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:
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Rampage of the Clans (promo)
Kaya's Wrath
Font of Agonies
Emergency Powers
Revival // Revenge
End-Raze Forerunners
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
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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
Record 1-0
Match 2 vs Bant
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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
Record 2-0
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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:
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Bedevil
Mesmerizing Benthid
Absorb
Domri, Chaos Bringer
Growth Spiral (foil)
Tome of the Guildpact
Hero of Precinct One
Mesmerizing Benthid
Absorb
Domri, Chaos Bringer
Growth Spiral (foil)
Tome of the Guildpact
Hero of Precinct One
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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:
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Growth-Chamber Guardian (promo)
Absorb
Dovin, Grand Arbiter
Smothering Tithe
Rampage of the Clans
Electrodominance
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
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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
Record: 0-1
Round 2 vs the Gruul with an Azorius pool
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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
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
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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
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
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Always right to split the final round if the prizing is solid. Not much else today.
Final Record: 2-1-1
Final Record: 2-1-1
Prize Pack Pulls:
+ Show Spoiler +
Ethereal Absolution (!!)
Kaya's Wrath
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.