Hand in hand in a violent life
And the world comes tumblin' down.
I sit down across from—surprise!--a skinny, inexplicably smug teenager with glasses and long hair and open my 75-card pack along with THREE boosters! I have never done many pre-releases so the extra booster is a nice surprise. But wait! These cards belong to someone else: I'm supposed to count them and verify the contents on a piece of paper and then hand the deck to a judge. Over 90 cards I've never seen that I have to count up and tally, I'm paying for this experience? This is actually more work than I do on any given weekday. I already miss the evil simplicity of Magic Online and lament its troubled life.
I do get to keep the tokens and 'Pro Tour Player' cards, nice bonuses that have been added to packs since my younger days. I opened the Japanese player Shouta Yasooka and was able to obtain Chris McDaniel from the guy across from me. He could care less, but McDaniel is the “Star Wars kid!” The card claims he got his nickname because he played the Star Wars card game before getting into Magic but I still think it's because he looks like the weird light-saber kid in that Youtube video. It's as if the lamest kid in my high school who girls never talked to had his face printed on a card, and ten years later as an adult I collected it...
Here's the list, in great detail for your viewing pleasure. (Note to non-nerds: you should either skip the following or just know that T=tap, W=white, U=blue, B=black, R=red, G=green, when a slash is in between it means either/or and yeah I was confused too so don't worry.)
White (7)
Inquisitor's Snare - 1W
Instant (Common)
Prevent all damage target attacking or blocking creature would deal this turn. If that creature is black or red, destroy it.
#8/301
Mine Excavation - 1W
Sorcery (Common)
Return target artifact or enchantment card in a graveyard to its owner's hand.
Conspire
Illus. Chippy
#13/301
Mistmeadow Skulk - 1W
Creature - Kithkin Rogue (Uncommon)
Protection from converted mana cost 3 or greater
Lifelink (Whenever this creature deals damage, you gain that much life.)
1/1
Niveous Wisps - W
Instant (Common)
Target creature becomes white until end of turn. Tap that creature.
Draw a card.
Resplendent Mentor - 4W
Creature - Kithkin Cleric (Uncommon)
White creatures you control have "{T}: You gain 1 life."
2/2
#19/301
Strip Bare - W
Instant (Common)
Destroy all Auras and Equipment attached to target creature.
#24/301
Woeleecher - 5W
Creature - Elemental (Common)
{W}, {T}: Remove a -1/-1 counter from target creature. If you do, you gain 2 life.
3/5
#27/301
Blue (11)
Biting Tether - 4U
Enchantment - Aura (Uncommon)
Enchant creature
You control enchanted creature.
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a -1/-1 counter on enchanted creature.
#29/301
Cerulean Wisps - U
Instant (Common)
Target creature becomes blue until end of turn. Untap that creature.
Draw a card.
Consign to Dream - 2U
Instant (Common)
Return target permanent to its owner's hand. If that permanent is red or green, put it on top of its owner's library instead.
"Dreams are fleeting. Reality even more so." - Oona, queen of the fae
Illus. Richard Kane Ferguson
#32/301
Drowner Initiate - U
Creature - Merfolk Wizard (Common)
Whenever a player plays a blue spell, you may pay {1}. If you do, target player puts the top two cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
1/1
Illus. E. M. Gist
#36/301
Flow of Ideas - 5U
Sorcery (Uncommon)
Draw a card for each Island you control.
Ghastly Discovery - 2U
Sorcery (Common)
Draw two cards, then discard a card.
Conspire (As you play this spell, you may tap two untapped creatures you control that share a color with it. When you do, copy it.)
Korrigans, spirits bound to sources of water, shriek when they come upon their own drowned corpses.
Illus. Howard Lyon
#39/301
Merrow Wavebreakers - 4U
Creature - Merfolk Soldier (Common)
{1}{U}, {Q}: Merrow Wavebreakers gains flying until end of turn. ({Q} is the untap symbol)
3/3
Illus. Alex Horley-Orlandelli
#44/301
Prismwake Merrow - 2U
Creature - Merfolk Wizard (Common)
Flash
When Prismwake Merrow comes into play, target creature becomes the color or colors of your choice until end of turn.
