Off the top of my head, my favorite card is probably Phyrexian Obliterator. There are just too many things to like about it. It has awesome art, p/t > cmc, super cool ability, and it's a throwback to an older card! This card for me was the embodiment of the set New Phyrexia.
Honorable mention to every single angel card ever printed. lol
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- MagicPeaces
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My friend built a pretty nice blue/white fliers deck with all the best devoid cards, double Endbringers, and a decent amount of Wastes. I built black/white life-gain deck with a hefty amount of all the best removal and I splashed red for Fall of the Titans.
Game 1: VS. black/white allies & blue/red Eldrazi
They managed to hold the early game with life-gain from cards like Ondu War Cleric and various vampires. We were bleeding out from cards like Nettle Drone and other cards that hit "each" opponent being twice as effective in 2HG. Eventually we got there as they couldn't keep up with my removal, Endbringer, and all the fliers.
Game 2: VS. mono-white allies & black/blue Eldrazi
The mono-white deck was pretty solid. It had early aggression and the other deck played a support role. I was pretty land screwed this game and my partner was carrying me hard in the early game. I had Fall of the Titans in my hand and not much on the board. My friend had double Endbringers double pinging all the small fries and keeping his hand healthy. Eventually, turns was called life totals we roughly around 10 each. My friend and I both had a Seer's Lantern out. I was desperately scrying every turn for a final land for the big burn and he was scrying for a spell so I could surge. Last turn before it's a draw- they cast a Linvala, the Preserver and gain 5 life. We each scry away chaff and pull off on epic win- double Endbringer ping to the face and a Gravity Negator fueled 14 damage surge twin blast to both opponents- BAM!
Game 3: VS. black/green Eldrazi & blue/red Eldrazi
In this game both teams were trading early blows. My friend pulled of some sick combos like Roil Spout into an ingest from Mist Intruder, and Reflector Mage into Thought-Knot Seer. I held my own by supporting my friends fliers with Relief Captain, and by gaining 3 life a turn from Ondu War Cleric plus Vampire Envoy. Seer's Lantern scryed me into an active Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim then a straight win from Felidar Sovereign!
MVPs: Seer's Lantern and Endbringer. Honorable mention to Ondu War Cleric
But seriously, I thought all the angels on Zendikar weren't supposed to have halos blocking their eyes anymore. Thought Linvala told them all not to do it anymore, and they were like, "OK."
While that limited environment certainly carried the impact of the world they were trying to create, as someone with terrible luck, I didn't get any monsters and got stomped by them.
I am hoping this time around, the people of Zendikar stand more of a chance. In my opinion, there NEEDS to be a sub-theme of putting things from exile back where they belong to counteract all of the Eldrazi exile mechanics. Most smaller Eldrazi seem have Ingest. Ulamog has Ingest times 20. These monsters sure do seem to love eating your library. There should be some counter to this, right?
1st one: I chose Dromoka. I opened Zero (0) dragons from all of my packs, but I did open Narset Transcendent. Wanted to make her work by splashing blue, only to discover she doesn't really work well in limited. Her "+1" won't hit too often in a format where you want as many creatures as possible, and her "-2" doesn't actually work with a lot of spells (Enduring Victory for example). So I just went White/Green with no real spectacular pulls. All my creatures were cheap and weak. I came in last place.
2nd one: I chose Ojutai this time around. Slightly more luck; this time I pulled one (1) dragon from all of my packs and it wasn't even in the colors I chose. I can't complain though, I opened a Sarkhan Unbroken. This time I just went for it; I played Green/Blue/Red. My white was decent, but all of my white creatures had defender, so I was worried I wouldn't have enough creatures that could actually win me the game. Sarkhan, unlike Narset, is really really good in limited. Every single game he hit the table I won. If I didn't get him, I usually lost to some random dragon or another. I tied for 4th place.
My final thoughts about this set after 2 pre-res: There are weenies (early-game) in this set and there are dragons (late-game). One side is clearly stronger than the other. If you don't have any dragons, you had better have a way of beating them, or you will lose. There wasn't really any mid-game. Just my opinion.
Thanks for reading.
I chose Dromoka primarily for the gold die, only to find out that it was actually yellow.
I opened Dromoka's Command (Promo), Shaman of Forgotten Ways, Narset Transcendent, Crater Elemental, Outpost Siege, and Corpseweft. Also, I OPENED NO DRAGONS in any of my packs!!! Dragons of Tarkir? More like, regular normal plain ol' Tarkir. Ha!
I won't bore anyone with the details of my losses, but I will share a few notes. I went White/Green because my WG was consistent, but average. Wanted to splash Blue for Narset, but didn't really have any good Blue cards at all and had no color fixing. Also, Narset is kind of a weird plansewalker in this limited environment; She wants you to have a lot of spells, but you want mostly creatures in limited. In addition, her -2, which is her most appealing ability, doesn't really work with a good amount of spells in this set (i.e. Enduring Victory, fight spells when you have no creatures, counterspells, spells that cost X, and all spells that already have rebound). Sigh. I remember opening an Elspeth, Sun's Champion at Journey's Pre-re. That card single-handedly won me every game she hit the table. Sadly, Narset is not like that.
Anyway, just my thoughts. Still had a pretty fun time. More than likely going to Sunday's Pre-re as well.
