Magic 95 Sealed Pool, Inaugural Session (Photolog)

Tonight, Sean, Bill, and I kicked off our Magic 95 sealed pool at the Malted Meeple, purveyor of beer, milkshakes, and game tables. I'll stop short of calling this a league, as that would imply a greater degree of organization than any of us intends. To start, we each opened a starter deck of Ice Age and one pack each of Fallen Empires, Homelands, and 4th Edition. No outside basics are allowed, so we each ran 22, the number included in our starters. Decks were a full 60 cards, and additional packs will be added to our pools throughout the year.

Spirits ran high as we unwrapped the contents of our Ice Age starters. Definitely some playables in here so long as you avoid anything with double mana symbols.

At 5BBB, Baron Sengir needs to ride the pine until I open some Dark Rituals or add in more basics. Lhurgoyf seems doable, though.

The vampire legend may have missed the cut, but Soul Burn still felt splashable on four Swamps and three Mountains thanks to Red Mana Battery.

My first game vs. Sean started out well: resolving a creature and two damage-dealing artifacts sets a pretty high bar.

A few turns later, rolling on all cylinders. (Dual lands are obviously overrated.)

I was a little bummed to not open Ihsan's Shade, but casting Prophecy was a decent consolation prize.

You'd think the guy who cracked Seraph, Icy Manipulator, and Lightning Bolt wouldn't be complaining about pulls, but maybe he had a point.

Bill may be a newcomer to oldschool Magic, but he looks right at home casting Lava Burst over the top for the win.

Turns out reading the card can be important sometimes. Solid investment here for one mana.

Flavor win of the night: bear spirit (Fylgja) protecting actual bears.

I managed to cast Soul Burn to take this one, but Rod of Ruin and Mountain Goat were the real MVPs. 

What do you do when Energy Storm locks down your Bottle of Suleiman token? If you're Sean, you put Fear on your Marsh Viper and swing for the game. Not many players can brag about losing to life and poison counters at the same time.