Matt's Rise of the Eldrazi Sealed Pool
Matt: My first reaction from looking at the pool was that I had a couple of bombs in red, and there were some reliable spells in blue. I figured that between Artisan, Manticore, and Lord, if I could keep the board stable into the late game, I would probably be in a good position. There was a decent amount of removal and counters to support that strategy. Looking into the other available colors, there were a few different directions I could go in: black offered more removal and Skeletal Wurm, white provided some decent defensive cards as well as a Knight and two invokers, and green had some explosive expansion and mana-fixing. I ended up going with green, because I figured that the quicker I could ramp my curve the better. Also, I was a little bit paranoid about having mana problems if I had chosen another color.
Matt's Actual Build
Ultimately, it worked out fairly well, giving me a record of 3-1. Upon reflection, I probably shouldn’t have bothered running Snake Umbra since I really didn’t have much in the way of evasion. I would’ve liked to have found a way to include Frostwind Invoker, which I had underestimated at the time. Vengevine was another choice that I had mixed feelings about afterward, because although a 4/3 for 2GG with the potential to Unearth is solid, it didn’t really fit the defensive, creature-light style of the deck. On the other hand, there is something to be said for ensuring that you have some meat to square off against opposing early or mid-game aggression.
Jeff G
Here is the Deck I built from this pool. I moved away from green towards a U/R build as a way to stabilize the mana base. I tried to build a deck to take advantage of the Kiln Fiends and wave watches. Both of these cards hit for huge amounts of damage, and the pool offers a few ways to punch them though. These two colors are packing a ton of removal and a few bombs.
Its very possible that I built this wrong with the cards given, leaving Spawning Breath, Deprive, Lust for War and Reality Spasm in the Board. Also, 12 creatures seems pretty lite. Lust for war looks pretty amazing as a source of damage, but I can’t find a spot.
I think the biggest change between the two decks you built (besides the cutting of green), is Wrap in Flames. 4 mana to win the game is pretty economical.
I have to admit, I think I like Jeff’s version better than mine. After seeing in draft some of the synergies of cards like Fiend, Distortion Strike, Shaman, and Wrap, I have a much higher appreciation for them. Jon had suggested a similar build as well.