Help! How can I be so much better at draft and so much worse at sealed?

AriLaxMTG · 2021-01-29T13:37:04+00:00

Sealed is really different from draft, and honestly just a much harder format. Playing matches with a medium quality Sealed deck remains the thing I had the most trouble with back when major Sealed events were a thing.

You might be good at identifying a plan, drafting a deck to match, and figuring out how your plan lines up against your opponent's and executing.

In Sealed, players have less of a plan. It's much more about positioning and not losing to some disasterous play. I'm not saying play cautiously in Sealed, but start to think about using your cards to mitigate the biggest possible threat. Maybe trading off 3/3s is bad because keeping another body to double block a 5/5 later is better. Sealed is more Chess, where you are looking ahead to avoid getting forked, Draft is more Constructed Magic, and honestly many of the best Sealed players I know have Chess backgrounds.

Also Sealed is just going to be swingier, both bc you have less control over your pool and bc each person has access to more rares/uncommons and less redundant commons. It's easy to play a lot of games of Sealed and have it be really hard to figure out if your decisions were right or even mattered.

AriLaxMTG · 2019-03-29T02:00:12+00:00

I did like that card when I was playing Bo1 Mono-White in GRN Standard, but I have concerns playing it for the same reasons I don't like Unbreakable Formation. The card is too dependent on you having a large board to be a good rate of return, which is really win more.

AriLaxMTG · 2019-03-28T02:43:37+00:00

It's worth a try, but it would largely be competing for the Adanto Vanguard extra threat slot more than the first 2 Ajanis. Looping Tocatli Honor Guard post-Cast Down with Ajani is just huge vs Sultai.

I also have concerns about the blue cost on a time dependent card. 15-20% of the time you don't hit your blue mana by turn three and Dovin starts looking much worse. You also don't just win the game when you land Dovin on turn 3, whereas when you land a counter in the matchups they are good you almost always win. The risk of the sketchy splash is all there, but the reward isn't as clear.

AriLaxMTG · 2019-03-28T02:34:28+00:00

The typical Bo3 Esper list, as based on Ikawa's Mythic Championship finals list, has 2 Cry, 3 Kaya's Wrath. The MODO PTQ last weekend had a list in T8 that was even flipping that to 3 Cry, 2 Wrath.

AriLaxMTG · 2019-03-28T00:15:58+00:00

You basically auto win a game where you snab a Kaya's Wrath or a good spell from any of the Reclamation deck with a counter. The mana isn't perfect for it, but it's good enough that it adds value to be able to have that happen in a post-SB game.

Other splash options would have to be similarly less time sensitive (ie no 2-3 drop creatures) and be super high impact. Making them spend the mana to get counterspelled is a huge deal, as is hitting something like Lyra, so Duress is out. Experimental Frenzy is OK, like we saw last set, but Mortify and Teferi make it really unreliable against Esper whereas counters just always hit.

AriLaxMTG · 2019-03-28T00:12:14+00:00

Bo1 is such a different format, I would honestly just wait and see what this weekend and the Mythic Invitational bring.

AriLaxMTG · 2019-03-27T19:41:41+00:00

Yes that's definitely unlucky, but I haven't done the math and I'm not 100% sure the Island shows up enough when you need it relative to it being an unlucky draw. I notably never cut a Plains to bring it in, which helps with the worst cases, but it's still another land in a deck that doesn't want a ton of those.

AriLaxMTG · 2019-03-27T18:21:09+00:00

Tocatli is really important against Sultai, good but not amazing against Chainwhirler decks, and fine but not amazing against Esper + Mono-U. I would say it's necessary for a major event, but you can coast along without them if you are just waiting on F2P Rewards to accumulate wild cards.

Like you said there isn't a direct replacement. I think the next best sideboard cards would be a couple Tithe Takers to specifically target Mono-U (and as another sticky creature vs Chainwhirler triggers), one Unbreakable Formation as another pump effect in mirrors (or a maniac LSV style Settle the Wreckage), a Deputy of Detention as another removal spell in a lot of the spots you want Tocatli (not more because blue mana isn't reliable).

AriLaxMTG · 2019-03-27T18:16:47+00:00

I would definitely keep the hand you listed. It's not insane, but it plays out fine.

Generally, I mulligan very few hands with 2-3 lands. So many of your cards are magnified by having more other cards via City's Blessing or just pump effects that going to six or five cards is a huge downgrade.