2/1
Puca's Mischief - 3U
Enchantment (Rare)
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may exchange control of target nonland permanent you control and target nonland permanent an opponent controls with an equal or lesser converted mana cost.
Illus. Scott Altmann
#47/301
Put Away - 2UU
Instant (Common)
Counter target spell. You may shuffle up to one target card from your graveyard into your library.
Illus. Matt Cavotta
#48/301
Spell Syphon - 1U
Instant (Common)
Counter target spell unless its controller pays {1} for each blue permanent you control.
Black (8)
Aphotic Wisps - B
Instant (Common)
Target creature becomes black and gains fear until end of turn.
Draw a card.
Illus. Jim Nelson
#55/301
Ashenmoor Cohort - 5B
Creature - Elemental Warrior (Common)
Ashenmoor Cohort gets +1/+1 as long as you control another black creature.
"Bad card is baaaaaaaaad"
4/3
2X:
Faerie Macabre - 1BB
Creature - Faerie Rogue (Common)
Flying
Discard Faerie Macabre: Remove up to two target cards in graveyards from the game.
2/2
#66/301
Hollowsage - 3B
Creature - Merfolk Wizard (Uncommon)
Whenever Hollowsage becomes untapped, you may have target player discard a card.
2/2
Illus. Lucio Paarrillo
#69/301
Loch Korrigan - 3B
Creature - Spirit (Common)
{ub}: Loch Korrigan gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
1/1
Illus. Daarken
#71/301
Rite of Consumption - 1B
Sorcery (Common)
As additional cost to play Rite of Consumption, sacrifice a creature.
Rite of Consumption deals damage equal to the sacrificed creature's power to target player. You gain life equal to the damage dealt this way.
Illus. Ron Spencer
#76/301
2X:
Splitting Headache - 3B
Sorcery (Common)
Choose one - Target player discards two cards; or target player reveals his or her hand. You choose a card from it. That player discards that card.
Red (9)
Cragganwick Cremator - 2RR
Creature - Giant Shaman (Rare)
When Cragganwick Cremator comes into play, discard a card at random. If you discard a creature card this way, Cragganwick Cremator deals damage to target player equal to the discarded creature card's power.
Each night that his bowl fills, a village mourns.
5/4
Illus. Jeremy Enecio
Crimson Wisps - R
Instant (Common)
Target creature becomes red and gains haste until end of turn.
Draw a card.
Ember Gale - 3R
Sorcery (Common)
Creatures target player controls can't block this turn.
Ember Gale Deals 1 damage to each white and/or blue creature that player controls.
Flame Javelin - {2r}{2r}{2r}
Instant (Uncommon)
Flame Javelin deals 4 damage to target creature or player.
#92/301
Inescapable Brute - 5R
Creature - Giant Warrior (Common)
Wither
Inescapable Brute must be blocked if able.
3/3
Intimidator Initiate - R
Creature - Goblin Shaman (Common)
Whenever you play a red spell, you may pay {1}. If you do, target creature can't block this turn.
1/1
Mudbrawler Cohort - 1R
Creature - Goblin Warrior (Common)
Haste
Mudbrawler Cohort gets +1/+1 as long as you control another red creature.
1/1
Power of Fire - 1R
Enchantment - Aura (Common)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has "{T}: This creature deals 1 damage to target creature or player."
The cinders believe their flame was stolen by the one they call the Extinguisher. All who now wield fire draw their desperate wrath.
Illus. Trevor Hairsine
#101/301
Pyre Charger - RR
Creature - Elemental Warrior (Uncommon)
Haste
{R}: Pyre Charger gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
1/1
Green (10)
Devoted Druid - 1G
Creature - Elf Druid (Common)
{T}: Add {G} to your mana pool.
Put a -1/-1 counter on Devoted Druid: Untap Devoted Druid.
