I decided to go blue/black in my draft, although i'm not sure why, only to find out that blue appears pretty weak in saviors (in terms of draft, not constructed) First round went good with me wrecking havoc with my kami of the crescent moon + scroll of origins combos, but in 2nd round got beat down by a deck consisting of almost literally nothing of cowed by wisdoms and sokenzen spellblades, and ghost-lit raiders. YUCK! I pull a reverence though which i was quite happy with. Oh yeah, and o-naginata is freaking sick in limited.
Wow, so is stealing a huge problem at prereleases? I've never been to one but I'm going tomorrow and I'd like to know if I need to be more cautious.
prereleases have a bit less judging and thusly a bit less security than most other events. Keep your cards/binders in view or with a trustable person at all times. Pay attention to people reaching into your pocket to dislodge your wallet while you are distracted by a heated game.
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"But then are we most in order when we are most out of order."-Jack Cade
"That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die."
- H.P. Lovecraft
well i went to the prerelease in MN. I was in pod 3 and went 4-0 for 1st place. I won 12 packs but my friend got me to sell 10 of them for $25 which payed for my flight. I got a moloku and went U/G with a slash of black for the black -x/x enchant creature, a 4/1 for 4 spirit with soulshift, and dance of shadows (which rocks with moloku and the green honden ^_^).
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It's funny because innocent people that were trying to pay the bills for their families were brutally murdered.
OMG SnoopDogAtog!!!! It's me Glen!!! I can't believe it! Thats pretty cool, I never thought I'd actually meet anyone from this site! Craziness! BTW, that team tournament was alot of fun, they're alot harder in my opinion because its so much harder to agree on who gets what and how to divy up quality stuff.
First flight 32 person-I went 4-0 with a black/white samurai-ish deck, the stars were just an array of great uncommons such as Sammurai of the Pale Curtain, Nagao, the new Black Night, (all of which are samurai) Charge across the araba (won me multiple games) and cage of hands (again won me games, tied down a Kokusho in the final match)
I really enjoyed this prerelease, I think its fun to have another thing to think about, the hand is often disregarded as a place where cards go before they come into play, but with this set you never knew when someone could have a card that hurt you for not having enough or helped them for having more, not to mention your own cards that got better as your hand size increased.
A great interaction (that people already thought about) was the soratami and hand size matters, this is pretty obvious but I got to see it working first hand. Mirror-Guard made my Deathmask Nezumi (2/2 +2+1 and fear if you have 7 cards or more in hand) and two other 1/1's unblockable, afterwhich i had 7 cards which pumped up the nezumi. I swung for the win!
I think blue is pretty strong in this set, I'd have liked to have played a little bit more, we left earlier than we usually do and I did less tournaments, but I enjoyed the set and can't wait to see more of it!
What are the chances that we could meet up at the prerelease SnoopDog? Oh Snap was a great name by the way!
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Wolf Rider of the Selesnya Guild! Join the Selesnya Guild! Signature by: me Awesome Avatar by IloveAtogs Thanks!
Originally Posted by PolarBearGod
I would hate to be the people who try and keep everything secretive about new sets and stuff. Magic players are like crack fiends for info on new stuff - myself included I guess.:rolleyes:
Went to the Singapore prerelease, pulled a Seizen and Hikari in my CoK deck (Also a Junkyo bell, bleh.). Saviours pack were twincast, Pain's reward and Rally the horde(I nearly puked whensaw it.). Also got a Razor Jaw Oni in one of them. Ended up playing WB and went 2-2. Did some trading after the prerelease and got 3 Choice of Damnation, 2 Pithing needle, 2 Michiko, A Thoughts of Ruin, Promise of bunrei, Kami of the crescent moon, The black Kirin, all the Maros(except the red one) and a few other crap rares.
Best Moment: fourth game, guy was at 6, playing WG and me at 20. He brings down Okina night watch with more cards in hand than me and thinks he stabalised. On my turn, I devouring greed him with 2 spirits in play.
Worst Moment: Getting mana screwed in game 2 while the other guy happily used his sensei's divining top and plopped down flyer after flyer. Adding insult to injury, the guy next to me was playing a kid who was using some 4-color Monstrousity. Needless to say, he won.
Man, did I stink up the joint today. I can only partly blame the cards--yes, it seemed like everyone else pulled huge bombs and I got mediocre cards at best--but, in truth, I stunk. Went 2-2 in both my flights and won nothing. I did win two separate matches on the very last turn of extra turns after time was called, which was fun for me.
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Ambush Krotiq makes me laugh so much. I keep rereading the card and it keeps not having Flash. In what sense is this an ambush again? I just have visions of this huge Krotiq poorly concealed in some bushes, feeling slightly sad that his carefully planned ambushes never seem to work.
Went to Neutral Grounds, and i didn't lose anything. I paid back a debt to.
Trade of the day: Giving Iname As One, Getting Twincast.
Plays of the day:
1.Kiki-Jiki out. I draw Oni of Wild Places, and I have 6 mana open. Play the oni, swing for 12. He had one blocker and was at 6.
2. Jiwari, Devoted Retainer, and Kabuto Moth. He is at 6, one blocker. I full out. HE blocks the Jiwari. Play Path of Angers Flame.
I went 3-1-0, netting me five packs, but i decided to split right before play of the day 1.
All around it was a good day, except our teammate didn't show, so me and my bro did the last flight at like 6, and since I woke up at 5'o clock, i was ubertired and went 0-3.
I went 3-1 at my prerelease. Opened Red and White Kirin's and Hikari.
In Game 3 in round 4 for prize I have the white kirin in play and am beating face as it is a flyer and he has none, but he pulls arashi off the top and plays it. I draw, nothing useful swing. He draws and passes the turn back, figuring he can kill the kirin any time in my turn. I rip Hikari off the top, the kirin kills arashi and goes down in the process, but hikari proves to be too much.
