Sealed deck thoughts for Actual Drafters group

Agree with all of this. I've been losing a lot of league matches on modo as well and I've been trying to put together some observations.

It seems to me like there are multiple dimensions of strategy - aggro, control, and combo (hey just like in constructed!).



Aggro decks are like the first point you mentioned - you want to get on the board early and maintain your advantage. You want to play any cards you can that let you stay on the board and keep attacking - the cheaper, the better.

Some key non-rares that help accomplish this goal:

Cheap combat tricks (ESPECIALLY ones that investigate and keep the gas flowing) - Strength of Arms, Confront the Unknown, Aim High, Rush of Adrenaline, etc.
Cards that let you cheese your way past blockers - Gryff's Boon, Stensia Masquerade, Voldaren Duelist, Magmatic Chasm, Spiteful Motives, Malevolent Whispers, Nahiri's Machinations, Expose Evil, Topplegeist, the equipment left behind by Harvest Hand
Cards that let you influence the board even after both players have stabilized / ground stalled - flying/evasive creatures (skulk is semi-evasion), Stern Constable, Skeleton Key

Control decks are slow and bomb-heavy. When I first started playing sealed deck competitively in 2003-2004, all sealed decks were essentially control decks, so I have a huge tendency to always build my sealed decks in this fashion. You generally want to defend yourself as best as possible and play every removal spell you can to stall the game until you draw one of your win conditions.

Red is the worst color for this in the format - none of the red non-rares are terribly defensive. Every other color has something to contribute though.

Key non-rares:

Creatures with high toughness, preferably either cheap ones or ones that generate value (Erdwal Illuminator, Moldgraf Scavenger, Inquisitor's Ox, Silent Observer, Seagraf Skaab, Drownyard Explorers, Farbog Revenant, Watcher of the Web, Graf Mole)
Counterspells (Deny Existence, Broken Concentration)
Even though all removal is generally good in control, defensive removal especially shines (Puncturing Light, Silverstrike)
Sources of card advantage (every card that says "Investigate," Erdwal Illuminator, Pore Over The Pages)


Combo decks are sometimes referred to as synergy decks. There are a few themes that you can synergize pretty well in this format. Spells/prowess, delirium, werewolves, milling are four that I can think of off the top of my head.

Each of the synergy categories I mentioned will break a certain way in deckbuilding (lean towards aggro or control) and it should be pretty obvious which ones are which, but don't let that stop you from synergizing and building your deck properly.

Spells/prowess decks are almost always blue and red. They can lean aggro OR control depending on how many prowess creatures you get. If I have lots of Nibilis of Dusk and Pyre Hound, I'm more likely to want to be an aggressive/tempo deck. If I have lots of Silent Observers, Stitched Manglers, and a Rise from the Tides, I'm gonna want to break towards control I think.

Delirium decks are (in my opinion) most frequently (in order) black/white, then black/green, then white/green. I think WG is a better color combination than BG, but white and green are both so deep that your WG decks will probably drift away from delirium synergies in favor of more raw card power. Plus BG has a specific payoff card in Autumnal Gloom (which is great if you can reliably and quickly get delirium).

Werewolf decks are red/green. They look like normal R/G beatdown decks but they make extra special use of cards like Moonlight Hunt and Howlpack Resurgence.

Mill decks are blue. The second color is most often green but can be something else. You need a high concentration of uncommons for this deck to function - at least 3. Fleeting Memories and Manic Scribe are the two big ones. Vessel of Paramnesia is cute but it's way more useful to use on yourself to find delirium than it is as a tool for milling the opponent.

I know that Madness is a mechanic in SOI, but there isn't really such a thing as a "madness" deck - madness just fits organically into all of the existing decks.

The key thing to remember is to be very mindful of your synergies when building your deck.

Spell decks want 12+ spells and a low number of creatures (8-10) so make sure you have enough good spells and that the creatures you do have accomplish all your goals.

Delirium decks want a diverse amount of card types and a wide variety of ways to get them into the graveyard. Don't be afraid to play Wicker Witch and get it in combat just to trade and have an artifact in the yard. Things that discard are usually much better than they seem (Skeleton Key, Stern Constable, etc).

