Much like the rest of you, I went sleep on Friday night (after winning the local FNM) dreaming of what sweet cards I would be opening in the morning at my first Oath of the Gatewatch pre-release. You see, pre-releases hold a special place in my heart, my first big event was a pre-release and I’ve been attending as many of them as I can possibly jam in to a weekend ever since!

However, it wasn’t OGW cards that caught my attention this morning, it was a message from a fellow writer complaining about the bans that had been announced. They had banned Splinter Twin and Summer Bloom!? Even in my early morning state of mind I rationalised that it was silly and somebody had ‘spoilt’ a fake ban announcement. I clicked the link that was provided and navigated to the WOTC page and there it was in black and white, I double-checked the URL for funny business and even opened a new tab and double-checked the WOTC page for myself and the ban announcement was still there. So, naturally, the first thing I did was to get up and shout out to my housemate ‘Nice deck choice man!’ and chuckle to myself.

I have mentioned in a couple of my articles about the possible banning of Summer Bloom, in fact many writers had been speculating on what would be banned. However I don’t think many people had Splinter Twin as a possible ban, except that one dude on Reddit who predicted it during GP Oakland. I think banning Summer Bloom was correct, it still left a functional (albeit slower) deck in its’ wake.

Splinter Twin… well that one I’m still trying to get my head over.

So where does that lead us with the modern format? Well as one of my MTG friends posted on Facebook, I too welcome our new R/G Tron overlords to the domination of the modern scene for the next couple of months.

Moving on to the pre-release and the Oath of the Gatewatch sealed that I played this past weekend, my local store had foregone the offering of 2-Headed Giant and offered a trio of single player pre-releases. So without further ado, let’s look at the decks that I played, and built, this past weekend!

U/B/r – 3rd Place in Pre-Release No.1

Creatures                                                                                                                         Lands:

1 x Sky Scourer                                                                                                                 1 x Mountain

2 x Umara Entangler                                                                                                        1 x Wastes

1 x Hedron Crawler                                                                                                          7 x Island

1 x Kozilek’s Shrieker                                                                                                        6 x Swamp

1 x Warden of Geometries                                                                                               1 x Mortuary Mire

1 x Cloud Manta                                                                                                                1 x Evolving Wilds

1 x Gravity Negator                                                                                                           1 x Unknown Shores

1 x Smothering Abomination

1 x Jwar Isle Avenger

1 x Sphinx of the Final Word (P)

1 x Bane of Bala Ged

1 x Dread Defiler

Spells:

1 x Kozilek’s Return

1 x Slip Through Space

1 x Unnatural Endurance

1 x Void Shatter

1 x Sweep Away

1 x Tar Snare

2 x Oblivion Strike

1 x Scour from Existence

Other notable cards included; 2 Negates, 1 Flaying Tendrils, 1 Zulaport Cutthroat and 1 Boiling Earth

Upon opening my packs and seeing that shiny Sphinx of the Final Word staring back at me, I knew I’d opened one of the bombs of the format. I was happy to find that my pool supported the Sphinx with additional blue cards in the form of flyer and 2 Umara Entanglers. The best colour in my pool was Black by far, with 2 Oblivion Strikes, a Tar Snare, Smothering Abomination and Dread Defiler, I was confidant I could build a decent U/B ‘good stuff’ deck and overpower my opponents in the late game.

Additionally I decided Kozilek’s Return was a ‘free’ splash. I had Evolving Wilds, Unknown Shores and a Mountain to cast the card, and cast it I did, several times. Now Kozilek’s Return is a Mythic and it’s not going to be in every deck but the card is definitely as good as the hype surrounding it. A common theme across the first event was small creatures trying to flood the board and make the most of the Ally synergies, there were many decks where a ‘flash-backed’ Return didn’t clear the board.

Overall I was pretty happy with the deck, only taking a loss to a 5 colour Ally deck with double General Tazri.

