Had the maximum 70(I think) players at my prerelease, and it was four rounds of fun. Our entire top 8 played 3+ color decks, and I believe all of them(at least 6) used blue. This doesn't mean blue is the best color in the format, but splashing for it is quite easy with all the mana fixers and the utility it adds is unmatched. I personally played a bant deck, mainly Selesnya splashing blue for some needed control elements, and I finished 4th. Funnest prerelease I've played in ever, and I'm really looking forward to drafting this set. What are your first impressions at your first prerelease of RtR? Any changes on your opinions of certain power levels or cards that suddenly stand out?
I didn't go to a midnight prerelease and am heading out to my first event of the weekend in a couple of hours, so I'm looking forward to reading others' impressions. I preregistered so as to get the guilds I really wanted to play (Azorius & Izzet -- don't know if they're the most powerful or whatever but those are color combos I enjoy playing) and am quite excited about the prerelease.
What do you think were the surprising cards? More powerful/less powerful than you expected?
I didn't pull much in the way of powerful cards with my boosters with the exception being dreadbore. The two off color pain lands, and shite for blue or green didn't warrant a splash.
I went 2-0 my first match easily, against Azorius, he simply couldn't keep up with my onslaught. Got out decently fast agaisnt him both games. The few creatures he had, I had answers for.
Second match, 2-0 as well. Slesnya. First game, put a pounding on him, second was a bit slower but he never developed whatever it is that deck is supposed to do.
Third match 0-2(WTF!) So this was easily the best opponent/best deck I faced all night. Solid cards through out, very little, if any filler. Slesnya again, with a splash of black for removal. First game brought him to three before he stabilized, I didn't have a turn three or four play which obviously cost me the game. Second game, I wasn't fast again, but managed to get a solid beating in before his bombs came out. That land that turns into an 8/8 with vigiliance was tough to deal with. I was pinging him with my wall(from 4 to 1) before he top decked Arrows, and won because of it. I needed one more turn. Would've loved to play a third game. (this opponent ended up going 4-0 overall, with the first match being a no show)
Fourth match 2-1 Slesnya, again! Smoked him the first game, just coldn't keep up. Stole his bomb and hit him for 12? iirc and followed up with an even bigger round next turn. Second game, I never delveloped, too slow missing turn three play. Match game he didn't have a shot, attack, attack, attack.
Summary:
I finished 3-1 overall and split the packs with the guy I beat. Right thing to do. 15th overall out of 100. Pretty solid return I'd say. I had a great time. Haven't played a single game in over ten years. The folk at Gamingetc in Stratford were very good, and made the tourney run smoothly. I wish I could've played another sealed event today, RtR is loads of fun in limited. I made only two mistakes last night, pretty good I think.
The stuff you're probably looking for:
Detain is annoying. The blue commonwith detain and draw a card is pretty decent. Very, very few can keep up with the speed of a decently built Rakdos deck. I'll edit later to add a decklist. I ran 17 creatures, 6 spells, 17 lands. All of my spells were removal of some degree. Savenge didn't particularly strike me as anything that great, and Unleash was amazing for my deck. I literally only didn't unleash once. Izzet's promo isn't as bomby as I thought it would be. I'll try to add some more about this later; but in short, removal is HUGE. Pay attention to what your opponent has first game, save it for stuff worth getting rid of. Mana fixing is EASY. three colors is not difficult in the least, but I'd only splash for removal or some sor tof bomb.
I played 5 rounds (BYE at 1st match) and ended up 1-4.... I had mana issues in all 4 rounds I lost. Had to mulligan 2 times to 5, 2 times to 6. Got mana flood on another game... I won the 4 games I didn't have mana issues...
This is so much bad luck that it was really, really frustrating. But I really enjoyed the set, and I think it will be a lot of fun to draft it.
Note: I also got unlucky on removals got only 3. 2 of them were 6CMC.
Overall, I can't complain, I got great cards that clearly match up the investment.
Haven't got time for a full post now but I went 5 colour, aggro/populate/control and went 4-1 (only lost to the winner) and that was close. I know it sounds ridiculous but I really did and will post the full deck later.
I went 4-2 with a Selesnya deck splashing Black off Guildgate, two Axebane Guardians and 3 swamps (for Pack Rat , Stab Wound , Sluiceway Scorpion and Jarad's Orders ). The other rares I got to play were Grove of the Guardian (promo) and Collective Blessing , both from my guild booster. Stab Wound was literally my only removal and most of my opponents had decks that were far stronger than mine, so I wasn't too disappointed with the result, though I lost R6 to fall short of top 8 (there were no playoffs, but still) after having been offered a draw that might get us there. In my board I had Worldspine Wurm (even with 3 pieces of ramp, completely unplayable. I ran a Horncaller's Chant and boarded it out most games because it was too slow), Supreme Verdict (my Blue was terrible) and the Rakdos rare that is an X/X depending on how much life opponent lost that turn because it was too color-intensive.
