Dominaria Standard

~
Happy Friday MTG peeps,

It is Friday (finally), and beginning at midnight tonight and running ALL weekend long at our local gaming store, OMG! Games, here in Barrie, Ontario, Canada, is the much-anticipated Dominaria PreRelease weekend. RawR! / w00t!  Magic: the Gathering players will be cracking packs of the newest set, and getting down to serious fun.  

Although we are looking very much forward, our format of choice is not really sealed but standard.  Going forward for at least a few more weeks of Friday Night Magic (yeah! FNM promos are returning on April 27th), we will still be armed with our existing Standard decklists while we collect the cards we new for the new season.  

One build which was early on our radar was a Red / White (Boros) 'Voltron' list.  The name 'voltron' essentially means using a select number of creatures which may provide some benefit when you equip them with artifacts, or enchant them with auras.  The creature card which captured our imagination in the new Dominaria set, to put us on this path generated a 3/1 elemental token with trample and haste every time you equipped or enchanted it.  Here is the back-bone of this list :

Champion of the Flame - pumped about it
Sram, Senior Edificer - keep the peddle down
Danitha Capashen, Paragon - discounts
Valduk, Keeper of the Flame - those lovely tokens

We will need to think more about what auras and equipment we like best with this mix, but for now, we were very happy to see the HareruyaWayfinder "Dominaria" posts which went up today.  Here, the Hareruya Magic: the Gathering Pros provide suggestions to you, the deck-builder, as to how one may go forward.  Here is the article link, and here are the lists :

STANDARD
• Deck 1 : Mono Green Ghalta, Grzegorz Kowalski

• Deck 2 : Yawgmoth's Vile Offering, Yoshihiko Ikawa
• Deck 3 : Djinn of the Vehicles, Luis Salvatto
• Deck 4 : Powerstone Shard, Javier Dominguez
• Deck 5 : Song of Freyalise, Marc Tobiasch
• Deck 6 : The Antiquities War, Kenta Harane
• Deck 7 : Blue Sky, Thiago Saporito
• Deck 8 : RB Midrange, Petr Sochurek

• Deck 9 : Historic Vehicles, Christian Calcano
• Deck 10 : UW Control, Oliver Polak-Rottmann

• Deck 11 : GW Legends, Pierre Dagen
• Deck 12 : Goblin's Gift, Kenji Tsumura

MODERN
• Deck 13 :  Fecundity Goblins, Yuuta Takahashi

LEGACY

• Deck 14 : Precognition Tide, Yuuta Takahashi

Good Luck and have fun this weekend !
~

Friday Miscellaney

~
Happy Friday MTG peeps,

Masters 25 draft weekend is upon us - shake off your late-winter blahs and get out to a gaming store.  We are off to our local store, OMG! Games, here in Barrie, Ontario to see if B/W Vampires is able to take top spot again.

For today's post, we are rounding up a bunch of miscellaneous items of Magic: the Gathering interest - let's dive in -

Magic: the Gathering - Mana Pool

Right here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada-Land
The place is cozy, with warm undertones and the game selection area is neat but crammed with top-name games, including the classics as well as such faves as Scythe (Stonemaier Games), Forbidden Island (Gamewright), Magic The Gathering (Hasbro) and more.
Wi-fi’s included and even the tables have a story: “They were specifically made from reclaimed wood,” said Bradley as a nod to the brothers’ respect for environmental issues. “We want this place to become a community space, where people can come, sit and enjoy,” say the two.
MANA POOL, 2100 Bloor St. W. Unit 5A, Toronto, Tuesday-Wednesday, 11 a.m. To 10 p.m., Thursday-Saturday, 11 a.m. To 11 p.m., Sunday, 11 a.m. To 10 p.m., closed Mondays.

@manapoolTO

http://manapool.ca/

Magic: the Gathering - A Match made in Heaven

… or by Wizards.
I am dusting off my Captain Sisay Commander deck in anticipation for Dominaria, which is PACKED with legendary spells.
When the Release Notes document was leaked, Commander Sisay prices jumped from approximately $18 to $38 within 24 hours.

Magic: the Gathering - Canadian Cookies
From Alicia Bakes Cookies, here in Toronto, Ontario

We have been making and posting quite a few Magic: the Gathering memes on our Tumblr and Facebook accounts.  Some are hits, while others miss the mark - here is one which seemed popular to fans -

Magic: the Gathering - Not just a Phase
Psychiatrists and Proctologists deal with odds and ends.

