I still think these boxes are great value at MSRP. People are willing to pay a ton of money on boxes of Worldwake for a chance of cracking a Jace, but will most likely not even get 100 dollars of retail value. I've opened up 3 boxes MM2015 so far, and have gotten pretty good value each time. I can't think of another set that you can expect to get your money's worth (on average). Plus, they seem to be going on ebay for under 200 right now (Saw some cases go for 760?)
The chances seem pretty good to get a foil mythic, but there are also a lot of high valued rares. I agree that the commons and uncommons are much lower in value than the original MM set, but those boxes are going for much more on the secondary market.
I didn't list all of the rares under 30 dollars, but you will typically get a 2-3 of them. The
1st box - noble hierarch, cryptic, clique, foil clique
2nd box - foil dark confidant, goyf
3rd box - goyf, dark confidant
I think that "Guild Prerelease Pack" is different from a "Guild booster pack". It seems like the "Guild Prerelease Pack" is the bundle of stuff you get when you choose your guild.
Although I posted my SCG Richmond report in the tournament report thread, I just wanted to add a few thoughts about cards I played around with. I tested Gather the townsfolk, but it didn't seem to jive well with Thalia. Having both in my hand seemed awkward, and the deck didn't seem to curve as well.
Thraben Doomsayer is a decent 3 drop, but I think that slot is pretty full with geist, mirran crusader, and fiend hunter. Plus, the time it would take to make a few tokens with the doomsayer would probably be game over if it was a mirran crusader. I do like the fateful hour mechanic though, although it is hard to abuse in the current versions of Haunted Humans. I could see doomsayers being better than fiend hunters against zombie aggro and control decks though, so that is where I would swap them in at to test.
I think Thraben Doomsayer and Gather the Townsfolk almost belong in a different build of deck. Perhaps a suicide humans deck with immolating souleater or hex parasite?
Background
Hey all. My name is Dean and I am fairly new to the competitive scene
of mtg. I played magic casually from Revised until Urza's block, but
gave away all my cards before I went to college. It wasn't until the
Scars Block (Besieged to be exact) that I played my first FNM and got
thoroughly stomped in a draft. I was overwhelmed with planeswalkers,
equipment, the infect and metalcraft mechanic, and rules in general.
However, it was a lot of fun and I was hooked.
My first big tournament outside of an FNM was SCG DC of this year. I
was really unprepared and wasn't able to put the deck together until
the night before the tournament. I traded like crazy to put together
the G/B wolf run deck that Connely Woods created at the last minute.
I playtested until 2am with my friend Richard, but it wasn't enough.
Going into the SCG open, I was nervous as hell and did not know how to
play my deck. My record showed, and I ended up going 5-4-1. Richard
did better, with a record of 7-3.
Tournament Report
After learning some important lessons from the 1st tournament, I decided to come in much more prepared for SCG Richmond. Unfortunately, things didn't work out so well. Although I had a chance to run the gauntlet with different decks, I didn't decide on what deck I wanted to play until the night before. Originally, I was planning on playing the G/B wolf run deck again. However, the wolf run deck did poorly in the gauntlet against most of the aggro/tempo decks. After seeing the success of Haunted Humans in all of the recent MTGO events, I decided to make a last minute switch.
Match 1
Played against a G/r aggro deck. In game 1 I ran into strangleroot geists, birds of paradise, llanowar elves, dungrove elders, and thrun. He had burn spells to get rid of my Mirran crusaders, but just couldn't keep up with my swarm of creatures and anthem effects. Game 2, he played pretty tight and avoided my mana leaks that I had boarded in. Although he had a bigger board presence, I had a spirit with an angelic destiny that he couldn't deal with. He went for a Green Sun's Zenith for 5, to acidic slime my only threat, but I was able to double mana leak it for the win. I thought to myself that it was interesting that people would go with heavy green beatdown for this tournament. Little did I know....
(1 - 0)
Match 2
Played against a U/B zombies deck. I had a good feeling when I slammed down my Mirran crusader, but he had the answer to it. After a small pox to get rid of my other creature, and then geth's verdict on my crusader, I was left with a single land. Not drawing another land, I quickly lost to a lone zombie. Games 2 and 3 went much better, as he was unable to race against my mirran crusader and honor of the pure. I think that the deck would give me a lot more problems if it ran Despise.
