Gatecrash Prerelease part two

When we last left our hero, I had played one pre at Legends and one at Mythic. The choice now was to either complete the trifecta and play in the 6pm one or go home and do laundry. Tough choice!

Gatecrash pre #3
This time I chose Gruul. Having seen a few crushing defeats at the hands of this guild, I decided it'd be fun to be on the other side. Big dudes, pump tricks, red removal - what's not to like? Along for the ride was my day-long companion Ian (lucky #17 last pre), Greg S.(who arrived after being in Vegas on 3 hours sleep), Jordan (up from Marina!), Paul, Greg P., Cartmill, Logan and Nathan. I good showing for the Woodstock gang. Could we all take the top spots and get packs for drafting next week?

Not a bad guild promo. Either a big beefy dude or a huge pump spell? Yes please. What else was there in my pool?

"Bourbon"-Gmos is a bit on the expensive side to play. But if he ever did get there, he'd be a house.
Also:
2x Burst of Strength (a nice combat trick)
3x Mugging (a slow Shock - still good)
Gruul Charm (a must vs. flyers)
Pit Fight (for when your dudes are bigger than theirs)
2x Disciple of the Old Ways
Act of Treason (take their blocker and beat them with it)
2x Ivy Lane Denizen (my all-star!)
Scorchwalker (Scotch-walker? Man, I need a drink)
Crowned Ceratok (so good with the Denizens)
Rust Scarab (a poor man's Acidic Slime)
Adaptive Snapjaw
I also snagged my third dual land of the weekend - Stomping Ground. Running good! Only four rounds this time and about 30 players. Onto the games!

I hadn't played Akemi before and she was shy and quiet. The first game she mulled to 5 and then was stuck on two lands. My Gruul horde reduced her life total quickly. Game two had her playing islands and swamps and then she played this:

If there was ever a target for a mugging, this was it. Hey Ghast, don't go down that dark alleyway!
Unfortunately, she got out some flyers too and then countered all my beefy dudes. Game three, she was stuck on no lands again and I just rolled her. Make sure you mull aggressively, kids!

Round two was against Skylar, a teenage Magic phenom. He felt pretty good about getting this guy out game one:

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS CARD?!?
4 point life swing each turn. 5/5 hasted beats. Can't kill it on my turn. Yeah, that game was fun. I had finally gotten a big beast out with Pit Fight in hand but he extorted me for the last few life points. Ugh. All through the game, he was like "So, this card's pretty good, huh?". Um, yah dude.
Game two was much better for me. He was stuck on 4 lands and I played many red/green beaters. My Rubblehulk pumped an unblocked guy in for the win. Game three was more mana trouble for him, since he never found a swamp. My Gruul horde laughed as they crushed him beneath their hooves!

Compare and contrast time! Check out the earlier version of that card from OG Ravnica:

So... one more mana cost gets you double the life swing, better P/T and you don't have to sac a guy to pay for the blink effect. Yah, that's fair. This is evidence number one in the case for showing creatures have greatly improved from past sets. OMG. At least it's mythic, so we won't see it too much in draft!

Ah, two oh. Say it with me. 2-0. What a nice ring to it. Nothing could go wrong, right? Queue the foreboding music.

Round three was versus Stephen and he was playing Dimir. I started off the game kind of slowly without much creature threats to his Vampire Spy and Bird Raptor. The Bane Alley Broker drew him enough gas to then mill me out with Mind Grind. She's a hottie, tho!

Game two saw my green Denizen get there with bloodrush for lethal. But game three, I was always behind for his counters and removal. He was able to keep up counter mana every turn - so frustrating!

Okay, 2-1 now. I looked over at Greg's game and here was the board:

Yes, that's Greg Peterson's Assemble the Legion vs. Greg Smith's Domri Rade, both with many counters. Greg's planeswalker eventually got there, but what a crazy game!

My last opponent was Paul Sperew, who was rocking Boros. Lots of fast guys with flyers and removal.  Game one was close with beatings from both sides. At mid game, lives 12 to 11, my Denizen worked with the trample rhino for the win.

A 4/3 for four ain't too bad by itself. But with the Denizen giving out +1/+1 counters like they were candy? So good. Game two was also a close one, mid game lives at 8 and 10. But I top decked two Muggings at the right time and then Rubblehulked in for the kill. Sorry Paul!

So the final score was 3-1 and 3rd place. Good for 8 packs! My records all weekend got better as I went and I had a blast playing with new cards. If these articles don't get you fired up for the new set, you beta check yo' pulse, man!!

Props:
Mythic, for a great place to play
The Cheesecake Factory, for excellent appetizers
Russell and Ian, for hanging out and crushing noobs!

Slops:
Waiting forever to start - I'm no doctor, so I ain't got patients!
Madcap Skills, you are so heartless!
Time, where did you go? I wanted to play another!

