Gatecrash Prerelease Discussion.

[James]

So with Gatecrash upon us this weekend what better way to break in the MtG forum but letting people know how you did and what sweet cards you got!

I would love to start but I don't get to play with these cards until the Sunday event at Yellow Jacket, but you better believe I'm excited to do so!!!

[Graham]

I've come all the way back around... think I'm gonna rock some Boros on Sunday.

[Volafortis]

I'm definitely excited. Gonna (hopefully) commit some extortion with Orzhov.

[Kapol]

Going to be playing some Simic tomorrow (if the roads aren't awful). Hoping to get some good cards. I'll be able to tell more once it happens.

[Prospero101]

The fact that I can't actually go to the prerelease has not prevented me from swearing my allegiance to Dimir! Also I need some new blue-black stuff to help me build my Evil Twin control deck.

[Myrph]

Heading out tomorrow morning for it, thinking of going Orzhov with a view to splash Dimir (Or Dimir/Orzhov, can't decide which card I want) for a spot of Exort/Cipher shenanigans, but given how well Boros seems to be doing I might end up going that way.

Guess it all depends on what I pull when I get there!

[vazhkatsi]

well, I can't get to the prerelease til late sunday due to a weekend long 18 hour rehearsal, but going to rock out with Gruul when I do go. Then my friends and I have ordered 4 boxes, which we are splitting up according to the guilds, and we're playing a limited guild wars tournament.

[Utilitarian]

Did a midnight pre-release last night. Showed up not really committed to any one guild, asked what was under-picked. "Gruul" done!

Opened... well frankly I opened crap. Probably one of the most mediocre sealed pools I've seen in a while. Rares got taken up by huge unwieldy Primordials in colors I didn't have the rest of the base to support and I was completely starved for useful 2 and 3 drops.

Best cards I had were a Legion Loyalist, Boros Charm, and a Clan Defiance. I had a Gruul and Boros guildgate so I went for Naya.

Round 1, up against Simic, agro win no problem. Managed to blow opponent out with Gruul charm for anti-fliers and crack in for the win.
Round 2 was especially satisfying since my opponent was acting all cocky after having won a casual game against me prior to the round starting with Orzhov. Proceeded to totally cave his face in with Bloodrush spells and Clan Defiance.

Round 3... opponent picked Dimir... but evidently he opened fucking Gideon AND a foil Domri Rade from the SAME GOD DAMNED BOOSTER. Plus he had a deck in the same colors with much better cards. Win first game, lose 2nd and 3rd. He has both planeswalkers out in all three games. Fuck me. Some people have all the luck (evidently he also opened Prime Speaker Z as well, because two planeswalkers isn't enough)

Round 4 I lose to Boros in two VERY close games (opponent to 1 life in both of them) Mostly because my Clan Defiance and Boros charm don't come up.

Had a lot of fun though and Gruul is a hoot to play.

*edit*

The Deck: http://imgur.com/RaO7sw5 Terrible but I'm happy I went 2/2 with it

[Under_Score]

So, I was a little disappointed that my local game shop decided to do 4-rounds instead of 5 like they used to and that it cost $30 instead of $25, but I ended up going 3-1 and winning 6 packs (4 Gatecrash, 2 Return to Ravnica) so I can't complain too much. Picked Dimir, barely got any cipher and only a few incidental mill, but ended up winning most matches because apparently unblockable 3 mana agro works? The only game I lost was against a very good player who had a nice Boros deck, and I kept getting stuck on land.

As for my deck...

1x Dimir Guildgate
8x Swamp
8x Island

2x Cloudfin Raptor
1x Death's Approach

2x Incursion Specialist

1x Bane Alley Broker
4x Deathcult Rogue
1x Gift of Orzhova
1x Psychic Strike
1x Sage's Row Denizen
1x Undercity Informer

2x Balustrade Spy
1x Call of the Nightwing
1x Clinging Anemones
1x Keymaster Rogue
1x Lazav, Dimir Mastermind

1x Consuming Aberration
1x Leyline Phantom

1x Undercity Plague

My Lazav never shapeshifted, my Aberration was only down a turn before getting killed by the 2BB that makes you mill equal to the creature's power (it was 6 at the time), and my Leyline Phantom never got returned to my hand. I also never looted with the Bane Alley Broker and only drew and cast Undercity Plague once, attaching it to my single creature, and ultimately winning because I then attached Orzhova's Gift to it. But most of the time I won with Deathcult Rogues and flyers.

