Magic: The Gathering XIII: What A Horrible Night To Have An Enchantment- Curse

[Bucky]

I disagree. Zombies has an aggressive curve, and bogging it down with excess land can be a bad idea

He's trying to flash back Moan of the Unhallowed.

[tgva8889]

Mechanics that are entirely drawbacks are not very exciting. Remember that your mechanic has to constantly show up at Common. It's hard to get people excited when your mechanic is "Hey, you can't do this thing if you want to play this!" It's much better to reward players for doing things they already want to do.

In general, drawbacks aren't really the greatest design if that's all your card does. Like, if you just made a 3/3 for 1 with Tectonic, that wouldn't be that interesting of a design.

[Fable Wright]

He's trying to flash back Moan of the Unhallowed.

Not necessarily flash it back; he could just be trying to cast it normally. Any Zombie deck that gets to the point where they can do that has more or less lost the game. Something that helps you win the game earlier >> planning to help stagger out the game you already lost.

[Ninjaman]

Swamp Swamp.

It is agro, i don't need it.

I disagree. Zombies has an aggressive curve, and bogging it down with excess land can be a bad idea. While one more swamp might be okay, I personally would rather run more Cemetary Reapers and/or Fume Spitters. One-shot instant enabler for tragic slip, a way to deal with early drops without a Tragic Slip, and an additional Undying on a Geralf's Messenger is really good.

I could run fumespitters, 4 cemetary reapers might be too much though.

He's trying to flash back Moan of the Unhallowed.

No i am not.

Not necessarily flash it back; he could just be trying to cast it normally. Any Zombie deck that gets to the point where they can do that has more or less lost the game. Something that helps you win the game earlier >> planning to help stagger out the game you already lost.

Exactly

[Musco]

Spoiler

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Lands: 22
12xSwamp
2xGhost quarter
4xDarkslick shores
4xDrowned catacomb

Creatures:24
4xGravecrawler
4xDiregraf ghoul
4xPhantasmal image
4xDiregraf captain
2xCemetery reaper
4xGeralf's messenger

Sorceries:4
2xMoan of the unhallowed
2xGhoulcaller's chant

Instants:8
4xGo for the throat
4xTragic slip

Artifacts:2
2xMortarpod

That is 58

Sideboard:15
4xDoom blade
3xSever the bloodline
4xNihil Spellbomb
4xGeth's Verdict

I got 2 slots left, what shall i run?

Royal assassin
Evil twin
Skinrender

IS mortarpod that necessary? It just seems to cost so much for doing so little aside from triggering the eventual morbid... You might consider dropping Ghoulcaller's Chant for Ghoulraiser if you're going for critical mass rather than quality, and run 3 of those and 3 Moan of the Unhallowed (too much value to pass up), or simply consider embracing the blue and going for Stitched Drake (really solid, though the mana hurts a little) or Silent Departure (cheap good effect for an aggro deck, and flashback COULD matter for pushing the final points of damage). Black Sun's Zenith is also an option, since you coudl clear pesky 1/1 tokens out of your way (though it could be argued that it's a bit over the top, and Curse of Death's Hold accomplishes the same thing in a much less clunky way, although losing reach).You could also just run Phyrexian Obliterator (at least as a SB option, the card is just solid if you're planning on going "monoblack" anyway). Heck, even Tezzeret's Gambit is solid enough since it gives you a little fuel, or Ghoulcaller's Bell, since dropping stuff in the graveyard helps you (flashback, zombies with recursion - keeping some Chants in even with Ghoulraiser in this case) and might be bad for opponents (messing with their Delver-picked top card).

[Ninjaman]

IS mortarpod that necessary? It just seems to cost so much for doing so little aside from triggering the eventual morbid...

Mortarpod+gravecrawler, then add in a captain or two and yes it is necessary.

You might consider dropping Ghoulcaller's Chant for Ghoulraiser if you're going for critical mass rather than quality

Chant is better in most cases, as it returns 2 creatures and i get to choose after what i need.

3 Moan of the Unhallowed (too much value to pass up),

I think 2 will do, i don't want too many.

or simply consider embracing the blue and going for Stitched Drake (really solid, though the mana hurts a little) or Silent Departure (cheap good effect for an aggro deck, and flashback COULD matter for pushing the final points of damage).