Shameless selfie in display case reflection. Magic girl in the back is unimpressed!

Gatecrash Prerelease part one

What a weekend. Three pre-releases in two days. Was this cowboy ready to crash some gates?
Anticipation was high for this set. Not that I was tired of RtR, but new cards iz new cards!
I planned to meet Russell over at Legends for Saturday and he would come to Mythic on Sunday.
Smoke your kippers, kids and strap in!

Rolled into Vallco (the mall that would not die) for the noon pre at 11am. They said "first come, first served" to pick your guild. I wanted to try Boros because it looked fast and fast was good. Having died many times to Rakdos in the previous set, I wanted at least a fighting chance. They were still taking sign-ups well past noon and we finally started at 12:45pm. Ugh. 150+ players, so they split us up and had tables and chairs in the lower part of the mall.

Opened up two Legionnaires, a Boros Charm and Keyrune, Spark Trooper, Fortress Cyclops, some removal and the Reckoner. So I tried a straight red white deck. Round one was versus another Boros deck, but he had the Helix Angel, which quickly defeated my team since I had no air defense. Game was a bit longer and I got him down to 8 life, but when he played his Champion and made it fly with the Gift of Orzhov, I was signing the loser slip. Gee, that was fast.

Russ checked out my pool and suggested to add green. I had three 5/4 Swines, a Pit Fight and two Disciples of the Old Ways. And you know how I love the Old Ways (tm). But it was now the next round - no time to switch it up! My next opponent was a Simic mage. Game one he played one evolve dude after another until I was sorely outclassed. But I fought back game 2 & 3, winning easily while he stumbled on dudes. Whew!

Round 3 I put in the green from before and played another Boros player. It was the most popular guild by far. Game one I met Aurelia ("how do you do?") and lost in a blaze of double combats. Game two I released the swines (swoons?) and pit-fought for the win. In the rubber game, all green mana played hide and seek with my deck with all the swine in hand. Sigh.

I dropped but Russell was still in it for packs, so he asked his 4th round opponent to split and got 3 three. The goal, as with any pre-release, is to get enough prize packs to be able to draft the following week. 21 more packs to go!

A subpar performance, but not to let it get me down, we agreed to pick up Lindsey, Russ' girlfriend, and get some food and a movie. After numerous suggestions, we decided to just head down to Oakridge and see what looked good. After checking out BJ's, PF Chang's and the Cheesecake Factory, we were sad they all had huge wait times.

Until we heard, "Kurt, party of 3"...

"Why yes, I'm Kurt"...

"Follow me, sir!"
(Don't try this at home, kids.)
We macked out on Avocado Rolls and Moroccan Chicken. So good!

Rearing to go Sunday morning for more Magic, I made my way downtown to meet Ian for coffee before the pre started. We examined my Saturday pool and planned our attacks. He was going Dimir to try and mill people out. "I just want to cast 'Mind Grind' at least once!"

A smaller, but friendly crowd at Mythic that morning. The Boros guild seemed to be just as popular. Plenty of space and we started on time! What a difference a place can make.

I went Orzhov, since extorting is my 4th favorite thing* to do while flopping cards. And have you seen the promo? Opened a Breeding Pool, Legion Loyalist, Mystic Genesis, Rubblehulk and Biomass as my other rares. None to really splash. Oh well. I was happy with my 7 extort cards (counting 1000 Lashes as one too).

Russell pool, on the other hand, was ridiculous. Me Gruul, me SMASH! Clan Defiance indeed.

My first opponent was Nicolas and he was Dimir. All the games went long and he always had a huge Aberration out, but my slow, pinging death went the distance. Luckily, my regeneration Thrull could hold back the monster! I like the life-gain on extort more than the damage dealing since it keeps you in the game. Had 4 extorts out and playing the 1CC Thrull is a huge swing.

Round two was vs. Alex and he was big, green Gruul. We both played dudes and kept swinging. He asked if I was trying to out aggro him with a Orzhov deck. I smited his big Mime Slime and then played Righteous Charge on my 4 dudes for lethal. Game two was won with my 1000 Lashes on his 6/6 Mime Slime - ah, I can hear the whip cracking now...

Feeling invincible (and a whole lot better than yesterday), I looked to my next opponent and saw Paul the Judge at the table smiling.

"You seem confident", I remarked.

"Just wait...", he smirked.

This Gruul beating was different than the last. Removal? Check. Rumblehulk? Check. 9/9 Trample Goliath? Checkmate. Game two he played a Scorcher, madcapped it and then blood-rushed the Rampager on it. Pass the Tylenol.

I wished him continued success and went and got some grub at Woods. Pizza and beer for what ails ya! Round four was against Ian, the miller. Although he said his deck didn't have enough mill cards to go that route. He splashed green and game one, I was greeted by the Sylvan Primordial. I smited it. Then I extorted him down while he was mana flooded. Next game, he played this:

For 7 - I milled 18 cards!!! How I came back from that was a miracle, but I kept extorting for the win. Sorry, Ian!

