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As we enter into another limited season with a new block, the beautiful format that is Team Sealed has a lot to teach us about both Sealed and draft formats, as the decks have the focus of draft decks but the deckbuilding process is mostly like Sealed. This article is going to trace a five-round Team Sealed Grand Prix Trial, from deckbuilding through the tournament itself. Along the way, there are some cards that haven’t been getting the attention they deserve, and I’ve got the results to back up the claims. Part I: Sealed Pool and Deckbuilding The Goblin Mons Raiders saddled up for the forty minute ride out to Exton, PA, where we and 10 other teams were to enter into a five-round Team Sealed competition, a Grand Prix: Chicago trial. In the A Seat is Zac "Game Face" Rider, and Tom "I Don’t Play Magic Anymore, I Play Poker Now" Winner in the C Seat. Yours truly is playing quarterback. We open a decent pool for the deck swap, but bid farewell to Yosei, the Morning Star and a variety of other goodies. Luckily, we are greeted with the following absurdity after the exchange: Lands: 1 Cloudcrest Lake 1 Forbidden Orchard 1 Minamo, School at Water’s Edge 1 Tranquil Garden Artifacts: 1 Hankyu 1 Honor-Worn Shauku 1 Nine-Ringed Bo 1 Orochi Hatchery White: 1 Blessed Breath 1 Cage of Hands 1 Devoted Retainer 2 Ethereal Haze 1 Ghostly Prison 2 Hundred-Talon Kami 2 Kabuto Moth 2 Kami of the Palace Fields 2 Kitsune Blademaster 2 Kitsune Diviner 1 Kitsune Riftwalker 2 Lantern Kami 2 Mothrider Samurai 1 Pious Kitsune 1 Terashi’s Cry Blue: 1 Aura of Dominion 2 Consuming Vortex 1 Counsel of the Sorotami 1 Dampen Thought 3 Eye of Nowhere 1 Field of Reality 1 Graceful Adept 2 Kami of Twisted Reflection 2 Lifted By Clouds 1 Petals of Insight 3 Reach Through Mists 1 Reweave 1 Sift Through Sands 1 Sorotami Mirror-Guard 1 Sorotami Rainshaper 1 Squelch 2 Teller of Tales 2 Thoughtbind 1 Wandering Ones Green: 1 Burr Grafter 1 Commune With Nature 2 Dripping-Tongue Zubera 1 Jukai Messenger 1 Honden of Life’s Web 3 Kami of the Hunt 2 Kashi-Tribe Reaver 1 Kodama’s Might 2 Moss Kami 1 Order of the Sacred Bell 2 Orochi Leafcaller 2 Orochi Ranger 1 Rootrunner 1 Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder 2 Serpent Skin 1 Sosuke, Son of Seshiro 1 Vine Kami 1 Wear Away Red: 1 Akki Avalanchers 2 Akki Rockspeaker 1 Battle-Mad Ronin 1 Ben-Ben, Akki Hermit 2 Blood Rites 1 Brutal Deceiver 2 Crushing Pain 1 Desperate Ritual 1 Ember-Fist Zubera 1 Glacial Ray 2 Hearth Kami 1 Honden of Infinite Rage 2 Kami of Fire’s Roar 1 Kumano’s Pupils 1 Lava Spike 1 Mindblaze 1 Ore Gorger 2 Ronin Houndmaster 1 Sokenzan Bruiser 1 Soul of Magma 2 Stone Rain 1 Uncontrollable Anger 1 Yamabushi’s Storm Black: 1 Ashen-Skin Zubera 1 Befoul 1 Cranial Extraction 2 Cruel Deceiver 1 Cursed Ronin 2 Devouring Greed 1 Deathcurse Ogre 1 Gibbering Kami 1 Hideous Laugher 1 Horobi, Death’s Wail 1 Kami of the Waning Moon 1 Nezumi Shortfang 1 Oni Posession 1 Rag Dealer 3 Ragged Veins 2 Rend Flesh 1 Scuttling Death 1 Villainous Ogre 2 Waking Nightmare 1 Wicked Akuba There’s the pool. Here’s the blank space which is your cue to at least think about the pool, and, if you’re of the hardworking sort, try to build it on your own. Alright, enough of that. My color-by-color analysis in brief follows, but first I should note that none of the artifacts or lands are very exciting, although we have manafixers for U/W or W/G, and the Hatchery is playable, if very slow. The white in the pool is absolutely nutty. Everything amazing in the common slot is there, with Cage of Hands and doubles of Kabuto Moth, Kitsune Blademaster, and Mothrider Samurai. We also have some nice flyers with the Kami of the Palace Fields and the Hundred-Talon Kami, though they’re both a touch slow. Ghostly Prison is solid, and amazing if the deck ends up being controllish, but that seems unlikely with the nasty little early drops the color has. This color could support anything. The blue is probably the weakest color in the pool, with only four creatures I’d happily play. Two of those are the decidedly mediocre Kami of Twisted Reflection, which are a bit clunky due to the 1UU cost (especially considering that blue will not be a main color in the decks here), while the Teller of Tales is the best of the blue commons, and we have two of them. The blue is missing Mystic Restraints, so we’d like to give blue to a color that already has removal, like black or red, although the double Consuming Vortex is removal of a sort, if we can throw a fast aggro deck with blue as a support color. The other exciting thing in the pool is the