0/2
Drove of Elves - 3G
Creature - Elf (Uncommon)
Drove of Elves's power and toughness are each equal to the number of green permanents you control.
Drove of Elves can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.
"The light of beauty protects our journeys through darkness."
*/*
Illus. Larry Mcdougal
#112/301
Farhaven Elf - 2G
Creature - Elf Druid (Common)
When Farhaven Elf comes into play, you may search your library for a basic land card and put that card into play tapped. If you do, shuffle your library.
1/1
Foxfire Oak - 5G
Creature - Treefolk Shaman (Common)
{rg}{rg}{rg}: Foxfire Oak gets +3/+0 until end of turn.
3/6
Gloomwidow - 2G
Creature - Spider (Uncommon)
Reach
Gloomwidow can't block creatures without flying.
3/3
Hungry Spriggan - 2G
Creature - Goblin Warrior (Common)
Trample
Whenever Hungry Spriggan attacks, it gets +3/+3 until end of turn.
If a spriggan's eyes are larger than its stomach, it has ways to remedy the situation.
1/1
Illus. Drew Tucker
#120/301
Juvenile Gloomwidow - GG
Creature - Spider (Common)
Reach
Wither
1/3
Illus. Thomas M. Baxa
#121/301
Tower Above - {2g}{2g}{2g}
Sorcery (Uncommon)
({2g} can be paid with any two mana or with {G}. This card's converted mana cost is 6.)
Until end of turn, target creature gets +4/+4 and gains trample, wither and "When this creature attacks, target creature blocks it this turn if able." (It deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters.)
Illus. Thomas Denmark
Viridescent Wisps - G
Instant (Common)
Target creature becomes green and gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
Draw a card.
Wildslayer Elves - 3G
Creature - Elf Warrior (Common)
Wither
3/3
Illus. Dave Kendall
#133/301
Hybrid (33)
2X:
Curse of Chains - 1{WU}
Enchantment - Aura (Common)
Enchant creature
At the beginning of each upkeep, tap enchanted creature.
The giant's real punishment was the fleeting moment when he was allowed to stand before being dragged down to his knees again.
Illus. Drew Tucker
#139/301
Mistmeadow Witch - 1{wu}
Creature - Kithkin Wizard (Uncommon)
{2}{W}{U}: Remove target creature from the game. Return that card to play under its owner's control at end of turn.
1/1
Illus. Greg Staples
#144/301
Repel Intruders - 3{wu}
Instant (Uncommon)
Put two 1/1 white Kithkin Soldier creature tokens into play if {W} was spent to play Repel Intruders.
Counter up to one target creature spell if {U} was spent to play Repel Intruders. (If {W}{U} is spent, do both)
#147/301
Silkbind Faerie - 2{wu}
Creature - Faerie Rogue (Common)
Flying
{1}{wu}, {Q}: Tap target creature. ({Q} is the untap symbol.)
"The bigger they are, the more fun it is to watch them fall flat on their faces."
1/3
Illus. Matt Cavotta
#148/301
Steel of the Godhead - 2{wu}
Enchantment - AuraAs long as enchanted creature is white, it gets +1/+1 and has lifelink. (Whenever it deals damage, its controller gains that much life.)
As long as enchanted creature is blue, it gets +1/+1 and is unblockable.
2X:
Thistledown Duo - 2{wu}
Creature - Kithkin Soldier Wizard (Common)
Whenever you play a white spell, Thistledown Duo gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
Whenever you play a blue spell, Thistledown Duo gains flying until end of turn.
2/2
#152/301
Gravelgill Axeshark - 4{ub}
Creature - Merfolk Soldier (Common)
Persist
3/3
#164/301
Gravelgill Duo - 2{ub}
Creature - Merfolk Rogue Warrior (Common)
Whenever you play a blue spell, Gravelgill Duo gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
Whenever you play a black spell, Gravelgill Duo gains fear until end of turn.
