@ Verbal: I agree on most points but the shiny new thing. Many gimmicks are given out when trying out a new game. However, many of these things aren't applicable straightaway.
Promo foils are named because they're promo foils, and should stay this way. They're meant for promoting the game. Look, they gave us a promo booster when we purchase DotP; but we can't use them. Yet DotP still rocks to many people. We can have colored boosters, but leave the promo out for sealed.
Wizards screwed themselves over by giving us mythic promos the very first time. But they're always a success. I would say they're possibly the best reason for a EDH fanatic and/or serious player to join a prerelease. What's wrong with giving out Emrakul/Sheoldred/Hero of Bladehold/Wurmcoil Engine? They're fan-freaking fantastic.
Had Wizards not given us those mythic promos last time, could you imagine the prices of these mythics now? The fact they don't give anymore gives megastores a huge reason to jack up prices. Even if new players lose, they can still bring home their wurmcoils. Now when they lose, they have to settle for junk like Phytotitan.
Except to a new player, "junk" like phytotitan is amazing and cool.
And as I said above: If you assume stores like start city sell cards at a 'fair'* value, then wizards were giving away an enormous amount of value by giving away good mythics as pre-release cards. Yes, maybe some players turned up to pre-releases because of it...but given pre-releases are better attended than ever, on average over the last few sets, I don't think they are upset.
* by fair value, I mean that somewhere like star city sells cards for roughly the value you get if you open N packs and average the cost of the packs against the saleability of the rares and mythics. With some inflation, of course.
a video with the content of the prerelease pack, including the content of the green-soul-seeded pack, shared from mtg europe via twitter
If this video proves anything, its that the Soul Cycle are the "Mythic Rares" that you can get as the sole mythic rare that you can get in the seeded pack, similar to the Guild Leaders in the Ravnica Block and the Gods in Theros Block. That could change things for the pre-release as the Soul of Shandalar would be a powerful bomb to open up in your red seeded pack along with the dragon.
It also means that blue is absolutely the worst pick of the lot, since the blue Soul's abilities are the weakest overall, and it's prerelease promo is the weakest.
I would much rather have a 6/6 flyer for 6 in limited than a body with any other combat ability. It's a wrecking ball in limited formats. Blue has the best Soul for limited based on body alone. The fact it has an ability stacked on is just gravy for limited purposes. From a purely limited standpoint, I would first pick (and possibly hate draft) Soul of Ravnica every time, with the exception the rare possibility of staring down a foil Soul of something(Value reasons and what not). From a purely limited standpoint, the only soul in the same realm as it is probably Soul of New Phyrexia, which has evasion of sorts and is colorless, thus fitting any strategy.
I like the prerelease packs, having started prereleases at M14. I've been playing since '05 with Ravnica City of Guilds, but Limited is something I only started to delve into last year. I like the structure they afford, and I like the casual friendly stuff like the Hero cards, the challenge decks, and that Garruk card for this year's Core Set. I like the boxes- much better than the unceremonious white box I got for storing my cards from the comic shop I went to for M14. The spindown is appreciated, as are the tips for making your deck with color pairs. I'm fine with the promos, even if they aren't actually Constructed playable. They're just big.
I'll be posting threads on MTGSalvation and reddit tomorrow for people to start posting in, but in the mean time I want to stress how important it is for everyone to contribute to the cause and record their pre-release pack contents. We can't get the full lists unless people help out, as it gets exponentially harder to complete the full 40 as more are submitted. Snap a photo of your seeded booster, those around you, and get your buddies to do the same.
Usually, how soon could we expect the first pre-release event to start and have a sight at those seeded pack? The pre-release date is Sat 12th. Is it farfetched to expect all of them being spoiled Friday 11th late in night?
New Zealand and Australian players that go toour respective midnight pre-releases will probably start spoiling the seeded packs asap (these are among the earliest timezones to start the events).
