Strangely, I do not see a thread here (or anywhere else, for that matter), so I decided to start one. What were your pulls, pools, MVPs, etc?
I cracked a Champion of Rhonas promo, Hapatra, Glorious End, Throne of the God-Pharaoh, Harsh Mentor, Vizier of Many Faces and Liliana, Death's Majesty.
Obviously, I focused on Hapatra and Liliana and tried to make BG work. Problems? No removal save for Stinging Shot. No black kill spell, no green Cartouche. But I had Destined/Lead, another incentive to run BG. Also got a couple of cheap self-cutters to go with Hapatra (but not Baleful Ammit, one of the best).
Also, I had the Champion of Rhonas, but no fatty to drop with it (not even Colossapede)- the only 5-drop besides Liliana was Horror of the Broken Lands (again with little cycling support).
In the end, I splashed blue for double blue Cartouche (evasion), Vizier (bomb) and Aven Initiate.
The result of this wacky thing? 5-0 and first place in a 19-player prerelease
First of all, Oashra Cultivator is a great target if you want a T3 4/5 Defiant Greatmaw, and it still lives to tell the tale and fetch the land. Destined//Lead is, hands down, a bomb. I nuked opponent's board twice with it - his four critters forced to block exerted indestructible 4/2 Bitterblade Warrior; and won two more games by forcing him to gang-block a snake, running around for 8+ damage.
Hapatra is a bomb no less. In the end, despite having not quite enough counter-dealers, she well did her work, and unless facing a flyer-heavy deck (that hardly anyone had), the 1/1 deathtouch snakes are a big deterrent. Slamming the blue cartouche on her T3 was usually also a great play (as I have faced just one deck with more than a couple fliers), as she could provide the snakes by herself while diminishing his army.
Splashing for the two blue Cartouches was in the end a great idea, as most of the games were won on the acquired wings of flying hippos or scorpion demons.
Lili was also great. I kept hitting double lands with her the first two games I played her, I zombified twice with her, and she was always a great lightning rod as well. In one game, I knocked Destined/Lead to grave just in time to use it for alpha strike.
Vizier was as great as you would expect, and there were some nasty tricks with it and ETB effects, especially with another unfair card, Supernatural Stamina.
MVP was definitely Destined/Lead.
I beat UW embalm deck with Anointed Procession (he had Glyph Keeper, Oketra's Attendants and a couple others, but was usually dead before he embalmed but one), GB deck that was almost a mirror (except he had Ammits and two Hapatras), two UB cycling decks (one good, and one wacky with Kefnet and New Perspectives), and finally a RG with Champion of Rhonas, both Manticores, cheap beaters and two Consuming Fervors.
Nothing of interest in the prize packs, though. But a great event nonetheless.
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I attended two prereleases over the weekend. Both times I ended up with a W/G deck plus a splash. The first time red for Electrify and the mythic from my first pack, Samut, Voice of Dissent. The second time black for Final Reward, Splendid Agony, and Decimator Beetle. The decks were both very similar with lots of 2-drops and 3-drops, plus each had a Gideon, who did perform very well for me. The first time I had no mana fixing, and splashed by simply adding three Mountains. The second time I had a whopping 10 mana fixing cards, 4 of which were lands, but here too, I ended up running only Evolving Wilds, and even that I cut before the final match as it proved too hindering for my aggro. I went with a third Swamp instead and that worked fine.
The cards that really showed their power for me were:
2nd day)
Gideon again, Cartouche of Strength, Fan Bearer, and Glory-Bound Initiate. I had those last two plus Initiate's Companion early during one game, neatly curved out, against my opponent's single Khenra Charioteer. This very nice synergy won me the game at a whopping 38 life without much else, except a Shed Weakness that twarted my opponent's attempt at killing my Initiate. I also added a Djeru's Resolve as 23rd card to the deck, and it proved to be a worthwhile combat trick and lifesaver for my creatures in several games.
But the games did go rather long, so much so, that I ended my first day with a 3-0-2 record (third place among 20 participants). In one drawn match we were tied and in the middle of preparation for the third game, when time was called. In the second draw I was losing but managed to survive the extra turns. The matches on the second day seemed to go faster, with fewer draws overall (but still some), and I ended up with a record of 4-1 (third place again among 26 participants).
Overall, the events were a blast and more interesting and fun than many other prereleases I attended in the past.
I pulled Hapatra as well, along with counter-centric stuff like Ruthless Sniper, Channeler Initiate,Baleful Ammit, Nest of Scarabs, Ornery Kudu, and Soulstinger... Hapatra is a ton of fun to play, can't wait to get her running in EDH. Went Sultai for cyclers, a pair of blue trials, and the UG split card. Best bomb overall was definitely Sandwurm Convergence though, pretty much an instant scoop whenever it got cast.
Went 2-1, losing to a combination of mana screw and gruul aggro. Best moment of the day, however, was witnessing a kid at my table pull a Masterpiece Force of Will AND Gideon of the Trials from his two prize packs. The whole room cheered!
As tempting as that dragon was I decided to go B/W which gave me some nice zombie and token synergies, bombs, and removal. Start // Finish was probably my best non-rare. I was able to curve Doomed Dissenter into Plague Belcher one game and Baleful Ammit another game. Double Fan Bearers were pretty great and are also champs at holding a -1/-1 counter. I ended up going 3-0 with one of the most fun and synergistic sealed decks I've ever had. Overall a great prerelease for me!
Strangely, I do not see a thread here (or anywhere else, for that matter)
Yeah, this we weirding me out all weekend. I came here this morning intent on starting one if it hadn't already been done. Thanks for kicking it off.
First of all, I thought this was one of the most enjoyable sealed formats I've played in a while. The deck options were various, not extraordinarily dependent on hitting a critical mass of certain cards/keywords, and not too terribly influenced by bombs. Not to say that those things were completely non-existent. It's just that other sealed formats have been hit by them pretty hard. This felt like a more balanced, sealed format.
I played a couple events: 1v1 and 2HG. Went 2-0-1 in the 1v1 and 2-1-0 in the 2HG.
1v1 deck was BW zombies that surprised me with how good it was. I repeatedly hit Anointed Procession and Stir the Sands, which is just disgusting on either cast or cycle. Fan Bearer was as good as expected. I was shocked at how relevant Impeccable Timing was in this format. Seemed like a lot more interactions happened in combat than usual. Twice, I played against people who sided in Tresspasser's Curse [sic] against all my token generation. That's how I got my draw, but in the other game, I stuck Gideon and used his emblem to shrug off negative life while I slung a zombie horde across the board. I almost felt bad.
