Pre-release Report

Alright, so I know I've had a week off, and I just want you all to know that for a hole in a ground, the Grand Canyon sure is pretty! I went camping with my family, and Magic was played, but I'll get to that in a later post. This one is to let you all know how my Pre-release went, and I hope yours was a s successful as mine was.

First things first, I ended up playing Red, as I suspected. Personally, the style of Red fits my own gameplay style very well, and as I discussed before the red cards in M15 had me more excited than any of the other colors. That said, Red did not have the strongest promo card. That honor definitely falls to Black, as I failed to win a single game where that card hit the table for my opponent.

Seriously bad news. This is not a
decision you want to be forced into making.

Even without my very own demon to play with, I still went 5-1 at my event, and came away with another eight packs in prizes. I opened my packs, and the only playable rares I opened were in Red. Four dual lands and a foil Sliver Hivelord are great cards, but not in Limited play. Especially sealed. So I ran my promo, Siege Dragon, and Hoarding Dragon. Plus I opened a Chandra, Pyromaster, and if you manage to pull a Planeswalker during a Sealed event, you're almost always making the right choice by putting her in your deck.

A Planeswalker, four pain lands and a mythic foil Sliver?
Maybe not the best deck set-up, but definitely some seriously valuable cards!

After looking at my other colors, I immediately ditched green. Green's creatures were awesome in this set, but I didn't open any. Most of my green cards were sorceries and instants, and my Red was short on creatures, so green got the boot. My Black took the same route, with only high curve creatures and way too expensive of removal available. So that left White and Blue. While the removal package was decent with both colors, in my opinion exiling is always better than bouncing (sending creatures back to their owner's hands), and my White's low cost creatures were fantastic, so that's the route I went. I was very happy with the way it turned out, too, and I definitely think I made the right call. Here's my final list:

M15 Pre-release Decklist

Chandra, Pyromaster

Hoarding Dragon

Siege Dragon (promo)

Devouring Light x2

Borderland Marauder

Midnight Guard

Pillar of Light

Oreskos Swiftclaw

Forge Devil x2

Inferno Fist

Kinsbaile Skirmisher

Sungrace Pegasus

Geist of the Moors

Ornithopter

Lava Axe

Foundry Street Denizen

Lightning Strike

Crowd's Favor

Act on Impulse

Meteorite

Will-Forged Golem

Convoke is my new best friend. Getting to cast this
with only one Plains on the board? Amazing!

Two of the cards that really impressed me were Devouring Light and Act on Impulse. Convoke is a returning mechanic, but it originally premiered in Ravnica, City of Guilds, which was more than a few years before I started playing again, so I had never experienced it. Being able to cast a double-white spell by tapping one Plains and my Sungrace Pegasus was the best deal ever, and my two Devouring Lights were awesome in each game I played. And as soon as it was spoiled, I was hoping Act on Impulse would be a good late-game card for Red, and I wasn't disappointed. More often than not I played it with 4 open mana left, and I usually had another land hit the table as well as a creature, due to my deck's low curve. It was awkward casting it and then having a combat trick like Crowd's Favor that my opponent could see open when I attacked, but it kept them out of my way most of the time, which was all I needed.

I really wanted it to be good, and it was pretty good.
More of this ability, please?

When the dust settled and I had my prize packs in hand, it was time to see if I had any more valuable cards in store for me. And boy, did I!

Rares, oh sweet rares!

Two more planeswalkers, another pain land, and a Legendary creature that looks like he'd be really fun in Commander? Awesome! Yisan, the Wanderer Bard will definitely see some play in a future deck, and Scuttling Doom Engine is way too funny to not throw in somewhere. Overall, I made a seriously good haul at my pre-release and am very glad I went, even if it didn't wrap until 6 am and I had to work that afternoon. Oh, the pains we go through just to play this game.

Regular updates will begin again next week! Expect talk about Commander, Standard, a certain Angel deck's performance and drafting tips! I'm excited, are you?