Criticize this pile

nico · League Staff Joined: 28 Oct 2003 Posts: 898

Okay, went to a release tournament last sunday, and from the boosters that were handed to me, I built this pile. Flame for this misbuild (or give some constructive criticism, whatever suits you):

land:
1 sejiri refuge
4 plains
6 mountain
6 island

creatures

blue:
1 windrider eel
1 hedron crab
1 gomazoa
1 welkin tern
1 sky ruin drake
2 tempest owl

red:
1 hellkite charger
1 plated geopede
1 geyser glider
1 goblin bushwacker
1 bladetusk boar

spells

blue:
2 wiplash trap
1 into the roil
1 lethargy trap
1 cancel

red:
1 punishing fire
1 inferno trap
1 burst lightning
1 zektar shrine expedition

white:
2 journey to nowhere

Now, you must know there are more cards, and want to see them, els you cannot flame me for making a pile from a busted pool, so here they are:

lands:

1 emeria, the sky ruin
1 soaring seacliff
1 teetering peaks
1 turntimber grove

Blue:

1 Archmage ascension
1 living tsunami
1 Spreading Seas

Black:

2 Bog Tatters
1 Crypt Rippers
1 Feast of Blood
1 Giant Scorpion
1 Guul Draz Vampire
1 Halo Hunter
1 Hideous End
1 Mindless Null
1 Mire Blight
1 Ravenous Trap
1 Surrakar Marauder
1 Vampire's Bite
1 Vampire hexmage
1 Vampire Nighthawk

White:

1 Bold defense
1 Conqueror's pledge
1 Kor Cartographer
1 Kor Skyfisher
1 Landbind Ritual
1 Makindi Shieldmate
1 Narrow Escape
1 Nimbus Wings
1 Noble vestige
1 Ondu Cleric
2 Shieldmate's Blessing
1 Steppe Lynx
1 Windborne Charge

Red:

Bladetusk Boar

1 goblin shortcutter
1 Runeflare Trap
1 Shatterskull Giant
1 Tuktuk Grunts

Green:

1 Baloth woodcrasher
1 Frontier Guide
1 Grazing Gladehart
1 Greenweaver druid
1 Harrow
1 Khalni Heart expedition
1 Oran-rief Recluse
1 Savage Silhouette
1 Scute Mob
1 Tanglesap
1 Territorial Baloth
2 vines of Vastwood
2 Zendikar Farguide

Artifacts

1 Blazing Torch
1 Expedition Map
1 Hedron Scrabbler

Have fun

Trotsky1 · Joined: 12 Apr 2005 Posts: 1458

Okay I do not really know any of the cards yet but your mana base even if this is irl, is bad. I think you would have been much better off running an 18th land this format offers alot of incentives for running 18 lands even more so in sealed, Im pretty certain this format is going to be an 18 land sealed deck format.

Even as it is 5 lands is too many for 2 spells and 7 sources for 12 spells is to little, you want at least 8 blue sources with this deck, I would have gone 7 islands 7 mountains 1 sejiri refuge 3 plains. You give away alot of free wins by playing manabases like that.

SugarShark · Joined: 22 Mar 2009 Posts: 247

how about big and dumb G/W
tutoring for your rare land. w/map
theres a healthy dose of landfall, land tutoring effects
choked with pump spells, and unremarkable warm bodies

theres probably room for a v. minor 3rd splash not
too sure if theres removal in R, U , or B
I don't know the cards that well either

that common Green gray ogre (Grazing Gladeheart) looks like a big headache for your opponent's tempo

not sure if I'd run the torch. its a bad shock but sometimes that's enough

Middleman · Joined: 20 Jan 2005 Posts: 58

I don't think third color splashes are really going to work in ZEN without green as a main color or some ridiculous fetch/life-dual/Khalani Gem combination. So with that in mind:

-1 sejiri refuge
-4 plains

+ 2 Mountain
+ 1 Teetering Peaks
+ 1 Soaring Seacliffs
+ 2 Island

I think you deck can support 2 ETB-tapped lands as good as these 2, particularly if you go up to 18 lands.

As far as creatures go, I'd recommend in blue:

-1 Hedron Crab

Without multiples or Archive Traps he's not maindeckable. Keep in mind for slow match-ups, but you should be trying to win with tempo and evasion not milling 3 cards every 2nd turn.

+ 1 Living Tsuanami

Yes, he land locks you (though with the U+R ETB lands he also has upside), but think of it this way; if he cost 6 mana (your other highest CC) would you play him? I'd certainly play a 4/4 flyer for 6 in Sealed.

In red:

- 1 Goblin Bushwacker

This guy really doesn't do anything most of the time as you don't have the token generators or mass of weenies to make his small pump worthwhile.

+ 1 Bladetusk Boar
If that is a 2nd copy in your board it needs to be main, it's Snapping Drake!
+ 1 Goblin Shortcutter
A much better 2-drop than the Bushwacker. 2 power all the time, maintains relevance even as a late top-deck.
+ 1 Shatterskull Giant
3 toughness is pretty big in ZEN, it's big enough to survive a lot of common removal and combat. And 4 power means that he'll usually trade for both guys if double blocked as well.

Spells:

-1 Lethargy Trap
I think it's important to evaluate the trap cards for their non-trap costs first of. Would you pay 3U for a Fog? I wouldn't.
-2 Journey to Nowhere
I don't think your pool can support this splash and I also don't think it's necessary. You have 3-5 bounce effects (Into the Roil + Whiplash's bounce 2 guys each) and 4 burn spells (Punishing Fire, Inferno Trap, Burst Lightning, Blazing Torch) already, that's sufficient.
- 1 Zektar Shrine Expedition
A Lava Axe that you have to inform your opponent about before hand and that messes with your curve? No thanks.

+ 1 Blazing Torch
Moonglove Extract is still a very good card. And every now and then it makes combat a little tricky for a black opponent as a bonus.

That gives this deck:

Lands:

8 Mountain
1 Teetering Peaks
1 Soaring Seacliffs
8 Island

1cc:
Burst Lightning, Blazing Torch
2cc:
Welkin Tern, 2 x Tempest Owl, Goblin Shortcutter, Plated Geopede, Into the Roil, Punishing Fire
3cc:
Gomazoa, Cancel
4cc:
Windrider Eel, 2 x Bladetusk Boar, Shatterskull Giant, Inferno Trap, Living Tsunami
5cc:
Skyruin Drake, Geyser Glider, 2 x Whiplash Trap
6cc:
Hellkite Charger