Spiritforged Pre-Rift Sealed Event Guide – Decks & Strategy Tips!

Here are some important rules about those Pre-Rift Events:

• At the start of the event, we get one of six decks at random, each containing 15 cards, including a legend and a battlefield. We also get 5 booster packs to help us build a deck including a minimum of 25 cards.
• On top of the two domains our legend dictates, we also pick a third domain to play with.
• We can play with any legend we open in packs, or even decide to play without a legend. In that last scenario, we can pick any 3 domains we like and would start the match with 5 cards in hand to mitigate having no ability.
• Just like our legend, we can decide to not have a champion unit sitting next to our deck. In that case, we start the match with 5 cards in hand.
• Multiple limitations from the constructed mode are lifted. We are allowed to play more than 3 copies of the same card, our champion unit can be anyone as long as it fits our domains, while any signature spell with both domains matching ours is also playable.

Ezreal

Strong Cards Included:

Play Style:

Ezreal is built to play reactively, slowly running its opponent out of resources as they can't stick anything to the board. In a sealed event, choosing that stance can be very risky, as it is much harder to defend with an unrefined build.

If given the Prodigal Explorer, I would look to beef up my early and mid-game to make sure my opponent cannot snowball an early position. Then, through creating Gold Gear Tokens and with the help of a few late-game units, look to win thanks to timely tempo plays heading into the late-game.

Renata Glasc

Strong Cards Included:

Play Style:

Renata has multiple cards pointing to a hold oriented gameplay, but lacks units to scale its power as the game progresses to resist opposing assaults. Indeed, even if SFD-165 and SFD-158 are strong midrange units, the deck clearly lacks a way to close the deal against an opponent with beefy units down the line.

As such, Renata needs to build towards an aggressive start, able to quickly seize a battlefield and manage to hold it. This will both allow generating a couple of Gold Gear Tokens, but also empower SFD-072 or cards with the Hidden keyword.

Lucian

Strong Cards Included:

Play Style:

Lucian mixes two fantastic domains for a sealed format, as both the Fury and Body collections feature strong standalone cards and beefy units, perfect for a proactive strategy.

Already, the deck gives us a fantastic champion unit in SFD-113 plus multiple support cards to help with survivability and showdowns. Moreover, Lucian packs a fine top end unit in SFD-002.

With a couple of midrange units added to the deck, Lucian should have no problem playing a proactive play-style, designed to force the opponent to answer him, or quickly fall behind on the scoreboard.

Rek'Sai

Strong Cards Included:

Play Style:

In a sealed format with limited resources, Rek'Sai might have one of the best abilities to accept a resource based war. Indeed, as long as we conquer, our legend lets us play a card from our deck rather than our hand, perfect to out-value, or simply fetch our more important cards in our patchwork deck.

WIth that in mind, the emphasis for Rek'sai should be to make sure it can conquer every turn. This should be doable with a Fury domain packing plenty of cards to support attackers, and an Order domain packing some of the best removals.

Jax

Strong Cards Included:

Play Style:

Jax wants to focus on dominating showdowns, and got plenty of tools to do it. Indeed, through combining equipment cards with the Deflect keyword, the Grandmaster at Arms should be difficult to maneuver once set on the board.

With that clear goal in mind, I feel like Jax will succeed whenever it manages to quickly seize the board, and grab initiative. As such, I would build my deck for a strong early to mid-game, to ensure my opponent has to invest runes to answer me. From there, Jax should be able to control the scoreboard, as moving an equipped unit from a battlefield with limited removal will be a challenge.

Irelia

Strong Cards Included:

Play Style:

Irelia's typical combo play style will struggle in a sealed format, even more so as we got the wrong champion unit, and very little cards to move around the board.

Overall, I consider Irelia the worst possible pull for this event, so I would likely just focus on finding strong standalone cards if I had to play the Blade Dancer. Focus on units able to anchor the early to mid-game, get to six points fast, and use your legend's ability to close the deal before your opponent can stabilize.

Best Common and Uncommon cards in each domain

Our starting deck only contains 15 of our final 25 cards, meaning our pulls from booster packs will have a huge impact on our deck's overall strength.

Obviously, a lot can be done in this format, as we are allowed to pick an extra domain alongside the ones our legend dictates. The more creative deck builders will be able to find the perfect complement to their legend's prefered play style.

However, if the pulls were not helpful to build a synergistic decks, here are card from each domain which should not disappoint, no matter the deck you include them in :

Body Domain

• SFD-108 & SFD-095 - Just strong equipment cards for cheap, perfect to improve our unit's survivability.
• SFD-097 - The card basically says : Win your next showdown. Late in a match, this will be one of the most impactful cards in the game.
• SFD-093 - The ability to react and keep control of battlefields will be key in a format with weaker decks.
• SFD-101 - There aren't many big units, and this one is not only 8-might, it also helps our other units in play.

Calm Domain

• SFD-040 - Any card able to win you a showdown will be excellent in a sealed format.

Chaos Domain

• SFD-134 - Gold gear tokens are an emphasis of the Spiritforged set, and will play a key role in alleviating power costs. Equipment cards will be extremely powerful, so not having to pay their equip cost is enough of an upside.
• SFD-122 - Our deck is bound to pack weak cards, so this is great to find the more important ones, especially in the later stages, when finding our late game units can determine whether we win or loose.

Fury Domain

• SFD-017 - There aren't many removals available, so one able to deal 4 for three energy, or the hidden cost, is appealing. It is limited to an attacking unit, but will be worth every time it takes out of 4-cost.
• SFD-003 & SFD-001 - Winning showdowns will be much more important in this mode compared to constructed play, where we have more removal or move cards available.
• SFD-007 - There aren't many 2-cost cards with the ability to weight on the late game.

Mind Domain

• SFD-069 - a great 2-cost in constructed, this might conquer twice in a sealed format with fewer removals.
• SFD-072 - Entering ready is already great in constructed, so there is little doubt it will be even stronger in a format with weaker decks.
• SFD-066 - This removes opposing 2-cost early on, and is flexible thanks to the repeat keyword later on. Plus, reaction spells will always be at least decent.
• SFD-067 - Going second might be even more detrimental in sealed compared to constructed play. As such, reactive cards able to turn the intiative around early on look very appealing.

Order Domain

• SFD-161 - It costs a bit to get in play, but a bonus 3-might is a huge boost for the remainder of the match.
• SFD-164 - There isn't a ton of removal available, so this one will clearly be a valuable asset.
• SFD-168 - There will not be much gear removal, meaning this represents a win condition on its own.
• SFD-165 - Simply a solid unit to anchor any deck's mid-game, as long as there is a target in our trash.

Remember those events are not competitive, even if a few booster packs might be up for grab. Some will join in hope to gain value from their pulls, while others will be looking to win it all like it was a regional tournament.

At the end of the day, anyone who achieves their goal is a winner, and fun is a perfectly acceptable goal. Hope you have a ton of fun at your Pre-Release event!