Just came back from our local Pre-release. Had about 30-40 people. Came first with Boros (No surprise there). The ridiculous thing was that the top 5 were ALL Boros.
How did you do and which guilds did well at your LGS?
Just Boros. My deck had 3 Uncommons (Gift of Orzhova, Arrows of Justice and Urbis Protector) and 2 Rares (Foundry, Wrecking Ogre). The power level of the Boros commons is absolutely unreal.
Damn, I already locked in Gruul (though I have to admit after seeing the complete spoiler, I kind of saw Boros and Orzhov dominating). Guess I'm splashing white (or going Boros splash green) in 10 hours.
Interesting. I watched a stream of a midnight prerelease from England. The winning deck there was a Gruul deck and it didn't seem inconsistent at all. Maybe it's because he had the 6/5 dragon and several bloodrush guys, but I dunno. I am not sure which I want to pick, Boros or Gruul
Of couse the first people to respond won with boros.
Give it some time, I bet we'll see some gruul winners!
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Some facts of magic:
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
Out of 64 people at my lcs 58 went r/w or b/w...to early to tell who top 8 is. The thing is the other 3 guilds arent as straight foward and less consistant...
2HG for our midnight release, and it was perfect since I chose to go Orzhov (partner went Boros). A few turns into the first game I realized Extort was at double potency and with 2 Crypt Ghast in my deck, we slowly started winning.
In our final round, we went up against the guys who would take first (through opponents' win %, as we beat them). We ended with 51 life, having gained 24 throughout the course of it.
Overall, however, Boros seemed to have the strongest presence in 2HG, as Battalion triggers no matter whose control the creatures are under, so the consistency of their keyword was insane. Had we not been getting double potency on Extort, we likely would've gone 2-2 instead of 3-1.
Gruul actually had a weaker presence than I'd have expected, and almost no one went Simic (at least for final deck build).
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Standard - GW Humans Modern - B Infect EDH - GBaru, Fist of Krosa (ramp/land theme) Casual - WR Defender
I just won playing boros, but I was the only boros in the top 5. The top was: Boros (me, no splash), Simic (with Gruul splash), Dimir (with Orzhov splash), Orzhov (with Boros splash) and Orzhov (with Dimir splash), I was the only one in the top 5 that played 2 colors.
My deck had 17 creatures ( including 2 Wojek Halbediers, 2 Daring Skyjek, 2 Foundry Champion and 1 Boros Recokner) and 7 removals.
I played Boros no splash and went 0-2 before dropping. No charms, Wojek Halberdiers, Skyjeks, Aurelias or Aurelia's furies, etc. in my card pool.
Match 1:
I'm looking across the table at common 2/3s in Dimir with 1/1s and 2/1s on my side. My only glimmer of hope - Firemane Avenger - gets removed and copied by a Lazav. That sums up both games.
Match 2:
I win game one against an Orzhov guy who doesn't keep enough blockers back. Game two I misplay and lose. Game three I manascrew after keeping a 2-land hand and lose.
Overall:
-> Bad card pool is bad.
-> Don't gamble on lands.
-> Dimir can be surprisingly good.
-> Madcap Skills can be good.
-> Sunhome Guildmage is difficult to make great because of the sheer amount of mana you have to sink in a deck that wants to get a good battalion going right now.
-> Extort helps Orzhov, but it's not game-breaking.
2 Undefeated Boros players at our ~40 midnight pre-release. I went 3-1 with Orzhov, playing against 3 other Boros decks and 1 Gruul.
Played Orzhov with a blue splash, so basically esper since I had two Watery Graves and a Dimiar Guildgate and Keyrune. My losses to Boros came from a good curve that got them sticking batallion before I could remove enough of their creatures.
I went 3-1 at my draft going Dimir Mill, beating Dimir, losing to Simic, and then beating two Orzhov. Luckily I was able to pull Mind Grind in my guild pack so that was a nice start. Crypt Ghast was a big star I had almost every game. Allowed me to use Mind Grind for big numbers (highest was x=8), bounce creatures with Keymaster Rogue and play them again to trigger multiple Sage's Row Denizen mills, and the extort was really nice with spare mana.
Match 1: 2-1
Boros
He was a new player and have great cards, Firemane Avenger and Assemble the Legion. I was swarmed by 1/1 Soldiers on Game 2 triggering Battalion on some of his dudes. But Games 1 and 2 were dominated by my big fatties.
Match 2: 2-1
Gruul
He was so serious playing this match he wasn't even smiling. In Game 1, he was not getting enough creatures to answer mine. Game 2, he has larger creatures. And last game, he was unlucky he keeps on getting lands when he was down to 10. Two Zhur-Taa Swine did the job.
Match 3: 2-0
Orzhov
He has a 60-card deck! And he was 2-0 before our match! Yay!
I didn't saw any great cards from him like Crypt Ghast. He didn't have enough answers to my big creatures. I guess he can do so much better if he was on a 40-card deck.
