One of the things I love most about sealed is when you are able to side board a whole second deck! Man, nothing throws you opponent more than when he/she is all prepared for round two of the deck they just played and you bring in a whole new flavor.
If you are already winning and quite ahead on that game, dont overextend playing cards, dont reveal some of your tricks or your oponent could sideboard against them. Also, dont rush conceading, keep playing till the end. Until your oponent beats you completely. We could have a chance to come back if our oponent makes a mistake or we have good draws. Even if we cant win, we will be able to see more cards of our oponents deck and figure out what he is trying to do with his deck, and that will be helpful for the next games. So dont concede if your oponent is ahead and youre manascrude. Let him beat you until the end and know what cards is he playing with
Ashton Mohns No, not at all. I dont mean play slowly, I mean play fast, pass the turn fast if you really have nothing to do. I mean that you want him to kill you if you cannot do anything about it. It wont take a lot of time. My advice wasnt to waste time of the round by playing slowly. My advice was to dont rush to concede, just play fast and paying atantion to what our oponent's cards are
MaNU_ZID Actually, most sealed pools are unlikely to be able to punish you for overextending, so that's EXACTLY what you need to do if your pool is not very good, to tempo out wins. Trust me. It's more likely that not getting in for that 4 extra damage because you didn't play your fourth creature will lose you the game than that Languish will.
Thanks for the video! Been sub'd for awhile now and really enjoy your channel. My 12 year old daughter and I are attending our FIRST prerelease this Saturday. We are pretty pumped about it. I just taught her how to play about a month ago and I'm coming back after a (cough!) 20 year hiatus. (Back when I started it was Revised, 4th, etc ...)
Haha, I have the opposite problem of the last one. I can easily spend 10-15 minutes debating the merits of a couple cards. I have to speed up my thinking to make those last few cuts in time.
Here's a little thing I learned about Sealed Deckbuilding when I played the Avacyn Restored prerelease at the Mall of America. If you've got an amazing card that would work well in a deck, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT screw it up by having 10 extra cards in your deck. My brother pulled an Avacyn in that prerelease, and proceeded to only win 1 game because of more cards than necessary. Why? Because he wanted to use all 50 sleeves he had purchased. On the other hand, I didn't pull anything particularly spectacular (I think the best thing I pulled in my games was the creature that gives a ton of mana for creature spells) and ran a WG Human Soulbond deck, using the green +1/+1 miracle and Timberland Guide as backup. In retrospect, I think I only happened to use 2 or 3 of the six rares I got, and honestly I'm somewhat surprised I got 3 wins and one loss, considering I refused to use two colors whatsoever.
On sealed events you often play with cards less known that the most powerful ones, so it's really important to _read the cards_ that you and your opponent play with.
It took me entirely too long to understand the "aggro in limited" mistake, haha. It's a hard lesson to learn when transitioning from constructed where 5-6 drops are 'maybe' cards to limited where there's a solid chance you'll get to play them. Best advice I've been given for this is to build a curve starting around 3: 1 - 2 -- 3 ------ 4 ----- 5 --- 6 -- 7 ?
I think one of the biggest things that helped me out in my last few prerelease is talking to people around me. I have only been playing since origins and at that time I didn't know anybody at the game store and I went 1-4. the after a few drafts and standard events I knew some people and could talk to people around me during deck construction and get tips. and at bfz I went 3-1. then being seated beside some friends I knew at school I went 4-0 (interesting side note is they have been playing magic for many more years and both went 1-3). then I did two releases for soi and just talking with other people about commons and uncommons I built two 3-1 decks. Some people say that telling other people your cards could be bad if you ever match up but its a two way street and you also know some of their strategies.
Thanks for the tips! That second-to-last tip hit home for me since I remember in my first prerelease (I was pretty new, too, had only been playing for like 3 weeks) I actually built two decks. I built a blue/black deck because my seed color was blue (this was magic origins), and then I had more time and built a solid green/white deck that also worked pretty well (the other seemed better, and besides I wanted to play Jace cause he was my promo) and in my third match (at 2-0) I got destroyed by red/black game 1 and switched decks to win game two. Still lost in game 3 but hey it was my first event. Having a second deck if it exists can help a lot when you run into that one deck that just obliterates your first deck, and it also catches your opponent off-guard since they are playing a new match, basically.
also its a really good idea to play test your deck if you have the time. you get to 'feel' your deck out and it'll help you with tough decisions between two cards in your pool. and lots of time ill think a card is super good in my deck but then after a couple games with it ill switch it out for something else. if u no one wants to play test with you then just shuffle your deck and draw a hand of seven and play through what would happen it can help you with your mana curve decisions.
At the DTK Prerelease I built RBu Aggro splashing blue for Silumgar, Drifting Death, and i went 3-0, 2-0 each match. And aboout the "Deck 2" thing, I built a Jund dragons deck when I did DTK sealed with 5 other friends. Then, realizing everyone else was playing midrange, too, I switched to Esper dragon control with 13 removal spells and wrecked face from then out. Deck 2 for days!
Dude!!!! i think you are the most informative mtg youtube presenter. i have been studying your videos for this up coming pre-realse which is eldritch moon. i am very new to magic been playing for about a month now but i can't wait for the new pre-realse. only tip i can remember and it may seem trivial to more experienced plays but keep your lands organized this was one of the biggest problems i have had getting into the game. nothing makes you look like a bigger newb then fumbling through ur lands trying to figure out what has and has not been tapped.