Werewolf decks should keep an eye out for high impact instants that can be played after passing and letting werewolves flip. Dance with Devils and Pack Guardian are two of the absolute best, but even a card like Inner Struggle is better than usual in this deck.

Mill decks rely a lot on cards that investigate. Erdwal Illuminator is fantastic since it doubles your clues and offers a good defense. So is Drownyard Explorers. Jace's Scrutiny, Confront the Unknown, Ulvenwald Mysteries (which is probably just elite in every green deck anyway btw), Ongoing Investigation are all cards that you should be looking for.

One drops are better than you think

All of the 1 drop non-rare creatures are at least playable if not very good. Here they are in order of how good I think they are and how to use them:

Stern Constable - the best one by a lot imo. It's a tapper that doesn't require mana. Discarding a card might seem steep, but there are lots of ways to reclaim your lost value (madness cards, turning on delirium, cards that can be used from the graveyard like Ghoulcaller's Apprentice and Dauntless Cathar). Think of it like this - this card turns all of your cards into split cards where the other half is a 0 mana instant that says "Tap target creature." If you're ahead on board you would take it every time. I really can't say enough good things about this card. I've seen it in play plenty of times and had my expectations for the card (a shitty card that I'd laugh at my opponent for playing) blown out of the water.
Thraben Inspector - the next best behind Constable. Replaces itself, trades with a lot more things than you'd expect, has human synergies (try putting True Faith Censer on this!). Also if you're in the market for pumping this somehow, the extra toughness lets it live through a lot of things.
Topplegeist - The one time tap effect is great, it lets you sneak an extra few damage in for a single turn (which is a strategy that I historically haven't really liked using, but it's been very successful against me, so I'm thinking it's correct more often than not these days - more on this below).
Indulgent Aristocrat - Capable of sneaking one or two hits in early while padding your life total a bit, as well as trading off with a Hinterland Logger or whatever if that's what's called for. After that, assuming you have some vampires, this becomes a huge headache. All of a sudden removal spells aren't very good against you because every creature they threaten to remove can be cashed in to pump all your vampires. If they have a nice stream of creature fodder like Sanitarium Skeleton, Ghoulcaller's Apprentice, or (!!!) Call the Bloodline, it gets even worse since it removes the tension of having to sacrifice creatures that matter.
Insolent Neonate - tough to block early, good for at least 2 damage if you play it on turn 1, and is useful later for smoothing out crappy draws and enabling madness things. One great use I've found for this card is to sneak out a Bloodmad Vampire when my opponent has no blockers (or only one that I can manage with a removal spell or whatever) and start pounding.
Sanitarium Skeleton - I actually prefer not to cast this card so it's not really a one drop, but in the decks I want it, I really really want it. It's phenomenal with Call the Bloodline, and it's really useful in black/white in general since it lets you sacrifice to things like Angelic Purge, Bound by Moonsilver, and the white fallen angel. It's also great with Macabre Waltz since it turns it into double raise dead for 1B which is excellent value. That said, I'm happy to play this on turn 1 or 2 to keep a werewolf from flipping or if I know I'll get a chance to chump with it or, even better, trade it for something awesome.
Village Messenger - Starting to get to the 1s that I'm not as thrilled about any more. This card is still useful though. Not many people can keep it from flipping if you have it on turn 1 on the play, and if you do have it then it's probably good for at least 5 damage. It's also a werewolf in case you have any sneaky wolf synergies (it lets Howlpack Wolf block!).
Loam Dryad - Probably the worst 1 drop. There's not that much benefit in going from 2 to 4 that makes you want to work this hard for it, and you probably shouldn't be playing a deck that requires your colors to be fixed this badly. I almost never start this card. That said, I've boarded this in a lot if my opponent is better at getting on the board early than I am. This is probably my favorite card to block enemy Bloodmad Vampires with.

Keep in mind that one drops have an additional function of preventing werewolves from flipping.

