Three prereleases for me--the midnight and evening on Saturday, and the evening on Sunday. Went green/white, white/red, and white/green again, respectively, opening what felt like a pretty good pool in the first, a terrible one in the second (it was a blue seeded pack), and an incredible one in the third. I'm pretty sure I misbuilt the second deck, though.
I had a third Netcaster and a Will-Forged Golem in my pool I should probably have played in the deck. Black was tempting instead of white, with two Covenants, two Blights, and an Endless Obedience, plus Gravedigger, Typhoid Rats, Child of Night, Caustic Tar...but ultimately the potential for a Spectra Ward + Boonweaver finisher and double Devouring Light won me over. Thinking about it now...that may have been a mistake.
The deck went 3-1, with the only loss in the first round (to a player who went on to a 1-3 record) due to a series of misplays on my part--keeping a dubious hand in game 2 and getting paid with mana screw, and fetching up the Mark rather than the Ward in game 3 when facing down a Scuttling Doom Engine (so as not to lose the possibility of drawing it later) only to watch my Giant immediately eat a Pillar of Light. A couple turns later a Devouring Light dealt with the Engine, but not before it brought my life total low enough that I lost the later race against Caustic Tar/Stab Wound.
At the time, my creature base in blue seemed horribly deficient on the low end, and while black was tempting for the removal its creatures were the next best thing to nonexistent. I wanted to take advantage of that double Return to the Ranks, and so went into White/Red and warped my curve towards the lower end to make use of them when I probably shouldn't have. Thinking on it now, even going with a straight-up aggro plan Red/Green would likely have been a much better choice, and I'm pretty sure now that blue would have made at least a viable support color for either red or green. I guess I was too blinded by my disappointment at not seeing enough of the synergies that any of the blue-based color combinations is theoretically supposed to use to wield them (let alone my promo) effectively.
The deck went 2-2, winning the first round in two games when it probably shouldn't have (we finished early and played some additional games--I lost three out of four) and losing the final two matches.
This pool was just insane. I had to cut two Siege Wurms, a Carnivorous Moss-Beast, and the Archangel because the rest of the top end was already so strong; blue was probably my second choice for pairing after green, with double Research Assistant, triple Coral Barrier, Dissipate, and Chasm Skulker. Now that I think about it, maybe I should have kept the blue available just to sideboard in against other decks running blue...
Overall, I had a lot of fun, but was put off by how many Souls there were floating around--it seemed like half my opponents had one thanks to the seeded packs. I loved the synergy between Triplicate Spirits and other convoke cards, especially Devouring Light.
Black was easily the most requested color for prerelease packs, with blue in last place by a mile, and I'm not surprised, since black's promo was really strong and blue's incredibly weak and situational. I saw people using all of the other promos to good effect over the weekend, but never, never the blue one. It just too expensive to use and doesn't seem to be able to work without very specific circumstances, which will never usually come up in Sealed.
Speaking as a judge, I was appalled by how many people were misplaying Goblin Kaboomist. No, you don't flip a coin after sacrificing the Mine--you flip it right now, after making it. Why yes, that does mean it's not quite as insane as you thought it was. Too bad for you.
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
Joined: Sep 23, 2013 Posts: 6317 Location: New York
I had to explain to a couple of people how kaboomist worked as well. "Look at this. This is a period. This means this sentence is completed. This next sentence is what you do next. Yes, your double kaboomist is now not nearly as insane as you thought it was. Sorry to ruin your birthday draft."
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"In all fairness that probably is a sight that would make you stop and reevaluate your life choices." ~ Garren_Windspear
I kinda want to forge a kaboomist with the " in the wrong place.
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"Everything looks good when your opponent passes 4 turns in a row" -- rstnme "Something that does not look good when your opponent does nothing is not a thing" -- me
Three prereleases for me--the midnight and evening on Saturday, and the evening on Sunday. Went green/white, white/red, and white/green again, respectively, opening what felt like a pretty good pool in the first, a terrible one in the second (it was a blue seeded pack), and an incredible one in the third. I'm pretty sure I misbuilt the second deck, though.
