Prereleases

A

Apollo

Guest
I have the opportunity to go to a prerelease this sunday. Now, I'm a teenager, and after mowing lawns and stuff, I make about $50 a month. So the $25 for the prerelease is a lot of money. So, I'm going to ask anybody that's been to one to answer a few questions (I know it depends on where you go, but I'm just wondering in general):

1)How is the competition?
I've never played sealed deck. I consider myself to be a good deckbuilder and excellent player, but I don't have experience doing this. Will I have a chance? They said that anyone with a 4-2 record or better will get prizes; do you think I can achieve that?

2)How are the side events, and how much do they cost?
If I scrub out, will I have something affordable and interesting to do while my friends play?

3)Are there good deals to be had?
Are there dealers selling stuff cheap, or people that will make worthwhile trades? Is it possible to find cards you want at good prices?

4)Overall, is it worth it?
Bear in mind, I'm a teenager and this is a pretty good chunk of change to me. Will I get my money's worth? I'm not really interested in the Masques starter, and I can wait for Prophecy cards; if I go, it'll be for the fun of the tournament and meeting new people.

Feel free to add any comments you have on the prereleases.

By the way, people that go (possibly including me)--afterwards, write an article about how it was, how you did, what you think of Prophecy, etc. We want to know!

Apollo
 
I

igfett

Guest
well, i've never been to a pre-release, so i have no idea of the level of competition. i also don't want to shell out so much money, especially when i already pre-ordered a box (which i will receive day after, or even day of, the pre-release since i bought it from a judge who will be getting his boxes there at the prerelease. all for only 75$ after tax. sweet)
i am going to the pre-release, but not to play. i will maybe play in a side draft or two, and definitly check out the vendors. hopefully, there will be an artist there to sign cards. anyone know how i can find out who, if anyone, will be at the Phoenix prerelease? the side events are generaly drafts that start as soon as 8 people sign up, with decent prizes for the winners. they happen continuosly, and if you want you could do that all dy, signing up for another as soon as you get eliminated or win one. i think they'll also have a type 2 event on the side, but i'm not sure. each tournament is probably different, based on who's organizing it. i'd say, go with some friends even if you don't plan to play in the main event. check out the new cards, draft a couple times (probably 6 dollars a draft), search the vendors for good deals, and just have a good time hanging out.
=)just my 2 cents
 
S

Seeker of Truth

Guest
Apollo:

I've gone to the Urza's Destiny and the Nemesis Prereleases, and I'll give you my opinions of them, so you can judge for yourself.

Play level: Where I'm from, there isn't a whole lot of people in the Magic-playing community, but I'd say a large percentage of them make their way to the prereleases. Many people just come for the sake of getting some previews of the next set and the foil promo card. Still, the cream of the crop from my area also show up, which can be a good or a bad thing. I remember at the Nemesis prerelease that I was paired up against one of the best players in the state, and I stood behind him while he was looking at the pairings, wondering out loud, "Whoever this scrub is, he's gonna get the smack laid down on him!" Not a good feeling, but I made light of it and he was pretty cool during the match (which he won, BTW, on the strength of a Dominated Voice of Truth).

The atmosphere during a prerelease is definitely more casual, so rules lawyering doesn't happen much, but do prepare for uppity judges and the occasional poor sport.

Another point: These things take FOREVER to get started. At the Urza's Destiny prerelease it took THREE HOURS just to get everyone registered and ready to get their cards. Prepare by bringing along some extra decks to play against your neighbors, or something else to pass the time. Also, deck registration is very critical, especially in a sanctioned tournament, so make sure you register the deck properly. You don't want to get hit with a loss due to a misregistered deck.

Final point on this section: Around here, I'm usually told that 2 losses equals elimination. In fact, a 4-0-2 record can put you right on the bubble, so the standards here are quite high.

Side Events: The events are often Sealed or Draft where I play, and they cost only whatever the cards cost. I think Constructed tournaments cost like $5 per player, and the prize is like 5 or 10 packs of something or other. Also, we have a mini-gunslinging event, where the tourney organizers build their own sealed deck and take on anyone who's been eliminated from the tournament. If you win, I think you get a couple of packs.

Trading/Buying Cards: Normally, the prices for singles aren't that great, but people here are usually willing to trade for almost anything. We tend to take the approach of "x rares for x rares, x uncommons for x uncommons" and then just swap whole groups of cards like that. Sometimes people are willing to sell (or buy) cards from other people, and prices in those situations are probably better than buying those singles from a store. Key rares, though, will probably be hard to get no matter what.

