Shadowmoor Sealed
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With Grand Prix — Indianapolis day two going on, I thought I would look back at the Shadowmoor sealed events that I participated in since the set’s pre-release mid-April. I did not have much success in either the Lorwyn Release Tournament or in any of the Morningtide pre-release events, so I have been trying to improve in the format. I found Steve Sadin’s article Diving Back into Sealed and Jeff Cunningham’s Your First Sealed Deck to be particularly helpful. |
2008-04-19 – Shadowmoor Pre-Release Flight 1 – Richmond, VA
I guess hindsight is 20-20 or whatever because I cannot remember what prompted me to think blue-black and after the first round white-blue-black (at this pre-release we were instructed that decks could be changed in between rounds in addition to sideboarding) was the way to go with this pool. I would have like to thought that the Incremental Blight or Gloomlance had something to do with it, but I didn’t seem to play them. There are only 39 cards in my list and I am not sure what the 40th was. Were I handed this same pool today, I think I would either play white-green to access Spectral Procession, Plumeveil and Mirrorweave or red-green to get access to the red removal. Black looks very tempting with the previously mentioned removal, I just don’t think it would go the distance.
Considering how clunky my deck looks to me now, I did ok even though I didn’t win any fabulous prizes. I started with a round 1 loss followed by back to back wins only to lose again in the final round.
Match Result: 2-2 Overall Shadowmoor Sealed Record: 2-2
2008-04-19 – Shadowmoor Pre-Release Flight 1 – Richmond, VA
Ignoring the fact that I had two Runes of the Deus and didn’t bother playing either of them, at least I agree with the color selection I made. I started off with a round one loss to DrFaulken and then won three rounds straight to win six packs.
Match Result: 3-1 Overall Shadowmoor Sealed Record: 5-3
2008-04-20 – Shadowmoor Pre-Release Flight 1 – Richmond, VA
Again I agree with my color choices but I am not sure why I didn’t play Incremental Blight and even though I only had two white/blue creatures, Steel of the Godhead would have probably been better then either the second torture or a Scarscale Ritual. I actually won the first round then lost in the second and won the remaining two to win seven packs.
Match Result: 3-1 Overall Shadowmoor Sealed Record: 8-4
2008-05-03 – Shadowmoor Launch Party – Atomic Comics Emporium
Not sure what I would have done differently with the deck construction. I agree with my color choices and don’t see anything too obvious that I left out. The Grim Poppet would have been nice to include as would Consign to Dream. The first round ended in a draw. I remember getting in a log drawn out game that I should have conceded well before I actually lost which might have given me enough time to win the third game. I then lost in the next round and finished up with two wins.
Match Result: 2-1-1 Overall Shadowmoor Sealed Record: 10-5-1
2008-05-04 – Shadowmoor Launch Party – Richmond Comics
This disaster was the result of seeing Steel of the Godhead and me getting too greedy. With two Burn Trails and a Flame Javelin, I was definitely playing red. I think I should have paired it with green as black had nothing but Incremental Blight. Oh well. Richmond Comics ran five rounds as opposed to the four run at Atomic Comics even though each event had twenty-thirty folks. I would have liked to seen how my deck on the previous day would have ended up with one more round, but as it turned out I only needed three rounds before I knew I was done with what I had. After winning the first round, I suffered losses in the following two and dropped. I had way too many spells with mismatched, heavy mana requirements to really get anywhere.
Match Result: 1-2 (drop) Overall Shadowmoor Sealed Record: 11-7-1
2008-05-23 – Friday Night Magic – Richmond Comics
Richmond Comics earned the right to run a Grand Prix — Indianapolis Trial on May 25 which I was unable to attend since my folks were coming to town. But I did get to play in the sealed deck the Friday before the event. Not sure if I would do anything differently with this pool. I drew a bye round one delaying my inevitable first round loss until round two where Oona plowed through my deck then over my face. I then rattled off three wins and drew in the finals.
Match Result: 4-1-1 (bye) Overall Shadowmoor Sealed Record: 14-8-2
At least I am winning more sealed matches then I am losing now and occasionally I make the cut for prizes which is nice. Hopefully I will continue to improve.