~

FNM B/W Vampires - 1st Place

~
Happy Monday MTG peeps,

We have some news we are happy about from the Friday Night Magic event at OMG! Games Barrie.  Before we get to that, a quick look at the week two metagame evolution with results from this weekend's SCG Classic in Philadelphia.  Here are the Top 16 Standard Classic Decklists :

1st Mono-Red Aggro Aiden Brier
2nd Mardu Vehicles Robert Stanley
3rd UW Eternalize Austin Herrick
4th Grixis Energy Tomas Hoffman
5th Grixis Improvise John Hughes
6th G/R Monsters Kevin Michael
7th Grixis Control Nicholas Ailes
8th U/B Midrange Benjamin Ragan
9th Jund Midrange Craig Rocco
10th Grixis Control Andrew Lopez
11th Grixis Energy Kevin Jones
12th B/R Aggro Aaron Schwarcz
13th R/B Aggro Ryan Carey
14th U/B Control Jacob LeJeune
15th Mono-Black Aggro AJ Kerrigan
16th Mardu Vehicles Joshua Schaffer

Still nicely diverse with no monoculture and we love where the game is at right now.  At my local gaming store, it appears that Grixis Energy as well as G/B Constrictor were representing fairly well, with the rest of the field quite diverse as expected with innovative and exciting decklists such as Abzan Tokens, Grixis Control and tribal strategies with Dinosaurs and Vampires.

With 4 Wins and 1 Loss, we think although we did well, we realise that there were a number of critical 'top decks' which helped push Black White Vampires through the field.  Instead of going through the decklist we used (it has already had a few minor amendments for next weekend), we should cover the core basics of the list as well as notes of some cards which had performed very well during the games.

The Buff
Legion Lieutant, Metallic Mimic and Radiant Desitiny all had a full four copies to buff the vampire team.  The Radiant Destiny anthem effect worked well and did produce the extra bonus of delivering vigilance (Ascend / City's Blessing).

The Ping
Both Vicious Conquistador and Sanctum Seeker's ability to deal non-combat damage to a player should not be underestimated.  We had anticipated Seeker's double-black casting cost to be awkward in a list which is around 60% white spells, but Unclaimed Territory (naming vampires) went a long way to smooth this out.

Honourable Mentions
What we had thought worked quite favourably.  Dusk Legion Zealot was great for card advantage which is critical when most of your creatures are low to the ground.  Legion's Landing is necessary later game to create a vampire token which typically hit the game table buffed.  Duskborne Skymarcher provided a solid creature, often buffed to get in some evasive damage.  Gifted Aetherborn also did some leg-work which forced opponents to think twice about attacking.  Dusk // Dawn reset the board, often with our own pumped creatures hitting the graveyard, but the Aftermath ability rapidly replaced board presence.

Should you be thinking about a post Rivals of Ixalan vampire tribal list, we will suggest you may be well served in reading ChannelFireball's article, Vampires with Rivals of Ixalan By Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa, which supplied us with motivation in starting with this tribe.

~

Ixalan Standard

~
Happy Friday MTG peeps,

Here in Barrie, Ontario we are experiencing unseasonably warm weather and with a record breaking humidex of 37ºC (about 99ºF) today, I fear that when winter does arrive, there will be no ice on Georgian Bay and we will receive an unholy roof-collapsing volume of snow fall.  Anywhoos, that is long off apparently - we should focus on the present.  

This weekend is the much anticipated Magic: the Gathering PreRelease for the newest set, Ixalan.  The best way to enjoy this weekend if you find yourself in Central Ontario (an hour north of Toronto) is to attend one of many scheduled Ixalan PreRelease events over the course of the weekend at OMG! Games, conveniently located off Highway 400, near Georgian College in the City's North end.  Expect air-conditioning, Pirates, Dinosaurs, Vampires, and Merfolk in this tribal-themed set.

Here at MTG Realm, we do love PreRelease and the chance of pulling sweet rares, winning prizes and most importantly, having fun, but today we want to yatter about the upcoming Standard constructed season starting next weekend during Friday Night Magic.  Over the last two weeks of official Ixalan previews, we have been imagining and contemplating the merits of a dozen 60-card decklists.  

Today is the day to see just how close we may have been in comparison to the MTG Professionals over at Hareruya. Here is this season's offering of innovative and exciting deck ideas - pop on over to this link for the full HareruyaWayfinder "Ixalan" edition from Kenji Tsumura and associates.

