Reflections on My Spider-Man Pre-Release Event

October 13, 2025 / Jerome / Leave a comment

There is a lot to catch up on since my last post. So let’s dive without further ado.

Edge of Eternities was the first pre-release that I missed in a very long time. Another weekend-long commitment just made it impossible to catch any of the events (it was still a good weekend!). In the meantime, Christian could not make it because of work commitments and other social events. It was down to Noah to defend the family honour. He did so at a Two-headed Giant event where he and his friend went 3-0.

Edge of Eternities was also the last pre-release that we might have been able to attend together as Noah headed off to university out of town at the end of August. I am proud of him for choosing this path forward but I will admit to being sad, knowing that pre-releases that all three of us could attend will now be fewer and farther apart.

The Spider-Man pre-release was upon us quickly after that. Noah skipped his while Christian again missed out due to work commitments. It was up to me this time so I signed up for a Sunday morning event at my LGS. It is still strange to be there without the boys and weirder to attend an unusually quiet pre-release (Sunday morning effect or uninspiring set? Not sure).

I cracked my packs and laid out my cards as I normally do: By colour and separated into creatures and other spells. I also keep my Rares and Mythics separate to see what might be worth building around.

While I pulled no Mythics in my pool, I found that I had enough arachnids to build a spider-loving Gruul deck. I did not think it was a particularly powerful deck but it seemed to have good synergy. Spider-Punk certainly promised to be fun.

In my first game, I got off a good start by winning my first match. I lost the second. In the third, things started evenly but a mana flood sealed my fate as I could no longer keep up with the growing board across from me. Nonetheless, a fun start to the day.

My second game started with a loss. I managed to win the second after my opponent milled down to four cards but it was still too close for comfort. The third was sealed in my favour by the simple fact that my opponent drew nothing but white mana while holding only black spells. That is not a fun way to lose!

My third game reminded me that not all decks need to be built around spiders despite the name of the set. My opponent built a fun deck full of villains and nary a spider. And I found out the hard way that when you pair The Clone Saga with Mysterio, Master of Illusion, you can crank out a lot of 3/3 tokens! And why not throw in a Vulture, Scheming Scavenger to all of them flying? Two quick games and it was a wrap.

When I got home, Christian asked how I did. “1 and 2,” I told him.
“Ah, your usual then!” he responded with a smirk!

Final Fantasy Pre-Release: A New Era in Magic

June 15, 2025 / Jerome / Leave a comment

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.

Tarkir: Dragonstorm Pre-release recap

April 8, 2025 / Jerome / Leave a comment

You may recall that Aetherdrift did not impress the boys and I. It was another of those sets where some familiar characters were forced into a tropy setting, one that really did not resonate with us. Fortunately, the following set held more promise. And it has finally arrived: Tarkir: Dragonstorm pre-release season is upon us (if only for a week).

Why the excitement? It is the return to a somewhat familiar plane. When the boys and I first got into Magic during Battle for Zendikar, both boys also purchased packs from some previous sets. And two sets in particular were quite popular. And where were these set? Surprise, surprise, they were the Tarkir sets. When Wizards announced the return to Tarkir, there was much rejoicing in this house. As for me, I like that this is a solid set that, like Foundations or Bloomburrow, plays like a traditional Magic set.

Unfortunately, Noah once again had to miss out on Pre-Release, this time because of his participation in the school musical (Footloose this year!). So, Christian and I headed off Saturday morning, chatting about which clan we would choose. Christian was set on Mardu while I settled on Abzan.

My six packs, including the seeded one, pretty much locked me into Abzan. My promo, Revival of the Ancestors, was also an Abzan card (Christian ended up with a Jeskai promo). My blue was weak except for Taigam, Master Opportunist. My Red pulls left me equally uninspired and I stuck to my original plan.

Deck building felt good. I cut blue and red with no hesitation and set to building my Abzan deck. Along with my promo, I threw in Felothar, Dawn of the Abzan (could I play Abzan without its lord?) and Skirmish Rhino as a tribute to the old Siege Rhino. A few dragons and some good removal and I was ready.

My first match was a fairly evenly matched affair. Good fun!

In the first game, my opponent’s deck started a bit faster but I was able to catch up and we traded damage fairly evenly through the first turns, quickly ending up in single digits. Omens proved quite useful for me, helping with mana ramp and card draw. Removal played an important part in both our decks, keeping the creature count low. A string of three lands in a row late in the game changed the tone of the game, leaving me on the backfoot, unable to either remove his creatures or cast new ones of my own to replace those I was losing to his removal. In the end, that run of lands left me with an empty board and no answers to the damage coming in.

