[Community Discussion]: The official Dragons of Tarkir prerelease/release discussion
Limited forum
Posted on March 18, 2015, 10:36 p.m. by Epochalyptik
The DTK prerelease is this weekend, and the release is the weekend after! This Community Discussion will serve as the official DTK prerelease/release thread.
Feel free to discuss what you'll be playing, strategize about the best colors to pick, or give a report on how your event went!
For the last 4 (I think... I may have lost count) pre-releases, I have taken LSV's ratings for the cards and run a number of calculations to 'predict' the clan/color, etc that will do the best.
So far it's been accurate every time (For the first place, and top 8's for my LGS).
Unfortunately, LSV has not yet released all of his ratings. He has only done 
LINK, 
LINK, and 
LINK.
So far, I can tell you that Silumgar is sitting slightly ahead of Ojutai. - being in both, and being slightly better than .
When I'm done, some time after he releases 
on Friday (
is tomorrow), I will post the total results and conclusions I come to.
March 18, 2015 10:56 p.m.
You guys are so calculating, I'm just trying to decide which brood would be the most fun to play with.
March 18, 2015 11:05 p.m.
That's why I'm doing 2x pre-releases... 1 for fun, 1 for the challenge.
March 18, 2015 11:33 p.m.
MrCheeseOnToast says... #6
I'm just gonna play bant because why the hell not, right?
March 18, 2015 11:46 p.m.
lol so that means you will choose Ojutai? I'm still sold on Silumgar being the strongest. Dat removal
March 19, 2015 12:28 a.m.
I'm somewhere between the red die and the golden die.
Just not doing both
March 19, 2015 5:19 a.m.
I want the golden die and the purple die. My prerelease luck sucks eggs, so I might as well get some nice plastic chunks.
March 19, 2015 5:39 a.m.
I think that with all the megamorphs running around, Dromoka will be best suited for prerelease. I am personally going with Atarka, as I enjoy the playstyle more.
March 19, 2015 5:51 a.m.
Give me fire; then... a cool new die for my mono-Red dragons.
firebreathing the points down, hopefully with the multiplier
March 19, 2015 6:26 a.m.
mathimus55 says... #12
I'm really torn. Dromoka seems pretty consistent throughout with plenty of early, mid and late game plays. Blue seems really weak compared to the last 2 sets, so I have kinda ruled silumgar out an probably ojutai too. Kolaghan seems like it can win before your opponent gets set up with a good pool and the exploit from black makes the Act of Treason effects almost worth it. Atarka I probably my 3rd choice, but I really don't know. Anything but silumgar at this point
March 19, 2015 7:30 a.m.
I'm going Kolaghan. I'm comfortable in RB, and I think B has the strongest card pool anyway. Add some burn and aggression, and bam, you gotta deck.
also purple die
March 19, 2015 7:40 a.m.
my friend would love having the purple die.
we both might open/play again at the same table at the start.
that would be weird coincidence if we both decide to go to the same location. well why wouldn't we?
not that I care so much for the promos, yet hoping to knock down and rack up the points. Red may bring the luck with my 'bowling' skills?
March 19, 2015 7:48 a.m.
Updating my original post (response #2 on this page)...
With the addition of to LSV's ratings (LINK), I have them currently in the order of:
1 - Silumgar 5.0199
2 - Kolaghan 4.9346
3 - Ojutai 4.7869
? (unfinished) - Atarka 2.4432
? (unfinished) - Dromoka 2.2585
Tomorrow, when LSV posts , I can update with a final list... Though this still will not include Gold card, which could adjust the scores.
Unfortunately, he likely won't have those posted until after the pre-release.
March 19, 2015 12:01 p.m.
Hjaltrohir says... #16
I am going Ojutai, although it really doesn't matter which you choose as you only get the seeded in your clan's color. Whichever clan you choose could do fine if you get a decent deck together.
March 19, 2015 1:57 p.m.
AngryBearTony says... #17
I first picked Atarka after seeing the spoilers, then had second thoughts, carefully reconsidered, and decided to Dromoka. Now, after seeing how potent looks, I am thinking of Silumgar or going off-kilter Orzhov.
March 19, 2015 5:48 p.m.
