Article ChannelFireball: Microsealed

GenericZero

GenericZero

[c lightning bolt]Bolting[/c] the [c birds of paradise]Birds[/c].

Best typo in the article award goes to...

...I don't know, I just liked seeing that typo..
 
BennyD

BennyD

My friend Dexter has an unpowered cube which we draft with larger groups pretty regularly. Given his atypical work hours (gigging musician) and my free summer (teacher), we got together on a weekday to try for a full microsealed series.

Ben Deck 1: GW Winter Elves

Arbor Elf
Avacyn’s Pilgrim
Noble Hierarch
Mayor of Avabruck
Skinshifter
Voice of Resurgence
Eternal Witness
Mana Tithe
Journey to Nowhere
Winter Orb
Banishing Light
2 Evolved Wilds
2 Forest

Dexter Deck 1: BRw Reanimator

Oona’s Prowler
Pack Rat
Ophiomancer
Geist-Honored Monk
Shriekmaw
Angel of Serenity
Greater Gargadon
Faithless Looting
Animate Dead
Recurring Nightmare
2 Evolved Wilds
Mountain
2 Swamp

My deck took advantage of the synergy between mana elves and Winter Orb to lock my opponent’s mana up while I continued to access my own. Unfortunately, Dexter’s redundant discard outlets and reanimation spells were all super cheap, rendering Winter Orb impotent. Luckily, my white removal suite (Journey to Nowhere, Banishing Light) was enough to keep his deadly creatures off the table permanently and give me game one.

I was flush with mana last game, so I got greedy and went down to three lands, while plugging in some graveyard hate. Dexter sided against my low toughness creatures and optimized his land for better reshuffles.

Ben’s Sideboarding

Out: Forest
In: Scavenging Ooze

Dexter’s Sideboarding

Out: Greater Gargadon, Evolved Wilds
In: Earthquake, Swamp

Game two saw me miss a couple early land drops, and then have my elves blown out with a Winter Orb on table. This led to a painfully slow game where an Ophiomancer snake token slowly ate through my life total.

I saw the need for a board wipe of my own, and graveyard recursion wasn’t cutting it when it was so easy to reshuffle.

Ben’s Sideboarding

Out: Eternal Witness
In: Firespout

Game three was the closest so far, as his Oona’s Prowler smacked me for three each turn, and I ground pounded with weenies, while keeping him off of reanimated fatties. I missed a game-saving Firespout in the endgame (forgot it could hit both fliers and non-fliers). Dexter let me take it back to see what would happen, but he won that way as well. :(

Match Record: Ben: 0, Dexter: 1

Ben Deck Two: UB Ashiok Control

Delver of Secrets
Phantasmal Image
Snapcaster Mage
Venser, Shaper Savant
Reanimate
Vapor Snag
Impulse
Memory Lapse
Control Magic
Evolved Wilds
3 Island
Swamp

I packed bounce spells and ways to make Dexter’s creatures work for me, while Ashiok was permanently removed his threats from the game. Delver was an early threat that tangled favorably with Oona’s Prowler and the Monk’s Spirit tokens.

Reanimating Geist-Honored Monk on turn one was pretty much the end of game one right there.

Dexter saw no more need for his creature removal, trading it for discard spells to get rid of my answers.

Dexter’ Sideboarding

Out: Angel of Serenity, Earthquake, Swamp
In: Sin Collector, Blightning, Plains

Game two went a bit better for Dexter, but my Ashiok went to work on most of his deck, while Oona only got a couple of punches in before he had to stay back and block.

Match Record: Ben: 1, Dexter: 1

I predictably side out the reanimator-specific hate for reliably useful early discard spells.

Ben’s Sideboarding

Out:

Reanimate, Vapor Snag, Island

In:

Inquisition of Kozilek, Thoughtseize, Swamp

Dexter employed the help of some Hexproof creatures, Planeswalkers, and high-powered equipment, hoping to blank my creature control.

