Prerelease etiquette

>they're

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sleeve everything

Fuck off retard

>>46323354
You're doing God's work anon.

>>46323383
Underrated post.

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>>46323354
do you think this is reddit or something?

>>46323406
Why would I do that and prevent myself from being able to see if I've got a dual sided card coming up?

A few people will be dicks about it but most people don't mind helping new players

>don't be afraid to call judges

Now some places aren't big enough to have actual judges but generally there will be someone who is at least semi knowledgeable you should be able to ask

If you are unsure of a card interaction, don't be afraid to ask, they're are some people who will flat out lie to new players

To all

>Have Fun!

This should be your number one priority at a prerelease, it's a casual event and even if there's prize support it should be about playing with new people and new cards

And finally I'd like to ask that we as a community attempt to weed out the fuck heads who like to play prereleases like the top 8 of a GPS

They make new players not want to come back and are generally poisonous to the magic community as a whole

You know the type, semi "professional", Can make day two at a GP but never further, not only will they angle shoot but they will keep doing it no matter the board state

If you see someone picking on someone please take a stand

>>46323569

>someone's actually trying to be helpful?!
>NORMIES ON MY BOARD
>REEEEEEE

>>46323354

>Watch out for people trying to con you out of cards

Always check prices, and for the love of God don't trade for anything with the word eldrazi anywhere on the card

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Question,
With Sinister Concoction, it would be considered cheating to see what card you self-milled before selecting a card to discard from hand, right?

You would have to discard before self milling, because otherwise it would be WAY too easy to set up delirium.

Is there any rules regarding order of cost payment?

>>46323696

Not at all, in fact doing it the opposite way would technically be cheating

You have to pay cost in the order they appear on the card, so you have to pay a black THEN pay a life THEN mill a card THEN discard a card THEN sacrifice it

Just treat every comma before the colon as a THEN

>>46323696
You pay the costs in order I believe, so you do indeed see the milled card before you choose what to discard.

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>>46323643
>helpful

you mean secretly try to get everyone to be a shitter, so you get easy wins.

im on to you motherfucker

>>46323354
Jokes on you I'm not going to the prerelease.

I don't care for this set.

>>46323354
Also beware of people like OP. Shitters who will act like a noob and ask for a takeback/rewind.

>>46323574
>What are checklist cards ?

What should a new player bring to the prerelease? Ive played a couple games of kitchen table with my roommate, but have never been to something like this before. Should I bring food or is it better manners to buy stuff there? How about card sleeves?

Also, I have a really small collection from a Deck Builders toolkit and 2 intro packs. Recently got an Abbots of Keral Keep and the Black planeswalker from Origins out of packs, should I try selling/trading them at the prerelease? I'm working on building up my G/B elves deck based on the Hunting Pack intro pack, and don't really care about them.

>>46324474

For a prerelease, bring some new sleeves, and some dice for counters/tokens/rolling. Eat/drink before going, or buy there. If this is your first prerelease, I suggest not doing any trading at all.

Unless you plan to get there really early, then bring a deck to play some games before. Anything else I've found is a hassle to drag from table to table

>>46324474
Better manners is to buy there, or learn if they have partnerships with any local businesses. My older local shop was a couple hundred feet from a Pizza place, and you could buy a pie for pick-up, go and get it between rounds.

The major things I would consider bringing:

Tokens, if you have them. Officially made Magic ones are best.

Dice. At least 2d6, preferably around 5d6 and a d20. The d20 can augment your life counter if you go above 20, and the d6s can be used for counters and determining turn order for the first game.

Pen and Paper: Some players prefer this method of life-totaling. It's mostly up to you.

Card sleeves are often a wise choice.

Other than that, I'd warn you to be a little more formal and rigorous about certain aspects of the game (Untap, then upkeep, then draw.), try to state when you're moving phases, (This is because technically your opponent always temporarily gains priority during your phases to play instants), and of course, ask before picking up someone's cards.

You can try selling/trading, but as it's your first, I'd mildly recommend against it. Trading can be an intense part of the hobby, with some attempting to scam new players, others attempting to genuinely aid you, and little way to know which is which without consulting the internet on every trade. Some people are fine with this, and even try for "value to value" trades, but it's a tricky thing to negotiate early on.

