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The art of Mirage Sealed Deck. (strategy)

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jasf...@aol.com

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Nov 27, 1996, 3:00:00 AM11/27/96
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I’ve tried to put down some serious strategy guidelines for Mirage sealed
deck play. Any serious criticism or comments are welcome. I would like
to garner some good help from others who have found success in sealed deck
play. So without further ado...

Mirage Sealed deck guidelines (assume 1 Starter and 2 Boosters)

1) My general guideline starts out as 15 creatures, 15 land, and 10
spells (include artifacts). Creatures dominate in Mirage sealed deck and
they should be the most important component of your deck.

Creatures:
It is very important to have a distribution between cheap and expensive
creatures. I generally go for 5-6 creatures with a casting cost of 2 or
less. The rest have a cost of 3 or 4 with 2-3 biggies (5 and up).
Direct damage creatures are great. Use them whenever possible.
Be very wary of creatures with a double coloured casting cost (e.g.
3RR, 2GG). It will be necessary (and even helpful) to put some in, but at
most have 2 different double colours (e.g. red and green). NEVER play
with a deck that has double coloured spells of three colours. (2 is bad
enough).
Flying is very nice in sealed deck, but not necessary in EVERY deck.
Use it when you can, but don’t contort your deck into a poor one to
accommodate flyers.
Defense is just as important as offense. The Vishiano Warrior (4/2 for
3R) is not a good creature in my book because you only get 2 toughness for
4 mana. I would take a 2/4 any day and have it live more than 2 turns.
A few examples of great creatures to use: Granger guildmage (best of
the mages in sealed deck), the other guildmages, Rock basilisk, Suq’Ata
Firewalker, Wildfire Emissary, Giant Mantis.

Spells:
Direct damage spells are, of course, great. Use them when you have
them. Even Flare and Chaos Charm (used very little in constructed deck)
are powerful in sealed deck.
Permission spells are also great. Don’t be afraid to use them against
small/medium creatures early. Often the early jump will win the game.
Don’t rely on a closed combo. Use cards that are useful in themselves
as well as good in combos.

Anyway, I almost always use green because of its abundance of creatures.
Red also almost always gets included because of DD. That leaves White,
Blue, or Black to vie for the 3rd colour. White often wins with Healing
Salve, Disenchant, Healers, and flyers. Black is good for Dark Banishing,
but too many spells require BB, you have to worry about swampwalking, and
its fliers are too weak on toughness. Blue wins with permission and
biggies (Sandbar Croc) and flying (soar, etc.) I also look to see where
my Flankers are because they can be big in sealed deck as well.

Any comments and additions are welcome.

Jason
chaos, nature, decay, mind, virtue


Jeff Sternal

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Nov 27, 1996, 3:00:00 AM11/27/96
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In article <19961127173...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
jasf...@aol.com wrote:

This is easily the best article on Mirage Sealed deck I've seen on this
newsgroup. I've got a few quibbles, and a couple things to add.

>I’ve tried to put down some serious strategy guidelines for Mirage sealed
>deck play. Any serious criticism or comments are welcome. I would like
>to garner some good help from others who have found success in sealed deck
>play. So without further ado...

>Mirage Sealed deck guidelines (assume 1 Starter and 2 Boosters)

>1) My general guideline starts out as 15 creatures, 15 land, and 10
>spells (include artifacts). Creatures dominate in Mirage sealed deck and
>they should be the most important component of your deck.

I'd go with a slightly different ratio, I tend to shoot for around 17/17/6.
Naturally, things can disturb this, like a ridiculous amount of creature
removal or direct damage.

Similarly, there's a debate about the Fetch lands; do I include one if I'm
only using one color? I know a lot of people who won't, but I think the
deck-shrinkage is worth the one-turn delay.

I've found that the suprising thing about Mirage is how creature-rich Red
is. I don't think I've made a Mirage Sealed Deck without Red, whether I
got direct damage or not. It has tons of good mid-range creatures (and
everyone knows that Tor Giants win Sealed Deck games): both Askari,
Raging Spirit, Ekundu Cyclops, Subterranean Spirit, Talruum Minotaur,
Volcanic Dragon, Wildfire Emissary, and even Zirilian of the Claw. Add
to that the DD creatures (Burning Palm Efreet, Reckless Embermage, Flame
Elemental), and it's often worth looking to red as your CC casting cost
color.

>That leaves White, Blue, or Black to vie for the 3rd colour. White often
>wins with Healing Salve, Disenchant, Healers, and flyers. Black is good
>for Dark Banishing, but too many spells require BB, you have to worry
>about swampwalking, and its fliers are too weak on toughness. Blue wins
>with permission and biggies (Sandbar Croc) and flying (soar, etc.) I
>also look to see where my Flankers are because they can be big in sealed
>deck as well.
>Any comments and additions are welcome.

IMHO, The Mirage color hierarchy has Red on top, and everything else
utterly dependent on which cards you get. Even in Black, there are plenty
of great spells that don't require BB: Stupor, Feral Shadow, Skulking
Ghost, Cadaverous Knight, Blighted Shaman, Bone Harvest, Urborg Panther,
and as you mentioned, Dark Banishing.

>Jason
>chaos, nature, decay, mind, virtue

Jeff

kcus...@aol.com

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Nov 27, 1996, 3:00:00 AM11/27/96
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If you have 25 non-land spells and only 15 land, GUESS WHAT, YOUR GOING TO
GET MANA FUCKED ALMOST EVERY SINGLE GAME.

If you want to do it right look for a color that has good creature
removal.(i.e. Dark Banishing, Pacifism, Savage Twister, Thirst..etc).
Next look for game breaking cards, something so that in a game where
neither of you have an advantage, this card will push you over the
top.(i.e. Pyrexian Purge, Prismatic Boon, Sacred Mesa, Hammer of Bogardan
and many others). Then look for creatures with special abilities.(i.e.
flying, banding, plinker, creatures killer). DO NOT USE 1/1 creatures,
they be good first turn, but anyother time they SUCK, with some
exceptions, like HEALERS, ABYSSAL HUNTER, THE GUILDMAGES, these are good
anytime. USE ABOUT 40% land. This means 18 of your 40 cards are going to
be land so pick your cards carefully. SPELLS DO NOT WIN GAMES, usually
people win with creatures, so if it isn't a creature, doesn;t kill a
creature, doesn't make a creature, DON'T PLAY WITH IT.

Oh yea, have fun, after all this is only a game.


Michael Callahan

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Nov 27, 1996, 3:00:00 AM11/27/96
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jasf...@aol.com wrote:
> I’ve tried to put down some serious strategy guidelines for Mirage sealed
> deck play. Any serious criticism or comments are welcome. I would like
> to garner some good help from others who have found success in sealed deck
> play. So without further ado...

> Mirage Sealed deck guidelines (assume 1 Starter and 2 Boosters)

> 1) My general guideline starts out as 15 creatures, 15 land, and 10
> spells (include artifacts). Creatures dominate in Mirage sealed deck and
> they should be the most important component of your deck.

