Survivors
Sealed Deck Analysis Card Pool 1: Only Two Bombs! What?
February 11, 2005
Due to new mechanics introduced in the
Survivors set much more is riding on being able to mount attacking pressure
first and consistently in Sealed than before, especially since the set has
low & expensive blocker composition. Speed Attackers make it so that you
never know when your opponent is going to ‘drop a bomb on you.’ You want to
swing as soon as you can, and having solid 1-5 drops is vastly more
important than pulling late game fatties. Even though we Card of The Day
Reviewers rate summoning sickness fatties like Zagaan or Syforce high for
Limited play doesn’t mean you should pack your deck with many fatties or
that you must play those cards (although I would skew my mana base for
Twin Cannon Skyterror).
Mana curve is important in Limited. You could pull 4 Double Breakers costing
6, 7, 8, 9 mana and not deck a single one if your card pool has a myriad of
1-5 drops that are good-bonus if many choices are synergistic. If you have a
mostly quick beatdown flavoring, then don’t clog up your deck with too many
late game choices. You really do not want your first couple of hands to have
many 6-8 mana cards in Limited because there are much less chances of your
deck being able to stall for fattie drops. Nothing on your side of the board
past the 3rd mana drop could spell a quick scoop for you if your opponent
has been dropping attackers each turn.
Knowing the speed factor of this game, especially in Limited, should have
kept anyone who has played in a few Sealed events from decking her King
Tsunami pulls. However, I still saw players that had Sealed experience under
their belts decking cards that were unplayable based on their card pool-and
for much more dubious reasons than hefty mana cost. For instance, one player
ran Dobulgyser and Chaos Worm without any evo bait for them. After the event
I politely asked the player why he ran those creatures and he replied that
he could just use them as mana. Well, you can use any card as mana so why
not pack something you could play as well. Then I thought to myself: “maybe
he had such a dirt-poor card pool that he had to run those creatures.”
That was not the case. He showed me his card pool, and he had several solid
Fire and Darkness cards that he could have played instead of Chaos and
Dobulgyser. Sometimes you pack Low rated cards to fill in mana gaps, to run
a bomb, or even just to make the 30-card mark. But, packing something you
can never play even if you could build up the necessary mana and draw that
card at the right time weakens your deck. Always try your best to find
“filler” that is marginally playable before decking flat-out bad filler or
just a way to avoid running filler. If you have a truly bad card pool,
that’s a different story. But packing two bad fillers when you have other
choices-not a good idea.
On the whole, Survivors isn’t stellar set for Sealed or Draft because a many
card choices are too expensive. The Water and Darkness offerings of the set
left a lot to be desired. Water was too pricey for my tastes in any format.
Darkness would strictly be incorporated for some of the quicker drops, some
slayers, and Skullsweeper Q. I knew that my Sealed deck would be comprised
of Fire, Nature and Light cards (which is how I would start drafting this
set). However, my venue only provided us with 2 Survivors packs, so I had a
chance of seeing a wider array of casting costs for each civilization within
my card pool. Let’s examine the card pool I had to work with at the
Survivors Release:
Categories for Card Pool Analysis
Creatures: the guys you play to the battle zone
Spells: the non-creature support
Blockers: the creatures that can block
Quick Drops: 1-3 mana creatures or spells
Fattie: creatures with at least double breaker, power 5000 or more
Bombs: creatures or spells that can win the game the turn they’re played
Removal: temporary or permanent
Disruption: hand discard, hand disruption, draw disruption, mana bounce,
mana destruction
Light
Re Bil, Seeker of Archery
Diamond Cutter
Sarius, Vizier of Suppression
Le Quist, the Oracle
Emerald Grass
Amber Grass
Magris, Vizier of Magnetism
Ballus, Dogfight Enforcer Q
Gallia Zohl, Iron Guardian Q
Total: 9
Creatures: 8
Spells: 1
Blockers: 3
Quick Drops: 3
Fattie: 1
Bombs: 0
Removal: 0
Disruption: 0
Light offered me 3 defensive measures and 3 quick drops, with 2 cards
overlapping both categories. I wasn’t going to come out of the gate swinging
with Light, but it gave me ways to survive, thin my deck, and launch
surprise attacks.
Amber Grass was tossed in strictly for the trigger factor-a chance at
reaping some mana advantage and increasing field presence unexpectedly. At 4
mana for 3000 power, Amber Grass is a solid Limited hitter, especially if
it’s triggered early. Every 1-3 drop pulled I planned to deck if they didn’t
have ill side effects so Le Quist was a no-brainer. Le Quist’s effect gives
me the chance to setup my opponent’s Fire and Darkness creatures for
destruction. Also packed into the deck without any debate were the 3
blockers. They were automatic selections with Speed Attackers hitting the
scene. Emerald & Sarius afforded me the chance to make my opponent’s Rikabus
and Bombats just another pair of overcosted hitters. Gallia could share its
effect with any of my Survivors, and when paired with Ballus it can create
an annoying wall. Magris was also a given. Draw in Limited is very helpful,
and the effect tacked onto an affordable creature is superb. There was no
reason not to deck Magris, especially with a solid Light mana base.
