I didn't make the prerelease last night, but most of the reports I've been reading are saying that Boros and Naya dominated. Boros seems to have so many good cards, especially at common/uncommon, that almost any packs will make a pretty dumb aggro deck. Splashing for Bloodrush seems to be the popular way to go unless you just pull the stone-cold nuts in R/W and don't have room.
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Slowly breaking.
Any more of this, and Team Troll will be more than just a name.
I came in at 4th or 5th (I forget) with boros no splashing but I got lucky pulling a firemane avenger and the 3 drop r/w minotaur I won most games off of my firemane avenger since it loved me and warmind infantry, bomber corps skyjeks, I went 4-1 the only deck I lost against was an orzhov deck wich had a better curve with 10 kill spells and all the good low drop extort guys, he took second and first place was another orzhov deck
It does seem that from the early results that Boros is just too fast, even without Batallion triggering. I mean, when you have 2 common guys that have a 3 offense with only a 2 mana cost (Daring Skyjek & Wojek Halberdiers) you have to assume that they're dropping 2 guys on the table by T3 and it won't be unheard of to see Batallion triggering by Turn 4. I don't think Orzhov, Dimir or anybody else can muster up enough defense or removal to keep up with that. Orzhov needs to drop their Basilica Guards, Corpse Blockade or Knight of Obligation but you actually have to pull those guys in your pool and draw them early and hope for an early Smite. There seems to be a greater chance that Boros is going to hit their early common drops than Orzhov will be able to get their walls up.
Just the way it seems so far from reading the stories.
Grull won my prerelease, I went 4-2 barely making top 8 playing Boros splashing green for 2 Domri Rades, the rg damage to target creature for each land.... I had to play the Rades since I pulled two in my packs haha....
Boros was strong but it seem liked it was burn dependent... So whoever had the most burn won vs Grull or Boros.
Some guy made a sweet Dimir Mill deck that topped 4 losing to the Grull deck in three games with the Grull player top decking to win with 2 cards left in his libary.
Played Simic. First tried splashing black for removal. Gruul worked out a bit nicer, easier on my curve. Went 2-2, but it was my first sealed/event (got my dci number to-day), so you know, made some mistakes, etc. Simic, I think, was under-powered in general, but I also didn't get the best packs and didn't play some cards correctly/at all in my deck. (which I will edit in a sec).
The Simic Fluxmage was nice to block/stall and not lose built up counter if it dies. I never used it as a trick, but good to have the option. Obvious synergy with next on the list Fathom Mage who is just a babe for even more obvious reasons. I won one game on pure card advantage. I think I had Ivy Lane Denizen then too, which was great with a couple cheap creatures, Experiment One and Spire Tracer. The Denizen also provides counters to non-evolve creatures, which makes Crowned Ceratok a beast and a serious threat. Not to mention the Fluxmage can help with that too.
Cloudfin Raptor was a bit underwhelming, but for 1 you cant complain. Elusive Krasis, on the other hand, is a total boss; that zero in the power is so sexy and the 4 triggers others, oo boy. Its cousin Drakewing Krasis, also facilitates this to an extent and it's just a nice 3 dmg. I didn't get a chance to play Adaptive Snapjaw, but I can't imagine a situation where I wouldn't have been stoked to draw it. Keymaster Rogue is a nice card to have , as are the other unblockable/evasion creatures for Last Thoughts. Nimbus Swimmer was dope most every time I played him. 2/2 when you have a bunch of evolve 1/1's, fat when you need it late game. Speaking of fats, Skarrg Goliath won like 2 games and was playable in most.
As for support, Scatter Arc is very nice to have for opponent's tricks and to get the draw is so nice, and Spell Rupture is a beast of a card for any Simic in this format. Mystic Genesis is nice, used it once and was like a 4/4 or something. Counters were great for a Simic that otherwise had little access to solid removal. Rapid Hybridization was dope every time I used it, no doubt, but 3/3 is still rough on the low toughness creatures. That said, I initially added Death's Approach and Grisly Spectacle as removal, but the double black cost was rough. Someone suggested Clan Defiance and Ground Assault an they were absolutely the only way I won any games honestly. That said, Verdant Harvest for fixing and the 2 life ain't bad against Boros.
Sideboard highlights
Illness in the Ranks - Didn't see much use for it/never used it. Maybe against a certain deck.
