Shards of Alara Prerelease Report (Flight #1)
October 13, 2008
Two weeks ago, I played in the Shards of Alara prerelease. Here is the card pool I opened.
| Shards of Alara Prerelease Sealed Pool (Flight #1) | |||||||||||
Green (11)
White (13)
Blue (10)
Black (11) | Red (14)
Green/White/Blue (4) Green/White (1) White/Blue (5) White/Blue/Black (2) Blue/Black (2) Blue/Red (1)
Black/Red (2) Black/Red/Green (2) Red/Green (2) Red/Green/White (1) Colorless Artifact (3) Lands (3) |
| |||||||||
If you had my card pool, what sealed deck would you build?
The first thing that I noticed were the two Scourglass. Wraths are always good in sealed deck. Also, I had two 4/4 flyers: Tower Gargoyle. I had other flyers so I decided to build a deck that would win with aerial attacks. I added my best removal and some exalted guys to beef up my flyers.
Here’s the list I played.
| 5 Color Exalted Flyers | |||||||||||
Creatures (14) | Spells (10)
Lands (16) |
| |||||||||
Normally, I don’t like to play a lot of colors. But I had nine mana fixers so I played all five colors. My flyers were in all the colors expect red. I played red for removal and Jund Battlemage.
The mana base was a little off because I was pressed for time during the deck building period. Here is the current configuration:
14 white cards including 2 cards requiring double white
7 white mana sources
11 blue cards
8 blue mana sources
5 green cards
5 green mana sources
3 red cards
5 red mana sources
4 black cards
6 black mana sources
As you can see, I have more mana sources for blue than white. Yet I have more white cards than blue cards. So, I should’ve played +1 Plains -1 Island. Also, the green and black sources are off. I should’ve cut a Swamp and added a Forest.
Even with these mana base issues, I was able to get the proper colors of mana when I needed them.
Also, I don’t usually like to play less than 16 creatures. However, I felt that I need the Obelisks to fix my mana. And I had good removal and card draw. If you have a lot of removal and/or card draw, you may be able to get away with a lower creature count.
Here’s how the matches went.
Match 1
Game 1
He played Dregscape Zombie and got in for one attack before I played Deft Duelist for defense. With Deft Duelist holding the ground, I played a couple flyers and attacked in the air. However, he drew into removal to kill my flyers.
He played Carrion Thrash and I had to chump block with my Deft Duelist. I drew Oblivion Ring to deal with his 4/4. The board was cleared of creatures, we were both at low life, and we were both in topdeck mode. I drew land and he drew another Dregscape Zombie for the win.
Game 2
Turn four Tower Gargoyle was pretty good for me. He couldn’t deal with it. I played Guardians of Akrasa to kill him quickly.
Game 3
I got the exalted flying beatdown going with double Waveskimmer Aven. He dealt with one using Resounding Thunder and Magma Spray. He couldn’t deal with the other one.
Matches 1-0, Games 2-1-0
Match 2
Game 1
He played Ad Nauseam with 18 life. I thought it would be bad for me. However, he only drew these five cards: 3 lands, a one casting cost spell, and a two casting cost spell. Then, he got massively land flooded and I was able to kill him with my creatures.
Game 2
I was on the back foot this whole game. He had creatures, Angelic Benediction, and double Oblivion Ring. I was down to five life when I wiped his board with Jund Charm and played Stoic Angel. I thought I would be able to come back because he only had one card and I had both Tower Gargoyle in my hand.
However, his one card was Battlegrace Angel 
With ten minutes left in the match, I scooped. It sucked to concede with two 4/4 flyers in my hand. But I didn’t want to chump block with my flyers and hope to draw one of my few outs. I felt it was better to have enough time to win game 3. I didn’t want to spend any more time trying to win a game I had very little chance of winning.
Game 3
My opening hand was 2 Guardians of Akrasa and some removal. I was on the draw and I topdecked the best card I could’ve drawn: Akrasan Squire. I played it and started beating down. With both Guardians of Akrasa, my 1/1 got big on my attack phases.
However, he drew an Oblivion Ring to deal with it. Also, he had another Ring for my freshly played Stoic Angel.
I thought we might have to draw but I drew Scourglass. I blew up his creatures and both of his Oblivion Ring. This got me back Stoic Angel and Akrasan Squire. I couple Angel attacks later and I was the victor.
Matches 2-0, Games 4-2-0
Match 3
Game 1
This was a great game where we got to play our best cards. I had Tower Gargoyle early but he played two red removal spells to kill it. He had Sarkhan Vol but I had Waveskimmer Aven and enough exalted guys to kill the mythic rare before it did dragon shenanigans.
Also, I had enough removal to clear his board. He had to play Caldera Hellion without devour, which wiped out most of my creatures. However, I still had my 2/4 exalted Aven and it was able to finish him off.
Game 2
This was the obligatory mana screw game. Luckily, I was not the one getting mana screwed. I quickly finished him off with my exalted flyers.
Matches 3-0, Games 6-2-0
Match 4
Game 1
It felt good to be in the top tables in the last round, but I knew I was going to face a good player and/or a good deck. Probably both.
I played Barry and he was a good player with a pretty good deck. He had great removal: Agony Warp, 2 Oblivion Ring, Magma Spray, and Resounding Thunder. Also, he had great creatures: Kederekt Creeper, Bull Cerodon, and a bunch of big green fatties.
But it was his Naturalize that killed me in game 1. I had a really good draw but he killed my Obelisk that would’ve allowed me to play my cards. Once I got the mana source I needed, it was too late.
Game 2
I got my revenge by drawing a lot of flyers. He didn’t draw very well and I killed him quickly.
Game 3
This game was epic. I had my flyers and he had his big ground dudes. I played Scourglass, which would’ve helped me since I had artifact creatures and he didn’t. However, he played Oblivion Ring to keep the Scourglass from activating.
We traded a couple of attacks. Then, we drew enough removal to wipe the board of creatures. We were in topdeck mode but I drew land and he drew another fattie for the win.
Matches 3-1, Games 7-4-0
I got three packs for getting three wins.
Also, I signed up for another flight. I’ll be posting that flight’s tournament report probably sometime this week. To receive notification whenever this report is published, subscribe for free email updates today.
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[...] my last post, I talked about my first flight in the Shards of Alara prerelease. Here is how my second flight [...]