I had a ton of fun and went 3-1 with a burn-heavy R/g allies deck. I had some mana issues with 17 land, so I went up to 18 and things were much better (advice from a guy with a landfall deck running *20* land!).
Rares:
Eternity Vessel (played it, never saw it)
Emeria Angel (didn't play white)
Oracle of Mul Daya (Sick! Won me 3 games!)
Arid Mesa (didn't play white)
Roil Elemental (didn't play blue)
Summoning Trap (didn't play it, no bombs)
MVPs:
Ohran-Rief Recluse - I topdecked the spider to kill Iona. I think my opponent wanted to die, and the girl next to us said it would make a nice comic. This was literally the only card I could have drawn to win (he named 'red').
Zektar Shrine Expedition - 7 damage for 2 mana, this card is great and I can't believe it's COMMON! I had 2 (1 foil) and the only time it came close to underperforming (against an opposing Disfigure), I had the pump so it was still fantastic.
Unstable Footing - I've never been a huge fan of Lava Axe, but this sucker won games for me alongside 2 Burst Lightnings.
I won 3 packs and got an Iona of my own (irony! made it really easy to retell the story), Foil Ohran Rief, the Vastwood (shiny!), Verdant Catacombs (I <3 fetches), and Bela Ged Thief (stinker).
Magosi the Waterveil
Day of Judgment
Emeria Angel
Oracle of Mul Daya
Warren Instigator
Iona, Shield of Emeria
Sea Gate Loremaster
Guul Draz Specter
Blade of the Bloodchief
Decent. But my white was really weak but I wanted to splash for the Day of Judgment and Emeria Angel but the double white commitment was difficult to manage.
Finished 4-1 at my prerelease, good enough for 2nd and 9 packs (only about 18 people), playing with a U/B concoction filled with evasion and removal (2 Hideous End, Marsh Casualties, Heartstabber Mosquito, a splashed Journey to Nowhere).
MVPs:
Marsh Casualties: Completely ridiculous. At LEAST a 2-for-1 every time, and several times 3-for-1 or better.
Vampire Nighthawk: This thing owns the skies. One game a single Nighthawk gained me 12 life. Another it took down a Malakir Bloodwitch by itself. Its only weakness is Oran-Rief Recluse.
Eldrazi Monument: If you play this with 3+ creatures, you win. Period. Anthem + Levitation + total indestructibility means you win every combat step for the rest of the game. Every game I dropped this (5, for those keeping score) I won within 1 turn.
Archmage Ascension
Roil Elemental (Foil)
Arid Mesa
Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
Luminarch Ascension
Hellkite Charger (traded it for a Scalding Tarn)
Sadistic Sacrament (traded it for Verdant Catacombs)
I ran virtually the same deck as the winner but got mana screwed in nearly every match. Couldn't believe it. I went 2-2 and won in a tiebreaker for 1 pack. In that pack I opened another Luminarch Ascension and got a foil Vampire Nighthawk.
Horrible Rare sealed pool for me with the only playable being GB fetch and Grapling hook. Awesome uncommons/commons made up for it though and took me to 4-1-0 with a GR landfall deck, 2 torch slinger, 2 bladetusk boar, 2 vines of vastwood, 2 punishing fire, 2 Spire Barrage, 2 magma rift, 2 Balothwoodcrasher, Geyser Flider, turntimber basilisk and Grazing gladehart sealed the deal on most games.
Won a cool 6 packs, opened 2 more fetches and some decent casual playables, rite of replication, conqueror's pledge, crypt of agadeem and oran-rief the vastwood. +)
My only playable rares was Sorin Markov and Predatory Urge. Crap rare, I know, but putting it on a River Boa or an Ally that's pumped itself to a decent power/toughness (a 4/4 works best) is insane. Singlehandedly won my team my first 2HG match since it picks off weak creatures one by one and saves the best removal for the bigger creatures.
Oh yeah I managed to cast Conqueror's Pledge with the kicker, that was pretty fun.
First, let me just say that this set is the BOMB! I hadn't had that much fun at a tournament in a very long time.
First sealed tournament I built a BGU deck and splashed W. I went 1-2, 2-1, and 2-0 in three rounds. Didn't make Top 4 out of 23 people.
Second draft tournament I built a R and splashed W. My P1P1 was a Vampire Nightwing, but then I started getting passed red cards...nobody was playing red. I switched to red by pick 3-4 of pack 1. I went 2-0, 1-2, 2-0 in the first 3 rounds, made top 4 (out of 10) and went 2-0 in round 4. By that time it was 1:30 a.m. and my round 5 opponent and I just decided to split the prizes--6 packs each.
