Chaos Wins!

I decided to try my hand at the M12 prerelease last weekend. I haven't played in a sanctioned tournament in years and I haven't played in one this large, 60 people, in even longer.

Here was my full card pool:

Green

Overrun
Garruk's Companion
Stampeding Rhino
Lurking Crocodile
Arachnus Web
Titanic Growth
Stingerfling Spider
Lure
Greater Basilisk
Bountiful Harvest x2
Gladecover Scout
Naturalize
Doubling Chant

Red

Crimson Mage
Grim Lavamancer
Volcanic Dragon
Bonebreaker Giant
Goblin War Paint
Lightning Elemental
Goblin Fireslinger x2
Fling
Goblin Arsonist
Firebreathing
Stormblood Berserker
Lava Axe
Circle of Flame
Goblin Piker
Slaughter Cry
Tectonic Rift

Black
Hideous visage
Devouring swarm
Gravedigger
Drifting shade
Disentomb
Hideous visage
Deathmark
Child of night
Brink of disaster
Tormented soul
Bloodrage vampire
Blood seeker
Zombie goliath
Dark favor

White

Aegis Angel
Arbalest Elite
Archon of Justice
Armored Warhorse
Griffin Sentinel
Serra Angel
Gideon's Lawkeeper
Lifelink x2
Griffin rider
Guardian's pledge
Demystify
Pride Guardian x2
Celestial purge
Stave off

Blue

Master Thief
Levitation
Merfolk mesmerist x2
Jace's archivist
Aether Adept
Aven Fleetwing
Coral Merfolk x2
Harbor Serpent
Merfolk Looter
Sphinx of Uthuun
Skywinder Drake
Cancel
Divination
Ice Cage
Mana Leak
Unsummon
Jace's erasure

Artifact



Elixir of immortality
Scepter of empires
Wurm's tooth
Kite Shield

The pool had some powerful stuff but wasn't especially deep in any color. I took a long look at Overrun and Volcanic Dragon and tried to see if I could make green or red work somehow but decided that Green just wasn't deep enough. After Stingerfling Spider and the Rhino it fell off considerably. Red had Grim Lavamancer and a couple capable creatures but no real staples like shock or incinerate.

Black I dismissed right away. It had a Gravedigger and a Deathmark and little else. Blue and White stood out as the obvious choices after going through the other colors. I had tons of massive fliers, some nice permission and some utility spells. What I happened to lack were some combat tricks but blue/white doesn't have a lot of those anyway. I had an Unsummon and a stave off. I had to rely on Ice Cage instead of Pacifism. Blue also wasn't especially deep. After counting up the playable cards I was looking at coral merfolk and Harbor Serpent as maindeck options. I considered splashing red or green but didn't have any mana enablers to do this. I tend to get screwed when I try splashing a couple lands of an off-color without any kind of fetch or artifact fixing. So I stuck with blue/white and hoped my powerful creatures could outpace my lack of the ability to permanently remove things from play and I also hoped that my weak low curve could survive long enough to get into the 5-7 drop range.

Here is the deck I put together:


Creatures

Aegis Angel
Arbalest Elite
Archon of Justice
Armored Warhorse
Griffin Sentinel
Serra Angel
Gideon's Lawkeeper

Aether Adept
Aven Fleetwing
Coral Merfolk x2
Harbor Serpent
Merfolk Looter
Sphinx of Uthuun
Skywinder Drake

Spells


Stave off
Cancel
Divination
Ice Cage
Mana Leak
Unsummon

Artifact

Kite Shield

Land

9 Island
9 Plains

Notable Sideboard Cards

Demystify
Master Thief
Pride Guardian x2
Celestial Purge

Master thief went back and forth from a maindeck choice to a sideboard choice but in the majority of games I started it in my sideboard. I'm not sure if this was the right choice but a figured a 2/2 flyer with no other notable abilities probably wasn't worth maindecking in an environment with few artifacts.

Round 1:

I sat down against a clearly capable player piloting a red/green beatdown deck. He was sporting Jade Mage and Goblin Fireslingers backed by some bloodthirst and beefy green creatures like Stampeding Rhino and Stingerfling Spider. The first game I sat on 3 islands and a plains for a while and stalled out holding a couple angels in my hand. I was pinged to death by Goblin Fireslingers. Game 2 I managed to get up to six mana to desperately summon an Aegis Angel only to see it plummeted. My Serra was likewise removed by Stingerfling Spider and I didn't have any answers to his pingers. I probably sideboarded wrong as I put in both pride guardians and then regretted it when both hit the table. They didn't help me as much as I initially thought they would.

