It was Outlaws of Thunder Junction pre-release time yesterday. As per tradition, we headed off to play at Face to Face (no more pre-releases in the North now that North of Exile has permanently closed). Christian went 2-1 with a bye while Noah and I went 1-2 but we did have fun as usual. Maybe a story for another time but Noah was somewhat annoyed when one of the players he faced did not want to split the two packs as most people do (especially as he lost).

Christian also took the opportunity to sell a few cards as he is building a new Commander deck who will be fronted by Rakdos, the Muscle. Definitely a Commander suited for the type of games that he likes with his ability to sacrifice another creature to go exile cards equal to its mana value from the top of target player’s library so that you can play them until your next end step.

Unfortunately for him, he did not pull Rakdos, the Muscle at the pre-release or from the box that we always crack open. But it so happens that Noah did, even pulling the Showcase version. I expect that there will be some intense negotiations in the next few days.

To build up his deck, Christian sold some cards while at F2F. Among them were two monkey pirates that caused some grief about a year ago. Yes, Christian sold his two Ragavan, Nimble Pilferers! He got a price that he was satisfied with as well. And with the way WOTC seems to be reprinting most good cards with wild abandon, I expect that the price may continue to drop as it reappears in some future sets (perhaps in Modern Horizons 3 later this summer?).

I’ve always told the boys that these are their cards and that they can do what they want with them. This is even more relevant now that one of them is an adult. But I wish he had said he would sell them and given Noah a chance to get his hands on one after last year’s drama.

Noah now has a part-time job and could easily have either traded some other cards for one or bought it off his brother. Fortunately, time has rubbed some of the sting out and Noah did not look too upset to hear that the monkeys had left the building.

Especially after the Curse of the Box Opening turned to Christian this time around. While Noah pulled seven Mythics and I another five, Christian only pulled two. I pulled what is at the moment the most valuable, a Terror the Peaks (my second as I also have the one from Core Set 2021. Almost enough to take the sting out of the fact that there are no Clerics in this set.

Anyways, all this to basically say that the monkeys came, they spent a bit of time with us and have now left for some new adventures. They leave behind a very angry-looking Demon Mercenary that I do not look forward to facing in one of our future Commander games.