If you are a Magic pro, or a brand new player, the pre-release will be an amazing experience to attend. Not only will you be able to play with never before released cards, you will be on equal footing with everyone else in the room!

Now there are a few things that one needs to know about the pre-release. The first is the pre-release pack. Every player gets to choose a different pre-release pack. There are five total, one of each color. Hidden inside, is a super special “seeded” booster, loaded with more cards of a certain color. How do you know which color is in the pack? Simple! The pre-release pack indicates the color!

When you get your kit, the judge will tell everyone they can start building. When that happens, rip open your packs. Inside you will find 3 Theros Packs, 2 FLASHY Born of the Gods Packs, a SUPER SPECIAL SPECTACULAR SPECTRAL pack and a sweet Hero Card. (By Spectral we mean clear, but SPECTRAL fits better for the flashiness.) Rip them ceremoniously, smell each card, pay tribute to them and be inspired. Pull out that sweet promo, you know, the foil one with the date on it. Yeah, it looks sweet doesn’t it? Well, we want you to be able to use it. Go ahead, use it like normal! Take a look at what you got and get ready to build a deck.

There are many ways to build a deck. From throwing all the cards into a big pile and adding random lands until your brew is just right, to laying out your cards, seeing what rares are strong. Personally, we recommend a mix of a about 22-24 spells and 16-18 lands. This ratio will allow you to draw your best cards, while having the lands needed to cast them.

Now, let’s say you want to go with a friend. I won’t single anyone out, so I will use my friend Ruric. He wrote for us last week! Now, Ruric literally can not go anywhere without Thar! As a result, all they play is Two-Headed Giant. Ruric and Thar know that the normal way for Two-Headed Giant to be played involves 8 packs. Being members of the Gruul Clans, they do not understand how to find 8 packs out of boxes containing 6. So, to be nice to them, for pre-release, Two-Headed Giant will use two pre-release packs, for a total of 12 packs per team, not just 8. That’s value; in fact, 50% more value!

Have Fun at the Pre-Release and make sure that you do not squander all your devotion and adoration. May the gods lead you on a path! Speaking of paths, make sure you do not leave your hero behind, you will need him on Game Day, when together, you two defend the plane of Theros against the Horde!

For additional information, see this post on the WotC mothership.

Today’s Tournament Tip written by James Arriola