Avacyn Restored Prerelease Vanilla Blueberry

Hello and welcome back to another addition of Untap Target Player!  Today, I’ll review my experience at the Avacyn Restored Prerelease this past Saturday. 

After an eventful weekend and an old friend’s wedding, the Prerelease just about got lost in the shuffle.  Somehow, though, I still managed to squeeze it in.  Although I originally planned to go the morning one, I enjoyed a good sleeping-in after my friend’s bachelor party the night before; a wild, raucous night of debauchery, to say the least.  I was gone after TWO Sun Drops, boxes of collectible card games were strewn all over, and Wiimotes were flying every which direction in the unbridled revelry of intense Super Smash Brothers action.  I know, I know, I’m a party animal.

Anyway, I decided to go to the second event at my local shop instead, which started at 5:00 instead of noon.  I usually prefer to do the earlier event, so I actually do get the first prerelease, where everyone is as green as you to the format, but my bed was just too inviting.  When I arrived, the first event was still going strong (finishing round 3 of 5, if I recall).  I had plenty of time and made some trades and played some EDH…I’ll tell you, EDH is a lot more fun against non-combo decks.  On a side note (one of many), I am amazed by the meteoric rise in popularity of EDH since it became a Wizards-sanctioned format.  I caught the fairy (my sister’s way of saying “I liked it before it was cool,”) on EDH, but just barely.  I think the reason it’s been so successful is that it revives the old giddiness of the Timmy within us all.  “Look at my cool card!”  That whole thing is refreshing in a world of tight one-on-one action, and I enjoy a good EDH game, especially the political aspect as well as the careful planning required to ensure your own survival.

The shop where I play, filled with eager AVR players (and foosball).

Anyway, the time came for our event to begin.  The second one was dubbed the “Helvault event,” so named because of the physical Helvault prop that we as a player base could open by completing certain accomplishments during the course of our Sealed tournament.  These accomplishments were fairly simple, including controlling a number of Human creatures at one, forcing your opponent to sacrifice a creature, and high-fiving your opponent when they get a legendary permanent on the field.  After accomplishing any five of these feats (there were about thirty possible tasks total), you could remove one seal (a diamond-shaped piece of tape) from the Helvault.  Once all of them were removed, the Helvault would be open and everyone would claim a prize from it.

With that in our mind, we sat down to open up our packs and start registering.  I opened a fairly bad pool and was grateful to pass it; it lacked consistency but did have a random Cavern of Souls for monetary compensation for the otherwise terrible pool. 

I was passed a slightly better, but unremarkable pool of cards with which to create my deck.  Here’s a picture of the piled pool.

Here it is, in all its complacency!

I did have consistency in some of my cards.  I pulled out the rares to see if any were worth building around or at least splashing for. 

My best one was probably Soul of the Harvest, but with very little green support, so I ruled out Green.  Black and Red were both fairly viable, though eventually underwhelming, so I set them aside too.  White and Blue had a fairly solid curve and a lot of temporary removal in the form of bounces.  I settled on that and threw together the best twenty-three cards from those two colors and a couple artifacts.  I saddled them up in sleeves and went to battle! 

A familiar and tried path.

After shuffling for a while, our pairings were called and a fellow named Jeremy sat down across from me.  He was a nice guy loaded for bear with Kentucky Wildcats apparel, and he was a new player to Prereleases.  I introduced myself, realized it was a Helvault achievement, checked off the corresponding box, and we went to work.  The early game saw a nice stream of flyers come down from my side and Jeremy couldn’t do much to stop it.  Game two was not much different, and he extended a hand; I took it, wishing him well in the rest of his day’s games.

I stepped out for a quick bite to eat at the Chinese place next door and got some solidly good vegetarian fried rice.  I needed brain fuel – I was up late the night before and only managed a couple hours of sleep, and I needed to be on top of my game to beat my next opponent.  My deck was fine; plenty of win conditions, but I feared it would do poorly on the backpedal, where I’d be bleeding cards to stay alive long enough to resolve my big flyers. 

