I dont know if we will be chosing our starter decks for my flgs's league starting this weekend. This is definitely the one i want the least though. My hope is that i get the sapphire/steel one even though i know it isnt the best choice. Mainly because i want to eventually build a deck using the giant tinkerbell if i can get my hands on it.
I got this deck at gencon for the sealed tourney with little to no knowledge of the card base and having just finishing the "learn to play" demo the right before the tournament. I lost my first match because I was unfamiliar with how the deck ran but once I figured it out my other matches went smoothly. Thankfully they announced for just sealed starters it was "rainbow" format so you can use ANY cards in your pack didn't matter on color. Lucky enough to pull Lady Tremaine and a few 1-2 inkable drops and a "Friends on the Other side" to splash in maybe 1-2 other cards that I can't recall. For that tournament you could also use any cards in your pool between matches and didn't have to reset your deck to default between matches. Not sure if that is the standard for the sealed/pre con decks but worth noting. I had the most success setting up my mid sized guys and just running them multiple times (using lafoe/shield) at smaller targets or to banish something small before gravely hurting something larger for someone else to finish off. As he has stated its pretty hard getting beyond your 5 drop cards so most games i just stood on 5 unless I had something in my hand for a while and the situation arose. I fell for this trap in game 1 where i thought i absolutely needed to drop something for ink every turn even though i had nothing in my hand that actually needed that curve... only to realize a card too short the following turn because I ran out of options. Your opponent cannot afford to let mad hatter keep questing, but that gives you the double opportunity of having them open to a challenge by one of your other guys (beefed up by meg or other sources) it also gives you a card or two (pending how many times he was challenged). If you are used to playing control decks that is what this deck is, just have to remember that you must challenge to get rid of threats too. If they have no characters they can't quest and with the threat of your 2 will power guys being removed pretty easily just make the trade early and aggressively so your opponent does not have options. What I do remember removing off the bat was drop to 1 Rapunzel, toss Stealing from the Rich and find inkable cards preferably characters in order to fuel your deck. Take this from a complete newbie that went in blind.
Playing in a competitive environment is definitely the quickest way to get a feel for a deck. The starter deck challenge at Gencon may not necessarily be the exact format local shops adopt either as I’ve seen some announce no packs added to the decks or even multiple packs added but keeping color restrictions intact.
@@HobbyHeroPlays-oi8jt ah it can be quite dire if its zero packs added. Multiple packs in color would be preferable. Being an old permission blue player in mtg i was comfortable with seeing the control parts of the deck just needed some "adjustment" to see how it translates into this game. With all that said i did enjoy my games and despite being pretty fast to smash out the matches (none of mine went remotely to time) i like the little decisions/pressure i put on my opponents with my card pool. I think part of it is that some people already have the notion that this starter is the "weakest" and underestimate it or at least DID. Now that we are a few weeks out i think people understand what it is capable of.
Who is playing Emerald/Ruby for prerelease?
I dont know if we will be chosing our starter decks for my flgs's league starting this weekend. This is definitely the one i want the least though. My hope is that i get the sapphire/steel one even though i know it isnt the best choice. Mainly because i want to eventually build a deck using the giant tinkerbell if i can get my hands on it.
That’s the next deck I will be covering and what I won my pod with at Gencon! I do think most stores will let people chose as inventory allows.
I got this deck at gencon for the sealed tourney with little to no knowledge of the card base and having just finishing the "learn to play" demo the right before the tournament. I lost my first match because I was unfamiliar with how the deck ran but once I figured it out my other matches went smoothly. Thankfully they announced for just sealed starters it was "rainbow" format so you can use ANY cards in your pack didn't matter on color. Lucky enough to pull Lady Tremaine and a few 1-2 inkable drops and a "Friends on the Other side" to splash in maybe 1-2 other cards that I can't recall. For that tournament you could also use any cards in your pool between matches and didn't have to reset your deck to default between matches. Not sure if that is the standard for the sealed/pre con decks but worth noting.
I had the most success setting up my mid sized guys and just running them multiple times (using lafoe/shield) at smaller targets or to banish something small before gravely hurting something larger for someone else to finish off. As he has stated its pretty hard getting beyond your 5 drop cards so most games i just stood on 5 unless I had something in my hand for a while and the situation arose. I fell for this trap in game 1 where i thought i absolutely needed to drop something for ink every turn even though i had nothing in my hand that actually needed that curve... only to realize a card too short the following turn because I ran out of options.
Your opponent cannot afford to let mad hatter keep questing, but that gives you the double opportunity of having them open to a challenge by one of your other guys (beefed up by meg or other sources) it also gives you a card or two (pending how many times he was challenged). If you are used to playing control decks that is what this deck is, just have to remember that you must challenge to get rid of threats too. If they have no characters they can't quest and with the threat of your 2 will power guys being removed pretty easily just make the trade early and aggressively so your opponent does not have options.
What I do remember removing off the bat was drop to 1 Rapunzel, toss Stealing from the Rich and find inkable cards preferably characters in order to fuel your deck. Take this from a complete newbie that went in blind.
Playing in a competitive environment is definitely the quickest way to get a feel for a deck. The starter deck challenge at Gencon may not necessarily be the exact format local shops adopt either as I’ve seen some announce no packs added to the decks or even multiple packs added but keeping color restrictions intact.
@@HobbyHeroPlays-oi8jt ah it can be quite dire if its zero packs added. Multiple packs in color would be preferable. Being an old permission blue player in mtg i was comfortable with seeing the control parts of the deck just needed some "adjustment" to see how it translates into this game. With all that said i did enjoy my games and despite being pretty fast to smash out the matches (none of mine went remotely to time) i like the little decisions/pressure i put on my opponents with my card pool. I think part of it is that some people already have the notion that this starter is the "weakest" and underestimate it or at least DID. Now that we are a few weeks out i think people understand what it is capable of.
@@cerealkiller195 the more I play them and figure out their strengths and weaknesses the closer the decks get in power out of the box.
I'm down for Emerald/Ruby only 'cause I wanted Emerald. I'm hoping to build an Emerald/Steel or Emerald/Amethyst.
Both fun builds! I’m really a fan of emeralds strong lore generators
Coming soon: see how the Hobby Hero Wifey does at building an emerald/amethyst!