Dexter Deck 2: BG Rock

Llanowar Elves
Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
Sylvan Caryatid
Thrun, the Last Troll
Sylvan Library
Maelstrom Pulse
Sword of Feast and Famine
Kiora, the Crashing Wave
Batterskull
Vraska the Unseen
City of Burnwillows
Evolved Wilds
2 Forest
Swamp

Game one was a nailbiter, with a twice-recurred Phantasmal Image posing as both threats and answers, and Dexter cycling his life total down to 1 in a chance to answer my final threat. Unfortunately, he didn’t find one and I finished him off the next turn.

Dexter liked the match-up and just traded card quality for early discard of his own.

Dexter’s Sideboarding

Out:

Sylvan Library

In:

Wrench Mind

I, on the other hand, wanted to get rid of my targeted creature answers for more appropriate ones.

Ben’s Sideboarding:

Out:

Phantasmal Image, Venser, Shaper Savant, Control Magic

In:

Innocent Blood, Diabolic Edict, Dreadbore

Game two was a blood-bath as Ashiok just demolished his deck. I don’t remember any of the details, I just remember us remarking on how good Ahsiok was in this format. To be honest, she won all four of the games for me. The other pieces of the deck helped facilitate the victory, but Ashiok did all of the heavy lifting.

Match Record: Ben: 2, Dexter: 1

This forced me to retire the deck, and we both went back for our third decks. I went all-in on the goldfish plan, seeing as I had no idea what he would build.

Ben Deck 3: Mono Red Aggro

Figure of Destiny
Epochrasite
Gore-House Chainwalker
Hellspark Elemental
Plated Geopede
Hell’s Thunder
Firebolt
Searing Blaze
Turn // Burn
Fire // Ice
Bonfire of the Damned
2 Evolved Wilds
2 Mountain

Dexter had the same idea of goldfishing, but took it in a different direction, opting for a Tinker package in a ramp shell.

Dexter Deck 3: UB Nick Tinker

Baleful Strix
Nightveil Specter
Vampire Nighthawk
Myr Battlesphere
Dark Ritual
Miscalculation
Prismatic Lens
Coalition Relic
Tinker
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
Evolved Wilds
2 Island
2 Swamp

Game One I ran into mana problems, and only got halfway there before Dexter’s game-winning threats came online.

Ben’s Sideboarding

Out: Firebolt
In: Mountain

Dexter’s Sideboarding

Out: Prismatic Lens, Tinker, Island
In: Force Spike, Lightning Bolt, Evolved Wilds

Game Two was a lot closer. My mana was smooth, and I managed to take his Nighthawk out before he could gain any precious life reserves. Unfortunately, his Myr Battlesphere made a second appearance in two games, and my last-minute miracled Bonfire of the Damned didn’t buy me enough draw steps to get the last five points of damage.

We ended the day there, as we both had stuff to do. Final score:

Match Record: Ben: 2, Dexter: 2
 
BennyD

BennyD

Didn't have time for a best-of-7, so we pared the card pool down to 72 and played best-of-5. Didn't have as many synergistic decks, and specific answers were harder to come by. But it was otherwise fine.

The two 2-0 decks were:




Orzhov Reanimator










Creatureless Boros Control








 
BennyD

BennyD

Yeah, it was pretty unstoppable with the smaller card pools. I had used up Disenchant with my previous deck, and literally had no more answers for Enchantments. My closest answer was to Clever Impersonator his Oblivion Ring, but once he saw Clever Impersonator, he sided out Oblivion Ring. Ajani Vengeant was pretty rough, too, because he could afford to wait until he had taken most of my creatures out of action before dropping it.
 
BennyD

BennyD

Just the sealed pool. White and green have all of the usual suspects, and blue has a significant amount of bounce (and counter, obviously). Red and black would have a hard time dealing with enchantments in any sealed pool, though.
 
BennyD

BennyD

Still playing Microsealed a few times a year, and it's now my favorite format of all-time. The deckbuilding and gameplay decisions are just so much richer and denser than any other format. The only thing I miss about other formats is drafting. So, I was brainstorming an idea for a format obviously titled "Microdrafting". And I'm looking for input on how to make drafting work within the Microsealed parameters.