Here's your first mistake, I think. You should start out with
18 land, 18 creatures, and 4 spells. Of course the number of
creatures and spells is somewhat arbitrary and depends on what
cards you have gotten. Usually it's more like 18 lands, all the
good creatures you got, and the few direct-damage, creature removal,
and nasty artifacts you have been fortunate enough to pull.

Michael

Bas Pluim

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Nov 28, 1996, 3:00:00 AM11/28/96
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jasf...@aol.com wrote:

>I’ve tried to put down some serious strategy guidelines for Mirage sealed
>deck play. Any serious criticism or comments are welcome. I would like
>to garner some good help from others who have found success in sealed deck
>play. So without further ado...

>Mirage Sealed deck guidelines (assume 1 Starter and 2 Boosters)

>1) My general guideline starts out as 15 creatures, 15 land, and 10
>spells (include artifacts). Creatures dominate in Mirage sealed deck and
>they should be the most important component of your deck.

Very true.

>Creatures:
> It is very important to have a distribution between cheap and expensive
>creatures. I generally go for 5-6 creatures with a casting cost of 2 or
>less. The rest have a cost of 3 or 4 with 2-3 biggies (5 and up).

It's important to 'unlearn' anything you've learned from constructed
deck play. Very few decks will have more than one incinerate, so the
pro-white/toughness 4+ creature requirement no longer exists.
In sealed deck, the Talruum Minotaur is a GREAT card.

>NEVER play with a deck that has double coloured spells of three colours.
>(2 is bad >enough).

Aye and amen. I've played a couple of Mirage sealed deck tournaments,
just shuffle a starter deck and play with it! (no construction, no
extra lands etc). Twice I won, twice I had a Mana Prism.

>Flying is very nice in sealed deck, but not necessary in EVERY deck.
>Use it when you can, but don’t contort your deck into a poor one to
>accommodate flyers.

Mmm, I usually drool at every flyer.. R/B/G have the big critters
(Crash of Rhino's, Vishiano Warrior) but W/U has the good flyers
(Griffins, Drakes). Combine this with Thirst and Pacifism and you've
got a winner. Flyers are great, second only to DD. I'd rather have a
1/1 flying fairy than a 2/2 flanker.

>Defense is just as important as offense. The Vishiano Warrior (4/2 for
>3R) is not a good creature in my book because you only get 2 toughness for
>4 mana. I would take a 2/4 any day and have it live more than 2 turns.
> A few examples of great creatures to use: Granger guildmage (best of
>the mages in sealed deck), the other guildmages, Rock basilisk, Suq’Ata
>Firewalker, Wildfire Emissary, Giant Mantis.

The Wall of Corpses is great defense (B: destroy creature blocked by
WoC). Same goes for the Urborg Panther.
The Mantis is the best, since it can block flyers and most common
flyers are small in Mirage.
One of the best cards: Village Elder! I know it sounds crazy, but
I've lost a good number of games to this dude. The ability to
regenerate the one or two really big creatures you have on the table
is superb.

>Spells:
> Direct damage spells are, of course, great. Use them when you have
>them. Even Flare and Chaos Charm (used very little in constructed deck)
>are powerful in sealed deck.
> Permission spells are also great. Don’t be afraid to use them against
>small/medium creatures early. Often the early jump will win the game.
> Don’t rely on a closed combo. Use cards that are useful in themselves
>as well as good in combos.

A gamewinner is often Ray of Command. My favourite combo (pulled it
twice so far! :): RoC the biggest attacker, block another one to kill
it, then sac it to the Phyrexian Vault for a card.

There are a few really good enchantments - e.g. Armour of Thorns
(+2/+2) and Grave Servitude (+3/-1). Enchantments are viable in sealed
deck because your critter won't get plowed or bolted immediately, so
forget about all that card advantage stuff. A 7/3 griffin is fearsome!

I always find it difficult to stick to 40 cards. Since you need 15
lands minimum (go to 17 to be safe) you can only put in 20-25 spells.
So I've gone the other way, I limit my deck to 20 spells and fill the
rest with cantrips. This will allow you to race though your deck, to
pull that single incinerate, dark banishing or flyer.
Cantrips are even better if you happen to have a Torch or Drain Life.
It usually ends the game.
Mana is not a problem - you must go heavy on land to avoid a colour
screw, cantrips allow you to utilize it effectively.

Any more ideas?

Bas.

jasf...@aol.com

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Nov 28, 1996, 3:00:00 AM11/28/96
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>flying, banding, plinker, creatures killer). DO NOT USE 1/1 creatures,
>they be good first turn, but anyother time they SUCK, with some
>exceptions, like HEALERS, ABYSSAL HUNTER, THE GUILDMAGES, these >are good
>anytime. USE ABOUT 40% land. This means 18 of your 40 cards are going to
>be land so pick your cards carefully. SPELLS DO NOT WIN GAMES, usually
>people win with creatures, so if it isn't a creature, doesn;t kill a
>creature, doesn't make a creature, DON'T PLAY WITH IT.

I agree not to use plain 1/1 creatures, but there aren't too many 1/1s
in Mirage that don't have useful powers. But I would rather play with a
few 1/1s that are marginal and only cost 1 to 2 than play with none and
not be able to cast creatures until land 3 or 4. They can at least block.
I wonder about the land. It is just as bad to overstack your deck and
be drawing land when you are in desperate need of creatures. See the
following chart:

15 land 37.5%
16 land 40 %
17 land 42.5 %
18 land 45 %

Personally I think 45% land is too much. Especially if you have
watched how many CC spells you have added. I may be persuaded to go with
a 16/16/8 mix, but I wouldn't add much more than that in land. 45% land
in a 60 card deck is 27. That's pretty high...

jqsterna mentioned the dominance of red. I heartily agree with green a
good second. He also mentioned Bone Harvest which I forgot about.
EXCELLENT card. Not only can you keep from decking yourself, but now they
have to kill your creatures twice. But the fliers you mentioned (feral
shadow, skulking ghost), while neat because they are cheap fliers, aren't
worth going with black for alone. The 1 on toughness is weak and they die
too easily.

I have also noticed that I seldom choose which colours to go with from
the rares I get. Few have been as dominant as the good commons. Most are
either too expensive or too colour intensive (Ancestral Memories...YUK!!).

Jason
chaos,decay,mind,nature,virtue

ba...@aol.com

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Nov 28, 1996, 3:00:00 AM11/28/96
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Good points all around, I just want to add a few things.

