Sealed Deck

Sealed Deck is a Limited format which is used in many events. Participating players each receive the same amount of unopened products, typically six booster packs, then construct their decks from only those cards and basic lands.

This format is used on many occasions, from casual-level prereleases and Friday Night Magic events to major tournaments like Grand Prixes and Pro Tour Qualifiers.

Description
Everyone is given the same amount of product, which is most often equivalent to six booster packs total. Distributions of packs for different sets is usually dependent on the block structure or other relationship between the sets, such as all six packs from one set, three from one and three from another, or two packs each from three different sets. Before the release of Conflux, players would open a tournament pack and two sealed booster packs, but tournament packs were discontinued after that release. From that pool of cards, and adding in as many basic lands as desired, each player must build a deck of at least 40 cards. Any opened cards not put in the main deck count as part of the sideboard.

A sealed deck card pool typically has twice as many cards as that of a Booster Draft. However, since this pool was not the result of specific choices made by the player, many of the cards are undesirable to put in a single deck, due to having different color requirements, lack of synergy, or overall weakness, resulting in finalized decks of roughly the same quality as other limited formats. The format increases the role of chance in how good a deck turns out, since the card pool is entirely dependent on pack contents with none of the strategy used while drafting. As with all limited events, the skill is making the best out of what you're given.