(2 - 0)
Match 3
Played against Todd Anderson and his mono green dungrove deck. His deck was pretty similar to my round 1 opponents, but he had a bellowing tanglewurm and 4x swords of war and peace as opposed to huntmaster of the fells and burn spells. I was crushed pretty quickly in game 1, as he dropped a sword on turn 2, and start beating me down turn 3 with an equipped birds of paradise. Game 2 came down to a race where I was able to drop a honor of the pure for exact lethal. Game 3 was much closer than I thought it was, because I didn't know that his deck ran Bellowing Tanglewurm which he could have dropped or Green Sunned for lethal if I didn't kill him the following turn.
(3 - 0)
Match 4
Played against a 4 color control deck. Game 1, I overextended into a 2nd whipflare, and he killed me with a Sun Titan and 2 more phantasmal imaged copies of Sun Titan. Game 2 he dismembered my only threat in response to angelic destiny when I finally thought I had a chance to play around mana leak. The games might have been different if I was able to play any honor of the pures, but I felt that this was a bad matchup. His deck had whip flares, mana leak, phantasmal image, ratchet bombs, and spot removal for the early game. Sun Titan, phantasmal image, into recursive Ratchet bombs was the finisher. He was also able to dig for answers efficiently with faithless looting, desperate ravings, forbidden alchemy, and think twice.
(3 - 1)
Match 5
Played against mono black zombies. I don't think the matchup was good for him, and he didn't seem prepared for my mirran crusaders mainboard. Both games came down to a race, and I was able to find oblivion Rings for his captains/Geralf's Messenger while beating down.
(4 - 1)
Match 6
Played against G/W Humans/Tokens. Game 1, she was able to Oblivion Ring my 2x Hero of Bladeholds, and 1x Mirran Crusader. After I ran out of gas, she landed her own Hero and took the game 2 attacks later with gavony township. Game 2, she ramped into a turn 3 Hero. My Hero came out a turn later and was used to double block and kill off both our heroes because she also had a Mayor of Avabruck in play. After the trade, she dropped another Hero. I played another Hero and passed, but she was able to cement the game by landing elspeth Tirel and attacking for lethal the turn after. I also felt this was a bad matchup for me, due to her being able to upgrade her board with gavony township, and ramp into her end game a turn faster. After chatting a bit, I found out that she also lost to the same 4 color control deck. Here's her decklist
(4 - 2)
Match 7
Played against G/R wolf run aggro hybrid. Game 1 was pretty interesting because he was really getting value from his Huntmaster. I swear that card gained him at least 6 life, 3 tokens, burned me for 6, and took out 3 creatures.
Fortunately, he was stuck on 5 lands and I killed him before he could land a Titan. Game 2, I was able to slow him down with Thalia. By the time he landed an inferno Titan, I had a Celstial Purge ready and was able to swing in for the win.
(5 - 2)
Match 8
Played against the mirror. The board became pretty clogged in game 1, with me having a couple of creatures, hero of bladehold, and honor of the pure. He also had a few creatures, hero of bladehold, and 2x honor of the pure. Neither of us could attack profitably, and there was a lot of combat math with the honor of the pures and battlecry trigger. After I dropped my 2nd Hero of bladehold, he made the move of attacking all in. After doing the match, I was able to block his soldier tokens with my hero of bladeholds, and chump blocking the rest of his creatures to survive the attack. My swingback was lethal and took the game. Game 2, I blew him out with the nut hand. My starting hand was 3x Champion of Parish, Honor of the Pure, Doomed Traveler, 2 plains. Turn 2, I had all three champions out, Turn 3, I played a traveler and honor of the pure, and he immediately scooped.
(6 - 2)
Match 9
Played against G/W control. Not sure if he was running a wolf run variant, but he wasn't able to survive long enough to play a titan in game 1. Game 2 went long, as he was able to cast all 4 of his day of judgments and acidic slime my angelic destiny. Moorland Haunt was able to attrition him out, and the tournament was over!
(7 - 2)
I didn't think I had a chance of getting top 8, but my friend Richard did. He was ranked 8th going into round 9, and had to play Todd Anderson. Todd also had an 8 - 1 record, but didn't think his breakers was good enough to draw in. Richard eventually lost in game 3, and we ended up in 12th and 13th place. Overall, it was a long but fun experience. I plan on being more prepared for the next tournament (maybe GP Baltimore?), but I'm not sure what deck I want to play. U/W Humans is very strong, but I'm not sure about G/W mirror matchup. Here are some cards that I consider changing if I run this deck again.