One thing I would personally do is shake hands with each opponent, and note that this is your first pre-release. Most will be more likely to allow a takeback knowing you're new. There will likely be one or two who try to take advantage, but most will be more willing to help.

At my first Prerelease back after a five year hiatus, I mentioned I was out of practice, and play mostly non-limited formats. My first opponent beat me fiercely, and then asked to see my card pool, and helped me rebuild my deck to fit the limited format better. Went 3-1-1.

>>46324474

In case your friends haven't explained, keep in mind the BREAD mnemonic:

The first things you want in your deck are BOMBS: Anything that drastically shifts the game in your favor. Any creature that, unstopped, will win in 3-4 swings.

Second is REMOVAL: This has become a little weaker in recent years, but remember there's many kinds of removal. Exile, direct damage, fight, destroy, minus effects, tapping effects, pacifies, counters, efficient or targetted discard, all count as removal.

THIRD is EVASION. Cards with Flying or Unblockable, things with Trample. Anything to put more damage on your opponent.

AGGRO. Haste. 4 power creatures for 4, token spam, ramp spells, anything that makes you faster.

And DREGS: Whatever you've got left after the first 4 run out in your colors.

>>46324566
Sweet, thanks for the tip!

>>46323696
>Is there any rules regarding order of cost payment?
Yes. You must pay the costs in the order that the costs are listed.

You pay the mana, then you pay the life, then you mill, then you discard a card, then you sacrifice the enchantment.

I hope you at least set up delirium, because you just spent 2 mana and a life point to two for one yourself.

>>46324664
Thanks for the tips! What should I do if I don't have a ton of tokens? Especially with clues coming out I'm not sure what I should bring to fill in for them.

Also, is a "Ok now I'm attacking" ok, or should I straight up say "Upkeep phase", "Main Phase", etc?

>>46324714

I don't want to sound like a Timmy, but does that mean I should value high power/toughness cards higher than cards which might have better synergy but weaker overall stats/value? What kind of ratio should I be looking at between these? Obviously it changes based on the deck, but is there some kind of golden number of removal or high cost cards?

>>46323735
wrong.
>601.2h The player pays the total cost in any order. Partial payments are not allowed. Unpayable costs can’t be paid
(rule regarding casting spells or activating abilities)

>>46323696
>>46323756
>>46324789

see >>46324910

>>46324826
>If I don't have many tokens.

Most of your boosters will have one, so that's not a big problem. Just some generic ones like 2/2 zombies and wolves would be fine.

>phase announcing.

Basically, the pattern I always see is
"Untap" (perform action)
"Upkeep" (do anything you need to)
"Moving to draw".

After your draw, you're in the Main phase, so do whatever, then
"move to attack".
IF needed "second main phase"
"End of turn."

You don't have to be so taciturn, but as long as you acknowledge when they could respond. (For instance, if they're tapped out, you don't need to say ANY of it. Except maybe "moving to attack".)

>Ratios

AH, yes, thank you, I meant to touch on Mana Curve and land/nonland.

IN GENERAL: here's what you want to aim for:

At least 40 cards, likely no higher than 45 in the deck. (Slimmer decks mean more odds of every card being played.)

The deck should be based around a 40-60 split of lands to nonlands. so around 16 lands, 24 nonlands. (I go 18-27)

IN GENERAL: your mana curve should be at its highest at 3 CMC (converted mana cost). So the single biggest wad of cards in your deck should be 3 cost cards.

You should look for only maybe 5 total cards at 5 CMC or higher.

Now, if you want, you can veer to closer to 4 as the big number, or 2 as the big number, it's your personal taste. But Most decks run something like
3 one drops,
5 twos
7 threes
4 fours
2 fives
3 cards six or higher.

You don't have to be this precise, but the idea is the lower your mana curve, the more likely you are to play quickly and aggressively, and not stall out with expensive cards in your hand and no lands.

>>46324939
Gotcha, that makes a lot more sense to do that way. All of this really should be in some kind of guide on the internet, everybody says shit like "Shower/wear deoderant" and "Dont touch peoples stuff without asking", but for normal people there isn't a ton of information about the gameplay questions. Thanks!

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>>46324826
I'm not sure if I'm quite understanding what you're asking, but I think you're talking about the bombs. They're somewhat difficult to explain to someone with limited limited heh experience. Not necessarily big huge creatures, but something that gives your opponent an "o shit" moment when it hits the board, basically the top %10 of cards in the limited format. most often these will be creatures because of their staying power. Avacyn would be a good example, but they don't all have to be as flashy as her. Something that has better synergy could be better, but its a bit harder to do with sealed pool.

