The Hobbit Prerelease

Today my sons and I played in our Local Game Store's The Hobbit prerelease event. This post recaps the experience. We played at Games & Stuff in Glen Burnie; you must sign up and pay in advance (they sell out)

I had never done a prerelease, so I didn't know what to expect. Before the game started:

- the event capped at 40 people

- most people were in their twenties to forties, with a few outliers on each end. My children (aged 10 and 14) and their friend were the youngest there.

- you can (but needn't) bring in bags, dice, card sleeves, playmats, tokens, lands, food and drink. I decided to buy deck sleeves there. I wish I had brought a bag and some bottled waters; carrying things around was fine but could have been easier.

- we did the noon event (they also had 8am and 4pm slots). We didn't get started until 1230 at the earliest, though, since the first event ran over

- you scan a QR code to sign in. That prompted me to download a Magic companion app on my phone, and sign in to that using my Wizards of the Coast account (which I had, but didn't remember the password . . . had to reset that). That took time, but we arrived 30 minutes early, so no worries.

- I had paid for three people, so they asked me (since my app has only my name) who my "+2s" were. I gave them the names, and since my boys didn't have phones or Wizards accounts, the event organizer manually entered them in the system (without issue).

We settled down to wait. Once everything was ready, we were assigned tables (via a common screen and our apps, if you had it). The organizers passed out prerelease decks and we were given 50 minutes to build a deck. You didn't have to stay at your table to build; some people moved around to be with friends.

A prerelease deck contains 6 The Hobbit play boosters (14 cards + a token in each), 1 foil rare or mythic card, four foil full-art plains, and a 20-sided spindown die. Using only these cards (plus basic lands, provided by you or the store if needed), you build a 40-card deck. Wizards has an official prerelease guide page that give you recommendations, including the mana curve. (Give that page a glance; there are some good things on it.) The general guidance is to have 24 non-land cards.

I built my deck, adhering closely to recommended practices. I settled on blue-green; a mixture of elves and big green creatures. Blue-green is one of the archetypes in this set (see the official page link above, or the graphic below, for the others).

Here is a picture of my deck:

And in decklist form:

Blue cards:

Elvenking's Harper

Enchanted River's Grasp

Gandalf, Wandering Wizard

Mirkwood Mediator

Plunder the Trollshaws

Riddles in the Dark

Sound the Trumpets

Green cards:

Bejeweled Warg

Beorn, Reluctant Host

Gigantic Big Bear

Mirkwood Pathmaker

Old Fat Spider

Ordinary Bear

Quarrel

Radagast of Rhosgobel

Warg Tactics (x2)

Wargling

Wood Elves

Multicolored:

Mirkwood Nurturer

Silvan Reveler

Thranduil, Sindarin Liege

Artifacts:

Giant's Boulder

Thror's Map

Lands:

Elvenking's Halls

Island (x6)

Forest (x9)

15 creatures, 16 lands, 9 other (a mixture of ramp, card draw, and removal). I felt reasonably good about this. Then the games began.

Prerelease events are three rounds. Each is a best-of-three match (so you will play three opponents and 6-9 games). You get 50 minutes for each round, but they will let you go over (once the clock hits zero, players are instreucted to play five more turns in the game before concluding). My record in a nutshell:

- Match 1: lost, 1-2 (against a black/red deck)

- Match 2: won, 2-1 (against a black/red deck)

- Match 3: won, 2-1 (against a black/green deck)

I finished 18th out of 40 with a win percentage of 55.6% and opponent win percentage of 40.2%. Anyone who won two matches got two Hobbit booster packs (yay!). If you won three, you got four packs. If you went 2-0-1 (tying instead of losing), you got three packs.

My sons finished 9th and 22nd, respectively. Their match records were 2-1 and 1-2, respectively, but the one was ranked much higher than I because of the strength of his opponents (their overall record was better than the ones I beat).

Reflections

- I was nervous for my kids, not knowing if they would encounter aggressive, creepy, or strange opponents. I was needlessly worried; everyone had a great attitude. If you forgot something, your opponent would generally point it out (nobody was cutthroat or annoying). 

- I felt safe leaving my stuff to go to the bathroom.

- I was surprised how varied the match length could be—some people could kick out three games against a given opponent in 20 minutes; others took the whole time. If you finished early, you were welcome to wander around and watch other games.

- It was tiring. Arriving early, we were there 5 hours. 

- It was a great time and a fun way to experience the new set.

This is a serious enough time commitment that I won't be doing this for each release, but I look forward to attending select events in the future. 

