M15 Prerelease Experiences

[Atifexe]

I lost a grand total of four games today, out of the twelve that I played. Overall, I went 4-1, and due to buses I left before the last round had totally finished. Nabbed 12 packs as a prize. Pretty good for the first prerelease I've ever attended, I think.

Of my losses, one was due to effective removal, one was due to a really poor decision (and an Indulgent Tormentor), one to mana screw after mulling to 4, and one to what I'd call tactically superior play.

I'd picked Black for my pack, and even opened a Soul of Innistrad in my seeded pack, but my deck wound up being White/Green. Opening a Resolute Archangel is what really influenced the decision; that and the general lack of black in my packs. Overall, the deck was heaviest around the 3 and 4 drops, with a decent number of 1 and 2 drops, and two 7 drops - the Resolute Archangel and a Seraph of the Masses.

In my closest victory, my opponent and I had each played Resolute Archangel on consecutive turns, then pummelled each other back down. I was at 4, he was at 11. I had a Seraph of the Masses, my Resolute Archangel, a Charging Rhino, and a soldier token in play. He had a Resolute Archangel equipped with Brawler's Plate, and I believe one other creature I've forgotten about.My Seraph had a +1/+1 counter on it from the Hunt the Weak I'd topdecked the previous turn, which I'd used to kill the Torch Fiend enchanted with Battle Mastery he'd been hammering me with.I topdecked my other Hunt the Weak, thought for a moment, then played a Midnight Guard and cast Hunt the Weak, having my Seraph of the Masses challenge his Resolute Archangel to a duel. With no more flying on his side, I attacked with everything.

That sort of luck carried the day for me a couple of other times, I'm sure, though none come to mind as readily. It's hard to say what the most valuable card in my arsenal was, but I think I have to give it to Sanctified Charge. I only had a couple, but I got them reliably, and my second opponent had been hosed by it enough in the first two games that he actually held off on the attack in the third because I had a card in hand and five mana open (the card was a Forest and I'd left the mana open because I had intended to pump my creatures with Sunblade Elite if he'd blocked me the turn before, which he hadn't).

If it wasn't Sanctified Charge, it was Battle Mastery on an Oreskos Swiftclaw. 3/1 Double Strike swinging in on turn 3 is pretty nasty stuff.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to play against any of the LRR folks, though Graham, James, Cam and Adam were there. Maybe next time. =)

[Spinballwizard]

[Insert weird thing about being a newcomer and not going to the newcomer thread first here. I just wanted to talk about my prereleases first.]

I played three. Luck wasn't exactly on my side though. (More on that in a bit.) I had fun which was fine.

Prerelease 1 - Picked white, and built a R/W deck that can best be described as BEAR FORCE ONE. Okay, it wasn't green, and contained cards that weren't strictly bears, but I ended up with 10-12 2-drops. (Can't remember the exact total. 2 Skirmishers, 2 Pridemates, and 3 Marauders were the highlights.) Quoting Graham from Prereleasing... I didn't have a curve, I had a WALL. My creature curve jumped to 6 from there with a little bit of removal in between. At 6 was Constricting Sliver and Souls of Theros and New Phyrexia. Lost R1G1 to Soul of Shandalar and Avacyn and G2 to Dragon, which bears don't like. (Also, he topdecked his own Constricting Sliver the turn after I played Soul of Theros.) Round 2 started well until he hit Resolute Archangel at 1 life. I dropped for the next one.

Prerelease 2 - Black this time. B/G ended up my build here, though I added 1 mountain (plus Verdant Haven) for Nightfire Giant, just because he's that good. Curve was a bit high, but oh well. I did have a game go long enough to Chord of Calling for Hornet Queen (VALUE!) but that was the only match I won. Round 2 was really close though, I lost game 3 since my opponent got the land he needed to Mass Calcify and blow me out. (We both needed to see doctors and/or psychiatrists after that game, though, between all the Ulcerates, Sign in Bloods, Necrogen Scudders, etc. due to possible mental issues and blood loss.) Got paired against a friend round 3, but we both decided to just say forget it and play in the last one of the day, since we felt neither of our decks could win out.

Prerelease 3 - Decided to say screw it and went with my true nature, blue. I hate clone effects in limited, but it's "me-magic." Ended up playing U/W tempo on the backs of Polymorphist's Jest, a couple Encrusts, Oppressive Rays, and good fliers. Ended up 1-4 with this one too, but that's what happens when you draw the wrong half of your deck at the wrong time. Favorite deck to play, though. (I loved me some blue tempo in Theros block.)

But I still had fun, had a 3-player game afterward with the last deck that turned from "let's develop our boards" into "let's stop the W/B player from just winning with Grindclock" (I encrusted it, yay "Enchant Artifact or Creature!") to "I should play my Archangel so I just don't get murdered by the mono-red deck that has Kurkesh and ANOTHER Grindclock," to "Holy cow, I won that!?"

[Phosphatide]

Really enjoyed my prerelease, and ended up building a clunky Esper deck out of greed and because it looked fun.