Deck 1 RB Pirates By Sebastian Pozzo

Deck 2 Grixis Tezzerator By Marc Tobiasch

Deck 3 Naya Dinosaurs By Marcio Carvalho

Deck 4 WB Tokens By Javier Dominguez

Deck 5 UW Approach By Martin Muller

Deck 6 GB Energy By Oliver Polak-Rottmann

Deck 7 UG Merfolk By Kenta Harane

Deck 8 Tishana Temur By Pierre Dagen

Deck 9 Grixis Pirates By Christian Calcano

Deck 10 RG Dinosaurs By Grzegorz Kowalski

Deck 11 Jeskai Monument By Riku Kumagai

Deck 12 GW Ramp By Kenji Tsumura


Deck 13 UR Prowess By Petr Sochurek

~

We Are Back

~
Happy Monday MTG peeps,

We are back in the saddle after a 2 week hiatus and as a result, completely missed all the Magic: the Gathering previews during that time - specifically, Commander 2017.  We are happy to say that we, or any other member of our happy little band met the dangerous end of any wolf, bear, or rattlesnake up in the Canadian wilderness during our vacation.

Speaking of Commander, we want to send some link love off to our friend Jon, who we have known for a number of years now.   We catch up with each other every week at OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario.  Jon has been blogging about Commander for quite some time now and has recently given his webpage a face lift.  Pop on over to Command Tower (Canada) here - http://commandtower.ca

Since we have mentioned our local gaming store, OMG! Games, we are very proud to have been a part of the Ten Millionth  sanctioned DCI Event.  You can read all about the event over here on Wizards of the Coast post from Blake Rasmussen.  Very happy to have met Gavin Verhey and the other WotC staffers as well.  Here is a pic of the crew and one of yours truly -

 

Photos by Rob Johnson

 Speaking of which - we've known Rob Johnson for a number of years, and not only is he a great fan of Magic: the Gathering, he is also a wonderful photographer.  Please pop on over to his website linked above.

Righto - that's it for now.  We need to catch up a lot more, but before we leave, be sure (if you had not already) catch the official decklists of Commander 2017, linked over here.  The Commander 2017 hit shelves at your local gaming store this very weekend !  Here is the brief flavour summary of the four decks now.

Draconic Domination    
WUBRG    
Commander - The Ur-Dragon
When time began, the Ur-Dragon began with it. As the primordial ancestor and lifeblood of all dragons, the Ur-Dragon imbues strength into dragons from every corner of the Multiverse so that they may rain endless fire and destruction upon the enemies of dragonkind.


 

Feline Ferocity
WG
Arahbo, Roar of the World
Arahbo, Roar of the World is a majestic leader and father to cats across all planes of the Multiverse. His deafening voice empowers his ferocious feline allies to claw through enemy forces and crush those who dare challenge his ancient might.

Vampiric Bloodlust
WBR
Commander - Edgar Markov
As the sole origin of their bloodline, Edgar Markov commands the Markov vampires of Innistrad. With his tremendous influence, Edgar continually expands his vampire army, overwhelming foes with his ageless legion.

 

Arcane Wizardry
UBR
Commander - Inalla, Archmage Ritualist
Inalla, Archmage Ritualist delves into arcane mysteries in pursuit of forbidden dark magic. Gathering an inner circle of loyal acolytes to her cause, Inalla harnesses their collective power to extract the life force from her enemies.


~

Coldsnap'd

~
Happy Friday MTG peeps,

Whatever that uninformed individual Scott Pruitt (American EPA Administrator) says about Climate Change, this winter here in Canada has been a wild one, and atmospheric carbon dioxide is the hard science behind it.  Should you find yourself in Central Ontario, Canada this evening, stop by OMG! Games in Barrie and warm yourself up to some Commander of Standard Friday Night Magic.

With long-standing weather records being continually made, we've been in shorts and a tee one day followed by a cold snap the next.  As this is a Magic: the Gathering fan blog, we should probaly get down to business with some content.  Speaking of cold snap, tooday's post is all about the set 'Coldsnap', which was released waaay back on July 21, 2006.  Yes - the summer, and not during the winter.  We don't know what sort of backwards frackin' pageantry from Wizards of the Coast this date was about, perhaps to give some minor relief with those without an air-conditioner on a hot summer's day back in 2006.

