KTK: Team sealed pool #2
December 9, 2014 2 Comments
My second team sealed pool is below. (It’s also posted on TappedOut if you find that easier to work with.) How would you have built this pool? Post your builds in the comments and I’ll post my build there later in the week, along with some patterns I’ve noticed.
Land
Bloodfell Caves
Blossoming Sands
3 Dismal Backwater
Jungle Hollow
Opulent Palace
Rugged Highlands
Scoured Barrens
2 Swiftwater Cliffs
Thornwood Falls
Tranquil Cove
Wind-Scarred Crag
Artifact
Briber’s Purse
Heart-Piercer Bow
3 Jeskai Banner
2 Mardu Banner
Sultai Banner
White
Abzan Battle-Priest
3 Alabaster Kirin
Defiant Strike
2 Feat of Resistance
2 Firehoof Cavalry
Kill Shot
Master of Pearls
3 Rush of Battle
2 Salt Road Patrol
2 Siegecraft
Smite the Monstrous
Take Up Arms
War Behemoth
Wingmate Roc
Blue
3 Cancel
Disdainful Stroke
Dragon’s Eye Savants
Embodiment of Spring
Force Away
Glacial Stalker
Jeskai Elder
2 Jeskai Windscout
Mistfire Weaver
2 Monastery Flock
Mystic of the Hidden Way
3 Scaldkin
Scion of Glaciers
2 Set Adrift
Singing Bell Strike
2 Thousand Winds
Treasure Cruise
Weave Fate
Wetland Sambar
Whirlwind Adept
Black
3 Bitter Revelation
2 Debilitating Injury
2 Disowned Ancestor
Gurmag Swiftwing
2 Kheru Dreadmaw
Krumar Bond-Kin
Mer-Ek Nightblade
Murderous Cut
Raiders’ Spoils
2 Rite of the Serpent
2 Rotting Mastodon
2 Shambling Attendants
2 Sultai Scavenger
2 Swarm of Bloodflies
Throttle
Red
Act of Treason
Ainok Tracker
Arc Lightning
Arrow Storm
2 Barrage of Boulders
2 Bloodfire Expert
Bloodfire Mentor
Bring Low
2 Canyon Lurkers
Crater’s Claws
2 Dragon Grip
Dragon-Style Twins
Goblinslide
Leaping Master
2 Summit Prowler
Swift Kick
Tormenting Voice
2 Valley Dasher
War-Name Aspirant
Green
2 Alpine Grizzly
2 Become Immense
Heir of the Wilds
Highland Game
Incremental Growth
5 Kin-Tree Warden
Longshot Squad
Naturalize
Sagu Archer
Savage Punch
4 Scout the Borders
Seek the Horizon
2 Smoke Teller
Temur Charger
Windstorm
2 Woolly Loxodon
Multicolor
Abomination of Gudul
Abzan Guide
Crackling Doom
Duneblast
2 Efreet Weaponmaster
Icefeather Aven
Kheru Lich Lord
Kin-Tree Invocation
2 Mardu Roughrider
Mindswipe
Ride Down
Sage of the Inward Eye
Secret Plans
Snowhorn Rider
Sultai Ascendancy
Sultai Charm
Zurgo Helmsmasher
MTGDissected 
Here’re the decks we built from the pool. We won our first match 2-1 and lost our second match 1-2.
Deck A: Sultai morphs (1-1 in matches, 3-3 in games)
Creatures (12):
– 1cc: Embodiment of Spring, Kin-Tree Warden
– 2cc: Dragon’s Eye Savants
– 3cc: 2 Thousand Winds, Mistfire Weaver, Mystic of the Hidden Way, 2 Monastery Flock, Sagu Archer, Icefeather Aven, Abomination of Gudul
Non-creatures (11):
– 2cc: Force Away, Disdainful Stroke, Singing Bell Strike, Debilitating Injury, Secret Plans, Kin-Tree Invocation
– 3cc: Sultai Ascendancy, Sultai Charm
– 4cc: –
– 5cc+: Murderous Cut, Rite of the Serpent, Treasure Cruise
Lands (17): Opulent Palace, 3 Dismal Backwater, Thornwood Falls, Jungle Hollow, 5 Islands, 3 Swamps, 4 Forests
Sideboard (46):
– Artifact: Briber’s Purse, Heart-Piercer Bow, 3 Jeskai Banner, Sultai Banner
– Blue: 3 Cancel, Glacial Stalker, Jeskai Elder, 2 Jeskai Windscout, 3 Scaldkin, Scion of Glaciers, 2 Set Adrift, Weave Fate, Wetland Sambar, Whirlwind Adept
– Black: 3 Bitter Revelation, 2 Kheru Dreadmaw, Krumar Bond-Kin, Mer-Ek Nightblade, 2 Rotting Mastodon, 2 Shambling Attendants, 2 Sultai Scavenger
– Green: Become Immense, 4 Kin-Tree Warden, 4 Scout the Borders, Seek the Horizon
– Multicolor: Kheru Lich Lord
Deck B: R/G (1-1 in matches, 2-2 in games)
Creatures (14):
– 2cc: Heir of the Wilds, 2 Smoke Teller, Temur Charger, Highland Game, War-Name Aspirant
– 3cc: 2 Alpine Grizzly, 2 Woolly Loxodon
– 4cc: Longshot Squad, 2 Summit Prowler
– 5cc: Dragon-Style Twins
Non-creatures (9):
– 2cc: Savage Punch
– 3cc: Arc Lightning, 2 Dragon Grip
– 4cc: Bring Low
– 5cc+: Incremental Growth, Arrow Storm, Become Immense, Crater’s Claws
