I'm what some would call a semi-casual player. Although I do want to get into the tournament scene, I always end up with bad results due to actually playing for fun.

However, there are a few formats that my attitude lends itself to - and Prereleases are my favorite. It's a casual scene, people are most eager to have fun - but it is still a tournament, and as such it does test my deck-building skills. So, eager to play, I trundled along to the local prerelease, an hour's drive away. I nabbed a lift with my mum (not yet having my driver's license) and took my friend along, meeting my two brothers there. We chatted, oohed and aahed at the new foils, and then there was an unexpected bonus quiz: What is Ambition's Cost's cost? I immediately piped up"Three plus a black" and won an oversized Cost for my efforts. Woot!

Then came the actual tournament. Six boosters? Huh... Okay. I open my first pack, and my face falls as I see the rare card. I'm sorry - it may be removal, but Murderous Betrayal is just bad. The next pack yields a foiled Elvish Piper - nice! Opening up my other packs, I immediately see that B/R is my best combination. However, I have to have a splash for depth reasons - no problem, I've heard that Master Healer and Razorfoot Griffin are both splashable and good enough to be splashed, plus I have some rather good white sideboard cards. Unfortunately, splashing at all leaves my Grave Pact unplayable - this is the one choice people questioned in my deck, feeling that it's better than Urza's Armor. Ah well.

Here's the deck I played:

1 Urza's Armor
1 Master Healer
2 Razorfoot Griffin
1 Lava Axe
2 Sudden Impact
1 Ogre Taskmaster
1 Panic Attack
2 Sabretooth Tiger
1 Goblin Raider
2 Volcanic Hammer
2 Shock (One foiled - it's so very purty.)
1 Gravedigger
2 Nekrataal
1 Dark Banishing
1 Spineless Thug
1 Unholy Strength
3 Plains
8 Mountain
7 Swamp

Notable sideboard cards:
1 Demystify
1 Circle of Protection: Blue
2 Circle of Protection: Green

Now, it's fairly obvious that that's a pretty darn good deck. Two Shocks, two Volcanic Hammers, two Nekrataals and a Dark Banishing are absolute removal, plus I have an unhealthy number of first strikers. My game plan was relatively simple - beat down fast, using burn mostly to kill blockers, and use my first strikers mostly as an extremely effective deterrent to attacking. The only times I would attack with a first striker, I decided early on, was when there was a) no good reason not to (namely, no creature I particularly wanted to block with it) or b) if I had a trick that would put the deal in my favor.

Round 1: Stefan Harvey playing W/U/G
First game is a close, raced game. He spends his time beating in the air with Aven Fisher and Air Elemental, while I spend my time flying with Razorfoot Griffin that gets killed. I'm forced to burn him as he beats in the air, my groundpounders staring helplessly into his defenses. A Sudden Impact hits him for seven, thanks to his Howling Mine, and I draw into a Panic Attack to swing for game the turn before he kills me.

Second game is just as close. I beat in healthy, four-life chunks with two Razorfoot Griffin, aided by a Sudden Impact for six, as he smashes with Air Elemental and Aven Fisher. A pair of Volcanic Hammers finishes him off.

Record: 1-0, 2-0

Round 2: Glyn Forster playing W/G/B
First game: Impact for four and Goblin Raider do me no good against a smashing Craw Wurm, which kills me basically by itself. (His two Master Decoys give a bit of help, though.)

Second game is even more one-sided: Sabretooth Tiger beats, aided by his twin, until I get him into Lava Axe range. He doesn't even scratch me.

Third game, I have no answer to his Craw Wurm enchanted with Lure, and his Angel of Mercy beats me down.

Thankfully, this deck - even more insane than mine - ends up easily winning, going 6-0 over the course of the day.

Record: 1-1, 3-2

Round 3: Greg Skinner playing W/U/R
Great. I'm matched against one of the four people I know at the event.

First game is silly. Tundra Wolves beats me for three total as I smash his face in with Razorfoot Griffins, Sabretooth Tigers, and Spineless Thugs. To be fair to him, he was red-screwed.

Second game is painful. I take nine hits from Shock Troops and some more from random beaters, but my Urza's Armor protects me for a long time. Eventually, Karma hits and I die, as I have about five swamps out at this point.

Third game I randomly sideboard out of black and white and into red. Some Grizzly Bears beatdown later, I start swinging with Foratog as well. Before long, he miscalculates, and the Foratog turns out to be exactly lethal. His Karma, obviously, does nothing.

Record: 2-1, 5-3

Round 4: Mark Hills playing G/R
Game one: Alpha strikes do nothing against a deck packing several first strikers, some instant-speed burn, and Master Healer. I win narrowly, as he miscalculates combat and leaves me at one and in a position to kill him next turn.

Game two: Spineless Thug beats, joined with a Nekrataal when he tries to make a blocker. Easy as anything at all.

Record: 3-1, 7-3

I took this opportunity to go out for lunch, visiting the Subway a minute down the road. One foot-long meatball goodness later, I was ready for round 5.

Round 5: George Forster playing G/R/W
First game, he only plays one land. This allows me to beat him down, aided by a Sudden Impact for eight(!). Turn out afterward he kept a one-forest hand with a Rampant Growth, a Vine Trellis, and two Volcanic Hammers. Just bad luck on his part, I guess.

Second game, he's got no access to green mana, and only lays three land. Spineless Thug beats, joined by a Nekrataal, soon win me the game when assisted by some burn. He dealt me no damage over the entire match thanks to bad manascrew.

Record: 4-1, 9-3

Round 6: Ryan Talbot, playing G/x
First game, he beats me to two total, using Elvish Pioneer and Birds of Paradise. Of course, these are assisted by Giant Growth, Monstrous Growth, and Might of Oaks. Despite this savage beating, I win with an Unholy Strength-enchanted Goblin Raider.

I'm forced to mulligan in the second, and keep the next against my better judgement. I get him to ten with Goblin Raider and Sudden Impact, but the sad fact is that Goblin Raider and my drawn-into Ogre Taskmaster don't make good blockers.

Last game, I've decided to have a laugh. I keep a one-land hand while he mulligans (although if I'd known he'd mulligan, I wouldn't have) and I don't draw another. Needless to say, I lose that game. He took a long time to kill me - around twelve turns.

Final record: 4-2, 10-5

All in all, I'm happy with my results; whilst not exactly brilliant, it's pretty good. Prizes went to the top 16, with my brother coming in 16^th, and I got four boosters for my trouble, coming in 6^th. Turns out that, had I mulliganed and won the last game (I should have mulliganed, and he said his hand was very dodgy, so I probably would have won) then I would have won an extra eight packs for coming in second. Even still, I'm happy.

I probably should have run Grave Pact instead of Urza's Armor, but I'd have regretted the decision. Why? Well, the Grave Pact, despite the mana requirements, is insane, and probably better than the Armor. However, I only drew the Armor once, and it was far more useful than the Pact would have been in its place.

No question at all: Nekrataal was my MVP for the day. It was just insane, normally providing almost three-for-one card advantage, or just winning me the game.

The obligatory props:

• My brother Tom, for driving me and Greg home afterwards.
• Shingnien Fong, for deciding that helping out with judging would be better than playing.
• Tu N'Guyen for trading me the cards I need for Block (I can't use the net, so ordering from StarCityGames.com is out of the question - boo!)
• Sudden Impact, for dealing twenty-four damage out of four castings.
• Whoever decided Nekrataal should return.

Slops:

• Nostalgia and Comics, for having to close at six, thus preventing one of the old-stuff sealed tournaments, and not having enough time for a lunch break.