That's not even what made the night so awesome. The owner, who is an awesome guy, had heard about this priceless treasures thing. He didn't believe it for a second, but many of the players had heard about it. So, later in the night, around 12:00 a player goes over to the table, sits down cracks a pack, looks through it, and then says, "what the hell is this" and shows us a Black Lotus! We all said "holy ****!" no ******* way!!!" "Dude, do you know what you have there!?!?" He said he was new to the game and didn't. The owner walks over, asks to see the card because he doesn't believe the guy pulled one, turns to us, says "it's a fake" and tears the card in two. The look on all of our faces was...you probably couldn't find a better picture of mass disappointment and shock anywhere! The guy who pulled it asked, "why did you do that!?" The owner just looks at everyone, says, it's a fake, I printed it off earlier and stuck it in the pack. The player who "cracked" the pack was in on it as well. We laughed forever...and then I kept the ripped "black lotus" and put it in the front of my trade binder. You know...for laughs.
My pulls were pretty bad, my best cards was Scute Mob, but out of the 7 total boxes that were opened, 2 "hidden treasures" were opened, Wizards slipped in some unlimited and revised rares into some packs instead of the token or tip trick card, the odds are said to be around 1 in 20 booster boxes boxes, and we got 2 in 7 boxes, Badlands was pulled, oh yeah AND A FREAKIN' BLACK LOTUS!!!!!!!! i'm not kidding, a lotus. talk about a day
best cards were elemental appeal and Quest for Pure Flame all of my rares, commons and uncommons I got were janky, apart from scute mob, which who knows, knock on wood is going to be the new goyf and raise up to $40 one day
Quest for Pure Flame was my decks mvp, everything I got that as a first turn drop I won. Going to build monored standard deck, with elemental appeal, ball lightning and lightning bolt reprinted too, even the expensive hellkite charger and chanda, mono red looks real good, I also love that card goblin ruinblaster, looks beastly. The lightning bolt land too? Mono red is going to be so fun to play, everyone and their mom will be doing it but I dont care.
Over all the prerelease went ok for me. I only went 2-3 though as my deck wasn't that great (UG landfall) and I only realized that Frontier Guide wasn't too slow to play in my deck by match 3 and that Explorer's Scope was nuts by match 4. (after having my face trashed by a Steppe Lynx equipped with the scope).
Most of the rares I pulled were jank too:
Turntimber Ranger (ok in limited, unplayable in constructed as other allies are trash) Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle (would have had to play mono red and that was absolutely impossible) Lavaball Trap (no support in red, too expensive, wouldn't have been able to play for trap cost) Halo Hunter (might have been ok if I had played black. Awkward mana cost and flimsy toughness though) Blood Tribute (By the time you can play it it shouldn't be that big of a deal) Roil Elemental (Awkward cost but I played him and he was pretty nuts once he hit the table)
No mythics, no fetches, no cards I need for any deck...
My experience was pretty unique. tl;dr version: Packs sucked and no promo card, but I won a game with 34-land.dec. Moral of the story:Sea Gate Loremaster > Land Tax.
Wizards was supposed to supply enough promos for a 64-man event, but instead sent thirty-something Baloths and thirty-something Planechase promos. Apparently, they also required the store to give these out as pairs, which meant that there weren't enough promos to go around. To top it all off, the store overbooked the event by 14 people. It was announced that, at the end of the third round, those with undefeated records would get promos, then they would distribute the remainder from the bottom-up (I guess to the people who wouldn't qualify for prizes, to make everyone happy).
My friend decided to pay for my prerelease so he could keep the cards, and that was fine by me, but he was pretty irked that he wasn't going to get a promo (he lost round 1, but had a great deck and was doing well after that). I was pretty bummed out with my 0-2 record, too:
1. Obvious play error in game 1 (not playing a land before combat), probably more that I didn't spot after that
2. No good way to build my deck (good cards were so spread out in colors that I couldn't get a quality deck together)
3. No good "money cards" to give my friend afterward (except maybe Nissa Revane, which he isn't that crazy about)
4. I didn't even have enough Demolishes and Desecrated Earths to grief people.
So as not to waste my friend's money, I decided to axe my limited rating and stay in for the third round, go 0-3 overall, and get my friend a promo card.