Lands (17): Rugged Highlands, 8 Forests, 8 Mountains
Sideboard (20):
– Lands: 2 Swiftwater Cliffs
– Red: Act of Treason, Ainok Tracker, 2 Barrage of Boulders, 2 Bloodfire Expert, Bloodfire Mentor, 2 Canyon Lurkers, Goblinslide, Swift Kick, Tormenting Voice, 2 Valley Dasher
– Green: Naturalize, Windstorm
– Multicolor: Mindswipe, Snowhorn Rider
Deck C: W/B/r/g (1-1 in matches, 2-2 in games)
Creatures (12):
– 1cc: 2 Disowned Ancestor
– 2cc: Master of Pearls
– 3cc: –
– 4cc: Abzan Battle-Priest, 3 Alabaster Kirin, Mer-Ek Nightblade
– 5cc+: Wingmate Roc, Zurgo Helmsmasher, 2 Mardu Roughrider
Non-creatures (10):
– 1cc: Defiant Strike
– 2cc: 2 Feat of Resistance, Debilitating Injury, Ride Down
– 3cc: Kill Shot, Crackling Doom
– 4cc: Smite the Monstrous
– 5cc+: Throttle, Duneblast
Lands (18): Scoured Barrens, Wind-Scarred Crag, Bloodfell Caves, Blossoming Sands, 6 Plains, 4 Swamps, 3 Mountains, 1 Forest
Sideboard (23):
– Lands: Tranquil Cove
– Artifacts: 2 Mardu Banner
– White: 2 Firehoof Cavalry, 3 Rush of Battle, 2 Salt Road Patrol, 2 Siegecraft, Take Up Arms, War Behemoth
– Black: Gurmag Swiftwing, Raiders’ Spoils, 2 Swarm of Bloodflies
– Red: Leaping Master
– Multicolor: Abzan Guide, 2 Efreet Weaponmaster, Sage of the Inward Eye
Once we decided on the colors, each person built their own deck, so I don’t completely agree with how decks A and C were built. Here’s what I would do differently if I were building all the decks:
– Deck A (Sultai morphs) wins by playing or unmorphing Thousand Winds, or off card advantage/selection from Secret Plans, Sultai Ascendancy, Treasure Cruise, or Abomination of Gudul. Both routes require making it to the late game, so I think the deck needs more creatures to stall the board, and for Secret Plans. I would take the Temur Charger and Woolly Loxodons from the R/G deck and moved Disdainful Stroke and Singing Bell Strike to the sideboard. I would give Debilitating Injury and Rite of the Serpent to the W/B deck and change black from a main color to a splash (for Murderous Cut, Sultai Ascendancy, Sultai Charm, and Abomination of Gudul).
– Deck B (R/G) shouldn’t run Become Immense because it already has 4 other cards that are useless if you don’t have a creature in play (2 Dragon Grip, Incremental Growth, and Savage Punch). It should also give up Temur Charger and the 2 Woolly Loxodons to the Sultai morphs deck and instead run 2 Bloodfire Expert and 2 Canyon Lurkers.
– Deck C (W/B/r/g) shouldn’t splash red since it primarily provides expensive win conditions, which the deck doesn’t need more of. Ride Down is also suboptimal since this deck is not aggressive. Instead I would run War Behemoth, 2 Salt Road Patrols, 2 Sultai Scavengers, and 2 Rite of the Serpent to make sure we live to play our win conditions (Wingmate Roc, Master of Pearls, and Duneblast). The Salt Road Patrols also interact nicely with our outlast lords.
This is the second team sealed pool I’ve built, and I also looked at the only undefeated decks from day 1 of GP Nashville. Each of the pools contained a R/G deck, a W/B deck that sometimes splashes red or green, and a 3/4-color morph deck:
– The R/G deck maximizes Savage Punch, one of the best removal spells in the format. While ferocious is a Temur ability, blue doesn’t seem to have much to contribute to the deck.
– The W/B deck takes advantage of the Warrior tribal cards (Chief of the Edge/Scale, Raiders’ Spoils, and Rush of Battle). If it has good 2-drops, it can be an aggressive 2-color deck, while more controlling builds can splash red or green.
– The 3/4-color morphs deck uses Secret Plans or Trail of Mystery for card advantage. It has blue and green as its base colors, usually runs or splashes black for the Sultai cards and black morphs, and sometimes also splashes white. (Blue, green, and black have the most morphs in Khans of Tarkir.) There are few non-rare targets for Erase/Naturalize in this format, so people tend to leave them in their sideboard, which helps this deck.