Once again, it’s time for the happiest day of the year: pre-release time! The loving Momma Raptor gave me an afternoon pass. So it was day-drinking, ramen with King Ziggy & friends, and then cracking some packs. Unfortunately they went back to “seeded packs” for this pre-release. While it’s nice for me to pledge my loyalty to Azorius, I dislike how it renders a bunch of the cards you open unplayable. There’s not a lot of splashing tools, so I knew any red card I opened would be nearly unplayable.

The Deck

I know this is a new set and everything but this… this is not a good 23 cards you guys. Went heavy on the control, hoping small durdly guys would buy me time. And against durdling Simic it did! Against a Gruul deck in the finals, it did not. The Gruul–as they say–just don’t give a fuck.

Overperformers

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Everyone knew the Senate Guildmage was going to be pretty solid; good abilities at a very reasonable rate. I was astonished how well the Sentinel’s Mark did. It’s a decent (not great, but decent) trick, but it is also a great ‘battlecruiser’ card. Throwing it on my 5/5 Skitter Eel turned it into a 6/7 Vigilance and one shot of lifelink. Several times that turned a race in my favor.

Underperformers

This will have a home in a tempo-y flier deck somewhere, but the pegasus wasn’t great in traditional control. Not enough oomph in the air to help with the clock when stable and not enough defense when Gruul comes knocking.