 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||
 |
||||||||||
 |
 |
|||||||||
 |
 |
|||||||||
 |
||||||||||
|
 |
|
The Champions Pre-Release
09.16.04
---
Prereleases are a very
unique experience in Magic. You get to see and play
with the cards from the new set for the first time.
For many people, the event coming up on Saturday (and
Sunday in some places) is one of only 3 sanctioned
tournaments they will attend all year. (The other two,
of course, being the other prereleases.)
My column today will take
3 parts. First, I will review some articles already
written on the subject. Second, some links to rules
and rules explanations that will help you with the
Champions prerelease. And third, a first person view
of playing in a prerelease in San Diego, interspersed
with some comments more applicable in general.
(I will actually be
playing and not judging Saturday, for once. I normally
judge these events, so I will also intersperse some
"Judges' eye view" comments.)
---
First - some articles
already written on prereleases.
Prerelease Primer by Brian David-Marshall: This
was originally written for the Legions prerelease, but
most of the comments written there are also applicable
for this prerelease.
The Top 10 Reasons to Play in the Champions
Prerelease! by Brian David-Marshall: His article
from Monday repeats some of the stuff in the previous
article, but also gives a top 10 list for this one.
The Casual Player's Guide to Surviving the Legions
Prerelease by The Ferrett: Yes, I know it's for an
old set. But the first half of his article is a group
of tips that can apply to any prerelease.
---
Next, some links for
Champions rules:
Champions FAQ: should be self-explanatory. I know
some of you are "anti-spoiler," but I would strongly
suggest reading this anyway. It helps with most of the
common questions that will come up.
"A Kamigawa Glossary": An explanation of some of
the places, as well as a pronunciation guide.
MTGNews Spoiler: By the time you read this, this
spoiler should be pretty close to complete. Not
required reading if you are the Anti-spoiler type ...
I know the excitement of seeing a card for the first
time can be greater than the strategic value of being
able to evaluate the whole set. But I personally find
that knowing the cards that are out there helps me to
be able to build my deck faster.
Legendary Rules Changes (as well as rules changes
for walls) by Aaron Forsythe: Covers one main part of
what this column was going to be about when I first
heard about the Legend Rule changing. Rather than
repeat everything he said, I'll just point here and to
the Champions FAQ above.
---
My Day (and a half) on the
Day of a Prerelease:
The story of a typical day
for me on a Prerelease day actually starts the night
before. One thing I insist on is getting to bed by
8:00pm the night before a prerelease.
(Yes, I hear the murmurs
of "he's crazy" in the crowd. Let me try to
explain...)
My Prerelease day usually
starts with me waking up around 4:00am. I also insist
on getting a full 8 hours of sleep the night before,
especially if I'm judging. So that makes me go to bed
by 8:00pm.
(Which also means I skip
Friday Night Magic the night before the prerelease. It
didn't matter this time, though, as I haven't played
FNM in months, and don't plan to until Champions is
legal. But that's another story altogether.)
I also have to make a trip
to Wal-Mart the night before for snacks. One thing
that I find, playing or judging, is that I'm a much
better player if I'm not on an empty stomach. Since
there's no food within about 15 minutes of the
tournament site in San Diego, I bring snacks to keep
me "not empty."
Here's how I plan my day
will go Saturday:
4:30am (since I'm playing,
I don't absolutely have to be there at 8:00am): Wake
Up.
5:30: Leave my house. 6:30: midpoint stop at Denny's for breakfast.
Another part of my ritual
involves stopping for breakfast about halfway there.
The trip usually takes me about 2 hours from my house
to the tournament site, and there's a Denny's
conveniently about at the midway point. It also breaks
up the monotonous car trip.
While I'm eating
breakfast, I take time to review the FAQ, so I know
the questions I'll get as a judge. This time, since
I'm playing, I'll still review the FAQ, but I'll also
have another look at the spoiler list.
7:15: Leave Denny's.
8:15: Arrive San Diego.
There aren't times for the
stuff I plan to do at San Diego, because it all
depends on how quickly they can get the flights going.
They're usually pretty quick about it though.
Flight tips ...