Drafted after, split in the finals with a friend. My draft deck was mono-red and proved to be rediculous. 4 Akki Underling and 3 Barrel-Down Sokenzan just about won it by themselves, but 3 of the 4R ogre that pumps himself equal to cards in your hand and Homura helped as well.
just a little quick g/w aggro type deck with descendant of the green maro and okina nightwatch as the backbone (also, its the first sealed i've had where all 6 rares were very playable)
nightwatch is more than a little absurd. and molting skin was my mvp, straight up, no bones about it, w/e, moving on.
if anyone actually made it to the ATL prerelease, i was in the umezawa flight.
A couple things that came up to me that I forgot about, that these posts reminded me of.
1. I also pulled 2 Descendant of Kiyomaro, and they rode the board because they were my only playable white cards. Poo.
2. Path of Anger's Flame is the best combat trick in the set, possibly better than Charge Through Arababecause people expect combat tricks from White. In one game I played, I had 7 mana open and my opponent was at 14. I played a Captive Flames (VERY good), leaving me with RRRR open. I attacked with 3 creatures for a total of 9 damage. He had blockers, but figuring I would use Flames for +4/+0 (13 damage), and his attack would kill me next turn, he didn't block. I played Path of Anger's Flame, adding 6 damage and hitting him for 15.
I went 3 Wins 1 Draw 0 Loses. I got 11 boosters. My rares were nothing special except for Pithing Needle and the guy that flips and counters the first spell.
I drafted G/W
Some choice cards:
South Tree
Top
Moss Kami (Its a common but its a beast once you get it out)
2 Of the 5/4 bounce a green creature to your hand during your upkeep
and a lot of good common green and white beats.
Also I had that 0/1 tap target spirit and another guy that taps a creature for 1 white and you can untap him when you play a spirit or arcane. My deck was an aggro control type build. It owned.
However, during Teams I was watching a game and one guy was like "Hey look..black on black action (because they were both playing mono black) and then the guy replyed "Yeah I know..some people pay for that but here you get to see it for free" I was laughing my ass off.
I am nothing special; just a common man with common thoughts, and I've led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten. But in one respect I have succeeded as gloriously as anyone who's ever lived: I've loved another with all my heart and soul; and to me, this has always been enough.
- I open my tournament pack and find my rares to be Part the Veil, Takeno and Seshiro. I'm not all too sure about the Seshiro, and I know I won't be using the other two. I register those cards on the sheet and begin cracking Saviors packs
- Pack 1: A Rushing-Tide Zoob. I might run blue. The rare is Wine of Blood and Iron. I might run that.
- Pack 2: My rare is an Arashi, the Sky Asunder. Things are looking up, as I had some okay green stuff, but I kinda wish I had the red Arashi.
- Pack 3: I look through my stuff and lo and behond, it is Arashi's land-running counterpart, Jiwari.
After registering my cards, I decide that red-green is the way to go. At first, I'm short of cards, so I stick some random stuff in, then just as they're calling for the first round to begin, I decide to take said jank out for Seshiro and a couple more snakes.
I end up going 4-0, going 2-0 for 3 of those and 2-1 for the final game. 14 packs, baby! Here's me deck:
So I went to the prerelease in Atlanta; a bit slow in getting flights organized, but they always run very smoothly and quickly once they're underway. I can only play one flight.
I cracked my CoK t-pack first; it determines what colors I may get to play. I get a ton of playable commons/uncommons in every color except blue; white's got Kabuto Moth, Mothrider Samurai, Ethereal Haze, Lantern Kami, and the ever-popular Cage of Hands. I'm surprised I don't find Nagao, Blademaster, and Hatamoto as well. I also snag a Myojin of Cleansing Fire, which I'm not exactly thrilled about (8-drops still bug me after Mirrodin block sealed), but which is quite good in the slower sealed deck format. Sealed deck tends to be more about the late game than draft. Oh, and Honden of Cleansing Fire is pretty good too. Think I'll probably play that :).
My other rares are Gifts Ungiven, which is quite poor in sealed (sucks two of your best cards right into the yard); and Part the Veil, which is quite poor in all formats. It occurs to me for a moment that Part the Veil combos with Myojin of White, protecting my creatures, and would increase my hand size, which works well with Saviors. The fact that I'm thinking about Part the Veil tech means I'm probably not in the right frame of mind.
Fortunately, I don't really have to be. CoK Red supplies a Glacial Ray, a Pain Kami, a Soul of Magma (which I like running primarily against blue in CCB draft; a quick glance at my spoiler revealed a pretty high number of 1-toughness creatures in SoK, especially in white, so I ran it), a Lava Spike (which I'll run with Glacial Ray), and a Brutal Deceiver (which is a good last creature--I love first strike in limited).
Green's got Order of the Sacred Bell and Burr Grafter, but almost no depth. It strikes me that I was really pumped when I opened a Kami of the Hunt in the CoK prerelease. It strikes me that I suck at evaluating cards.
Black's got Scuttling Death, Gibbering Kami, and the Gutwrencher Oni/Blood Speaker combo. Good creatures, but the only removal I find is a Pull Under. I don't really like 6-drop removal, so I decide that I'll maybe splash black if I find some good stuff in the Saviors packs.
The Saviors packs, which I open all at once, do not disappoint. My rares are unspectacular. Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant might be playable if I had 3 Honden, or a Pious Kitsune combo with Eight-and-a-Half-Tails. Though I'm still not sure it would.
