Gatecrash Sealed PTQ
PTQ: A Sealed Event
I recently participated in a Gatecrash sealed event. Since this was a PTQ things were a bit more official than your average FNM. This also meant that it was more stressful as well. A very important part of the event is building your deck. Once you submit your deck list you must start each round with that deck or be given a game loss. Also if you mismark your deck at all you will be given a game loss. Having 20 minutes I was given the following cards to build the best deck that I could. If you would like set a timer or check the clock and build a deck. In 20 minutes you can compare it to the deck that I built, along with the reasoning that was going through my mind.
|
White
|
Blue |
Black
|
Red 3x Massive Raid
|
|
Green
|
Multi-Color 2x Hydroform
|
Artifact 2x Riot Gear
|
Land
|
OK time. Here is what my deck was. I first looked through my rare cards for any bombs. Lord of the Void is a great example of a large creature with evasion. Foundry Champion is a large creature with a great comes into the battle field effect. Treasury Thrull great to bring back things from the graveyard and get some card advantage, Gruul Ragebeast needs the support of large creatures, Simic Manipulator needs creatures to help it evolve, Whispering Madness is not what a I would consider a bomb.
All in all they are all over the place and nothing was on color besides Lord of the Void and Treasury Thrull. So my next thought was to look at what my supporting cards could do to help pick a color. As I looked through I saw only a few creatures that would do with Gruul Ragebeast, and Simic Manipulator many were 2/2 creatures but not much else. Of the supporting cards I felt that my red/white cards were the best with 2x Skyknight Legionnaire, Sunhome Guildmage, Wojek Halberdiers, Boros Keyrune, and Boros Guildgate. All of which help support the Foundry Champion.
At this point I am thinking a Boros Deck so I begin to build. Besides the mentioned cards there are a couple of white creatures and a couple of red to add in but not enough. 3rd color here I come… The guilds that share a common color with Boros (Red/White) are Grull (Red/Green) and Orzov (White/Black). For the Grull side there is 3x Disciple of the Old Ways which is a great 2 drop but for Orzov there is some removal and a Kingpin’s Pet. The bombs in black are also better than the one in Green. With that in mind my deck was Red/White/Black. I did run out of time and there are some changes that I would have made but below is my final deck build.
Final Deck Build (41)
|
Creatures (16)
|
Other Spells (8)
|
Lands (17) 6x Plains 4x Mountains 6x Swamps
|
ManaBluff 
I think you identified the correct colors, quickly. I would have switched it up a bit, but I’m not sure how the time constraint would have tilited me. Right away, I would have ruled out green/blue because their creature count is too low(I might have spent time laying out Simic, since it almost works, but I think I would have still jumped off it as soon as I saw the creature curve). Next, I would try Orzov to see how my two rares sync up, but with a wonky creature curve..yeah, Orzov for sure needs a third color. Then I would have built Boros, and I would have felt good for that as my shell. Boros has 13 draft-playable creatures (including the artifacts and Knight Watch), so it’s a little light, but 10 of those creatures are 2 and 3 drops…that’s sweet! And exactly what Boros wants! So then I would have looked to fill out the deck (splash in the Treasury Thrull…decide on the keyrune or not…consider the Foundry Street Denizens/Tigers, maybe). Not sure exactly how the deck would have turned out under the time limit, but that’s the basics. With ample time looking at the above pool, here’s what I think would have been the best deck:
Aerial Maneuver
Angelic Edict
Basilica Guards
Boros Elite
Debtor’s Pulpit
Knight Watch
Shielded Passage
Syndic of Tithes
2x Act of Treason
Bomber Corps
Firefist Striker
Madcap Skills
Massive Raid
Armored Transport
Millennial Gargoyle
Foundry Champion
Wojek Halberdiers
2x Skyknight Legionnaire
Sunhome Guildmage
Beckon Apparition
Treasury Thrull
Boros Guildgate
It might be right to include the Tigers, just for a higher creature count, and multiple Massive Raids could work, but with such a low creature count I don’t want multiple Raids. The first thing to side out is the Beckon Apparition, which is only there as an extra creature to turn on your 4 battalion dudes. But overall, I think you have an aggressively low creature curve with two top end finishers…ideal in a Sealed tourny where everyone else is stretching for playables.