First time Pre-release Questions

[Harlequin]

So with Shards of Alar pre-release events moved to local stores, and my vintage testing needing a fair amount of commons and uncommons from the new sets I figure I would try my hand at Sealed Limited.

Theres a store right down the street holding a sanctioned pre-release (I'm 99% sure its Sealed and not Draft).

I've never been to a Sealed Limited event, and have only ever done an offical sanctioned draft once or twice.  Most of my draft experiance comes from kitchen table drafting.

I just wanted to get a heads up on what to expect from the event and ask about some of the floor rules.  As I understand it, Each player is given (purchases) a Seal deck of 45 cards + some basics.  And 2 or 3 boosters.  They bust open all this stuff and build a 40 card deck. 

My first question is, what are the floor rules for this step.  I assume it's timed, but how long do you get?  Can you get up and walk around after you're done?  Most importantly, can you talk to other people (like your friends) durring the deck construction before they finalize thier list, or would that be considered outside assistance? 

The reason I ask is that my brother is an ok magic player, but doesn't have alot of experiance building decks.  If he has to solo build the deck, I don't think he would be interested in attending - but if Jer or I could help tweek his deck before he finalizes, I think he would be much more keen on going.

Also how does Cost/Prize work?  I know most of your entry fee is put towards the tournement pack and boosters - and I'm under the impression that you keep all those cards no matter what.  And if that's true, what is a typical prize for doing well?  And more of an interest question, where does the money come from to pay for the prize?

Lastly, I've already read up on limited decks, and sealed deck construction technique.. But any advice you have for a long-time vintage player dabbling in limited would be appriciated.

[Nefarias]

Well, pre-releases are incredibly casual, but I also get the impression that some of the technical rules aren't really followed or enforced, though that may be different wherever you plan to attend. But, I think that it would be even less strict if you just go to a store rather than one of the big ones. I'll tell you what I've experienced, but I'm not entirely sure that these are the actual rules.

Deck construction is timed. It's usually 35-40 minutes. You can get up when you're done. At the big pre-re's,  you're assigned seating and build your deck there. At a smaller store one, I doubt this is the case, so you should be able to grab a table with Jeremiah and your brother and just deck doctor each other. Even if you can't get with your bro before the tournament starts, I'm pretty sure that there's actually a rules at pre-re's that says you can change your deck in between rounds, not just during sideboarding. So like, if you after round one you get a chance to look at your brother's stuff and see that he went Naya when his Esper stuff his better, you can completely remake his deck for him. Or it could even be as small as switching out a forest for a plains or whatever.

At traditional pre-re's, they wait until they have 24 (I think) people, and start a 4 round flight. If you go 4-0, you get 8 packs. 3-0-1 gets 6, and 3-1 gets 4. You keep what you open, and at the start of round one, you get a bonus pack just for playing, but it cannot be used towards your card pool. As far as how they can afford it, you've got to think that it costs $25-$30 to enter, and while retail value of the product is about $25, actual cost is probably closer to $18-$20. So about $7 extra for each player times 24, and you've got your prize pool. I'm not sure, but Wizards may even "subsidize" pre-re's.

As far as strategy goes, while standard blocks such as Time Spiral or Kamigawa are all somewhat similar, blocks that have a "build around me theme" (multicolor, tribal) each have there own distinct strategies. In this set, I'm thinking you're going to want to stick to a specific shard. So what I would do is start by organizing my pool into 11 piles: one for each color, one for each color triad, and one for (non-Esper) artifacts. The only tricky part there is that there is going to be two-color cards. Stuff like Ajani Vengeant is easy; he's still only playable in Naya. But then you have something like Branching Bolt (1RG) which is in both Naya and Jund. So you may want to even make five more piles: RG, GW, WU, UB, and BR, but I have a feeling each of those piles will only have like 1-3 cards each, so I'm probably not going to bother with that, and just pay attention instead. From there you should be able to prune off a couple of colors/shards, and be able to identify one or two of your strongest piles. Hopefully your stronger shard contains your strongest monocolor too. The three biggest things to look for are bombs, removal, and evasion. Usually Sealed Decks come down to who has the better bomb and who's comes down first, so if it comes down to two somewhat even options, if one's more consistent/has a better curve, but the other one's bombs are bombier, I'd tend to go with the bombs.

Here's the official page: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/TCG/Events.aspx?x=mtgcom/events/prerelease-facts

[Godder]

Pre-releases are heavily subsidised by Wizards in terms of product - it's not free, but it's very cheap. It's the aim to draw in new players, and one way of doing that is to have lots of prizes all the way down so that people get good value for money when compared to straight retail prices, and they get to play with the new cards and have a really good time as well.

[LordHomerCat]

Honestly, for logistic questions (price, prizes, etc.) you should check your local store / location.  It's different everywhere.  For instance, in Columbus they have 32 person flights which pay to top 8 or a main event that pays out to top 8 as well (with higher prizes), plus drafts and 2HG.  Other places only have flights or one big sealed, etc.  You should check your local spot to see what they offer.

On rules, you still have to follow the rules but the REL will be as low as possible.  Also, for building, its usually pretty casual, so I've never had a problem doing some chatting with people (esp. if you are just playing at a small store) so you could probably help round out his deck.  The "change your deck between rounds" rules is NOT always there, you should ask the TO beforehand so you aren't just blatantly cheating (some places will let you change your maindeck between rounds and not have to return it to what you registered).

Again, the best place for this information is at your local store or wherever it is you plan to play.

On play advice, you probably dont want to be more than 3 colors, and probably right at 3 from the spoiler.  Rate removal extremely highly, along with insane bomb creatures (sealed is usually pretty slow so if you open a Hellkite Overlord, you probably will want to try and play it).  I would play 16-18 land depending on your curve and mana fixing, and try to run at least 16+ creatures (that's just an estimate, I don't know how this format will shake out as they are all a little different).  When in doubt, go with a so-so creature over a so-so spell (removal != so-so).  Consider choosing to draw first if you win the roll (this format looks like it will lead to some shaky manabases, so this might be extra important).  Otherwise, just have fun and enjoy yourself.  I would plan on reading the spoiler and focusing heavily on combat tricks and flash creatures so I know what to play around, but you may not be that serious, and there's nothing wrong with that.  Good Luck.

[Nefarias]

(some places will let you change your maindeck between rounds and not have to return it to what you registered)

There's another regional difference. I have never once had to register a sealed deck in a Prerelease or Release event, and I've been to probably 6 Prereleases and 3 release events, from three different TO's.

[LordHomerCat]

(some places will let you change your maindeck between rounds and not have to return it to what you registered)

There's another regional difference. I have never once had to register a sealed deck in a Prerelease or Release event, and I've been to probably 6 Prereleases and 3 release events, from three different TO's.

In Ohio I attended a lot of them until I moved, and in playing flights I almost always had to register both a card pool and a decklist (generally passing the cards after reg, like at a PTQ).  I know everywhere does it differently, so if you don't have to Reg then you can probably change your deck without penalty between rounds.  I've not been to prereleases anywhere else, altho Release stuff at the local store I went to in Dayton did not have registration usually.

[Matt]

I've had to register at both Release events I've been to (Lorwyn and Shadowmoor) but I've never been to a Prerelease so I can't speak to that.