TABLETOP TALES: DRAGON'S MAZE PRE-RELEASE! PT. 3 "HOW I COULD'VE HAD A BETTER DAY ONE."

FOR PART 1 CLICK HERE!

TABLETOP TALES PRESENTS

"HINDSIGHT IS 20/20 BUT..."

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ALL OF MY MTG ARTICLES!

This article is all about how I could've performed better on my first day. There will be two sections in the article, each detailing a different set of edits I could've done to the deck (original article here) and my thoughts about how I will apply the methodology behind the edits in my next pre-release.

TABLETOP TALES: DRAGON'S MAZE PRE-RELEASE! PT. 1 "NAYA WAR CHANT!"

TABLETOP TALES PRESENTS

MY DRAGON'S MAZE PRE-RELEASE PT. 1

To check out my other decks, hit the link below:

ALL OF MY MTG ARTICLES!

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 fourth 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 my first of two Dragon's Maze pre-releases on April 27th, 2013, at The Comic Cellar. It cost me $30 ($25 if I had signed up earlier) to sign up and, for that fee, each player recieved 6 boosters packs, including a special booster pack for a chosen guild, as well as a secret guild pack that shares a color with the chosen guild from the other set. For example, if you pick Selesnya, as I did for my first event, I got a Selesnya (Green-White) Return to Ravnica guild booster and my options for a secret guild were from the second set, Gatecrash, and could have been Orzhov (Black-White), Boros (White-Red), Gruul (Red-Green), or Simic (Green-Blue). I ended up with Gruul in my pool. With these packs I had to build a forty card deck (no less than forty cards), with as many basic lands provides as I needed, and then try to win my 5 one-on-one matches, each a best of three rounds, and try to make a ranking that netted me extra packs. Players who participate to the end, even if they didn't place highly, were given a "pity" pack and other prizes. All in all, the event was well worth the admission fee for 6 hours of entertainment and yet...

Everything didn't exactly go according to plan. I am stuck in a rut and actually paid twice for this event with the same result both times-- 2 wins and 3 losses. Netting me no extra packs. As if an insult to injury, I also didn't really net any money cards. Sorry to grief, but I was a little bummed out by the end of Sunday's event. But, that doesn't mean I wouldn't do it again and don't plan on going in the future. I plan to keep on going and maybe my luck/skill will improve. I still got a Gruul and Selesnya pin...so that's something. Back to discussing the vent, sorry about the vent, but I gotta be honest-- I was disappointed in my results. Maybe looking at what I played will show the problem in the first part of my coverage of my pre-release...

On the plus side, my guild did win the maze the first day. So that's something.

Anywho, Dragon's Maze is the third and final set in the Return to Ravnica block. The machinations of the ancient dragon Niv Mizzet have been revealed-- he has discovered a maze that the solution of which will determine the future of Ravnica. In order to win, each guild has chosen a champion to complete the maze and create a new order/disorder in the City of Guilds. A fairly fun-themed small set, Dragon's Maze has all ten of the new mechanics of the set return, alongside a new mechanic that capture the flavor of the guilds and their conflicts. Let's give a short breakdown of it before we move onto talk about my deck...

FUSE- Found on split cards, cards that are technically two cards that can be cast on their own, Fuse allows them both to be cast and resolve from left to right, rather than just casting one of the spells on the card.

MY 1ST DRAGON'S PRE-RELEASE DECK

GREEN-WHITE-RED NAYA WAR CHANT DECK

This was an easy choice, but I wish I had better stuff to work with in my pool (got hosed on my creatures, both days). I chose Selesnya as my primary guild for the first day and was ecstatic to find Gruul as my secret guild. With that in mind, I hoped my non-creature spells would do enough to get my creatures through to killing blow and win me the day. I even splashed blue at one point, something I might talk about in another part of this coverage because there are some things I would've changed (could've used more creatures and less spells, I reckon).

Anywho, let's get to breaking down my first event's deck...

Here are links for the following sections:

Part 2: "AMERICAN DRAGONS"

Part 3: "HINDSIGHT IS 20/20 BUT..."

Part 4: "...LEARNING FROM YOUR MISTAKES I GOLDEN!"

TABLETOP TALES: "ANGELS, ELEPHANTS, & CENTAURS, OH MY!" DECK!

TABLETOP TALES PRESENTS:

"ANGELS, ELEPHANTS, & CENTAURS, OH MY!" DECK

To check out my other decks, hit the links below:

ALL OF MY DECK ARTICLES

This article serves two purposes: To share the nerd entertainment around with anyone who might find it interesting and, in this case, to build a powerful deck on a reasonable budget.

A couple of weeks after the pre-release and my new deck for standard is coming on pretty strong. My only purchases for this deck have been made through trades, the cards from the pre-release event, and two boosters I bought the other day, as well as a couple singles, totalling my expenses at around $35-40.

