Like many Magic: the Gathering players I will be eagerly looking forward to the coming weekend, why you ask? Well not only is it the weekend, which means no work, but it is also the Shadows over Innistrad pre-release!

Some of you may not have had the opportunity to partake in a pre-release, so I would like to take this opportunity to put together a guide to what you can expect from the weekend if you are heading to your local event.

#1 Registration!

I cannot stress enough how key it is to pre-register with your local store for a pre-release. Nobody wants to be in the position of having to turn a player away, or be turned away, from the event because there are not enough pre-release kits left for you. Many stores will allow players to book their slot, some will require payment up-front whilst others will allow you to pay on the day.

#2 Preparation

Preparation is key for the pre-release, just like all events, so be sure to make sure you have the essentials ready before the event. This will include sleeves, plans for food (remember not all stores offer a dedicated lunch break!), water and even bringing your own basic lands – a lot of stores will have land that you can borrow for the event, but I have always found it beneficial to have my own.

You will also want to have a look through the image gallery for the new set, this will allow to start analyzing the power level of cards and the tribal synergies. My fellow writer Steve has done a mini- series on the tribal synergies within the set and the full image gallery can be found here:

Shadows over Innistrad Card Archive

#3 The Pre-release

So you’ve registered, you’ve spent your evenings pouring over every image in the card gallery and you have your sleeves and basic lands ready to go. It’s time to build a sealed deck and sling some spells.

Upon arriving at the venue I would recommend that you double-check you are registered for the event, mistakes can happen and this allows your Tournament Organiser the maximum amount of time to correct anything that may have gone wrong, for this purpose it is best to arrive closer to the opening time rather than at the start time of the event itself.

At the start of the event your TO will begin handing out the pre-release kits, or ask you to collect them from a point in the store, in this kit will contain all of the non-basic land cards that you will be allowed to use in the event itself and the kit looks like this:

What follows is the exclamations from around the room as players open chase rares, sweet foils and swap exciting gasps with their friends. Do not be too disheartened if you don’t open that one card that you really wanted, remember most stores give additional prize boosters to give you another shot!

Once you have taken the opportunity to fully look through all of your cards it's time to build the deck that you’re going to play with, it’s important to remember that you can ask your friends and fellow players for advice and the pre-release is continual deck-building format (i.e you can change your deck between rounds using the cards that you opened).

The general rules of sealed-deck building apply, you are often looking to identify your strongest colour and finding a second colour to pair with it. Some formats have lots of mana-fixing and lean towards 3 colour decks, but I would advise trying to stick to two colours in SOI.

To identify your strongest colours it is often useful to remember BREAD:

Bombs – A card that can have a big impact on a game, a good example is Planeswalkers

Removal – An effective way to rid your opponent of their creatures is always important!

Efficient spells – These are spells with good effects or creatures with evasive abilities such as Flying, Trample, Skulk or Menace

Aggro – These are cheap creatures with above curve bodies that are easy on your mana. A good way to win a game is to kill your opponent quickly.

Dregs – These are the rest of your cards, these are not always unplayable but are often cards you do not want to include.

Your mana curve is always a important part of sealed deck construction, whilst four, five and six mana spells are big and shiny, having too many of them can mean they get stuck in your hand whilst your opponent beats you with small aggressive creatures. Often you will want 17 to 18 lands which leaves 22 to 23 slots for spells and creatures, I generally run a 15 creature 8 spell split in my decks, but this will all be dependent on the cards you have opened. I would recommend having the majority of your creatures in your 2 and 3 mana slots and using the more mana-intensive slots for your bombs.

Once you have your deck constructed and built, it’s time to sleeve up and shuffle your cards thoroughly before your first round.

Remember that pre-releases are meant to be a fun celebration of the new set, always remember this whether you win or lose. That’s all from me this week! I’ll be back soon with some musings on the new Standard format and possibly some tales of my pre-release experiences.

Have fun this weekend and may you all open that one foil rare that you REALLY want!