I had a fairly decent pool, and was 2 - 1 heading into the last round. I had a terrible match in round four. I mulled to five to finally get two lands. My opponent goes first, turn 1 Llanowar Elves, then turn two random threat. I'm stuck in this two lands I mulled to. Turn three, he had land destruction. I scoop. Game two, I keep a hand with three land. He had ld again in turn three and the same ld again in turn four. I scoop. Seismic Shift plus Llanowar Elves feels bad in limited. Turn there ld hasn't been a thing in limited in a long time, why bring it back at common with Llanowar Elves at common, also. My opponent had two of each.
This was my first time I ever went to a pre-release draft. I was completely destroyed.
First round was very very close. My opponent and I were both playing similar BW decks. I ultimately lost at 1-2 due to several missed plays on my part early on. I believe in our last game, we were both down to single digits and we essentially raced each other on clocks.
Round 2, I swung my BW deck as hard as I could against a WBr deck. But I just couldn't pull forward enough against his red splash. Each game saw my opponent with one mountain in play but it was enough for him to cast several burn spells. Combined with the intense creature removal from W and U I just couldn't pull ahead.
Round 3, disappointed at my last round and hearing talk about my next opponent, I opt to switch to a GU strategy with ramp and control. I don't recall the colors my opponent played. First game was a blowout. I siezed control game 2 and proceeded to beat my opponent down with massive beat-sticks like Cold-Water Snapper. With one more swing to go, my opponent played Karen's Temporal Sundering, neutralizing one best-stick, killing my others then hitting me for 17. Doh!
Round 4 is a bit of a haze but it was back to BW against a three color deck. I just couldn't push hard enough against him seeing cards like Muldrotha, the graveside. We were both racing clocks but his deck had far more flyers than mine. Lots of equipment like Short Sword on both sides. I also saw the "exile card until you see a creature" card as well but my brain is too fogged to remember what it was. I also saw my FIRST and ONLY saga played at this point.
Round 5. A very wicked BUG deck. I saw Muldrotha, the graveside again. By now, it was 4:30 AM and we were both exhausted. Many incorrect plays on both sides. I caught the player casting without paying costs once and casting non-creature spells another time with Muldrotha. The deck was disgusting with Deathbloom Thallid, Demonlord Belzonlok, Thallid soothsayer and Tatya. I just couldn't overwhelm this sort of vomiting recurring creature theme. Ugh.....
I had no such woes.
Although my pull was pretty incredable. (I'll post a pic). Just a pile of ledgendaries, either 4/4-5 for 4 or huge flyiers.... i just flew right over the green mid range decks.
Skittering surveyor was pretty key to my deck functioning and had two and drew them regularly.
Opened foil Karn, Scion of Urza. Went 2-2 with WB deck. Arvad the Cursed and Kwende, Pride of Femeref are not so good. Black and White knights are really annoying. Gap between 2 and 3 power/toughnes feels to be very big.
Karn is quite cool, actually.
Lost mostly due to mana screw.
Riku of Two Reflections - Copy, then copy again | Shattergang Brothers - Token Sac&Recur | Gahiji, Honored One - Multiple attack steps | Karametra, God of Harvests - Landfall, Creaturefall, Shroud | Ruhan of the Fomori - Stop hitting yourself | Zurgo Helmsmasher - Equipment&Wraths | Crosis, the Purger - Dragon Tribal Reanimator | Derevi, Empyrial Tactician - No stax, just tap and untap fun | Anafenza, the Foremost - Enduring Ideal Enchantress | Sharuum, the Hegemon - Sphinx Tribal Control | Noyan Dar - Spellslinger | The Mimeoplasm - Counterpalooza
Lists can be found here.
Still convinced the guy on Beseech the Queen is wearing a Mitra-type hat. Wake up sheeple!
Agreed on the land destruction thing. It's not fun.
This was a weird prerelease for me. I had to leave early, so I only got to play two rounds, and I went 2-0 the first time and 0-2 the second. Match 1-1 was pretty even; match 1-2 felt bad because my opponent got mana flooded to the point of never getting to cast anything; match 2-1 was even-ish, but I fell foul of Urza's Ruinous Blast; and during match 2-2, I basically got mana flooded. At least I got one additional pack (which is remarkably consistent; I've been to three prereleases and gotten exactly one pack each time), actually got a good promo this time (History of Benalia), and pulled a decent mythic in the packs (Verix Bladewing).