Loss 0-2 (Match Record 0-1)

Round 2:

She is piloting a green/white beef deck with creatures as large as mine. Ideally I would be able to rush on the ground early and finish in the air because she doesn't have much of a mana curve but I start slowly and only get a couple merfolk hits in before she drops down an Archon of Justice and Double Vastwood Gorger. I manage to Ice cage the Archon, group block her gorgers and ride a Serra Angel to victory in the air after tempoing her gorgers with bounce spells.



Game 2 goes much worse as she boards in two plummets and blows up my Archon and Aegis Angel. I drop a Serra again but it's destroyed by a Stingerfling Spider and her beefy ground creatures finish me off. Game 3 goes almost as poorly as Game 2 for me. I see a plummet again and the spider comes down again as well taking out my Skywinder Drake. This time she enchants it with Spirit Mantle and stops my air attack completely. I still manage to stall out her creatures with enough of my own and Gideon's Lawkeeper. She plays a bit too timidly and misses some crucial attack phases and I manage to finally overwhelm her in the air with my Sphinx of Uthuun and additional card advantage from my looter and divination.

Win 2-1 (Match Record 1-1)

Round 3:

He's playing a Blue/Black deck with some decent removal and some large black creatures like Sengir Vampire and Drifting Shade. He also has a couple of Gravediggers. His creatures are otherwise small though and I'm able to take over the board with larger bodies. I manage to play some bounce tricks with Aether Adept and Unsummon and Ice Cage his Vampire before beating him with Aegis Angel. In Round 2 I have an easier time despite a deathmark to one of my Angels. I eventually get a Sphinx in play which he doom blades but draw into more creatures and eventually finish him off with an unblockable Harbor Serpent.

Win 2-0 (Match Record (2-1)

Round 4:

I'm up against yet another Green/White deck. This one doesn't have quite the beef I saw in round 2 but still has some quality creatures like a Lawkeeper and Stampeding Rhino. He is running double siege mastadon which I'm not too concerned about. He also drops an Aegis Angel and Stingerfling Spider (god that card is good against me) but I bounce his angel away and then mana leak his attempt to replay it. I am able to stave off his pacifism and then cancel his Garrukk before finishing him off with an Archon. In Game 2 he has a faster accelerated play with a first turn elf and gets the lawkeeper into play again. I don't see Garruk but he pacifies my early blockers and sends in the ground forces. I demystify his pacifism to try to stabilize but then he drops a Sun Titan to recur it and I scoop. Game 3 goes quickly as I curve up into my fliers and I don't see a lot of answers. I mana leak his attempts at removal and he never gets a chance to play his bombs and I ride my Angels to victory again.

Win 2-1 (Match Record 3-1)

Round 5:


He has a blue/white deck but with a much smaller mana curve with creatures like Stormfront Pegasus and Azure Mage backed by a couple of cancels and a mana leak. Despite getting a Azure Mage into play and drawing proably several cards with it I'm still able to outpace him because I have better board control and a merfolk looter. I eventually sneak a Serra Angel into play and he has nothing big enough to stop it in the air. Game 2 he opens with a turn 1 Elite Vanguard which eats away at my life total before slapping an Angelic Destiny on it knocking me down to 8. I respond with an Aether Adept and win a Counter War. I eventually get a Harbor Serpent into play and seal up the game.

Win 2-0 (Match Record 4-1)

Round 6:

He is playing a blue/red/white deck with equal parts of everything and manalith's to stabilize his mana base. We have a ground standoff in game one until he gets a lawkeeper down and starts tapping my threats. I make a major play error by announcing my attack phase, bouncing a bloodthirst ogre back to his had with my Aether Adept and then attempting to send in the team. He corrects me for skipping my attack phase and despondent I realize I probably gave away the game by missing out on at least 4 damage if not 6. I'm eventually outraced in life after he shocks my own lawkeeper off the board but I'm still in the game until he slaps down Jace and mills me to death over the next 2 turns. Game 2 goes better for me as I try to play around represented counters and realize later on I should have just cast my larger spells as early as possible. I stabilize from his early threats and dump an Aegis Angel into play followed by my Sphinx. I sit at only 5 life but swing into him for big damage in the air and figure I will finish him off a turn later with a lawkeeper keeping his biggest threat in check and only 4 possible represented damage on the table. However he top decks a Volcanic Dragon and slaps it into the battlefield. I can tap the dragon down with the lawkeeper but in doing so will take 5 combat damage from the rest of his creatures. I lose.