2/1
Illus. Brandon Kitkouski
#165/301
3X!!!:
Helm of the Ghastlord - 3{bu}
Enchantment - Aura (Common)
Enchant creature
As long as enchanted creature is blue, it gets +1/+1 and has "Whenever this creature deals damage to an opponent, draw a card."
As long as enchanted creature is black, it gets +1/+1 and has "Whenever this creature deals damage to an opponent, that player discards a card."
Illus. Franz Vohwinkel
#166/301
Oona's Gatewarden - {bu}
Creature - Faerie Soldier (Common)
Flying, defender
Wither
2/1
#173/301
Ashenmoor Gouger - {br}{br}{br}
Creature - Elemental Warrior (Uncommon)
Ashenmoor Gouger can't block.
4/4
Illus. Matt Cavotta
#180/301
Din of the Fireherd - 5{br}{br}{br}
Sorcery (Rare)
Put a 5/5 black and red Elemental creature token into play. Target opponent sacrifices a creature for each black creature you control, then sacrifices a land for each red creature you control.
Vengeance in stampede form
Illus. Dave Dorman
#184/301
Fists of the Demigod - 1{br}
Enchantment - Aura (Common)
Enchant creature
As long as enchanted creature is black, it gets +1/+1 and has wither.
As long as enchanted creature is red, it gets +1/+1 and has first strike.
Illus. Dan Scott
#187/301
Kulrath Knight - 3{br}{br}
Creature - Elemental Knight (Uncommon)
Flying
Wither
Creatures your opponents control with counters on them can't attack or block.
3/3
Illus. Daarken
#190/301
Manaforge Cinder - {br}
Creature - Elemental Shaman (Common)
{1}: Add {B} or {R} to your mana pool.
Play this ability no more than three times each turn.
1/1
#191/301
Scar - {rb}
Instant (Common)
Put a -1/-1 counter on target creature.
#194/301
Sootstoke Kindler - 1{br}
Creature - Elemental Shaman (Common)
Haste
{T}: Target black or red creature gains haste until end of turn.
1/1
Illus. Mark Zug
#195/301
Spiteflame Witch - 1{br}
Creature - Elemental Shaman (Uncommon)
{B}{R}: Each player loses 1 life.
2/1
Illus. William O'Connor
#197/301
Deus of Calamity - {rg}{rg}{rg}{rg}{rg}
Creature - Spirit Avatar (Rare)
Trample
Whenever Deus of Calamity deals 6 or more damage to an opponent, destroy target land that player controls.
"He bears the marks of ages upon his skin, memories of dreams long dead and best left buried."
-The Seer's Parables
6/6
Illus. Todd Lockwood
#204/301
Loamdragger Giant - 4{rg}{rg}{rg}
Creature - Giant Warrior (Common)
Vanillaaaaa
7/6
#210/301
Manamorphose - 1{rg}
Instant (Common)
Add two mana in any combination of colors to your mana pool.
Draw a card.
#211/301
Runes of the Deus - 4{rg}
Enchantment - Aura (Common)
Enchant creature
As long as enchanted creature is red, it gets +1/+1 and has double strike.
As long as enchanted creature is green, it gets +1/+1 and has trample.
#215/301
Scuzzback Scrapper - {rg}
Creature - Goblin Warrior (Common)
Wither
1/1
#217/301
Barkshell Blessing - {wg}
Instant (Common)
Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
Conspire
#224/301
Medicine Bearer - 1{gw}
Creature - Elf Cleric (Common)
When Medicine Bearer comes into play, you may remove a counter from target permanent.
2/1
#230/301
Old Ghastbark - 3{gw}{gw}
Creature - Treefolk Warrior (Common)
"You who inherit the heavy privilege to serve in freedom's name. You who must brace for battle surely to come."
3/6
#232/301
Safehold Duo - 3{gw}
Creature - Elf Warrior Shaman (Common)
Whenever you play a green spell, Safehold Duo gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
Whenever you play a white spell, Safehold Duo gains vigilance until end of turn.
