My M13 Prerelease

Author's note: I apologize for the formatting issues (color/background). When I changed the layout, this post got all fouled up.


This post will contain heavy amounts of Magic: The Gathering content.

I am so happy to be done with Avacyn Restored limited. I know I am an above average player, but no aspiring pro. I like playing Magic and I like getting better...and I've been playing for a while. I had never felt so terrible at Magic as I did during Avacyn drafts. I think the format needed one more removal spell at common, and some type of catch up mechanism- one misstep and you were dead. Additionally, I felt niche cards were prominent and rewarded (Thatcher Revolt) but terribly unplayable outside of those archetypes. Rise of the Eldrazi draft had fewer of these cards, but very rarely were the niche cards completely useless.

Back to the present: I was excited to be playing M13...be playing with removal again. I stopped by my local shop, the 20 Sided Store yesterday after a shopping trip and watched some friends build their decks for the second pod. My initial impressions of the format were:

• Hey look, there's removal! It is a bit slower than previously, but it is there

• This set is slower than M12 and way slower than AVR

• Exalted is a real threat

• Red seems underpowered in sealed

• The games can become wars of attrition with relatively complex board states

• I'll probably value card advantage much higher than I should

I arrived to 20 early and walked up the block to grab a bagel and some iced coffee. I was recognized quickly by some of the other gamers and we began a conversation. Turns out one of them works with my old boss. Small world.

A few minutes before 10am we head down to 20 and wait until the doors open. I bask in the AC and find my seat, wait for my packs, and finally...crack them.

One thing I never get tired of is the smell of freshly opened cards. It brings me a memory of opening a starter decks of Revised, and seeing Personal Incarnation and Underground Sea.

Here's my pool, tell me what you think you would build:

White

Ajani's Sunstriker

Angelic Benediction

Aven Squire

Angel's Mercy

Griffin Protector

Guardians of Akrasa (x2)

Erase

Intrepid Hero

Pacifism

Pillarfield Ox

Safe Passage

War Priest of Thune

Blue

Archaeomancer

Divination

Encrust (x2)

Fog Bank

Jace's Phantasm

Kraken Hatchling (x2)

Mind Sculpt

Negate

Talrand's Invocation

Tricks of the Trade

Unsummon (x2)

Watercourser

Welkin Tern

Black

Bloodhunter Bat

Bloodthrone Vampire

Diabolic Revelation

Disentomb

Duress

Duskmantle Prowler

Duty-Bound Dead (x2)

Essence Drain (x2)

Mark of the Vampire

Mind Rot

Servant of Nefarox

Sign in Blood (x2)

Tormented Soul

Vampire Nighthawk

Vile Rebirth

Red

Chandra's Fury (x2)

Dragon Hatchling (x2)

Goblin Arsonist (x2)

Fire Elemental (x2)

Furnace Whelp

Magmaquake

Reckless Brute

Reverberate

Smelt

Green

Arbor Elf (x2)

Bond Beetle

Centaur Courser (x2)

Deadly Recluse

Duskdale Wurm (x2)

Flinthoof Boar

Mwonvuli Beast Tracker

Nautalize

Plummer

Quirion Dryad

Titanic Growth (x2)

Vastwood Gorger (x2)

Artifact and Land

Evolving Wilds

Clock of Omens

Gem of Becoming

Jayemdae Tome

Ring of Kalonia

Ring of Valkas

Ring of Xathrid

Stuffy Doll

Obligatory blank space

I immediately decided I would be playing black (so deep) dismissed red (the opposite of deep). Benching Magmaquake was hard, but right. I then set aside white, probably too quickly as the BW Exalted build looked promising, even if it did lack creatures to actually attack (my main reason for ignoring it). Looking back, this was wrong- you do not need a ton of attackers in the BW Exalted deck- and I would have run a BW build if I could. I was enticed by blue and the prospect of exalted + Watercourser, two Encrust, and Invocation + Archaeomancer, but laying out the deck, it just felt wrong. When I looked at Beast Tracker, I knew I had my second color, as it helped me find my Nighthawk. After a few minutes, I had my deck, although cards 21-23 were the tough decisions.

