Just hours ago, we were able to hold our Prerelease tournament for the new set, Innistrad. Twenty Ilonggo players battled through the four rounds of Limited Sealed tournament, exploring the new set’s mechanics and flavor theme. With the scheduled rotation in Standard, I was pretty sure that all of us were very excited to play the new cards. The traditional six booster packs were provided to each player to build on the decks. Here’s a recap of what I got with my packs.

The Boosters

Innistrad boosters I think we’re actually very worth it. They provided a new booster policy in which there are chances of opening two rares in the pack. I opened a Mikaeus, the Lunarch in the first pack, without noticing that there is another one in the back. Guess what, it was a shiny Garruk Relentless! Woot! I opened the rest of the boosters, in which rares are just so-so, and arranged the cards by color.

Weighing in the colors, my first obvious choice is to go Green which I was not failed as it provided goodies for the deck. Not to mention Garruk. Next up, I went to check Black for my second color but my cards were not that synergetic. I then remembered Mikaeus from the first pack and checked the White cards pile. It looked decent enough to be the second color. I also checked the Artifacts pile for any goodies and found a Silver-Inlaid Dagger (which works well with most of the Humans in the deck) and a Galvanic Juggernaut.

After a couple verifying of the divisions of the lands, here is my final list:

Creatures
1 Avacynian Priest
1 Darkthicket Wolf
1 Ambush Viper
1 Thraben Purebloods
1 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
1 Galvanic Juggernaut
1 Mausoleum Guard
1 Doomed Traveler
1 Thraben Sentry
1 Village Bell-Ringer
1 Ulvenwald Mystics
1 Elder Cathar
2 Abbey Griffin
1 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
1 Lumberknot
1 Elder of Laurels

Spells
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Ranger’s Guile
2 Prey Upon
1 Silver-Inlaid Dagger
1 Rebuke

Lands
8 Forest
9 Plains

Matchups Summary

Round 1 vs Ramon (Green White) Won 2-0

Game highlight was on Game 2, when he was about to overwhelm me in the air with a Manor Gargoyle and a Chapel Geist. I was holding the line with the tapper and was able to draw into Rebuke to kill the gargoyle. At first, I thought that its being indestructible is passive and sure to be dead with tapping the wrong creature. But then I confirmed that it losses it when it is activated to attack. Rebuke finished it off and I countered the attack for the win.

Round 2 vs Rei (Green White Red) Won 2-1

Game one saw a barrage of fliers from Rei, but I was able to stabilize with a tapper, spot removal, and trade blocks from my own fliers. He went with a Dearly Departed but Prey Upon dealt with it, trading with my Juggernaut. Garruk provided backup with deathtouched wolves while I started to chip away his life total. A Balefire Dragon arrived on his aide but Rebuke finished it off. The deadly wolves were too much for him and he scoops.

In Game 2, I was on the offensive with an early Juggernaut beatdown. He was able to stop it with a few critters of his own. Dearly Departed arrived again and I got into a dilemma if I’ll trade my Juggernaut via Prey Upon or not. I did not exactly remember what happened after but he was able to overwhelm me while I keep on drawing lands turn after turn. The dragon arrives again and I scooped.

Game 3 was a pretty slow start for Rei as I was able to curve to my Darkthicket Wolf and Garruk Relentless provided a lot of wolves which he was not able to deal with later on. A few attacks and he was dead.

Round 3 vs Oliver (Black Red Green) Won 2-0

This matchup proved the best draws I have on the deck. I was able to curve out on both games with a turn Avacyn’s Pilgrim. I was able to out tempo him with early beats and Garruk to relentlessly do its job.

Round 4 vs Noel (Blue White) Won 2-0

This is actually a mismatch for me as his list was more on fliers and evasion which my deck is weak on. We’re both on 3-0 and decided to play it out to know the undefeated.

Game 1 started fast for him with curves on his 2/1 Spirit and 2/2 Griffin. I halted the ground with Mikaeus and a few crits. He was able to lower my life to single digits but the +1/+1 counters provided by Mikaeus helped me dominate the ground as he can’t make good trades with my creatures. It was a matter of a few turns and I was able to win the game.

Game 2 was his mistake as he kept a no-Island hand and most of his cards were Blue. I was then able to curve in and a turn 3 Garruk killed his Voiceless Spirit and summoned deadly wolves. He was light on critters for about three turns. With a few attacks and an Abbey Griffin guarding Garruk, he succumbed to the horde.

I won four boosters and I was very happy with the turnout of the deck. I think Innistrad was made to be more fun to play in Limited and Draft than in Standard Constructed. Although there are cards worthy for Standard, the set looks more on the creature-based theme (even the Instants and Sorceries).

Overall, I think Innistrad is still on the process of shaping up in Standard in which most deck archetypes are still based on the old pre-rotation format (RDW, Blue-Black, Cawblade, etc). We’ll just see what the pros are brewing on.

I think that’s about it. I hope you also had fun on your Innistrad prerelease. Until the next post and the next time, you will see me attacking with mayors turning werewolves. 😛