First a bit of backstory / vorthos about this set, which we've borrowed from former Wizards staffer John Tynes, who also by-the-way has a very excellent write-up about the genesis of Wizards of the Coast. Should you wish a great summary of this or other sets, we suggest you would be well served to pop on over to Kissama Yatsu's website, linked over here.  Keeping the Cold was a great short story by Jeff Grubb, which one could find in the Fat Pack (Bundle) of this set.

Wizards of the Coast

Fat Pack Player's Guide 

The beginning of the Ice Age started with detonation of the Golgothian Sylex which had the ended the Brothers' War, shattered the multiverse and threw Dominaria in for a rather long chill. 

Snow-Covered Island, illustrated by Franz Vohwinkel

Several hundred years after the end of the Brothers' War, a severe ice age has descended over the land, reducing mighty civilizations to scattered tribes and changing the very face of the landscape. The slow creep of glaciers, the mighty gales of blizzards, and the numbing cold of lengthy winters have all combined to make Dominia a tough place to live.

Thrumming Stone, illustrated by Rob Alexander

Things are especially tough in Kjeldor. Founded several hundred years ago by the great hero Kjeld, this kingdom began with a handful of tribes clustered around a group of hot springs. Thanks to the heat of the springs and the resourcefulness of its people, Kjeldor has grown even in the thick of the ice and snow. Spring and summer bring only short relief before fall becomes winter and the snows come again. Even in mighty Kjeldor, you must be strong, clever, and resourceful to survive.

As if the ice age weren't bad enough, recent events have brought more gloom to the inhabitants of the kingdom. A mighty necromancer, Lim-Dûl, has risen beyond the mountains. With the aid of the demon lords Leshrac and Tevash Szat, Lim-Dûl has created an army of undead followers who are destroying village after village. The knightly orders of Kjeldor have fought hard, but against undead foes even their vaunted prowess may not be sufficient.

Grim Harvest, illustrated bu Zoltan Boros & Gabor Szikszai

Onyx Talisman Kjeldor isn't alone in this fight, however. To the north, the scattered barbarian tribes of Balduvia have aid to lend. To the south, the elves and druids of Fyndhorn forest can bring the will of the goddess Freyalise to bear against the necromantic hordes. To the west, machinists and archaeologists excavate the ruined city of Soldev, uncovering mysterious and dangerous relics of the long-ago Brothers' War. And somewhere, a secret school of illusionists holds strange powers of its own.

Ronom Hulk, illustrated by Zoltan Boros & Gabor Szikszai

~
Moving off from the vorthos side, one of the best ways to explore this new set is look at the cars of the set with the Coldsnap Theme Decks.

Kjeldoran Cunning (White / Blue)
The noble Kjeldoran Soldiers have teamed up with the crafty Zuran Wizards to build an army that can outfight and outthink any foes. With the “Kjeldoran Cunning” deck, you’re the general of that army. You’ll need all your wits about you to win the fight.

Snowscape (Blue / Black)
Grab your mittens and a shovel, because it’s hip-deep in snow in here! With the “Snowscape” deck, you’ll harness the powerful magic of the ice to freeze out your opponents. The deck is filled with snow permanents and cards that get more powerful with snow permanents around. Get a few of them working together, and the cold won’t be the only reason your opponent will be shivering.

Beyond The Grave (Black / Red)
To a necromancer, death is the most delicious part of life—and when playing the “Beyond the Grave” deck, you’re the necromancer. Don’t hesitate to send your minions to their doom, because each death increases your dark powers. The more corpses you produce, the more zombie fodder you’ll have, and the more spells you’ll return from your graveyard to your hand.

Aurochs Stampede (Red / Green)
The Ice Age card Aurochs is a creature with trample that, when it attacks, gets a bonus for each other attacking Aurochs. At the time, there was only one question: What other Aurochs? The “Aurochs Stampede” deck finally answers that question, as three new Aurochs show up to really get the herd rumbling.
~

Modern Masters FULL Preview

~
Happy Friday MTG peeps,

Happy indeed as it is Friday and the end of the work / school week for most and later this evening, unwind with a few FNM matches of Magic: the Gathering at our local gaming store, OMG! Games.  Sounds good - more so, if the horrific winter storm clears up in time.  Here is a pic of what it is like outside right now (early afternoon) here in Barrie, Ontario, where a trailer of Georgian Bay is eliminating any kind of visibility.  In this rather murky image, there is a City and beautiful waterfront.  

