#24 - Prereleases
Featuring a look at all the insecurities that come with playing paper Magic that I've been avoiding by being an internet person.
This weekend features the first of two US Regional Championships. There might be more later this year after Charlotte? I’m not sure. I decided to write a 4,000 word tournament report about my prerelease.
In this issue:
Tournament Report
It’s my second time at what is now geographically my new LGS. Haven’t been here since 2023 maybe. Last time, the “judge” accused me of lying about not getting our prize pack for the round, early 20 something kid with rosy cheeks who is a current of energy without a ground. I hit him with a, “Okay, don’t need the pack that bad,” because he’s getting increasingly upset at me about his mistake.
I used to be mad like him. Less weed, more therapy. It’s a process.
Eventually, my buddy Ollie intervenes. The guy gives me promo packs on top of it. Cracks one himself and gives me the Adeline he pulled. We’re both different types of the same addict.
Tonight the parking lot is full and street parking is taken by patrons of Platinum 84 Gentleman’s Club across the way with a sign promising to “MAKE STRIPPING GREAT AGAIN.” It’s next to FACTORY STORE which I always imagine is the best way to shop for a new factory. Don’t want to get one on eBay. Gotta kick the tires on it.
I’m running late because we have to do the car handoff with it still running after Sam worked all day at her market for Small Biz. 6:35 now for a 6:30. This never matters but I care. The whole military family ethos where early is on time and on time means pushups.
The shop smells like, in order, coffee, men, carpet, and 1987. Case after case of retro video games. I’ve lived long enough to see my childhood memorialized, commodified, fetishized. Pretty cool. An original Mario Bros loose cartridge goes for $10. Super Mario 3 in the box? $79.99. If we can believe this Reddit receipt from a store dubiously called CHILD WORLD and also believe in inflation, it’s lost $40.71 in value:
Ollie is sitting behind the counter. Oh shit. He was dating one of my friends and when they split up, we just fell out of touch. He’s a good Local Guy. Always working at an LGS, shows up to the LGS on his off days, knows the good breakfast burrito places. He’s here now? He’s telling me I need to play Star Wars Unlimited. “It’s good.” He’s off on Mondays but comes in to play. Of course he does.
I’m walking up the steps when I hear the PA system do a last call for anyone who needs a prerelease kit. The sound system is ridiculous for the space, booming through a room of gamers in a way that any Magic hall would be jealous of. Probably a hand-me-down from Platinum 84.
My internal teacher’s pet seats me right up front. Across from me is a couple (?) in their late 20s, guy masked in a way that separates his beard that makes it look like it starts in that very Amish way at his chin. She seems a bit anxious. The woman next to me in her mid 20s opens her kit and stacks the cards in a giant pile, purse and keys taking up most of her allotted one and a half feet by three feet. I’m not tilted at all.
The Couple is telling me they do not want to play White. It’s their prerelease curse and, ugh, she’s opening a lot of solid white cards. 10/10 would swap right now. I can’t tell what’s happening to my left. The singular pile is now two piles of equal height. Across from me, “If it’s 17 lands, how many of the others is it?”
“Uhh, 23 I think?” he says, feigning a lack of confidence so as not to come off as a know-it-all. He’s very deferential in a sweet way.
My pool is going fine. I called Sab-Sunen, Luxa Embodied as the limited bomb of Aetherdrift on Sierko’s pod and she’s in my second pack.
(Editors note: I’ve painstakingly recreated my entire pool courtesy of SealedDeck.tech. If you’d like to build it for yourself, you can do so now before I get into major spoilers. It’s mostly irrelevant to the rest of this story. In fact, the time it took to do this is probably the reason I’m not more successful in things. But for three of you, it’ll be kind of cool.)
My white uncommons feel cracked but don’t talk to the rest of my pool well. Red and blue are strong and on plan but shallow. I’m woefully low on interaction in Golgari but I think they’re my best colors. I desperately want to splash for Sab-Sunen. I’m doing this:
Some thoughts:
I feel good about almost all of these cards but Ooze Patrol and Gastal Raider are question marks. With 15 creatures, five vehicles, and a Grim Bauble, I feel like my Ooze count is fine if not great. Raider is more a nod to my lack of interaction here. I can see a world where I play Intimidation Tactics over it but I’m figuring I can board it if I need it. That’s probably incorrect in sealed. Shrug.