1) Read the spoilers. It
helps, especially in San Diego when they only give 20
minutes of deck building time.
2) Play 17+ land. This isn't Mirrodin, folks ... time to go back to the tried and true land count. 3) Play a maximum of 3 colors. More, and you're just asking for mana problems. 4) Don't be afraid to call a judge if you have a problem.
This is the number on
judge tip I can give in this. Call the judge right
away, and don't wait until the end of the round. They
can fix a problem if it's happening right now. They
can't fix a problem if it happened any amount of time
ago. Related to this judge tip, we have ...
5) Your opponent is not
the rules expert - the judge is.
I don't care if you're
playing against me. I don't care if you're playing
against Jeff Donais (a Level 5 judge). When we're
playing, we're not in charge of the rules of the
event. We're playing, not judging, after all.
You can ask us, and we'll
likely give you the right answers. But who's to say
"Random Level1 Judge" will? And that person can even
give you wrong information ON PURPOSE. He's trying to
beat you, after all, and if he can make you believe
something that's not true (and not have a judge hear
it), then it might just work out for him.
This relates back to the
tip previous... if you're at all unsure about what's
going on, call a judge. It's their job to get it
right.
6) If you think (or know,
if an answer the judge gives you goes against
something printed in the FAQ) the judge got the call
wrong, you have the right to appeal to the head judge.
99.999% of the time you
will get an answer from the judge, it will be the
correct answer. They have been put on the staff to
oversee the event because they have shown they know
their stuff.
But in the random case
where a judge might have his mind wander and get
something wrong, you can ask for the head judge to
review his ruling - kind of like an appeals court. You
have to let the judge who answered your call finish
his ruling first, though.
(I have an experience to
relate to this here. Back for the Stronghold
prerelease, the Utah players had to travel to
Colorado, because Utah had no prerelease due to a
recent change in organizers. The FAQ didn't come out
until the day before, so no one in our car had access
to it, since we had to leave very early Friday
morning. [I was a judge back then too - it just hadn't
been posted yet.]
So during round 2, I ask
the judge what would happen if I cast Cannibalize,
targeting my Acidic Sliver and another random
creature, and then sacrificed the Acidic Sliver before
Cannibalize resolved? He tells me the creature still
left would be removed from the game, because the spell
did things in the order written on the card, and the
remove from game effect was first.
So I thank the judge, and
continue play.
Later, in round 6 or 7 [it
was one big event back then, and we had 9 rounds], I
play Cannibalize on my opponent creatures, and he sacs
one and puts the counters on the one still left! I
call over the head judge on an appeal, and he informs
me that that was the way it worked ... and gave ME a
warning for Misrepresentation!
I got the warning removed
by writing the DCI after the event ... but better to
ask if you're not sure when it first happens anyway.)
7) Have fun!
This is the most important
one ... that's why you're here, after all, isn't it?
Post Flight Tips (some of
these will work between rounds too):
1) Bring some decks to
play with between rounds or afterwards.
It's not just about the
event, after all. There will likely be 300+ people
there you've never even met, or only meet at the
prereleases. They're there to have fun, and you can
get some pretty cool games going on the side.
2) Bring a trade binder.
All those rares you can't
trade to your friends? Bring them. You'll have 300+
new trading partners for a day.
3) If you need cash, there
will be a vendor on site to buy your cards. (At least,
that's what I've seen at every event I've gone to.)
If you mostly play Magic
Online, and don't care for paper cards, this is a
great way to cut the cost of attending the event. If
you have older cards that you just don't want any
more, they'll be happy to buy those too.
And the cards you get
Saturday and Sunday. The prices the vendors pay may
never be as high as they are that day. After all, they
have to get their stock started somewhere too, right?
---
Well, I'll end my column
here. I could write more about there bring drafts
(where you open 3 packs, pass them around, pick 45
cards, and build a deck), the team sealed flight
(where you and two friends get product to build 3
decks), and other things, but I'll leave those for a
rewrite of this column for Betrayers (hopefully), as
my deadline is fast approaching.
Have fun at your events
this weekend, and see you Tuesday.
Bill Guerin
DCI Level 2 Judge |
|||||||