triple Reach Through the Mists, which are amazing if we have the right splicing spells or the right triggers. The last cards of note are the double Thoughtbind, which is decideldly playable but unexciting, much like the Counsel of the Sorotami. The green may be even stronger than the white. We have the bomb common that is Kodama’s Might, though only one. We do, however, have three Kami of the Hunt, which are solid enough that they will seriously weight deckbuilding towards a G/x deck with lots of spirits/arcane. On that topic, we have Rootrunner and Burr Grafter, both of which are very good on their own, and the fact that they will almost certainly be able to soulshift back a Kami of the Hunt pushes them into amazing with this pool. Closing out the Spirit-related quality cards in the run are the two Moss Kami, which are the biggest common creature around and can just trample over things that green can’t remove. Solid. The only spirit we’re sad to not see is the very powerful Feral Deceiver. The other half of the green that needs to be looked at is the snakes, which are also amazing. Kashi-Tribe Reaver is slow but it’s a beating, and there aren’t too many ways to deal with it, and it’s almost impossible to block effectively. They are bombs if you can get them out with Sosuke, Son of Seshiro, which makes them 4/2 regenerating basilisks. We even have Commune with Nature to fetch the bomby snake legend. Rounding out, the two Orochi Rangers give the green some much needed two-drop material, and the leafcallers could be playable if needed. The lone Sakura-Tribe Elder is the pool’s only mana acceleration, which is probably the green’s greatest weakness as a whole; having a few mana accelerators in a deck will improve a deck’s consistency and power both dramatically. Rounding out the green playables is the mediocre Order of the Sacred Bell, which is fine, but never exciting. Serpent Skin is also a nice combat trick, and makes attacking with four mana open very hard to block against. The Red, like the blue, is a bit thin in the creature base, but has some truly amazing cards as well. What we initially noticed about the red is the two Blood Rites. A digression on this card, please. It is a bomb, hands down. Many have already pointed out how important bears are in this format, and it should be obvious that a reusable source of Shocks is pretty good in such a circumstance, and it’s ability to push through the fatal points of damage is very impressive. Decks can be built around this card, where ordinarily bad cards like Dripping-Tongue Zubera become really amazing. Analyzing the rest of the card pool, the green offers amazing synergy between some of the garbage green creatures and the Blood Rites, and this card alone pushes hard for R/g. Looking at the rest of the red, the lone Glacial Ray is nice but not amazing, and we would really like to see a Yamabushi’s Flame or two. We do, however, have some much needed creature depth with the doubles of Ronin Houndmaster and Hearth Kami, and Ben-Ben provides some pretty solid defense. The creature base is thin, and will need help, but the color offers promise. The black impressed us first by having three of the top 4 constructed rares in the color, missing only Koksuho. But, for the build, much like the red, there was a card in particular calling out to me: the pair of Devouring Greeds. Some are on to this card, but let me add my voice to the choir: this card is the best finisher in the format. The only answer to it is a counterspell, and if you build your deck properly, it’s somewhat average to life-drain them for eight(3 spirits) with this beast. Even if they don’t die, you will often soulshift most of your sacrifices and get back in the game. The Befoul and Rend Flesh offer a nice removal suite, and we can pick up a few odd spirits in the color(Gibbering Kami, Wicked Akuba, Scuttling Death, Horobi, Death’s Wail), but we’ll need to thicken out the creature base to make the black really solid. We also needs a lot of spirits to maximize the power of the Greeds, which usually means green or white. Horobi will up the value of targeting effects, so red would also be an acceptable match, though I rarely like pairing red and black in Team Sealed, as it tends to limit your allies’ removal. So, somewhat holistically, we decided that the optimal allocation would be U/G Spirits/Arcane aggro, R/g Blood Rites, and W/B Devouring Greed. We gave Blood Rites to Zac in the A Seat, and Tom took Devouring Greed in the C Seat because the deck was broken beyond all reason, and he doesn’t really play Magic. I took the U/G creating and prayed that I wouldn’t run across