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Dear Wizards of the Coast:
Can we have prereleases every week?
Please/Thanks,
Jose"Random Puerto Rican" Pabon
After winning the Invasion and Planeshift Prereleases, I had joked to my friends down here I was going to make it three for three. After opening my deck and learning that I would have to play it, however, I was not so optimistic.
Obviously, if you read the header you know I've won, so I'll try to keep this narrative about the journey through the swiss and the Top Eight with a mediocre deck as brief (and hopefully entertaining) as possible.
I - Obligatory Longwinded Report Prelude.
My aforementioned optimism was heightened by having won a draft a couple of nights before the prerelease, which featured the best players in our area.
I mean no disrespect by this. However, the fact is that (excluding the Nationals Qualifier Tournament, where the Top Eight consisted of, insofar as I could tell, absolutely nobody who had ever been in a Top Eight before), our draft group includes the winner of every tournament held here in PR for the past year or so.
Side note to anyone reading this in our area: We've been desperately seeking money drafts for some time. Here's your chance to prove me wrong. *Shrug*
So anyways, we head on up to the site, and we arrive in high spirits, blah blah etc. Apocalypse seems to have many rather useful rares, the least of which are those new dual lands.
Not long after we arrive at the site, I notice some small pastries, sandwiches, and Orange Juice being prepared for our consumption. I'll take this moment to thank Fran, Joe, and the transparent Pedro — i.e., the judging crew — for including a breakfast and a lunch in our Prerelease Package. Pizza and sandwiches are some of the best beats ever. I wasn't feeling all that hungry, so I only had eight or so slices of 'za.
When I perused the Apocalypse spoiler, some of the commons stood out as overpowering. With that in mind, I hoped for either mad flagbearers, Consume Strengths, or some of the amazing blue red cards (Quicksilver Dagger, Razorfin Hunter).
Okay, so I get my product, open it, and register it. As soon as I'm done registering I get the sinking feeling that the Judges are going to make us play with these decks. Sadly enough, this is the case. Here are the cards I got, in no particular order:
Dragon Arch
Treefolk Healer
Quirion Trailblazer
Bog Gnarr
Urborg Elf
Symbiotic Deployment
Stand and Deliver
Irrigation Ditch
Nightscape Apprentice
Urborg Skeleton
Bog Initiate
Tainted Well
Scavenged Weaponry
Foul Presence
Mournful Zombie
Mind Extraction
Quicksilver Dagger
Squee's Revenge
2 Putrid Warrior
1 Death Grasp
Dega Disciple
Armadillo Cloak
Coalition Honor Guard
Enlistment Officer
Razorfoot Griffin
Manacles of Decay
Liberate
Orim's Touch
Holy Day
Capashen Unicorn
Strength of Unity
Samite Ministration
Shield of Duty and Reason
Divine Light
Worldly Counsel
Breaking Wave
Jaded Response
Index
Cetavolver
Reef Shaman
Shimmering Mirage
Jilt
Artifact Mutation
Dueling Grounds
Yavimaya Kavu
Cinder Shade
Galina's Knight
Frenzied Tilling
Shivan Harvest
Crown of Flames
Hooded Kavu
Turf Wound
Raka Disciple
Bloodfire Kavu
Dwarven Landslide
Dwarven Patrol
Minotaur Tactician
Kavu Glider
Zap
Ancient Kavu
Tahngarth's Glare
2 Urborg Uprising
2 Coastal Drake
Sky Weaver
Vodalian Zombie
Might Weaver
Evasive Action
Phyrexian Reaper
Dream Thrush
Exclude
Faerie Squadron
Probe
Savage Gorilla
Nomadic Elf
Glade Gnarr
Aggressive Urge
Serpentine Kavu
Kavu Climber
Duskwalker
Reckless Spite
Agonizing Demise
2 Gaea's Skyfolk
Death Mutation
Aether Mutation
Recoil
Consume Strength
2 Llanowar Dead
By no means are these the worst cards I could have gotten, but they are definitely not one of the dream decks I had in mind. I was the first to admit to anyone who would listen that for the previous prereleases I got handed some good decks. My Invasion Prerelease deck had enough removal to stall the game until I could play Crosis and just win, and my Planeshift Prerelease deck had some of the same removal with a Terminate and two Magma Bursts added. With both of those decks, I felt my card quality, obviously combined with good playing and construction, would propel me to victory — and it did. As long as I drew mana and didn't made any horrendous mistakes, Magma Bursts and Dragon Legends have a tendency to win games.
