EPTChris VanMeter (CVM) sealed deck video
1) Rares to keep in mind that are absolute bombs (Crater's Claws, etc)
2) Fixing
3) Cut the complete unplayables
4) Check all the mono-colors and cut the weakest
5) Note the removals, evasion, card advantage, and looting
6) Compare the good golds to fixing and playables
Brian Braun-Duin (BBD) sealed deck video
1) Fixing
2) Note the top-removal and the colors that have it
3) Mono-colors - only cut the complete unplayables
4) Check the depth of each for amount of good cards
5) Gold cards compared with mono-color depths and fixing
6) Lay out different clans and variations and evaluate as a whole.
6a) How do you win? How do you push through damage? How do you win in board stalls?
Ari Lax sealed deck video
1) Fixing
2) Each mono-color individually, only cut the complete garbage at this point
3) Build the strongest base colors on a curve
4) Check the type of deck you're building - cut cards only good in aggro decks, cut cards only good in control, etc
5) With the base colors and fixing, start combining with gold cards in colors
6) With the manabase, if the splash is only for late game, go very low on the lands for the splash color. Ideally only splashed off fixing lands.
Reid Duke article on Channel Fireball regarding KTK Sealed
http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/khans-of-tarkir-sealed-deck/
* Sealed games are slower than draft since you can't specifically craft towards an aggro deck. Aggro decks are great for "getting in under the morphs", but with sealed you are very unlikely to have a pool so well tailored to this plan, so aggro is usually bad in sealed KTK.
* Duneblast is the nuts. If you open it, you play it and craft your deck around it. Casting the spell wins you the game in nearly every circumstance.
* Hyper-efficient and undercosted cards are not the same as bombs. A Mantis Rider that your mana won't reliably get out until turn 7 isn't very good. At that point, you might as well play a 6 or 7 drop which would just be a better card at that point. You need at least two of the colors to be your heavily supported base colors and the third to be a decently supported splash for these to be good picks in your deck.
* Creatures and spells are very interchangeable in this format. Focus on your mana consistency rather than which average creature/spell you should play.
* Evaluation generally should go in the order of Bombs -> Removal -> Card Advantage in KTK.
* After determining the bombs, removal, card advantage - make a solid two color deck for your base. The especially good cards will be your possible splashes. You really want your opening hand to have cards in your two base colors and lands in your two base colors.
Feedback?
Anyone here play a fair amount of KTK Sealed and have suggestions or comments here? Agree or disagree with the pros? Find something important they did that I didn't note?
