This past weekend I participated in the Servants of the Betrayer sealed event and I had a blast. After the packs were handed out it was announced there would only be 4 rounds of swiss which was a little disappointing considering there was 44 people entered. Anyway, constructed is more my game so I don't have a ton of experience in limited but I knew the following: equipment (especially weapons) is good, removal is good, a good curve can be more important than impressive allies.
         I decided I was going to let my equipment (or lack thereof) determine my class as a strategy. Out of my 6 packs I pulled 4 weapons and 2 armor that were playable and the combination of the 2 left me with warrior, paladin, rogue, and shaman as possibilities:

- Shaman could use all of the weapons and none of the armor but the ability pool was terrible so I sadly cut that class out.
- Warrior had some real nice abilities and access to 3 weapons and no armor but most of the abilities were tied to equipment and I didn't like having to depend on that with only 3, so I cut it as well.
- Rogue could use 2 weapons and both armor and a single On the Brink but was VERY light on other abilities to I sadly cut the rogue out.
- That left me with paladin which could only use 2 of the weapons and no armor, but the weapons were the best 2 (2x of a single weapon actually) and had by far the best ability pool of my weapon classes.

       After looking through my cards my alliance allies had a much better curve so I went with that direction but meant cutting my only talent spec card which required a Holy paladin. Faced with the choice of the 3 alliance paladins I went with the new traitor hero as I felt he had the best flip for my deck. It came out as follows:

Hero: Crusader Michael Goodechild

Allies (16):
1 x Falana of the Glen (1)
1 x Quigley Slipshade (1)
1 x Vindicator Dindro (1)
1 x Bakaar (1)
1 x Angelista (2)
2 x Miner Steelwhiskers (2)
2 x Vindicator Agran (3)
1 x Alhas (3)
1 x Rames the Purifier (4)
1 x Anchorite Alona (4)
1 x Breen Toestubber (5)
1 x Orderkeeper Henley (5)
1 x Stella Forgebane (6)
1 x Gabble (7)

Equipment (2):
2 x Bloodskull Destroyer

Abilities (5):
1 x Seal of Redemption
2 x Blessing of the Martyr
1 x Paladin Training
1 x Reclusion

Quests (7):
2 x Dr. Boom
1 x Marks of Kil'jaeden
1 x Hellfire Fortifications
1 x Information Gathering
1 x The Name of the Beast
1 x Falling to Corruption

Total: 30

I wasn't actually too happy with the deck at first but after playing it I found some nice interactions. My thoughts on some of the new cards:
- Falana was amazing the first couple matches when people didn't know what she did, but she's always bad on the play and so-so on the draw when people know what to do (kill her then place a resource).
- Quigley I'm on the fence about, he's almost an expensive Luppo that everyone can use but has one major bonus in that you choose when to make him untargetable. In multiple games I attached a Blessing of the Martyr on him and left 2 resources open which made him an unkillable 4 attack ally.
- Angelista I like because her effect is at the end of your turn so she can be useful at any point in the game "You just played Thunderfury? Go ahead and pay 9 again"
- Miner Steelwiskers is awesome. 2/3 at a 2 cost with protector AND he mills? Nuts.
- Breen, I really liked her in limited but really I don't think she's great for constructed.
- Stella is awesome, she's almost Zygore but alliance can use her. If you can keep her on the field she can completely shut down equipment based decks.
- Bloodskull Destroyer is nuts in limited. A 3/2 weapon for 2 is pretty damn good on it's own, but the added 1 cost removal can really swing games.
- Seal of Redemption would be much better in constructed if it was any combat damage, as it is I'm not so sure. I did manage to get the engine going a few different times this tournament which when you do is completely game changing.
- Blessing of the Martyr is very playable in constructed in my opinion and extremely good in limited. This and Earth Mother's Blessing make it very worth it to play attached abilities since they replace themselves. The attack and health bumps are almost just gravy.
- Dr. Boom will be rush deck's new best friend after One Dreanei's Junk. I held my breath every time I completed it with this deck expecting to draw Gabble, luckily I never drew more than a 3 cost.

On to the matches:

Round 1: Hekto Starspire
I don't remember too much from this match but games 1 and 2 played out very similarly. Game 1 I playe Falana on turn 1 and traded her with his 1 drop on turn 3 and it turned the game in my favor. Game 2 he actually killed Falana on his turn 2 but after he placed a resource which netted the same result.

Record: 1-0

Round 2: Kil'zin of the Darkspear
Amazingly out of the 42 people I hadn't played against I get paired with my friend who I came with, which of course always happens...in the end my deck curved out a little better than his and I was able to take the tempo and the games. Both games I got my weapon out on turn 2 and just started clearing his board which gave me too much board and card advantage for him to deal with.

Record: 2-0

Round 3: Taheo
This was a very frustrating match in that I started out with what looked like a dominating board prescense, only for it to be turned around by an Earth Mother's Blessing pumped ally. Game 1 I spent most of the early turns killing his allies with my weapon but in the end I had done so much damage to myself that despite my dominating board prescense he had enough damage left to kill me. Game 2 started out much the same and I appeared to turn the corner when I killed his Doshura with 2x Earth Mother's Blessing on it with my weapon's effect. I had really turned the corner when I looked at my "deck" which only had 2 cards in it...with no way to shuffle my yard back into my deck it was over. Having to kill him almost 3 times after Tranquility healed a ton didn't help either.

Record: 2-1

Round 4: Taheo
Bleh, bring on the Earth Mother's Blessing again! Luckily it turned out he had none. On the play in game 1 I get out to a fast start hitting turns 1-3 and on his turn 3 he plays Lacerate which I thought was a questionable play but later found out he also had Chew Toy which made a little more sense. For that game it was a little slow and I manage to push through the victory. Game 2 I trotted out Falana on turn 1 hoping to catch him in a misplay but he smartly killed her turn 2 before placing a resource. I got the Bloodskull + Seal of Redemption engine going however and he had no answer which gave me the game.

Record: 3-1

          In the end I came out in 8th place with my 1 loss to the person who ultimately got 1st. I was disappointed in not getting a playmat and an extra 6 packs, but still was happy to get another top 8 even if it didn't really mean anything.

Now to start forming new decks with the new cards!

Tags: Preview Event