Click to Expand

Not pictured are two Evolving Wilds that were what encouraged me to believe that it is fine for me to force three colors. Usually worked out great.

The idea is I find ways to throw stuff into my graveyard for Unmake the Graves, Endless Obedience, and Soul of Innistrad to bring back. While I attempt to actually make that happen, I'm building up my defenses with creatures that can also strike back when necessary. Having Ajani really helped out thanks to the lifelink, and I would've stabilized one game I lost if I succeeded in a play where I cast two Necromancer's Assistants, successfully mill my Stormtide Leviathan, then cast Endless Obedience to bring it back and have it be the only one able to attack (except my opponent got me with a Lava Axe, which got a good laugh out of me).

Did the deck work? Heck yeah. Most of my victories came from stalling the board until I cast Ajani and threw a flyer into my opponent, but I did succeed in making the deck's goal go off and do funny graveyard recursions; there's something satisfying when you're making cards change zones a lot.

Unfortunately I went 2-2 and only got two packs. Every single opponent I faced went aggro, and interestingly three of them went RG (one went RW). Most of the games were down the wire, and it was a huge blast. And I pulled Ajani, which really was the only card I wanted this set for my commander deck. Great weekend.

[WickedBoy6]

Did 5 Prerelease events. Midnight on Friday, went 0-2 and dropped with a W/R I thought was okay, but ended up being not so.

Saturday noon saw me seeding the Blue box, but I went W/B with an insant pool of 3 Triplicate Spirits, 2 Raise the Alarms, 2 Avacyn, Guardian Angels, a Congregate, a Liliana Vess, 2 Stab Wounds, a Caustic Tar, and an Indulgent Tormentor. Went 3-0-1, and the only reason I went to a draw on the last game was because we needed to eat, and the opponent agreed.

Later that day at 6, went 2-1-1 with a B/R deck that wasn't so hot. Two Indulgent Tormentos, but not enough good red backup.

Sunday at noon, hit another bad patch with a 0-2 drop on an R/G with a splash of Black for Garruk, Apex Predator, Stab Wound, and Nightfire Giant. I never hit mana problems, but I think my curve was just too high.

Finally, at 6, went 2-1-1 with B/G, complete with Garruk, Apex Predator - yup, pulled 2 in the same day - Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, 2 Festerglooms, Pythotitan, and In Garruk's Wake.

You may see a pattern. I usually drop if I know I won't get packs - the payout at my FLGS goes 4-0-0/3-0-1/3-1-0/2-1-1, so if I lose twice, I drop and play Commander - and it seems like an almost unspoken pact with players to draw in Round 4, and either play a game for funsies, or play one game and bet one pack on the outcome. Overall, I came out of the event with 13 winning packs, and the 25 from the boxes...and I never saw ONE FRIGGIN' SLIVER HIVELORD!!!!!

[Utilitarian]

Two more events today.

First even (red) my pool is pretty much dirt but I scrape together some blue and red cards into a pile. I idly put in Goblin Rabblemaster expecting him to be mostly a grey ogre, and I almost cut Jalira but decide to put her back in.

BOY AM I GLAD I DID.

These two cards together were responsible for 2 wins of my 3-1-0 for that prerelease. Polymorphing the goblin tokens turn after turn was just too much for any deck that didn't have removal on hand. Variously polymorphed into Siege Dragon, Illusory Angel, Glacial Crasher. It was awesome.

Use the credit from that release to buy into the last one.

Pool (red) is decent. Some Inferno Fists, Brood Master, Goblin Rabblemaster (again) and most importantly Cone of Flame. Other colours are middling but I decide on black to play a Tormentor I opened, that 4 damage heal 4 spell and some decent black ground cards including Slyblade. Also two Juggernauts.

Slyblade isn't amazing but man did it save my bacon in several games. Held off super imposing boards from opponents without removal in hand.

Ended up going 3-0-1 (split the finals). The last game of the third round match was too freaking intense. Opponent down to 6, with a massive board facing down just my slyblade and a krenko's enforcer. I rip the 4 damage spell so all I need to do is hit once with the krenko's but he's just played a juggernaut so I can't get in. Fortunately he doesn't have lethal (I had gained a bunch of life earlier in the match) so he attacks in with some fliers and I eat his juggernaut with my slyblade, and through some miracle I manage to untap, his him for 2, and dome him out. Evidently he literally had no land left in his deck. Utterly insane. I love this set.

[Atifexe]

Overall, I came out of the event with 13 winning packs, and the 25 from the boxes...and I never saw ONE FRIGGIN' SLIVER HIVELORD!!!!!

I did! Opened one last night in my winnings, along with Diffusion, Leeching, Belligerent and Hive. Now I just need Constricting and Venom to round out the set and get a start on my next Commander deck.

[susu.exp]

I went 3-3-0 on my prerelease.