Happy Birthday, Magic

Black Lotus; the most famous and expensive Magic card

Today is Magic's birthday. On 5 August 1993, Alpha was released and the collectible card genre was born. This post focuses on the gifts Magic has given to me over the years. In no particular order:

- Fun. This game is a blast. I've played thousands of games over the years, and it never gets old. The ever-increasing and -shifting cardpool makes this a continually new (yet always familiar) experience, and can result in hilarious card interactions or game situations. I love that.

- Facilitating friendship. Games are a great way to meet and pass the time with others, leading to new or deeper friendships. As I mention on the reflections page, this game has stayed with me and led to new relationships over decades and continents.

- Creativity and exploration. As of today, there are over 32,000 unique Magic cards. This leads to functionally infinite permutations (and hence decks). Exploring the possibilities in this game gets the creative juices going. There's always something new to check out, and there are always new approaches to investigate.

- Education. This is an odd one, perhaps, but Magic has encouraged my children (and others') to develop their reading, math, and analytical skills. It can increase your vocabulary and appreciation/understanding of grammar (precise wording matters greatly for tight rules). Certain sets can even expose you to other cultures (through fantasy eyes).

- Beauty. The art, card frames, and even mechanics in the game can be a thing of wonder, well worth enjoying in and of themselves.

- Challenge. With so many card options, Magic offers challenge in two arenas: building your deck and executing its strategy. Competing is a great way to grow and spur each other on to improvement.

- Surprise. I'm still a sucker for opening packs. The 'blind buy' aspect of this game is amazing (and addicting). And with so many deck options, you never know what you might encounter in a given game, leading to constant surprises (not always pleasant) there, too.

Happy birthday, Magic.  

Magic Will Get More Marvel-lous

Half of 2027's sets were recently announced:

• Nauctis (2/5)
• Unannounced Universes Beyond set (4/9)
• Kamigawa: Titan Breach (6/4)
• Unannounced Universes Beyond set (8/6)
• Zhalfir (10/1)
• Unannounced Universes Beyond set (11/19)

The three we know are "in-universe" sets and look pretty cool; each got a trailer (Nauctis, Titan Breach, and Zhalfir). More on those another time. Today I will focus on, and speculate about, the three unannounced UB sets.

In past posts, I've talked about these. Magic has expanded into other IPs and will continue doing so; it will be half of all releases next year. So what will they be? Let's start with the most obvious: we will get another Marvel set.

So far we've had two Marvel sets: Marvel's Spider-Man and Marvel Super Heroes. Each has contained one infinity stone. In the Marvel universe, there are six infinity stones. Not hard to predict that there will be four more Marvel-themed Magic sets. But which ones? Our only clues are what cards have (and haven't) been released so far. Based on that, here are my guesses:

- X-men (the most obvious choice; we've seen only a few mutants so far, but they must have a dedicated set planned)

- Guardians of the Galaxy (no Star-lord or Groot? they must change that)

- Marvel Knights? (less certain; they've released Daredevil and related characters, but not Ghost Rider or Punisher)

I have no idea what else they could do here. But it seems like we'll get one Marvel set per year for the next four years.

Okay, so if a Marvel release is one of the three UB sets for 2027, what about the other two? Here are some properties Magic has yet to explore and seem like prime candidates:

- Star Wars (D&D, also owned by Wizards of the Coast, announced a Star Wars partnership at GenCon. That cements a Star Wars Magic set as likely in my mind.)

- Harry Potter

- DC Comics

- video game properties (Zelda? Mario? Castlevania? Dragon Quest?)

Other UB options could be a return to previously-visited IPs:

- D&D-, Lord of the Rings-, Warhammer-, and other-themed sets

We shall see. Until next time . . . keep exploring.

An Analysis of Deck Themes

Last time, I proposed a framework of deck themes, arguing that all (or nearly all) decks focus on themes in one or more of the 12 categories. Today, I evaluate my own decks against this framework and identify trends. I focus on Commander decks.

I looked at the 56 Commander decks I currently have and mapped each to its primary deck theme (some had more than one). Excel for some reason inverted the list (so my category 12 is presented first), but order is irrelevant; the below chart shows the results.

Not surprisingly, I love kindred decks (a subcategory under the "Creature Attributes" type); over a quarter of my decks fall here. 

My next favorite type is . . . "Type," by which I mean decks that work based on certain spell types being cast ("whenever you cast a noncreature spell . . . ") or having a certain number of card types (artifacts, etc.) on the battlefield. 

My third favorite categories are a tie between "Transition" and "Combat/Damage." Transition decks cover a wide range, including enter the battlefield, discard, and sacrifice decks. Combat/damage decks focus on combat ("whenever a creature you control attacks [or does damage], . . .").