Today's deck article though is a little special; most of my decks are budget style, made with what I can afford to build, and generally, up until this point, have not been very competitive. My friend Dayne was rather impressed with the deck's aggressive flow and asked to borrow it. Today's article is a breakdown of his version of the deck, changing about a dozen cards, and winning him first place at Friday night magic.

If you wanna check out the original version of the deck, click the link below.

COLONEL HATHI'S COMPANY DECK

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.

Without further ado, with these purchases, I built...

THE GW AGGRO DECK:

"ANGELS, ELEPHANTS, & CENTAURS, OH MY!" DECK!

This deck mixes it up by completing some sets and throwing in three potent creatures that change the late mid-game to give it that extra edge. Restoration Angel & Thragtusk are a little over my budget, but my friend Dayne managed to snag some copies for Friday Night Magic, and took it to play (coming away with 1st place). These awesome creatures, combined with Rancor, making this deck an almost unstoppable machine of quick wins.

Please leave comments.

To check out the contents of the deck, click "READ MORE" below.

TABLETOP TALES: COLONEL HATHI'S COMPANY DECK!

TABLETOP TALES PRESENTS:

COLONEL HATHI'S COMPANY DECK

To check out my other decks, hit the links below:

ALL OF MY DECK ARTICLES

This article serves two purposes: To share the nerd entertainment around with anyone who might find it interesting and, in this case, to build a powerful deck on a reasonable budget.

A week after the pre-release and my new deck for standard is coming on pretty strong. My only purchases for this deck have been made through trades, the cards from the pre-release event, and two boosters I bought the other day, as well as a couple singles, totalling my expenses at around $35-40.

Check out my Return to Ravnica Pre-Release article to see how that green-white aggro deck has evolved since then:

RETURN TO RAVNICA PRE-RELEASE GW DECK

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.

Without further ado, with these purchases, I built...

THE GW AGGRO DECK:

COLONEL HATHI'S COMPANY DECK

This deck is all about potent three-drops; in fact, not a single spell in this deck costs more than three mana and, with twenty four lands, it always has something it can do on any given turn. As for what it can do with these three-drops, it can put down efficient and/or difficult to remove/counter creatures that, when combined with Rancor, become lethal enough to take an opponent by turn five.

Please leave comments.

To check out the contents of the deck, click "READ MORE" below.

TABLETOP TALES: RETURN TO RAVNICA PRE-RELEASE

TABLETOP TALES PRESENTS

MY RETURN TO RAVNICA PRE-RELEASE

To check out my other decks, hit the link below:

ALL OF MY MTG ARTICLES!

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:

GREEN-WHITE AGGRO!

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.

WORD OF THE DAY! 9/30/12.

conclave [kahn-kleyv]
noun

1. A private or secret meeting.

2. An assembly or gathering, especially one that has special authority, power, or influence.

3. The assembly or meeting of the cardinals for the election of a pope.

4. The body of cardinals; the College of Cardinals.

5. The place in which the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church meet in private for the election of a pope.

EX.  Alrighty, so today I am talking to a pretty particular audience about a very niche subject, even amongst my readers; Magic the Gathering, specifically Return to Ravnica, a new set that comes out later this week. This weekend, the 29th and 30th, is the prelease for the set. I am actually going to an event on the 30th and am writing this article as a kind of self-primer for the event. The purpose of the primer is to explain my choice of guild affiliation for the event, The Selesnya Conclave.

Let's start by looking at Selesnya's charm, both figuratively and literally, to understand why anyone would pick this guild over the other four choices for the pre-release. Selesnya is going to have some of the best creature options and support, through buffs and mana support to get them on the field. Combined with the new mechanic, which I'll explain in the next paragraph, and you'll see how Selesnya is going to have the ability to overwhelm your foe with monsters (a satisfying experience). It is only bested by Azorius in its abilities to control and pacify threats after the fact (blue being expert at countering and white expert at removal) that will allow you to stall long enough to get some big creatures on the battlefield.

The other appeal is that the Selesnya mechanic has a lot of potential; populate is going to afford you a lot of creature support and it is attached to and supported by a lot of cards. Initially, I was concerned the mechanic might not get the necessary tools but, the set proved to have what ya need to make it happen.

The biggest reason I went with this guild is that Green and White are my favorite color combo in magic; the first decks I ever built were green and white. I like big creatures, control, auras, etc. And Selesnya definitely brings that in force. I made a white-green angel deck at Avacyn Restored's pre-release, to great effect, and I'm hoping that this will be even more successful. I like to experience by playing against type, but sometimes you've got to indulge youself.

And I think the other reason I like Selesyna is the flavor; I like life, order, altruism, etc. I like having pride in oneself and in one's community. I like the aesthetic of nature mixed with the white marble of the cityscapes that Selesnya inhabits in Ravnica. All I got to say is that, as I mentally prepare to duke it out against my foes, "FOR THE CONCLAVE!"

Expect a breakdown of my results as soon as possible.