Sealed Deck Building with D

A commenter left me with a list of cards he had opened from 6 packs, and asked for help making a sealed deck out of it. Let's see what he got.

Here is the full list of cards:

Deck

White- 1 Lost Leonin 1 Lexodon Convert 1 Lexodon Partisan 1 Inquisitor Exarch 1 Shriek Raptor 1 Apostle Blessing 1 Marrow Shards 2 Remember the Fallen 1 Frantic Salvage 1 War Report 1 Banishment Decree 1 Phyrexian Rebirth Blue- 1 Vedalken Infuser 1 Serum Raker 1 Impaler Shrike 1 Gitaxian Probe 1 Neurok Commando 1 Numbing Dose 1 Vivisection 1 Wing Splicer 1 Xenograft 1 Vapor Snag 1 Blighted Agent Black- 1 Septic Rats 1 Spread the Sickness 1 Grim Affliction 1 Caustic Hound 1 Dismember 1 Dementia Bat 1 Ichor Explosion 1 Evil Presence 1 Geth's Verdict 1 Reaper of Sheoldred 1 Morbid Plunder Red- 2 Kudoltha Ringleader 3 Ruthless Invasion 2 Volt Charge 1 Concussive Bolt 1 Geosurge 1 Furnace Scamp 1 Tormentor Exarch 1 Goblin Wardriver 1 Spiraling Duelist 1 Hellkite Igniter

Green- 1 Mirran Mettle 1 Viridian Emissary 1 Death-Hood Cobra 1 Brutalizer Exarch 1 Fangren Marauder 2 Maul Splicer 1 Glissa's Courier 2 Viridian Betrayers 1 Quilled Slagwurm Artifact- 1 Ichor Wellspring 2 Mycosynth Wellspring 1 Pristine Talisman 1 Flayer Husker 2 Lashwrithe  2 Training Drone 1 Razorfield Rhino 1 Phyrexian Hulk 1 Pestilent Souleater 1 Etched Monstrosity 1 Trespassing Souleater 1 Blinding Souleater 1 Hovermyr 2 Surge Node 1 Slash Panther (red) 2 Vault Skirge (black) 1 Cathedral Membrane (white) 1 Spined Thopter (blue) 1 Thundering Tanadon (green)

This isn't a very good pool in my opinion. Not for lack of strong cards, but for the spread of the colors.

White has Blinding Souleater and Phyrexian Rebirth.

Blue has Neurok Commando and Blighted Agent.

Black has Reaper of Sheoldred and several strong removal spells.

Red has Spiraling Duelist, Hellkite Igniter, and 2 Volt Charges.

Green has Viridian Emissary, Fangren Marauder, 2 Maul Splicers and a Quilled Slagwurm.

Artifacts has Pristine Talisman, 2 Lashwrithes, and Etched Monstrosity.

All 5 colors would add something to this deck, and that makes it incredibly difficult to decide what to do.

I am a big fan of Living Weapons. Not only do you get an Equipment card, but it comes with a free creature to carry it. I originally felt like we should try and make Black work to use the Lashwrithes.

Once I chose started looking at Black, I really didn't like it. There were very few strong creatures, but plenty of good removal. That pretty much screams "Splash me!" instead of running it as a main color. A splash of Black wouldn't help our Lashwrithes.

Instead I looked at the two strongest creature colors, Red and Green.

Having chosen those 2 colors, I filtered the cards, and removed the ones that I didn't think would work:

Deck
Creatures - 18 2 Kuldotha Ringleader 1 Tormentor Exarch 1 Goblin Wardriver 1 Spiraling Duelist 1 Hellkite Igniter 1 Viridian Emissary 1 Brutalizer Exarch 1 Fangren Marauder 1 Quilled Slagwurm 1 Razorfield Rhino 1 Etched Monstrosity 1 Blinding Souleater 1 Hovermyr 1 Slash Panther 2 Vault Skirge 1 Thundering Tanadon	Spells - 3 2 Volt Charge 1 Concussive Bolt Artifacts - 4 1 Ichor Wellspring 2 Mycosynth Wellspring 1 Pristine Talisman 1 Flayer Husk

I don't quite like the curve, and I don't like that my only "removal" are two 3 damage 3 mana spells. So now would be a good time to put in that Black splash for removal. I removed a few more creatures and added in the Reaper, as he is amazing.

