Like many of you out there, I attended the Guildpact prerelease last weekend. Here's a little venture into what cards I opened on the day, how I built my deck and how the deck played out in a four-round tournament. Without any further delay, here's the card pool in question:
As predictable as ever, here's the card pool analysis.
The White in this card pool has a number of creatures that I'm always happy to run in sealed - Conclave Equenaut, Benevolent Ancestor, Veteran Armorer, and Loxodon Gatekeeper. The virtues of these have been extolled in the past, so there's no need for me to add more comments about these. Also from Ravnica are filler cards like Nightguard Patrol and Votary of the Conclave.
Let's see what Guildpact has to offer. Here we have Absolver Thrull, a creature that I overlooked at first glance. It (obviously) has the ability to take out enchantments - which is becoming more and more relevant with people playing the new Magemarks, as well as the other powerful Auras from Ravnica. There is a slight worry with its Haunt ability being disadvantageous when it accidentally destroys your own enchantments - not a big deal, but still something to be noted. I might be undervaluing this card, but that's like due to appreciation (or lack thereof) for the following cycle.
Maybe I fear the card disadvantage a little too much, or perhaps I just haven't had enough other Auras to utilise them. Either way, I'm not a big fan of most of the Magemarks. In my opinion, in a deck without other Auras, only the White and Blue Magemarks are particularly playable - as a combat trick and evasion, respectively. After this, I'd be happy with Fencer's Magemark in a deck with large creatures - a first striking Siege Wurm is always good. I'm not really fond of the other two, as I don't believe their advantage offsets the use of a card - why not just run another creature? Of course, feel free to chime in on the forums with your opinions regarding this cycle.
Lionheart Maverick is not amazing, but I'd run it as a 22nd or 23rd card in a deck lacking one-drops. Simply put, it's a one-drop that isn't completely irrelevant past turn 3 - albeit at a very, very expensive cost.
The rare I have here is great. Graven Dominator is a 4/4 flier for six mana with no drawback. From this alone, it's already an effective finisher. Then we look at its ability... this creature can be cast post-combat to kill off creatures that have taken damage - particularly effective in trading your small guys for your opponent's larger ones. It can also be used as a quasi-Fog when haunting a creature that's easily sacrificed. Both are reasonably narrow possibilities, but when attached to an already huge flying body, it's just gravy.
Crystal Seer is a five-mana 2/2 with two synergistic abilities. Unfortunately, when considering that it costs an arm and/or leg to recur the library manipulation, it looks far less enticing. Another card we won't be playing is Leyline of Singularity - an interesting card, but near useless for a Limited environment.
Vedalken Plotter is a card that I wish I'd tried out. Aside from being able to deny the opponent use of their Sunhome or Skarrg, it also can act as acceleration as it steals your opponent's Boros Garrison (or equivalent) in exchange for a lowly Island. I'm not sure exactly how playable this card is, but it seems to have its uses. (Not to mention the amusing flavour text.)
Infiltrator's Magemark is a card I described briefly with the other Magemarks earlier. It gives your large creature a size boost and stops all but the most obscure creatures from blocking it. Drift of Phantasms and Benevolent Ancestor are the two most likely blockers you'll see, but with your creature having a bonus point of power and toughness, it's unlikely the defender will be sticking around for long.
This leaves us with two Replicate cards - Thunderheads and Train of Thought. Thunderheads is a reasonable combat trick that will be great when pulled off, but could also be a little obvious and easy to play around. Passing the turn with six untapped land seems a little suspicious to me, after all. Train of Thought seems good - you simply use it as an expensive Tidings late game to re-fill your hand. With your back to the wall, you can even cycle it or cast it as a sorcery speed Inspiration.
In Black, we have Disembowel and Keening Banshee, both effective removal spells. Disembowel can take out almost any creature in the format, but always costs more than the creature, and Keening Banshee gives us a 2/2 flier in the deal. Both of these are cards I am always happy to run.
From here, we have Roofstalker Wight and Sewerdreg. As the Blue in our pool looks fairly weak, it seems that Roofstalker Wight will be little more than a vanilla 2/1 for two mana - not impressive, but not awful. Sewerdreg has the possibility of breaking past creature stalemates, but with only Orzhov tempting people into Black from Guildpact, it will be a rather inefficient 3/3 for five mana much of the time.
Talking about inefficient five-mana 3/3s, Guildpact gives us double Poisonbelly Ogre. It has its use as sideboard hate for the Selesnya Convoke decks, but as far as maindecking it in a Sealed Deck is concerned... I don't like it. If it cost one less mana or had one more power then we'd be talking, but as it is, it's an inefficient creature that is going to hurt me as much as it hurts the opponent.
