Hello and welcome back! Tournaments are fun, right? Kicking it with some friends at your local gaming store is a fun way to crack packs of the latest set. Commiserate with someone as they get their fourth bulk rare. Laugh in joy with that awesome bomb mythic or Masterpiece Invest time in simply being present in each other’s lives.

So I went to three local Sealed events for Aether Revolt here in Mobile recently. And I wanted to bring to you my three decks, some stories, and my top ten moments. It’s a fun, laid-back take on a fun and laid-back time.

Here we go!

Sealed 1: The Bombless Wonder

I called this deck the “Bombless Wonder.” It has no real bombs at all (unless you count Angel of Invention, which was easily answered by most foes. Did you go wide? It’s not hard to take out a 2/1. Did you go big? Then it’s not that much more of a threat than Long-Finned Skywhale. No one feared it.) But what it did run was a ton of removal. Epic removal. This was the first midnight prerelease, and those are always the largest in attendance. Yet at around 6:30 am I was undefeated heading into the final round, and we drew. I finished 2nd, with lower tiebreakers with the other undefeated player. Want to take a look?

The Bombless Wonder ? Aether Revolt Sealed | Abe Sargent

• Creatures (13)
• 1 Aether Poisoner
• 1 Ambitious Aetherborn
• 1 Angel of Invention
• 1 Audacious Infiltrator
• 1 Countless Gears Renegade
• 1 Defiant Salvager
• 1 Fourth Bridge Prowler
• 1 Propeller Pioneer
• 1 Thriving Ibex
• 1 Vengeful Rebel
• 1 Yahenni, Undying Partisan
• 2 Treasure Keeper

• Instants (6)
• 1 Decommission
• 1 Essence Extraction
• 1 Perilous Predicament
• 1 Tidy Conclusion
• 2 Cruel Finality

• Enchantments (3)
• 1 Caught in the Brights
• 1 Revoke Privileges
• 1 Thopter Arrest

• Artifacts (1)
• 1 Sky Skiff

• Lands (17)
• 8 Plains
• 9 Swamp

Buy This Deck

Other cards in my Sealed pool included:

• Gonti's Aether Heart
• Another Cruel Finality
• Peacewalker Colossus
• Another Decommission
• Another Aether Poisoner
• Ninth Bridge Patrol
• Servo Schematic
• Reservoir Walker
• Implement of Malice
• Fortuitous Find
• Aegis Automaton
• 2 Night Market Guard
• Chief of the Foundry; Foundry Inspector
• Morbid Curiosity

Wow that is a lot of removal.

All of my non-Orzhov colors sucked hard. I had just 11 Red cards opened, with a few unplayables or sideboard only cards like Demolish. Just 10 Green cards and just 8 Blues. Again, nothing that great either. I only had 11 Whites, but three enchantment-based removal cards and two Decommission plus the Angel were strong additions to my mega-Black.

Removal? Three enchantments. Decommission. 2 Cruel Finality. 1 each of Essence Extraction, Tidy Conclusion, Perilous Predicament. Also Fourth Bridge Prowler and Vengeful Rebel. That is 11 main deck options for removal!

The Bombless Wonder indeed!

This deck had a lot of ways to beat some early pressure, as well as later, and it could stack something like Fourth Bridge Prowler and Cruel Finality or Vengeful Rebel and stuff. We have multiple ways to handle artifacts and artifact creatures in the deck, like Decommission, Thopter Arrest and Perilous Predicament. I took care of a lot of powerful plays, like Heart of Kiran on the 2nd turn (Thopter Arrest) or 5th turn Yahenni's Expertise which swept my board. Anything that might problem other decks was no issue here. Gearhulks? Paradox Engine? Aethersphere Harvester? I was taking it all down.

What about the next tournament?

Sealed Deck #2

Later in the pre-release weekend, This deck was also undefeated until the final round, and then we did an intentional draw. We play anyways for fun and I get the win 2-1 with 5 minutes left to go in the round in some epic matches, if we played. Twice in the tournament I mulligan to four and win with a smooth three land hand. This was a controlling removal-ish build as well, although more control, and less mid-range than the deck above. I got 1st, but in an admittedly smaller group of folks less than half the size of the first group.

Azorius Control ? Aether Revolt Sealed | Abe Sargent

• Creatures (13)
• 1 Aeronaut Admiral
• 1 Aether Swooper
• 1 Audacious Infiltrator
• 1 Countless Gears Renegade
• 1 Deadeye Harpooner
• 1 Long-Finned Skywhale
• 1 Reservoir Walker
• 1 Salvage Scuttler
• 1 Skyship Plunderer
• 1 Treasure Keeper
• 1 Walking Ballista
• 2 Aether Inspector

• Sorceries (2)
• 1 Reverse Engineer
• 1 Saheeli's Artistry

• Enchantments (6)
• 1 Ice Over
• 1 Revoke Privileges
• 2 Caught in the Brights
• 2 Malfunction

• Artifacts (2)
• 2 Untethered Express

• Lands (17)
• 8 Island
• 8 Plains
• 1 Spire of Industry

Buy This Deck

It’s not amazing. It had ways you could attack it (*cough*, speed, *cough*) Extra cards in my U/W sections included another Reservoir Walker, Negate, 2 Metallic Rebuke, 2 Aradara Express, Acrobatic Maneuver, Alley Evasion. I was considering Black. It was top heavy with Yahenni's Expertise, Die Young, and Battle at the Bridge. A few creatures like Night Market Aeronaut, and then weaker stuff like 2 Augmenting Automaton and 2 Lawless Broker. Just four other mostly unplayable Black cards were there and that was it. So I went with U/W control instead. And it worked!

