TABLETOP TALES PRESENTS
MY RETURN TO RAVNICA PRE-RELEASE
To check out my other decks, hit the link below:
This
article serves two purposes: To share the nerd entertainment around
with anyone who might find it interesting and, in this case, to share my experiences with my third pre-release.
You
can find Magic Cards in super stores (Ex. Walmart, Target) but the best
place you can buy your cards, meet other players, and play in events is
at your local comic book store or hobby shop. I buy most of my cards at
The Comic Cellar.
Here is a link to its Google Maps location at 3620 Austin Peay Highway #2 Memphis, TN 38128.
And here is a link to Comic Cellar's Website
I
took part in the Return to Ravnica pre-release on September 30th, 2012, at The Comic Cellar.
It cost me $25 bucks to signs up and, for that fee, each player recieved 6 boosters packs, including a special booster pack for a chosen guild-- including Selesnya (Green-White), Rakdos (Black-Red), Azorius (White-Blue), Izzet (Blue-Red), and Golgari (Black-Green) (symbols pictured above)-- a promo card for your guild (which you could use in the event) and with the materials each player was expected to build, with all the lands they needed, a 40 card deck. They were 6 one-on-one matches, each a best of three rounds, and a ranking (the top 16 get increasingly more packs until you get to 1st place which gets a whole box of packs). Each player also received a "pity" pack at the end of the day. All together, the event was well worth the admission fee, and a blast that began at 10 AM and went to 5:30 PM.
We also got a life dice unique to our guild, a sticker of our guild symbol, a letter from our guild leader, and an achievement card (pictured above).
Return to Ravnica is the new fall set, starting a new trilogy of set releases to happen seasonally in the fall, winter, and spring. This set sees a return to the setting, the massive city plane controlled and fought over by ten guilds, Ravnica. The first card set that took place in Ravnica was introduced in 2005 and was a very popular setting. Ravnica has several minor themes, from the artistic and flavor themes of cities and technology, to a mechanic for each of the guilds.
Some of the cool mechanics and themes to look forward to with Return to Ravnica include special lands (gates and shocklands), multi-color spells, and new mechanic for each guild:
Detain (Azorius, White-Blue) - A mechanically usually targeting a non-land permanent when a creature or enchantment activates it by a mana/tap ability, entering the battlefield or attacking.
(Until your next turn, that permanent can't attack or block and its activated abilities can't be activated.)
Overload (Izzet, Blue-Red)- On instants and sorceries, (
You may cast this spell for its overload cost. If you do, change its text by replacing all instances of "target" with "each".)
Unleash (Rakdos, Red-Black)- On creatures,
(You may have this creature enter the battlefield with a +1/+1
counter on it. It can't block as long as it has a +1/+1 counter on it.)
Scavenge (Golgari, Black-Green)- On creatures,
(X, Exile this card from your graveyard: Put a number of +1/+1 counters
equal to this card's power on target creature. Scavenge only as a
sorcery.)
Populate (Selesnya, Green-White)- On creatures, instants, sorceries, and enchantments,
(Put a token onto the battlefield that's a copy of a creature token you control.)
My
ending record is still even, with another three wins and three losses, and, for the first time, I placed amongst the players. Out of about 40 people, I placed in the top 16 (netting me a prize of two booster packs), and had a lot of fun. I got to play against the guys who ended up in the No. 1 and No. 2 slots. and I
didn't place near the top, but I had a great time. I definitely played to type, as I said I would in the article I wrote before the event (
check it out here) and to discuss that let's look at my...
RETURN TO RAVNICA PRE-RELEASE DECK:
Unlike my first two pre-releases, I had some decent themes to play with, and was able to build one nifty and fast deck. The themes I played with were the Selesnya mechanic populate (though not as much as would've liked), token creatures, potent two and three drops creatures, and a very light bit of smattering of other useful mechanics to get me through.
Also, I went back to playing my bread and butter color combo, green and white, and this helped me succeed against a wider berth of opponents. I really know how to put together a green and white deck and, although I didn't have many stand-out cards, I was able to build something competitive with only three rares.
In the end, I more or less built the sort of deck I wanted, and am pleased with results. Keep reading to see what I pulled together and what I learned.