Loss 0-2 (Match Record 4-2)

That's the end of the tournament. I wasn't completely displeased with my record but was irritated with my play errors in Round 6. He was a very good player with a good deck but I felt that match was very winnable and my play errors likely cost me. Round 1 was more about a bad draw in game 1 and questionable sideboarding. I'm not sure if I would have recovered from that one even with perfect play though.

My winnings were only 3 packs for finishing with 12 points. I was 13th out of 60. For someone who hasn't played in a tournament in many years with a set I've never seen before I'll gladly take it.

I showed you my card pool that I got here. Below is the deck I put together and how I got there.

Green was clearly the weakest color in the pool with only a few playable creatures and almost no tricks. I ruled that out immediately.

White really stood out for me with the card pool: Indomitable Archangel and Glimmerpoint Stag are extremely powerful and arrest is one of the better limited "removal" cards in the game. I also wanted to include red because of the double shatter and the galvanic blast. Finally, blue had some nice options to include but I ended up cutting to only the absolute most useful. Trinket Mage was leveraged to grab spellbombs and then the Lumengrid Drake became a nice removal option along with disperse.

I looked at black for a while but really beyond Instill Infection and Grasp of Darkness there wasn't much going for it. Only the Instill was splashable and I felt blue and red were both better options for those roles.

Finally, I started adding the artifacts. Contagion Engine went in, along with the double tumble magnet. The useful spellbombs, rust tick, and then started filling up from there. I had some trouble cutting the last few artifacts. I had two Darksteel sentinels and ended up having to cut one. The Soliton's also couldn't find their way into my deck either.

I think there are a few ways to go here but I went ahead and focused on removal and powerful finishers and came up with this:

Spells

Galvanic Blast
Shatter x2
Disperse
Arrest

Non Creature Artifacts

Horizon Spellbomb
Origin Spellbomb
Glint Hawk Idol
Barbed Battlegear
Tumble Magnet x2
Contagion Engine

Creatures
Gold Myr
Kemba's Skyguard
Trinket Mage
Rust Tick
Lumengrid Drake
Glimmerpoint Stag
Indomitable Archangel
Ghalma's Warden
Clone Shell
Kuldotha Forgemaster
Darksteel Sentinel

Land

4 Mountain
4 Island
9 Plains

My games have been pretty good and I'm winning more often than losing. One of my opponents landed a Koth and the other a Venser. I've had success against both. Disperse is pretty damn good.

What do you think? Would you guys have done this card pool differently?

I did a Scars of Mirrodin sealed deck this week. We each opened six packs and this is what I opened:

White

Arrest
Auriok Sunchaser
Fulgent Distraction
Ghalma's Warden
Glimmerpoint Stag
Glint Hawk
Indomitable Archangel (M)
Kemba's Skyguard
Loxodon Wayfarer
Salvage Scout x2
Vigil for the Lost

Red

Assault Strobe
Ferrovore
Flameborn Hellion
Furnace Celebration
Galvanic Blast
Molten Psyche (R)
Melt Terrain
Oxidda Daredevil
Shatter x2

Blue

Bonds of Quicksilver x2
Disperse
Darkslick Drake
Lumengrid Drake
Neurok Invisimancer
Riddlesmith
Screeching Silcaw x3
Trinket Mage
Twisted Image

Green

Blunt the Assault
Copperhorn Scout
Cystbearer
Ezuri's Archers
Lifesmith
Tangle Angler
Tel-Jilad Defiance
Withstand Death

Black

Blistergrub x2
Contagious Nim
Corrupted Harvester
Dross Hopper
Grasp of Darkness
Instill Infection
Relic Putrescence
Tainted Strike

Artifact

Barbed Battlegear
Chrome Steed x2
Contagion Engine (R)
Corpse Cur
Clone Shell
Darksteel Sentinel x2
Glint Hawk Idol
Gold Myr
Golem Foundry
Grafted Exoskeleton
Grindclock (R)
Horizon Spellbomb
Kuldotha Forgemaster (R)
Necrogen Censer
Necropede
Nihil Spellbomb
Origin Spellbomb
Panic Spellbomb
Moriok Replica x2
Rust Tick
Soliton x2
Trigon of Corruption
Trigon of Rage
Tumble Magnet x2
Vulshok Replica
Wall of Tanglecord

Land

Glimmerpost
Razorverge Thicket (R)

I suppose I'll be using artifacts here. What looks strong here? I like the double shatter. I'm gonna have a hard time not playing red.