For round 2, I sat down across from a stone-faced Brian.  He was concentrating on the round ahead, and we shuffled up for a round.  In a polite and nearly inaudible voice, he waded into battle.  Game one, I pulled 14 out of my 17 land (and my Vessel of Eternal Rest, just to rub it in) and never hit him for more than a few points of damage.  He bashed through with a sizable squad of G/W humans.  I did get to see a fair amount of his deck, including three solid rares in Cathar’s Crusade (effectively Gavony Township), a Riders of Gavony and a Descendent’s Path with the synergy to match.  I looked hopelessly at my sideboard and shuffled a lot to de-clump the lands.  For game two, I was able to get a stronger start and push through lethal damage without dipping below 20 life. 

At this point, the weather interrupted us.  What sounded like metal banging innumerable notes erupted from the roof.  My wife had just called me to tell me she was seeing enormous (quarter-sized) hail raining down on her at home; although at the time there was nothing going on where I was (about twenty minutes away), about five minutes later, we got the rest.  It was deafening and all but one’s deepest thoughts were drowned out by the ice deluge.  I’ve never heard hail like that in my life, and going outside was comparable to a suicide by bludgeoning.  Somehow, my little Volkswagen pulled through without any visible dents or broken glass, though I know others were not so lucky. 

The third game proved to be the most interesting of the tournament so far.  We both had better, more equal draws this time.  Although I mounted a strong offense, Brian’s Seraph of Dawn paired with his deathtouching Nightshade Peddler made attacking through his team a tough, unprofitable task.  Soon, sitting on my team of untapped goons, he resolved a Jubilation Angel, effectively a Glorious Anthem for his squad.  Cathar’s Crusade also pushed his team to the max.  He had drawn quite a crowd from his amazing squad of fighters.  After my last desperate block, pulling out all the stops, I faced down several dozen power from his squad, and I conceded game three.  I extended my hand, and we shook.  He revealed the rest of his solid cards to me with a genial smile, and we had a pleasant debriefing.  I admit I was quite impressed with his deck and tight play.  He had built and played adeptly.

Disappointed but still positive, I retired to another table and power shuffled my deck, a common practice for me when I lose a close or a frustratingly disparate match.  Round three pairings came up, and I knew another match loss would toss me out of the prize pool for sure. 

But wait!  The seals had been broken for the Helvault!  After turning in our match results, each player could collect their prize from the Helvault.  I marched over, hoping to see some unique door prizes or booster packs or special promo cards. 

It was not.  It was oversized cards, several identical dice, and double-sided Angel/Demon tokens.  I had a moment like this.

Ovaltine?

Needless to say, most of us were pretty bummed that that was the extent of the over-hyped cardboard diamond.  These items were all available in the AVR Fat Pack.  Regardless, we still wanted to win something, and we suited up for round 3.  As I sat down to play my next opponent, I noticed an uncanny resemblance of my opponent (Joshua) to another fellow that plays at the shop, but he amusingly deflected a claim of blood relation; clearly he gets that a lot, especially since they look similar and are already friends.  Embarrassing attempts at recognizing unsolicited kinship aside, we shuffled up and I went on the early offense with an Angel’s Tomb and Tandem Lookout, a very effective combo of unblockable power and card-draw.  After a few rounds, my flyer sailed past his team of red and green grounders.  In game two, I resolved an Angel’s Tomb right on time again.  After hitting me with his equipped and bashing creatures, though, he top decked a Thunderous Wrath and immediately casted it, targeting me.  He brought me to a precarious 9, and I considered how best to defend myself. I resolved a Goldnight Redeemer, gained a fair chunk of life back and eventually cracked through with lethal. 

On a 2-1 record, I’d still need to win anything besides what I had already bought to get into the tournament.  When round four, rolled around, everyone was ready to see if they were successful in staying in the running, myself included.

I sat down for my final match against Tim, a man perhaps my own age, began shuffling while I made small talk; I know you’re not supposed to in a tournament setting because they get information about you and your playstyle from the way you talk and gesture, but I was fairly nervous, so I jabbered on for a minute, and he graciously let me.  Our first game was an interesting one, beginning with me mulling to five on the play.  Despite this, I had on-time angels and offense, while he couldn’t block flyers for the vast majority of the game.  Though, as I came as close as I could to killing him, he cast a Bonfire of the Damned for three, evening the score heavily.  Thankfully, I had gas left in my hand, and he did not, so I clenched game one with a perfectly lethal Zealous Strike on an unblocked flyer.

