[JT] CGC: Road to a GP

<sing>I'm going to GP Char-lotte.  I'm going to GP Char-lotte.</sing>

Yes.  For any of you who maybe follow my twitter, you already know this.  For those of you who don't (and I don't blame you), I am indeed going to Charlotte next week to play in the GP.  This is the first time I am playing in anything larger than an FNM-esque (i.e. pre-releases and such) event, so I obviously want to try and practice as much as I can!

GP Charlotte is a limited event, meaning Day One of the event is Sealed (build from 6 boosters) and Day Two is Draft (build by picking cards from boosters that are passed around the table).  Now, I am confident in my ability to draft; I'm not great, but in my opinion I'm adequate (or at least I have my moments).  The problem, however, is that to even get to draft, I have to make Day Two.  That means I have to make it through the Sealed portion on Day One.  Since Sealed events are held less frequently than Draft, I obviously want to practice Sealed.  So I'm just going to head down to my local game shop an- ... oh.  Their drafting all month except the first night of the GP?  Oh well.  I had to work last Friday and again this Friday anyway (-_-).  I don't use MtG:O either.  Hmmm...  oh well.  So much for practicing.  Guess I'll just scrap this who-

*click*

Now hold on a sec.  Maybe... yeah... yeah this could work!  A while ago, either on an episode of Limited Resources or during coverage of a Magic event (maybe the Players' Championship?), there was discussion of a competitor who would practice his drafting by swapping out single cards from a booster and evaluating each one like a completely new pack.  Why can't that work for me for Sealed? ... but I need some boosters.  6.  No no no.  9!  Yeah.  9 boosters...  but where am I going to get 9 boo-

"Well would you look at that?" - Alton Brown

All the goodies...

Ok.  So for those of you that don't know, M:tG has a product known as a fat pack, which has 9 boosters and other goodies.  For sets where I don't buy a box (which will be most of them from now on I think), I buy a fat pack.  Most of the time, I just get a fat pack for the fun of it.  This one on the other hand, is going to serve a very special purpose.  This is how I am going to practice .


As I said before, Sealed uses 6 boosters, which means there are 3 extra boosters in this fat pack that won't be used in the Sealed "pool" (all the cards you open that you can build your deck from).  Those 3 extras are the key to making this practice work.  Let's say we separate our packs to give us Sealed Pool 1.

Sealed Pool 1

Great.  Now let's say we swap one of the three spare packs with one of the packs in our pool, like so:

Sealed Pool 2

We now have a completely new Sealed pool.  What if we had swapped with a different pack?  Well then we would have a third pool...

Sealed Pool 3

See?  By swapping just one spare pack, I now have access to 6 different Sealed pools.  We have 3 spare packs, meaning 18 Sealed pools.  We have even more by swapping more than 1 pack at a time.

So my training is going to be building random Sealed pools and making what I believe to be the best deck from this.  From now until the GP, I am going to try and post new pools every few days so you guys can critique my building strategy.  Obviously it would help if you new what the rest of the pool was before seeing the decks, so here is a breakdown of what was in each pack from this fat pack (foils are not designated to show off.  They are there to show why some rarity ratios are off):

