Chaos Wins!

Pro Tour-San Juan has concluded and the winner is Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa behind the strength of a strong top 8 draft and his RUG deck. You can find full coverage of the event here.

RUG was a force for this pro-tour and it captured a number of victories in the block constructed portion of the tournament. It took several players to day two and it took 2 players to the top 8 draft.

Here is a look at the deck:

RUG

Creatures

2 Avenger of Zendikar
3 Goblin Ruinblaster
4 Lotus Cobra
3 Oracle of Mul Daya
2 Sphinx of Lost Truths

Spells

4 Burst Lightning
2 Comet Storm
2 Depirve
4 Explore
2 Flame Slash
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Land

1 Evolving Wilds
3 Forest
4 Island
3 Mountain
3 Halimar Depths
2 Kazandu Refuge
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Raging Ravine
4 Scalding Tarn

Sideboard

1 Cuning Sparkmage
1 Deprive
2 Flame Slash
1 Forked Bolt
1 Goblin Ruinblaster
1 Hellkite Charger
1 Mold Shambler
1 Rampaging Baloths
2 Searing Blaze
2 Spell Pierce
2 Vapor Snare

The deck combines mana acceleration with the most powerful card in the format: Jace, the Mind Sculptor. An early Jace can take over the game with library manipulation and card draw setting up removal and permission before building up the mana base to drop finishing bombs like Sphinx of Lost Truths or an Avenger of Zendikar.

Josh Utter-Leyton also made the top 8 with the same deck. He breaks down the list further here:



Congratulations to Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa and rest of the finalists at Pro Tour-San Juan!

I've been playing some games with Sister's of Battle recently and have had some fun putting together lists of varying point levels. I think they are a very powerful army, especially considering how old their codex is.

Most of the codex has a number of problems with it: Antiquated vehicle costs or just plain bad units. But there are enough powerful units at the core and a lot of ways to maximize power levels in a sisters army by clever use of allies. One issue that this army has is a notable lack of long reliable long range shooting outside of the heavy slot. Enter an Imperial Guard platoon with heavy weapon squads and the issue is resolved.

Here is what I've put together for 1500 points.

Mechanized Sisters of Battle (1500)

HQ

Palatine (Book of St. Lucius) w Celestian Retinue x 5 (Melta x2) Immolator (Smoke, EA, Searchlight)

Elite

Inquisitor w Mystic x2
Celestians x 5 (Melta x2) Immolator (Smoke, EA, Searchlight)
Celestians x 5 (Melta x2) Immolator (Smoke, EA, Searchlight)

Troops

Inquisitorial Stormtroopers x5 (Plasma x2)
Inquisitorial Stormtroopers x5 (Plasma x2)
Infantry Platoon
Platoon Command Squad x5 (Flamer x3) Chimera (Heavy Flamer)
Infantry Squad x 10 (Autocannon) Chimera (Heavy Flamer)
Infantry Squad x 10 (Autocannon) Chimera (Heavy Flamer)
Heavy Weapons Squad (Autocannon x3)

Heavy Support

Exorcist
Exorcist
Exorcist

This list maximizes allies to their full advantage. We use the Inquisitor and mystics to foil deep strikes into our lines. At 35 points they are a bargain. I take the IG platoon to leverage cheap chimeras and autocannon teams. Then I give the chimeras to the inquisitorial stormtroopers to go find objectives. The guardsmen will shoot from on foot, ideally in cover.

Then we fill up with as many vehicles as possible. I'm a fan of exorcists for the fire support option they provide, especially at lower point levels where they prove extremely resilient. They do a decent job of tagging vehicles and are especially destructive against open topped transports and monstrous creatures. Some people prefer immolators in this slot and I don't hate the idea, but I think immolator spam is probably a better choice at the higher point levels, especially for 'Ard boyz as I've documented here.

Celestians are the most powerful sister in the codex. They are automatically faithful and possess holy hatred so we use them whenever possible. Immolators are also very cheap and a very strong transport that doubles as an attack vehicle.

The small units involved here and automatic faith points without the use of a veteran let us leverage some faith powers. The most notable is the ability which allows you to replace your celestian armor saves with an invulnerable. The increased initiative option in close combat can also be useful.

Note I've given the stormtroopers plasma to fill a void that sisters cannot use the technology. We have a number of meltas under the use of adeptas sororitas however.