I find 17 land in a 40 card deck is ideal. About the creature Ratio I try
to put in as many as I can, usually being close to 18. I only leave
creatures out for some better non creature cards like Dark Banishing,
Torch, Incinerate & Ray of Command or any other card that can kill
creatures. I also only play with 1/1 creatures of they are pumpable, like
Sewer Rats and Pyric Salamander because they can take out a bigger
creature if need be. First creature ability to look for is of course
flying, then I would say banding or regeneration. When I open a starter I
sort the playable and the non playable stuff like Wildfire Emmisary goes
into Playable and Bazzar of Wonders in Non playable. Then I go through
and look to see what 3 colors are the strongest. Build the deck, include
the right land and win tournaments.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Michael Wolfensberger ____
Team Member: FirsTurn-Bolt |_ / Team:
Other Team Members: Justin Butt, Ryan /_ /_
Osteen, Richard Moyer & Jake Burker /_ / FirsTurn-
Team Mascot: Furs, Bolt-Man |/ Bolt
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lord Daroki the Ichtogunsa

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Nov 29, 1996, 3:00:00 AM11/29/96
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Michael Callahan (call...@xmission.xmission.com) wrote:


: jasf...@aol.com wrote:
: > I’ve tried to put down some serious strategy guidelines for Mirage sealed
: > deck play. Any serious criticism or comments are welcome. I would like
: > to garner some good help from others who have found success in sealed deck
: > play. So without further ado...

: > Mirage Sealed deck guidelines (assume 1 Starter and 2 Boosters)

Kudos on actually starting a great thread on the subject first of all :)
Secondly however, this is a bad assumption. I know that new Convocation
rules use the 300 card minimum in the card pool (although local tournaments
have limited this down to 120-180 usually.) But going with the assumption..

: > 1) My general guideline starts out as 15 creatures, 15 land, and 10


: > spells (include artifacts). Creatures dominate in Mirage sealed deck and
: > they should be the most important component of your deck.

: Here's your first mistake, I think. You should start out with


: 18 land, 18 creatures, and 4 spells. Of course the number of
: creatures and spells is somewhat arbitrary and depends on what
: cards you have gotten. Usually it's more like 18 lands, all the
: good creatures you got, and the few direct-damage, creature removal,
: and nasty artifacts you have been fortunate enough to pull.

Michael is RIGHT ON here. The booster draft I played in (2 mirage, 1 FE?)
I used this formula and it WORKED like a charm, I took second and 30$ from
it. R/B with the four spells being 2 soulshrieks, a Torch, and an
Incinerate.

Everyone's focusing on creatures, since it is your main damage component
in sealed deck. But I'd focus first (and always have) on LAND. If you
are playing in this 1 starter 2 booster format, you should pick up
4 of each land, and 5 of two. (Mirage seems to really sort their land
evenly.) This means that you're going to have one color picked
for you out of your 5 slots. So you're going strong 5 slot and then
strong color. If you get the sac lands, use them as deck thinning
if they're in your right colors. Don't play black unless you have
REAL strong black. If your opponent drops a Dirtwater Wraith on you
and you're playing black, you're in DEEP trouble unless you can kill
it. Red is Mirage's best color because of it's DD element and because
it has GREAT creatures. Dwarven Nomads make stupid Goblin Elite
Infantries nasty, not to mention what they'll do to Pyric Salamanders,
Wildfire Emissaries, etc; If you want to go "Hammer" style, blue
and white do give a good "environment control" element, although
Memory Lapse doesn't quite cut it and Dissipate is a major blue card.
Afterlife isn't as good as StP (but what is?) but with Div. Offering,
Disenchant, and Disempower you can have fun with removing or just
disabling artifacts and enchantments.

I liked Preston Poulter's article on "committment" and although it's
easier to do in sealed than in draft, you still have to think of
Committment when building a sealed deck. "Do I want to splash, or do
I want to run this full?" Red has GREAT committer cards, Emissary,
Hammer, Geyser, and maybe the *best* committer, Burning Palm Efreet.
With the prolific griffins in this environment, the Efreet is a walking
talking card advantage machine. If you have fliers of your own, the
Efreet enables you to smash that dragon to hit with your own Griffins,
Drakes, Rocs, Dragons, etc;
Blue's commitments are it's fliers as well, the Vaporous Djinn is nasty,
and if you need that mana, just let it phase out. Dissipate is almost
worth it, but without strong things to back it up (fliers, Ray of Command,
Psychic Transfer, Political Trickery if you have landwalkers) it's not
a *great* sealed deck card.
The flankers are incredible offensive tools. Agility on a flanker
makes matters worse. (-2/-2 if I block? Where's Lure? Oh yeah, no
Lure in this set... damn.) Things like Telim Tor or the Commander in
a deck lucky enough to have a lot of flankers is grounds for happiness,
and with the Commander, a major commit to white. Celestial Dawn in
sealed is quite brutal as well.
In a creature battle, green is strong, and worth looking at. The
Sting gives it some (EXPENSIVE) direct damage, but with it's great
utility 1/1's (Guildmage and Elder) you have to seriously look at
green for that and the Mantis (aka, kills griffins dead)
Artifacts in Mirage are nice too. Of course the Totem's (grinning)
"let me see your deck, ahhh, interesting, let me take this" ability
is incredible. Mana Prism also ensures mana in the right color as
well as produces mana itself. Don't laugh at Telim Tor's Darts. I've
seen my roommate do 40+ damage in her first two matches with it.
The Golems are good (Crystal and Patagia are my favorites) and the
Amber Prison gives great environment control... permanently.

Glad to say that Mirage is one of the best sealed deck sets I've seen
in ages. Lots of common fliers, interesting cards that work in a
sealed environment (Exception of cards like the Bazaar and Null
Chamber which work better in other environments.) and just a general
strong set. My color list?

1) Red (Direct damage, great creatures, good offensive enchantments...)
2) White (Permanent removal, it's multicolors are also powerful!)
3) Green (Creatures in swarms, useful 1/1s, Sandstorm + Fog are great!)
4) Black (Good creatures, and good creature removal, two pumps!)
5) Blue (Good minor, but the counters aren't that strong, and it's
environment control is lacking things like Flood or the TE.)

Salutations...

: Michael

--
Lord Daroki :: dar...@aros.net
~/o Now I'm here for all to see, everything torn out of me. Too late to
drown in my own doubt, too much too late to sort things out. o/~

Doug Hyatt

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Nov 29, 1996, 3:00:00 AM11/29/96
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OK, my comments on your "treatise" follow below...

jasf...@aol.com wrote:
>
> I’ve tried to put down some serious strategy guidelines for Mirage sealed
> deck play. Any serious criticism or comments are welcome. I would like
> to garner some good help from others who have found success in sealed deck
> play. So without further ado...
>
> Mirage Sealed deck guidelines (assume 1 Starter and 2 Boosters)
>

> 1) My general guideline starts out as 15 creatures, 15 land, and 10
> spells (include artifacts). Creatures dominate in Mirage sealed deck and
> they should be the most important component of your deck.
>

This is not the right way to look at sealed deck. Everything in sealed
depends on what cards you get. If you are low on creature removal but high
on small creatures, build a weenie deck with 15 land and a creature horde.
If, however, you have nice creature removal and some large creatures, go with
17-19 land. The balance between creatures and spells is entirely dependent
on what cards you receive in your sealed. If you go by a preset formula, you
will run into trouble. I generally try to play the best cards, be they
creatures or spells.

