Dies to Removal

I'll be in my bunk.

Wearing Mal's face and pimping Jayne's lines...I like that about you, RT.

And for Khaos (well, besides the pretty girly pics I just linked):

And now one for Ham.

My sides!

WHAT UP RED BROS!!

HE LIVES!!!!!!

Lol yeah, been keeping up with some of you guys on FB as I took the season off. But its Pre release time so that means Im temporarily back in this game!

And without further ado, heres the Dax Prerelease Number Crunching!
Removal Break Down

• Color - Total|C&U - Conditional
  Red - 9| 7 - 2 = 5
  Blue - 5 |3 - 0 = 3
  Black - 7|6 - 4 = 2
  White - 5|4 - 4 = 0
  Green - 3|3 - 3 = 0

Red clocks in with the most removal, but Blue is right behind.
Red has the most removal, with 6 spots in common and 1 in uncommon. However, red is split in the common slot between 4 instants (2 conditional) and 2 sorceries, and some spells are very lackluster. Its lone uncommon is Pinnacle of Rage which will net you 2 packets of 3 damage.
Blue has no conditional removal which and all of its common removal is at instant speed and its uncommon is a mindcontrol effect.
Black comes in
third with 6 with a break of 4Com and 2Unc. Black has 3 instants (2 conditional) and 1 conditional sorcery, black hits small but wide for most of its removal. The conditonals are strong when you can get them.
White attempts to put up a showing with 4 removal spells, but all of them are conditional. However they are primarily exile effects and target enchantments so more reach than a normal set with BoTG focus on enchantments.
Green doesnt really bother to care.

I'm not going to the prerelease (as per usual) since I will probably just go to the regular, less crowded launch next Friday. As much as I like sealed, I don't want to have to play it for six rounds when I could go play for four rounds if I wait a week.

the late tournaments are only 4 rounds usually so i will try that first.

Also the people who play during our release vs. the prerelease are usually just better players, and I don't want to play six rounds against someone who just took their two favorite colors and smashed them into a pile of lands. I enjoy playing sealed against people who don't suck at it.

Evasion Break Down

• Color - Total|U&C - Conditional = Score
  White - 6|5 - 0 = 5
  Blue - 8|6 - 2 = 4
  Red - 5|3 - 2 = 1
  Black - 3|2 - 1 = 1
  Green - 2|1 - 1 = 0

White jumps to the front with a veritable airforce giving it a 5 evasion score. 3 flyers in the common slot and 2 in the uncommon. Theres also Archetype of courage at uncommon for team FS for 1WW.
Blue makes a good showing with 4. The commons have access to two fliers and one flying enchantment, then 2 fliers and a conditional unblockable at uncommon. Blue has a trump card at 4UU in Archetype of Imagination which will put all of your forces in the air.
Red unfortunately has most of its true evasion in the high slots giving it a low score of 1, due to its evasion being tramplers and one lone flier at common. Archetype of Aggression for 1RR a trample team of heavies if you can support it.
Black also
scores at 1 for a single uncommon flier. Archetype of Finality for 4BB will score you team deathtouch which can be amazing conditonal evasion.
Green just doens't seem to care with a single trampler. Archetype of Endurance will grab you hexproof which will grant team hexproof but for 6GG is it worth it?

Someone mentioned Black Tide. I saw them with Dragonforce like a million years ago.

Happy birthday, doc!

With prerel packs putting 3 theros in the mix:
Blue(8), Red(7), B(5), W(3), G(0)

The final pre release scores for Removal and Evasion in the Common and Uncommon slots are
Blue (15)
Red (13)
Black (8)
White (8)
Green (0)

Blue is the most balanced between removal and evasion, red & black lean towards removal while white favors evasion.

Izzet or Azorious seem to be good choices along with Boros for aggressive players. Green decks are going to vomit out big dudes and black is the color for alternate attack lines.

There is a minotaur subtheme in the block so enough minotaurs and enablers will help you out. Remember that creature based enchantments want 4 targets for every enchantment so remember that while building.

