cephille's DSK Prerelease Sealed Sharing
Note: This article was translated from Chinese by AI and may contain errors. Read the original Chinese version.
This article is also published on my personal fan page cephille’s MTG World, with an added Sealed pool 7 for readers’ entertainment XD
This weekend I played a total of 4 prerelease Sealed events, plus 12 packs of prize packs, so this article covers 6 DSK Sealed pools in all. Below I will only focus on the deck builds and some thoughts on color pairs and individual cards, without game-by-game records. The main reason is that I believe at a prerelease Sealed event, having fun and the motivation to keep playing matters more than playing correctly! If you want to practice, it’s not too late to rebuild the pool at home or practice in drafts.
Interested readers can look at these earlier articles to learn about Limited in other sets:
Deck Building
Sealed Pool 1
Post-Event Evaluation
This was a pool that went 3 wins, but I think there was some luck in it; otherwise it should be a build worth about two wins, and it would need a little tuning to amplify its strength.
Main Deck Introduction and Discussion
Although there is only one Terramorphic Expanse, green has two super strong fixers, Twitching Doll and Overgrown Zealot, so I still went into a three-color Jund (black, red, green) build. With red-black removal and green’s excellent creature bodies, there was a chance early on to quickly blow out the opponent with two-mana creatures with 3 power. Against Dimir Control, which is heavy on the late game, early high-power creatures are extremely valuable, and they force the opponent to use removal at an uncomfortable pace, making it easier for our later threats to land. This was greatly highlighted in game two against a Dimir opponent! I still have to say, Wary Watchdog is, as bruce1235566 said in the article DSK — Green, truly a good doggy!
Worth mentioning is that the mythic rare Hauntwoods Shrieker is not very suitable in a midrange-leaning build like this. If it comes down on turn three, attacks, manifests dread, and then gets traded off, it is actually losing out on body size; it might perform better in a purer Gruul aggro deck, paired with more tricks and removal to keep generating value.
The prerelease foil was Doomsday Excruciator, which needs no consideration XD
Sideboard and Pool Optimization
The sideboard is above. But if I were to rebuild it, I would take out most of the black, keeping only the black Overlord Overlord of the Balemurk and the swampcycler Spectral Snatcher, and add more low-cost curve to make a Gruul aggro deck splashing black.
Out:
In:
- Bear Trap - Bear Trap fills the gap at the one-drop slot. In the aggressive Gruul pair, the extra 3 damage after combat damage helps our creatures roll forward. And putting an artifact into the graveyard after sacrificing it also helps a bit with delirium, though we already have plenty of artifact creatures.
- Irreverent Gremlin - A two-mana 2/2 with menace is very strong on offense, and the rummage also helps reach delirium.
- Vengeful Possession & Diversion Specialist - These two work as a small combo, with a chance to take the opponent’s big creature and eat it with a sacrifice after stealing it so you don’t have to give it back, but Gruul’s own threaten effects are already good enough, especially when the opponent taps out to cast a big creature. Diversion Specialist itself, a four-mana 4/3 with menace, is also a decent clock.
The lands are adjusted to: 8 Forest, 6 Mountain, 2 Swamp, and Terramorphic Expanse. Two Swamps are there to keep the flexibility of playing the two black cards, but when fetching with the land, if possible, please prioritize one red and one green; Wildfire Wickerfolk on time on turn two is always great!
Sealed Pool 2
Post-Event Evaluation
This was a pool worth three wins! I missed putting one one-mana Goat, Possessed Goat, in the main deck. The creature curve was great, and almost everything could grow or trade, and the removal was also excellent! It only went 2 wins because in game three I was drawing lands the whole time XD
Main Deck Introduction and Discussion
Although I had two Rite of the Moth, I only played one, because my curve was very good, and I’d basically cast the fatty first, and if it got removed I could just recur it. As for Emerge from the Cocoon… what is that? I just play off the curve and don’t need it at all XD
After playing, my evaluation of two cards went up considerably:
- Seized from Slumber - This is a good card that does both offense and defense. We don’t need to obsess over not being able to kill the blocking creature when attacking and give it up; being able to remove an attacking survivor for two mana is very valuable, it’s a tempo swing once it resolves early on, and a five-mana straight-up kill in the very late game is not low value either.
