Yoel Izsak is a player that many of you will undoubtedly recognize from his strong finishes in past Sealed $10K events. At $10K Atlanta in March of this year, he walked away with a Top 4 finish. Fast-forward six months later, where Yoel made waves as he utterly dominated the debut of Heralds of Galactus Sealed by winning $10K New York. In case you’re wondering if he got lucky, he went through Vidi Wijaya, Doug Tice, and Albert Wu to claim the trophy—probably one of the fiercest strings of Top 8 matches you can imagine playing outside of a Pro Circuit. I sat down with Yoel when it came time for the Sealed Pack expert to tackle the first pool of the day.

As we chatted while waiting for the Sealed Packs, Yoel asked me what odds I would give him on whether or not the cards were sorted. (For those of you who have less experience with Sealed Pack, always remember to sort out the cards before you register them; it will make it easier for you to register them and a lot easier for the player receiving it to confirm the registration sheet.) When he received the deck, it was sorted, which was cause for both player and writer to partake in a celebratory high five. As he fanned through his deck, he immediately saw Karnak, one of the strongest bombs in the format, but further inspection showed that he had very little in the way of ATK pumps.

As he sorted the deck, it looked like he would have his work cut out for him with this pool. But have no fear, kids—this is why pros are pros. Kree, usually one of the strongest teams with its powerful press mechanic, was out of the question because there weren’t any 3-drops with press. This meant that he wouldn’t be able to recruit a big chain of press characters in the late game when he had the initiative. Another problem he pointed out was the lack of Team-Ups in the deck; Battleworld and Act of Defiance were all he had to run on.

After looking over his drops some more, he seemed to be leaning toward Doom and Inhumans. With a lack of ATK pumps from other avenues, Karnak was an obvious cornerstone around which to build his deck. Inhumans also added powerful cards like Blue Area of the Moon and Power Struggle, which are some of the stronger cards in the format. Doom lent a helping hand in the form of strong 1-drops like Klaw, Sonic Construct, and Dr. Doom, Sorcerous Savant and Sub-Mariner, Illuminati provided a welcome smoothing of the curve. Yoel also pointed out the synergy that Mr. Fantastic, Doom’s Adversary had with the Doom-Bot Corps, giving him the potential for a big aggressive turn, but he eventually decided to cut the 4-drop and fill that slot with plenty of other powerful characters like Dewoz, Divinity, and Sub-Mariner.

With a weaker set of plot twists and locations, Yoel said that even though he usually likes to run about eighteen characters, he would probably run closer to twenty-one in this build. Skrull characters came in to round out the deck, with Wolverine, Skrunucklehead; Ethan Edwards; and Paibok taking up some slack. The latter, he pointed out, also gave him the chance of giving a huge +3 ATK boost with the help of Battleworld and Act of Defiance. Yoel also pointed out that Ethan Edwards was great because he was essentially a 5-drop and had the potential to be even bigger with the aid of Battleworld.

Overall, Yoel wasn’t very pleased with his deck, stating that he would have to be pretty lucky with his tricks to be able to pilot the deck through the first four rounds with a decent record. He predicted that he would also have to play really tight and draw Karnak in order to go 3-1, and would otherwise probably end up with a 2-2 record. Here’s Yoel’s final deck, along with the rest of his Sealed pool, so that you can see if you would have done anything differently. If anyone can take a mediocre deck to a good record, it’s probably Izsak. After all, he’s the only one in the room with a trophy from the Heralds of Galactus Sealed format.

Yoel Izsak
Sealed Pack 1
$10K So Cal 2006

Characters
1 Divinity
1 Doom-Bot Corps
1 Dorma
1 Dr. Doom, Sorcerous Savant
1 Elite Doom Guards
1 Klaw, Sonic Construct
1 Sub-Mariner, Illuminati
1 Technarx
1 Valeria Von Doom, Heir to Latveria
1 Alpha Primitives
1 Crystal, Elementelle
1 Dewoz
1 Human Torch, Sparky
1 Karnak
1 Lockjaw
1 Luna Maximoff
1 Medusa, Queen of the Inhumans
1 Ethan Edwards
1 Paibok
1 Wolverine, Skrunucklehead

Plot Twists
1 Act of Defiance
1 Alien Insurrection
1 Intergalactic Summit
1 Power Struggle
1 Starforce Strike
1 Super Genius

Locations
1 Battleworld
1 Blue Area of the Moon
1 The Kyln
1 The Substructure

Unused Cards

Characters
1 Dr. Minerva
1 Lieutenant Kona Lor
1 The Lunatic Legion
1 Ultimus
1 Korath the Pursuer
1 Shatterax
1 Sentry #459
1 Kree Public Accusers
1 Ahura
1 Maximus the Mad
1 Air-Walker, Harbinger of Despair
1 Firelord, Harbinger of Havoc
1 Destroyer, Soulless Juggernaut
1 Morg, Slayer
1 Plasma
1 Morg, Harbinger of Extinction
1 Titania, Temper Tantrum
1 Mole Man, Moloid Master
1 Mr. Fantastic, Doom’s Adversary
1 Shakti
1 Purple Man, Subtle Manipulator
1 Moondragon
1 Dr. Strange, Illuminati

Plot Twists
1 Doomed Earth
1 Remnant Fleet
1 Cannibal Tech
1 Assault and Battery
1 Waking the Ancestors
1 Relentless Onslaught
1 Pacification
1 Cosmic Order
1 Final Decree
1 Astral Suppression
1 The Rapture

Locations
1 Hala
1 Penal Colony
1 Taa II
1 Himalayan Enclave
1 Elemental Converters

Equipment
1 Nega-Bands