I open a Kiyomaro to go with my prerelease foil, though he's not particularly exciting because my deck is looking pretty aggressive--not the sort of deck that wants to save cards in hand. Still, the theoretical long-game of Glacial Ray splicing along with the Honden, Haze, and Cage make him a solid option in the right situation. I opt to run him just because a probable 4/4 for 5 is always playable in limited. And he gets Vigilance.
I also crack a Kaho, Minamo Historian, which is terrible in limited and probably in constructed too. A dealer at the prerelease is inexplicably buying them for $2.50, more than he's paying for Pithing Needle. I sell it to him before my first round gets underway.
The uncommons are a ton better. The highlight is a Razorjaw Oni. Remember, I was planning on splashing black if possible. Razorface is the perfect splash-black card because it hoses your opponent's black creatures! In an aggressive deck, dropping this guy against a mostly-black opponent is a good way to deliver a massive bashing, especially if they're relying on black for flying blockers like Gibbering Kami. I imagine this aspect of Razorface will show itself in draft even more prominently.
I find Hand of Honor, which I happily toss in the pile; I also find Hand of Cruelty, which is arguably even better but which I can't play in my deck because of black mana problems. I crack two copies of Soratami Cloud Chariot, which makes me a bit sad. I'd been excited about the defensive and offensive abilities of this artifact since I saw it on the spoiler. But you can't run multiple copies of 5-drop non-threats in limited, especially if having both in play would be useless. The Chariot proves to be exceptionally versatile, playing offense and defense well and freeing up my board.
Eight mana lets you hold off anything as long as you've got the creatures to block. And it lets you take to the skies for the finish. I think the Chariot's first-pickable in many cases, especially if your draft deck has something like Masako the Humorless which effectively allows you to swing with as much stuff as you have mana to protect. It also synergizes very well with green decks, to the point that they become ridiculous in the midgame with flying Gnarled Masses that take no damage.
In the commons I find Kagemaro's Clutch, which I love in virtually every situation. It's black removal with no targeting restrictions, and it's very reasonably costed at 3B. It's in. The deck really gets rolling when the white and red show me even more savage beats. I find Spiraling Embers, which is extremely good and even game-winning in red/blue with Soratami but playable in pretty much anything; the fact it's arcane is a huge bonus. I also catch Path of Anger's Flame, which I didn't even pay a thought to on the spoiler list but which is extremely excellent in any red deck with creatures. It's even better with white, as it often adds 4 to the dome on turn 3 (more as the game goes on) or doubles as a board-clearing agent. It's arcane too, not that it really needs it. I don't run the halfway-decent Ronin Cavekeeper because I don't really want six-drops. I have less justification for not running Sokenzan Spellblade; he's not really as good as some people will say, because he'll die to double-blocks or single-blocks against many creatures on the board though in retrospect I probably should have put him in as a possible finisher (especially considering the Cloud Chariot I had). He can deal almost unlimited damage the turn after he's summoned.
My already mostly-white deck found a lot of help in the commons as well. Spiritual Visit has a ton of synergy with any splicing strategy, as it provides a stream of blockers and then provides one more delivery of whatever your big splicer is. At worst, it's a 1/1 at instant speed, which is not too bad if you can use it to off something pesky like a bouncy Glitterfang. Araba Mothrider is just good; it trades with every blue creature, and just about everything else, and provides some solid damage in the air. I would prefer the 2/1 Moonwing Moth, but I don't get one. Kitsune Loreweaver will probably always be underrated. You can use its ability as many times as you want, so it's often a 2/7 or better if you've got any mana to spare (which is often true for white). It's also a 2/1 for 2 at worst, which is still fine in this block.
In the end, I go 3-0 in my flight and have a jolly good time, though I don't get to play against black and use the Razorjaw trick. I don't even get to shoot a bunch of Moonfolk with Soul of Magma. I just play combinations of my own colors. White-Black, then White-Red, then White-Red. They all run just two colors, which is almost never quite optimal in Kamigawa block sealed, at least of the non-team variety. There's some beautiful splashable stuff out there; go get it. I win my first match during Turn 4 of Extra Turn play, doing 13 damage with 2 Glacial Ray uses and Path of Anger's Flame. The other two matches are less interesting, as I pretty much beat face against a land-flooded opponent and a close friend of mine who has the same deck as I do minus black; he's got Reciprocate, a ton of Sweep cards (2 Barrels, 1 Plow, 1 Charge), and some more hand-size stuff, but it's basically Cage of Hands versus Cage of Hands. He's even got White Honden. But I draw more fliers and make fewer mistakes this time. White-red aggro just got a lot better. Seriously.
My individual tournament deck was pretty good. i made a mistake (shouldn't have tried to be so aggressive one game) which let me finish 3-1 for 6 packs. However, in the team sealed, I had a sick deck. Foil Horobi and 8.5 tails! I also had that demon that stops all black creatures from blocking, and 3 of my 4 opponents wew playing heavy black. so that totally wrecked them. out team wen 3-1 there too and each person got 6 packs. so a total of 12 packs for the day isn't so bad.
those creatures that pump by hand size are SOOO good its not even funny. i wrecked some kid by pumping the red one into a 12/3 creature O.o
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I am looking for Date Stamped promos from Khans of Tarkir block so I can finish my set. Check my wants if you have any.
Currently offering 2 non-foil Kolighan's Command for a Date Stamped foil!
Its 5:47 and i only got 2 hours of sleep. I will be in Syracuse by 8:00. I'll tell you how its goes whne i get there.
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RnD during Time Spiral:
Rosewater: "Color Pie, WTF is that, If I want Black to be able to wrath, counter and have green creatures then I will damnit!"
Random RnD guy: "RED AKORMA! FTW!"
Gleemax: "Rosewater has broken out of my mind control!"