Pre-release I'm picking Kolaghan, because spindown die. Release day FNM will be Relentless Rush intro x2, because Dash. Looking forward to this!
March 19, 2015 6:26 p.m.
I'm gonna have to choose between dromoka and atarka this weekend. I love green, and white and red are about equal in my eyes. Overall, though, I like a lot of the red cards in DTK more than the white ones, so it might be atarka time.
March 20, 2015 1:08 a.m.
Further update from my posts (#2 and #14 on this page)
With the addition of to LSV's ratings (LINK), I have them currently in the order of:
1 - Silumgar 5.0199
2 - Kolaghan 4.9346
3 - Ojutai 4.7869
4 - Atarka 4.5199
5 - Dromoka 4.3352
The issue here was that, while had some good bomb rares, the commons and uncommons needed to support the color tend to be way less playable.
This makes green a possible splash, but even then, many of the bombs require 2x .
There were a few cards that LSV specifically stated were a little better in Sealed than Draft (his ratings are for 'Limited' in general), but even raising the rating of those cards a little didn't change the Brood order.
There is still the Gold/Artifact/Land, which should be posted later today, but I suspect they will have little effect. - Though it is possible for Kolaghan to be pushed above Silumgar.
All of that said, I still don't think I'll be going with Silumgar. - Extort is powerful, but is only good in limited quantity. Using 2 colors with the mechanic may be too much. I'd rather use is with weenies, or with aggro/dash... both of those use creatures that can out-live their usefulness quickly.
March 20, 2015 8:28 a.m.
...of course, I meant Exploit, not Extort.
Though Extort was good. I'd play it in this set. - Warriors with Extort would be a thing if it were around.
March 20, 2015 8:47 a.m.
JexInfinite says... #22
White is definitely the best colour. Both green and blue are good supports. Don't play red, it's kind of crap. Black is only good if you get a good pool, but never force it.
I'm going Ojutai, but you can justify Dromoka.
March 20, 2015 9:53 a.m.
Actually, the best color is , then , then , then , then (by a large margin) .
Again, this is using the ratings by LSV. - I think he may have made a few mistakes in evaluating , but even adjusting for those cards, it's still far behind.
March 20, 2015 10:12 a.m.
Souljacker says... #24
JexInfinite, what do you base that on? I'd think Red is pretty good, with removal at common and uncommon and also with both aggressive and bigger creatures. Same goes for black, only less late game creatures good not a lot of bad cards.
Green however, has a lot of unplayables if you ask me, so that makes the color more dependent on a good pool.
March 20, 2015 10:14 a.m.
Yea I think G us the weakest color for this prerelease, even with the Fate Reforged pack. I definitely don't think red is bad though
March 20, 2015 10:27 a.m.
Hjaltrohir says... #27
March 20, 2015 1 p.m.
mathimus55 says... #28
I always take what LSV says with a grain of salt regarding limited. He would rather force blue than play a wide open any other color. A bit of a homer if you will for anything blue. He's still brilliant but sometimes you need to dock some of his ratings. I think blue is a little bomb dependent, Kolaghan probably is too weak in the late game, but I really like the removal to keep stuff moving forward for you. I'm not doing a prerelease until Sunday so I'm hoping to keep my options open and get some feedback.
March 20, 2015 1:15 p.m.
Rasta_Viking29 says... #29
If I remember correctly Ari Lax had and as the best colors and as the worst main color but a great support color.
March 20, 2015 1:32 p.m.
Souljacker says... #30
Yeah seems accurate, too bad there's no izzet brood.
March 20, 2015 2:48 p.m.
You are in your right to believe that one fairly good card that will often be played around makes up for having a lot of unplayable and/or pretty bad common and uncommon cards.
I however, will play colors that have a more solid base... As Rasta_Viking29 also points out, those colors are // (order may vary, but all 3 are close)
I'll be going with Kolaghan on Saturday and Silumgar on day Sunday.
If they are unavailable for some reason, Ojutai is my next pick, followed by Atarka, then Dromoka.
March 20, 2015 4:31 p.m.