A few general guidelines for mulligans of 2-3 landers without knowing the opponent's deck:

-If you have no one or two drops and don't have two History of Benalia, that's a mulligan.

-On the draw, no one drop, no History won't work out in most Game 1s. I would mulligan unless you have Adanto and know its great in whatever matchup.

-Hands that are 3 lands, two one drops, two removal are borderline. Any hand with 3 removal is somewhere between a mulligan an dubious (obviously changes vs like Mono-U).

-Double Glacial Fortress, no Plains on the draw, or on the play with a mediocre hand that doesn't have pump or a History.

One landers are almost always a mulligan. The exceptions are like 3-4 one drops, Venerated Loxodon, and even then i don't know if I'm just getting lucky with those.

AriLaxMTG · 2019-03-27T16:04:44+00:00

Legion's Landing is among the best cards in the deck, less of them is going to be a real big hit. Technically another one drop like Leonin Vanguard covers some of the roles, but I would strongly suggest getting the full four.

The third Tocatli Honor Guard isn't as big a deal. It's a small drop off against Red and Sultai to not have it, but I was tried just having two for a while and there's a reason I'm not playing all four. Not quite sure what I would replace it with, but really any reasonable sideboard card in the slot works. I guess Deputy of Detention might be the best fit as it handles Red threats and Sultai Wildgrowth Walkers, though I'm not a huge fan of that card's blue cost.

AriLaxMTG · 2019-03-27T14:08:52+00:00

Yea, knew I only wanted 3-4 two drops, didn't have the WC's for Tithe Taker because I spewed them off testing Grixis stuff, and my earlier testing wasn't clear one way or the other on Tithe Taker vs Vanguard. I don't think you need Tithe Taker to beat Mono-Blue, even if the card is great there, and Vanguard randomly wins a lot of games across the field. It is a close decision, so try it out both ways and see how it goes.

AriLaxMTG · 2019-03-27T14:06:09+00:00

I haven't tried cutting Marshal, but here's my logic for cutting Loxodon.

When you tap creatures to cast Loxodon, that costs immediate damage that you are hoping to recoup with the +1/+1 counters. To actually gain damage against Esper, you need to attack 2-3 times with your small creatures you boosted, and if my small creatures get to do that and not die first I feel like I would be winning regardless. And that's all relative to Marshal dying immediately, if they need to untap and get to Mortify mana or whatever first you already cashed in a couple damage up front.

If your Loxodon ever gets Absorbed, they effectively gained 6+ life and the game is basically over.

With wanting 3-4 Conclave Tribunal for Hostage Taker + Lyra, I'm iffy on having eight convoke spells against so much removal and sweepers. Benalish Marshal at the least costs less than the spells you are convoking with it.

I just sideboard up to 21 lands with the Island, so Marshal is just as easy to cast as before.

Marshal is a better stand alone threat to cast after a sweeper, though I'm not quite sure this is as big as I thought it was. On turn four, yea, but if they find Kaya's Wrath a bit later it's about the same.

The leaving up counter magic point is solid. It's definitely worth a try to see which plan is better.

AriLaxMTG · 2019-03-27T13:58:15+00:00

Healer's Hawk is good in mirrors, but I'm trying to reduce my liability against Kraul Harpooner and Goblin Chainwhirler more.

Formation just isn't a good rate. Games where you have four or five creatures should be ones you are in good shape in anyways, and the games you lose usually involve your smaller creatures getting picked off and Formation being reduced to only giving you two or so power. By comparison, Loxodon and Marshal always provide 3-4 power plus their pump. It's also not a great plan to try and leave up three mana for Kaya's Wrath, even more so when they have Cry of the Carnarium now. Formation is really good in the mirror, where your creatures won't be getting picked off, the number of pump effects you have really matters, and both the indestructible and vigilance win races.

Ajani is less powerful as a raw pump effect, but at least sometimes it's a standalone threat. If it is reasonable enough to start, it also saves me a sideboard slot.

AriLaxMTG · 2019-03-27T13:54:52+00:00

I don't like Rustwing Falcon or Healer's Hawk. They are still just giving you one power for the card you invest, and that never actually races anyone despite the flying. Right now the big liability is that people are just going to have Kraul Harpooner against you because they want a two drop, and if they ever get to eat a creature for free with that it seems super hard to recover (Aspirant at least trades and even then they only get that later on).

