Shadowmoor Sealed: Oona, Queen of the Fae Beatings
June 16, 2008 | Posted by Dee
My local comic book store had a Shadowmoor Sealed tournament. I don’t have much experience with the Shadowmoor Limited format. I entered the tournament to gain some experience and hopefully pull some money rares.
Here’s what I opened in my one tournament pack and two boosters:[TABLE=6]
For a quick and effective way to build your Shadowmoor Sealed deck, check out Jacob Van Lunen’s article, Unsealing Shadowmoor. His tips helped me shave a couple minutes of my deckbuilding time.
I was definitely gonna play Oona because she’s the best rare in the format (Sorry, Knollspine Dragon). Also, I wanted to play both Beseech the Queens to fetch Oona.
I came late so I didn’t have much time to build my deck. I wanted to cast Oona easily, so I quickly checked the blue and black cards to see if I had enough playable cards. It looked like I had enough good blue and black cards. Also, I didn’t see amazing cards in the other colors so here’s what I ran:[TABLE=7]
Later in this article, I got some good advice from a good player. He showed me how he would’ve built my deck. Of course, he kept the Beseech the Queens and Oona, but he cut the blue and added a different color.
How would you have built my sealed deck?
Match 1 vs RGW
Game 1
He was slightly mana screwed. I hit him a couple times with Wanderbrine Rootcutters. Also, I used Beseech the Queen to fetch Oona.
He started to make a comeback with a Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers that was enchanted by both Shield of the Oversoul and Steel of the Godhead. It was 6/7 indestructible creature with vigilance and flying. However, I had the second Beseech the Queen to fetch Aethertow. I put Steel of the Godhead on Oona and she attacked for the win.
Game 2
He got an early Gloomwidow and starting hitting me while I had a slow start. I had to Beseech the Queen for my sixth land to play Oona. However, he was able to activate Gnarled Effigy twice and then Firespout to kill her. I didn’t have anything to deal with Gnarled Effigy. He killed me creatures and attacked a couple times for the win. This game went to time so we had to draw.
Matches 0-0-1, Games 1-1
Match 2 vs RB
Game 1
Turn 2 Somnomancer, turn 3 Steel of the Godhead, and turn 4 Steel of the Godhead is “good game” for me.
Game 2
He had Everlasting Torment and a couple small creatures early in the game. I had a slow start and took a lot of early damage. However, I was able to catch up because he got mana flooded.
He did get down an Impromptu Raid and was able to activitate multiples times a turn. However, I drew enough creatures to block his raids and my Somnomancer enchanted with Steel of the Godhead attacked a couple times for the win.
Afterwards we played Standard decks. He played a blue weenie deck filled with Unsummons, Boomerangs, and Unstable Mutation. I played my mono blue Platinum Angel deck [LINK]. He got me down to 7 life but I was able to stabilize with the card advantage of Ancestral Vision. He ran out of action. I played Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir and Platinum Angel. I protect them with counterspells and they went all the way for the win.
Matches 1-0-1, Games 3-1
Match 3 vs WR
Game 1
He had the machine gun going (Pili-Pala and Power of Fire) with a good amount of mana. I didn’t draw anything to deal with it. He killed my creatures and attacked with his creatures for the win.
Game 2
This game showed the power of Oona. He got me down to single digits and had more and better creatures on the board. I topdecked Oona. I played her, made some Faeries, chump blocked a couple times, and decked him in 3 turns.
Game 3
This was similar to game 2. He got me down to a low life total, but I was able to play Oona before I died. I kept missing with her activations to make Faeries so I had to keep her back to block since he had more creatures than me. I didn’t matter because Oona just decked him.
Matches 2-0-1, Games 5-2
Match 4 vs GRw
Game 1
I was stuck on two lands and he killed me with big green creatures.
Game 2
I started off well with Somnomancer and Steel of the Godhead. However, he had Burn Trail. I Beseeched for Oona but he had Mercy Killing. I brought him down to single digits with the five 1/1 green/white Elf Warrior creature tokens. However, he had a foil Firespout to kill my whole team. I rebuilt with more creatures but he had a second Firespout.
He played Valleymaker and killed my creatures with his ability. I died to Valleymaker, Morselhoarder, and Loamdragger Giant.
Matches 2-1-1, Games 5-4
Getting Good Advice
My opponent, Eric, seemed like a good player so I showed him my sealed card pool and asked him how he would’ve built it.
He said my build was okay but not optimal. He didn’t like Torture. He would’ve played Flame Javelin over it. That made sense. I didn’t think about just playing Flame Javelin in a non-red deck, but 6 mana for 4 damage is definitely playable in a slow format like Sealed.
Also, he thought Blight Sickle was unplayable. After playing with it and against it in two games, I agreed with him. It’s not good at all.
He valued my white cards (including the green/white cards) higher than I did. More specifically, I didn’t realize the power of these three white cards: Oracle of Nectars, Inquisitor’s Snare, and Last Breath. If I had realize the true value of these cards, I think I would’ve gone with white/black instead of blue/black.
Here’s what he said about these cards.
* Oracle of Nectars is super annoying against your opponent. This made sense because Sealed games often go into a creature stall. During the stall, you can gain a ton of life.
* Inquisitor’s Snare kills 60% of the creatures in the format. This made sense because even if I’m playing against a green/white deck, my opponent will probably have some green/red hybrid creatures.
* Last Breath kills most of the creatures in the format too. When he said this, I thought about the game where I got wrecked by Pili-Pala and Power of Fire. I definitely could’ve used Last Breath in that game.
Here’s the deck he would’ve built:[TABLE=8]
I like his deck better than mine. It’s got a better mana curve especially at the turn two drop with 5 creatures and 3 spells. Also, Last Breath, Prison Term, Inquisitor’s Snare, and Flame Javelin are good removal. I was lacking good removal in my build.
I definitely learned a lot from Eric. If you want to get better at Sealed, try asking a better player how they would’ve built your deck. You’ll probably learn a lot.
-
Subscription Options
-
Popular MTG Cards on eBay
Recent Posts
