I am back after a long hiatus! Was busy playing Legend of the Five Rings, and the fact that Journey to the Nyx wasn't that interesting enough for me.
Yesterday (Sunday) I attended the pre-release for M15 at Comics Corner Damansara Jaya. I was quite nervous due to the fact that it was a draft tournament (I hate drafts. I am terrible at it!) but decided to give it a go anyway. This was probably my second official draft ever.
It didn't help that I had no idea what cards were there in M15, as this IS a pre-release after all. Sure, they already released "spoilers" of all the cards (this means they released images of all the cards online) but I couldn't really digest them as well and I didn't really have the time. So I was basically flying blind. "This will be fun." I thought.
The entry fee is RM65. You need a DCI number to participate if you don't have one already. But it's free, so you should sign up for one if you think of entering any tournaments. It tracks your participation in official events and get points to exchange for perks. I think. I obviously haven't racked up enough points to know. Haha!
The M15 pre-release packs is available in the 5 colours of Magic - White, blue, black, red and green. Each box has 5 M15 booster packs, 1 pack of cards that has extra cards of your chosen colour, and 1 tasty foil promo card of your chosen colour.
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| Promo card for red pre-release pack. *spits fire* |
I chose the red pack because I am most familiar with red. (maybe I should start branching out to other colours...)
This being my first pre-release event, I really didn't know what to expect. But all the guys were excited with the "mini-game" that came in the box this time.
It was a blown-up version of a Garruk card (have you seen his M15 card? So OP!!!! I will immediately concede if my opponent comes up with that card...) and it came with a guide to the mini game and 3 wolf tokens.
Basically, one person plays as Garruk, and the other uses his/her deck to fight against him. Quite a good idea to pass the time in between matches, especially when some people take forever to finish off the game -.-
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| Red M15 20-sided dice. Purrrrdy! |
I (sloppily) built my deck in about 10 minutes. I first sorted the cards by colour, and then I sorted my red pile by mana cost. ...but didn't matter anyway coz I ended up taking most of the red cards. I then had to choose a second colour coz I didn't have enough to build a 40-card deck.
I chose blue as my second colour because all the annoying instants and sorcery cards were tasty. (and I am somewhat greedy) And because I knew I was going to fail miserably, I might as well annoy the heck out of my opponents and have my own fun with them. (this was something I regret though, and looking back at my other cards, should have gone for red white deck instead. Aih...)
After about 20 minutes, we got ready and I met my first opponent. Due to being too nervous, I accidentally forgot to pick my first card at the start of the turn -.- baguslah.
I was still sleepy and groggy at the time (woke up early due to some other thing I had going on in the morning) so I really couldn't remember what cards he was playing. Or what colour, for matter. *headdesk* Doesn't help that all the cards were new to me, and with a new keyword that was introduced in M15 which is "Convoke".
Anyway, needless to say, I lost. 2-0. The format was best out of 3. So I lost the first 2 games :(
I lost the same way to my second opponent. He had rats!!! I hate rats!!! 1/1 and Deathtouch T.T Well, I tried to annoy him with a lot of Lightning Strike (I managed to pull both of the only 2 Lightning Strikes in my deck o.o) but I guess he was too good.
I had a lot of fun with my 3rd opponent though. I lost the first turn, but I actually won at the second turn. HUH?! How was this possible?! I guess it was a stroke of luck, because all the nice cards came out at the right time. My 3rd round was terrible though coz I had land flood. I didn't even manage to get anything onto the board. So in the end, I lost at 2-1.
But all in all, it was a nice experience. I felt a bit shy entering also because I knew I was going to be the only girl there, but they were all very nice to me. I also had to be thick-skinned coz I knew I was going to lose anyway.
But I still walked away with one booster pack for all my troubles! \o/
While playing in the tournament, some cards have became a favourite of mine. Now I might want to try to find a way to incorporate some of them into my current decks. Or build a new deck. Maybe. We'll see.
Turn to Frog has a special place in my heart. It helped me take down a green 5/5 creature as he was attempting to block one of my attacking creatures. Gua! Gua! Gua! (frog chanting sound)
But my MVP card is............
I realize that the community doesn't play walls at all. Because it's annoying. And I play annoyingly.
The best part about this card is, this wall has a +1/+0?!?!?! Where have you been all my life?!?
And because I know a lot of people don't play walls...
This card has been a life-saver a few times. I equipped it to my Borderland Marauder that deals 3/2 when attacking and I was swinging like nobody's business.
And now, picture time! All my cards from the pack. And yes, I got 2 MYTHICS! MUAHAHA!:
Not in photo because I gave this away to my friend earlier, since he plays Slivers:
My mythics and rares.
Aaaaand a foil I pulled from one of the booster packs!
My thoughts for the M15 pre-release?
I thought it was a great experience. I think I will feel less scared to join in any tournaments later on. Even though I still can't play very well, everyone is pretty nice and supportive. Also, M15 has a lot of tasty cards. And the black and white graphics for M15 is soooooo pretty!!
All-in-all, I enjoyed myself. So I am looking forward to tournaments in the future \o/
Till next time!
P.S: I wish there will be more Frog cards in the future. I want to build a Frog deck.