>>46325017
That's paradoxically because, if you get a little more dedicated, the latter is easier to find.

Most decks in any semi-competitive format edge from a 30% to 40% mana-base, and a curve that sits somewhere between 2.8 and 3.8 as the average.

When you get to the number crunching, a clear pattern emerges. But once you get that deep, you're in the territory where the former advice is more forgiving.

It's also the kind of info we tend to give people who want to ADVISE new people. So there can be a bit of a more personal bond with the info, and a little more laissez faire attitude. (and so the next guy can then teach it to someone else, allowing everyone to have the chance to be the 'guru')


Like, you may have noted my numbers added to 45. I don't know anyone else who builds to 45 in limited decks. I like it because it gives me a slight advantage against the occasional mill deck, and it lets me fit one or two more fringe cards. But I developed that over time. Like I developed the understanding that, as much as I like BG in constructed play, I only win as RW or BW in Limited.

>>46324826
>>46324939
>Ratios
I must disagree in a number of things.

First off, you usually REALLY want to play exactly 40 cards.
That is the legal minimum, and you don't want to play more because it reduces your chances of drawing your good cards. And no, you're not going to have that many good cards.
The only advantadge I could see of playing more cards is defense against mill, which is unusual and you could sideboard against.

The standard then is to play around 17 lands; they don't need to be exactly 17 but you should look around there.
If you feel that you have good mana fixing you can play 16, if you feel your deck is slow (high costed cards) you can play 18, that kind of things.

I agree with the peak at 3cmc, but 8 one and two drops are a LOT. Limited games tend to be long, and in the late game, you don't want to draw a creature that has little impact in the game.
I'd keep it around 3 or 4 creatures of cost one and two, and probably never more than 6, even if your plan is attacking fast.
For these reasons, you will also want that those creatures have abilities that give them value in the late game (Thraben Gargoyle is an example of this and I like it even though I'm not sure if it's a great card).

Besides that, you should also bring in removal, as people will try to play their bombs, and a bomb unanswered wins a game.

As for the value vs synergy question, I think in Sealed you should lean to value. It's hard that in a bunch of random cards you can get enough wolves or vampires to make some effects more valuable than a better overall card.
That doesn't mean you should rule out a card just because it has an apparently useless ability if it's an efficient creature, etc.

>>46324826
Tokens can be just about anything from dice to playing cards as long as long as you and your opponent what they represent. Also, some LGSes keep a supply of tokens and should be willing to let you borrow them during the event.

If you don't have enough of a particular token, you can also just place a dice on top of one of the tokens to represent how many you have.

>>46325087
>But I developed that over time.
Sorry to say this but 45 cards is not developing, you're regressing. Unless on special occassion, you should try to build a 40 card deck.

>>46325138

I'd like to clarify a point, and contest another:

I forgot that "one and two drops" implies CREATURES. I use the term generically for "cards of 1-2 cost." My apologies.

Yes, you should definitely NOT only have creatures in your 8 cards of 1 and 2 CMC. That should be your general TOTAL of cards of that cost.

And I disagree with the "exactly 40" rule.

The difference in odds of drawing a card you have two of in a 45 card deck versus a 40 is 0.6% (5% versus 4.4%) The odds of a card you have one of drop from 2.5% to 2.2%. It's not a huge loss at all.

Meanwhile, Blue has at least 3 cards that give it notable mill effects in limited, as well as over 12 cards that self mill over 4 colors. In a set that wants you to have a variety of card types in your graveyard.

I DO recommend that 45 be your CEILING for deck size. Keep it within that 5 card window, and know that if you add 2 non-lands, you should add a land.


>>46325288
You go 4-1 your way, I'll go mine. (I'm aware that anecdotal evidence isn't data, so my successes don't speak for the general trends. But I also hold that too many people follow the "always build the minimum" axiom too strongly.)

A 41 card deck is going to run functionally identical to a 40 card deck. a 42 will be the same in all but one in a thousand games. Stay under 45, and aim for 40 if you can.

I just do better when I put those extra 5 cards in. Might just be luck, or placebo, or whatever, but it's what works for me. Maybe in a while, I'll hit a streak where that's not true, and my advice will change. But for now, it's Find the number that works for you.