Anywhoos, if we can't convince the sled dogs to go out tonight, we'll stay in and look over all the cards in the soon-to-be-relased Modern Masters 2017 set.  Today's article on MTG Realm summarises what one can expect with the new set.  For the full card image gallery, pop on over to the Wizards of the Coast site (being hosted on a server in Seattle, where is is abundantly more cheerful outside).

Big news - Damnation receives its first reprint in a set.  Also of note, is that both Snapcaster Mage and Cavern of Souls become the first cards originally printed as a rare in a standard set printed after mythic rares were introduced, to be reprinted as a mythic rare.  This set looks pretty much awesome and we're looking forward to draft and collect.  There is a total of 249 cards (101 commons, 80 uncommons, 53 rares, 15 mythic rares) to be assembled in a variety of awesome shapes 'n' forms for limited.

From today's article from WotC staffer Sam, it appears that the Modern Masters 2017 features the following limited archetypes:

White-Blue - Blink

Blue-Black - Instant Control

Black-Red - Unearth/Sacrifice

Red-Green - Token Go-Wide

Green-White - Populate

White-Blue-Black - Control (with Creatures)

Blue-Black-Red - Graveyard

Black-Red-Green - Sacrifice

Red-Gree-White - Token Aggro

Green-White-Blue - Splicers

Many Modern format gamers are quite interested in Changes in Rarity, as this does drive (to a limited point) the prices of card singles.  Here is the quick 'n' dirty summary of rarity changes -

Common to Uncommon : Compulsive Research, Molten Rain, Vithian Stinger, Terminate, Azorius Signet, Dimir Signet, Rakdos Signet, Gruul Signet, Selesnya Signet, Orzhov Signet, Izzet Signet, Golgari Signet, Boros Signet, Simic Signet

Uncommon to Common : Magma Jet, Burning-Tree Emissary, Gnawing Zombie, Augur of Bolas

Rare to Common : Mortician Beetle

Rare to Uncommon : Goblin Assault, Inquisition of Kozilek, Sedraxis Specter

Rare to Mythic : Snapcaster Mage

Mythic to Rare : Falkenrath Aristocrat, Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
~

Here at MTG Realm, we are definitely interested in new illustrations provided by Wizards of the Coast.  The last Modern Masters set had about 5 new card arts if we recall correctly.  You should be quite pleased to learn that we have identified about 14 new card arts I have taken note of so far :

Abyssal Specter - Daarken
Agent of Masks - Allen Williams
Cavern of Souls - Richard Wright
Compulsive Research - Sara Winters
Goblin Guide - Filip Burburan
Might of old Krosa - Lars Grant-West
Molten Rain - Sung Choi
Past in Flames - Anna Steinbauer
Ranger of Eos - Ryan Pancoast
Serum Visions - Izzy
Snapcaster Mage - Ryan Alexander Lee
Stony Silence - Mark Poole
Terminate - Lucas Graciano

Urbis Protector - Magali Villeneuve

~

Standard Mono-White Servos

~
Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

Once more, we play our dangerous game, a game of Magic: the Gathering against our old adversary - The standard constructed metagame.  We will be heading to our local gaming store, OMG! Games, here in Barrie, Ontario with a new weapon sleeved up for tomorrow's Friday NIght Magic event.

If you've been reading MTG Realm for any length of time, then you may know that we do love the primal strategy of creatures turning sideways in the red zone.  Whether it is the achetype of white-weenies, or cheap tokens with a pump spells.  Today's post is the latter.  There is an opportunity here for the budget MTG gamer to get a 'foot in the door' as the expression goes for an opportunity to win some games at FNM with a decklist costing well under $100.

The Game Plan
Play a number of spells to create 1/1 colourless artifact Servos creatures and pump their base power / toughness.

21 Lands:
16 Plains
2 Westvale Abbey
3 Ruins of Oran-Rief

The mana-base is pretty straight forward - 16 Plains and 3 copies of Ruins of Oran-Rief to sneak an extra +1/+1 counter on (one) colourless creature which entered the battlefield that turn.  Two copies of Westvale Abbey is placed in the mix as we do expect to create a healthy number of token creatures which may be sacrificed to create the flip sided Ormendahl, Profane Prince.  A 9/7 demon with flying, lifelink, indestructible and haste seems like a solid plan 'B'.  Always pack a parachute. 