Exclusions: Not enough exhaust to warrant another vehicle in Rangers’ Aetherhive. I goldfish some hands with Muraganda Raceway and it feels bad with the splash and Broodwagon. Bike and Worldwagon probably fix me well enough but I don’t want to risk it for a deck that’s not very mana-hungry, all things considered. Green winds up as fine but is on the verge of being “playing green for fixing” which isn’t a space I like to be in. If you’re GXx, you usually want your green to be strong on its own.
I’m trying a Izzet build and it’s light on playables and impact. I’m switching gears and looking at Boros/Selesnya/some kind of combination of them. It sucks out loud. It doesn’t feature Sab-Sunen. Sleeving up some Lagacs and a Tortoise for the board, I mentally hit “Submit.”
Another prominent Local Guy named John Kelly, Giver of Rides, does this thing where each prerelease, he buys a Collector Booster. To be honest, I’m sure he buys several. He has a nice tech job and disposable income and I’m not here to judge. Regardless, he has afflicted me with this Pack Mind Virus. I do it now. It’s usually awful but I’m my mom’s kid and love a scratch ticket. Different types of the same addict.
I’ve done three different sealed builds and have time to kill, so Aetherdrift CB it is. I earn rewards points I’m told, so I’ll be getting cash back at some point. All tied to my phone number, without opting in, a little surprise capitalism that helps me help me. Anyway, the pack is gas. Without hesitating, I’m doing the exact thing I spent the last issue criticizing:
#23 - Magic's Attention Economy
I picked up Chris Hayes’ new book about the attention economy. It’s a very solid take on the modern information age we find ourselves in and I recommend it. Our attention is harvested and commodified every time we pick up our devices. It’s literal currency that we’re psychologically manipulated out of and everyone is fighting to do it the most.
It’s my best performing post on Bluesky in weeks/months. Anything to stay relevant.
The event was supposed to cap at 64 but we’re probably in the 80s right now. In my rush to get in here, I left my phone in the car, so I can’t enter on the Companion App and can’t predict how much of a pain in the ass this will be for me. Instead of running back to the car first, I give them my name. No paper pairings, so I am staring at a TV until “B” comes back around—or just standing there, staring.
I am critiquing everything about their person’s mirrored desktop on this Toshiba in my mind. Why don’t they hide all the junk Windows icons at the bottom? Do they need taskbar access to Xbox and Microsoft Edge, a browser they’re not currently running? I can see their bookmarks toolbar! Hit Ctrl+shift+b and hide that random cEDH YouTube game you’re never going to go back and watch. Seeing the last tab on the screen spoils a joke for me where they’re about to have Kevin James announce the first round.
Why am I like this?
Round one I’m at Table 231 and rush over to box out my theoretical opponent in the event they walked to the same side of the table as me and think they’re getting this seat. It’s a game of hegemony I play one-sidedly in my head at every tournament and has never been an actual problem. In doing so, I’ve boxed in a guy named Bow Tie Ben who Ollie tells me is very good and very nice. He’s polite and doesn’t mention me looming over him.
I make the social mistake of saying my opponent’s name as written on the pairings. “Hey, Matthew?”
“Matt!”
I forget you just say your name and then they say your name and then you shuffle.
Matt is one of the millions of players onboarded from Arena, slowly getting paper pilled. This is his second time playing IRL. Did Foundations prerelease, liked it. He’s in his 20s, messy mop of hair and a welcoming smile, nervous because Arena does all of this for us. I am, too. Prepping for Chicago means getting paper reps for the first time since… fuck. Outside of a prerelease, I can’t remember the last paper event I did. RC Denver?
It’s been 362 days.