What about my third and final prerelease?

Sealed #3

Sunday afternoon we just had an 8 person pod with three rounds. Check out my 2-1 deck below:

Artifacts for the Win ? Aether Revolt Sealed | Abe Sargent

• Creatures (15)
• 1 Aether Chaser
• 1 Aether Swooper
• 1 Aether Theorist
• 1 Barricade Breaker
• 1 Bastion Inventor
• 1 Dispersal Technician
• 1 Gearseeker Serpent
• 1 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
• 1 Lathnu Sailback
• 1 Maverick Thopterist
• 1 Reckless Fireweaver
• 1 Sweatworks Brawler
• 1 Walking Ballista
• 1 Wind Drake
• 1 Wind-Kin Raiders

• Sorceries (1)
• 1 Indomitable Creativity

• Enchantments (1)
• 1 Siege Modification

• Artifacts (8)
• 1 Fireforger's Puzzleknot
• 1 Inspiring Statuary
• 1 Irontread Crusher
• 1 Mobile Garrison
• 1 Servo Schematic
• 1 Sky Skiff
• 2 Renegade Map

• Lands (16)
• 7 Island
• 8 Mountain
• 1 Spire of Industry

Buy This Deck

You do need to know your outs, though. For example, in my 2nd round matchup, in the first game I was drawing. My foe had a ton of speed, and I played Wind Drake on the 3rd turn, and he attacked me with a suddenly Tezzeret's Touch-ed Servo token. I was about to go from 16 to 8 if I didn’t block. How could I win with this much pressure this fast in Sealed. Before I made any decisions, I studied my hand. How could I win with this junk? I saw it. I had Siege Modification for turn four, and then Dispersal Technician on turn five to bounce, and thus kill, the en-Touched Servo. That’s my out. I took 8 from a 3/3 and a 5/5. Then I played Siege Mod to make my Drake 5/2 first strike and flying. Now, if he has removal for either the Drake or the Mod then I’m done. But I was done for anyway. Rather than playa chump blocker, I just go all in on the Siege Mod . . . and he didn’t have the removal. A few turns later I stabilize at 3, and then he knocked me down to 1 before I get the momentum again.

He understands his out as well. Eventually, I’ll be winning, and he won’t have out any nonlands, but he topdecks Whir of Invention, and tutors for Consulate Turret to finish me off. But at least I was in it until the end, and he required the perfect topdeck to beat me. Knowing your outs is important. Too many people would have chumped the 5/5, gone to 13, and then played some four-drop to trade with the 3/3 and then bounced it. By then, they would have been down a key card and failed to establish a board presence. Nope, Siege Modification was the right call. It was my out.

All right! And with that. Let’s head to the Top Ten Moments from my Prerelease and Release Weekends!

10. Untethered Express Breaks Through

Untethered Express is one of the strongest vehicles that you can get below rare or mythic. When you swing with it the first time, that 5/5 trampling monster has a big board presence. And the best part? That low crew cost! In one of my first games, my foe and I had similar U/W control builds and went long. He dropped the card that was about to win the game for him. Aethertide Whale, or as I like to call him, “Palinchron Whale.” I had out a Long-Finned Skywhale, and he was lower on life. When I played my Saheeli's Artistry and got a copy of the Whale, he could not afford to bounce in response, with the large hit that would happen. I also copied my Express. I had a few Servos, and started sending my Express team at him. Two Expresses? That’s just nasty. That won the game quickly.

9. Aether Chaser Wins the Prize

I found first strike to be a lot better in this format than many others. You have a lot of cards, like Fireforger's Puzzleknot and Cruel Finality and Fourth Bridge Prowler and front-pumping cards like Invigorated Rampage that are extremely synergetic with first strike. As such, I found this to be the best of that Aether X Creature cycle, by far. The Poisoner is okay in control or against really powerful ground creatures. But it’s not great. Aether Swooper is fine, but never amazing. A 1/2 flyer is quickly outclassed and doesn’t do much damage over time if it’s not. The vigilance Aether Inspector was the worst of that lot. Only the Aether Herder was close to the Chaser, with the 3/3 Hill Giant body, but without anything else, was often outclassed by the time it attacked by better creatures. But a 2/1 first strike for 2 mana is very good in the red zone. And you can easily bluff people by swinging into a 2/3 Aetherstream Leopard or Quicksmith Spy. With fast instant removal, the Chaser plus a Shock can threaten and kill most creatures played in Sealed up until turn five or 6, whereas the others would trade at best. Getting 3 power, and this useful of a board presence for2 mana is the best investment of the lot.

