So, last weekend was not only a celebration of the yearly Dinagyang festival, but also the prerelease of Magic’s recent expansion Gatecrash. This time, a total of 30 participants played in the sealed format event (an increased turn out from the previous twenty players in RTR prerelease), with five guilds to choose from. The remaining guilds to join the ten guilds of Ravnica were Boros, Dimir, Orzhov, Gruul & Simic.

Boros was the strongest among the five so it was not a surprise that their guild kit was the first to run out. My guild choice was Orzhov eventhough I initially thought of getting Gruul. Extort mechanic is somewhat pushing through a grindy mid range deck and I hoped my card pile would provide me that. It was the opposite. I was able to acquire cards that were far off of my guild. I ended up playing with this list:

Lands
8 Swamp
2 Orzhov Guildgate
6 Plains
1 Boros Guildgate

Creatures
1 Treasury Thrull
2 Vizkopa Confessor
1 Kingpin’s Pet
1 Nightveil Specter
1 Millennial Gargoyle
1 Gateway Shade
1 Basilica Guards
1 Luminate Primordial
1 Syndic of Tithes
1 Deathcult Rogue
1 Smog Elemental
1 Syndicate Enforcer
1 Thrull Parasite
2 Basilica Screecher

Spells
1 Prophetic Prism
1 Purge the Profane
1 Assemble the Legion
1 Holy Mantle
1 Debtor’s Pulpit
1 Smite
1 Devour Flesh

I was expecting to get crushed by more aggressive builds but my play start on the rounds was satisfactory. I won my first two rounds against a Gruul and a Dimir. The third round was discouraging as I was paired against my teammate Oliver who was playing Boros.

I checked his cardpool seeing that he got a much better build and a high chance of winning his fourth match. I decided to give way and let him win & hoping I could get myself a win in the last round for my third booster prize.

Last round was an Orzhov mirror match wherein he just crushed me Game one with Extort and flyers while I got stuck on three lands. Game two was a 50-50, exchanging Extort effects and trading critters. He ended up flooded while I’m still drawing up my guys, Extorting and attacking him until zero life.

Game three was favored to me as I was able to resolve Nightveil Specter while he was just on three lands. Since it was a mirror, I get to play the top cards exiled by the specter and turn the game around using his creatures against him. We’ll you know what happens when a lot of Extort guys are in the table with lot of mana to spend.

Final record, 3-1 and it was a satisfying result for a mediocre card pool. My prize packs’ rares were not that good. I only got a Prime Speaker Zegana & another Spark Trooper. The two 4-0 players were Mik (Boros) and Rei (Dimir).

Overall, Gatecrash limited is pretty much okay to play. You just stick on what guild your card pool will provide you to make a good deck. Although most removals are quite guild based, you can splash if a few mana fixers are around like Prophetic Prism. Though I suggest you follow what the pros say, to stick to your guild colors. Two colors at max.

Until next post.