My initial idea is for 4-8 players to draft 45 cards (non-land) and play three rounds of swiss, preparing a new deck for each match. Cards used in each match, including sideboarded cards, would be removed from the player's pool for building their next deck.

Problems:
  1. No sense of metagame deckbuilding. One neat feature of Microsealed is that decks are built in response to previous winning decks, allowing for the type of rock-paper-scissors metagaming that occurs in constructed formats.
  2. Weak drafting signals. With the need to build three separate decks, almost any card is viable, making signaling very difficult. This leads into the third problem.
  3. Goodstuff. Given the weak signaling and need for three decks, does everyone just draft the best card in every pack and make actual deck choices later?
Any proposed solutions or other ideas for the format are welcome. Thanks in advance.
 
James Stevenson

James Stevenson

Steamflogger Boss
Staff member
Man, that was a bangin' format, I totally forgot about that.

I don't know how to make microdrafting work, but I'm thinking it might be cool to draft 15 card decks as a fast way to draft if you dont have the time for a full serious thing.
 
BennyD

BennyD

Yeah, but I wonder how many cards you would need to draft to get a solid 15-card deck. Part of what makes Microsealed interesting is that synergy is better than raw power. Maybe draft two cards from each pack? That way, you can plan your synergies better without relying on unknown cards to come to you, while simultaneously shortening the time.
 
Jason Waddell

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
BennyD said:
Still playing Microsealed a few times a year, and it's now my favorite format of all-time. The deckbuilding and gameplay decisions are just so much richer and denser than any other format. The only thing I miss about other formats is drafting. So, I was brainstorming an idea for a format obviously titled "Microdrafting". And I'm looking for input on how to make drafting work within the Microsealed parameters.

My initial idea is for 4-8 players to draft 45 cards (non-land) and play three rounds of swiss, preparing a new deck for each match. Cards used in each match, including sideboarded cards, would be removed from the player's pool for building their next deck.

Problems:
  1. No sense of metagame deckbuilding. One neat feature of Microsealed is that decks are built in response to previous winning decks, allowing for the type of rock-paper-scissors metagaming that occurs in constructed formats.
  2. Weak drafting signals. With the need to build three separate decks, almost any card is viable, making signaling very difficult. This leads into the third problem.
  3. Goodstuff. Given the weak signaling and need for three decks, does everyone just draft the best card in every pack and make actual deck choices later?
Any proposed solutions or other ideas for the format are welcome. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

I've tried several variants on the "draft multiple decks at once" formats, but it's always been a little bit headache inducing. In the end I tended to simplify things so my brain could handle it, like, "this deck is blue-red and this deck is green-white", but it always ended in the decks being a bit, uh, conservative maybe?

Random idea... what if you laid out a bunch of 5-card packs on the table, and had people draft those to form their pools? Or maybe, like, bigger packs, but some of the cards are face up and some of the cards are face down.

If you really wanted to do drafting, you could also try having Pack 1 = Deck 1, Pack 2 = Deck 2, ...

Probably none of these ideas are perfect, but, uh... they're ideas!
 
EliteArcanist

EliteArcanist

Complete tangent, but thanks for commenting on this years later and introducing me to this format; microsealed looks really awesome. Now I just need to find someone willing to try it out with me.
 
japahn

japahn

Haven't tried it yet, but I definitely will give this format a shot. Any ideas to make the shuffling mechanic less decision intensive though? It's quite spikey.

So, 15 unique card decks is like a 60 card decks with 4-ofs, with very consistent draws. I suppose that's why it feels like brewing.
 
S

simic

Hey - just to say (resurrecting this thread) that Microsealed has become my favourite way to play Magic in the last few months. Me and my partner own copies of sets (one of each card, a lot from the MTGO redemption program) and we use them to play Microsealed all the time. I like how quick you can put decks together vs doing drafts and getting so many different decks/games out of one sealed pool. Our best-of-7 tournament usually lasts a week or so, with us having a round most evenings after work. We mix and match sets as well for added variety - for example we'll do the new and old Eldraine sets together in a month or so.