Overall: I'd think that if you're really concerned about how much this will cost you and you don't really feel like spending $20-25 on a tournament when you can just play with your friends for free, and you can wait for the expansion to be released, then skip the tournament. Placing "in the money" is not a given, even if you're the best deckbuilder in the world, so the chance that you'll recoup your expenses is never a guarantee. I have fun at these things, though, since I don't really get a lot of chances to play in person, and plus I can afford it (somewhat...).

There you have it. If you're still reading, thanks for taking the time, and I will write up an article about my prerelease experiences that I'm sure everyone will be anxious to read :rolleyes:
 
C

Chaos Turtle

Guest
1) The competition at PreReleases is generally pretty light early on, getting tougher in later rounds. The majority players in the main event are casual players, many of whom don't ever play in tournaments other than PRs. In the drafts, the players are generally more serious, so the competition will be (generally) a little tougher.

2) I personally like drafting over sealed, as it tests more skills than sealed. Drafts nowadays run about $12, but I've seen them as low a $10 when the organizers are being generous.
By the way, I have never seen a booster draft that cost $6. Igfett is very lucky, if that claim was accurate.

3) Usually, there are good deals available if the TO has rented space to more than one vendor, as they will compete for your money. Additionally, though TOs frown on it, one can get some really amazing deals from the other players. I have seen trade deals made at PreReleases that boggle the mind in their complexity, and that work out almost miraculously well for both parties.

4) You will get your money's worth, if you enjoy yourself. You get to keep your cards, so consider that as well. You also get the PreRelease foil, which occasionally turns out to be worth almost as much as you paid for the tournament (Lightning Dragon is the only one so far that has this distinction).

Draft if you can afford it (you get to keep your cards, usually) and it's a lot more fun, in my opinion.

Have fun!
 
I

igfett

Guest
i've never drafted at a pre-release, but at my local store, it costs 6$ to enter the side draft(s) after you've scrubbed ut of the friday/saturday night type 2 tourny.
 
A

Almindhra

Guest
1) I'm not good at sealed deck at all...Its bad...But its fun to make your own deck right on the spot...At the ones I go to you have to be in the top 8 to go to a draft...And those people get the prizes...I guess 4-2 could cut it

2) Side Events are usually $10 and up...Because you're always getting cards, so its not going to be as cheap as a constructed tourny...But I thinks its worth it because usually you get back your moneys worth in cards

3) If you're good at finding the best cards then trading will be fun...No one knows what cards are really good yet...Masticore was a hidden gem to me...And no one buys cards from the dealers, they don't have the new cards

4) I like going for the cards...And I think its always exciting to get new cards and no one has a clue to what they are

I really enjoy prereleases because it puts everyone on the same level as knowing what the cards are...( I don't memorize cards that well )...And theres a buzz about the cards and when you burst open the packs its great to hear people say "Oh look at this card!"...etc...And side events are fun because you get more cards...I won't be going to the Prophecy Prerelease ( I have rehearsel for show choir 9-4 on Sat, yay! ) but my boyfriend will be...Good luck to everyone thats going!
 
S

Seeker of Truth

Guest
Almindhra:

I know that prereleases are supposed to be like this major unveiling of the next set of Magic cards, and everyone is supposed to be really impressed with the new set and always asking "oh, what does that do?", but in reality, I would guess that most of the players (and all of the best players) have visited sites like New Wave or MTGNews and acquired a listing of the cards that are in the new set. These spoilers are usually accurate, with only a few mistakes or misprints. I've seen whole teams of players milling around before game time with several hard copies of the spoiler lists, discussing what cards will be strong or weak in that particular event. Rest assured that if you're playing against a person who is even remotely in the top tier of your local Magic community, he or she probably knows most of the most powerful cards' abilities at the very least.

And don't think that this is such a rare occurrence. I did it myself at the Nemesis prerelease. Not only did I print out a hard copy of the spoiler from one of the Magic news sites, it just so happened that Inquest packaged a full spoiler as well with that month's issue, so I had all 143 cards neatly listed on a single sheet. I remember that some people saw me with this list and were muttering things like "I should have thought of that!", so it's not like they weren't looking for whatever advantage they could find. I personally wasn't looking to get an unfair advantage; the cards just interested me, and I wanted to know more about them.

Good luck also to everyone who is going to the prereleases, and write up your experiences, too! I don't want to be the only long-winded person sending in an article! :)
 
Killer Joe

Killer Joe

New member
Yea!!!!! Almindhra posted!!!!!!!