I'm sure u will get there sooner than later. i have a ? for u in ur prerelease video u mentioned to stay with 2 colors is this the same with commander and running bant?
yeah most of these points I've had to learn from a trial and error. But I do want to say that at the last point, while you should take the full deck building time, the last 10 minutes should be spent just shuffling and reviewing your deck by playing simulated hands and turns. The time goes by really quick too when deck building so the first half of the time should just be finding the good cards and filling out your curve in their colors, then spend second half reviewing the rest of your pool to make sure you didn't miss anything that would be better.
you're spot on all of this. Especially looking for deck 2 I been doing this for a while, another one when they were doing the choose a color thing people would always force the color they or guild or whatever when it was wrong.
1/1 cards aren't bad if you have spells that make them bigger. The first draft I ever won was a core set release. I had a green/white weenies with enchantments and buff spells. My 1/1 suntail hawk with a stack of enchantments or equipments was a beast end game. Still play a few bears just in case.
I was getting ready for the SOI pre-release and wanted to improve my sealed games (I consider myself a mid-level player). Using the tips in your video, I went undefeated to the final game using W/B humans and ended up in a draw with one of the strongest players in the store. Thanks for the advice!
Showing up without either having taken a nap earlier in the day, or having picked up copious amounts of caffeine and snack foods. Come round 4 or 5, it'll be as much a battle of who's more awake/attentive as it is a battle of wits and cards
decks are designed to play synergies. when you see the cards that are powerful for ally (bfz), or creature type, go for it -- they're made to work together.
1/1 for 1 creatures are typically worse than just "it's a bad lava axe". On turn 3, they'll give it +3/X first strike and lose 2 for 1. It kind of depends on whether you're playing against a good or a bad player. Against bads, this might actually spell a round 6 kill. Also depends on luck, it might still push enough damage to having been "worth it".
+MrHawkshadow Listen again and hear him say "that is why I dislike 1/1's with evasion" ... and if you were to think about it, the same arguments could be given for putting 2/2s in your deck. Because, what is that more then a chump blocker later in the game (so at what point ARE you going to put in creatures based upon that argument?) ... Also, esp. in the current sets, there are a fair amount of /1 toughness creatures, so a 1/1 with evasion can trade up a lot of the time ... ... Still though, there is a better argument to be made as to why you should not play 1/1's : You generally do not have enough in your pool to reliably get one on turn 1; aka. if you put in 2 in your 40 card deck, only taking general statistics, you will get one of those in 20 cards ... what DOES get you a specific card (or mana cost) reliable, well something along the lines of 6 cards and up (6 cards of any cost in 40 card deck, 'just on average' (!! not magic specific statistics !!) gives a 1 in roughly 7 ... so, based on that, you are much better off using those 2 cards, and putting two extra 2 mana drops in, sure they suffer from the same 'dies to removal' and is chum come turn 3, but at least you can be fairly certain you have a turn 2 creature to play to turn into chum at turn 3 ... (so forget all the reasons he gave for his personal petpeeve related to 1/1's with evasion, because there are many cases where they aren't bad at all, thing is the chance you get into said situation, and the chance you have to have said 1/1 , especially if you only have 2 ) ... but if you also only have 4 two drops in your two colors, you are much better off putting those 1/1s in there (or one 2 and one 3), so you know you somewhat reliably have a one or two drop play, then to 'splash' for some more 2 drops; mostly because now you run into the same conundrum with your manabase. (though arguably you may not be in the right colors in this situation, but sometimes your pool is just that light on 2drops, or two drops are just spread over colors, or those other colors may not be deep enough (aka. have enough cards to warrant to play them, other then perhaps a late game splash for some bomb creature) ... ... So, chance more then anything should determine whether you put in 1/1s, and if you have a choice for putting in 2/2's instead, you should probably do so; but if not, they make as good a chum block as any low toughness creature, and with evasion they are at least likely to get some damage in, if you are fortunate enough to get one in your starting hand, even better ...
Alright, I know I am not the most experienced magic player. But he said that not to many counter spells in limited, and when I played Amonkhet, I ran 4. I happened upon 4 Essence Scatters. 2 drop instant, counter target creature spell. I put them in my deck and my dad and also someone else who was with my group thought it was silly. But I ended up being right. Why spend 3 or 4 mana for the expensive removal normally in limited when you can just spend 2 mana to stop ANY creature. So I just wanted to say, counter creature spells can be just as effective as removal, if you allow yourself to have the mana up to use them. you know, since once the moment passes, They're now worthless.
There was actually a topic on reddit earlier tonight talking about 1/1s for 1, and you said pretty much all that was in it--they're generally not worth it, unless they have deathtouch. That being said, thanks for another informative video!
MTG Degree On the subject of 1/1's for 1 with evasion sometimes pulled their weight in fate reforged because of all the bolster that was hanging about. I know that you said that don't expect two cards to combo because you can't expect to have them both out at once but there seemed enough to warrant putting them into the one drop slot over playing a land turn one and passing. Any thoughts? It's something that gets debated amongst my friends a lot.
erigonsnest I generally avoided Aven Skirmisher in bolster-based decks, but did include one in aggressive BW warrior decks if I had enough synergies. It's an auto-include if you have Raider's Spoils.
All of this is good advice, but I think you missed the *most* basic common mistake: In limited formats, Sealed or Draft, you aren't limited to four of a card. Drafting for a dozen Myr Servitors was HILARIOUS back in Mirrodin.
I played sealed in mtgo the other day. Built myself a green/black deck and then realized after my first game that I had an awesome white pool that I completely looked over. Sadly mtgo doesn't let you change your deck between rounds.
