• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 07:41
CEST 13:41
KST 20:41
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Serral wins EWC 202519Tournament Spotlight: FEL Cracow 20259Power Rank - Esports World Cup 202580RSL Season 1 - Final Week9[ASL19] Finals Recap: Standing Tall15
Community News
[BSL 2025] H2 - Team Wars, Weeklies & SB Ladder2EWC 2025 - Replay Pack2Google Play ASL (Season 20) Announced35BSL Team Wars - Bonyth, Dewalt, Hawk & Sziky teams10Weekly Cups (July 14-20): Final Check-up0
StarCraft 2
General
#1: Maru - Greatest Players of All Time Greatest Players of All Time: 2025 Update Serral wins EWC 2025 Power Rank - Esports World Cup 2025 EWC 2025 - Replay Pack
Tourneys
Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond) TaeJa vs Creator Bo7 SC Evo Showmatch Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament FEL Cracov 2025 (July 27) - $10,000 live event Esports World Cup 2025
Strategy
How did i lose this ZvP, whats the proper response
Custom Maps
External Content
Mutation # 484 Magnetic Pull Mutation #239 Bad Weather Mutation # 483 Kill Bot Wars Mutation # 482 Wheel of Misfortune
Brood War
General
Google Play ASL (Season 20) Announced Which platform caters to men's fashion needs? Help: rep cant save Shield Battery Server New Patch [G] Progamer Settings
Tourneys
[BSL] Non-Korean Championship - Final weekend [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [BSL20] Non-Korean Championship 4x BSL + 4x China CSL Xiamen International Invitational
Strategy
Does 1 second matter in StarCraft? Simple Questions, Simple Answers Muta micro map competition [G] Mineral Boosting
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Total Annihilation Server - TAForever [MMORPG] Tree of Savior (Successor of Ragnarok) Path of Exile
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine UK Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Stop Killing Games - European Citizens Initiative
Fan Clubs
INnoVation Fan Club SKT1 Classic Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [\m/] Heavy Metal Thread Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece Korean Music Discussion
Sports
2024 - 2025 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 NBA General Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Gtx660 graphics card replacement Installation of Windows 10 suck at "just a moment" Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
TeamLiquid Team Shirt On Sale The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Ping To Win? Pings And Their…
TrAiDoS
momentary artworks from des…
tankgirl
from making sc maps to makin…
Husyelt
StarCraft improvement
iopq
Socialism Anyone?
GreenHorizons
Eight Anniversary as a TL…
Mizenhauer
Flash @ Namkraft Laddernet …
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 596 users

Ravnica Allegiance Prerelease!

Blogs > WaveofShadow
Post a Reply
WaveofShadow
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
Canada31494 Posts
February 01 2019 04:47 GMT
#1
The usual blogspects.


I think I drafted Guilds of Ravnica 2-3 times with real cards before the format rotated. Fall was not a kind season for my free time. The advent of Magic Arena has also slightly quelled my desire to trek out in the (often) freezing cold late at night only to find not enough people show up for a draft to even fire. This prerelease was guaranteed Limited play so it was a welcome change and a return to form.


Solo Prerelease, Friday Midnight

I remembered why I stopped doing these midnight prereleases when I got to the store. A relatively small upper floor space was packed to the brim with nerds of all shapes and sizes. Didn't smell particularly bad or anything, but standing room only in a place like that leaves much to be desired. It was the only way to get my obligatory two PRs in though. I chose Gruul for seeming metagame-y reasons----it simply seemed like the strongest guild by far.

The pool:

Rares:
+ Show Spoiler +
Rampage of the Clans (promo)
Kaya's Wrath
Font of Agonies
Emergency Powers
Revival // Revenge
End-Raze Forerunners


Having played just a little bit of sealed on MTGO before this started I noticed there was a lot of power in the Jund combination of colours---that is red/green/black. I saw the colours nicely supported that here with some strong creatures and solid removal (not to mention I opened something like 5 total blue cards, lol)
Wasn't pumped that I didn't get to play many of my rares (which mostly sucked) but the deck felt pretty strong regardless.
Jund 'Em Oot