RnD after 2008:
MaRo: Hmm how do we fix the problems of pricing with cards like Tarmogoyf and Thoughtsieze
Random RnD Guy: OO lets make a new RED RARITY SYMBOL!
MARO: OMGWTFBBQ! Thats a great idea, we'll call it Mythic Rarity!
Gleemax: NOT AGAIN! CELEB
my girl friend had her sideboard stolen while we were trading. people swarmed us because we were opening saviors packs (of course my friend won and i didnt.. but anyway) we were trading and basically forming a line when we both were trading and not paying the MOST attention to her sideboard. then when they left because i said i didnt see **** in their scrub piles for my cards. we noticed she lost her sideboard
so let this be a lesson to every one.. pay attention to your ****
My day started out great, as I had sold a pile of unused/outdated rares to the vendor including my Tolarian Academy and Meddling Mage. Made a good $72.50 there.
The tournament organizer here in 'Vegas were trying a new prize structure that was more loser friendly as well as less time-consuming. 3 matches, with those who won 1 or 0 getting 1 pack, 2 matches getting 3 packs, and 3 matches getting 7 packs. The price of 2 sealed flights together was $50.
First flight I pulled great rares like Akuta, Born of Ash, Myojin of Infinite Rage, and best of all... Twincast!!! Sadly, I had to cast the Myojin to the side as my red was total crap. However, I managed to take advantage of the classic winning strategy in limited: Flying. :grin2:
My deck was fast and efficient in what is did. I've kept in intact just so I could show you my list:
Isn't that insane for a 3 color deck!? So sleek and elegant...*drools*. I got a 3rd Kagemaro's Clutch but took it out in favor of a Kami of Empty Graves because my deck seemed lacking in the beef department (and that was the closest thing I had to beef). I chose to run only 5 Swamps because I knew Moonbow Illusionist could help me overcome color screw.
Anyways, I went 3-0. First match went by so fast I can't even remember the guy's face (2-0). He was playing some sort of R/G/B but was color screwed for 4 or 5 turns each game. By then the flying beatdown was on and he was helpless to do anything as I played a new threat every turn.
The next guy I played had a decent R/W deck and I went 2-1 against him. First game I neutralized 3 bombs of his with alarming accuracy. I had any answer for his every threat. Jiwari? Kagemaro's Clutch. Kumano? Rend Flesh. The funniest of all is when he played Feral Lightning and I met it with a Twincast. He simply ended the turn right there and all 6 tokens died. :tongue2:
Second game he burned out all my creatures with multiples of Barrel Down Sokenzan and a Yamabushi's Flame, allowing him to punch through...I got few answers and it was rather dull. I died a miserable defeat. Last game was the greatest of all! He played a Ghost-Lit Redeemer early on and it kept gaining him life at about the rate I was hitting him for. Meanwhile, I let his turn 2 Battle-Mad Ronin hit me over serveral turns. As I got more threats, his life total went down more rapidly. He played this game very defensively, getting out many kitsune. I got Akuta, Born of Ash out this game and he managed to come back after death to serve me once more. Most of the damage was from my lone Moonbow Illusionist I had out late game. Eventually the B-M-R got me down to 9 and he at 5 life and was rallying his forces behind a Jade Idol. He hit me with everything he had. I could only block to where exacly 9 damage got through...However, little did he know I had been holding back my Hail of Arrows ever since I got it in my opening hand. :tongue2: I averted 6 of the would be 9 damage by killing 2 of his creatures and busted up his exposed dome for way more than 5 damage with flyers I played the previous turn as well as those I already had out. A sweet victory indeed!
For the third and final match I was up against my best friend with whom I went to the prerelease with. We agreed to split at 5 packs each regardless of the outcome. Big mistake. I beat him effortlessly in about 5 minutes and he got better rares than I did...like a Twincast , and Infernal Kirin. I did manage to pull a Choice of Damnations though, which I smiled at.
I'll post the on the rest of my prerelease experiences later on, since this post is getting rather longish.
OMG SnoopDogAtog!!!! It's me Glen!!! I can't believe it! Thats pretty cool, I never thought I'd actually meet anyone from this site! Craziness! BTW, that team tournament was alot of fun, they're alot harder in my opinion because its so much harder to agree on who gets what and how to divy up quality stuff.
*high-fives Glen*
Chances are pretty good; there's about 30-50 thousand prerelease attendees in the US on the first day, and about 3500 are registered here. that means you have around 5-10 percent chance of seeing someone from here at a PR. Double that percentage if you attend both days.
Now that ive had some sleep, i can give some better information. heh.
By the way, did anyone get any effective use out of Promise of Bunrei? i ran it and it was never relevant.
Some of my faviorite combat tricks of the day included returning Cage of Hands to my hand so i would have hand size superiority for Descendant of Kiyomaro, splicing spiritual visit for surprise blockers, and of course Horobi plus a slew of targetting creatures (kabuto moth, hankyu, 8.5 tails, etc).
Generally, people are very afraid to kill Yosei when they are staring at a Sokenzan Spellblade
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I am looking for Date Stamped promos from Khans of Tarkir block so I can finish my set. Check my wants if you have any.
Currently offering 2 non-foil Kolighan's Command for a Date Stamped foil!
Now that ive had some sleep, i can give some better information. heh.
By the way, did anyone get any effective use out of Promise of Bunrei? i ran it and it was never relevant.
Some of my faviorite combat tricks of the day included returning Cage of Hands to my hand so i would have hand size superiority for Descendant of Kiyomaro, splicing spiritual visit for surprise blockers, and of course Horobi plus a slew of targetting creatures (kabuto moth, hankyu, 8.5 tails, etc).