2HG was a blast. We won one game using what we called "The British Invasion". We dropped 3 Dune Beetles early and exchanged throughout the game so that we could just keep pinging away with John, Paul, and George. The other game that we won was pretty dramatic. On the last turn of extra turns, we cast Ribbons from Cut // Ribbons for X = 8 to deal 16 damage, and then cycled 2 cards with 2x Faith of the Devoted to deal 24 damage when they were at 24 life. Fun times.
All in all, I thought it was a great day and I wish I could have played a couple more events. Fun stuff.
Best moment of the day, however, was witnessing a kid at my table pull a Masterpiece Force of Will AND Gideon of the Trials from his two prize packs. The whole room cheered!
Hapatra is a bomb no less. In the end, despite having not quite enough counter-dealers, she well did her work, and unless facing a flyer-heavy deck (that hardly anyone had), the 1/1 deathtouch snakes are a big deterrent. Slamming the blue cartouche on her T3 was usually also a great play (as I have faced just one deck with more than a couple fliers), as she could provide the snakes by herself while diminishing his army.
Dang, son. If you're doing this against me with just two mana fixers in sealed, I'm just shaking my head that it wasn't my day.
Of the red non-rare creatures, Ahn-Crop Crasher, Thresher Lizard, and Emberhorn Minotaur performed well as expected. No surprises. This didn't seem to be a format where some commons surprised people and made waves. For the most part, the bombs were much stronger than anything else.
Having double Final Reward probably saved me a lot from losing to Gods or the Angel.
Electrify was also good. The big flyers and many bombs have exactly 4 toughness. There are very few creatures in the format naturally too big for Electrify, mostly vanilla ground guys. I had enough answers for little things that I could save Electrify for big threats.
Because 4 is the magic number, that also made Glorybringer a ridiculous bomb. Even if it only Lightning Blasts opponent's face and best creature before opponent untaps and kills it, you are so far ahead in that game.
Edifice of Authority was soul-crushing. Pro-tip: if you hit a God with the second ability on your turn, even if you don't need to attack, then opponent never has a window on his turn to activate the God's ability for profit. Rhonas the Indomitable was dominated.
I never saw a good cycling deck. I saw some players cobble together something with the payoffs and lots of cycling cards, but after durdling a few turns they'd end up wasting all their creatures on cycling and land-flooding out. Maybe other people had them. I just didn't see one. I think the cycling deck really wants a common cycling land, otherwise you're just spending the lategame trading creatures and spells for lands, the opposite of what you want to do.
Best moment of the day, however, was witnessing a kid at my table pull a Masterpiece Force of Will AND Gideon of the Trials from his two prize packs. The whole room cheered!
Good lord
Yeah, That was pretty much the reaction of the entire room. I asked the kid if he was old enough to play the lotto, if so then he needed to go buy a ticket posthaste!
Hapatra is a bomb no less. In the end, despite having not quite enough counter-dealers, she well did her work, and unless facing a flyer-heavy deck (that hardly anyone had), the 1/1 deathtouch snakes are a big deterrent. Slamming the blue cartouche on her T3 was usually also a great play (as I have faced just one deck with more than a couple fliers), as she could provide the snakes by herself while diminishing his army.
Dang, son. If you're doing this against me with just two mana fixers in sealed, I'm just shaking my head that it wasn't my day.
Ya know, my second daughter was born on November, and the only 2 times when I played Magic since then was AER prerelease where I went 4-1 and one AER draft. So I counted on the fate and god of mana fixing to stand by me when I got my leave, in order to ensure I am enjoying myself and not whining about manascrew. I do not say I did it regularly, but once or twice it happened. ;-)
And for the record, a friend of mine and a quite a Spike (He once represented our country on Worlds) was quite frustrated by exactly this situation, because I managed to have all three colors on T3 all three games we played. It just was MY day
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these "how'd you do at the prerelease" always attracts happy players eager to share how well they did.
just a friendly invitation: i like even more hearing about those who did so-so or very poorly, and hearing about what went wrong!
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some of my favourite flavour text:
Wayward Soul "no home no heart no hope"
—Stronghold graffito
Raging Goblin He raged at the world, at his family, at his life. But mostly he just raged.
these "how'd you do at the prerelease" always attracts happy players eager to share how well they did.
just a friendly invitation: i like even more hearing about those who did so-so or very poorly, and hearing about what went wrong!
Ha, fine.
I had an unusually rough prerelease. I do 5 prereleases and usually average 3-1 or better. This time I barely broke a 2-2 average (3-1, 3-1, 2-2(2hg), 1-3, 2-2(2hg)).
The 1-3 was miserable. I had probably the worst pool I've ever seen at a prerelease. I had 8 rares (one extra foil) which were, I kid you not:
just for point of reference, going through the spoiler I'd only characterize about 1/4 of the rares in the set as "bad". 7/8 of my rares fall into that category. So, if I'm doing my math right, the odds of such a pool are around .04%, or 1 in 2048. I guess you could make the argument that the lands aren't "bad" since they're totally fine and playable if you happen to be in those colors, but considering the unlikelihood of being in those colors and their extreme mediocrity if you're only in one of the colors (btw my green and my white were both paper-thin with nothing terribly exciting to splash) I'd say they're still very, very disappointing rares.
Hilariously, the best rare with a bullet (sweltering suns) was unplayable in my pool despite being heavy red, because my only real hope was go aggro and try to race everyone's bombs. I didn't have any red removal and my black and green were both very thin. I ended up playing hazoret's favor and soul-scar mage mostly to test them out, and they both sucked about as badly as you'd expect.
With little other choice, I went RU aggro with 2x open into wonder as finishers and 2x blue cartouches to try to push through damage. I had a few solid beaters (that 2 mana 4/3 guy and three of the 4/3 exert guy) but a lot of really unexciting stuff like the 1/3 prowess that didn't do much to apply early pressure. The deck was super inconsistent and depressing to play.
2HG I feel like I still don't have a bead on. Probably the most annoying loss there was vs cut/ribbons. I don't know why they made it "each opponent" on the back side, that card is already great as a regular-power fireball, making it a double-power fireball is just stupid. It's very possible we made mistakes on deckbuilding, but each match felt like one team or the other got the aggro pressure and then never really lost it. Most of the games we did win were against opponents that made some (imo) really egregious play mistakes. My recently unimpressive record in 2hg really annoys me because those used to be easy 4-0s.
I will say, part of the reason this weekend in particular was probably a lot harder than usual was that my favorite store had recently closed, and despite hosting drafts at a nearby pub weren't able to do a prerelease - until suddenly, just a few days before. So the bulk of the competition was pretty dedicated players willing to change their prerelease plans. Still, I usually do well at competitive sealed events against presumably similar competition. I guess if you ignore the horribad pool and the 2hgs, I went 3-1 which is fine. Still, it did not feel great.
DirkGently, sometimes i think you shoudl get an XBox-like achievement when you manage to pull a pool lik ethat
hopefully the lands end up worth lots of money, though!
