Magic: The Blathering #2: Eldritch Moon Pre Release - Andy

At which I didn't suck! 

by Andy Clarke

On Sunday 17th July I attended my first officially sanctioned Magic: The Gathering event in the form of the Eldritch Moon pre release. Along with my good friend Phill Vincent (who has already published his account of the day which you can read here) we headed down to Sheffield's finest gaming shop: Patriot Games, at an ungodly early hour for a Sunday.

I've been playing Magic for nearly four years now and only now had I felt confident enough to attend an official tournament. I don't know quite what I was expecting but a little part of me thought I'd be up against elite Magic players who would roll their eyes if I needed to ask a question or clarify anything. Or would huff as I would think over a turn, growing impatient at my "newbie" inefficiency. Gaming can be full of dicks, thankfully I have never experienced any and after the pre release I still haven't.
Everyone was super cool and more than happy to chat, offer advice and simply just enjoy the game with anyone they could, be they beginner or veteran. (*Quick tangent* I think you can break gamers down into two categories - those who love gaming and want to include and share with as many people the gaming experience, which from what I observed was 100% of the turnout. And then there are the elitists, the gaming hipsters, that would rather put people down for being inexperienced and point out why they're superior because they've known about a game longer etc etc. They've no interest in bringing in new players and helping them get going with a new game, but rather in inflating their own egos and their own sense of superiority. Constantly living in fear that if they helped others they would lose their standing as gaming know it all.)

The pre release started off with the handing out of awesome little pre release boxes which we were given strict instructions not to open until told to. My mind shot back to school exams and not being able to flip my paper until given the signal. I found the waiting to open my box surprisingly unbearable, never have I been so eager to tear off shrink wrap.

This was a "sealed format" event meaning that in our little box was a selection of fifteen card booster packs, five from the new Eldritch Moon set (a week before general release) and two from the previous set; Shadows Over Innistrad. Once given the signal we had to break into our boxes and in a thirty minute time limit construct a deck from the cards therein, this being the deck we would then compete with in five matches over the course of the day - so no pressure!

I'd gone into this already with the mind set that I was going to play blue, as I've been enjoying blue a lot lately. (You can read about my feelings on this in this blog from last year.) However I was unsure what colour I'd pair blue with, and I was also fully prepared for the possibility that I would get no decent blue cards or enough to make a cohesive deck.

In our exclusive pre release boxes everyone got a limited edition pre release promo card, foil and date stamped with the weekend of the pre release. This came individually sealed in it's own clear wrapping. I got this card - Spell Queller - a blue-white flash spirit with an awesome counter/exile ability. There was no way I wasn't playing this card and it gave me the answer as to what pairing I would be going for, I would be playing blue-white.

This was the highlight of my box opening

I immediately began to open my boosters and worked on singling out all the blue, white and colourless cards and discarding anything else. This worked out quite well as I ended up with exactly the right number of creatures, all of which would work well in a control/tempo deck. Including this lovely lady - Thalia, Heretic Cathar - that stutters your opponents play by making all their creatures enter tapped. This being the case I could focus my thought process on what sorceries, instants and enchantments I wanted to complete my deck with. For a sealed tournament you build a smaller deck of forty cards rather than the usual sixty you would use for a "constructed" event. Although this is a minimum it's always best to avoid building something too much larger as it reduces the odds of drawing the cards you want so I was trying to stick to exactly forty. This meant a process of whittling down the available spells to ensure I had the best combination of cards that complemented each other well. What was off putting is that I eventually completed my deck with fifteen minutes of time still remaining, and of course I ended doubting myself. Have I rushed? Should I give it more thought? But if I go over it again I may end up over thinking it? ARGH!! Thankfully this mini internal panic attack took up the remaining time before I could start tinkering again and do irreparable damage. So I was committed, my cards were sleeved and I was ready for my first match up.