Pre-Releases I've attended:
Exodus (Syracuse)
Urza's Saga (Syracuse)
Urza's Legacy (Syracuse)
Urza's Destiny (Syracuse)
Mercadian Masques (Pittsburgh)
Nemesis (Pittsburgh)
and I will attend:
Prophecy (Pittsburgh)

I love pre-releases and even though I always have a hard copy of the spoiler with me and it's been studied over countless times several days prior to the pre-release date, nothing beats the 'look and feel' of the new cards on the day of the pre-release. I always feel like a kid again when I go. In New York, I attended several of those pre-releases with veteran's of the game who acted like the pre-release was more of an annoyance than an exciting day at the beach. However, in the 'burgh, I go with folks who are just as excited as I am (wahoo!).
I start to cherry-up my binder with good rares that I don't want to try and collect, like; Lin Sivvi, Rootwater Thief, Masticore, and solid rares that I DO have four of, like; Wrath of God, Birds of Paradise, Necropotence, and also underrated rares that are and good for filling out a trade like; Trade Routes, Maro, Sylvan Library, Lava Runner etc... and lastly I put in Excellent uncommons that people always want, like; Chill, Engineered Plague, Hibernation, Cursed Totem (I think that's a rare), Arcane Laboratory.
I do have a specific way I set up my trade binder: I only use a 1/2", three ring binder and I put in only 11 ultra-pro 9 card sheets and they are always brand new (for each major event I go to). I never put in more than one copy of any card in the binder for trade and I put each card in a colored sleeve. This is a cosmetic approach I use to give my binder a look of integrity (I know, it shouldn't matter what the binder looks like, it's the cards inside that really matters, sigh. Thanks Mom). But it works for me and the time I invest into doing this gives me time to consider or re-consider my choice of cards for the binder, in most cases my binder ends up looking better if I pour over it a lot because I talk myself out of wanting to keep that one Cursed Scroll when I can easily get a little lesser rare and more for this one card (That's card avantage). And, since January, I keep an accurate trade record of all my trades and use the data to study if I've been trading up (in my favor) or down (in their favor) or even (mutal favor), it helps in future trading.
I am one of the worst drafters I know. However, thanks to everyone's response to my post about drafting I do feel a little more confident about this Saturday at the pre-release <Oh and BTW, I'm not wearing my clean glasses that day ;)>
Expected Grade for the Pre-Release: A+ (every time).
 
T

theorgg

Guest
I've been to saga+, and let me tell you this: get a solid deck of cards passed to you and you can get some of the best competition in the later rounds you've ever had.
just watch out for the "ranking hogs". the cheaters who lie just to win.

say it with me now, Monty: "you bastard!"

PRs are fun and educational. and if you're lucky, you can get the big card for cheap. I got a 'bator for $3 at the desteny PR because the gyu thought it would be another lim-dul's paladin.
 
A

Apollo

Guest
Due to positive response...

My friends are really excited about it, and the response from you guys, I think I'm going to go. Anybody else going to the one Sunday in Akron? I'll look for you if you do. I'll try to write an interesting article about it afterwards.

Apollo
 
L

Lythand

Guest
Well I want to be the first to post about Prophecy and here it is..

I did a little post in another section (dont know which it was). Any way I will get more into depth here.

First of all let me say this was my third major tournament. My first was Mask prerelease. My second was regionals.

The entry fee for the Main tournament was 30 dollars. It was 8 round swiss style format where you are eliminated or dropped. There were side events of booster draft for 10 dollar, more sealed deck for 15 dollars, and a brief type 2 for 5 dollars.
The competition varies. You wont hardly find any pro players. They dont bother with prereleases unless the are doing a guest apperance. But the competion can be tough. So when you get beat, they try to match you against someone who is as close to equal as you.

It can be quite pricey. So for a teenager, you should save some money. Personaly i spent around the one hundred dollar range.

Depending on the organizer too everything is situational. The best thing to do is first find out where you are going to experience a prerelease. Then contact the organizer and ask them what they will have to offer as far as dealers and guest apperances.

At the prerelease I went to, there was D. Alexander (Cursed Scroll) as an artist to sign cards. Mike Long, pro tour player, was playing "gunslinger" matches. He would give you a pack of Prophecy if you could beat him. He rolled right over me like a speed bump. He even played my friend Mike. Mike said "Wow, I am getting mana screwed." So Mr. long said "Ok" and he went into my friends deck, took out 2 lands and put them into play and said "there you go" and he still got the beat down. HEHEEHH!!

Anyway I didnt do to good in any of the events I played in.
I only won one match in the Main tournament. Lost 3 and won a second match cause my opponant never showed. So I dropped after that.
All in all I got about half of a box worth of cards for 50 of the dollars Payed in tournaments. And I bought a second Prerelease cards for 10 (which I dont think will be worth all that). But I plan to send one to R.K. Post to have it signed. Anyway I also pulled a Rishidian Port out of my starter box so half of what I payed for tournaments was given back to me. YES!.