Game two was perhaps one of the most encouraging in my recent Limited career.  As Tim and I developed our board, I saw one of his own bombs: Herald of War.  At the rate he was going, he could have continuously attacked, being just one power and toughness bigger than all my angels waiting in the wings (hah!).  However, as I resolved my Archangel, he stopped.  After a couple stalemated turns of draw-go, I realized something.  The reason he’s not attacking must be because he doesn’t have a trick to blow me out (I could have double blocked his Herald of War with my Archangel and a Seraph of Dawn, but some kind of trick with a Zealous Strike or some such, would allow him to live and kill them both.)  So, on my next turn, I pushed with my Archangel, knowing that he had seen the Zealous Strike I played last game.  The fact he did not block suggests that he also didn’t have a whole lot of flyers.  As I suspected, he didn’t block.  I did this the following two rounds and, after an unfortunate attack from his team, he was unable to block the rest of my ground team and I won the match 2-0.

His Bonfire was just two draw steps away.

I used a little bit of information and planning, and it helped me win the game and the match.  Pleased with this realization, I walked up to the judge’s table for prize distribution.  

I ended up in 5^th place, a solid finish for a 3-1 in a field of about 40-45 people.  Sadly, though, I was awarded only three packs; on inquiring with the judge, he assured me this was the correct number.  I still don’t believe this is true, as the 1^st place and 2^nd place winner won 36 and 18 packs respectively but it was getting late and I needed to get home, so I left, cracking my packs at the subsequent stoplights.  Out of my three packs, I managed to pull some solid uncommons and a foil Vexing Devil (which I almost missed while flipping through my packs.)  Sweet deal!

All in all, it was a good showing for me.  I’ve done better, but this was certainly more successful than some, and I had a good time.  Soulbond was just as fun and skill-testing as I thought it’d be, but I actually found Miracle pretty uninteresting.  Vanishment, the only Miracle card I had in the deck, was never cast for its miracle cost, either because it was in my opening seven or there were no juicy targets when I did turn it up.  I had to hard cast it whenever I cast it.  Unlike Terminus, Bonfire of the Damned or Temporal Mastery, I think the lower-tier Miracle cards are a bit too conditional even in a Limited environment.  Sure, they’re still good, but they won’t be as game breaking.

In building, I felt great; first, if you noticed, my deck had no rares in it whatsoever, and I aimed entirely for consistency and curve.  It paid off, despite the fact that the other colors probably had intrinsically better cards.  That being said, part of me wishes I would have splashed a single Swamp for the Killing Wave as it would have helped me recover in my losses against Brian.  But who knew?  I’ll know that next time; my colors weren’t terribly intense, so I should have felt more comfortable doing that.

As for the MVP of my deck, there are several that would make the cut.  Out of all of them, though, I think I like Angel’s Tomb best.  Although fairly unexciting, it did so much work in my deck, and it was easy to miss when my opponents were calculating damage.  It complemented my Fettergeist and Goldnight Redeemer well, being a creature when it needed to be and not one when it was inconvenient. 

After a solid night of fun and relatively relaxed play, Avacyn Restored’s Prerelease is in the books.  Admittedly, this is not one of Magic’s best sets, but it will still provide a lot of fun for the next few months.  I think its Sealed format is weaker than some previously, but I really look forward to drafting this set; this will be a good one to draft, and I think it will help other colors shine.  I didn’t play a single black or blue deck yesterday and saw very few while wondering around. 

There are a few cards I’m excited about for Standard and other formats, and we’ll get into those next time.  I hope you had a great time at your own Prerelease or that this will whet your appetite to try the next one, which I believe is the first weekend in July for Magic 2013. 

Until then, don’t forget to untap!

- Matt

Top 10 Avacyn Restored Cards for Limited: AVR Meat and Potatoes

Welcome back to another edition of Meat and Potatoes, Avacyn Restored edition!  This coming Saturday is the Prerelease, and this time, we get a special treat.  Normally, we only have one Prerelease a year with only one set (save the summer Prereleases of Core editions of late), but this year we get two!  I like homogenous Prereleases because they allow more consistent and intentional strategies.  Although I had a fine finish last time, I hope my blitz of Limited practice since then will have honed my skills to take the cake.