At 1750 we simply add more firepower to the list. We've maxed out most of our FO now so we'll dip into fast attack and add...more sisters, melta and immolators. Not terribly exciting but extremely effective. We also have some spare points for another HWS. I'll add that to the platoon:

Mechanized Sisters of Battle (1750)

HQ

Palatine (Book of St. Lucius) w Celestian Retinue x 5 (Melta x2) Immolator (Smoke, EA, Searchlight)

Elite

Inquisitor w Mystic x2
Celestians x 5 (Melta x2) Immolator (Smoke, EA, Searchlight)
Celestians x 5 (Melta x2) Immolator (Smoke, EA, Searchlight)

Troops

Inquisitorial Stormtroopers x5 (Plasma x2)
Inquisitorial Stormtroopers x5 (Plasma x2)
Infantry Platoon
Platoon Command Squad x5 (Flamer x3) Chimera (Heavy Flamer)
Infantry Squad x 10 (Autocannon) Chimera (Heavy Flamer)
Infantry Squad x 10 (Autocannon) Chimera (Heavy Flamer)
Heavy Weapons Squad (Autocannon x3)
Heavy Weapons Squad (Autocannon x3)

Heavy Support

Exorcist
Exorcist
Exorcist

Fast Attack

Dominon Squad x 5 (Melta x3) Immolator (Smoke, EA, Searchlight)

At 2000 points we finish up the fast attack FO with additional dominion squads, we also give the Palatine an inferno pistol. Now the list has 13 melta and 6 immolators.

Mechanized Sisters of Battle (2000)

HQ

Palatine (Book of St. Lucius, Inferno Pistol) w Celestian Retinue x 5 (Melta x2) Immolator (Smoke, EA, Searchlight)

Elite

Inquisitor w Mystic x2
Celestians x 5 (Melta x2) Immolator (Smoke, EA, Searchlight)
Celestians x 5 (Melta x2) Immolator (Smoke, EA, Searchlight)

Troops

Inquisitorial Stormtroopers x5 (Plasma x2)
Inquisitorial Stormtroopers x5 (Plasma x2)
Infantry Platoon
Platoon Command Squad x5 (Flamer x3) Chimera (Heavy Flamer)
Infantry Squad x 10 (Autocannon) Chimera (Heavy Flamer)
Infantry Squad x 10 (Autocannon) Chimera (Heavy Flamer)
Heavy Weapons Squad (Autocannon x3)
Heavy Weapons Squad (Autocannon x3)

Heavy Support

Exorcist
Exorcist
Exorcist

Fast Attack

Dominon Squad x 5 (Melta x2) Immolator (Smoke, EA, Searchlight)
Dominon Squad x 5 (Melta x2) Immolator (Smoke, EA, Searchlight)
Dominon Squad x 5 (Melta x2) Immolator (Smoke, EA, Searchlight)

I'm least interested in this army at 2000 points because I think the exorcists start to fade as the best possible heavy choice. But I still think it's viable. They can't take over the game like they can at 1500 though.

Sisters tends to be a bit spammy in order to be competitive. Hopefully this will change with an updated Codex. In the meantime though, despite being a bit redundant the army is very good. It has all the tools required for 5th edition. Lots of efficient transports and the means to destroy enemy vehicles efficiently.

Shep and I got together today to play a quick 1500 point game at my place. I wanted a break from Orks as I have been playing the m almost exclusively for the last couple of months. Today I decided to go with Witch Hunters instead. Shep usually plays IG but he's been practicing extensively with Tyranids lately in an effort to prove they can work well in 5th edition. We still aren't convinced.

First we'll put down the lists.

Witch Hunters with Inducted Guard (1500)

HQ

Palatine (Book of St. Lucius)
and Celestian Retinue x 5 (Melta x2) and Immolator (Smoke, EA)

Elite

Celestian Squad x 5 (Melta x2) and Immolator (Smoke, EA)
Celestian Squad x 5 (Melta x2) and Immolator (Smoke, EA)

Troops

Infantry Platoon
Platoon Command Squad x 5 Chimera (Heavy Flamer)
Infantry Squad x 10 (Lascannon) Chimera (Heavy Flamer)
Infantry Squad x 10 (Lascannon) Chimera (Heavy Flamer)
Heavy Weapons Squad (Autocannon x3)
Heavy Weapons Squad (Autocannon x3)
Heavy Weapons Squad (Lascannon x2, Mortar)
Inquisitorial Stormtroopers x 5 (Plasma x2)
Inquisitorial Stormtroopers x 5 (Plasma x2)