One of my absolutely favorite creatures in Limited is Toel, Vizier of Hope.
Toel is a 5/5 for Limited-your opponent will HATE you when this creature
drops. The most reliable way to dispose creatures in Limited is to attack
them directly. Toel prohibits your opponent from attacking your entire field
and tends to draw whatever kill your opponent has to itself; it’s a high
utility card in Sealed and Draft. While Ballus only untaps itself and other
Survivors, in Limited an untapping creature that is relatively affordable is
a smart play and Ballus has greater utility if other Survivors are in your
battle zone. Diamond Cutter did not seem like a suitable card to deck, as I
had only 2 creatures that couldn’t attack my opponent. At 5 mana it would
most likely be cast to make 1 creature with summoning sickness able to
attack depending on my mana buildup. I’d rather run a creature. Re Bil was
an automatic deck inclusion for me at Shadowclash’s Release, but most of my
card pool was in the 2-5 mana range and I wanted to keep my deck tight nit.
So at this point, out of the deck were:
Re Bil, Seeker of Archery
Diamond Cutter
Nature
Sword of Benevolent Life
Ultimate Force
Mana Crisis
Niofa, Horned Protector
Crow Winger
Leaping Tornado Horn
Ballonshroom Q
Bloodwing Mantis
Ambush Scorpion
Total: 9
Creatures: 6
Spells: 3
Blockers: 0
Quick Drops: 2
Fattie: 2
Bombs: 0
Removal: 0
Disruption: 1
Nature supplied some solid hitters to toss into the deck. I received more
quick drops, this time aggressive ones, a fattie with an usual ‘draw’
ability, pump hitters and mana tricks.
I tossed all of Nature’s spells into the unplayable pile, but Mana Crisis
was the only spell from this civilization that I considered decking.
Destroying just one mana of a specific color can be very damaging in
Limited, but I didn’t want the spell to take away the spot of a hitter and I
wanted to keep my deck at 30 cards. Sword of Benevolent Life is not bad in
Limited, and with the amount of Light creatures I ended up dropping it
would’ve been a solid play to help get rid of other creatures. But, I just
didn’t see this spell taking up a creature slot either. As for Ultimate
Force, on my 5th turn I want to drop 1 or more creatures, not correct or
accelerate my mana unless the effect was a CIP (come into play) on a
creature. I’d much rather deck Kulus, Soulshine Enforcer than U-Force even
though the mana acceleration is not guaranteed and not as much.
Almost all of Nature’s creatures went into my deck. Crow Winger is 2 mana
with a handy pump effect so was decked. Leaping Tornado and Ambush Scorpion
can take out creatures costing more than them-attack up the mana cost-so I
value them in Sealed. Balloonshroom was decked to reap more utility out of
any Survivors I lost and because it’s fairly decent in Sealed. Bloodwing
Mantis is a very capable finisher in Sealed within the right deck.
Essentially you’re drawing from your mana zone with Bloodwing when you swing
and should choose the 2 cheapest creatures without losing the ability to
cast key cards wherever possible. Niofa was not playable to me with the only
evo bait being Leaping Tornado Horn. Out of the deck went:
Niofa, Horned Protector
Sword of Benevolent Life
Ultimate Force
Mana Crisis
Fire
Sword of Malevolent Death
Cyclone Panic
Galsaur
Deadly Fighter Braid Claw
Kamikazee, Chainsaw Warrior
Pippie Kuppie
Rikabu, the Dismantler
Kip Chippotto
Cavalry General Curatops
Super Explosive Volcanodon
Fire Sweeper Burning Hellion
Bombat, General of Speed
Total: 12
Creatures: 10
Spells: 3
Blockers: 0
Quick Drops: 7
Fattie: 0
Bombs: 2
Removal: 0
Disruption: 1
Here’s where the fun starts. Fire showed me the most love when it came to
creatures. I have 6 quick drop creatures: one at 1 mana, one that could come
for free or 2 mana, one that could attack untapped creatures, and one that’s
a Speed Attacker. I had two bombs: Rikabu and Bombat. Without a doubt the
majority of Fire’s creatures would see the inside of my deck. Fire would be
my main color, and I needed to ensure that many of the deck’s early choices
were from this civilization. Honestly, that was an easy task with 7 quick
drop Fire choices.