It would be too hard against messngers if i threw in more blue, also if i want hand returnal i would rather play vaporsnag.

Black Sun's Zenith is also an option, since you coudl clear pesky 1/1 tokens out of your way (though it could be argued that it's a bit over the top, and Curse of Death's Hold accomplishes the same thing in a much less clunky way, although losing reach).

The sun will often be a pain to me too, and the curse might be too slow for the deck.

You could also just run Phyrexian Obliterator (at least as a SB option, the card is just solid if you're planning on going "monoblack" anyway).

That was my first plan, but it is expensive for something that goes out of standard in half a year.

Heck, even Tezzeret's Gambit is solid enough since it gives you a little fuel, or Ghoulcaller's Bell, since dropping stuff in the graveyard helps you (flashback, zombies with recursion - keeping some Chants in even with Ghoulraiser in this case) and might be bad for opponents (messing with their Delver-picked top card).

I think you have missunderstood the deck.


Anyway i just played the most awesome battle ever with a friend who ran a birthing pod deck. He threw out an essence of the wild, i threw out an evil twin, he quickly lost his and all my creatures entered the game as essence of the wild (even though i only got 2 out), He managed to get out 8 myrs with myr battlesphere, i then flashbacked my sever the bloodline and swung for the win.

Edit: Also what is the magic deffinition of dies? Does exiled count?

[Suedars]

Nope. Dies=goes to graveyard from play.

[Fable Wright]

Mortarpod+gravecrawler, then add in a captain or two and yes it is necessary.

The sun will often be a pain to me too, and the curse might be too slow for the deck.

First, it's not just the Gravecrawler that makes it worth it. The synergy with messenger makes it more than worth the inclusion in the deck, and it also helps slow early aggro.

On Black Sun's Zenith, I would SB 1. In fact, I do sideboard 1. The ability to clear out a bunch of tokens makes it worth it in a mono-black decklist, and it's been fairly good so far. You also get the benefit of Captains hitting for ridiculous damage when you Black Sun's Zenith for more than one, and BSZing for 1 doesn't necessarily kill your team (with one lord out), rebuys undying on Geralf's Messenger, and doesn't actually matter to gravecrawler, while potentially clearing out the other team's blockers.

[Ninjaman]

Nope. Dies=goes to graveyard from play.

Then why do some cards say die while others say sent to graveyard from the battlefield?

First, it's not just the Gravecrawler that makes it worth it. The synergy with messenger makes it more than worth the inclusion in the deck, and it also helps slow early aggro.

On Black Sun's Zenith, I would SB 1. In fact, I do sideboard 1. The ability to clear out a bunch of tokens makes it worth it in a mono-black decklist, and it's been fairly good so far. You also get the benefit of Captains hitting for ridiculous damage when you Black Sun's Zenith for more than one, and BSZing for 1 doesn't necessarily kill your team (with one lord out), rebuys undying on Geralf's Messenger, and doesn't actually matter to gravecrawler, while potentially clearing out the other team's blockers.

I never thought of that, that is brilliant, i will definitely need 1 for side board.

[IthilanorStPete]

Then why do some cards say die while others say sent to graveyard from the battlefield?

They only started using the "dies" terminology in M12; cards printed before then will have the older wording.

[Mystic Muse]

Then why do some cards say die while others say sent to graveyard from the battlefield?

Wizards trying to make the game simpler. Older cards will have different text than newer ones.

[Callos_DeTerran]

So anyone else excited for the prerelease events? I know I am. Should be fun and I actually did well at the Dark Ascension prerelease (All my rounds except the first were tough ones for my opponents). I also heard that the revealed spoilers for the Helvault might not be true...so...curious about that again honestly.

[Lord Ruby34]

I am too. I think I have a shot at being a competitor, and I'm eager to see if I'm as good as I think I am. ...And if there's a chance the spoilers about the Helvault arn't true, well, then it is interesting again.

[Androgeus]

Just to throw this thread back in time.

Why is it most people don't like to see new drawback mechanics on new cards?

I put your question to maro on his tumbler -> see here

[tgva8889]

I've done fairly well for myself at the last few prereleases, so I'm super excited. Plus, the Saturday one is on my birthday. So clearly it's going to be awesome. At the very least, I expect Helvaults to be opened and their spoils to be had.