So partly posting to say thanks for such a fun and inventive format, but also to highlight that the channelfireball is unfortunately erroring now - I don't know if they've taken it down or just changed how they structure the links on their site, but it would be good to get the info up somewhere if possible.
 
Jason Waddell

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
simic said:
Hey - just to say (resurrecting this thread) that Microsealed has become my favourite way to play Magic in the last few months. Me and my partner own copies of sets (one of each card, a lot from the MTGO redemption program) and we use them to play Microsealed all the time. I like how quick you can put decks together vs doing drafts and getting so many different decks/games out of one sealed pool. Our best-of-7 tournament usually lasts a week or so, with us having a round most evenings after work. We mix and match sets as well for added variety - for example we'll do the new and old Eldraine sets together in a month or so.

So partly posting to say thanks for such a fun and inventive format, but also to highlight that the channelfireball is unfortunately erroring now - I don't know if they've taken it down or just changed how they structure the links on their site, but it would be good to get the info up somewhere if possible.
Click to expand...
I don't have the article locally, so I think the waybackmachine is the only way to recover the original text.

Super cool that you're still running the format! Any tweaks you two make to it?
 
K

Karshtakavaar

Jason Waddell said:
3:11 p.m. 3:12. I glance anxiously at the clock. He said he’d be here at 3:00. My eyes scan the perimeter of the mostly vacant South Pittsburgh Target parking lot, hoping to spot the outline of a blue Subaru.


3:13


3:14


I’m almost ready to pack it in when he arrives. He’s younger than I expected, a recent high school graduate, looking for some spare cash to fuel his summer festivities. I hand over a Hamilton and a Jackson. He hands me a cardboard box.


“It’s mostly junk, but there’s one card in there that’s worth a lot.”


I drive to my friend Tavis’ house and plop the box on the kitchen table. He’s a long time casual player, but these are the first physical cards to ever enter my possession.


We divide the box in two and set out to making decks to jam against each other. What can we make with this pile? An Elf deck that tops out with Primalcrux. An Esper artifacts deck headlined by Crawl Space and Sword of Fire and Ice. Naya beaters.


Tavis stonewalls me with a Royal Assassin. I counter with a white vigilance deck. Tavis takes to the skies.


We build and build. We scratch our heads trying to one-up each other. We play deep into the night.


3:15 AM.


It’s time to recapture that feeling.


Microsealed​


The basic idea of Microsealed is simple. Each player is given a stack of 90 non-land Cube cards, and the two of you build 15-card decks (15 cards, not 15 spells) to jam against each other. The winner stays and the loser retires the cards from their deck and goes back to their card pool to build a new creation to dethrone the champ.


Before I delve into the rules baggage that lets this format work, let me try and sell the concept. This format is a deckbuilder’s paradise, and pushes your resourcefulness and inventiveness. The decks are small. Nine or ten spells. You can go deep on interactions. Want to build a deck that exploits your new toy Fabled Hero? Toss in a Noble Hierarch to pump and ramp to it, Spellskite to protect it, Rancor to boost it, and Reckless Charge for the 20-point Fabled Hero combo.


Engineer decks that put Karn Liberated onto the board, or lock the opponent out with an Opposition tokens build. Flip Delver of Secrets with Brainstorm and Jace.


When I taught the format to my brewer friend, he was ecstatic the entire time. “Oh man, this is so much fun.”


On to the rules.


The Rules​


Give each player:
• 90 random nonland Cube cards
• 6 copies of each basic land
• The following nonbasic lands:


lands.png


Any time a player has priority, they may use the following action (as an instant that uses the stack):
“Pay 3 life: Shuffle your graveyard into your library.”


To start, each player builds a deck of exactly 15 cards. Players must present 15-card decks at the start of each game.


After each game, players may sideboard up to three cards from their card pool into their deck. Any nonland cards removed from the deck are retired and cannot be used again.


