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Ravnica
My god that set's strong. Last Gasp?. Boros Recruit. Lightning Helix! These spells were being flung all over the tables all day long, and I'm glad to say I was the one most often firing off a Helix.
Did I mention the creatures? Vampire millers, land-animating nightmares, hastey dragons with more power than their casting cost? If I doubted that this would be a powerful set before, that doubt has certainly been eradicated now.
I went to the Ravnica prerelease at the Bowlers Club in Sydney, along with many other mtgparadise.com breathren (included amongst them: Necroticon, Deleted Member, ssteven and vanwolfgang, good to see you all) and the few who have become the "usual" hoard of Magic players. There's that young fellow who always wears an akubra hat, the teenager who looks like the prince from Black Adder III and of course the T.O.* who gave me the extra booster for dressing up like a Ninja. Good job to him on this prereleases efforts, seeing the mic didn't work and he had to shout his voice out over two long days.
But the day has been and gone, and for all who're planning to go to sneak peaks, I have only these to suggest: play red/white. If you get a Helix or Razia herself, don't sell or trade to god himself. Oh yes, and if you do get into trading, offer the Pro Tour player cards to the more tournament minded players - works a treat with the right people.
Now, onto my card pool.
| Ravnica Prerelease cardpool
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2 Boros Recruit
1 Centaur Safeguard
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Hybrid
2 Consult the Necrosages
1 Guardian of Vitu-Ghazi
1 Lightning Helix
1 Psychic Drain
1 Razia's Purification
1 Skyknight Legionnaire
1 Woodwraith Strangler
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Gold
1 Conclave's Blessing
1 Conclave Equenaut
2 Courier Hawk
1 Devouring Light
1 Flickerform
1 Ghosts of the Innocent
1 Nightguard Patrol
1 Sandsower
1 Screeching Griffin
1 Seed Spark
1 Veteran Armourer
1 Wojek Siren
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White
1 Dizzy Spell
1 Drake Familiar (foil)
1 Flow of Ideas
1 Induce Paranoia
2 Quickchange
2 Stasis Cell
1 Terraformer
1 Vedalken Dismisser
1 Zephyr Spirit
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Blue
1 Clinging Darkness
2 Disembowel
1 Golgari Thug
1 Keening Banshee
1 Netherborn Phalanx
1 Sewerdreg
1 Thoughtpicker Witch
1 Vigor Mortis
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Black
1 Goblin spelunker
2 Barbarian Riftcutter
1 Fiery Conclusion
1 Incite Hysteria
1 Instill Furor
2 Seismic Spike
1 Smash
1 Sparkmage Apprentice
1 Stoneshaker Shaman
1 Viashino Slasher
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Red
1 Elvish Skysweeper
1 Farseek
1 Golgari Brownscale
1 Goliath Spider
2 Greater Mossdog
1 Recollect
1 Stone-seed Hierophant
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Green
1 Boros Signet
1 Dimit Signet
2 Golgari Signet
1 Selesnya Signet
1 Sunforger
1 Voyager Staff
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Artifact
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Duskmantle, House of
Shadow
1 Sacred Foundry
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Lands | | |
So, as you can see from that listing I got some VERY good cards, totally usefull to say the least. One of each Signet, two for the Dimir's. Not only that, but a solid enough base to go red/white offensive or hold back and go blue/black mill. What did I decide on? (Please note this was how my deck looked at the end of day, after round 4 with Sideboarding)
Maindeck (41 cards)
Final Construction | Sideboard (49 cards)
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2 Boros Recruit
1 Skyknight Legionnaire
1 Nightguard Patrol
1 Screeching Griffin
1 Veteran Armourer
1 Sparkmage Apprentice
1 Goblin Spelunker
1 Netherborn Phalanx
1 Thoughtpicker Witch
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10 creatures
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Duskmantle, House of
Shadow
1 Sacred Foundry
6 Plains
5 Mountains
1 Swamp
1 Island
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16 lands
2 Consult the Necrosages
1 Razia's Purification
1 Lightning Helix
1 Psychic Drain
2 Wojek Siren
1 Smash
2 Disembowel
1 Vigor Mortis
1 Voyager Staff
1 Sunforger
1 Boros Signet
1 Dimit Signet
1 Golgari Signet
1 Selesnya Signet
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17 other spells
1 Centaur Safeguard
1 Guardian of Vitu-Ghazi
1 Woodwraith Strangler
1 Conclave's Blessing
1 Conclave Equenaut
2 Courier Hawk
1 Devouring Light
1 Flickerform
1 Ghosts of the Innocent
1 Sandsower
1 Seed Spark
1 Dizzy Spell
1 Drake Familiar (foil)
1 Flow of Ideas
1 Induce Paranoia
2 Quickchange
2 Stasis Cell
1 Terraformer
1 Vedalken Dismisser
1 Zephyr Spirit
1 Clinging Darkness
1 Golgari Thug
1 Keening Banshee
1 Sewerdreg
2 Barbarian Riftcutter
1 Fiery Conclusion
1 Incite Hysteria
1 Instill Furor
2 Seismic Spike
1 Stoneshaker Shaman
1 Viashino Slasher
1 Elvish Skysweeper
1 Farseek
1 Golgari Brownscale
1 Goliath Spider
2 Greater Mossdog
1 Recollect
1 Stone-seed Hierophant
1 Golgari Signet
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45 sideboard cards
| To see all of these cards, click here for the Ravnica Sortable Spoiler.