Heavy

Exorcist
Exorcist

* The list I played with is not exactly the same as the list above. The list I played with was illegal. I used a couple of Lascannon Scout Sentinels. That isn't allowed because they require 2 IG platoons to unlock that allies option. I didn't realize this until the game was over. In the batrep pics you will see sentinels. They shouldn't be in the list. The legal way to create the list above is by replacing them with LC HWS instead. They aren't as good as sentinels because they lack mobility but they still grant the same LC shot with identical BS. Did this impact the outcome of this game? Probably not because I didn't scout or outflank with them and I wiffed with them for most of the game anyway. I probably would have gotten some LC shots off with the HWS as well. But I wanted to explain why there are sentinels in the pics but none in the list. Pretend those were a HWS instead. There you have it. Moving on.

Tyranids

HQ

Tyranid Prime (Boneswords x2, Adrenal Glands)

Troops

Tervigon
Tervigon
10 Termagaunts
16 Termagaunts

Elite

Venomthropes x3
Hive Guard x2
Hive Guard x2

Heavy

Tyranofex (Rupture Cannon)
Tyranofex (Rupture Cannon)

We end up with a sieze ground game with a dawn of war deployment. We place the objectives and I win the roll. I decide to go second.

Deployment:

The pic tells the story here. Shep lays down a bunch of gaunts and a tervigon. I put down a couple infantry platoons with the intention of bubble wrapping anything that shows up afterwards. Note my intention was to use the infantry squad chimeras for my inquisitorial stormtroopers. Thus, the infantry are on foot and in a great position to be devoured by tyranids.

From SOB_Batrep

From SOB_Batrep

From SOB_Batrep

Turn 1:

The Tervigon hatches 12 gaunts but throws doubles so no more hatching for him. The gaunts all move forward threatening the infantry squads.

From SOB_Batrep

The rest of his army comes in from off the table and lines up across moving as far forward as possible. During shooting his gaunts are able to get around night fight and pick off a number of guardsmen from both squads

My army shows up. I keep most of the models behind the bubble wrap with the exception of a few vehicles.

From SOB_Batrep

From SOB_Batrep

During the shooting phase I struggle to get around night fight and most of my vehicles cannot see their intended targets. I am able to drop an immolator template and some hellgun and chimera heavy flamer fire onto his gaunt unit though

From SOB_Batrep

I also unload some lasguns, another immolator heavy flamer and a multilaser into the other gaunt unit

From SOB_Batrep

Turn 2:

Shep moves forward with everything and starts taking long range shots with night fight now lifted. One of his tyranofexes blows up an exorcist missile launcher making it a very expensive camo cloak for the other one. He also manages to use his hive guard to stun and weapon destroy one of the stormtrooper chimeras and an immolator.

Witchhunters fire back. A platoon command squad wipes out the remaining gaunts sitting on an objective. The functional exorcist unloads 6 missiles into a Tyranofex and scores 4 wounds. I put a lascannon into a nearby tervigon and wound it. I put autocannons into the hive guard and kill one of them.

From SOB_Batrep

Turn 3:

Nids continue to move forward. A Tyranofex shakes an exorcist. The Tyranid Prime joins the gaunts and the whole unit surges forward and assaults the infantry squad. Hive guard weapon destroy an immolator and blow up a chimera. The tervigon attacks the PCS chimera and kills it and a couple of the squad inside.

A celestian immolator moves forward 12" and torches a couple venomthropes. The other immolators move forward and immolate some hive guard. Auto cannon spam shoots into the remaining hive guard wiping them all out.

Shep puts a glass of cranberry juice on the table. I comment that it looks like a cup of blood. Real cranberry juice is more tart than grapefruit juice. It must be cut with about 75% water and a spoonful of sugar to be drinkable. Poor drinkability.

From SOB_Batrep

From SOB_Batrep

From SOB_Batrep

Turn 4:

Tervigon in the back hatches more gaunts and they surge forward towards the autocannon teams. A celestian immolator is shaken. Another one is wrecked.

