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As you can probably guess, like many of the other Magic players in the world, I went to the Saviors of Kamigawa prerelease over the weekend. I vowed to myself that I would try to write at least one article every two weeks, so here I am again. Firstly, my initial impressions of the set, from the cards that www.magicthegathering.com released and from some unofficial incomplete spoilers online:
Hand size was going to be important, with the abilities of cards like Deathmask Nezumi potentially being insane in Sealed.
Channel was going to be fairly good in the slower Sealed format (at least when compared to Draft), as most of the Ghost-Lit creatures (like Ghost-Lit Raider) would provide a worthwhile recurring effect, while creatures like Shinen of Stars’ Light will be decent combat tricks. Of course, the two rare
Channel cards would be insane.
The Kirin will probably just be bomb rares. And that’s even ignoring their spiritcraft triggers.
Epic spells seemed to provide a powerful effect, with the black, green and red ones ending the game in a hurry, the blue one being somewhat uncastable, while the white one should not be played in Sealed at all.
So let’s see what I opened up on Saturday.
Sealed Pool #1:
White: (19)
2 Araba Mothrider
Celestial Kirin
Devoted Retainer
Hikari, Twilight Guardian
Indomitable Will
Kabuto Moth
Kitsune Bonesetter
Kitsune Healer
Kitsune Loreweaver
Kitsune Riftwalker
3 Moonwing Moth
Nikko-Onna
Reverse the Sands
Samurai of the Pale Curtain
Terashi’s Cry
Vigilance
Blue: (15)
Cut the Earthly Bond
Cut the Tethers
Floating-Dream Zubera
Freed from the Real
Lifted by Clouds
Moonbow Illusionist
2 Murmurs from Beyond
Mystic Restraints
Oppressive Will
Shifting Borders
Soratami Cloudskater
Soratami Seer
Teller of Tales
Wandering Ones
Black: (20)
Akuta, Born of Ash
Death Denied
Death of a Thousand Stings
Deathmask Nezumi
2 Gnat Miser
Nezumi Graverobber
Nezumi Ronin
Kagemaro’s Clutch
2 Kami of Empty Graves
Kiku’s Shadow
Measure of Wickedness
Midnight Covenant
Oni Possession
2 Rend Spirit
Scuttling Death
Soulless Revival
Waking Nightmare
Red: (17)
Akki Drillmaster
Akki Underling
Burning-Eye Zubera
Desperate Ritual
Ghost-Lit Raider
2 Glitterfang
Hearth Kami
2 Inner Fire
Pain Kami
Ronin Houndmaster
Sideswipe
Sokenzan Spellblade
Stone Rain
Thoughts of Ruin
Uncontrollable Anger
Green: (15)
Burr Grafter
Dripping-Tongue Zubera
Feral Deceiver
Fiddlehead Kami
Humble Budoka
Inner Calm, Outer Strength
Joyous Respite
Kashi-Tribe Elite
Kodama’s Might
Molting Skin
Nightsoil Kami
Orochi Eggwatcher
2 Sakura-Tribe Scout
Vine Kami
Other: (4)
Ebony Owl Netsuke
Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
Pinecrest Ridge
Reito Lantern
Your attention is drawn immediately to the bomb rare — Hikari, Twilight Guardian — in the pack. Also present from the Champions pack are the very playable Kabuto Moth, the combat trick of Indomitable Will, and Samurai of the Pale Curtain. Also present is the Kitsune Healer, which I have a sinking feeling that I overvalue too much.
From the Saviors packs, it becomes evident that white's stock in cheap white creatures has risen somewhat with Araba Mothrider and Moonwing Moth. Having a more relevant ability and one more power, I'd say that the Moonwing Moth is much better.... especially as Mothrider is only marginally better than Lantern Kami. I considered Kitsune Bonesetter as too situational for my liking, while Kitsune Loreweaver seemed to be an efficient creature with a relevant late-game ability.
Oh, and we can't forget the other large flier in Celestial Kirin.
A brief look over the Blue cards shows us nothing terribly impressive. We have the very large Teller of Tales, but it is, rather sadly, backed up by nothing at all.