We’re shaking off different rust. It’s his second turn when he skips his draw step and I assuring him it’s the worst one to skip. I curve a Stampeding Scurryfoot into Gas Guzzler and get some early speed. His curve isn’t bad but it’s a lot of Vehicles with not a lot of crew. Lumbering Worldwagon comes down and I have a hand of mostly lands, but thinning my deck—and not my hairline for once! 🥁—is welcome.
Matt is making do with a Midnight Mangler and then slaps down a Pride of the Road, summoning a speed token that is another thing to track. It’s all a lot. Things are constantly changing state. I’m reminding him that Mangler gets a werewolf crew (?) when the clock strikes 12AM2 and he seems relieved. I’m tapping out for Pactdoll Terror to crew and my 6/4 Studebaker gets… single blocked?
My prerelease code of ethics is that I will diligently track everything, point out triggers, allow takebacks, and warn opponents if it seems like they’re missing known information, but for whatever reason, I draw the line at suggesting strategic play. It feels a step TOO condescending, maybe.
This is the wrong block, though.
Matt can stop my one-van-ramp machine with Manger and Pride, but perhaps (with only a single speed) he really wants to keep that Pride on the board. I know if my opponent is tapped out, I’m taking that trade every day and twice on a prerelease.
He’s untapped and yanks my Terror with a Possession Engine (and quickly realized he can use it to crew, well done) but continues this series of chump blocks until I’ve outcarded him through absolutely no work of my own.
It’s game two and he has an early Vnwxt, Verbose Host which we both agree is unpronounceable and a Leonin Surveyor into my lackluster start of Scurryfoot and Guzzler. He has a free attack and needs the speed to get Vjfdfqw online, but doesn’t take it. Admits later he was just unsure and defaulted to “stay.”
More chump blocking when I turn the corner, losing Vprlmw for nothing, losing everything for nothing, until he’s sitting there with a Guardian Sunmare against 4-6 things on my board. A Stock Up doesn’t fill the garage pantry or whatever and he’s flooding. GG.
He’s thanking me for helping with random triggers and I ask if I can give a little feedback. It’s polite to ask. Sometimes, people don’t want to hear shit from you. He’s a genuine guy who plays with his girlfriend while his homie works in the mountains for the season. I like him. I want to help.
We’re talking about the block, life total as a resource, and he’s showing me a curve that is legitimately good, even if we have some clunkers like Unstoppable Plan in here. I take Voyage Home out of his sideboard, “that’s one of your best cards,” and I think he’s feeling confident. I compliment the curve probably too much. “I watched some videos after the Foundations prerelease.” I don’t think that one went as well.
He wants to know how to get better. He’s been jamming a few of his favorite Jumpstart decks on Arena, knows them inside and out. Wants to take the next step. “Watch people better than you play. There is world-class talent playing for free every day online. And actively watch! Don’t second screen that shit.” I also shamelessly plug my Substack and 100 Thoughts on Limited article. I’m a dog.
Hi, Matt. If you’re here, I hope the rest of your night was all packs.
Mana Club #6 - 100 Thoughts on Limited Magic
Since it’s a holiday week, I wanted to hit you with something that I’ve been working on for a while:
Time to kill. I’m vaping and one guy is smoking and a different couple is hacking because they ripped the jazz cabbage pen toooooo hard. It’s that dry, whole-throat expulsion that comes with a hot hit. I ask a guy I think opened a Ketramose if he opened the Ketramose, fully aware that he could be one of several men who have decided against cutting their hair at all, facial or otherwise. Free growers. Blade-free since ‘03, by the looks of it.
“Traded it for a Meathook.”
He’s defending the trade to the death, saying that he told him it was a $10 difference in his favor, that the guy acknowledged Ketramose was probably going to tank after release weekend. I don’t know. I’d probably rather have the upside. Not my Ketramose, though.
He likes, in his words, “shitty sealed.” Hasn’t played an event in four months, said in a way that implied for him this was akin to a presidential administration. In his years, I’ve been out since Obama.
“The set looked awful so I had to come.”