>>46324474
Liliana's going up on value, hold on to it.

>>46325138
BREAD.
Bombs, Removal, Evasion, Aggro, Dregs.
Pick based on that order. It's a good gauge.

Bombs: Cards that win games if they're not answered.
Removal: Cards that answer bombs.
Evasion: Cards with flying, unblockable, and to a lesser degree stuff like menace and skulk.
Aggro: Agressive cards. Faceburn and general value goes here.
Dregs: Everything else. Fill your cards with whatever is the least rubbish and is in colour. Anything that has dumb synergy but can't be reliably played probably goes here. 90% of the time there's more of this than you'd like, so don't feel bad about putting a couple fun picks in, especially if they're in colour.

>>46325718
that's not bad advice for draft; in the prerelease you don't pick cards, you work with what you get.
you still want to play a bunch of 3-cost creatures over playing 10 removal spells

>>46324374
Well, what are they? I'm new to MtG and have no idea how they work and how I'm supposed to find a double sided card from a deck that's supposed to be hidden and randomized.

>>46325818
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=checklist+card+mtg
There you go

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My store is doing an Intro Pack casual tournament when SoI is released. Since I'm a new player without many cards I was thinking of picking up one of the Intro Packs to get a nice boost in my amount of cards + the 2 boosters that come with it as it seems like I'll be getting a decent value from it. Question is which one of the packs do you guys reckon is the least garbage? I know we don't know anything about them other than the flagship rares, but everyone is ragging on all of them except the green one, Soul Swallower. I'm just asking what you people with more experience would divine to be an OK deck.

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I'll be going to my first sealed on Saturday so this is nice to see.

I've also been basically out of the game for a long ass time, are there any other tips to start with/begin with? My friend said its a bad idea to get attracted/attached to any immediate deck type, but I have to admit i'd really love to make a w/g human focused deck.

>>46325792
I was thinking draft, I always forget that prereleases do sealed until I'm getting my packs.That said, going high removal tends to go alright in any limited environment. Access to it is limited, so bad removal become very playable and good removal is amazing.

>>46325380
I know I will be oversimplifying things, but I will try to do this anyways.

Let's say that in an average Limited game, you get to draw around 15 cards.
(opening hand + 8 draw steps, seems reasonable to me, there will be shorter games and longer games)

if you have 40 cards, the odds of drawing your BOMB card that will win you the game are 15/40 = 37.5%

among 45 cards, they are 15/45 = 33.33%

>it doesn't seem such a small difference anymore, does it?

Now let's suppose that, in your 40-card deck, your best course of action makes you mulligan to 5.
That means you draw 2 less cards algon the course of the game.
Let's count the scry as a half-draw because sometimes it will be the land you really need, and you won't put it at the bottom even if it's not your BOMB.
You will draw around 13.5 cards average. The odds are now 13.5/40 = 33.75%

Congratulations! You will draw your best card as often as me when I mulligan to 5!

>>46325869
Intro packs are usually garbo. What are you intending to do?

In reality, most people only play Modern, Standard or EDH. The "kitchen sink anything goes" days of Magic are over. Even if you have a small playgroup that is willing to just play with anything, it quickly becomes an arms race as to who is the biggest nigger and starts netdecking absolutely busted shit that is banned in all reasonable formats.

My personal advice :

- If just playing for fun with friends, get into EDH/Commander with them. You're better served buying any of the $30 premade Commander decks to start from there.
- If you want to play Modern : Stop. You are new. Please stop. It's like $500 and you'll cry. Please do not enter this dark chamber.
- If you want to play Standard : Most long term MtG players flirt with standard now and then but realize playing Standard longterm is a pretty big investment (due to how often cards rotate out, and that said rotation affects the inflation/deflation of card prices TREMENDOUSLY). I still think you could have fun playing standard but you'd still be better off buying single online than from an Intro pack.

tl;dr don't buy intro packs

>>46325877
Going into Sealed with a plan is dumb because you'll crack your packs and see that you have zero W or G cards and try to cobble together failure.

Sealed is all about BREAD, baby.