Cryptwailing seems to be a powerful effect, but is not worth the card invested, in my opinion. Paying four mana for a card that has no effect until you invest even more mana into it is not terribly efficient. Even worse, it still has no effect on the board. If its ability was tacked onto a creature, perhaps I'd be interested, but not as is.
I'm not certain just how good Hissing Miasma is. In a racing situation, is a card like this any better than just applying further pressure with another creature or two? I suspect it's better than I think, but I can imagine drawing it when I desperately want to draw a creature too. What do you all think? [I like it. Especially in B/W/x, as your clock is very fast. – Craig]
Revenant Patriarch seems unimpressive. Then again, the "target player skips his or her next combat phase" is not an ability I'm very familiar with. At the very least, it can buy you a turn in a pre-emptive fog - this makes the card's power go up with the number of evasive creatures in your pool. This creature's not amazing, but I'd accept him if I was playing Orzhov.
Finally, we have triple Ostiary Thrull. Obviously this guy is nigh unplayable in a Black deck without White mana, but coupled with the power of Plains, they become reasonably costed tapdown machines. This is a good reason for this pool to head into Black/White territory. Admittedly, should we take our deck in this direction, this could warp the mana curve.
We have essentially what we expect from Ravnica Red - a distinct lack of depth. Blockbuster, Smash, Sparkmage Apprentice, Surge of Zeal... nothing terribly exciting here. Goblin Spelunkers deserves a second look in this new Guildpact world, as two of the three new guilds incorporate Red and, while a Grey Ogre isn't too impressive, an unblockable one is.
Ogre Savant seems reasonable in a deck about to power up his Blue ability. I wouldn't want to go anywhere near him in a deck not running Islands. And this leaves Pyromatics, a multipurpose removal spell that can generate card advantage with relative ease. Pyromatics was something that I was unsure of at first, but when I played with it, it was amazing almost every time.
Not too much in the Red cards then. In Green, we have Gather Courage from Ravnica. Complementing this is a double serve of Wildsize, a cantrip trick that can also be used to force damage through when the opponent doesn't expect it. In a similar vein, the double Beastmaster's Magemark can be used to enhance one's creatures, but I'm not impressed with the card.
The pool has the dredging duo in Golgari Brownscale and Greater Mossdog, as well as the Fangren Hunter-sized Bramble Elemental. Aside from the Brownscale, these are guys I'm always happy with in my Green decks. On that note, there's also the ever-welcome Civic Wayfinder and the conditionally good Root-Kin Ally. A decent creature base from Ravnica alone.
Guildpact gives us... surprisingly little, as far as the mono-green guys are concerned. Silhana Ledgewalker is a little evasive guy that can't be touched by opposing spells - something that can become a real threat with some Aura or equipment attached, but not too exciting otherwise. On the other hand, Skarrgan Pit-Skulk is not impressive at all, even if you manage to trigger Bloodthirst.
Predatory Focus seems like a decent Falter equivalent, something that I think I underrated on the day. It compares decently to other "ignore the blockers" cards like Dance of Shadows, but if something should go wrong and your opponent doesn't die to the attack, he'll be free to annihilate your team. Nevertheless, it should be played in Sealed, at least.
First of the new guilds in Guildpact is Gruul, with its trademark mechanic Bloodthirst. This mechanic is a fun one to mess around with, and obviously goes up in value if your pool contains pingers like Viashino Fangtail, or fliers like the seemingly ubiquitous Mourning Thrull.
As far as our pool and Bloodthirst are concerned, our pool gives us Scab-Clan Mauler and Burning-Tree Bloodscale. The Mauler is quite reasonable as a cheap 3/3 with trample, but I'd only play this in a deck that can expect to get Bloodthirst working well. After all, a 1/1 with Trample is hardly impressive - just ask Defiant Elf.
Burning-Tree Bloodscale, for a member of the mindless attacking guild, adds a surprising amount of utility. As a four mana 2/2 with its two interesting abilities, it's barely acceptable as an expensive way of drawing blockers out of the way, or perhaps a variant of Sabertooth Alley-Cat. It's when this guy comes out as a 3/3 that he really shines.
As far as one-drops are concerned in this format, I'm usually reluctant to run them unless they have an ability that I plan on being able to utilise later, or if they have some other functionality (like helping out Selesnya Evangel). Wild Cantor is one of these. It comes out on turn 1, helping power out that elusive Watchwolf-esque turn 2 Scab-Clan Mauler and then, as if that wasn't enough, it can help Streetbreaker Wurm come out a turn earlier. A very acceptable one-drop.