It’s a wild take. I ask if he did Bloomburrow, one of my least favs. He didn’t. We aren’t talking about the why of any of this. We’re just agreeing that limited is the best.
There’s a raffle happening inside. They call Jake. It’s a different Jake. Then a Jacob. I’m becoming more resolute in the idea of going by J. Edward Browne with each passing minute. My own W. Kamau Bell kind of thing. “Jake” doesn’t feel like an old guy name. It feels like an old dog name.
I miss the pairings and the wait begins. Everyone is seated and shuffling up and I’m standing like a dickhead staring at a TV in the RST portion of the alphabet made famous by Wheel of Fortune. I’m at table one. They call it “The Cage.”
The Cage is a Nicolas Cage-themed wire structure wrapped with banners about Nicolas Cage. It feels like a featured match area, lit like a featured match area, only without any cameras. Women keep their purses in there, the only area of the room that appears to have no surveillance cameras. For all its faults, it has personality, like your friend who drinks a little too much in her thirties but calls you drunk to tell you how much she platonically loves you through the hiccups.
My opponent is telling me his name—Jameson—and then, ten seconds later, I’m asking him again. Part of me getting paper reps is probably just humaning again.
I’m off to a mid start with Scurryfoot again, he’s got a Skyserpent Seeker which I could just Grim Bauble. Let’s see if he’ll take the trade? He does. I’m not sure if this is right, but I’m much more concerned about what looks like an exhaust deck getting ramp than a 3/3 Elephant.
Sab-Sunen comes down two turns later and Jameson is not pleased. He’s taking a full minute to talk about why exile removal is important (Flood the Engine is in his colors, at common, and is a clean answer), how can he even answer this???, and I appreciate the dramatics. FrogGod takes him down pretty quickly.
He’s a few levels up in his Magic investment compared to Matt. I think he mentions playing EDH but is talking about the game with more confidence. Hears me talk about going to Chicago but transposes a lot of the details. Not FNM boss, but definitely a mid-level enforcer. Knows to hold up a counter for Sabby in game two.
I’m attacking with a Debris Beetle into a Ticket Tortoise and Elvish Refueler when he asks, “How does double blocking work again?”
“We don’t worry about ordering and I just assign damage.”
“Oh, so combat tricks suck, huh?”
I laugh with him. He double blocks.
“Move to damage?”
Two for one.
I’m ready with an Earthrumbler into a Thundering Broodwagon that snaps off something and a Haunt the Network putting things far out of reach.
Problem: The Cage did not receive a prize pack. The cherubic young man who was involved with Pack Gate is within earshot when I ask the all black everything dude at the laptop with a Hot Topic number of face piercings if we maybe got skipped. I am filled with dread.
“Yeah, my bad on that one.”
Phew.
I come back from vaping and ask if it’s cool if I sit with him and his buddy who came by when I was asking his name for the third time. Jameson is telling him I used to write for The Onion which is almost true3, I don’t correct him, mentioning my Substack instead, but not by name because I’m still embarrassed that I wrote it down on a piece of paper like a psychopath for someone a round earlier.
The guy is nice, a teacher, I think college kids. I don’t get his name. We’re talking about Jameson’s Standard deck (Delney Vinelasher) and I’m peacocking because I know all the names of cards they’re forgetting. Which Enduring? “Innocence!” I can’t say fucking fast enough. It’s so exhausting feeling like a fraud all the time.
It’s almost 10PM and round three is here. I don’t have to move. The guys told me I wouldn’t. Why did I pack everything up? Dumb.
My opponent is [REDACTED] and reminds me of all the legitimately cool art kids I always wanted to be friends with in high school that only talked to me because I wouldn’t rip them off when they needed [REDACTED]. He’s wearing a band t-shirt or something vintage—it’s cool so I don’t know it—under a jean jacket and talks loose with slang that feels too old for him. He could be 20 or 40 with a baby face. Has friends in town that are on a road trip. Caught a buzz before this at the bar drinking and [REDACTED] but it’s wearing off.