My top four categories in aggregate account for 67% of my decks.

My biggest surprise is not having any Commander decks focused on a counter theme (I have casual 60-card decks that do so). As one who enjoys exploring all this game offers, I'll have to put constructing a Commander deck with this theme on my list. And maybe back off the kindred decks for while.

Until next time . . . keep exploring.

A Framework of Deck Themes

Hurloon Minotaur card art

"I've made this deck before." The thought ran through my mind recently as I was brewing. I've created hundreds (thousands?) of Magic decks in my life. And while designing a new deck is one delightful aspect of this game (as much fun as playing for some people), you can get a sense of déjà vu. There are over 31K cards, leading to nearly infinite deck options, but only so many deck themes. This post explores that and offers a framework.

I have explored deck types before. The basic types are aggressive (or aggro), control, midrange, or combo. But there are different ways (or themes) to implement each of these types, and I think the framework below covers most of them. I include some examples (of concepts or keywords), but they are not exhaustive. And deckbuilding constraints (like rarity restrictions in pauper) are not considered.

Deck Themes Framework

1. Spell color(s) matter 
• Mono-color
• Adamant, converge, sunburst, devotion
2. Spell cost matters (mana value, even/odd, X)
3. Spell types, casting, or quantities matter
• Specific type: creatures, instants, sorceries, enchantments, artifacts, planeswalkers
• Broader categories (non-creature spells)
• Supertypes (legendary, snow) or subtypes (sagas, desert)
• Casting triggers
• Quantities of a given type on the battlefield
4. Lands matter
• Landfall
• Domain
5. Creature attributes matter
• Creature types (Kindred decks)
• Creature power/toughness 
• Keyword/ability word (flying, defender, deathtouch)
• Card state
• Face-down: Disguise, cloak, manifest, morph
• Double-sided: Transform
6. Combat matters
• Attacking, blocking, or damage triggers
7. Zone matters
• Hand (card draw, hand size)
• Graveyard (delirium)
• Exile
• Library (mill, cascade)
8. Transitions between zones matter
• Entering the battlefield, discard, dying/sacrifice, exile triggers
9. Life matters (gaining or losing)
10. Counters matter
• Proliferate
11. Tokens matter
• Creating
• Type/Quantity
• Populate
12. Win condition matters
• Poison counters
• Mill
• Specific card-based conditions: see this post on ways to win

Comments/Examples

Within the above framework, it is possible to have aggro, control, mid-range, or combo decks in nearly any category (though some lend themselves towards a specific type). And of course it is possible to have a given deck combine several themes. Let's look at some example cards and map them to themes.

Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma

Goreclaw is an example of theme 5 above—creature attributes matter. He makes creatures with power 4 or greater cheaper to cast and boosts them when he attacks. This theme could align well with an aggro deck.

All That Glitters  

All That Glitters aligns with theme 3 above—spell type matters. This card wants to be surrounded with artifacts and enchantments. That it relies on other cards in this way suggests is it could work in a combo deck.

Lord of the Nazgul

Lord of the Nazgul has two themes—5 (creature attributes matter) and 3 (casting instants or sorceries). That could lend itself to combo or aggro decks.

Kiora, Sovereign of the Deep

Kiora also has two themes—2 (spell cost, or mana value, matters) and 5 (creature attributes matter). She can work in several deck types.

Linden, Steadfast Queen

Linden has two themes—1 (spell color matters) and 6 (combat matters). She could slot into a life matters deck (theme 9), too. 

Pashalik Mons

Pashalik has three themes—5 (creature attributes matter), 8 (transition between zones matters), and 11 (tokens matter). That flexibility could encourage a wide number of deck types (aggro, midrange, combo).

----

We could do this all day. I have already revised this framework once and will continue to do so as I find and address omissions.

I find this framework useful as I think about exploring the game. Having a representative deck of each theme is a nice way to enjoy the varied strategies of the game. And analyzing the decks you have made may indicate that you tend towards only a few of the above, giving you insight into your own playstyle, preferences, or areas you may want to focus on in the future.

Until next time . . . keep exploring.

Magic Gets (More) Legendary

Daredevil, a card from the latest set

The latest Magic set, Marvel Super Heroes, released days ago. The latest "Universes Beyond" set, it comes with a slew of new legendary creatures; this card type is the subject of today's post.

Introduction

In Magic, legendary is a supertype (printed before its card type(s)). Legendary cards of any kind (most are creatures, but there are also legendary artifacts, enchantments, planeswalkers, and more) are subject to the "legend rule." From the comprehensive rules:

704.5j If two or more legendary permanents with the same name are controlled by the same player, that player chooses one of them, and the rest are put into their owners’ graveyards. This is called the “legend rule.”

