For the first time in a while, registration was full at 60 players. I saw as many as 3 girls playing. Lots of new faces and familiar faces (especially the eventual winners).
For the Mirrodin Besieged prerelease, players were asked to choose a faction before the tournament started. I chose the Phyrexian faction because of the availability of creature kill spells and the overall strength of the Infect mechanic. I wanted to play the Mirran faction because they seemed to be the underdogs (and I must say that it's a mistake to consider them as such).
For the new expansion, the Phyrexians have Living Weapon. Living Weapon is an ability placed on several equipments that puts a 0/0 Germ token into play and the equipment immediately attaches to the token. The Mirrans have Battle Cry - a cumulative +1/+0 for other attacking creatures.
To summarize my deck, I opened a foil Geth, Lord of the Vault from my first Scars of Mirrodin pack. I don't remember the other rares from Scars. In Mirrodin Besieged, I also opened a Massacre Wurm which told me then and there that I was really going to play black.
Other key cards included in the deck were Palladium Myr, Grasp of Darkness, Spread the Sickness, 2 Viridian Emissary (the new Sakura Tribe-Elder), and 2 Viridian Corrupter (or was it just one - I don't remember).
First round:
After shuffling my opponent's deck, I had a feeling that I'd cruise this round as I asked whether he was playing a 40-card deck. He answered casually that he was playing 54 cards. I had a nice curve coming out as I was able to play Septic Rats, Rot Wolf and the suddenly wonderful Phyrexian Vatmother to finish him after just two attacks. My opponent's eyes widened as he couldn't believe that I just finished him that quickly.
The second match pretty much ended the same way. I was feeling confident that I had a great deck.
I took my opponent's deck and made suggestions on what to cut off from the original 54-card build. He was playing mono-white (and Mirran, by the way). He did have lots of good white cards. Yes, I was able to finish him that quickly because we had a lot of time to talk about his deck.
Second round:
I was paired with Mike Tiña and he was playing Mirran. Bad round for me as he played an artifact in the first 2 turns and dropped an Etched Champion on the third turn. More like game over as the Etched Champion became super god on the board. I was able to remove one of the artifacts (using a colored spell) but couldn't get a 2nd removal spell. Meanwhile, the Etched Champion got his metalcraft back online and I couldn't get my Sylvok Replica nor any other artifact in.
The second match pretty much remained the same. He got two Leonin Skyhunters out after 3 turns and the bashing was on.
Underestimate the Mirrans? I shouldn't. I congratulated Mike and commented that he had a very fast deck.
Third round:
This was sort of my best round. In the first game where I was placed in a difficult board disadvantage because he had more creatures out, I was able to wipe them all off the board with a Massacre Wurm. I had a Moriok Replica blocking an Infect creature and sacrificed it to draw two cards. The second card that I got was the Massacre Wurm. The opponent kept on casting more creatures and I had a big smile on my face. When his turn was done, he had 5 creatures and all with 2 or less toughness. I had only two creatures left (a Plague Myr and a non-Infect creature). The Plague Myr provided the 6th mana I needed to cast Massacre Wurm, wiped out his board and dealt a loss of 10 life. My other non-Infect creature attacked and I was smiling after dealing 12 total points of damage or life loss.
The second game had me casting Geth, Lord of the Vault for the first time in the tournament. I was able to get a Skinrender in one turn - killing off an attacker. A Viridian Corrupter was reanimated in another turn, allowing me to kill an attacking artifact creature. I didn't have a problem attacking with these creatures the turn after they were reanimated. If they got killed, I would just take them back with Geth.
Fourth round:
The fourth round was where I realized the value of Palladium Myr. Fourth turn Massacre Wurm was basically game over for my opponent.
MVP for the prerelease would have to be Massacre Wurm. It's just too good. I'll give out an honorable mention to my 2 Viridian Emissary and Palladium Myr. Plague Myr helped also.
All in all, I find the faction decision to be a new experience. I wonder how it will go for the third set in the block.
