Hi! I'm still moving. If anyone's still interested in a house, here it is! In Cleveland! It's awesome!

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Sealed Deck Pool Featured by Ferrett Steinmetz on 2007-11-11 (Lorwyn Limited) As written about in http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/14990.html Print this deck!
1 Cenn's Heir 1 Goldmeadow Harrier 1 Goldmeadow Stalwart 1 Judge of Currents 1 Kithkin Harbinger 1 Kithkin Healer 1 Knight of Meadowgrain 1 Lairwatch Giant 1 Oaken Brawler 1 Plover Knights 1 Soaring Hope 1 Springjack Knight 1 Surge of Thoughtweft 1 Wizened Cenn 1 Elvish Eulogist 1 Fertile Ground 1 Heal the Scars 1 Kithkin Daggerdare 1 Lace with Moonglove 1 Leaf Gilder 1 Nath's Elite 1 Oakgnarl Warrior 1 Sylvan Echoes 1 Warren-Scourge Elf 1 Woodland Changeling 1 Wren's Run Vanquisher 1 Ashling's Prerogative 1 Blades of Velis Vel 1 Blind-Spot Giant 1 Boggart Sprite-Chaser 1 Flamekin Brawler 1 Flamekin Harbinger 1 Flamekin Spitfire 1 Giant's Ire 1 Ingot Chewer 1 Inner-Flame Acolyte 2 Mudbutton Torchrunner 1 Rebellion of the Flamekin 2 Smokebraider 1 Soulbright Flamekin	1 Black Poplar Shaman 1 Boggart Birth Rite 1 Cairn Wanderer 1 Exiled Boggart 1 Eyeblight's Ending 1 Faerie Tauntings 1 Ghostly Changeling 1 Liliana Vess 1 Moonglove Winnower 1 Nameless Inversion 1 Peppersmoke 1 Prowess of the Fair 1 Spiderwig Boggart 1 Warren Pilferers 1 Ethereal Whiskergill 1 Familiar's Ruse 1 Glimmerdust Nap 1 Inkfathom Divers 1 Mulldrifter 1 Paperfin Rascal 1 Ringskipper 1 Silvergill Adept 1 Sower of Temptation 1 Spellstutter Sprite 1 Stonybrook Angler 1 Whirlpool Whelm 1 Moonglove Extract 2 Springleaf Drum 1 Howltooth Hollow 2 Shimmering Grotto 1 Vivid Creek
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White
Solid Playables: Goldmeadow Harrier, Judge of Currents, Kithkin Healer, Knight of Meadowgrain, Plover Knights

Surge of Thoughtweft is getting more respect from me, though I still don't like the Kithkin tribe too much in Sealed. As others have noted, it's hard enough to make them work in Draft, and a bunch of generic dorks are hard to play. (I suspect the follow-up to Lorwyn will deepen the tribe, as these second sets are wont to do.) Still, a +1/+1 bonus seems like nothing, but it's blown me out a few more times than I would have liked.

Interestingly enough, the Kithkin tribe here is strong enough that we could consider them – we have the tools to do so in the form of Cenn's Heir, Wizened Cenn, Springjack Knight, Plover Knights, and my all-star favorite Knights of Meadowgrain (lifegain, baby!).

What we are lacking, however? Removal. If we can pair this with something awesome, I'll reconsider, but otherwise this is going to be the standard dork onslaught – we rush, we get ‘em down to seven life, and then die a slow, horrible death.

Blue
Solid Playables: Ethereal Whiskergill, Mulldrifter, Paperfin Rascal, Sower of Temptation, Stonybrook Angler, Whirlpool Whelm

Sower of Temptation remains the nuts. Yes, she's easily killed – but you have to draw that removal. Plus, there are a lot of ways to protect her in the Faerie tribe, and most times at least she buys you a turn of Not Being Attacked. I'll take it.