19 Creatures: 
4 Master Trinketeer
4 Chief of the Foundry
4 Metallic Mimic
4 Ornithopter
3 Hope of Ghirapur

Ornithopter is a shoe-in - a 0/2 artifact creature for zero (0!) mana which will get pumped up with other spells we'll yatter about soon.  As for Hope of Ghirapur, we already had these and for similar reasons for Ornithopter, not a bad choice.  The ability to sac this thopter to stymie your opponent's hopes to cast non-creature spells until your next turn seems good.

Metallic Mimic will, in almost all cases get cast while naming Servos so that you can then start piling on those +1/+1 counters on your Servo army.  Chief of the Foundry lends it self naturally as an 'Artifact Lord' to pump up those Servos and Thopters alike. The same holds true for Master Trinketeer, which also provieds a handy 'mana sink', later game to generate more Servo tokens. 

14 Spells: 
4 Sram’s Expertise
4 Servo Exhibition
3 Collective Effort
3 Built to Last

Built to Last may seem to most players not the best choice but we think it is well suited in our local game.  A one-drop for a +2/+2 instant pump and make the creature (if it is an artifact) indestructible is good, but may be side-boarded out for Stasis Snare likely for the second game.  Servo Exhibition is great value generting two 1/1 Servos for two mana.  Collective Effort gives a multi-tool to pump creatures, kill an enchantment or an opponent's creature with power 4 or more.  

Sram's Expertise just shines in this build - 4 mana for 3 Servos is sweet, especially so as this sorcery will also in most cases allow you to play a free card from your hand (with converted mana cost 3 or less).

6 Artifacts: 
4 Cogworker’s Puzzleknot
2 Animation Module

Cogworker's Puzzleknot is really essentially in this build.  We were not sold on this at first given that it basically costs 4 mana to produce only 2 Servos - but- after a good deal of playing, we really need those exra Servos.  Being able to hold back two mana to produce a surprise chump blocker at instant speed is also very good tech.  

At one point we did have a full deckset of Animation Module in an attempt to 'push' the combo of Animation Module and Metallic Mimic (produces a cycle of Servos as long as you have the mana for it).  After a number of games, the shiny just kinda wore off as the Module was a dead card on the Battlefield waiting for the Mimic to come down.

We hope this post encourages you to try this decklist or something similar.  There are two other very good posts online if you should be interested in perusing this :

• Budget Magic: $76 (15 tix) Mono-White Servos (Standard) by SaffronOlive on MTG Goldfish
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/budget-magic-76-15-tix-mono-white-servos-standard

• Mtg Budget Deck Tech: Mono-White Servo Combo in Aether Revolt by Strictly Better MtG

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paf9zAv6AQs 
~

Aether Revolt PreRelease Result

~
Happy Sunday MTG peeps, 

As we post, the Aether Revolt battle is still raging on at local gaming store, OMG Games, here in Barrie, Ontario.  They are running what is essentially back-to-back Magic: the Gathering PreRelease events since Friday midnight and will eventually close out the weekend with a Two-Headed Giant Aether Revolt event later this evening.

We reserved a seat on Saturday morning and bumped in a number of friends, including 'Andy' who not only brought his two kids but several others from his neighbourhood.  

First up - here's what you get with a PreRelease Pack in which to build your sealed 40-card deck -

•  4 Aether Revolt booster packs  
•  2 Kaladesh booster packs 
•  Random Foil promo card  
•  D20 life counter  
•  Renegade sticker  
•  Insert with deck-building advice

Here was our pulls -

ONE PreRelease Promo card
Midnight Entourage

TWO Kaladesh Packs
Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter
Deadlock Trap

FOUR Aether Revolt Packs
Inspiring Statuary
Aethertide Whale
Spire of Industry
Dark Intimations 

The card pool was shockingly shallow in white, blue, and black.  Cards in Red and Green provided a good selection along with the Artifact cards to put us firmly in this direction to build with.  The end result was a Red / Green list with some themes for Energy and +1/+1 Counters.  

Our most favourite card played in the event had to be Untethered Express, which laid down a beating a won games by itself if it was not answered soon enough.  We also need to acknowledge a singleton of a fog-effect card - Commencement of Festivities, which was used to great effect at least three times over our matches.  Specifically, an opponent would commit all to combat, gets nullified by CoF and would be completely exposed on our next turn.  

Final result was 2 wins and 2 losses to put us out of reach of any prizes, but the real prize was all the friends we met and a great time had.

~