I thought I was in for woe when I opened my packs to find so many rares unplayable. 2 Khamal’s Druidic Vow. 2 Lich’s Mastery. Green was awful making the vows and Multani unplayable. The best rare I cracked was Aryel (my rare-promo, not legendary-promo) but my black, knights, and legends-matter support just weren’t adequate to built that color pair. Because all my good removal was red. 2 Shivan Fires and 2 Goblin Barrages... and 2 Ghitu Chronicler to recover said removal spells. I put together the red white equipment voltron deck with a grand total of one rare in it (Traxos - try it with On Serra’s Wings!). I couldn’t even splash the black for Aryel - had absolutely no color fixing.
And I proceeded to go 4-0 through the first four rounds following the same script in all four matches - lose game 1, win game 2 in a squeaker, and win game 3 quickly and overwhelmingly.
Unfortunately my luck ran out in round 5 as I came up against a deck that was running a similar concept as me only he opened all the white bomb Rares. Not one but two side by side Benalish Marshals ... was just too much for me to overcome. Finished 4-1, 3rd place. Flat prizing meant that was only 5 packs and, of course, the first prize I opened was another ******* Khamal’s Druidic Vow.
I got 2 Lyra Dawnbringer including a stamped foil and 2 Marwyn, the Nurturer including a stamped foil. I also had Serra Angel and Evra, Halcyon Witness (with Pegasus Courser).
I played a bunch of mana and cards with kicker to try and keep a mix between the bombs and my cheaper cards. I kicked all of Sergeant-at-Arms, Saproling Migration, Untamed Kavu and Krosan Druid (10 life..) multiple times, each largely on the back of Marwyn+Elves (2 Llanowar Elves, 2 Llanowar Scout, 2 Llanowar Envoy..)
I also had a Fungus subtheme with Sporecrown Thallid, Saproling Migration, Yavimaya Sapherd..
I was sick all weekend and missed the pre-release. I'm full of sadness.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Oh, come on dood, land destruction has been nerfed into non-existence for years. Anyone who pulls out game due to lands being destroyed has my cheers. If I can, I'll make Fall of the Thran work.
Only thing that bothered me was the Prerelease being Friday midnight and I having to go to work to Saturday.
My pool had quite good white bombs (Serra's blessing, Baird, Teshar, the 5 mana removal, the 2 / 2 lifelink, ICY MANIPULATOR) and was trying to fight my green bias but a Tatsova and a Grunn convinced me to go WG with a U splash aided by the elf and the ramp spell. Had a blast playing my favorite archetype, GW midrange with inevitability thanks to incremental value. Almost lose first round to a player getting lucky with a very unstable three-color build (red was his tertiary on the mana but his cards were double red), but went undefeated for three rounds, winning against a Fall of the Thran and an early Zahid in later rounds. But it was already 3:50 AM before the 4th round and I'm too old to pull an all-nighter so had to call it quits. Three hours of sleep do suck to keep for six hours of work.
Overall, Sealed felt good: more grindy, less race and dead late game like Ixalan. I still feel cards could be less simplistic: Icy Manipulator rules and it having a single 1 on his cost is the contrast with the surrounding, where the "everything is clunky" feel is still on.
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First round was very very close. My opponent and I were both playing similar BW decks. I ultimately lost at 1-2 due to several missed plays on my part early on. I believe in our last game, we were both down to single digits and we essentially raced each other on clocks.
Round 2, I swung my BW deck as hard as I could against a WBr deck. But I just couldn't pull forward enough against his red splash. Each game saw my opponent with one mountain in play but it was enough for him to cast several burn spells. Combined with the intense creature removal from W and U I just couldn't pull ahead.
Round 3, disappointed at my last round and hearing talk about my next opponent, I opt to switch to a GU strategy with ramp and control. I don't recall the colors my opponent played. First game was a blowout. I siezed control game 2 and proceeded to beat my opponent down with massive beat-sticks like Cold-Water Snapper. With one more swing to go, my opponent played Karen's Temporal Sundering, neutralizing one best-stick, killing my others then hitting me for 17. Doh!
Round 4 is a bit of a haze but it was back to BW against a three color deck. I just couldn't push hard enough against him seeing cards like Muldrotha, the graveside. We were both racing clocks but his deck had far more flyers than mine. Lots of equipment like Short Sword on both sides. I also saw the "exile card until you see a creature" card as well but my brain is too fogged to remember what it was. I also saw my FIRST and ONLY saga played at this point.
