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Maleficent: So yeah, I haven't played in months. This should be interesting.
Ryuzaki: That doesn't go in your hand..
Ryuzaki: ... Maleficent: MONTHS.
Mal: That guy's getting annoying. Do we really have to talk about Magic? Ryu: Well, it is a Magic site... Mal: What's your point? Ryu: Uh......
Mal: Will someone shut this guy up? Seriously.
Ryu: I have an idea, what if we-
Mal: That's it... Ryu: Get him!
Mal: Much better. Now what? Ryu: *Scratches hair* I think I'll have some cake... Mal: Yes, cake! And then what? Ryu: We play Magic! Mal: Brilliant! *gets Shapeshifter deck ready* Ryu: *Throws the deck against the wall, bending most of the cards in half* "We won't be needing that." Mal: NO! My... Shapeshifters... Ryu: Today we'll be doing Sealed! Giving you the tips and tricks you need to gain the edge over the random card pool each player receives. Mal: *Picks up the ruined cards, mourning over them* Ryu: Isn't that right, Mal? Mal: My Shapeshifters... Ryu: Mal. Mal: They're folded in half... Ryu: Mal! Mal: RUINED! Ryu: That's what Shapeshifters do! Mal: So... so you mean... they're ok? Ryu: Of course! *walks over cards, completely destroying them, and sets down the booster packs* So, ready for some Sealed, Mal? Mal: *a single tear flows down the side of Mal's cheek* ..Yeah... Sealed. Ryu: Well, lets begin! Mal, you go first, tell them how it's done! I'll meet you later for the DUEL* of Brownies! Mal: ...yeah... sure. *sniff* My Shapeshifters will be ok, right? Ryu: Not if you keep crying about them... Mal: Ok! Sealed then!
*gathers up my cards and hides them while glancing suspiciously side to side and mumbling to myself* HA! HAHAHA! He will never find them here! Now that that's taken care of, let's get to business! For those of you who don't know, Sealed is a Limited format where each player gets a tournament pack and two or three boosters, and builds a deck of at least 40 cards with them. For our duel, we'll be using all Lorwyn; one tournament pack and two boosters, as well as unlimited basic lands. That's the same as five boosters, so you could use any boosters you like, even random ones from different sets. We're actually dueling online, so we're using MWS to generate the cards. (To do that, just go to Generate Sealed Deck under the Tools menu. Real simple.) That's it for the rules. This time around Ryu and I will just be doing things normally, but you can feel free to mix it up as you like. If you ever plan to play Sealed casually, alternate formats are one way to go; and you could always go with more or less cards from any sets you like. We just might do this sometime later, so if that's something you'd be interested in, let us know! Now, on to my Vengeance!! Er... building my deck. Yes. Ryu will pay for my Shapeshifters...! First thing I always do in Sealed regardless is to divide up the cards by color. While doing so, I take note of any bombs I may have. Bombs are cards that will virtually win you the game when played, like planeswalkers or the Elemental Incarnations. You may not end up using them depending on your other cards, though. If you only have one bomb in your deck of 40 cards, it's best not to rely completely upon it. Or if that one card is next to impossible to play, don't use it! Even if it's just SO COOL and you can vividly imagine the look on Ryu's face when you beat him senseless with it. Chances are, that'll never happen and he'll be all smug about it, which is at least four times worse. So restrain yourself! (I learned this the hard way by trying to use a Hypnox once at a Torment Release tourney. I also had zero reanimation spells, nor did I have any way to get it into play easier. Oh, and no mana acceleration whatsoever. Yes, I too was a stupid newb. But I did play my Gurzigost once... to no avail.) Now, Sealed is mainly defined by creatures, especially in Lorwyn, so the next thing I do is separate the creatures from the other cards, and while doing that I look for any sort of evasion or removal. These two things are vital in Limited formats, since they’re so defined by combat. If your opponent can’t block your guys, or if they don’t have any guys to block with, you win. Of course, this doesn’t mean you have to use every bit of evasion or removal you get. Some of it may just be off color, which is fine, but some of it is utter crap and should never be used under any circumstances. And by that, I mean ANY circumstances. House on fire? Don't do it! Grandmother in her death throes? STAY AWAY! She will be going to a better place... maybe. ... No offense to your grandmother or anything, I'm sure she's a great gal, but you never know with those old ones. [awkward silence] O...k.... Moving on? Yeah, that's a good idea. So typically it’s good to go with two colors, maybe a splash of a third with a couple cards. If you have a lot of mana fixing, you could go with more. Otherwise you’ll most likely get mana screwed. And that is bad. All that said, let’s take a look at my pool, one color at a time starting with the one I have the most of and working my way down:
Phew, White looks pretty powerful here. There are plenty of Kithkins for synergy (damn them…) and removal, as well as Purity for a great finisher. There is also quite a bit of flying and lifelink, which will definitely come in handy. This deck sucks already.
