Snuck into the pre-release and it felt good to be back! Even managed to also do my favorite thing: pack gifting. Not-infrequently at these events, there are middle-schoolers playing with a long-suffering parent in attendance. I was playing next to one of said tweens who lost a game to truly epic mana screw, but did so in surprisingly good cheer. Especially when compared to a Benalish Tween. So I located his parent, mentioned that their kid was incredibly mature during a bad beat, and slipped them a pack of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. to give to their offspring. Upon receipt, the pack is immediately ripped open, and the incandescent joy of opening two rares AND a Tezzert floods the room. As one of my fellow 40+ peers mentioned, “We’re still trying to chase that high from when we were 12…”

Oh right, the actual Magic.

Alright, this was what I ended up running. A very, very bread and butter sealed pool with some strong cards (Nissa), 3 solid pieces of removal and a reasonable curve. What it DIDN’T have was a coherent plan.

Bonepicker wanted corrupted, Blightbelly Rat is aggressively trying to poison, and Incubation Sac was a good long-term value engine, and the Vorrac is just solid value. Oh wait, there’s more awkwardness:

One Steward is a fine two-drop as a medium late-game mana sink, but three is just choking the deck. AND isn’t helping the poison plan in the slightest.

The Necrotitan lacked a reliable source of Mites to sacrifice, the Skullbomb is a fine cantrip but I wasn’t fast enough to have it help finish, and the Rotpriest is amazing except I only had four toxic creatures.

This really drove home the importance of having a coherent game plan, even in a sealed pool. Everything needs a critical mass, and doing 1/3 of each plan I suspect will be far worse than committing to a single plan with “worse” cards. That said, I still went 2-1 on the backs of the following cards:

The Tyvars are NOT to be underestimated. With sufficient 2-drops, Tyvar-the-planeswalker is shockingly relevant and the fail-case of “give your best creature vigilance” just isn’t that bad. The Tyvar trick is INCREDIBLE. The modality of “1-mana protection trick… or fireball” means it’s good in nearly every situation. Draft it early and often. Finally, despite being subpar in my deck, the Necrotitan is a house. 6/6 is keyword Big and that is very relevant when your oppo is trying to get cute with a bunch of 1/1 mites that… can’t block.