TABLETOP TALES: MY BORN OF THE GODS PRE-RELEASE: "WHITE & GREEN AURA VOLTRON!"

TABLETOP TALES PRESENTS

MY BORN OF THE GODS PRE-RELEASE PT. 1

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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 the Theros 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

It cost $25-$30 bucks to signs up and, for that fee, each player received 6 boosters packs, including two Born of the Gods packs, three Theros packs, & a special booster pack for their chosen hero's destiny,-- Lead (White), Outwit (Blue),  Dominate (Black), Conquer (Red), & Thrive (Green)-- and a promo card for your path (which you could use in the event) and with the materials each player was expected to build, with all the lands they need, a minimum 40 card deck. There was six one-on-one matches, each a best of three rounds, and the ranking in these matches landed you more packs (with the top player getting a box) and the Top 20, after those who got more than a pack, recieved a "pity pack". Then, at my event, everyone from the bottom up got to pick a prize from the "swag box". In the end, I think everyone, including my two friends (one of which who has played longer than me and the other was attending his first event), had a good time.

Let's take a look at the new mechanics of Born of the Gods:

INSPIRED- Activates an effect every time the creature card containing the keyword is untapped.

TRIBUTE X- Whenever a creature with Tribute X enters the battlefield, an opponent of the creature's controller's choice may choose to either put X +1/+1 counter on it or, if the "the tribute is not paid", another effect will activate.

To check out the other mechanics features in the Theros block, make sure to check out my article on the Theros pre-release HERE.

The story, this time, has a horde of minotaurs threatening the peoples of Theros and Elspeth rising to the occasion to lead them to victory against the murderous marauders. But all is not as it seems, as Xenagos put the situation in motion so that the victory would result in a riotous celebration and he could use the emotions/spirit of these celebrations to empower his quest to become a god. Achieving his new status as a god, the satyr has rocked the heavens and challenges the other gods for supremacy amongst the worshipers below. Can Elspeth stop Xenagos from pursuing the rest of his plans to achieve his cruel & secret plot?

The will of the gods is slowly turning in my favor because, with this event, I broke my lousy streak and went 3/3. I think I would've gone 4/2 if not for a poor hand I should've mulliganed. While I didn't stress myself out, I still took this event rather seriously to try to place. At the very least, I was in the Top 20 of over 50 combatants. The most interesting part of this pre-release is that I had a fairly interesting pool and could've played anything but red. The best colors I had were white and green, which was my build through the most of the day and that's the subject of this article. The other deck I built for the last round involved abusing two Ordeals of Erebos and lots of discarding.

Let's talk about...

MY BORN OF THE GODS PRE-RELEASE DECK

"WHITE/GREEN AURA VOLTRON!"

I chose white as my pre-release color and found an awesome batch of green creatures in my limited pool. My green pool provided me with three ways to get card advantage through drawing cards and even a way to mill my graveyard back into my deck. Then, my two Sedge Scorpions and a Bow of Nylea gave me a lot of aggressive removal. My white pool brought in some removal but, more importantly, a ton of white creatures, including flyers. But what brought the two colors together were all of the bestow creatures that, thanks to the strong early game, could hit the battlefield as enchantments with pretty good regularity. What sort of scenarios does this deck pull off to help you win the day?

There were several games won by simply pecking away at my opponent's health until I could net a bomb to finish them off, but the best case scenarios involved Bow of Nylea and/or my creatures getting enchanted until they were big enough to just be nearly unstoppable. Nothing quite feels as awesome as swinging a 10/10 trampling flying creature with deathtouch.


Contains 40 Cards

CREATURES

(16 Creatures: 8 Green Creatures, 8 White Creatures)

Deck Contains. 1
Reasons? Here was my favorite rare draw in my pool; he is a pretty solid creature that buffs all your creatures. At minimum he is a 1/1 by himself but, for every other creature and aura you control, Eidolon gets bigger and all the other creatures you control get bigger. So, if you control three creatures he is a 3/3 and they each get +3/+3. That's value. One of the most satisfying experiences was enchanting Eidolon and Nylea's Emissary onto a creature to turn it into a beast. That's the kind of experience I love to have in a pre-release.

Deck Contains. 1
Reasons? Mostly just used this guy to get a 1/2 for 1. I can enchant him later, chump block 1/1s easily, and he is a turn 1 play. Easy peasy.

Deck Contains. 1
Reasons? Worst case scenario he is a 1/1 for 2. But if you even swing him even once, you get value that stacks with Eidolon of Countless Battle. Chump blockers are no joke.

Deck Contains. 1
Reasons? I love Heliod's Emissary. 3/3 for four that taps a creature down when he swings? Pretty sweet. But even better is getting off his enchantment on your big flyer and tapping their only flying creatures down to swing for brutal damage.

Deck Contains. 1
Reasons? Well, he is a 3/2 for three that can get you life sometimes. Not exciting, but a pretty decent creature once you enchant him with pretty much any bestow creature.