Avacyn Restored is fairly separate from the block in terms of mechanics; no Werewolves or flip cards, no Flashback and no Morbid.  That’s because the angels under Avacyn have been, uh, restored.  I kind of like that break from a block; Rise of the Eldrazi did the same thing.  No landfall or kicker in there, if I recall; just monstrous Cthulhu beasts.

The spoiler came out Monday and, either despite or because a flush of illness, I was able to sit down and read the spoiler in its entirety.  The powerful cards that were spoiled early seemed to have fairly specific purposes; the multi-colored cards and massive mythics were all very expensive and splashy.  Many players believe this is just how mythics should be, and the “best” cards should be rare so they’re easier, but not cake, to get.  That’s the second time I’ve said cake…I must be hungry.

The set looks like it’s going to give players of all brands something to play with; EDH and Multiplayer/Variant lovers, tournament-cramming Spikes, and a strong Limited game.  Limited, as it is of the most interest to me, will be our first stop.

As we look over the set of all 240-some-odd cards that were spoiled Monday, let’s look and see what stands out as true Meat and Potato cards for limited.  As a reminder, Meat and Potatoes cards are the basic, run-of-the-mill stuff that you’re bound to see in a large portion of every Sealed tournament or booster draft in which you participate; this leaves out rares and mythic rares, for the most part.  In Limited, the commons and uncommons rule and change the game.  That’s why my Cube only consists of those cards!

It was hard to cut down my Top Ten to just that many, so we’ll begin with an honorable mention.

HM) Abundant Growth

These vines just splash all over!

This little gem of an enchantment is a wonderful option for Limited mana fixing.  It solves a lot of problems otherwise created by traditional ramp and color fixing.  First, it provides benefit immediately (if needed), unlike Rampant Growth, Birds of Paradise, Terramorphic Expanse, etc.  Those cards are great, but they often lack relevance late in the game, which is when you’re ripping for that answer or final few points of damage.  This one is useful in an opening hand that otherwise might be unkeepable AND as a late-game topdeck.  Thirdly, if you just need a fix and you don’t know what you need yet, this will relieve your woes.  This is especially relevant in Sealed when you just about have to play two colors and a splash (or two splashes, ugh).  I know I’ve stared at a Terramorphic Expanse first turn and I wasn’t sure what land I’d need because of my awkwardly color-heavy hand.  This solves that problem.  Fix without the mess, and it cantrips; that extra card really seals the deal.  Seems pretty good.  As a sidenote, I want to think this is Utopia Sprawl, but it is not, and remember that, too!

Now…

10) Angel’s Tomb

Pretty art.  Zero humor.

A 3/3 flyer for 3 colorless mana is outstanding, but desperately unlikely (though you can get a 3/2 flyer for 1 in Standard right now; still trying to figure that one out.)  However, Angel’s Tomb fills a role in Limited that reminds me of Halcyon Glaze, a legit 1UU Enchantment from Ravnica that turned into a 4/4 flying Illusion instead.  This is pretty flexible, being colorless and all, and with all the ways to blink a creature in and out, flashing a creature in, or through tokens, this will be active a fair amount of the time, making it a slightly conditional, but still solid addition to most any deck.  You won’t want to first pick it in Draft, but it seems like solid 4^th or 5^th pick material, and it will be an inclusion in most any creature heavy deck in Sealed.

9) Driver of the Dead

Driving Miss Zombie.

This is an interesting card to me due to its specificity (as opposed to the normally lauded flexibility of my choices,) but I think that the card advantage as well as soulbond opportunities afford it a slot on the list.  He’s a big enough body too that he chump-blocks well and you still get value.  There are certainly other better 4 drops, but he goes well in an aggressive deck or a defensive deck all the same.  He should make it around fairly late in Draft, as there are only certain decks that will get to take advantage of him.  Get back a utility creature, an undying creature, or something else.  Strangely enough, I think this guy’s best fit is in R/B aggro or B/G.

8) Pillar of Flame

Woah, a Sorcery Shock.  With an exile clause.

Groundbreaking.