Mulldrifter just gets better as the season goes on and people find new and creative ways to recurse it. But despite the obvious combo here, I have yet to be a fan of Familiar's Ruse – when it works, it's awesome, but the times you generally want to stop a big spell in Sealed is when it's going to remove a creature you desperately need on the board. Obviously, Familiar's Ruse is useless when you have one guy, and opens you up to a potential breach in your defense when you have two, so I'm not a big fan.

Glimmerdust Nap? Not a big fan. It'll do in a pinch, but I've seen it fall off one too many times when something becomes untapped to think of it as awesome. I'll play it, but I'm never happy to play it.

Likewise, Spellstutter Sprite. In theory, it's awesome. In practice, I wind up countering a Goldmeadow Harrier and not much else. If I have a lot of Faeries and Changelings I'll run it, but it's not like Silvergill Douser, which is good with just her on the board. She's tribe-marginal.

So also are Inkfathom Divers and Silvergill Adept – good if you have a lot of Merfolk, which we don't have here. Some might question my placing of Ethereal Whiskergill, but I like her it; even if she can't attack, she's one heck of a blocker.

Black
Solid Playables: Cairn Wanderer, Eyeblight's Ending, Nameless Inversion, Liliana Vess, Moonglove Winnower, Peppersmoke, Warren Pilferers

If you haven't doped out by now that Warren Pilferers can bring back Mulldrifters and steal games with random returns from changelings that enable haste, you're not paying sufficient attention. I do love this card, since it seems like the bestest trick enabler in many of my decks.

Cairn Wanderer, on the other hand, is positively insane if you're in a deck with a lot of removal – and say! Is that Eyeblight's Ending and Nameless Inversion, two of the best removal spells in the block? Why yes it is! And we have a Peppersmoke to go with it! Gosh, that's a strong start.

ALERT: I finally got off a Liliana Vess uber-win. It felt dirty.

Red
Solid Playables: Blades of Velis Vel, Flamekin Harbinger, Inner-Flame Acolyte, Mudbutton Torchrunner, Smokebraider, Soulbright Elemental

Sadly, we got all the great Elemental enablers (Smokebraider, Harbinger, Soulbright Elemental), and none of the great elementals. (Well, okay, Mulldrifter.) If there was a Dread or a Hostility or a Purity in here I'd be going to town, but alas! We got zippo. And very little removal.

Mudbutton Torchrunner is a card that seems crappy, but is getting better as the season goes on. He's a solid blocker, since in general you don't want to attack into him; I've found myself Whirlpool Whelming him on more than one occasion. Plus, you can recur him with many Goblin things.

Plus, my friend Josh calls him “Mudbutt.” Which I just like saying. Over and over again.

Mudbutt.

Green
Solid Playables: Fertile Ground, Lace with Moonglove, Nath's Elite, Oakgnarl Warrior, Warren-Scourge Elves, Woodland Changeling, Wren's Run Vanquishers

A solid bunch of Elves. I should add that I'm slightly down on Nath's Elite, since in infinite games on MODO and in real life, I have only ever won the clash twice. It might as well read, “When Nath's Elite comes into play, reveal the land that was on top of your deck, ‘cause there's always a land.” That said, it's broken open a few combats, even though it's distressingly fragile at two toughness.

I'm a little leery of this pool, but what it does have is some beef and distraction. Nobody wants to attack into a Wren's Run Vanquisher, giving us some defense on the ground. It's a possibility, especially since Blue and Black's critters are kinda thin on the ground, and it looks like it's that or the Kithkin.

I should also add – I played a lot of Sealed lately, so I've already played the games I'll be writing about next week – that I am now Officially Uncertain about Lammastide Weave. Oh, I know it sucks! I know! But I sided it in when my friend David was playing a Harbinger-heavy deck, and he went to go fetch Galepowder Mage with his Kithkin Harbinger, and I Lammastide Weaved that sucker right into the graveyard! Furthermore, by boosting me from a pitiful ten up to a stodgy fourteen, I survived the next turn and clawed my way back to victory!

