Prerelease Reborn

I declined going to the GPT in Lacey (which, although it was 13 people, would not have been an easy GPT to take down, as the Top 4 was Greg Peloquin, McDoogle, Kent Ketter, and Dwayne St. Arnould), and instead went to the premier Alara Reborn prerelease.

I played in two flights: one with an absolutely sick base Naya deck:

1 Wild Nacatl
1 Cylian Elf
1 Naya Battlemge
1 Topan Ascetic
1 Jund Battlemage
1 Court Archers
1 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Rhox Brute
1 Gloryscale Viashino
1 Mosstodon
1 Deadshot Minotaur
1 Pale Recluse
1 Igneous Pouncer

1 Magma spray
1 Necrogenesis
1 Colossal Might
2 Sangrite Backlash
2 Resounding Thunder
1 Naya Charm
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Vengeful Rebirth (absolutely retarded)

2 Veinfire Borderpost
15 basic lands (I think it involved 1 Swamp, 4 Plains, 5 Forest, and 5 Mountain)

The match I lost I was tight on white mana both games. :(

The next sealed flight I thought was a very bad deck with infinite multi-colored bears, mediocre fixing that I needed to stretch for to get Terminate and Bituminous Blast as my only removal, but it had Battlegrace Angel. I 3-0-1'd that, thanks to drawing Woolly Thoctar mana like a champion.

It was interesting seeing the more casual players come out, asking questions like if deathtouch works on a guy with shroud. I've been so immersed in the competitive scene at places like First Pick where the large majority of players have/could have PTQ Top 8 experience. Charles Dupont made an interesting comment that he was baffled by how many people play cards and then don't know what's going to happen next, and that he couldn't fathom not thinking ahead to what's going to happen when the other guys plays removal/attacks/plays another guy. On the other hand, I'm sure a casual player wouldn't be able to understand why a competitive player would get so upset when an opponent gets lucky on a play that works less often than the optimal play if you ran it 100 times. It's a very clear distinction between playing Magic to win and playing Magic for fun/not trying to win.