The Dragon’s Maze prerelease, only a week and a half away, will mark one year since my return to Magic. At the Avacyn Restored prerelease last year, I got what would be the last (to date) Constructed playable promo card, the multi-format all-star, and probably my favorite white card for all time, Restoration Angel. Okay, it was the release event, not the prerelease, but you get the idea.
Not all promos were created equal, however. Scars of Mirrodin block had megaton bomb after megaton bomb, starting off with the Wurm-Father, followed by the Big Girl, and rounding it off with Little Miss If Only Grave Titan Wasn’t In Standard. And that’s not even mentioning that 15/15 jellyfish.
And then there are the complete whiffs. Who still remembers that this card exists? How about this one?
Over the years, Wizards has dramatically shifted their stance on giving away mythic rares at prerelease events. For the player, it definitely sucks not getting a sweet chase rare right off the bat; but for shop-keeps, it makes sense. After all, giving away 50 Wurmcoils doesn’t exactly drive sales.
But does it have to be so black and white? I can live with not getting a Hero of Bladehold at every prerelease, but every time I see the DGM promo, I die a little on the inside.
I feel they got it right with the Innistrad promo, Mayor of Avabruck. Mayor’s not an insane $20 chase rare, but it’s definitely a good card that saw (and still sees) play in Constructed. In fact, I wouldn’t mind them doing something similar to the old Player’s Rewards program and start giving away awesome alternate-art commons/uncommons instead of a bulk rare that will never see the light of day. I know I would have loved a foil, full-art Azorius Charm instead of the Archon of the Suck-Ass that I got at the RTR prerelease.
Hell, just bring back the Player’s Rewards program. I like free stuff in the mail.
You can’t always get what you want, I suppose. A more reasonable thing to hope for is the return of actual Magic at prerelease events. We’ve basically been handed decks for this entire block; let’s introduce a bit of skill and card evaluation back into Sealed. Limited is not my personal strong suit, and being led down a path from the get-go isn’t particularly conducive to my learning of a new format. Thankfully, they can’t possibly make guild packs outside of this block, so we’re safe from that whole business for a while.
Not a whole lot else to speak of this week, though I may get a chance to take a Standard deck out for a spin on Friday or Saturday. It’s been months. I won’t lie, I’m a tad bit excited. Stay tuned.