a 2-for-1, but effectively it is card advantage for your opponent.
Agreed, even I can tell Cipher will suck in Limited. I'm going Dimir at the prerelease just for the cards, and I was considering going BUG in it anyway. The more thought I give it the more it makes sense, and Esper might be good too; Extort off of a buch of Ciphered copies for game! Granted, it will all go much smoother if they trust the Dimir with a shiny new unblockable. (they can't reprint {Dimir Infiltrator} because Transmute is gone)
Do we think RWG will be playable, for sealed?
Quote from: Testset on January 06, 2013, 09:26:40 PM
Quote from: Imdowd80 on January 06, 2013, 08:31:47 PM
Do we think RWG will be playable, for sealed?
If you think about it, you will want to play all your creatures in order to utilize Battalion. That being the case, you'll probably want to refrain from using Bloodrush, lest you sabotage your RW strategy by shorting yourself on creatures. And if you won't use Bloodrush, running RG sounds a lot less appealing.
I would probably prefer playing {R}{W}{B} or {R}{G}{U}. But, like most Limited, you'll just have to see what you open. If you get Naya bombs handed to you, go for it.
That makes a lot of sense, and you actually have talked me out of leaning that way.
I mean it does matter what cards I pull, but I'm not going in thinking that.
What are the best limited cards you guys have seen so far? I hope they hurry up and spoiler more cards so I can get a better idea of what to play at the prerelease.
Best limited... Maybe {Domri Rade}, or {Treasury Thrull}.
Quote from: G33kL0rd on January 07, 2013, 04:50:20 PM
Best limited... Maybe {Domri Rade}, or {Treasury Thrull}.
I think I'm going to go esper... Picking Orzhov since the bomb is so strong and hoping I get some good Dimir to supplement it.
I'm not sure if I'm just being stupid, or if no obe has figured this out yet (hopefully its one of my stupid phases)- Cipher requires you to CAST the card before encoding it. This sucks for constructed somewhat, but it really won't do anything in limited with how high these things cost. Did anyone realize that, or am I just a retard?
Quote from: Testset on January 07, 2013, 08:55:01 PM
Quote from: izik99 on January 07, 2013, 08:42:21 PM
I'm not sure if I'm just being stupid, or if no obe has figured this out yet (hopefully its one of my stupid phases)- Cipher requires you to CAST the card before encoding it. This sucks for constructed somewhat, but it really won't do anything in limited with how high these things cost. Did anyone realize that, or am I just a retard?
Not sure if I'm following you...
Can you please rephrase?
I'll link a card to help explain.
{Hands of Binding}
It says "then" which means after the effect of the card. Therefore cipher can only be used once you cast it. I originally thought it was a pot better, that you could exile it from your hand.
No, you are correct. It does require it to be cast normally first.
One thing to remember is that with 40 card decks in limited you can have a higher mana count and your fewer more expensive cards won't be too hard to hit.
I like to think of cipher as an aura with an ETB effect. Way oversimplified, but that's how it makes sense in my pseudo-simple mind.
So lets say all things are equal for terms of creature cards and the whatnot. Would you rather go {B}{U} with a {W} splash, or {W}{B} with a {U} splash?
I'm thinking Dimir with White as to play some extort, as well as mill.
Quote from: Testset on January 08, 2013, 06:31:26 PM
Seems to me that {B}{W} with a {U} splash would be a way to guarantee a steady pace with Extort to buy you mill time, but it's a matter of personal preference.
I like the idea of it as opposed to losing life while trying to aggressively get their deck to 0.
This is my strategy for pre-release I think. Provided I get some decent cards. I do think the Boros promo card is going to be pretty tough to play against though.
From what i read about sealeds that uou want most things coming in at 3 and 4 mana and whats been spoiled so far simic creatures and the extra unblockable aspect looking real strong even tho I've already paid for orzhav
I'm leaning boros with a splash of green.
Simic seams pretty strong you can get a bunch of cheap creatures in sealed even without a big curve. Just need one creature to have one stat higher. Play it right and it doesn't seem that hard to do.