- Sporogenic Infection - This kind of “jump ship” effect is super strong in Limited. If the opponent has two creatures, you stick it on one and first jump off his strongest one and call for the attack, because if the creature with the Aura takes damage it gets destroyed instead, so if the opposing creature is high-value he may not block, and you can deal several more points of damage. If the opponent has only one big creature, you can also consider putting it on your own small creature and jumping off the big one!
Sideboard and Pool Optimization
The only card I’m unhappy with is Derelict Attic//Widow’s Walk. I put it in thinking I’d run short on resources late in the game, but it really is a bit bad: paying life to draw cards is still not very comfortable in Limited, and the four-mana side requires a creature to attack alone to get +1/+0 and deathtouch, which feels like a way for black-white decks with poor-curve small creatures to freeload in the mid to late game; but for my black-white deck with a top-heavy curve, the more aggressive Sheltered by Ghosts would fit better.
Sealed Pool 3
Post-Event Evaluation
Although it went 2 wins, I built this pool wrong! White wasn’t worth splashing. I was drawn in by three strong blue-black cards and built blue-black splashing white, but in fact blue-black as the main colors weren’t strong enough, and the curve was also weak.
Main Deck Introduction and Discussion
Setting aside the strength of the three blue-black R/MR cards, I actually didn’t use Kaito, Bane of Nightmares well in games, and was reminded by the Silver-Fur Master of 卡士多, aka JerobaMTG. I’ll share these points with everyone:
- When the opponent has creatures on the battlefield, put Kaito, Bane of Nightmares in with ninjutsu, and after attacking use [-2] to stun the creature that could attack, to protect Kaito;
- And when necessary, just cast Kaito for four mana and use [-2] to stun one attacker; you don’t need to think only about putting him out with three-mana ninjutsu.
However, splashing white did have some gains. For example, cards like Seized from Slumber are very efficient for a blue-black deck that needs to defend; but a less stable removal spell that loses tempo like Trapped in the Screen shouldn’t be splashed. Blue-black or other slower color pairs should still solidly remove the opponent’s threats.
Sideboard and Pool Optimization
The sideboard is above. If I were to rebuild, I would change to Simic splashing black, as shown below.
Although the removal isn’t great, two Overgrown Zealot can accelerate out big creatures, and when skipping a turn-two play there is Don’t Make a Sound as a counter. If it can’t counter, surveil 2 can still paralyze the opponent’s attack that turn and smooth out our following curve; or we can Forestcycle and Islandcycle, and even at worst there’s a Bear Trap XD After turns four and five the game is ours, and with more good green creatures as reinforcement, Silent Hallcreeper’s copy effect has more good targets too, and green fatties flying thanks to Cursed Windbreaker are also quite aggressive!
Sealed Pool 4
Post-Event Evaluation
Although it went 2 wins, this is again a pool I built wrong; splashing green was really not worth it, and I should have focused on black-white. In game one I got my head broken by a white-blue tempo deck with an insanely good curve, and the opponent also had both white-blue Overlords, not to mention… If my mana or tricks hadn’t lined up, this was even a zero to one win build.
Main Deck Introduction and Discussion
Basically it relies on filling the graveyard/accelerating out big creatures, but if the curve goes backwards or you keep drawing lands, with nothing in the graveyard and removal or recursion in hand, you really want to die. While playing I felt it was built too clunky and the tempo was poor.
Sideboard and Pool Optimization
The sideboard is above. If I were to rebuild, I would just build black-white reanimator, as shown below.
