Eventide was released on July 25, 2008. I attended a Lorwyn Eclipsed prerelease last night, though the set officially releases on January 23 of this year (2026). Using that release date, there are 6391 days between these sets that take place primarily on the same plane without any between them. Is this the longest in magic history? (I think there were about 6103 days between Saviors of Kamigawa and Neon Dynasty.)
On top of that long Lorwyn drought, there's a lot of enthusiasm for returning to an actual Magic setting. People were very excited. The Friday night event at Intergalactic Plastic was sold out and it was hopping. I saw at least two people dressed up as Lorwyn elves, one with antlers. It was rad.
I don't usually use a playmat, but I took an appropriate one out of mothballs for this event.
This time I actually remembered to take a photo of all of my packs! Here's the entire pool I was working with:
I was really excited to see the new Doran as one of my rares, but I didn't pick up just how good it comboed with Formidable Speaker until I got to playing. I was obviously happy with the Blood Crypt and the two Foraging Wickermaws for running five colors. On the flip side, I was disappointed to not get any Evolving Wilds nor Changeling Wayfinders. I did feel a bit rushed during deck construction, but then I finished with plenty of time left. I had a hard time making cuts and went with only 16 lands in the end. I also did make a bunch of changes throughout the event. Here's what the final version looked like:
In the first round, I was up against a friend who had built an Azorius deck, "Sygg and Friends". The first game went well as I learned I had a bit of an aggro deck. They played Merrow Skyswarm on turn four, but I cast Doran on my turn four using a Foraging Wickermaw. They Blossombinded my Doran, but then I played Wildvine Pummeler, who also benefits from Doran's ability. When I went to swing on my next turn, they scooped. In the second game, they got Sygg out on turn three, and I Tweezed it on my next turn. They followed that up with Thoughtweft Imbuer, which turned out to be an absolute beast even with only two Kithkin. I did get Doran out on turn 6, but this time they hit it with Noggle the Mind, which was the right thing. The game slowed down and I wound up hitting other things with removal (e.g. Gravelgill Scoundrel) when I probably should have focused on the Imbuer instead. In the end, they played value creatures and ground me out. The third game was another fast one. I got Rooftop Percher out on turn 4 with Springleaf Drum, but they just had so many killer enchantments (e.g. the Blossombinds, Noggle the Minds, and Spiral into Solitude). I managed to cast Shinestriker, draw three creatures, and then play them all on that same turn, but they did not have a big effect. We went to turns, but I died on turn 3. 0-1.
Between rounds one and two, the Wizards tournament software crashed, so there was a bit of a break. I don't know whether it got restored or the judge had to hand-match us, but we got moving again. This time I was up against a new opponent playing a Sultai deck. I blew game one by keeping a (second) hand that I shouldn't've. Game two looked tough, but then I played Shinestriker and got Kinbinding from it. I won off of that value. In game three I had some gas but I drew land after land. I thought I would be able to come back multiple times, but it just didn't happen. 0-2.
In the third round I was again paired with a new opponent. They were running a nifty Selesnya deck. In the first game they were stuck on only white mana and I was able to capitalize with both Foragming Wickermaws into Doran on turn four to win quickly. (The Wickermaws' color changing ability even let me cast Prismatic Undercurrents with vivid of five on the next turn.) In game two, they played Wistfulness and built up quite a board. I did get Doran down, but I made some bad value judgments. They played a Celestial Reunion for seven to find Kithkeeper and won with that. In game three I got my favorite turn three Formidable Speaker to find and cast Doran on the next turn. We went to time, but I won on turn two of five. 1-2.
This deck was wonderfully fun to play. All of my games seemed good and the losses were really hard fought. It was weird how I could aggro out some times if I dropped Doran early on. I know that's not a thing you can plan on, but it is definitely fun. I'm really looking forward to drafting this set!
Happy Lorwyn Magicking!
No comments:
Post a Comment