EPTIt's been a while since I bothered fully blogging one of these but it's better than dumping it into LLL again so here I go.
10 am Sunday prerelease downtown.
We start opening up packs. The three people in front of me (all friends, we have a little MTG FB group) all sitting next to each other, all opened Avacyns somehow.
Open up my pack expecting a terrible prerelease promo as per usual but instead I open up a JACE!
Sifting through my packs, I pulled the following rares:
+ Show Spoiler +
Forgotten Creation
Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
Odric, Lunarch Marshal
Corrupted Grafstone
Startled Awake
To the Slaughter
Harness the Storm
Choked Estuary
Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
Odric, Lunarch Marshal
Corrupted Grafstone
Startled Awake
To the Slaughter
Harness the Storm
Choked Estuary
With three of my rares (two of them mythic!!) being in blue, it seemed the obvious choice. With all of the spirit synergy including the pseudo-Spirit lord SPectral Sheperd I saw no reason not to be in Blue/White. I debated splashing Black with my dual land for the Kindly Stranger or something but I figured consistency was probably best.
The only issue I saw with my deck was the curve. Going into this I knew the format was faster than BFZ/OGW preceding it, but I figured with my 1/5 flying blockers and enough removal/bounce I could stall out long enough to win via Startled Awake milling them, Odric giving everything Lifelink/flying/Skulk, or some combination of the two.
I was half right.
Here's the deck!
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/prerelease-1-uw/
Match 1 - VS Naya Aggro
This guy's deck came out of nowhere. He ran three colours with a bunch of random creatures, but most importantly two Gryff's Boons and Nahiri's Machinations. Somehow the combination of those two cards,and the indestructibility and blocker-pinging, made it so I couldn't do anything favourably and was always playing catchup, trying to stick blockers or bring back Startled Awake from the GY to mill him one more time. The worst offender for me was not drawing the bounce or blockers I needed when a Gryff's Boon + 3/5 Gargoyle brought him out of range of Puncturing Light. Also never drew Jace in either of the games against this guy. He beat me in two games and aside from not drawing amazingly well, I'm not even entirely sure why. I was only running 17 lands at this point and a Rise from the Tides but I figured 18 lands was likely better.
(Funny enough, after beating me, this guy then went on to beat my friend in round 2 who was equally bewildered by his deck. Wonder how he ended up doing overall.)
Record 0-1
Match 2 - VS Bant Stuff
This guy's deck was more midrangey so it was easy for me to sit back, draw cards and removal and stick blockers and swing in the air with a powerful board. The only play of note which surprised me was on turn 7 or so, I had a transformed Delver 2.0 and I was sitting on a Bound by Moonsilver and some ground dudes. I was debating just sticking the enchantment on a blocker of his to get a little aggressive but ultimately decided against it. Best decision ever because the very next turn he dumped an Altered Ego onto the board - creating a 7/6 Delver 2.0! Which I promptly Moonsilvered and won. Apparently this dude was also running Sigarda, hence the tricolor deck but I never saw her. Beat him 2-0.
Record 1-1
Match 3 - VS BR Madness
We played like 4 games---there was literally NO way for my deck to beat his. I don't know if I will ever see a madness/aggro deck as good as this guy's ever again. He literally beat me on T5 by swinging for 13 or something after stealing my only 1/5 blocker and giving it +2/+0. It was decks like this and the first one that I was just hoping I wouldn't go against---it is VERY hard to consistently win in this format without early drops. This match took me out of prizing but I stuck around to practice anyway.
Record 1-2
Match 4 - VS GB Delirium
He had no way to deal with my fliers/removal properly (and it was fun letting Odrich go ham with his keyword soup) game 1, and G2 I stalled on purpose just so I could mill him out with Startled Awake.
Final Record: 2-2
MVPs: Super-delver, Startled Awake (sorta), Silent Observers
Underwhelming - Jace, mostly because I think I got to play him only once.
Overall I couldn't be disappointed with this prerelease because I opened basically the nuts---I was never in any danger against any slower deck and could do whatever I wanted, but without any real 1-2 drops I was very vulnerable to aggro strategies, which I knew going in.
Value-wise I figure Jace is never going to stay as high as he is right now and I'm never going to play Blue in Standard with Baby Jace around, so I went downstairs to the store (downtown store) to sell him. They give me some bullshit about how they're not buying right now/only offering store credit at less of a price than before---whatever. They offer me $25 for an (SCG-priced) $50 foil. I know that's not completely unreasonable but I'm not a huge fan of this store's singles and buylist prices anyway, they're a bit of a ripoff. I opt to take it to the little store near me and try.