Match 1 vs Azorius
+ Show Spoiler +
Game 1 was incredibly slow on both our parts. I had a hand full of big beef and he had a hand full of spell to use them on, I suppose. We both played draw-go for a while until I felt comfortable enough to start dropping some creatures into the expected counters and tricks, which were promptly used and my creatures removed. Eventually I stuck a couple of Gravel-hide that could attack through his tiny blockers as I'd threaten to pump them up . I drew out one final counterspell and then threw down a big ol' Hoof lite for the win (End-Raze Forerunners). Game 2 he didn't do a whole lot once again, had a few measly Thopter tokens and Spirits, against which my 3/3 that acn't be blocked by tokens came in handy. He eventually dropped an Eyes Everywhere but it was way too late by that point. He had showed it in the game before so I had debated siding in a Simic guildgate to steal something back in case he stole something from me, but decided it probably wasn't worth it.
Record 1-0


Match 2 vs Bant
+ Show Spoiler +
I've played against this guy before, think he was my win-and-in to top 8 during some Game Day...Eldritch moon maybe? Anyway, Game 1 I mulled to 5 and never drew red mana. Game 2 I ran him over right wuick before he could draw any blue mana. Game 3 was the real game we had both hoped for. I removed a few of his dude but not before we had chunked each other a bit. He had me at 9, I had him at 8. He plays the 2/5 unblockable guy and a fish crab (which can grow to 5/5). I figure I have a decent board with bigger power than him so I can attempt to race---I can't attack into a 5/5 but I can into a 2/5. I take him down to 5 on my next attack and manage to scry a +3/+3 pump to the top of my deck to try to smash and win next turn. He tempos me out with 6 mana bounce two guys, one of them on top of my library. Bye bye, scry. I replay my 4/4 riot creature and pass, he double spells with an aeromunculus and a 2/2, swings with the unblockable guy. Instead of replaying my other creature I'm able to 2-for-1 him with Flames of the Raze boar to all but wipe his board and swing in and drop him to 1. If he top decked a blocker he'd likely be able to win before I could get through it to finish him off---he top decked a land and conceded.

Record 2-0


+ Show Spoiler +

It was super late and most people just wanted to go home by that point---the difference between 8 packs for 3-0 and 4 for 2-0-1 is also decently substantial so I split with my round 3 opponent and jetted.
Final Record: 2-1-0


Felt like my deck overperformed a little bit maybe, not 100% i built it right in hindsight now that I'm looking back at the pool, but I did well enough.

Prize Pack Pulls:
+ Show Spoiler +
Bedevil
Mesmerizing Benthid
Absorb
Domri, Chaos Bringer
Growth Spiral (foil)
Tome of the Guildpact
Hero of Precinct One



_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Solo Prerelease, Sunday Afternoon


My usual 2HG buddy was away on vacation so I was stuck doing a couple on my own. Opted for Simic this time because again I was kinda meta-ing and also some of the sweet pulls were in Simic. I kinda hate the guild pre-packs for this reason though. I don't like being tempted into metagaming the prerelease or fishing for money pulls. I also don't like how the guild packs half build your pool for you. I hope the Prerelease format goes back to normal after this.

Rares:
+ Show Spoiler +
Growth-Chamber Guardian (promo)
Absorb
Dovin, Grand Arbiter
Smothering Tithe
Rampage of the Clans
Electrodominance


The rares here were WAY better than my previous pool, but my mana was absolute garbage. I really wanted to go Bant but I had no gates to help me play those three colours (and 3 Orzhov gates...bleh). The power in Simic thanks to the guild pack was too much to be denied so instead I went Temur (blue/green/red) for Electrodominance. While we were sitting and building the pools the guy next to me picked Azorius and opens Domri Rade and a bunch of Gruul rares. I offered to trade some stuff with him and he laughed. Then a guy in the back yells at the top of his lungs and is celebrating like crazy---at the time we didn't know why, but I was going to find out.