I threw a random 40-land deck together for round 3. But wait, I thought, I need a wincon. Nissa Revane seemed like a good choice, because a planeswalker ultimate is about the flashiest thing you can do in sealed. Another one of my friends said I should put in more "real" cards, so I threw all six of my rares into my deck (Electropotence, Nissa Revane, Sphinx of Lost Truths, Sea Gate Loremaster, Celestial Mantle, Sadistic Sacrament) and shuffled up for my last round.
Game 1
My opponent was a nice guy playing some RWU aggro concoction.
Before the game starts, I say something like, "Man, my deck is professional."
"Professionally good, or bad?" he asks.
"I'll let you decide."
I win the roll and opt to draw, since if he decides HE really wants the promo and we aren't both allowed to concede, I'll deck first. Things are looking good: I play Sphinx of Lost Truths on turn 5 and finally draw into a Plains, giving me Domain. I thought victory was inevitable, but he kills the Sphinx and I lose. At least I never miss a land drop.
0-1
Game 2
I change up my strategy, since that kill wasn't clean enough. Now, I'm going to mulligan until I see a rare. A mull to four rewards me with Electropotence. YES! I eagerly windmill it onto the table on turn 3 and sit on my Electropotence advantage until I get a Sea Gate Loremaster on turn 6 or 7. The 3-toughness wards off all but his air assault, and I start generating serious card advantage. Inevitably, I mise Celestial Mantle and slap that bad boy onto my janky blue Ally, pushing the limits of awesomeness in the red zone. He chumps and returns the attack with his flying dude. On my turn, I draw Sadistic Sacrament (OH MAN, wait till I get my third Swamp) and continue to apply pressure. He attempts to kill the Loremaster with some combination of combat damage and burn, but gets confused and ends up 2-for-none'ing himself. Eventually he runs out of blockers and the Ally goes all the way; I end the game at 32 life.
1-1
Game 3
Mastering the mulligan strategy for this deck is crucial. This time, I have to mull to five before I see my secret tech, Nissa Revane. The tempo off Nissa is just sick; as your opponent tries to kill her with Tempest Owl, you just keep adding counters until you draw a nonland permanent. Dang, Sea Gate Loremaster can even help keep the riff raff away. I play Nissa on turn-four and add a counter.
"I'll gain 2 life for each elf I control."
"So you go up to 22?"
"No."
".....oh."
Uh oh, my opponent didn't take the bait and attacked me instead. Time to mix things up. My turn again.
"Hmm...maybe I should use her other ability this time. +1 loyalty."
"Do you have it in your deck?"
*searching library* "I guess not. In that case, I'll play a land card, and pass my turn."
He still doesn't take the mythic-rare damage-magnet bait and attacks me instead. Lose time is now.
1-2 and drop.
I tell my opponent good game, and that it was nice to meet him.
In the end, I still didn't get a promo for my friend because they changed the rules to "the end of the fourth round," but by that point, so many people had dropped that my friend got his own, anyway. We spent the rest of the night playtesting sealed decks against Miracle Gro.
yeh they only sent 18 baloths to my store, only the first 18 people to sign up got them, the rest just got some crappy planeschase card, luckily i got the baloth
Put together a Blue, Black, Red deck and got trounced first round. Dropped the blue entirely and went BR, ending the night 3-2 with two of my wins being 2-0.
I was able to trade off the Tarn and some of miscellany for an Ob Nixilis, Chandra Ablaze, and a few other bits and pieces... so I went home happy. Got the three cards I really wanted: Ob, Sorin, and Chandra.
- a foil Malakir Bloodwitch, which I had to check against my precon deck, since I got the vampire one. End of the day, two foil blood witches. Not bad.
- Nissa Revane, who I pulled from the intro pack booster.
- Scute Mob, who never really saw play in the limited tournament. Every time he hit the field, my opponent had something in hand for him despite never seeing him before ever.
- Verdant Catacombs which played pretty well in my BRg deck.
- Halo Hunter, the running joke of a demon. Still a bomb in Limited.
- Devout Lightcaster, a pretty decent SB card.
- Pyromancer Ascension, which is kinda worthless in limited.
- Oran-Rief, the Vastwood. Meh.
At our prerelease we had 60 people and they actually didn't have enough product to give out 6 packs, so we had to build outta 5. The TO actually did more than enough to make up for this lack in the math. Anywho, I opened
I ended up going 5-1 and finishing 5th on tie breakers. Since they didn't have enough product for a top 8 draft they decided to use the swiss standings to decide final standings.