Borborygmos seems to have an intimidating mana cost, but is actually quite reasonably priced at seven mana for a 6/7. It must be those scary colored mana symbols. He's a huge creature that'll likely be bigger than every other guy on the field, so his great ability is just a bonus, but what a bonus it is! Pumping up your entire side of the field is always a great feeling.
Orzhov's mechanic, Haunt, is not one that I see being utilised to a great extent. The most common use seems to be getting a bonus two-point life swing off Blind Hunter, and then after this, it seems either rather mediocre (e.g. Cry of Contrition or Absolver Thrull) or something fairly obscure, like Graven Dominator. Regardless, it is an interesting mechanic that will complexify the format.
Speaking of Blind Hunter, we have two of these amazing guys in our card pool. Not only are they at an acceptable size-to-mana ratio for a flying creature, they get a free four-point life drain attached. What's not to like? As with the Ostiary Thrull previously, these are also pushing us towards an Orzhov-based deck.
Finishing off this part of the card analysis is a Mourning Thrull. This is a card that I underrated at the prerelease. It's a 1/1 flier for two mana, which is unexciting, yet playable. However, on top of this, it has a combat ability that can give you a slight edge in a damage race. Now, I'm not saying that it's super amazing, but it's better than I thought it was.
Izzet gives us the ability Replicate, which seems to only have Limited worth if the Replicate cost is low enough. A prime example of this is the very playable Pyromatics, and another example would be Train of Thought. This pool gives us Leap of Flame, a card that allows one's army to take to the sky and alpha-strike, or can alternatively let your side smash the opponent with first strike advantage.
Izzet Guildmage is unlikely to be more than a generic 2/2 for two mana, due to quite a shortage of useful two mana or less instants and sorceries in Limited. Similarly, the other creature, Gelectrode, will miss out on its untap ability being utilised to the fullest, but still remains a decent pinger.
Finally, we have Electrolyze, essentially the two halves of Fire/Ice being scotch taped together. A very useful spell that I'd happy sleeve up if I were in the colors. Something to look out for if one of the U/R decks in Standard is willing to pick it up and run with it. I'm not certain that it fits in either Eminent Domain or Hattori Hanzo Tron, however.
The lands and artifacts give us a hefty five Signets and an unplayable Leashling, amongst other things. These five Signets could help us skip straight to the four-slot glut in our mana curve that would plague our Orzhov deck-to-be. Also present are four bouncelands, which we're happy to run if they coincide with our colors, and Duskmantle, a helping hand to our non-existent milling strategy. Wonderful.
Before I go any further, here's the build that I chose to run.
Green: (6)
Bramble Elemental
Civic Wayfinder
Gather Courage
Greater Mossdog
2 Wildsize
White: (6)
Benevolent Ancestor
Conclave Equenaut
Graven Dominator
Loxodon Gatekeeper
Nightguard Patrol
Veteran Armorer
Red: (3)
Goblin Spelunkers
Pyromatics
Sparkmage Apprentice
Gold/Guild: (6)
Borborygmos
Boros Guildmage
Burning-Tree Bloodscale
Scab-Clan Mauler
Thundersong Trumpeter
Wild Cantor
Artifact: (2)
Selesnya Signet
Boros Signet
Land: (17)
5 Mountain
5 Plains
4 Forest
2 Gruul Turf
Selesnya Sanctuary
I can here you all asking, what happened to that Orzhov good stuff you were drooling over in the card analysis? Essentially, the first take of the deck I made was the following skeleton of a deck:
Mourning Thrull
Veteran Armorer
Lurking Informant
Roofstalker Wight
Civic Wayfinder
Benevolent Ancestor
Nightguard Patrol
Keening Banshee
2 Blind Hunter
3 Ostiary Thrull
Loxodon Gatekeeper
Greater Mossdog
Bramble Elemental
Graven Dominator
Conclave Equenaut
In what I feel was the wrong decision, I stepped away from this build to pursue one with a smoother mana curve. This B/W/G list also features 2BB, 3GG and 4WW mana costs, which is something I wasn't too happy with. I tried shuffling colors around to fix the curve and prevent color screw, but nothing seemed to be working.
In hindsight, the mana curve does not seem overly problematic. Running three or more Signets would be able to help us rectify such a situation. This also gives us access to Disembowel and Keening Banshee as removal, as well as giving us a way of winning, regardless of ground stalls – 2 Blind Hunter, Keening Banshee, Conclave Equenaut and Graven Dominator is quite a flying army.