Generally, people are very afraid to kill Yosei when they are staring at a Sokenzan Spellblade
I drafted Promise of Bunrei. It went off once but it was meh because I was already winning. I did use them as chump blockers though. I also drafted 3 Spiritual Visit so I had alot of 1/1s sitting around doing nothing while the rest of my creatures were doing air strikes.
I have a nice story.
I was 4-1 and leading 1-0 in the last round in the 2nd game i have a slow start (very slow) and on turn 6 i play green maro and i have 2 1/1 flyers in play, and the life count is 18-8 for him. His turn he playes the enchant that can tap/untap enchanted creature and taps my green maro and attcks me for 5 dmg and leaves me on 3 and hes tapped out. My turn i play plains and attack with all and play charge across the araba sweeping 4 plains and deal him 27dmg. He didnt see it coming I come in 5th but only win 10 boosters as it a friendly torny, oh well.
Descendent of Kiyomaro was insane. It won me quite a few games, especially in combination with Barrel Down Sokenzan. I had some nice mana acceleration and land search to go with my fatties, and removal in the form of Glacial Ray, Barrel Down Sokenzan, and Cowed by Wisdon. I found Elder Pine of Jukai to be excellent in this format, and Torii Watchward was very good as well. One memorable game:
He was down to 9 life and I was at about 18. I was slowly killing him with an Araba Mothrider when he dropped Myojin of Life's Web. Luckily for me, he never attacked, because if he did I would have counterracted with Moss Kami and Nightsoil Kami (which was very good as well). Anyway, he was at 9, and I killed him with my Mothrider. How? I cast Glacial Ray splicing Kodama's Mght (2 damage to him, pump my Mothrider), cast Kodama's Might (on mothrider), sacrificed Burr Grafter (Mothrider is now 7/7), and attacked him for 7. That was fun.
In the end, I won 5 packs for 3 match wins and one loss. In the packs, my best rare was Eternal Dominion, which is saying something. It was still cool.
Oh, and did I mention that I got a Cranial Extraction and foil Sakura-Tribe Elder? I sold the Extraction for $10... not terrible. Overall, it was a great prerelease. The format is very skill-testing... Soulshift, Splice, and the hand size matters mechanics were all very difficult to use correctly.
prereleases have a bit less judging and thusly a bit less security than most other events. Keep your cards/binders in view or with a trustable person at all times. Pay attention to people reaching into your pocket to dislodge your wallet while you are distracted by a heated game.
"That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die."
- H.P. Lovecraft
First flight 32 person-I went 4-0 with a black/white samurai-ish deck, the stars were just an array of great uncommons such as Sammurai of the Pale Curtain, Nagao, the new Black Night, (all of which are samurai) Charge across the araba (won me multiple games) and cage of hands (again won me games, tied down a Kokusho in the final match)
I really enjoyed this prerelease, I think its fun to have another thing to think about, the hand is often disregarded as a place where cards go before they come into play, but with this set you never knew when someone could have a card that hurt you for not having enough or helped them for having more, not to mention your own cards that got better as your hand size increased.
A great interaction (that people already thought about) was the soratami and hand size matters, this is pretty obvious but I got to see it working first hand. Mirror-Guard made my Deathmask Nezumi (2/2 +2+1 and fear if you have 7 cards or more in hand) and two other 1/1's unblockable, afterwhich i had 7 cards which pumped up the nezumi. I swung for the win!
I think blue is pretty strong in this set, I'd have liked to have played a little bit more, we left earlier than we usually do and I did less tournaments, but I enjoyed the set and can't wait to see more of it!
What are the chances that we could meet up at the prerelease SnoopDog? Oh Snap was a great name by the way!
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Best Moment: fourth game, guy was at 6, playing WG and me at 20. He brings down Okina night watch with more cards in hand than me and thinks he stabalised. On my turn, I devouring greed him with 2 spirits in play.
Worst Moment: Getting mana screwed in game 2 while the other guy happily used his sensei's divining top and plopped down flyer after flyer. Adding insult to injury, the guy next to me was playing a kid who was using some 4-color Monstrousity. Needless to say, he won.
Trade of the day: Giving Iname As One, Getting Twincast.
Plays of the day:
1.Kiki-Jiki out. I draw Oni of Wild Places, and I have 6 mana open. Play the oni, swing for 12. He had one blocker and was at 6.
2. Jiwari, Devoted Retainer, and Kabuto Moth. He is at 6, one blocker. I full out. HE blocks the Jiwari. Play Path of Angers Flame.
I went 3-1-0, netting me five packs, but i decided to split right before play of the day 1.
All around it was a good day, except our teammate didn't show, so me and my bro did the last flight at like 6, and since I woke up at 5'o clock, i was ubertired and went 0-3.
In Game 3 in round 4 for prize I have the white kirin in play and am beating face as it is a flyer and he has none, but he pulls arashi off the top and plays it. I draw, nothing useful swing. He draws and passes the turn back, figuring he can kill the kirin any time in my turn. I rip Hikari off the top, the kirin kills arashi and goes down in the process, but hikari proves to be too much.
Drafted after, split in the finals with a friend. My draft deck was mono-red and proved to be rediculous. 4 Akki Underling and 3 Barrel-Down Sokenzan just about won it by themselves, but 3 of the 4R ogre that pumps himself equal to cards in your hand and Homura helped as well.
All in all, good times.
just a little quick g/w aggro type deck with descendant of the green maro and okina nightwatch as the backbone (also, its the first sealed i've had where all 6 rares were very playable)
nightwatch is more than a little absurd. and molting skin was my mvp, straight up, no bones about it, w/e, moving on.
if anyone actually made it to the ATL prerelease, i was in the umezawa flight.