And also, considering that you're probably still online, I haven't seen anybody on youtube give a good intermediate draft guide. Do you have any suggestions or plans for this in your channel? It seems like your type of niche.
MTG Degree Do point out that the same draft strategy does not apply equally well to all sets. Example: there are draft formats where it is genuinely a good idea to draft 3 colors (ex triple KTK). There are draft formats where it is genuinely good to force (ex M14). There are draft formats where you can genuinely maindeck cards that would normally be sideboard hate (ex DDF). There are even draft formats where you can get away with taking the best card in the pack for a while regardless of color without first having picked any fixing (ex Holiday Cube).
One mistake I see newer players doing is pushing for a deck with spells not understanding the man's curve, for a deck of high drop creatures, seems like their deck starts at turn six? Then seeing them not using draw cards is removal card because it's not " this super awesome crap guy! " like six manna for a 3/3 with little effectiveness and no flying. Flying is one of the best mechanics sealed has! Evasion let's you attack aggressively when other creatures will pretext your from attackers...
idk if sealed is THAT much different than draft in terms of how good aggro is, but I win most of the time when I build aggro in draft. I don't think there's anything wrong with going aggro in limited, and you can still play your best cards in an aggro shell. Have a mostly low ended aggressive deck with some heavy top end. Like R/W aggro in Khans draft, with pyrotecnics and splash black for zurgo. I don't think "dont play aggro" is good advice because the fact of the matter is, aggro wrecks.
Aggro is draft is totally legit! The big difference between the formats is that in draft, you look for the best aggro cards in the twenty four packs that are opened. In sealed, you get to look through six. That's why you can draft a deck that's like a razor blade, and a sealed pool is typically a butter knife :p
Code Provider I don't think he's warning against playing aggressively. Eg. Turn one drop turn two turn three. I think he's warning against more of aggressive play styles of having lots of creatures with very low mana to try and blow the opponent out early game by playing two one drops turn two a hasty three drop and then two two drops (for example) because you start to throw away hand advantage very quickly and hand advantage is very important in sealed.
+Code Provider I've smashed plenty of agro decks with midgame and lategame decks. I've also been smashed by them. I would say the best thing to do is look at what you have before you decide to go in any one direction.
quick question, the deck#2 thing, isnt it forbidden to put basic lands in sideboards nowadays, so that you should need to splash a color for the deck#2 in your original deck? or is the ruling in sealed different?
How do you feel about 1/1 for 1 cards w/ some sort of evasion in something like a stoneforge mystic or Nahiri deck? I have lots of stuff like that in my Nahiri equipment deck and it seems to work pretty darn well.
+Payton Gragg (ImagineGreater) Small evasive creatures paired with fantastic equipments dominated Standard for a long time in the infamous Cawblade deck. However, without top-tier equipment, 1/1 fliers tend to be pretty awful, which is what will be the case in most of your Sealed games. Nahiri is awesome though, white equipment constructed decks are fun :D
Well. Never been to a prerelease draft before! Sealed is generally the big thing. Signalling on a brand spanking new set is typically pretty weird though. I wouldn't read heavily into them :p
I find myself going the control route more often, like some counter spells, not to Many but enough. Then some removal, then I usually play like 5 to 8 big creatures that are hard to deal with. And if I'm playing in 2 headed giant I usually don't even play creatures. Just removal and counters and I clear a way for my partner. I was playing Silumgars last prerelease and my partner was playing kologhan. I held the board really well and even came back from and ugin AND narset, so in my opinion I think it is different if it's 2 headed giant but again that's my opinion :P
Also Pre-release are meant to be fun not a pro-tour! So people dont be a douche and be so competitive. Have fun and please if you see a new player dont take advantage of their mistake.
Also dont force cards bcuz they're cool! i got a Kiora,MotW, yesterday in Oath prerelease, and tried to play G/U midrange bcuz of her, but i had 6 removal cards in black a a nice curve of creatures wich either red or blue!,.... i totally lost yesterday until the last match, were i turned grixis throw kiora trough the window and standed a chance [kiora was the first planeswalker i ever opened]
At the Fate Reforged pre-release I ran a U/B control deck and a R/W aggro deck as a "side board" and I got 2nd place out of 40 people. (1st place switched to a 4-color deck and shat on me):
For all play, especially limited formats, learn to play faster! Getting a draw in a match will put you behind people who get a match win. Don't take a bunch of time to pile shuffle between games, use your opponents turn to plan your next turn, don't allow your opponent to waste time, and on and on. This goes hand in hand with, don't play slow decks, especially if you're new to Magic or limited formats. I have played against people who are slow players to begin with, then build a blue/white control deck. If your deck will take 20 minutes to win a game, it is too slow. Most of the time rounds are 50 minutes. If you win game 1 in 20 minutes, loose game 2 in 20 minutes, you won't have time to finish game 3 most likely.
I think that the many magic players I encounter do not and I mean do not have the mana to really play anything which is sad for them because I end up beating them or they scoop because they don't have enough mana
Burn spells are great, but if you mean "only playing burn spells", like burn decks do, I don't know how you're going to get that many in a sealed pool!
makeupjunkiepolkadot In sealed, your entire pool is your sideboard (same in draft). I think the only time it would be frowned upon is if your deck change took an excessive amount of time. But yeah, it's totally legit, the pros do it if it makes sense for them, and it's a good tool :)
Thanks for the clarification, I really like your tip about re thinking the mana cost of a card depending on the turn you would be utilizing it instead. I love your vids and you inspired me to try altering mtg cards.
makeupjunkiepolkadot When I play sealed I always separate my permanent spells from my non-permanent. This isn't always 100% effective but I like to see how my board would progress if I was drawing any kind of consistently. I feel this also helps when choosing my mana base. If my early permanents are one colour eg. white; and my higher cost spells are another colour eg. green; then I don't want to be waiting till turn four or five to play my first card that really effects the board and play more plains.
