Lorwyn Eclipsed Prerelease
Since my sister was home from college and wanted to attend a Magic event, we both went to my local game store for the Lorwyn Eclipsed prerelease, making this my first time going to a prerelease event, and her second one (she went to an Avatar one at the store by her school).
The turnout was massive! There were at least 105 people, and I think a couple more might have shown up during the intro spiel. Personally, I was honestly a little surprised to see that we all fit upstairs (with tables to spare!), especially with a Riftbound tournament already running at the time the event started, haha. Now, I haven't ever been to a prerelease so I'm not totally sure what the normal turnout looks like for these, but it sounded like everyone who had been to others thought this was the largest one they had seen, with only Final Fantasy coming anywhere close.
On that note, this was the second tournament-style MTG event I've ever been to! The last one was a Tarkir draft (either Khans or Dragons) over a decade ago, which I was pretty much immediately knocked out of if I remember correctly. This time I got lucky with the promo I was given at the end of the event, a retro foil Bolas's Citadel, which is definitely a lot better than the laughably bad Frost Walker promo I got back in 2015, haha.
Overall, it was a good night! My sister and I both won two and lost two (best-of-three) games, and none of my games felt too one-sided. Prerelease/sealed as a format doesn't really seem like it's my style, as it simultaneously feels a little more luck based than a draft while also being way harder to parse during the deckbuilding phase, but the more casual nature of the event is nice. Like, with draft you do have the time pressure of needing to pass your packs, but you only need to read over 15 cards at a time at most (or 14 now, I guess?) and you can often begin ignoring cards pretty quickly, so it feels like it takes less mental load. The price is also... well, if I'm comparing any officially supported Magic format to a partially proxied cube that comparison is obviously not going to be favorable, but still, $80 for two people to participate would add up fast if we went to multiple prerelease events over the course of the year.
Stars of my deck:
Champions of the Shoal
Easily the best of the rares I got, I was lucky enough to draw this card in almost all of my matches. Tapping down and stunning a creature upon entry rules, and doing that again every time it gets tapped was massive. Riverguard's Reflexes is just outside of my top 5, but being able to tap this creature to pay for an evoke cost, untap it with Riverguard's reflexes, and tap it again to attack was a game-winning play in one of my matches. Plus, it's also effectively a 4/6 for 4 mana (you do also need to be able to behold and exile a merfolk to cast it, but that was never a problem for me)! All of that is great, but its interaction with the third card on this list was what took it up to the top spot.
Changeling Wayfinder
I got two of these, and I was always happy to see them. Hell yeah little guys, thank you for searching for and drawing any basic land upon entry! You made the rounds where I drew 3 lands super consistent for getting the colors/land drops I needed for the rest of the game, and being able to count as a merfolk for things that cared about that was a really nice bonus!
These definitely feel like something to look for among the commons relatively early in a draft, as they can slot into just about any deck and add a ton of consistency.
Personify
Flickering Champions of the Shoal at instant speed to get another trigger of its stunning ability after the opponent's untap step and having it enter untapped to be able to use it as a blocker is good. Throw a 1/1 changeling token in as well? Sweet.
I did initially misread the interaction between this and Champions of the Shoal as working how it would have with the champion mechanic from original Lorwyn, where the exiled creature and the Champions of the Shoal would both be placed onto the battlefield (instead of just returning the exiled creature to my hand), but eh, I lost that round anyways, so no harm done I guess?
Wanderwine Farewell
Sure, 7 is a fairly high cost, but returning two nonland permanents to your opponent's hand + making two merfolk tokens is a very big swing, and being able to play it for less by tapping creatures for its convoke cost makes it easier to play that it initially appears. (Most of my games also went pretty long, so This card was responsible for most of my big turns that didn't involve Personify.
Temporal Cleansing
The fact that I got two of these is a big factor in why it's showing up here, honestly. It's decent removal, but in many matchups I would have much rather drawn my copy of Blossombind. Still, it was a consistent option, and while it sometimes felt like it was just delaying the inevitable, it never felt like a dead card in my hand.
Stars of my sister's deck:
Goatnap
Grub, Storied Matriarch // Grub, Notorious Auntie
Sanar, Innovative First-Year
Bloodline Bidding
Gristle Glutton
My rares:
Prerelease packs
- Brigid's Command
- Champion of the Weird
- Champions of the Shoal (Played)
- Deepway Navigator (Played)
- Disruptor of Currents (Played)
- Kinbinding (Played)
- Mirrormind Crown