Grand Abolisher - As good as this guy is, I didn't run into U/W delver or U/B control all day. I'm not sure if its correct to run 4x mainboard, but there were times I wanted a Leonin Relic Warder. Game 1 just seemed so bad when they land an early sword of war and peace. It could also give me a better game 1 against tempered steel, which I expect more people to play now that it has won an SCG open. I usually ended up siding all 4 of him out for all my matchups against creature decks.
Thalia - I ran 2x in my build because I decided to go creature heavy. I think I might even run a 3rd in my sideboard, but she wasn't really an all-star in any of my matchups. The first strike was relevant enough for me to keep her in after sideboarding, and I'm not sure if there is a much better 2 drop to replace her with.
Loyal Cathar - I think I might play around with this guy more, since Doomed Traveler performed so well for me. Vigilance is an important attribute in races, and so many decks run sweepers now. Maybe I'll replace 2x Grand Abolishers with this guy...
Leonin Relic Warder - There were times I wish I had him in my sideboard. Since I want to maximize the use of Thalia, I am considering of having 2x Relic Warders in my sideboard instead of Revoke Existence.
Angelic Destiny - This card won me a few games, but I would hate to see more than 1 in my hand at any time. The mana already feels tight in this deck, and I rarely hit more than 5 land. I'm not sure if its worth playing this card over Sword of WaP, but it can come down a turn faster. With so much instant speed removal, I feel that these cards need to be played as a sneak attack when there is an opening. There are so many times that I have played against a player who equips or enchants a creature who still has summoning sickness. It ends up being a blowout when that creature gets bounced or a board wipe is played.
Gideon's Lawkeeper - Not the best 1 drop, and I rarely used his tap ability. There are way too many hexproof creatures now and protection from white seems more prevalent. There is a chance this card can really come in handy against opposing hero of bladeholds or flipped delvers. Perhaps its because of the meta, but I feel that it is correct to play over 10 1 drops to maximize the usefulness of champion of Parish. If I took out the lawkeepers, I would consider replacing them with Elite Vanguards or other good 1 drops.
If someone was to play a combo (suture priest + phyrexian metamorph + leonin relic warder) to gain infinite life, but then you play the splinter twin + deceiver exarch combo to attack for infinite damage, who wins? is the game unwinnable once they pull off the infinite life combo? Would the opponent have a case for forcing a draw once they pull off the infinite damage combo? I would hate to be on either side of this at a tournament.....
I don't really see him getting much better b/c of NPH, but "maybe" glistening oil can be used with him. I think he's a great finisher in a grand architect deck, especially if you can put infect on him. shooting someone twice w/ infect is pretty much game over.
3x Verdant Catacombs
3x Arid Mesa
Pile B
3x Snapcaster Mage
1x Bloodstained Mire (Expedition)
The chances seem pretty good to get a foil mythic, but there are also a lot of high valued rares. I agree that the commons and uncommons are much lower in value than the original MM set, but those boxes are going for much more on the secondary market.
I didn't list all of the rares under 30 dollars, but you will typically get a 2-3 of them. The
1st box - noble hierarch, cryptic, clique, foil clique
2nd box - foil dark confidant, goyf
3rd box - goyf, dark confidant
Threads of Loyalty
Misty Rainforest
foil Cryptic Command (Modern Masters)
B:
Dark Confidant (Modern Masters)
Batterskull
Looked pretty even by Starcity numbers
B: Foil Elspeth tirel
A: Marsh Flats
B: 2x Deathrite Shamans
I went with B in both situations, and I have a feeling I will lose value in the long run. Just wanted to hear your thoughts.
3x Geist of Saint Traft
Pile B
2x Misty Rainforest
3x Unhinged Island
Looks pretty even to me since Geist is such a good card in eternal formats as well, but I had to go with the lands. What do you guys think?
Thraben Doomsayer is a decent 3 drop, but I think that slot is pretty full with geist, mirran crusader, and fiend hunter. Plus, the time it would take to make a few tokens with the doomsayer would probably be game over if it was a mirran crusader. I do like the fateful hour mechanic though, although it is hard to abuse in the current versions of Haunted Humans. I could see doomsayers being better than fiend hunters against zombie aggro and control decks though, so that is where I would swap them in at to test.
I think Thraben Doomsayer and Gather the Townsfolk almost belong in a different build of deck. Perhaps a suicide humans deck with immolating souleater or hex parasite?