So between games can I completely sideboard out a new deck, including all basic lands? So match1 game1 I can play gr big dudes and game 2 I can play gw midrange? All mountains can be swapped for plains no prob? Really?
+GAVEbirth2NORIS In sealed, every card that you pull is considered a part of your sideboard and you can request as many basic lands as you want from the store, so yes.
Not bad, but I disagree with a lot of this. I for one, am a hardcore aggro player and almost always try to build some form of aggro pressure in my limited games. Now, that's not to say I go full aggro 24/7, sometimes I'll go that Gruul route and go early game aggro into my 'better cards.' I also love the 1/1 for 1, so long as they're unblockable, flying, ect. Just because that has made it or breaked it in many a game. They're at 4, on turn 15, I throw down a 1/1 flier, swing, giant growth, win.
Mtg Degree is correct in both of these matters. Even if you have a 1/1 unblockable, it will get killed or you will die before he kills them because you just wasted a card on it. Also, aggro is a fairly good strategy if you know what you are doing very well, but not if you are going to force it. For the type of player you seem to be, midrange should be your deck 90% of the time. If it is draft it is a completely different story
Isaiah Veirs No-one ever graduates! We are all still learning more about Magic :) Maybe the Honor Roll would be more appropriate... I'll consider it :D
+Iron/Pacifist pokemon channels usually have some pokemons name or "poke" in their name its so you can know what the channel is about just by reading their name and thus are more likely to click on it.
Also don't always go with the shell of a sealed deck. 40 cards is what you want to be around but it can be flexible especially your mana base if you feel you need more add more if you're playing an aggro deck and might be able to get away with less run less
Wrong. To begin, all sealed decks must have at least 40 cards in them. Not a card less. Personally, I don't go over 40 because I'm a statistics guy and well if you have a format where your cards are only decent and try to play a 45-50 card deck, you draws aren't going to be as consistent and your hands are going to be more inconsistent. As for playing a 41st, if the value of adding that one extra card is worth it, I'd consider two things. 1, what card ISNT worth the 41 slot, and 2, if it is truly necessary then maybe it's worth playing.
One of the things I love most about sealed is when you are able to side board a whole second deck! Man, nothing throws you opponent more than when he/she is all prepared for round two of the deck they just played and you bring in a whole new flavor.
If you are already winning and quite ahead on that game, dont overextend playing cards, dont reveal some of your tricks or your oponent could sideboard against them.
Also, dont rush conceading, keep playing till the end. Until your oponent beats you completely. We could have a chance to come back if our oponent makes a mistake or we have good draws. Even if we cant win, we will be able to see more cards of our oponents deck and figure out what he is trying to do with his deck, and that will be helpful for the next games. So dont concede if your oponent is ahead and youre manascrude. Let him beat you until the end and know what cards is he playing with
I agree with what you said, but if you don't have long in a round and you know you're outmatched, don't try to go to time by playing too slowly.
Ashton Mohns No, not at all. I dont mean play slowly, I mean play fast, pass the turn fast if you really have nothing to do. I mean that you want him to kill you if you cannot do anything about it. It wont take a lot of time. My advice wasnt to waste time of the round by playing slowly. My advice was to dont rush to concede, just play fast and paying atantion to what our oponent's cards are
MaNU_ZID Actually, most sealed pools are unlikely to be able to punish you for overextending, so that's EXACTLY what you need to do if your pool is not very good, to tempo out wins.
Trust me. It's more likely that not getting in for that 4 extra damage because you didn't play your fourth creature will lose you the game than that Languish will.
Don't forget to shower & put on deodorant before going to the card shop.
fyiicheckforspies
wrong guide, dude ;)
Yes everyone go with the headquarters advice.
+Umar Sid I'd rather they follow both.
i.e. dont smell like a dumpster.
could you make a video on the difference between draft and sealed in card evaluation and deck building?
A good tip for begginers is dont be afraid to ask for help people will be there
Thanks for the video! Been sub'd for awhile now and really enjoy your channel. My 12 year old daughter and I are attending our FIRST prerelease this Saturday. We are pretty pumped about it. I just taught her how to play about a month ago and I'm coming back after a (cough!) 20 year hiatus. (Back when I started it was Revised, 4th, etc ...)
+Greg Jones Hey, glad you're enjoying the channel! I'm sure you two will have a great time this weekend! :D
There are two kinds of sealed games. The grindy games, and the one where your opponent has a Dragonlord kolaghan and you just die XD
Haha, I have the opposite problem of the last one. I can easily spend 10-15 minutes debating the merits of a couple cards. I have to speed up my thinking to make those last few cuts in time.
using your powerful removal too early also a common mistake during limited play :)
Here's a little thing I learned about Sealed Deckbuilding when I played the Avacyn Restored prerelease at the Mall of America. If you've got an amazing card that would work well in a deck, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT screw it up by having 10 extra cards in your deck. My brother pulled an Avacyn in that prerelease, and proceeded to only win 1 game because of more cards than necessary. Why? Because he wanted to use all 50 sleeves he had purchased. On the other hand, I didn't pull anything particularly spectacular (I think the best thing I pulled in my games was the creature that gives a ton of mana for creature spells) and ran a WG Human Soulbond deck, using the green +1/+1 miracle and Timberland Guide as backup. In retrospect, I think I only happened to use 2 or 3 of the six rares I got, and honestly I'm somewhat surprised I got 3 wins and one loss, considering I refused to use two colors whatsoever.
