Gatecrash Prerelease Discussion.

[Del]

I wonder if the reason values seem so weird right now for Gatecrash is that nobody has figured out what the non-obviously good cards are.

Frontline Medic and Blind Obedience are crazy good. So is the Minotaur wizard of Boros dooooooom. I don't expect them to stay this low for long as they're undervalued staples. Meanwhile I expect anything not obzedat, domri rade, aurelia's fury and shocks to drop in value pretty quickly.

Dark horse in terms of rares playables I am giving to Gyre Sage -- 4 dorks, & 4 sages and you're looking at some beefy ramp/bombs.

Also, while I saw a lot of people opening mad value for their pool (other than me) I don't think I saw many of them actually placing well. A lot of them were trying to splash for their mythics and failing...

[Volafortis]

I played Orzhov, went 5-1, and got 6th out of 57. Extort was absolutely awesome.

My deck:

8x Swamp
7x Plains
1x Mountain
1x Orzhov Guildgate

1x High Priest of Penance
1x Treasury Thrull
1x Crypt Ghast (foil)
1x Vizkopa Confessor
1x Guardian of the Gateless
1x Urbis Protector
1x Basilica Guards
2x Kingpin's Pet
2x Basilica Screecher
2x Syndic of Tithes

1x One Thousand Lashes
1x Mental Vapors
1x Aurelia's Fury
2x Grisly Spectacle
1x Boros Keyrune
2x Orzhov Charm
1x Angelic Edict
1x Undercity Plague

I had lots of strong removal and plenty of gas for extort. Also, in my prize packs, among my pulls were a Domri Rade and a Watery Grave, so overall a very good day for me.

[Del]

Nice! I would have killed for extort bears and kingpins today haha.

[guidance]

Oh right I also opened every guildmage but mine. When I said that to my first opponent he just paused and then started laughing at me.

[Volafortis]

Kingpin's Pet was easily the MVP of my deck, but all of the little extort guys did tons of work. Basically, the combination of extort and flyers made my deck almost unbeatable in combat situations. My only loss was to Dimir milling.

[Dubious_wolf]

Ahhhhh yeahhhh. Played orhzov and pulled a ghost council. Then traded him for a pair of deathrite shamans.... BOOM!

[tak197]

Went to my first pre-release. Ran a 40 card Orzhov deck, and did pretty well... even though I failed and ended up with a 1-3 record of 0-2, 2-1, 0-2, 1-2. So at my event, I missed prizes because I didn't have two wins.

However in my won match, one of the games was decided basically by this:

Him: "I'm going to attack with Adaptive Snapjaw, but first I'm going to bloodrush him, so now he's a 9/4, and because he's attacking with the battalion, I'm going to grant him doublestrike, so he's hitting for 18 and the others are attacking for 1 each."

Me: "I block your Snapjaw with my Alms Beast, and I tap one Plains to cast Smite. Your Snapjaw is gone, and I take two damage."

Him: ...

Me: ...

Him: "... Good move."

I followed this up by extorting him for two and then swinging with a Slate Street Ruffian with the Gift of Orzhova.

By the way, can I just say that after last night, I personally believe that Cipher needs to die in a fire?

[JackSlack]

Intrigued how many people here were going Orzhov. At my event, it was clearly: Boros, Gruul, Dimir, Orzhov and Simic last.

[Graham]

tak, and your opponent just learned why you don't cast your tricks before combat.

Wouldn't have helped him there, but still.

[Duckay]

I played in two preleases, one Dimir (in which I placed somewhere in the bottom half out of 48), and one Orzhov, where I placed 6th out of 43.

Of course, I'm somewhat... infamous for being a diehard red person, so when my results were read out for the Dimir one, the guy running it announced it as, "Because she didn't play red...". For Orzhov, it was "...and suffering serious withdrawal symptoms..."

I had good fun, on the whole. Got to refine some ideas, based on what I played and what I saw, for an Orzhov deck I want to build, a BUG deck I want to build, and an RDW I want to build. I need fewer ideas.

[Myrph]

So I ended up going straight Orzhov, pulling a reasonable amount of good Orzhov and average everything else. Didn't do too badly either, ended up going winning half and losing half, 2-0 0-2 0-2 2-0, but I can't help but feel that the only times my deck won was when my opponent was having mana trouble.

MVP was definitely the Treasury Thrull, which turned particularly nasty with Holy Mantle and Hold the Gates in my final game, although Balustrade Spy was brilliant against weenie flyers like the Metropolis Sprite, particularly when my opponent forgot that the spy was a flier (happened twice, with the same opponent!).

[Foxmar]

Interesting to see how many people went Orzhov, if I could made a prerelease I wanted to play Simic.

