Wacky Wednesdays: 4-Booster Sealed

For those of you unfamiliar with Magic: the Gathering Online, there is a particular format I tried for the first time Tuesday night: Sealed 4 Booster Theros/Journey into Nyx. This involves building a 30 card deck out of two boosters of Theros and two boosters of Journey into Nyx. Let's take a look at what I had to work with:

White	Blue	Black
Cavalry Pegasus Eagle of the Watch Favored Hoplite Lagonna-Band Trailblazer Observant Alseid Ordeal of Heliod Oreskos Swiftclaw Quarry Colossus Ray of Dissolution Setessan Battle Priest Sightless Brawler	Cloaked Siren Cloaked Siren Countermand Crackling Triton Crackling Triton Ordeal of Thassa Prescient Chimera Thassa's Devourer Triton Shorestalker War-Wing Siren	Agent of Fates Brain Maggot Cast into Darkness Dreadbringer Lampads Fleshmad Steed Grim Guardian Nightmarish End Returned Phalanx Worst Fears (FOIL)
Red	Green	Other
Bearer of the Heavens Blinding Flare Deathbellow Raider Demolish Flurry of Horns Lightning Diadem Lightning Diadem Lightning Strike Ordeal of Purphoros Portent of Betrayal Portent of Betrayal Spawn of Thraxes	Agent of Horizons Centaur Battlemaster Commune with the Gods Defend the Hearth Desecration Plague Leafcrown Dryad Market Festival Market Festival Satyr Grovedancer	Gold Shipwreck Singer Triad of Fates Artifacts Akroan Horse (FOIL) Deserter's Quarters Land Unknown Shores Mountain Mountain Mountain Forest

Looking at the list above, I knew I needed a theme, and with every limited deck I build, I consider my rares. You can see the rares in italics above (and yeah, I had a foil rare and a foil mythic rare).

So looking at the above, Triad of Fates, Agent of Fates, and Worst Fears had black, and if I want to effectively use Triad of Fates, I needed white.

    

I immediately cut Worst Fears. 8 mana to control an opponent's turn? I would hope out of a 30 card deck I wouldn't make it to land #8. If I did, something isn't going well for me. Sure it's foil, sure it's flashy, but no. Doesn't belong. Plus, I like Weenie decks of all colors when I play limited (consider this mana curve, which is my favorite deck I built in a draft). This means I want small creatures with boosts and tricks. If I can be fast, I can beat anyone who has a Worst Fears and wants to play it or anyone with Monstrosity creatures. I wanted to deal damage fast before everything I have dies. Triad of Fates can bounce enchantments for Constellation to take effect or can give me more cards (or also potentially help my opponent deck themselves). Agent of Fates forces sacrificing and even has deathtouch to boot which makes it that much better. So naturally these are the cards to build around.

So let's get back to the deck plan.

We have plenty of White and Black cards, so let's toss everything together. Of course, I found a few problems with that. Without card draw, Nightmarish End isn't useful. Quarry Colossus was too big and the removal is too late in the game. Lagonna-Band Trailblazer is only one mana, but then it is a 0/4 and requires spells to target to make it better. Sure most of the cards in White and Black have Heroic, but they can deal combat damage without Heroic. That's what I care about.

In the end, I thought I needed more, so I went with some blue. I had an Unknown Shores, so it could work for some splashiness, so in goes Triton Shorestalker, Ordeal of Thassa, and Shipwreck Winger. They all are cheap and Ordeal of Thassa is a spell that targets to trigger Heroic.

    

Other than Ordeal of Thassa (which I explained above), I chose the others because, yes, they are cheap costing, but Triton Shorestalker can't be blocked and Shipwreck Singer flies, can kill smaller creatures, and can force opponents to attack with easily beaten creatures or keep other creatures from being able to block. Shipwreck Singer was MVP for a few games.

So... let's check out the deck:

White/Blue/Black Sealed

3-0, MTGO Journey into Nyx 4-Booster Sealed (6/24/2014)

Creatures x1 Favored Hoplite x1 Triton Shorestalker x1 Cavalry Pegasus x1 Oreskos Swiftclaw x1 Setessan Battle Priest x1 Sightless Brawler x1 Brain Maggot x1 Fleshmad Steed x1 Returned Phalanx x1 Shipwreck Singer x1 Eagle of the Watch x1 Observant Alseid x1 Grim Guardian x1 Agent of Fates x1 Triad of Fates x1 Dreadbringer Lampads

Land x1 Unknown Shores x4 Plains x2 Island x5 Swamp Other Spells x1 Ordeal of Heliod x1 Ordeal of Thassa x1 Cast into Darkness x1 Ray of Dissolution

    

In different games, the above three cards were definitely MVPs. Agent of Fates, Triton Shorestalker, and Shipwreck Singer were also in that category, but we already covered why they were awesome in this deck. Returned Phalanx is a 3/3 but it has defender. Part of what swayed me to splash blue was the ability, and I bestowed so many things on this guy, except I just forgot to pay the cost for the attacking ability that I could have won games much sooner, but oh well... It still worked out well in the end.

Eagle of the Watch was powerful as there weren't many flyers and this guy had vigilance. I stuck an Ordeal on this guy in multiple games and wound up using him to help me win.

Brain Maggot was amazing. I used him to lock down Gluttonous Cyclops in a match (twice due to an opponent bouncing it to my hand allowing me to take it away again) and in a different match, I took out Aspect of Gorgon during Game 2 of Round 3 after having an issue with it in Game 1. I worked around it the first game, but taking it out before it could show up the next game was key.

    

These cards were definitely good support. Dreadbringer Lampads helped get my flyers past a Blood-Toll Harpy with Aspect of Gorgon on it in Round 3, Game 1. Definitely a good addition to the deck. Observant Alseid was always bestowed on creatures and helped give me Heroic triggers and just boost my flyers. Yes, it came off in one game, but that's what is great about using Bestow. And last, but not least, Unknown Shores popped up frequently when I needed it for Blue, and it was a big help.

After playing this deck, I believe I have a good idea what I want to do for a Block Constructed deck. If this deck is a powerhouse in limited, a similar deck could very well be a powerhouse in Constructed.