Match 4: 2-1
Boros
I won Game 1 by using Bloodrush a couple of times to kill his treats and save my guys as well. He can't beat a Rubblehulk with 8 lands.
This guy won Game 2 by a comeback. He was down to 4 and he did managed to eliminate my creatures with combat tricks such as Smite and Furious Resistance. Then he played Aurelia, the Warleader, that was Game 2. Beat him by using Act of Treason in Game 3, stealing his angel token, and attacking it along with a Bloodrushed Legionnaire. Epic win.
Skynight Legionnaire surprised most of my opponents because they didn't expect that I'll be having flyers since I was Gruul. Splashing white was good for me. Madcap Skills did well also on my big creatures. Boros/Dimir were the top guns in that event. Simic was bad all day.
I liked the Gruul so much and their guild acceptance letter. Gruul Bash!
(Crossposted from Rumor Mill. Seems more relevant here. Hope this is okay)
I went to the first one of the day to sweat my team but didn't play myself for various reasons.
Other than one ridiculous Boros deck, the better players rose to the top pretty quickly despite there being a diverse selection of guilds.
The player I watched the most opened mediocre Dimir packs and they gave him enough versatility (best player in the room) to go 4-1 (only losing to aforementioned stupid Boros).
During the last round, the top two tables had all the guilds apart from Simic represented and across the top boards down to about #8 the same pattern was repeated with only one Simic visible.
However another strong player I was watching and chatting with opened the worst Orzhov packs imaginable. Unplayable (pretty much literally, there were not enough cards for a deck, despite having three Syndic) but as he'd had a day at work he fell into the understandable trap of trying to force the deck anyway.
After round one we took it apart and went Simic with pretty mediocre looking synergy and he went 3-1 from that point on.
My point being that Simic is probably harder to build than the other guilds but that doesn't mean it's weaker (and possibly the opposite).
Of the other matches I watched, my instinct was that Gruul was the worst guild, although still playable.
Hard to say what was best because I watched so much Dimir played well that I'm probably biased, however the synergy within Dimir seemed to be stronger than the others.
For anyone doing two or three prereleases, I'd be urging good players to give Simic a look, my gut says we'll be needing the practice with those as the season goes on.
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How did you do and which guilds did well at your LGS?
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=470036
2x Daring Skyjek
2x Wojek Halberdiers
1x Bomber Corps
1x Syndic of Tithes
2x Court Street Denizen
2x Skyknight Legionnaire
1x Warmind Infantry
2x Scorchwalker (Mostly as a pump effect)
2 Knight Watch
1x Wrecking Ogre
1x Urbis Protector
1x Foundry Champion
1x Riot Gear
1x Martial Glory
1x Arrows of Justice
1x Gift of Orzhova
1x Act of Treason
1x Massive Raid
Lands
1x Boros Guildgate
8x Plains
7x Mountain
New to Commander? Read the Above article.
Give it some time, I bet we'll see some gruul winners!
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
More facts of magic
-BuLLZ3Y3
In our final round, we went up against the guys who would take first (through opponents' win %, as we beat them). We ended with 51 life, having gained 24 throughout the course of it.
Overall, however, Boros seemed to have the strongest presence in 2HG, as Battalion triggers no matter whose control the creatures are under, so the consistency of their keyword was insane. Had we not been getting double potency on Extort, we likely would've gone 2-2 instead of 3-1.
Gruul actually had a weaker presence than I'd have expected, and almost no one went Simic (at least for final deck build).
Standard - GW Humans
Modern - B Infect
EDH - G Baru, Fist of Krosa (ramp/land theme)
Casual - WR Defender
Aerial Maneuver x2
Arrows of Justice x1
Bomber Corps x3
Boros Charm x1
Boros Keyrune x1
Boros Reckoner x1
Clan Defiance x1
Daring Skyjek x1
Foundry Champion x1 *promo*
Frontline Medic x1
Glaring spotlight x1
Gruul charm x1
Homing Lightning x1
Martial Glory x2
Skyknight Legionnaire x2
Syndic of Tithes x3
Wojek Halberdiers x1
Mountain x6
Plains x6
Forest x2
Boros Guildgate x1
Gruul Guildgate x1
My deck had 17 creatures ( including 2 Wojek Halbediers, 2 Daring Skyjek, 2 Foundry Champion and 1 Boros Recokner) and 7 removals.
Match 1:
I'm looking across the table at common 2/3s in Dimir with 1/1s and 2/1s on my side. My only glimmer of hope - Firemane Avenger - gets removed and copied by a Lazav. That sums up both games.
Match 2:
I win game one against an Orzhov guy who doesn't keep enough blockers back. Game two I misplay and lose. Game three I manascrew after keeping a 2-land hand and lose.
Overall:
-> Bad card pool is bad.
-> Don't gamble on lands.
-> Dimir can be surprisingly good.
-> Madcap Skills can be good.
-> Sunhome Guildmage is difficult to make great because of the sheer amount of mana you have to sink in a deck that wants to get a good battalion going right now.