Witchunters debark all celestians and shoot at gaunts and do very little damage with bolters. Some lascannons and exorcist fire finish off the wounded tervigon and tyranofex. The venomthropes are also finished off by celestian bolters.

From SOB_Batrep

Turn 5:

The Gaunts eat the rest of the autocannon teams and then conslidate back onto an objective. The tyranofex is out of synapse and lurks. Another gaunt team eats a bunch of celestians. A tervigon in the back assaults a couple celestians but faith keeps them alive with invulnerable saves.

Sisters shoot at gaunts and do little. Immolators contest objectives. PCS sits on an objective with another inquisitorial squad in a chimera and another infantry squad. Exorcist takes a shot at the tyranofex and misses.

We roll to see if the game ends. It does not.

From SOB_Batrep

Turn 6:

Gaunts and Tyranid prime kills the rest of the celestians but cannot score the objective because an immolator is sitting on it. The other gaunts and tervigon wipe remaining celestians and camp another objective but again cannot score because an immolator is sitting on it.

From SOB_Batrep

From SOB_Batrep

The game finally ends with Witchhunters winning 1-0. Sisters are scoring one objective and contesting the other two with immolators.

Pretty rough for the nids. They did a lot more damage than the witchhunters did but couldn't wreck enough vehicles for it to matter. Witchhunters only lost 3 vehicles. Most of them didn't have weapons, but in an objective game that didn't seem to matter.

Pro Tour San Juan is underway. The format is Zendikar block constructed and ROE draft. Some early looks at the tournament have an interesting leader-board. You can read about full coverage of the event over at WOTC's site here.

More information will be revealed as the weekend progresses. But I found some of the early coverage of the block constructed portion of the tourney interesting. Travis Woo's deck was featured in a deck tech session below:



Travis's deck led him to a 4-1 record during the constructed rounds.


Red/Green Land Destruction

Creatures

4 Nest Invader
4 Lotus Cobra
4 Overgrown Battlement
4 Hellkite Charger
4 Goblin Ruinblast
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Vengevine

Spells

4 Roiling Terrain
2 Burst Lightning
2 Everflowing Chalice

Land

4 Kazandu Refuge
4 Raging Ravine
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Scalding Tarn
5 Forest
5 Mountain

Sideboard

4 Cunning Sparkmage
4 Staggershock
2 Burst Lightning
3 Flame Slash
2 Tajaru Preserver

Pretty interesting take on an old favorite. Burn, Fatties, and Landkill. We'll see how Travis does on day 2.

I've been messing around with my Ice Age block decks with my patient circle of Magic: The Gathering playing co-workers and doing round robin's for our block decks. You can view the decks here and here. I'm pretty happy with all of my deck's play but I find the mono-black Necropotence deck slightly wanting in some of the match-ups.


I circled back to the deck and after playing a number of match-ups discovered some of the weaknesses inherent in the deck. Against Counterpost I had issues muscling some of my key cards into play. The Mind Ravel and Mind Warp were decent at helping against that deck, but I felt I needed more disruption against the counter-magic. Against the creature decks my removal was a bit clunky and slow, and I had almost no answers against shroud creatures like Deadly Insect.

I aimed to change this and scoured the block for answers. Black didn't offer much help here. Mind Ravel was already exhausted as an answer to permission magic. Stench of Decay was considered to take out the formidable Deadly Insect, but I finally decided to branch out further and just add a second color.

Black/Red Necropotence

Spells

4 Skred
4 Demonic Consultation
4 Dark Ritual
4 Coldsteel Heart
4 Soul Burn
4 Necropotence
3 Soul Spike
2 Mind Warp
2 Contagion

Creatures

2 Void Maw
4 Phyrexian Ironfoot

Land

2 Sulfurous Springs
4 Tresserhorn Sinks
4 Scrying Sheets
2 Lake of the Dead
11 Snow-Covered Swamp

Sideboard

4 Pyroblast
4 Dystopia
4 Icequake
3 Pyroclasm

This variant of the deck doesn't change all that much in terms of actual card volume but it plugs a number of holes in the original. Now we have additional early game removal. Skred is added in addition to Contagion to remove just about any threat early or late game. What changes more notably is in the sideboard. Gone are the Mind Ravels. They are replaced with Pyroblast which better allows the Necro player to force though important spells. Pyroclasm is a very efficient answer to swarm decks and deals with troublesome shroud creatures the old deck couldn't otherwise deal with.

