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Which guilds are you going to play at prerelease?  I'll be playing two events and want to preregister because I'm sure slots will fill up.  I'm thinking Dimir and Boros, but I'm intrigued by Orzhov too.  Choices, choices....

Thinking Simic. Or Dimir. Can't decide. May go BUG.

Initially, I was thinking Dimir, but now I'm leaning towards Simic.  Or Gruul.  Or Boros.  OK, maybe I'll run everything.

Of course we have yet to see 80% of the business spells, but we know something about the character of the guilds already, and thin-slicing is fun...

So far I would say:

1) Boros - I think the prerelease card here is probably the strongest, being almost always a 2-for-1 and a wincon all by itself. I expect Boros to have good removal, the best (non-bloodrush) combat tricks, aggressive evasive creatures, and the ability to go over the top with direct damage, or even extorting an opponent for the final points of damage.

2) Gruul - because turning sideways is wizards favourite thing to do. Can't really go wrong with a good curve, which one expects from RG, and some ridiculous combat math from bloodrush. Expect to get blown out by (anticipated) combat tricks, but otherwise this could be rakdos with the ability to block.

3) Orzhov - I'm expecting this to have access to the deepest removal suite, and the best long-term grindy game strategy. If Orzhov stabilizes could very well mean an unwinnable game for the opponent, with bleeding being Orzhov's way out of board stall and climbing back into the game.

4) Dimir - cypher is amazing, with potential to be "jundlike" in its 2-for-1-ness. Trouble is, cypher is amazing, so I am expecting the power of the cards to be nerfed unfairly. The other issue I have is that this is the milling guild, and milling tends to dilute your pool - if you're not milling your opponent you often end up ditching all mill cards. I expect those that get a good milling pool to do well, especially combined with the prerelease card, and those intending to win by damage to find themselves outraced and/or outclassed by other guilds.

5) Simic - by far the trickiest guild to assess. Its mechanic feels a lot like Golgari, which I was very happy to play in the RTR prerelease and grind out wins by attrition. But I think Simic has to get its cards in the right order for that to work and risks dead draws late in the game. For my money, Orzhov has a better attrition strategy, and will probably have the removal needed to stabilize. Could be wrong (I hope I am, as Simic has always been one of my favourite guilds).


Expect all of this to change when I see the remaining 80% of the cards.

Orzhov, definitely.