"Team Sealed" Grand Prix event in DC
Standard forum
Posted on Feb. 5, 2016, 9:32 a.m. by khunkao
None of us in my playing group have ever participated in an MTG Tournament of any kind, not even at a local shop. (the core group has been playing since the mid-90's).
We've decided to expand our horizons and are registering for the "Team Sealed" event in DC in March. Since none of us has ever done this before, we're looking for any and all advice....
Each team of 3 people will be provided with 4 BFZ boosters and 8 OGW boosters. The boosters contents will be pre-registered. We'll have 5 minutes to verify its contents, then 1 hour to construct 3 playable decks with sideboards.
The 3 of us who are going include my buddy of forever who started playing back around 3rd Edition (Revised), me who started playing at the transition from 4th to 5th Edition, and our 3rd buddy who just started getting into playing this year (he had played casually in the past, but hadn't ever really gotten into it, of you know what I mean)
My buddy who's played longer than me prefers mono-color aggro decks. He's not real comfortable with a lot of the new rules and abilities of the cards, but despite that, he's a really good player/strategist and beats the rest of us more often than not. In short, he simply "sees the field" better (does that make sense). Here's an example of one of his decks: Mauro's Elf Deck (prototype)
Our other friend who just started seems to gravitate towards token generating decks. He's a real fan of the Modern Event Deck "March of Multitudes". March of the Multitudes
Me? While I do enjoy playing old-school mono-colored decks, I really enjoy playing dual colored decks (b/w and b/g are my current favorites) that rely on card combos. I try to vary my combos so that the combo cards work with a few different cards in the deck so I'm not stuck hoping to draw the specific card I need. Here's an example of one of my current decks: Primordial Massacre Elves
So, any advice, hints, or tips to share?
Hey! Congrats on the decision to play in a tournament! and a team based one with your close friends is the perfect way to get started! A lot of strategies are viable int his format, but here is the most important thing to remember when building a sealed deck: Do not force anything. Your pool should largely determine what you guys all play - that being said, here are a few good things to be on the lookout for.
1) U/R - This is a very powerful sealed option in the current sets. Red and blue both have a ton of removal that is fairly mana efficient, as well as having some of the best utility creatures.
2) G/W - build an aggressive build here if you get the support (hehe, see what I did there? Support is a mechanic lol). The creatures may start small, but green has some great creature based removal, and white has always been a source of limited removal as well. Then your creatures grow as you wither away your opponents options.
3) C/x - if you get the right cards, a colorless deck with any other colors thrown in (depending once again on what card you get) can really do some nice work.
4) B/W - this is harder to do since most of the good cards are in BFZ, but if you get the right stuff for B/W life allies, this deck can devastate.
Like Chandrian said above me, make sure you stay nourished and hydrated throughout the event. Bring water/power-aid and then fruits, nuts, and granola bars. You don't want to over-eat and get tired, but you need enough healthy food to be on the top of your game if you are wanting to be super competitive.
Removal is VERY important. In limited you are going to want to run a good combination of creatures and removal, so make sure you don't forget removal because creatures are flashier.
Finally: HAVE FUN! You are going with a group of friends, so if you guys go X-0, 0-X, or anywhere in between, make sure you are enjoying yourselves. Don't let a bad beat pull you down, nor let it pull your team mates down. Laugh, hang out, and most importantly, have fun playing some MtG.
February 5, 2016 10:56 a.m. Edited.
golffore297 says... #4
Me and my friends are doing the same thing and there is one thing that we are valuing above all else: practice. Once a week we do a Skype call and do an online sealed generator, build the decks, and them play them against each other. It's proven to be quite effective.
February 5, 2016 11:10 a.m.
First off, thanks everyone for the tips. You've all pretty much confirmed one of the biggest bits of advice I've found everywhere... Focus on having FUN!
golffore297....
That's a great idea. I usually get together with at least one of the guys once or twice a week to play, but was curious about how we'd simulate sealed. Can you recommend an online sealed generator (preferably one that's free)?
thanks!
February 5, 2016 12:39 p.m.
golffore297 says... #6
This is the one we have been using. It allows you to dictate how many packs are opened, whether to include promos or not, etc. Occasionally we will keep re-rolling until we have a horrendous pool and do our best with it just to see what it would be like. Best of luck.
February 5, 2016 2:39 p.m.
golffore297 (or anyone else)....
I've started to fool around with the sealed draft simulator. I've noted that I'm only winding up with a total of around 18 lands to split amongst 3 teammates. Is this for real? Will we be given access to additional basic lands to complete our decks?
February 9, 2016 9:14 a.m.
You will be given additional basic lands, yes.
In all limited events, you can use as many basic lands as you want in the deck building process - the tournament organizer should provide them for you. The only exception is Wastes. You will not be provided additional Wastes.
Chandrian says... #2
I'm not a pro or anything, but I've done some drafts of OGW-OGW-BFZ and also participated in the pre-release.
Here is my 2 cents of advice:
1) OGW and BFZ are not meant to be mono-color, but tend to be dual colored. Sometimes it's even dual colored with colorless as a "third" color.
2) Since you have to make 3 decks out of all those packs, I suggest making 1-2 decks that have colorless in them and 1-2 decks that have nothing to do with colorless. Why? Because you will only be pulling X lands/creatures that produce colorless, so for the sake of efficiency it's better to make one super strong deck with that than 3 average ones.
3) Events last for a long time, don't forget to eat and drink. If you lose energy you're more likely to make misplays, etc.
4) What color combinations are close to what you and your friends like playing? For the token friend there's the White-Green combination that has "Support" as a key mechanic ("Support" allows you to put +1/+1 counters on your creatures, making them bigger).
For your aggro friend I'd recommend some blue/black/colorless Eldrazi ramp deck (if you're lucky you can make it monocolor with colorless).
Finally, for you, the Black-White allies lifegain matters deck might be the thing you'll enjoy the most.
5) Other color combinations that are good: Blue-Red with the Surge mechanic is strong. Green-Black Eldrazi is a strong combination too (but don't forget, you only will have X ways to make colorless mana...)
6) I would avoid going blue-green or white-red since I doubt it's strong enough to handle to other color combinations.
That was my take on OGW-BFZ,
I hope it helped a bit and I hope you'll have some success at that event.
February 5, 2016 10:24 a.m.