In my opinion, this wasn't the same situation with this pool of Apocalypse cards. While I had plenty of normally good stuff to work with, nothing struck me as truly outstanding. In the end, I opted to play the following:
6 Island
6 Swamp
6 Forest
("Sealed deck" mana ratio, i.e. 6:6:6, usually sucks, as we all know... But honestly, after counting how many of each card I had, I realized that I was almost evenly spread out and also I didn't have that many double mana of the same kind casting cost {Spite and Squadron}, so it made sense... To me, anyways)
2 Gaea's Skyfolk (These, along with the next set of bears, were really the early game MVP's; 2/2 flying for two mana is rather swell. One was foil, which served to differentiate her from her sister)
2 Llanowar Dead (These also get co-MVP honors. Aside from being a perfectly acceptable 2/2 for two drop, their"Tap to add B" ability was surprisingly good, speeding my fat guys/spells on to the table much more quickly. I played, and won, a lot of mind games with these, as they would be forgotten as land/Fellwar stones by unsuspecting opponents.)
Nomadic Elf (his color fixing ability is SO good. I'm going to start first picking him in drafts.... Maybe.)
Exclude (I needed this badly, since I was very low on creature elimination.)
Probe (funny story forthcoming about this card)
Coastal Drake (his brother was sided in occasionally against U/W flying beats.)
Savage Gorilla (I had the right colors to activate this 3/3's"Target creature gets -3/-3, Draw a card" ability, so this made him HUGE. He could take down a 6/6 as a cantrip!)
Glade Gnarr (This is a 4/4 for 5G and was much better than I expected him to be. The one color casting cost made him very easy to cast as soon as I hit six mana, and his ability"+2 +2 until end of turn whenever anyone plays a blue spell" came in very handy, making many opponents misplay or just making him beat harder.)
Aggressive Urge (A solid, if unappreciated, combat cantrip trick.)
Kavu Climber (Okay by itself, a ccccombo with Coastal"Return target Kavu to
Owner's Hand" Drake.)
Duskwalker (Solid; his fear ability usually makes him unblockable)
Urborg Uprising (This card is basically a Recover for two creatures for two more mana. Quite strong at the right time, but I felt, and still do, that two of them maindeck would lead to them sitting in my hand while I needed a warm body. I did side in the second one versus some matchups where I could afford to wait and fill up my graveyard and then do nothing but tap five mana main phase. This is definitely not the card you want to be forced to cast while being beat down, but it sure is a great turn 15 topdeck.)
Reckless Spite (Thank you, God, for some removal.)
Agonizing Demise (Ditto)
Consume Strength (It might be crap in Constructed, but in Limited it killed two creatures just about every time I used it, and sometimes they were even enchanted for more card/time advantage.)
Recoil (Tried and True)
Aether Mutation (This says"Unsummon target creature, get X 1/1 Saprolings where X = that creature's casting cost". Given that I had so little removal, this was a no-brainer.)
Death Mutation (Same as above, but instead of unsummoning it kills a target nonblack creature at the rather hefty casting cost of 6BG. Not once did I die holding it in my hand, but more than once this was the finishing blow on my opponent's army.)
Relevant Sideboard Cards:
Might/Hate Weaver (These two drops would come in against aggro decks.)
Evasive Action (Even though this could be like Miscalculation or Mana Leak, I chose never to side it in.)
In my humble opinion, the deck performed even better than it looks on paper. Rarely did I find myself played out with an empty hand. More often, I would wear down or spend my opponent's hand instead, either with some of my card advantage tricks (Urge, Consume, Exclude, Probe) or sometimes just fat 3/3s and 4/4s.
II – The Swiss Rounds.
I tried to take notes — but like always, I've forgotten more than I remember. I apologize for this, both to any reader and all of my opponents. In fact, while collecting my thoughts for writing this report I could not for the life of me remember my first-round opponent. There's a very good reason for this, since it was:
Round 1: vs. Bye
I would have much rather played, since I was very anxious to start playing. I really had no idea how well, or poorly, my deck would perform. Like I said before, on paper it didn't look all that strong... At least not to me.