Rather than black-white recursion, it is more a curve-out aggro deck with Valgavoth, Terror Eater for a high ceiling. Two Fear of Surveillance, surveilling 1 while attacking, are too strong, and with tricks and a moderate amount of removal, the early game is really too smooth! If it weren’t for the lack of better tricks, I honestly kind of want to cut the five-mana Live or Die, because apart from five-plus-mana cards there’s not much to recur; and a five-mana straight kill is a bit too clunky in this curve-out aggro deck, even worse than the Seized from Slumber mentioned earlier. It’s a pity this pool had no Plainscycling or Swampcycling lands, otherwise Live or Die would be worth a bit more.
Note: After these two black-white Sealed pools, I can even be sure that Fear of Surveillance is a key common in black-white; and five-mana recursion, whether white’s Emerge from the Cocoon or black’s Live or Die, is actually too clunky. Without a means to put big creatures into the graveyard, you’re better off dropping recursion and focusing on curve-out aggro.
Sealed Pool 5 (not played, no post-event comments & sideboard optimization)
Main Deck Introduction and Discussion
This pool is on the weak side. I opened both the white and the green Leyline, plus the SPG Hallowed Haunting, but the enchantment synergy was weak, so I easily chose Gruul with the better curve as the build. The deck’s composition also leans toward reaching delirium as quickly as possible, and I even put in two Manifest Dread to fill the graveyard with sorceries and mill an extra card. However, when putting in Fear of Exposure, I couldn’t help missing Grasping Longneck; as expected, Gruul still needs it!
The sideboard is above. The three glare-covered green cards are Say Its Name, Cathartic Parting, and Cautious Survivor. If you take a look and have different ideas, feel free to discuss them with me!
Sealed Pool 6 (not played, no post-event comments & sideboard optimization)
Main Deck Introduction and Discussion — Dimir Control
I personally think this was the best built of all my Sealed pools this time. I could even go against Limited curve theory and play only 10 creatures! The biggest premise of building like this is that I have enough theme cards and, most importantly, the high-cost bomb Valgavoth, Terror Eater! Of course, even if you don’t have the nine-mana big Demon, this line of thinking still holds if you have some Islandcycling/Swampcycling and a few high-cost Demons, and having a Live or Die for recursion would be even better, but it’s fine without it.
Why build like this? This is how I think about it:
The Eerie theme earns extra value, and the theme cards Skullsnap Nuisance and Fear of Infinity are both here.
In the early game of blue-black, rather than relying on slamming blockers and trading with the opponent, go for removal and counterattack to keep your life total safe.
- When skipping a turn-two play, you have Don’t Make a Sound to counter, and two cheap black lifegain removal spells, Winter’s Intervention, which remove the opponent’s low-cost curve in time, gain life, and don’t lose tempo; and we can even Swampcycle to find lands.
- And when we progress to three mana, we have two Counterspell-style Twist Reality plus a murder spell, continuing to interact at instant speed; or use the three-mana Unnerving Grasp to bounce and manifest dread a blocker; likewise use Meat Locker to lay down an opposing creature for two turns when there was no time to counter, or use Cracked Skull to peek at the opponent’s hand and weaken an attacking creature. And when we use Sporogenic Infection and Final Vengeance as a one-two, basically no opponent can withstand such a counterkill.
After safely getting through the first four to five turns, we can start relying on lifelink creatures to neutralize the attacks of the opponent’s remaining small creatures, while still holding some counters and kills for any high-cost threats.
- After four mana we can slam our high-defense blockers, but note that since we have few creatures early, the opponent’s removal is basically all still in hand. It is more valuable to first look with Cracked Skull, or to play Fear of Infinity first to bait removal, since it will crawl back anyway.
- At four mana there are two 2/5 blockers/efficient attackers. Dashing Bloodsucker is very high value, and if Eerie can trigger repeatedly its attack power gets even higher; after one big lifelink swing, the opponent’s earlier attacks are basically close to wasted.
- The other, Clammy Prowler, once the board is holding, powers up your lifelink creatures, or makes Appendage Amalgam unblockable.
- Sporogenic Infection and Unnerving Grasp at five or seven mana are also a really outrageous one-two.