You might think this is weak, but as I surveyed the set, I’ve found very little unconditional spot removal outside of rares and mythics.  White/Red might actually catch a break this time around.  There are enough aggressively costed Humans in these colors to constitute an early guess at a Limited archetype.  Maybe this is just my bias talking, but I just feel bad for these enemy colors that couldn’t effectively suit up in either ISDx3 or DKA/ISD/ISD.  Maybe they’ll get a shot, and it’s little things like this that will help.  It also gets rid of undying creatures before they have a chance to undie, and provides desperately needed non-combat interaction for aggro decks.

7) Ghostly Flicker

*Blink blink*

I had a whole deck for a while built around the blue/white blinking creatures of Shadowmoor Block (Mistmeadow Witch + Mulldrifter, etc.)  It was one of my favorite decks to play and, for my opponents, one of the more frustrating decks to fight.  Momentary Blink with an upgrade in flexibility, the versatility of this spell is boundless in Limited.  Untap two creatures after your opponent attacks, wipe away an enchantment or prevent spell/lethal damage, reset ETB effects or undying counters, choose new targets for a paired creature, untap a land if you need that color of mana (very badly) or to use its effect again in the case of the enemy-colored ability lands, or any number of niche roles.  I’m sure I’m forgetting something, but this is a great trick for any of the above roles, as well as those I’m missing.  Blinking was always so undervalued in my opinion, and Momentary Blink is continually one of my favorite cards to facilitate this.  It also only requires the one color. 

6) Nearheath Pilgrim

Lifelink really tips things in your favor.

The only white card on this list (as most of the best cards I’ve seen in White are rare or mythic), Nearheath Pilgrim seems to be a really good card that requires a pinch of work to extract the most value.  In the early game, he can provide a little edge in a race by giving you a few points of life, forcing your opponent to stay on defense while you develop your board.  In the late game, your largest creatures can get lifelink and bring you back from the brink or secure your place in the lead.  Not too much else to say about him.  He obviously feels like Alabaster Mage, but I think he provides a little more efficiency while requiring a little more skill to play.

5) Wolfir Avenger

Khaaaaaaa....roooooo!

One of the more exciting cards I found (my fondness for Green notwithstanding), this guy might even see a hint of Constructed play in Core Green decks when Thrun rolls out.  A flashable Trained Armadon that regenerates?  That seems pretty great in Limited and it fills a powerful role on both offense and defense.  The only disadvantage is his mana commitment; two-color decks shouldn’t have a problem, but three-color brews might want to steer clear; he’s best when you can reliably cast him at the end of your opponent’s third or fourth turn or mid-combat on those turns.  Also, I don’t know if this will make sense, but he just looks like he’d be good.  This is a skill I’ve had a lot of trouble developing.  Consider Dark Confidant.  I thought he was pretty terrible when he came out six years ago.  Now, as a forty or fifty-dollar card and having played with one, I’ve realized my mistake.  Wolfir Avenger looks good.  Maybe it just reminds me of Troll Ascetic or something. 

4) Maalfeld Twins

Maalfeld better if he was a bit cheaper...

This guy feels suspiciously like Grave Titan’s anemic brother.  Nevertheless, a strong 4/4 body with a Moan of the Unhallowed on the tail end seems excellent in an aggressive deck’s top-end.  On defense, it also provides three turns worth of chump blockers on the floor to dissuade attacks from your opponent’s monster ground pounder.  Zombie synergies abound, and he could even find some weird place in a low-tier Constructed Zombie deck.  As I wish for the Titans’ demise at the end of September this year, I hope there will be more room for these conservative monsters to get their chance to shine.  If he was just one mana cheaper, he might be first on this list.

3)  Mist Raven

Oops, you mist your blocks.

Mist Raven is built on a classic template; a simple and effective mechanic with tons of applications and this time, we get an evasive creature, all for the low, low price of four mana!  I’m not sure if you should first pick this, but in a weak pack with a whiff of a rare, I might.  Blue looks pretty strong in the format, both in Sealed and Draft.  Aether Adepts and, previously, Man O’ Wars have always been strong choices for their tempo-swinging, two-for-oneish feel.  Load up on as many of these on the four slot as your deck will hold and you’ll probably sweep your flight/pod. 