[Lord Ruby34]

Does anyone want to test a sealed deck? Someone made a simulator here. This'll be my first prerelease and I really want to do well.

EDIT: This is what I have so far, but I'm a bit concerned about the mana base.

Spoiler

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Creatures:
Wingcrafter x1
Alchemist's Apprentice x2
Thraben Valiant x1
Moorland Inquisitor x1
Angelic Wall x1
Farbog Explorer x1
Tandem Lookout x1
Devout Chaplin x1
Seraph of Dawn x1
Mist Raven x1
Riders of Gavony x1
Undead Executioner
Angel of Glories Rise x1

Spells:
Peel from Reality x1
Death Wind x1
Creeping Chill x1
Amass the Components x1
Mental Agony x1
Exquisite Blood x1
Vanishment x1
Cather's Crusade x1
Terminus x1

Land:
Plains x8
Island x6
Swamp x3

Pool of:

Spoiler

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3x Abundant Growth
2x Alchemist's Apprentice
1x Amass the Components
1x Angel of Glory's Rise
1x Angelic Wall
1x Bladed Bracers
2x Blood Artist
1x Bloodflow Connoisseur
1x Call to Serve
1x Cathars' Crusade
1x Cloudshift
1x Crippling Chill
1x Crypt Creeper
1x Cursebreak
2x Dangerous Wager
1x Death Wind
1x Demolish
1x Descent into Madness
1x Devout Chaplain
1x Eaten by Spiders
2x Essence Harvest
2x Evernight Shade
1x Exquisite Blood
1x Farbog Explorer
1x Fervent Cathar
1x Fleeting Distraction
1x Geist Snatch
1x Geist Trappers
1x Ghostform
2x Ghoulflesh
2x Hanweir Lancer
2x Havengul Skaab
1x Heirs of Stromkirk
1x Human Frailty
1x Hunted Ghoul
1x Island
2x Kruin Striker
2x Lightning Mauler
1x Lightning Prowess
1x Malicious Intent
1x Marrow Bats
2x Mental Agony
1x Midvast Protector
1x Mist Raven
1x Moorland Inquisitor
1x Mountain
1x Necrobite
1x Nettle Swine
1x Peel from Reality
3x Plains
1x Predator's Gambit
2x Renegade Demon
1x Riders of Gavony
1x Rite of Ruin
1x Rotcrown Ghoul
1x Scroll of Griselbrand
1x Second Guess
1x Seraph Sanctuary
1x Seraph of Dawn
1x Stern Mentor
1x Swamp
1x Tandem Lookout
1x Terminus
1x Thraben Valiant
1x Timberland Guide
1x Tormentor's Trident
2x Triumph of Cruelty
1x Undead Executioner
1x Vanguard's Shield
1x Vanishment
1x Wandering Wolf
1x Wingcrafter
1x Zealous Strike

[IthilanorStPete]

I'll be going on Saturday; I'm excited, and interested to see what's in the Helvault. Plus, I haven't been able to play in a couple of weeks, so that'll be good.

[tgva8889]

How would we be playing with these test sealed decks? I'd be willing to do one, though I question the usefulness of that generator mostly because I sort my cards a certain way when building.

Edit: Here's my generated pool:

Spoiler

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2x Abundant Growth
1x Amass the Components
1x Angel's Mercy
1x Angelic Wall
1x Archangel
1x Archwing Dragon
1x Avacyn, Angel of Hope
1x Bladed Bracers
1x Bloodflow Connoisseur
1x Bower Passage
1x Builder's Blessing
1x Butcher Ghoul
1x Call to Serve
1x Conjurer's Closet
2x Corpse Traders
1x Crippling Chill
1x Crypt Creeper
1x Cursebreak
1x Dangerous Wager
1x Defang
1x Diregraf Escort
1x Dreadwaters
1x Elgaud Shieldmate
1x Emancipation Angel
1x Farbog Explorer
1x Favorable Winds
1x Fervent Cathar
1x Fleeting Distraction
1x Forest
2x Geist Snatch
1x Geist Trappers
2x Ghoulflesh
1x Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
1x Gloomwidow
1x Grave Exchange
2x Grounded
1x Guise of Fire
1x Hanweir Lancer
1x Haunted Guardian
1x Heirs of Stromkirk
1x Hound of Griselbrand
1x Island
1x Kruin Striker
1x Lair Delve
1x Leap of Faith
1x Maalfeld Twins
1x Marrow Bats
1x Midvast Protector
1x Mist Raven
2x Mountain
1x Natural End
3x Outwit
1x Plains
3x Polluted Dead
1x Renegade Demon
2x Righteous Blow
1x Rotcrown Ghoul
1x Scalding Devil
2x Scroll of Avacyn
1x Searchlight Geist
3x Second Guess
1x Seraph Sanctuary
1x Spectral Gateguards
2x Stern Mentor
1x Stonewright
1x Swamp
2x Terrifying Presence
1x Thunderbolt
1x Triumph of Ferocity
1x Trusted Forcemage
1x Tyrant of Discord
1x Vessel of Endless Rest
1x Wildwood Geist
1x Wingcrafter

Edit2: Man this pool. This pool is so very awkward. So many 4 drops.

Edit3: Alright, so time-wise I actually won't be able to play at all before the prerelease, but this is an interesting exercise nonetheless. What do you make of the above pile? So many 4s. I think Red/White is the best you can do, but double Stern Mentor seems so good.

Edit4: Another pool. One color in this one is completely and totally obvious. Not sure which second goes with it, but it's nice to get a pool where I am easily playing 3 of my rares.

Spoiler

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1x Abundant Growth
2x Alchemist's Apprentice
1x Angel's Mercy
1x Angelic Wall
1x Banners Raised
1x Blood Artist
3x Bloodflow Connoisseur
1x Bone Splinters
2x Borderland Ranger
1x Bower Passage
1x Builder's Blessing
1x Butcher Ghoul
2x Call to Serve
1x Cloudshift
1x Commander's Authority
1x Crypt Creeper
1x Cursebreak
1x Death Wind
1x Defy Death
3x Demolish
1x Demonic Rising
1x Descendants' Path
1x Diregraf Escort
1x Divine Deflection
1x Druid's Familiar
1x Eaten by Spiders
1x Essence Harvest
1x Evernight Shade
1x Fervent Cathar
1x Forest
1x Galvanic Alchemist
1x Ghostform
1x Ghoulflesh
1x Goldnight Redeemer
1x Grave Exchange
1x Gryff Vanguard
3x Hanweir Lancer
1x Havengul Skaab
1x Havengul Vampire
1x Island
3x Joint Assault
1x Kessig Malcontents
2x Leap of Faith
1x Lightning Prowess
1x Maalfeld Twins
2x Midnight Duelist
1x Midvast Protector
1x Moonlight Geist
3x Mountain
1x Necrobite
1x Nightshade Peddler
1x Outwit
1x Predator's Gambit
1x Renegade Demon
1x Revenge of the Hunted
1x Rotcrown Ghoul
1x Scrapskin Drake
1x Seraph Sanctuary
1x Sheltering Word
1x Snare the Skies
1x Somberwald Vigilante
1x Spectral Prison
1x Stern Mentor
1x Stonewright
1x Swamp
1x Terrifying Presence
1x Timberland Guide
1x Tyrant of Discord
1x Vanishment
1x Vessel of Endless Rest
1x Vigilante Justice
1x Voice of the Provinces
1x Wild Defiance
1x Wolfir Silverheart
1x Zealous Strike

[The Extinguisher]

Some general advice to people for the pre release coming up. Limited formats are always faster than they first appear, so building an aggressive deck is never a bad idea. And just because the format is full of big dudes, doesn't make up for the fact that playing dudes on turns 2 to 4 is still one of the most important things you can do.

Just some things to keep in mind.

[flabort]

My local store, as far away as it is (half an hour on a really, really good day) has most of it's events Tuesdays. I seem to recall it was having the prerelease on the 26th, though, so... today, so I missed it if I'm right.

Probably couldn't afford to attend the prerelease, though.
I wish I could open my own store. it would take a lot of capital, though, and the town/city (we were recently declared a city, but it's still a town in my mind) I live in can't support one yet... Not to mention my only business experience is watching my mother frantically trying to figure out where she left all the reciets (spelling definitely wrong, spellcheck no help) for her playschool. Oh, and a computer class, I can run power point like a pro now, supposedly. It will never happen at this rate...

