Prerelease

[John Galli]

www.imgur.com/zvXhh.jpg

Winning

[John Galli]

The loot-
www.imgur.com/YRzl1.jpg

[JediCheese]

Went 5-0-1 and got 22 packs (we decided to draw the last match. 6-0 was 36 packs and 5-1 was 8 packs.). In my pool, I got a Thragtusk, Elderscale Wurm, two Elvish Visionaries, two Bond Beetle, a Yeva's Forcemage and two Roaring Primadox. For removal, I got double Murder, Public Execution, double Crippling Blight and Cower in Fear. I had a Rise from the Dead to steal big stuff I killed (or lost along the way) Colorless support was two Chronomaton and a Ring of Kalonia.

Pretty much, I would duke it out till I found a Roaring Primadox and proceed to go nuts. You can't stop a Thragtusk when it nets me 5 life + a 3/3 token every turn. Even Visionary for 2 cards a turn is overwhelming.

I did end up trading the 22 packs for a pair of Mox Diamonds. Not a bad haul for a pre-release!

[John Galli]

Dude holy cow your pool sounds sick. I got a lot of the same green cards and was abusing the combo you mentioned too except instead of Elvish visionary I had garruk's packleader so all I had to do was return thragatusk every turn to get all three bonuses. Double primadox and double murder sounds insane though. I was green white and had triple Griffin protector and triple sentinel spider but not a lot of removal outside of pacifism and serpent's gift. I did have two naturalizes which I maindecked and turned out to be fantastic every round since those rings were nuts and a lot of enchantments were out and about. I also had the green ring myself and the beetle so I put those to work in a lot of games.

Overall I had a lot of fun and this was my second 4-0 in the last two prereleases I've played but the set did seem very "coorish" with the lack of removal outside of black being heavily felt and not a lot of people seemed to be playing combat tricks. Had a lot of fun though and ripped a Liliana in my pool along with a foil yeva and akroma's memorial in my prize packs.

Now time to go take down peg.

[John Galli]

Urrrrrrr 10-1-1 on the weekend, 18 packs and loads of m13! Gotta figure out how to make an edh deck out of all this stuff

[John Galli]

Chris you mentioned doing a writeup on facebook, I'll give you a shortened version of what I thought about the format and some of my experiences. As for drafting I'd probably just wait for return to ravnica since that set sounds like it'll be a blast.

My first sealed was the midnight at misty, I was G/W as Mentioned above with strong green creatures. I basically played the same deck as you Chris except instead of murders I had pacifisms and griffins. I also maindecked the two naturalizes. Green felt very strong all weekend, it definitely has the best creatures and often just more of them. I had the green ring in several decks too which is ridiculous. 4-0'd that one.

In the second sealed at Pegasus, I played black/green with staff of nin, two of the drain life bats along with the green bounce dude, visionaries, goliaths and spiders. I then audibled that deck into b/w and played my captain of the watch along with Serra angel, the star/star guy, and more combat tricks. I lost the second round before the audible with him on the ropes at 2 life in game 3 due to topdecks. Captain of the watch was a joke, he's really insane in this format. Went 3-1.

The last sealed at peg I ran B/R after experimenting a little and this helped me get a mediocre deck somehow through 3 wins and then an ID. I had double murder, the new arc lightning, return to slag, the new instant blaze, the 3 point drain life to creatures or players, and some other little removal spells. I complimented this with the red ring, a smattering of small creatures, and the specter who is nutssssss in this format.

I'd say this sealed format is very controlled by who has removal, combos, evasion, and/or big guys. I always made sure I had a lot of fliers, and having even one murder in your pool makes a huge difference because all the pacifisms, o-rings, and encrusts can be dealt with by naturalize or the white 2/2 that kills enchantments when he comes into play. The white, red, green, and black rings all seem great, I saw everyone winning games with them. Blue and Red felt heavily underpowered in this set, in my last pool I had Jace along with 4 mill cards and in my second pool I had 3 unsummons, but I never had any quality creatures. All the good blue stuff seemed to cost 5+ mana and that's usually not winning in this format.