After a player loses a match, he or she retires all nonland cards from their deck and builds an entirely new deck.


If a player wins two matches in a row, they must retire their deck. Both players then build new decks.


When searching your library (e.g. with Stoneforge Mystic or Farseek), players may choose to search either their deck or their collection. If you search your collection, ignore printed shuffle instructions.


You do not lose the game for drawing from an empty library. You simply take no draw step.


The first player to win 4 matches wins.


Rationale​


The key mechanic introduced is the ability to pay life for shuffling your graveyard into your library. This allows games to last longer than would normally be expected of a 15-card deck, but also introduces a surprising amount of depth to the experience, and presents an opportunity for savvy players to gain an edge.


After Bolting the Bird, do you shuffle the Bolt back into your library? Do you shuffle before or after cracking your fetchland? Your opponent casts Terminus while you have an on-board Carrion Feeder. Which creatures do you not want to go back into the library? Do you want them on the bottom? Do you shuffle afterwards? Shuffle then sacrifice? How many times are you willing to shuffle with Sphinx of Jwar Isle in play?


The shuffle brings a very fresh mechanic to the play experience, and I often found myself smiling as I pondered over whether to shuffle or not. Greed and conservatism are constantly in tension.


Next are the lands.

lands.png

These lands are strong, but each have unique downsides. As our end-game relies upon shuffling our graveyard into the library, Evolved Wilds serves to effectively water down our shuffles. We’re drawing more lands in the late game. But perhaps that’s a desired effect. Are we ramping off of Crucible of Worlds? Casting increasingly large Sphinx's Revelations? Retriggering Steppe Lynx and Bloodghast? By shuffling Evolved Wilds, we can put more lands into play than exist in our deck. Can a 6-land deck have 10 lands in play? Absolutely. (Side note: remember to remove fetched Evolved Wilds basics from your deck at the end of the game.)


On the flip side, Brass Burnwillows doesn’t go to the graveyard and dilute your shuffles, but the life given to your opponent gives them more room to maneuver.


As a result, although you can be extremely greedy in deck construction, there are some very real downsides to overloading on non-basics.


The remaining rules are simply in place to keep everything running smoothly. The tutor (wish) rules allow cards like Birthing Pod and Demonic Tutor to not be complete duds, and leave the door open to some creative lines.


Interestingly, a bi-product of the format’s small 15-card decks is that the variance in your draws is reduced. Yes, each game between two decks will play out differently, and you can still have good or bad openers. However, games are much less likely to end in mana screw or flood, and are more the product of your deckbuilding and decision making. If you open with a land-heavy hand, you can keep with the knowledge that you’ll be drawing all gas from then on. I hadn’t considered this beforehand, but our playtest sessions had almost none of the “non-games” that you encounter in normal Magic.


Example Playsession​


My friend James was in town from London, so we fired up a round of Microsealed before the evening’s 8-man draft. Note that we did not record the land cards used, just the spells. Each deck was exactly 15 cards.


Jason Deck 1: UR Delver

Delver of Secrets (0)

Brainstorm (0)

Red Sun's Zenith (0)

Gitaxian Probe (0)

Young Pyromancer (0)

Augur of Bolas (0)

Izzet Charm (0)

Searing Blaze (0)

Fettergeist (0)

Ral Zarek (0)

(0)


James Deck 1: WRb Aggro
Goblin Guide (0)

Rakdos Cackler (0)

Jackal Pup (0)

Porcelain Legionnaire (0)

Accorder Paladin (0)

Hellspark Elemental (0)

Hell's Thunder (0)

Falkenrath Aristocrat (0)

Chain Lightning (0)

Lightning Helix (0)

(0)


I put together a really fun and punchy spells-matters tempo deck, but unfortunately pure aggro is a natural foil to this type of strategy. The games were close and full of interesting sequencing options, and both games resulted in me tanking while pondering between burning his creatures or burning his face and going for the win. I chose poorly both times and James took the match.


