So, a couple of weeks ago I wrote about my impressions on M15 based on my experience playing Sealed at a Pre-release. This week I was fortunate enough to get out to a local game shop and draft on what we call “Cheap Night”. Usually entrance fees for a draft event is $15 or so…but on “Cheap Night” it is only $10, but does not have any prize support. It is a perfect spot to get out and draft and really feel what the environment is like and is pretty friendly for newer players because there aren’t any prizes on the line. I have to say, I really enjoyed drafting M15 and it felt very healthy and diverse with a number of very interesting decks. Today I wanted to share some of those experiences with you before you head out to your next Draft and to see if they confirmed what I have grown to believe from playing M15 limited.
First off, I went 3-1 and was in contention to go 4-0 right up to the very end, but in my final match I made a couple of major mistakes that ruined all that hard work. With that said, I felt like I drafted a very solid deck that gave many of my opponents absolute fits because they couldn’t really deal with my deck. My selections were a little more helter skelter than I would have liked, but with a variety of less experienced players at the table I was having a hard time reading the signs coming around the table. My first pick was a Hushwing Gryff as a very serviceable 2/1 flier for 3 and a solid ability. My next several picks were all Blue and I looked like I was going on the U/W plan. However, I was a little disappointed that I was being cut off from White so I started to explore Black and Green a little bit and picked a couple of nice cards from both of those colours. Pack 2 landed me a Caves of Koilos and then a Preeminent Captain in back to back picks and yielded some more White. Pack 3 saw me open up Jace, the Living Guildpact and really locked me into Blue. A couple of more decent White cards came my way including my boy Boonweaver Giant as a finisher and I was well and truly on the U/W Flier plan for sure. Here’s my deck list.
Some highlights of the games were totally beating down an opponent with Welkin Tern over and over again. Tern just did good work and brought a huge smile to my face when I’d see it in my opening hand because I really felt I had a solid chance to win. In Round 2 I was able to live the dream with Jace. I cast Jace relatively early in the game and immediately started ticking him up to filter my card draw. I had just enough to run interference and give Jace some breathing room and tied up a few more of his creatures. When Jace got to the point where I could ultimate him I did and shuffled my hand and graveyard, including Jace, back into my library. I shuffled my deck up and offered to let my opponent cut the deck and then drew my next 7 cards while my opponent just looked on in dismay. You would not imagine his look of disgust when I drew, and subsequently cast, Jace all over again. Needless to say, the game was over in short order with the ridiculous card advantage I had just developed. Lastly, Triplicate Spirits and Selfless Cathar make for a terrific combination that can quickly bring down the pain. I finished off my opponent in Game 3 with a trio of Spirits who all got a boost from the Cathar and brought the hammer down.
The low light was in Round 4 where in game 1 I mulled to 6 cards and kept a 1 lander because I had a hand full of gas. I should have had the sense to toss it back and try again because when I missed my 2nd land drop I knew I was on the ropes…and sure enough I was dead in short order. In Game 2 I did a little better but misplayed Jace when I cast him. I should have bounced the Paragon my opponent was playing and then used the opening to force combat creating a situation where I had a profitable attack instead of sitting still and passing back the turn. My hesitation opened the door for my opponent once again and left me reeling and trying to catch up. Needless to say, I never did and I was a little disheartened that I had misplayed those games so badly.
On the whole, I felt I had a pretty good showing and was relatively pleased with my performance. Going 3-0 against some pretty decent players was a good feeling and even if I did blow game 4 it just further re-enforced that I can’t get greedy and should be prepared to mulligan me regularly. All in all, a fun evening with some solid results and few sweet finds in my draft pool.
This guy has got a bit of a bad rap since everyone has seen him, but I have to admit, he’s a very solid Planeswalker. Is he crazy busted and overpowered? No, but he is pretty versatile and reasonably skill intensive and will make a good piece in many decks when other versions of him rotate out of Standard. His +1 is an acceptable way to filter your cards, particularly later in the game and he really helped set up some solid draws for me. I can imagine that in Standard, where your deck is more finely tuned, ensuring that you draw into that perfect card will be pretty crucial. However, it is timing that -3 ability that is truly vital. You can really set your opponent back by bouncing something with Jace and I found that more often than not it was this ability that was the most powerful. It may not say “Kill target creature/planeswalker” but sometimes bouncing it will be just as relevant. The ultimate, like any ultimate on a Planeswalker, is totally back breaking. To make your opponent lose his hand and only YOU draw 7 is bananas. He’s not the best Jace, heck, he’s not even the best Jace in Standard right now, but he’s very solid and will be useful later on, I promise.