To make up for running out of product they gave everyone at the tourny 2 packs of m10 for showing up and will give everyone that was there an additional booster of zen when they get their next shipment in. On top of this they upped the prizes: first got 2 boxes of m10, an unopened from the vault exiled and a playmat, second got 1 box of m10, from the vault exiled, and a playmat, 3-4 split a box of m10 and got a playmat, and 5-8 split a box of m10. Once they get their next zen in they are also giving zen prizes to the top 8, so i can definitly say that they did more than enough to make up for the lapse in allowing more people to sign up than they had product for.
Also, there was a Force of Will opened at our tourny.
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Advanced Level tournament organizer for GameOver Video Games and More in Kingsland, GA. We run drafts, constructed, sealeds, anything you want!
Any questions? Please email us at [EMAIL="gameovermagic@gmail.com"]gameovermagic@gmail.com[/EMAIL]
I did two pre-releases, one Saturday and one Sunday, both in Columbus. The Sunday event is the one I'll remember though, as I pushed Brian David-Marshall to a third game before eventually falling to the better player. He had a Sphinx of Jwar Isle that I had absolutely no answer for in my deck, or in my card pool. Brian won game 1, I took game 2, and he outlasted me on the tie-breaker.
The game 1 loss is the one that really sticks with me. I opted not to leave mana open on an early turn to Punishing Fire an elemental I predicted was coming into play off his Zektar Shrine Expedition, since during the previous turn I had neglected to play a threat in anticipation of Firing the Expedition, but either he didn't hit a land drop, or opted not to play one and was baiting me. I decided then I had to trade the seven points and play a creature, since I couldn't pass my turn without laying a threat two turns in a row. The seven points I ate there really bit me in the end, since I thought I was in a good position to steal the game. Incredibly frustrating to have two Plated Geopedes in my deck and not have a single one hit the table in any of the three games to deter the 7/1 tramplers he consistently hit off the Expeditions (I assume he had at least two Zektar Shrines in his pool).
I might have had a better shot if I hadn't been playing against both him and myself. I out smarted myself, then compounded the problem by allowing my frustration with my library feeding me the cards I wanted out of order get into my head. Such as drawing the Goblin Shortcutter in the early game instead of the Geopede, which, when combined with an Adventuring Gear or two, can be brutal in this limited format ... you know, if you see these cards in precisely the reverse order to what I was consistently seeing all three games I played him.
Ah well, live and learn. It was fun, and I've got a story I'll always remember out of it.
On Saturday, I paid for my sealed by opening a foil Nissa Revane and a Misty Rainforest, then proceeded to go 1-2 in the tournament playing a UG deck, dropping after round three to go get food.
Yesterday, I paid for my sealed by opening another Misty Rainforest and going 3-1 with a pretty solid WR deck that had two Burst Lightnings and not a few flying creatures (woo Emeria Angel and Shepherd of the Lost). Then in my prize packs I opened a Scalding Tarn so I feel like I came out ahead for the whole weekend really. And I had fun, mostly. That's what really matters.
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I liek Phelddagrifs.
Official Knitter of the Crafters.
Currently knitting: It's a surprise!
Went 3-3. Struggled a bit with the build in part because of the lack of card options (I got a lot of common land cards) Started with a 3 color build white, green, red (had a Harrow. After a first round 2-1 I wnet back and took a look at things and subbed in blue for red and green and deck got better. Went 3-2 over the next 5 but first round loss kept me out of things.
What irritated me the most was I ended up with more land than black cards (in a set full of vamps I got 1 vampire--ugh). Worst pack I got was 6th pack I open Soaring SeacliffKabira CrossroadsAkoum Refuge, foil full art forrest and then of course the other full art basic. When I needed colored spells the last thing I wanted is a pack with 4 lands plus the basic.
In the end was happy about being in matches (only got blown out once) since the only rare I could really use was World Queller in the UW deck I was able to put together post round 1.
I got my ass kicked in both the draft and the sealed deck. My sealed deck was a B/R burn deck, went 1-2, and I drafted a W/U deck with loads of fliers and gave me lots of life. Didn't win a single game with that deck. But, here's what I pulled:
.... think i did good? nope, like last place haha i got horrible supporting cards. also im just coming back after a long break from magic so my deck building skills are rusty lol.
Rares:
Eternity Vessel (played it, never saw it)
Emeria Angel (didn't play white)
Oracle of Mul Daya (Sick! Won me 3 games!)
Arid Mesa (didn't play white)
Roil Elemental (didn't play blue)
Summoning Trap (didn't play it, no bombs)
MVPs:
Ohran-Rief Recluse - I topdecked the spider to kill Iona. I think my opponent wanted to die, and the girl next to us said it would make a nice comic. This was literally the only card I could have drawn to win (he named 'red').