2) Zealous Conscripts

Yankee doodle came to town, riding on a po...OH CRAP WHERE'S THE PONY?!?!

Act of Treason on a stick!  A fairly solid stick, too.  Most of the time, the 3/3 for 4X cards in any given set are mediocre filler cards (see Venser’s Sliver, Scourge Servant, or Tuktuk Grunts).  Now, these Conscripts know how to turn a game around.  Has your opponent stabilized at 10 life while they bludgeon you to death with some monstrous Angel, or are you having trouble breaking through with a clumsy board state?  Have no fear, steal their biggest guy and bash them right back!  The fact that you can target any permanent gives this even more flexibility; remove control of some oppressive enchantment, land or planeswalker and bend it as you need.  Although it is a rare and not completely unconditional, it IS a gamebreaker, and those are the cards I like to have when I shuffle up 40.

1) Into the Void

Void where prohibited.

Arguably the most textually boring card that may ever get to #1, this card is vicious and utterly unfair.  Whiplash Trap busted so many games open in a grid-locked board that is the definition of value.  This is an excellent choice against aggressive decks as well as powerfully defensive decks, giving you the time to recover or the window to attack.  Unsummon and its variants have always been a fine choice.  The fact that this hits two creatures should always play on your mind; break paired creatures, erase tokens, remove their entire defense, activate the “one creature matters” clauses for your own creature.  There is a lot of power in this card.  Even if it doesn’t kill the creatures, they will need to spend two turns recasting them most likely, and you’ll have two turns to recover or develop.  It’s easily splashable and in a format without tons of removal, this can be exactly the piece you need for your X/U aggro puzzle.  I don’t feel great about this making the top seat, but I’m not sure what else would.  In Dark Ascension, it was Tragic Slip (though I might amend that to Lingering Souls now).  You WILL get a groan for your opponent as Into the Void resolves.

There are two new mechanics in this set of which a lot has been written and discussed.  The first, “soulbond,” is a mechanic affiliated with certain creatures.  When the creature with soulbond or any another creature comes into play, you may pair these two creatures, so long as both are otherwise unpaired.  When paired, both of those creatures receive a certain bonus.  I really like this mechanic.  Granted, it is only a Limited mechanic with few to no Constructed applications, where each card needs to be fairly self-reliant.  Still, it will offer some interesting reactions within the game as well as some interesting drafting.  You won’t want just creatures with soulbond, as they can only bond to one creature at a time, so you’ll need to balance bonding and unbonding creatures.  I have no idea what that balance should be – eight bonding to eight unbonding?  I’m not sure.  It will take a fair amount of playtesting to see how many is too many.

Next, the “miracle” mechanic allows you to cast some nonpermanent spells immediately as you draw them, so long as it’s the first card you draw that turn, drastically reducing the cost and allowing you to play sorceries with miracle during your draw step.  I’m really not sure how I feel about this; it’s begging to be broken, especially in Constructed.  It adds a certain level of luck to a game where good players try to minimize luck’s role in the game.  That being said, it will create some great Limited stories and it can be strategic; you can still wait to hard cast the spell later, if you feel it would be more prudent.  I didn’t put any of them in the Top Ten because I was unsure how to evaluate their power level.  It’s obvious that Temporal Mastery is just straight up Time Walk in Miracle land, and you can be sure that Ponder will slide that in the right place every time.  Thunderous Wrath, the Lava Axe Miracle, has also garnered some attention.  RDW decks will rarely pass up the chance to Lava Axe you for R.  I also believe that Banishing Stroke will be strong in Limited and some Constructed play as an instant O-Ring.  It’s also important to note that if you cast something for its Miracle cost, your opponent knows that you have not added a new card to your hand; if you couldn’t deal with something before you drew the Miracle card, they still can’t deal with it if the Miracle card didn’t fix it.  This is valuable information in a Limited space, especially where both players are out of gas and have to strategically the contents of a player’s deck and hand.

I’ll be playing up at Bluegrass Magic in Louisville this weekend, and I hope to see a big turn out!  I hope you have fun at your Prerelease, too, as we chalk up another set to the annals of Standard.  Expect to see a Prerelease report from me next week.

Oh, and cake.

Until next time, don’t forget to untap!

- Matt