From the very beginning, peering down at the foil Rend Spirit within the shrink-wrapped tournament pack, I was fairly enamored by the Black. Flicking down to the Nezumi Graverobber and Ronin, and then a second Rend Spirit and a Scuttling Death helped too, of course.
The black rare here, Akuta, Born of Ash, seemed somewhat reminiscent of Vulshok Berserker, or perhaps more relevantly, to Ichorid. Either way, with close control of your hand size, it becomes an efficient creature that is likely to return to plague your opponents again and again. Kiku's Shadow and Kagemaro's Clutch bolster our double Rend Spirits in our cache of removal.
As many people noticed (and abused) during the prerelease, Glitterfang is great for triggering spiritcraft abilities repeatedly. We also have our old standbys in Hearth Kami and Pain Kami, not to mention Ronin Houndmaster. Also promising are the new Burning-Eye Zubera and Sokenzan Spellblade. Of course, Ghost-Lit Raider simply resembles any of the previous pingers in a long line of creatures.
I've found myself to be a little prejudiced against Green, typically finding myself a little underwhelmed by the lack of cool tricks. Here we have a few reasonable spirits from Champions, joined by Inner Calm, Outer Strength and Kodama's Might as our typical green pump magic. Nothing special here.
Sealed Deck #1:
Creatures: (15)
Akuta, Born of Ash (Spirit)
Deathmask Nezumi
Nezumi Graverobber
Nezumi Ronin
Scuttling Death (Spirit)
Araba Mothrider
Celestial Kirin (Spirit)
Hikari, Twilight Guardian (Spirit)
Kabuto Moth (Spirit)
Kitsune Healer
Kitsune Loreweaver
2 Moonwing Moth
Nikko-Onna (Spirit)
Samurai of the Pale Curtain
Spells: (7)
Death Denied (Arcane)
Kagemaro’s Clutch
Kiku’s Shadow
2 Rend Spirit
Soulless Revival (Arcane)
Indomitable Will
Land: (18)
9 Plains
9 Swamp
This deck makes use of the efficient fliers in white and the removal suite in black to produce a fairly powerful deck. Let’s see how it fared against other players in the four rounds of the prerelease.
Round 1: Paul Jackson
This was a terrible start to the tournament, as my first game yielded no white cards of any sort... while he played Samurai of the Pale Curtain and Hand of Honor against my woefully-outmatched army of Deathmask Nezumi and Nezumi Ronin. I drew Graverobber a few turns later, but after I invested some mana in flipping the card, Paul had the Kagemaro’s Clutch for it.
The second round, I’m sad to say, had much of the same. I drew a single Plains, Samurai of the Pale Curtain, some Swamps and some black cards. He had Hand of Honor, followed up with a variety of other creatures. I attempt to stabilize but taking two points of damage every turn is just too much.
Ah... the memories... just like getting smashed by Nezumi Cutthroat while playing U/W.
0-2
0-1
Round 2: Adam Marantelli
One of my brother’s friends, he was playing a R/W/u deck with a bomb in Kumano, Master Yamabushi and a few burn spells and other creatures. Nothing terribly noteworthy. Unlike my first round, my deck decides to spit up white creatures and Plains at the same time. I bash with Hikari and a variety of Moths and Mothriders in game one.
In the next game, I deploy Nezumi Deathmask and Araba Mothrider for the early beats. He responds by playing... Kumano. In a strange turn of events, he elects to shoot down my Deathmask and Mothrider, rather than my freshly-cast Celestial Kirin, giving me the window to cast Scuttling Death, which takes out Kumano. It’s all downhill from there.
2-2
1-1
Round 3: Shane McDonald
Unfortunately, I don’t remember too much of this round. The first game was simply based on me casting Hikari and riding him/her/it to victory. The second game involved Shane channeling the Shinen of Life’s Roar to let his Sokenzan Spellblade sneak through for a very nasty fourteen damage.
Unfortunately for Shane, his draw was a little mana-light in the final game, giving me the time to set up an army of small white fliers. Shortly after, my little army was graced by the presence of Celestial Kirin and Hikari, Twilight Guardian. That’s another game taken by my duo of white Legends.