Once you steadily hold on to six or seven lands it gets very comfortable, always ready to slam the nine-mana big Demon and make the opponent despair XD Even without the Demon, when the opponent runs out of resources, Swampcycling out Spectral Snatcher is also a clock with a fairly high survival rate.
Main Deck Introduction and Discussion — Selesnya Aggro
The two glare-covered white cards are the same, both Cult Healer. The weaker point of this build is that the two-drop curve is insufficient, but the removal and aggression are good. The three-mana UFO Unidentified Hovership crews well with the survivors, and sending out a bunch of manifested dreads with Defiant Survivor is also quite nice. After building I found that one more Bear Trap might be better; I’ve become a Bear Trap enthusiast!
But looking at the whole, blue-black’s completeness is far better. After building this pool I would still lead with blue-black; after thinking it over, I can’t seem to find another reason to switch to white-green XD
The sideboard is above; if you take a look and have different ideas, feel free to discuss them with me!
Sealed Pool 7 (for Brainstorm!)
This is the main/sideboard configuration given to me by faintmama, another editor on the GF team, but after discussing we felt that building it this way really wasn’t very strong, and the difficulty of this pool is also boss level. That is, until we re-examined the main and sideboard and saw the five-color legend Marina Vendrell, Enduring Vitality, Ghostly Keybearer, and… all sorts of Rooms!
In a flash of inspiration, we built this “five flowers, eight doors” Sealed deck (a Chinese idiom meaning “all sorts of things”, here a nod to the five colors and the many Room doors).
Because we discussed online, some cards used in the pool weren’t in my hands, so I used token cards as substitutes. I’ll explain here for readers’ convenience:
- Shard token aka Enduring Vitality
- Locked token aka Ghostly Keybearer
- Demon token aka Altanak, the Thrice-Called
Basically it is a Temur (green, blue, red) deck, with white and black only needed to cast the five-color legend, so no basic lands for them are included; mana comes from dual lands & Enduring Vitality. The downside of this deck is still insufficiently good removal and an insufficient low curve, but in terms of late-game power it should be better. Of course, against a deck with a good tempo it basically can’t compete, but in terms of how fun it is, it is worth mentioning here XD
The only regret is not opening Central Elevator//Promising Stairs; otherwise, if you could pull off a special win through the eight doors in Sealed, it would be a great memory!
Conclusion: Is Prerelease Sealed Worth Playing?
Let me give the conclusion first: compared with simply opening a box, playing, practicing, and spending a pleasant weekend with friends is a great deal!
Of the 6 Sealed pools mentioned above, 2 pools were actually played with prize packs. The booster haul is as follows:
- A total of 4 prerelease kits, containing 4 * 6 = 24 DSK Play Boosters
- Prize packs: a total of 12 DSK Play Boosters
- Plus 4 extra prerelease foils
In terms of total cost, opening these 36 packs at roughly NT$90 to 120 per pack is basically the volume of one box. You get to open and play, which is quite worthwhile; another benefit is that you get a large number of commons and uncommons. For a player like me who plays all kinds of constructed formats, playing prerelease also lets me quickly collect the cards I need. After one prerelease week I had roughly 60 to 70% of the commons and uncommons, and I can fill in what’s missing slowly through later drafts, or support the card shop when needed.
And as Sealed pool 7 shows, after playing Sealed, don’t just pick out the cards you need. You can keep the whole pool and discuss it with friends, since different people will have different ideas! Maybe you’ll discover that a pool that originally looked terrible can turn up new tricks!
Every person is different and every deck is different; that is exactly the charm of Limited!
Reference
I’m continuing to advertise the Limited introduction articles written on Guildmages’ Forum. The links are in the Reference, and everyone is welcome to come to our website and fan page to read the articles and discuss in the comments!
Guildmages’ Forum DSK Limited article links
- Title
- cephille's DSK Prerelease Sealed Sharing
- Author
- cephille
- Created at
- September 24, 2024
- License
- This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 .