Enjoy!

I go to prereleases at the LGS that's 3 miles from my house and those are always 4-5 rounds. Reason is that they always have theirs on a Sunday afternoon or evening and it's easy for me to get out of the house then. The LGS that I frequently go to, however, draws a much larger crowd and has events at midnight and 5:00 PM, but I only go there for FNM since it's 20 miles away. One upside to the farther LGS though is that the much more seasoned players go there. The closer LGS doesn't even have FNM, and the people that show up for the prerelease and Gameday are on average much worse players.

Dragonfarce

They speed up their music with post processing.

Yeah, yeah. They suck live. I found that out in a fucking hurry.

I used to go to a pre release venue that was mostly EDH players, which meant super day zero value trade of cards I will never use for good standard cards, especially if they get multiples.

Note on the pre release based on my removal and evasion breaks, the numbers are low so expect a ground war a lot of the time since and he who has the better beaters alive wins. Green is still good and so is blue, don't undervalue reach and versatile unconditional removal to swing combat math in your favor. Maybe one turn slower than Theros but pretty much same speed of land beef and ride.

Yeah, yeah. They suck live. I found that out in a fucking hurry.

You know who doesn't suck live?

Dream Theater.

And you know who's kinda sorta ok live, but would have been a lot better if they'd have just played the old stuff I went to the concert to hear instead of the shit off their new album?

Iron Maiden.

Dechs, get out! Maiden rocks every time, whether it's old stuff (oh, those "Early Days" and "Somewhere back in time" tours were just ) or new stuff! So there!



Oh, while I here...Biffy Clyro is one of the most awesome live bands there is. Go see them if you have the chance.

And you know who's kinda sorta ok live, but would have been a lot better if they'd have just played the old stuff I went to the concert to hear instead of the shit off their new album?

Iron Maiden.

Agreed. Though in their defense, they alternate every year if they're going to do a "greatest hits' tour or a new stuff tour. The one time I caught them, it was in support of a new album. The next time they came around (which I missed) was the Somewhere Back in Time tour where they recreated the epic Powerslave tour. I wanted to cry myself to sleep that night for missing it.

Trivium and Black Label Society rock the house every single time.

Khaos, it was awesome. I can't decide if that tour or the Early Days tour was better though...

Trivium opening for Maiden was pretty ace!

When I saw Maiden, it was because I wanted to see the opening band, Dream Theater.

Truth be told, there's no way Maiden could live up to that performance in my mind.

Trivium opening for Maiden was pretty ace!

Another show that I wanted to cry myself to sleep after missing.

I watch Iron Maiden's Live After Death concert pretty religiously. At least several times a year. Aces High is probably my favorite song of all time.

Though I did manage to catch Trivium opening up for Dream Theater when Trivium was supporting In Waves. That show was ballin'.

You know who's good live?

Elton John

Which reminds me, so is Billy Joel. Those two did a tour together that I missed, but I did see Billy Joel the next time he came through.

Oh god, poor Platypus and the D convo. That was too good.

And happy b-day Doc! You're the fourth person I had to tell happy birthday to today.

Reel Big Fish is surprisingly good live. Usually ska shows are just awesome live, but I remember being particularly impressed with RBF at House of Blues.

Ska sucks you fucking nerds.

You know who's good live?

Elton John

You know who doesn't suck live?

Dream Theater.

Dream Theater is nothing but guitar porn.

Listen to good music, pussies. Khaos listens to good music. Follow suit.

PS - Beer is delicious.

DroppinLies

Drink like a man. Scotch is delicious.

Scotch is delicious, but beer is cheaper.

Scotch is delicious, but beer is cheaper.

Not if you're doing the math by %ABV per dollar.

By that logic, you should be buying up Listerine. A litre of 60 proof alcohol for 3.99USD? Get crazy drunk!

Put them in the iron maiden.

Iron Maiden? Excellent!

Execute them.

Bogus!