I went to the midnight one, chose blue and wanted to go UR, but almost all the good cards were in black and the rest was in blue, so it was an easy choice: I played UB control with a Jorubai Murk Lurker that lifelinked a non-promo Indulgent Tormentor and a Master of Predicaments, two Flesh to Dust, two Thought Scour that fed a Profane Memento and an Endless Obedience, two Peel from Reality that was great fun with an Ornithopter, and a Liliana Vess that didn't do all that much except for one game. My MVP alongside Indulgent Tormentor was Jorubai Murk Lurker to my surprise, I almost didn't play it. I had an absolute blast, even though it didn't go that well - one win, two losses and three draws (at least two of them was with a lot of life and would have gone my way without time constraints).
I didn't use the blue promo, never planned to because it's utterly useless. I honestly wish they could give us a playable card, even a worthless and trivial one, over something that is so obviously just a trap. I'd honestly take a nice foil basic land over it, or how about a common utility spell like Void Snare or Lightning Strike? Indulgent Tormentor is so much better than the other promos that most people went black, I'm sure at least 60% of all attendees chose black.
Seed packs are a good concept, the execution is a bit... lacking, outside of Ravnica.
There are ways to fix it, but I doubt they will, my personal choice would be to make the seed pack heavier in rare/uncommon? Instead of a pack of 2 rare/3 uncommon/10 common, something like 2 rare, 6 uncommon, 6 common. So forcing the color of your choice is a bit more... effective. Or go big, 3 rare, 9 uncommon.
Good idea, I'd go a few steps further:
The seeded pack would have at least 2 rares in your color, besides the promo if any, one of which is guaranteed to be a creature. It would have at least 6 uncommon in your color, at least 3 are guaranteed to be creatures, and 2 non-creatures (the last is more random). Same for commons as the uncommons. So it would have at least 7 creatures in your color, helping ensure you'll be playable.
Given their new ability to have the cards machine readable, I'd consider going a few steps beyond that. I'd make it so that the booster packs that come at prerelease events are special, and guarenteed to have at least 1 common of each color, at least 1 common of colorless (mana fixing land or an artifact or something), and at least half the commons in the pack would be guaranteed to be creatures, and 1 card in the pack would be guaranteed to be a decent in limited removal (or pseudo-removal) spell (chosen from a list of such in the set, including things like Murder, Shock, Journey to Nowhere, Prey Upon, and Claustrophobia). I'd also ensure one of such removal spells in your color was in the seeded pack. All of these 'guaranteed' cards would be ones that are considered good in limited, so roughly 2/3rds of each pack should be certain to be good in limited. This would only be a special thing for the prerelease boxes.
Soul of theros was the only rare in my deck other than Resolute Archangel and I went 4-0. The aggressive two drops in red and white were what made the deck but the soul single handedly won every game he was played.
I got the Soul of Theros, too, and I went 3-0. Never lost a game, and once the Soul hit the board, it was only a matter of time until he closed things out.
The best play to beat a soul of theros is good sideboard tech I played against 3 opponents with souls of theros in my prerelease (it was 6 rounds swiss) and I brought in the one rare I cursed the most when I opened it - Stain the Mind luckily I always found it before they found their soul (so I won 2 of those 3 matches and one was a draw)
Chose blue and initially started with UR. I opened a Jace, the Living Guildpact, two Quicklings (one foil), two Elvish Mystics and a foil Waste Not, among others. My first round opponent literally raped my deck hardcore; my deck had too many spells rather than creatures. Changed it up to a UG with more emphasis on Quicklings and that elf shaman that draws you a card when it enters the battlefield. Lost one match due to a bad judge call during a combat sequence. My deck blew goats making me go 0-3 largely due to mana screw and bad draws. Jace only showed up in my hand ONCE the entire tournament. Sold my Jace on the spot for $20.
I stayed for the start of the second flight and saw a guy crack TWO Jaces in his packs. Lots of Sliver Hivelords were cracked.
At the time I started my first flight both black and green seeded packs were sold out, leaving only red, white and blue. It was an alright experience, though my card pool wasn't up to my normal par.