[Suedars]

They can only have the prerelease this weekend. You're probably misremembering the date.

[tgva8889]

Good luck to everyone who plays in a prerelease this weekend!

[Fleeing Coward]

Attended 2 prereleases yesterday and while the format is abit slower than DII, it's definately not that slow. I won quite a fews games just by curving out with plays like turn 2 "bear", turn 3 flier, turn 4 Mist Raven, bounce your only creature against slow decks at which point they were so far behind on board that they just never recovered.

As for my actual decks, I went UW fliers both prerelease although they were almost polar opposites in turns of strategy despite the fact that I was lucky enough to crack Avacyn in both prerelease.

My Midnight deck which I 4-0'd with was an insane aggro deck containing Favourable Winds, double Emancipation Angel, Restoration Angel, Fettergeist backed up by double Defang, double Spectral Prison, Crippling Chill and Vanishment.
Almost every game I won involved just flying over the top while my opponent's ground force watched on helplessly. The only exception been the one game where I combo milled with Galvanic Alchemist + Stern Mentor

My second prerelease I played a much more defensive UW Fliers deck that included double Angelic Wall, double Seraph of Dawn, double Mist Raven (comboed with Nephalia Smuggler), Gryff Vanguard and a ton of bounce/tap effects to stall the board until I get out one of my 2 fatties - Archangel and Avacyn.
I managed to go 2-1-1 there with my only match loss been to a miracle Bonfire of the Damned just as I stabilised with a Seraph of Dawn equipped with Angelic Armaments in game 1 followed by a top decked Kessig Malcontents for lethal on a stalled board with Avacyn out in game 3 (I had lethal on next turn with Banishing Stroke on top of my deck).

On a final note, LSV is completely right about Temporal Mastery in limited - I cracked 1 in my second prerelease along with Avacyn. Never miracle'd off the top and the two times I hardcasted it for the win, were in games where I already had Avacyn out and just helped me win a turn earlier in games that I wasn't going to lose anyways.

[Avaris]

Well, I had a lot of fun with the prerelease I went to. I feel I should have done better given my deck, but... well, I'll get to that.

The deck I built, arranged by manacost to illustrate why it was nuts:

Spoiler

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1 mana
1 Stonewright
1 Somberwald Vigilante
1 Diregraf escort

1 Scroll of Avacyn
1 Joint Assault

2 mana
2 Nightshade Peddler
1 Wandering wolf
1 Timberland guide

1 Dangerous Wager
1 Dual Casting
1 Thunderbolt

3 mana creatures
2 Hanweir Lancers
1 Riot Ringleader
1 Fervent Cathar

1 Lightning Prowess
1 Angelic Armaments

5 mana creatures
1 Yew Spirit
1 Wildwood Geist

Miracles
1 Revenge of the Hunted
1 Thunderous Wrath
1 Bonfire of the Dammed

9 Mountain
8 Forest

Basically, this was a very aggressive deck. 2 Nightshade Peddler + 2 Hanweir Lancer and a Lightning Prowess gave me access to repeatable removal, which felt odd given I went in thinking this was a removal light set. I'm also a big fan of copying large X spells (I have a Wort, the Raidmother EDH deck), so Bonfire of the Dammed + Dual Casting was a dream come true! I'd have liked some stuff at 4 mana rather than 5, but essentially there were only two spells in the deck which were not potential turn 2 or 3 plays.

I quite easily won the first 3 rounds 2-0, though a few of the games were quite close. Miracle Bonfire of the Dammed is amazing. Round 4 I played against probably the best player in the room, and they were close games. Frustratingly the aggro thing didn't work out in that match: despite the sheer number of 1 and 2 drops I seemed to be relying on my 3 and 5 drops to try and win it! Yew Spirit is fairly good though, especially when I was able to give it first strike with the lancer. Had I managed a bit more damage early on he'd have had to focus on defending rather than beating me down with his angels. It was very close.