> Creatures:
> It is very important to have a distribution between cheap and expensive
> creatures. I generally go for 5-6 creatures with a casting cost of 2 or
> less. The rest have a cost of 3 or 4 with 2-3 biggies (5 and up).

> Direct damage creatures are great. Use them whenever possible.
> Be very wary of creatures with a double coloured casting cost (e.g.
> 3RR, 2GG). It will be necessary (and even helpful) to put some in, but at

> most have 2 different double colours (e.g. red and green). NEVER play


> with a deck that has double coloured spells of three colours. (2 is bad
> enough).

> Flying is very nice in sealed deck, but not necessary in EVERY deck.
> Use it when you can, but don’t contort your deck into a poor one to
> accommodate flyers.

> Defense is just as important as offense. The Vishiano Warrior (4/2 for
> 3R) is not a good creature in my book because you only get 2 toughness for
> 4 mana. I would take a 2/4 any day and have it live more than 2 turns.
> A few examples of great creatures to use: Granger guildmage (best of
> the mages in sealed deck), the other guildmages, Rock basilisk, Suq’Ata
> Firewalker, Wildfire Emissary, Giant Mantis.
>

I think you are heading in the right direction here, but you have missed
some of the best creatures in Mirage. These include:
(1) Reckless embermage --- Ridiculously powerful if your opponent can't
remove him. With ward of lights he makes a God combo.
(2) Shadow guildmage --- Far better than the Granger you list above. The
1 point of damage to target player/creature and the put creature you control
back on top of your library are far and away the two best abilities.
(3) Gravebane zombie --- Another obscene card in sealed deck. Many people
don't recognize its power. It is almost impossible to stop, though, and its
3 power makes it hard to ignore when it attacks.
(4) Flankers --- the flankers are very good staple creatures. The white knight
that doesn't tap to attack and the regenerator are also good.

Some general comments: If your deck has adequate defense/creature removal, then
landwalkers and fliers are especially strong, since they will be free to attack
when you're not having to save any of them for defense. Teferi's drake, bay
falcon, and dirtwater wraith are played quite often. Regenerators are also good,
especially LARGE regenerators. Creatures that can remove creatures are also
excellent.... such as wall of corpses, urborg panther, suq'ata, reckless embermage,
ping guildmages, etc.

Finally, artifact creatures are shoo-ins. The colorless mana means they hit the
table no matter whether or not you're getting all forests.



> Spells:
> Direct damage spells are, of course, great. Use them when you have
> them. Even Flare and Chaos Charm (used very little in constructed deck)
> are powerful in sealed deck.
> Permission spells are also great. Don’t be afraid to use them against
> small/medium creatures early. Often the early jump will win the game.
> Don’t rely on a closed combo. Use cards that are useful in themselves
> as well as good in combos.
>

> Anyway, I almost always use green because of its abundance of creatures.

> Red also almost always gets included because of DD. That leaves White,


> Blue, or Black to vie for the 3rd colour. White often wins with Healing
> Salve, Disenchant, Healers, and flyers. Black is good for Dark Banishing,
> but too many spells require BB, you have to worry about swampwalking, and
> its fliers are too weak on toughness. Blue wins with permission and
> biggies (Sandbar Croc) and flying (soar, etc.) I also look to see where
> my Flankers are because they can be big in sealed deck as well.
>

Red has very powerful spells. If you get the incinerate, kaervek's torch,
etc., great, play red. I should point out the power of a few spells in
Mirage sealed:

(1) Goblin scouts --- 3 mountainwalkers... I've gotten this several times in
sealed and it's decided the game.
(2) Thirst --- often overlooked, but it's very good creature removal if they
don't have an unsummon/put back on library type of card... same w/pacifism.
(3) Amber prison --- in sealed, it's like having an icy. I had this in one
tournament and it proved extremely effective (I won.)
(4) The enchantments castable as instants --- these are creature removal!
Soar, ward of lights (2 white, annoying), and lightning reflexes are all
very good cards.
(5) Preferred selection --- if you can get this card into play and they don't
have an enchantment remover, it usually wins the game.

Card advantage is also good if you can secure it. Cantrips like aleatory are
extremely useful... I usually try to put in a couple of deck thinning devices
to give me a slight card advantage.



> Any comments and additions are welcome.
>

I almost always play 40 cards. If not 40, then I'm playing 41-43. In almost
every sealed, I play 17-18 lands. I have played 19 out of 41 before. It is
almost impossible to play 2 colors in sealed unless you get incredible cards.
Most of the time you have to play 3 colors. Don't hesitate to play 4 if you
can play the best cards. My pick for best color combination in Mirage...
black/red/blue followed closely by black/red/green.



> Jason
> chaos, nature, decay, mind, virtue

Doug Hyatt
(hy...@cs.utk.edu)

P.S. FWIW, here is a sealed deck where I went 7-0 and won the tournament (losing only 2 games.)

LAND
1x Bad River
5x Island
6x Mountain
1x Rocky Tar Pit
5x Swamp

ARTIFACT
1x Basalt Golem
1x Charcoal Diamond

BLACK
1x Dirtwater Wraith
1x Reign of Terror
1x Restless Dead
2x Shadow Guildmage
1x Wall of Corpses

BLUE
1x Azimaet Drake
1x Bay Falcon
1x Dream Cache
1x Merfolk Seer
1x Power Sink
1x Ray of Command
1x Sandbar Crocodile

RED
1x Chaos Charm
1x Ekundu Cyclops
1x Incinerate
1x Kaervek's Torch
1x Lightning Reflexes
1x Searing Spear Askari
1x Volcanic Dragon

The above deck has tons of creature removal... the shadow guildmage thwarts enemy thirsts
and pacifisms. The basalt golem, dirtwater, and fliers are annoying when they attack.
The incinerate/kaervek's was very lucky, of course. A power sink is always nice to
counter that enemy red-X spell. And, finally, a merfolk seer, dream cache, and fetch
lands to have a little card advantage going.

The Director

unread,
Nov 29, 1996, 3:00:00 AM11/29/96
to

Wow- Interesting thread...

All I can add is that I go for 40 cards. And never less than 17
lands. And if i get a couple of key cards, I will base the deck around
it. (ie, Dirtwater Wraith & Dwarven Nomad)

J.W. Tait

unread,
Nov 29, 1996, 3:00:00 AM11/29/96
to

>If you have 25 non-land spells and only 15 land, GUESS WHAT, YOUR GOING TO
>GET MANA FUCKED ALMOST EVERY SINGLE GAME.

This is simply not true. 38% land is almost perfect in a 40 card deck.
Remember, the smaller the deck, the lower the percentage needed. I'm
playing a Mirage sealed deck right now, and that is precisely my ratio,
and I'm rarely mana fucked. Occasionally I'm even mana glutted (which is
just as bad).

