Battle for Zendikar at Experience Point

I decided to attend a different location than usual for a prerelease today, I just didn't have it in my to travel far, and from what I could find out most of the other stores were full up on their events anyway. So I headed to Experience Point in the Hollywood district, they are a hole in the wall, with room for twenty people and no more, which actually meant that the event was about the size I got used to running back at my shop! It felt very familiar, but not in a bad way.

Nice crowd, I played and chatted with close to half the attendees and everyone was very open and friendly, and I had no problems with sportsmanship or anything like that, the event was as well run as it needed to be, but if it was much bigger they would need to keep a closer eye on the players when matches get to time.

Prize support was nice, everyone got something and it was pretty good stuff, packs mostly, but a few other pieces of product, including some cool playmats for the top eight, I finished 3-2 for ninth place, and missed the best stuff but still ended up with a few packs.

They have been operating for about three years and seem to be doing well, I chatted with one of the owners for a bit and they are hoping to expand in the nearish future, I hope they can manage it as size of shop is really a limiting factor for them. They do seem to be doing everything right though and I think they'll be a fixture for a while.

The set itself is good, Battle for Zendikar has been something I have been looking forward to for a while and it is looking like it is going to have a major impact on all formats of play. I ended up with a white/green ally deck that ended the game with a few big scary monsters, and it worked out pretty nicely for me when I actually drew the mana. Cards that surprised me where the feature lands, there is one for every color, they come into play tapped, and they have an enter the battlefield effect that is honestly quite powerful, anything from buffing your creatures to tapping down your opponents, to filtering your deck for more lands, I got a lot of use out of the four I played in my deck and I think these commons might be able to find some room in standard as well, they come into play tapped, but the effects are really good and probably worth it, I'll play them in EDH for sure.

I didn't get any of the promo expedition lands, which saddened me, but I did get the new version of Gideon, and he pretty much pays for the tournament by himself at the moment, so I can't complain.

Now to wait for release day when I can get my boxes.