My only complaint about this one is that I kinda wish it said "noncreature" instead of "creature or planeswalker." That way it would kinda make more sense against all the decks that run multiple counter spells or multiple of the same kill spell. However, I have a feeling that they (Wizards) did this because there is most likely going to be this "creature or planeswalker" symmetry between all of the dragon lords. Just a guess.
I also have a feeling that, just like with Khans of Tarkir, the pre-release promo will have a small chance of one of these clan representatives as a mythic. Can't wait for the rest to get spoiled so I can pick my clan from there.
Except this one.
This had nothing to do with the cards or mechanics or anything. My friends and I decided to go to a new shop for the midnight prere. The place was small and had poor ventilation (read: smelly). There was only enough space for 32 players. Of course there were few people who wanted to play, but they were turned away. Why, you may ask? This is because the store owner and his two employees wanted to play, so three of the spots that could've been for paying players were instead hoarded to the workers.
As if that wasn't bad enough, the prize payout was 1st place 1-box, 2nd 3-packs, 3rd 2, and 4th 1. Who won 1st you ask. The store owner of course. He took his box and put it right back on the shelf. There weren't enough Ugin packs for everyone because the employees got first dibs. I walked away with a sour taste in my mouth and an astonishment at how bad some places business ethics can be.
Aside from that, went 2-3 as Abzan. I was surprised at how often I used Crux of Fate to destroy Dragons. Pulled every piece of Abzan removal and had a decent force with all the good outlast guys and Dragonscale General as my promo. I just flat out stopped caring at a certain point. I would have to have play 100% perfectly at what is supposed to be a casual event just to get anything out of it. I got mana screwed, color screwed, mulled down to 5, it all didn't matter. Having a bad time makes you play bad too, I think. Of course, maybe I suck at shuffling haha.
We've experienced this same thing, like Aurelia's Fury and a few others over the years. I am not comparing this card to Aurelia's Fury, just the hype it's receiving. That card was the best "fireball" red and white had ever seen and would go into every deck with those colors. It did not. It wasn't a bad card, there was just no existing deck that wanted it at the time. People tested it in the existing Boros deck, only to find that Boros didn't want to pay 3 mana to do one damage, and the deck never really got enough mana to capitalize.
This card, I feel, is at least better than that. There is currently a deck that wants to run this card. It's Jeskai aggro. However, if you are a veteran player of that deck, you are well aware of its strengths and weaknesses. Things like, how much mana you have access to on an average game, on which turn do you usually win or lose, how many instant or sorcery spells you cast on average per game.
I think it is fairly safe to say that an aggro deck is not a "late game" deck and you should never really expect to be able to utilize SFGM's 3rd ability. You will most likely never want to spend a whole turn buying back a Lightning Strike for 6 mana. You do cast quite a few damaging spells though. Most likely an estimated 3 to 5 spells before the game is decided. These spells hit for 3 or 4 damage each. That could be a lot of potential life gained. The problem, though, is that with a card as popular as one like this, you can expect to face it in the mirror quite a bit. He will get bolted down for sure before causing any sort of significant impact, and the life gain was only really relevant in the aggro mirror to begin with.
With that in mind, you are essentially paying 2 for a 2/2 with lifelink along side a burn spell that costs 2 or less in order to gain an immediate benefit, then he might survive long enough for perhaps another, then he will die. So you really get a 2/2 lifelink with etb gain 3 or 4 life. Is that bad? No. Is it better or worse than say a Seeker of the Way (a card that takes up a similar role in the deck)? The answer, not strictly. This card is not strictly better than a Seeker of the Way, which is an uncommon.
I am certainly not paying 20 to 30 over-hyped dollars for a card that is not necessarily better that an already existing 10 cent easier to get card.
Just my opinion, you don't have to agree, but thank you for reading it.
WOW
Quick Draw
Industrial Rig
Painful Protrusions
Honorable mention to:
Sheltering Spirit
Abyssal Embrace
Keep up the good work!
I know this is an over generalized statement, but consider this: if Boros was picked more than 90% at an event, then you will find most players on the top as well as the bottom chose Boros. If that is the case, what makes a 1st place player's Boros deck better than a last place Boros player? If everyone agrees that one guild/clan is the best, then everyone will pick it and it will place in the top purely based on statistics alone.
At Gatecrash pre-release, I chose Dimir only because I liked them more and I liked their promo. I came in first place. I adapted my strategy knowing that 90% of people picked Boros. Apparently Boros's main weakness was having a creature with 3+ toughness, go figure. I'm sure Abzan, while seemingly strong, has it's weakness as well. What about bouncing their guy that they spent so many turns tapping at sorcery speed to buff?
For me, I see these clans as being a 5 way rock-paper-scissors with Abzan being rock. Everyone thinks rock is the strongest even though it is just as balanced. Everyone sees Jeskai as weakest, but it is just as balanced. The two clans just have different strengths and weaknesses. If everyone picks Abzan, Jeskai will be the clan to choose at pre-release. Bring Low, Suspension Field, Singing Bell Strike, Force Away, and Crippling Chill are just some of the Jeskai cards that will shut down most Abzan strategies.
I will always pick the guild/clan I like the most and have fun with whatever I choose. For me, pre-releases are not about needing to come in first. And if I do happen to win, I feel more proud that I did it with my favorite color pairing than having to choose something I don't like just because I think it might give me a competitive edge. Especially since pre-releases are not major competitive events to begin with. My 2 cents anyway.