The speed of this format feels slow. There is not an overwhelming number of aggressive 1 and 2 drops running around the format and the beat down plan really only begins when people hit 3 land…and can attack on turn 4. Even then, there are lots of the 3 drop creatures that really aren’t that scary meaning that you need to get a little creative with your attacks to get early pressure on your opponent or you need to be ready to play a little more of a control route because you can’t get out the gates as quickly. However, it is important to get creatures down on board because the removal is lousy and you will need to block to buy yourself time.
This is a terrible card. This was just a dead card for me all night. When I had it in my hand, I hated seeing it, and if I cast it on a creature I wished it was something else. Don’t waste your time…it’s a pretty poor aura and not worth the card slot in your draft deck.
It’s a very good card! This card did terrific work for me and I was impressed. I was initially a little down on this card because it’s 6 mana for three 1/1 flying spirits. However, with the Convoke ability these guys can be cast much sooner and make the casting cost feel much more like 4 mana…and gives you 3 bodies. This is very useful and they proved to be just terrific for me all evening long.
Of all the Paragons I think I like this guy the best. Don’t get me wrong, they are all very good, but the ability to give something flying is just tremendous. Nothing makes combat feel bad for an opponent than being ambushed by a creature who is suddenly flying and able to handle their flier. He did good work for me all night and I’ll be sure to look for him again the next time I draft.
This guy is a trap. He is a very reasonable 2/3 for 3 mana and can get flying if you have an artifact. I watched numerous players run this guy with a bunch of Ornithopters and other bad artifacts to try and trigger the Flying ability. Yes, Yes, I know I ran one too, but I was looking at him as a 2/3 body on the ground because I only had 1 artifact, so if he could fly it was all the better. However, to purposefully skew your deck to try and live the Ornithopter/Aeronaut Tinkerer game plan seems a bit wonky and not the best line of play. Draft the Tinkerer, heck, play the Tinkerer and if you have an artifact or two all the better, but don’t go all in on that game plan because the reward just isn’t there.
I have to ask the question, do people actually say the word “Ratchet” outside of a Home Depot? While I was playing my games they had the radio playing in the back ground and there was a song that came on by the Chain Smokers (“Let me take a Selfie”) which has been playing for months. However, every time I listen to the girl in the song talk about “That’s so Ratchet” I’m just left shaking my head. First off, do people ACTUALLY sound like her? I hope not…for all of our sakes. Second, a ratchet is a TOOL…it’s a noun used to describe something to help repair your car or your bike…not an adjective used to describe lord knows what! C’mon…I’m not the language police, but even I have to admit that it sounds ridiculous. Or maybe I’m just getting old. One way or the other it sound ridiculous and should probably be stricken from the English language. Rant over…thank you. [Editor’s Note: Sorry Bruce, but you’re getting old. Pop stars are always using the latest urban slang. -Greg]
Thanks everyone for reading again this week. If you have had your experiences drafting M15, let me hear about them. What did you draft? Any cool cards? What did you deck look like? If we are going to improve at this sort of thing we all need to be prepared to share and learn from our experiences. I hope some of mine will help you the next time out and help you to steer clear of a few of my pitfalls.
Until Next time keep it fun, keep it safe…keep it casual.
by Bruce Gray – Casual Encounters @bgray8791 on Twitter
I hope everyone had a great weekend and a fun M15 prerelease experience. I have to say, I don’t get out to play in the shops very often, but I make a point of going to the prerelease. It is a fun environment, is a little less stressful than full on tournaments and is just a great way to try out some of the new cards in the newest set.