So this store isn't the one where I do my usual events close by, ie the 2nd prerelease I just did. This little store is new and their prices/selection are fantastic, though I do honestly worry how they're going to stay in business considering the competition and their almost non-existent event numbers. Anyway they offer me $40 for the Jace which I snapped the hell up. More than pays for the prerelease so super happy there. I'm even going to draft there next Friday rather than my usual store 'cause I'm so pleased with them. (Also because the last time I drafted there I kinda felt like a bigshot, being the unknown new guy coming in there and wrecking the place 3-0 lol).
Now for report #2, which will be much shorter.
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So funnily enough, this deck was a lot harder to build, and yet performed WAY better than I expected it to. My prerelease promo is still sitting in its stupid packaging. Here were the pulls:
+ Show Spoiler +
Nahiri, the Harbinger
Cryptolith Rite
Burn from Within (foil
)
Declaration in Stone
Markov Dreadknight (promo)
Inexorable Blob
Eerie Interlude
Invocation of St. Traft
Cryptolith Rite
Burn from Within (foil
)Declaration in Stone
Markov Dreadknight (promo)
Inexorable Blob
Eerie Interlude
Invocation of St. Traft
R/W looked like a lock from my rares but upon building, the deck was lacking any high-end cards, enough solid creatures, or finishers. I opted to throw in a few cards including Cryptolith Rite to help me with the fixing, rather than go for a more reliable but ultimately more mediocre deck in only two colours. Gameplan here was remove shit, transform shit, and beat them down with other shit. I sided out Howlpack wolf into Gloomwidow if I was up against fliers but ultimately the deck stayed as it was. I also went against my usual ideals and ran 41 cards because there really weren't any I felt I could drop.
THA DECK
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/soi-prelease-2-naya/
Match 1 - VS UW Spirits?!
So, in a fucking insane turn of events, I played against my prelease deck from the morning. No joke, the guy also had in his deck a Jace (that I ALSO never saw) and a Startled Awake. What the hell are the chances of that? Difference here was he had a few more low drops, but nothing to gum up the board like those 1/5 fliers I had. Beat him G1, and G2 I loaded up the board after having been milled to 11 cards left. I was saving Burn From Within for his face, but ultimately I had to use it to kill his 1/1 Skulk to prevent him from recurring the Startled Awake to mill-kill me. That one was crazy close.
Record: 1-0
Match 2 - VS B/W stuff
Apparently this guy built a B/W deck around the fact that he didn't want to play Red because that's all he had been doing. I kept him on the back foot the entirety of game one by bashing him and removing what I couldn't smash through, and then Game 2 he drew 2 lands out of like 8 draws. We played like 3 more games after that, with him switching to a U/G clues deck he had also built completely separately (all to avoid Red apparently lol) and he proceeded to get mana screwed in EVERY other game we tried to play. It was heartbreaking, really.
I was joking with one of the other regulars who was sitting next to me that I'd see him and we'd split after we both 2-0d, then I heard him talking with another dude about who the other 2-0 players were, and supposedly one of them didn't want to split. It was getting really late so that seemed surprising to me and since the prizing wasn't THAT much better for a 3-0 and a split I guess it was just his thing never to give up. I sat there and hoped I didn't go up against him.
Record: 2-0
Match 3 - VS ????
Turns out I DID go up against the guy who never splits, but then he told me he'd split. lulz
So all in all, not as many prize packs as usual (only 4 + store credit rather than the usual 9-12) but on the plus side sold a Jace for mad value and I'm gonna do the same with Nahiri because she's going to get the Kiora treatment once the set is released. Also apparently a bunch of the spikes at the store are going to run their own draft from prize packs tomorrow since the set isn't officially released until next week. I'm gonna go to that, and another on Friday.
Stuff I learned: Delirium really is rarely a build-around despite me attempting it a lot in my Xmage practice sessions. There were some decent Delirium cards (Moonsilver angel again!) but nothing worth really trying very hard to reach it for that you won't just naturally hit at some point in the game. The good artifact creatures are a great way of getting there though so long as they're getting value elsewhere as well. Also slow decks likely won't make the cut in this format at all. I don't think it's necessary '2-drop or die' like Origins was, but against the fastest Madness/Vampire decks you WILL be crushed, especially in draft where it's likely going to be easier to build that sort of thing. Clue durdling can work but only if you've got some real valuable payoff, like that bonkers Tireless Tracker. I know for a fact one my friends 4-0d with some craziness Clue combo where he pumped that dude up to 11 or something.
Anyway super fun format, VERY different from the last three by a lot. It'll take some getting used to but it's very interesting, very deep and a lot of fun.
Hope all three of you enjoy this writeup!
Any comments/criticisms/questions are welcome (and encouraged) btw. Yangers I'm looking at you.