Be very mindful of your curve

You know what feels really bad? Playing a Skeleton Key or whatever on the draw on turn 1, only to have your opponent cast Hinterland Logger while you have no 2 drop and have to watch it flip and take huge chunks out of your life total.

If your opponent is playing forests or mountains, think very carefully about when you want to deploy the cards in your hand. It's super pleasing to play Thraben Inspector on turn 1 and crack the clue on turn 2, but unless you have a very good reason for that inspector to be in play a turn early, you probably want to hold it in case your opponent plays a werewolf that you can't otherwise deal with. Unless you mulliganed a lot, you probably don't need to crack your clue on turn 2 and can find time to do it later.

This only applies if your opponent is red or green though - you don't have to worry about it if there's no risk of a werewolf. Also, be sure to devote a LOT of thought to your future turns if we're talking about something like Skeleton Key - it could ruin your curve if you save the key to keep a werewolf from flipping and end up one mana short of playing a creature and equipping it in the same turn. There's no universally right answer - every situation is very contextual and requires your consideration.


Sneaking in chunks of damage

I mentioned this when talking about Topplegeist earlier. I've always hated using this strategy in the past (the past being like ten years ago). I find it extremely stressful. You're basically using up a lot of your precious aggressive resources on one turn just to knock their life total lower. If you're like me and grew up in the era of Magic where cards that only affect your life total (Sacred Nectar, Lava Axe, etc.) were mocked, you probably understand where I'm coming from. Nevertheless, I lose to this strategy a LOT. My opponent will do something like burn a Magmatic Chasm just to knock me from 17 to 9 while he sits comfortably at 18, and it leaves me feeling like I can't punish him for using his resources like that otherwise I'll just be dead. I have a lot more thinking to do about this strategic concept in general, but for now I'll just say that I would respect the possibility for big swings a LOT more.


Blue is kind of a garbage color

The blue cards are really "fancy" - usually cards like counterspells are great in sealed deck because of all the bombs, but I think the pace of this format is such that you can't really afford to leave mana open or you risk falling behind. Additionally, all the "cutesy" blue strategies in this format need a lot to come together to be useful. By cutesy I mean something you'd have to deviate from your normal plan of playing creatures on curve and participating in combat to employ - clue/mill strategies or heavy spell strategies. These are definitely viable, but they are a lot worse than they appear and need a lot of assistance.

The best ways to use blue that I've found are in aggressive tempo strategies, paired with either red or white. U/W can be flyers and tempo - blue has a couple solid flying creatures and a lot of ways to stay ahead in the tempo race (Press for Answers is my personal favorite, but Just the Wind and Stitched Mangler are also excellent). You also get a lot of mileage out of Expose Evil in this deck. U/R is more of a ground tempo deck, but it focuses more on spells and sneaking in opportunities for big chunks of damage. Sneaking in Bloodmad Vampire hits is a great way to win tempo wars with your U/R deck. Pyre Hound is also really good in U/R - playing a Just the Wind or Press for Answers one turn to sneak two hits with a 3/4 hound in while you dig for more spells to grow it is a reasonable strategy.

Blue control decks are possible too but blue should be thought of as an afterthought in these decks. If I'm U/W for example, I want to make sure I have enough cards to keep myself alive as well as a way to win the game later. Erdwal Illuminator is a good early blocker and lets you get good mileage out of your clue makers (Thraben Inspector, Drownyard Explorers, Survive the Night, etc.) Stitched Mangler is an early-ish drop that stalls the board long enough for you to play some of your defensive 4+ drops, most notably Silent Observer. As far as win conditions, I want big bombs like Drogskol Cavalry, Nephalia Moondrakes, Descend upon the Sinful, or Avacyn. If I don't have those I better at least have multiple Stormwind Spirits. Startled Awake also kind of counts as a control win condition but you better make sure you have either a way to sneak the 1/1 in (a tapper like Expose Evil, or my favorite card ever Stern Constable), or a bounce spell so you can mill for 13 again without attacking.

All that said, there is no single card in blue of any rarity that would make me excited to play blue.