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Yeah, that's right. Early offense and late game milling. That's asking quite a bit, I realise, but when I was making the deck I had the most common feeling that people get at a prerelease; that of overwhelming. Though this time it wasn't a time constraint or anything, it was more of a delight to see such excellent mana fixing and such great cards to use! This was MEANT to be played multi colour, right? So if you're going multi colour, why not go multi stratedgy, yeah?
I went 1-1-2 through out the day, but that's the short of it. If all you wanted to see was my card pool and results, there you go, article over.
For those still with me, the matches of the day went something like this...
It Was A Dark And Stormy Night...
Round 1 - vs Lindsay, playing b/r/u
What can one say about Lindsay? At first, he looks as if he knows the game. After talking to him for a minute, you realise that yeah, he's played it for six years, so all's good. Until he shows a habit of drawing first, then untapping. Then paying to Transmute something, and seeing there's nothing usefull in his deck decides to simply play the card instead. I was dreading the Rules-Nazi in me that was rearing it's head, turning what was meant to be a fun event into a lecture about How The Game Actually Works, but luckily didn't have to as a Judge came by at that time, sat down and explained it all. He used the word "ettiquete" quite often and managed to do a certainly better job than I could have, seeing I was in the game myself, and--
OH sorry, the match, right. Well, off to an eager start, Lindsay told me that I was probably going to win, and took straight to him with a first turn Boros Recruit, followed soon after by a Skyknight Legionnaire. Despite dropping a Golgari Rotwurm and wiping out my goblin, he wasn't able to hold off the beats and fell to a Wojek Siren pumped Skyknight, dropping him to 2, finishing off with a Helix to the face. Nice.
Round 2 saw the game turn against me. I told Lindsay that the smallest technical cut you could make was one card, then made a cut that was the first seven cards of his deck onto the bottom of his deck. Looking at his own hand he grumbled, but smiled when his own such-like cut made me mulligan down to 5.
I had Skyknight in my opening hand and the mana to cast him, plus Veteran Armourer but it wasn't good enough, as he quickly dropped his Golgari Rotwurm and it must've been piggy-backing a Grave-Shell Scarab, who appeared the turn after. Bum-blocking my creatures away, and with only conditional removal (curse you lack of lands!) I had no way to win when he swung in with the 5/4 Zombie Wurm and 4/4 Insect.
While shuffling for the next game, I told him it would've been a cooler win if he attacked with just the beetle, then used the wurm's ability on me for extra spunk. "Maybe next game," he said.
Round 3, sadly, went to Lindsay again. Once more being all about my goblins, Skyknight and a very well timed Helix (THAT was a topdeck), it wasn't enough to stop the other half of his deck that I hadn't seen until this game. He was drawing all his creatures while I was drew about 3 all game and the rest of my draws simply stalled him a turn or two.
My Nightguard Patrol held off a Wurm for a while, after it managed to lure out one of Lindsay's Convolute which he decided to withdraw, but it kept the rest of my hand back and that was game. Wurm food once more.
So after the first Round I'm 0-1, going 2-1. Atleast my deck can win, I'd just have to make sure I did some better mulligans. Onto the next Round!
Match 2 - vs Michael, playing B/G dredge.
Michael reminded me a lot of my friend Craig. In mannerisms and play style, NOT attacking with a 5/4 when I've only got a 1/1 and 2/2 to block is precisely what he would do, and the answer he gave to my puzzled question "Why?" was the same again: "Because that's the kind of messed up mind I have."
Round 1 got off to a good start, my Recruit showing up turn one (love that guy), utility bear** turn 2, Skyknight Legionnare turn 3. Michael and I had already dueled on the day, right after deck construction but before Round 1 listings were up. I won then and with that start won quickly again this game.
Michael was only new to the game, about 2 months into it, and I was eager to offer help when he asked but he didn't ask often. Had I been coaching him against someone else (if that thing were allowed even, it's not) I'm sure he would've had my face once we got past turn 5, but his odd plays belied the worth of his board.
Never dredging a card, he dropped another damned Golgari Rotwurm and held it back, so I took to the sky with my sole Skyknight. Do you know how much I love that guy? Comes into play screaming across the board, and if he dies then that's a removal spell pulled from your opponents hand (at the cost of your cool Skyknight, oh no!)