I'll show you my deck in a future post.

Did an M11 sealed with some friends recently. Here was the pool I opened and the ensuing deck I built.

Blue

Merfolk Spy
Tome Scour x2
Ice Cage x2
Augury Owl
Mana Leak
Maritime Guard
Negate
Merfolk Sovereign
Wall of Frost
Scroll Thief
Sleep
Armored Cancrix
Time Reversal (M)
Jace's Ingenuity
Harbor Serpent


Some decent "removal" here with Ice Cage. Mana Leak and Negate are solid. Sleep is a bomb. Jace's Ingenuity is very good. No real meat here though. Not many good creatures. Time Reversal is not good in limited.

White

Holy Strength
Goldenglow Moth
Infantry Veteran
Ajani's Mantra x2
Stormfront Pegasus
War Priest of Thune
Celestial Purge
Blinding Mage
White Knight
Knight Exemplar (R)
Solemn Offering
Tireless Missionaries

White offered some decent utility cards. War Priest of Thune and Solemn Offering are useful. I like Blinding Mage. I like Celestial Purge. The Knight's are a neat little combo. No bombs in this color though. Possible splash potential.

Black

Stabbing Pain x2
Doom Blade
Sign in Blood
Bloodthrone Vampire
Black Knight
Assassinate
Mind Rot x2
Quag Sickness
Liliana's Specter
Gravedigger

Good removal. Mediocre creatures. No bombs at all. More splash potential. Or maybe I use black as my removal core.

Red

Lightning Bolt
Incite
Fling
Reverberate (R)
Goblin Tunneler
Manic Vandal
Act of Treason
Fiery Hellhound
Arc Runner
Prodigal Pyromancer
Chandra's Outrage
Fire Servant
Berserkers of Blood Ridge x3
Lava Axe x2
Destructive Force (R)
Fireball

Lot's of playable stuff here. Lightning Bolt. Fireball. Chandra's Outrage. Fire Servant. Destructive Force. Wow.

Green

Fog
Wall of Vines
Dryad's Favor
Llanowar Elves
Giant Growth
Nature's Spiral x2
Garruk's Companion
Plummet
Sacred Wolf
Cultivate x2
Prized Unicorn
Cudgel Troll
Overwhelming Stampede (R)
Greater Basilisk x2
Yavimaya Wurm

Nice creatures and an Overwhelming Stampede. Double Cultivate.

Artifact
Voltaic Key
Demon's Horn
Dragon's Claw
Juggernaut

Land

Rootbound Crag (R)

Juggernaut is notable. Rootbound Crag useful if I go those colors.


This is the deck I made

Creatures

Llanowar Elves
Garruk's Companion
Sacred Wolf
Prodigal Pyromancer
Prized Unicorn
Cudgel Troll
Juggernaut
Gravedigger
Greater Basilisk x2
Fire Servant
Yavimaya Wurm


Spells

Lightning Bolt
Giant Growth
Fling
Doom Blade
Act of Treason
Cultivate x2
Chandra's Outrage
Overwhelming Stampede
Destructive Force
Fireball

Land

9 Forest
6 Mountain
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Swamp

Notable Sideboard

Manic Vandal
Celestial Purge
Plummet
War Priest of Thune
Solemn Offering


This deck has an absurd amount of removal. That might be a cause for a concern but I didn't see any of it in the games I played. I considered adding more creatures but just couldn't find anything worth using that didn't blow up the mana curve. The Berserkers of Blood Ridge were considered but I just decided that 12 creatures was enough base. In a number of games Fire Servant ended up comboing with burn spells which was funny. Chandra's Outrage for 8. Bolt for 6. A destructive force turned a sure loser into a win for me. Overwhelming Stampede was pretty underwhelming. Probably because I had so few creatures. My opponents had to play around it though so it had an impact even if it never translated into damage. If I could do it again maybe I dump fling for a berserker. My low creature count didn't seem to matter. I went 6-0 in my games.