-> Extort helps Orzhov, but it's not game-breaking.
I also noticed getting a lot of foils at common: 2-3 iirc.
Played Orzhov with a blue splash, so basically esper since I had two Watery Graves and a Dimiar Guildgate and Keyrune. My losses to Boros came from a good curve that got them sticking batallion before I could remove enough of their creatures.
1x Zameck Guildmage
1x Simic Charm
1x Nimbus Swimmer
1x AEtherize
1x Gridlock
1x Cloudfin Raptor
2x Experiment One
1x Shambleshark
2x Crocanura
1x Fathom Mage
1x Adaptive Snapjaw
2x Metropolis Sprite
1x Deathcult Rogue
1x Keymaster Rogue
1x Way of the Thief
1x Ivy Lane Denizen
1x Totally Lost
1x Wildwood Rebirth
1x Disciple of the Old Ways
1x Zhur-Taa Swine
1x Simic Guildgate
1x Gruul Guildgate
1x Stomping Ground
Thanks to Heroes of the Plane Studios for the amazing sig!
Cipher is pretty ridiculous if you can encode them on creatures with evasion, especially if you have Consuming Aberation on the board. Paranoid Delusions was very good, Mortus Strider for more triggers, Grisly Spectacle was pretty solid removal for me.
Here was my list.
7 Mountain
6 Forest
4 Plains
1 Gruul Guildgate
Creatures
1 Wasteland Viper
1 Disciple of the Old Ways
1 Skinbrand Goblin
2 Skynight Legionnaire
1 Slaughterhorn
1 Hellraiser Goblin
2 Ghor-Clan Rampager
2 Scab-Clan Charger
2 Zhur-Taa Swine
1 Rubblehulk
1 Mugging
1 Ground Assault
1 Wildwood Rebirth
1 Massive Raid
1 Miming Slime
1 Act of Treason
Enchantments
1 Madcap Skills
1 Primal Visitation
Match 1: 2-1
Boros
He was a new player and have great cards, Firemane Avenger and Assemble the Legion. I was swarmed by 1/1 Soldiers on Game 2 triggering Battalion on some of his dudes. But Games 1 and 2 were dominated by my big fatties.
Match 2: 2-1
Gruul
He was so serious playing this match he wasn't even smiling. In Game 1, he was not getting enough creatures to answer mine. Game 2, he has larger creatures. And last game, he was unlucky he keeps on getting lands when he was down to 10. Two Zhur-Taa Swine did the job.
Match 3: 2-0
Orzhov
He has a 60-card deck! And he was 2-0 before our match! Yay!
I didn't saw any great cards from him like Crypt Ghast. He didn't have enough answers to my big creatures. I guess he can do so much better if he was on a 40-card deck.
Match 4: 2-1
Boros
I won Game 1 by using Bloodrush a couple of times to kill his treats and save my guys as well. He can't beat a Rubblehulk with 8 lands.
This guy won Game 2 by a comeback. He was down to 4 and he did managed to eliminate my creatures with combat tricks such as Smite and Furious Resistance. Then he played Aurelia, the Warleader, that was Game 2. Beat him by using Act of Treason in Game 3, stealing his angel token, and attacking it along with a Bloodrushed Legionnaire. Epic win.
Skynight Legionnaire surprised most of my opponents because they didn't expect that I'll be having flyers since I was Gruul. Splashing white was good for me. Madcap Skills did well also on my big creatures. Boros/Dimir were the top guns in that event. Simic was bad all day.
I liked the Gruul so much and their guild acceptance letter. Gruul Bash!
I went to the first one of the day to sweat my team but didn't play myself for various reasons.
Other than one ridiculous Boros deck, the better players rose to the top pretty quickly despite there being a diverse selection of guilds.
The player I watched the most opened mediocre Dimir packs and they gave him enough versatility (best player in the room) to go 4-1 (only losing to aforementioned stupid Boros).
During the last round, the top two tables had all the guilds apart from Simic represented and across the top boards down to about #8 the same pattern was repeated with only one Simic visible.
However another strong player I was watching and chatting with opened the worst Orzhov packs imaginable. Unplayable (pretty much literally, there were not enough cards for a deck, despite having three Syndic) but as he'd had a day at work he fell into the understandable trap of trying to force the deck anyway.
After round one we took it apart and went Simic with pretty mediocre looking synergy and he went 3-1 from that point on.
My point being that Simic is probably harder to build than the other guilds but that doesn't mean it's weaker (and possibly the opposite).
Of the other matches I watched, my instinct was that Gruul was the worst guild, although still playable.
Hard to say what was best because I watched so much Dimir played well that I'm probably biased, however the synergy within Dimir seemed to be stronger than the others.
I only watched a little Orzhov. Oddly enough Obzedat, Ghost Council is a bomb. Who knew?
For anyone doing two or three prereleases, I'd be urging good players to give Simic a look, my gut says we'll be needing the practice with those as the season goes on.