Deck Contains. 1
Reasons? Two of these would've been amazing; with so many flying creatures in the format, getting a 4/5 with reach at an affordable cost is no joke. Being able to pump him up to a 8/9? You're practically winning. Enchant him with Nylea's Emissary and you've got an 11/12 with trample that, when killed, leaves a 3/3 trampler behind. That's a pretty good scenario.

Deck Contains. 1
Reasons? Noble Quarry is garbage unless you can bestow him onto a Sedge Scorpion or have a scenario where you're swinging with two fat creatures. If all of their creatures have to block one of them, the other is getting through, and if the blocked creature has deathtouch... all the better.

Deck Contains. 1
Reasons? Arguably better than Heliod's Emissary, this cat can deal some massive damage when enchanted onto a big bruiser or enchanted himself. He has great value, an affordable bestow cost in limited, and I just love getting cards like this in my packs.

Deck Contains. 1
Reasons? A full set of these, in limited, is not something to scoff at. If I had a couple more, my early game would've been brutal, and I would've gotten a ton of value. Some people may scoff at Nyxborn Shieldmate, but I think his bestow cost is low enough that you'll get to enchant him onto something more useful and, if that creature dies, get a 1/2 back on the battlefield. He is certainly better than Favored Hoplite in this style of deck.

Deck Contains. 2
Reasons? Some people might underestimate a 3/1 for three, but he can chump block and kill a lot of stuff. What, of course, puts him over the edge is the cheap bestow that helps boost up on your big beaters. I love the artwork, I love the functionality, and I love getting this guy out turn four or five as an enchantment.

Deck Contains. 1
Reasons? In standard, this guy might be a contender. In limited, it is difficult to get a ton of value out of Scourge of Skola Vale. A 2/2 for three is kind of meh, but trample is that important keyword that makes him rather friendly with auras in this deck. If you manage to chumpblock your creatures and sac them to beef him up, that's pretty good too.

Deck Contains. 2
Reasons? A corner stone of any Theros limited draft or sealed Green strategy is the ridiculous value of Sedge Scorpion. You can, at the very least, block and kill any non-flyer & non-first strike creature in the game. Enchanting him makes him a real formidable force that forces your opponents to choose block this deadly wrecking ball or taking the damage. Those decisions can really trip up your opponents in the long run.

Deck Contains. 1
Reasons? I wish Silent Sentinel was a little better. If his ability was less risky, he would've been a much better bomb in this deck. Still, a 4/6 flyer for 7 isn't awful in this format and what makes him have great value in this deck is that, every time he attacks, I get to return an enchantment from my graveyard to the battlefield. That means I get back one of my bestow creatures every time he attacks and that sorta value is pretty sweet.

Deck Contains. 1
Reasons? Probably my favorite aura target in the deck, you even enchant him with a measley Shieldmate and you've got a 4/5 flyer-- from there it quickly gets out of hand.

NON-CREATURE SPELLS

(8 Non-Creature Spells: 1 Artifact, 1 Green Instant, 1 Green Enchantment, 1 Green Enchantment Artifact, 1 Green Sorcery,1 White Instant, and 2 White Sorceries)

 

Deck Contains. 1
Reasons? This card has crazy value in this format; it makes every attacking creature a pain to block, it can pump up creature, it can take out small flyers and/or turn a flying combat in your favor, it can gain you some life or, and working with Commune with the Gods and against mill decks, puts your graveyard back in your library. That's a lot of value.

Deck Contains. 1
Reasons? This card almost always works because you're going to get one of the around 20 enchantments & creatures in this deck. The only time this card backfires in limited is when you're manascrewed.

Deck Contains. 1
Reasons? Removal. This card allows you to remove just about any non-hexproof creature from the game, after they tap to attack or use an ability, for four mana. This card's only flaw is that it requires your opponent to act, but I won't scoff at paying four mana to destroy my opponent's 6/6 hydra or 3/3 flyer.

Deck Contains. 1
Reasons? With so many flyers in the set, a cheap way to give any creature flying, multiple times, is pretty good. Add in haste to swing hard and fast when you need to and you've got a card that keeps on giving.

Deck Contains. 1
Reasons? Protection from color is indestructibility, hexproof, and evasion vs. a color. This can be used to save a creature or it can be used to get in a swing with your flyer.

 Deck Contains. 1
Reasons? You're basically playing one mana to turn a land into a dual-land and another amna to draw a card. With the various WW cost cards, this comes in handy and stacks with Commune with the Gods and Silent Sentinel.

Deck Contains. 1
Reasons? I love this card. It kills artifacts, it kills enchantments, it kills bestow creatures and, most importantly, it even kills gods. For two mana. It doesn't even just kill them. It deletes them from existence. That's amazing.

Deck Contains. 1
Reasons? With so many flyers in the format, four of the promos being flyers, and flyers just generally being a problem, this card was worth maindecking. I could swap it out against red/green decks and the like, but usually it was useful.

LANDS

(16 Lands: 8 Plains, 8 Forest)

CONTAINS 8

CONTAINS 8
 
IDEAL 1ST HAND?

And that was fun to play.