Bioshift - Shoulda played this with the next card and had Simic's version of a trick.
Leyline Phantom - 5/5 for 5 right? What's this, he self-bounces. Sucks. Oh wait, he's a 5/5 that will most likely trigger every evolve on the board. Yes please.
Shadow Slice - With all the unblockable/evasion, I shoulda played it.
Borborygmos wanted to come out and play, but the Goliath ultimately won cause it was a trick.
Pretty sure boros stole the lead in both "Pods" at my tourney. I rode boros to 7th place (4-1) out of 47, losing only to a boros with 2(!) sparktroopers.
Also, props to the opponent that fried his own High Priest of Penance with Bomber Corps to cook my Frontline Medic, that shiz was boss!
I went for Dimir, ended up playing Naya and won 3 games, lost 2 in the end.
I don't recall what guild the best player was playing, but Simic and Boros had been quite popular choices here...
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I originally we t with Orzhov, thinking Extort would give me cushion against aggro decks. After giving it more though Thursday night, I switched to Simic. I wanted evasive creatures with access to splash blood rush cards to push through more am more damage. Last night at 11:30, I locked myself into Boros, which is not one of my favored guilds, but after hearing stories it sounds like it is fast and can easily just take over games with a bit of good piloting.
I suspect Boros is helped by the guildpack format, since it makes it easier to get the critical mass of 15 or so in-color 1 to 3 drops to just swarm people.
Boros also has the best promo card (by far, I think) and the best collection of rares in the set (including Firemane Avenger which is just stupid). If you're going to lock yourself into a color, that helps.
I played in a 70 man prerelease in Columbus. Boros wrecked everyone!! I ended up getting 8th playing weenie boros (16 land and lots 1 drops with madcap skills)
Prepare for the hardest matchup!!! it's intense, I ended up getting many turn 5 and 6 kills. Battalion gets activated all the time with like act of treason or skynight legionnaire. Bomber squad + ember beast gets you by regenerate guys and any walls orzhov might have.
got enough cards to make a quick rush gruul deck, but of course as usual I opened up alot of simic unplayable rares. I ended up going 1-3 losing to two extort decks which I expect.
Went 3-1 with Boros. Lost the last round to the eventual winner.
My pool was filled with more high-end bombs than my mana base could support - including a second Foundry Champion (in addition to the foil promo). Angelic Skirmisher and Foundry Champion both saw their fair share of play. I also opened enough good red and white aggro creatures to lower the overall curve. Particularly useful were the two Daring Wojeks, a solitary Skyknight Legionnaire, and the Ordruun Veteran (3/1 double strike with battalion -> painful ordeal). Bomber Squad looks awesome in multiples (too bad I only got one).
The field was swarming with Boros decks, followed not so closely by Gruul. Too bad for everyone else who could only pick Orzhov, Simic and Dimir packs the next pod. Was lucky enough to encounter much slower decks than mine though: two Orzhov (one brimming with removal, another with Blind Obedience to gum up the ground) and two more top-heavy Boros decks (including that of the eventual 4-0 winner). In the end, I only lost to a guy who had a slightly more splashy a pool than mine. Assemble the Legion showed up in the two rounds out of three that he won. Not to mention I had to mulligan to four in the first game.
Awesome pod though. I'd never gone up from 2-2 before so this was big for an occasional player like me. And I got a foil Nightveil Specter and a Watery Grave in my prize packs.
I went 4-0 as Orzhov, I owe this more to misplaying by my opponents and bad luck rather than my deck being any good. The deck I ended up playing rounds 3 and 4:
Low curve, play creatures with extort and just extort them while attacking with bears. First couple of rounds I played I had a slower deck which basically could only win with Deathpact Angel but I switched it up a bit and it felt a lot better to play.
I played Boros and won the prerelease with a medium green splash, so basically Naya. Got Aurelia, the war leader in my pack and combining her with Bloodrush abilities is really great.
I think Gruul was highly overrated, while Orzhov was highly underrated.
Basically this, but with little green splash (for swine which bloodrushes for RG and gives +4/+4 trample, bear gaining first strike for R and Gruul Keyrune). Went good, as several other pure Boros, but the winner is... Simic, I guess? Anyway, several top players decided that "Boros is too mainstream", so the top 4 is something like Simic-Boros-Gruul-Orzhov.
It seems hard to tell the correlation. Obviously Boros is winning the most often, but it also seems like EVERYBODY is playing it. When 50%+ of the people are playing the guild, it only makes sense that it is going to be the one most likely to win. It would be more helpful to see % victory from each guild, but that isn't possible.
It seems hard to tell the correlation. Obviously Boros is winning the most often, but it also seems like EVERYBODY is playing it. When 50%+ of the people are playing the guild, it only makes sense that it is going to be the one most likely to win. It would be more helpful to see % victory from each guild, but that isn't possible.
I don't know but 42-43% is statistically significant. I guess it could be informer bias as you said but I think it unlikely. I signed up for boros for later this evening and I am hoping all goes well.
I don't know but 42-43% is statistically significant. I guess it could be informer bias as you said but I think it unlikely. I signed up for boros for later this evening and I am hoping all goes well.
It isn't statistically significant at all. All you know is that Boros was the deck that won the most prereleases, but you DON'T know how many people were playing Boros. For example, if 80% of people were playing Boros, but only 42% were won by Boros, that would mean that it actually is pretty horrible. I don't believe that to be true at all, I'm just saying that without knowing what percent of people started with each guild you can't make an honest evaluation of the data.
The only good assumption that you can make is that Boros is going to be heavily, heavily played. If your deck construction doesn't have ways of dealing with 2 and 3 drops early, you can anticipate being rolled.
It isn't statistically significant at all. All you know is that Boros was the deck that won the most prereleases, but you DON'T know how many people were playing Boros. For example, if 80% of people were playing Boros, but only 42% were won by Boros, that would mean that it actually is pretty horrible. I don't believe that to be true at all, I'm just saying that without knowing what percent of people started with each guild you can't make an honest evaluation of the data.
The only good assumption that you can make is that Boros is going to be heavily, heavily played. If your deck construction doesn't have ways of dealing with 2 and 3 drops early, you can anticipate being rolled.
I know that each GS has an allotment of each guild, not enough to say 80% played Boros. Really, assuming each GS maxes out, there is 20% on average playing a given guild?
Our game store which is small, has 12 of each guild, and despite how many show up for events here, this prerelease is sold out. Casual players from all over coming to play in the event. This ultimately dilutes the idea that a give. Guild reached a high of any more than 20%. If our LGS is this packed I have a hard time imagining that most are not selling out on the Prerelease.
We had a maximum of 10 slot per guild (Dimir was the only one that was really under represented). So I think it's safe to assume that Boros is at least slightly ahead in terms of playability. Though to be honest, I did convince a few of the better players to switch to Boros the night before.
And if theyre running burning tree shaman battalion can go off turn 3....stupid good.
Yeah Burning tree emissary is really really good in the limited environment which kind of shocked me. I knew it was good in constructed but I was never mad about having one in my opening hand or drawing one later in the game.
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Orzhov and Dimir seem to be able to run the tables if they pull bombs. Two people with Obz making top 4? Yeah.
Boros, Gruul, and Naya seem consistent. If people built it wrong (high-curve Boros=blech) it obviously won't perform the same. But in general I think Boros will have an easy time building a ridiculous aggro curve; they have great 1-3 drops, almost all at common/uncommon, and they "splash" other guilds really well, Gruul for Bloodrush/combat tricks, the Extort bear, etc. There is simply such a large, good Boros pool of non-rares you'd be hard-pressed to not have a solid deck.
Gruul seems a little more midrangey but has the same hard aggro plan that other decks seem to have trouble keeping up with. They have a harder time splashing but almost all of their creatures serve double duty as combat tricks, which is great. Sudden BR's end games.
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Slowly breaking.
Any more of this, and Team Troll will be more than just a name.
I played Simic, splashing red for removal Mugging and Skullcrack, each 2-of. I went 3-2 but only one of those was a blowout... against Boros. Guildmage + Court Street Denizen is just mean. In probably three or four of the other games, when I won, it was because of Biomantic Mastery usually after refilling my hand with Urban Evolution. I also definitely underestimated the Limited usefulness of the blue Denizen.
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Do I Contradict Myself? Very Well Then I Contradict Myself.
It seems hard to tell the correlation. Obviously Boros is winning the most often, but it also seems like EVERYBODY is playing it. When 50%+ of the people are playing the guild, it only makes sense that it is going to be the one most likely to win. It would be more helpful to see % victory from each guild, but that isn't possible.
Absolutely - that's what I'd like to see. Eventually it will all pan out though since stores have a limited amount of guild packs for each guild. Boros may have more players early on but later events will be the opposite as those packs go bye-bye.
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Any more of this, and Team Troll will be more than just a name.
I know where you post.
Currently playing
Nath of The Gilt-Leaf
Teysa, Orzhov Scion
Just the way it seems so far from reading the stories.
Boros was strong but it seem liked it was burn dependent... So whoever had the most burn won vs Grull or Boros.
Some guy made a sweet Dimir Mill deck that topped 4 losing to the Grull deck in three games with the Grull player top decking to win with 2 cards left in his libary.
2x
2x
The Simic Fluxmage was nice to block/stall and not lose built up counter if it dies. I never used it as a trick, but good to have the option. Obvious synergy with next on the list Fathom Mage who is just a babe for even more obvious reasons. I won one game on pure card advantage. I think I had Ivy Lane Denizen then too, which was great with a couple cheap creatures, Experiment One and Spire Tracer. The Denizen also provides counters to non-evolve creatures, which makes Crowned Ceratok a beast and a serious threat. Not to mention the Fluxmage can help with that too.
Cloudfin Raptor was a bit underwhelming, but for 1 you cant complain. Elusive Krasis, on the other hand, is a total boss; that zero in the power is so sexy and the 4 triggers others, oo boy. Its cousin Drakewing Krasis, also facilitates this to an extent and it's just a nice 3 dmg. I didn't get a chance to play Adaptive Snapjaw, but I can't imagine a situation where I wouldn't have been stoked to draw it. Keymaster Rogue is a nice card to have , as are the other unblockable/evasion creatures for Last Thoughts. Nimbus Swimmer was dope most every time I played him. 2/2 when you have a bunch of evolve 1/1's, fat when you need it late game. Speaking of fats, Skarrg Goliath won like 2 games and was playable in most.
As for support, Scatter Arc is very nice to have for opponent's tricks and to get the draw is so nice, and Spell Rupture is a beast of a card for any Simic in this format. Mystic Genesis is nice, used it once and was like a 4/4 or something. Counters were great for a Simic that otherwise had little access to solid removal. Rapid Hybridization was dope every time I used it, no doubt, but 3/3 is still rough on the low toughness creatures. That said, I initially added Death's Approach and Grisly Spectacle as removal, but the double black cost was rough. Someone suggested Clan Defiance and Ground Assault an they were absolutely the only way I won any games honestly. That said, Verdant Harvest for fixing and the 2 life ain't bad against Boros.
Sideboard highlights
Illness in the Ranks - Didn't see much use for it/never used it. Maybe against a certain deck.
Bioshift - Shoulda played this with the next card and had Simic's version of a trick.
Leyline Phantom - 5/5 for 5 right? What's this, he self-bounces. Sucks. Oh wait, he's a 5/5 that will most likely trigger every evolve on the board. Yes please.
Shadow Slice - With all the unblockable/evasion, I shoulda played it.
Borborygmos wanted to come out and play, but the Goliath ultimately won cause it was a trick.
Also, props to the opponent that fried his own High Priest of Penance with Bomber Corps to cook my Frontline Medic, that shiz was boss!
I don't recall what guild the best player was playing, but Simic and Boros had been quite popular choices here...
Here is to hoping my pool is workable!
Our spread of results was ridiculous:
1st:Boros
2nd: Boros
3rd: Boros/gruul
4th: Boros/orzhov
5th: Orzhov
6th: Boros
7th: Boros
8th: Boros
9th: Orzhov
10th: Simic spalsh gruul
Prepare for the hardest matchup!!! it's intense, I ended up getting many turn 5 and 6 kills. Battalion gets activated all the time with like act of treason or skynight legionnaire. Bomber squad + ember beast gets you by regenerate guys and any walls orzhov might have.
got enough cards to make a quick rush gruul deck, but of course as usual I opened up alot of simic unplayable rares. I ended up going 1-3 losing to two extort decks which I expect.
My pool was filled with more high-end bombs than my mana base could support - including a second Foundry Champion (in addition to the foil promo). Angelic Skirmisher and Foundry Champion both saw their fair share of play. I also opened enough good red and white aggro creatures to lower the overall curve. Particularly useful were the two Daring Wojeks, a solitary Skyknight Legionnaire, and the Ordruun Veteran (3/1 double strike with battalion -> painful ordeal). Bomber Squad looks awesome in multiples (too bad I only got one).
The field was swarming with Boros decks, followed not so closely by Gruul. Too bad for everyone else who could only pick Orzhov, Simic and Dimir packs the next pod. Was lucky enough to encounter much slower decks than mine though: two Orzhov (one brimming with removal, another with Blind Obedience to gum up the ground) and two more top-heavy Boros decks (including that of the eventual 4-0 winner). In the end, I only lost to a guy who had a slightly more splashy a pool than mine. Assemble the Legion showed up in the two rounds out of three that he won. Not to mention I had to mulligan to four in the first game.
Awesome pod though. I'd never gone up from 2-2 before so this was big for an occasional player like me. And I got a foil Nightveil Specter and a Watery Grave in my prize packs.
3 Gutter Skulk
1 Syndic of Tithes
1 Daring Skyjek
1 High Priest of Penance
1 Basilica Guards
1 Gateway Shade
1 Slate Street Ruffian
1 Court Street Denizen
1 Kingpin's Pet
1 Crypt Ghast
1 Syndicate Enforcer
2 Knight of Obligation
1 Guardian of the Gateless
1 Knight Watch
1 Deathpact Angel
1 Treaure Thrull
1 Angelic Edict
1 Grisly Spectacle
1 Death's Approach
1 Executioner's Swing
Lands
9 Swamp
6 Plains
2 Orzhov Guildgate
Low curve, play creatures with extort and just extort them while attacking with bears. First couple of rounds I played I had a slower deck which basically could only win with Deathpact Angel but I switched it up a bit and it felt a lot better to play.
Bored? Watch this.
Basically this, but with little green splash (for swine which bloodrushes for RG and gives +4/+4 trample, bear gaining first strike for R and Gruul Keyrune). Went good, as several other pure Boros, but the winner is... Simic, I guess? Anyway, several top players decided that "Boros is too mainstream", so the top 4 is something like Simic-Boros-Gruul-Orzhov.
I don't know but 42-43% is statistically significant. I guess it could be informer bias as you said but I think it unlikely. I signed up for boros for later this evening and I am hoping all goes well.
It isn't statistically significant at all. All you know is that Boros was the deck that won the most prereleases, but you DON'T know how many people were playing Boros. For example, if 80% of people were playing Boros, but only 42% were won by Boros, that would mean that it actually is pretty horrible. I don't believe that to be true at all, I'm just saying that without knowing what percent of people started with each guild you can't make an honest evaluation of the data.
The only good assumption that you can make is that Boros is going to be heavily, heavily played. If your deck construction doesn't have ways of dealing with 2 and 3 drops early, you can anticipate being rolled.
I know that each GS has an allotment of each guild, not enough to say 80% played Boros. Really, assuming each GS maxes out, there is 20% on average playing a given guild?
Our game store which is small, has 12 of each guild, and despite how many show up for events here, this prerelease is sold out. Casual players from all over coming to play in the event. This ultimately dilutes the idea that a give. Guild reached a high of any more than 20%. If our LGS is this packed I have a hard time imagining that most are not selling out on the Prerelease.
Yeah Burning tree emissary is really really good in the limited environment which kind of shocked me. I knew it was good in constructed but I was never mad about having one in my opening hand or drawing one later in the game.
Tried to pull away, but now I'm Back At it
Love is Emphatic, cards need to be played
Hailing from the BA, accumulating CA"
Boros, Gruul, and Naya seem consistent. If people built it wrong (high-curve Boros=blech) it obviously won't perform the same. But in general I think Boros will have an easy time building a ridiculous aggro curve; they have great 1-3 drops, almost all at common/uncommon, and they "splash" other guilds really well, Gruul for Bloodrush/combat tricks, the Extort bear, etc. There is simply such a large, good Boros pool of non-rares you'd be hard-pressed to not have a solid deck.
Gruul seems a little more midrangey but has the same hard aggro plan that other decks seem to have trouble keeping up with. They have a harder time splashing but almost all of their creatures serve double duty as combat tricks, which is great. Sudden BR's end games.
Any more of this, and Team Troll will be more than just a name.
I know where you post.
Very Well Then I Contradict Myself.
Absolutely - that's what I'd like to see. Eventually it will all pan out though since stores have a limited amount of guild packs for each guild. Boros may have more players early on but later events will be the opposite as those packs go bye-bye.