Events

Back to Phyrexia, where Elesh Norn and her biomechanical minions are making their all out final(?) assault on the annoyingly imperfect forces of nature.  A strike team of the surviving Mirran Resistance  comprising of planeswalkers Elsbeth, Jac, Tyvar and Nahiri, plunge themselves straight in to the heart of the infected perfection of the conquerors, but is one member of the group already bringing the infection with them?

[Store owner’s note…since I already cracked/opened my packs for the event…can’t really do that while helping peeps at the store, I have an idea of how good the set is.  Gotta say, this is one of the more exciting ones in a while.  I’m really looking forward to playing w/y’all!)

 

 

Events:

 

• 2/3 Friday 6:30 PM Sealed
• 2/4  Saturday
  • Sat 10AM Sealed
  • Sat 3PM Two Headed Giant
• 2/5 Sunday
  • Sun 10AM Sealed
  • Sun 3PM Sealed
• 2/10 Friday 7PM Sealed
• 2/11 Saturday
  • Sat 10AM Sealed
  • Sat 3PM Two Headed Giant
• 2/12 Sunday
  • Sun 10AM Sealed
  • Sun 3PM Sealed

This weekend and next, we have a plethora of sealed events using the prerelease kits from the new set. Players can get their boxes of 6 packs to open and get to build their decks starting 1 hour before each event.  Prerelease kits have six 15-card packs, 1 random exclusive promo foil rare or mythic rare from the set, and a special spindown die. We provide the basic lands, so you don’t need anything more to play.  We pride ourselves that no one here will make you feel anything but welcome (we all started from scratch at some point).  

All events are sealed using the prerelease kits.  Make your best decks and win a round, win a pack.   If we have enough players to accommodate both, we will also have competitive prize pools for the 10AM sealed events. (Competitive prize pools mean more chance to win lots of packs if you do very well, but more rounds and the chance to win no prize packs if you don’t. Better for more expert players.)

The prerelease and release events are great chances for players who haven’t gotten a chance to play in person to come to a friendly, fun event where everyone is starting from scratch and no one knows much more than anyone else yet.  We recommend if you are new, or you have a friend who is new, to play in the Two-Headed Giant events, which are two-person team events. So long as one person in the team knows how to play, you can both have fun without any pressure to know the rules right away.

 

New Mechanics include Toxic (mini infect), Corrupted (power ups if your opponent has gotten themselves at least 3 poison counters),  For Phyrexia, equipment that makes its own dudes to attach itself to when it comes in play, and Oil Counters (counters that do stuff depending on the cards…that one is a bit weird, but has some useful effects.  Mechanic coming back for a encore is Proliferate (basically add an extra counter to anything you pick on either player’s side that already has a counter on it.)

 

TOXIC

Can’t you see Phyrexia’s calling? Creatures like these should wear a warning. They’re dangerous, and falling victim to them might have you succumbing to a poisonous fate, no matter what your life total is. Toxic is a new keyword ability found on several Phyrexian creatures in this set, including the terrifying Paladin of Predation.

Any time a creature with toxic deals combat damage to a player, that player gets a number of poison counters equal to the toxic value of that creature. That’s the number after the toxic keyword. These poison counters are handed out in addition to the damage being dealt, so bad news for that player on multiple axes. A player with ten or more poison counters loses the game, but in the next section, we’ll learn that advantages for poisoning your opponents kick in much sooner.

A creature’s toxic value and its power aren’t necessarily connected. If a creature with toxic 6 deals 1 combat damage to an opponent, they’re getting six poison counters. 15 combat damage? Still six poison counters. Toxic doesn’t help if the creature deals combat damage to another creature or a planeswalker.

CORRUPTED

Poison counters have been a long-time favorite for alternate-win conditions, but outside of a few individual cards, it’s mostly been all or nothing. If you couldn’t deliver the tenth poison counter, the first nine didn’t matter much. Corrupted is a new ability word that highlights abilities that make cards stronger if an opponent has three or more poison counters.

Some corrupted abilities, like The Seedcore’s last ability, are activated. If you have a corrupted opponent, you can activate the ability, and if you don’t, you can’t. Other corrupted abilities, such as the last ability of Skrelv’s Hive, are static, and their effects are active as long as an opponent has three or more poison counters. In multiplayer games, you need only one opponent to have three or more poison counters, not all of them.

You’ll also find instants and sorceries with corrupted abilities. Some of these abilities provide additional effects if you have a corrupted opponent as the spell resolves. Others affect what a spell costs or what it can target. Corrupted abilities are flexible, and each card will tell you what specific reward—other than ridiculous fun—handing out those poisoning counters can have.

FOR MIRRODIN!

The Mirrans aren’t quite conceding this fight just yet. For Mirrodin! is a new triggered ability found on some Equipment cards that come complete (not the other spelling) with their own wielder.

The Equipment enters the battlefield unattached like other Equipment. If for some reason it leaves the battlefield before the triggered ability resolves, you’ll still create the Rebel creature token, although they’ll be sadly empty-handed. Equipment with For Mirrodin! behaves just like other Equipment. You can use the equip ability to attach such an Equipment onto another creature you control.

OIL COUNTERS

Although oil counters aren’t a keyword ability, and they have no inherent rules meaning, they play a key role in Phyrexia’s operation. Some cards, such as Urabrask’s Forge, put oil counters on themselves and then use those counters for various effects.

Other cards care about how many permanents you control with oil counters on them. Still others move oil counters around. Things get slippery very, very quickly.

PROLIFERATE

Proliferate is a featured returning keyword action in this set, and it’s no surprise: there are oil counters, poison counters, and wouldn’t it be great if there were more of them? Any time you’re instructed to proliferate, you choose any number of players or permanents that already have counters on them. For each one, and for each kind of counter it has, add another one.

For example, if you control a creature with a +1/+1 counter and an oil counter on it, and you chose it while proliferating, it would end up with two +1/+1 counters and two oil counters. If you and your opponent each controlled a planeswalker, you could choose yours to get another loyalty counter while not choosing theirs to do the same. If you controlled a creature with a +1/+1 counter and a stun counter (a counter you might not want to add another of), you have a choice: add one of each kind of counter it has or add nothing.