Planeswalkers

Link to article: EoE Pre-Release

I've never gone to a pre-release event, but am considering going to this one. Not sure what it is, but this set is calling me.
Anyone been to a recent pre-release event? How did it go? Would you recommend?

Never been to one myself- torn between the interest factor of getting involved in paper and the "but that costs money!" factor of, well, getting involved in paper.

That aside though Warp looks like something with a lot of potential for interesting shenanigans.

Malvastor wrote: Sat Jul 19, 2025 4:16 am Never been to one myself- torn between the interest factor of getting involved in paper and the "but that costs money!" factor of, well, getting involved in paper.

That aside though Warp looks like something with a lot of potential for interesting shenanigans.

I think it really all depends on whether you have steady access to a decent play group or not. There have been places I've lived where I was a part of 3-4 different play groups, so I was constantly playing and would usually carry at least one deck with me pretty much wherever I went. I had no problem with dropping a fairly large chunk of my "spare" money each month on cards, because I always got a lot of fun out of it in return. Now though, I live in a tiny town that's mostly elderly people, and even if I drive like 30 minutes to the next town over there's just not a good scene out here... there are two LGSs that I can reasonably drive to, one of which was full of cholos who were mostly speaking Spanish (no comprehendo), and the other had a bunch of very weird sexual tension between everyone there... might just have to start up my own spot

But yeah, I haven't had a chance to deep dive the new mechanics yet, but at a quick glance it looks like this set is gonna provide a lot of interesting mechanics in. It seems like artifact token decks are gonna be insane.

Kurt wrote: Sun Jul 20, 2025 1:51 am

Malvastor wrote: Sat Jul 19, 2025 4:16 am Never been to one myself- torn between the interest factor of getting involved in paper and the "but that costs money!" factor of, well, getting involved in paper.

That aside though Warp looks like something with a lot of potential for interesting shenanigans.

I think it really all depends on whether you have steady access to a decent play group or not. There have been places I've lived where I was a part of 3-4 different play groups, so I was constantly playing and would usually carry at least one deck with me pretty much wherever I went. I had no problem with dropping a fairly large chunk of my "spare" money each month on cards, because I always got a lot of fun out of it in return. Now though, I live in a tiny town that's mostly elderly people, and even if I drive like 30 minutes to the next town over there's just not a good scene out here... there are two LGSs that I can reasonably drive to, one of which was full of cholos who were mostly speaking Spanish (no comprehendo), and the other had a bunch of very weird sexual tension between everyone there... might just have to start up my own spot

Yeah, that's the bigger obstacle for me. No in-person play group, and I'm in a decent sized town but don't really have the time to put into finding a new one.

Kurt wrote: But yeah, I haven't had a chance to deep dive the new mechanics yet, but at a quick glance it looks like this set is gonna provide a lot of interesting mechanics in. It seems like artifact token decks are gonna be insane.

I foresee a lot of raging about stuff getting fully stationed way faster than you'd expect to be possible.

Pre-releases can be fun. Lots of anticipation and eager excitement energy among most of the participants. You might introduce some newb to how rules work or what a particular mechanic means. You might sit down across a try hard with a mean deck or a girl with a knack for sussing out your plans before you do. You may run into people from strange (to you) walks of life. That is part of the fun imho. There will be moments where you are registering the deck and wondering if you built it right. You can rebuild it later anyway but that uncertainty is pretty much a common theme in every set.

Ofc whether it runs smoothly or is a large train wreck can depend a lot of the local TO and their assistants but you having read the spoilers before hand and armed with years of experience will probably not notice the difference until you report your wins/losses and find out that WotC's event software is acting weird (again). I'd say it is 100% worth it if you have disposable $$ and enjoy opening packs. Even if you lose every game in every event you will leave feeling good imho.

Welp, I think you've talked me into it WW...
I did some searching around and discovered a LGS that I didn't realize was there until now, and it actually looks like a pretty chill place. Depending on how tired I am on Friday, imma try to swing out there for some FNM to feel things out before the pre-release on Saturday. Wish me luck!

Now to spend the whole week on DraftSim learning every single card in the set so I can be decent at the event

Good luck! If I had the spare disposable income I'd definitely still do them.

Winter.Wolf wrote: Fri Jul 25, 2025 3:20 am Good luck! If I had the spare disposable income I'd definitely still do them.

Damn... I literally sat on my bed to take my shoes off so I could shower before going to this LGS (I like to stand out) and woke up like 4 hours later. Guess I've been pushing myself a bit too hard. Oh well... imma still make it over there and check it out at some point. I think imma tune up my Obzedat, Ghost Council EDH deck and check out commander EDH Mondays