[Kapol]

Most of my wins were from unblockable. Opened what I believe was a very lousy pool. But after bulding the deck and playing, I realized I had the purest Simic deck that one could hope for in limited. Didn't stop me from only going 4-2 and not getting top 8.

My deck was this:
2 Mystic Genesis
1 Nightveil Specter
1 Slyvan Primordial
1 Fathom Mage
1 Desciple of the Old Ways
2 Experiment One
2 Elusive Krasis
2 Ivy Lane Denizen
2 Drakewing Krasis
1 Hands of Binding
3 Forced Adaptation
2 Cloudfin Raptor
2 Simic Guildgate
1 Simic Fluxmage
1 Adaptive Snapjaw
1 Frilled Oculus
8 Forest
7 Islands

So tons of evolve triggered many times. Elusive Krasis pretty much owned the show. Big 0/4 butt that only gets bigger and can swing in with unblockable is nice, especially when you cipher Hands of Binding onto it. My rares were awful though. Other than those four, I got an Alms Beast and a Whispering Madness. My deck lacked an end-game goal really. And in the free pack I got I ended up getting an Assemble the Legion.

So, while disappointing, I did have a good deal of fun and did well at my prerelease.

[Under_Score]

Oh, wait, assemble the Legion is a rare. Huh, no wonder I couldn't remember what Jon and Marshall thought of it. 4-2 seems good, though, and your deck seems like it can get some nice evolve snowballs going, as you said it did. Really tempted to play Simic at tomorrow's, but I'll probably just go Boring Boros Bros Battalion Bash, so I can try two different colors.

Oh, and if anyone's curious, the rares I didn't play were Assemble the Legion, Realmwright, Sylvan Primordial and Godless Shrine. Was tempted to use the shrine and the realmwright to splash white for removal, but I felt like my deck would perform better without it, and it certainly seemed to.

[Utilitarian]

Lost a game (barely) to Assemble the Legion in round 4 at my release. Actually managed to answer it pretty well with a Homing Lightning to take out like six tokens on the attack (after he buffed them) so that was satisfying. Ended up being one damage short on the crackback though thanks to drawing a land -_- sadface.

It's such a strong inevitability card.

[Kapol]

The biggest problem with Simic is choosing the right time to do things. Do I play this two-drop now? Or do I hold onto it, play my three-drop 0/4 unblockable, then play a two-drop? Maybe play skip the turn, play 0/4, play Ivy Lane, then hope I hit the mana for my two drop and my 3/1 flying trample? (that actually happened to me) And then throw on the one-drop enchantment that keeps pumping up my 0/4 unblockable in my hand... when do I play that?

Simic is a guild that doesn't give you the answers. You can sacrifice speed for better creatures overall, or you can build your board state up. It depends on what you think is best. And I like that about it. But at the same time it never felt like I played anything other than Mystic Genesis that had a major impact. Everything was small and needed bigger things to get big.

[Lemegeton]

so i have mixed feelings about my pre-release. on one hand it was my best result from a magic event to date but on the other were it not for some woeful misplays on my part i should have easily come out 3-3. i played dimir and my pool sucked for mill but i still managed to build an ok deck. was mainly based around unblockable rogues and getting some nasty spells ciphered on to them. lost my first match to a disgusting boros deck and lost round 2 very narrowly 2-1. won the 3rd getting my 1st 2-0 win ever so i was in such a good mood. my next 2 matches were just total facepalm though. won the first game in each sooo easily and then made horrible misplays to lose the 2nd and then seemed to struggle with my draw in round 3. so i went 1-5 but should have been 3-3 so easily.

just gotta pay more attention in future i suppose. my pulls were junk too except for 1 shockland no decent rares to speak of

[Utilitarian]

I can see that Kapol. With Gruul it was the opposite, especially in my first two games. I felt like I always had options thanks to the versatility of Bloodrush. Honestly I got a lot of damage though in games just swinging in with my Armored Transports since they couldn't kill them on the block and always assumed I had pump spells handy once they knew my colors.

[Kapol]

I kinda regret not going with something easier. I enjoyed my deck, but it never felt like it had any punch to it. I'd have prefered going Boros I think since that seems to have dominated.

Also, I wore my Untap&Upkeep&Draw&etc shirt. Got quite a few comments on it, but no one ever asked me where to get it.

[Utilitarian]

Yea Boros definately had some serious power. Once they got Battalion running it was super hard to find a favorable block.

Man that 3/3 Minotaur guy is a beast though. Threat of activation with first strike is bad enough but then if you want to kill him in combat or with a burn spell you gotta take that much damage to one of your guys or to your dome? Pain. I woulda killed for one of him in my packs.