Zektar Shrine Expedition - 7 damage for 2 mana, this card is great and I can't believe it's COMMON! I had 2 (1 foil) and the only time it came close to underperforming (against an opposing Disfigure), I had the pump so it was still fantastic.
Unstable Footing - I've never been a huge fan of Lava Axe, but this sucker won games for me alongside 2 Burst Lightnings.
I won 3 packs and got an Iona of my own (irony! made it really easy to retell the story), Foil Ohran Rief, the Vastwood (shiny!), Verdant Catacombs (I <3 fetches), and Bela Ged Thief (stinker).
Day of Judgment
Emeria Angel
Oracle of Mul Daya
Warren Instigator
Iona, Shield of Emeria
Sea Gate Loremaster
Guul Draz Specter
Blade of the Bloodchief
Decent. But my white was really weak but I wanted to splash for the Day of Judgment and Emeria Angel but the double white commitment was difficult to manage.
MVPs:
Marsh Casualties: Completely ridiculous. At LEAST a 2-for-1 every time, and several times 3-for-1 or better.
Vampire Nighthawk: This thing owns the skies. One game a single Nighthawk gained me 12 life. Another it took down a Malakir Bloodwitch by itself. Its only weakness is Oran-Rief Recluse.
Eldrazi Monument: If you play this with 3+ creatures, you win. Period. Anthem + Levitation + total indestructibility means you win every combat step for the rest of the game. Every game I dropped this (5, for those keeping score) I won within 1 turn.
UBDragonlord Silumgar WGKarametra, God of Harvests
BRUNekusar, the Mindrazer BGMazirek, Kraul Death Priest
URMelek, Izzet Paragon UGPrime Speaker Zegana
WUHanna, Ship's Navigator BWUSydri, Galvanic Genius
WUBRGSliver Queen RBBladewing the Risen
WBKarlov of the Ghost Council RGXenagos, God of Revels
GFreyalise, Llanowar's Fury RWAurelia, the Warleader
RIb Halfheart, Goblin Tactician BDrana, Liberator of Malakir
UAzami, Lady of Scrolls WNahiri, the Lithomancer
WBGDoran, the Siege Tower CEmrakul, the Promised End
Archmage Ascension
Roil Elemental (Foil)
Arid Mesa
Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
Luminarch Ascension
Hellkite Charger (traded it for a Scalding Tarn)
Sadistic Sacrament (traded it for Verdant Catacombs)
I ran virtually the same deck as the winner but got mana screwed in nearly every match. Couldn't believe it. I went 2-2 and won in a tiebreaker for 1 pack. In that pack I opened another Luminarch Ascension and got a foil Vampire Nighthawk.
I ended the day with a playset of both Warren Instigator and Goblin Guide and completed my play set of Siege-Gang Commander and Goblin Chieftain, was pretty happy even though I didn't do all that well. I had one heck of a deck going though.
Won a cool 6 packs, opened 2 more fetches and some decent casual playables, rite of replication, conqueror's pledge, crypt of agadeem and oran-rief the vastwood. +)
Trade Thread
Oh yeah I managed to cast Conqueror's Pledge with the kicker, that was pretty fun.
First sealed tournament I built a BGU deck and splashed W. I went 1-2, 2-1, and 2-0 in three rounds. Didn't make Top 4 out of 23 people.
Second draft tournament I built a R and splashed W. My P1P1 was a Vampire Nightwing, but then I started getting passed red cards...nobody was playing red. I switched to red by pick 3-4 of pack 1. I went 2-0, 1-2, 2-0 in the first 3 rounds, made top 4 (out of 10) and went 2-0 in round 4. By that time it was 1:30 a.m. and my round 5 opponent and I just decided to split the prizes--6 packs each.
That's not even what made the night so awesome. The owner, who is an awesome guy, had heard about this priceless treasures thing. He didn't believe it for a second, but many of the players had heard about it. So, later in the night, around 12:00 a player goes over to the table, sits down cracks a pack, looks through it, and then says, "what the hell is this" and shows us a Black Lotus! We all said "holy ****!" no ******* way!!!" "Dude, do you know what you have there!?!?" He said he was new to the game and didn't. The owner walks over, asks to see the card because he doesn't believe the guy pulled one, turns to us, says "it's a fake" and tears the card in two. The look on all of our faces was...you probably couldn't find a better picture of mass disappointment and shock anywhere! The guy who pulled it asked, "why did you do that!?" The owner just looks at everyone, says, it's a fake, I printed it off earlier and stuck it in the pack. The player who "cracked" the pack was in on it as well. We laughed forever...and then I kept the ripped "black lotus" and put it in the front of my trade binder. You know...for laughs.