Pack 1: Cloudfin Raptor Aerial Maneuver Spire Tracer Mugging Kingpin's Pet* Slate Street Ruffian Ember Beast Gruul Guildgate Wildwood Rebirth Foundary Street Denizen Gruul Keyrune Cackling Perimeter Simic Fluxmage Treasury Thrull Plains	Pack 2: Angelic Edict Shadow Alley Denizen Scab-Clan Charger Leyline Phantom Purge the Profane Psychic Strike Ivy Lane Denizen* Death's Approach Sage's Row Denizen Skyblinder Staff Dimir Charm Tower Defense Hellraiser Goblin Sacred Foundry Swamp	Pack 3: Cloudfin Raptor Predator's Rapport Contaminated Ground Scorchwalker Beckon Apparition Zhur-Taa Swine Forced Adaptation Millennial Gargoyle Shielded Passage Act of Treason Gift of Orzhova Skullcrack Simic Keyrune Hellkite Tyrant* Island
Pack 4: Shadow Slice Warmind Infantry Scatter Arc Smite Shambleshark Beckon Apparition Razortip Whip Furious Resistance Keymaster Rogue Death's Approach Hindervines Ordruun Veteren Knight of Obligation* Gyre Sage Mountain	Pack 5: Devour Flesh Predator's Rapport Scorchwalker Leyline Phantom Ruination Wurm Beckon Apparition Guildscorn Ward Furious Resistance Riot Gear Sunhome Guildmage* Dying Wish Duskmantle Guildmage High Priest of Penance Giant Adephage (foil) Swamp	Pack 6: Basilica Screecher Way of the Thief Spire Tracer Syndic of Tithes Grisly Spectacle Forced Adaptation Nav Squad Commandos Sage's Row Denizen Razortip Whip Frenzied Tilling Ripscale Predator Incursion Specialist Crypt Ghast* Thrull Parasite (foil) Island
Pack 7: Scab-Clan Charger Daring Skyjek Towering Thunderfist Hands of Binding* Skyknight Legionnaire Paranoid Delusions Sage's Row Denizen Razor Whip Madcap Skills Death's Approach Merfolk of the Depths Debtor's Pulpit Orzhov Charm Biovisionary Mountain	Pack 8: Scorchwalker Daring Skyjek Frilled Oculus Martial Glory Shambleshark Foundry Street Denizen Zarichi Tiger Boros Guildgate Skygames Corpse Blockade Arrows of Justice** Skullcrack* Bane Alley Broker Realmwright Island	Pack 9: Frilled Oculus Scab-Clan Charger Daring Skyjek Towering Thunderfist Martial Glory Shamble Shark Razortip Whip Clinging Anemones Furious Resistance Forced Adaptation Agoraphobia Gridlock Smog Elemental Crypt Ghast* Plains

* What I would take first pick if these were draft pack ones.
** Changed my mind to this after reading Skullcrack a little closer

Let's take a look at my first attempt at this experiment.  I built a deck from the first 6 packs.  It ended up being a very Orzhov based deck with a red splash...

First sealed pool - packs 1-6

1	2	3	4	5	6
Shadow Alley Denizen Thrull Parasite	Basilica Screecher High Priest of Penance Syndic of Tithes Sunhome Guildmage	Kingpin's Pet Slate Street Ruffian	Crypt Ghast Knight of Oblivion	-	Treasury Thrull Hellkite Tyrant
Smite Beckoning Apparition x3 Furious Resistance x2 Mugging	Aerial Maneuver	Gift of Orzhova	Grisly Spectacle	Shadow Slice	-
Non-Basic lands:	Sacred Foundry

After I finalize my deck, I will move on to a new pool.  In this case I rolled a die which told me to remove pack 3 and add pack 8.  Here's how that turned out:

Second Sealed Pool - packs 1-2, 4-6, 8

1	2	3	4	5	6
Thrull Parasite Foundary Street Denizen x2	Syndic of Tithes Daring Skyjek Basilica Screecher High Priest of Penance Sunhome Guildmage	Slate Street Ruffian Kingpin's Pet	Knight of Obligation Zarachi Tiger Orduun Veteran	-	Treasury Thrull
Smite Furious Resistance x2 Mugging	Aerial Maneuver Martial Glory Skullcrack	-	Grisly Spectacle	Angelic Edict	-
Non-basic lands:	Sacred Foundary Boros Guildgate

This deck obviously turned out a bit more Boros than Orzhov (which has actually been my prediction for the strongest archetype in GTC since before the pre-release).

One thing I've noticed from this first experiment though is that by switching one or two packs, you essentially just evolve a deck instead of building a new one (unless there is a key piece that is taken away or something).  So what I am going to do from here on out is just roll a die for 6 packs and build from that, instead of just rolling for which packs to swap in and out.

So that is going to be my way of training.  I would love to know your thoughts on it, or on the first two decks I built.  See any key pieces I should have included or scrub cards I should have sidelined?  Please tell me.  I don't have the benefit of playing with these decks like I would normally, so I will greatly appreciate any feedback what-so-ever.

Phew... ok.  This is going to be fun, and the GP even more so.  I can't wait to give this a shot and see how well this training pays off.  Who knows?  Maybe I'll use this training training for another GP...  maybe one in March?

Anyway, that's all for this CGC.  Sorry it took so long.  Hopefully I'll having things out more regularly from now on.

End step.  Your turn.
-JT