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So I went to the Zendikar Pre-Release today, got my foil Rampagin Baloth promo, Planechase promo, six packs of Zendikar boosters and a whole lot of fun. Unfortunately, I did not win any matches. :(I heard last night at FNM that several regular players would not be able to make it out the next day but there still was 22 players ready to crack blister packs with a similar number expected at day two (Sunday) event.
A brief video ->
Let's see what I pulled . . .
Rares and Uncommons -
White : Emeria Angel, Kor Duelist, Arrow Volley Trap
Blue : Archmage Asenscion, Aether Figment, Summoner's Bane, Living Tsunami
Black : Halo Hunter, Blood Tribute
Red : Lavaball Trap, Goblin Ruinblaster, Quest for Pure Flame, Hellfire Mongrel, Murasa Pyromancer
Green : Rampaging Baloths, Tajuru Archer, Cobra Trap, Frontier Guide, Baloth Cage TrapArtifacts : Blade of the Bloodchief, Carnage Alter, Trusty Machete, Trailblazer's Boots
Lands : Graypelt Refuge, Jwar Isle Rufuge
And here is what I built . . .23 Spells
2 x Shieldmate's Blessing
1 x Blade of the Bloodchief
1 x Kor Duelist
2 x Nissa's Chosen
2 x Khalni Heart Expidition
2 x Journey to Nowhere1 x Kor Skyfisher
1 x Tanglesap
1 x Trailblazer's Boots
2 x Grazing Gladehart
1 x Oran-Rief Recluse
1 x Kor Sanctifiers
1 x Timbermaw Larva
1 x Emeria Angel
2 x Territorial Baloth
1 x Rampaging Baloths
17 Lands8 Forest
7 Plain
1 x Graypelt Refuge
1 x Turntimber Grove
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Result : 0 matches won out of 4 played . . . wahhh !!! - I really suck and definitely need more experience (and guidance) building a sealed deck. In my defence however, I did win some games of the matches I played. The local metagame here is fairly advanced and many the guys and gals who frequent the store to play have been doing so far longer than the two years I have.I have to say I love the new landfall mechanic and did actually spring my Rampaging Baloth in at least two games - the mechanic as well as the Baloth are certainly worthy enough to build a fun casual MTG FNM deck with.
If you were able to get out to an event, I hope all had a blast, if not - the release event is next weekend !
Dont feel too bad.. that draw was really bad. a rare in EACH different color.. 0 synergy.. and almost nothing good. Tough break man but dont be too hard on yourself.
ReplyDeleteI went to my first Magic Pre-Release and I had a blast! It feels so cool opening 6 boosters and seeing some sweet cards! My highlights were Eldrazi Monument, Eternity Vessel, Day of Judgement, Goblin Guide, and Scute Mob. Too bad I had to pass those babies away. Although I did end up with the one card I was most excited for, Sorin Markov. The deck I ended up building didn't actually use him, but it did pretty good. I won every single game I played! Not bad for a first-timer. I only got to play 3 rounds as I had to leave for work before the 4th started, but still good enough to get the prize of 4 boosters. Good day.
ReplyDeleteAt the Pre i went to, I pulled a foil Nissa Revane in my 3 pack
ReplyDeleteI know how you feel, I basically had the same result. I won the first match then 3 matches after that were just all losses so I went ahead and dropped after that.
ReplyDeleteIt was still worth it though and very exciting. Landfall is great honestly. To me it kinda morphs the way you play your land. I wish they reprinted Terramorphic expance in Zendikar instead of M10 because that would have been really fun to test out there.
I wasn't able to make the pre-release, but I'm going to a launch party on Friday with my wife. Really looking forward to it! Hopefully I'll get something really good. I haven't opened a pack since a couple weeks ago when I bought two six-card M10 boosters and got Next Wave and Sanguine Bond. Decided not to press my luck until the launch after pulls like that.
ReplyDeletei opened 4 rare lands, lol. Got my money back, but my deck kinda sucked.
ReplyDeleteHi man,
ReplyDeleteI Read your pre release blog, no need to feel down man. I went through a dissapointing pre release too. It was attended by 52 people, leading to a tiring 6 round battle. I got 1 loss, 1 win and 4 draws.
My packs sucked big time, getting sucky rares and an unbalanced power distribution among the colors. Having only 1 or 2 good cards in each color, while the rest of them are sub par or even downright bad. Ended up playing blue black. My red, green and white cards have incredibly high mana cost and/or situational abilites. Only 2 allies, 1 landfall card and 2 cards that interact with landfall. Only 1 guul draz vamp while having 3 or 4 cards that interacts with vampires. My rares are : lavaball trap, archive trap, halo hunter, predatory urge, obsidian fireheart & kabira evangel.
I saw in the video, you got an aether figment, living tsunami & halo hunter too. Those are my 3 main finisher / attacker.
From what I see, your deck lacks removal. You have big creatures and ways to prevent damage, but not enough cards to handle the opponent's threats. 2 Journey to nowhere is not enough
Based on the video, IMO you probably be better playing green blue black or white blue black (your only great white cards are the kor skyfisher, 2 journey to nowhere, narrow escape, kor cartographer & emelia angel, as for the green you have LOTS of them, 2 grazing gladehearts, 2 nissa's chosen, 2 oran-reef recluse, mold shambler & 2 territorial balloths)
2 into the roil (kicked) means bouncing a pesky permanent, digging deeper into your deck and hopefully to your bombs, 2 windrider eels with landfall along with the living tsunami means you have 3 flying 4cc 4/4s beating at your opponent's noggin' That skyruin drake is useful too, it's 5 toughness is pretty hard to crack. My golden rule in limited is getting as many flying creatures and removal as I can
as for the black; that one bloodseeker is pretty annoying, limited is about playing creatures, and your opponent has to 'pay' one life just to play one. It adds up really quickly since anyone wouldn't want to waste a good removal just to kill it. Giant scorpion's deathtouch is good, but what makes it great is its 3 toughness. Most creatures in zendikar only has 2 power. Those that have 3 or more will have to trade their creatures with the scorp. I also use the mosquito in my limited deck. Playing it as a 4cc 2/2 flying pest is good and all, but having it destroy any creature for 7cc has saved me more than once. Hideous end is just gold in limited, I got two and it worked wonders.
Graypelt refuge, turntimber grove and all the lands with a comes into play effect will work especially well with the kor skyfisher and living tsunami (obviously, the landfall cards too)
All in all landfall IS a very interesting (and exploitable mechanic). IMO it's especially powerful with green and alara's mana producing artifacts since you can just bounce your own land (living tsunami, kor skyfisher, etc) again and again and play them all over again to reap the benefits of landfall abilities.
playing U/G with living tsunami, birds / cobra, ZEN's comes into play lands, rampaging balloths, etc can be very deadly.