2/4
#238/301
Seedcradle Witch - {gw}
Creature - Elf Shaman (Uncommon)
{2}{G}{W}: Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn. Untap that creature.
1/1
Illus. Steven Belledin
#241/301
Colorless (9)
Pili-Pala - 2
Artifact Creature - Scarecrow (Common)
Flying
{2}, {Q}: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
1/1
Illus. Ron Spencer
#256/301
2X
Rattleblaze Scarecrow - 6
Artifact Creature - Scarecrow (Common)
Rattleblaze Scarecrow has persist as long as you control a black creature. (When this creature is put into a graveyard from play, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, return it to play under its owner's control and put a -1/-1 counter on it.)
Rattleblaze Scarecrow has haste as long as you control a red creature.
5/3
Illus. Trevor Hairsine
#259/301
Scrapbasket - 4
Artifact Creature - Scarecrow (Common)
{1}: Scrapbasket becomes all colors until end of turn.
3/2
Illus. Heather Hudson
2X:
Scuttlemutt - 3
Artifact Creature - Scarecrow (Common)
{T}: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
{T}: Target creature becomes the color or the colors of your choice until end of turn.
2/2
Illus. Jeremy Jarvis
#263/301
Artifact Creature - Scarecrow (Common)
Thornwatch Scarecrow has wither as long as you control a green creature. (It deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters.) Thornwatch Scarecrow has vigilance as long as you control a white creature.
4/4
Umbral Mantle - 3
Artifact - Equipment (Uncommon)
Equipped creature has: "{3}, {Q}: This creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn."
Equip {0}
Illus. Richard Sardinha
#267/301
Land (4)
Graven Cairns
Land (Rare)
{T}: Add {1} to your mana pool.
{br}, {T}: Add {B}{B}, {B}{R}, or {R}{R} to your mana pool.
2X:
Moonring Island
Land - Island (Uncommon)
({T}: Add {U} to your mana pool)
Moonring Island comes into play tapped.
{U}, {T}: Look at the top card of target player's library. Play this ability only if you control two or more blue permanents.
Illus. Brandon Kitkouski
#276/301
Wooded Bastion
Land (Rare)
{T}: Add {1} to your mana pool.
{gw}, {T}: Add {G}{G}, {G}{W}, or {W}{W} to your mana pool.
Basic Land - Plains (Basic Land)
#283/301
That's a confusing bunch of cards, right? I felt really rushed having to build a deck out of that in what felt like 10 minutes and was probably 30. I have always been pretty bad at limited deck-building and slow at all things generally in life, but I was still unhappy to be the last one to turn in a list.
The first thing that threw me was that usually I eliminate almost half of the cards as 'unplayable' and go from there, but from what I could tell everything seemed at least playable. After staring at the piles for a long time I realized I was simply under the sway of novelty and unfamiliarity and ended up with a list of what I'd consider playing that looked something like this:
Inquisitor's Snare - and only as a sideboard card. OK so no white--only it's not that easy...
Blue
Biting Tether
Consign to Dream
Ghastly Discovery
Merrow Wavebreakers
Prismwake Merrow
Puca's Mischief - this one's weird. More on it later.
Black
2x - Faerie Macabre
Loch Korrigan
Rite of Consumption - I like this in theory in an aggressive deck, but didn't have the balls to run it.
Red
Flame Javelin --an auto-include in any build, duh..
Green
Devoted Druid
Drove of Elves
Farhaven Elf
Foxfire Oak
Gloomwidow
Hungry Spriggan
Juvenile Gloomwidow
Tower Above - also an auto-include
Wildslayer Elves
Hybrid
2X: Curse of Chains - Everyone played this card, and I still don't know what I think of it. Only out of sheer desperation for removal did I play it.