Background
Hey all. My name is Dean and I am fairly new to the competitive scene
of mtg. I played magic casually from Revised until Urza's block, but
gave away all my cards before I went to college. It wasn't until the
Scars Block (Besieged to be exact) that I played my first FNM and got
thoroughly stomped in a draft. I was overwhelmed with planeswalkers,
equipment, the infect and metalcraft mechanic, and rules in general.
However, it was a lot of fun and I was hooked.
My first big tournament outside of an FNM was SCG DC of this year. I
was really unprepared and wasn't able to put the deck together until
the night before the tournament. I traded like crazy to put together
the G/B wolf run deck that Connely Woods created at the last minute.
I playtested until 2am with my friend Richard, but it wasn't enough.
Going into the SCG open, I was nervous as hell and did not know how to
play my deck. My record showed, and I ended up going 5-4-1. Richard
did better, with a record of 7-3.
Tournament Report
After learning some important lessons from the 1st tournament, I decided to come in much more prepared for SCG Richmond. Unfortunately, things didn't work out so well. Although I had a chance to run the gauntlet with different decks, I didn't decide on what deck I wanted to play until the night before. Originally, I was planning on playing the G/B wolf run deck again. However, the wolf run deck did poorly in the gauntlet against most of the aggro/tempo decks. After seeing the success of Haunted Humans in all of the recent MTGO events, I decided to make a last minute switch.
Match 1
Played against a G/r aggro deck. In game 1 I ran into strangleroot geists, birds of paradise, llanowar elves, dungrove elders, and thrun. He had burn spells to get rid of my Mirran crusaders, but just couldn't keep up with my swarm of creatures and anthem effects. Game 2, he played pretty tight and avoided my mana leaks that I had boarded in. Although he had a bigger board presence, I had a spirit with an angelic destiny that he couldn't deal with. He went for a Green Sun's Zenith for 5, to acidic slime my only threat, but I was able to double mana leak it for the win. I thought to myself that it was interesting that people would go with heavy green beatdown for this tournament. Little did I know....
(1 - 0)
Match 2
Played against a U/B zombies deck. I had a good feeling when I slammed down my Mirran crusader, but he had the answer to it. After a small pox to get rid of my other creature, and then geth's verdict on my crusader, I was left with a single land. Not drawing another land, I quickly lost to a lone zombie. Games 2 and 3 went much better, as he was unable to race against my mirran crusader and honor of the pure. I think that the deck would give me a lot more problems if it ran Despise.
(2 - 0)
Match 3
Played against Todd Anderson and his mono green dungrove deck. His deck was pretty similar to my round 1 opponents, but he had a bellowing tanglewurm and 4x swords of war and peace as opposed to huntmaster of the fells and burn spells. I was crushed pretty quickly in game 1, as he dropped a sword on turn 2, and start beating me down turn 3 with an equipped birds of paradise. Game 2 came down to a race where I was able to drop a honor of the pure for exact lethal. Game 3 was much closer than I thought it was, because I didn't know that his deck ran Bellowing Tanglewurm which he could have dropped or Green Sunned for lethal if I didn't kill him the following turn.
(3 - 0)
Match 4
Played against a 4 color control deck. Game 1, I overextended into a 2nd whipflare, and he killed me with a Sun Titan and 2 more phantasmal imaged copies of Sun Titan. Game 2 he dismembered my only threat in response to angelic destiny when I finally thought I had a chance to play around mana leak. The games might have been different if I was able to play any honor of the pures, but I felt that this was a bad matchup. His deck had whip flares, mana leak, phantasmal image, ratchet bombs, and spot removal for the early game. Sun Titan, phantasmal image, into recursive Ratchet bombs was the finisher. He was also able to dig for answers efficiently with faithless looting, desperate ravings, forbidden alchemy, and think twice.
(3 - 1)
Match 5
Played against mono black zombies. I don't think the matchup was good for him, and he didn't seem prepared for my mirran crusaders mainboard. Both games came down to a race, and I was able to find oblivion Rings for his captains/Geralf's Messenger while beating down.
(4 - 1)
Match 6
Played against G/W Humans/Tokens. Game 1, she was able to Oblivion Ring my 2x Hero of Bladeholds, and 1x Mirran Crusader. After I ran out of gas, she landed her own Hero and took the game 2 attacks later with gavony township. Game 2, she ramped into a turn 3 Hero. My Hero came out a turn later and was used to double block and kill off both our heroes because she also had a Mayor of Avabruck in play. After the trade, she dropped another Hero. I played another Hero and passed, but she was able to cement the game by landing elspeth Tirel and attacking for lethal the turn after. I also felt this was a bad matchup for me, due to her being able to upgrade her board with gavony township, and ramp into her end game a turn faster. After chatting a bit, I found out that she also lost to the same 4 color control deck. Here's her decklist
(4 - 2)
Match 7
Played against G/R wolf run aggro hybrid. Game 1 was pretty interesting because he was really getting value from his Huntmaster. I swear that card gained him at least 6 life, 3 tokens, burned me for 6, and took out 3 creatures.
