So, I played 2 HOU Pre-release events yesterday on Sat. July 8th. In the first one I tried to play a 3 color deck with almost even amounts of each colour of Blue/White/Red with only 1 Mana artifact for fixing so I ended up going 1-3. I did pull a Diabolic Intent Invocation from one of the packs from this first pool which basically got me the money back for the pre-release since it's about $25 on Ebay. I also managed to pull 2 Solemnity and 1 Nimble Obstructionist from those same packs so I got some money rares but a bad deck.
The second pool was a bit better but not by much, however I decided to stick to U/B only and make it work with 2 colours and ended up going 4-0 and came in first to win 3 packs of HOU. I didn't pull any money rares unless you count Razaketh ($7).
So, here's my 4-0 winning deck, it doesn't look like much but it got me through the first two rounds by going 2-0 and then the last two rounds were closer at 2-1 in games.
So, this pile went 4-0 and it was a very tight build with no sideboard cards to fit in. For people that thought that Eternalize is too expensive, it's not. I managed to eternalize by Sinuous Striker and my Champion of Wits in almost every game and they were amazing.
In one game my opponent cast Unquenchable Thirst on my Sinuous Striker, not realizing that I can tap 2 Islands to give it +2/-2 and kill it and then be able to Eternalize it on the next turn. (I had 5 lands out already). Champion of Wits was an MVP in every game that I cast her drawing two cards and discarding 2 and then getting Eternalized later in the game after chump blocking something and drawing me a whooping 4 cards then discarding 2. Ammit Eternal caused all kinds of problems for my opponents and they made so many mistakes because of him, not knowing whether to block him or not block him. Aerial Guide came out almost every game and made one other guy fly and that was indispensable, it is an amazingly strong card, I managed to give my Ammit Eternal flying in one game and that wasn't funny for my opponent. Tragic Lesson was a stone cold bomb, being able to draw 2 cards and return a land in the early game was amazing, late game I was able to draw 2 and just discard a card (usually a land card) and I can't say enough good things about this card. Consign // Oblivion was also insane, being able to bounce any nonland permanent for 2 mana as an instant is hella good, and late game when my opponent had only 2 cards in hand I was able to Aftermath Oblivion and rip them out of their hands when they least expected it. I played aftermath in at least a quarter of the games, I played 10 games out of 4 rounds yesterday. Torment of Scarabs single handedly won me 3 games out of 10 yesterday when it came out on turn 4 during the first game and my opponents just had no answers, one guy went from 20 to 9 just by taking the 3 damage every turn to be able to cast something and stop my creatures. It's an insane bomb on turn 4 and probably a first pick in draft.
Last but not least, I managed to draw and play Glyph Keeper only on the last game of the day and he did his job killing my opponent, or rather wasting my opponent's spells to get rid of him. As for Razaketh himself, I drew him almost every game and discarded him as well, I never once got to the 8 mana needed to play him, but it's good to know he was in the deck watching and plotting my opponents' demise.
So, that's my mini tourney report and also opinion about the new HOU cards in a sealed environment, which probably works for draft as well! Also, bounce is very strong in this format where tokens are running around everywhere, as are high casting cost creatures so unsummon will also be a second or third pick in draft soon.
My games were kind of weird. I didn't honestly have enough 2 drops to support a low casting cost deck but somehow I kept winning. Some games all I drew were Moaning Walls and spells. Other games I got all of my aggressive creatures. I didn't cycle the Titan much because everyone went big it seemed like.
Dreamstealer was really good even though I didn't get to eternalize it. One game Ruin Rat+Moaning Wall held off the Hexproof green monster which had trample somehow for ~20 turns. Another game I used Claim to Fame on Bloodrage Brawler when my opponent was at 6.
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So, I played 2 HOU Pre-release events yesterday on Sat. July 8th. In the first one I tried to play a 3 color deck with almost even amounts of each colour of Blue/White/Red with only 1 Mana artifact for fixing so I ended up going 1-3. I did pull a Diabolic Intent Invocation from one of the packs from this first pool which basically got me the money back for the pre-release since it's about $25 on Ebay. I also managed to pull 2 Solemnity and 1 Nimble Obstructionist from those same packs so I got some money rares but a bad deck.
The second pool was a bit better but not by much, however I decided to stick to U/B only and make it work with 2 colours and ended up going 4-0 and came in first to win 3 packs of HOU. I didn't pull any money rares unless you count Razaketh ($7).