'buster
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
'buster
HR Analyst. Gamer. Activist | Fearless, and forthright | Aggro-control is a mindset. Elspeth and Jhoira rock my world.
I went black and opened 3 Necromancer's Stockpile out of my 6 packs, facking bogus and bs. Thanks wotc for the worst prerelease ever.
i realise that in the heat of the moment, people often want to find someone to blame for randomly occurring unfortunate things, but seriously - these boosters are random. you played the prerelease, came home, switched on your computer and still resorted to what is essentially childish name-calling because you got a fairly statistically unlikely set of boosters?
grow up dude. there's no conspiracy. WOTC didn't sit in their headquarters and do an 'evil laugh' because some poor sap was going to open 3 of the same rare. it's not their fault and you shouldn't even process the thought that it might be. it's the nature of boosters. this is why it's not a financially viable way of getting specific cards you want to just buy stacks of boosters.
i opened some crap rares. didn't even play them, and i still came 2nd in a whole (large) prerelease. and it was one of the best prereleases i've done so far. you could have done the same.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern: G Tron, Vannifar, Jund, Druid/Vizier combo, Humans, Eldrazi Stompy (Serum Powder), Amulet, Grishoalbrand, Breach Titan, Turns, Eternal Command, As Foretold Living End, Elves, Cheerios, RUG Scapeshift
I did two prereleases, and the playable promo boxes proved bad both times. They don't guarantee a decent card pool (for example, the rares in my first prerelease included 4 lands), they don't guarantee that the chosen colour is worth playing, and knowing that barring exceptional circumstances you'll be facing a known bomb rare is fairly appalling. Making the playable promos game-ending large creatures makes the problem worse: the cycle of Battlefield Forge etc. would have been much lighter on game balance.
To do something different, prerelease cards could include 5 normal boosters, an unplayable promo, and a packet of 15 random rare cards, to ensure that some colour is strong and doing a prerelease is cost-effective.
Or playable promo cards that are not in the regular set (e.g. a colorless and less silly counterpart of Garruk, Oversized Goldfish) to make the prerelease games really special.
Uh... what? These are absolutely awful, terrible ideas.
Least enjoyable prerelease for me in awhile. I'll enjoy the set more in draft, I think, but playing with promos is getting seriously old in my book.
My worst loss was rather entertaining though. My opponent drops his tormentor, I lightning strike it. He drops a liliana the next turn, I kill her two turns after but now have no hand. Opponent drops another tormentor which starts putting me in a bind, then follows it up with a soul of innistrad and a gravedigger for the dead tormentor. I couldn't even be mad I was so impressed by that guy's pool (which was so strong he could go mono-black)
I did two prereleases and hated the sealed experience. I felt more like "here is random pile of cards" than, "here is a set." Also, both LGSs I went to for prereleases (a state and a hundred miles apart) sold out of green and black because of how unbalanced the promos were. We shouldn't get a promo, and the seeded pack should be entirely our color.
First time: went black and ended up playing UR. Pulled 3 mythics and a Chord of Calling, but had nothing in the way of commons and uncommons. Went 3-2, only losing to the first and second place players, got 9th....because the system sucks.
Second time: went white and ended up playing WU. This time I got screwed by luck, never drawing my bombs (Avacyn' Guardian Angel and Resolute Archangel) and only had one removal spell in all of my packs. Last game in the last round, I actually survived 17 turns while my opponent had both Resolute Archangel and Avacyn, Guardian Angel on the field (thanks to chump blocking flyers and Dauntless River Marshal), but the three cards that would have won me the game (my own Avacyn and Archangel, but also Seraph of the Masses) were three out of the bottom four cards.
I didn't use the blue promo, never planned to because it's utterly useless. I honestly wish they could give us a playable card, even a worthless and trivial one, over something that is so obviously just a trap. I'd honestly take a nice foil basic land over it, or how about a common utility spell like Void Snare or Lightning Strike? Indulgent Tormentor is so much better than the other promos that most people went black, I'm sure at least 60% of all attendees chose black.
