MTG Salvation

So I went to the pre-release for Core 2019. This is my third sealed. I'm not really sure if I like sealed yet.

In any case, my pull as below:



My ONLY foil out of the packs was the blasted Windreader Sphinx pre-release card, Bleh.

I really wanted the white but opted for a BR deck. I don't recall the exact deck though.

Round 1: Also a B/R... with seemingly four Shocks. I was 0-2 within 10 minutes. I was hammered very early on by Shocks and creatures and Electrify in the late game.

So with the 35 minutes until the next round, I got rid of Red and began to sleeve the Whites until I looked closer at Take Vengence, a Sorcery. Instead, I chose Green and grabbed every pump spell and an assortment of creatures. This is the new deck.



Yeah, leaving out Maurader's Axe for Forsaken Sanctuary was actually a mistake. I didn't realize it until round 3.

Round 2: A WB deck... He was completely land screwed game 1. Game 2, he mulliganed down was land flooded. By the time he got his lone flyer out, he had 13 lands in play. I had a slow start myself with too many high cost cards early on and actually discarded twice before I got something in. I discovered I had Sanctuary in the deck and bluffed I had white removal. Our game became the joke at the LGS.

Round 3. A RWB Angel life gain deck. I think her curve was too high and she had weak removal. She couldn't draw the correct colors and I just crushed her with three Zombies without using any buffs. Game 2 was against me. I opened with Vampire Neonate on T1 and began to eat away at her life total. She plays an Angel. So there was a 2:1 life exchange. I skip an activation for Neonate to put down Walking Zombie then Oaken Form then Rabid Bite her Angel out of existence. She plays Electrify on Neonate. Next turn she was down to 12 life and me down to 9 and she drops Angel of Dawn and adds an Axe. I'm now racing a clock. In my hand are my two Growths. I wait to eat the next 5 life. With her only creature tapped out, I attack with my buffed and throw both growths down. Round 3 over.

Round 4: A RG "vanilla" horde deck. We match creature for creature but his creatures were just that much bigger. Opponent finishes both rounds with Fire Elemental and goblins in play.

I finished 2-2 and placed ninth amongst almost 20 players.

Everybody was talking about Mill decks but only two players (AFAIK) tried to build decks around the cards. I never had to worry about it

I really didn't have any close matches. The fastest matches were my two losses. The longest were my two wins. Even then, I waited anywhere from 35 to 15 minutes between rounds.

What could I have done differently?

Lich caress and lilianas contract are both great cards. 5 mana is expensive but the removal is worth it.
4 cards is well worth the life loss. Lost a game to guys drawing a new hand at wrong time.

I would have gone UB. Saled is slower and flying really matters. These two colors give you plenty of flyers, removal, a decent curve and powerful cards. The marauder axe turns on a few artifact matter cards in blue and gives a real punch to your flyers.