Anticipating more prolonged games to follow, James configured for the end-game while I built my next deck.


Match Record: Jason: 0, James: 1


James’ Sideboarding


Out:
Rakdos Cackler (0)

Jackal Pup (0)

Accorder Paladin (0)

In:
Umezawa's Jitte (0)

Figure of Destiny (0)

Student of Warfare (0)

Jason Deck 2: WRb Control
Tragic Slip (0)

Magma Jet (0)

Mizzium Mortars (0)

Boros Reckoner (0)

Blade Splicer (0)

Slagstorm (0)

Flametongue Kavu (0)

Chandra, the Firebrand (0)

Baneslayer Angel (0)

I noticed that James’ deck was full of x/1 creatures, including the formidable Falkenrath Aristocrat. I slotted Tragic Slip and Chandra, the Firebrand into my creature-control package and clogged the ground with 3-power first strikers Boros Reckoner and Blade Splicer. My deck hit all the right notes and managed to shut James down 2–1.


Match Record: Jason: 1, James: 1


James Deck 2: UB Control
Bone Shredder (0)

Snuff Out (0)

Go for the Throat (0)

Chainer's Edict (0)

Bitterblossom (0)

Mikaeus, the Unhallowed (0)

Dismember (0)

Control Magic (0)

Man-o’-War (0)


James went big with a full-blown control build. I took game 1, at which point he realized he had slightly mis-built.


James’ Sideboarding:


Out:
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed (0)

Bitterblossom (0)

Chainer's Edict (0)

In:
Psionic Blast (0)

Dissipate (0)

Sphinx of Jwar Isle (0)

Jason’s Sideboarding: (0)



Out:
Slagstorm (0)

In:
Mirran Crusader (0)

I think I under-sideboarded here, as I should have shifted even further into beatdown. I was still rocking some rather inefficient burn, and James demonstrated the power of exile effects in this format as Dissipate permanently removed my threats from the game. The games were close, but James managed to claw back to take the match.


Match Record: Jason: 1, James: 2


At this point I was looking to blank James’ “destroy non-black” removal suite with a unique brew, and did so in a big way.


Jason Deck 3: Esper Zombies
Carrion Feeder (0)

Syncopate (0)

Gravecrawler (0)

Innocent Blood (0)

Dark Confidant (0)

Tidehollow Sculler (0)

Bloodghast (0)

Geist of Saint Traft (0)

Geralf's Messenger (0)

Vindicate (0)

This deck was full of interesting interactions, including sacrificing Tidehollow Sculler with the trigger on the stack. After game 1, James sided out some of his dead removal cards and brought in Cabal Therapy for the sweet back-door anti-Geist tech, and took game 2. I took game 3, despite nearly killing myself with Dark Confidant.


Match Record: Jason: 2, James: 2


James Deck 3: WG Midrange
Deathrite Shaman (0)

Condemn (0)

Wall of Omens (0)

Lone Missionary (0)

Phyrexian Revoker (0)

Oblivion Ring (0)

Kitchen Finks (0)

Obstinate Baloth (0)

Faith's Fetters (0)

James brought to the table a deck that looked great against mine on paper, filled with life gain and ways to exile my creatures. These games were absolute slugfests, filled with tight technical lines and deep trips into the tank.


After game 1 I swapped Syncopate for Journey to Nowhere, and James made the following changes.


Out:
Phyrexian Revoker (0)

Faith's Fetters (0)

Condemn (0)

In:
Path to Exile (0)

Hallowed Burial (0)

Pernicious Deed (0)

He gambled on mass removal, but it didn’t pay off. I won a second match with Esper Zombies, and was forced to retire the deck.


Match Record: Jason: 3, James: 2


Back to the drawing board, James and I were both building in the dark. Around this point the Sealed pool starts to thin out and the options feel more constrained. Apparently we both had the same idea. Go over the top!