Let’s start with the beautiful stuff: Deadly Fighter Braid Claw (1 drop-I
giggled when it was in my opening hand with another Fire card), Kamikazee
(for the ST factor), Pippi (cheap), Rikabu (bomb), Kip (cheap), Cavalry
(with 2000 power it can slam quite a few untapped hitters in Limited and
stab weenie blockers), Volcanodon & Hellion (they can attack up the mana
cost for 6000 which could nail tapped fatties), Bombat (see the Rikabu
comment). The only creature that didn’t get decked was Galsaur. I didn’t
dismiss its “turn into a double breaker if alone on the field” effect since
it could very well happen. It was originally in the deck, but I shaved it
out to cut the deck to 30 cards.
Neither of the Fire spells offered anything useful to me. Panic is a way for
Aggro decks to mess up the ‘power hands’ of Control decks, and is especially
effective when it makes those decks trade selections they’ve tutored. I
don’t want to trade hands or need to trade hands with my card pool so Panic
was tossed out. Sword of Malevolent Death-not enough Darkness creatures in
my deck to make this spell matter. As with the Sword spell from Nature, it
just shouldn’t take up a creature spot in my opinion. Skipped over
selections were:
Sword of Malevolent Death
Cyclone Panic
Galsaur
Darkness
2x Gigaling Q
Poison Worm
Gigastand
Ghost Touch
Horrid Worm
Wisp Howler, Shadow of Tears
Gigakail
Masked Horror, Shadow of Scorn
Total: 9
Creatures: 8
Spells: 1
Blockers: 0
Quick Drops: 3
Fattie: 0
Bombs: 0
Removal: 0
Disruption: 3
After the love Fire showed me I was happy the good times would keep rolling
with Darkness. Some more quick drops surfaced, I had some non-direct removal
answers to fatties, and I had several ways to disrupt my opponent’s hand.
Automatic inclusions to my deck were Horrid Worm and Ghost Touch. Your
opponent will not have ample ways to fill his hand outside of the draw phase
in Limited, making hand discard even more disruptive in this format. Ghost
Touch is a simple “now you have one less card” shot and could come for free.
Horrid Worm won’t reap hand advantage if my opponent trades one card for his
shield or Horrid meets a blocker, but it still chucks one option from your
opponent’s clutches. Masked Horror doesn’t suck in Limited. Since you can’t
design your deck to have the most optimal counts for each mana drop you tend
to hold onto cards longer. Masked Horror has more utility in Limited and
most often will be able to chuck away a card.
Next I turned my attention to the slayers. I included Wisp and Gigakail
because they are solid hitters for their cost even though they are
conditional slayers. Gigaling’s effect could net me quite a few slayers, but
I’d rather rely on being able to take my opponent’s creatures out with
cheaper selections while still maintaining field presence. Poison Worm hit
the unplayable pile. If I had anything out before Poison Worm then that
creature would be a 3000 and below creature. I don’t like sacking my own
creatures in Limited unless I’m taking an opponent’s creature with the
effect. Gigastand’s effect is optional, but in order to use it I’d have to
lose a card from my hand. If I ran Gigastand then I wouldn’t make use of its
effect so I evaluated the creature on the basis of its 3000 power for 4
mana. In the end it was shaved to keep the deck at 30 cards. Tossed into the
“no thanks” pile were:
2x Gigaling Q
Poison Worm
Gigastand
Water
Hunter Cluster
Clone Factory
Miracle Quest
Brain Serum
Solidskin Fish
Lurking Eel
Sea Slug
Spiral Gate
Aqua Knight
Corile
Steel-Turret Cluster
Total: 11
Creatures: 7
Spells: 4
Blockers: 3
Quick Drops: 1
Fattie: 0
Bombs: 0
Removal: 2
Disruption: 1
I knew two things when I glanced at my Water pool: 1. I was going to play
Water, and 2. It was going to be splash. Water offered the only removal
going for the deck, and both choices were good. I also had some nice forms
of draw power and a psuedo-unkillable.
The only draw spell I contemplated running was Brain Serum. As I’ve stated
before in COTD reviews, I prefer draw to come on creatures or no-nonsense
spells with trigger in Limited. Serum fits the bill as draw that doesn’t zap
my mana zone (Clone), doesn’t depend on me attacking to net draws
(Quest-even though it is solid), and could come for free. The reason I
didn’t include it was I wanted to go with more creatures and only wanted to
make room for certain disruption and removal spells. Serum really is best
off the trigger, and in Limited hard casting it detracts from what you need
to do-cast threats each turn. Tossing it out isn’t a call I always make but
one that suited me just fine this time around.
