I'm a fan of sealed, as a format; which is good, because I'm terrible at drafting Scars block.
That's one of the reasons why we haven't been publishing any drafts, haters. I'm terrible at drafting, and as Tristan Shaun-Gregson can attest to from Channel Fireball: people want people who are good at limited.
However, after the Release events for Mirrodin Besieged ended, the 4 pack Sealed events started. 30 card decks, 2 packs of Scars of Mirrodin and 2 packs of Mirrodin Besieged. Here are some major differences:
- 30 cards is really weird. If you think about it in percentages, every card you draw in a constructed deck is 1.6% of the total deck, a 40 card deck is 2.5% of the total deck, and a 30 card deck is 3.3% of the total deck. I'm sure this doesn't mean anything to some people but I do enjoy some good math. The chance of drawing a specific out is higher, and if you're anything like people I know: you can just will the proper card to the top of your library. Bombs show up, but answers to bombs show up.
- Poison is harder to build. There will still be nuts poison decks, but they're even more rare in this sealed.
- Metalcraft is harder to achieve. With less cards, even though you're seeing a higher percentage, the threshold for good metal has to be lower.
- Synergy oftentimes goes out the window for just strong cards.
- Screeching Silcaw and Shriekhorn are real cards. A slower controlling deck can't get hit by the Silcaw two times and expect to win the long game without a Zenith. You get hit once, and now you have to get aggressive.
- 13 lands is probably where you want to start. It's roughly the same proportion as 17 lands in a 40 card deck, so you can have a similar curve.
Other than that, the prize payout is not abysmal. 1 pack for 1-2, 3 packs for 2-1, 5 packs for 3-0.