I had a third Netcaster and a Will-Forged Golem in my pool I should probably have played in the deck. Black was tempting instead of white, with two Covenants, two Blights, and an Endless Obedience, plus Gravedigger, Typhoid Rats, Child of Night, Caustic Tar...but ultimately the potential for a Spectra Ward + Boonweaver finisher and double Devouring Light won me over. Thinking about it now...that may have been a mistake.
The deck went 3-1, with the only loss in the first round (to a player who went on to a 1-3 record) due to a series of misplays on my part--keeping a dubious hand in game 2 and getting paid with mana screw, and fetching up the Mark rather than the Ward in game 3 when facing down a Scuttling Doom Engine (so as not to lose the possibility of drawing it later) only to watch my Giant immediately eat a Pillar of Light. A couple turns later a Devouring Light dealt with the Engine, but not before it brought my life total low enough that I lost the later race against Caustic Tar/Stab Wound.
At the time, my creature base in blue seemed horribly deficient on the low end, and while black was tempting for the removal its creatures were the next best thing to nonexistent. I wanted to take advantage of that double Return to the Ranks, and so went into White/Red and warped my curve towards the lower end to make use of them when I probably shouldn't have. Thinking on it now, even going with a straight-up aggro plan Red/Green would likely have been a much better choice, and I'm pretty sure now that blue would have made at least a viable support color for either red or green. I guess I was too blinded by my disappointment at not seeing enough of the synergies that any of the blue-based color combinations is theoretically supposed to use to wield them (let alone my promo) effectively.
The deck went 2-2, winning the first round in two games when it probably shouldn't have (we finished early and played some additional games--I lost three out of four) and losing the final two matches.
This pool was just insane. I had to cut two Siege Wurms, a Carnivorous Moss-Beast, and the Archangel because the rest of the top end was already so strong; blue was probably my second choice for pairing after green, with double Research Assistant, triple Coral Barrier, Dissipate, and Chasm Skulker. Now that I think about it, maybe I should have kept the blue available just to sideboard in against other decks running blue...
Overall, I had a lot of fun, but was put off by how many Souls there were floating around--it seemed like half my opponents had one thanks to the seeded packs. I loved the synergy between Triplicate Spirits and other convoke cards, especially Devouring Light.
Black was easily the most requested color for prerelease packs, with blue in last place by a mile, and I'm not surprised, since black's promo was really strong and blue's incredibly weak and situational. I saw people using all of the other promos to good effect over the weekend, but never, never the blue one. It just too expensive to use and doesn't seem to be able to work without very specific circumstances, which will never usually come up in Sealed.
Speaking as a judge, I was appalled by how many people were misplaying Goblin Kaboomist. No, you don't flip a coin after sacrificing the Mine--you flip it right now, after making it. Why yes, that does mean it's not quite as insane as you thought it was. Too bad for you.
How many people were misplaying Inferno Fist and enchanting it on their opponent's creatures? Because I definitely did that and only realized it when I was unsleeving my deck after the prerelease.
My son said someone played Cone of Flame on him like it was Flames of the Firebrand, killing a 5 toughness creature and dealing to parts to the face. Dang son, the card is good enough!! Read it!!!
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"Everything looks good when your opponent passes 4 turns in a row" -- rstnme "Something that does not look good when your opponent does nothing is not a thing" -- me
My son said someone played Cone of Flame on him like it was Flames of the Firebrand, killing a 5 toughness creature and dealing to parts to the face. Dang son, the card is good enough!! Read it!!!
I had someone try to kill my Soul of Ravnica with it, but I told him the difference. He's a very experienced player, though, and one of the shop regulars. Part of me was wondering if he was trying to pull one over on me as I only accasionally play IRL. I hope not, but you never know.
Probably just a wishcast. And the last core set DID have a card that worked like that.
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"Everything looks good when your opponent passes 4 turns in a row" -- rstnme "Something that does not look good when your opponent does nothing is not a thing" -- me
How many people were misplaying Inferno Fist and enchanting it on their opponent's creatures? Because I definitely did that and only realized it when I was unsleeving my deck after the prerelease.
I didn't see that at all. I don't think that's all that common a misplay--most players, especially newer ones, would see the +2/+0 bonus and only want to put it on their own creatures anyway. The idea of putting it on an opponent's creature to reduce the likelihood of removal in response so you can activate it right away is something that just won't occur to them.
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
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