On sealed events you often play with cards less known that the most powerful ones, so it's really important to _read the cards_ that you and your opponent play with.
It took me entirely too long to understand the "aggro in limited" mistake, haha. It's a hard lesson to learn when transitioning from constructed where 5-6 drops are 'maybe' cards to limited where there's a solid chance you'll get to play them. Best advice I've been given for this is to build a curve starting around 3:
1 -
2 --
3 ------
4 -----
5 ---
6 --
7 ?
See, my version of that curve is heavier on the 1-2 end, but most of that end is non-creature spells
1---
2---
3-----
4----
5--
6?
I think one of the biggest things that helped me out in my last few prerelease is talking to people around me. I have only been playing since origins and at that time I didn't know anybody at the game store and I went 1-4. the after a few drafts and standard events I knew some people and could talk to people around me during deck construction and get tips. and at bfz I went 3-1. then being seated beside some friends I knew at school I went 4-0 (interesting side note is they have been playing magic for many more years and both went 1-3). then I did two releases for soi and just talking with other people about commons and uncommons I built two 3-1 decks. Some people say that telling other people your cards could be bad if you ever match up but its a two way street and you also know some of their strategies.
Thanks im fairly new to "sealed construction" so I will be keeping these pointers in mind
Thanks for the tips! That second-to-last tip hit home for me since I remember in my first prerelease (I was pretty new, too, had only been playing for like 3 weeks) I actually built two decks. I built a blue/black deck because my seed color was blue (this was magic origins), and then I had more time and built a solid green/white deck that also worked pretty well (the other seemed better, and besides I wanted to play Jace cause he was my promo) and in my third match (at 2-0) I got destroyed by red/black game 1 and switched decks to win game two. Still lost in game 3 but hey it was my first event. Having a second deck if it exists can help a lot when you run into that one deck that just obliterates your first deck, and it also catches your opponent off-guard since they are playing a new match, basically.
*Or lady, priceless.. thanks for not forgetting about us c;
Karrdeh No problem :)
Aggro can be solid in sealed. Like last prerelease for DTK, the top 8 at my store was mostly aggro.
i love the way you explain stuff. ive always known a 1/1 for 1 is bad and not worth a Card, but i liked your rationalisation as to why that is.
also its a really good idea to play test your deck if you have the time. you get to 'feel' your deck out and it'll help you with tough decisions between two cards in your pool. and lots of time ill think a card is super good in my deck but then after a couple games with it ill switch it out for something else. if u no one wants to play test with you then just shuffle your deck and draw a hand of seven and play through what would happen it can help you with your mana curve decisions.
I've been going to prereleases, and I still make 90% of these mistakes. This is so helpful, my thanks
+Connor Matthews Glad you got something out of the video :D
At the DTK Prerelease I built RBu Aggro splashing blue for Silumgar, Drifting Death, and i went 3-0, 2-0 each match. And aboout the "Deck 2" thing, I built a Jund dragons deck when I did DTK sealed with 5 other friends. Then, realizing everyone else was playing midrange, too, I switched to Esper dragon control with 13 removal spells and wrecked face from then out. Deck 2 for days!
Aggro has been my only winning draft deck playstyle so far
Dude!!!! i think you are the most informative mtg youtube presenter. i have been studying your videos for this up coming pre-realse which is eldritch moon. i am very new to magic been playing for about a month now but i can't wait for the new pre-realse. only tip i can remember and it may seem trivial to more experienced plays but keep your lands organized this was one of the biggest problems i have had getting into the game. nothing makes you look like a bigger newb then fumbling through ur lands trying to figure out what has and has not been tapped.
Hey thanks! I try to actually teach about Magic, which sadly doesn't get the views of unboxings and whatnot. Maybe one day we'll be a big channel :p
I'm sure u will get there sooner than later. i have a ? for u in ur prerelease video u mentioned to stay with 2 colors is this the
same with commander and running bant?
Happysmoking100
Nope, it's in a prerelease video :p
Deck number two is usually better than my first deck I make lol
A very useful video, thanks!
yeah most of these points I've had to learn from a trial and error. But I do want to say that at the last point, while you should take the full deck building time, the last 10 minutes should be spent just shuffling and reviewing your deck by playing simulated hands and turns.
The time goes by really quick too when deck building so the first half of the time should just be finding the good cards and filling out your curve in their colors, then spend second half reviewing the rest of your pool to make sure you didn't miss anything that would be better.
you're spot on all of this. Especially looking for deck 2 I been doing this for a while, another one when they were doing the choose a color thing people would always force the color they or guild or whatever when it was wrong.
1/1 cards aren't bad if you have spells that make them bigger. The first draft I ever won was a core set release. I had a green/white weenies with enchantments and buff spells. My 1/1 suntail hawk with a stack of enchantments or equipments was a beast end game. Still play a few bears just in case.
Yeah, I was hoping someone would point that out
These are all good deck-building tips.
I was getting ready for the SOI pre-release and wanted to improve my sealed games (I consider myself a mid-level player). Using the tips in your video, I went undefeated to the final game using W/B humans and ended up in a draw with one of the strongest players in the store. Thanks for the advice!
Nice! Proud of you :D
I agree, I prefer to have 2+ decks for each format
Great advice! Good video!
