Even though I have played Magic for many years, I’ve never attended a Magic prerelease event (or any other prerelease event, for that matter). It was a mix of previous prereleases being inconvenient to get to, not knowing anyone else to go with, and being a bit intimidated by the size of such events that kept me from attending.
But as part of a push to reach the “kitchen table gamer”, Wizards of the Coast shifted from few convention-center-sized to many local-store-sized prerelease events. Instead of Santa Clara Convention Center being the only nearby event site, every local game store was holding their own events. At the same time, Max, Tansen, and I kicked off somewhat-regular gaming sessions at Eudemonia. So by the time the Shards of Alara prerelease came around, I had no excuse not to attend.
Indeed, my excitement and anticipation grew over the past couple weeks. I voraciously followed the official spoilers at Magicthegathering.com and the unofficial spoilers at MTG Salvation. I studied the completed unofficial spoiler and read primer and strategy articles. When the day finally arrived, I was absolutely giddy with excitement.
Aside: before we were seated, I spotted Emily, who used to be friends with Alexis. I thought it might be awkward, so I didn’t go over to say hi. Lo and behold, I end up across from her during deck construction and with Max on my left. And it wasn’t awkward at all. Anyway.
I was hoping to get Flameblast Dragon, which Tansen got; he flashed it at Max and me from across the room. In turn, Tansen was hoping to get Elspeth, which Max got. And I guess Max was hoping to get good commons, which I got. (Max’s account of the event)
I was initially disappointed with the cards I got. Looking at my rares (Broodmate Dragon, Cunning Lethemancer, Gather Specimens, Invincible Hymn, Salvage Titan, and Sigil of Distinction), only Salvage Titan jumped out at me. Compare that with Max, who opened Elspeth, Knight of the White Orchid, and Quietus Spike.
It was probably for the best though. The lack of at-first-glance bomb rares allowed me to focus on the incredible commons I got: 2 Oblivion Ring, Resounding Silence, 2 Soul’s Fire, Resounding Thunder, and Naturalize. It didn’t take me long to quickly set aside anything not in Naya (wGr) colors. This is the deck I ended up with:
I was really nervous in the first match and made a bunch of mistakes against an Esper/Grixis deck. In the first game, I didn’t block enough in the early game, so I didn’t have enough of a life cushion to force damage late. In the second game, I forgot to draw cards from Drumhunter and I forgot to kill my opponent’s Sharding Sphinx after combat. After the loss, I switched Guardians of Akrasa for Soul’s Might and a Yoked Plowbeast for Mosstodon. Both changes would help me immensely in the other matches. (0 wins, 1 loss)
In match two, I steamrolled my Grixis opponent. Game 2 featured an attack by my 1/1 Elvish Visionary pumped to 12/12 via Sigil of Distinction and Soul’s Might followed by post-combat Soul’s Fire for the win. (1 win, 1 loss)
In match three, I faced Emily’s friend Mark in a Naya mirror. I had an extra Oblivion Ring on him plus massive card advantage from my 2 Elvish Visionary and 2 Drumhunter. The key sequence of the match happened in Game 2 with me up 1-0 in the match. My Mosstodon was removed from play by Oblivion Ring. Mark had a Rhox Charger in play, while I had a couple 1/1s. I had Oblivion Ring in hand and was tempted to use it on his Charger. Following Zac Hill’s advice (#2 on his list), I held the Ring back. I would not have been able to win on the backs of two 1/1s and I probably wouldn’t lose the game to his Charger. I had many ways to kill/neutralize it and I wasn’t low on life. Sure enough, a couple turns later, I drew and played Rakeclaw Gargantuan. The following turn, Mark played Flameblast Dragon. Because I didn’t play the Ring on his Charger, I had it ready to remove his Dragon from the game. On his next end-step, I Naturalized his Ring to bring back my Mosstodon and won two turns later. The Sigil of Distinction + Soul’s Might combo also made an appearance in Game 2, but my resulting 13/13 Elf was removed from the game. (2 wins, 1 loss)
In match four, I faced a Grixis deck that splashed green. Game 1, I had enough removal for his flyers and he had enough removal for my weenies. However, Coma Veil on my only fattie made me lose to his two pingers. Game 2, turn 3 Akrasan Squire backed by removal and later pumped by Sigil of Distinction went the distance. Game 3, he mulliganed down to a five-card hand on the play. Knowing that, I kept my hand of five lands, Obelisk of Naya, and Rakeclaw Gargantuan. He didn’t draw the right lands while I drew Sigil of Distinction. Three swings later and that was game. (3 wins, 1 loss)
In the final match, I faced an Esper deck with Tezzeret. Game 1 was a landslide win for him. Game 2 was a landslide win for me. Game 3, I made the mistake of not redirecting combat damage to kill his Tezzeret. After the game, he told me he used Tezzeret’s search ability to find an Obelisk to give him the black mana needed to cast the game-winning Infest. (3 wins, 2 losses; prize: 2 boosters)
I think I could’ve had four wins, maybe even five wins. Looking back on my deck now, I realize that I had a strong deck. I should’ve played Knight of the Skyward Eye and Wild Nacatl in my deck; probably remove a land and something else.
All in all though, I had a great time. It was fun playing against and talking with a lot of other people who are also crazy about Magic. At least in this Sealed format, Shards of Alara is a fun set. All the preview articles talked about each shard individually, so it wasn’t until I got the cards in my hand did I realize that mixing shards together results in some crazy synergy and interaction. I liked the set so much that I already preordered a box of boosters from Eudemonia. I’ll be picking it up next week. Can’t wait to play the set again!