I dedicated my Sunday to Magic and signed up for the 11am and 6pm pre-releases at Mythic. Conor took my money and asked what dragonlord did I want to hitch my wagon to.
"All of them!"
"There isn't a five color option, broham."*
"Dang. Make mine Kolaghan then."
Mon bon ami, Ryan had played in the midnight pre-release and chose this one too. He said the speed and removal were optimal and went 5-0.
Rares:
Kolaghan's Command (seeded promo)
Palace Siege (still good)
Volcanic Vision (too expensive/conditional?)
Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit (white weeny pumper)
Arashin Foremost (more warrior goodness)
Pristine Skywise (gee, a dragon?)
Removal in RB:
Sarky's Rage, Tail Slash, Death Wind, Roast & Defeat.
Warriors in RB:
Blood-Chin Rager, Kol's Aspirant & Skirkmisher and 2x Hand of Silumgar.
Dashers:
Mardu Scout, Reckless Imp, 2x Screamreach Brawler, Kol's Forerunners & Sprinting Warbrute.
My non-RB didn't have much to make me break ranks: Cunning Breezedancer, Mindscour Dragon, Pacifism and Stampeding Elk Herd.
Red/Black dashing warriors it was!
2CC: Scout, Aspirant, Skirmisher, Rager, 2x Hands, Chasm, Fodder, Defeat, Roast
3CC: Imp, 2x Brawler, Berserker, (Toyota) Forerunners, Glee, K's Command, Tail Slash
5CC: Warbrute, Volcanic Rush, Palace Siege, Sarky's Rage
XCC: Death Wind (like when your brother is eating burritos)
Went 4-1 and split packs with Chris. Sweet curve. I was smashin' and dashin' and burnin' and lootin'. Well, not really lootin', but you get the idea.
Most games, I got in enough damage before the big flyers got out. The Rage (aka Lava Axe) card did work. Other games, it was the warriors and the Rager making with the Goblin War Drums. One game was against another RB speed deck and we traded blows until the last turn, where he had me for lethal, but the Glee bought me the life I needed to win on the swing back. My only match loss came to another RB deck, where I had only three lands on turn 8 game one and lost a close one game two.
Have you tried the 'Bowling for Promos'(tm) game? Officially called Dragonfury, using your included D20, you smash Tarkir minions for points and hopefully land on the big x2 circle. Foolishly, my first attempts were done standing directly in front of it and only scored the Evolving Wilds promo. After watching some other techniques, I figured out you should stand back a few feet and whip that sucker in there like a heater from Madbum**. I scored 21 points! Unfortunately, they were out of one of the promos, but got the other three.
In between games, you try to make yourself busy by scouting other games and going to grab food. I made it all the way to the Falafel Hut, ordered and back within 15 minutes! Mythic also has many other cool games for sale on shelves around the store, so I usually check them out. The Ascension Year One Collector's Box looked especially righteous.
Pre #2 I picked Ojutai, which is all about the flyers and is fun to say too. O-Jah-Tai. Why ask why?
Here's my sweet rare pool from that box:
Myth Realized (seeded promo - dude or enchantment? both!)
Ojutai's Command (all-star)
Sunscorch Regent (my kind of flyer)
Blessed Reincarnation (randomized removal)
Hedonist's Trove (is this good? seems expensive)
UW flyers: Belltoll Dragon, Cloudform, Silumgar Sorcerer, Scion of Ugin, 3x Ojutai's Summons, 2x Updraft Elemental
UW removal: Whisk Away, Reduce in Stature, Pacifism, Sandblast, 2x Dromoka Dunecaster
Other cards of note: Stampeding Elks (go Team Elmer), Epic Confront, Herdchaser Dragon, Virulent Plague, Death Wind, Twin Bolt
UW Flyers it was!
1CC: Myth Realized, 2x Dromoka Dunecaster
2CC: Silu's Sorcerer, Cloudform, Elusive Spellfist, Dromoka Warrior, Orator of Ojutai, Pacifism, Artful Maneuver
3CC: 2x Updraft Elemental, Whisk, Reduce, Sandblast, Zephyr Scribe
4CC: Oj's Command, Sunscorch Regent, Blessed,
5CC: 2x Oj's Summons
6CC: Scion, Belltoll Dragon
My plan was to stall the early game to get to my flyers late. Bounce, counters and removal to help. Since the 6pm tourney only had 8 players, it was going to be 3 rounds. Which was okay for me since I was getting a little tired. Two sealeds is like day one of a GP!
Tor was my first opponent and had big white/green creatures. None of them had reach, however and I quickly flew in for the win both games. He played the dragon tutor card twice (Sarkhan's Triumph), but I had a counter for it with the Command and Sorcerer. I asked to see his deck after and politely made some suggestions. Pre-releases bring out all kinds of players, from the casual to the blood-thirsty. I try to be welcoming and friendly to all.
Next game was versus Nathan, who normally plays in Watsonville. He was RGW with big dudes too. Game one, he got out Dragonlord Dromoka and I tried to counter it. NOPE!
Last match was against Alan, who was swinging with dashed dudes and removal. I couldn't keep up with the onslaught, finding no stalls, bounce or counters. RB dash is fast and furious!
Speed always rules in the beginning of a new format and there's no exception here. You don't need to figure out how to play it, just smash and dash. It will take a bit for the other colors to get good I think. My Kolaghan box was so much better than all the decks I saw that day.
Props:
Mythic and Conor for running smooth tourneys
Dragonfury, for a bonus activity that didn't suck
Splitting with Chris last round - have fun in Japan, you lucksack!
More dragons you can shake a stick at
Slops:
Minimal turnout for the 6pm - I wanted to play more
Lack of coffee machine in-house (Kerigs are cool, bro!)
Uncounterable dragonlords
See you for Game Day on April 18th!
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* 'Broham' added for effect, he really didn't say that.
** This is a player in a game called baseball. He throws baseballs at a high speed.