The shop that I attend hosts a Two-Headed Giant event on the Sunday evening which is reasonably well attended (although not packed like the other 4 events they run during the weekend) and is my preferred time slot and format. If you haven’t tried a Two-Headed Giant event I would strongly recommend that you do. For starters, it is a fresh and different way of playing Magic at a Local Game Store. We routinely assume that you have to play a 1 on 1 duel but it becomes very evident that Two-Headed Giant can work just as readily. At our prerelease events you get your sealed product and can open up your stuff, but can then share cards with your partner to make the best decks possible. This means that deck construction can be done with a partner and with a larger pool of cards meaning you are assured to be able to play a reasonable deck in the colours of your choice. I particularly like building my deck with someone else. I spend most of my time building my deck solo, so to have a second opinion and fresh eyes is refreshing and a pleasant change. The strategy of a Two-Headed Giant game is also substantially different because the 30 life you start with, while it is only 10 more than normal, is much harder to deal with. Your deck needs to take on much more of a mid-rangey feel because a full out aggro assault is very likely to come up short and out of gas. In the actual game play, you get the same time allotment as you would if you were playing a 1 on 1 duel, but only need to complete 1 game meaning that usually you are done in good order. This is nice so that you can get a little bit of a breather, get a drink of water, or visit the bathroom. There were a few games that went the distance and resulted in draws and such, but they were far from the norm.
How did my partner and I fare? My partner for such events is my brother. He’s the guy who can claim responsibility for getting me into Magic back when we were in High School and he is most often my partner of choice for such events. He’s a very good player and is quite polished in his game play…and we tend to think along the same lines when we sit down to build decks meaning that we can easily complement each other. I’m not sure the fact that we are brothers is a huge benefit, but we certainly are familiar with each other and know what to expect from the other person. In the end we went 4-1 and placed 2nd out of 20 teams which was a very strong showing for us. Here’s a look at the deck I was running.
As you can probably tell I played the White seeded pack and was generally pretty happy with the outcome. The intent of the deck was to get out early with the 2 drops (Welkin Tern, Dauntless River Marshal, Oreskos Swiftclaw and Ajani’s Pridemate) to apply some early pressure to get us to the long game plan of the Archangel and Boonweaver Giant. I packed in a couple of auras and a little removal but was stunned to have opened 0 counterspells. I admit, I felt kind of naked without knowing that I had a little bit of counter magic, but you get what you get and play the games. My brother on his end played the Black seeded pack and opted for a wildly aggressive B/R build running tons of goblins and bringing loads of pain. In the end, our decks complemented each other pretty well and we seemed to have reasonable synergy such that we could really get out front of our opponents and then close down the match.
A few highlights were in game 1 we had fallen behind to a very aggressive Mono-Red deck that left us reeling. We had sort of stabilized at 12 life but were still in danger of being blown right out. In back to back top decks I ripped Boonweaver Giant and immediately tutored up Spectra ward for it giving me a basically untouchable 6/6 beatstick. The next top deck I ripped Resolute Archangel and swung our life total back for a ton and could then attack with impunity. The look on the faces of our opponents when the Angel came down was just priceless and the two 7 drops turned the tide of the game for us. In game 4 we were again under pressure and from an aggressive duo had just suited something up with their own Spectra Ward but I ripped my Spectra Ward suited up my Ajani’s Pridemate with 5 counters on him and we quickly closed out the game. In our final game it was once again Spectra Ward, this time on a Krenko’s Enforcer that did the damage to finish of a pair that had got off to slow start and were being punished.
Now that I have had a chance to sit down and really see the format, granted in a sealed setting and not draft, I have a learned a few things that I would pass along in the form of some Deep Thoughts
You may have got the sense that Spectra Ward is good. Based on the limited results we had, it was not just good, it was terrific. You can make ANYTHING into a basically untouchable bomb that can shred your opponent. I have rarely been excited for 5 mana auras, but I might be able to get behind this one. What is a disgusting combination is the Boonweaver Giant tutoring up the Spectra Ward for FREE and then closing out the game very quickly. If you see this one, take it because it does very good work.