B - Bombs. Any absud card that will clearly win you the game if it hits the table.
R - Removal. Removal is GOAT in sealed.
E - Evasion. Any card with an 'evasion' ability (Flying, Hexproof, Menace, etc) that allows it to protect itself or go the distance compared to other cards.
A - Abilities. Cards that have pay/tap shit on them and do stuff.
D - Dudes. Vanilla creatures that are not overcosted for what they do. A 2/1 for 1 mana is an awesome dude even when vanilla.

When you bust open them packs, look at your BREAD baby and build from there.

Bonus hints : Generally two color decks are best, three color are sketchy as fuck unless you were blessed with the most splashable shit known to man (r a r e), and monocolor is likewise sketchy as fuck. If you legit cracked everything to make a mono colored deck, go for it and rape. Most of the time there's not enough removal and evasion dudes to justify a mono deck though.

For me it usually ends up being "what color(s) has the most of my removal + now let's glue some dudes to it".

t. frequent Sealed winner/top three placer

>>46323354
>Prerelease etiquette
spill your mountain dew all over the table and start farting uncontrollably

>>46325929
Well the casual tournament was Intro Packs only. My primary reasons of picking an Intro pack was to boost my meager card count at what (to me) seems like a discount price and to partake in this casual tournament to get my feet dipped into the game a little bit more seriously. Basically the only admission fee is that you buy the Intro Pack. I dunno what's common practice, but here you need to pay an entrance fee to play in FNM or other tournaments which can be even 10€ above the intro pack price.

>>46325998
That's a very bizarre tournament but yeah, I could see buying an Intro Pack to play at an Intro Pack tournament event.

Over here, it's usually $3-5 for a venue fee to play at an EDH tournament, where all the money is pooled into a pot for either a cash prize or a store prize. FNM fees vary from store to store as well ($3 at the lowest, $15 at the highest, that I've seen), but FNM is usually Standard or Modern, and the prizes are often FNM-exclusive cards that you can't get anywhere else.

I've never once seen an Intro Pack tournament here though. The standard types for official Magic events are usually :

- Sealed. This is a preleased format where you buy 6 packs to make a 40 card deck. You are only allowed to use cards from those 6 packs, and the store generally provides the lands for free. You cannot add cards from Intro packs or anything like that.

- Draft. Another sealed format that requires people to crack packs, take one card, pass them around, until all the cards are gone, and then they create decks from those drafted cards. Price depends on the number of packs and people playing.

All the other formats like Standard, Modern, Block Constructed, Commander, etc, require you to have a pre-created deck you bring with you and a deck list.

>>46325966
I didn't mean going into that with sealed, I meant after for standar.d I know there's no way to guarantee what I want from sealed.

>>46326053
>standard

In order of power levels, based on the spoilers and common knowledge that Intro decks are usually 80% jank, 15% bretty gud and 5% actually useful cards, the following decks are what I consider to be best for cannibalizing to bolster a Standard deck after :

1) Blue intro deck
2) White intro deck
3) Black intro deck
4) Green intro deck
5) Red intro deck

In terms of just straight up winning an Intro deck tournament, White is probably the best due to the abundance of low-rarity removal available to the color, with Black as second best.

>>46323643
There's a difference between helpful and self righteous.

>>46326033
>The "kitchen sink anything goes" days of Magic are over. Even if you have a small playgroup that is willing to just play with anything, it quickly becomes an arms race as to who is the biggest nigger and starts netdecking absolutely busted shit that is banned in all reasonable formats.

This is pretty much my biggest experience with MtG so far. I collected the cards as a kid, but never played the game. In my teens I found a group of friends who were into MtG but they had been at it longer than me and had such OP and broken decks that they would just toss my salad. Since I have no friends who are into it anymore, I thought about trying to break the ice with this Intro Pack tournament as everyone has a more even playing field. I could meet and play against people without getting too embarrassed with my awful deck vs their 1000€ deck.

>>46325087
>>46325138
>average CMC of 2.8 to 3.8
>peak cmc of 3

Holy shit don't listen to these retards. Limited often goes to turns 6-10 (unless you're playing with Dragon's Maze). Make sure to include a couple huge creatures because you're going to need something to combat the craw wurms that get dropped against you. Don't buy into the "if it costs 6+ mana it better win the game immediately when you cast it" bullshit, it's almost exclusively spoken by tryhards who barely have any idea what they're doing.

>>46326086
Yeah, that's a reasonable idea.