Simic Slaw


Match 1 vs the Orzhov stone NUTS
+ Show Spoiler +
So this is the guy who was celebrating. He had predicted before opening his pool that he'd open one of the most ridiculous rares in the set, Ethereal Absolution. Turns out he was right, and then some. Game 1 I Mull to 6, everything I play gets removed, he plays a bunch of fliers including 2 Grasping Thrulls. And the 4/3 mythic angel. All completely in Orzhov colours. I didn't even SEE the Absolution, which he only told me about then. Game 2 mull to 6 again, he kills what little I play then drops ethereal absolution. Never stood a ghost of a chance. (get it?) This dude had every black/white bomb and strong common/uncommon possible in his deck. I told him he'd better go 4-0 or I'd be mad at him. (Spoiler: he went 4-0/8-0. Never dropped a single game.)
Record: 0-1


Round 2 vs the Gruul with an Azorius pool
+ Show Spoiler +
So upon talking with this guy as we played, I found out this was his first prerelease since...maybe ever? He was a casual player who played during Innistrad--Theros but only kitchen table as far as I understood. Both games I played stuff that he couldn't remove. He had the 2UU sphinx in hand (and even got to scry 3 off of it one game)
but could never play it because he never had enough blue mana. He dropped Domri Rade both games and I had to constantly remind him to discount his creature spells by 1 mana and to give Riot to the creature spell that he brought out with Domri. He also minused Domri a bunch and completely whiffed while I ignored the planeswalker and beat him down both games. I didn't feel too bad beating him because he knew he was doing for the most part but forgot stuff like vigilance etc, and I helped him remember all his triggers. He told me he forced Gruul because of the rares
and I couldn't blame him, but it turned out he had very few creatures in his deck (and was playing a fog---which ctually
blanked an attack from my 7/7 one turn) hence the Domri whiffs. We rebuilt his pool after the match as azorius because it was way more consistent and played a ton of top end fliers and tempo cards. I forgot to actually check and see how his last two rounds went. Oh well.
Record: 1-1


Round 3 vs Esper
+ Show Spoiler +
Game 1 my opening turns are gate gate Ram. Then two Aeromunculi in a row. He manages to flash -4/-0 both of them. Eventually I manage to Electrodominance out a Sharktocrab and run him over with big dudes. He didn't do much throughout the game, removed a few guys but played no real threats. Game 2 he got a bunch of fliers in the air and beat me down because all I had was a 3/5 spider to block. Could have won this game but I punted: he had a few 2/3 fliers and the 2/4 spirit that gives flier 1 toughness. I had the 3 mana kill a flier spell in my hand but for some reason though it was deal three damage then one more to all fliers. I used it on his 3/3 that was tempoing me out. Had I killed the 2/4 spirit my spider could have blocked and stopped him from attacking profitably. Game 3 he got screwed on only white mana for a while, then drew blue way too late. Turns out he was playing Mass
Manipulation and I never saw it. Didn't seem like he had the mana for it, but I guess it must have worked for him in previous rounds?.
Record: 2-1


+ Show Spoiler +
Always right to split the final round if the prizing is solid. Not much else today.
Final Record: 2-1-1


Prize Pack Pulls:
+ Show Spoiler +
Ethereal Absolution (!!)
Kaya's Wrath


Stuff I learned: I just really don't like the guild pre-packs. I already talked enough about that. Also considering how well I did despite having no confidence in my second deck at all, I always seem to forget that average skill level in person vs. MTGO is lower. This format looks like it could be a lot of fun, but I guess we'll see. I'd love to draft more of it but only time well tell if I'll have the chance.

As always, comments/questions are more than welcome, and in fact encouraged. Any mistakes in my building or advice is always up for discussion. If there's anything anyone reading this does not understand I'd also be more than happy to explain some of the terminology or choices I made.

***
twitch.tv/waveofshadow ||| Winner of AHGL's So You Think You Can Cast! ||| Juicy Dad for lyfe ||| 'idk i get a kick out of stupid things' - Jarms Yarng
Mizenhauer
Profile Blog Joined February 2015
United States1871 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-02-01 16:57:42
February 01 2019 16:56 GMT
#2
This is what I would have built for your first pool. It's a little light on three drops, but I'm still unsure exactly how valuable three drops are in a world of lots of gates.


In general I think you value combat tricks too highly and the crocodile not highly enough. That guy blocks everything in the format. I can't get enough of him.