Mistmeadow Witch
Repel Intruders
Silkbind Faerie
Steel of the Godhead
2X: Thistledown Duo
Gravelgill Axeshark
Gravelgill Duo
Ashenmoor Gouger
Din of the Fireherd
Kulrath Knight
Manaforge Cinder
Scar
Spiteflame Witch
Deus of Calamity
Manamorphose
Barkshell Blessing
Medicine Bearer
Old Ghastbark
Safehold Duo
Seedcradle Witch
Colorless
Scrapbasket
Thornwatch Scarecrow
Umbral Mantle
Land
Graven Cairns
Wooded Bastion
It all seems simple until you get to the hybrid cards, at which point it all goes to hell as the absolute must-plays are in U/W, R/B, R/W, and G/W. No common color between them! I keep telling myself sealed is a slow format that isn't about tempo so I convince myself to steer clear of the red-black that was calling me with its beautiful two- and three- drops but not much else. This left me with green-white and the blue cards that had the best curve by far. It really hurt me not to play the Ashenmoor Gouger and those two flying faeries but in the heat of the moment I couldn't see a good curve built around them. In retrospect I should have gone with that instinct and used the artifact creatures to fill in the holes as I later noticed that all of my opponents did. The irony is that I didn't even consider the artifact creatures playable because I didn't see the point of playing with worse creatures when the mana was supposed to be so easy!
So I stuck with the slow but consistent green which I hoped would help me play different colors instead of my usual red-black (my first big tournament was an Onslaught block Pro Tour qualifier and my red-black deck put me in 14th place). As I thought more about my two untap-mechanic blue fliers I liked the ability more and more and all of a sudden an 'unplayable' card came back in--Power of Fire! I had been trying to find some powerful gimmick that would give me an edge and make the day interesting, and there it was--tap to kill a 1/1, untap to block a huge guy tap to kill another guy, et cetera et cetera. I was in love, imagining the havoc this would wreak, and even strongly considered playing the Umbral Mantle in spite of having too many non-creature spells already. Plus the Power of Fire was adding a fourth color to my mana base (I rationalized this with how much cheaper Flame Jet would be) but it was too late, the ego had taken over reason. This is dangerous when building a good deck and I tend to succumb to it easily. In this case the tunnel vision may not have hurt me to much as I ended up being right about one thing; untap abilities are extremely powerful.
One of the volunteer judges was a former Wizards employee who was pretty cool and before the tournament I asked him what the benefits were like and he seemed to say they were good but Hasbro is a big evil multinational corporation--duh. As I became jealous of his former job he in turn was jealous of my Eee PC with its mobile internet awesomeness. I showed him how I could look up the price of Tarmogoyf in about 5 seconds and he showed me his binder of practically every promotional foil card ever released. Anyway, now this guy is cajoling me about giving him my final list so he could go get me the exact amount of basic lands I needed. This last part weirded me out, as usually I just take a stack and sideboard out if I find I miscalculated (yeah I know, John, never anger the mana gods). So as he rushed me I asked for 17 and he told me those were the one I had to play with. Then I realized I had included the two dual lands in my list as they were in my colors. Now I had 19 lands, and had to sideboard at least one out after every Game 1. Here's the list as I remember it.
9 Forest
6 Island
2 Mountain
1 Graven Cairns
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Medicine Bearer
1 Juvenile Gloomwidow
1 Devoted Druid
1 Farhaven Elf
1 Prismwake Merrow
1 Silkbind Faerie
2 Thistledown Duo
1 Drove of Elves
1 Safehold Duo
1 Wildslayer Elves
1 Gravelgill Axeshark
1 Kulrath Knight
1 Deus of Calamity
1 Merrow Wavebreakers
//16 creatures
1 Biting Tether
1 Ghastly Discovery
1 Flame Jet
1 Power of Fire
1 Tower Above
1 Manamorphose
1 Barkshell Blessing
//7 spells
I still think this awful deck could have been a great one, but I don't know how. All I know is I was hell-bent on playing the card draw of Ghastly Discovery because I had just watched Jon Finkel win Pro Tour Kuala Lampur on Youtube, and I also knew I could even active Power of Fire with the Druid that untaps itself with a -1/-1 counter. I basically sideboarded Curse of Chains instead of the lands practically every time, and usually the bounce spell also.