So, here's my 4-0 winning deck, it doesn't look like much but it got me through the first two rounds by going 2-0 and then the last two rounds were closer at 2-1 in games.
1 Grisly Survivor
1 Torment of Scarabs
1 Torment of Venon
1 Khenra Eternal
1 Marauding Boneslasher
1 Ruin Rat
1 Razaketh, The Foulblooded
1 Miasmic Mummy
1 Champion of Wits
1 Striped Riverwinder
1 Unsummon
1 Aven Reedstalker
1 Aerial Guide
1 Sinuous Striker
1 Tragic Lesson
1 Consign // Oblivion
1 Commit // Memory
1 Zenith Seeker
1 Slither Blade
1 Floodwaters
1 Essence Scatter
1 Galestrike
1 Glyph Keeper
1 Cradle of the Accursed
1 Desert of the Mindful
7 Island
8 Swamp
So, this pile went 4-0 and it was a very tight build with no sideboard cards to fit in. For people that thought that Eternalize is too expensive, it's not. I managed to eternalize by Sinuous Striker and my Champion of Wits in almost every game and they were amazing.
In one game my opponent cast Unquenchable Thirst on my Sinuous Striker, not realizing that I can tap 2 Islands to give it +2/-2 and kill it and then be able to Eternalize it on the next turn. (I had 5 lands out already).
Champion of Wits was an MVP in every game that I cast her drawing two cards and discarding 2 and then getting Eternalized later in the game after chump blocking something and drawing me a whooping 4 cards then discarding 2.
Ammit Eternal caused all kinds of problems for my opponents and they made so many mistakes because of him, not knowing whether to block him or not block him.
Aerial Guide came out almost every game and made one other guy fly and that was indispensable, it is an amazingly strong card, I managed to give my Ammit Eternal flying in one game and that wasn't funny for my opponent.
Tragic Lesson was a stone cold bomb, being able to draw 2 cards and return a land in the early game was amazing, late game I was able to draw 2 and just discard a card (usually a land card) and I can't say enough good things about this card.
Consign // Oblivion was also insane, being able to bounce any nonland permanent for 2 mana as an instant is hella good, and late game when my opponent had only 2 cards in hand I was able to Aftermath Oblivion and rip them out of their hands when they least expected it. I played aftermath in at least a quarter of the games, I played 10 games out of 4 rounds yesterday.
Torment of Scarabs single handedly won me 3 games out of 10 yesterday when it came out on turn 4 during the first game and my opponents just had no answers, one guy went from 20 to 9 just by taking the 3 damage every turn to be able to cast something and stop my creatures. It's an insane bomb on turn 4 and probably a first pick in draft.
Last but not least, I managed to draw and play Glyph Keeper only on the last game of the day and he did his job killing my opponent, or rather wasting my opponent's spells to get rid of him. As for Razaketh himself, I drew him almost every game and discarded him as well, I never once got to the 8 mana needed to play him, but it's good to know he was in the deck watching and plotting my opponents' demise.
So, that's my mini tourney report and also opinion about the new HOU cards in a sealed environment, which probably works for draft as well! Also, bounce is very strong in this format where tokens are running around everywhere, as are high casting cost creatures so unsummon will also be a second or third pick in draft soon.
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Mtg Lifestyle
1 Khenra Eternal
1 Ruin Rat
1 Wretched Camel
1 Ammit Eternal
1 Dreamstealer
1 Graven Abomination
2 Grisly Survivor
1 Minotaur Sureshot
2 Moaning Wall
1 Claim // Fame
1 Consuming Fervor
1 Honed Khopesh
1 Magma Spray
1 Supernatural Stamina
2 Blur of Blades
1 Destined // Lead
2 Open Fire
1 Wander in Death
8 Swamp
7 Mountain
My games were kind of weird. I didn't honestly have enough 2 drops to support a low casting cost deck but somehow I kept winning. Some games all I drew were Moaning Walls and spells. Other games I got all of my aggressive creatures. I didn't cycle the Titan much because everyone went big it seemed like.
Dreamstealer was really good even though I didn't get to eternalize it. One game Ruin Rat+Moaning Wall held off the Hexproof green monster which had trample somehow for ~20 turns. Another game I used Claim to Fame on Bloodrage Brawler when my opponent was at 6.