[image loading]
┗|∵|┓Second Place in LB 28, Third Place in LB 29 and Destined to Be a Kong
Ryzel
Profile Joined December 2012
United States529 Posts
February 01 2019 23:48 GMT
#3
LOVE posts like this, thanks so much for putting in the time and effort to do write-ups like this!
Hakuna Matata B*tches
FlaShFTW
Profile Blog Joined February 2010
United States10155 Posts
February 02 2019 00:10 GMT
#4
Stony Strength > Gift of strength. 100% always especially if you have adept synergy. Combat math is pretty even in this format as in creatures are always going into combat within 1 power/toughness of the defenders so stony strength has been bonkers for me. 3-0-1 my first one with simic running 2 of them and 0 gifts.

azorius is a good guild surprisingly, i think your 2nd pool might have had a good deck in there too. I 4-0d with it my 2nd run through.
Writer#1 KT and FlaSh Fanboy || Woo Jung Ho Never Forget || Teamliquid Political Decision Desk
TL+ Member
WaveofShadow
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
Canada31494 Posts
February 11 2019 00:43 GMT
#5
A little late seeing this, but thanks those who have responded. I keep doing these mainly as an exercise for myself but if other people get enjoyment out of them I have no plans on stopping!

@mizenhauer knowing what I know now about the format, I like your build better for sure. I'm always real interested in people's different takes on sealed pools, and it highlights all sorts of skills you don't get with constructed play.

@flashftw would probably agree with you at this point. Combat tricks aren't super valuable in this format it seems, and stony strength doubles as a combo piece for stuff like sharktocrab for example.
twitch.tv/waveofshadow ||| Winner of AHGL's So You Think You Can Cast! ||| Juicy Dad for lyfe ||| 'idk i get a kick out of stupid things' - Jarms Yarng
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 50m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Harstem 374
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 29570
Horang2 3945
Flash 1717
Jaedong 1006
Bisu 790
Barracks 739
Hyun 675
EffOrt 389
actioN 294
Larva 279
[ Show more ]
Mini 278
Killer 257
Soulkey 243
Last 175
GuemChi 128
Snow 122
ToSsGirL 122
JYJ112
Zeus 108
ZerO 100
Leta 99
Rush 63
sorry 43
Sharp 38
Backho 31
yabsab 31
Movie 28
zelot 26
sas.Sziky 24
Sacsri 24
sSak 22
Noble 18
Shinee 15
Hm[arnc] 14
Icarus 14
ajuk12(nOOB) 8
Aegong 4
Dota 2
Gorgc1763
XcaliburYe296
BananaSlamJamma287
Counter-Strike
olofmeister2103
x6flipin660
edward83
Other Games
singsing1941
B2W.Neo656
Fuzer 313
DeMusliM285
Happy216
SortOf94
ZerO(Twitch)13
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick1046
StarCraft: Brood War
UltimateBattle 27
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• StrangeGG 74
• davetesta51
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Jankos612
Other Games
• WagamamaTV245
Upcoming Events
OSC
50m
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
4h 20m
The PondCast
22h 20m
Online Event
1d 4h
Korean StarCraft League
2 days
CranKy Ducklings
2 days
BSL20 Non-Korean Champi…
3 days
Mihu vs QiaoGege
Zhanhun vs Dewalt
Fengzi vs TBD
Online Event
3 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
3 days
BSL20 Non-Korean Champi…
4 days
Bonyth vs TBD
[ Show More ]
OSC
5 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

BSL 20 Non-Korean Championship
FEL Cracow 2025
Underdog Cup #2

Ongoing

Copa Latinoamericana 4
Jiahua Invitational
BSL 20 Team Wars
CC Div. A S7
IEM Cologne 2025
FISSURE Playground #1
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 7
IEM Dallas 2025
PGL Astana 2025

Upcoming

BSL 21 Qualifiers
ASL Season 20: Qualifier #1
ASL Season 20: Qualifier #2
ASL Season 20
CSLPRO Chat StarLAN 3
BSL Season 21
RSL Revival: Season 2
Maestros of the Game
SEL Season 2 Championship
WardiTV Summer 2025
uThermal 2v2 Main Event
HCC Europe
Yuqilin POB S2
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.