>If you want to do it right look for a color that has good creature
>removal.(i.e. Dark Banishing, Pacifism, Savage Twister, Thirst..etc).

Definitely.

>Next look for game breaking cards, something so that in a game where
>neither of you have an advantage, this card will push you over the
>top.(i.e. Pyrexian Purge, Prismatic Boon, Sacred Mesa, Hammer of Bogardan
>and many others).

In the slower sealed deck format, Energy Bolt has won me many a game.
You just can't stock the counterspells.

Then look for creatures with special abilities.(i.e.

>flying, banding, plinker, creatures killer). DO NOT USE 1/1 creatures,
>they be good first turn, but anyother time they SUCK, with some
>exceptions, like HEALERS, ABYSSAL HUNTER, THE GUILDMAGES, these are good
>anytime.

There are quite a few useful 1/1's, actually.

USE ABOUT 40% land. This means 18 of your 40 cards are going to
>be land so pick your cards carefully.

18 of 40 is 45%, which is just ridiculous in a 40 card deck. You need
*spells* to win games. You're drawing land virtually every other turn.
You won't get mana fucked, but you better win early.

SPELLS DO NOT WIN GAMES, usually
>people win with creatures, so if it isn't a creature, doesn;t kill a
>creature, doesn't make a creature, DON'T PLAY WITH IT.

My Shimmer wins games. My Energy Bolt wins games. My Tidal Wave/Yare
combo has won me many games.

>Oh yea, have fun, after all this is only a game.

But of course :)

Cheers,

Chase


'Ian' G. Sulham

unread,
Nov 29, 1996, 3:00:00 AM11/29/96
to Justin A Serulneck

On Sat, 30 Nov 1996, Justin A Serulneck wrote:

>
>
> Excerpts from netnews.rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy: 30-Nov-96
> Re: The art of Mirage Seale.. jasf...@aol.com (1467)
>
> > On another note, I really think blue sucks. I haven't had the urge or
> > desire to use it in a sealed deck yet. Maybe if I drew 2 power sinks, 2
> > Crocs, a ray of command, and a tidal wave or two... I know it's not good
> > to speak in such definite terms, but I have wanted to try blue and just
> > haven't been able to.
>
> This is just my opinion, but I think blue is pretty strong with its
> fliers. What do other people think?

I think blue is still pretty weak. It has a lot more creatures <not
necessarily better than before though>, so it can be used. It got removal
<thirst, common>, and it still has it's array of theft & tricks.

Flying is a big bonus in Blue's arsenal, but I don't think blue has enough
power there to focus a deck. I usually go R/W/G in decks, for Dmg/creature
abilities/creatures. Black does hammer me (cadaverous knights rock in
sealed, unfortuantely for me), but blue is rarely a main color unless
someone got a Ghod draw.

Matt "Ian" Sulham, red...@u.washington.edu

----------------------------------------------------------------- /\
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, \/
the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to hide /\
the bodies of those who pissed me off. / \
-----------------------------------------------------------------


jasf...@aol.com

unread,
Nov 30, 1996, 3:00:00 AM11/30/96
to

Ok, so let me give everybody a scenario and we'll go over the
creatuere/spell/land ratio. Here is a sealed deck I got and I want to
know what people would choose. I cleaned it up a little bit (you know,
left out the Malignant Growth, etc.) and the obvious colours to go for
were red, black, and green. There are 21 creatures to choose from and 9
good spells (once again I cleaned it up a little). E-mail me with your
choices and we'll discuss. :)

Creatures:
Red:
Goblin Elite Infantry, Armorer Guildmage, Burning Shield Askari, Dwarven
Nomad, Ragin Spirit, Ekundu Cyclops, Telim Tor

Green:
Quirion Elves, Karoo Meerkat, Mindbender Spores, Sabertooth Cobra,
Jolrael's Centaur, Foratog, Jungle Wurm

Black:
Skulking Ghost, Restless Dead, Breathstealer, Urborg Panther, Fetid
Horror

Gold/Artifact:
Windreaper Falcon, Patagia Golem

Spells:
Kaervek's Torch, Dark Banishing, Spitting Earth (x2), Bone Harvest (x2),
Phyrexian Vault, Delerium, Phyrexian Purge

A tough choice. 9 (!) good spells to choose from, but that's too many
(isn't it?) Anyway, it's a good test of our abilities.

On another note, I really think blue sucks. I haven't had the urge or
desire to use it in a sealed deck yet. Maybe if I drew 2 power sinks, 2
Crocs, a ray of command, and a tidal wave or two... I know it's not good
to speak in such definite terms, but I have wanted to try blue and just
haven't been able to.

Anyway...

Justin A Serulneck

unread,
Nov 30, 1996, 3:00:00 AM11/30/96
to


Excerpts from netnews.rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy: 30-Nov-96
Re: The art of Mirage Seale.. jasf...@aol.com (1467)

> On another note, I really think blue sucks. I haven't had the urge or


> desire to use it in a sealed deck yet. Maybe if I drew 2 power sinks, 2
> Crocs, a ray of command, and a tidal wave or two... I know it's not good
> to speak in such definite terms, but I have wanted to try blue and just
> haven't been able to.

This is just my opinion, but I think blue is pretty strong with its
fliers. What do other people think?

-Justin-

David Swasey

unread,
Nov 30, 1996, 3:00:00 AM11/30/96
to

"'Ian' G. Sulham" <red...@u.washington.edu> writes:

>I think blue is still pretty weak. It has a lot more creatures <not
>necessarily better than before though>, so it can be used. It got removal
><thirst, common>, and it still has it's array of theft & tricks.

>Flying is a big bonus in Blue's arsenal, but I don't think blue has enough
>power there to focus a deck.

Blue has a lot of nice cards. I think blue's two best commons
are ray of command and powersink. Dream cache takes a little
skill to take advantage of (i.e. if you have a couple excess land
keep them in hand in case you draw the cache), but can help
get to the good cards.

>I usually go R/W/G in decks, for Dmg/creature abilities/creatures.

I just try and play with what I get. I would guess that BRU is
my most common pick. Lots of nice cards in those colors, and
the black guildmage is great with R and U support. But heck,
it all depends on what I draw ; jungle worms are pretty darn good!

Erik

Elliot Fertik

unread,
Nov 30, 1996, 3:00:00 AM11/30/96
to

jasf...@aol.com wrote:
: Ok, so let me give everybody a scenario and we'll go over the

: creatuere/spell/land ratio. Here is a sealed deck I got and I want to
: know what people would choose. I cleaned it up a little bit (you know,
: left out the Malignant Growth, etc.) and the obvious colours to go for
: were red, black, and green. There are 21 creatures to choose from and 9
: good spells (once again I cleaned it up a little). E-mail me with your
: choices and we'll discuss. :)
:
: Creatures:
: Red:
: Goblin Elite Infantry, Armorer Guildmage, Burning Shield Askari, Dwarven
: Nomad, Ragin Spirit, Ekundu Cyclops, Telim Tor

Burning Shield Askari (good flanker), Dwarven Nomad (great ability),
Raging Spirit (a decent 3/3, and the colorless ability could be useful),
Ekundu Cyclops (big creature, 4 toughness nice), Telim Tor (good card),
Armourer Guidemage (suprisingly useful).