The food situation kind of sucked. There was no where to get munchies or anything. SO i recomend bringing a cooler full of drinks and goods. This event will last all day so plan on getting PLEANTY of sleep. I almost fell asleep on my way home from regionals at the wheel of the car. NOT GOOD!!

So its not just a mental thing, but a Physical thing as well.

All in all it can be a fun and educating experience. My suggestion. Save money. Experience it at least once before you ever hang up the Magic hat. If you like it, try it again. If you dont, stick with your buddies and wait a few more days for the boxes to be available at your local comic shop.

-Lythand 3:16

[Edited by Lythand on May 28th, 2000 at 01:34 AM]
 
Killer Joe

Killer Joe

New member
I loved it! (That's always my answer) In the big tourney I registered a deck that had the Wrath of God spellshaper dude, 2x Alexi's Cloak (cr ench: can't be targeted by spells or effects and can be played as an instant), 2x Joreal's something (again, a cr ench: Regen for 1G and can be played as an instant) and a ton of blue flyers.
Judge says, "This'll be a deck swap event...", and don't you know the guy across from me and the two guys to my right and left had crappy decks. I would be in deep crap either way it got swaped. We swaped and I did not recieve any of the anticipated great rares. se la vie. I went 1-2-0 in the big tournaey and then DRAFTED the rest of the day!
Thanks again to those of you who gave me good advice, I actually won 4 packs (I know, it's not much, but when you've never won packs before it's quite the experience-$12 for 7 packs of Prophecy-that's good)
Anyway, all in all it was a good day, I got my 2x Mox Diamonds (for cheap), I got my 4x Eye of Ramos and I spent $10 at the vendor's "$1 box" and got a Natural Balance, Oath of Druids, Nevinrryal's disk, Force of Will, and some other stuff that probably WAS only worth a buck.
How about you guys, was it a good day?
 
A

Almindhra

Guest
Luke did really well at the Syracuse tournament...After swap he got Megetta (WoG creature), 2 Alexi Cloaks, and a waterfront bouncer...He was 4-1 and his last match he could of won 12 packs, but lost and won nothing...But he felt really good about it...And the cards he got were unbelievable...his cousin Brian went to...He was 3-2 and then his last match he won for 4-2...

And Syracuse people suck...lol...Being over an hours drive from them, the people in this area dominated the tournament...
 
I

igfett

Guest
well, i did a little better than the other posts as yet. we played 8 rounds of swiss, with top 8 all getting a box, 9-16 get 9 packs, 17-32 get 3 packs. there were 140 people, and when i showed up i decided to nix my plans to simply play side drafts and entered the main event. i opened my masques starter and was looking at a kraken and an extravagent spirit, so blue was basicly in. i oppened a troublsome spirit and 2 spiketail hatchlings in prophesy to make it even better. i also put black for a scandalmonger and 2 shades among other cards, and splashed a rhystic circle and thermal glider. i started the day with a virtual bye, as my first round opponent simply gave me the win and dropped to play in the side draft. i then won 2 straight 2-0 rounds, before loosing 0-2. i won my next 2-1, and won 2 more 2-0, then drew round 8. i placed third at 6-1-1, one of my teammates placed 11th, and another lost the last round to drop from the top 32, so we had45 packs to split between the three of us. we all left happy, and it was definitly a fun day (and i mean full day, 8 rounds of swiss takes forever), and i plan on going to the invasion prerelease and winning myself another box.
 
M

Mr_Pestilence

Guest
I have attended every Pre-release, with the exception of Tempest (stupid in-laws dying at the last second, how inconsiderate).

Worst - Tempest, by New Wave. Stop me if you've heard this before - they got more people than they expected! We didn't start round 1 until 3:00pm!

Best - Urza's Saga, by Dr. Bobs. Registered decks and began playing before noon. I finished 9th out of 89 people, only losing to the guy who won it all. Dr. Bob took sympathy and gave me half a box anyway.

Biggest - Stronghold, by New Wave. 1100+ people, with 300 hundred more turned away, although they were allowed to pay their $30, get their cards and promo card, and then leave.

As for Prophecy, I attended Dr. Bob's tournament in Montgomery, AL. Long story short - Mageta, the Lion is totally broken, as is Squirrel Wrangler. Bad luck strikes again, and I finish 10th, only losing once all day, playing people that finish 5th, 6th, 9th, and 11th.
 
