Amonkhet

In Magic, there are many ways to play this game. My favorite format is sealed deck and to be more specific pre-release sealed deck. Every few months Magic releases a new set of cards. Some cards can be reprints of older cards but most of the cards are new cards. The sets are grouped into blocks and now two sets consist of one block. Each block has some sort of theme that is grouped with that block. Amonkhet is the name of the newest Magic set and considered the first of the sets in the block. Amonkhet is the name of the world which is an Egyptian themed harsh desert planet. Magic designers have created a story of a group of planeswalkers. Planeswalkers are powerful people who have been gifted with the magic to travel to different worlds. These planeswalkers have formed an alliance and are hunting down Nicol Bolas who is a powerful elder dragon and is believed to be on Amonkhet.

In the sealed deck format, players are given six booster packs and one special promo card. Using these randomly selected cards, the players will build a deck to play with against others. One of the reasons I enjoy this format is because everyone starts on a level playing field. Of course some cards are better then others and other people may get these cards but I think if you build your deck well and play well then you will do very good. It is about skill of what to include in your deck construction and the decisions that you make during the game that will get you wins.

There are some general rules to follow when building a sealed deck but this is not always the case and rules are meant to be broken. There is a minimum of 40 cards that you can include in your deck and I think you should stick to 40-41 cards to have a chance to draw your more powerful cards. Second is the amount of lands that you should include in your deck. 17 lands are the standard. Third is the amount of creatures you have in your deck. 14-17 creatures is standard. Fourth is your mana curve. You should have a somewhat bell curve of casting costs for things in your deck. Fifth is your removal. Having some sort of cards or abilities to kill creatures is a good thing. Sixth is synergy. Cards that work together to create a more powerful effect can be great to use on your side of the battlefield. These are not in any specific order in my opinion but if you have all of these in your deck, then I think you have created the best deck you can with your card pool.

I liked to create two color decks in the sealed deck format. A lot of times, generating mana is an issue. You may have a great spell or creature but you can’t cast it because you don’t have the right mana or even enough mana. When I started to open up my packs I saw that I had a lot of creatures in white with some removal. I saw some great creatures with abilities in black but not very many. But, there was also some removal. In Blue, I had two removal and less then six total creatures. Green had one removal, some synergy and not great creatures but also not bad. Red had one great creature, some average creatures and a great spell. In the end, I decided to go with a Red/Green hopefully aggression or aggro deck. I only had a few removals and I usually like those but I felt I had some good synergy and enough aggro creatures.

Since I went to a midnight pre-release, the tournament was not completely full but there were about 35-45 people. There are four rounds of play and if your record is 2-2 then you can win prize packs. Each round you play 2/3 and continue to play others with the same record. My first opponent was playing a red/green/white deck. In game one, he did not do very much. Later in the game he brought out a few creatures and drew the game out but I won.

Hmmm. There is a new mechanic called exert which gives your creature some sort of bonus when attack and I had a few in my deck but it was not as fast as I thought it was going to be. In game two we stalled again mid game and then he brought out a Samut, Voice of the Dissent. Flash, double strike, vigilance, haste and give all other creatures haste. I didn’t have anything to deal with that and I lost. In game three I had to mulligan and was at a card disadvantage. I came out very strong. He decided to attack with all his creatures which brought me down to about ten life. He was at 10 and I had a fling in my hand but would not be able to deal lethal damage this turn. I attacked with all my creatures and brought out a blocker. He then Flashed in Samut during my end step, fought my creature with Green Cartouche of strength and killed me. I probably should have played more cautiously but it was a close fun game.

My deck broke some rules of my general deck construction. I was running 16 land and my mana curve was very low. I had four creatures that cost four and two double cards with the second side costing four but the initial card costing three. The rest of the cards I had were three casting cost and lower. It was not even a battle with my second opponent. She was playing a Green/Blue deck. I had two lands the first game and lost. In game two, I was able to draw some extra cards and had lots of red land, but had a hand full of green cards. I lost again. She had a great card called Sandwurm Convergence creating a 5/5 wurm token every turn and great mana fixers. She also had multiple Naga Oracle which was a card I had but kind of dismissed its abilities in my initial deck construction. This is an awesome card in sealed.

Ok. 0-2. If I win the next two games I might get something. My next opponent had a Black/Blue deck. In the first game, We were even in the beginning to mid game. He had an Edifice of Authority that stalled my creatures from attacking. I was finally able to get in my Heat-Piercer Manticore and sacked a four toughness creature with Honed Khopesh to deal five damage to him. Then I put Honed Khopesh on the Manticore and casted a fling at him. In game two, I saw Edifice of Authority again and stalled out. He also had some cycling synergy with Pitiless Vizier giving it indestructible and Rhonas’s Monument giving +2/+2 to a creature when a creature enters the battlefield. I lost game two. Game three was a complete repeat of game two and I lost.

0-3. Of course my last opponent dropped from the tournament because you can’t win any prizes with a record of 1-3 and it was 4 AM. I stuck around to watch a friend finish his last match. It was really fun to see two 2-1 decks going at it. In the end of that round, my friend was able to win and finished with a 3-1 record. Of course he broke the rules as well with a five color deck, but he had multiple mana fixers.

After getting some sleep, I re-made my deck with the card pool I had. I made a Black/White/Blue deck…all the colors I didn’t play? More removal and a better mana curve. I think this deck would have been a lot better for me. Over all, I just didn’t do very well this time. I don’t even recall having a record with no real wins. I usually average a 2-2 record and an occasional 3-1. I think only playing pre-releases is getting to me and I am getting a bit rusty. Unfortunately for Magic, there are many other games that I want to play as well so it will probably continue to be this way. I enjoyed my time and it is an interesting set. Very nostalgic for me as I see a lot of cards I remember from long ago.