With the upcoming Going Back to Ma Rootz 3v3 Team Limited event, we are happy to introduce the Team Sealed format! Team Sealed is one of the few sanctioned limited formats in Magic the Gathering and combines the limited experience of Sealed with an element of teamwork, allowing players to not only discuss during deck building but also during games.
The Basics
For most veteran limited players, the rules for Team Sealed should not be unfamiliar. Most of the rules are similar to normal Sealed events, outside of the ability to discuss amongst members and the size of the card pool. However, it is never a bad idea to look through the basics again.
Here are a few things players should keep in mind when joining a Team Sealed event:
1 - Three players share a card pool of 12 booster packs, creating three separate unique decks of 40 cards minimum. Outside of basic lands, every card each decks must come from the same pool of 12 booster packs.
2 - Each player will be piloting one of the three decks they have built. Sideboards must be assigned to each player and there are no shared sideboard.*
3 - Players will be given a checklist before the start of the event to note which card is available to them in their pool. Each player must also create a deck list for their individual decks and sideboard, and every first game of each round must be played with the mainboard they have submitted. A player can only use the cards from their deck list and cards cannot be shared once the deck list have been submitted. Any cards that are not registered in any deck lists cannot be used at all.
4 - All three players can discuss among themselves during deck building, as well as during games.
5- During games, the three members must sit side-by-side, in the order of A-B-C. Players need to decide their A-B-C order before the event or during registration. All matchups will be player A vs player A, and so on. Order cannot be changed once the event has started.
6 - Players must be seated in their seats during each round and cannot move around, even if their individual match is over. Any discussions between members must be made while seated. Only when all three members have finished their games will the players be allowed to leave their seats. If a player were to leave their seat while matches are still ongoing, they will not be allowed to return to their seat until all matches on the table have finished.
7 - Rounds will be Best of Three. Once two members of a team have won their Best of Three, the team will immediately be considered to have won the round.
8 - Games will be played individually, with each member of the team having their own separate games. However, players are allowed to ask each other questions and guide each other during games.
Before the Event
Although there is no need to bring any of your constructed decks for a Sealed events, there are still many things to prepare before the day of the event! The most important thing to remember is that you need a good amount of sleeve for your cards, and a pen to fill in your deck list! These two are the only things you will need as we will provide everything else, including basic lands.
In higher Rule Enforcement level events, it is a general rule that all cards can only be used from within the event, which encompasses not just the sealed packs but also the basic lands as provided by the Tournament Organizer. This is to promote fairness and to avoid unnecessary conflicts or cheating by having marked cards, which in this sense includes marking your own basic lands or being suspected of having marked cards. This is especially true for foil basic lands as the curving of the foil can be obvious. The only items allowed in your deck box during these events are sleeves and approved dices, counters and tokens.
Other than what to pack in your bags, the most important thing to do before the event is homework! Each set brings their own interesting mechanics and synergies to the table and it is imperative that you understand the unique features of the set you are playing! For our Going Back to Ma Rootz 3v3 Team Limited event, we will be using the latest set, Secrets of Strixhaven.
There are many resources you can use to look up all the cards in Secrets of Strixhaven, and even official sources that give you the draft archetypes of each set. By learning all the draft archetypes and the synergies of the set, it would take less time for each player to build their deck and make each deck easier to pilot! Don't fall to the trap of only having one player learn the set as each player needs to be able understand all the archetypes and cards, as well as synergies in the set.
Source: Wizards of the Coast
During the Event
Since our event will be a competitive Team Sealed event, we will be having some extra procedures to promote fairness during the event. One of the things that will happen is that each team will be opening their packs in front of another team and will then pass their checklist to be verified by the other team. This is to make sure that each team are only using cards that they opened and to discourage cheating. This is also why it's important to bring a pen so that you can fill in the checklists and deck lists during the event.
When passing your cards for registration and verification, we recommend that you sort your cards by colour and collector number to make the process easier for all sides. Once all the cards have been registered and verified, you can then start constructing your deck. We always recommend you to sort by each colour horizontally and then by mana curve vertically when building your deck. This will let you have a big picture of all the cards in your pool. It will also be very useful to identify all the key cards and bomb cards during this time.
It is possible for you to be extremely lucky and build 3 different solid decks. However what is more likely to happen is that you will be limited to the amount of good decks you can build. There are only so many bombs and rares you will find in your packs. Since a team only needs to get two players to win their matches, it would be a good idea to build two extremely solid decks with a good amount of bombs and push the two best players in the team to pilot the decks. This way, it would be easier for you to win your games. However, even if you are building two solid decks, make sure that the third deck is not completely useless and just full of junk. There will be bad draws, bad match-ups etc and this can easily lead your table to losing the match if the third deck is too unreliable. Make sure that each deck you build is still functional and can still win matches.
Another aspect that you will have to consider is your seating. Since you are allowed to discuss with each other during games, it is recommended that you have the best player sit in the middle as B and guide the other two players during games. However, if your team is full of veteran players, you can also do the inverse and have the B player be the weakest link so that both players have access to their game and can easily guide them.
Since this is a competitive event, remember that any question about games can also be asked to the judges! Don't be shy to call for a judge when your team feels like they need a clarification! If there are any emergencies and you need to move about during your games, you are always welcome to ask for help from the judges and the organisers!
Lastly, don't forget to sign up for the Going Back to Ma Rootz 3v3 Team Limited event! Don't forget to also DM us to tell us your team members and the name of your team!
Rozenbeth Chin