I think this variant is of Necropotence is an improvement over the original. It still offers all of the card drawing life draining power of the original, but is more consistent in how it handles threats on the board, and can better stifle permission players as well.

Shep and I decided to put play a quick 1500 point game recently. He used his Vostroyans. I brought Orks. I decided to go Mek today. The list is here.

Shep played the following Imperial Guard list:

Vostroyan Glass Cannon (1500)

HQ

CCS (Melta x3, Astropath) w Chimera (Heavy Flamer)

Troops

Veteran x10 (Plasma x2) w Chimera (Heavy Flamer)
Veteran x10 (Plasma x2) w Chimera (Heavy Flamer)
Veteran x10 (Plasma x2) w Chimera (Heavy Flamer)

Heavy

Manticore (Heavy Flamer)
Manticore (Heavy Flamer)
Manticore (Heavy Flamer)

Fast Attack

Vendetta
Vendetta
Vendetta

We obviously play for keeps around here.

My experience with guard is that I have a chance if I can go first. We ended up with a pitched / annihilation game. I won the roll. I was happy about that but not thrilled with the mission since that meant I had to move towards him while he just had a turkey shoot from whatever edge he wanted.

I set up like this:

From 40k pics

From 40k pics

I had to put my lootas in area terrain to avoid the manticore indirect fire bypassing all cover saves. I did the same with kannonz. The wagons were placed in the middle with buggies trailing behind.

Turn 1

Shep decided to just reserve everything. He outflanked with his vendettas. This is wise since he knows my list is capable of just blowing out almost all his firepower in a single turn if the rolls go my way.

Turn 2

With nothing to shoot at I just reposition some of my infantry and move the wagons into the middle of the table.

From 40k pics

Shep rolled his reserves. He gets all 3 Vendettas, 1 Manticore and 2 Vet Chimeras.

From 40k pics

The Vendettas shoot into side armor on the nob wagon and stun it, another one picks off a buggy. The Manticore blasts the closest loota unit and kills a couple of them. A multi-laser kills a third. They fail morale and run off the table.

Turn 3

Finally the Orks have something to shoot at. One loota unit only has LOS to a chimera. They take a shot and destroy it. A second loota unit wiffs on a vendetta but the kannon unit blows it up instead. The buggy takes a rockitt shot at a vendetta and misses.

Guard comes back with shooting. From reserve the second manticore, a veteran squad and CCS show up. A vendetta immobilizes the Nob Wagon and then the second Stuns the KFF Wagon. A Manticore blasts the kannonz and kills all the artillery, the grots run for it. Multilaser blows up a buggy rockitt rendering it useless.

From 40k pics

Turn 4

Remaining Lootas have a shot on a second manticore and miss. The second Loota unit wrecks another vendetta. The broken weapon buggy attempts to run away to not yield another kill point. A functioning buggy fires at a manticore and also misses.

The last Manticore arrives from reserve and then all three send barrages at the orks. One wagon is blown up and 4 orks die in the explosion along with a nearby buggy. The running buggy is killed by a vendetta. More manticore fire shoots at the two remaining wagons and fail to hit or wound.

Turn 5

The remaining mobile Battlewagon moves forward 13" and the Ork's debark in a desperate attempt to charge the vehicles and guardsmen in the blasted chimera. The other Boy unit from the blown up wagon moves forward 3" through difficult terrain in an effort to assault the nearby Manticore. The Boyz waagh and the first unit moves 2" and the second unit 1". Not good. The full unit still manages to assault a manticore and a chimera. The Manticore gets stunned and weapon destroyed. The chimera suffers no damage at all.

From 40k pics

From 40k pics

With a failed assault and terrible run roll the remaining chimeras line up and template the Boyz into oblivion. The remaining infantry fail a morale test at LD 8, then fail the bosspole attempt and run away.

From 40k pics

The Deffrolla wagon has a chance to do some damage here on the following turn with a ram. Unfortunately the game ends and the Orks are down 7 kill points to 3.

So my Orks lose pretty handily. I'm not sure how I could have improved the outcome. He reserved which hurt my shooting, and then I had to deal with too much vendetta fire early slowing down my ability to get into his lines. My Nob wagon was pretty much out of the fight the entire game. I considered just moving them out of their wagon but I figured they'd just get blasted with Manticore fire so I stayed put and didn't give up the KP. The game was pretty close up until the last turn when he got 3 kill points. A less than terrible run roll on my Waagh! could have made the game much closer.

