Sealed Deck League Awesomeness

Several weeks ago we started up a casual Magic sealed deck league - and by "we" I mean "me" and the several reluctant people I cajoled, needled, and bludgeoned into joining. We all used to play Magic back in the mid-90s, and off and on again since then. Most of the others had been clean for a while, but it was fairly easy to get them hooked again. And thus we returned again to the paper crack...

Limited formats (draft and sealed deck) are awesome because everyone has invested the same amount into their card pool - no one has a significant advantage based on how much they've spent or netdecking. Sealed deck league is when everyone starts off with the same size collection of cards (typically a tournament pack and 3 boosters, or 6 boosters, or a precon deck and 2 boosters), builds a deck out of it, and then adds a new pack to their collection every week. Depending on the league rules, trading may or may not be allowed. Likewise, prize structures vary. In our case, at the end of a night we just crack open all the new packs for the week and take the pack of our choice in rank order. The league usually ends after several weeks, although in our case it looks like we're going to just keep cruising indefinitely.

It's a fun format because it's fairly balanced, rewards skill, and is very challenging to evolve your deck in small but meaningful ways in response to the metagame.

In my case, I started off with the Grixis precon deck from Shards of Alara (all of the other players took a precon from a shard as well). I took it because I thought it was the worst deck of the bunch, but it also had lots of potential to grow. I think my assessment was right - I got pretty badly beat at first. But this is where the game gets fun - why did I get beat? How, exactly? What can I do about it?

If you look at the Grixis precon decklist, it's kind of a mish-mash that doesn't really jell. Some "Unearth" graveyard goodness, some disruption, some removal, some pingers, some nasty creatures, and some truly terrible cards. And slow... Molasses slow. Like, by the time I could do something useful I was already dead slow.

Everyone else had faster, more aggressive, more creature-heavy decks than me. And with my card pool there was no way I could outrace them. I had to come up with a way to win on my terms while denying them their's. So I came up with a game plan to try and manage the board with a ton of removal and pingers until the other player ran out of steam. Assuming I didn't run out of steam as well, flyers or Cruel Ultimatum should be able to win me the game from there. I took out half of my creatures, put in every last shred of removal I could, a Courier's Capsule, and a single, wonderful, Tidings that I got in a trade from the Esper player.

Wow.

When I pilot this deck, I feel like I'm on a sinking ship that's being boarded, desperately bailing out water and trying to shoot back at the same time, and yet somehow seizing victory. Albeit a battered, shaky sort of victory. It does well. Really well. But I invariably end up winning with only a handful of life left. It's crazy stressful but awesome.

As the weeks have passed and we've opened new packs and done some trading, my standing in the ranks always remains at or near the top. My latest changes have been to add in another Courier's Capsule and a Cancel (two, against certain decks). The Cancels have proven themselves against certain game-winning Indestructible creatures and Ultimatums. However, I was recently dethroned by the Esper player - since he was struggling I took a look at his card pool, made some dramatic changes to his deck, and suggested some key trades. Unfortunately, my advice was rather good and he is now handily kicking everyone else in the groin. Now the whole metagame rethink begins again...

I highly recommend this format. Sometimes the pack-per-week isn't quite enough and people get bored with their decks, and don't quite have the cards to pull off a major change. In that case, change it up with a draft (a very nice way to add a cohesive chunk of new cards to your pool) or by introducing a limited number of proxies. Also, as card collections get larger, you should increase the deck size gradually up from 40 to 60.

It's been loads of fun. And it's made for a great excuse to get together on Monday nights to drink beer, laugh, and hang out.