[Lemegeton]

Man that 3/3 Minotaur guy is a beast though. Threat of activation with first strike is bad enough but then if you want to kill him in combat or with a burn spell you gotta take that much damage to one of your guys or to your dome? Pain. I woulda killed for one of him in my packs.

yeah ran into him more than once today. such a pain to deal with

[Utilitarian]

Man I'm torn as to whether to do any pre-release on MTGO. Doesn't seem as worth it, but at the same time since I'm not gonna get to go to any releases today or tomorrow due to work, it's kinda tempting

*edit* also the problem with being stuck at work and wanting to chat on the forums about the pre-release is everyone else is too busy out playing in the pre-release to be on the forums talking about it

[JackSlack]

On my way back now; our Pre-release gave us boosters first then let us choose a guild. I was planning to go Simic, but a W/B shock land steered me to Orzhov. I wound up going 3-1-1, good enough for 10th place out of 48 players, a result I'm very happy with.

The guy who won somehow got 7 creature removal spells in a set very low in them. What the hell?!

[Utilitarian]

Some people really do have all the luck -_-

See my previously mentioned story about the... I think the word is "luck sack" who pulled TWO planeswalkers out of the same booster. -_- and I just HAD to get paired with him

[guidance]

My pre-release went ... ok. I went chose dimir and went 2-2 which is the best I've ever done in any magic tournament. I got paired with my friend and lost which felt pretty shitty, especially when the whole time him and my other friend were constantly raving about how shit his pool and deck were.

I really enjoyed opening packs with a big group of friends, and the playing part of sealed, but I realized I can't deck build for shit. I just can't see what the best option is.

I only opened the white black shock land so I can't say I made my money back either.

[Del]

So I did Orzhov today.

The value in my limited pool was complete garbage. I think my most valuable card was a foil uncommon (not even a charm), or perhaps my promo treasury thrull. All my rares were junk gruul or simic lol.

Thankfully I ended up having a bucket of common/uncommon extort options in my last 3 packs (my guild pack was a thorough write off), and I ended up with 3x extort bats, 3x extort walls, 1x knight of obligation, and 1x vizkopa confessor. That gave me plenty of stall and I just sat back extorting with my instant speed removal on their turn (2x smites, 1x grisly spectacle, 1x arrows of justice, and 2x angelic edict).

My best (and only bombs) were a Luminate Primordial and a Crypt Ghast for fueling extorts. 2x balustrade spy and 2x gateway shades also put in some serious work.

Early on I was cruising (simic =/= limited friendly kids, especially when I can just blow up anything that might make it over or through my extort walls).

Third round was vs an orzhov extort mirror match, except on game1 I missed land drops on turn 4/5/6 (weee), but still held on and made a game of it. Game two was an extort fest that lasted 36 minutes, and almost went to time if I hadn't drawn 3 lands in a row losing the war. He also had a much better deck (3 kingpins vs my zero) and actual bombs (ex: lord of the void), so I was lucky to even get close in the second game.

Final round I won match 1 against a much better constructed simic deck (prime speaker, on curve creatures, etc). Round 2 I got cheesed out by an unblockable evolver swinging for five a round (2 smites in hand, but I couldn't get anything to kill him). Last game was the closest I had all day. He had ridiculous board advantage, but my crypt ghast powered extorts were keeping me in it. I eventually whittled him down to where he had to attempt an alpha strike to clear off my extorters. I had him dead on board between a flyer and my next extort. He combat tricks out my flyer, I get crunched for like 19 leaving me at 4 and draw a spell on my next turn. whew.


Ended up getting 9th out of 40. Not bad I guess, but I was hoping for top 8. Cracked my prize support and actually found some value (on guild with what want to play) getting a sacred foundry, a watery grave (to trade for a foundry), an aurelia, and enough mediocre gruul stuff to trade for 2 frontline medics and 2 blind obedience.

Two of the people at my table placed the top 8 made it there with the tech that I showed them during deck construction: Mortus Strider + Undercity Informer = repeatable extorts. That'll teach me...

[headband]

Played Boros and got a lot of sweet stuff. 2 Cider Elementals, a Five-Alarm Fire, Aetherize, Merciless Eviction, and the Boros guildmaster herself, Aurelia, the Warleader.

[Utilitarian]

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.

it's like, there's a few mega value cards like Fury, Planeswalkers and Shocklands but a lot of it seems mostly dead.

So it's like, people's pools end up being amazing or completely dull