Showing up without either having taken a nap earlier in the day, or having picked up copious amounts of caffeine and snack foods. Come round 4 or 5, it'll be as much a battle of who's more awake/attentive as it is a battle of wits and cards
decks are designed to play synergies. when you see the cards that are powerful for ally (bfz), or creature type, go for it -- they're made to work together.
charging badger mvp my entire born of the gods prerelease deck was based on 3 1/1 tramples and a bunch of enchantment creatures. it was great.
I think u got some really good tips and in gonna do your side board tip
1/1 for 1 creatures are typically worse than just "it's a bad lava axe". On turn 3, they'll give it +3/X first strike and lose 2 for 1.
It kind of depends on whether you're playing against a good or a bad player. Against bads, this might actually spell a round 6 kill. Also depends on luck, it might still push enough damage to having been "worth it".
Interesting point on the 1/1s for 1. In the old days they used to be more dominant, I think. Maybe people pick them as a relic of Masques block?
+MrHawkshadow Listen again and hear him say "that is why I dislike 1/1's with evasion" ... and if you were to think about it, the same arguments could be given for putting 2/2s in your deck. Because, what is that more then a chump blocker later in the game (so at what point ARE you going to put in creatures based upon that argument?) ... Also, esp. in the current sets, there are a fair amount of /1 toughness creatures, so a 1/1 with evasion can trade up a lot of the time ... ... Still though, there is a better argument to be made as to why you should not play 1/1's : You generally do not have enough in your pool to reliably get one on turn 1; aka. if you put in 2 in your 40 card deck, only taking general statistics, you will get one of those in 20 cards ... what DOES get you a specific card (or mana cost) reliable, well something along the lines of 6 cards and up (6 cards of any cost in 40 card deck, 'just on average' (!! not magic specific statistics !!) gives a 1 in roughly 7 ... so, based on that, you are much better off using those 2 cards, and putting two extra 2 mana drops in, sure they suffer from the same 'dies to removal' and is chum come turn 3, but at least you can be fairly certain you have a turn 2 creature to play to turn into chum at turn 3 ... (so forget all the reasons he gave for his personal petpeeve related to 1/1's with evasion, because there are many cases where they aren't bad at all, thing is the chance you get into said situation, and the chance you have to have said 1/1 , especially if you only have 2 ) ... but if you also only have 4 two drops in your two colors, you are much better off putting those 1/1s in there (or one 2 and one 3), so you know you somewhat reliably have a one or two drop play, then to 'splash' for some more 2 drops; mostly because now you run into the same conundrum with your manabase. (though arguably you may not be in the right colors in this situation, but sometimes your pool is just that light on 2drops, or two drops are just spread over colors, or those other colors may not be deep enough (aka. have enough cards to warrant to play them, other then perhaps a late game splash for some bomb creature) ... ... So, chance more then anything should determine whether you put in 1/1s, and if you have a choice for putting in 2/2's instead, you should probably do so; but if not, they make as good a chum block as any low toughness creature, and with evasion they are at least likely to get some damage in, if you are fortunate enough to get one in your starting hand, even better ...
Still a great video!
Hey, I loved the vid. Love your channel.
Isaiah Veirs Thanks! I'll try to keep it going strong for ya :)
Alright, I know I am not the most experienced magic player. But he said that not to many counter spells in limited, and when I played Amonkhet, I ran 4. I happened upon 4 Essence Scatters. 2 drop instant, counter target creature spell. I put them in my deck and my dad and also someone else who was with my group thought it was silly. But I ended up being right. Why spend 3 or 4 mana for the expensive removal normally in limited when you can just spend 2 mana to stop ANY creature. So I just wanted to say, counter creature spells can be just as effective as removal, if you allow yourself to have the mana up to use them. you know, since once the moment passes, They're now worthless.
All I have ever played in BFZ limited is red/white aggro.
And it has been awesome!
5:27 "unconsistent" is not a word. Its inconsistent. PWND N00B
When I do sealed, I make 2 completely different decks. It's funny when your opponent is shocked that their sideboard was for nothing.
I played 4 - color nonwhite scions for BFZ prerelease...
*owned*
I think I almost always got all 4 colors by turn 5/6
+SlayTheRake the only person I lost to was playing an *aggro deck* . Landfall man...
There was actually a topic on reddit earlier tonight talking about 1/1s for 1, and you said pretty much all that was in it--they're generally not worth it, unless they have deathtouch. That being said, thanks for another informative video!
Ian Kernohan Reddit be stealing from my videos xD I actually don't Reddit at all - though I took the name MTGDegree so people couldn't pose as me :)
MTG Degree On the subject of 1/1's for 1 with evasion sometimes pulled their weight in fate reforged because of all the bolster that was hanging about. I know that you said that don't expect two cards to combo because you can't expect to have them both out at once but there seemed enough to warrant putting them into the one drop slot over playing a land turn one and passing. Any thoughts? It's something that gets debated amongst my friends a lot.
erigonsnest I generally avoided Aven Skirmisher in bolster-based decks, but did include one in aggressive BW warrior decks if I had enough synergies. It's an auto-include if you have Raider's Spoils.
All of this is good advice, but I think you missed the *most* basic common mistake: In limited formats, Sealed or Draft, you aren't limited to four of a card. Drafting for a dozen Myr Servitors was HILARIOUS back in Mirrodin.
In a Pre-Release you can have all the rest of your cards in Sideboard? to change like 20 cards from one color to another?