For those of you who are interested, this was my final deck list:

Creatures:
Fogwalker
Manic Scribe
Dawn Gryff
Ingenious Skaab
Guardian of Pilgrims
Fiend Binder
Silent Observer
Geist of Archives
Nebelgast Herald
Thalia, Heretic Cathar
Spell Queller
Sigardian Priest
Faithbearer Paladin

Other Spells:
Humble The Brute
Blessed Alliance
Cryptolith Fragment
Convolute
Drag Under x2
Sleep Paralysis
Just the Wind
Take Inventory x 2
Spectral Reserves

Land:
Warped Landscape
Island x9
Plains x6

In short, I lost my first match. Quite unequivocally. Was it nerves? Maybe. Was it misplays? Most likely. Was it because my opponent was a far superior player? Definitely. This game was over quickly and allowed us to have a bit of a chat whilst we waited for the clock to tick down on the round. I forget the names of my opponents but he was a nice lad who was happy to answer my questions about how pre-releases work and we asked the obligatory "So how long have you been playing?" After we'd exhausted our chat options we sat in uncomfortable silence each staring at our phones whilst the last few minutes ran down.

It was at this point it dawned on my that I was going to be there for the full day and I hadn't brought food. The game room in the store did have vending machines, which was a nice touch, but Snickers and Nik-Naks would only sustain me so far!

My second round match up was against a nice fella who was also at his first pre-release. He'd been an avid Magic player for some time but had had about a year away from the game so was feeling a bit rusty. This match was over as quickly as the first but this time in my favour. I felt I'd played a better game this time and allowed myself to take time over my decisions, thinking through each play. Like chess, there is a certain  amount of thinking several turns ahead, which means rushing your plays is never a good idea. I was happy, I had a win on the board, which is more than I could have hoped for at the beginning of the day. At this point I didn't care how the rest of my matches went as I had at least one win.

When I spotted there was a good ten minutes left to the end of the second round I saw my chance for an emergency sandwich run. I grabbed Phill and we high tailed it to the nearest Greggs. Food purchased we raced back just in time for the postings for round three.

Phill got a bye for this round, git! Which he used to re assess the strength of his deck. I however ended up against a considerably formidable Werewolf deck which made short work of defeating me. This guy clearly got very lucky on opening his box and was able to construct a deck with a frightening level of synergy. Before I knew it he had an army of wolves on the ground against which I could not defend. Although I lost it was fascinating to watch how his cards came together. One thing about losing in Magic is it's always a learning experience and I'm always taking mental notes on what my opponents are doing. Hopefully able to take some of it away with me and put into practice myself.

Round four was probably my favourite of the day. Again my opponent was a really cool guy, this time with the most awesome mutton chops (as a sideburn person I had to give kudos.) Of the best of three my opponent won the first game with an awesome combo which just drained my life. As frustrating for me as that was it was great to see the pleasure he got from it, explaining that he's been trying to get that combo all day and it had never come together for him. In Magic it's nice when a plan comes together and I can't help but feel happy for a player when they achieve a difficult combo, even if it is me that suffers.
The second game went to me thanks to the card Manic Scribe and it's delirium effect. I was able to mill* through his deck leaving him no cards to draw, therefore granting me the win.
So the match came down to a deciding game and it was a close run thing. I don't remember too many of the specifics but I do recall it coming close to timing out but it the end I edged out the win.

I owe my second win to this card.

So I was two for two with one match remaining and at some point before that last match my feeling towards the day changed from "If I get a win I'll be happy" to "I could win three out of the five, this is happening!" So my nice casual approach to the day changed to super competitive for the last match.

So when I lost, it hurt a little more than it should.

It was another close run thing that went into a deciding third game. I was up against a young lad who had yet to win a match but you could see he was loving just playing the game.
The new Eldritch Moon set consists of cards that flip and pair with another card to create a single uber card. He was lucky enough to get both halves of a pair from his box opening but shared with me his frustrations that he'd yet to get them out in a game.

Just my luck that he would finally pull it off against me

A wise man once said "Happiness is a matching pair"

I was one turn from finishing him off in the final game when he paired the two halves and created the uber death creauture that it was. I was defenceless against such a beast and he swung in with the killing blow.

Arse!

I have to say I loved the pre release expereince and fully enjoyed the sealed format which creates a very level playing field. Everyone had to make their deck on the fly from the cards they were given meaning there were no "pay to win" decks, no pro decks copied from websites, everyone had the same chance as everyone else. Yes those with more deck building experience would have the advantage, but I don't think it was that much of advantage, everyone is handicapped by the random draw of the cards.

I definitely want to play more sealed events and even give drafting a go, but more than anything I intend to be at the next pre release.