Sea Slug and Lurking Eel were too expensive for my tastes even though both
could attack, both were blockers and one had Evasion. For 6 and 8 mana I
want to drop creatures that help me knock off 2 shields or remove my
opponent’s creatures-just my preference. The quick drop Water offered me
would make me lose slight tempo by drawing a card from the mana zone and
isn’t a bad card to deck. But, I felt that I had plenty of 3 drops that were
less of a hassle to play. Hunter Cluster could be a clinch blocker when
triggered and that makes it better than Dark Raven (a creature I don’t mind
running in Limited), but I dropped Hunter Cluster from the deck to keep the
count at 30. Steel Turret went in for its protection from Fire and Nature
creatures-helps limit the actions my opponent can take to prohibit my
success. No matter what my opponent does, if he doesn’t use Snare or knock
it out of my hand then he will see Aqua Knight over and over again until one
of us loses. Its 3000 power allows it to kill off many creatures without
dying and if he does, then he’s coming back. Spiral Gate and Corile were the
reasons I committed myself to splashing Water-removal and draw disruption
are golden. Water cards that didn’t make the cut were:
Hunter Cluster
Clone Factory
Miracle Quest
Brain Serum
Solidskin Fish
Lurking Eel
Sea Slug
Now that I’ve explained the cuts and the inclusions let’s take a look at the
final results:
My Sealed Deck
Spiral Gate
Aqua Knight
Corile
Steel-Turret Cluster
Ghost Touch
Horrid Worm
Wisp Howler, Shadow of Tears
Gigakail
Masked Horror, Shadow of Scorn
Deadly Fighter Braid Claw
Kamikazee, Chainsaw Warrior
Pippie Kuppie
Rikabu, the Dismantler
Kip Chippotto
Cavalry General Curatops
Super Explosive Volcanodon
Fire Sweeper Burning Hellion
Bombat, General of Speed
Crow Winger
Leaping Tornado Horn
Ballonshroom Q
Bloodwing Mantis
Ambush Scorpion
Sarius, Vizier of Suppresion
Le Quist, the Oracle
Emerald Grass
Amber Grass
Magris, Vizier of Magnetism
Ballus, Dogfight Enforcer Q
Gallia Zohl, Iron Guardian Q
Total: 30
Creatures: 28
Spells: 2
Blockers: 3
Quick Drops: 15
Fattie: 1
Bombs: 2
Removal: 2
Disruption: 4
Civilization Breakdown:
Light: 7
Darkness: 5
Water: 4
Fire: 9
Nature: 5
Mana Cost Breakdown:
1 mana: 1
2 mana: 8
3 mana: 6
4 mana: 5
5 mana: 10
The deck is heavy creature-only 2 selections are spells and they are aimed
at stalling and preventing a threat from being played-in other words
Control. I chose a heavy creature flavoring because creatures are the bread
and butter of a Limited deck’s operation. Any spells that I run should
decrease my opponent’s options in play (the most important spells in Limited
are removal), decrease his options in hand (when cheap), and increase my
options in hand (draw when cheap and where needed).
Half the deck consists of cards that can be played in the early game (turns
1-3) and 13 of those cards are creatures. I have some ways to remove
creatures and disrupt my opponent’s hand. I have ways to net draw from my
deck and mana zone, and I have at my disposal 2 creatures that could seal
the win the turn they are dropped. There are quite a few synergistic
interactions to be had outside the Survivor teams ups. I incorporated my
splash into a 30-card deck, and even though there were only 4 Water cards I
didn’t have mana troubles.
On a downside-I’m always looking at ways to improve my Sealed deck making
skills-a lot of the cards are at the 5-mana spot. I tried to avoid that
occurrence, but a lot of my 5-mana creatures packed good effects so I was a
bit biased towards them. The deck was not perfect, but it was manageable. I
was able to pilot the deck to a 1st place finish versus some decks that
dropped more speed Attackers than myself, including Twin-Cannon Skyterror.
Bombs can win you games, but you have to ensure that the other cards in your
deck and your moves can bring you into those favorable situations. As a last
note I want to say that I love Blockers in Limited. Those guys saved my
behind and made Horrid more effective.
Well that’s it for this look into Survivor Sealed. I may do an all Survivors
Sealed card pool analysis down the road before Stompatrons’ release (hence
the title “Survivors Sealed Deck Analysis Card Pool 1”). However, starting
next week my articles will focus on analyzing Constructed decks. In any
event I will return to a look at Limited play when I review Stompatrons of
Invincible Wrath’s card pool for Sealed and possibly Draft. Stay tuned for
all of that stuff …
If you have any questions, want to see something covered in an article, or
just want to chat, feel free to drop me a line at
kaiserpso@hotmail.com.