It's interesting to see the difference between the calculations based off of LSV's rating, and what PVDDR laid out in his article yesterday.
http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/the-complete-guide-to-the-dragons-of-tarkir-prerelease/
His rankings go like this:
5 - Dromoka
4 - Ojutai
big drop
3 - Kolaghan
2 - Silumgar
1 - Atarka
He's pretty high on Black and Red, and very down on White.
I'm not really sure what I'm going to play... This will be an interesting one.
March 20, 2015 7:15 p.m.
JexInfinite says... #34
White is definitely the best colour. The commons, uncommons, and rares are all great.
Black is an alright support colour, but you really need to get a good pool for it to be viable.
Blue is a great support colour with lots of tempo plays and when combined with White, you can have a strong pool even without a bomb rare.
Green is also a good support colour. Dromoka and Ojutai are powerful tribes.
Red really doesn't do much. The cards themselves look alright, but compared to the other tribes, Atarka and Kolaghan feel very pool reliant.
March 20, 2015 8:23 p.m.
SoPringles says... #35
I didn't think Berserkers' Onslaught would be half as good as it was, with 2 in my pool and a Magmatic Chasm I could usually just end the game on turn 6.
Went in hoping to play Dromoka and some big dumb dragons and ended up with a low to the ground G/R deck that topped at 5cmc and didn't interact with anyone.
March 20, 2015 9:56 p.m.
I could see that card being strong In limited for sure. Getting ready to go partake in our first launch on a couple hours. Stoked for this Silumgar pool
March 20, 2015 10:08 p.m.
To be honest.... all of the colors lack any real bombs in the common or uncommon slots, with the exception of . This means regardless of what you pick your going to be pretty pool dependent. Either you need to open bomb rares in your colors or you need a deck that just synergies well. I really like / Kolaghan. Both colors have solid removal options at common and uncommon so you should have ways to interact with your opponents board and potential bombs. I also feel like the typical aggressive nature of /, especially with both colors having dash, will be one way to get underneath your opponents bombs and deal considerable damage as they prepare for the late game.
I'm also of the opinion that this will be a slower environment like Khans sealed. There is less mana fixing available, forcing more 2 color decks. That means instead of playing the best 22 or 23 cards in your pool like in Khans, you'll be playing your best 10-15 cards and filling out your deck with what's left in those colors. I think this will lead to less powerful decks (especially without all of the giant morph creatures) and cause games to go a little longer as it just naturally takes longer for people to finish off their opponent. Also there are obviously lots of dragons and most have a CMC of 5+ so you'll need to play 17-19 land in your deck to get there like you did in Khans. Also, like Khans, morph naturally slows the environment down because it forces you to spend 2 turns on one card. So I think this will actually be a similar sealed environment to what Khans was, with a slight power reduction. Like I said, there will be less color fixing. Which will limit your bombs to what colors you have other playable cards in and not as much on what colors you have mana fixing for.
March 21, 2015 12:27 a.m.
KillDatBUG says... #38
Silumgar's brood is the best one of the five, and it's for a couple of reasons.
Reason one: Individual card quality is very high among the commons/uncommons, compared to the others. The order for card quality in my opinion is > > > > , which includes the rares/mythic rares.
Reason two: The seeded pack is much better than any of the others, because every single rare in the seeded pack is excellent for Silumgar, with the "worst" being Risen Executioner. Atarka's rares and Kolgahan's rares are runner ups.
Reason three: For the most part, I believe that the format got a fair bit slower with the addition of Megamorphs and other expensive spells/creatures. For that kind of game, a control/midrange deck is better than an aggro deck most of the time.
I haven't played in any prerelease events yet, but this is what I'm wagering. If anyone would like to talk about a point I brought up, let me know.
March 21, 2015 1:30 a.m.
JexInfinite says... #39
Honestly, if you're going a clan with U or W, you're going to do well.
It just comes down to how well you play with your pool.
March 21, 2015 2 a.m.
JaceArveduin says... #40
Yeah... I got hosed tonight, only playable rares being my promo Lava-Pot and Atarka's Command.
I ended up with a G/R Formidable deck, and it basically came down to "Did my opponent let me keep my board-state and/or drop a bomb." My 0-4 record says I'm either a complete baddie or the latter happened. Alot. No fliers, no reach, and I still managed to take a game off a guy that had both Silumgars....