I picked red, mainly because I felt it was the deepest color and opened a pretty insane pool for an agressive deck. 2 Inferno Fists, 2 Generator Servants, 2 Goblin Rabblemasters. I had 18 very solid red cards and a curve that pretty much ended on 3 mana (3 1-drops, 7 2-drops, 6 3-drops in red). I went with black as my second color mainly for the soul and 2 of the Assassins and the 5-drop removal. Since my curve was so low I went down to 16 lands as well.

Got mana screwed in one game, flooded out in 2 (spectacularly so in one game, where I drew 11 lands in as many turns to complement the 4 in my starting hand - 1-drop, 2-drop, 3-drop nothing...) and found out the hard way that Goblin Rabblemaster can read: During each of your combat steps put a +1/+1 counter on your opponents scary flier). I did give the Soul haste a couple of times and managed to play 2 hasty Rabblemasters on an empty board in turn 4 once - "yes, that's attack you for 12".

The one thing I was lacking was some more removal - I just couldn't deal with big fliers and it cost me. One more Lightning strike...

[jkefka]

Went Green. Opened Chord. Went 3-1 on Convoke Craziness, with Chord, Convoke Angel, Convoke buffs, Convoke 2/2 that gives counters, Convoke tramplewurm...long story short convoke is REALLY GOOD and ye olde Selesnya lives again.

[WickedBoy6]

Overall, I came out of the event with 13 winning packs, and the 25 from the boxes...and I never saw ONE FRIGGIN' SLIVER HIVELORD!!!!!

I did! Opened one last night in my winnings, along with Diffusion, Leeching, Belligerent and Hive. Now I just need Constricting and Venom to round out the set and get a start on my next Commander deck.

Same. I have one of every uncommon Sliver - along with two extra Black and Green ones - and a Sliver Hive. Everything went into my Sliver Overlord EDH deck, and I need to grab more Lairs, a couple more Banisher ones, the Mapcap ones, and some backup spells - Chord of Calling, Soul of Theros - and have a nice M14/M15 Standard Sliver deck.

Went Green. Opened Chord. Went 3-1 on Convoke Craziness, with Chord, Convoke Angel, Convoke buffs, Convoke 2/2 that gives counters, Convoke tramplewurm...long story short convoke is REALLY GOOD and ye olde Selesnya lives again.

Honestly, pure White Weenie is also pretty amazing. Girlfriend had an amazing pool of FIVE Raise the Alarms, four Triplicate Spirits, two Seraph of the Masses, and two Resolute Angels. She went 4-0 that event.

And she didn't even have a Soul of Theros.

[Lord Hosk]

I really like core set drafting, you can do more stuff... its also very refreshing after "am I heroic, Am I inspired, do I voltron? oh I get a confused deck"

[Utilitarian]

I'm looking forward to drafting this set from a mechanics point of view but I'm a little sad at how low the EV of a pack is in this set. There's very little you can pull that you can even expect to trade for the value of a pack. It's kind of disappointing.

[tamaness]

it's certainly pretty bad short-term EV, but core sets are usually short print runs, and many of the new cards look like they'll have long-term value in non-rotating formats, so it's worth picking them up for long-term trading value.

Notables: Ob Nix, Hushwing Gryff, Chain Veil, all of the new planeswalkers, and Soul of New Phyrexia.

[JamesTheNecroMage]

Let's see, I went 2-2 in the first Pre release event I went to using a Mono Blue Devotion deck, and with a pack 1 pick 1 Jace witch made me smile like The Joker the entire draft. My friend who went with me said he'd like to pull either a Chandra or a Nissa for his R/G deck, and pick 3 for him was Nissa and pick 5 was Chandra, boy was I envious of him. I ended up with four boosters as my friend got 7, I say that was a good hull if you ask me. Pre realease event #2 went all sorts of wrong for me, my Red Aggression deck flopped hard. I had one too many enchantments thanks to my draft mates passed to me. My record in that one was 0-3. But in the end, my friends and I had fun and got to meet new people and players from our area and we learned some new ways to play MTG.

[ForOhFor Error]

As for the oversized Garruk card, I made a sleeve for it out of two old sleeves and some tape:

Click to Expand

[Lord Hosk]

mtgo prerelease...

round 1, I play evolving wilds, opponent concedes match.

round 2 play I swamp opponent concedes match.

welp... hooray for bots getting the free packs I guess?

Round three win game one with Jace and Lilly down. Opponent says "wow you got an amazing pool" game two my opening 7 contained waste not and Soul of new pherexia. I scoop reveal hand and say "I cant take a pack from you man"

My pool

[Duckay]

My first MTGO prerelease didn't go so well... Open what looks to me like a pretty sweet white/black pool, halfway through round one the computer crashes and we end up needing to reinstall Magic Online in order to reconnect?

[VectorZero]

Went black, opened Jace, went a UB controlish deck. Got curb stomped R1, bye R2, then won R3&4 by switching into RB for G2&3. Never resolved Jace or SDE.

[Aaron9797]

i did well got 3rd with 3 wins and a tie
in every match except for the tie which went to time i went 2 and 1
i went with white because it was the last color available i can not remember casting my promo it was normally in my sideboard
i went white, green aggro with my mvp was avacyn