Sixty-one Magic players had signed up for the first flight of the Judgment prerelease, held in the Ramada Plaza Inn in the mild-mannered town of Edmond, Oklahoma. Yup, I was one of those 61 folks who forked over $25 to see what Judgment was made of.

The Trip
Since I was less than three hours away, I decided to wake up a little early on Saturday morning and take the unremarkable trip to Edmond. Nothing significant happened.

Pre Pre-Release
Arriving at the Inn, I was quickly recruited into a five-player team game. We divided three-two, of course, giving one player two turns to make up the difference. A couple of words to the wise (not just Mr. Gary Wise). First, bring a better deck than I did - namely, a W/R OBC weenie deck. And secondly, do not give a mono-black player two turns. Needless to say, the game lasted about seven minutes and the three of us were quickly subdued.

Registration
The process for registering went fine, it was getting our decks to us that took a while. I don't remember much from what I got, other than the Mystic Enforcer and Haunting Echoes, which would've been nice. So naturally, I get another deck. Here's what it had:

Decklist

White
Ancestor's Chosen
Aven Cloudchaser
Aven Flock
Benevolent Bodyguard
Border Patrol
Confessor
2 Funeral Pyre
Gallantry
Lead Astray
Master Apothecary
Patrol Hound
Phantom Nomad
Pilgrim of Justice
Ray of Revelation
Sacred Rites
Shieldmage Advocate
Silver Seraph
Spirit Cairn

Black
Afflict
Cabal Shrine
Coffin Purge
Earsplitting Rats
Frightcrawler
Grave Consequences
Gravedigger
Infected Vermin
Innocent Blood
Morgue Theft...foil
Overeager Apprentice
Rat's Feast
Screams of the Damned
Treacherous Vampire
Zombie Cannibal

Blue
Aether Burst
Aura Graft
Aven Fisher
Aven Fogbringer
Balshan Griffin
Cephalid Inkshrouder
Cephalid Looter
Escape Artist
2 Grip of Amnesia
Hapless Researcher
2 Immobilizing Ink
Mental Note
Web of Inertia
Wormfang Crab
Wormfang Drake
Wormfang Newt

Red
Acceptable Losses
Bash to Bits
Dwarven Grunt
Dwarven Strike Force
2 Ember Shot
Flame Burst
Flaring Pain
2 Goretusk Firebeast
Infectious Rage
Jeska, Warrior Adept
Liberated Dwarf
Scorching Missile
Swirling Sandstorm
Thermal Blast

Green
Anurid Barkripper
Centaur Rootcaster
Diligent Farmhand
Giant Warthog
Harvester Druid
Ironshell Beetle
Krosan Avenger
Leaf Dancer
Living Wish
Muscle Burst
Nullmage Advocate
Phantom Tiger
Piper's Melody
Simplify
Sudden Strength
Twigwalker
Woodland Druid

Non-Basic Land
Nantuko Monastery
Ravaged Highlands

Gold
Iridescent Angel

Okay, I'm sure that you guys could build a really great deck from this... But I had less than thirty minutes to build it. While the Nantuko Monastery and Living Wish first turned my eyes to green/white, I quickly zeroed in on the Iridescent Angel as the backbone of my deck. If I could get her out, I should (operative word: should) be in great shape. So I went to a white/blue build that looked something like this:

Deckbuild
Benevolent Bodyguard
Confessor
Hapless Researcher
Escape Artist
Patrol Hound
Phantom Nomad
Wormfang Newt
Cephalid Inkshrouder...Mighty fine.
Cephalid Looter
Wormfang Drake
Aven Fisher
Battlewise Aven
Wormfang Crab
Iridescent Angel
Silver Seraph...Way, way too expensive.

Testament of Faith
Aether Burst
Aura Graft
2 Grip of Amnesia...Nice card draw, but nearly worthless counter.

Immobilizing Ink...I never drew it in any match.
Lead Astray
Spirit Cairn...Very Nice

10 Island
8 Plains

As you can see, my skills as a deckbuilder are probably on par with a somewhat deranged Labrador retriever. Still, in the two minutes I had left to test it, the mana came out okay and I seemed to be able to play something nearly every turn. Not a strong recommendation, but good enough for me.

First and Only Flight for Me.

Match One
Opponent: Cale Halley
Deck: U/B with Psychatog
Why is Cale here? To boost his points, he told me later. Well, he won't get many from me.

Game One:
I get out the small fry, like the Hapless Researcher and the like, to quickly administer the slaps. Cale responds by playing 'Tog. I get him down to four life when I make my first and fatal mistake. He attacks with the 'Tog and I let it through. Since I was at seventeen life and he had only two cards in the graveyard, how hard could he really hit me? Well, he had a Cephalid Scout that kept saccing lands and drawing cards until he managed to nail me with seventeen points of damage. Great, just a great way to start the day.

Game Two:
This time, he has no 'tog and I land the Inkshrouder and Crab to do the beats. He frowns and I manage to win the game. To add a little foreshadowing, I think that the Inkshrouder is the cat's meow of Judgment blue creatures... And it works quite well with other cards. More on that later.

Game Three:
While he cannot produce the 'tog, he does have a Crab of his own. So I respond by not drawing any plains - not a strategy Napoleon would be proud of. Cale shows some pity on my be adding another beatstick to the fray and hammers away until my life total is a big, fat zero. Thanks, Cale; I hope you enjoy the fractional points you got from me.

