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Vintage Masters – Missing Pieces

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I decided to spend another few hours durdling around with the Vintage Masters Sealed Deck Simulator and see how easy it would be to build some of the prefabricated archetypes they baked into the set.

Pool #1

What seemed obvious - Blue-Green Madness

What I had - The basics

Basking RootwallaBasking RootwallaWaterfront Bouncer

Circular LogicCircular LogicWild Mongrel

Arrogant WurmSkywing AvenOwl Familiar

What I lacked - Depth

Not very many discard outlets, no real redundancy on Wild Mongrel or Arrogant Wurm which is really what I wanted to see. Circular Logic is solid even for 2U, but I really could stand to see a bit more madness spells. As it is, the pool isn't deep enough to build UG Madness, and this was the archetype for which I had the most cards.

What I would have to do - Add another color or another strategy. There was plenty of depth in UG.

GenesisMan-o'-WarDeranged Hermit

CounterspellSerendib EfreetOphidian

There is a bit of synergy here as well. Discarded cards can be rebought with Arachnogenesis, and the discard outlets are a handy way to get him in the yard in the first place. Bouncing Deranged Hermit seems saucy and an army of squirrels is never bad. There are some good and some mediocre fliers and you likely play all of them. Top it off with a Saproling Burst and an Elephant Guide and you have a 40 card deck. Is it the Madness deck Gotham needs? Maybe not, but there are enough Madness elements to get there, and filling the deck in with goodstuff is likely going to be necessary in Sealed.

Pool #2

What Seemed Obvious - Goblins

What I had - 

Goblin GoonSkirk Drill SergeantSkirk Drill Sergeant

Goblin PiledriverGoblin RingleaderBeetleback Chief

What I lacked - Depth in red. I had some good goblins and I some bad ones like Hulking Goblin and 2 Solar Blast. There were about 10 solid cards and not much else in red, even as filler. I'd have to add another color.

What I would have to do - With almost no creatures in the entire pool in any color, I would be forced to fill my deck in with spells. Spells, I had.

Battle ScreechAstral SlideAstral Slide

Renewed FaithGilded LightLightning Rift

I don't think 2 copies of Solar Blast is enough of an impetus to play Lightning Rift, but if you can add a few cycling cards and go RW cycling-goblins you may end up getting there. There weren't enough cards for a decent cycling deck nor a decent goblins deck. These strategies don't have much synergy beyond the fact that I'd play a burn spell like Solar Blast in both decks. Jamming two disparate archetypes together in an attempt to deal with our depth issues is likely going to be the hallmark of sealed going forward.

Obviously, the better card selection in draft is going to mitigate a lot of these problems. Check back tomorrow and I'll see if I can't invent a few sealed-specific archetypes using the cards we're likely to get that are different from the obvious, draft-specific archetypes we're used to seeing.

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Jason Alt

Jason Alt is a value trader and writer. He is Quiet Speculation's self-appointed web content archivist and co-captain of the interdepartmental dodgeball team. He enjoys craft microbrews and doing things ironically. You may have seen him at magic events; he wears black t-shirts and has a beard and a backpack so he's pretty easy to spot. You can hear him as co-host on the Brainstorm Brewery podcast or catch his articles on Gatheringmagic.com. He is also the Community Manager at BrainstormBrewery.com and writes the odd article there, too. Follow him on Twitter @JasonEAlt unless you don't like having your mind blown.

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