Cultivate really allowed me to maximize splash from other colors. Doom Blade and Gravedigger became options that I used. I considered Assassinate but decided I had enough removal so I left it out. I even was able to play transformer with the sideboard. In some games I boarded in a plains with the enchantment removal for my opponent's double pacifisms.

All in all a good sealed pool with good results in my games. I hope to do another M11 sealed soon.

I put together another sealed deck today with some friends at work. I wasn't as impressed with this one with my last pool.

Blue

Crab Umbra (U)
Aura Finesse
Shared Discovery
Fleeting Distraction
Distortion Strike
Deprive
See Beyond
Halimar Wavewatch
Eel Umbra x2
Jwari Scuttler
Lay Bare
Reality Spasm (U)
Gravitational Shift (R)
Frostwind Invoker
Recurring Insight (R)

Black

Demonic Appetite x2
Virulent Swipe (U)
Perish the Thought
Pawn of Ulamog (U)
Last Kiss
Induce Despair
Dread Drone x2
Essence Feed
Repay in Kind (R)

Artifact
Runed Servitor x2
Reinforced Bulwark
Sphinx Bone Wand (R)
Pennon Blade (U)

Colorless

Not of this World (U)
All is Dust (M)
Ulamog's Crusher x2

Red

Goblin Arsonist
Forked Bolt (U)
Brood Birthing
Grotag Siege-Runner
Kiln Fiend
Raid Bombardment
Battle Rampart
Lust for War (U)
Staggershock
Lavafume Invoker
Battle Rattle Shaman
Wrap in Flames
Explosive Revelation (U)
Hellion Eruption (R)
Heat Ray x2

Green

Leaf Arrow
Gravity Well (U)
Ancient Stirrings
Sporecap Spider
Ondu Giant
Aura Gnarlid
Wildheart Invoker
Prey's Vengeance (U)
Nest Invader
Beastbreaker of Bala Ged (U)
Growth Spasm
Snake Umbra
Boar Umbra (U)
Might of the Masses
Daggerback Basilisk

White

Soul's Attendant
Demystify
Wall of Omens (U)
Kor Line-Slinger
Ikiral Crusader
Puncturing Light
Eland Umbra
Harmless Assault
Luminous Wake (U)
Caravan Escort
Dawnglare Invoker
Knight of Cliffhaven
Makindi Griffin
Smite
Mammoth Umbra (U)

Land

Evolving Wilds

I thought that making a deck from this cardpool was particularly difficult. The Rares were all pretty much terrible in limited which meant there was no obvious color choice to go with. Hellion Eruption was the only thing that seemed interesting but I ended up putting it aside when I realized I was going to be playing with several levelers and not that much spawn.

I started looking through the uncommons and noticed the umbras and made those my starting point.

Ulamog crusher stood out immediately in the commons so I set those aside as couple of strong candidates.

Black was set aside first with the idea that I might splash if necessary. It had some decent cards like last kiss and induce despair but the volume was so little I knew it wasn't going to be worth the bother. I then ruled out blue for lack of anything exceptional as well.

Red had some nice removal: A Forked Bolt, Staggershock and two Heat Rays. That became another splash candidate. White had some good levelers, dawglare invoker and mammoth umbra. Green had a snake umbra, a boar umbra, Beastbreaker of Bala Ged, and some means to fetch mana for splashing.

I ended up going white/green and then added red for removal options. I wanted to get the Ulamog crusher's into the deck but ended up having to cut them because my curve was so low (and therefore the number of lands I was going to run). I created an underwhelming deck with zero rares.

Spells

Forked Bolt (U)
Staggershock
Heat Ray x2
Growth Spasm
Snake Umbra
Boar Umbra (U)
Might of the Masses
Prey's Vengeance (U)
Smite
Mammoth Umbra (U)

Creatures

Lavafume Invoker
Battle Rattle Shaman
Ondu Giant
Aura Gnarlid
Wildheart Invoker
Nest Invader
Beastbreaker of Bala Ged (U)
Daggerback Basilisk
Wall of Omens (U)
Caravan Escort
Dawnglare Invoker
Knight of Cliffhaven
Makindi Griffin

Artifact

Pennon Blade

Land

6 Forest
4 Mountain
4 Plainis
1 Evolving Wilds

This deck has a number of inexpensive creatures that can level up, 3 umbras, and 2 growth effects. I has some neat finishing options wtih the invokers and also a aura gnarlid which can be a bomb with the umbras. I had some burn spells and a couple of heat rays to take out big guys, but really my primary strategy here were to just run people over with evasion as fast as possible.