Game 2 started more strongly for me, especially after my opponent milled two of his removals, looking through his library for a threat. Again, the omens helped early in the game. While he started on the backfoot, he was able to catch up. Renew helped turn the tides for him, particularly his Qarsi Revenant, along with a few other Deathtouch creatures. We once again found ourselves in low single digits but it was his game in the end.

For my second match, I found myself relegated to the last table of our LGS where I met my next opponent.

I handily won the first game against a 4-colour deck. My opponent claimed to be playing five colours but I never saw a red land. If her strategy was indeed five colours, this first game would have been very frustrating. We talked as we shuffled up for the next game and it sounds like she just ended up with a pretty janky pool that really did not come together. I hate those kinds of days.

Game 2 was another decisive win but not for me. I went deep into the game without any White mana and a full hand of cards calling for White. With little else to cast, I had to discard cards for several turns, frustrated that I otherwise had a solid hand. On her side, my opponent pinged me for at least 1 from her second turn (and later 2 from each creature as counters entered the game). It was enough to whittle me down to the point that even when White showed up, it was too late. She was definitely pleased to pull a win out with her jank.

Fickle luck decided to smile on me again in the third game and everything lined up nicely for a quick win.

Mardu was a popular choice at our LGS and but it was only in my third match that I faced off against it.

The first game went long and was a very close affair. Removal and lifegain helped me weather the token storm. This was a fun game where my opponent kept attacking as “that is the Mardu way.” Qarsi Revenant (again!) certainly made it an interesting game. Using Renew to give another creature a flying counter, a deathtouch counter, and a lifelink counter when it dies is a pretty nasty little trick. Fortunately, between my own flyers and my removal, I was able to win the first game.

Game 2 started with my opponent taking a mulligan. From there, things did not improve for her. Two removal spells ended up in her graveyard shortly after while my own kept her in check. I was able to establish a solid board presence and was able to hit for damage consistently.

One card that really helped contain her threats was Arashin Sunshield, which can tap enemy creatures. I simply used it on her turn to control her biggest threat until I finally was able to permanently remove it. She never really recovered and I won the match 2-0.

It was nice to end 2-1 after the pretty horrid stretch I’ve had in recent pre-releases.

In general, I was pleasantly surprised by the Omen mechanic. I used them early in the games and was lucky enough to have them pop back into my hand a couple of times afterwards allowing me to then use the more expensive creature side. Definitely more flexible than I thought although they may not be as useful in larger decks where there is a smaller chance that they will reappear.

And one last thought. I wish the MTG Companion app would let you see your match history. It was something you could do back in the DCI number days. I would have liked to be able to see my standing before the event closed out.

Anyways, a good set and a fun pre-release…

Aetherdrift Pre-Release Gameplay: Lessons from My Matches

February 9, 2025 / Jerome / Leave a comment

Aetherdrift did not impress me during previews. There was something about this vehicle-heavy race-themed set that just did not connect with me. The story behind it and the new mechanics, Start Your Engines and Exhaust, did not impress me either. But, a pre-release is a pre-release and the best way to discover a new set. I hoped that my first impressions would be proven wrong.

Unusually, Noah could not make the pre-release as he was at a robotics competition all day. So, Christian and I were the only ones to head off (in fact, Noah left the house earlier).

Cracking my six packs revealed a pool that left me wondering what kind of deck I would build. A first glance revealed few clear bombs, aside from The Speed Demon. All my colours were low on creatures, especially, red and blue. Green was strong on creatures but none were absolute or even near bombs. With the heavy reliance on Vehicles and Mounts, a good pool of creatures was key in my mind. I did pull two Verges so not all was lost as I’m a firm believer that good mana is at the heart of all decks. Not that you’d believe that when I decided to go with a 16 land deck.

I ended up with an Orzhov deck (seems to be my colour pair these days) built around The Speed Demon, two Streaking Oilgorgers and flyers like Swiftwing Assailant. There was plenty of removal to hopefully keep me in the game while I built my board.

My first match of the day was against a Simic deck piloted by an actual content creator (Regular_Zach on Twitch if you’re interested). In our first game, I got to see how Exhaust could work. It proved to be a stronger mechanic than I expected, especially as it kept bringing back the pesky Afterburner Expert.

I also found my deck slow to get started (I had a feeling when I built it) and quickly went down in two games. In the second game, I got to hit Max Speed but it was too late to help me deal with a fierce opponent.

My second game was against an old neighbourhood friend of mine. I discovered in our first game that The Last Ride can be a pretty potent threat. But to be, it does need a bit of strategy and willingness to take some risks. Unfortunately, my friend misplayed it causing it to die when it became crewed. It was only upon rereading the card the next turn that we realized that rather than hitting me for 13, it should have died. We agreed to play on and that I would take the win. The match was a long drawn out but fun affair that left us with little time for our next game.

