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30-05-2001
 Team Sealed Strategy
This was meant to be a report on the Team Sealed QT at Nats this year, but it's been quite a while and I didn't take notes. So instead I will write a slightly less
interesting but probably more informative* article about team sealed in general.
*Warning: article may or may not contain actual information*
First, it's important to realise that you're part of a team. It's not possible to win on your own. The point I'm making is that when building decks you shouldn't be
thinking about building YOUR deck, you have to think about building EVERYONE'S decks.
This may seem like stating the obvious, but it's not that easy in practice. Obviously, if you had 3 perfect players you would build 3 decks first, then decide who was
playing what.
Realistically, different players have a preference for different decktypes, and some players are weaker then others (especially in Limited, where small errors can often
have a major impact on the game). The end result can be that players fight over cards, trying to make their own deck as good as possible, when the real aim is to
make the three decks that are the best possible decks for your team.
This brings me to the second point: you have to trust the other members in your team to keep their end up. It's no good to go blaming them for losing, especially if it
wasn't their fault (like because you took all the good cards for YOUR deck).
You should try to find other players around the same skill level as you to form a team, otherwise there's bound to be conflict. If you have to go outside and yell at
each other between rounds it's going to be hard to concentrate on the game during rounds.
Also, if you made a mistake, admit to it. Making excuses or denying it means you can't discuss it and learn from it. Everyone makes mistakes. Don't whinge and
whine about mana screw and opponent's God draws and other thing you couldn't possibly help, it only serves to annoy your teammates (who have to deal with these
things just as much as you).
I have been guilty of whinging on occasion (I actually do it all the time, it's something I'm working on) and the large amounts of angst it creates with the other
members of your team is not worth the small amount of satisfaction you get out of it.
Between rounds should be when you discuss good plays, and things you might have done better, or at least take a break and rest your mind. Having a good whinge
is distracting to someone trying to think about their next round, and annoying to someone trying to take a snooze.
If you're really having problems with your deck, see if your teammates can suggest things you can tweak for the 2nd and 3rd games of following rounds.
On the actual strategy side of things, it's important to effectively utilise the card pool available to you in constructing decks. All 5 colours should be played by at least
one person, preferably two.
Don't be afraid to overlap a fair bit, especially in Invasion Block, since the U/B multicolour cards are not useful to the player playing R/B. Invasion Block often offers
the possibility of play a 5-colour-green deck, and this is often one of the better options for decks.
There are plenty of cards that are useful in a 2- or 3-colour deck, but will really swing games in a 5-colour deck. Usually cards such as Tribal Flames, Samite Pilgrim
and Exotic Curse would get played in 2-colour decks, but are significantly more powerful when all 5 basic land types are accessible.
Other cards like Allied Strategies and rares like Tek or Draco are completely useless unless someone is playing 5 colours. Such potentially strong cards should not
be left to rot in someone's sideboard when they could be winning games for your team.
The 5 colour strategy is especially good in team sealed because it can "mop up" any cards that are playable but couldn't fit in the deck(s) playing those colours
heavily.
Out of 2 starters and 4 boosters there will almost always be a really large amount of black and red removal. Usually there is too much for one deck to use (you need
creatures too!), so the 5 colour deck can step in and use any removal that would've otherwise gone to waste.
Just make sure the 5 colour gets the Tribal Flames, and the red deck keeps the Scorching Lava. However, don't go overboard. Playing cards like Spinal Embrace
and Galina's Knight in 5cg is asking for trouble.
Try to keep the majority of the early creatures in 2 or 3 colours (usually green and red, sometimes green and white or all three), and leave splashing for mid-game
spells and late-game creatures.
Of course, if there isn't a decent selection of mana-smoothers like Harrow and Quirion Trailblazer in your card pool, and a decent G/R or G/W creature base, 5cg is
not an option.
When it comes to individual card choices, I can't offer much advice. All I can say is that practice makes perfect. It helps if you're already a good sealed deck builder,
of course, but practicing with a team will mean that it will all run smoother when 3 of you have to build and register your decks in 30 mins.
It's plenty of time if you know what you're doing, but it's easy to leave writing decklists too long, and there's nothing worse than being match-lossed out of contention
(remember a mistake on anyone's decklist is often a penalty for the whole team, so double check each other's lists if you have time).
It's best if you can get together with your team and build decks out of real or computer generated packs, then test them out against each other. This allows you to
discuss card choices at length, and also (more importantly) to test various versions of the decks, or various colour configurations for the 3 decks to get used to what
works best.
As a last word, I'd like to emphasise that this game is meant to be fun. Team Limited is probably my all-time second favourite format (after Urza's Block Iron Man
:-)
Play to win, but remember you're in it to have fun.
Best of luck, Anatoli Lightfoot |