: Green:


: Quirion Elves, Karoo Meerkat, Mindbender Spores, Sabertooth Cobra,
: Jolrael's Centaur, Foratog, Jungle Wurm

Quirion Elf (mana source!) Sabertooth Cobra (could go well with the
Dwarven Nomad), Jungle Wurm (best creature you have), Jonrael's Centaur
(not as a good in sealed deck but still a flanker)

: Black:


: Skulking Ghost, Restless Dead, Breathstealer, Urborg Panther, Fetid
: Horror

Skulking Ghost (I'm not kidding), Breathstealer, Urborg Panther (good
sealed deck card!), Fetid Horror (Pumpable)

: Gold/Artifact:


: Windreaper Falcon, Patagia Golem
:
: Spells:
: Kaervek's Torch, Dark Banishing, Spitting Earth (x2), Bone Harvest (x2),
: Phyrexian Vault, Delerium, Phyrexian Purge

Use of all them, even the bone harvest, simply because it is a cantrip. I
can only dream of getting this sort of draw...


: A tough choice. 9 (!) good spells to choose from, but that's too many


: (isn't it?) Anyway, it's a good test of our abilities.

:

What do others think?

-Elliot Fertik

David Berg

unread,
Dec 1, 1996, 3:00:00 AM12/1/96
to

jasf...@aol.com wrote:

>I’ve tried to put down some serious strategy guidelines for Mirage sealed
>deck play. Any serious criticism or comments are welcome.

A recent winning sealed deck.
Mana: 6 swamp, 6 mtn, 5 forest, 1 Rampant Growth
Comments: I played a 42 card deck. I feel mana ratios are more
important then exactly 40 cards so I got the mana I wanted and
adjusted the deck to the mana/non-mana ratio I wanted. 6/6/4+1 would
have given me a 40 card deck but short on green mana. Alternately,
leaving at 6/6/5+1 and using 40 would have left me mana heavy.
Creatures: Skulk ghost, 2 Gib Hyenas, Breathstealer, Crypt Cobra,
Wildfire Emissary, Giant Mantis, 2 Eku Cyclops, D.W. Wraith, Discord
Spirit, Tal Minotaur, Loc Swarm, Bone Harvest..
Comments: Most of my winning sealed decks have been stacked with
mid-level creatures like this one. I avoid weenies if they don't fly.
Note that 9 of 11 non-flyers can hit for 3 plus, 7 of 11 have 3 plus
defense but none cost more then 4 (I like one heavy hitter if I draw
it). Weenies are fast but get eaten by the mid-level creatures.
Monsters may never get cast.
Spells: Torch, Vol Geyser, 2 Kaer. Purge, 2 Armor/Thorns, Flare,
Enfeeble, Grave Serv, Telim Tor Darts.
Comments: Every spell except Darts can be used for creature kill
(Thorns indirectly as an instant on blocker) Avoid any spell that
isn't creature kill, card advantage, or game breaker.
Color Balance
10 spells need R, 10 spells need B, 7 spells need G.
Sources: 6 R, 6 B, 5 G
Summary
Go for lots of mid-level creatures, a few flyers if you have them and
nasty spells. Make sure your color balance and mana:non-mana ratios
are correct even at the cost of going slightly over 40 cards.
David


Matthew Hubbard

unread,
Dec 1, 1996, 3:00:00 AM12/1/96
to

>> SPELLS DO NOT WIN GAMES, usually
>>people win with creatures, so if it isn't a creature, doesn;t kill a
>>creature, doesn't make a creature, DON'T PLAY WITH IT.

Some disagreements here; I am happy to play with Stone Rain or
Telim Tor's Darts, but not as happy with Choking Sands because of the BB1
casting cost. Disenchant is always good. Builder's Bane is okay, but
because artifacts are all rare or uncommon, you may not get a card
advantage from it and may have to trade it straight across to get rid of
some particularly annoying artifact.

I've had good results with the Prismatic Circle, and even once
did well combining it with Disempower to win a l-o-n-g game with the
Darts. Not the most exciting win I even had, but they all count the same
on the tournament sheet.

MattH

Adam Harrison

unread,
Dec 1, 1996, 3:00:00 AM12/1/96
to

> On another note, I really think blue sucks. I haven't had the urge or
>desire to use it in a sealed deck yet. Maybe if I drew 2 power sinks, 2
>Crocs, a ray of command, and a tidal wave or two... I know it's not good
>to speak in such definite terms, but I have wanted to try blue and just
>haven't been able to.


In one Mirage sealed-deck I got a Cerulean Wyvern, Meddle, Memory
Lapse,Mind Harness, Ether Well and two Thirsts. I think I also had a
dissipate. I played blue and I made it to the finals. I would have won I
believe, but the tournament organizers declared that the final match
would be a best of one (can you believe that?) and I only drew one land
in that game. Anyway...

Meddle rocks in sealed deck. There's nothing like saying, "Well, actually
I think you incinerate your Griffin instead." Or, "I'm sorry you must be
mistaken, it's actually your Volcanic Dragon that feels all warm and
fuzzy inside." He he he, the looks on their faces.

Adam.

Henrik Clausen

unread,
Dec 2, 1996, 3:00:00 AM12/2/96
to

On Sat, 30 Nov 1996 00:16:27 -0500, Justin A Serulneck
<just...@andrew.cmu.edu> wrote:

>
>
>Excerpts from netnews.rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy: 30-Nov-96
>Re: The art of Mirage Seale.. jasf...@aol.com (1467)
>

>> On another note, I really think blue sucks.
>

>This is just my opinion, but I think blue is pretty strong with its
>fliers. What do other people think?

If Sacred Mesa was blue, you'd be right.

MeThinks blue should have the flight card to rule all flight cards.
But it doesn't.


-Henrik

Peter M. Hoffman

unread,
Dec 3, 1996, 3:00:00 AM12/3/96
to

Hi there. I've got a question about Mr. Blinky. Before 5th edition rules
came out, damage was always resolved last, which meant that if your
opponent blinked the Blinky back to his hand and you bolted it as a fast
effect, no matter what, the Blinking Spirit would go to your opponent's
hand, and *then* the Bolt would take effect.

BUT, now that 5th edition rules state that damage is resolved ASAP, does
that mean that if a Blinky tried to blink back to his controller's hand,
and the opponent Bolted it, the Blinking Spirit would die because of
LIFO.

Does this sound right?