Not exactly great. I think I could have done some cards a bit differently. I left some decent stuff in the sideboard but nothing stands out as obvious that I should be running instead. I think the decks biggest weakness isn't it's lack of rares but rather it's mana base. But honestly I think running all 3 colors is too important and ditching white or red would weaken the deck considerably.

Kevin Nash purchased a box of the Rise of Eldrazi recently and I decided to jump into a sealed competition with him. The following is the card pool produced from the six packs I got from his box:

Artifact

Prophetic Prism
Ogre's Cleaver (U)
Warmonger's Chariot (U)

Colorless


Ulamog's Crusher x2
Artisan of Kozilek (U)

Blue

See Beyond
Frostwind Invoker
Merfolk Observer
Mnemonic Wall
Halimar Wavewatch x2
Deprive
Shared Discovery
Crab Umbra (U)
Enclave Cryptologist (U)
Phantasmal Abomination (U)
Merfolk Skyscout (U)
Cast Through Time (M)

Red

Flame Slash x2
Fissure Vent
Brood Birthing x2
Heat Ray x2
Grotag Siege-Runner
Goblin Arsonist
Raid Bombardment
Emrakul's Hatcher
Valakut Fireboar (U)
Forked Bolt (U)
Akoum Boulderfoot (U)
Tuktuk the Explorer (R)
Conquering Manticore (R)
Devastating Summons (R)

Black

Demonic Appetite
Contaminated Ground x2
Bloodthrone Vampire x2
Essence Feed x3
Gloomhunter
Dread Drone
Perish the Thought
Null Champion
Repay in Kind (R)

Green

Spider Umbra x2
Leaf Arrow x2
Naturalize x2
Nest Invader
Overgrown Battlement
Living Destiny x2
Might of the Masses
Snake Umbra
Wildheart Invoker
Nema Siltlurker
Bramblesnap (U)
Pelakka Wurm (U)
Gravity Well (U)

White

Glory Seeker x3
Lone Missionary
Eland Umbra
Makindi Griffin
Caravan Escort
Knight of Cliffhaven
Puncturing Light
Ikiral Outrider
Totem-Guide Hartebeest
Repel the Darkness
Oust (U)
Luminous Wake x2 (U)
Kor Spiritdancer (R)

While opening the packs, it became clear that Red was going to be a heavy weighted option for one of the colors I used to build my deck. Unfortunately, I am not as good at deck construction as Kevin Nash, though I hope to improve through these sorts of experiences.

Creatures

Goblin Arsonist
Nest Invader
Overgrown Battlement
Beastbreaker of Bala Ged (U)
Tuktuk the Explorer (R)
Conquering Manticore (R)
Emrakul's Hatcher
Wildheart Invoker
Akoum Boulderfoot (U)
Pelakka Wurm (U)
Ulamog's Crusher x2
Artisan of Kozilek (U)

Spells

Snake Umbra
Boar Umbra (U)
Flame Slash x2
Warmonger's Chariot (U)
Forked Bolt (U)
Heat Ray x2
Bramblesnap (U)

Land

9 Forests
9 Mountains

I've purchased a box of the Rise of Eldrazi recently and I've been putting together sealed decks to play with my friends. Here was my most recent sealed pool:

Artifact

Prophetic Prism x2
Reinforced Bulwark
Pennon Blade
Enatu Golem
Hedron Matrix (R)

Colorless

Hand of Emrakul
Eldrazi Conscription (R)

Blue

Distortion Strike
Shared Discovery
Skywatcher Adept
Fleeting Distraction
Merfolk Observer
Champion's Drake
Eel Umbra
Unified Will (U)
Hada Spy Patrol (U)
Sea Gate Oracle
Regress
Guard Gomazoa (U)
Frostwind Invoker
Mnemonic Wall
Reality Spasm (U)