1. I also pulled 2 Descendant of Kiyomaro, and they rode the board because they were my only playable white cards. Poo.
2. Path of Anger's Flame is the best combat trick in the set, possibly better than Charge Through Arababecause people expect combat tricks from White. In one game I played, I had 7 mana open and my opponent was at 14. I played a Captive Flames (VERY good), leaving me with RRRR open. I attacked with 3 creatures for a total of 9 damage. He had blockers, but figuring I would use Flames for +4/+0 (13 damage), and his attack would kill me next turn, he didn't block. I played Path of Anger's Flame, adding 6 damage and hitting him for 15.
I drafted G/W
Some choice cards:
South Tree
Top
Moss Kami (Its a common but its a beast once you get it out)
2 Of the 5/4 bounce a green creature to your hand during your upkeep
and a lot of good common green and white beats.
Also I had that 0/1 tap target spirit and another guy that taps a creature for 1 white and you can untap him when you play a spirit or arcane. My deck was an aggro control type build. It owned.
However, during Teams I was watching a game and one guy was like "Hey look..black on black action (because they were both playing mono black) and then the guy replyed "Yeah I know..some people pay for that but here you get to see it for free" I was laughing my ass off.
- I open my tournament pack and find my rares to be Part the Veil, Takeno and Seshiro. I'm not all too sure about the Seshiro, and I know I won't be using the other two. I register those cards on the sheet and begin cracking Saviors packs
- Pack 1: A Rushing-Tide Zoob. I might run blue. The rare is Wine of Blood and Iron. I might run that.
- Pack 2: My rare is an Arashi, the Sky Asunder. Things are looking up, as I had some okay green stuff, but I kinda wish I had the red Arashi.
- Pack 3: I look through my stuff and lo and behond, it is Arashi's land-running counterpart, Jiwari.
After registering my cards, I decide that red-green is the way to go. At first, I'm short of cards, so I stick some random stuff in, then just as they're calling for the first round to begin, I decide to take said jank out for Seshiro and a couple more snakes.
I end up going 4-0, going 2-0 for 3 of those and 2-1 for the final game. 14 packs, baby! Here's me deck:
"Stoned players can't attack, block, or play spells or abilities."
I cracked my CoK t-pack first; it determines what colors I may get to play. I get a ton of playable commons/uncommons in every color except blue; white's got Kabuto Moth, Mothrider Samurai, Ethereal Haze, Lantern Kami, and the ever-popular Cage of Hands. I'm surprised I don't find Nagao, Blademaster, and Hatamoto as well. I also snag a Myojin of Cleansing Fire, which I'm not exactly thrilled about (8-drops still bug me after Mirrodin block sealed), but which is quite good in the slower sealed deck format. Sealed deck tends to be more about the late game than draft. Oh, and Honden of Cleansing Fire is pretty good too. Think I'll probably play that :).
My other rares are Gifts Ungiven, which is quite poor in sealed (sucks two of your best cards right into the yard); and Part the Veil, which is quite poor in all formats. It occurs to me for a moment that Part the Veil combos with Myojin of White, protecting my creatures, and would increase my hand size, which works well with Saviors. The fact that I'm thinking about Part the Veil tech means I'm probably not in the right frame of mind.
Fortunately, I don't really have to be. CoK Red supplies a Glacial Ray, a Pain Kami, a Soul of Magma (which I like running primarily against blue in CCB draft; a quick glance at my spoiler revealed a pretty high number of 1-toughness creatures in SoK, especially in white, so I ran it), a Lava Spike (which I'll run with Glacial Ray), and a Brutal Deceiver (which is a good last creature--I love first strike in limited).
Green's got Order of the Sacred Bell and Burr Grafter, but almost no depth. It strikes me that I was really pumped when I opened a Kami of the Hunt in the CoK prerelease. It strikes me that I suck at evaluating cards.
Black's got Scuttling Death, Gibbering Kami, and the Gutwrencher Oni/Blood Speaker combo. Good creatures, but the only removal I find is a Pull Under. I don't really like 6-drop removal, so I decide that I'll maybe splash black if I find some good stuff in the Saviors packs.
The Saviors packs, which I open all at once, do not disappoint. My rares are unspectacular.
Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant might be playable if I had 3 Honden, or a Pious Kitsune combo with Eight-and-a-Half-Tails. Though I'm still not sure it would.
I open a Kiyomaro to go with my prerelease foil, though he's not particularly exciting because my deck is looking pretty aggressive--not the sort of deck that wants to save cards in hand. Still, the theoretical long-game of Glacial Ray splicing along with the Honden, Haze, and Cage make him a solid option in the right situation. I opt to run him just because a probable 4/4 for 5 is always playable in limited. And he gets Vigilance.
I also crack a Kaho, Minamo Historian, which is terrible in limited and probably in constructed too. A dealer at the prerelease is inexplicably buying them for $2.50, more than he's paying for Pithing Needle. I sell it to him before my first round gets underway.
The uncommons are a ton better. The highlight is a Razorjaw Oni. Remember, I was planning on splashing black if possible. Razorface is the perfect splash-black card because it hoses your opponent's black creatures! In an aggressive deck, dropping this guy against a mostly-black opponent is a good way to deliver a massive bashing, especially if they're relying on black for flying blockers like Gibbering Kami. I imagine this aspect of Razorface will show itself in draft even more prominently.
I find Hand of Honor, which I happily toss in the pile; I also find Hand of Cruelty, which is arguably even better but which I can't play in my deck because of black mana problems. I crack two copies of Soratami Cloud Chariot, which makes me a bit sad. I'd been excited about the defensive and offensive abilities of this artifact since I saw it on the spoiler. But you can't run multiple copies of 5-drop non-threats in limited, especially if having both in play would be useless. The Chariot proves to be exceptionally versatile, playing offense and defense well and freeing up my board.
