My brother, Zeilend and myself arrived at Fight House in NYC for the M10 Pre-re. The venue is small and not really equipped for hosting events. Because of the limited space, the organizers could not do continuous flights, so we had to wait a bit for the next scheduled event to start. Of course, all this information was available, should we have had the foresight to look at the organizers website or read the emails stating the event schedule for the day.

Here is the pool I received for Gold flight, which started around 1pm:

Land:
Drowned Catacomb ($!)

Artifacts:
Angel’s Feather
Demon’s Horn
Dragon’s Claw
Spellbook (Foil)
Gorgon Flail

White:
Lifelink
Indestructability
Safe Passage x2
Holy Strength
Siege Mastodon
Serra Angel
Blinding Mage x2
Veteran Armorsmith
Soul Warden x2
Veteran Swordsmith
Armored Ascension
White Knight
Elite Vanguard
Honor of the Pure ($!)
Razorfoot Griffin
Glorious Charge
Griffin Sentinel

Red:
Lightning Bolt
Seismic Strike x2
Prodigal Pyromancer
Goblin Artillery
Earthquake
Trumpet Blast
Firebreathing x2
Yawning Fissure x2
Kindled Fury
Fiery Hellhound
Ball Lightning
Canyon Minotaur
Goblin Piker
Berserkers of Blood Ridge
Sparkmage Apprentice

Green:
Oakenform
Fog
Windstorm
Overrun
Giant Spider
Craw Wurm
Cudgel Troll
Llanowar Elves
Rampant Growth
Mold Adder

Black:
Underworld Dreams
Zombie Goliath
Kelinore Bat x2
Dread Warlock
Child of Night
Acolyte of Xathrid x2
Wall of Bone
Disentomb
Mind Rot
Sign of Blood
Tendrils of Corruption

Blue:
Sphinx Ambassador (Foil!)
Ice Cage
Divination
Disorient x2
Tome Scour
Ponder x2
Horned Turtle
Levitation
Snapping Drake
Fabricate
Serpent of the Endless Sea
Cancel
Convincing Mirage
Unsummon

This list may be 1-2 cards off since my brother dumped his cards into my bad on the way back, and a few got mixed in.

I was very happy to open this pool. I went into the event thinking that White was the strongest color in the set, and I opened a very White-heavy pool. I couldn’t imagine building without white as my other colors were pretty shallow. I did have a bomb in Blue, the Sphinx, but a lack of fliers ruled out blue as my second color.

Green was eliminated next as it was also a bit shallow. I didn’t have many exciting creatures and no way to get forests into play to support the Overrun.

I was left with Black and Red, and spent a reasonable amount of time debating between the two. Black was a bit more aggressive with the evasive 3-drops and and the 2/1 lifelink. I also had a Tendrils and a Sign in Blood, which both seemed good.

Red had more removal. Lightning Bolt, double Seismic Strike, Earthquake, Prodigal Pyromancer, and Goblin Artillery. The Ball Lightning was also tempting but was too much of a trap; I want my second color to be a splash and paying RRR for 6 damage was too greedy even for a pre-release.

I ended up with this, a somewhat aggressive WR deck:

Prodigal Pyromancer
Goblin Artillery
Sparkmage Apprentice
Canyon Minotaur
Siege Mastodon
Serra Angel
Blinding Mage x2
Veteran Armorsmith
Veteran Swordsmith
Soul Warden x2
White Knight
Elite Vanguard
Griffin Sentinel
Razorfoot Griffin

Honor of the Pure
Armored Ascension
Earthquake
Seismic Strike x2
Lightning Bolt

Gorgon Flail

10 Plains
7 Mountains

I ended up going 3-1 in my flight, losing only to my brother Lyle in Round 1. He hadn’t played Magic since States and hadn’t played limited for probably a year or so. He showed me his deck, calling it “bad” and “embarrassing.” He was playing WR splashing green for Might of Oaks (Greedy!). His deck was similar to mine, but he had Siege Gang Commander, 2x Pacifism, Ajani Goldmane, Pyroclasm and Planar Cleansing. He ended up going 3-0-1 and shipping me the packs (mise!).

Three of my four opponent were playing white-based decks, which says something for how strong the color is relative to the others. I had a good time playing my deck and think I built it reasonably well (let me know in the comments, of course!). I was tempted to try out Safe Passage and Indestructibility, but I couldn’t figure out what to cut. My removal was strong and I wanted to play all my White creatures to maximize the Honor of the Pure. The strongest card in my deck was Armored Ascension, not terribly surprising considering how good it was in Shadowmoor drafts.

I didn’t encounter a single point in any of my games where the rules changes made a difference. In four rounds of play I never saw a double-block scenario, and was never put in a situation where I wished I could stack damage before using an effect. I still haven’t had a chance to test constructed with the new rules, but after playing the pre-release I feel much better about the changes than I did initially.

Overall I had a great time at the event. I netted 15 packs of M10 between myself and my brother, as well as a couple desirable rares. What was your experience at the M10 pre-release? Did you sealed, draft, or 2hg? What impressed/depressed you about the set? Put your thoughts in the comments.

~WillPoP (Sloppystack on Twitter)

BONUS:

How would you build this pool, which Zeilend received in the same flight:

Artifacts:
Whispersilk Cloak
Ornithopter
Coat of Arms

Green:
Prized Unicorn
Naturalize
Regenerate
Runeclaw Bear
Centaur Corsair
Entangling Vines
Craw Wurm
Enormous Baloth
Llanowar Elves
Mist Leopard x2
Borderland Ranger x2
Oakenform x2

Red:
Ignite Disorder x2
Sparkmage Apprentice
Berserkers of Blood Ridge
Stone Giant
Yawning Fissure
Lightning Elemental x2
Burning Inquiry
Panic Attack
Canyon Minotaur
Shatter
Burst of Speed
Magma Phoenix
Bogarden Hellkite

Black:
Warpath Ghoul
Bog Wraith
Weakness
Diabolic Tutor
Tendrils of Corruption
Consume Spirit
Gravedigger
Assassinate
Black Knight
Doom Blade
Zombie Goliath
Drudge Skeletons x2
Looming Shade x2
Vampire Aristocrat
Duress x3

Blue:
Essence Scatter x2
Snapping Drake x2
Disorient
Negate
Coral Merfolk
Convincing Mirage
Telepathy
Zephyr Sprite
Merfolk Looter
Wind Drake
Sage Owl
Wall of Frost
Mind Control
Clone
Time Warp

White:
Tempest of Light
Solemn Offering
Excommunicate
Undead Slayer
Holy Strength
Stormfront Pegasus
Razorfoot Griffin
Silvercoat Lion
Celestial Purge
Wall of Faith
Lifelink
Divine Verdict
White Knight
Planar Cleansing

Post your build in the comments!