This was a very exciting weekend: The Unwell Kingdom debuted with its first-ever public playtest at a local MtG event! We went with 8-player sealed, since a few players were intimidated at the idea of drafting with an unfamiliar set. This turned out to be the right decision, since the venue was already loud and chaotic enough that the simpler deckbuilding stage of sealed kept things moving. We got a nice mix of newer and experienced players, including two returning players (and UWK artists!) already familiar with the set. It was awesome to see everyone tapping lands slinging spells in the wild!

Key Takeaways

First, the good. People had a fairly easy time sightreading cards, and I had to answer fewer questions than I expected! The card art got several compliments, and everyone loved Garp Garp (both versions)… but there was another surprise fan favorite in Brent! Inspire was called out by multiple players as a very fun mechanic, though most shied away from Concentration and Hoard cards.

In fact, Red was the most played color in general. This was expected, since sealed deckbuilding meant players weren’t competing for the same cards like they would in a draft. When in doubt, most gravitated toward proactive cards and standalone bombs, leaving reactive or synergy-dependent Blue and White cards by the wayside. Even with this, I was pleased to see a nice spread of colors included, and players found some unique strategies!

Best of all, we didn’t see any overwhelmingly out-of-line cards. A few were flagged as “broken”, but only in the context of real MtG, like the 1-mana sac outlet Child of the Blade, discard/sac lands like Frosttip Peaks if paired with land recursion, or even Inspiration tokens being enchantments. Once again, this wasn’t cause for concern, since they’re much more balanced when contained in this set.

Aside from external factors—the venue for the event was both fairly loud and dark enough that folks resorted to using their phone flashlights as makeshift lanterns—I honestly couldn’t have asked for a better debut playtest! This has me much more excited to set up future events, and hopefully continue to blend new and familiar faces!

Here’s a quick breakdown of each of the decks:

 Rakdos Hoard (WINNER)

The undefeated deck of the night was a fun twist on the familiar Rakdos Goblins deck, which leaned more into Hoard effects for disruption and extra value. Draconic Surveillance was an MVP, throwing a wrench in opponents’ early-game plays, and even stealing win cons to play later with the help of Dragon tokens. Filling in the mid-game were the usual Goblin suspects like Family Shrub, Queen Gnarlnash, and Garp Garp, Lord of Bones. For being limited, this deck packed in a surprising amount of overlapping synergies, which gave it the edge over the competition!

Well, that, and a crucial double Flaming Table turn to burn down a opposing Confounded Chimera before it could run away with the game!

Naya Good Stuff

The runner-up finalist ran a classic strategy of jamming a bunch of solid threats, relying on tri-lands and Illusory Palaces to support its 3 colors. This deck made good use of ramp effects to reach expensive threats early and apply pressure fast—highlights included a turn 3 Frosttip Peaks into turn 4 Contraption, and a Crit Disintegrate blasting through a 1/1 to send 13 damage to face! Brent also proved to be an all-star across several games. He put on a surprising amount of pressure as a simple 1-mana 1/1, and could still be sacrificed for card draw once other threats outscaled him.

In the end, this deck’s downfall came from well-timed removal and hand disruption hitting those big threats.

5-Color Greed Pile

Fellow UWK artist Boon was back at it again with his trademark strategy: too many cards across too many colors. Despite this being a 40-card format, he built a 64-card monstrosity because, in his words, “There are too many goodies.” The numbers are not in his favor—more cards means a lower chance to draw a specific one when you need it, and five colors means you may not be able to play them anyway—but somehow, he continued to beat the odds and finished in third. Several times, I watched him find perfect answers to stay in the game, whether it was a counterspell, removal, or even just a bit of lifegain! As long as he was enjoying himself, that’s a win in my book. 

(Don’t try this at home!)

Gruul Dredge Bugs

Red/Green has some of the scariest big creatures in the set, so nabbing both Kingbird, Rekindled and Aldara, Blind Berserker is plenty reason to lock in those colors. But what really caught this player’s eye was a 3-card combo that threatened to spew an army of Insects! The loop was to play Bug in a Jar, sac it to The Messy Hall, and then, because Bug in a Jar costs 0 mana, The Whittler lets you Dredge 0 return it to your hand any time you would draw a card (eg. off of The Mesyy Hall’s ability!)… This all results in one to two Insects per turn essentially for free. Is it worth all the setup (and all those colored mana pips)? Hard to say. Is it really cool? YES.

This was awesome to see. Bug in a Jar is an intentionally obtuse card, designed for players who love puzzling out funky interactions. In this case, he found a combo I hadn’t even considered… but I’m delighted that it’s there!

Sultai Mill

Our other seasoned UWK tester, Aaron, decided to try something a little different. After opening Tourmaline, Far Traveler, the only planeswalker, he began building around Blue/Black, with a splash of Green for some ramp and artifact/enchantment hate. He piloted this deck to a fun milestone: the first recorded win in UWK history from completely milling an opponent out! Tourmaline stuck for multiple turns, to get the bulk of the job done, and then he pumped his extra mana into Quill, Nosy Notetaker, which he sacrificed to Wrongful Rites for the win!

Abzan Equipment

This player had to leave early, so her twist on the Green/White Equipment deck only got one round of play. Still, it showed off some fun interactions! The splash of Black meant Spider Fang was able to put in work. The deathtouch combined well with Gin, Drunken Monk‘s double strike, as well as Scrap Shard‘s death ping.

Grixis Wizards

The Wizards deck didn’t quite come together this week, with one tester’s brew dipping into Black for extra removal spells. Unfortunately, the end result was spread a bit too thin for the Wizard synergies to shine. Lyara’s Unbeatable Deal was praised as a very fun twist on a tutor that the player wished he could run in commander!

Mono-Red Inspire

Finally, we had good ol’ mono-Red! This player opened two copies each of Garp Garp, Goblin Bard and Gerald the Heavy and jammed Inspiration and basic Mountains. They ended up leaving early as well, but this archetype has proven itself in past playtests and was looking solid.