Trial by Fire

This past Saturday, I was able to play in a local Grand Prix Trial for GP Pittsburgh. The format was Gatecrash Sealed Deck and I was really excited to try out the format without the Guild Packs that the prereleases brought to the table. Below is the card pool I was given and I'd be really interested to see how you would have built a deck from it. I do think I found a really solid deck within the six packs, as evidenced by my 4-2 Ninth place finish, but I also think there is some room for improvement.

Unfortunately, I didn't keep the usual level of notes on the games I played, so I won't have a tournament summary for you, but listed below the card pool I have included the deck I registered and played on the day.

x1 Angelic Edict
x2 Basilica Guards
x2 Nav Squad Commando
x2 Smite
x1 AEtherize
x1 Frilled Oculus
x1 Hands of Binding
x2 Metropolis Sprite
x2 Sage's Row Denizen
x1 Sapphire Drake
x1 Skygames
x1 Spell Rupture
x2 Devour Flesh
x1 Gutter Skulk
x1 Horror of the Dim
x1 Illness in the Ranks
x1 Mental Vapors
x2 Midnight Recovery
x1 Slate Street Ruffian
x2 Syndicate Enforcer
x1 Bomber Corps
x1 Cracking Perimeter
x1 Ember Beast
x2 Massive Raid
x1 Ripscale Predator
x1 Structural Collapse
x2 Tin Street Market
x1 Warmind Infantry
x1 Adaptive Snapjaw
x1 Burst of Strength
x1 Crocanura
x1 Greenside Watcher
x1 Ooze Flux
x2 Slaughterhorn
x1 Sylvan Primordial
x1 Verdant Haven
x1 Bane Alley Broker
x1 Cartel Aristocrat
x1 Elusive Krasis
x1 Hydroform
x2 Kingpin's Pet
x1 Lazav, Dimir Mastermind
x1 Mortis Strider
x1 Mystic Genesis
x1 Nimbus Swimmer
x1 Orzhov Charm
x1 Paranoid Delusion
x2 Primal Visitation
x1 Psychic Strike
x1 Purge the Profane
x1 Ruination Wurm
x1 Urban Evolution
x1 Vizkopa Confessor
x1 Vizkopa Guildmage
x1 Wojek Halberdiers
x1 Zameck Guildmage
x1 Burning-Tree Emissary
x1 Deathcult Rogue
x1 Merfolk of the Depths
x1 Pit Fight
x1 Shattering Blow
x2 Glaring Spotlight
x1 Skyblinder Staff
x1 Orzhov Keyrune
x2 Razortip Whip
x1 Orzhov Guildgate
x1 Sacred Foundry
x2 Simic Guildgate

ESPER EXTORT
Main Deck 
x1 Angelic Edict
x2 Basilica Guards
x2 Smite
x1 Frilled Oculus
x2 Devour Flesh
x1 Gutter Skulk
x2 Syndicate Enforcer
x1 Bane Alley Broker
x1 Cartel Aristocrat
x2 Kingpin's Pet
x1 Orzhov Charm
x1 Psychic Strike
x1 Vizkopa Confessor
x1 Vizkopa Guildmage
x1 Deathcult Rogue
x1 Orzhov Keyrune
x2 Razortip Whip
x1 Orzhov Guildgate
x3 Island
x6 Plains
x7 Swamp

Looking back on the day, I think I would have main decked the Nav Squad Commandos in place of the Whips, even though the Artifact pingers did a fair amount of work on the day. I really wanted to run Lazav, particularly because of the amount of good removal in the deck, but the double blue in his casting cost was too much for me to try.

I really liked the consistency of the deck, but felt that the lack of bombs really hurt in the later swiss rounds. In the end however, it was my unwillingness to mulligan to faster starts against two very aggressive aggro Naya builds kept me from making the top eight and getting a chance to draft for the Pittsburgh byes.

Lemme know what you think of the pool and my build and thanks for reading!!

Cardboard Restored

Whew! What a lull in activity here. I'm hoping I'll be able to once again make more frequent updates here, as I do have a lot to talk about, but for now a look at my local Avacyn Restored Pre-Release!

Today I returned to my Limited adventures in Magic: The Gathering while attending the pre-release for the final set in the Innistrad block, Avacyn Restored. A large expansion set, it is solely used in Drafts and Sealed Decks, just as Innistrad was.

Today I managed a 4-2 record with the B/G/r mishmash listed below, after first trying to make a W/G/u version work. I'm glad I made the last minute swap, as the more aggressive build seemed to catch a lot of my opponents with their guards down, as they had built slower decks. As always, I'm curious how you might have assembled the pool, or if you feel I under/over judged cards.

I hope to get a feel for drafting AVR this coming Friday Night Magic. 

Creatures

1 Borderland Ranger

1 Butcher Ghoul

1 Demonic Taskmaster

1 Diregraf Escort

1 Gloom Surgeon

2 Gloomwidow

1 Hanweir Lancer

1 Hunted Ghoul

1 Kruin Striker

2 Renegade Demon

1 Pathbreaker Wurm

1 Searchlight Geist

1 Trusted Forcemage

1 Undead Executioner

1 Zealous Conscripts

Non-Creature Cards

1 Angelic Armaments

1 Death Wind

1 Essence Harvest

1 Lair Delve

1 Joint Assault

1 Mental Agony

1 Predator’s Gambit

1 Snare the Skies

Lands

7 Forest

7 Swam

2 Mountain

Sideboard

3 Angel’s Mercy

2 Angelic Wall

1 Cathar’s Crusade

1 Cloudshift

1 Cursebreak

1 Goldnight Redeemer

1 Midnight Duelist

1 Moorland Geist

1 Moorland Inquisitor

1 Seraph of Dawn

1 Spectral Gateguards

1 Zealous Strike

2 Alchemist’s Apprentice

2 Dreadwaters

1 Elgaud Shieldmate

1 Galvanic Alchemist

2 Geist Snatch

1 Havengul Skaab

1 Mass Appeal

1 Mist Raven

1 Rotcrown Ghoul

1 Scrapskin Drake

1 Stolen Goods

1 Wingcraft

1 Barter in Blood

1 Crypt Creeper

1 Descent into Madness

1 Driver of the Dead

1 Grave Exchange

1 Homicidal Seclusion

1 Marrow Bats

1 Polluted Dead

1 Aggravate

1 Banners Raised

1 Battle Hymn

2 Raging Poltergeist

1 Rush of Blood

1 Thatcher Revolt

1 Vigilante Justice

1 Flowering Lumberknot

1 Geist Trappers

1 Grounded

1 Rain of Thorns

1 Triumph of Ferocity

1 Vorstclaw

1 Angel’s Tomb

1 Haunted Guardian

1 Scroll of Avacyn

1 Vessel of Endless Rest

1 Desolate Lighthouse

2 Seraph Sanctuary