I'm going to stick with this list and chalk up my loss to a poor matchup. I'm sure there were some generalship errors somewhere in there too but nothing that was obvious to me. I can't beat every army in every game. I'll just keep testing with it and hope it can achieve better outcomes in different missions or against different army types.

Onslaught block constructed was played extensively way back in 2003 and culminated in the Summer of that year at Grand Prix Detroit following the release of the block's third and final set: Scourge.

The format pitted tribal themes against control elements and with the addition of Scourge, Goblins had taken over the meta-game. The entire format was hedged by the goblin deck and it dominated tournaments with some events seeing Goblins in 50% of the field. Thus, for the players, you had a choice: Play Goblins, or use the tools in the format that could beat them. The trick was doing so and not killing your game against the other goblin hate decks as well.

Here was the deck to beat:

Goblins

Creatures

4 Clickslither
4 Gempalm Incinerator
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Sledder
4 Goblin Warchief
4 Siege-Gang Commander
4 Skirk Prospector
4 Sparksmith

Spells

4 Shock

Land

21 Mountain
3 Goblin Burrows

Sideboard

4 Goblin Goon
3 Rorix Bladewing
4 Sulfuric Vortex
4 Threaten

This deck is explosive and has the potential for a turn 4 kill with hasted goblins delivering enormous sums of damage. A turn 4 hasted Siege Gang Commander can spell doom for decks that don't keep the goblin swarm in check. Quickly.

Goblins packed shock for reach damage and helpful removal, especially in the mirror match. It leveraged Goblin Goon and Sulfuric Vortex out of the board to punish control decks and then Threaten for the mirror match. Clickslither was an important meta-game choice because it had the important trample ability and could survive against the game stopping Silver Knight.

If Goblins was rock in a field of uneducated scissors, then the decks to beat them were the paper. There were a number of variants that could do it, but the best of those were the decks that could beat both Goblins and the other control decks in the field. Some of these control decks were mono-red. Some were mono-white. The best of them used both colors.

For Grand Prix Detroit, Professional Bob Maher piloted a Red/White control deck to victory over a field of Goblins and control decks designed to defeat them.



Red White Control

Creatures
3 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
4 Eternal Dragon
4 Silver Knight

Spells

4 Akroma's Vengeance
3 Decree of Justice
4 Lightning Rift
3 Renewed Faith
4 Starstorm
4 Wing Shards

Land

4 Forgotten Cave
8 Mountain
11 Plains
4 Secluded Steppe

Sideboard

2 Decree of Annihilation
1 Decree of Justice
2 Oblation
4 Shock
2 Temple of the False God
4 Wipe Clean

Maher's deck had all the answers to defeat Goblins. Silver Knight was a devastating turn 2 play. In multiples it usually stalled and therefore ended the Goblin attack quickly. Starstorm and Akroma's Vengeance would wipe the table. Lightning Rift was used to pick off solo stragglers. Wing Shards turned a wicked hasted goblin into insurmountable card advantage. Finally Akroma or a recurring Eternal Dragon was used to finish off the opponent

Maher boarded in additional shocks to stomp out goblins and then used a variety of tactics to give himself the advantage over additional control decks in the format. Wipe Clean was useful against pesky enchantments like enemy Lightning Rift's or Astral Slide.

Maher's use of Silver Knight, massive finisher creatures and a wide array of control options anointed him of champion of Grand Prix Detroit.

So it's time for more sealed deck madness. Opened up my six packs and was fairly disappointed with what I got. However, I was able to throw together two mediocre decks. Here is the card pool:

Blue

Crab Umbra (U)
Aura Finesse
Distortion Strike
Fleeting Distraction
See Beyond
Halimar Wavewatch
Merfolk Observer
Eel Umbra x2
Frostwind Invoker x2
Champion's Drake
Drake Umbra (U)
Regress
Narcolepsy
Guard Gomazoa (U)
Sphinx of Magosi (R)

Black

Perish the Thought
Shrivel
Death Cultist
Nighthaze
Induce Despair
Bala Ged Scorpion
Cadaver Imp
Vendetta
Arrogant Broodlord (U)
Bloodright Invoker
Zulaport Enforcer
Corpsehatch (U)
Suffer the Past (U)