anything I couldn’t run over. Seat A: Blood Rites 1 Ben-Ben, Akki Hermit 2 Blood Rites 1 Brutal Deceiver 1 Ember-Fist Zubera 1 Glacial Ray 2 Hearth Kami 1 Honden of Infinite Rage 2 Kami of Fire’s Roar 1 Lava Spike 2 Ronin Houndmaster 1 Sokenzan Bruiser 1 Uncontrollable Anger 2 Dripping-Tongue Zubera 1 Honden of Life’s Web 1 Jukai Messenger 1 Order of the Sacred Bell 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder 1 Orochi Hatchery 10 Mountain 7 Forest This deck looked like the weakest of the three, as it was the only one we had to fill with cards we weren’t thrilled to include, such as the Jukai Messenger, the Sokenzan Bruiser, the Lava Spike, and the two Kami of Fire’s Roar. We counted on the two Shrines and the Blood Rites to provide the card advantage needed to make this deck good. It worked. Seat B: U/G Spirits/Arcane 2 Consuming Vortex 3 Reach Through the Mists 1 Sorotami Rainshaper 2 Teller of Tales 1 Burr Grafter 1 Commune With Nature 3 Kami of the Hunt 2 Kashi-Tribe Reaver 1 Kodama’s Might 2 Moss Kami 2 Orochi Ranger 1 Rootrunner 1 Serpent Skin 1 Sosuke, Son of Seshiro 1 Minamo, School at Water’s Edge 7 Island 9 Forest This deck has two primary weaknesses: its lack of two-drops beyond the Orochi Rangers, and its lack of true removal, with only the Vortexes available. That said, the deck can lay some dangerous three and four drops, and then splice the Consuming Vortex onto a Reach Through Mists to swing for extremely large amounts of damage, and this forces very difficult decisions for the opponent. Kami of the Hunt was made for this deck, and having three of them is absolutely amazing. Seat C: W/B Devouring Greed 1 Cage of Hands 2 Hundred-Talon Kami 2 Kabuto Moth 2 Kitsune Blademaster 2 Lantern Kami 2 Mothrider Samurai 1 Ashen-Skin Zubera 1 Befoul 2 Cruel Deceiver 2 Devouring Greed 1 Gibbering Kami 1 Horobi, Death’s Wail 1 Nezumi Shortfang 1 Rend Flesh 1 Scuttling Death 1 Wicked Akuba We had to cut a lot from this deck that would normally be automatically included in a W/B deck, as well as some other strong contenders. Obviously, Ghostly Prison is amazing in a format with such heavy tempo, but we didn’t feel it fit with the amazingly aggressive nature of this deck. With 13 spirits, a Devouring Greed plus a few early points of damage can usually seal a game. The deck’s mana curve is amazing, and the biggest argument was over the last two slots, with me arguing for the two Lantern Kami, while the others wanted the Ghostly Prison and second Rend Flesh. I insisted on the Lantern Kami, and, afterwards, Tom agreed that they were absolutely the right choice. The 1/1 flyer is invaluable, able to get in early beats and trade for any of the blue common flyers, as well as Hearth Kamis and other x/1 creatures. Devouring Greed pushes him over the edge and makes him amazing. Part II: The Report I’m going to try and make this relatively quick, and just get the vital points of play out there. It’s easier on both of us. Round One: U/R Arcane: Mike (I believe) I win the coin toss, and my turn 3, 4, and 5 turn plays are all Kami of the Hunt. I have arcane spells in my hand, and he has Callous Deceiver. We banter about how lucky I am to draw all three, and then he loses. Game two, he opens with turn 1 Lava Spike, and I giggle on the inside. I think I may have giggled on the outside when his turn two play was also Lava Spike. Somehow, I draw Kami of the Hunt again, but instead follow with Kashi-Tribe Reaver. He tries to play creatures again, and I play tricks with Reach Through the Mists, Consuming Vortex, and Kodama’s Might to punch through for a really large amount of damage. Zac and Tom both with their matches handily, as Zac’s opponent can only draw Kokusho, the Evening Star once, and Yosei, the Morning Star does not stop Devouring Greed for eight. Round Two: U/W Samurai: Matt I’m on the play, but he gets the first creature, and it’s the Samurai of the Pale Curtain. I have an Orochi Range, but he gets in beats and then plays Sensei Golden-Tail. I play two Kami of the Hunt, and we race for a while, and then he makes a nasty little error thinking that Sensei Golden-Tail’s ability is a combat trick, when it is in fact a sorcery. I topdeck a Kodama’s Might to punch through lethal damage, but he topdecks a Mystic Restraints, and I get a nasty loss. Game two is fairly long, with a nasty groundstall that eventually gets me Sosuke and both Kashi-Tribe Reavers. I keep his Sensei Golden-Tail/Kitsune Healer combo tapped down with a Teller of Tales, and erode his board position until I win. Game three is a lot like game one, in that it’s down to the wire, but he gets a Mystic Restraints