Official Prerelease Thread (Planar Chaos)

[andrewpate]

I thought I'd make a thread to discuss any revelations or interesting experiences at the PC prerelease.  I played in only one flight because I had to get back to campus for a party, but I thought I'd throw this up:

I went 4-0 (8-1) with this deck:

10 Mountain
7 Island
1 Thick-Skinned Goblin
1 Drifter il -Dal
2 Stingscourger
1 Cancel
1 Dead // Gone
1 Errant Ephemeron
1 Venarian Glimmer
1 Goblin Skycutter
1 Prodigal Pyromancer
1 Jodah's Avenger
1 Riftwing Cloudskate
1 Chronozoa
1 Orish Cannonade
1 Keldon Marauders
1 Mystical Teachings
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Blood Knight
1 Shaper Parasite
1 Pyrohemia
1 Clockspinning
1 Brine Elemental
1 Akroma, Angel of Fury

So yeah, I opened a lot of bombs.  Teferi + Mystical Teachings is just as good as it was last month, and Chronozoa is as good as you thought it would be (probably better).  Still, I'll attempt to offer some thoughts on the format.

Red is king.  Red got a ton of great cards, including probably the best new uncommon (Pyrohemia) and one of the best new commons (Dead // Gone).  Blood Knight is a fantastic two-drop, and the great removal from TS, such as Sudden Shock, Lightning Axe, and Sulfurous Blast, is just as good as it has been.  The removal-heavy B/R decks I (and many others) liked drafting anyway have improved greatly with the addition of these great new red cards.  And that's not even to mention the rares; Magus of the Arena is hideous, and the new Akroma is almost unblockable thanks to her protection from most of the relevant flyers such as Castle Raptors and Errant Ephemeron.

On the whole, I found the format quite novel.  I'm not sure how long the interest of red fear creatures and green flyers will last, but for now it's kind of fun and different.  I'd recommend checking it out if anyone missed the prerelease itself.

Also, I'd just like to let everyone know:  the packs I won contained jank until the last pack, which had a foil Damnation in it.  Victory is mine.

[+t]

I went 0-2 drop.    

I was way to depressed to actually play in another flight.  I got three White rares (Pentrarch Paladin, Akroma, Dusk Elemental) and went WR (I also had the Red Pestilence).  Unfortunately, all of my other white cards sucked, and I never drew any of my red removal, and I lost both die rolls.  Despite my ridiculious White rares, I definetly shouldn't have run white. 

Oh well.  I completly recouped my Sealed $$$ by selling my pool to a dealer.  I picked up this at the pre-release:

1 English Drain
1 Foil MM Brainstorm
1 Chris Rush signed Dark Tormod's Crypt
1 Volcanic Island

All in all, it was an allright time.  I read tons of Catullus while waiting in between rounds!

[Anusien]

At our PR, we almost ran out of Mountains (at least without breaking into the next day's land stash), and Plains weren't far behind.  I saw the Rescue bear being used with the Soul Warden for huge life gain or as a riduculous storm booster.  The highlight was either managinging three flights at once or getting to run around 2HG taking some weird judge calls and watching for slow play, since that was very interesting.

[andrewpate]

The same thing happened to us.  The shortage of Mountains was extremely pronounced, and while I did not see every deck, I did not notice anyone in my flight who was not playing at least some red.  The card quality in that color is just too good to pass up.

Did anyone see Stuffy Doll + Shivan Meteor go off?  I saw both cards but never in the same pool, unfortunately.  The illest thing I saw was a guy with 2xSaltfield Recluse (tap to give -2/-0) and a Magus of the Arena all in play at once.  It got really out of hand.  A buddy of mine also turned all of his lands into Godless Shrines with Celestial Dawn followed by Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth.

[The M.E.T.H.O.D]

I used the bear + suspened riftbolt to grape shot my opponent for the last 9 pts of damage!

and U/R is officially the strongest archtype in limited booster draft and u/r/w being the best sealed combination

[Anusien]

Anyone see a flight with 3+ Damnation in it?

[forests failed you]

I saw a deck with two Damnations in it.  A friend of mine got blown out by it.  The guy Damnations away a Penumbral Spider and a bear.  And then my friend untaps and plays three more guys, and his opponent untaps and Damnations them all away.  Beatings.

[freakish777]

Did anyone see Stuffy Doll + Shivan Meteor go off? 

I want to open/draft Stuffy Doll + Volcano Hellion next time I play limited.

[forests failed you]

I didn't see anything thing that insane.

Although in a few games I got to hit turn four Argothean Wurm, Turn five Pestilence. GG

[andrewpate]

Yeah, I had one guy Suspend turn 1 Keldon Halberdier on the play, then cast Mogg War Marshal the turn before it resolved.  I peeled my 5th land, dropped Pyrohemia, and passed.  Upkeep, let Halberdier resolve, activate for 1 and kill both Goblins and the Halberdier.  Untap (I control only Shaper Parasite and an unsplit Chronozoa), activate for 2, killing his other two guys (Urborg Syphon-Mage and some other X/2), attack.  Pretty nuts.  I consider Pyrohemia to be one of the best cards in the format and almost always enough to make me run the necessarily heavy red if I open it in my Sealed pool.

[forests failed you]

I would rate Pyrohemia as one of my top picks in the format right now.

The only card I would even consider taking over it would be Damnation.

Pyrohemia gives you really really big reach.

[freakish777]

Yeah, I randomly got destroyed by Pyrohemia as well.

I drafted something like:

4 Melancholy
2 Dismal Failure
2 Erratic Mutation
2 Deadly Grub
2 Black tappers
2 Dash Hopes
2 Cradle to Grave
2 Waning Wurm
4 Bog Serpent (beefy blockers)
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawg (and they swing if I draw this)

so I figured I'd be wrecking any aggressive strategy.  My first round opponent, in games 2 and 3 I mulligan once, and he draws Pyrohemia both games with a Melancholy out on his Red Arrogant Wurm, I can't find the Erratic Mutation to try and kill it before he eats my life total with the Pyrohemia. 

Seriously, Pyrohemia is about as first pick as it gets in red.

[Godder]

I didn't get to play because I had work, but one of my friends who played Saga Limited(!) neglected to maindeck his Pyrohemia (for anyone who doesn't know anything about Saga Limited, Pestilence was common, and absolutely nuts).