Basically, you can have only one legendary card with a given name on the battlefield at a time (you can still include four copies of it in your deck, if you are playing a non-singleton format).

The Way Things Were

Legendary creatures have been around since 1994 (appropriately, they were introduced in the Legends set). Though Legends had a lot of them (55), legendary creatures were less than 10% of most sets released thereafter. And that's intuitive . . . "legend" implies scarcity (if everyone is legendary . . . nobody is). Plus, if you could have only one card on the battlefield at a time . . . why pump your deck full of potentially unplayable cards?

The Way Things Are

Two things have put the spotlight on legendary creatures in recent years: 1) Commander, and 2) Universes Beyond sets.

Commander, Magic's most popular multiplayer format, is singleton—you can have only one copy of a given non-basic-land card in your deck, so the normal drawback of legendary creatures doesn't impact deckbuilding here. And your commander must be a legendary creature, so pumping out lots of those expands options.

Universes Beyond (UB) sets, about which I have blogged at length, have increasingly dominated Magic's release plans. What do players want to see within a given UB set? Their favorite characters. Look at the below table covering the past 15 "normal" expansion releases. It is no surprise that the UB sets (in red below) produced in the last three years have 36% legendary creatures on average . . . whereas the "in-universe" sets produced in that same time have 8.2% of that card type. In Marvel Super Heroes, legendary creatures are almost 50% of the set . . . wow.

The Way Things Will Be

Commander will likely remain most popular multiplayer format, and UB sets are here to stay. I expect legendary creatures to continue to be produced at an astonishing clip. Consider how many legendary creatures were printed up to and including the following years:

2010: 444 unique legendary creatures

2015: 611 unique legendary creatures

2020: 1084 unique legendary creatures

2021: 1276 unique legendary creatures

2022: 1623 unique legendary creatures

2023: 2026 unique legendary creatures

2024: 2348 unique legendary creatures

2025: 2827 unique legendary creatures

2026: 3354 unique legendary creatures (and we're only halfway through!)

It took 27 years (1993-2020) to get to 1000 unique legendary creatures . . . then just 3 years to get the next thousand, and things keep accelerating.

Is this good or bad? I cannot say. It is certainly different . . . and makes me wonder if the preponderance of legendary creatures will eventually alter how the game is played. If it hasn't already.

Until next time . . . keep exploring.

Card Talk 28

Cactuar card art

Time for Card Talk! Reminder how this works:

• I go to Scryfall and select 'Random Card'
• I present and blog about the card. I could discuss any aspect: the art, abilities, cost, set, impact on the game, and so on. Stream of consciousness.

Card Talk is a fun, uncurated way to look at Magic's cards, mechanics, history, art, sets, and so on. And of course it exposes some of my own preferences, biases, and memories of the game.

Today's card is . . .

Crimson Acolyte—a common creature from Invasion.

Crimson Acolyte has Protection from red (and can grant this to other creatures). "Protection from _____" can be a tricky concept. From the official rules, section 702.16:

702.16b A permanent or player with protection can’t be targeted by spells with the stated quality and can’t be targeted by abilities from a source with the stated quality.

702.16c A permanent or player with protection can’t be enchanted by Auras that have the stated quality. Such Auras attached to the permanent or player with protection will be put into their owners’ graveyards as a state-based action. (See rule 704, “State-Based Actions.”)

702.16d A permanent with protection can’t be equipped by Equipment that have the stated quality or fortified by Fortifications that have the stated quality. Such Equipment or Fortifications

become unattached from that permanent as a state-based action, but remain on the battlefield. (See rule 704, “State-Based Actions.”)

702.16e Any damage that would be dealt by sources that have the stated quality to a permanent or player with protection is prevented.

702.16f Attacking creatures with protection can’t be blocked by creatures that have the stated quality.

That is wordy . . . some cards summarize, like the text on Apostle of Purifying Light below.

Genericizing: Protection from [color] means "This creature can’t be blocked, targeted, dealt damage, enchanted, or equipped by anything [color]." A helpful mnemonic: if you rearrange the words you get DEBT (Damaged, Enchanted/Equipped, Blocked, Targeted); this website has more.

Protection is often from a color, but sometimes from other things (which is why the 702.16 sections quoted above talks about "stated quality"). Some cards even have Protection from a player or Protection from everything. 

Invasion was an expansion released in 2000; it is headliner set of the block of the same name. One of its themes was 'color matters,' which is why Protection from [color] showed up on several cards in this set.

Until next time . . . keep exploring.