Last round was versus Zach, the long-haired rocker with patches all over his Levi jacket. Did this kid know Magic? How does a turn 4 kill sound? Oof. The red Denizen, then Madcap, then Spark Trooper. He was high-fiving his friends the rest of the night. Rock and roll, baby! Game 2 he madcapped his Helix Angel. Got skills!

At 3-2, I got 18th place. Much to my chagin, Ian got 17th. How is that possible?!? We each got 2 packs and signed up for the next one. Russell won it out with his Gruulicious deck. I don't think he lost a single game. Nice 10 packs, my bruddah! Next blog will be the 6pm pre - stay tuned!
--
(* 1st - drinking a cool lager, 2nd - munching some tasty eats, 3rd - Turbo Go... that's right!)

Woods RTR Draft Sunday Special

Woods RTR Draft Sunday Special
January 6th, 2013 (first of the year!) 4pm.
Chris, Ian, Sean, Shawn, Paul the Judge and me.

Ian texted me that it had been too long without a draft. Aye, this be true, laddie.
The holiday break was difficult to get guys together since we all had crazy schedules.
The UCSC kids were mostly gone (or playing in GPs!) and some others went skiing.
Where's the Magic dedication, people!

So when he contacted me, I jumped in quick. Getting Paul the Judge for #6 and we were set.
Woods was still selling slices (cheap eats, FTW) and the heat lamps were glowing outside.

My first pack had junk - no good rare or removal - so I went with a Gore-House.

When in doubt, draft speed. That's my new motto. That and "street gum is not free gum"*.
Got another Gore dude and some Glees to make me feel all Rakdos-y. Then a late Teleportal
opened up the Izzet option. I continued to pick both guilds until I got some good counters and a Blustersquall. The Angel of Serenity in pack 3 was a cruel mistress. Whip me, beat me, but at least
be splashable. Sigh.

My deck:
3 Gore-House
Splatter Thug
Skywatch Knight
Electromancer
Voidwielder
Runewing
Frost Weird
Fae Imposter
Judge Familiar
2 Cobblebrutes
Courier Mill-dude
Izzet Stratocaster

2 Backlash
Explosive Impact
Teleportal
Pursuit of Flight
Syncopate
Annilating Fire
Blustersquall

SB
Traitorious Instinct
Courier Mill-dude
Thoughtflare
Blistercoil Weird
Bellow's Lizard
Gob Rally
2 Glee
Thrill Kill
Sewer Shambler
Launch Party
Batterhorn
Dispel

The plan: get out dudes and counter their threats and finish with a Teleportal or 'Squall

First round was versus Paul the Judge. Hey, at least it'd be easy to call a judge!
He was next to me in the draft and he started playing blue. Then white. Then I knew he had the Angel. This was not good. Luckily, I teleported my dudes to his face game one, but the Angel came out game two and crashed me. Game 3 was long since I held counters and he held the Angel until I had whittled away his life and we was forced to play it. Backlash, baby! For exacties. So good!

Second round I was paired down with Ian. He played Sean close, who had a great Selesnia deck. There were some talk about all the Spheres of Safeties that went around -- did Ian have them? Well, he started with a Lobber Crew and then another. And out came the Spheres -- 3 of them! Oof. It made it 9 mana to attack him with one guy! His Lobbers then pinged me to death. Ugh. Game two, I got in some early beats and then when he walled up, I burned him out with the Impact and Fire. Game three, I sided in the other Courier and played that turn two with a Pursuit on it turn three. Ended up milling him that game. Whew!

Finals vs. Sean, master of the Selesnia deck. He was the only GW drafter at the table and his deck was solid. I took the first game even though he had many pump spells that killed my guys. My Familiar countered his Centaur Accord and I was able to burn him out. Game two was in my grasp when I stole his 7/7 slime with Traitorious and then played Teleportal overloaded. He had a fog with Druid's Deliverance however, and came back to stomp me. Game three was all centaurs populated and he took the crown.

Ended up in 3rd place (Chris had a better game record) and got a Deathrite Shaman, Smiter and Chemister for my trouble. It was a great pool with 4 duals and the Angel too. Hopefully, we'll get in some more RTR before the new set, Gatecrash, comes out at the end of the month.

Speaking of which, did you see this?!?

Oh man, I wanna play this with Rite of Replication so bad. How does that Modern combo not feel good? My other fav spoiler right now is:

 

Just thinking of the combos to play with him. Make him indestructible and ping him every turn? Too much fun. They are cheap right now for pre-ordering at $2 and $4 each. Are they constructed playable?

Thanks for reading. See you at the Gatecrash pre-release!
-JL

(* - paraphrasing a line from a classic holiday movie: can you guess which one?)