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Goblins have poor impulse control. Don't click this link!!
some of my favourite flavour text:
Wayward Soul "no home no heart no hope"
—Stronghold graffito
Raging Goblin He raged at the world, at his family, at his life. But mostly he just raged.
DirkGently, sometimes i think you shoudl get an XBox-like achievement when you manage to pull a pool lik ethat
hopefully the lands end up worth lots of money, though!
the as foretold is actually one of the most valuable cards in the set. Totally unplayable in limited of course. In terms of raw cash value my pool was actually pretty good, although personally I'd rather my pool be worth pennies but have some sweet bombs.
This went 2-0-2 (split final match for prizes, first match went a bit long as I was playing against control and I don't have much evasion but I was favored to win game 3)
Had the white cartouche and would side in the 3rd green one for some matchups.
Picking up the trials was a big game and the white trial giving vigilance is big game in the world of exert, and repeatedly getting a 4/2 was pretty good too.
Fan Barrer was pretty darn good and having 2 meant I had one almost every game. My removal was great. My opponent round 2 had a pool with 3 gods (WUB) and played them all. I was able to deal with all of them with my removal. While I had a decent amount of embalm I didn't use it too much. I was pleasantly surprised with Oketra's Monument. One game I held out till turn 3 and was able to play 3 white creatures and make 3 tokens on turn 4 with a trial of solidarity to follow.
Got an opponents evolving wilds by flashing in my promo Aven Mindsensor
My MVP had to be Prepare // Fight, with Cartouche-Trial synergy right behind it, as both halves of that card did so much work for me I don't even know where to start. I'm certainly not against it being rare (for Limited's sake) now. People also seemed to forget that just because I can gain two life off their Compulsory Rest doesn't mean I'm going to when my pacified 4-power creature is keeping Rhonas active. That alone saved my bacon a few times. I also really wanted Destined // Lead like Caranthir got, because I'm just picturing it with Rhonas.
In hindsight, I think I should've played Cradle of the Accursed over the Dunes, as the Dunes really didn't hit much from my perspective. I didn't have a way to maximize the sole -1/-1 counter, in short.
Other random stuff would be how awesome Unwavering Initiate with Cartouche was; vigilance felt extremely relevant in this set, for some reason, at least to me. Those Who Serve also was a very nice roadblock against some of the early aggressive drops like Exemplar of Strength. Greater Sandwurm was a very nice finisher to have as well, forcing them to use their more valuable/fatty critters (assuming no Gods) to prevent getting murdered.
these "how'd you do at the prerelease" always attracts happy players eager to share how well they did.
just a friendly invitation: i like even more hearing about those who did so-so or very poorly, and hearing about what went wrong!
To be frank, I share every experience, even the worse.
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I can vouch, that card was insane for me as well. Multiple times I'd attack with emberhorn minotaur, trigger on the stack it gets impeccable timinged, in response I cast prepare for massive lifelink damage, then fight postcombat for even more lifelink, and just absolutely obliterate a close race.
The one match I played was against another B/G deck that had Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons and 2 Final Rewards. In the first game we were matched up pretty well and he was doing alright at first with Hapatra and getting ready to create a bunch of snakes, but I was able to kill her quickly. Toward the end game he had a 4/5 Soulstinger, Quarry Hauler, and I believe a Miasmic Mummy against my 4/4 Exemplar of Strength and Wasteland Scorpion. I was able to play Destined // Lead from my graveyard and trade his Soulstinger and Hauler for my Scorpion and got in with the Exemplar. After that blowout I was able to control the game.
The second game was all about my 2 bats. We stalled on board and I was able to get in with both of them multiple times and then played a Lord of the Accursed for a better clock. One turn, he gave my lord a Final Reward, but I was able to play the second one right after and continued the beatdown. By the time we get to the end I only have the lord on the battlefield. He has a Colossapede and another 2/2 to block. I was at about 16 and he was at 2. I then played Cartouche of Ambition to give the big bug a -1/-1 and followed up with Cartouche of Strength for my now 4/5 lifelinking trampley zombie lord to fight the bug, kill the bug, gain life, and attack through the 2/2 for the win. Even though I won, I did give him the win since I knew I would be leaving. He was obviously happy, especially since it seemed like all of his friends won so he would've been the odd man out.
Even though the Friday pool wasn't bad, my value cards were poor (best card was a Harsh Mentor). I gotta say....my Sunday pool made up for it and then some (which wasn't the case throughout all of Kaladesh block).
First card I looked at was my PR card of course and a Gideon of the Trials was staring back at me. I was like, "Hey! Very cool." I keep opening and run into a regular Gideon and then a regular Rhonas the Indomitable ! Yea, I got to be that dude this time (been like a decade since the last one when I pulled a foil Thoughtseize in the Morningtide PR).
The only sad thing was my white wasn't very deep, but of course that didn't stop me. my blue and green were very good and so I was in Bant colors adding the Gideons, Fan Bearer, and Gust Walker. Here's the deck (minus a couple unmemorable cards):
1st round: Opponent playing B/R was young, but you could tell he had a decent grasp of the game. Unfortunately for him his deck didn't really put any pressure on me and I rolled over him quickly with Rhonas and beaters.
2nd round: Opponent playing G/B. We were pretty well matched in the first game. I didn't get Rhonas or Gideon out at all and we had a stand-off on the ground. Fortunately my flyers swooped over for the win. 2nd game we were going back and forth and I started to gain some ground. I drew one of my Gideons, played it, and he promptly conceded. I was kind of surprised that he did, since I didn't think he was dead to rights just yet, but apparently he thought he was.
3rd round: Opponent playing W/g/b zombies/tokens. 1st game we both had to mull to 5 and he pulled out of it quicker than I did. 2nd game was another ground stall. I kept getting in slowly with my flyers, but he had a Fan Bearer to slow it down even further. I finally had out all 3 Shimmerscale Drakes and was able to get the game. I even was able to utilize Gideon's ultimate and plussed him from there on out to further protect me.
Unfortunately we only had 5 minutes left in the round. Fortunately I drew the best 7 card hand: one of each land, Painted Bluffs, Oashra Cultivator, Rhonas, and Gideon. So I turn 3-Rhonas, turn 4-Gideon attack with Rhonas, and from there just kept attacking with both of them. I won on turn 2 of extra turns.
4th round: Ended up losing due to mana issues both games, but we worked out a split on the prize packs beforehand anyway (7 each), so I wasn't worried about it and got a Chain Lightning in one of them.
My Red card pool was much bigger than Black's, but I felt that White was so powerful that I could afford to keep the synergies for my Binding Mummies, and to grab the Black Cartouche for my Trial. Also for Liliana, because she's Liliana.
