Pack Opening/Deck Construction
If you have never played in a sealed event before, this part of the process can be a little overwhelming and confusing. First off, you only have a limited amount of time to build your deck. The official rules state that you have 20 minutes in total, but a small extension may be given to inexperienced players. You will be given 6 booster packs to open and use to create a very different looking deck than regular tournament play.
First off, you will be provided with a ruler which is very generic which you will use unless you open one in your packs and would prefer to use that. The main deck must be a minimum of 20 cards, but does not have a maximum and can contain any number of any cards that you pull during the set. You get lucky enough to pull 5 or 6 of a card you think is really good for your ruler of choice? Well then throw them all in there, and be ready to destroy your opponents!
The stone deck also looks a little different for sealed play. You must build a stone deck that has a minimum of 8 stones in it, with the usual maximum of 20 stones, and can have more than 4 of any particular card present as well. Now in 6 packs you probably won’t pack enough stones to make up a stone deck, so we will provide a set of basic stones that anyone can walk over to and pick up to use. However, it can eat up a lot of your deck construction time to walk over, find the basics you need, sleeve them, and then come back to your seat. This is why bringing your own pre-sleeved basic magic stones can be helpful, because that way you can focus all of your time on building the main deck to be as smooth and strong as possible.
Now, let’s focus on exactly how to go about getting through the pack openings/deck construction in the most efficient way possible. Provided you have looked at all the cards ahead of time, the opening of the packs themselves is not super important. Try to open each pack as fast as possible and quickly skim through just to see if there are any super important cards in them, and if not, just set them down and move on to the next pack. Once you have all your packs opened up and all your major cards set aside, sort the rest by attribute. Seeing how many cards you have from each attribute will definitely help shape which direction your deck will take (especially when you take any special stones you packed into account) and which Ruler you use. When you decide what attributes you are going to be using, quickly go through those particular piles and try to grab all of the cards that you think are playable and put those into a pile, remembering that because of the random nature of prerelease events quite a few cards that would not be used in a regular tournament could have a lot of potential in this event.
Once you have your 20 cards picked out, sort them by cost so you can see what your average cost is. If your average cost is too high, you will probably struggle as most of the time your opponent will beat you before you have a chance to play them all. Likewise if your cost is too low, you might not be able to keep up or push through decks that have more staying power and ways to kill your creatures. If you find after sorting that your average cost is not where you want it to be, simply choose the cards from your pool that you can use to replace cards in your deck until it is where you want it to be, even if it means taking out a card that you really want to use, or putting in a card that might not be the most impactful. Finding the perfect balance for your chosen ruler is the most important part of the deck building process, so definitely keep that in mind!
Ok, so your 20 cards have been chosen, but now you need stones. The best way to do this is to sort your deck by attribute so that you can see what colors you need more of. Be sure to include any special stones that you pulled, and then grab the basic stones from your stash that align with where your attribute layout is. This will typically look like 5 of your primary attribute and 3 of your secondary attribute, but can greatly vary based on how you decided to build your deck.
Hopefully, if you were able to get through the construction piece quickly enough, you will have enough time to sleeve up your deck and do a few practice hands. Going through the motions of drawing your first few hands and taking your first few turns can help you see if the deck will really do what you want it to do, or if maybe your card choices were a little off. It might not seem like it, but knowing that before your first match and adjusting accordingly can mean all the difference between victory and defeat.
The last thing to note in terms of deck construction is how to manage your sideboard. Most of the time in pre-releases, the format is open construction. This means that you are allowed to change your deck in between games and in between matches during the event, using any of the cards that you packed as your sideboard, rather than the traditional 15. Having that availability is really nice especially after round 1, because you might find that something in your deck that does not really work the way you wanted it to, and you don’t want it to get in the way in future rounds.
Due to the nature of pre-release events, and opening packs, there are some additional things you need to be aware of that could happen. First off, you will usually receive a promo for participating in a prerelease event. This promo cannot be used in your deck itself, so just set it inside your binder or deck box and don’t worry about it. Next up, you may get lucky enough to pack a secret card that wouldn’t normally be found in a pack. For the most part, these cards are also not allowed to be used in your deck, especially if they are a reprint of a card from a previous set (like the full art super rare cards from Curse of the Frozen Casket found in packs of Legacy Lost). Finally, if you are lucky enough to pack a god pack, you must call a judge immediately. That pack of cards cannot be used in your pool, and so your game store needs to replace that pack. While all your friends may get upset with you for packing the god pack, they would be more upset with you if you were allowed to use all those amazing cards you just pulled, so be sure to take care of this situation the proper way.
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