2007-08 Precon Championships: Make Your Predictions!

Greetings and welcome to the first prediction thread for the 2007-2008 Preconstructed Championships! As has become an Ertai’s Lament tradition, we’re running the Prediction League alongside the Championships to give you, the reader, a chance to test your predictive skills in a field of preconstructed combat. On the line is fame, glory, and- perhaps best of all- fabulous prizes!

This season we’ve more than doubled the size of the war chest the winner will be walking away with. Whomever has the most points at the end of the competition will be scoring a copy of Duel Decks: Sorin vs Tibalt, a Dragon’s Maze Fat Pack, a surprise Theme Deck from the ’70-’08 season, and a $30 gift certificate to Jimi’s Magic superstore, Mind Games, Ltd. A rich reward for a hard-fought battle!

As is custom, we’ve divided the contestants randomly into the four divisions of the two conferences, and as always we begin with the Rosewater Conference’s uppermost division, the Nagle.

For this first week of matches, we’ll be looking at Games 1, 2, and 3- all of the exciting opening-round action. Then next week we’ll play out the remaining three matches to declare a winner for the Nagle Division, before moving on to the next. Because there were only twenty-six precon decks printed in this season, we have a few byes sprinkled about. As a result, there will be a few less matches to predict, making each one you do have even more crucial!

If you’re looking to participate in our Prediction League for your shot at the prize package, all you need to do is reply to this thread and let us know who you think will win the three games coming up this weekend. We’ll accept predictions right up to when the first-round results are posted, which will be some time this Sunday. To help you in your decisions, here’s a brief look at this week’s contenders.

Elvish Predation

Colours: Black, Green

Set: Lorwyn

Rares: Immaculate Magistrate, Nath of the Gilt-Leaf

Detail: Although the Elves are one of the game’s most popular tribes, we found ourselves a little underwhelmed by this two-colour construction. There was tremendous tribal synergy going on, but a lot of bookkeeping and on-board complexity made games sometimes feel a bit like math homework. That said, these games aren’t won on fun factor but on power and consistency, and Elvish Predation has no shortage of either. (Reviews: deck, play)

Elves

Colours: Green

Set: Duel Decks: Elves vs Goblins

Rares: Ambush Commander, Allosaurus Rider, Slate of Ancestry, Voice of the Woods

Detail: What do you get when you mix cards from the first tribal block (Onslaught) in with those of the second (Lorwyn)? With a larger pool of cards to choose from, this inaugural Duel Decks release was a harbinger of the successes to come. Although it lacks access to Black for pinpoint lethality, it packs in twice as many rare cards to make up for it. (Reviews: deck, play)

Arcanis’s Guile

Colours: Blue

Set: Tenth Edition

Rares: Arcanis the Omnipotent, Denizen of the Deep

Detail: The Core Set decks tend to be something of a joker in the deck every Championship. Although of humbler origins than the other, more flashy options, there seems to be a Cinderella story in at least one of them that’s good for a round or two. Will this be the year we see a breakout performance? Guile is a mono-Blue deck with plenty of control, heavy card drawing, and some fat closers- will it be enough? (Reviews: not available)

Sidestep

Colours: Blue, Red

Set: Eventide

Rares: Dominus of Fealty, Mindwrack Liege

Detail: An aggressive deck packed with lots of nifty tricks, Sidestep excels at throwing curveballs at an opponent. Whether it be surprise evasion, creature thieving, or power/toughness tricks, nothing is quite what it seems! (Reviews: not available)

Aura Mastery

Colours: White, Blue

Set: Shadowmoor

Rares: Thistledown Liege, Twilight Shepherd

Detail: Although we frequently see a “grow-your-own-beater” deck in the Championships that relies on auras to make mundane creatures into forces to be reckoned with, Aura Mastery takes this one step further by making auras and enchantments of all kinds its central theme. The strength of auras has long been tempered by its susceptibility to removal, but in the removal-light preconstructed environment anything goes! (Reviews: not available)

Evincar’s Tyrrany

Colours: Black

Set: Tenth Edition

Rares: Ascendant Evincar, Mortivore

Detail: This deck has a little bit of everything that we identify with the colour Black, from kill spells to discard effects and- yes- to somewhat inefficient creatures that try and offset their cost with evasion or utility. Crovax was a force to be feared both before and after the curse took hold of him, will this deck do him justice? (Reviews: not available)

Warrior’s Code

Colours: Red, Green

Set: Morningtide

Rares: Boldwyn Heavyweights, Unstoppable Ash

Detail: Where Lorwyn went race tribal, Morningtide added the new dimension of class! This deck packs in Warriors and the cards that love them, we found it strong on synergy if a bit weak in the burn department. (Reviews: deck, play)

And there you have it! Seven decks enter, and by this Sunday three of them will have fallen in battle. Don’t forget to leave your predictions in the comments below, and perhaps some comments explaining your choices if you’d like. Best of luck to all!