Round 5 was probably most frustrating though. Game 1 was essentially lost to mana screw (mulligan to 6, keep a hand full of two drops, don't see a second land for ages. Should have probably gone to 5 though). Game 2 was a slaughter, as it was the first time I got the Peddler/Lightning Prowess thing working: I don't think he ever managed to damage me. Game 3 was the closest game of the day, and I only lost because he had both Leap of Faith (allowing him to block my Wildwood Geist without losing his only creature or dying himself) and a Thunderbolt (which meant he killed me on the back swing). Best part? I had dropped a land every turn and still had 2 in hand at the end of turn 7... flooded and I still almost won.

Ultimately I came 9th of 34. The guys I lost to came second and third, which was satisfying dispite my 3-2 record. Even better was the Cavern of Souls in one of my prize packs. I also got my round 5 opponent to sign my Thunderbolt: I have a sort of tradition whereby if I've been beaten in a game as close as that which can be put down to a single common or uncommon I'll get it signed as a memento.

Views on Avacyn Restored? Miracle is open to abuse, as we knew already, and Soulbond is more complicated than I gave it credit for. The judge had a lot of calls to make on it, at least one of which was wrong in hindsight: I got the call that I could break and shift a pairing to a new creature when it came onto the battlefield; both I and the judge felt it probably shouldn't work like that (it'd come up while discussing a different aspect of soulbond), but could find nothing to say it couldn't (he'd emailed wizards before the tourney to ask). I only took advantage of this in the matches I lost anyway though.

As for the helvault:

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Quite disappointing contents wise: I don't need any more spindowns! Still, I was able to get one of each of the 5 large cards to add to my collection, which feels good, as I imagine a lot of people will just have one or two

Overall, I think Avacyn Restored is a reasonable set. I'd like to play limited a bit more with it before truly reaching an opinion though.

[Ninjaman]

I played sealed yesterday like many others on this forum, it was the first sealed i had ever attended to but it went all right.

Deck

Spoiler

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Lands:
5 mountains
5 forests
6 plains

creatures:
Angel of glory's rise (never got to use it)

Trusted forcemage (pretty nice card, i liked binding it with my hanweir lancer for 2 3/3 firststrikers for 3cmc each)

Angelic wall (worked fine, would propperbly not be used a lot in constructed)

Hanweir lancer (really cool card, awesome if paired with the right creatures)

Somberwald Vigilante (in constructed you would only use this over ashmouth hound in human tribal, but it is quite nice)

Mad Prophet (in constructed merfolk looter is often better, but this is off color, human and has haste)

Nightshade peddler (awesome with Hanweir lancer, but also good without it)

Stonewright (i didn't use it that much, but that propperbly beacause i played 3 colors, in mono-red it might be quite good)

Moorland Inquisitor (good in limited, would propperbly not see much constructed use)

Haunted guardian (quite good, stops you opponent from overrunning you)

Thraben valiant (nice card, mono-white will run Elite Inquisitor instead, but if you splash it might be hard, and it is common, nice card it worked fine, but nothing special

Instants
Cloudshift (never got to use it)

Thunderbolt (not being able shoot creatures hurts)

2x Joint assault (Good card, decent if used on a non-soulbound creature, awesome if used on a soulbound creature)

Natural end (Naturalize for 1 more but heals you 3, nice card)

Sorcery
Blessings of nature (i love playing it for the miracle cost, in limited it is usable without miracle)

Thatcher revolt (ok card, great for pushing through, but gather the townsfolk is better a lot of the time)

Defy death (i originaly planned on discarding the angel then raising it with this, but that never happened)

Pillar of flame (nice card, but being a sorcery hurts)

enchantments
Builders blessing (doesn't help you attacking creatures unless they have vigilance, but an ok card for limited and maybe some constructed decks)

Descendants' path (i had too few humans and they where too cheap to really make it work, but it was fun to play with)

Defang (Foil) (passifism is ussually better, but this card isn't bad, i loved throwing it on my opponents heavy hitters)

Atifacts
Gallows at Willow hill (never got to use it :C)

Moonsilver spear (awesome in limited, might be usable in constructed in the right deck.

As for the hellvault i got an avacyn life dice, 1 angel token 3 angel/demon tokens and a large sized griselbrand.
I also got a promo foil spear of avacyn.

[Nerocite]

For the prerelease, I went 3-2 with a G/R aggro beat down deck. All of my games were very fun, even the ones I lost.