4-3
2-1
Round 4: James Jackson
I apologize for the boringness of this round summary, but James bashed me down to ten and sixteen in the first two games, while Hikari and the Celestial Kirin (in alternate games) flew over for the win. He had the Arashi, the Sky Asunder to Hurricane my flying men away — `but lucky for me, he didn’t draw it.
6-3
3-1
So that means six boosters of Saviors for me. But that’s not the most important bit (although it is a nice perk). Hailing from Perth, Western Australia, I don’t get too much experience with Sealed, and to get my hands on a brand new set is something not to be missed, of course. What have I learned from this tournament about Kamigawa Sealed?
The Kirin, like all efficient fliers, are excellent in sealed. (Once again, with the possible exception of the green Kirin — although the life gain may allow you to pursue a racing strategy.)
Cards like Akki Underling and Deathmask Nezumi are very unreliable — just don't expect them to be their larger selves very often. If they get their bonuses early in the game, you’re probably falling behind tempo-wise. Otherwise, they’re not going to get bonuses until much later. Don’t get me wrong, I still think they’re decent creatures — it’s just that they’re not quite the powerhouses I thought they could be.
I actually saw very little Channel or Epic in this flight of the prerelease, so I’m uncertain of how effective it could be.
Finally, to try and break the conventions of the typical tournament report, some additional musings about one of the cards that I liked from my deck. Celestial Kirin. While I did not realize the use that Zvi pointed out in a Premium article earlier this week — that you could use it to kill Legendary Spirits (e.g. casting Kodama of the North Tree when the opponent had one in play) — but that’s probably why he’s a better player than I am.
I’ll present a few thought experiments based around Celestial Kirin, just to try and see if anything is viable.
G/W/b Control:
Creatures: (4)
| G/W/b Control Featured by Brandon Lau on 2005-05-22 (Standard) | ||
Artifacts 4 Sensei's Divining Top Creatures 4 Sakura-Tribe Elder Instants 2 Hero's Demise 4 Sickening Shoal |
Legendary Creatures 4 Celestial Kirin 3 Kodama of the North Tree 4 Yosei, the Morning Star Sorceries 3 Cranial Extraction 4 Final Judgment 4 Kodama's Reach Basic Lands 8 Forest 6 Plains 3 Swamp Lands 4 Tendo Ice Bridge 2 Tranquil Garden Legendary Lands 1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse | Stats: Average mana: 2.12 Average creature mana cost: 4.20 Average creature power: 3.60 Average creature toughness: 3.20 Deck Composition: Basic Lands: 28.33% Instants: 10.00% Sorceries: 18.33% Lands: 10.00% Artifacts: 6.67% Legendary Lands: 1.67% Creatures: 6.67% Legendary Creatures: 18.33% |
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| Download this deck in Apprentice format! |
Download this deck in Magic Online Text format! | |
Mm... we all know how well (approximately) that such an archetype fares in the post-Betrayers block. (Obviously, this build is not tested, but merely a curiosity. Certainly my manabase is a little shaky.) It should have a good game against most creature decks with its Final Judgment and its selective board-clearing with Celestial Kirin and Sickening Shoal. It might have trouble against Gifts Ungiven’s combo, but a sideboard into, say, more Extractions and Nezumi Graverobber might help that out. As Zvi pointed out, we could cast Kodama of the North Tree while killing the opponent’s and keeping our own alive. Alternately, and perhaps more diabolically, we could play a Yosei, killing our own, to Time Walk our opponent and keep a 5/5 Dragon in play.
Also, as a brief aside about Thoughts of Ruin, I personally think that the card is way overhyped. With Sickening Shoal and Shining Shoal, it’s very likely that the opponent will be able to deal with your early threats that you cast pre-Thoughts, and even if you cast it later in the game, it simply won’t matter. Even in the midgame, there’s a good chance (given the masses of green mana acceleration) that it will put the red player at a disadvantage. Nevertheless, it is a card that I will be trying out in my red Kamigawa Block deck.
As a concluding note (finally), thanks to Scott Paisley for repeatedly organizing tournaments here in Western Australia and to my friends for accompanying me, etc, etc.
Brandon
