Magic: The Gathering (2/2)

Following up the previous MTG post...

On Sunday we mixed it up with some sealed deck play -- each of us (M^2, W, & me) bought 6 booster packs and tried to build the best decks we could to play each other.

I like the format a lot -- it's a bit randomized, but it does provide a level playing field (at the expense of the new cards). It's certainly more balanced than playing with each of our respective collections. Furthermore, with such a limited supply of cards, all sorts of previously impractical cards become incredible assets. Samite Healer? Good card!

My deck construction was retarded, but it worked pretty well in the end. I sorted my cards by color, and from each color made a stack of cards I thought were viable to play with. When I was finished, I took the three stacks I liked the most (blue, black, and red) and filled it up with lands. Oh, and a few artifacts -- I scored a Whispersilk Cloak (equipment, makes a critter unblockable and untargetable) and an Icy Manipulator (big win!).

A card I luckily got to play a lot was the Waning Wurm, a cheap, huge black creature that dies after two turns. I had enough blue and black cards that kept it alive, brought it back to life, or brought it back to my hand that it always got multiple attacks. Much fun. When I won, it was usually due to another lucky draw, a card that's great in any format (if you're playing blue): Psionic Blast, a card that hasn't otherwise been printed since Unlimited (before I even started playing!).

Also, I drew a Kaervek the Merciless, a powerful card that's normally too expensive (mana cost, I mean) to play practically. Sealed deck games tend to be slower, so you have more mana to play with. As a result, I got to play Kaervek several times. The big amusement here is that Kaervek's Spite has been one of my favorite cards since it came out, and I rarely build a deck without it. I finally get to play Kaervek himself!