There are a fair number of Goblins in this set and many of them are useful. Foundry Street Denizen is a terrific way to punish opponents for slow starts and Frenzied Goblin basically makes blocking a nightmare as they tap things down. However, the real star of the Goblin army is the Rabblemaster who is a one Goblin army. My brother put him to good use and routinely got in there for plenty of damage with him. Mix in the Red Paragon (yes, I know he’s NOT a Goblin) and you have an awesome combination to get out to blinding start with loads of damage.
If you weren’t sure before, I’m here to tell you that the removal in this set is very poor. It is either very situational like Pillar of Light or Banishing Light, super expensive and clunky like Flesh to Dust, or punishes you tremendously like Ulcerate. So, with the exception of Lightning Strike you are paying a ton for lousy removal. This puts extra pressure on you to curve out with creatures because the only real way to protect yourself is to block and to try and block profitably. I miss the days when removal was cheap, efficient and plentiful…alas, the times they are a changing and removal just got pricey.
All of us who enjoy playing limited are going to have to adjust to playing in a post Theros world where Bestow is no longer a deal. It means the requirement for Auras to be playable now needs to go WAY up. It also means that you can’t just load up one dude and have him smash away. I watched a number of opponents suit up there creature like they would have in Theros limited environments only to have them completely nullified by a single spell. Remember folks, don’t set yourself up for the 2 for 1 unless those auras are really good.
The new card frame got its debut and it looks solid. It isn’t really a major change and it still looks and feels like a Magic card. I think everyone will get used to it and will grow to like the new look.
One of the hardest parts of playing Magic at a lengthy event is making sure you get something to eat between rounds. Lots of people default to Mcdonald’s or Tim Horton’s, but I’m never really satisfied with those choices. Well, as I walked into the Shop to play I noticed that the small pizza joint next door had a promotion for a slice of pizza, a pop, and a garlic dip all for $5. The proximity to the store (namely, right next the game shop), a solid price, and the fact that it was pizza sealed the deal and was the meal choice for us. Pizza has rarely tasted to so good.
Oh, as a final point, at the end of the night for my drive home I stopped at the Tim Horton’s to grab a decaf coffee (I only ever drink decaf). It’s 10:30pm and surely most Timmies have decaf brewing, but not this weekend. I had to stop and wait while they brewed up a new pot. Now, I know this sounds very petty, but who exactly is buying regular coffee at 10:30pm on a Sunday night? Presumably people want to sleep and the caffeine pretty well sewers that. Decaf would be the obvious choice but for some reason the Timmies I visited seemed stunned that I would want decaf. Perhaps I’m being overly particular because when I was younger I worked at a Timmies…but I hardly think expecting to have Decaf on hand late at night is a shocker. Rant over…thanks.
I hope all of you had a fantastic M15 Prerelease weekend. I’d love to hear about other experiences out there and what you observed. Was Spectra Ward as good for you guys as it was for us? What did you think of the removal? Did anyone open some crazy awesome rares and just go off? I’d love to hear the stories. Send me tweet and let’s hear all about it!
Thanks for reading and until next time, keep it fun, keep it safe…keep it casual.
Bruce Gray @bgray8791
| Set Name | Magic 2015—Core Set |
| Number of Cards | 269 |
| Prerelease Events | July 12-13, 2014 |
| Release Date | July 18, 2014 |
| Launch Weekend | July 18-20, 2014 |
| Game Day | August 9-10, 2014 |
| Magic Online Prerelease Events | July 25-27, 2014 |
| Magic Online Release Date | July 28, 2014 |
| Pro Tour Magic 2015 | August 1-3, 2014 |
| Pro Tour Magic 2015Location | Portland, Oregon, USA |
| Pro Tour Magic 2015Formats | Swiss:
Top 8:
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| Official Three-Letter Code | M15 |
| Twitter Hashtag | #MTGM15 |
| Initial Concept and Game Design | Aaron Forsythe (lead) Max McCall Shawn Main Mike Gills Jenna Helland |
| Final Game Design and Development | Billy Moreno (lead) Shawn Main Adam Lee Tom LaPille Sam Stoddard |
| Languages | English, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish |
| Available in | Booster Packs, Intro Packs*, Clash Pack*, Fat Pack*
(* – Not available in all languages) |