Jason Deck #3: Golgari Ramp
Birds of Paradise (0)

Doom Blade (0)

Karn Liberated (0)

Nekrataal (0)

Awakening Zone (0)

Wall of Roots (0)

Shriekmaw (0)

Coalition Relic (0)

Thragtusk (0)

James Deck #4: Gruul Ramp
Arbor Elf (0)

Joraga Treespeaker (0)

Everflowing Chalice (0)

Nest Invader (0)

Crucible of Worlds (0)

Rampaging Baloths (0)

Primal Command (0)

Inferno Titan (0)

Avenger of Zendikar (0)

James’ deck harnessed the power of Crucible of Worlds to hit land drop after land drop, ramping to his finishers then switching into overdrive with landfall triggers for Rampaging Baloths and Avenger of Zendikar. Interestingly, Crucible of Worlds also allowed him to keep lands out of the graveyard while shuffling his library.


James took game 1, and I reconfigured for the ramp mirror.


Jason’s Sideboarding:


Out:
Wall of Blossoms (0)

Awakening Zone (0)

In:
Inquisition of Kozilek (0)

Engineered Explosives (0)

I brought in two cards to interact with the game 1 MVP Crucible of Worlds, and Engineered Explosives provided latent hate against Everflowing Chalice, mana dorks, and Plant and Beast tokens alike.


Here’s game 2 summarized in a thousand words:


(Image not archived)


In game 3, James pulled out an unexpected answer to Karn.

Detention Sphere
I dug for my Engineered Explosives, but by the time I found it, I needed to wipe a board of 2/3 Plant tokens. Karn remained unliberated and James took the match.


Match Record: Jason: 3, James: 3


Unfortunately, we had to pack up the Cube and head off to our scheduled 8-man, and didn’t get to resolve our battle royale.


Closing Thoughts​


When designing the format, I had intended to build a Cube specifically for playing Microsealed. I was happily surprised to learn that it played well with my existing Cube. I do think that design space is there, if one wanted to further explore the shuffle mechanic and “life as a resource” via the likes of Death's Shadow and fateful hour cards.


The rule-set feels functional, and is certainly a joy to play, but I’m sure the cube community can think of improvements or alterations. The format has already undergone a number of iterations via playtesting, and I wouldn’t rule out further modifications.


Lastly, although I haven’t tested it, I’m excited to give Microsealed a try with retail packs the next time we crack a booster box.


Thanks for reading!
Click to expand...

For posterity.
 
S

simic

Awesome, thanks @Karshtakavaar!

@Jason Waddell no different rules or anything, no. We just like playing limited set environments so we tend to make up 12 packs of a given set and just play with those. But before that we either did pancake drafts (fun but take a long time and you only get one deck each per session) or cubelet/battle box (where you play off the top - instant sit-down-and-play but no synergy), and microsealed solves both those problems because the decks are so easy to put together.

Very keen to try @MULRAH's microsealed multiplayer one day too, so I can share this with friends :) (here if people haven't seen)
 
S

simic

That’s a point - I don’t use the two custom non basics. It’s pretty easy to splash colours. When we did Lord of the Rings Microsealed I managed to build a four colour deck around Aragorn the Uniter without much bother using just the basic lands.
 
S

simic

A niche point that's come up:

Playing Ikoria microsealed and I've built a 15-card deck with Obosh as a 16th companion card outside the game. We ruled that
a) Obosh doesn't count towards the 15 because it starts outside the game, and
b) it shouldn't be retired in between games

Does that feel right to you as well? My instinct is that, while the wish rule makes 'search your library' cards better (but with retiring at the end), anything that says it comes in/out from outside the game should be exempt from that (eg if you used an actual Wish spell, the fetched card would just go back to the pool at the end). And retiring companions after the first game would mean they can't be really used as intended. But since I'm the one who built the deck, I'm checking my bias here!
 
S

simic

Yeah, I know, that's why I'm asking - this thread is the closest thing we'll ever get to a ruling :D and if anyone else plays it feels like a good source of truth for those niche cases. Plus, like I said, if this feels like it doesn't make sense to the rest of you that'll help me decide what to do. Glad you're on the same page though, thanks :)
 
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