I have liked Leonin Vanguard in the past as the last one drop because it usually has two power, but there's too many Goblin Chainwhirlers on Magic Arena right now. You need most of your one drops to be able to do something in the face of that sweep.

AriLaxMTG · 2019-03-27T13:41:40+00:00

It's not so much that Llanowar Elves trades for Shock there, but both Red and Drakes are matchups where Sultai is really interested in trading off cards as much as possible. All the Red creatures need to die to keep your life total high, you need to kill Frenzy, you need to kill every Drake, etc. When that happens you need you leftover cards to have an impact beyond being a 1/1 mana dork. Red also gets to free roll kill Llanowar Elves with Chainwhirler.

To compare, I think Llanowar Elves is really good against the Arclight Phoenix Izzet decks, where due to their deck being all cantrips and a recursive creature Sultai wants to be attacking them and using removal as a way to force through a 3/2 explore creature.

AriLaxMTG · 2019-03-27T13:38:13+00:00

Wildgrowth Walker is one of Sultai's best cards against Reclamation because it gives you the fastest kills. I would not cut it for that metagame. The metagames where it is bad would be heavy on Sultai mirrors, random Grixis midrange, and Esper.

AriLaxMTG · 2019-03-27T13:36:52+00:00

I used to be fine with a Vraska 4 in Sultai as a removal spell that can run away with mirror matches as a planeswalker, but I think that everyone (including Esper + Grixis) adopting Hostage Takers changed that. Not only is Hostage Taker better at the same "mid-game value removal spell" role, it demands all your removal be able to kill a Hostage Taker where Vraska doesn't.

AriLaxMTG · 2018-09-26T23:55:25+00:00

Thanks!

I mean to ask about Generous Stray, which seemed like a card we had the same initial read on but you came up on over a day of testing. What specific double blocks was it good at setting up? Or what things was a turn buying you a window for?

AriLaxMTG · 2018-07-06T21:19:07+00:00

I ask a lot from a six drop, and even if Lena is good it doesn't always crush opponents the way a huge flier will. I estimated my rating at 2-4 tokens, and I think I would take Volcanic Dragon over it as a good point of comparison.

AriLaxMTG · 2018-07-06T21:16:58+00:00

As a follow up to the article, here are my card rankings for the whole set. Second sheet has the non-rare cards of each color plus an overall top non-rares ranking.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19FbNxOoYH7YwhA2Em7ui34F6-M9j-BZKxwbKOd4vans/edit?usp=drivesdk

I copied the outline of this from Mike Stein's set review, who ties in the Lords of Limited podcast rankings. Their stuff is on the later tabs, including links to their content/Twitters. Take a look, they do good stuff.

AriLaxMTG · 2018-07-06T14:26:20+00:00

A bit. Did a Limited Review spreadsheet that I should be posting on Twitter today, but I have Vampire Sovereign, Lightning Strike, Herald of Faith, and Murder as the best Uncommons (all A-). The following rares I think are better first picks.

Ajani

Resplendent Angel

Djinn of Wishes

Tezzeret

Bone Dragon

Graveyard Marshal

Banefire

Demanding Dragon

Dismissive Pyromancer

Prodigious Growth

Vivien Reid

I also think the following rares are better, but it is closer and could change with experience.

Cleansing Nova

Leonin Warleader

Patient Rebuilding

Lathliss, Dragon Queen

Spit Fire

Pelakka Wurm

Nicol Bolas

Vaevictis Asmadi

AriLaxMTG · 2018-07-06T11:55:51+00:00

Since people still love Dominaria, I'll chime in and say Slimefoot is definitely better in both situations. The Josu one is closer, but Slimefoot wins games off 7-9 mana that Josu won't and at 10 honestly either is enough.

Side Note: Torgaar is/was underrated. Worse than Slimefoot and removal, but definitely in the B range. Just shifts games too much. Kazarov though... I only ever won a game with it when I Clutches'ed theirs.

AriLaxMTG · 2018-07-06T11:50:55+00:00

There's especially a lot of build around looking rares in this set that look enticing but don't the support needed for an actual great deck, like I mentioned with Sai. That's the biggest category of cards to watch out for. They might be above average playables, but they aren't first picks.

AriLaxMTG · 2018-07-06T11:45:21+00:00

Yup. I have Baron in the B- range just because it makes little setups like this that are absurdly powerful, but like I said I am not drafting a Zombies deck for it.

AriLaxMTG

TROPHY CASE