M10 Pre-Release Report From Wellington, New Zealand

Wellington is located on the Northern Island of New Zealand and is the country’s capital.  It’s nestled in a bay and actually reminds me of a very young San Francisco – a cute but manageable little metro area with hills like Los Gatos and little period houses all scattered through them.  I’m assigned to work here for the month, but last night I got word that I had the next two days off and I had no plans. First thing I did was check and see if there were pre-releases – and there were TWO in the city.

I managed to find the card shop quickly – everything I need seems to be within a ten-minute walk of my hotel – but I was way early – they didn’t really have any singles though – they seemed to focus more on Pokemon and action figures.  I said I’d be back, asked them for references to any other card stores and they said there was one down the street – after about half an hour I found it but they were mostly comics and only had some core set boosters – bleh.

After doing a little shopping I rolled back around to the store and after a little wait I got around to opening my six boosters.  I don’t want to go into my whole card selection – it was pretty crazy but without fixing you pretty much have to do two colors – lightning bolt, shivan dragon, and serra angel were calling to me but I had to play the overall most consistent removal and beats.

Black Green Sealed deck.

relevant sideboard

Weakness
Deathmark
looming shade
zombie goliath
enormous baloth
Emerald Oryx

Game 1 vs. Bernie with Mono-black

Bernie had a ridiculously strong black pool but he probably could have splashed a little – he was playing some weaker card but if any deck benefits from all the swamps it’s black – he opened THREE tendrils of corruption, TWO Liliana Vess (one foil) and a demon’s horn – so there went my removal and fear guys.  These games were hilarious.

Match 1.

Turn 3 with nothing on either side, I tap out to play an aggressive Awakener druid, and wake up my only forest to start the smashing next turn. His turn he assassinates the forest.  Ouch.

He gets a warpath ghoul and I rampant growth and sign in blood really fast out of the land screw, and get down a turn 5 stampeding rhino. But he’s bashed me with that ghoul.

His turn he tendrils Rhino.  dammit.

I rise from the grave.  RARRR 4/4 trample black Zombie Rhino!

His turn he tendrils it.  !@#$%.

I disentomb the rhino and recast it. he casts Soul Bleed (!?!?!) on it.  I would never play that card, it’s among my sealed pool and I’m not even including it on my sideboard – but I’m losing one life an upkeep on this rhino.  But rhino is gonna bash.

He drops Liliana Vess and makes me discard a land*   (*Pro tip: – now that I know he had a third tendrils, he should have tutored for that and killed the rhino for good.

In meantime he’s gotten a whispersilk cloak out on the ghoul and has me down pretty low – my turn I mow liliana down.  I can kill him next turn, but I’m at six.

His turn, he would have killed me – he had an unholy strength that he tried to cast on the ghoul, which would have taken me to 1, and I die to soul bleed (sad face here) – EXCEPT he had whispersilk cloak on the ghoul!   Stupid shroud tricks win!

Match 2

I keep a 1 land hand (terramorphic expanse) with a rampant growth on the draw.   This was a bad idea, but I was feeling good about the match up.

Turn 1 he plays swamp, Duress.

/Facepalm….

Turn 2 he plays Demon’s horn.

X2 /Facepalm….

I somehow get 3 lands in a row and drop Howling Banshee.

This eventually dies to something, but I drop Great Sable Stag which lifts it’s leg on his whole deck.

X is 1-0!

Game 2 vs. Gareth playing W/U

Gareth has some great cards but doesn’t seem like a great player – he’s not sure how protection works, and puts his first strike guy in the graveyard when he doesn’t need to.. He’s got a pal who is backseat driving over his shoulder but I don’t mind too much…

Match 1

Gareth drops an early White Knight, I get a Dread Warlock (pacifism)  – but I get a turn 5 Nightmare with the help of rampant growth.

He casts Sleep, and continues beating me with the Knight.  I have no blocker for it that will survive.  I get him low with a 7/7 nightmare but he drops platinum angel and I draw no doom blade for the angel nor a sizable blocker for the Knight.

Match 2

I get Bashing Troll, Bashing Rhino, and Banshee him for the win, while he drops nothing.  His buddy saves him a turn by reminding him to cast the new white Fog, but he isn’t in the game at all.

Match 3

He has an early White Knight again, but he blocks my Great Sable Stag pretty early.  Another pro tip from experience – he should have just held on to the knight and took the damage and keep trying to “race” me by dealing damage back – I couldn’t block it except with Stag, and if he dropped anything Stag couldn’t deal with we would be on equal terms.  By the time he stabilized, I had a Rod of Ruin out and it pinged him to death.

Game 3 vs. Mark with R/G

There’s a group of guys who show up early and have their own table – they’ve got big binders, they’re talking the talk and they definitely seem to know what they’re doing.  Aside from me, Mark and his two friends from that table are undefeated – he mines me for info asking since I’m 2-0 I’ve got a crazy deck – and really I don’t, I’ve got a half decent deck and two good match-ups.

Match 1.

Mark kicks the crap out of me – Bear, 3/3 for 3, lightning bolt my blocker – I drop a Wall of Bone but he drops a deathtouch equipment on the bear and kills me quick.

Match 2 – see above, except he lava axed me to death.

Turns out Mark top 8′d at new zealand nationals – which I guess isn’t saying much since they’ve got 90 people in the whole country who play   do I sound bitter? -_-  (he also wins the pre-release)

Game 4 vs.  Marius playing U/W/r (splash for fireball)

Match 1

Turn 1 soul Warden

Turn 2 plains, soul Warden, Elite vanguard.

- Basically he smashes me with little men and I try to stablize – I mess up slightly as I had awakener druid but he cast Ice Cage on the Forest – basically disabling the land ability.  However I messed up as I had a regenerate in my hand that would have gotten rid of the icecage but I didn’t catch the play until it was already over.  He ends the game with flyers and at 28 life.

- I go to the sideboard and get deathmark and weakness.

Match 2

Him: Turn 1 soul warden

Me: Turn 1 weakness!

I get Banshee out which rips him up – he lightning bolts it but I rise from the grave on the Banshee which removes his last 3 life.   Banshee wins: 2

Match 3

Him Turn 1 soul warden

Me: Turn 1 Weakness!

Him: Turn 2 Blinding Mage

me: turn 2 Deathmark!

I get down Dread Warlock, Looming shade, and a nightmare and he has no answers.

results:

3-1,  4th place out of 16 players.  My  Sealed had Great Sable Stag, Lightwielder Paladin, and Haunting Echoes, while the two packs I opened had a Siege-Gang Commander and a Sunpetal Grove, so I can’t complain.

Tags: M 2010, M10, magic, magic the gathering, mtg, pre-release