My Record went like this
R1: BGu Goodstuff. 1-2
R2: GBr Goodstuff. 2-1
R3: BGu Control. 1-0-1
R4: RWb Aggro. 2-0
R5: UBw Fliers. 0-2
That put my result at 3-2, but apparently my score was good enough to qualify me to Top 8. I won my Quarterfinals vs a WB Mirror Match 2-0 and split prizes with the T4. My deck was so solid that I would have an easier time naming the bad cards than the good cards, which from what I could see are Those Who Serve, Annointer Priest, and to a suprising lesser extent Supply Caravan. It really was a collective effort for my deck, though that shouldn't come to a shock considering the synergies going on here with going wide, caring about zombies, and the Trail-Cartouche interation. I supposed Soulstinger was stronger than I thought it would be. No one likes being two-for-one'd with this guy out. Cartouche of Ambition, as well, was very powerful since it made many early blocks difficult and even took down some wienies here and there.
I went only on Sunday, did only one pre-release and didn't study the set before hand, so I expected to get caught by combat tricks.
I got one of the best money pool of the day: double hazoret the fervent and promo nissa, steward of elements. My red was pretty bad-ass, but green was weak, so I paired red with blue, which had double the bouncing bird, a few early drop with embalm and tricks. (bounce, counter, the 0/2 aura) I played RUg, with two forests for nissa.
I went 2-2 but I really should have gone 4-0.
My first improper loss was due to my opponent, sitting at 1 life after I alpha-stroke him with him having only 1 green mana open, but he had the green triple -1/-1 counters on a flyer trick in hand. He killed me on the back swing exactly with 11 damage. The catch? Earlier in the game, I got damage by the red dude who shocks you every time you activate an ability and I got burned by exert. Only, exert is a triggered ability, so I should have had more life. I should have won that game and the match.
The other match loss was with me mulliganing to 5, but in the first game I forgot a couple of times the accumulative exert triggers of a few red cards. (The one that gives +1/0 for *each exertion in particular. I was exerting two creatures at once, so I should have hit harder.) In the second game, I said "go" during one turn, then immediately realized I had an embalm guy in the yard, but I was denied taking back my go and embalming it. Turned out the 2 damage was key a few turns later. Oh well. While I understand not taking things back, but I realized it immediately and *I* tend to be forgiving in pre-release games. I'm not yet used to watch my GY.
Hazoret is busted. It's even easier to turn on than the green god, as it can do it all alone, is a better top deck and the extra burn to the face is relevant. In one game I won, I was color screwed out of blue and just threw all my blue cards to the face and bashed for 5 every turn. Easy win.
The only card I'd rate over it that I played against is glorybringer and it's debatable. Hazoret is faster, but glorybringer built-in removal is just really unfair.
So far in this thread, most people went WX(x) where X is never red unless glorybringer or apparently hazoret the fervent. In my games I didn't run into any red either but all my opponents were playing white something. It just seems white plays nice with everything in this set. Draft will probably be different. Wonder if that was done on purpose with ol' NikkyB coming next set maybe red gets a bump up then.
Anyone have success with red yet? What are the other non bomb cards you ran?
That's frustrating. Always helps to RTFC. I've facepalmed a few times over the years, in finals or semi-finals (with prize on the line), because I didn't take the time to RTFC for a brand new set.
Hazoret is busted.
I didn't have this or play against it, but in the games I scouted it seemed like the best God by far. It's the easiest to activate, it doesn't need anything else to be good, and it's such a good topdeck to end the game quickly. It was active almost every time I saw it on board. The haste + burn to the face completely swung one race. In another game, I saw an opponent getting 2-for-1'd attacking into a passive Hazoret (2 cards in hand, 1 mana open). The Hazoret player cast Magma Spray, killing one attacker, then ate a 5/5 with Hazoret.
I'd rate Glorybringer higher because I've actually played with it and never saw it perform worse than a 2-for-1 (trading with opponent's best creature + best removal and dealing 4 damage). But Hazoret wins the race.
The green god's probably the second best god. On a clogged board its upside is even higher, but it's also a dead card sometimes.
So far in this thread, most people went WX(x) where X is never red unless glorybringer or apparently hazoret the fervent. In my games I didn't run into any red either but all my opponents were playing white something. It just seems white plays nice with everything in this set. Draft will probably be different. Wonder if that was done on purpose with ol' NikkyB coming next set maybe red gets a bump up then.
Anyone have success with red yet? What are the other non bomb cards you ran?
Posted already. 5-0-1 with RB. No white! I was a "Red because Glorybringer," but I also loved the commons.
Magma Spray, Electrify and Deem Worthy are all great removal. I was always happy to see these cards. Electrify is great because a lot of the big threats cap at 4 toughness. I found Magma Spray better in this format than Shock was in the last one because of Embalm, the creatures that start off smaller (with -1/-1 counters), and the low toughness of many Exert creatures before being exerted. It hits a lot of targets. As a 1-mana instant, you can even catch 2-for-1s when opponent tries to cast a Cartouche on an early creature. You can even use it + a blocker to kill a large embalm creature. You're not really getting 2-for-1'd because you're stopping the opponent's 2-for-1 from Embalm. I could never see myself not running every single Magma Spray I can get.
I had 2 Emberhorn Minotaur, and they were great value for a 4-drop. 4/3 for 3R (not 2RR) is already above curve, and the Exert makes this hard to profitably block on curve. They put in a lot of work.
Minotaur Sureshot is also great value, getting both Reach and slowbreathing as bonuses on the usual 2/3 for 2R. It holds the fort well while other things attack.
Your mileage may vary with Thresher Lizard. I was playing aggro, so it was regularly a 4/4 for 2R for me.
2 Nef-Crop Entangler were alright. They beat down for early damage, and Pathmaker Initiate could keep pushing them through. But other times they got mauled by the black Cartouche, or I got 2-for-1'd by Splendid Agony. Against black I'd much rather have the white or green 2-drop exert creature instead (2/2). But otherwise these both have pretty good upside for pushing through damage.
Red has a lot of removal and some of the most aggressive creatures. I'm surprised people were avoiding it.
From my very limited experience, I'd rate the colors as: G > W = R = B > U. (I honestly don't have much experience with black in the set.) Unlike some other sets we've had recently, I think the colors are well-balanced, so the ranking is not as strong. In all the matches I've played, synergy and good play was more important than color.
I really hope it turns out to be as good a limited format as it seems.
The one thing that somewhat worries me is the cartouche. They give a lot of value for their mana cost. The white one is extremely good early, the blue one pays itself back immediately and give evasion. I've played against the black one on a first-striker and it was annoying as hell. I think they've balanced the usual downside of auras with enough upside and low mana cost to make the potential 2-for-1 worth the risk. Just side them out against blue bounce.