What sticks out most here is Sower of Temptation, which can be downright brutal if the opponent doesn’t have an answer for it. Just imagine Ryu proudly laying down his best creature in the deck, whatever it may be. Doran, perhaps. Now imagine the very next turn, stealing that creature and getting a flier on your side, all at the same time! And poor tapped out Ryu can do nothing about it... so helpless.... Beautiful. My Shapeshifters will yet be avenged!! There are also a few decent fliers in here, but not a whole lot that’s amazing besides the Sower. Anyways, I’ll want to include the fliers if nothing else from this color, since I just have to use the Sower. Amoeboid Changeling and Wings of Velis Vel are also very good. Since many cards in Lorwyn rely on creature types and the Amoeboid can take them away, it can almost be considered removal. The Wings makes for a great surprise blocker or an instant 4/4 flying attacker with changeling. So, for example, played on a non-Kithkin, Wizened Cenn will give it a boost, too.
Ew. I really don’t like Red in Lorwyn. There is a possible Giant theme going on here with White, but that method would be too reliant on a few cards. Tarfire is probably the best card here, but that’s not worth splashing for.
Nice… there aren’t many creatures, which is odd, but there are more Kithkin and plenty of removal and combat tricks. Used correctly, Giant Growth effects are possible removal spells, or they could get some extra damage in. Green looks like a definite inclusion. That's three colors now, so Black doesn't have much of a chance unless there's something bloody amazing....
Nope. Well, the three Pilferers sure would be nice in the late game, maybe one or two even, but at this point it's not good enough. Especially for a fourth color. Even if it means using my Sower again. *sigh*
A mana fixer is nice with the three colors I plan to use, but I’ve played this card before in many games with three colors and never once used it. Besides, tapping my creatures isn’t really worth it. If I really need the mana, I might not HAVE any creatures, and that's just not cool.
Ach, if only they were White! Or Green, or Blue. Oh well. After cutting the crap and slimming it down to what I believe to be the best, here’s what I got:
My mana curve is a bit off with too many in the two-mana slot and none at all in the three-mana slot, but I like this build. The Changelings can help the Greatheart get its bonus, and I have a potential total of nine removal cards and seven fliers. It is a bit of a risk running three colors with no fixing, but I’m hoping that the removal and life gain in White will keep me alive until I can establish a presence, as it's no doubt the dominant color. Also, I won’t really need the Blue cards until later, and the only double color card that isn’t White is Sower of Temptation, which I just have to have. No vengeance is complete without Faerie humiliation. This deck is really creature heavy, too, and the only non-creature spells are removal spells (at least that’s how I’ll use them). So as long as I get the right lands, Ryu will stand no chance! So let's see what he can scrap together...