Round 2 the ground stalled, and nothing showed up in either players air. We blew up each others creatures, I threw my Nightguard Patrol into his Carven Caryatid and then Helix'd it after first strike damage was on the stack (how cool, love that card too!) but the game stalled at that point, god knows how many turns of the same thing occured.
He dropped a Cyclopean Snare that tapped down my initial army of one Boros Recruit, until I dropped a Legionnare and I thought I was set. Until he killed the goblin and started tapping down the Legionnare. Great.
It came down to these very nice cards, my late game mistresses of excellence, Dimir Aqueduct and Duskmantle, House of Shadow.
Milling him down very slowly, and always eager to see what he milled away, he eventually got down to one card. "I can just Dredge instead, can't I?" he asked, but if you've been in the Rules forums at all then you might know that I knew the answer was no. You've got to have the exact amount dredge asks for in your library to dredge at all.
Despite going 2-0 I offered Michael another game, which he actually won this time, thanks to me keeping a hand of nothing but lands and draw cards, ala, Consult the Necromages, and nothing else. At that time I should've made a NOTE of the fact that having a late game hand at the start of the game was an incredibly detrimental thing, but seeing the last game didn't matter I wasn't thinking.
So the second round is over and I won, going 1-1 with a match score of 2-1, feeling great. Was also particularly thrilled about milling my opponent for once, seeing I used to consider it an old, slow and boring method of winning the game, but at a prerelease, where most decks are anorexic in size, it's actually a viable option. It slithered his answers into the grave from which he never dredged them back. Fun.
Round 3 - vs Dead Peanut playing b/g/w mess.
Remember that draft transcribe ages ago? If you can't, I don't blame you. I couldn't even find it the other day when I tried. Regardless, my opponent from that game was the very same chappy I was to play and hopefully defeat this round. DP is a friend of mine and is part of my Magic play group, and this was the first time I'd ever been matched up against someone from my own group, so I was happy to match deck against deck with someone I knew and met regularly.
He beat me. But that wasn't to say it wasn't a great round. Thanks to our mostly relaxed attitude our decks aren't at all honed to a point, allowing ourselves to humour the ideas in our heads that don't seem reasonable for Limited played, ala making an Iname as One deck at the Saviours of Kamigawa Prerelease (yes I actually did this. Disastrous results).
Round 1 I won thanks to quick beats and timely kill spells, Disembowel and the so-good-I'm-gonna-marry-it Helix, clearing the way for my weenies to storm through and make a welcome mat of DP's face.
Round 2 was going the same way, though it took a few turns to build up acceleration, as I was clearly within 2 turns of winning. I could see the finish line, was yards infront of the competition, and then some big fat archon parked it's rear right infront of me. Nothing says "Game over, bud," like a 5/6 flyer who has "Creatures can't attack you" written on it. Here's another link just incase you can't believe it.
I struggled on for a few turns more, got overly excited and almost hit myself in the head when I realised I could've made a play that bounced the Archon, allowing me to attack with my 2/2 Griffin for the win - when I realised that the dice reading 2 was actually my own, and DP was still rather safely on 7 life. That loathsome Archon.
Round 3 was very much a similar deal, but I kept a very UnPink Weenie*** hand and there was no Archon to worry about this time. I get off to an OK start, but that's not quite as good as DPs start of turn 1, nothing. Turn 2, nothing. Turn 3, bigger creature than yours and that's how it went from there on. I told him his creatures were just too damned big for me to get through, and his reply was succinct enough: "What? It's only a 7/10."
So after the third round I'm 1-2 going 1-2. I finally get to play against someone from my own group, but they kill me. What's funny is that that technically makes DP the best Limited player amongst us, seeing he beat Hierophant, and Hierophant beat Prowler. My response to this revelation of his? "Ha, I let you win."
Round 4 - vs Liam, playing b/g beatdown
Liam was... late. As in really late. As in I picked up my deck and bag when the new Round listing went up, checked where I was and seated myself across from a boy with tawny brown hair, and the same name as me. Infact, his last name was awfully close too.
"You at table 12?" I asked Jacob.
"Yeah," Jacob replied. However the challenger who sat down beside me asked which of us was Jacob, and we both looked at each other uncertainly.
"You sure you're against me?" I asked. "I didn't see myself against another Jacob."
I hopped up and checked the listing again. Jacob was at position 13 while I was at number 12. Great. Jacob and Jacob at 12 and 13, two similar enough looking numbers.
Round 1 started for everyone else. I sat and waited. This was OK though, as it allowed me a chance to watch Jacob's game and see how he was going while I waited. Apparently utility bear of the week (a phrase which Jacob didn't understand) made all his combat math completely wrong, as he attacked with all this, his opponent blocked with all that, and then he said "OK, so those all die" which got the response, "No, they've all got +0/+1. Go utility bears!