If you still have your older cards, I highly recommend going through all of the old lands and checking prices on any of your rares. Some older lands are worth hundreds now and you could easily sell/trade them to buy yourself a nice EDH deck.

EDH decks can get pricey but they don't need to. Lots of incredibly solid and viable EDH decks are like $200 max, most of which is the price of the lands needed.

>>46325877
be aware prereleases are sealed, meaning you get 6 packs and build a deck from whatever you pull. You can try to force WG but you might not get the right support for it, so be open to trying new things. The good news is your deck list is not concrete, so if you don't like what you built round 1 you can modify it, up to completely changing it, between rounds.

In terms of getting back into magic, familiarize yourself with the mechanics of this set (Madness, Delirium, Flip Cards, etc.) At least browse the spoilers online so you don't waste your deckbuilding time reading and digesting new cards. Prerelease is the most casual form of official play, so don't stress out and have fun. Don't be afraid to call judge if you don't understand how something works

>>46326137
I confused people a little. I don't want to bild w/g in sealed, more for when I get back into standard/constructed. Sealed I know is I deal with what I get. But when I move on to making my own deck and such, then I want to try w/g.

>>46326075
I might try that, but I am also thinking of building a set mostly limited from Origins, and SoI for my standard if I can.

>>46325910
you're not taking into account the various milling effects, however. There's a spell that makes you mill 13 cards as it is, plus the various others of self milling, plus the number of clue tokens or cards like jace that increase drawing.

There's nothing wrong with having a deck of more cards than 40 (or 60 in other settings) as long as your deck is appropriately tailored for that reason. The ongoing misconception with having exactly 40 or exactly 60 increasing your odds of winning is not always correct and you'll find there have been some very good decks and very good players who have used more than the absolute minimum successfully.

For most new players, sticking to 40 might be best, for someone with a decent game plan and experience buildings decks, they might be comfortable and confident going higher, and that's fine too.

>>46326124
What kind of lands am I looking for? Just normal lands or special ones?

>>46326186
>There's a spell that makes you mill 13 cards as it is
it's at mythic, and if you see your opponent is playing to mill, you can put more cards in your deck THEN, do you know how sideboarding works in Limited?

>>46326207
Special ones, unless you happened to collect Unglued/Unhinged.

Basically :

- full art lands
- full art foil lands
- dual lands (lands that say they're both types on it, like a Mountain Swamp)
- fetch lands (lands that tap, sac, and let you look for a Mountain or Swamp, etc)
- rare lands (Legendary lands from Kamigawa, etc)

Basically weird lands, full art lands, lands that are Rare or Mythic, or lands so old they look like they've been around longer than you.

>>46323354
I'm just going to force red. It seems like a solid strategy

>>46326268
Cool, I'll have to rummage through my collection and see if I can find anything.

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This thread rocks! Keep your LGS A happy, fun place at your prerelease!

>>46326398
Fuck up

Idea: Look up all tokens in the set, then make like a dozen of each, just in case. They don't need to be bootlegs, just pieces of paper with name, color, type, rules text, p/t. Doodle some art if you want!

>>46326448
you realize you can just use cards from your pool not in your deck face down as tokens right? Why would you bother proxying like 50+ tokens when you're probably not gonna be making more than 3 at a time, hell you might not even have token producers in your deck.

>>46326483
Because sooner or later, everyone needs tokens. Even if you don't, you can lend them out as a show of good sport. Plus, by making your own, you always know what's what; with face down cards, it's always going to be tricky remembering what's what.

>>46326503
you are severely overestimating how many tokens are going to be generated in limited.

>>46326512
Just like the boy scouts say: Be Prepared. It's something you can do when you're bored. Even half a dozen of each relevant token, maybe shift numbers depending on likelihood and number of tokens spawned by certain cards; for instance, devils and zombies will be fairly common, as will clues probably.

I'm not saying you HAVE to make your own tokens. Just that you could, and it's always nice to have a personal touch.

>>46326268
What site should I be checking up the prices on? I'm looking through a few places but the prices seem to vary.

>>46326715
tcgplayer is the often agreed upon site to go by
scg will be inflated

>>46326760
Thanks.

>>46324910
hmm, so if something costs WB3 then I have to pay the W before the B?
I wonder if there's a situation where that becomes relevant

>>46324910
>>46327434
>in any order
>I have to pay W before B
Reading comprehension, Anon

>>46325043
>flashy
Heh

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Ok guys. I'm going to my first Pre-release this weekend.