8. Audacious Infiltrator Smashes

This was my go-to 2-drop of choice in most matches. I think I got this thing to land in around half of my games when I had it in my deck. I would Paris and lean on it to put serious pressure on my foes while I figured out where my mana was. 3/1 Is fine, and it can’t be blocked by a lot of blockers that were heavily played. Servos? Augmenting Automaton? Filigree Crawler? Vehicles? I swung through it all and put a lot of pressure on folks in the early game.

7. I Was Wrong About Auras; Siege Modification was Awesome

I don’t usually run more than one positive aura in a Limited pool, even Sealed, because of the potential for two-for-one’ing yourself. Often, I don’t do that. I reviewed the spoiler pre-prerelease and the cards that are run for artifact removal, like Appetite for the Unnatural, Fragmentize and Decommission also all work against enchantments as well. Given the emphasis on artifacts here, people often ran artifact removal main deck, and thus you would face main deck ways to answer your auras as well. Well my final deck wasn’t that hot, and I was forced into Siege Modification. And that thing was nasty. +3/+0 and first strike for 3 mana is no joke. It dominates the board. You don’t have to have a vehicle under your control to use it. But I would turn my Wind Drake into a 5/2 flying first striker on turn four or my Irontread Crusher into a 9/6 first strike death machine. All good fun!

6. Kari Zev is Worth It

I played her on the 2nd turn twice in Sealed. Both times I swung hard and fast, and got in a few hits for 3 damage each, until they had a blocker for the Monkey. Then I’d still get in a few menace hits from Kari Zev while they used their blockers to keep the Monkey off their Back. The result was I was ahead of tempo and damage, and it wasn’t until their second creature arrived and stuck that I gave that up. It takes three creatures to block Kari Zev and her Monkey. She is very good on the attack.

5. Perilous Predicament Breaks People

Instant. Nasty. Good. Twice I let someone crew up a vee, and then dropped Predicament on them to for them to sacrifice the vehicle and its crewed creature. Another foe had a powerful rare, Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter, and then dropped the 6/2 Glass Golem . . . Prizefighter Construct and I slew it on my turn after dropping my 5th land. I won a few turns later.

4. Yehenni, Undying Winner of Games

Yahenni was the best card is my best deck, the Bombless Wonder. Trust me, when killing even a Servo token with your Fourth Bridge Prowler gets you a stronger Yehenni, you are going to roll up Yehenni’s size quickly. And with a ton of chaff tokens and creatures in your decks, you have a lot to sacrifice to keep Yehenni safe. And people would read Yehenni, and then forget what the card did later, and I’d invariably get a strong block or a pinpoint removal spell aimed at Yehenni so I’d sac that Servo token to keep them on the battlefield all indestructible. Yahenni arguably won more games in that long run than any single card I had all day long.

3. The Dominance of Indomitable Creativity

Wow was this card a winner for me in Sealed. I almost never turned it on my foes, only once did I Creativity an opposing creature — it was a 6/6 which became a 2/3. I always ran it on my own stuff. Using this on a Servo token is great, because then you can get a real card. And I’d blow up my own Servo Schematic for a flip and a token, and blow up my stuff that was under a Malfunction or Caught in the Brights. Once I had out a Reckless Fireweaver and I won with artifact triggers. It was tremendous!

2. Walking Ballista Solo Win

In the third match of my 2nd deck, I was heading into Game 2 with a Game 1 victory. Then it happened. All lands, Paris. No lands, Paris to 5. No lands, Paris to 4. And then . . . three lands and a Walking Ballista. Okay, I’ll keep. I scry a land to the bottom of my deck. Then I draw a land. And another. Fourth Turn Ballista, and I kill a one-toughness creature immediately. And then, for the next 4 or 5 turns I’m dropping lands, loading up counters, swinging and killing stuff. It’s not until turn eight when I draw something that I want to play, and by then, the Ballista has basically just won the game on its own.

1. That Treasure Keeper Moment

I ran a lot of Treasure Keepers out there in my tournaments. And I was never disappointed with the results (save once when I flipped a Walking Ballista). My foe had set up an early Yahenni's Expertise perfectly on the 5th turn in Game 1 and I walked into it. He swept the board and dropped Maulfist Revolutionary, a great 3/3 trampler with a huge board presence. I am going to need something good! Land. Essence Extraction! Wow. Dead Revolutionary, and I gained three life as well. I managed to drop some players post-sweeping removal on my side, and won the game. But that was a great moment. I had a lot. I flipped over a ton of Countless Gears Renegades and removal like Caught in the Brights or Ice Over. It never disappointed! Several times I cleared a lot of land off the top of my deck as well. It’s like Treasure Keeper has reverse cascade, so you never get something that sucks.

And there we have it! Three Sealed events, and the decks, cards, moments, and more from them! I hope you enjoyed it!