Their Round 2 started, and after a few minutes of watching, my own opponent showed up, and soon after that my own Round 1 started. After shuffling, his first hand mulligan had him saying, "Well, congratulations." I thought he meant on him keeping a terrible hand, but he simply meant on having to mulligan, as though it gaurenteed my win.
We played a quick enough game first off which I won, thanks to critters and a lovely piece of equipment known as Sunforger on a flyer known as the incredible Skyknight Legionnare. I was hoping for the same success in the next match so I could go 2-2 for the day but, well. You'll see.
Round 2 for me, which was well after lots of other match ups had determined their superior players, and would be up to Round 5, was joined by fellow Magic players Dead Peanut and Prowler. However they weren't very much help as I was spending a great deal of time thinking over the possibilities I had that could take me victory (none). They were under the impression that it was still game 1 and that we were going so slow because of me, so they started heckling me. Hows that for a support team?
Despite drawing a Helix it was too late and no use, as he had gotten about 7 lands on the table and was slowly animating them all with Woodwraith Corrupter. A great card, for sure, but not when you're sitting opposite it!
I did manage to draw Thoughtpicker Witch against him. Man that card is FUN! It feels so naughty to look at your opponents top cards, and tell them "You know, you're going to see one of them, atleast. But it's the one you're Not Getting. And the other? Ha, well, seeing I'm deciding what it is you just Know it's going to be utter crap. Oh yes, that's right. And, what? Damage on the stack? Well my critters are all gone, so I don't care. Do continue."
Round 3 went into over time, we got told to take another 5 turns and the game had come to a stand still. I think I've learnt a great lesson here, and that would have to be that rush tactics with late game tactics never make for quick games, only slow, late-game games, unless you draw everything needed for the rush in your opening hand. We timed out and the game went to the dogs as it became a draw, and so did the round.
So after the fourth round, which started late and ended in a draw, I was 1-1-2 and not at all worried about it. I felt a tinge of pride at the fact that my opponent's winning swing in game 2 was for 21 damage, taking me to -14, as it was my own 2 Wojek Sirens that pumped all his lands to 5 and 6 power. Awww...
After the rounds were played I bumped into Necro, who said he didn't think he'd be able to attend todays prerelease so he had preregistered for sundays. I also bumped into a different Michael different from the one who I played, who I had previously met at Games Paradise in the city one thursday night when I had time to kill and had just finished work.
Of note was perhaps me winning a lucky door prize halfway through my match with Michael. The T.O. was screaming out that the lucky door prizes were being handed out, wave if I call your name and "Jacob!" was shouted out. I stuck my hand up and won a great prerelease T-shirt with Razia herself on the back.
I saw our own csv after that, who was helping out with boosters and dealing with the 2-headed giant tournaments that were starting soon (I wanted very much to enter one but didn't have a second head) and then Dead Peanut, Prowler and I packed up, got some Hungry Jacks and headed home.
Over all the day was a great experience and made up for the terrible Saviors of Kamigawa Prerelease that we attended (but that's for another time, promise). Not only is it great to see plenty of people to play against, trade with and discuss all the hot new cards with, but if you're looking for people to play with you've got a practical smorgasboard of potential gamers. Here's a tip for anyone who hasn't been to a Prerelease but want to go: Go. If the great EVERYTHING isn't enough incentive, how about $56**** worth of cards for only $35? Register and you can kick that $56 up to $62.
Cheers all, and thanks for reading. Until next time I post, I'll see you around! (and if you go to Games Paradise, see you there too!)
Darkur_Fox.
* - T.O. = Tournament Organiser.
** - A "bear" is any creature that has a 2/2 body for 2 mana. This term comes from the classic green card Grizzly Bears, who is the most precise bear you can get, at   for 2/2. "Utility" is a term used to describe cards that serve a certain purpose, like Hokori, Dust Drinker in WW decks or Thought Courier in Madness decks. So it serves that a "utility bear" is a 2/2 with a great ability. Take Samurai of the Pale Curtain as an example; She lets WW go aggro against Spirits and graveyard recursion.
A second such-like creature term is "Gray Ogre", a 2/2 for 3 mana.
*** - SteXtc came up with the term "Pink Weenie" in the Ravnica feature forum threads. What two colours make pink? Red and white.
**** - How's that, you ask? To register for a tournament is $35, but you'll get 1 tournament pack and 3 boosters to make your deck. $20 for the tournament pack and $6 per booster means you're getting $38 worth of product, and you'll get another 3 boosters as a prize if you went in a casual tournament (or more/less if you went in the serious tournament). That's a further $18 worth of product, or $56. If you preregister you get a bonus booster, so that's another $6 on top, $62.
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