Selesnya did really well for me, I feel. It's probably the most reliably good guild, followed closely by Golgari, but I think Azorius/Izzet WUR decks (which gave me both my losses) have the highest potential. If I go to another prerelease, I'm gonna try Azorius, I think.
Played Golgari, kept my deck G/B. Necropolis Regent is a tank. Loved that I pulled it.
Anybody pull a foil Treasured Find ? I was hoping to get one, but nobody managed to snag it.
Fear Of The Dark, Fear Of The Dark, I Have A Constant Fear That Something's Always Near; Fear Of The Dark, Fear Of The Dark, I Have A Phobia That Someone's Always There- Iron Maiden
Fear of the Dark shall be feared no longer! Let him be praised instead! (Many, many thanks for all your hard work!) - darkwarlock
I'm both instinctive and emotional. I value my own instincts and desires, and either ignore or crush anything that stands in my way; planning and foresight are unnecessary. At best, I'm determined and fierce; at worst, I'm headstrong and infantile.
Check out my DnD blog! www.artificersintuition.blogspot.com
I lost to a nuts rakdos deck that finished in first overall (I was the only person to take a game off of him all tourney) and, surprisingly, Doorkeeper .dec absolutely rolled me.
AND STAB WOUND IS THE MOST FKING ANNOYING THING EVER.
I'm going back on Sunday at noon, and I am definitely taking Rakdos and hoping for Stab Wounds out the wazoo. Seems like the way to win.
I played against:
Round 1: Rakdos Okay deck, some stuff I wouldn't play probably. Player made a few gameplay mistakes too, but nothing major. He got a win with Hellsteed but in the other 2 games I just outlasted his stuff and beat down with Wurm/Archon.
Round 2: Azorius (splashing green I think) I don't remember this match much except I went 2-1, both of my wins due to the brokenness that is Armada Wurm. I think the game I lost I got stuck on 3 forever.
Round 3: Rakdos (first place overall deck) Jacked a game with Armada, but I got rolled hard to Stab Wound, Auger Spree, the destroy target monocolored thing, Annihilating Fire, Hellsteed, and a shitton of early unleash I couldn't outrace.
Round 4: Doorkeeper.dec g1 I wiped his board of 2 Doorkeeper and the red pinging wall, but he topdecked better than me and won. g2 he just milled me out before I could retaliate, and Hover Barrier stopped all of my offense. He then dropped due to having stuff to do which ****ed up my tiebreakers but oh well.
Round 5: Rakdos g1 got rolled by 3 Stab Wounds despite having board control very early. g2 and g3 I rolled him while he got stuck on too little lands (he ran 15. He did have a very aggressive deck but it wasn't aggressive enough to win early without multiple stab wounds)
Round 6: Izzet (splashing for Hellsteed and Archon, 3 PRERE RARES OP) His Hypersonic Dragon was no match for my Hover Barrier, Martial Law, and Armada Wurm in the 2 games I won. He took 1 from me by using Teleportal for 21 on a stalled board, definitely a cool play. G3 he drew a swamp and a plains without having Hellsteed or Archon which screwed him over early, definitely a greedy manabase.
Round 7: Golgari This guy said it was his first prerelease. A few gameplay mistakes but nothing too big, and a solid deck with lots of reach blockers. I got Martial Law early both games and Archon at turn 7 both games just as I was about to die. Both games I won the turn before he would have killed me. Sometimes it pays to be lucky instead of skilled.
14/~85, I won a From the Vaults: Realms as a door prize (last time I went to that store I won a Goyf, so clearly I need to go there more often), got some sweet rares, and in a week I can head back to get some packs. Definitely worth $25.
I'll post my deck/pool later, heading out to dinner soon.
REMEMBER FLUFFY, mercilessly slain by the bastard Useless MancerShow
Fluffy, the cute and cuddly baloth beatstick of marshmellowy fluffyness and lolz, om-nom-noming Keeper's wicked soul; its insane, deadly amount of cuteness rips the fabric of reality to shreds, its pink, soft, round teeth dripping with honey, every breath spreading the repugnant smell of fresh flowers, this horrifying creature of destruction devastates Keeper by spreading its deadly, all-powerful fluff over the countryside, laying waste to dragon and furry bunny alike. It comes howling out of the east, an endless rattling and gnashing of teeth, a twisted grinding pull on the very fabric of reality threatening to consume body and mind alike in an endless glimmering pink torrent.