Arbor Elf

Tormented Soul

Duty-Bound Dead (x2)

Qurion Dryad

Deadly Recluse

Servant of Nefarox

Centaur Courser (x2)

Mwonvuli Beast Tracker

Vampire Nighthawk

Bloodhunter Bat

Duskmantle Prolwer

Stuffy Doll

Duskdale Wurm (x2)

Titanic Growth

Ring of Xathrid

Sign in Blood (x2)

Mark of the Vampire

Essence Drain (x2)

Evolving Wilds

8 Forest

8 Swamp

Relevant Sideboard:

Mind Rot

Diabolic Revelation (for long games)

Naturalize

Plummet

I went 3-1, winning handily against some newer players. In round two, I had a great match against Rob with UGrw, another regular. I won game one. Game two was a fantastic battle, coming down to his large creatures with Rancor racing my smaller creatures and Stuffy Doll. He won the turn before I would have swung in for lethal. My mistake had come on turn two, when he attacked his Welkin Tern into my Deadly Recluse and I did not block. Next turn he put Rancor on the Tern and I then blocked, taking 4 points of damage. Rob won by two points. Granted, the game probably plays out differently if he's holding Rancor, but he did not follow up Tern with a creature for multiple turns (hah), so I feel that if I had pulled the trigger and blocked that first attack, I would have won the match.

I won 7 packs for my efforts, as well as a sweet deck box from a raffle. My day ended with a three person game of Commander. My Skullbriar against Shawn's Grand Arbiter Augustin IV and Alex's Niv-Mizzet. The game went long, but eventually Alex won out with his Niv-Mizzet combo. That being said, it was still a fun game of Magic, despite the combo and lock decks I was up against.

Here's my list for Skullbriar, heavily influenced by Sheldon Menery's Nath of the Gilt-Leaf list featured here. It started as a Glissa the Traitor deck, which might give insight into the artifact subtheme.

Quickly: Commander is a fun project for me. I like to trade and find cards in bargain bins. I optimize my decks to the best of my ability, but do not go crazy.

Commander: Skullbriar, the Walking Grave

Green

Woodripper

Mycoloth

Wickerbough Elder

Fertilid

Indrik Stomphowler

Bellowing Tanglewurm

Yavimaya Ekder

Lotus Cobra

Oracle of Mul Daya

Eternal Witness

Champion of Lambholt

Scavenging Ooze

Awakening Zone

Saproling Burst

Rancor

Sylvan Library

Doubling Season

Harmonize

Strength of the Tajaru

Hurricane

Black

Nekrataal

Spike Cannibal

Skirsdag High Priest

Bloodghast

Disciple of Griselbrand

Creakwood Ghoul

Blood Artist

Falkenrath Noble

Shriekmaw

Dark Confidant

Vigor Mortis

Living Death

Grim Harvest

Exsanguinate

Phyrexian Reclamation

Executioner's Capsule

Damantion

Grave Pact

Multicolor

Golgari Guildmage

Glissa, the Traitor

Vulturous Zombie

Necrogenesis

Grim Feast

Artifact

Steel Hellkite

Solemn Simulacrum 

Oblivion Stone

Contagion Clasp

Contagion Engine

Spine of Ish Sah

Horizon Spellbomb

Nihil Spellbomb

Ichor Wellspring

Mycosynth Wellspring

Throne of Geth

Venser's Journal

Sol Ring

Golgari Signet

Skull Clamp

Darksteel Plate

Sword of Light and Shadow

Lightning Greaves

Nim Deathmantle

Land

9 Forest

6 Swamp

Evolving Wilds

Terramorphic Expanse

Verdant Catacombs

Command Tower

Golgari Rot Farm

Pine Barrens

Treetop Village

Oran-Rief, the Vastwood

Tranquil Thicket

Slippery Karst

Cabal Coffers

Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Bojuka Bog

Polluted Mire

Barren Moor

Volrath's Stronghold
Phyrexia's Core

Temple of the False God

Wasteland

Reliquary Tower

Blasted Landscape

That's all for now. It was a good day of Magic (and the air conditioning didn't hurt). Like I said, I'm happy to be playing with removal again.

-Alex