"The best way to prepare for a core set is to drink!" Ian and I agreed as we shared in the cheap brew.
Boland's Saturday deck was the main topic, where he went 5-0 with no rares and three Siege Mastodons. There must have been some sweet uncommons in there at least. Mark of the Vampire did some major work. Everybody was happy to be gaming and even though core sets are mostly reprints, the thrill of cracking packs to battle was still there.
Let's see how my sealed pool looks:
RARES
Dismiss into Dream
Clone
Tidebinder Mage
Darksteel Forge
Savage Summoning
Ogre Battledriver
NOTABLES
2x Messenger Drake
2x Divination
2x Coral Merfolk
2x Wall of Frost
Nephalia Seakite
Zephyr Charge - enchantment that makes dudes fly
Opportunity
Cancel
Charging Griffen
Capashen Knight
2x Congregate
2x Hive Stirrings
Sentinel Sliver
2x Angelic Wall
2x Corpse Hauler - a poor man's gravedigger
Blightcaster
2x Death Cockatrice - does not look like a chicken lizard!
Wring Flesh
Bubbling Cauldron - alas, no newts...
Encroaching Wastes - better than encrotching wastes
Groundshaker Sliver
Rumble Baloth
Kalonian Tusker
2x Deadly Recluse
2x Hunt the Weak
Naturalize
Elvish Mystic
Mana Sliver
Giant Spider
Windstorm
3x Giant Growth
2x Trollhide
Plummet
Dragon Egg
2x Cyclops Tyrant
Marauding Maulhorn
2x Academy Raider - intimidate makes it better than I thought
Molten Birth
Reggie Firecat
Shiv's Embrace
So what would you build? I first look for bombs and removal. I felt this pool was seriously lacking in both departments. Not enough Slivers to go crazy either. But there was a sweet c-c-combo in there. Did you see it?
It would take a bit to set up, but then WHAMMO! So to make this work, I'd need to stall the board. Here's my initial build UG:
Groundshaker Sliver
Rumble Baloth
Kalonian Tusker
2x Deadly Recluse
Elvish Mystic
Mana Sliver
Giant Spider
2x Trollhide
2x Messenger Drake
Divination
2x Coral Merfolk
2x Wall of Frost
Nephalia Seakite
Zephyr Charge
Giant Growth
Dismiss into Dream
Clone
Tidebinder Mage
9 Islands + 8 Forests
I soon switched out the Growth for Cancel and a Trollhide for Naturalize. Everyone was playing enchantments! This deck was midrange with some beaters and some controlish. I didn't expect 5-0, but was hoping to win some packs. (Comment on other builds you would have done!)
RD1 - Will playing RG
His beats and burn took me out in game one. Especially since I was drawing all lands. Game two I curved nicely with my mana dorks and won on a Trollhide'd Tucker and Giant Growth. Slamma-Jamma! Game three, it got crazy where we stalled with dudes on the board, but he took the advantage and swung. I blocked most and went to 2 life. Then I topdecked the Zephyr to complete the combo and killed three of his blockers. Swung in for the win. WHEW!
RD2 - Casey playing BW
These games went fast. He had mega-removal and lifegain too. That Blightcaster made short work of my guys - he's amazing! Game one life total = 1 to 44 and game two = 2 to 22. He said he had 9 removal spells, 2 Blights and 6 enchantments. Wowzers!
RD3 - Cody playing RWG
Cody had some great cards, including the Scav Ooze and attacking pinger Sliver. But first game, I walled up and he hit a land flood. My flyers flew in for the win. Game two was all about his Slivers and the attacking rare dude. I went fro 20 to 18 to 1. Dang. Game three went long and I assembled the c-c-combo and he was sorry to see it.
So far, my all-stars were the Walls/Recluses, which were great to stall the ground and the Baloth/Tusker beef. The Tide Mage was good to tap down opposing Recluses too.
RD4 - Boland playing UG (hey, great minds...)
Always fun to play one of the Woodstock crew! Beaters and flyers were the decks we played and my Baloth went the distance in game one. 4/4 for 4? Yes please. Game two was about his Air Elemental tapping my flyers down and a big Illusionary Armor to finish it. Ouch. Game three I was getting him down on life - to 2 as a matter of fact - but then came the Primeval Bounty. Then another. Yes folks, you read that right... TWO BOUNTIES! Play a land, gain some life. Play a dude, get a beast. The turnabout was huge and it was over soon. Oof.
RD5 - Caleb playing UR
Caleb was rolling with flyers and burn, but I was keeping it stalled. Until the Whale came out. Islandwalk? Geez Louise. Game two had no whales (thank goodness), but did have a pesky Air Elemental tapper guy. So I cloned it and the tap wars began. He missed a few possible taps and I was able to fly in for the win. Game three I was winning an early flyer war with my Messenger Drake when he dropped Jace. JACE! Luckily, he didn't have any air defense and I took the planeswalker out, but not until I was milled for 20. I cloned the drake and flew in for the win with 5 cards left in my deck. Another close one!
I finished 3-2 and won 3 packs! Greg Peterson (4-0) played Casey (3-1) in the finals, but Casey got him, so no 5-0 player! One player pulled 2 Chandras from his prize packs. Nice. Everyone in our group won packs, except Logan, which was very unusual. I don't think he was drinking enough. The event was over by 4:30 - amazing! Kudos to Rueben for a smooth running, 19-player tourney. Mythic is the place to be if you are slinging spells in Cruz Town!
Props: Mythic!, c-c-combos; pre-tourney parking garage drinks; post-drinks at the Wood; big green dudes.
Slops: Warm PBRs; Islandwalking whales (really?); Recluses holding back flyers - not cool, bro!
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