How do i not come of as an total ass/idiot when playing?

>>46332220
fuck off newfag

>>46332220
>How do i not come of as an total ass/idiot when playing?
Communicate clearly, and that includes being willing to communicate your confusion. If you're playing against an asshole they'll read you as an idiot, but if you're playing against a mostly considerate player they'll be mostly considerate of you. Problems only really arise when you walk into a bad situation without knowing, instinctively try to squirm out of it, and then your opponent is forced to choose between optimal winning gameplay and the dictates of common courtesy. And those situations can be hard to avoid, but communication skills are kind of a panacea in this regard. The game only really exists in the minds of the two players, after all.

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>Went to the Pre-Release tournament for time spiral back when they did massive pre-release tournaments
>First Pre-release
>First opponent was some guy in his late 20's wearing a suit and tie
>realized this was my first tournament and helped me out
>after he eventually won he would find me during my other games and see how I was doing
>turns out he came in 2nd out of 100 people
>Because of how nice he was I make it my mission to help new players
>mfw we need more players like that man

Is the prerelease this weekend or next weekend?

>>46333338
April 2nd-3rd.

I always try to improve new players' decks after I beat them by looking at their pool and making a few suggestions.

>>46325910

There's a couple issues with your points that basically boil down to "There's too many contingent points to get a clear picture".

Because there's search effects, deck thinners, and self-mill effects all over this set, which ALSO modify probabilities.

Not to mention that, over the course of a pre-release, you're likely to play 2.5 games per match, over the course of 5 matches, for a total of 12 games. A 4% change in draw percentage means that the difference in your and my deck's ability to draw the card will affect MAYBE one game. So, yes, it still seems like a fairly small difference.

>>46326109
That's not what we said.

You want to have the average CMC of your deck sit around 3 because it gives you higher odds of having opening plays in any given hand, and it means that in later turns your have more options.

Also, there's the need to think in terms of risk: Lightning Axe kills all but 13 creatures in the set. (Going by base toughness/indestructibility. There's a couple with built in buffs that could eventually/with the right mana survive it.) That's a spell that costs R and a discard, and many of the creatures it kills were sitting at the 5 cost and so on.

I'm by no means claiming any 6+ card has to win, but they have to be weighed against other options.

For 6 mana late game, Black can kill all but 2 creatures in the entire set, and get a 4/2 out of the bargain.

Keeping your cost averaging 3-4 means you'll more often than not have options.

I've never played sealed before. When can I make changes to my deck, just between matches, or can I use the cards not in my deck as a side board between games?

>>46333338
This weekend, next weekend is release party usually drafts.

>>46335521
All cards not in your deck are your sideboard.

I once played a guy who swapped deck COLORS between games. He had a RG deck, and he swapped to RW.

In general, you don't want to go that extreme, but yeah, every card you opened that isn't in your deck is your sideboard.

>>46335521
This is prerelease, it have a pretty relaxed deck build rules. The only rule is it have to be a minimum of 40 cards deck.
You make a deck, the rest of your pool is your sideboard. If you think you made the wrong deck, then just swap out the wrong cards for your next game.

>>46334492
Let him be. He doesn't even consider that those last 5 cards will be the dross and dregs of the pool.
The only beef i got is he's advising the 45 card shit strategy to noobs who doesn't know anything.

>>46335870
You...quoted the guy who proposed the 45 card thing, arguing with someone against it.

You got the OPPOSITE of their two points out of their posts.

>>46335715
>In general, you don't want to go that extreme
...why? this is sealed
save the "you don't want to go that extreme" comments for decks like 45 forest 1 lost in the woods
if your RW pool is comparably deep to your RG pool and has better card v. card matchups with what you saw of their deck, don't hesitate to take advantage of the sideboard policy
although it's probably worth practicing with both decks so you know how to play them

Don't go to large (100+people) events that are terribly organised. You obviously won't know if it's your first time there, but for prereleases small venues are kinda preferable. The big ones have a higher risk of theft and rampant cheating (pooling packs, etc.)

>>46336017

Really, your latter point is what I was thinking of when I said that.

If you deck changes colors every other game, you're not going to have the same level of expertise with it. Especially if this is the player's first sealed event, this could mean the difference between a win and a loss.