Abzan – 3rd Place in Pre-Release No.2

Creatures:                                                                                                                        Lands:

1 x Sludge Crawler                                                                                                         1 x Unknown Shores

1 x Sylvan Advocate                                                                                                       1 x Holdout Settlement

1 x Slaughter Drone                                                                                                      1 x Tranquil Expanse

1 x Stalking Drone                                                                                                         1 x Canopy Vista (F)

1 x Carrier Thrall                                                                                                            1 x Wastes

1 x Kozilek’s Shrieker                                                                                                     1 x Sandstone Bridge

1 x Kor Scythemaster                                                                                                     5 x Swamp

1 x Kor Sky Climber                                                                                                        3 x Forest

1 x Catacomb Sifter                                                                                                        3 x Plains

1 x Dominator Drone

1 x Havoc Sower

1 x Relief Captain

1 x Eyeless Watcher

1 x Warden of Geometries

1 x Tajuru Pathwarden

1 x Walker of the Wastes

1 x Birthing Hulk

Spells:

1 x Unnatural Endurance

1 x Seek the Wilds

1 x Ruinous Path

1 x Smite the Monstrous

1 x Isolation Zone

1 x Remorseless Punishment (P)

Other notable cards; Retreat to Kazandu, Shoulder to Shoulder, Oath of Gideon, Inspired Charge, Ondu War Cleric, Canopy Gorger and Stone Haven Outfitter

Having opened an excellent pool in the morning tournament, I was lucky to open a second pool that was arguably stronger than the first.

The strategy behind the deck was to curve out with creatures, gain a small amount of advantage through cards like Catacomb Sifter and lean on my premium removal to punch through my opponents defences. Cards like Smite the Monstrous and Isolation Zone are some of the premier spells in the format that you can hope for in a pool and see consistently, whereas Ruinous Path is one that you won’t see as much but is great when you have it. Remorseless Punishment is an interesting card and one that you have to navigate to the best point in the game to cast. I cast it and managed to empty my opponents hand, I cast it and used it as 10 damage burn spell and cast it when my opponent had no option but to sacrifice creatures and allow me to get in some additional damage.

The Uncommon cycle of lands very much helps with the colour requirements in any deck, additionally so when you have to add in another ‘colour’ in the form of colourless mana. I found that adding in cards such as Unknown Shores and Holdout Settlement were not as tricky as I initially thought and was rarely stuck with un-castable cards in my hand. One of the key parts to any limited deck is the mana-base and getting it correct is going to be key in this format, I think being 2 colours and playing 18 lands is generally where you will want to be.

I’m not to go in to my final deck of the weekend but I will leave you with this:

My Top 5 cards of the weekend are:

5: Uncommon Land Cycle

These lands are going to be key when you are wanting to run colourless sources for the new Eldrazi creatures.

4: Isolation Zone

This 4 mana Oblivion Ring is one of the premier removal spells of the format and can be a good reason to go white in limited.

3: Nissa, Voice of Zendikar

Planeswalkers are always powerful, but there were very few times where I observed a Nissa on the battlefield and she wasn’t dominating the game.

2: Reflection Mage

Being able to bounce a creature back to your opponents hand is often a huge tempo swing that can help you win the game, but add in the caveat that they can’t re-cast it on their next turn? That can be pretty game-ending.

1: Thought-Knot Seer

Vendilion Freak; I heard Thought-Knot Seer being referred to as this by a few people over the weekend and it did a remarkable impression. Having been on the receiving end of this card I can tell you it sucks to have your next turn or so planned out, only to have a key card removed from your hand. Have that Immolating Glare ready to destroy that big creature of your opponents? Gone. Have a nice Eldrazi waiting to come down and dominate the board? Gone. Nice Planeswalker in your hand? It’s planeswalked outta there. You get the picture, this card is pretty damn good.

Anyway that is all from me, let me know if you have any sweet stories from your pre-release in the comments below. Don’t agree with my Top 5? Then tell me about it.

I’ll be back next week!