Red

Flame Slash
Forked Bolt (U)
Ogre Sentry x2
Kiln Fiend
Spawning Breath
Lavafume Invoker
Staggershock
Brimstone Mage (U)
Battle Rampart x2
Surreal Memoir
Fissure Vent
Explosive Revelation x2 (U)
Disaster Radius (R)


Black

Death Cultist x2
Zulaport Enforcer x2
Nighthaze x2
Vendetta
Virulent Swipe (U)
Demonic Appetite
Bloodthrone Vampire x2
Inquisition of Kozilek (U)
Shrivel
Pawn of Ulamog (U)
Induce Despair
Nirkana Cutthroat (U)
Gloomhunter
Cadaver Imp
Zof Shade
Thought Gorger (R)
Corpsehatch (U)
Hellcarver Demon (M)

Green

Spider Umbra
Nest Invader
Overgrown Battlement
Beastbreaker of Bala Ged
Growth Spasm
Sporecap Spider
Daggerback Basilisk x2
Living Destiny x2
Bear Umbra (R)

White

Caravan Escort x2
Guard Duty
Hyena Umbra
Lone Missionary
Stalwart Shield-Bearers
Glory Seeker
Repel the Darkness
Dawnglare Invoker
Makindi Griffin
Harmless Assault
Mammoth Umbra (U)

My initial task was to take a close look at the rares and see if any were worth playing. None of them were completely obvious. Although they were all powerful, aside from the Bear Umbra and Hedron Matrix they also all had notable drawbacks (high casting cost or penalties to play).

I decided that for the Thought Gorger and Hellcarver Demon that maybe it just wouldn't matter and decided to use them anyway.

Black was pretty robust so after looking at the Gorger and Demon it was easy to fill most of my deck with everything in that color ranging from playable to good. I added an auto-include Hedron Matrix and then tossed in the Eldrazi Conscription. Now I had to find a second color.

White had nothing really exciting aside from some bears so I excluded that almost immediately. Green had the bomb Bear Umbra but was short on other power cards. Certainly playable, but not amazing. Blue also had volume of decent cards and a Regress and Mnemonic Wall but little else.

Red had a LOT of burn. I decided to just fill up with that and added a bunch of burn cards and Disaster Radius. I also thought I'd try out Hand of Eramkul and Explosive Revelation

After gold-fishing a bit I decided that the Radius, Conscription and Eramkul were probably too beefy for a deck with only one 5 drop and one 6 drop and had horrid synergy with Thought gorger and Hellcarver Demon. Explosive Revelation was amusing but was kinda clunky in a deck with so many cheap spells. I dumped the really high CC cards and ended up with this:

Creatures

Zulaport Enforcer x2
Bloodthrone Vampire x2
Ogre Sentry x2
Lavafume Invoker
Brimstone Mage (U)
Pawn of Ulamog (U)
Nirkana Cutthroat (U)
Gloomhunter
Cadaver Imp
Zof Shade
Thought Gorger (R)
Hellcarver Demon (M)

Spells

Vendetta
Flame Slash
Forked Bolt (U)
Staggershock
Induce Despair
Corpsehatch (U)
Pennon Blade
Hedron Matrix (R)

Land

10 Swamp
7 Mountain

This deck has a lot of ridiculous cards that look hokey in the limited environment but end up just winning the game for you anyway.

Thought Gorger is one of those cards. You put it on the table, dump your hand and then you proceed to just beat face for 5-6 trample damage a turn until your opponent is either dead or somehow removes it. When he does so you are rewarded with an Ancestral recall. The card draw is usually enough to finish them off.

The other silly card that is also an absolute beating is the Hellcarver Demon. If your opponent has quality removal you can get burned, but only after dishing for 6 and possibly dumping 2-3 more permanents on the board or spells at his face. The triggered ability is a risk but often works out in your favor. Maybe a more cautious person would leave him out of the deck but I think a 6/6 flyer is probably worth it regardless of any perceived drawbacks.

The rest of the deck is just quality removal and solid creatures. I'm blessed with a couple banish effects, 3 burn spells, 1 bomb equipment card, and a swarm of powerful fast creatures.

All in all a pretty darn good sealed pool with a couple of really fun bomb creatures and a solid curve. This deck is extremely fast for this lumbering format and I've found myself running over opponents before they can get their larger creatures into play. 6/6 Tramplers on turn 4 will allow you to do that!