You guys have any stories or unique experiences?
Signature courtesy of Rivenor and Miraculous Recovery
EDH Altered Cards by Galspanic (Seriously, this guy's awesome.)
My Pauper Cube
Tapped-Out Simulator
My Trade Thread
-Decks-
Commander:
GWR Rith, the Awakener RWG
U Kami of the Crescent Moon U (Flagship Deck)
BW Teysa, Orzhov Scion WB
Under Construction:
UBR Crosis, the Purger RBU
Cube:
WUBRGX Pauper XGRBUW
it wasn't me that pulled either one though :-(
WRG Mayael the Anima Fatty Fatty Boom Boom
WUB Ertai, the Corrupted Star Wars / Control
WBR Tariel, Reckoner of Souls Reanimator
WUG Angus Mackenzie Tim the Enchanter
G Seton, Krosan Protector Druids!
Quest for Pure Flame was my decks mvp, everything I got that as a first turn drop I won. Going to build monored standard deck, with elemental appeal, ball lightning and lightning bolt reprinted too, even the expensive hellkite charger and chanda, mono red looks real good, I also love that card goblin ruinblaster, looks beastly. The lightning bolt land too? Mono red is going to be so fun to play, everyone and their mom will be doing it but I dont care.
Most of the rares I pulled were jank too:
Turntimber Ranger (ok in limited, unplayable in constructed as other allies are trash)
Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle (would have had to play mono red and that was absolutely impossible)
Lavaball Trap (no support in red, too expensive, wouldn't have been able to play for trap cost)
Halo Hunter (might have been ok if I had played black. Awkward mana cost and flimsy toughness though)
Blood Tribute (By the time you can play it it shouldn't be that big of a deal)
Roil Elemental (Awkward cost but I played him and he was pretty nuts once he hit the table)
No mythics, no fetches, no cards I need for any deck...
tl;dr version: Packs sucked and no promo card, but I won a game with 34-land.dec.
Moral of the story: Sea Gate Loremaster > Land Tax.
Wizards was supposed to supply enough promos for a 64-man event, but instead sent thirty-something Baloths and thirty-something Planechase promos. Apparently, they also required the store to give these out as pairs, which meant that there weren't enough promos to go around. To top it all off, the store overbooked the event by 14 people. It was announced that, at the end of the third round, those with undefeated records would get promos, then they would distribute the remainder from the bottom-up (I guess to the people who wouldn't qualify for prizes, to make everyone happy).
My friend decided to pay for my prerelease so he could keep the cards, and that was fine by me, but he was pretty irked that he wasn't going to get a promo (he lost round 1, but had a great deck and was doing well after that). I was pretty bummed out with my 0-2 record, too:
1. Obvious play error in game 1 (not playing a land before combat), probably more that I didn't spot after that
2. No good way to build my deck (good cards were so spread out in colors that I couldn't get a quality deck together)
3. No good "money cards" to give my friend afterward (except maybe Nissa Revane, which he isn't that crazy about)
4. I didn't even have enough Demolishes and Desecrated Earths to grief people.
So as not to waste my friend's money, I decided to axe my limited rating and stay in for the third round, go 0-3 overall, and get my friend a promo card.
I threw a random 40-land deck together for round 3. But wait, I thought, I need a wincon. Nissa Revane seemed like a good choice, because a planeswalker ultimate is about the flashiest thing you can do in sealed. Another one of my friends said I should put in more "real" cards, so I threw all six of my rares into my deck (Electropotence, Nissa Revane, Sphinx of Lost Truths, Sea Gate Loremaster, Celestial Mantle, Sadistic Sacrament) and shuffled up for my last round.
Game 1
My opponent was a nice guy playing some RWU aggro concoction.
Before the game starts, I say something like, "Man, my deck is professional."
"Professionally good, or bad?" he asks.
"I'll let you decide."
I win the roll and opt to draw, since if he decides HE really wants the promo and we aren't both allowed to concede, I'll deck first. Things are looking good: I play Sphinx of Lost Truths on turn 5 and finally draw into a Plains, giving me Domain. I thought victory was inevitable, but he kills the Sphinx and I lose. At least I never miss a land drop.
