Saturday night at 11:30 pm I started to drive to Game Haven in West Jordan Utah to play in the pre-release for the new Magic expansion, Return to Ravnica. It has been years since I was involved in Magic. I haven’t played consistently since the Invasion block. Yes, that is ten or so years ago. I have played in two drafts since then and have haven’t played in a pre-release since Ice Age was release. Yes, I did just say Ice Age.
The really great thing about Magic is that you can be away from it for years and pick it back up without any problems. I had to learn a few new key words and learned what guilds colors were.
There was easily over 130 people in the store at the time I got there and 110 that actually played the first round (many players register and leave without playing in order to be the first to list items on eBay).
I tried to get the Green/Black guild but that was already full from pre-registrants. I chose to go with the Green/White Selesnya guild and hopefully get some good cards that will help me out. Luckily I got the Legend Trostani that matches my colors. I also pulled the Mythic Ultvara Hellkite which I was not able to fit into my deck.
My first round matchup was against a kid that was around 14/15 that had only been playing Magic for fun and had never been to a Release Event. I won the matchup 2-0 with 30 minutes left in the round.
I had made a promise to myself that I would leave after my first loss. I had no intention of staying there all night, I just wanted to enjoy the atmosphere of a new set release, play a few games and have a good time. I knew I had a full Saturday planned and didn’t want to be a zombie all day, in some ways, I was hoping for a second round loss.
Second round I was matched up against a guy in his early 20’s who was really cool. We talked for a bit before and after the game and he was used to playing friendly Magic with friends and had never been to a competitive event like this. I told him that if I lost I was going home and he said he had made that same promise to his wife too. We joked about how we were both going to lose the match on purpose just so we could leave.
He was playing the Red/Black guild and got off a few early creatures that I could never keep up with. I got to three mana and couldn’t get my fourth and that is where all my creatures mana cost was at. By the time I got my fourth mana, I was having to play keep up with his creatures while taking 3-4 points of damage a turn.
Second game against him started out strong but I hit a point where I needed one more mana again and couldn’t get it. I had more enchantments in hand with nothing to really play them on. It was game over at this point and I dropped so I could go home.
I picked up my comic hold before leaving the store. I got the latest issue of Invincible and Justice League Dark. I got home around 3 am and couldn’t wait until morning to read the latest Invincible issue. I’m loving the current story arch and where it is going.
Overall I had a lot of fun doing this pre-release. I’m glad that I went and would do it again, just probably not for a while.
I put all the cards I got from the event in CategoryOneGames’s eBay store. They are all set as 1 day auctions, ending Sunday night, this way you can be the first in your area to actually have your hands on these cards, they will be shipped Monday.
I’ve had a lot of people request that CategoryOneGames sells Magic cards. We are working on it. While we wont be selling the newest sets right away, we will be carrying a large selection of older sets, starting around 3rd Edition through the first Ravnica block. I can’t give a date on this, but hopefully by the end of the year, we will have some of what we have in stock on the site.
Thanks for coming out Scott! Glad you had fun, we are actually in West Jordan though. 🙂
Thanks Geoff, it was a lot of fun. You guys did a great job with that many people there and each one having a blast while playing. I updated the blog with the right city, that is what I get for doing this post on very little sleep.