~
Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,
At midnight, Wizards of the Coast upload all new Gatecrash cards to Gatherer, the Magic: the Gathering database. If you are a MTG player who has been brewing up decklists for a while, then you know just indispensable this searchable databse is. For a round-up of frequently asked questions as to some of the finer points on how to search for a card or a series of cards given your query, then check out the Gatherer FAQ page here.
Why are we yattering on about Gatherer just right now? That's a good question. Going into the Gatecrash PreRelease weekend (in just a few very short days), we like to pop onto the database and begin to evaluate some of the cards we would likely see in a sealed pool. Basically, one could count on seeing a good spread of commons in your pool and this is essentially the foundation upon which you will build your prerelease success. So, for this reason, as we already know which Guild Pack we will have reserved for us at the store, we'll look to evaluate all commons that could possibly advance our cause.
Oddly enough, from on on-line poll of over 500 mtg fans attending this weekend, there appears to be very little difference in popularity compared to the prerelease for Return to Ravnica. In order of choice, Simic (127 votes), Orzhov (107), Boros (105), Gruul (99) and Dimir (68). Each of the Guilds have their very own tech to contribute - we think only after this weekend will we be able to determine which one may be more suited to a sealed format. You may recall that Selesnya (at least from all we heard) performed slightly better than the others, who knows where the guilds stand at the end of the weekend.
~