[Kapol]

Oh, I remembered one of the stupidest things I did during the pre-release. I had my opponent at 5 life. I was at 19. I had a 4/8 unblockable, a Fathom Mage with Forced Adaptation, a Cloudfin Raptor, a Experiment One, Snapjaw, and a couple other creatures. He had five creatures. I did some math. He had five, and I had six not including the unblockable. Only needed to get one more damage in for the win on top of my unblockable. So I figured I'd swing out. No way I could lose, right?

Wrong.

I'd overlooked one very simple calculation in my decision. One that made me headtable pretty hard when I realized it. One of the creatures he had was Guardian of the Gateless.

For those who didn't run into this card, it's a pretty nifty 3/3 flyer for 5 mana that can block any number of creatures. But to top it off it gets +1/+1 for each creature it blocks. Blocking 7 creatures means it became a 10/10. So... he killed my Fathom Mage (5/5), my snapjaw (7/3), and my Experiment One (2/2).

He swung in next turn with his four other creatures, played a couple spells (including a pump) and extorted me twice. But it wasn't quite enough to kill me. He got me down to three while going back up to three, meaning I used my unblockable to kill him next turn.

Of course I'm actually glad I did that. He seemed pretty crushed that I was just stomping him with my evolve creatures. But with that little turn around he felt a lot better about the match and I still got my win. So it worked out. I just felt like a complete idiot.

[Under_Score]

Oh gosh, the spy. /Everyone/ forgets that the spy has flying. Between the art and the block of text right under the word, it's very easy to miss.

[Utilitarian]

I killed no less than three creatures with my Armored Transport because people though it would be a trade and forgot that it doesn't take blocker damage

Also got one through for four turns in a row just off bluffing Bloodrush, which was hilarious

[Myrph]

Oh gosh, the spy. /Everyone/ forgets that the spy has flying. Between the art and the block of text right under the word, it's very easy to miss.

Except the art, despite being ridiculously dark, quite clearly shows the guy mysteriously floating in front of the balustrade/balcony thing. There is definitely nothing underneath his feet.

Although I suppose at first glance its not immediately obvious, as he doesn't have giant fluffy wings or anything.

[Juliamon]

Ended up going Gruul and opened barely enough decent cards to cobble together a RG deck with a small blue splash for some removal and that unblockable 2/2 rogue. Best card in my box was probably a Godless Shrine that was basically completely pointless. I had a Homing Lightning but it never showed up in any of my games, which is a shame because it would have saved my ass against an opponent with an Ooze Flux and a bunch of Forced Adaptations and Burst of Strength. As it is I went 2-2, losing my first and last matches.

I can't remember my deck exactly, but I had that Homing Lightning, two Skinbrand Goblins, a Scorchwalker, a Miming Slime (the main reason I had the Scorchwalker in there), two Zhur-Taa Swine, two Signal the Clans, a Ghor-Clan Rampager, a Skaarg Guildmage, and some misc spells and weenies.

My MVP was probably Zhur-Taa Swine because it managed to help me win for exactly lethal twice, and one of those times was as a topdeck on the last turn before my Orzhov opponent would have killed me. Ghor-Clan Rampager also put in a lot of work.

Out of 60 people, Boros and Orzhov were the most popular guilds to pick yet I ended up playing against three Gruul. It was actually kind of annoying for me because I just ended up seeing basically the same creatures every match (except the Orzhov opponent). My last opponent did pull Borborygmos though, so I can't really blame him for staying on-color (the other two Gruul opponents splashed Simic and Boros).

My weird card karma struck again at the end of the event. I got stomped by the guy with Borborygmos so quickly that only a few other people had finished their matches, so everyone who wanted to trade came looking for me first. I traded my Godless Shrine for a handful of commons and uncommons to a guy who was really desperate for it, even though I knew it was a pretty bad deal for me. Then once the event ended and prizes were handed out (one pack per win, so I got two) I opened a Watery Grave... perfect for my zombie deck, but even more perfect for my mill-loving friend who plans to dismantle HIS zombie deck to put together a nasty Dimir deck and is more than happy to trade me some Endless Ranks, Gravecrawlers and a Grimgrin for it and the Mind Grind I pulled as well.

[Utilitarian]

Zur-ta Swine pulled a lot of weight for my Gruul as well. That said, pretty much every time I played him I was like "man... I wish this had been a Ghor-Clan Rampager". Unfortunately I didn't get any of those, which made me sad.

