The Final Fantasy pre-release marked the beginning of a new era in our family. It was the first one where I went alone as Christian was working and Noah decided that he had/has no interest in this set and that it does not exist. “It’s a summer without new Magic sets,” he declared some time back.

I knew from the hype leading to the launch that this would be a huge set. The fact that it was the best-selling set ever even before it officially launched certainly suggested as such. But it really hit home as I listened to players around me talking about playing the video game through all of its different versions. I was definitely in the minority as someone who has never played this game.

And then came the moment to start building!

I cracked my packs and laid out my cards. Three cards immediately stood out for me: Jecht, Reluctant Guardian which flips into a 7/7 creature saga, Clive, Ifrit’s Dominant, my only mythic and another creature saga, and Firion, Wild Rose Warrior. My White was not particularly strong but had some decent removal and had Moogle’s Valor, a card that looked like fun.

I quickly ruled out Blue as it had nothing that called out to me. Green was not much better despite having a few cards, including some saga creatures but none that flipped. I was not convinced that these would be strong enough as they were not long for the board.

I’ve not had much luck in the past with three colours so looked to build a two-colour deck but I had only two spells in that colour and neither was particularly good. Red was strong, particularly with a Suplex as one of the better removal spells in the set. I caved and went three colours to get some white removal and smooth out my curve a little bit. To be honest, I was not exactly feeling my deck. It felt like I was trying to do a lot with it and I wondered how it would all come together.

One card that I had hoped to find was Minwu, White Mage. It was not necessarily for the pre-release but for my Clerics decks. More on that card in an upcoming post.

My first round was against a player who was coming back to Magic because of Final Fantasy. He had stopped playing some years back but the new set drew him back. He played what looked like a Selesnya deck that promised some big creatures.

A few cards came through for me as I won the first game: Mysidian Elder and more importantly, the 0/1 black Wizard token who would ping him for one every time I cast a noncreature spell, Red Mage’s Rapier with the Job select mechanic that would immediately attach the Equipment to a Hero token, and Moogle’s Valor.

The second game went pretty much the same way. It turns out that my opponent was playing three colours but his mana did not cooperate for this first round. I ran into him later and his deck did work better after our games.

For me, it was a first round win – Something that has not happened in a while!

My second round was against an Izzet deck. There was good synergy between the cards of his deck but my deck continued to surprise me. I was able to play Jecht, Reluctant Guardian, but he realized the threat and quickly dealt with it. It did cost him one of his few removal spells, I found out later. The game went long after that but I managed to prevail.

We kicked off the second game and it again went long. The decks were clearly evenly matched and I got to play Clive, Ifrit’s Dominant. Again, my opponent astutely recognized the threat and Clive was quickly removed. Sadly, once more I was not able to transform one of my creature sagas.

This time, it was my opponent who prevailed just as time as called. We had to settle for a draw but I was not unhappy as my deck was fun to play and was continuing to play better than I had expected.

For the third round, I was paired up against someone who had been deckbuilding not far from me. When I saw him sit down across from me, I knew the odds were not going to be in my favour. He had pulled not one but two Vivi Ornitiers, one of the most potent cards in the deck.

In our first round, he mulliganed down to 5 cards. I started feeling a little better about my chances. I held my removal for his Vivi and was able to control the game and chip away slowly again using my 0/1 Wizard tokens. The game went long but I prevailed.

In the second round, it was my turn to mulligan down to five cards. Lands suddenly were scarce and I did not feel like playing with one land hands. This game felt very much like the mirror of the first one. Me starting with five and him consistently inflicting damage in a slow methodical way that I could not answer. At time, we were at one win a piece. A second draw to complete the round.

As usual, our LGS handed out two packs for each match, letting players decide amongst themselves to split the or play for them. We agreed to split them in all three rounds. From them, I pulled the following Rares and Mythics: Lightning, Army of One, a Cecil, Dark Knight, The Darkness Crystal, Triple Triad and Zell Dincht. Some interesting stuff!

I am thinking that I will build a Commander deck around Lightning, Army of One. The Stagger ability could definitely lead to some interesting negotiations at the table.

All in all, I’m pleased with my 1-0-2 record but I do still wish that the boys had been here. Magic is all about the gathering as so many say and I missed our chats during deck building and between games. It is a new era here at Family Magic.