Matches: 0 - 1

Match Two
Opponent: Stephan Guy
Deck Type: Green/White
My glimmer of hope. Stephan is apparently learning Magic to share more experiences with his son James. In other words, I got a shot.

Game One:
Here's where I first pulled the Inkshrouder/Confessor/Spirit Cairn combo, which I predict will sweep Magic like a Paris fashion show. Basically with all three in play, I would discard to Inkie, which would add one life to me (Confessor). Then, I'd tap one plains mana to place a 1/1 token into play (Cairn). Stephan's nice collection of green beasties hit a wall of white tokens, while Inkie breaks through and pecks away until his life total is but a memory.

Game Two:
Mr. Guy's strategy for this contest consists of not drawing any real threats. So I respond by launching the Aven air force (Fisher and Battlewise) and begin whacking away. Stephan does land a green fattie or two to make me sweat, but it's not enough to stop his life total from plummeting to zero.

Matches 1 - 1

I remind Stephan that he can still play after going 0 - 2, even if he's out of the prize running. After all, he's here to learn the game. Of course, he may change his tune if he loses too many points, but that hasn't stopped me yet.

Match Three
Opponent: Conner"I've played for six years" Burks
Deck Type: U/W, similar to mine.
Did you know? He's played for six years, and his dad is playing another match just behind him. Did I miss the memo on it being Father's Day at Judgment Prerelease?

Game One:
Conner shows me"what fer"* by playing Nomad Decoy: The Tapper Sensation. He taps my Testament of Faith, then proceeds to bash away with flying critters for the victory.

Game Two:
Conner, meet Inkie. Conner seems pretty cool with the concept of Inkie until he realizes that it's an unblockable and untargetable creature. Conner's chances look pretty grim until he plays his big rare card: Wormfang Manta. A 6/1 beastie that looks and sounds pretty impressive, until he has to skip his next turn. So I smack him down to four when I, being so cool, use my Aether Burst to bounce his Manta at the beginning of his next turn. Conner decides to scoop.

Game Three:
I manage to get the Spirit Cairn out, but he's controlling the board with his Battlewise Aven... Until I cast Iridescent Angel. At this point, the game is basically over with. Still, this game goes to the wire as I just manage to punch through with enough damage for the win. He extends his hand, I take it, and shake with authority. After all, I've been playing Magic for one year.

Matches: 2 - 1

If I win my next match, six booster packs of Judgment are mine. If I lose, well... I lose.

Match Four:
Opponent: Adrian Reyes
Deck Type: G/U/W
He happens to be pretty good. Why, when everything is on the line do I get an opponent who is pretty good?!

Game One:
I first thought that Adrian's deck looked too janky. I mean, going with three mana sources is fairly tough without any non-basic or dual lands. Still, he makes it look easy by quickly getting out a Nullmage Advocate (very nice) and a Ironshell Beetle, which seems to be the most popular creature here. However, I managed to get a Looter out and started drawing cards like a wild man. My Spirit Cairn got eliminated fairly quickly (next time, I'm going to read what the Advocate does before I cast a Spirit Cairn) and with my inability to find the Angel, Silver Seraph (I actually had enough mana to cast this beast), or Inkie, I quickly succumb.

Game Two:
Knowing that he's ten times better than me, I surprise him by mulliganing to six. I enhance my strategy by keeping a two-land hand, then not drawing any more until my life total is at one. I quickly concede and tell my opponent that I would have liked to cast my Iridescent Angel. He laughs and tells me that he was going to cast his Angel on the next turn. Needless to say, I didn't laugh with him. Anyway, while Adrian isn't very happy about the way he won (via manascrew), he will get six booster packs of Judgment to ease his pain.

Final Result
Matches: 2 - 2

Other interesting tidbits
During registration, one of the players sitting near me complained about how few people showed up for the prerelease. He basically said that,"This is the last time one of these is held in Edmond." I didn't have the heart to show him a flyer for the Onslaught Prerelease, which will be held in September, which includes Edmond as one of the sites.

The kind folks of Aussiefox, who sponsor the event, have a carnival game-like barrel titled"Drop a Buck, Win a Rare." Which, translated means,"Spend a buck for every crap Rare or long-lost common card you can pull from the bucket, with a 1-in-10,000 chance to win a Judgment box." After four bucks, I got a Last Stand card to go along with the three I can't trade. Somewhere, sitting in his new car, is the guy who dreamed this up and he's thinking,"Hmmm, now I can afford a new Summer Home!"

Aftermath
I decided to forgo another flight and instead go home via the historic Route 66 highway through Tulsa, Oklahoma. While I've traveled on the highway many times, this was the first time I had done so from Edmond. Nothing like zipping through cattle country with the wind in my bald spot after spending five hours staring at new cards. I visit my friend Lance and his better half and we proceed to watch, then tear down the Nicole Kidman yawner,"The Others." Lesson for today: Never sit in the same room with Lance and I while watching a movie.

Prediction
Cephalid Inkshrouder is one fun, fun card. Many a deck should be built around this one.

Okay, so I'm not much on predicting things.

Ken McElhaney

* -"Give 'em what fer, Davy": What Davy Crockett's buddy said to Davy in that Disney classic"Davy Crockett," when eight million Mexicans were storming the Alamo. Needless to say, it didn't help Davy all that much.

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