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I cracked a Champion of Rhonas promo, Hapatra, Glorious End, Throne of the God-Pharaoh, Harsh Mentor, Vizier of Many Faces and Liliana, Death's Majesty.
Obviously, I focused on Hapatra and Liliana and tried to make BG work. Problems? No removal save for Stinging Shot. No black kill spell, no green Cartouche. But I had Destined/Lead, another incentive to run BG. Also got a couple of cheap self-cutters to go with Hapatra (but not Baleful Ammit, one of the best).
Also, I had the Champion of Rhonas, but no fatty to drop with it (not even Colossapede)- the only 5-drop besides Liliana was Horror of the Broken Lands (again with little cycling support).
In the end, I splashed blue for double blue Cartouche (evasion), Vizier (bomb) and Aven Initiate.
1 Aven Initiate
1 Doomed Dissenter
1 Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons
1 Bitterblade Warrior
2 Defiant Greatmaw
1 Wasteland Scorpion
1 Giant Spider
1 Cursed Minotaur
1 Champion of Rhonas
1 Soulstinger
1 Bone Picker
1 Vizier of Many Faces
1 Horror of the Broken Lands
1 Destined//Lead
1 Stinging Shot
2 Cartouche of Knowledge
1 Supernatural Stamina
1 Scarab Feast
1 Shed Weakness
1 Painted Bluffs
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Grasping Dunes
6 Swamp
5 Forest
4 Island
The result of this wacky thing? 5-0 and first place in a 19-player prerelease
First of all, Oashra Cultivator is a great target if you want a T3 4/5 Defiant Greatmaw, and it still lives to tell the tale and fetch the land. Destined//Lead is, hands down, a bomb. I nuked opponent's board twice with it - his four critters forced to block exerted indestructible 4/2 Bitterblade Warrior; and won two more games by forcing him to gang-block a snake, running around for 8+ damage.
Hapatra is a bomb no less. In the end, despite having not quite enough counter-dealers, she well did her work, and unless facing a flyer-heavy deck (that hardly anyone had), the 1/1 deathtouch snakes are a big deterrent. Slamming the blue cartouche on her T3 was usually also a great play (as I have faced just one deck with more than a couple fliers), as she could provide the snakes by herself while diminishing his army.
Splashing for the two blue Cartouches was in the end a great idea, as most of the games were won on the acquired wings of flying hippos or scorpion demons.
Lili was also great. I kept hitting double lands with her the first two games I played her, I zombified twice with her, and she was always a great lightning rod as well. In one game, I knocked Destined/Lead to grave just in time to use it for alpha strike.
Vizier was as great as you would expect, and there were some nasty tricks with it and ETB effects, especially with another unfair card, Supernatural Stamina.
MVP was definitely Destined/Lead.
I beat UW embalm deck with Anointed Procession (he had Glyph Keeper, Oketra's Attendants and a couple others, but was usually dead before he embalmed but one), GB deck that was almost a mirror (except he had Ammits and two Hapatras), two UB cycling decks (one good, and one wacky with Kefnet and New Perspectives), and finally a RG with Champion of Rhonas, both Manticores, cheap beaters and two Consuming Fervors.
Nothing of interest in the prize packs, though. But a great event nonetheless.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
The cards that really showed their power for me were:
1st day)
Gideon, Samut, Cartouche of Strength, Rhonas's Monument, and Edifice of Authority (that one was everwhere, and it was game changing for all who played it, and devastating for all who had to play against it)
2nd day)
Gideon again, Cartouche of Strength, Fan Bearer, and Glory-Bound Initiate. I had those last two plus Initiate's Companion early during one game, neatly curved out, against my opponent's single Khenra Charioteer. This very nice synergy won me the game at a whopping 38 life without much else, except a Shed Weakness that twarted my opponent's attempt at killing my Initiate. I also added a Djeru's Resolve as 23rd card to the deck, and it proved to be a worthwhile combat trick and lifesaver for my creatures in several games.
But the games did go rather long, so much so, that I ended my first day with a 3-0-2 record (third place among 20 participants). In one drawn match we were tied and in the middle of preparation for the third game, when time was called. In the second draw I was losing but managed to survive the extra turns. The matches on the second day seemed to go faster, with fewer draws overall (but still some), and I ended up with a record of 4-1 (third place again among 26 participants).
Overall, the events were a blast and more interesting and fun than many other prereleases I attended in the past.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
Went 2-1, losing to a combination of mana screw and gruul aggro. Best moment of the day, however, was witnessing a kid at my table pull a Masterpiece Force of Will AND Gideon of the Trials from his two prize packs. The whole room cheered!
As tempting as that dragon was I decided to go B/W which gave me some nice zombie and token synergies, bombs, and removal. Start // Finish was probably my best non-rare. I was able to curve Doomed Dissenter into Plague Belcher one game and Baleful Ammit another game. Double Fan Bearers were pretty great and are also champs at holding a -1/-1 counter. I ended up going 3-0 with one of the most fun and synergistic sealed decks I've ever had. Overall a great prerelease for me!
Yeah, this we weirding me out all weekend. I came here this morning intent on starting one if it hadn't already been done. Thanks for kicking it off.
First of all, I thought this was one of the most enjoyable sealed formats I've played in a while. The deck options were various, not extraordinarily dependent on hitting a critical mass of certain cards/keywords, and not too terribly influenced by bombs. Not to say that those things were completely non-existent. It's just that other sealed formats have been hit by them pretty hard. This felt like a more balanced, sealed format.
I played a couple events: 1v1 and 2HG. Went 2-0-1 in the 1v1 and 2-1-0 in the 2HG.
1v1 deck was BW zombies that surprised me with how good it was. I repeatedly hit Anointed Procession and Stir the Sands, which is just disgusting on either cast or cycle. Fan Bearer was as good as expected. I was shocked at how relevant Impeccable Timing was in this format. Seemed like a lot more interactions happened in combat than usual. Twice, I played against people who sided in Tresspasser's Curse [sic] against all my token generation. That's how I got my draw, but in the other game, I stuck Gideon and used his emblem to shrug off negative life while I slung a zombie horde across the board. I almost felt bad.
2HG was a blast. We won one game using what we called "The British Invasion". We dropped 3 Dune Beetles early and exchanged throughout the game so that we could just keep pinging away with John, Paul, and George. The other game that we won was pretty dramatic. On the last turn of extra turns, we cast Ribbons from Cut // Ribbons for X = 8 to deal 16 damage, and then cycled 2 cards with 2x Faith of the Devoted to deal 24 damage when they were at 24 life. Fun times.
All in all, I thought it was a great day and I wish I could have played a couple more events. Fun stuff.
Good lord
Dang, son. If you're doing this against me with just two mana fixers in sealed, I'm just shaking my head that it wasn't my day.