Eg, timezone-wise, 12:01am Saturday in New Zealand will be 5am Friday east coast US time
(Sorry for the triple post, I was doing it from my phone and didn't think the p[osts were going through >_< I've deleted the extras, I hope)
Wow nice, thanks! This mean we might have a better idea which color succeeded the better at pre-release and what to expect from Seeded Booster. I might be overdoing but it's the first pre-release I am that much focused on what "might" appear in the seeded booster. Before, there were just an other pack for me... didn't care that much for what inside, I wanted the color.
Side note, You might want to delete some of your post. You tripled posted.
based on the previous trends, we only really get about 15-20 of the 40 lists by the end of the weekend. A lot come from my own personal pre-release events as I am quite militant on getting a lot of players to cooperate and photograph their lists. After that, the majority of lists get completed based on Youtube "Unboxing" videos that trickle in over the few weeks following the pre-release.
To this date, we still don't even have Theros, Born of the Gods, and Journey into Nyx completed yet, with about 2-3 missing from each set. While I am appreciative of lists that people post here, overall it is very disappointing how few make their way here despite the sheer volume of people playing in pre-release events. Maybe this time there will be enough awareness, and interest, to get the lists completed.
TL;DR, please record your seeded pack contents when you go to the events. Get some from other people too. Written down is fine, but ideally a photograph is very accurate.
I'll do my best to shot mine Saturday. As for the previous, I found it interesting that 2 of the 8 green Born of the God seeded deck had a Courser of Kruphix in them. I don't know if it's accurate. But if it is indeed, I might grab some at my local shop. They sell the remaining Seeded Booster 2$ each.
Logically I think I know the answer to this question but I feel I have to ask anyway; is Soul of New Phrexia a possibility in any of the seeded packs? I highly doubt it since they are all color oriented but if there's a chance I think that colored pack would be my first pick.
Well, by choosing green, you had a 1/4 chance to get Courser.... lucky green player... getting a 15$ value card with there pre-release pack. Which was at the same time realy good for limited.
Some deck in modern (maybe even legacy) use it to remove land from the top of there library, also, he is resilient (4 toughness) and have life gain capability. It's a overall great 3th turn creature that can synergise with fetch land.
The biggest problem I've had with the seeded packs is that it winds up causing confusion with new players. The seeded pack says play green or whatever, but the packs don't support green, they have a bad experience. With just normal packs, it is much easier to point them at whatever color is best in their pool. There isn't the conflicting instruction of "play THIS color." This is without the whole uneven promos issue, causing certain colors to run out faster, angering players who can't get the one they want.
It was neat as a gimmick in Ravnica. Not so much all the time.
For those who didn't played the M15 prerelease yet, I recommend to choose Valor. Resolute Angel wins you games, and white has tons of goodies ( spot removals, token maker, etc).
Got the pack 2 - Contains Hushwing Gryff
Prerelease Card - Resolute Angel
M15 Booster 1 - Soul of Phyrexia
M15 Booster 2 - Return to the Ranks
M15 Booster 3 - In Garruk's Wake
M15 Booster 4 - Goblin Kaboonist
M15 Booster 5 - Shield of the Avatar
Won 2 M15 Boosters contains Nissa Worldwaker and Necromancer's Stockpile
What was in your Seeded pack outside of Hushwing Gryff?
Also, Wow You got SoNP... great bomb.
Congregate U
Seraph of the Masses U
Warden of the Beyond U
Ephemeral Shields C
Razorfoot Griffin C
Soulmender C
Tireless Missionaries C
Triplicate Spirits C
Raise the Alarm C
Except to a new player, "junk" like phytotitan is amazing and cool.
And as I said above: If you assume stores like start city sell cards at a 'fair'* value, then wizards were giving away an enormous amount of value by giving away good mythics as pre-release cards. Yes, maybe some players turned up to pre-releases because of it...but given pre-releases are better attended than ever, on average over the last few sets, I don't think they are upset.