CYA L8R!
Nick Hoffman
http://www.interlog.com/~hoffmanp

Roland Gau

unread,
Dec 3, 1996, 3:00:00 AM12/3/96
to

Well, I don't think that would work because your opponent could activate
the Blinky's ability again, and then it would resolve before the Lit
Bolt. Your reasoning does sound right, though. I think that the
controller of the Blinky could just respond to your spell again.
--
Regards
Roland
The Chairman

Andrew Paul Armbruster

unread,
Dec 3, 1996, 3:00:00 AM12/3/96
to g...@uiuc.edu


On Tue, 3 Dec 1996, Roland Gau wrote:

> Well, I don't think that would work because your opponent could activate
> the Blinky's ability again, and then it would resolve before the Lit
> Bolt. Your reasoning does sound right, though. I think that the
> controller of the Blinky could just respond to your spell again.

Hold on there... I don't remember seeing the first post of this thread,
but killing blinky is easy as pie...
CURSED TOTEM!!

for a 2 casting cost artifact, all creature abilities cannot be used...

0:return blinky to owner's hand --> (0:) is a cost that must be played

Then just fire away with your choice of creature greaser :-)


Eric Liss

unread,
Dec 4, 1996, 3:00:00 AM12/4/96
to

"Peter M. Hoffman" <hoff...@interlog.com> writes: > Hi there. I've got a question about Mr. Blinky. Before 5th edition rules
Sure... but then Blinky's controller would return him to hand _again_,
and so, LIFO, he returns to hand (it costs 0), bolt goes off, he returns
to hand again (fizzles). Result: Blinky in hand, bolt fizzles. Other
than countering, the best way to get rid of him is to Hymn him out
when he's in hand.

mcc...@wku.edu

unread,
Dec 4, 1996, 3:00:00 AM12/4/96
to

In article <32A496...@interlog.com>, "Peter M. Hoffman" <hoff...@interlog.com> writes:
> Hi there. I've got a question about Mr. Blinky. Before 5th edition rules
> came out, damage was always resolved last, which meant that if your
> opponent blinked the Blinky back to his hand and you bolted it as a fast
> effect, no matter what, the Blinking Spirit would go to your opponent's
> hand, and *then* the Bolt would take effect.
>
> BUT, now that 5th edition rules state that damage is resolved ASAP, does
> that mean that if a Blinky tried to blink back to his controller's hand,
> and the opponent Bolted it, the Blinking Spirit would die because of
> LIFO.
>
> Does this sound right?
>

Sure! Unless of course your opponent realizes that Blinky will die and activates
the ability again in response to your bolt.

Mr. Greg H. Weiss

unread,
Dec 4, 1996, 3:00:00 AM12/4/96
to

Hmm... I won the College Park Pre-Mirage with the insane help of Sacred
Mesa. My other creatures consisted of 2 Searing Spear, 1 Burning
Shield, 1 Zhalfirin Knight, 1 Femeref Knight, 1 Herder, and Mr. Toilet
(Telim 'Tor). How about that, a themed sealed deck. I didn't have the
Torch, but I got Energy Bolt. Never used it at a player... In the
finals, I got the Crimson Manticore and a Torch as spoilers. I think
Mirage sealed is a bit over-powered, not for the squeamish. It's funny
to hear people groan in Draft when faced with initial choices (ie.
pacifism, incinerate, ray, etc.) One final thought: don't forget the
blue guildmage ability to prevent running out of cards!

~!@#$%^&*()_+|~!@#$%^&*()_+|~!@#$%^&*()_+|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Greg Weiss ... LND...@prodigy.com
"A mind in agony is a sparrow without wings."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
|+_)(*&^%$#@!~|+_)(*&^%$#@!~|+_)(*&^%$#@!~

Steve Rountree

unread,
Dec 4, 1996, 3:00:00 AM12/4/96
to

Peter M. Hoffman wrote:
>
> Hi there. I've got a question about Mr. Blinky. Before 5th edition rules
> came out, damage was always resolved last, which meant that if your
> opponent blinked the Blinky back to his hand and you bolted it as a fast
> effect, no matter what, the Blinking Spirit would go to your opponent's
> hand, and *then* the Bolt would take effect.
>
> BUT, now that 5th edition rules state that damage is resolved ASAP, does
> that mean that if a Blinky tried to blink back to his controller's hand,
> and the opponent Bolted it, the Blinking Spirit would die because of
> LIFO.
>
> Does this sound right?
>
> CYA L8R!
> Nick Hoffman
> http://www.interlog.com/~hoffmanp

The best way to do it currently is to play the Cursed Totem from Mirage.
The Cursed Totem is an artifact that prevents creatures from using any
of their special abilities that require and activation cost. Yes, the
"0:" to blink back to its owner's hand is an activation cost. So, curse
it then bolt it.
You could not do it the other way because it costs the controller
nothing to activate the cost so they can continue to do it in response
to your spells until you run out of spells.

Steve

Dennis

unread,
Dec 4, 1996, 3:00:00 AM12/4/96
to

One word: Counterspell!
--
Come to my homepage at: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/9642

Dennis

unread,
Dec 4, 1996, 3:00:00 AM12/4/96
to

One word: Counterspell! (or Arcane Denial, Remove Soul, Force of Will,
etc.)

JugRnot

unread,
Dec 4, 1996, 3:00:00 AM12/4/96
to

Vince Nguyen wrote:
>
> : > Well, I don't think that would work because your opponent could activate
> : > the Blinky's ability again, and then it would resolve before the Lit
> : > Bolt. Your reasoning does sound right, though. I think that the
> : > controller of the Blinky could just respond to your spell again.
>
> : Hold on there... I don't remember seeing the first post of this thread,
> : but killing blinky is easy as pie...
> : CURSED TOTEM!!
>
> : for a 2 casting cost artifact, all creature abilities cannot be used...
>
> : 0:return blinky to owner's hand --> (0:) is a cost that must be played
>
> I dunno, simple and dumb question: Is tapping a creature an activation
> cost(K. Yeti)?

Yes, tapping a creature is an activation cost. Anything that says "Do X
to do Y" is an activation cost, too. Cursed Totem rules...

Jim Hamp

unread,
Dec 4, 1996, 3:00:00 AM12/4/96
to

On Wed, 4 Dec 1996, Steve Rountree wrote:

> Peter M. Hoffman wrote:
> >
> > Hi there. I've got a question about Mr. Blinky. Before 5th edition rules
> > came out, damage was always resolved last, which meant that if your
> > opponent blinked the Blinky back to his hand and you bolted it as a fast
> > effect, no matter what, the Blinking Spirit would go to your opponent's
> > hand, and *then* the Bolt would take effect.
> >
> > BUT, now that 5th edition rules state that damage is resolved ASAP, does
> > that mean that if a Blinky tried to blink back to his controller's hand,
> > and the opponent Bolted it, the Blinking Spirit would die because of
> > LIFO.
> >
> > Does this sound right?
> >
> > CYA L8R!
> > Nick Hoffman
> > http://www.interlog.com/~hoffmanp
>
> The best way to do it currently is to play the Cursed Totem from Mirage.
> The Cursed Totem is an artifact that prevents creatures from using any
> of their special abilities that require and activation cost. Yes, the
> "0:" to blink back to its owner's hand is an activation cost. So, curse
> it then bolt it.
> You could not do it the other way because it costs the controller
> nothing to activate the cost so they can continue to do it in response
> to your spells until you run out of spells.
>
> Steve
>

'Course, if your opponent blinks him back in response to the Totem, he
still lives. ;)

Hampster

Vince Nguyen

unread,
Dec 5, 1996, 3:00:00 AM12/5/96
to

Mike Wilson

unread,
Dec 6, 1996, 3:00:00 AM12/6/96
to

how to kill a blinky: barring countermagic...
send it back to the opponent's hand with some killing effect/spell,
then hymn/stupor it out or cast winds of change/diminishing returns.
In type1 you can also use wheel of fortune or timetwister.
Also, if you balance with no cards in hand and no creatures in play,
all opposing blinkies die.