He’s on Boros Vehicles and is way too fast for me. Greasewrench Goblin, slaps a Lightwheel Enhancements on it, Adrenaline Jockey on three while I gasp for air. My Gastal Raider whiffs hard4 but he’s mainphasing a Kolodin, Triumph Caster precombat unnecessarily which lets me trade my Raider for the unexhausted Gobbo. Pactdoll Terror, MVP, helps me stabilize long enough against a Jockey with Roadside Assistance (plus Enhancements I remind him he can and should recast) that I can finally Broodwagon it.
Game two I’m all in on Venomsac Lagac to slow him down on the ground and am now losing a new, slow, painful game against a Dinosaur Dragon from Draconautics Engineer. I’m surveiling like a madman, four cards to my yard, digging desperately to get to Sab. He’s ripping spells like it’s his job, 13 to 5 total lands (72% rate) which I am writing down, trying to figure out his chances of drawing a land. He's stopped playing because he thinks he’s messed up somehow and I’m just doing meaningless tiltmath like a baby.
We’re sideboarding and I can’t see the clock, but we’re at eight minutes left. “If we run out of time, want to do this thing I like to do instead of draw?” he’s asking. I have no idea what’s coming next. “Okay, so we open the prize pack and put it face down. We take turns picking a card—you keep whatever you pick!—and the highest mana value gets the win. I figure it’s better than a draw.”
I love this kid. I’m also, under no circumstances, trying to draw.
My hand is about as fast as the deck can draw. Guzzler into Jibbirik Omnivore into a second Omnivore and Bauble with a Siege Rhino Debris Beetle to follow it all up. We finish with 5 minutes on the clock. It’s almost 11PM.
Sam has been out with our friends at an art party, is home now with stories to tell and homemade chicken thighs/rice in the style of our favorite Halal bodega in Brooklyn. She’s the best buzzed cook I know. I skipped dinner earlier and now I’m skipping the final round. I half-heartedly ask if there’s extra prize support for going undefeated, knowing my mind is already made up.
“Not officially, buuuuuut I was gonna give out some promo packs.”
Maybe next time. You probably don’t remember, but you did me right last go around.
Final Record: 3-0 (6-1) drop.
CLEANSE
My experience playing Golden Sealed to the tune of Macy Gray’s “I Try”
I try to play my guy and you rope
I can’t walk away while you slumber
I should go and draft some Premier
Instead, I grumble while you are not here
Duel Decks & Chill
While I cannot endorse learning Magic to woo a cute, nerdy boy, I can endorse learning Magic broadly. This post to the main sub got me, though. From /u/k_uwu_su:
I have the Divine v.s. Demonic and the Knights v.s. Dragons duel decks. I have an incredibly cute nerdy boy I need to impress. I have to be good enough that I don't look like an idiot to someone familiar with and probably decently good at the game, but I need to be bad enough that I can get him to "teach" me how to play. I've not picked up Magic since I was about 8. Where do I start and what do I need to know? We are running on limited time, I have like two months to woo this dude before prom. It was this or Catan. Help a girl out.
Catan is FINE but c’mon: Magic rules. You play Catan like five times and then you have to move on to a more advanced game or your board games group dunks on you for being basic. Magic is the top of the pyramid.
As everyone suggested, you start brushing up on Arena. But I wanted to give you a primer on all of the little things specific to these decks. Let’s go.
Akroma, Angel of Wrath - Your big finisher but oof, tough to get out there. Be patient.
Angel of Mercy - Good for helping you catch up (life total is a resource!) and is a nice threat that’s hard to block. Honestly? One of your mid creatures, no big deal if it dies.
Angel's Feather - Great if you cast it early, lame late. You don’t really have any cards that give you a bonus for gaining life, so this strictly buys you time.
Angelic Benediction - A weird card to include because a lot of your creatures have flying, so they’re already hard to block. This is the kind of card you save until you already have all your creatures out. Focus on playing threats first.
Angelic Page - A nice card to make attacking/blocking hard for him, since you can use it after he makes decisions. Just remember you can do this ANY TIME during attacking or blocking, so use it at instant speed.