Artifact, Colorless, Multicolor, Land

Reinforced Bulwark
Not of this World (U)
Hand of Emrakul
Sarkhan the Mad (M)
Eldrazi Temple (R)

Red

Lust for War (U)
Brood Birthing
Fissure Vent
Raid Bombardment
Spawning Breath x2
Rapacious One (U)
Disaster Radius (R)
Staggershock
Kiln Fiend
Grotag Siege-Runner
Ogre Sentry
Lagac Lizard
Vent Sentinel x2
Valakut Fireboar (U)
Aloum Boulderfoot (U)
Goblin Arsonist

Green

Ancient Stirrings
Gravity Well (U)
Realms Uncharted (R)
Nema Siltluker
Bramblesnap (U)
Spider Umbra
Overgrown Battlement
Kazandu Tuskcaller (R)
Kozilek's Predator
Stomper Cub x2
Might of the Masses
Boar Umbra (U)
Sporecap Spider
Ondu Giant

White

Wall of Omens (U)
Dawnglare Invoker
Makindi Griffin
Mammoth Umbra (U)
Lone Missionary
Affa Guard Hound (U) x2
Caravan Escort
Eland Umbra
Guard Duty
Stalwart Shield-Bearers
Demystify
Glory Seeker
Totem-Guide Hartebeest
Repel the Darkness x2

At first pass, I felt that I could try to build a deck around Sarkhan the Mad. I had a "bomb" in Sarkhan and I had some decent removal in Corpsehatch, Induce Despair, Vendetta, and Staggershock. I also had a decent amount of Red creatures. Therefore, I put together the following deck:

Sealed (RB) Sarkhan's Disaster

Spells

Corpsehatch (U)
Suffer the Past (U)
Induce Despair
Vendetta
Spawning Breath
Disaster Radius (R)
Staggershock
Sarkhan the Mad (M)

Creatures

Bloodright Invoker
Bala Ged Scorpion
Arrogant Bloodlord (U)
Cadaver Imp
Zulaport Enforcer
Vent Sentinel x2
Kiln Fiend
Ogre Sentry
Lagac Lizard
Grotag Siege-Runner
Valakut Fireboar (U)
Rapacious One (U)
Goblin Arsonist
Akoum Boulderfoot (U)

Land

8 Swamps
9 Mountains

After a few games, my naivety of the block and format showed through. What I found was that this deck didn't have much in teh way of breaking through many of the extremely large creatures available in Rise of Eldrazi. I was finding myself running into opponents with bigger creatures and better removal. The lack of having large creatures myself made cards like Disaster Radius and Induce Despair not very useful.

I took another look at the card pool and thought that I could build a deck using some of the other "good in limited" cards I had, namely the umbras, the Sphinx of Magosi, and Kazandu Tuskcaller. This deck would have almost no removal, with Narcolepsy, Regress, and Might of the Masses being the few ways deal with opponent creatures, and even then in a very limited way. However, I noticed it was strong in evasion. If I could get out a few key fliers with an umbra or two, I could hit my opponent hard enough and fast enough to get them before they got too strong. The umbras not only buffed my creatures, but also made them more resilient. The ratio of spells to creatures was not to my liking, but I had to play with the cards I was given, so the I created the following:

Sealed (UGw) Umbra Evasion Deck

Spells

Mammoth Umbra (U)
Boar Umbra (U)
Drake Umbra (U)
Spider Umbra
Eel Umbra x2
Regress
See Beyond
Narcolepsy
Might of the Masses

Creatures

Kazandu Tuskcaller (R)
Sphinx of Magosi (R)
Bramblesnap (U)
Guard Gomazoa (U)
Sporecap Spider
Overgrown Battlement
Dawnglare Invoker
Ondu Giant
Kozilek's Predator
Stomper Cub x2
Frostwind Invoker x2

Land
8 Forest
9 Island
1 Plain

While slow, the second deck proved to be a better option in this format against my opponents. This deck was good enough to stop KevinNash's Sealed Thought Gourger deck, and proved competitive against another friends sealed Black/Green Momentous Fall deck. I lost more often than won against the Momentous Fall deck, but he had great combos and great cards. There is probably a Blue/Red or a Red/Green floating in the above card pool that could be even better, but for now its time to move on to a new card pool.