Seeing one or two interactions, or some specific timing options you didn't notice the first games might make your deck more effective.

>>46336122
>Especially if this is the player's first sealed event,
I mean, I guess
yeah, for first time players, I guess I'd agree
but if you play at a reasonable pace there's going to be a lot of time between rounds. And while in theory you can go fish for trades or get snacks or talk to friends, I often find that those activities offer a small and finite time footprint - and smaller, if you've been chatting with those friends immediately prior to the event. Might as well run through sample hands and hypothetical situations.

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>>46332476
>he wants the mtg player base to continue to stagnate till it distills to only autistic piles of visible ass-crack

>>46336323
True enough.

I tend to spend that time finding all the games I WANT to buy, but can't justify the cost of doing so in the store.

I've also only seen once or twice that a guy's pool was that diverse. there tends to be a notable flaw in one of the pools.

>>46335715

Do I have to switch back between matches? Like, if following your extreme example I go from RG to RW and find I'm doing much better RW, do I have to switch back to RG for the first game of every match?

>>46337176
IIRC official tournament rules say yes, you do. Though I have yet to see it being enforced in a casual environment like that, neither in Sealed nor Draft.

Though you usually try to put together the optimal all-round build for your deck as the baseline anyway, so it's usually a good idea to stick to that primarily.

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>>46324826

As others have said, you can really use anything as a token if you want so long as its clear to you and your opponent what each one represents. That said I find the official Magic tokens (or similar sized ones, like the SCG ones) the best as they tell you everything you need to know about the card. I had a bad experience in the past where I was using a penny to denote a creature token, forgot what it was and didn't block with it and ended up losing the game as a result. Since then I tend to carry a 'Limited Survival Pack' with me to Magic events, it's just a deck box with sleeves, basic lands and a bunch of relevant tokens so I know I have everything to hand.

Looking at the list of tokens for this set it seems the most common ones will be Clues, Zombies, Human Soldiers and Spirits. If you can't get a hold of these you can just as easily write on a scrap of paper what the token is and use that to represent it, I've done this in the past and tried to draw a picture of whatever it is as well which has often resulted in some chuckles with my opponent.

>>46337176

I'm pretty sure at pre-release you can change your deck between rounds and no one will care. It's an environment where players are encouraged to have fun so I can't see anyone having a problem with it. It's also good because it lets you use more of the cards you opened.

In the past if I've had a tough decision between my final choice of deck build I've started with one, and then switched to the other if I thought it would be better against my opponent. You can catch people by surprise by doing that. I remember at the Fate Reforged prerelease getting a Wingmate Roc, Tasigur and Ojutai (the seven mana one) in my sealed pool and built a Mardu deck and a Jeskai deck to sideboard into against the grindier matchups.

>>46337696
>cheating is ok
yea ok bud.

>>46338093
How is that in any way cheating?

>>46337394
>>46338093

This pisses me off, this thread is meant to help new players so if you don't know the rules, don't spread misinformation

>official rule

7.2 Sideboard Use
Any drafted or opened cards not used in a player’s Limited deck function as his or her sideboard.
Players may request additional basic land cards for their sideboard. There are no restrictions on the number of
cards a player may exchange this way as long as the main deck is legal afterwards. Cards do not need to be
exchanged on a one-for-one basis.
Players participating in Limited tournaments that do not use decklists may freely change the composition of their
decks between matches by exchanging cards from their deck for cards in their sideboard without being required to
return their deck to its original composition before their next match. The Head Judge or Tournament Organizer
must inform players if this option is not being used prior to the start of deckbuilding. This option is not available
at Competitive or Professional REL tournament

>>46338662

Thank you! Clear, concise, and official.

>>46338093

It's not cheating. Read >>46338662 here.

Prerelease is most usually Regular REL. The deck you use at creation does not have to be that exact same one you use for the start of other matches within the same event.

>>46323354
I go to prereleases just to scam kids out of their pricy rares/mythics. When I first started playing someone took advantage of my lack of knowledge, and now I return the favor.

Shit feels good, sitting on a bunch of ill-gotten expeditions. Shame they're not in SoI, really.

>>46341372
I usually do that to retarded speculators.

Managed to get 20€ out of a guy at the OGW prerelease for a foil Oath of Nissa.

He came to me wanting to buy it and made me that offer.

>>46341372
What did you get the expeditions for?