Deck
Lands - 16 7 Mountain 6 Forest 3 Swamp Creatures - 15 1 Tormentor Exarch 1 Spiraling Duelist 1 Viridian Emissary 1 Death-Hood Cobra 1 Brutalizer Exarch 1 Fangren Marauder 1 Quilled Slagwurm 1 Razorfield Rhino 1 Etched Monstrosity 1 Blinding Souleater 1 Hellkite Igniter 1 Vault Skirge 1 Thundering Tanadon 1 Reaper of Sheoldred 1 Hovermyr	Spells - 5 1 Spread the Sickness 1 Grim Affliction 1 Dismember 1 Volt Charge 1 Concussive Bolt Artifacts - 4 2 Mycosynth Wellspring 1 Pristine Talisman 1 Flayer Husk

Let's explain some card choices:

Tormentor Exarch is removal, pump, and creature all in one. Typically you'll be dropping him in to kill off something pesky your opponent has, sometimes dropping him in to put +2/+0 on one of your own creatures will give you enough strength to break through blockers, sometimes you just need a 2/2.

Spiraling Duelist is a game finisher if you have solid metalcraft out. Having this guy out, and equipped with a Flayer Husk, and then putting the Tormentor Exarch buff on him is practically enough to win in a single swing.

Viridian Emissary plays the part of mana fixer plus temporary creature. Do not get too attached to him, use him to block something coming in, or suicidally attack into an opponent.

Death-Hood Cobra makes a great late game blocker. For 2 mana he can kill anything that your opponent sends at you on the ground.

Brutalizer Exarch is a powerful but underrated card. He can tutor up a win condition for you, or plant an opponents permanent firmly on the bottom of their library. This usually works best against Planeswalkers, but can also hide good equipment or enchantments.

Fangren Marauder will keep you in a game a lot longer than you might think. Don't underestimate the amount of swing that gaining 5 life can provide for you.

Quilled Slagwurm is a big fat finisher. He doesn't have trample, but he will stomp a bunch of your opponents creatures into the ground before going down.

Razorfield Rhino is a mediocre card that helps you attain metalcraft.

Etched Monstrosity is a decent artifact creature. 5 mana of any color for a 5/5 isn't bad at all.

Blinding Souleater is great even though we aren't running white. The best example of this is when your opponent plays out a Thundering Tanadon or something similar, you could take 5 damage each turn, or take 2 damage from activating the Souleater.

Reaper of Sheoldred is an amazing blocker. The 5 toughness puts him out of range of being killed by almost any single spell in the block. The infect means that anything that survives will be that much weaker after the dust settles.

Hellkite Igniter is a great finisher. 5/5 Flying and Haste can quickly swing a losing game back in your favor. This deck also plays out several artifacts, giving the pump ability some weight.

Vault Skirge is a pretty good turn 1 play. If you're on the play, you're pretty much guaranteed that you'll be hitting in for at least 1, equalizing your life with your opponent. Anything Skirge does beyond that is gravy.

Thundering Tanadon is one of the best creatures in standard for Green. If you can play him out on turn 4, and your opponent doesn't seem to have anything that could remove him right away, go for it. Otherwise it's best to wait a turn or two to not have to pay life.

Hovermyr is a great flying creature. His 2 toughness protects him from a lot of pinging abilities that are in this block, and vigilance means that you can attack with him every turn.

In the spells department you have access to several targeted removal spells and a finisher with Concussive Bolt. Concussive Bolt will end games for you, make sure you play it to your greatest advantage.

Don't forget that this deck runs very few swamps, so when you play a Mycosynth Wellspring, make sure you grab one to have access to your splash.

This deck curves out (plays good cards on every turn) a lot better than the one that I posted yesterday. It also isn't running the awkward poison/damage split that the one yesterday was trying.