Gatecrash Pre-Release! *5-1 5th*

Hello Everyone!

I just got back from the Gatecrash Midnight Pre-Release at Larry's, and it was pretty awesome! I ultimately decided to go Gruul because I felt like it would have the most consistent and robust game plan, which is exactly as it played out. Here's the deck I played:

Wasteland Viper
Skinbrand Goblin
Disciple of the Old Ways
2x Warmind Infantry
2x Slaughterhorn
Crocanura
Scorchwalker
Zhur-Taa Swine
Rust Scarab
Wrecking Ogre
Ripscale Predator
Foundry Champion
Rubblehulk

Burst of Strength
Mugging
Madcap Skills
Pit Fight
Prophetic Prism
Boros Keyrune
Act of Treason
Clan Defiance

7x Forest
9x Mountain
Gruul Guildgate

Notable SB:
Naturalize
2x Gruul Charm

The other rares I opened but didn't play were High Priest of Penance, Biomass Mutation, and Signal the Clans. Overall I didn't think my deck was too great, but it managed to do just enough for me as I finished in 5th place with a 5-1 record in the Swiss. I played against Boros 3 times, Gruul 2 times, and Dimir once with my only loss coming to a Boros player.

Obviously after seeing how Gruul played out and watching other matches, my opinions changed on a lot of things. For starters, Gruul is completely non-interactive, and it's fairly boring to play. All you have to do is make sure you won't die on the swing back and you just attack as aggressively as you can every turn and hope to win. No thinking required. On a related note, Wrecking Ogre is not a fair card! Using that card I hit my opponents for 22, 18, and 16. Wrecking Ogre gives you so many free wins you otherwise didn't deserve it's grotesque.

One card that I had 2 of in the maindeck orginally but consistently felt underwhelming was Ember Beast. I realized that with cards like Mugging (very good!) and other removal spells he actually did nothing a majority of the time. Gruul usually attacks with one big creature every turn like the Abyss whereas Boros has the haste creatures to make Ember Beast more consistent.

Overall I had a great time at the pre-release and won 8 packs for my troubles. I haven't drafted yet, but I can imagine Gruul being an increbly good archaetype because it has so many free wins when you catch your opponent with their pants down.

That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack