MTG Salvation

Hooray Magic: The Gathering prerelease events!

It really is one of the purest forms of Magic now, isn't it? It's a limited environment that's less intimidating (to a newer player, at least) than draft, it allows you to flex your creativity with the resources you're given, and if you win multiple games, it's a great boost to the ego. While the number of sets released in a single year is a point of debate for Magic fans, the prerelease events that come with them are undeniably fun. 

I ventured to my local game store ready to throw down for some Foundations fun, and left having learned a cruel lesson: Sometimes, there's no heart to be found in the cards.

Boo Magic: The Gathering prerelease events!

The deck

My limited pool was, well, limited this time around, and the most synergy I could scrounge up was a mixture of Surveil and Threshold in Dimir. The plan was to get cards in the graveyard, turn on Threshold, and beat face, with Strix Lookout providing a loot option and Billowing Shriekmass adding some self-mill. 

It was as sound a strategy as I could have asked for, but it quickly became clear I was doomed. 

Match 1

My first match came against one of my good friends, who was running a Selesnya +1/+1 counter strategy. Our first match went back-and-forth, the kind of grindy Magic I expected from the deck I'd built, before I was finally felled by a full board of attackers and no answers on my side. 

Match 2, however, went much differently – and much more quickly. Here's how my opponent's turns went:

• Turn 1: Forest, Llanowar Elves
• Turn 2: Forest, Mossborn Hydra with one +1/+1 counter
• Turn 3: Evolving Wilds, which is cracked to find a Plains, so Mossborn Hydra sees two landfall triggers and immediately has four +1/+1 counters on it. The Hydra swings for four, no blocks.
• Turn 4: Forest, Grow From The Ashes to find a single Plains, so another two land drops means Mossborn Hydra now has SIXTEEN +1/+1 counters. On turn FOUR. Hydra swings, I had gained a life thanks to Sanguine Syphoner so my opponent used a Giant Growth as insurance, game over thanks to 19 damage. On turn four. 

Sheesh. 

RECORD: 0-1 (0-2 in games played)

Match 2

Match 2 was another Selesnya deck, and in our first game I feel like the gods of Magic: The Gathering were helping me make up for lost time. After going back-and-forth for a while and chipping away at each other's life totals, my opponent played an old staple in Overrun, and he, well, overran my board and knocked me out. 

Game two, meanwhile, was my only win of the entire night, and I had a masquerade of vampires to thank for it. Marauding Blight-Priest and Sanguine Syphoner slowly chewed away at my opponent's life total, while Vampire Gourmand and his good friend Reassembling Skeleton made sure I was able to get at least one creature in for damage on every turn. Strix Lookout provided a key block, while Bigfin Bouncer allowed me to remove a major growing threat and get in for the win. 

Game three was more of the same as game one, only this time my opponent didn't need the Overrun, as I once again came up short in my draws and he made short work of me. 

RECORD: 0-2 (1-4 in games played)

Match 3

Match three saw me take on a Temur deck with a lot of different things going on at once, and both matches were similar back-and-forth affairs which saw each player looking at a low-single-digit life total by the end of it. The one thing that sticks out to me, however, is a misplay which proves that despite being back in MTG for about two years now, I'm still not operating at my full potential. 

In game two, he swings for four damage with his Cackling Prowler, which I block with a Bigfin Bouncer. Cackling Prowler is a 4/3 and Bigfin Bouncer is a 3/2, so I'm thinking the two will trade. My opponent then plays Giant Growth, which means his Prowler will survive. I let it through, lose the creature, and play goes on…and one turn later, I look down at my hand, and gasp at my own folly.

I had three mana open when Giant Growth was cast. Two of those mana were Islands. In my hand, staring me in the face, was a Refute. I could have countered the Refute, looted – which would have put me at threshold activation – and been in a much more advantageous position. Instead, I cursed at myself as I eventually lost two turns later, resulting in an 0-3.

FINAL RECORD: 0-3 (1-6 in games played)

My game store does a "pity pack" where everyone who plays gets at least one extra Play Booster, and mine had two rares in it – Slagstorm and Kellan, Planar Trailblazer – which I'll take as a win. Thanks, pity pack.

Set's still good, though

Don't let my dopey play fool you; Foundations is a wildly fun set for limited play. If you and your pals are looking for something different to do during Friday Night Magic, draft a Play Booster box of Foundations or each of you buy six packs and build a sealed deck. You're going to have a blast with this selection of cards, no matter what's in your packs. Just, you know, play the counter magic when you have it. Don't just stare at it while your opponent makes what effectively becomes the winning play. 

Back to Commander for me!