Yup :)
Nice! Thanks, GG, keep up your hard work, you are one of the best MTG RUclipsrs!!
Guilherme Rodrigues
Hey thanks :D
I played sealed in mtgo the other day. Built myself a green/black deck and then realized after my first game that I had an awesome white pool that I completely looked over. Sadly mtgo doesn't let you change your deck between rounds.
This is awesome. Could you do one of these for draft?
I plan on it at some point :p
I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!
And also, considering that you're probably still online, I haven't seen anybody on youtube give a good intermediate draft guide. Do you have any suggestions or plans for this in your channel? It seems like your type of niche.
I unquestionably have plans for a series on draft (I love drafting). It'll likely begin soon after Origins is released!
I love it. That considered, are you sure what level of play it will be garnered to, if you can say?
Isaiah Veirs I try to make videos that hit a wide range of skill levels. I'll try to cover all the bases I can :)
Cheers. Must sleep so no zombie fer de basketball
MTG Degree Do point out that the same draft strategy does not apply equally well to all sets.
Example: there are draft formats where it is genuinely a good idea to draft 3 colors (ex triple KTK). There are draft formats where it is genuinely good to force (ex M14). There are draft formats where you can genuinely maindeck cards that would normally be sideboard hate (ex DDF). There are even draft formats where you can get away with taking the best card in the pack for a while regardless of color without first having picked any fixing (ex Holiday Cube).
What does Aggro mean ?
One mistake I see newer players doing is pushing for a deck with spells not understanding the man's curve, for a deck of high drop creatures, seems like their deck starts at turn six? Then seeing them not using draw cards is removal card because it's not " this super awesome crap guy! " like six manna for a 3/3 with little effectiveness and no flying. Flying is one of the best mechanics sealed has! Evasion let's you attack aggressively when other creatures will pretext your from attackers...
idk if sealed is THAT much different than draft in terms of how good aggro is, but I win most of the time when I build aggro in draft. I don't think there's anything wrong with going aggro in limited, and you can still play your best cards in an aggro shell. Have a mostly low ended aggressive deck with some heavy top end. Like R/W aggro in Khans draft, with pyrotecnics and splash black for zurgo.
I don't think "dont play aggro" is good advice because the fact of the matter is, aggro wrecks.
Aggro is draft is totally legit! The big difference between the formats is that in draft, you look for the best aggro cards in the twenty four packs that are opened. In sealed, you get to look through six. That's why you can draft a deck that's like a razor blade, and a sealed pool is typically a butter knife :p
true. recommending against aggro altogether still doesnt feel right to me, but i know where youre coming from.
Code Provider He doesn't recommend against aggro altogether. He just says not to turn a great midrangey pool into a poor aggro one.
Code Provider I don't think he's warning against playing aggressively. Eg. Turn one drop turn two turn three. I think he's warning against more of aggressive play styles of having lots of creatures with very low mana to try and blow the opponent out early game by playing two one drops turn two a hasty three drop and then two two drops (for example) because you start to throw away hand advantage very quickly and hand advantage is very important in sealed.
+Code Provider I've smashed plenty of agro decks with midgame and lategame decks. I've also been smashed by them. I would say the best thing to do is look at what you have before you decide to go in any one direction.
if i can i will push for rakdos aggro again, or some sort of midrange if aggro isnt possible.
quick question, the deck#2 thing, isnt it forbidden to put basic lands in sideboards nowadays, so that you should need to splash a color for the deck#2 in your original deck? or is the ruling in sealed different?
How do you feel about 1/1 for 1 cards w/ some sort of evasion in something like a stoneforge mystic or Nahiri deck? I have lots of stuff like that in my Nahiri equipment deck and it seems to work pretty darn well.
+Payton Gragg (ImagineGreater) Small evasive creatures paired with fantastic equipments dominated Standard for a long time in the infamous Cawblade deck. However, without top-tier equipment, 1/1 fliers tend to be pretty awful, which is what will be the case in most of your Sealed games.
Nahiri is awesome though, white equipment constructed decks are fun :D
+MTG Degree hell yeah! I'll take that into account exciting the deck tonight then :D thanks again for the quick response!
Luke, any thoughts on signaling with picks for pre-release events?
Well. Never been to a prerelease draft before! Sealed is generally the big thing. Signalling on a brand spanking new set is typically pretty weird though. I wouldn't read heavily into them :p
I find myself going the control route more often, like some counter spells, not to Many but enough. Then some removal, then I usually play like 5 to 8 big creatures that are hard to deal with. And if I'm playing in 2 headed giant I usually don't even play creatures. Just removal and counters and I clear a way for my partner. I was playing Silumgars last prerelease and my partner was playing kologhan. I held the board really well and even came back from and ugin AND narset, so in my opinion I think it is different if it's 2 headed giant but again that's my opinion :P
Also Pre-release are meant to be fun not a pro-tour! So people dont be a douche and be so competitive. Have fun and please if you see a new player dont take advantage of their mistake.
revisiting and still relevent
Revisiting and still relevant
Also dont force cards bcuz they're cool! i got a Kiora,MotW, yesterday in Oath prerelease, and tried to play G/U midrange bcuz of her, but i had 6 removal cards in black a a nice curve of creatures wich either red or blue!,.... i totally lost yesterday until the last match, were i turned grixis throw kiora trough the window and standed a chance [kiora was the first planeswalker i ever opened]
Try to build a 40 card deck. Or as close to 40 as possible, as going over will only make the deck less consistent.
So yeah... I played Jund converge at bfz launch draft.... I was third in my pod (first draft ever too!)
