I attended my first ever Magic: The Gathering event!
We’re in “Phyrexia: All will be one” and I was participating in a Sealed tournament, where players are given random cards from which they have to build a deck. I’m relatively new to this, so there’s a lot to learn.
Set overview
Red is strong in this ONE (sorry, this pun had to be made). It has some great removal at the common level (Hexgold Slash and Volt Charge), good creatures and combat tricks, and oil counter support. The color is great for fast and proactive decks, which is what you want in this set. The only thing red can’t do is toxic stuff.
White is the second best for aggressive decks, but with a focus on toxic. It makes Mite tokens, which are great for toxic and sac strategies. It also has an amazing removal spell (Planar Disruption).
Green is more midrange, with oil counters and toxic themes. It has some proliferate, too. Its toxic cards are bigger than other colors, like Plague Nurse and Tyrranax Atrocity. Its interaction is limited to Ruthless Predation and Carnivorous Canopy.
Black is all about toxic and kill spells. It has one insane common (Anoint with Affliction) but not much else. Black is good for slowing the game down or winning with poison.
Blue seems to be the weakest color in this set. It tries to do proliferate and artifacts, but the latter is too narrow. It doesn’t have good interaction, good early game plays, or synergy. It’s better in Sealed as a support color, or in a dedicated artifact deck (Azorius). Blue’s big cards are impressive (Quicksilver Fisher), but they’re too slow and clunky.
Lessons learned
- Splashing
- Splashing needs some more lands apart from fetchlands. I splashed for my signature card (1, 1R, 1G), but to cast that card on curve, I would have needed 9 mountains (for a 75% chance), even better 10. A good article on why this was a bad idea can be found here: To Splash or Not to Splash in Limited?
- As a rule of thumb, you want to have 4-5 lands for 1-2 colored spells (with only one colored mana), to consistently cast a spell “on curve”
- Splash only for cards with high converted mana cost
- Splash only for single colored-cards
- Splash only for extremely good removal spells, or finishers.
- If your main color only has cards with 2C, 3C, 4C, and/or 4CC, take 8 lands. If it has cards with C, 1C, or 3CC take 9 lands. If you have 1CC and/or 2CC spells, better go to 10 lands.
- Overall, avoid splashing in an aggressive deck or when you have double-colored spells
- Avoid 7-7-3 Mana Bases. Instead, use multiple dual-lands or mana fixers along with a single land of the splash color to not harm the consistency of your main colors.
- Fetchlands, or cards that fetch you a land when they come into play, are not only important in case you are splashing, but also when you have cards that require multiple mana sources of one color
- The main problem with cards like Evolving Wilds is that the land comes into play tapped. In an aggressive deck, you cannot afford to waste a single turn by waiting for the right color. If you play Control, you can compensate for that by playing enough disruptors, until your big threats are on the board.
- Splashing needs some more lands apart from fetchlands. I splashed for my signature card (1, 1R, 1G), but to cast that card on curve, I would have needed 9 mountains (for a 75% chance), even better 10. A good article on why this was a bad idea can be found here: To Splash or Not to Splash in Limited?
- The premium promo card: This is a card which is included in the prerelease pack. It seems that even experienced players fall for becoming too attached to this card and try to accommodate it when they shouldn’t.
- Keep in mind your cards with flashback which are in the graveyard. For me, it wouldn’t have mattered in the end.
- Keep the curve low. ONE was a quite aggressive set and after the first two matches I realized that I had to replace a 5- and 6 drop with a 2- and 3-drop. Worked much better.
Wrap up
In the end it was a fun experience, and I learned a lot. Probably more than I would’ve learned playing in Arena for 3 months. Until next time, stay curious and keep learning!