March 21, 2015 7:21 a.m.
Rasta_Viking29 says... #41
Formidable is the best Limited mechanic/keyword in my opinion. It was ridiculously easy to obtain for me. I don't really think any of the clans were any better than the others in Sealed. If you go all in on Dash you're going to lose. Exploit seemed better than I thought, my opponents seemed to get value from it.
I went 4-0 ending up in Atarka. My promo Harbinger of the Hunt was the only on-color playable rare in a pool with plenty of playables but only a couple lower level bombs. I'll post my list later.
March 21, 2015 7:55 a.m.
Hootiequack says... #42
I'll agree that things seemed really balanced. The decks I saw that made top 8: my silumgar deck with tons of removal, early exploit spells and big demons and dragons to finish; dromoka warrior aggro with huge quick damage; Jund control (out of kolaghan) with efficient creatures like mardu strike leader and just all kinds of removal. His mvp was Collected Company. If you see this card in your pool you play it; and bant flyers/tempo (out of ojutai).
My main takeaways were that black has the best removal and enough good creatures to be one of your colors and that Collected Company is outrageous in this format.
March 21, 2015 10:43 a.m.
I picked Dromoka and went 3-1 (only losing to Atarka in the end after powering through some Kolaghan ranks). I'm going purple-die on Sunday since I never get a good pool if that's what I'm trying to game. I was a little disappointed at how lemony-yellow my gold die was. Bowling for dragons was fun, though. The high score of the night I think was 24. I managed 14, so I got the promo Dragonlord's Servant (what I wanted.)
March 21, 2015 11:45 a.m.
Hjaltrohir says... #44
Is ojutai or atarka the better pack? I don't really see a way to deal with Dragonlord Atarka and if you can't beat em, join em, but I really want to play Ojutai, thoughts?
March 21, 2015 12:31 p.m.
The elder dragons are not the only promos, so they are not guaranteed pulls.
March 21, 2015 12:33 p.m.
Hjaltrohir says... #46
I know but at least someone will get an atarka and if I get one then Im sorted against that player, I'll trade atarkas any day Korombos
March 21, 2015 12:37 p.m.
Went Esper, went 4-3, was one of 4 Joes playing and accidentally "dropped" instead of another Joe. I was fucking pissed, I was in 3rd place.
On the plus side, traded for a Force of Will and pulled every non-Narset card that I wanted from DTK. Still annoyed though.
March 21, 2015 1:14 p.m.
I chose Silumgar only for the chance of zombie mythic for my edh deck. Pulled a Dragonlord Silumgar and proceeded to win 3 of 4 matches on the backs of the 2/5 snake and other people's bombs. It was amazing. Really made me want to build a u/b control deck, I never have before. Also, after the tournament I traded for the Risen Executioner and Sidisi, Undead Vizier... EDH wish list completed, so a great pre-release!
I think 3 of the top 4 were u/b decks.
March 21, 2015 1:25 p.m.
golffore297 says... #49
I built a disgusting Ojutai fliers deck. Myth Realized is better in limited than I expected it to be, it was the one match I almost lost. Ojutai's Command didn't impress me as much as I would have liked. I went 4-0-1 because we decided to split first since it was around 5:15 in the morning. All around an interesting format, didn't feel as slow as Fate Reforged and Khans of Tarkir, looking forward to seeing how the set drafts.
March 21, 2015 1:26 p.m.
There were limited amounts at the store so everyone had to choose favorites. Mine were:
1st Ojutai 2nd Silumgar 3rd Kolaghan
Was unlucky, got Kolaghan and was really unlucky with the packs. Almost no playable creatures and almost all at very high mana costs. So I played 3 colors, got mana screwed all the time and ended up 1-4. Still better than FRF where I went 1-3 with 1 bye since I actually won against someone.
Since it was only my 2nd prerelease (and sealed draft) I feel my performance was ok, but I think with a little more luck in the packs I could've done better.
bigguy99 says... #2
RG or UW are probably the best after seeing the spoilers. GW is likely going to be strong as well. I can't see UB being too good.
March 18, 2015 10:45 p.m.