I got lucky with removal: 2 Magma Spray, Splendid Agony, Electrify, Deem Worthy, 2 Final Reward, Glorybringer, and Heart-Piercer Manticore promo.
My other on color rare was Liliana's Mastery. I also had Cursed Minotaur, Blighted Bat, Festering Mummy and Lord of the Accursed for minor zombie theme.
Of the red non-rare creatures, Ahn-Crop Crasher, Thresher Lizard, and Emberhorn Minotaur performed well as expected. No surprises. This didn't seem to be a format where some commons surprised people and made waves. For the most part, the bombs were much stronger than anything else.
Having double Final Reward probably saved me a lot from losing to Gods or the Angel.
Electrify was also good. The big flyers and many bombs have exactly 4 toughness. There are very few creatures in the format naturally too big for Electrify, mostly vanilla ground guys. I had enough answers for little things that I could save Electrify for big threats.
Because 4 is the magic number, that also made Glorybringer a ridiculous bomb. Even if it only Lightning Blasts opponent's face and best creature before opponent untaps and kills it, you are so far ahead in that game.
Edifice of Authority was soul-crushing. Pro-tip: if you hit a God with the second ability on your turn, even if you don't need to attack, then opponent never has a window on his turn to activate the God's ability for profit. Rhonas the Indomitable was dominated.
I never saw a good cycling deck. I saw some players cobble together something with the payoffs and lots of cycling cards, but after durdling a few turns they'd end up wasting all their creatures on cycling and land-flooding out. Maybe other people had them. I just didn't see one. I think the cycling deck really wants a common cycling land, otherwise you're just spending the lategame trading creatures and spells for lands, the opposite of what you want to do.
Yeah, That was pretty much the reaction of the entire room. I asked the kid if he was old enough to play the lotto, if so then he needed to go buy a ticket posthaste!
Ya know, my second daughter was born on November, and the only 2 times when I played Magic since then was AER prerelease where I went 4-1 and one AER draft. So I counted on the fate and god of mana fixing to stand by me when I got my leave, in order to ensure I am enjoying myself and not whining about manascrew. I do not say I did it regularly, but once or twice it happened. ;-)
And for the record, a friend of mine and a quite a Spike (He once represented our country on Worlds) was quite frustrated by exactly this situation, because I managed to have all three colors on T3 all three games we played. It just was MY day
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
just a friendly invitation: i like even more hearing about those who did so-so or very poorly, and hearing about what went wrong!
Goblins have poor impulse control. Don't click this link!!
some of my favourite flavour text:
Wayward Soul
"no home no heart no hope"
—Stronghold graffito
Raging Goblin
He raged at the world, at his family, at his life. But mostly he just raged.
I had an unusually rough prerelease. I do 5 prereleases and usually average 3-1 or better. This time I barely broke a 2-2 average (3-1, 3-1, 2-2(2hg), 1-3, 2-2(2hg)).
The 1-3 was miserable. I had probably the worst pool I've ever seen at a prerelease. I had 8 rares (one extra foil) which were, I kid you not:
just for point of reference, going through the spoiler I'd only characterize about 1/4 of the rares in the set as "bad". 7/8 of my rares fall into that category. So, if I'm doing my math right, the odds of such a pool are around .04%, or 1 in 2048. I guess you could make the argument that the lands aren't "bad" since they're totally fine and playable if you happen to be in those colors, but considering the unlikelihood of being in those colors and their extreme mediocrity if you're only in one of the colors (btw my green and my white were both paper-thin with nothing terribly exciting to splash) I'd say they're still very, very disappointing rares.
Hilariously, the best rare with a bullet (sweltering suns) was unplayable in my pool despite being heavy red, because my only real hope was go aggro and try to race everyone's bombs. I didn't have any red removal and my black and green were both very thin. I ended up playing hazoret's favor and soul-scar mage mostly to test them out, and they both sucked about as badly as you'd expect.
With little other choice, I went RU aggro with 2x open into wonder as finishers and 2x blue cartouches to try to push through damage. I had a few solid beaters (that 2 mana 4/3 guy and three of the 4/3 exert guy) but a lot of really unexciting stuff like the 1/3 prowess that didn't do much to apply early pressure. The deck was super inconsistent and depressing to play.
2HG I feel like I still don't have a bead on. Probably the most annoying loss there was vs cut/ribbons. I don't know why they made it "each opponent" on the back side, that card is already great as a regular-power fireball, making it a double-power fireball is just stupid. It's very possible we made mistakes on deckbuilding, but each match felt like one team or the other got the aggro pressure and then never really lost it. Most of the games we did win were against opponents that made some (imo) really egregious play mistakes. My recently unimpressive record in 2hg really annoys me because those used to be easy 4-0s.
I will say, part of the reason this weekend in particular was probably a lot harder than usual was that my favorite store had recently closed, and despite hosting drafts at a nearby pub weren't able to do a prerelease - until suddenly, just a few days before. So the bulk of the competition was pretty dedicated players willing to change their prerelease plans. Still, I usually do well at competitive sealed events against presumably similar competition. I guess if you ignore the horribad pool and the 2hgs, I went 3-1 which is fine. Still, it did not feel great.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
hopefully the lands end up worth lots of money, though!
Goblins have poor impulse control. Don't click this link!!
some of my favourite flavour text:
Wayward Soul
"no home no heart no hope"
—Stronghold graffito
Raging Goblin
He raged at the world, at his family, at his life. But mostly he just raged.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
White
2x Fan Bearer
1x Sacred Cat
1x Vizier of Remedies
1x Anointer Preist
1x Gust Walker
1x Unwavering Initiate
1x Aven Mindsensor
1x Tah-Crop Elite
1x Naga Vitalist
1x Watchful Naga
1x Shefet Monitor
1x Ahn-Crop Champion
Trials/Cartouche
1x Trial of Solidarity
1x Trial of Strength
2x Cartouche of Strength (3rd in the side)
Removal/Tricks
1x Cast Out
1x Final Reward
1x Compulsory Rest
1x Start // Finish
1x Synchronized Strike
1x Oketra's Monument
Land
1x Evolving Wilds
2x Swamp
7x Forest
7x Plains
This went 2-0-2 (split final match for prizes, first match went a bit long as I was playing against control and I don't have much evasion but I was favored to win game 3)
Had the white cartouche and would side in the 3rd green one for some matchups.
Picking up the trials was a big game and the white trial giving vigilance is big game in the world of exert, and repeatedly getting a 4/2 was pretty good too.
Fan Barrer was pretty darn good and having 2 meant I had one almost every game. My removal was great. My opponent round 2 had a pool with 3 gods (WUB) and played them all. I was able to deal with all of them with my removal. While I had a decent amount of embalm I didn't use it too much. I was pleasantly surprised with Oketra's Monument. One game I held out till turn 3 and was able to play 3 white creatures and make 3 tokens on turn 4 with a trial of solidarity to follow.