0-1
Game 2
I change up my strategy, since that kill wasn't clean enough. Now, I'm going to mulligan until I see a rare. A mull to four rewards me with Electropotence. YES! I eagerly windmill it onto the table on turn 3 and sit on my Electropotence advantage until I get a Sea Gate Loremaster on turn 6 or 7. The 3-toughness wards off all but his air assault, and I start generating serious card advantage. Inevitably, I mise Celestial Mantle and slap that bad boy onto my janky blue Ally, pushing the limits of awesomeness in the red zone. He chumps and returns the attack with his flying dude. On my turn, I draw Sadistic Sacrament (OH MAN, wait till I get my third Swamp) and continue to apply pressure. He attempts to kill the Loremaster with some combination of combat damage and burn, but gets confused and ends up 2-for-none'ing himself. Eventually he runs out of blockers and the Ally goes all the way; I end the game at 32 life.
1-1
Game 3
Mastering the mulligan strategy for this deck is crucial. This time, I have to mull to five before I see my secret tech, Nissa Revane. The tempo off Nissa is just sick; as your opponent tries to kill her with Tempest Owl, you just keep adding counters until you draw a nonland permanent. Dang, Sea Gate Loremaster can even help keep the riff raff away. I play Nissa on turn-four and add a counter.
"I'll gain 2 life for each elf I control."
"So you go up to 22?"
"No."
".....oh."
Uh oh, my opponent didn't take the bait and attacked me instead. Time to mix things up. My turn again.
"Hmm...maybe I should use her other ability this time. +1 loyalty."
"Do you have it in your deck?"
*searching library* "I guess not. In that case, I'll play a land card, and pass my turn."
He still doesn't take the mythic-rare damage-magnet bait and attacks me instead. Lose time is now.
1-2 and drop.
I tell my opponent good game, and that it was nice to meet him.
In the end, I still didn't get a promo for my friend because they changed the rules to "the end of the fourth round," but by that point, so many people had dropped that my friend got his own, anyway. We spent the rest of the night playtesting sealed decks against Miracle Gro.
Draft my Mono-Blue Cube!
lichess.org | chess.com
Did better than I expected.
1st pack: Scalding Tarn
2nd Pack: Sorin Markov
3rd Pack: Bloodghast, plus foil Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
4th Pack: Halo Hunter
5th pack: Lullmage Mentor
6th Pack: Predatory Urge
Put together a Blue, Black, Red deck and got trounced first round. Dropped the blue entirely and went BR, ending the night 3-2 with two of my wins being 2-0.
1 Blood Seeker
1 Bloodghast
1 Crypt Ripper
2 Grim Discovery
1 Hagra Crocodile
1 Halo Hunter
1 Heartstabber Mosquito
1 Sorin Markov
1 Vampire Lacerator
1 Vampire's Bite
1 Burst Lightning
1 Geyser GLider
1 Goblin War Paint
1 Magma Rift
1 Mark of Mutiny
1 Molten Ravager
1 Plated Geopede
1 Ruinous Minotaur
1 Blazing Torch
1 Expedition Map
1 Explorer's Scope
Land
2 Piranha March
1 Scalding Tarn
2 Teetering Peaks
Some observations:
1) Sorin Markov is a freakin' house. Won every game he got to the table.
2) Teetering Peaks and/or Scalding Tarn (any fetches) + Plated Geopede = awesome.
4) Bloodghast is a trooper.
5) Most pleasing play was topdecking Mark of Mutiny and snagging a 18/18 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen, making him 19/19, and attacking with him and a 10/5 Halo Hunter (thanks to Goblin War Paint and Teetering Peaks) for the win. But then he stomped me the next game and won the match.
I was able to trade off the Tarn and some of miscellany for an Ob Nixilis, Chandra Ablaze, and a few other bits and pieces... so I went home happy. Got the three cards I really wanted: Ob, Sorin, and Chandra.
No Priceless Treasures at this event.
Good news is I traded it for a Baneslayer.
Also got Molten Pinnacle, Hellkite Charger, Roil Elemental (win), and a couple green rares.
Oh and I came in dead last... on purpose. For the "bragging rights", which is totally contradictory.
- a foil Malakir Bloodwitch, which I had to check against my precon deck, since I got the vampire one. End of the day, two foil blood witches. Not bad.
- Nissa Revane, who I pulled from the intro pack booster.
- Scute Mob, who never really saw play in the limited tournament. Every time he hit the field, my opponent had something in hand for him despite never seeing him before ever.
- Verdant Catacombs which played pretty well in my BRg deck.
- Halo Hunter, the running joke of a demon. Still a bomb in Limited.