Eight mana lets you hold off anything as long as you've got the creatures to block. And it lets you take to the skies for the finish. I think the Chariot's first-pickable in many cases, especially if your draft deck has something like Masako the Humorless which effectively allows you to swing with as much stuff as you have mana to protect. It also synergizes very well with green decks, to the point that they become ridiculous in the midgame with flying Gnarled Masses that take no damage.
In the commons I find Kagemaro's Clutch, which I love in virtually every situation. It's black removal with no targeting restrictions, and it's very reasonably costed at 3B. It's in. The deck really gets rolling when the white and red show me even more savage beats. I find Spiraling Embers, which is extremely good and even game-winning in red/blue with Soratami but playable in pretty much anything; the fact it's arcane is a huge bonus. I also catch Path of Anger's Flame, which I didn't even pay a thought to on the spoiler list but which is extremely excellent in any red deck with creatures. It's even better with white, as it often adds 4 to the dome on turn 3 (more as the game goes on) or doubles as a board-clearing agent. It's arcane too, not that it really needs it. I don't run the halfway-decent Ronin Cavekeeper because I don't really want six-drops. I have less justification for not running Sokenzan Spellblade; he's not really as good as some people will say, because he'll die to double-blocks or single-blocks against many creatures on the board though in retrospect I probably should have put him in as a possible finisher (especially considering the Cloud Chariot I had). He can deal almost unlimited damage the turn after he's summoned.
My already mostly-white deck found a lot of help in the commons as well. Spiritual Visit has a ton of synergy with any splicing strategy, as it provides a stream of blockers and then provides one more delivery of whatever your big splicer is. At worst, it's a 1/1 at instant speed, which is not too bad if you can use it to off something pesky like a bouncy Glitterfang. Araba Mothrider is just good; it trades with every blue creature, and just about everything else, and provides some solid damage in the air. I would prefer the 2/1 Moonwing Moth, but I don't get one. Kitsune Loreweaver will probably always be underrated. You can use its ability as many times as you want, so it's often a 2/7 or better if you've got any mana to spare (which is often true for white). It's also a 2/1 for 2 at worst, which is still fine in this block.
In the end, I go 3-0 in my flight and have a jolly good time, though I don't get to play against black and use the Razorjaw trick. I don't even get to shoot a bunch of Moonfolk with Soul of Magma. I just play combinations of my own colors. White-Black, then White-Red, then White-Red. They all run just two colors, which is almost never quite optimal in Kamigawa block sealed, at least of the non-team variety. There's some beautiful splashable stuff out there; go get it. I win my first match during Turn 4 of Extra Turn play, doing 13 damage with 2 Glacial Ray uses and Path of Anger's Flame. The other two matches are less interesting, as I pretty much beat face against a land-flooded opponent and a close friend of mine who has the same deck as I do minus black; he's got Reciprocate, a ton of Sweep cards (2 Barrels, 1 Plow, 1 Charge), and some more hand-size stuff, but it's basically Cage of Hands versus Cage of Hands. He's even got White Honden. But I draw more fliers and make fewer mistakes this time. White-red aggro just got a lot better. Seriously.
those creatures that pump by hand size are SOOO good its not even funny. i wrecked some kid by pumping the red one into a 12/3 creature O.o
Currently offering 2 non-foil Kolighan's Command for a Date Stamped foil!
convert bulk into good cards? PucaTrade - https://pucatrade.com/invite/gift/21195
Ebay - decks/Promos/DVDs
Trade thread (constantly updated)
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Rosewater: "Color Pie, WTF is that, If I want Black to be able to wrath, counter and have green creatures then I will damnit!"
Random RnD guy: "RED AKORMA! FTW!"
Gleemax: "Rosewater has broken out of my mind control!"
RnD after 2008:
MaRo: Hmm how do we fix the problems of pricing with cards like Tarmogoyf and Thoughtsieze
Random RnD Guy: OO lets make a new RED RARITY SYMBOL!
MARO: OMGWTFBBQ! Thats a great idea, we'll call it Mythic Rarity!
Gleemax: NOT AGAIN!
CELEB
My team, Team Thanks for Coming, owned up the team events without 1 loss and a terrible cardpool. Further proving limited requires more then luck.
so let this be a lesson to every one.. pay attention to your ****
The tournament organizer here in 'Vegas were trying a new prize structure that was more loser friendly as well as less time-consuming. 3 matches, with those who won 1 or 0 getting 1 pack, 2 matches getting 3 packs, and 3 matches getting 7 packs. The price of 2 sealed flights together was $50.
First flight I pulled great rares like Akuta, Born of Ash, Myojin of Infinite Rage, and best of all... Twincast!!! Sadly, I had to cast the Myojin to the side as my red was total crap. However, I managed to take advantage of the classic winning strategy in limited: Flying. :grin2:
My deck was fast and efficient in what is did. I've kept in intact just so I could show you my list:
3x Moonbow Illusionist
1x Akuta, Born of Ash
1x Secretkeeper
1x Mothrider Samurai
1x Lantern Kami
1x Kami of Empty Graves
1x Nezumi Ronin
1x Soratami Mirror-Guard
1x Hundred Talon Kami
1x Cruel Deceiver
1x Araba Mothrider
2x Moonwing Moth
1x Twincast
1x Consuming Vortex
1x Rend Flesh
1x Blessed Breath
2x Kagemaro's Clutch
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Hail of Arrows
5x Swamp
6x Plains
6x Islands
Isn't that insane for a 3 color deck!? So sleek and elegant...*drools*. I got a 3rd Kagemaro's Clutch but took it out in favor of a Kami of Empty Graves because my deck seemed lacking in the beef department (and that was the closest thing I had to beef). I chose to run only 5 Swamps because I knew Moonbow Illusionist could help me overcome color screw.
