Before I start, I found out yesterday that draft was no longer a format at the prerelease. It has been replaced by Two headed giant sealed. I only played once a two headed sealed and frankly, I don’t like it. Still, I will write a few lines on each strategy on how to play it at a two headed giant sealed. If you don’t know, this sealed is played by teams of 2. Each team is given 8 boosters to make their two decks. The shared life total is 30 and the poison counters are upped to 15.
Now, the strategies.
The first one I wanted to address was B loner deck. Don’t go that route unless you have THE perfect pool for it. It is too much of a gamble. If you absolutely need to play it, here are a few tricks. First off, you need creatures. It is not because you have some Demonic taskmaster(B) and Homicidal seclusion(B) that you can just lower you creature count. If this doesn’t work, you’re screwed. Instead, play at least 14-16 creatures with an assortment of sacrifice. That way, you can control the number of creatures you have in the case of a seclusion. The loner strategy is your back up plan. For the main plain, you will need tough creatures, ones that don’t die easily to compensate for your sacrifice and to stand their ground as a loner. Undying, regenerate, hexproof, resurrection and the likes. Lifelink will be useful for staying alive against an aggressive opponent and to regenerate Marrow bats(B). White will be the best second color for the early defence and Cloudshift(W).
Engine: Homicidal seclusion(B), Predator’s gambit(B)
Curve:
2: Bucher ghoul(B), Nearheath pilgrim(W)
3: Bloodflow connoisseur(B), Demonic taskmaster(B)
4: Corpse traders(B), Driver of the dead(B), Evernight shade(B), Seraph of dawn(W)
5: Marrow bats(B)
6+: Maafield twins(B), Goldnight redeemer(W)
Spells: Batter in blood(B), Bone splinters(B), Essence harvest(B),Grave exchange(B), Mental agony(B), Necrobite(B), Unhallowed pact(B), Cloudshift(W), Defy death(W), Homicidal seclusion(B)
Rare pick: Demonic rising(B)
In two headed giant: Shift from white to blue or red and leave white and green to your partner. Take more removal, even situational ones because there will be twice as much opportunity to play them. Go the control route with strong creature bombs. Your ally should have some vigilance creatures and all the board presence. Don’t go aggressive though, in this format, slower decks win more than aggro ones. Focus on bombs and removals. Soulbond should be the theme of your partner.
RW human tribal is next in line. This one can be really aggressive, and that’s good. There is allot of support for human in white and red and they have many great rares as support. This deck wants 18+ creatures and the rest in removals and support. Normally, I wouldn’t recommend 1 power creatures in sealed, but because of the power boosting spells and the human counting one, they gain their place here, but you still don’t want too many. Other than that, it is fairly consistent and has access to a bunch of good removals. A good strategy overall. Just be extremely careful against flyers, as you can’t interact with them in any ways other than Thunderbolt(R).
Engine: Goldnight commander(W), Riot ringleader(R), Vigilante justice(R)
Curve:
1: (Exceptionally, this deck can have one drops, though no more than 3. Seriously!) Midnight duelist(W), Somberwald vigilante(R), Stonewright(R)
2: Moorland inquisitor(W), Thraben valiant(W), Kruin striker(R)
3: Devout captain(W), Fervent cathar(R), Hanweir lancer(R), Kessig malcontents(R), Riot ringleader(R)
4: Goldnight commander(W)
5:
6+: Goldnight redeemer(W)
Spells: Builder’s blessing(W), Commander’s authority(W), Banners raised(R), Pillar of faith(R), Thunderbolt(R) , Thatcher revolt(R), Bladed bracers(A)
Rare pick: Angel of glory rise(W), Cathar’s cruisade(W), Riders of gavony(W), Gallows at willow hill(A),
Two headed giant: Don’t even think about it. You play against two opponents, a shared field of potential blockers and you took the most aggressive cards from you shared pool, leaving your partner with blue, black and green. Oh and you need to deal 30 point of damage, not 20. It will simply not work. As I said, two headed giant is a slow format and in a slow format, big bombs dominate small weenies decks. If you’re stuck with red and white in THG, play lots of angels and devils, slith vampires and big spells. Rite of ruins(R) becomes much more attractive here. If ever, by any luck, your partner can find beatdown cards in UG, then maybe you could overrun your opponents before they play their big spells, but I wouldn’t bet my hand on that.
WU flicker, third white strategy today. Man white is strong! And this build is particularly strong too if you get some Nephalia smuggler(U), Cloudshift(W) and Ghostly flicker(U). White and blue have a whole bunch of great come-into-play creatures and can really gain a huge advantage by flickering them repeatedly. You can draw tons of cards, bounce your opponent’s creature forever, gain tons of life, give protection or hexproof at instant speed and much, much more. You can counter spells without any counterspell! This one will be a force to be reckoned whit the right card pool. I know that if I open a total of 5 flicker cards, I will go this route!
Engine: Nephalia smuggler(U), Deadeye navigator(U)
Curve:
1: Cathedral sanctifier(W), Nephalia smauggler(U), Wingcrafter(U)
2: Nearheath pilgrim(W)
3: Emancipation angel(W), Mist raven(U), Tandem lookout(U)
4: Goldnight commander(W), Midvast Protector(W), Elgaud shieldmate(U)
5: Gryff vanguard(U)
6+: Goldnight redeemer(W), Voice of province(W), Havengul skaab(U)
Spells: Cloudshift(W), Defang(W), Crippling chill(U), Ghostly flicker(U), Ghostly touch(U), Peel from reality(U), Angel’s tomb(A)
Rare pick: Restoration angel(W), Deadeye navigator(U), Conjurers’s closet(A)
Two headed giant: This one plays great in a two headed giant. The engine is pretty slow, and since THG is slow, you will have time to settle and start to combo. Add in card drawing to dig out your Nephalia and take all the higher casting cost come-into-play creatures. Give red and green to your partner. He will hold the ground with huge creatures and powerful spells. Don’t forget flying hate! It will be useful, especially in THG.
Tomorrow, the rest of the builds.