Stay reasonable, be mindful of your expectations and don't feed the trolls.
Doomsdayin'
Good idea, I'd go a few steps further:
The seeded pack would have at least 2 rares in your color, besides the promo if any, one of which is guaranteed to be a creature. It would have at least 6 uncommon in your color, at least 3 are guaranteed to be creatures, and 2 non-creatures (the last is more random). Same for commons as the uncommons. So it would have at least 7 creatures in your color, helping ensure you'll be playable.
Given their new ability to have the cards machine readable, I'd consider going a few steps beyond that. I'd make it so that the booster packs that come at prerelease events are special, and guarenteed to have at least 1 common of each color, at least 1 common of colorless (mana fixing land or an artifact or something), and at least half the commons in the pack would be guaranteed to be creatures, and 1 card in the pack would be guaranteed to be a decent in limited removal (or pseudo-removal) spell (chosen from a list of such in the set, including things like Murder, Shock, Journey to Nowhere, Prey Upon, and Claustrophobia). I'd also ensure one of such removal spells in your color was in the seeded pack. All of these 'guaranteed' cards would be ones that are considered good in limited, so roughly 2/3rds of each pack should be certain to be good in limited. This would only be a special thing for the prerelease boxes.
The best play to beat a soul of theros is good sideboard tech I played against 3 opponents with souls of theros in my prerelease (it was 6 rounds swiss) and I brought in the one rare I cursed the most when I opened it - Stain the Mind luckily I always found it before they found their soul (so I won 2 of those 3 matches and one was a draw)
I stayed for the start of the second flight and saw a guy crack TWO Jaces in his packs. Lots of Sliver Hivelords were cracked.
At the time I started my first flight both black and green seeded packs were sold out, leaving only red, white and blue. It was an alright experience, though my card pool wasn't up to my normal par.
'buster
HR Analyst. Gamer. Activist | Fearless, and forthright | Aggro-control is a mindset.
Elspeth and Jhoira rock my world.
i realise that in the heat of the moment, people often want to find someone to blame for randomly occurring unfortunate things, but seriously - these boosters are random. you played the prerelease, came home, switched on your computer and still resorted to what is essentially childish name-calling because you got a fairly statistically unlikely set of boosters?
grow up dude. there's no conspiracy. WOTC didn't sit in their headquarters and do an 'evil laugh' because some poor sap was going to open 3 of the same rare. it's not their fault and you shouldn't even process the thought that it might be. it's the nature of boosters. this is why it's not a financially viable way of getting specific cards you want to just buy stacks of boosters.
i opened some crap rares. didn't even play them, and i still came 2nd in a whole (large) prerelease. and it was one of the best prereleases i've done so far. you could have done the same.
Uh... what? These are absolutely awful, terrible ideas.
- Main Cube
- No Brains, All Feelings Cube
My worst loss was rather entertaining though. My opponent drops his tormentor, I lightning strike it. He drops a liliana the next turn, I kill her two turns after but now have no hand. Opponent drops another tormentor which starts putting me in a bind, then follows it up with a soul of innistrad and a gravedigger for the dead tormentor. I couldn't even be mad I was so impressed by that guy's pool (which was so strong he could go mono-black)
My custom sets:
Caeia Block (Released - Beta)
Generals of Dareth (In Design)
First time: went black and ended up playing UR. Pulled 3 mythics and a Chord of Calling, but had nothing in the way of commons and uncommons. Went 3-2, only losing to the first and second place players, got 9th....because the system sucks.
Second time: went white and ended up playing WU. This time I got screwed by luck, never drawing my bombs (Avacyn' Guardian Angel and Resolute Archangel) and only had one removal spell in all of my packs. Last game in the last round, I actually survived 17 turns while my opponent had both Resolute Archangel and Avacyn, Guardian Angel on the field (thanks to chump blocking flyers and Dauntless River Marshal), but the three cards that would have won me the game (my own Avacyn and Archangel, but also Seraph of the Masses) were three out of the bottom four cards.