Go Simic, play good cards. Add Red or Black depending on pulls. Beat face.
I alread had orzhav preordered after all the spoilers think it is not a bad choice at all
I like orzhov with a splash of red
So I just got home from the midnight prerelease of GateCrash. Wanted to fly on here and give. My impressions before I pass out (getting home at 9am is rough) in the hopes that it may help guide some undecideds to choosing their guild path to victory.
There was an absolutely distinct hierarchy of power in this group of 65 players based on guild. It seems like the gaps will be much less distict in drafts, but in sealed in was easy to see which guild was where on the lineup of power.
#1 - Boros. So fast paced. So beat face. And lots of boros packs opened field medics. First and second place (a box and a half worth of prize packs) went to boros - and here's the scary thing. The guy in second opened a Simic guild box. Boros was so good that he flat-out ditched both of his colors. And it got him 2nd place.
#2 - Orzhov. Nipping close at Boros' heels. It can't quite outpace boros, but those extorts will push it over the top to bleed through the other guilds, and to even squeak by boros if lucky. Any flying creature with extort is insane, because it usually gets to attack AND deal extort damage each turn.
#3 firmly in the middle is Dimir. I played it, myself, and went 4-3. I also played against 4 other Dimir decks, stuck with me in the middle. Still, I had a blast playing it. Cipher is fun and it makes you feel like a real trixster when playing with a bunch of ciphering rogues. Anyway, the solid mix of evasion, control, agro, and removal make Dimir super versitile and land in the middle of the guilds. Oh, and you get to legitimately mill people. I had 5 mill kills this morning.
#4 Gruul. While this guild will be amazing in draft, and its red cards play so well in boros decks, gruul itself struggles in sealed. And it's not that gruul is bad either, its that the others are really too good. Boros out-aggressions it. Orzhov gets a little behind, but more than makes up with extortion. Dimir has enough control to keep up, and can even outpace it with unblockables.
#5 Simic. Sorry Simic. I love the guild. And I think it will do well in drafts. But in sealed... It really just difnt show any promise at all. The entire "low score" table at the end of the event all yielded Simic packs.
So there you have it. Hope that helps someone prep for their prerelease! Have fun. Me go sleepy time now.
Thank you so much for the write up gorzo. I was rolling boros already just hope everyone else underestimates its power.
I went Simic, got sick pulls, and a lot of the games I won because I simply outplayed my opponent, the splash red, while sandbagging mana, scares people, especially when you hint at a burn spell that isn't there. I'm big on head games, if you can scare your opponent out of attacking our dropping a bomb, you've already won.
EDIT: {Hands of Binding} is nuts BTW. Holy jeebs
Chose orzhov as my guild. Went with an esper build and also ended up pulling a foil {Aurelia's fury} and a {domri rade} so I'm happy about that
Wow, what a weekend. I have never played so much mtg I such a condensed amount of time before. Likely never will again, because that was a tad insane doing 3 prereleases in 2 days, but hot DAMN was it fun!
Each of the 3 tourneys had 65 or more people, so 7 rounds a piece. And I'm proud to say that I took 1st place in the Sunday tournament, undefeated! My prize is a whole glorious box of Gatecrash! I'm super stoked!
I love this set. Even the two tourneys I lost in (4/3 both times) I had loads of fun. I hope you all had as much fun as I did!
Time to sleep til Tuesday! Haha
Quote from: Testset on January 28, 2013, 04:42:14 PM
Is it just me, or was this set loaded with good cards? There were very few that I looked at and knew I would never use them. Most looked like they could bolster existing decks. Even commons and uncommons.
My point exactly, a few of my friends kept calling this set new Avacyn Restored, chase Rares and nothing else, they couldn't be more wrong. This set is amazing.
Was at a prerelease event this weekend and Orzhov and Boros dominated. My belief from playing and watching is that when Boros is at full power, it crushes the other guilds. Battalion + impressive creatures = win. I ran Boros with Orzhov splash with some of Boris's weaker cards and a death pact angel and went 4-1.