This is what Fate/MWS has given me to fight the enemy that is Mal-eeeeeeficent. Well of course there’s a difference between Sealed in MWS and in real life. First off, MWS has the cards a lot smaller, so you easily see the names and costs next to them. Real life, well, when I did do Sealed I did it with SK (Sensei_Kakashi) I just followed his style. Simply separate Lands, Artifacts, and Multicolors into one pile since you get very few of each usually, and then a pile for each color. The List looks like this:
I then go through and see the synergy between each color. Lorwyn makes you pay attention more like Ravnica did. It’s not just picking some decent cards and adding some land. You need synergy of tribes as well! I start by looking at all of my Goblins and Boggarts. Do I have enough Red/Black cards to sustain a Goblin/Boggart deck? No, it appears not. Then I see if any Goblin or Boggart card would assist me by itself. None. So I move all of those cards to a face-down pile. (In real life, it never hurts to be secretive.) Now we look at the remaining Red/Black cards. If they’re just random other tribes, and nothing you can sustain with other colors, you can effectively remove those two colors from your card choices. That is the predicament I am facing, so I drop Red and Black. Three colors are left. Now in the rare case of a multicolor card that has a color you’re not using, if you have no other way to really get that small splash then you must sadly drop it unless it’s really good. This is what I have to work with, and the rest go to my sideboard, which you’ll see when I’m done.
What do we have to work with now? Doran, the Seige Tower catches my eye. I have a handful of Kithkin, Merfolk, and Faeries. That’s not good! Well, lets clean it out; we've got plenty of Elves, and Elves are Green and Black. Treefolk are White, Green, and some are Black. Wait! If we remember DBB’s “Drafting Lorwyn for the First Time: A Primer” article, he provided us with a box of tribes that have synergy. We see that Treefolk and Elves are a match! This is perfect! I clean out cards that don’t help me. Now for Sealed, usually you want to try for a 40 card deck. This means 16-18 lands, depending on your mana curve. I decided upon 17, which means one less high-casting card and one more land, which helps bring the mana-curve down a little. Here’s the finished deck.
This deck is Black-Green-White and focuses on Doran and his Treefolk friends, with some friendly Elves to boost their morale! Sealed is different than Draft because it’s a lot more level of a playing ground. Every player has the same chance of pulling good cards or bad cards. Of course, I realized that some creatures are a lot better then I thought, and that you shouldn't restrict yourself to one-two tribes just for deck purposes. Now with my deck complete, we will now see whose cuisine will reign supreme! Who will become the Iron Che- What? Oh right, Sealed... got caught up in all the commotion, and secret ingredients. Let's get Mal in here. Mal! GET OVER HERE!
Ryu: ... Mal: ...
Ryu: Yeah well the first one was just a test, anyway... Mal: PFFT!
Ryu: Hahaha! Serves you right, Maleeeficent! OVERKILL! Mal: This ain't over yet, chief. My vengeance will be complete!! Ryu: You just keep telling yourself that, and I'll keep bashing you with Treefolk!
Ryu: *decapitates the commentator* Ok, ok, that's enough! Mal: Hah! My Shapeshifters are avenged! Take that, you cretin! Ryu: Yeah, yeah, you got lucky.... Ryu: Well Mal, we finally got that Duel* of Brownies done. How do you feel? Mal: *pets my Shapeshifters* Vengeance is mine... ALL mine...! *evil laughter* Ryu: It was fun, we should do this more often! Here, we'll go out for some coffee! *Grabs Mal, making him drop his cards again.* Mal: Nooooo! *Mal reaches after his lost Shapeshifters in vain as Ryu drags him away from the mysterious building they were staying at; One day Mal hopes to be reunited with his Shapeshifters... even if it takes another Duel of Brownies.*
Will that day ever come? Will Streetz ever come reveal the winning deck from the Tribal Coffee article a few weeks back? How was the coffee? These are questions that have answers; but that, my friends, is for another time....
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White
(19) 
Blue
(15) 
Maleficent's
Vengeance. 
Lands/Artifacts/Multicolor
2
Prowess of the Fair
1
Spring Cleaning
3rd
Commentator: The third and final battle, as all third battles are
destined to be, was Epic Incarnate. Ryu started quickly as he did last
game while Mal was nearly mana screwed. Ryu had a few big creatures in
play, and Mal not having enough lands, only managed to play Kithkin
Greatheart and Wizened Cenn, the former of which traded for another of
Ryu's creatures.