Solving the Limited Puzzle - 1st Crack at Magic Origins Sealed Deck [Edward Eng]

To be honest, it wouldn't be fair if I didn't tell you that this actually wasn't my first crack and Magic Origins Sealed. The night before the Prerelease, my friend Adam Yetter and I jammed a match on Cockatrice to get familiar with the set interactions on top of memorizing the cards. Look out for an article on that soon. It'll be up before Grand Prix Dallas which is taking place between July 24-26. You can still preregister for the event through July 23 to save $10. These articles should help you prepare for the event. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter to receive automatic updates as the articles are posted and stay ahead of the curve.

Alright, now on to the fun the stuff. Magic Origins Prerelease Sealed Deck. Color choice? BLUE! Why? Cuz BLUE. Let's start off with the pool.

The Pool

Land (3)

  

Artifact (4)

   

Multicolor (3)

  

Black (16)

               

Blue (21)

                    

Green (15)

              

Red (16)

               

White (13)

            

I was very happy with my pool and my deck. I felt it was a 5-0 deck. Here it is.

The Deck

Creatures (13)

            

Spells (10)

         

Lands (17)


       
       

The Rounds

R1: W 2-0 vs. Jorge Acosta on Blue/Red (1-0)

Game one was quick as he was stuck on lands and I curved out nicely. Game two was a lot closer. Pretty close actually. But if I remember correctly, I was able to get through with spells/combat tricks.

R2: W 2-0 vs. Alex Hu on Red/White (2-0)

Game one started off close and with parity. We both played Ghirapur Gearcrafter on each of third turns respectively. But I had more removal to bust through and win the game unscathed at 20. Game two was a lot closer. Pretty close like round one. But I'm pretty sure my spells/combat tricks won me the game again.

R3: L 1-2 vs. Timothy Yuen on Red/White (2-1)

Game one was close for a while. And then I started to misplay. =( I played too defensively with Ringwarden Owl and lost tempo. I eventually had to end-of-turn Disperse his Archangel of Tithes, but it was too late by then because I didn't attack with Ringwarden Owl two turns earlier and didn't leave my other creature back on defense the turn after that. Punished for playing too quickly and poorly. =(

Game two was a close one too. But again, I eventually won with spells and combat tricks.

Game three was close as well. But I started playing fast and poorly again. =( There was a key turn where I could've casted Talent of the Telepath and left mana open to cast Send to Sleep on Tim's turn to tap his team down for two turns thanks to Spell Mastery. But for some reason, I decided to cast a creature and pass the turn. A Spell Un-Masteried Send to Sleep? Sounds terrible. I lost at least one turn of attacks, draw steps, and obvious tempo. What a BLOW-IN! a.k.a. the Coll-Eng Rountree special.

 R4: L 1-2 vs. Blake ??? on Green/White (2-2)

Game one was close, and I was able to pull it out again with spells and combat tricks. Game was not that close. He started out pretty fast and I just couldn't keep up or contain the onslaught. He also topdecked the 'right' cards, but this was after we shuffled his deck on multiple instances because he was quite careless with drawing cards and accidentally looking at extra cards. Game three was decently close as well but I just couldn't punch through for the last points of damage as he went wide with a bunch of dudes that consisted of Hangarback Walker, Sentinel of the Eternal Watch, and Skysnare Spider. What a BLOW-IN!

On a separate note, Blake was not very respectful of my turns and the game as a whole. He would start his turns right after my combat phase. And again, he was very careless with his draw steps. In hindsight, I should have been more strict as I usually am. However, he was a pretty young kid and it was the Magic Origins Prerelease. I didn't want to scare him away from ever playing the game again. But at the same time, I wanted to teach him proper game etiquette. I was torn. What would you have done? I'd appreciate any feedback. Feel free to leave comments below, on Facebook, or on Twitter. Thanks.

R5: W vs. Kerry Trotman on Black/White (3-2)

Game one wasn't that close as I was able to play my tempo game. He played dudes. I played dudes. I bounced his dudes and attacked. Game two pretty much went the same way.

So for the day, I wasn't happy with my performance because my deck was very good and I played poorly. But overall, I was happy that I didn't tilt and was also surprised that I cashed six packs of Magic Origins for coming in at 11th place. Moreover, I turned those six packs into a Polluted Delta and Flooded Strand. But MOST importantly, I learned a lot for the upcoming Grand Prix in Dallas and I had FUN playing the game I love.

I hope to see many of you in Dallas in a couple of weeks! If you see me, feel free to say hi and chat.

Don't Forget

1. Preregister for Grand Prix Dallas through July 23 to save $10.

2. As I mentioned above, I'll be posting more Magic Origins Sealed Deck articles throughout the next two weeks in preparation for Grand Prix Dallas. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter to receive automatic updates as the articles are posted and stay ahead of the curve.

3. Let me know your thoughts about the Blake issue in the comments below, on Facebook, or on Twitter. Thanks.

Peace, love, and have fun...
Eddie

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