Dan Epstein

unread,
Dec 6, 1996, 3:00:00 AM12/6/96
to

In article <32A496...@interlog.com>

"Peter M. Hoffman" <hoff...@interlog.com> writes:

> Hi there. I've got a question about Mr. Blinky. Before 5th edition rules
> came out, damage was always resolved last, which meant that if your
> opponent blinked the Blinky back to his hand and you bolted it as a fast
> effect, no matter what, the Blinking Spirit would go to your opponent's
> hand, and *then* the Bolt would take effect.
>
> BUT, now that 5th edition rules state that damage is resolved ASAP, does
> that mean that if a Blinky tried to blink back to his controller's hand,
> and the opponent Bolted it, the Blinking Spirit would die because of
> LIFO.
>
> Does this sound right?


Here's the deal. If I blink and you bolt in response, LIFO resolution
says the bolt kills the blinky. However, anyone playing a blinky will
blink again in response to the bolt.

ME: Blink. heh heh.
YOU: In response, I bolt the infernal thing. Fast effects resolve in
reverse, so I finally kill it. heh heh.
ME: You're right, fast effects do resolve last-in-first-out. In
response to the bolt, I blink again. Gosh, I'm glad you used that bolt
on my blinky instead of on me. Now that I blinked, I can gain more
life from the Ivory Tower. (Doh... not anymore) Heh heh.

You're reasoning was absolutely correct as far as I can tell, but
blinky's controller can still respond to the bolt is what you were
forgetting.

later
-----------------------
| |
|Dan Epstein |
|Dartmouth '99 |
|sla...@dartmouth.edu|
| |
-----------------------

Cowboe

unread,
Dec 6, 1996, 3:00:00 AM12/6/96
to

On Tue, 3 Dec 1996, Peter M. Hoffman wrote:

> BUT, now that 5th edition rules state that damage is resolved ASAP, does
> that mean that if a Blinky tried to blink back to his controller's hand,
> and the opponent Bolted it, the Blinking Spirit would die because of
> LIFO.

Well, you can kill a blinky this way, provided you're playing
with someone who doesn't realise he can use the blinky's special
ability more than once..
But if you're playing in pro tourny or a qualifier or some other
tournament/game which has that kind of stake, don't try it :)


Ian Warford

unread,
Dec 8, 1996, 3:00:00 AM12/8/96
to

In article <32AC52...@marccri.marc.cri.nz>, David wrote:
>Conversely, try an Aethyr Storm, then Zap the bugger. For good fun, play
>Vices, and see how your opponent likes that extra useless card.
>Or, if you have the money get a Tabernacle at Pendrel Vale (Lg) and lock
>your opponent's land up.
>Otherwise, use your Icy on it. This one you can use continually, and has
>so many other applications.
>Neutralising the Blinkie just takes planning and patience.
>
>David G

Can we say "Cursed Totem" ?

--
Ian Warford
iwar...@nornet.on.ca

David

unread,
Dec 9, 1996, 3:00:00 AM12/9/96
to

Audrey Kay

unread,
Dec 12, 1996, 3:00:00 AM12/12/96
to

The only other way to kill a Blinking Spirit would be to Sleight of Mind
the Blinker to either blue or red, and then to either use Red/Blue
Elemental Blast on it, because the Blasts are interrupts, and will
resolve faster(before?) than the Blinker can return to the players
hand:). Anything else that can kill the Blinker at the speed of an
interrupt will work also.


Malcolmn Kay
(Fastest Draw in the West)


Ingo Warnke

unread,
Dec 12, 1996, 3:00:00 AM12/12/96
to

Audrey Kay (k...@postoffice.pbinet.com) wrote:
: The only other way to kill a Blinking Spirit would be to Sleight of Mind
: the Blinker to either blue or red, and then to either use Red/Blue
: Elemental Blast on it, because the Blasts are interrupts, and will
: resolve faster(before?) than the Blinker can return to the players
: hand:). Anything else that can kill the Blinker at the speed of an
: interrupt will work also.

That's not true anymore with 5E rules. All interrupts that can target
spells and permanent in different modes are played according to the
instant timing rules when targeting a permanent. So the lace/blast combo
is now too slow to catch Blinky.

Ingo Warnke

demonic attorney

unread,
Dec 13, 1996, 3:00:00 AM12/13/96
to

Audrey Kay <k...@postoffice.pbinet.com> wrote:

>The only other way to kill a Blinking Spirit would be to Sleight of Mind
>the Blinker to either blue or red, and then to either use Red/Blue
>Elemental Blast on it, because the Blasts are interrupts, and will
>resolve faster(before?) than the Blinker can return to the players
>hand:). Anything else that can kill the Blinker at the speed of an
>interrupt will work also.

> Malcolmn Kay
> (Fastest Draw in the West)

red and blue elemental blasts are interrupts which are played at
instant speed. (official errata). therefore this wouldn't work.


Chrispy

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Dec 14, 1996, 3:00:00 AM12/14/96
to

com> <58nrdc$7...@news3.snfc21.pacbell.net>:
Distribution:

Audrey Kay (k...@postoffice.pbinet.com) wrote:
: The only other way to kill a Blinking Spirit would be to Sleight of Mind
: the Blinker to either blue or red, and then to either use Red/Blue
: Elemental Blast on it, because the Blasts are interrupts, and will
: resolve faster(before?) than the Blinker can return to the players
: hand:). Anything else that can kill the Blinker at the speed of an
: interrupt will work also.

Unfortunately, with the new rules, any interrupt that targets a permanent
(NOT a spell being cast) is treated as an instant...bye-bye BEB/REB kill
of Blinky. Now we understand why Cursed Totem was printed, even if
degenerate combos will exist.
Chrispy

--

______________________________________________________________________________
Chrispy WFU '97
"I don't have an explanation for another lonely night
I just feel this sense of mission and a sense of what is right
Take it easy on me now
I'd be there if I could
I'm so full of what is right
I can't see what is good."
--Rush, "The Color of Right"
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