Back to The Last Ride for a moment. For a single , you get a 13/13 legendary artifact vehicle. The downside is that it will die if you crew it when your life is greater than 12. But you can still play it before that and use it for card draw while reducing your life to below 13. The lower your life, the bigger the threat. It really becomes a potent foe when your life is low. If you play with your life as a resource, it can be quite the threat but beware as it also dies easily to removal.

Unfortunately, I lost the second game in extra time and we settled for the draw.

My third game was simply ugly. In both matches, I was quickly overrun by a Boros deck built around cheap mana creatures and Start Your Engines. At Max Speed, those little creatures suddenly became bigger threats. In my first game, I could only manage two lands and that hampered my progress and quickly sealed my fate. In the second, I had the lands but my deck’s slow speed simply could not deal with the aggro tempo.

While I ended at 0-1-2 and near the bottom of the standings, Christian found his groove and went an impressive 3-0, losing none of his games! And he managed that with a Boros deck (a combination that he does not play very often).

As for Noah and his robotics competition, his team was eliminated in the first tournament round after clawing back with three straight wins after two losses in the preliminaries.

Next up for us will be the Tarkir: Dragonstorm pre-release. I’m definitely looking forward to this one.

Note: The feature image is again generated by AI.

Spider-Man and More: Upcoming Marvel Sets in Magic: The Gathering (And my thoughts)

October 19, 2024October 25, 2024 / Jerome / Leave a comment

We’ve known for nearly a year that Marvel superheroes and supervillains were coming to Magic: The Gathering. The partnership between Marvel and Wizards of the Coast was first announced on October 23rd 2023. While there has been sporadic information since then, this week, the taps started to open in a more meaningful way with two major announcements.

First up is a number of new Secret Lair sets collectively announced as the Marvel Superdrop. Five sets were announced, each around a specific superhero: Black Panther, Captain America, Iron Man, Storm, and Wolverine. Each of the sets features one superhero card (a legendary creature), and four spells. There are some great reprints, including a few pricey ones Commander’s Plate in the Iron Man set, Ice Storm in the Storm one, and The Ozolith in the Wolverine set.

For example, the Marvel’s Captain America set comes with the following:

One more – Here is what you’ll find in the Marvel’s Wolverine set:

Wizards has also revealed that the first Marvel set will be focused on Spider-Man. The release date is sometime in 2025. No word yet on exactly when but I’m wondering if it could come out in the summer around the same time as Core sets used to come out. Or could it be in the tail-end of the year, just in time for the holidays? Maybe we’ll find out at MagicCon: Las Vegas at the end of the month.

As you probably know by now, I’m not a fan of Universes Beyond (and don’t get me started on Secret Lair sets). It fundamentally feels weird to me to have a deck where the cards are so thematically different. I cannot see Wolverine lining up next to Ajani or Ruhan. It will always feel strange to me. Granted that Magic sets have ranged quite a bit in this space but they have almost always felt inter-connected into one larger world or universe, especially with Planeswalkers and the stories behind them.

I think that my fundamental issue is with slamming together disparate established universes. It harkens back to cross-overs in comics. Most of these, going as far back as when I was an avid collector, was just how forced some of these were. Anyone remember DC vs. Marvel in the 1990s where they went as far as blending characters (Dark Claw was a blend of Batman and Wolverine for example)? Or Aliens vs Predator or Star Trek and Green Lantern? Some worked but more were just painful in my opinion.

Talking to the boys yesterday as well as in the past, they don’t have the same hang up as I do. Christian actually pointed out something that really made sense: “People don’t like Universes Beyond until there is a set that they like.” And I will confess that Marvel coming to Magic does have me more excited than any other such set before. Count me in for Spider-Man!

Maybe we need a couple of new formats to address this. The first would be inclusive of Universes Beyond sets and the second would focus exclusively on cards not in Universes Beyond. The first would allow you to throw everything in while the second would provide an answer to the purists among us. There will still be sets that will invite debate. For example, where does The Lord of the Rings sets fit? It is one of those sets that thematically slots into Magic better than some other sets we have seen (eg, the recent Outlaws of Thunder Junction). I know that this will be something that will be discussed around our game table.

As always, I invite everyone to chime in with their thoughts.

Easy come, easy go for the monkeys!

April 14, 2024April 14, 2024 / Jerome / Leave a comment

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.

Family Magic

A Canadian family playing Magic: The Gathering and other games (and not all are TCGs)

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