Anyways, I went 3-0. First match went by so fast I can't even remember the guy's face (2-0). He was playing some sort of R/G/B but was color screwed for 4 or 5 turns each game. By then the flying beatdown was on and he was helpless to do anything as I played a new threat every turn.
The next guy I played had a decent R/W deck and I went 2-1 against him. First game I neutralized 3 bombs of his with alarming accuracy. I had any answer for his every threat. Jiwari? Kagemaro's Clutch. Kumano? Rend Flesh. The funniest of all is when he played Feral Lightning and I met it with a Twincast. He simply ended the turn right there and all 6 tokens died. :tongue2:
Second game he burned out all my creatures with multiples of Barrel Down Sokenzan and a Yamabushi's Flame, allowing him to punch through...I got few answers and it was rather dull. I died a miserable defeat. Last game was the greatest of all! He played a Ghost-Lit Redeemer early on and it kept gaining him life at about the rate I was hitting him for. Meanwhile, I let his turn 2 Battle-Mad Ronin hit me over serveral turns. As I got more threats, his life total went down more rapidly. He played this game very defensively, getting out many kitsune. I got Akuta, Born of Ash out this game and he managed to come back after death to serve me once more. Most of the damage was from my lone Moonbow Illusionist I had out late game. Eventually the B-M-R got me down to 9 and he at 5 life and was rallying his forces behind a Jade Idol. He hit me with everything he had. I could only block to where exacly 9 damage got through...However, little did he know I had been holding back my Hail of Arrows ever since I got it in my opening hand. :tongue2: I averted 6 of the would be 9 damage by killing 2 of his creatures and busted up his exposed dome for way more than 5 damage with flyers I played the previous turn as well as those I already had out. A sweet victory indeed!
For the third and final match I was up against my best friend with whom I went to the prerelease with. We agreed to split at 5 packs each regardless of the outcome. Big mistake. I beat him effortlessly in about 5 minutes and he got better rares than I did...like a Twincast , and Infernal Kirin. I did manage to pull a Choice of Damnations though, which I smiled at.
I'll post the on the rest of my prerelease experiences later on, since this post is getting rather longish.
*high-fives Glen*
Chances are pretty good; there's about 30-50 thousand prerelease attendees in the US on the first day, and about 3500 are registered here. that means you have around 5-10 percent chance of seeing someone from here at a PR. Double that percentage if you attend both days.
By the way, did anyone get any effective use out of Promise of Bunrei? i ran it and it was never relevant.
Some of my faviorite combat tricks of the day included returning Cage of Hands to my hand so i would have hand size superiority for Descendant of Kiyomaro, splicing spiritual visit for surprise blockers, and of course Horobi plus a slew of targetting creatures (kabuto moth, hankyu, 8.5 tails, etc).
Generally, people are very afraid to kill Yosei when they are staring at a Sokenzan Spellblade
Currently offering 2 non-foil Kolighan's Command for a Date Stamped foil!
convert bulk into good cards? PucaTrade - https://pucatrade.com/invite/gift/21195
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Trade thread (constantly updated)
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I drafted Promise of Bunrei. It went off once but it was meh because I was already winning. I did use them as chump blockers though. I also drafted 3 Spiritual Visit so I had alot of 1/1s sitting around doing nothing while the rest of my creatures were doing air strikes.
I was 4-1 and leading 1-0 in the last round in the 2nd game i have a slow start (very slow) and on turn 6 i play green maro and i have 2 1/1 flyers in play, and the life count is 18-8 for him. His turn he playes the enchant that can tap/untap enchanted creature and taps my green maro and attcks me for 5 dmg and leaves me on 3 and hes tapped out. My turn i play plains and attack with all and play charge across the araba sweeping 4 plains and deal him 27dmg. He didnt see it coming I come in 5th but only win 10 boosters as it a friendly torny, oh well.
1 Seek the Horizon
1 Glacial Ray
2 Barrel Down Sokenzan
1 Araba Mothrider
1 Kodama's Might
1 Nightsoil Kami
1 Burr Grafter
1 Moss Kami
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Orochi Sustainer
1 Kami of Ancient Law
1 Lantern Kami
1 Innocence Kami
2 Elder Pine of Jukai
1 Samurai of the Pale Curtain
1 Descendant of Kiyomaro
1 Devoted Retainer
1 Cowed by Wisdon
3 Mountains
8 Forests
7 Plains
Descendent of Kiyomaro was insane. It won me quite a few games, especially in combination with Barrel Down Sokenzan. I had some nice mana acceleration and land search to go with my fatties, and removal in the form of Glacial Ray, Barrel Down Sokenzan, and Cowed by Wisdon. I found Elder Pine of Jukai to be excellent in this format, and Torii Watchward was very good as well. One memorable game:
He was down to 9 life and I was at about 18. I was slowly killing him with an Araba Mothrider when he dropped Myojin of Life's Web. Luckily for me, he never attacked, because if he did I would have counterracted with Moss Kami and Nightsoil Kami (which was very good as well). Anyway, he was at 9, and I killed him with my Mothrider. How? I cast Glacial Ray splicing Kodama's Mght (2 damage to him, pump my Mothrider), cast Kodama's Might (on mothrider), sacrificed Burr Grafter (Mothrider is now 7/7), and attacked him for 7. That was fun.
In the end, I won 5 packs for 3 match wins and one loss. In the packs, my best rare was Eternal Dominion, which is saying something. It was still cool.
Oh, and did I mention that I got a Cranial Extraction and foil Sakura-Tribe Elder? I sold the Extraction for $10... not terrible. Overall, it was a great prerelease. The format is very skill-testing... Soulshift, Splice, and the hand size matters mechanics were all very difficult to use correctly.