Match 1
Every round was really precisely timed and I always felt extremely rushed even though I tried to play fast, since my opponents inevitably played extremely slow and a pre-release is "just for fun" so I felt bad telling them to speed up. In this first match, however, time was not an issue as my defeat was swift and humiliating.
Clément was playing green-white, and I remember being really happy because after choosing to draw, I put my crazy untapping druid out and he killed himself on turn 3 in order for me to bring out my big bomb: the Deus of Calamity for five mana. Great, game one is in the bag, good start to the day.
As in all other areas of life, my big weakness is overconfidence and when he played a Nurturer Initiate with a Presence of Gond on it and started making tokens, I immediately knew I was dealing with inexperience and should have an easy time of it. Now I may have been right as that creature is pretty bad, but letting one's guard down is obvious to anyone, and in this case I really go caught with my pants down. On my attack he played Inquisitor's Snare and killed it without ever dipping below 20 life. To rub it in he attacked with something that had power and toughness equal to the white permanents in play and counted his Plains for it. So I had been outplayed by someone who didn't even know the rules of the game, though to be fair to myself I didn't even try.
I should also note that Presence of Gond probably is really good in the format as Auras in general seem to last long enough to be worth it because there is very little bounce or even straight-up removal in the set. See below.
All of this became a moot point when a couple turns later he got Oversoul of Dusk out AND put Shield of the Oversoul on it. For those of you paying attention that means that nothing in my deck can target or block it and it's indestructible anyway. Cute.
Same creature came out second game, and I still had no way of dealing with it. Now that I think of it if I had an effective deck I could have thrown blockers in front of it and flown over or used the only solution available, Tower Above, to kill it.
Match 2
In case you're not familiar with Swiss tournaments--not unique to Magic, I think most one-on-one competitions use it--when you've lost your first round you play against other losers. I must have zoned out at this point due to how easily demoralized I am. My notes say "18-16-14-9-X :-(" and not much on the other side. Relatively similar scores for game 2, but I do remember that I was so careless at this point that I sideboarded Puca's Mischief because all of this guy's creatures were artifact guys way bigger than my own.
I hadn't even bothered to check the text on the card and thought I could switch my smaller dudes for his bigger ones. Turns out the opposite is true, but the card managed to prolong the game until the end of the round! He had no way to deal with me stealing his creatures, and mine were so bad that he couldn't do anything with them. I also bought a lot of time with a fancy Flame Jet play that he had to call a judge over to understand and confirm. He had three creatures out two of them were artifacts that accumulated -1/-1 and couldn't afford to accumulate anymore, so when he played a Cultbrand Cinder or something similar with the effect of putting a counter on a creature, I killed the extra one and forced him to put one of his two essential creatures out of business. He thought he could still target the guy since he was in play when he played the spell, but nope! Sounds like you haven't played much online sir!
I still lost, but it was an amusing game and the guy had passable social skills, so we went to McDonald's afterwards for some deal the organizer had worked out with the local McD's for everyone who showed a sealed deck box. How many times in your life do you have a reason to show a McDonald's cashier the box to Magic cards, as an adult? Exactly.
This also worked out because he wanted to buy the two dual lands I opened and I didn't have any cash for lunch, so I told him he could buy me the meal and have the lands. Having played with them, I realized they weren't as great as I thought, but the McDonald's meal had the same effect as always--mild nausea and flatulence. I talked with this dude for a long time over fries before noticing he had an earring or two in each ear. Then I started to think he was being nice because he was gay, and broke off contact for awhile. Both ears means gay, right?
I think at my age my grandfather on my mom's side had already had two kids and was living through World War II. I'd say I'm probably right around that level of maturity.
I'm 0 for 2 at this point, but feeling more confident and care-free thanks to eating the most nutritious meal possible, invented in the Greatest Country in the World. Plus, I'll be battling the true dregs of the tournament now with my lamentable record; the world is mine! Stay tuned.
