ROE Pre-Release

[JediCheese]

So I hit the Rise Of the Eldrazi Pre-release. It went ok, I went 5-2 and I got $24 store credit ($25 entry fee). I would have done better but I got mana screwed two matches in a row.

My $0.02 was that you need bomb spells. There are a ton of giant creatures and it usually comes down to fatty on fatty warfare. The only aggro deck that exists is a blue/x deck that levels up creatures (using Venerated Teacher).

The totem armor is really good! Especially if you have a creature with a useful ability (deathtouch and totem armor is nuts). Trample is very good due to the large number of small creatures gumming up the works. Usually, the armies are measured in the 2-4 creatures out at a time and the position doesn't end up with dozens of creatures per side. Flying is good but in general it's expensive and doesn't end the game fast enough.

There is limited removal but if it's well timed can destroy an opponents position. I would say that green/red or green/black tended to be the best decks. The green was for mana ramp and red/black is for the removal.

[crazedferret]

Cool chris, Did you pull anything good?

I went 3-0-1, and by that I mean my last opponent agreed to give me the win and I split some extra packs with him. I would have ended up 2-0-2 otherwise (1 pack vs an extra 2 for each of us)- we played it out for fun.

I agree with pretty much all of your observations there. The removal that is there is good to hit little guys with, but there is pretty limited amount of good removal to hit the big guys with. Good thing I pulled 2 vendettas and virulent swipes. Those definitely slaughtered some eldrazi (of course at a huge hit to life).

Totem armor was awesome, I pulled 6 or so including 2 of the snake umbra. The only slightly unfortunate part is that if you swing and they try to kill it with something first it remains in combat. I learned that the hard way.

I think there is something like 22 instances of flying in the set and about 10 of them either need to be activated/enchanted. So they are pretty valuable in the format.

The level up guys were pretty good in the format especially the ones that end up getting evasion at the ult level. Turns out 5/5 fear and 5/4 first strike death touch are pretty good. The white ones were apparently good too, but I didn't see any of them. The format gets to late game easily due to the umbras and somewhat weak removal and then these guys shine. I think you could probably make a decent aggro deck with these guys in the format.

It seemed to me that pretty much every creature I played was useful, maybe that's because I was playing green/black/ with splash of red for Sarkan the mad which by the way easily wins games. He's probably going to be more valuable then expected. Make a dragon swing then deal them an extra 5 with the ult followed by drawing a card. Seems pretty good for jund especially if you play broodmate too. Very few guys, that I had at least, weren't worth playing.

I also pulled an eldrazi conscription as well which I was happy about. Now I can toy with that idea....

[JediCheese]

I got a Bear Umbra and Linvala, Keeper of Silence. There was a few other decent rares but no power.

Next week they are running $10 drafts. I'm so down on that!

[Travis Lannoye]

@sarkhan the Mad: I dunno about more valuable than expected. His applications in Jund decks are almost limitless, so my expectations for him are pretty high.

[John Galli]

Didn't see there was two threads for this, reposting mine here-

That pre-release was ridiculous. Just a little recap of some of the nutties-

- I played in 4 pre-release events; 3 sealed decks and 1 2HG. I stayed up all night at the midnight release, got a bagel with Hines in the morning, slept for 30 min in my car and then proceeded to play the saturday events.

- Misty hit a record for their midnight release; 130 people. They didn't have A/C and it was a pile of sweaty nerds. People had fun though, and I know that both Matt and Pat had either 3-1 or 3-0-1 records.

- The sealed format felt incredibly diverse and challenging. Depending on your pool there were a lot of directions you could go. Blue felt unplayable most of the time unless you got bombs, but all the rest of the colors were pretty even. The format seemed VERY bomby, aka m10 style. The one difference is that m10 had a bunch of bears, while Eldrazi has a lot of mechanics and totem armors to make even the dumbest creature a crazy monster.

- I was most impressed by the Level Up guys and the Eldrazi themselves. Most of the successful decks seemed to center around these themes. I saw one kid that had a crazy pool with 3 Venerated Teachers and about 6 or 7 level up guys going ape-escape.

Some Ridiculous plays I had-

- Both of my eldrazi ramp sealed decks were nuts. They played a heavy amount of spawn token generators, and I'd often be dropping 8/8's, 10/9 recurring guys, and other eldrazi on turns 5-10. The annihilator effect was so powerful because if they sac creatures they're basically dead, and if they sac lands they can't play their own eldrazi or level up guys, and thus the racing of some of these games was downright brutal. Cards at the 6 mana spot were also very influential. The indestructible angel was really good, the 7 mana 7/7 wurm who gains 7 life and cantrips on dying was great, and the red 5/4 trampler who makes spawn was nuts. This sealed format has so little removal that if one or two eldrazi landed, it was pretty much gg. In these decks I typically ran between 5 to 8 7-cost or higher creatures.

- Hellion Eruption is ridiculous in sealed. I cast it for 11 on turn 6 once, and for 10 in another game. Take a look at the card if you don't know what it is, it was hilarious. My opponent just looked like he had got hit with a bat.

- Gruul Draz Assassin is unfair in sealed. As is the 6/6 Minataur guy.

- Hellcarver Demon can backfire, but when it doesn't, it's absurd. I swung twice with it, and on the second swing I played 4 totem armors on him. . . (for free of course). . .

- When a creature with multiple totem armors is dealt lethal damage or is "destroyed" you only have to sac one totem armor. I got judge clarification for this. It's a replacement effect, and thus you do NOT have to sac all the armors. Very busted.

I smell some major standard changes in the works. . . (regionals is may 15th)

[matth]

Might as well add my thoughts:

I got a decent amount of sleep the evening before, so I was already ahead of the field in that regard. My pack opening powers were better suited for a GP than a Pre-release, as I opened no money rares but instead a ridiculously good G/u/b deck with double Overgrown Battlement, double Nest Dude, Kozilek's Predator, Bear Umbra, and Awakening Zone. Oh, and double Vendetta, which took care of at least two Eldrazi on the night.
I went 3-0-1, ID'ing with Pete Jahn in the last round. My deck was nuts.
Second round, I played T2 and T3 Overgrown Battlement into a T4 Umalog's Crusher. Won that game. Third round, opponent played Brood Birthing into a T4 Hand of Emrakul. Won that game as well.

Afterward, John and I wanted some breakfast, headed to Einstein's at 5:30 but they didn't open until 6, so we waited it out, and by "waited" I mean, passed out for a couple moments. Same thing at Misty when we got there.
This time, my pool was full of bomb-diggity but not much support.
Student of Warfare, Transcendent Master, Drana, and Kozilek shoved me into B/W, even though I struggled for playables. Went 3-1 this time, losing to a retarded levelers deck with double "put two level counters on everyone" and the "+2/+2" leveler enchantment. My curve generally started at five. His ended at five.

Thoughts:
- Having no plays until turn five is fine as long as you're not playing against green. I won a game playing almost nothing but a Drana and blowing my opponent's creatures out.
- Green and black have switched roles from ZZW: Green is absurdly deep while black is almost unplayable, especially as a main color. Green also has a ton of acceleration which puts it a turn or two ahead of the rest, which is vital when you're playing "see who gets their Eldrazi to stick first."
- Most games were decided by one creature. Apart from obvious examples like Kozilek and Drana, I won a couple games simply because I had a flier.
- Levelers are much better than I gave them credit for. That flier was a 1/1 for U that became a 4/2 with flying. The match I lost was in pretty bad shape for me even before he started the shenanigans, just because my deck was glacially slow and levelers enter play on turns 1-3. I can't see winning any games in draft by outnumbering the opponent's forces unless you have levelers.