Got an opponents evolving wilds by flashing in my promo Aven Mindsensor
1x Fan Bearer
1x Oashra Cultivator
1x Trueheart Duelist
1x Those Who Serve
2x Unwavering Initiate
1x Hooded Brawler
1x Rhonas the Indomitable
1x Sparring Mummy
2x Giant Spider
1x Winged Shepherd
1x Seraph of the Suns
1x Greater Sandwurm
2x Cartouche of Solidarity
1x Impeccable Timing
1x Forsake the Worldly
1x Synchronized Strike
1x Trial of Strength
1x Final Reward
1x Prepare // Fight (promo)
1x Start // Finish
1x Scattered Groves
1x Grasping Dunes
1x Evolving Wilds
6x Forest
7x Plains
1x Swamp
My MVP had to be Prepare // Fight, with Cartouche-Trial synergy right behind it, as both halves of that card did so much work for me I don't even know where to start. I'm certainly not against it being rare (for Limited's sake) now. People also seemed to forget that just because I can gain two life off their Compulsory Rest doesn't mean I'm going to when my pacified 4-power creature is keeping Rhonas active. That alone saved my bacon a few times. I also really wanted Destined // Lead like Caranthir got, because I'm just picturing it with Rhonas.
I also played against TWO people who literally opened the Zombie tribal decks, complete with Liliana's Mastery, Wayward Servant, AND Lord of the Accursed each. The first just ran me over with zombies; the second just ran me over with Bontu, courtesy of Doomed Dissenter + Devoted Crop-Mate helping out.
In hindsight, I think I should've played Cradle of the Accursed over the Dunes, as the Dunes really didn't hit much from my perspective. I didn't have a way to maximize the sole -1/-1 counter, in short.
Other random stuff would be how awesome Unwavering Initiate with Cartouche was; vigilance felt extremely relevant in this set, for some reason, at least to me. Those Who Serve also was a very nice roadblock against some of the early aggressive drops like Exemplar of Strength. Greater Sandwurm was a very nice finisher to have as well, forcing them to use their more valuable/fatty critters (assuming no Gods) to prevent getting murdered.
Prize packs contained: Rags // Riches, Curator of Mysteries, and Honored Hydra, the last of which was a REAL PAIN IN THE ARSE to deal with in Limited.
Past Ruminations
Links are broken, will fix in near future.
- Kaladesh
- Zendikar
- Rise of the Eldrazi
- Alara Reborn
- Innistrad <- Personal Favorite
- Dark Ascension
- Avacyn Restored
- Theros
- Return to Ravnica
- Tarkir
To be frank, I share every experience, even the worse.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
I didn't pull anything busted, but had a solid B/G card pool with a big Zombie and -1/-1 counter focus (my PR card was Glyph Keeper, but I had no decent blue to support it).
Cards of note: Channeler Initiate, Baleful Ammit, Decimator Beetle, Destined // Lead, 2 Lord of the Accursed, Scaled Behemoth, 2 Blighted Bat, Cartouche of Ambition, 2 Cartouche of Strength, and Wasteland Scorpion.
The one match I played was against another B/G deck that had Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons and 2 Final Rewards. In the first game we were matched up pretty well and he was doing alright at first with Hapatra and getting ready to create a bunch of snakes, but I was able to kill her quickly. Toward the end game he had a 4/5 Soulstinger, Quarry Hauler, and I believe a Miasmic Mummy against my 4/4 Exemplar of Strength and Wasteland Scorpion. I was able to play Destined // Lead from my graveyard and trade his Soulstinger and Hauler for my Scorpion and got in with the Exemplar. After that blowout I was able to control the game.
The second game was all about my 2 bats. We stalled on board and I was able to get in with both of them multiple times and then played a Lord of the Accursed for a better clock. One turn, he gave my lord a Final Reward, but I was able to play the second one right after and continued the beatdown. By the time we get to the end I only have the lord on the battlefield. He has a Colossapede and another 2/2 to block. I was at about 16 and he was at 2. I then played Cartouche of Ambition to give the big bug a -1/-1 and followed up with Cartouche of Strength for my now 4/5 lifelinking trampley zombie lord to fight the bug, kill the bug, gain life, and attack through the 2/2 for the win. Even though I won, I did give him the win since I knew I would be leaving. He was obviously happy, especially since it seemed like all of his friends won so he would've been the odd man out.
Even though the Friday pool wasn't bad, my value cards were poor (best card was a Harsh Mentor). I gotta say....my Sunday pool made up for it and then some (which wasn't the case throughout all of Kaladesh block).
First card I looked at was my PR card of course and a Gideon of the Trials was staring back at me. I was like, "Hey! Very cool." I keep opening and run into a regular Gideon and then a regular Rhonas the Indomitable ! Yea, I got to be that dude this time (been like a decade since the last one when I pulled a foil Thoughtseize in the Morningtide PR).
The only sad thing was my white wasn't very deep, but of course that didn't stop me. my blue and green were very good and so I was in Bant colors adding the Gideons, Fan Bearer, and Gust Walker. Here's the deck (minus a couple unmemorable cards):
1 Fan Bearer
1 Gust Walker
1 Aven Initiate
1 Naga Oracle
3 Shimmerscale Drake
1 Channeler Initiate
1 Exemplar of Strength
2 Oashra Cultivator
2 Ornery Kudu
1 Quarry Hauler
1 Rhonas the Indomitable
1 Hieroglyphic Illumination
2 Winds of Rebuke
1 Shed Weakness
1 Painted Bluffs
2 Plains
7 Island
7 Forest
1st round: Opponent playing B/R was young, but you could tell he had a decent grasp of the game. Unfortunately for him his deck didn't really put any pressure on me and I rolled over him quickly with Rhonas and beaters.
2nd round: Opponent playing G/B. We were pretty well matched in the first game. I didn't get Rhonas or Gideon out at all and we had a stand-off on the ground. Fortunately my flyers swooped over for the win. 2nd game we were going back and forth and I started to gain some ground. I drew one of my Gideons, played it, and he promptly conceded. I was kind of surprised that he did, since I didn't think he was dead to rights just yet, but apparently he thought he was.
3rd round: Opponent playing W/g/b zombies/tokens. 1st game we both had to mull to 5 and he pulled out of it quicker than I did. 2nd game was another ground stall. I kept getting in slowly with my flyers, but he had a Fan Bearer to slow it down even further. I finally had out all 3 Shimmerscale Drakes and was able to get the game. I even was able to utilize Gideon's ultimate and plussed him from there on out to further protect me.
