MBS Sealed - Impressions of an Average Joe

Hello all.

I am here tonight after just getting home from the prerelease, to take a look at MBS sealed, some cards you might underrate, and share my fairly decent list I top 8'd with, my highest place ever in a major event.  There was a cash prize of $500 for first, and I'd never played in an event with cash payout before.  So proudly sporting my Blackborder shirt, I picked Phyrexia and here it is. 

Versions:
Mirrodin Besieged (Foil)

The sideboard is all the notable other cards that I got, the Hero is because it was foil and a foil non-faction card can be in either pack.

The rest of the pool was beyond lackluster, so it was pretty easy to see I was playing B/G infect, since my pool demanded it.  I did make some errors in construction, I should have used the imp in place of something, perhaps the wall since my deck is very aggressive, but I ended up siding it in my last few matches.  I went 4-2, my losses were to the only undefeated guy who would end up wining, and the person who placed 5th. My tiebreakers squeaked me past some of the other 4-2s, including my good friend who I rode with.  Mana problems generally lost me my games, mulling to 5 or 6 and not getting there, including my rematch against the eventual winner in the first round of top 8.  On a good note for me, the winner only dropped 2 games in all the rounds, and one was to me where I demolished him, the other game 2 of the finals.   

I have a brief write-up round by round, and if someone wants I'll post it in the comments.  Sadly, despite how nutty my pool was, the winner's pool, who is the #4 in my region, was ridiculous.  The perfect anti-phyrexian deck.  Some highlights of that deck include Mirran Crusader, Hero of Bladehold, Hellkite Igniter, Myr Battlesphere, Cerebral Eruption double Galvanic Blast, triple Burn the Impure, double Koth's Courier, plus more removal in white.  Yeah it was kind of insane. 

As your average Magic player, some of the cards that were quite good somewhat surprised me, and some that seemed great really weren't, you be the judge, and hope it helps in your pre-releases/drafts in the future.  Tips from pros are always welcome.

Master's Call Kind of obvious, but it easily enables metalcraft, is a nice trick for chump blockers, and can help force the last of that damage through. 

Quicksilver Geyser Seems pricey, but is very good, especially versus anything with a sac trigger, and since it's non-land permanents, it’s fairly versatile. 

Caustic Hound That extra 4 life loss is a huge tempo swing, often making it into an 8/8 tramper for 6 when blocked.

Flesh-eater Imp seems pricey at first glance, but two times I easily made this guy into a 10/x and just won games.  

Morbid Plunder since they go to hand this should almost always be played.  It’s a game breaker.

Phyrexian Rager Normally I do not like to mix infect and non-infect, but in a mirror match he shines because your life total doesn't matter and it gets you to the critical mass of creatures faster. 

Spread the Sickness I rarely got to use the proliferate on this, but it’s a common, single black so splashable, and  kills everything not named darksteel something.  

Blisterstick Shaman The one damage seemed fairly minor, but there are a lot of x/1s in the sets, not just mana Myrs. 

Koth's Courier Easily races infect, since you're most likely playing green and its a 10 turn clock alone if you are. 

Kuldotha Flamefiend Pricey, however, blowing up say a 0 counter Tumble Magnet, and its 4 damage divided as the caster chooses between any number of creatures and/or players.  I thought it was a single target, but this can clear a board and give a body. 

Rot Wolf is generally a body and a cantrip, and even an early trade doesn't hurt that much. 

Viridian Emissary is quite good, enabling explosive starts, and is better than an off color Myr. 

Mortarpod Is amazing in infect.  It allows a lot of reach to finish someone off, and equips cheap. 

Strandwalker is also a very solid card in most builds, and is great on walls for infect stops or on an already shrunk creature to make it a threat. 

Banishment Decree Not as removal, but as a timewalk, it’s better than it seems.  

Gore Vassal It could be removal for an x/1, and could have something major.  Better than it seems.      

Thopter Assembly It gives you a lot of blockers rather well, and while not a super aggressive card it does shine in a more controlling build.  

Spin Engine It doesn't look that greatest, but as a 3/1, a few red mana can go a long way towards getting that 20 closer to 0. 

That's the good, now comes cards I think looking at spoilers we overrate a lot, and aren't as good as they seem. Granted I have one event to go on, but I have yet to see any of the following used fairly effectively. 

Steel Sabotage.  In theory it’s good, but there was very little metalcraft present or game-changing artifacts. Draft maybe, sealed, not so much.

Vedalken Infuser There just isn't much short of trigons and maybe Tumble Magnet in sealed that it works with, and often it just becomes a 4 mana 1/4. 

Flensermite Its a 2 drop infector, but it’s kind of the worst of the bunch.  Lifelink isn't that good, and since it's killed by anything and everything, I say use something else.  At least it’s better than vector asp. 

Gruesome Encore It seems really good at first glance, but odds are you will not get a bomb just another body for a turn.  You need to deal with a bomb first, and if you can, odds are, if you can do that, this won't help much. 

Nested Ghoul generally becomes 2 2/2s for 5 mana, which isn't that good.  It kind of replaces itself, but since unless you get a spikeshot and pound it each turn, it doesn't do as much as you think. 

Phyrexian Vatmother after playing with this, it’s not horrible, but it’s generally only good versus non-poison, because it can easily kill you in a mirror match.  

Lead the Stampede Constructed elves?  Yes, draft?  Not so much.  Too often you seem to not get as much value out of it as you would think.  Plus, putting that removal spell to the bottom sucks. 

Psychosis Crawler Generally speaking, it’s going to be a 3/3 or 2/2 for 5 and since its Phyrexian, the life loss of opponents generally isn't a huge concern.  

Green Sun's Zenith It can be good in a few decks, something from deck into play isn't bad, but since it increased CMC by 1 effectively, often I'd rather use something else.  In constructed and EDH it’s going to be a blast though. 

That’s all for now, just sharing some thoughts of an average guy on the set, hope you enjoyed it.  If anyone wants my full sealed pool, or a match by match, let me know in comments and I can provide it.