Shadowmoor Sealed

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On Saturday, I attended the Shadowmoor release party at my local gaming store (OMG! Games in Barrie). Even though I went 2-4, I reminded myself that I won half the games, instead of thinking negatively . . . that I lost half the games.

The tournament format was 'sealed deck' in which players received one sealed deck of 75 random cards consisting of 45 game cards and 30 basic lands. Also provided was two Shadowmoor Booster packs which include 15 random cards.


My first thoughts as I looked at my mess 'o' cards was just how easy it was to pull together a deck of 40 cards with the new hybrid cards. (Hybrid is a type of mana which can be paid with either or a combination of two different mana colours. It's symbol looks a bit like a half pie such as this - ).

I also rather enjoyed the new mechanics of conspire , wither, and persist. Fortunately, I did not get caught off guard with the new untap or 'Q' mechanic . . . I remember Devin Low from WoTC running a poll in which roughly 3 out of 4 players indicated that they anticipated walking into the untap trap.

One new Shadowmoor card I do want to mention which saved my MTG butt on more than one occasion during the Release Event's sealed deck tournament is Incremental Blight. This is the polar opposite of Lorwyn's Incremental Growth.


The players were reasonably familiar with the new mechanics and there were surprisingly few calls for the Judge. The Judge (Mr. Robert Johnson of OMG! Games) - did a bang-up fantabulous job of resolving any minor issues players did have . . . and no - - Rob did not pay me to say this.

I initially played a black-red-green deck but after losing the second game, switched horses mid-stream and modified it to fit in some control cards which came out blue-black-red.

Anywho - I am fairly enthusiastic about studying the cards I did get and working them into either some of my existing Lorwyn-block decks (I have two Merfolk decks, a Kithkin deck and a Boggart deck) or just simply building a new black-red-green beat-down aggro deck from the new cards.

Some cards I did immediately include into an existing Merfolk-milling deck I have is Oona, Queen of the Fae (of course), Memory Sluice, Drowner Initiate, and Hollowsage.




















These cards will find a good home beside Jace and bunch of very tap-happy milling Merfolk.

See you at FNM, until then, Happy & Safe Gaming !