I'm pretty sure this confirms Tezzeret as the head of the Azorius, not Dovin.
Dovin is not an artificer. Putting him in charge of the Azorius wouldn't suddenly let them develop them Thopters. He knows all about their regulations, of course, but that's not the same as having the technical know-how.
Tezzeret makes way more sense. In fact I was thinking along these lines before seeing that art:
1) It makes sense that Tezzeret would be one of the five planeswalkers taking over a guild, he's basically Bolas' best known pawn so it would be weird to leave him out.
2) A Tezzeret card would necessarily be mechanically related to artifacts. You can't just print a Tezzeret card without that connection. However, having a (gold) card that cares about artifacts while none of the mechanics in the set do is strange. And you can't just put a bunch of extra artifacts in the set because it's already a gold set so there's no extra space. Therefore, the guild he takes over must have a connection to artifacts.
3) Tezzeret has always been blue, so he would either need to be Azorius or Simic. Simic doesn't make sense for caring about artifacts, leaving Azorius. I did consider Rakdos as an outside option, as black and red have had artifact-related abilities in the past, but it would be weird to have Tezzeret shift away from blue (although to be fair, the way he was portrayed in the AEther Revolt stories, he seemed way more black/red than blue to me).
4) All that would mean that Azorius (most likely) would care about artifacts. This is actually foreshadowed in M19, where the UW combination has a lot of artifact-matters cards. Seeding a theme is something they like to do to make cards from different sets in Standard play well together, and let decks develop over time.
From this I suspected strongly that Azorius would have an artifact-related mechanic, and Tezzeret would be its leader. The Thopters in the artwork pretty much confirm this for me.
You really just need to embrace the rage. I keep a small colony of hamsters next to my computer and every time I lose a match to mana screw I throw one against the wall.
You really just need to embrace the rage. I keep a small colony of hamsters next to my computer and every time I lose a match to mana screw I throw one against the wall.
Wow, so this pack is all black/green, which at least makes me happy we didn't stick to the (sort-of) Jeskai card last pick. I think the two real options here are sticking to another monogreen card (Sagu Archer) or taking the more powerful gold card (Abzan Guide). I'm inclined to go for the latter. We're still looking for our clan anyway, so might as well keep taking the strongest card and see where we end up. At fifth pick, this could be a signal that Abzan is underdrafted, and that would be a good place to be.
You really just need to embrace the rage. I keep a small colony of hamsters next to my computer and every time I lose a match to mana screw I throw one against the wall.
Starfish was a two-drop that blocked other two-drops, though. This is a three-drop that doesn't block. If you don't have a two-drop, and play this on three, you may be far behind already. I think you need a decent amount of Delve spells to make it worth it. If you're going to use those cards it puts into the graveyard for delving, it essentially makes a mana every turn, which should help overcome the tempo disadvantage.
Of course, you'd suppose a Sultai deck would have enough Delve cards, but as the OP showed, in Sealed that's not necessarily true.
You really just need to embrace the rage. I keep a small colony of hamsters next to my computer and every time I lose a match to mana screw I throw one against the wall.
Looks like Mardu Warshrieker and Sultai Flayer are the best options here. Warshrieker is a little closer to what we have now (it could work in a Jeskai deck) but I don't want to get too attached this early. I think the Flayer is a bit stronger - 3/4 are really nice stats, and the lifegain is relevant. At this point I'd prefer to just take the stronger card and stay open, so I'd vote for Sultai Flayer.
You really just need to embrace the rage. I keep a small colony of hamsters next to my computer and every time I lose a match to mana screw I throw one against the wall.
You really just need to embrace the rage. I keep a small colony of hamsters next to my computer and every time I lose a match to mana screw I throw one against the wall.
In case you're wondering, I only drew Flying Crane Technique and Mantis Rider once each. So it wasn't just the bombs winning every game (but FCT is really stupid ). Jeskai Elder was really good for me. Also the evasive creatures were good. In general I'd say having a pretty low curve coupled with powerful instants allowed me to win games.
You really just need to embrace the rage. I keep a small colony of hamsters next to my computer and every time I lose a match to mana screw I throw one against the wall.
Well my sample size of drafts so far has 100% Jeskai, 100% match win rate and 100% game win rate. (Obviously 1 draft.) In my (very limited, of course) experience, Jeskai has a great selection of efficient instants that are good against the many clunky groundpounders in the set. But filling out its creature base is the challenge. Evasive creature like the Windscout are great for the deck, so I wouldn't call it easily replaceable, but Jeskai Charm is still better of course. Prowess is only relevant for the few good cards it's on, but most of those are uncommon.
You really just need to embrace the rage. I keep a small colony of hamsters next to my computer and every time I lose a match to mana screw I throw one against the wall.
Similar to last pick, we have a good monoblue flier, and a Charm. This time I'm leaning towards the Charm though. Jeskai Windscout is strong and I'd like to pick it, but the Charm seem enough better that I'm willing to take the risk. It helps that we have the right 3-color land for it.
You really just need to embrace the rage. I keep a small colony of hamsters next to my computer and every time I lose a match to mana screw I throw one against the wall.
You really just need to embrace the rage. I keep a small colony of hamsters next to my computer and every time I lose a match to mana screw I throw one against the wall.
You want to be Mardu and Team Durdle? That's not a combo!