Is it narrow? Sure. Is that your card? Mmmmmmaybe.

And The Rest
Solid Playables: Moonglove Extract, Springleaf Drum, Vivid Creek

Moonglove Extract: Like Seal of Fire, but three times as pricey. And I will pay that price, that's how nice it is in Sealed.

Perhaps they should have called it Sealed of Fire! Hah!

Hmm. It's kind of a tricky build, kind of not. I could try to go with some weird White/something build (probably W/B), but as noted, I don't like the vanilla assault of the Kithkin. Blue has some decent combat tricks, and I want the power of Sower of Temptation – remember, in Sealed, try to stuff as many of your bombs into the deck as possible. Plus, with a U/B build, I can bring Sower back with Warren Pilferers, making it really tricky for my opponents to keep their big guys on the table.

I went with this:

1 Fertile Ground
6 Forest
4 Island
6 Swamp
1 Cairn Wanderer
1 Ethereal Whiskergill
1 Eyeblight's Ending
1 Ghostly Changeling
1 Lace with Moonglove
1 Leaf Gilder
1 Liliana Vess
1 Moonglove Extract
1 Moonglove Winnower
1 Mulldrifter
1 Nameless Inversion
1 Nath's Elite
1 Oakgnarl Warrior

1 Paperfin Rascal
1 Peppersmoke
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Stonybrook Angler
1 Vivid Creek
1 Warren Pilferers
1 Warren-Scourge Elf
1 Whirlpool Whelm
1 Woodland Changeling
1 Wren's Run Vanquisher

So How'd I Do?
I said last week that I liked Whirlpool Whelm better, and boy did it save my hash a couple of times this round. This time, I went 5-2 in matches (and for once, it was 4-1 during the actual League!).

The first match, I got Liliana Vess out and got her all the way up to “devastating” after using all my removal on my opponent's men and stripping his hand. He did not cede immediately upon activation, which was pleasant; hey, I got the satisfaction of stomping across the field with ten creatures. I don't know what he had, since he was U/B/R and at seven life, but hey. I guess the Command or something.

The second match was tricky, since the guy had Brion Stoutarm, Dread, and every Black removal spell in existence. Fortunately, I was able to beat him on tempo, taking Dread for a turn with Sower and attacking, then bouncing it with Whirlpool Whelm and attacking, then getting Sower back with Pilferers to steal his Dread again and attacking. That was what it took.

The third match? M-m-mana screw. Mulligan to five both games. Ouch.

The fourth match? M-m-mana screw. On my opponent. I apologized, but he was stuck at three land in two of the three games, and crumbled.

The fifth match was very tricky, and my opponent outplayed himself in two of the matches. He had a strong deck, but I just remember the misplays.

The other two, however, he got tricky, and did the silly thing of playing the right spells but tapping the wrong mana, allowing me a one-turn window that I just stomped him on. In the first game, he had Arbiter of Knollridge in his hand and was waiting for me to get him as low as he could before casting it (which would bring him to twenty-three life)… But he didn't ask the vital question, “What if my opponent has a removal spell?” He tapped out to cast a large Blue man of some sort, but I Whelmed it and attacked for precisely the win.

Likewise, in the third game, he miscalculated and tapped both his Islands for some spell, leaving him unable to activate his Stonybrook Angler for one turn (or, rather, he could activate it, but only at the cost of tapping a man with Springleaf Drum). But that one turn was enough to put him on the back foot where he had to play defensively after that, and I smashed through.

It's the little things that count.

The Weekly Plug Bug
In my webcomic Home on the Strange, Tanner's getting married! And by God, the wedding is now on the way… Unless an old opponent returns to screw the deal! Look out!

Signing off,
The Ferrett
TheFerrett@StarCityGames.com
The Here Edits This Here Site Here Guy