MM2: Sealed pool #1
May 24, 2015 1 Comment
Here’s the sealed pool I opened at a Modern Masters 2015 release event yesterday. It didn’t seem particularly strong, but I went 2-1-1 with the deck I built, and the draw would have been a win if I’d had another turn, while the loss was due to my opponent drawing a rare bomb followed by a mythic while I drew lands. How would you have built this deck? (I’ll post my built in the blog comments later this week.)
Lands
Azorius Chancery
Eye of Ugin
Gruul Turf
Izzet Boilerworks
Simic Growth Chamber
Colorless
Ulamog’s Crusher
Artifact
Alloy Myr
Blinding Souleater
Cathodion
Copper Carapace
Cranial Plating
2 Darksteel Axe
Flayer Husk
2 Myr Enforcer
Precursor Golem
Runed Servitor
Skyreach Manta
Sphere of the Suns
2 Wayfarer’s Bauble
White
Apostle’s Blessing
Arrest
3 Conclave Phalanx
Court Homunculus
Dispatch
Fortify
Hikari, Twilight Guardian
Kor Duelist
2 Mighty Leap
Moonlit Strider
Skyhunter Skirmisher
Spectral Procession
Sunlance
Terashi’s Grasp
Blue
Air Servant
Cloud Elemental
Guile
Helium Squirter
Hurkyl’s Recall
2 Mana Leak
2 Repeal
2 Steady Progress
Stoic Rebuttal
Vigean Graftmage
Wings of Velis Vel
Black
Bone Splinters
2 Death Denied
Duskhunter Bat
Grim Affliction
Shrivel
Sickle Ripper
Spread the Sickness
Red
Blades of Velis Vel
2 Fiery Fall
Goblin Fireslinger
3 Gut Shot
Soulbright Flamekin
Spikeshot Elder
2 Tribal Flames
Viashino Slaughtermaster
Green
All Sun’s Dawn
2 Aquastrand Spider
Cytoplast Root-Kin
Kozilek’s Predator
Nest Invader
Rampant Growth
Root-Kin Ally
Scatter the Seeds
Scion of the Wild
3 Sylvan Bounty
Vines of Vastwood
Multicolor
Agony Warp
Sigil Blessing
Hybrid
Dimir Guildmage
MTGDissected 
I ended up building a G/W deck from this pool. White had removal, Hikari Twilight Guardian, and Spectral Procession, while green had several solid creatures and pump spells.
Creatures (15):
– 2cc: 2 Aquastrand Spider, Nest Invader
– 3cc: Skyhunter Skirmisher, Blinding Souleater, Scion of the Wild, Cathodion
– 4cc: Cytoplast Root-Kin, Kozilek’s Predator, Scatter the Seeds, Conclave Phalanx
– 5cc: Precursor Golem, Hikari Twilight Guardian, Spectral Procession, Root-Kin Ally
Non-creatures (8):
– 1cc: Sunlance, Vines of Vastwood, Apostle’s Blessing, Darksteel Axe
– 2cc: Sigil Blessing, Mighty Leap
– 3cc: Arrest, Fortify
Lands (17): Azorius Chancery, Gruul Turf, Simic Growth Chamber, 7 Plains, 7 Forests
Some interactions I liked:
– Skyhunter Skirmisher + graft/equipment/pump
– tokens + equipment/global pump/Scion of the Wild
– Precursor Golem + pump (especially Sigil Blessing)
Several people have suggested a 4/5-color build that uses Alloy Myr, Sphere of the Suns, 2 Wayfarer’s Bauble, and/or Rampant Growth to splash Air Servant, Helium Squirter, 2 Tribal Flames, and 2 Fiery Fall, and to enable Skyreach Manta and All Sun’s Dawn. I did consider that approach while building the deck, but felt that while those effects were strong, I would have had to play a number of enablers, which would have led to a decrease in overall card quality. I’m still not sure which build is the best, but I was pretty happy with how my deck worked out, and I haven’t been happy with some of the domain/sunburst decks I’ve drafted since then because there’s always a chance of getting color screwed, even when you have plenty of mana fixing.