- Devout Lightcaster, a pretty decent SB card.
- Pyromancer Ascension, which is kinda worthless in limited.
- Oran-Rief, the Vastwood. Meh.
Couple of guys were ridiculously lucky. One kid I went up against pulled the Verdant Catacombs, a Lotus Cobra and Sorin Markov. Another guy got a foil Misty Rainforest and a third got a foil cobra. No treasures though.
--S
Lullmage Mentor foil
The rares I pulled in my prize packs were:
Halo Hunter foil
Rampaging Baloths foil
I ended up going 5-1 and finishing 5th on tie breakers. Since they didn't have enough product for a top 8 draft they decided to use the swiss standings to decide final standings.
To make up for running out of product they gave everyone at the tourny 2 packs of m10 for showing up and will give everyone that was there an additional booster of zen when they get their next shipment in. On top of this they upped the prizes: first got 2 boxes of m10, an unopened from the vault exiled and a playmat, second got 1 box of m10, from the vault exiled, and a playmat, 3-4 split a box of m10 and got a playmat, and 5-8 split a box of m10. Once they get their next zen in they are also giving zen prizes to the top 8, so i can definitly say that they did more than enough to make up for the lapse in allowing more people to sign up than they had product for.
Also, there was a Force of Will opened at our tourny.
Any questions? Please email us at [EMAIL="gameovermagic@gmail.com"]gameovermagic@gmail.com[/EMAIL]
The game 1 loss is the one that really sticks with me. I opted not to leave mana open on an early turn to Punishing Fire an elemental I predicted was coming into play off his Zektar Shrine Expedition, since during the previous turn I had neglected to play a threat in anticipation of Firing the Expedition, but either he didn't hit a land drop, or opted not to play one and was baiting me. I decided then I had to trade the seven points and play a creature, since I couldn't pass my turn without laying a threat two turns in a row. The seven points I ate there really bit me in the end, since I thought I was in a good position to steal the game. Incredibly frustrating to have two Plated Geopedes in my deck and not have a single one hit the table in any of the three games to deter the 7/1 tramplers he consistently hit off the Expeditions (I assume he had at least two Zektar Shrines in his pool).
I might have had a better shot if I hadn't been playing against both him and myself. I out smarted myself, then compounded the problem by allowing my frustration with my library feeding me the cards I wanted out of order get into my head. Such as drawing the Goblin Shortcutter in the early game instead of the Geopede, which, when combined with an Adventuring Gear or two, can be brutal in this limited format ... you know, if you see these cards in precisely the reverse order to what I was consistently seeing all three games I played him.
Ah well, live and learn. It was fun, and I've got a story I'll always remember out of it.
Yesterday, I paid for my sealed by opening another Misty Rainforest and going 3-1 with a pretty solid WR deck that had two Burst Lightnings and not a few flying creatures (woo Emeria Angel and Shepherd of the Lost). Then in my prize packs I opened a Scalding Tarn so I feel like I came out ahead for the whole weekend really. And I had fun, mostly. That's what really matters.
Official Knitter of the Crafters.
Currently knitting: It's a surprise!
Overall cards were okay pulled
World Queller
Arid Mesa
Bloodchief Ascension
Crypt of Agadeem
Lullmage Mentor useless with no counter magic
I forget the 6th.
What irritated me the most was I ended up with more land than black cards (in a set full of vamps I got 1 vampire--ugh). Worst pack I got was 6th pack I open Soaring Seacliff Kabira Crossroads Akoum Refuge, foil full art forrest and then of course the other full art basic. When I needed colored spells the last thing I wanted is a pack with 4 lands plus the basic.
In the end was happy about being in matches (only got blown out once) since the only rare I could really use was World Queller in the UW deck I was able to put together post round 1.
FULL ART LANDS: (8)
FOILS: (4)
MYTHIC RARES: (2)
RARES: (6)
UNCOMMONS: (27)
WHITE: (22)
BLUE: (26)
BLACK: (15)
RED: (14)
GREEN: (19)
ARTIFACTS: (4)
NONBASIC LANDS: (5)
I traded away a Bloodchief Ascension and a Scute Mob for a couple of Hell's Thunders, and a couple of Demolishs for a few Lightning Bolts. The guy I traded with the the better deal no doubt, but I got a few cards I needed so I don't mind.
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MY DCI RATING: 1578 (yeah, I'm that good :facepalm:)
Starving Musician Extraordinaire
.... think i did good? nope, like last place haha i got horrible supporting cards. also im just coming back after a long break from magic so my deck building skills are rusty lol.