To say I was excited for the Return to Ravnica prerelease would be a gross understatement. Wizards has been doing an excellent of making a prerelease feel like an event rather than just a tournament. Playing with Return to Ravnica would allow me to preselect one of my favorite color combinations- green/black AKA Golgari- and receive a special guild pack full of Golgari goodies. I could not wait.
Seeing as I had work for an unknown amount of time on Saturday, I signed up to play Sunday morning. Work, thankfully, was over by 1pm which gave me enough time to drive over to the 20-Sided Store and see if there were any slots for the afternoon sealed or evening 2-Headed Giant event. I was in luck- one of the players had signed up for 2HG alone, hoping to find a partner on site- a role I gladly took. I left after the afternoon flight fired and returned a few hours later to partner with Mike. We opened a fun pool, with a shocking three Lotleth Trolls (I was Golgari, he was Rakdos and got two of the Trolls in his packs). We built our decks poorly but had a blast anyway, ending up at 1-2. 2HG is not my cup of tea, but I would do it again if I found someone to team with. However, my heart was set on the next morning.
After far too little sleep, I woke up before my alarm and trudged through a morning routine of showering, getting a bagel and coffee, and driving to 20-Sided. Unexpected traffic meant I arrived with a few moments to spare, but still early enough to not have Luis frantically calling me and other players clamoring for my spot. I got my guild pack and sat down, said hi to the other players at my table, and waited. After what felt like forever, I cracked my packs and sorted their contents. This is the pool I was given to do battle with on the day (I've opted to go color-guild-color, breaking up WUBRG for organization purposes):
Armory Guard (2)
Azorius Arrester
Concordia Pegasus
Eyes in the Skies
Sunspire Griffin
Swift Justice
Rest in Peace (2)
Trained Caracal
Trostani's Judgement
Azorius
Dramatic Rescue
Hussar Patrol (2)
Lyev Skyknight (2)
Blue
Faerie Imposter
Chronic Flooding
Isperia's Skywatch (2)
Runewing
Soulsworn Spirit
Sphinx of the Chimes
Syncopate
Voidwielder
Izzet
Essence Backlash
Izzet Charm
Pursuit of Flight
Teleportal
Red
Bellows Lizard
Explosive Impact
Gore-House Chainwalker
Lobber Crew
Racecourse Fury
Splatter Thug
Tenement Crasher
Traitorous Instinct
Vandalblast
Viashino Racketeer
Rakdos
Deviant Glee
Havoc Festival
Rakdos Cackler
Rakdos Shred-Freak
Spawn of Rix-Maadi
Black
Catacomb Slug
Cremate
Destroy the Evidence
Drainpipe Vermin
Launch Party
Mind Rot (2)
Perilous Shadow (2)
Slum Reaper
Shrieking Affliction
Golgari
Corpsejack Menace
Dreg Mangler
Golgari Charm
Golgari Guildgate (2)
Golgari Keyrune (2)
Golgari Longlegs
Grisly Salvage (2)
Jarad's Orders
Slitherhead
Sluiceway Scorpion (2)
Stonefare Crocodile
Trestle Troll
Green
Aerial Predation (2)
Archweaver
Centaur's Herald
Chorus of Might
Drudge Beetle
Gatecreeper Vine (2)
Giant Growth
Korozda Monitor
Rubbleback Rhino
Urban Burgeoning
Selesnya
Selesnya Sentry
Artifact
Chromatic Lantern
Tablet of the Guilds
This was a challenging build (or at least my sleep deprived mind thought so at the time). Golgari was nice, but the curve made me nervous that morning. I also felt the need for greed, as two Gatecreeper Vine and a Chromatic Lantern would make it far easier to play multiple colors. I was also excited by the plethora of creatures with Detain in blue and white, as well as their nifty combat tricks and their almost dragon. After laying a few different builds out, this is what I did battle with on Sunday morning:
Azorius Arrester
Trostani's Judgement
Launch Party
Isperia's Skywatch (2)
Soulsworn Spirit
Sphinx of the Chimes
Voidwielder
Lyev Skyknight (2)
Hussar Patrol (2)
Dramatic Rescue
Launch Party
Corpsejack Menace
Golgari Keyrune
Slitherhead
Centaur's Herald
Drudge Beetle
Gatecreeper Vine (2)
Korozda Monitor
Rubbleback Rhino
Chromatic Lantern
2 Golgari Guildgate
7 Forest
4 Island
4 Plains
Relevant Sideboard
Runewing
Syncopate
Golgari Charm
Golgari Keyrune
Golgari Longlegs
Aerial Predation (2)
Archweaver
I am fairly certain this was not the correct build of this color combination, let alone for the pool. If I could do it again, I would definitely include the Syncopate main, as well as the Faerie Imposter, likely at the cost of Centaur's Herald and Corpsejack Menace (which is not very impressive in my deck). It is also possible that I missed a fairly strong Simic-Golgari build, splashing white for the two Skyknights and the Judgement, and adding better black cards.
