My wife and I are heading to the Gatecrash Pre-Release event this weekend. While we've been playing for 10+ years, we've only been doing formal events for the past year. Going in, we're not very sure which guild boxes we want to snag. I like what I see in both Orzhov (BW) and Gruul (RG). She's thinking about about (Orzhov) BW, Dimir (BU), or Simic (BG).

I've reviewed each of the new mechanics, but am still unsure, so I'd like to know what you folks like. Which guild will you play, and why? What cards look really promising. Are there any so good that, if you pull one from a pack, you'd break from the guild colors?

I'm actually really liking all of the guilds this time around, so I don't really know what I want to play and will probably be happy with whatever happens to be available. Although, I will probably try to go Simic because I need some of those cards for some EDH decks, and I really want the promo Fathom Mage because I love the art.

Im going Gruul since Im looking for Domri and I know I wont win any packs, If I was going just to win Id probably go boros or orzhov, the reasons are based on the mechanics, while using bloodrush can be good you usually would rather have another body on the field. Battalion is pretty weak IMO however the guildmage seems pretty sweet, Im always looking for cards that can create creatures without wasting cards in your hand, nit to mention that the amazing charm. Orzhov I like the mechanic they seem to be able to slowly drain their opponent and each of the cards with extort slow down the game not to mention that limited tends to be a little slower in general. Dimir seem to have potential. I think the promo for dimir a lot and Ive found mill very powerful in limited formats

My GF and I are headed to our local pre-release... I'm rocking Gruul and Dimir and she's trying Simic and Orzhov. We'll get pretty solid coverage and with any luck can pull some decent stuff.

I'm a firm believer that Bloodrush has a TON of potential to win games, but will frequently be used wrong and could easily cost people games. But if you're looking to win your games, Dimir's promo is a BOMB any way you look at it and will single-handedly win games.

It's going to be a Boros party. Ain't no party like a Boros party.

I am actually going to try all of them one at a time. I have only been playing magic for about a year, so am trying to build up a solid card base and just experience everything.

I'll probably end up red/white or white/black, since I generally seem to favor those color combos.

I'm doing Dimir and Simic. Boros was a close 3rd though.

Hopefully I can trade for the 3 promos and spindowns I don't get!

Picked Orzhov. Got lucky pulls--two Gideon and two Obzedat. I'll let you know how it turns out.

HikingStick wrote:Picked Orzhov. Got lucky pulls--two Gideon and two Obzedat. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Lucky? Lucky?! There has to be a stronger word for that......

The best thing I pulled was a Stomping Ground. Also got a High Priest of Penance, but that was the two colors that I didn't play and not worth nearly all that much.

That being said though, I had a pretty solid Simic-Gruul build that used Simic for ramp and stall and Gruul for some great offense. I went 4-1, 3rd place overall. Here's my build if anyone cares to take a gander. This was only my second prerelease and at a new shop, so I was a little disappointed to hear that the way they were handling prizes didn't benefit me at all for winning, they just gave everybody 2 packs of GTC; the only thing I got for getting 3rd was some sleeves. Oh well, still had a great time.

Hope everybody else had an equally good time!

Got back from pre-release. I wound up choosing Gruul as it was first come first serve and everyone went Boros as I was expecting. Wound up pulling Borborygmos Enraged and Aurelia's Fury in my pack. Ran them in my deck for the tournament; Borborygmos showed up in my hand right off the bat in almost every game, was only able to play him once.

I may not have placed high, but I had a blast and plenty of really close games. Best game of the night was the one I won with only 3 lands at the end :). Just finished added in my cards, so I haven't had a chance to actually input the deck but I will after a few matches with my friends.

Hope everyone else had as much fun as I did!

Edit: Here's the deckhttp://deckbox.org/sets/301726 do plan on making some changes once I can get my hands on more gatecrasher cards; namely I'm removing Borborygmos. I saw him almost every match and, usually right off the bat and was only able to play him once so he was actually hurting me more then helping; If he had Bloodrush he would be worth keeping around.

And because I forgot to mention it I wound up going Gruul because it was said to be the closest to old school magic, which made it easier for me to play as more of the mechanics and play style were familiar to me.

Pre-release was a blast. My wife and I had a great time, as did one of our sons and his friend. My lucky pulls (2x Gideon, Champion of Justice and 2x Obzedat, Ghost Council) worked out well for me, with at least one of them seeing play in just about every hand.

I came in 11th out of 31 players, with a record of 3-2. When I got home, I realized that an error on my part (not knowing Gideon well enough) cost me one of my matches. I didn't realize he was indestructible, so I allowed him to be destroyed by Grisly Spectacle--twice over two hands! I would have won both hands had Gideon remained on the field.

Oh, well! The other great pull was Blind Obedience. With only one, I did not get it out often, but when it was in play, it definitely tipped the scales in my favor. My last match when 2-1 to my opponent, but the final hand was close (had him at one life point while I was at six). I drew land six turns straight, and was eventually left with nothing to stop his attackers.

Here's the deck I played, if any of you are interested.

It was a lot of fun. My wife and I have really come to enjoy going to the pre-relase events. We're already looking forward to the next one.

I went to my first ever pre-release having only played 3 months. Day one, I chose Dimir, but had a terrible deck, which I naiively splashed white to include Gideon. After being 0-2 I switched to Grull partway through the day as it included 2 Rubblehulks and ended 2-4. Game one was lost to one of the best players in the country.

Day two I went Grull and pulled 2 Borborygmos Enraged and a Hellkite Tyrant. Bizarrely the only bloodrush I had was Rubblehulk http://deckbox.org/sets/302486. I lost one game to the eventual winner and his Assemble the Legion not helped by me forgetting about the Naturalise in my sideboard. The other loss was my favourite match against a really good Dimir player who managed to lock down Tyrant then Aetherise it and Borborygmos and mill the other Borborygmos before decking me whilst they were on 12 health. Final game I was against a deck with two Legion Loyalists but managed to consistently remove them before they could do anything.

In one match I lost first round to a Lord of the Void, promo pack is placed on table for winner, I won 2-1 and it had a Lord of the Void in it :D

I finished at 4-2 and 14/48 (same points as 6th). At the end I looked and I had a pretty good Dimir deck in my sideboard too.

Pulled loads of good cards I wanted and spent a fair while trading afterwords. Met loads of new players in my area too so will try FNM at the second game shop.