Good
I always try to run aggro and fail so i guess for origins ill try tempo-ish
At the Fate Reforged pre-release I ran a U/B control deck and a R/W aggro deck as a "side board" and I got 2nd place out of 40 people. (1st place switched to a 4-color deck and shat on me):
I don't think that if you know the cards you always need to take the full time. Sometimes it's just too much time - for example, two hours.
For all play, especially limited formats, learn to play faster! Getting a draw in a match will put you behind people who get a match win.
Don't take a bunch of time to pile shuffle between games, use your opponents turn to plan your next turn, don't allow your opponent to waste time, and on and on.
This goes hand in hand with, don't play slow decks, especially if you're new to Magic or limited formats. I have played against people who are slow players to begin with, then build a blue/white control deck. If your deck will take 20 minutes to win a game, it is too slow. Most of the time rounds are 50 minutes. If you win game 1 in 20 minutes, loose game 2 in 20 minutes, you won't have time to finish game 3 most likely.
Soooo sad that I miss pre release also first
I think that the many magic players I encounter do not and I mean do not have the mana to really play anything which is sad for them because I end up beating them or they scoop because they don't have enough mana
Don't let a 1/1 fool you it can bite you in the butt later(Goblin Glory Chaser)
You said no aggro right? Do you think burn is ok?
Burn spells are great, but if you mean "only playing burn spells", like burn decks do, I don't know how you're going to get that many in a sealed pool!
MTG Degree Yeah that's what I was thinking! Btw, is it okay if I write a poem, warchant, and make a flag for the giveaway/contest?
Jonathan Winer You may! But be aware that the contest video will probably go up late Friday. So you don't have much time! :)
5 color sliver deck
Excluding the likes of lsv and the such, ahem Craig wescoe white weenie. But, nonetheless, honor roll is just as good.
I thought making a second deck was illegal/frowned upon at events such as prerelease. Also isn't a sideboard only supposed to consist of 15 cards?
makeupjunkiepolkadot In sealed, your entire pool is your sideboard (same in draft). I think the only time it would be frowned upon is if your deck change took an excessive amount of time. But yeah, it's totally legit, the pros do it if it makes sense for them, and it's a good tool :)
Thanks for the clarification, I really like your tip about re thinking the mana cost of a card depending on the turn you would be utilizing it instead. I love your vids and you inspired me to try altering mtg cards.
makeupjunkiepolkadot Thanks for the compliment! I'm glad my videos are useful to you, and good luck with your first alters! :)
makeupjunkiepolkadot When I play sealed I always separate my permanent spells from my non-permanent. This isn't always 100% effective but I like to see how my board would progress if I was drawing any kind of consistently. I feel this also helps when choosing my mana base. If my early permanents are one colour eg. white; and my higher cost spells are another colour eg. green; then I don't want to be waiting till turn four or five to play my first card that really effects the board and play more plains.
You get 50 min to make a deck!? I get 35...It hurts.
So between games can I completely sideboard out a new deck, including all basic lands? So match1 game1 I can play gr big dudes and game 2 I can play gw midrange? All mountains can be swapped for plains no prob? Really?
+GAVEbirth2NORIS In sealed, every card that you pull is considered a part of your sideboard and you can request as many basic lands as you want from the store, so yes.
I don't personally like to be spoiled
+Seth Glickman I don't personally like to lose
Ha! You messed up. Going back to your old roots. MTG degree again. (realized this was 2015) oh, nvm :D.
Not bad, but I disagree with a lot of this. I for one, am a hardcore aggro player and almost always try to build some form of aggro pressure in my limited games. Now, that's not to say I go full aggro 24/7, sometimes I'll go that Gruul route and go early game aggro into my 'better cards.'
I also love the 1/1 for 1, so long as they're unblockable, flying, ect. Just because that has made it or breaked it in many a game. They're at 4, on turn 15, I throw down a 1/1 flier, swing, giant growth, win.
Mtg Degree is correct in both of these matters. Even if you have a 1/1 unblockable, it will get killed or you will die before he kills them because you just wasted a card on it. Also, aggro is a fairly good strategy if you know what you are doing very well, but not if you are going to force it. For the type of player you seem to be, midrange should be your deck 90% of the time. If it is draft it is a completely different story
Do you still stand by your aggro comment in Amonkhet/HoD?
Also, have you considered calling subscribers the "alumni"
Isaiah Veirs No-one ever graduates! We are all still learning more about Magic :) Maybe the Honor Roll would be more appropriate... I'll consider it :D
Magic won't save you Luke
tachyon ruclips.net/user/messages
why is it that every other magic youtuber had MTG in his user name
no other community of hobby channels does this
+Iron/Pacifist pokemon channels usually have some pokemons name or "poke" in their name its so you can know what the channel is about just by reading their name and thus are more likely to click on it.
Also don't always go with the shell of a sealed deck. 40 cards is what you want to be around but it can be flexible especially your mana base if you feel you need more add more if you're playing an aggro deck and might be able to get away with less run less
Wrong. To begin, all sealed decks must have at least 40 cards in them. Not a card less. Personally, I don't go over 40 because I'm a statistics guy and well if you have a format where your cards are only decent and try to play a 45-50 card deck, you draws aren't going to be as consistent and your hands are going to be more inconsistent. As for playing a 41st, if the value of adding that one extra card is worth it, I'd consider two things. 1, what card ISNT worth the 41 slot, and 2, if it is truly necessary then maybe it's worth playing.
Revisited this video and it was good idea, because I feel like I do all of these things :D