[Lord Seth]

Went 3-1 with a Green/Red deck at a prerelease.

Probably the most impressive cards I played with were Somberwald Sage and Bonfire of the Damned. Unfortunately, I never drew Bonfire. And I don't mean I never drew it for its miracle cost...I never drew it in the four rounds (nine total games I think) I played in the tournament, including three games I played for fun afterwards. I can say, though, that the card would have been an excellent draw and probably could have won me some of the games I lost. I don't know how good it'll be in Constructed, but it just might be the best card of the set in Limited.

Of the cards I was drawing fairly consistently, Somberwald Sage was probably the star. It essentially doubles your mana base at the time you cast it (at least when playing creatures), which lets you get some pretty big creatures into play or just gives you room to play a creature and a spell.

[Fable Wright]

Honestly, the most powerful card in the format in my experience is definitely Wolfir Silverheart. Pulled a foil one at the prerelease at midnight on Friday, and there was just no answer to it in any games I played, for or against. I was able to deal with an Avacyn, Angel of Hope, but the second Wolfir hit the table, it was game over.

[tgva8889]

Played in a Prerelease yesterday on my Birthday that I won 5-0 and one today that I split in the finals 4-0-1. I was UR Aggro for the first and RG Aggro for the second. Overall, I think it was quite a good weekend.

The keys to success in this format, at least for me, were having a bunch of 2-power 2 mana creatures. Most of them do something else, and you can get huge bonuses out of them. My deck in Prerelease 1 consistently attacked for 5 on turn 3, which was incredible. I knew I could be happy with my deck in Prerelease 2 when I realized that at least 1/3rd of my creatures cost less than 3.

My experience taught me that that Soulbond is key to success. Almost all the cards with it are rather powerful, and using it to make random dorks more effective is a key element of successful aggression. By contrast, Miracle almost never came up and was useless even when it did. The only time a card was ever Miracled against me, paying the Miracle cost was actually the wrong play and in discussion afterward we decided if he had just drawn it he would have had a better chance. The one Miracle card I got to play with either day was either in my starting hand or normally drawn so I could cast it at the opportune moment to claim victory.

I don't really know what else specifically to contribute. There were several cards that surprised me. I think the biggest problem with the format is that there are so many common 4s, or at least it feels like there are. I think having 3+ toughness is very important in this format. I also have no experience with AVR's Black, despite the fact that it seems like it should have some power in it.

Does anyone have anything specific they'd like to hear about?

[Fable Wright]

First, a word on the set's black: It plays much, much differently than the other decks in this format. It's all about abusing the death effects. Most of black's commons/uncommons have effects that trigger on their deaths, and a few have abilities that let you sac other creatures. Then there's the removal for the color. Bone Splinters both lets you sacrifice a creature you control (like an uppity defanged Demonic Taskmaster that's screwing you over, or something with Undying like Buther Ghoul, or something else you don't mind dying) and taking out a high priority target. There's also Barter in Blood, one of the best removal spells in the format, which fits right into this line of play. Kill off a bunch of creatures, net advantage from death triggers, proceed to dominate opponent. I haven't had too much experience with Homicidal Seclusion, but it seems fairly potent- put it on a guy that has a net gain from it's destruction, swing in with it, force the chump, gain some life, and if it dies, replace it and/or wipe the field. It's not the easiest deck to play, and it takes some getting used to, but it seems like it would be an open color in draft a lot of the time, and it packs a hefty punch. It works best with Red, as that nets you the Havengul Vampire (Which is just stupid good in R/B. Barter in Blood to make it a 6/6 and abuse the death triggers? Yes please.) and additional removal. Plus Thatcher Rebellion, which is all flavors of stupid with sac abuse, Havengul Vampire, and additional damage that Taskmaster won't kill off. Not the best deck by far (that would be the soon to be overdrafted G/X Soulbound deck), but it's not bad.

Oh, and a word on Miracles: Revenge of the Hunted is just so stupidly good in draft, whenever it comes out, as long as you have a creature, that there is no reason not to run it. It wins the game on the spot. In Green in particular, Soulbound +X/+X is amazing. Druid's Familiar is one of the best uncommons in the set, and Wolfir, as I previously said, is insane.