Angelic Protector - Mostly a defensive creature, save it for blocking when you have something like Angelic Page… unless the coast is clear. Anything you have that says “Target creature” gives the bonus, but auras only give it for THAT turn.
Angelsong - I would mostly cycle this for a free card.
Charging Paladin - This card sucks.
Faith's Fetters - Some of your absolutely best removal. Be patient and save it for a big threat (5 mana or more) because you have enough life gain to wait him out. Good targets for this in his deck are cards like Reiver Demon or Lord of the Pit.
Healing Salve - You almost always want to use this in combat to save your creature from lethal damage. The only exception is if you’re going to actually die.
Icatian Priest - Your deck is designed to go into the late game, so this gets super powerful! Okay, that’s probably an exaggeration, but the fact you can do it to anything and he doesn’t know what you’ll pick gives you a strategic advantage.
Luminous Angel - Another one of your best creatures, but I’d be really worried if you had this AND Akroma in your opening hand. You’ll die most of the time before you get them both out. You should take a mulligan if that happens.
Marble Diamond - Basically an extra land you get to cast. Resources are important for this deck which is weird for white but let’s go with it.
Otherworldly Journey - You almost always want to use this on your creatures, particularly ones that get you a bonus for entering the battlefield, like Venerable Monk or Twilight Shepherd. If he’s playing Demonic and puts Oni Possession on something, it might make sense to use this in response so Oni Possession never gets on there.
Pacifism - Cheap removal! Again, hold on to this for dear life—Faith’s Fetters rules apply.
Reya Dawnbringer - Another of your best threats. If it sticks around, you’re going to win.
Righteous Cause - This card REALLY sucks. Why???
Serra Advocate - Another card like Angelic Page that makes things annoying but isn’t GREAT.
Serra Angel - Your best threat in the middle game and an iconic card. We stan! Oh god, I’m old.
Serra's Boon - I would use this more on his creatures than yours. If he kills your Boon’d creature, you’re behind on cards and that’s a bad place to be.
Serra's Embrace - Such a weird card to put in here but it’s nice with your Advocate/Page because you can attack with them AND use their tap abilities after they’ve already attacked.
Sustainer of the Realm - Purely defensive homie, totally fine if he wants to kill it.
Twilight Shepherd - Ideally, you play this in your second main phase after a combat. You can even make kind of bad attacks with this as long as his stuff dies, too. “Oh, oops!” and then let him think he’s doing great. After combat, play Shepherd, get anything that died back, mic drop.
Venerable Monk - Just a little turd because they have to put turds in everything.
Next up, Demonic, but probably in a later issue because I just realized I’m almost 5,000 words deep and I haven’t gotten to my mailbag questions yet. You know, from people who actually want my advice.
Mailbag
TaJoordan asks:
how many vehicles is too many? (interpret from any non-limited standpoint)
Wait, so not limited? In terms of a household? Easily three. Two is defensible. Three is weird luxury territory and I hate it.
In constructed? I think the answer is:
Vintage: 1
Legacy: 1
Penny Dreadful/Pauper: No clue
Modern: 1
Pioneer: 8 if the format still exists and Greasefang becomes somehow relevant again
Standard: 4, but I’m not sure what you want a playset of… yet
Ben Jammin asks in the Discord:
Do you believe vehicles should remain, or should ever have been, an evergreen mechanic? What are your thoughts on them in limited, generally? On a scale from thrilled to irritated, how glad are you to spend the next few months grinding in a limited environment where vehicles have largely replaced other types of supplemental spells?
I was surprised at how many people disliked vehicles last night. Consider that most people consider Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty a GOATED set. All of a sudden, we’re like, “What’s the deal with all these cars?”
There’s a lot to this question(s), so let’s start with I’m fine with anything they want to design. Make it cracked, make it bad, the game is more fun when we’re trying things. Design should be allowed to make mistakes and most of them don’t truly wreck an entire limited format. In Ikora, what was worse: companions, a universally broken concept, or the cycling deck with Zenith Flare? I’ll argue the later until I’m cycling for U in the face.