Yeah I agree that expensive creatures without morph are generally not a priority in this format. But still, that is a big flier, and there don't seem to be many of those. It's just hard to tell without knowing the format, but that card is almost a Mahamoti Djinn... Don't get me wrong, I think Mardu Charm is the (slightly) stronger card, but it's also much more committing. By passing it we may well put our neighbour into Mardu and leave ourselves open to any blue clan.
You really just need to embrace the rage. I keep a small colony of hamsters next to my computer and every time I lose a match to mana screw I throw one against the wall.
It's either Mardu Charm (the most powerful card) or Riverwheel Aerialists (next most powerful, and one color instead of three). Aerialists is a bit hard to rate without knowing the format, but it actually seems strong to me. I'm fine with either pick but I'm leaning towards the large flier.
You really just need to embrace the rage. I keep a small colony of hamsters next to my computer and every time I lose a match to mana screw I throw one against the wall.
The Blue Moon deck seems to be all but extinct. I've never actually seen it. I've played against a few Delvers, but they were RUG. So I don't think these match-ups are very important.
As for countermeasures, I run a couple of Thoughtseizes in the sideboard. You are of course never 100% safe, but between Thoughtseize, artifact mana they need to stop, and the potential of a quick combo kill, their window for Blood Moon victories is relatively small.
But as I said, yes you are vulnerable to Blood Moon without fetches, and it's the major downside of the fetchless build (the manabase itself isn't weaker). But I'm convinced it's worth it, because you gain percentage points in every other match-up. Another thing to consider is that with better fetches in the format, Blood Moon's playability should go down.
You really just need to embrace the rage. I keep a small colony of hamsters next to my computer and every time I lose a match to mana screw I throw one against the wall.
All of them, actually. I feel like the shuffle effect is really bad for the deck. I get to push so many cards to the bottom, and in >95% of the cases, I don't want to see those cards again. So shuffling the library is really bad. The manabase doesn't really need them either, it works just as well without. Only downside is more vulnerability against Blood Moon, but I feel it's worth the trade-off for a better chance at finding the combo. Note that I run 4 Peer through Depths in addition to the six Temples and 8 cantrips, so that's a LOT of cards that go to the bottom.
You really just need to embrace the rage. I keep a small colony of hamsters next to my computer and every time I lose a match to mana screw I throw one against the wall.
You really just need to embrace the rage. I keep a small colony of hamsters next to my computer and every time I lose a match to mana screw I throw one against the wall.
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Dovin is not an artificer. Putting him in charge of the Azorius wouldn't suddenly let them develop them Thopters. He knows all about their regulations, of course, but that's not the same as having the technical know-how.
Tezzeret makes way more sense. In fact I was thinking along these lines before seeing that art:
1) It makes sense that Tezzeret would be one of the five planeswalkers taking over a guild, he's basically Bolas' best known pawn so it would be weird to leave him out.
2) A Tezzeret card would necessarily be mechanically related to artifacts. You can't just print a Tezzeret card without that connection. However, having a (gold) card that cares about artifacts while none of the mechanics in the set do is strange. And you can't just put a bunch of extra artifacts in the set because it's already a gold set so there's no extra space. Therefore, the guild he takes over must have a connection to artifacts.
3) Tezzeret has always been blue, so he would either need to be Azorius or Simic. Simic doesn't make sense for caring about artifacts, leaving Azorius. I did consider Rakdos as an outside option, as black and red have had artifact-related abilities in the past, but it would be weird to have Tezzeret shift away from blue (although to be fair, the way he was portrayed in the AEther Revolt stories, he seemed way more black/red than blue to me).
4) All that would mean that Azorius (most likely) would care about artifacts. This is actually foreshadowed in M19, where the UW combination has a lot of artifact-matters cards. Seeding a theme is something they like to do to make cards from different sets in Standard play well together, and let decks develop over time.
From this I suspected strongly that Azorius would have an artifact-related mechanic, and Tezzeret would be its leader. The Thopters in the artwork pretty much confirm this for me.
Of course, you'd suppose a Sultai deck would have enough Delve cards, but as the OP showed, in Sealed that's not necessarily true.
1 Jeskai Elder
1 Ainiok Bond-Kin
1 Jeering Instigator
1 Mystic of the Hidden Way
1 Ainiok Tracker
1 War Behemoth
1 Mantis Rider
1 Hightspire Mantis
2 Salt Road Patrol
1 ?
1 Ride Down
1 Tormenting Voice
1 Suspension Field
1 Mindswipe
1 Crippling Chill
1 Swift Kick
1 Burn Away
1 Flying Crane Technique
1 Set Adrift
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Frontier Bivouac
1 Saltwater Cliffs
2 Wind-Scarred Crag
1 Tranquil Cove
4 Island
4 Plains
3 Mountain
In case you're wondering, I only drew Flying Crane Technique and Mantis Rider once each. So it wasn't just the bombs winning every game (but FCT is really stupid
Yeah I agree that expensive creatures without morph are generally not a priority in this format. But still, that is a big flier, and there don't seem to be many of those. It's just hard to tell without knowing the format, but that card is almost a Mahamoti Djinn...
As for countermeasures, I run a couple of Thoughtseizes in the sideboard. You are of course never 100% safe, but between Thoughtseize, artifact mana they need to stop, and the potential of a quick combo kill, their window for Blood Moon victories is relatively small.
But as I said, yes you are vulnerable to Blood Moon without fetches, and it's the major downside of the fetchless build (the manabase itself isn't weaker). But I'm convinced it's worth it, because you gain percentage points in every other match-up. Another thing to consider is that with better fetches in the format, Blood Moon's playability should go down.