when he needs it and I end up a few points of damage short. Tom wins quite handily, again thanks to Devouring Greed, and his opponent prompty tries to reassert dominance through yelling, a practice that I will never understand. It fails. Zac goes to three games. The deciding game, he’s at four, staring down an Order of the Sacred Bell and a Hearth Kami. His opponent is at four also, and he’s holding a Lava Spike, with eight lands and Blood Rites on the board. He needs a dude to win, and Ben-Ben, Akki Hermit shows up, and is fed through for the win. This was our closest match all day, but we pull it out 2-1. Round Three: U/G/r TurboLand: Stephen Okay, so his deck is obviously not really TurboLand, but his game one plays are as follows: turn two Sakura-Tribe Elder, turn three Kodama’s Reach, turn four Meloku, the Clouded Mirror, turn five Kodama’s Reach. My hand is gassy, but Meloku and eight lands by turn six means that he can slow my ground assault and fly over for the win, with me 2 points of damage short. If I’d had Kodama’s Might for my Moss Kami, I would have won, strangely enough. Games two and three, however, do not involve Meloku, and my deck is much better at racing than his. Zac and Tom both win their matches as well, with nothing much to be said about the matchups. Zac’s Blood Rites rules the mirror against another red deck, while Tom is in a W/B spirit mirror as well. Round Four: B/R Putting All The Removal In One Deck Is A Good Idea, Right?: Jim "The Face" Pepe So, we intentionally draw, because we’re guaranteed top 4 by this point unless weird things happen, but we play for fun. We play anyways, though without consequences. My matchup is pretty bad, because he has Kiku, Night’s Flower in his deck, and always draws it. I actually win game one, but drop games two and three, as the assassin on turn two is very hard for my deck to beat. Zac, crushes their U/G deck, which is basically a mess of playable cards after the other two built their decks (bad strategy, kids), while Tom’s matchup was pretty interesting. Their C Seat had a nasty little U/W control deck featuring double Kabuto Moth and Eight-and-a-Half Tails, along with a good suite of blue card drawing and multiples of both Kitsune Healer and Pious Kitsune. However, game one went like this: Tom: I play Lantern Kami, then Cruel Deceiver, then Kitsune Blademaster. C Seat: Everything in my deck costs three or more. I play Pious Kitsune. What’s a mana curve? Tom: Beats me. I swing for five more. Gibbering Kami. C Seat: I’m at 8, but I’m going to stabilize now. 8.5 Tails is in my deck, so that Pious Kitsune is awesome. Tom: Devouring Greed for infinite. C Seat: You cheated. Let’s play again. And then, the second game, the exact same thing happened. It was a high point. Round Five: U/G Arcane: Dave So, we can lose and still make top 4, but we play, because Magic is fun. He’s on the play, and he plays No-Dachi, then I play Kami of the Hunt. He has a Kashi-Tribe Reaver, while I have another Kami of the Hunt. He swings for five, but the key to this game is that I play Reach Through the Mists with Consuming Vortex and Kodama’s Might spliced onto it, and remove his creature and swing for a lot. The same thing happens next turn. Game two, he goes first, and we both have exactly the same draw, but he goes first and so he wins. Game three, my draw is good, and his draw is Matsu-Tribe Decoy. Excellent. Zac absolutely cannot win against G/W featuring two Kami of the Ancient Law, and goes down 2-1. We would have carried the match, but Tom is bad at Magic and doesn’t draw any lands unless his hand size is five or smaller, so we lose instead. On to top 4. Semifinals: U/G/r Turboland: Stephen A replay. We win 2-1 this time, as Tom’s match swings the other way, while I never have to deal with Meloku and Zac’s matchup goes pretty much the way it did last time. Finals: Team Rochester Draft So, we agree to a split and draft for fun. What that means is that we raredraft like animals, then play with mediocre decks. While we did lose the draft 2-1, it was quite close, and I think we got outopened. But, we did manage to steal a Cranial Extraction and two Boseiju, Who Shelters All. The Constructed quality of the rares in the draft was insane: 1 Cranial Extraction 2 Boseiju, Who Shelters All 2 Gifts Ungiven 1 Nezumi Shortfang 1 Keiga, the Tide Star 1 Hikari, Twilight Guardian 1 Meloku, the Clouded Mirror. and more. We got all but Keiga. The draft was fun, and all of our opponents were good people. Thanks for reading this far, and any disputes with building choices should be brought to me in the forums. -Casey Brown cbrown2@swarthmore.edu