14 Aug, 2012

M13 Sealed Contest #2!

Contest!

Look at the Sealed Pool below and make a build with a 300-500 word write-up about why you feel it is the best build of the given pool. A panel of judges will then read through the entries, and the best ones will be printed in the follow-up article. Winners will be given $20 store credit to spend as they choose on ChannelFireball.com. Pretty simple!

I’ve refined my rules for submitting, as the previous contest was a bit of a submissions free-for-all. Failure to follow these rules will result in deletion of your entry.

The Rules

I want to see one decklist for your build. You can talk about alternatives, but the bulk of your entry should be on the deck you actually want to submit. Same goes for potential sideboard cards, you can list them, but don’t spend a lot of words going over them. Word count will be a soft cap of 500. If you go over slightly it isn’t a big deal, but I don’t want to see 700-800 words. This is for easier readability and time constraints. The entries will be judged both on quality of build and the quality of explanation behind the choices. You don’t need to tell people Jace, Memory Adept or Sentinel Spider are good cards, but explaining why you went with a certain color combination or your 22nd or 23rd cards is nice to know.

#1: Entries will be taken from 8/14 9:01pm to 8/15 11:59pm. The entries will also be capped at the first 100. Yes, the contest is only a day. The last contest had me receiving over 150 entries on a Friday night.

#2: Submit all entries via email in plain text (I will not open attachments) with a subject line of ‘Sealed Contest’ to: josh.silvestri@gmail.com. If you use a different subject line, my filter won’t catch it and I won’t read it. If you leave it in the comments I may read it, but it won’t be entered into the contest.

#3: Entries will be judged by myself and a panel of judges on quality of build and explanation given.

#4: The winners will be published (with whatever name you list. If none is given, then e-mail or nickname) by Friday 8/24 and receive $20 store credit. You must have an account with ChannelFireball to receive prize, doing so is free and highly recommended.
Editor’s note: We may copy edit your entry for grammar and punctuation!

#5: Have fun!

The Pool

Last time people talked about how a weak pool made for more clear-cut decisions. Honestly I feel that the only truly interesting pools are the weak ones or the nut pools. With weak pools, figuring out the optimal deck is the only way to win, and stronger colors means you have a variety of shells at your disposal. Most pools people would consider ‘good’ have one correct color combination, and it’s just a matter of nitpicking a couple of cards or figuring out a proper sideboard deck for games 2/3. That is definitely interesting and worth doing, but not so great for a contest where we already read a massive amount of text in a week.

So this week is ‘The Nuts’—enjoy!

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