Matches : 1-0, Games: 2-0
Round 2: vs Jean C.
Jean is a nice guy who drove up in the same group with me. He's a friend of a good friend, Saul, so we were very unhappy to be paired, especially so early in the swiss. Thus, with a little lamentation, we start.
Game 1: Jean plays well but his draw isn't very optimal. He has, if I remember correctly, many one and two toughness guys, which really are slim pickings for my tricks and fat.
Game 2: This game his draw was much better, and for a while we mirrored each other's moves rather comically, as in:
"I attack with my Llanowar Dead."
"Okay, I block with my Llanowar Dead."
"Okay, Aggressive Urge on mine."
"Okay, Aggressive Urge on mine. Whee!"
He also had Gaea's Skyfolk, so we had some more bumping of heads in the skies as well. I think eventually I just Urborg Uprisinged back my two best beats, and that was enough to take me all the way. I really hate to play friends so early.
Matches: 2-0, Games: 4-0.
Round 3: vs. Milton
Milton is our local pro, and he had the honor of sharing Mike Long's record at PT Barcelona. (Mr. Long had all of zero points at PT Barcelona, by the way.)
Milton is one of my closest friends on the Magic scene, and will probably be one of my teammates for PT: NY; our name will probably be"Team Pseudo," which comes from the time when Milton kept asking me what I meant when I had said we were"pseudo-teammates" on a previous tourney report.
So, once again, it sucks to be paired with a friend early in the swiss. I would have ID'd, as I always do / will with close friends unless it knocks us both out of contention, which it wouldn't. In the past, such as the Invasion Prerelease, Milton had ID'd with me happily. This time he wanted to play. Gotta wonder if it had something to do with his amazing.dec he had (a bunch of good R/B cards topped off with the amazing Keldon Necropolis).
Game 1: We trade cards and hits for a little while, then I probe with kicker. That was pretty much game. Sorry, I just don't remember the details.
Game 2: This game was close, even though I kept a six-land hand. I figured I would have the advantage of playing everything I drew, which I did, but it wasn't enough. I misplayed near the end, although I'm not sure it mattered. He had his Necropolis out, and I was at three life. I was racing him in the skies but he still had two bears and Hill Giants beating me down. My mistake was to bounce his Ancient Kavu with my Coastal Drake during my turn while he was tapped out. I know what I was thinking; better to get it now than to let him untap and fling in response. Of course, having tapped my Drake during my turn left me one blocker less, so he beat, used the Necropolis, and won. I was very disappointed by mistake but, alas, c'est la vie. I hope I learned from it.
Game 3: I ask how much time is left and I'm told there is ten minutes left. Milton had sleeved up before our first game, which took about five to ten minutes off our match. Still, I think there's enough time for us to finish our game. We start trading hits and his cards are just generally all-around better than mine (his Tribal Flames removes my guy at two mana, my Demise does it at four; he gets a 3/3 for four, I get one for five, etc). Eventually I Probe with kicker, leaving him with two lands in hand (but one is the Necropolis, unfortunately). I draw my two cards and consider for a long time what to discard, since it is so important, and I had a bunch of cards and lands open.
At some point time is called and, although I'm gaining control of the board, Milton still has beats on the table and a Necropolis. In the end, I'm able to hold on for the draw. I thought the game would have been mine if I had enough turns to play out my cards, but it turns out the Necropolis and other burn might have gotten me first. So, as originally intended between friends, we draw.
Matches: 2-0-1, Games 5-1-1
Now, for all of you attentive readers, you may have noticed that I said I drew two cards off my Probe. Later, while replaying the games in mind and castigating myself for my mistake, I came to a rather funny realization: I was playing Probe wrong! I was drawing two and discarding two, instead of three and two! Who does that? I guess in my mind, I figured that Probe with kicker is too broken, so I figured I'd errata it for myself. Mise play with a handicap and still win, right?
Round 4: Jose
Jose is a youngish guy whom I've never played before. With my newfound knowledge about Probe, I head into the match with confidence.
