I will tell you upfront I did very poorly this pre-release going 1-2-1. Some people are going to read the following blog and think, why did I bother? But much like watching a train wreck (see Spielberg's Super 8), sometimes you can not turn away. To prove my point, what's the better story:
1) We arrived at our campsite and pitched the tents. Had a delicious stew dinner and played cards.
or
2) We got lost on the way and stumbled upon a sacred ritual of forest druids. As they danced around in the moonlight, we noticed a grizzly coming up the path. All of a sudden, the biggest bald eagle swooped down and took Joey!
Someone once said you only learn from failure, success teaches you nothing. And boy, did I learn!
This time, to shake things up, we decided to try the pre at GameALot. That store has been around for decades in Santa Cruz and now was running full-on Magic events. $20 for Sealed was the "bestest" deal in town. Spencer and I got mimosas downtown beforehand. Jordan was up from Marina. Greg cruised in and we were set... to wait. And wait. And finally we started 40 mins late waiting for stragglers. Ugh.
I chose Boros since I heard the format was going to be slower and why not take the fastest guild? My partner guild turned out to be Azorious. The 6 packs came in a cool plastic box and we got a guild pin too. The promo was Maze's End alt art.
I made the mistake of trying to force my guild choice. The way you are supposed to do a sealed is to open all the packs, look at all the cards and make your best deck. Don't have preconceived notions! I opened a Martial Law and Spark Trooper and thought, I'm on my way! Yeah, to a losing record.
Playing RWU, I had good higher mana cards, but I tried to force all the 1, 2 & 3ccs. Not good. I also had Lavinia, who's 5 mana. Not really an aggro card. On turn 5, an aggro deck wants to be beating face!
My first round was versus Anan, a nice kid playing RGW. Having Firemane Angel and Tajic in the same deck seems pretty good. Crushed me game 1. They didn't come out in the second game and he did play 3 fog effects before I finally got there. But they came back game 3. I lost 2-1.
My second round was versus Kevin, playing Orzhov with green. He had the Pontiff, which makes all his creatures have extort. There were some wild life swings in that game. Profit and Loss was a deathblow, pumping his guys and killing mine. And he played the Blood Scrivener, which allowed him to draw an extra card each turn. I should have killed that earlier when I had a chance.
0-2 and dejected, my buddy Greg decided to take a look at my mess. He asked, "you forced Boros, didn't you?". That's why he's a pro. He took out red and added black to make a much stronger deck. Sweet! 2-2 still wins some packs. Onward!
My third round was versus Tyler, that slowest frikking player on the planet. I kid you not. I know it's a pre with new cards and all, but come on. He never went into the tank for more than a minute each pause, but those minutes add up. The games took forever and we went to time. I should have prodded him along, but was too nice about it. And got a draw for my trouble. Let this be a lesson to you, kids!
My fourth round was versus Kendra. She's definitely a Magic fan since she wore an Azorious shirt. Her deck seemed big when I was cutting it and she said it was 50 cards. Really? Don't friends tell you if you have too many? Come on, friends! Won easily the first game and mulled with mana problems the second. Last game was another blowout and she was frustrated. I said to try and only play 40, but it went on deaf ears. She was bugging the owner for prizes. He let us grab a card from the promo box (foil Supreme Verdict!) and gave us a foil Plains. Whoop-dee-do! Not sure why WOTC would choose a plain Plains card to give out, even if it was alt art. It's not like you will ever play with it. What a waste of cardboard.
(sound of crickets...)
Before he left, Spencer offered to buy me a Zoccoli's sandwich. I declined and didn't really express my thanks enough for that gesture. He knew I was bumming pretty hard over my performance and his offer was appreciated.
I will regroup and try again next week at the Launch Party. Don't let your guild blind you!