Fortunately, he was stuck on 5 lands and I killed him before he could land a Titan. Game 2, I was able to slow him down with Thalia. By the time he landed an inferno Titan, I had a Celstial Purge ready and was able to swing in for the win.
(5 - 2)
Match 8
Played against the mirror. The board became pretty clogged in game 1, with me having a couple of creatures, hero of bladehold, and honor of the pure. He also had a few creatures, hero of bladehold, and 2x honor of the pure. Neither of us could attack profitably, and there was a lot of combat math with the honor of the pures and battlecry trigger. After I dropped my 2nd Hero of bladehold, he made the move of attacking all in. After doing the match, I was able to block his soldier tokens with my hero of bladeholds, and chump blocking the rest of his creatures to survive the attack. My swingback was lethal and took the game. Game 2, I blew him out with the nut hand. My starting hand was 3x Champion of Parish, Honor of the Pure, Doomed Traveler, 2 plains. Turn 2, I had all three champions out, Turn 3, I played a traveler and honor of the pure, and he immediately scooped.
(6 - 2)
Match 9
Played against G/W control. Not sure if he was running a wolf run variant, but he wasn't able to survive long enough to play a titan in game 1. Game 2 went long, as he was able to cast all 4 of his day of judgments and acidic slime my angelic destiny. Moorland Haunt was able to attrition him out, and the tournament was over!
(7 - 2)
I didn't think I had a chance of getting top 8, but my friend Richard did. He was ranked 8th going into round 9, and had to play Todd Anderson. Todd also had an 8 - 1 record, but didn't think his breakers was good enough to draw in. Richard eventually lost in game 3, and we ended up in 12th and 13th place. Overall, it was a long but fun experience. I plan on being more prepared for the next tournament (maybe GP Baltimore?), but I'm not sure what deck I want to play. U/W Humans is very strong, but I'm not sure about G/W mirror matchup. Here are some cards that I consider changing if I run this deck again.
Grand Abolisher - As good as this guy is, I didn't run into U/W delver or U/B control all day. I'm not sure if its correct to run 4x mainboard, but there were times I wanted a Leonin Relic Warder. Game 1 just seemed so bad when they land an early sword of war and peace. It could also give me a better game 1 against tempered steel, which I expect more people to play now that it has won an SCG open. I usually ended up siding all 4 of him out for all my matchups against creature decks.
Thalia - I ran 2x in my build because I decided to go creature heavy. I think I might even run a 3rd in my sideboard, but she wasn't really an all-star in any of my matchups. The first strike was relevant enough for me to keep her in after sideboarding, and I'm not sure if there is a much better 2 drop to replace her with.
Loyal Cathar - I think I might play around with this guy more, since Doomed Traveler performed so well for me. Vigilance is an important attribute in races, and so many decks run sweepers now. Maybe I'll replace 2x Grand Abolishers with this guy...
Leonin Relic Warder - There were times I wish I had him in my sideboard. Since I want to maximize the use of Thalia, I am considering of having 2x Relic Warders in my sideboard instead of Revoke Existence.
Angelic Destiny - This card won me a few games, but I would hate to see more than 1 in my hand at any time. The mana already feels tight in this deck, and I rarely hit more than 5 land. I'm not sure if its worth playing this card over Sword of WaP, but it can come down a turn faster. With so much instant speed removal, I feel that these cards need to be played as a sneak attack when there is an opening. There are so many times that I have played against a player who equips or enchants a creature who still has summoning sickness. It ends up being a blowout when that creature gets bounced or a board wipe is played.
Gideon's Lawkeeper - Not the best 1 drop, and I rarely used his tap ability. There are way too many hexproof creatures now and protection from white seems more prevalent. There is a chance this card can really come in handy against opposing hero of bladeholds or flipped delvers. Perhaps its because of the meta, but I feel that it is correct to play over 10 1 drops to maximize the usefulness of champion of Parish. If I took out the lawkeepers, I would consider replacing them with Elite Vanguards or other good 1 drops.