Really, to be honest, I think I made quite a blunder in deckbuilding by not running the take of the deck that I first came up with. Let's compare the two. The deck I actually ran had a curve of creatures looking a little like this:
1: #
2: #####
3: ####
4: ###
5: #
6: ##
7: #
On the other hand, the Orzhov-based deck that I built when I first looked at this pool, but then dismantled after fear of problematic starts and games only really starting on turn four… this deck has a creature curve like:
1:
2: ####
3: ###
4: ########
5: #
6: ##
7:
Note that this Orzhov deck is not significantly clunkier than the deck that I actually ran. Looking at the differences between the decks makes it clear that I sacrificed a lot of power in this W/B/G deck to fill gaps in the curve with cards like Scab-Clan Mauler in the W/R/G deck. This came back to haunt me later when the opponent stabilised after my early creature rush, and I could do nothing but watch as their guys flew over my army, or I was simply overwhelmed by better creatures.
Sleeving up the W/B/G deck now, several days after the prerelease, gives me a deck that seems to have a decent power level, definitely better than the W/R/G deck that I ran on the day. This seems to boil down to a power versus consistency argument – except that the more powerful deck is also consistent. I'll chalk up this erroneous deck building to overexcitement at seeing the awesome Guildpact cards.
As always, feel free to raise your voices in the forums about what you think is the correct build for this card pool. I'd really like to hear some other opinions on this matter.
To show you how my deck operated, I'll present a compact tournament report detailing how this deck worked (or didn't work) against opponents in the four round prerelease event I attended.
Round 1: Ben Yuill (R/G/W)
In the first game, I don't stand a chance as he plays Watchwolf and Thundersong Trumpeter on turn 3 with the aid of a Signet. My match notes show my life total dwindling by ever-increasing portions, with the few creatures I draw putting up feeble resistance. Second game is more balanced as both of our decks play out guys. I win in a surprising turn as I play a Nightguard Patrol I had been holding back, give it haste with Boros Guildmage, and attack for exactly Ben's life total.
The third game was the most interesting game by far. It started off similar to the first game, but this time my deck put up more resistance. I stabilised, to some extent, and then started bashing in the air with Graven Dominator. After getting in for a decent amount of damage, Ben takes it down with a double block. Using it to haunt my Wild Cantor allows me to use it as a fog effect a few turns later to win me the game.
Round 2: Allan Jackson (R/G)
As can be expected from all but the most lucky Sealed pools, Allan's two-color deck was a little on the underpowered side. The first game reflected this as I played out a variety of large guys and just smashed right over the mediocre creatures that he was running in his deck. In games 2 and 3, I kept hands with two Plains and no White cards. Yes. In both games. I have no good excuse, except maybe I wanted to throw the round for some reason.
(Note that I'm not complaining about bad luck. I drew a seven card hand with two Plains and no White cards each time and I didn't throw it back. It was less bad luck and more me being stupid and stubborn and not mulliganing. I looked back at this round as I was waiting for round 3 to commence, wondering why I kept those hands.)
Round 3: Ling Jing Jing (R/G/W)
I didn't write down what deck he was playing, but I'm fairly certain that he has some kind of Gruul/Selesnya/Boros concoction (a fairly popular arrangement, as far as I could tell). I play out turn 3 Greater Mossdog, turn 4 Signet and turn 5 Borborygmos. I then play Bramble Elemental and attack into his seven power of blockers – I figured that a buffed up Bramble Elemental and Greater Mossdog should be able to carry the game once I get a two-for-one with Borborygmos. I quickly run out of gas and he stabilises just as quickly. We sit there, staring at each other for a while… and then he casts Predatory Focus, swinging for lethal damage and more. Ouch.
The second game of this round was very close, with me being able to take him down to three life, but being unable to draw the third Mountain that I'd need for Pyromatics to take the game home.
Round 4: Witta Anek (B/W/g/r)
I'm not sure if I got the ratio of colors in his deck right, but he was running those four colors. He seems to have taken offense at the last time I spoke about a game with him (at the Saviors prerelease), so I'll keep this brief. First game, I lose to a too-big Bioplasm. Second game, he gets mana screwed. Third game, his Blind Hunter with Sunforger attached goes all the way.
So I managed to get a 1-3 record. Pretty abysmal, don't you all think? Well, at the very least, I hope I've managed to provide some sort of early insight into a Limited environment that many other writers will likely be writing about in the next few weeks. Feel free to chime in on the forums with your opinions about my card pool and the new set in general.
Until next time,
Brandon
P.S. I was going to write another report about the next flight at the prerelease that I played at, but I forgot to note the contents of my deck before dismantling it. I managed to open Glare of Subdual and I played it in another RGW deck. However, I drew it only once the whole tournament – against a young boy who was at his first tournament. Nice luck, eh?
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