* by fair value, I mean that somewhere like star city sells cards for roughly the value you get if you open N packs and average the cost of the packs against the saleability of the rares and mythics. With some inflation, of course.
I would much rather have a 6/6 flyer for 6 in limited than a body with any other combat ability. It's a wrecking ball in limited formats. Blue has the best Soul for limited based on body alone. The fact it has an ability stacked on is just gravy for limited purposes. From a purely limited standpoint, I would first pick (and possibly hate draft) Soul of Ravnica every time, with the exception the rare possibility of staring down a foil Soul of something(Value reasons and what not). From a purely limited standpoint, the only soul in the same realm as it is probably Soul of New Phyrexia, which has evasion of sorts and is colorless, thus fitting any strategy.
I'll be posting threads on MTGSalvation and reddit tomorrow for people to start posting in, but in the mean time I want to stress how important it is for everyone to contribute to the cause and record their pre-release pack contents. We can't get the full lists unless people help out, as it gets exponentially harder to complete the full 40 as more are submitted. Snap a photo of your seeded booster, those around you, and get your buddies to do the same.
Eg, timezone-wise, 12:01am Saturday in New Zealand will be 5am Friday east coast US time
(Sorry for the triple post, I was doing it from my phone and didn't think the p[osts were going through >_< I've deleted the extras, I hope)
Side note, You might want to delete some of your post. You tripled posted.
To this date, we still don't even have Theros, Born of the Gods, and Journey into Nyx completed yet, with about 2-3 missing from each set. While I am appreciative of lists that people post here, overall it is very disappointing how few make their way here despite the sheer volume of people playing in pre-release events. Maybe this time there will be enough awareness, and interest, to get the lists completed.
TL;DR, please record your seeded pack contents when you go to the events. Get some from other people too. Written down is fine, but ideally a photograph is very accurate.
EDIT: Here is the link to the MTGSalvation thread I made to collect all the seeded pack contents. Feel free to use that link to post your pack contents so we can compile them all. http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/limited-sealed-draft/564601-m15-magic-2015-core-set-pre-release-seeded-booster
It was neat as a gimmick in Ravnica. Not so much all the time.
EDH is a CASUAL format. Get with the program, or GTFO.
UR Melek, Izzet ParagonUR, B Shirei, Shizo's CaretakerB, R Jaya Ballard, Task MageR,RW Tajic, Blade of the LegionRW, UB Lazav, Dimir MastermindUB, UB Circu, Dimir LobotomistUB, RWU Zedruu the GreatheartedRWU, GUBThe MimeoplasmGUB, UGExperiment Kraj UG, WDarien, King of KjeldorW, BMarrow-GnawerB, WBGKarador, Ghost ChieftainWBG, UTeferi, Temporal ArchmageU, GWUDerevi, Empyrial TacticianGWU, RDaretti, Scrap SavantR, UTalrand, Sky SummonerU, GEzuri, Renegade LeaderG, WUBRGReaper KingWUBRG, RGXenagos, God of RevelsRG, CKozilek, Butcher of TruthC, WUBRGGeneral TazriWUBRG, GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
Got the pack 2 - Contains Hushwing Gryff
Prerelease Card - Resolute Angel
M15 Booster 1 - Soul of Phyrexia
M15 Booster 2 - Return to the Ranks
M15 Booster 3 - In Garruk's Wake
M15 Booster 4 - Goblin Kaboonist
M15 Booster 5 - Shield of the Avatar
Won 2 M15 Boosters contains Nissa Worldwaker and Necromancer's Stockpile
Also, Wow You got SoNP... great bomb.
Congregate U
Seraph of the Masses U
Warden of the Beyond U
Ephemeral Shields C
Razorfoot Griffin C
Soulmender C
Tireless Missionaries C
Triplicate Spirits C
Raise the Alarm C
Easy to See For Trade list
"Red. Which in the language of the flowers means courage and determination."
-Vash the Stampede
The difference between Genius and Stupidity is that Genius has it limits.