Game 1: Jose's deck is pretty darn strong, with Penumbra guys left and right, including the 6/6 one. Eventually, I get enough ground fat that he decides not to attack, which if he had he might have won. I play a couple of Gaea's Skyfolk and fly him down for four a turn. Eventually he starts to send his penumbra guys, but by then he's lost any tempo advantage and a couple of chump blocks and Aether Mutations later we're ready for game 2.
Game 2: Once again, Jose lays some high-quality green and black beef. He also gets the green sanctuary into play, but then keeps playing its ability during his main phase or his attack phase. I beg him to play it during his upkeep;"You know, do it before you draw a card at least?" but he refuses to play well. I figure it will be just better to win quickly and with creatures than to call over a judge, so I do so. Flyers and Urborg risers finish him in time for me to get pizza.
Matches: 3-0-1, Games: 7-1-1
Round 5: Gaddiel
Gaddiel is a nice guy who I have played and seen before plenty of times at these local tournaments. As with most of my opponents on the day, he was a very good sport about…
Game 1: The beatings that I delivered unto him. Gaddiel's (sorry if I'm misspelling your name) cards were okay and he didn't make any mistakes, but it seemed my deck was angry this round and gave me the best card for every situation. Two bears block my hill giant? Okay, Consume Strength, kill your other creature; my giant is 5/5 now, kill both of your bears.
Game 2: More of the same. Turn 2 Llanowar Dead. Turn 3 Demise that. Turn 4 Probe with kicker. Play fat guys, beat. These games weren't all that close. Gaddiel took this with good sportsmanship; he plays well, and I'm sure he has a bright magic future ahead of him.
Matches: 4-0-1, Games 9-1-1.
At this point they cut to top 16. Really, though, it's just Round 6.
Round 6: Pedro
Pedro is another young, nice guy, who comes from the other side of the island to play (Go Cabo Rojo!). This was definitely a friendly match.
Game 1: Once again, my deck answers the call and gives me what.I.need.org. I put out some quality bears, use my spells on would-be blockers or threats, and beat for a quick win.
Game 2: More of the same. Pedro was very gracious in defeat.
Matches 5-0-1, Games 11-1-1.
Quarterfinals: vs. Saul
Saul is another close friend, so we're not very happy about being matched against each other. Saul is a solid player as well, and on top of everything else he opened a Rith, Armadillo Cloak, and all kinds of other good stuff.
Game 1: We trade blows but eventually I wear his hand down with Probe and Urborg Uprising and win.
Game 2: Around turn 7 or so, Rith comes out to play. My plan is to block with a flying bear, and then use Consume Strength. Next turn, he plays Squee's Embrace on it (+2+2 and returns to hand if it dies). Needless to say, I needed a contingency plan. I chumped block as long as I could while looking for one of my Mutations. I even Probed without kicker. I finally ran out of chump blockers about ten turns later, thanks to my two Urborg Uprisings. Spectators applauded my lasting so long. What was my next card? Aether Mutation. There were about seven cards left in my library when I died. 8-(.
Game 3: We again trade early hits with creatures, heads bumping all over the place. Eventually, I have two guys coming over for damage every turn... And then he topdecks a Nomadic Elf. He proceeds to lay an Armadillo Cloak on it and beats. I hold back my Llanowar Dead and send my Serpentine Kavu to get back the four life he had gained. Next turn he lays Squee's Embrace on the Armadillo Cloaked Nomadic Elf. That would have been one huge elf. I responded to the Embrace by saying,"How savage is this?" and proceeded to Reckless Spite my Kavu and his elf. It was the right play, but I still would have preferred not to kill my 4/4. Anyways, it turns out that would be game since he was holding a hand full of blue cards and my elf, along with some Urborg Upraised people, finished him quickly. He had no other blue source aside from the elf. A very tense match; friendly, but veeery close. I was at two life when I won, and he was playing burn.
Matches: 6-0-1, Games: 13-1-1.
Semifinals vs. Guy I've never met.
The guy I played in the semifinals is supposedly the guy who taught Milton and Alex how to play magic"back in the day." He is nice enough, but he seems to have trouble with the ‘rules of Magic,' as in he got in an argument with his last opponent because he didn't announce his upkeep, therefore not allowing his opponent to"port" him with a Dream Thrush before he drew. His argument was"Well, you saw me draw the card, why didn't you say anything?" or something like that.