L

Lythand

Guest
Mr. "P"

I know what you mean by the wait. At the Nemesis prerelease, My friend R.J. Said the over 300 people showed. It was run by New Wave. So it didnt start till 1:30.

hERE IS SOMETHING NEW THEY DID AT THE oRLANDO pRERELEASE. wELL ITS NEW TO ME AT LEAST. (oops..Hit the Caps Button).
They broke the 200 people up that showed into two "flights". Meaning, the first 100 people started the first flight. And that tournament ran all buy itself. When Another 100 showed they started the second tournament. I will have to say things went a lot smotther since New Wave wasnt running it.
 
S

Seeker of Truth

Guest
Although I think that my experiences at the Prophecy prerelease were no different from the others I've attended for the most part, I did learn a few things about tournament play that I hope you'll be the judge of.

Let's skip over the 3 hour wait for sign-ins and get to the good stuff.

You know there are some times when you just pull a deck or a pack that contains a much-anticipated card, and your jaw drops and you sort of breathe out, "Wow!" Well, the sound you heard four times on Saturday was my jaw hitting the table for each of the three Prophecy packs and the Mercadian deck. Put it this way, I got one rare in each color but white, where I got two. In the Masques deck, the green rare was Food Chain, a decent rare in sealed, but not great. The blue rare was Tidal Kraken! 6/6 unblockable Tidal Kraken! And one of the white ones, a Jhovall Queen! 4/7, doesn't-tap-to-attack, SHINY Jhovall Queen! That's right, folks, it was a foil rare!

The Prophecy packs? Oh, not much, only AN AVATAR AND TWO WINDS!!! And one of the winds was a foil!

Isn't this just a ridiculous amount of luck to fall on one person? ( :rolleyes: ) For those of you who were curious, my Prophecy rares were the Avatar of Fury (the red one), Blessed Wind (the white one) and my personal MVP, Plague Wind (the black one, also the foil one)!

By the way, I also had another foil, a shiny Troubled Healer (packed in the same pack as the foil Plague Wind, can you believe it?), but that hardly seemed important at this point.

Also, I got some good common and uncommon cards in all the colors, which made my choice of color somewhat difficult. I eventually decided on white and black (two-color sealed? You bet!) in order to solidify my chances of playing my big black and white rares, the two winds and Jhovall Queen.

(P.S.: I'll post my cards in the "Casual Decks" section, and you can decide if I made the right choice).

Anyway, as I said, I did better than I expected. I usually do well in the early rounds, since I'm often paired with someone who either isn't a serious player, or a newcomer to Magic. I also find these matches to be more fun and less tense than playing against a top player (most of which were in attendance for this event). The format was basically double-elimination with 7 rounds of Swiss, with anyone finishing with five or more wins and less than two losses winning a prize (7-0 won two boxes, 6-1 or 6-0-1 won a box, and 5-1-1 or 5-0-2 won half a box). I never think about prizes, since I usually end up with two losses by the fourth round, but this time I made it all the way to the sixth round with only one loss before bowing out. I finished 4-2, my best showing at one of these tournaments.

However, this was also my first opportunity to see the seamy underbelly of competitive Magic, the final round, an ugly display of collusion and bribery that I hope to discuss in detail in my article. Anyway, I didn't stick around for the ending, as I had to go to work, but I did consider it to be, all in all, a very enjoyable day of Magic.

Again, thanks for reading this (very) long post, and I hope you like my article as well. :cool:
 
T

theorgg

Guest
my pre-view report.
what elim is in black MM?
thrashing wumpus(check)
vendetta(check)
snuff out(check)
maggot therepy(check)

Prophecy?
steal stregnth(sp?, cardname?)(check)
plague wind(check)

good green things?
Humping woop-ass(check)
4/4 sack land to block(check)
vitalizing wind[with lional from the thundercats](check)

a bunch of other good things.
check.



as for Newwave vs the warroom, the war room gets my vote. they started an hour late due to a bug in the wotc system(couldn't get logged into their databases, everyone else was trying to get in too. you aolers know how that is!).

they announced to the general players that were listening that there would be no deck swap instead of only those that they knew.

the distribution was done quickly(white envelope containing pen, registration sheet clearly printed and legeble, MMstarter, 3Prof boosters, and a peppermint for every fourth person or so.:))

tournament was done fairly quickly and postings were kept up with and posted in the same spot and in MANY spots.

bad things: the judge responcible for announcing thirty min. remaining, 15 remaining, 10,5,4,3,2,1... et cetera didn't do too good of a job in the later rounds.

noone pulled an all foil pack

I didn't get a foil foil.
 
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