Round 5. A very wicked BUG deck. I saw Muldrotha, the graveside again. By now, it was 4:30 AM and we were both exhausted. Many incorrect plays on both sides. I caught the player casting without paying costs once and casting non-creature spells another time with Muldrotha. The deck was disgusting with Deathbloom Thallid, Demonlord Belzonlok, Thallid soothsayer and Tatya. I just couldn't overwhelm this sort of vomiting recurring creature theme. Ugh.....
Round 6 I get a buy.
Although my pull was pretty incredable. (I'll post a pic). Just a pile of ledgendaries, either 4/4-5 for 4 or huge flyiers.... i just flew right over the green mid range decks.
Skittering surveyor was pretty key to my deck functioning and had two and drew them regularly.
edit:
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
Karn is quite cool, actually.
Lost mostly due to mana screw.
Highlight of the day: Game 1 of match 4. It was basically EDH. It was one long, drawn-out slugfest during which we both went up to 50 life, dealing around 10 lifelink damage to each other each turn. I had Lyra Dawnbringer with Forebear's Blade and Tiana, Ship's Caretaker (and trusty old Icy Manipulator), he had Danitha Capashen, Paragon with two +1/+1 counters, Evra, Halcyon Witness with Jousting Lance and Kwende, Pride of Femeref). He kept churning out creatures and I didn't draw into removal. Lost the game, won the match. We both agreed that it was the craziest Limited game we ever played.
Lesson of the day: maindeck your artifact and enchantment removal.
Tamanoa - Welcome to the Jungle
Lists can be found here.
This was a weird prerelease for me. I had to leave early, so I only got to play two rounds, and I went 2-0 the first time and 0-2 the second. Match 1-1 was pretty even; match 1-2 felt bad because my opponent got mana flooded to the point of never getting to cast anything; match 2-1 was even-ish, but I fell foul of Urza's Ruinous Blast; and during match 2-2, I basically got mana flooded. At least I got one additional pack (which is remarkably consistent; I've been to three prereleases and gotten exactly one pack each time), actually got a good promo this time (History of Benalia), and pulled a decent mythic in the packs (Verix Bladewing).
Bombs:
Foil stamped Jaya Ballard
Foil stamped Kazarov, Sengir Pureblood
I went Jund, splashing for Green BR(G)
Sweet Sideboards
Foil Damping Sphere
The Vorthos community will await the consequences of the Eldrazi Titans' deaths/sealing. We will keep the watch.
“The wind whispers, ‘come home,’ but I cannot.”
— Teferi
And I proceeded to go 4-0 through the first four rounds following the same script in all four matches - lose game 1, win game 2 in a squeaker, and win game 3 quickly and overwhelmingly.
Unfortunately my luck ran out in round 5 as I came up against a deck that was running a similar concept as me only he opened all the white bomb Rares. Not one but two side by side Benalish Marshals ... was just too much for me to overcome. Finished 4-1, 3rd place. Flat prizing meant that was only 5 packs and, of course, the first prize I opened was another ******* Khamal’s Druidic Vow.
I played a bunch of mana and cards with kicker to try and keep a mix between the bombs and my cheaper cards. I kicked all of Sergeant-at-Arms, Saproling Migration, Untamed Kavu and Krosan Druid (10 life..) multiple times, each largely on the back of Marwyn+Elves (2 Llanowar Elves, 2 Llanowar Scout, 2 Llanowar Envoy..)
I also had a Fungus subtheme with Sporecrown Thallid, Saproling Migration, Yavimaya Sapherd..
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Only thing that bothered me was the Prerelease being Friday midnight and I having to go to work to Saturday.
My pool had quite good white bombs (Serra's blessing, Baird, Teshar, the 5 mana removal, the 2 / 2 lifelink, ICY MANIPULATOR) and was trying to fight my green bias but a Tatsova and a Grunn convinced me to go WG with a U splash aided by the elf and the ramp spell. Had a blast playing my favorite archetype, GW midrange with inevitability thanks to incremental value. Almost lose first round to a player getting lucky with a very unstable three-color build (red was his tertiary on the mana but his cards were double red), but went undefeated for three rounds, winning against a Fall of the Thran and an early Zahid in later rounds. But it was already 3:50 AM before the 4th round and I'm too old to pull an all-nighter so had to call it quits. Three hours of sleep do suck to keep for six hours of work.
Overall, Sealed felt good: more grindy, less race and dead late game like Ixalan. I still feel cards could be less simplistic: Icy Manipulator rules and it having a single 1 on his cost is the contrast with the surrounding, where the "everything is clunky" feel is still on.