Game 1: My deck once again went into good.deck.com mode, and gave me all the tools I needed to deal with his beats and win. I remember Mutation tokens coming in for lethal damage.
Game 2: This game was much longer. He beats early, I stabilize. Eventually, he starts playing draw go while I serve with some bear. He's all like,"Well, my run was good while it lasted," which showed me he was intimidated yet had something up his sleeve. I was very mana flooded, so when he asked me,"How many Excludes did you get?" I knew two things:
a) He wanted to bait me out of removal, and
b) He is kind of dumb, since there was only one invasion starter, I can only have one Exclude. (Maybe I can have two if I get a foil Exclude on top of a normal one? I don't know…) (You can, and I have – The Ferrett)
In any case, he plays out a Volver with both kickers, so I have to Exclude it. Next turn he plays his bomb: Spiritmonger. I go for flying beats. Next turn he lays"Soul Link," making the Monger one rather tough regenerating, Soul Linked, reverse Soul Linked, Sengir Vampire-token-getting and color-changing mofo. The only answer I have for this is still in my deck in the form of Aether Mutation, but I can't seem to find it. Instead, miraculously, I chump block for a few turns while finishing with air beats. If you're wondering how I chumped block and still killed him, it involved a lot of combat tricks such as"Block, then before damage is on the stack, I sacrifice my guy to blah blah" or"Block, before damage, bounce with my drake" etc etc. He didn't see these coming, so he was very disappointed when the judge confirmed that since the Spiritmonger didn't have trample (which was the only creature ability it lacked at that moment, along with flying), I wasn't dealing damage nor being dealt damage, so he couldn't gain life.
Matches: 7-0-1, Games: 15-1-1.
Finals: vs. Carlos Colon
Carlos is one of the best players down here, and a good friend to boot. Even when he hardly knew me, he lent me two mint absorbs for a Type II tourney. Carlos came over to congratulate me on winning the semifinal, and then offered a prize split. I immediately accepted, as Carlos has certainly been trustworthy for all the time I've known him.
Game 1: Carlos's deck is rather godly, what with two of great commons like Living Airship and Gaea's Skyfolk. His rares are amazing; he had the"Armored Guardian," who owns hard in Limited.
Alas, this was not much of a game, as we were both stuck on two land for the longest time. My deck, however, coughed up almost all of my two drops. Two Gaea's Skyfolk, Llanowar Dead, and the amazing Nomadic Elf make short work of him, and soon we're on to…
Game 2: This game was an actual game. He starts strong with a Stormscape Apprentice, then two Living Airships, which he could regenerate since he was green as well. I laid some pressure with some Skyfolk, Faerie Squadron, and some ground fat. Then my two Mutations came to play. I had nine 1/1 Saprolings after Aether'ing his airship, then banishing his"superman" (Armored Guardian). Had he been more patient and played the guardian out with mana untapped, this would have been a closer game. As it was, one alpha strike later he was some dead.
Matches: 8-0-1, Games: 17-1-1
Woo hoo! I win. Anyone want to buy two boxes of Apocalypse?
III – Props and Slops (Who still does props and slops?)
P:
My wife and my daughter – Thank you for everything, especially saying"Papa" before"Mama."
Fran, Pedro and Joe – Not only are you guys great judges, you give some of the BEST prize support in the business. Two boxes for the winner seems great to me. Also, I've seen you go out of your way to repeat yourselves for the 10th time to a ten-year-old kid. Kudos.
Milton, Alex, Braulio and Saul – All those drafts / nights of practice sure helped. Good friends, Good Times.
S:
Milton - Who pays money to go scrub out with no points at a PT? C'mon, man.
0pivy(IRC) – Why do you disrespect when you have no clue? I'm sorry you never win anything, but that's no real reason to disbelieve your peers' wins.
Me – For making mistakes that could have cost me matches. Add one to my Bad Player die. And for making this report wwwwaaaay too long. (Have you ever read this guy called"Rizzo," José? – The Ferrett)
José L. Pabón
Jose.L.Pabon@cingular.com
Hoz @ IRC