After laying out all my cards after (and letting my rubber band brain snap back to original size), it became obvious to me I missed a pretty strong Golgari-Rakdos build that ran Perilous Shadows that could get scary when fueled by Chromatic Lantern. While I am never happy about making an error (especially one that looks so obvious now), I am happy it happened at a prerelease.
As far as the tournament itself...
Round 1 I played against Malcolm, a Small Child who opened his pool at my table. I knew he was Azorius and his deck was pretty strong (but had shaky mana to support green and Loxodon Smiter). I took game one on the back of Detain creatures, and he repaid in kind in game two. Game three he stalled on land and it was over quickly.
After the round another store regular (Seth) and I helped Malcolm tune his deck. I remember the days when the other Grown Ups would do the same for me, and I won't lie- it makes me smile to think I'm now that guy.
Round 2 was against the terse Sam. I could tell from the way he carried himself that he took this seriously. Game 1 was a back and forth affair, with his Bant deck pumping out tokens and my Bant deck Detaining them. He gained a ton of life off a Azorius Charm and then wiped the board clean with a Supreme Verdict, before dealing the killing blows with a bird token when I could not find a blocker. When I finally drew a Skyknight to detain the token and buy me a turn, he exiled it with Trostani's Judgement on my end step, netting himself another attacker.
In game two, I sided aggressively, taking out a land for a second Keyrune, and bad cards for Aerial Predation, Golgari Charm, and Syncopate. Sam was the aggressor early in this game, and I had to play out my hand quickly to keep my life total high. Eventually the board is empty, as is my hand. Same lays an Archon of the Triumvirate, which is sure to do me in. So of course I rip an Aerial Predation. Sam musters another creature that is going to do me in, but I rip a creature with Detain to stop his attack and crack back for the win.
Side note: This is why I was so drawn to the build I played. Detain is incredibly powerful in the stalled board states of sealed, and they make for excellent topdecks.
Game 3 was unexciting, as I curved out and smashed Sam in fairly uninteresting fashion.
Round 3 I was paired with Andrew who won game one on the back of Guttersnipe and multiple spells. Game two my mana base came back to bite me and I was quickly down 0-2.
Round 4 set me against my nemesis- Dyan. I like Dylan, but the previous two times we have played, he has won the match on the back of epic bluffs. However, we always have good fun when we play, and agreed on a split for four packs each. We sat down to play for fun...because Magic. Dylan dispatches me fairly quickly with his nuts Golgari deck in game 1. Game two I stabilize (and manage to counter his Deadbridge Goliath with Syncopate, which elicited a string good natured swears). However, Death's Presence was too much, and I died.
2-2, four packs, and good times. The weekend was a success, and it was only Sunday afternoon. Dyland and I got our packs and "drafted" them to see who would get which pack. After some shenanigans and trades, we decided to each open one pack. Dylan went first and cracked nothing exciting. Then it was my turn.
I cracked Jace.
Sometimes, the rich get richer.
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