Unfortunately we only had 5 minutes left in the round. Fortunately I drew the best 7 card hand: one of each land, Painted Bluffs, Oashra Cultivator, Rhonas, and Gideon. So I turn 3-Rhonas, turn 4-Gideon attack with Rhonas, and from there just kept attacking with both of them. I won on turn 2 of extra turns.
4th round: Ended up losing due to mana issues both games, but we worked out a split on the prize packs beforehand anyway (7 each), so I wasn't worried about it and got a Chain Lightning in one of them.
Fun set and looking forward to drafting.
2x Fan Bearer
1x Annointer Priest
2x Gust Walker
1x Cursed Minotaur
2x Those Who Serve
1x Soulstinger
3x Tah-Crop Elite
1x Supply Caravan
1x Winged Shepherd
1x Cartouche of Ambition
1x Final Reward
1x In Oketra's Name
1x Liliana, Death's Majesty
1x Trial of Solidarity
8x Plains
7x Swamp
My Red card pool was much bigger than Black's, but I felt that White was so powerful that I could afford to keep the synergies for my Binding Mummies, and to grab the Black Cartouche for my Trial. Also for Liliana, because she's Liliana.
My Record went like this
R1: BGu Goodstuff. 1-2
R2: GBr Goodstuff. 2-1
R3: BGu Control. 1-0-1
R4: RWb Aggro. 2-0
R5: UBw Fliers. 0-2
That put my result at 3-2, but apparently my score was good enough to qualify me to Top 8. I won my Quarterfinals vs a WB Mirror Match 2-0 and split prizes with the T4. My deck was so solid that I would have an easier time naming the bad cards than the good cards, which from what I could see are Those Who Serve, Annointer Priest, and to a suprising lesser extent Supply Caravan. It really was a collective effort for my deck, though that shouldn't come to a shock considering the synergies going on here with going wide, caring about zombies, and the Trail-Cartouche interation. I supposed Soulstinger was stronger than I thought it would be. No one likes being two-for-one'd with this guy out. Cartouche of Ambition, as well, was very powerful since it made many early blocks difficult and even took down some wienies here and there.
I got one of the best money pool of the day: double hazoret the fervent and promo nissa, steward of elements. My red was pretty bad-ass, but green was weak, so I paired red with blue, which had double the bouncing bird, a few early drop with embalm and tricks. (bounce, counter, the 0/2 aura) I played RUg, with two forests for nissa.
I went 2-2 but I really should have gone 4-0.
My first improper loss was due to my opponent, sitting at 1 life after I alpha-stroke him with him having only 1 green mana open, but he had the green triple -1/-1 counters on a flyer trick in hand. He killed me on the back swing exactly with 11 damage. The catch? Earlier in the game, I got damage by the red dude who shocks you every time you activate an ability and I got burned by exert. Only, exert is a triggered ability, so I should have had more life. I should have won that game and the match.
The other match loss was with me mulliganing to 5, but in the first game I forgot a couple of times the accumulative exert triggers of a few red cards. (The one that gives +1/0 for *each exertion in particular. I was exerting two creatures at once, so I should have hit harder.) In the second game, I said "go" during one turn, then immediately realized I had an embalm guy in the yard, but I was denied taking back my go and embalming it. Turned out the 2 damage was key a few turns later. Oh well. While I understand not taking things back, but I realized it immediately and *I* tend to be forgiving in pre-release games. I'm not yet used to watch my GY.
Hazoret is busted. It's even easier to turn on than the green god, as it can do it all alone, is a better top deck and the extra burn to the face is relevant. In one game I won, I was color screwed out of blue and just threw all my blue cards to the face and bashed for 5 every turn. Easy win.
The only card I'd rate over it that I played against is glorybringer and it's debatable. Hazoret is faster, but glorybringer built-in removal is just really unfair.
Anyone have success with red yet? What are the other non bomb cards you ran?
That's frustrating. Always helps to RTFC. I've facepalmed a few times over the years, in finals or semi-finals (with prize on the line), because I didn't take the time to RTFC for a brand new set.
I didn't have this or play against it, but in the games I scouted it seemed like the best God by far. It's the easiest to activate, it doesn't need anything else to be good, and it's such a good topdeck to end the game quickly. It was active almost every time I saw it on board. The haste + burn to the face completely swung one race. In another game, I saw an opponent getting 2-for-1'd attacking into a passive Hazoret (2 cards in hand, 1 mana open). The Hazoret player cast Magma Spray, killing one attacker, then ate a 5/5 with Hazoret.
I'd rate Glorybringer higher because I've actually played with it and never saw it perform worse than a 2-for-1 (trading with opponent's best creature + best removal and dealing 4 damage). But Hazoret wins the race.
The green god's probably the second best god. On a clogged board its upside is even higher, but it's also a dead card sometimes.
Posted already. 5-0-1 with RB. No white! I was a "Red because Glorybringer," but I also loved the commons.
Magma Spray, Electrify and Deem Worthy are all great removal. I was always happy to see these cards. Electrify is great because a lot of the big threats cap at 4 toughness. I found Magma Spray better in this format than Shock was in the last one because of Embalm, the creatures that start off smaller (with -1/-1 counters), and the low toughness of many Exert creatures before being exerted. It hits a lot of targets. As a 1-mana instant, you can even catch 2-for-1s when opponent tries to cast a Cartouche on an early creature. You can even use it + a blocker to kill a large embalm creature. You're not really getting 2-for-1'd because you're stopping the opponent's 2-for-1 from Embalm. I could never see myself not running every single Magma Spray I can get.
I had 2 Emberhorn Minotaur, and they were great value for a 4-drop. 4/3 for 3R (not 2RR) is already above curve, and the Exert makes this hard to profitably block on curve. They put in a lot of work.
Minotaur Sureshot is also great value, getting both Reach and slowbreathing as bonuses on the usual 2/3 for 2R. It holds the fort well while other things attack.
Your mileage may vary with Thresher Lizard. I was playing aggro, so it was regularly a 4/4 for 2R for me.
2 Nef-Crop Entangler were alright. They beat down for early damage, and Pathmaker Initiate could keep pushing them through. But other times they got mauled by the black Cartouche, or I got 2-for-1'd by Splendid Agony. Against black I'd much rather have the white or green 2-drop exert creature instead (2/2). But otherwise these both have pretty good upside for pushing through damage.
Red has a lot of removal and some of the most aggressive creatures. I'm surprised people were avoiding it.
I really hope it turns out to be as good a limited format as it seems.
The one thing that somewhat worries me is the cartouche. They give a lot of value for their mana cost. The white one is extremely good early, the blue one pays itself back immediately and give evasion. I've played against the black one on a first-striker and it was annoying as hell. I think they've balanced the usual downside of auras with enough upside and low mana cost to make the potential 2-for-1 worth the risk. Just side them out against blue bounce.