Black and white exalted is really strong. The 3/1 black dude, the 0/2 regenerator, the 2/1 knights, and the white 1/1 bird are all format defining. These guys make the clock of most matches faster than previous core sets, especially in conjunction with an unusually high amount of grizzly bears, unblockable guys, and fliers. Angelic Benediction is a lot better in this set than in Shards block if your going heavy aggro, and this set is waaaaaay less bomby for a sealed format. There's a few cards that can win the game on their own, but since there are so few of them you can usually deal with it.

Combat tricks like show of valor, vile rebirth, and serpent's gift were very effective in this format with the low amount of removal. They basically became murders for me.

Lastly I tried to stick to my usual plans-

18 lands (17 if really curve light)
23 cards (15-18 creatures +/- depending on pool)
2 colors, usually 10/8 or 9/9 lands depending on mana symbols and spots on curve unless I had 2-4 fixers to lightly splash a third color
Heavy at my 5 drop spot, as much evasion as possible, at least two hard removal spells
Play bombs.

[JediCheese]

Ya, Blue feels very light. I only remember one deck running blue, and that was for Harbor Bandit (3/3 unblockable!).

With red, it felt that they have a ton of 1 toughness guys. I wiped out many an opposing team with Cower in Fear. Plus Green seems to have an abundance of 3 or 4 toughness guys which tend to win combat.

Also, if you are talking about Liliana's Shade being nuts, I agree. I had too many opponents absolutely fuck up with that card by running it out and then not proceeding to do some crazy combat. You have to be aggressive with it, and make your opponents fear you. Too many black players were defensive with it when they didn't need to be.

[John Galli]

That card is very good too, but I was actually referring to this insane dude-
magiccards.info/m13/en/109.html

[Travis Lannoye]

John, if you haven't already found a home for the new Liliana or the foil Yeva, I'd love to trade you for them. I found a Sovereigns of Lost Alara among some other things in one of my boxes last night.

[John Galli]

Yeah we could probably arrange something. I was thinking of selling or trading the Liliana, the Yeva I've considered for EDH but I don't think I have the card pool right now to support a mono green deck (although she's not bad in Rafiq).

Maybe some EDH this week? Not sure if Thursday is available for me but I'll double-check with Christy when I get a chance

[Travis Lannoye]

Could you post your Rafiq list in the EDH forums? I have a bunch of ideas you might like, but I'd need to see what you already have first before I can make suggestions.

[niickopotamus]

I wanna try for your Lilliana too if possible.

[John Galli]

I can try to post it at some point, this is a list of things I've been considering for it if you have any you'd be willing to part with-

(* = ones I'm very interested in getting)

These are some of them, not necessarily all going in the deck but stuff I'd like to try out in Rafiq or I simply just like playing in Magic.

Mystic Snake
Swords to Plowshares *
Primal Command *
Mana Vault
Asceticism
Sovereigns of Lost Alara
Sensei's Divining Top
Primeval Titan
Consecrated Sphinx
Erratic Portal
Planar Portal
Beast Within
Mana Reflection
Sylvan Library*
Eternal Witness
Condemn
Worldly Tutor
Blue Sun's Zenith
Stoneforge Mystic
Lightning Greaves
Sol Ring *
Terastodon
Mimic Vat
Oracle of Mul Daya
Chameleon Colossus *
Aura Shards

[Travis Lannoye]

From that list, I have the following that I could part with (prices based on StarCity):
- Asceticism (2)
- Sovereigns (2)
- Planar Portal (4, have to confirm this one at home, but I think so)
- Beast Within (1.5)
- Blue Sun's Zenith (0.5)

I also have a few others you might be interested in:
- Sword of Vengeance (1.5)
- Hall of the Bandit Lord (1)
- Praetor's Counsel (1.5)
- Darksteel Plate (2)
- Stonecloaker (1)

SCG currently has a foil Yeva at $10.

[niickopotamus]

I know I have a handful of Sol Rings, and Lightning Greaves. I should also have an Aura Shards and a Top but I don't think I wanna part with my Top for her.