(also not a single Pit Fight in all six packs. Bleh)

[Zethyr]

I picked Simic, but my pull was a little disappointing. No Zameck Guildmages, no Keyrunes for ramp, and no rares aside from my Fathom Mage. However, I did well! I won my first match against a relatively mill-focused Dimir deck. Hilariously enough, the turn before I went 2-0, he managed to mill my entire deck down to just my Simic Charm using those "mill until you hit a land" cards.

Next game was a disaster against a nasty Boros deck. Using a Orduun Veteran and a Sunhome Guildmage, he was able to drill down my life until he zapped me with a Boros Charm.

Third game was awesome! I was playing another Simic, but I won the first round after he mulled twice and got mana screwed. The second game was a dead tie until he was able to pay for the Bloodrush cost on Skarrg Goliath and bring me down. Thanks to Hands of Binding, I was able to bring it home in the third game.

In the last game, I agreed to split the prizes with a really great guy playing an Orzhov deck. I believe I beat him 2-0 through Hands of Binding and a 2/4 Crocanura (which was definitely one of my most useful cards during the whole event).

In the end, the whole event kicked ass! I wound up pulling a bunch of cards I REALLY would have wanted, such as Zameck Guildmage, and Elusive Krasis. My buddy playing Gruul pulled TWO Master Biomancers in my box, so I wanted to strangle him, especially since he didn't splash for them. :/

But all in all, I had fun. If I didn't have homework, I would have been trying Boros today.


Oh, and I don't know why, but I ended up with six Shamblesharks by the time I got home. Man, I don't know why, but I absolutely LOVE that card.

[JackSlack]

Aha, got my deck back. Here's what I ran.

7x Swamp
6x Plains
1x Godless Shrine
1x Orzhov Guildgate

1x Alms Beast
1x Angelic Skirmisher of Awesome
1x Basilica Guards
1x Beckon Apparition
1x Contaminated Ground
2x Court Street Denizen
1x Devour Flesh
3x Dutiful Thrull
1x Gateway Shade
1x Gift of Orzhova
2x Grisly Spectacle
1x Holy Mantle
1x Kingpin's Pet
1x Knight of Obligation
1x Prophetic Prism
1x Shadow Alley Denizen
2x Syndicate Enforcer
1x Thrull Parasite
1x Treasury Thrull
1x Wight of Precinct Six

[zukamori]

My local shops pre-release sealed was saturday, and got forced dimir due to all other guildpacks being gone.

Rather disappointed with my pool, no guildmage or keyruins, and only charm was gruul, but not enought decent creatures to run a deck around it. My rares were Five-Alarm Fire, Firemane Avenger, 2 Mind Grinds, Undercity Plague, and Breeding Pool.

Went 2-2 with a Dimir splashed Orhzov deck which ended up rather Agro-Control (thanks to Hold the Gates) based around creature with evasion, dudes with big butts and creatures which gained strength through milling my opponent.

By far my favourite play of the pre-release was when I Mind Grind my opponent for 3, which took 6 cards to get to the first land, 5 to the second and another 6 for the third.

My Decks MPV ended up being Hold the Gates, which paired well with my 4 guild gates in color, since every game I got that down with a guildgate, I was able win due to hitting my opponents with evasion creatures while still having them back to lock down the board

My deck:
1x consuming aberration
1x wight of precinct six
2x Keymaster Rogue
1x Deathcult Rogue
1x Kingpin's Pet
1x Basilica Screecher
1x Metropolis Sprite
1x Dinrova Horror
1x Clinging Anemones
1x Corpse Blockade
1x Bane Alley Broker
1x Simic Fluxmage
2x Mind Grind
1x Hold the Gates
1x Prophetic Prism
1x Shadow Slice
1x Psychic Strike
1x Death's Approach
1x Smite
1x Grisly Spectacle
1x One Thousand Lashes
3x Dimir Guildgate
1x Orzhov Guildgate

[Kapol]

1x Angelic Skirmisher of Awesome

Angelic Skirmisher is likely one of my favorite rares of this set. I love it so much.

[elvor]

Shambleshark is the best card. And so fun to say!

The Dimir prerelease card is beastly. The only game I lost when I got him out I lost because my opponent had 2!

Also, Mind Grinding for 6 lands and most of his deck = hilarious fun.

[Lemegeton]

Shambleshark is the best card. And so fun to say!

The Dimir prerelease card is beastly. The only game I lost when I got him out I lost because my opponent had 2!

Also, Mind Grinding for 6 lands and most of his deck = hilarious fun.

mind grind is disguating, its the 1 card that would have made my deck a beast but alas didnt draw any.

[Del]

Angelic Skirmisher is likely one of my favorite rares of this set. I love it so much.

I don't think people are giving it the respect it deserves in any format, that's for sure.