Nothing is more terrible than the sun glittering on its teeth, save perhaps the light glancing off the oily tones of the sequins that cover its hotpants.
Of course, there was that child who tried to eat Fluffy, mistaking him for a giant, walking piece of cotton candy. That child... is now the almighty leader of Fluffy, controlling his every move, sending him to devour the people that cross his path. And Keeper. Because we said so. Nothing can stop Fluffy's march to victory, spreading the sweet smell of strawberries where ever it lays its mighty paw. Followed by many jolly fairies singing joyful songs about Fluffy's cuddlyness, the baloth wanders the mountains of Zendikarland on a quest to share the love with Keeper, tough love that is...
If they make Mono-blue control a viable option for FNM again, I'm going to force myself to browse 4chan while listening to Hannah Montana and Justin Bieber and then I'm going to read Twilight books before I go to sleep for 1 whole week...
We were goddamn slowly making our way towards those **** mountains. The road was all filthy and wet, bird **** on every step and eldrazi piss raining from the sky. "So those ****tards are finally awake huh?" my idiotic companion asked. "Yep, we're in deep ****, homie." "Wazzup?" "Nothing, just pissed." My companion looked to the sky. A drop of the eldrazi urine fell right in his eye. "Oh, man. Now I'm pissed too."
As we were moving on, we were looking around on the innocent nature. Two baloths were doing it on the road so we had to make a little detour. The pools of piss were kinda unpleasant but at least it was warm so we had no trouble at night. "One gets used to piss running down your face you know." said my companion. "F'shizzle." answered I stoicly and kicked two rabbits, who were doing nasty things to each other's ass, in the ass. "Man one can't take a spit here without hitting some shamming animals." "Word. Zendikar sucks. Hope the eldrazi contribute a little to the population regulation." As my companion said that, a gigantic, 20 meters tall eldrazi slithered by. On it's arms and tentacles were remains of birds, rabbits, baloths, angels, planeswalkers, dragons, krakens and a few cities. We stood up and clapped loudly. "A few bitches less."
Am I the only one? Looking over the recent threads debating the merits of "Belgium," the various ideas to "fix" England and other topics which concern European nations, I'm struck by how much I don't care what happens.
Britain and Spain are, to me, completely inaccessible due to the Atlantic Ocean, not to mention volcanoes and socialism.
I sound like I'm bashing European nations, and I guess I kind of am. If you enjoy living in France, Luxembourg, Poland or any other, older nation, that's fantastic. I just don't see why there's such a huge uproar about a volcano that is mostly affecting a niche group of people.
I'm real happy for you, and I'mma let you finish, but pillarfield ox has one of the best pieces of art of all time. Of all time.
Really? I don't really see the greatness.
It's an Ox. In a PILLARFIELD. That's like, a field of frickin' PILLARS, but to this Ox it just looks like an ordinary field of grass - because he is so BADASS.
Finally, Master Yumyums just had probably the most boring, worthless card in the entire contest. Why would you need to give creatures -1/-0 on your turn? To beat them down with your nonflying blue aggro deck that plays a bad win condition card to win (and if you are playing the critters, why aren't you winning with them?!)? And the win condition itself is so mindblowingly difficult it seems like it was only made simply to fit the criteria.
Derivative Radial Tangent Calculation of Pure, Absolute, Utmost, Uncontestable and Utter Doom Newton's Second Law of Equations
As an additional calculation to add to ~, reveal a Mathematical Equation from your hand, with a converted mana casting cost equal to a Prime Number. (Prime numbers are 2, 3, 5, 7, 11 13, 17...) ~ costs ƒ(x) = Σπ(δƒ(u)-ƒ(x)) if you're a fan of René Descartes in Facebook.
~ deals X damage to each creature your opponents control within a radius of X KM from ~, where X is the revealed Equation's converted mana cost. ~ deals Y damages to target player, where Y is the area of the Sphere (using the first 50 digits of pi as pi). ~ deals Z less damage, where Z is the distance in Lightyears from the centerpoint of the Sphere.
Add up X, Y and Z and round it up to the closest number. Multiply the damage ~ would deal by m, where m is the number of multiples of that number.
Calculate the first 50 Fibonaci numbers: Deal the difference between the 25-50th numbers, and the first 25 numbers. As long as the angular acceleration of an object t approaches maximum velocity relative to the cross product of a vector n and its bisector as the object passes through point Q at vector n's convergence in zero gravity, Disastrous Radial Tangent Calculation can't be countered. As long as you can do a geometric proof of anything on this card, target opponent must be doing one. Otherwise, he or she loses the game. (both games. you just lost the game.)