In limited, they add a lot of tension because they operate in this sweet space of playing the game more at instant speed. We had an argument about how Bauble wasn’t going to be good in Aetherdrift because it’s sorcery speed removal against a non-creature artifact, but vehicles become creatures in all manner of ways on your turn. Sometimes, you need to be a little tricky.
This set—initially—seems well designed to deal with them, protect them, and with that support comes interesting builds and concepts to explore. What’s the ideal creature count? Is a 4/2 mana rock that gains you two life worth it? Windmill slam yes, but is the crew cost appropriate? We get high level and micro questions.
The issue I see is that it’s sort of impossible to know if these crew costs are “correct” at this volume of vehicles. It’s a veritable used car lot, but they can only test drive so many at length. I’m much closer to thrilled than irritated on that scale, but probably “intrigued.”
Ahorberg asks on the Discord:
What is the best way for me to prep for comp REL limited events if i only have access to arena and mtgo?
Something I want to cover in more depth, but let me give a quick answer:
Eduardo Sajgalik nails it about 17 minutes in with Sierko. Get a small team together and draft, but you have to analyze what you do in that draft. Look at logs. Talk about your decisions. You now have done eight drafts.
I find this vastly more important than gameplay. Games are slow, they involve skill, random draws, etc. Figuring out which cards people are taking from you, how you’re reading your pod, and how you build is key.
With sealed, I like group builds. Do an AM and PM session, generate a pool on Draftsim, port it to SealedDeck.tech, and have people use the spoiler tag to share their various builds. Sealed is a weird form of alchemy (not the bad one) that rewards seeing what other people can show you. They are the riddles and you often can’t see what you don’t see.
Even a small team of four people would generate eight builds a day. Over two weeks, you’ve seen 112 sealed builds.
I’ll do more on this soon but I’d start there.
Odds and Endstep
Sam Black is out of YouTube retirement doing Sam Black things:
I will likely check this out. I have, per usual, complicated feelings about it.
Thanks to everyone who checked out the stream this week. The Early Access event remains one of my favorite things they keep forgetting to uninvite me to. I’d clip it like Sam but I forgot to turn on my mic for the first 15 minutes, so the beginning of the draft is trash.
Incredibly stoked for all the 2-0s I see from the homies right now, but especially for homies in the Discord. Go Kora, go.
Winner, Winner:
jw1****@gmail - you’re getting a random Secret Lair and the Vadrok, Apex of Thunder I cannot find right now so we’re not getting an updated photo. BUT I HAVE SEEN IT! Recently, in fact.
Terms and conditions, per usual:
Each Saturday, I pick a lucky winner at random—paid subscribers get double the entires—and announce them in the column by whatever identifier I have for them. It’s usually their email. If you’re picked, you need to message me before the next column goes up to claim the prize. If they don’t reach out to me, I add something else (I call this Powerball, but it’s just like any lottery I guess) and someone else gets a shot at winning. If they do reach out, we start over. International winners pay shipping.
Thank you to the following paid subscribers: Casey, John Dale, Will, Alex, Connor, Joshua, Denis, Kyle, Ben, Patrick, Sam, Tyler and welcome to the club Ian! Since you’re local, you gotta come feed Seymour a treat in person.
Passing the turn,
Jake
Bonus Seymour of the Week
Jordan!
How does time work with Magic? Midnight Clock, Midnight Mangler, it all seems like our opponents operate after dark, making them much more dangerous/sexy. Only one card references “Noon” and it’s a restriction for both players?
I got a gig with The Onion’s physical office in Denver a week before they announced they’d stop printing the physical edition. Ironically, it’s all very ephemeral. My boss there did get me back into Magic. He moved to California a few years ago and I regret not spending more time with him. Great human being.
I went 1 for 2 with Raider on the day and still am not sure it belongs in the main. The hits feel so good but the whiffs are demoralizing.
Hey Jake! It's Matt! Amazing read, both this post and the one you recommended! Thanks again for the matches, it was a pleasure!
Next time it won't be so easy for you! Hopefully!!
I wish my LGS had "The Cage."