Whispers from the Maze pre-releases begin today! I just finished prepping for my pre-release weekend, and I thought it would be worth sharing my first impressions of the limited format. Disclaimer: I haven’t played with the cards at all outside of a game each with the Axiom and Ordis demo decks on BGA. This is all purely my speculation. Check back next week to see what I got right and what I missed!...
The Altered booth at opening hours I flew into Boston from 5/8 to 5/11 for PAX East, primarily for Altered. The event was an absolute blast - thanks to Equinox and the PAX team for going all-out to make this a special weekend! Highlights Getting to play Altered for four days straight. Winning the oversized The Stage (R) Lyra card from Whispers from the Maze in a draft finals that went to double tiebreakers....
The draft I started with a P1p1 Icebound Peak (F) out of a pretty underwhelming pack. P1p2 was a Haven Seiringar (C), generically strong for its low cost and card draw. The first card to set me down the Auraq path. I branched into Lyra with Will-o’-the-Wisp (R) as the strongest rare in the pack, an effective 4/4/4 on D1 with some mid-game awkwardnesses. I wasn’t thrilled with anything I was seeing, so I grabbed another Lyra card, then a Heimdall (R)....
The Nilam, Withered Tree (C) is one of the all-stars in Trial by Frost draft thanks to its immediate board presence and long-term value. A single copy gives a limited deck a significant power boost; how much better are three? The draft This was a 6-person Trial by Frost draft. I started with a P1p1 Skadi (R), then was gifted Sigismar & Wingspan by my neighbor. I prioritized strong Ordis and Bravos cards like Mobile Armory (C) and Fire Rabbit (C), but I was willing to pass on several in-faction cards to take the strongest card in each pack, including Lost in the Woods (R) and Demeter (C) as my only Lyra and Muna cards in P1....
This weekend, several local players - some new, some old - got together for a day of in-house Altered drafts. We ended up doing three drafts, two Beyond the Gates and one Trial by Frost. Draft 1 This was a six-person Beyond the Gates draft. The deck went 3-0. The draft I started with Bravos rares for P1p1 and P1p3. P1p2 was Coppélia (F) as a strong 2-drop that’s especially powerful for Treyst or Rin....
This is my first Trial by Frost draft deck. The draft itself was pretty messy, but I came away having learned a lot about the set for limited. The draft This is about on par with an average common, but I'll take any unique! I started the draft with a solid Ebenezer Scrooge (U), passing on Fen & Crowbar. I took it mainly because it was a unique, but I was also happy to bias towards Ordis with in hopes of picking up Sigismar & Wingspan as a hero....
Today I participated in a 6-player Beyond the Gates draft. I witnessed some pretty wild things, including a player who was virtually mono-Ordis, a Treyst with every from-reserve ability under the sun, and an honest-to-goodness Lyra Festival win. The draft I didn’t have flashy options for my P1p1, but I was happy to start with a Paper Herald (F) as a strong, cheap play that gets better out of Fen. The Sandman (R) was an easy choice as the strongest card in P1p2 that shared a faction with my P1p1....
The draft For P1p1, I considered A Cappella Training (C) and Teamwork Training (R) but landed on Inari (F) for its efficient stats. I snap-picked Flamel (R) as the strongest card in P1p2 since its tempo-neutral resource advantage has impressed me in previous drafts. A P1p3 Amelia Earheart (R) had me leaning towards Axiom while a Kraken’s Wrath (R) pushed me into Yzmir due to how much better it gets against Sigismar and Kojo....
This weekend, I got to be part of a four-player draft. I expected slightly less synergy than in a pod of eight due to seeing fewer cards overall. With fewer drafters, finding an open faction would have an even greater payoff. The draft P1p1 was a tough choice between Kojo & Booda and a Brassbug Hive (R). Kojo & Booda is probably the stronger pick, but I thought the Brassbug Hive (R) would be a more fun card to build around, and it can absolutely win the game on its own if it’s not answered....
I was very impressed when I took Arjun & Spike for a spin in constructed. Being aware of their key synergies made me more receptive to the idea of pivoting into a 3-drop-centric deck when I saw them late in P1. The end result far surpassed my expectations and has me wondering if they’re a stronger hero than Sigismar & Wingspan, albeit less generically powerful. The draft A P1p1 The Sandman (F) made it very easy to start in Ordis, and a P1p2 Baba Yaga (F) did nothing to change my course....