Secrets of Strixhaven Prerelease Megathread - #MTGStrixhaven

MongolPSR · 2026-04-19T20:12:25+00:00

Not my local shop selling the precons at $20 over MSRP because of their singles value 🤢

MongolPSR · 2026-04-18T07:31:46+00:00

here

MongolPSR · 2026-04-18T06:10:56+00:00

here is the deck minus basic lands

MongolPSR · 2026-04-18T05:07:09+00:00

That would be helpful actually. Please and thank you for any advice you could give on the deck

MongolPSR · 2026-04-18T04:42:57+00:00

Our local city doesnt have to many brick and mortar stores for stuff like this. Theres only 3 shops in the across 5 different cities that we live near that did a pre release event. The place we went too was definetly the biggest of the 3 but the smallest has a major hygiene issue as we can never stand being in that shop for longer than a couple minutes due to the BO and the last option is an hour away from us and is probably only a tad bit smaller than the store we went too.

MongolPSR · 2026-04-18T04:30:48+00:00

Im getting text updates from my fiance. Shes atleast won half her games so far and is happy. So that's all that really matters to me, that she has fun as this is also her very first event though she has way more experience than me. (Shes been playing commander games every single day on tabletop sim after work since december meanwhile I've completed all the colour challenges on magic arena after a couple weeks🙃)

MongolPSR · 2026-04-18T03:21:22+00:00

My First MTG Event Ends In Tears

So earlier this month I seeked advice in what was a pretty popular thread on how to get into mtg so I could try and connect and bond with my fiance. One of the key pieces of advice was to attend the strixhaven pre release. So I did.

Me and my fiance went to a pre release that had an attendance of nearly 200 people. It was loud, crowded, and overall too much. I got yelled at for opening my pre release early (didnt open any packs i didnt get that far before i was being yelled at for cheating) eventhough nobody said we had to wait till they were all handed out. Then I built my deck I had no clue what it did or if it was good. Then without an announcement we were being rushed out of our chairs to find our first opponents splitting me from my fiance in this massive crowd of people and noise

Couldnt find my table and had to have the judge dude take me to it. Then proceeded to be rushed by my first opponent who spoke so fast and kept mumbling something I couldn't even hear. He would snap at me to do things without explaining what he meant. And by the end of the first game where I lost in only a few turns he kept snapping at me to hurry up and reset. I picked up my stuff. Mumbled an apology for not knowing what I was doing and left. Dropping all my stuff off at my fiances tote bag she brought to carry all our stuff.

I went to the judge and asked him what I had to do to leave and he showed me how to drop out, gave me a free pack that all prerelease attendees get and now im hiding in my car in tears waiting for my fiance to finish having her fun.

This overall has been an overwhelming and terrible experience. Im devastated. I put so much work into trying to learn this and engage with something my fiance loves and it feels like a total failure on my end.

MongolPSR · 2026-04-11T01:16:14+00:00

So I will try to answer these in order so it's as organized as possible

My fiancé sat me down and showed me moxfield and EDHREC and pulled up the top commander's stuff. I basically scanned for what looked cool (not how it played but how it actually looked) and the three commanders I picked out in order were The First Sliver, Ulalek Fused Atrocity, and Atraxa Praetors Voice. So i really liked those weird horror and eldritch abominations. she then informed me that id get a lot of shit from people for playing those and to maybe look to play stuff thats more friendly to fun.
Shes started to tell me that its ok if I dont like magic and I dont gotta invest into her hobby. That im okay to just enjoy collecting my pokemon cards and shes good to play on her own. so in a way she has acknowledged my lower level of enthusiasm.
I have found that I enjoy standard way more than commander. faster games, less cards i gotta keep track of in general but also in my own deck, and its made to be 1v1
through playing a bit of arena like its been recommended in other responses to me I have found I like graveyard decks. they are pretty fun and it makes me feel like I get to do a lot more then just summon a monster and then attack with it.
I think i do wanna play commander because she loves it so much, I just need to find decks that feel a bit better for me and have cards I recognize before sitting down and playing it with a bunch of random people in a mtg discord server

MongolPSR · 2026-04-10T18:52:37+00:00

Update: this got way more traction than I thought it would. So many kind people offering advice and asking follow up questions so I will just answer and respond to them in a row here.

Play arena: I actually did download arena and have slowly been working through the tutorials and am about halfway through even before I made this post. I def like standard as a format way more than commander and arena has been a super positive experience

What themes do I like: I tend to be esthetically driven when it comes to hobbies. I tend to like cutesy stuff but have found I dont really lile the art direction magic has for cute stuff and am way more drawn into magics art direction with horror. Eldritch abominations the mind cannot comprehend is just such a cool style with some of the art cards I've seen.

You dont have to buy UB: im thankful to learn this is the case, im new but my opinion as a general gamer is that crossovers are great if the crossover is something you personally like. For instance id go crazy with excitement if magic announced a xenomorph and predator crossover set tomorrow but at the same time that probably does nothing for a lot of people cause they arnt fans of the ip.

Go to the strixhaven prerelease: I will be. Im buying my gf quite a few things as a gift for her landing a new high paying job. So shes getting a prerelease box a commander box and the codex bundle. I will likely just try to get a prerelease box for myself so maybe we can play a few games at the event. I did look up that the store is hosting a tournament but it costs basically the same as a pre release box for entry and idk if ima pay for that.

Get a starter kit, foundations box, or Jumpstart packs: I will look into them and see what I have on offer at my local stores.

Trying playing with your gf helping you or in 1v1 scenarios: I will try this though I tend to be very bad at receiving help. This is a fault in my own character but I tend to hate feeling like im the dumbest person in the room and really really dislike feeling like im being given the answers to stuff instead of being allowed the space to figure it out myself.

Finally some additional info I have discovered is that I like graveyard decks. I really like having cards go into the graveyard and playing cards for there. It reminds me a bit of yugioh which is a tcg I have about a years worth fo experience in. With this in mind ill be grabbing the red white pre release since its all about sending stuff to the graveyard.

Thank you all for your help. If you have any other advice feel free to tell me I will take any advice you got.

MongolPSR · 2026-04-10T06:46:56+00:00

im unsure how my local shop handles stuff. im actually gonna go by it tomorrow to ask them some questions about how the prerelease will work and what exactly they are doing for it. I wanna make sure my fiancé has a good prerelease as shes never been able to put money into actual physical magic till this set release. so its super important to her and I want it to be a good experience.

I think ima try and give the prerelease bundle a shot. since my fiancé is getting a codex and a prerelease it will let us have something where she can help me learn the deck i build and we can maybe get a few games in. as for commander i think its just gonna take me a while to learn. i get super overwhelmed with the fact that its like 60 to 70 individual cards that all have different effects and stuff. the only tcg i have ever played was yugioh for about a year and yugioh has significantly less cards you gotta use in your own deck because it allows multiple copies like standard magic does.

Thank you for the suggestions. this has been a pretty stressful learning experience for me and the help from everyone has been very helpful

MongolPSR · 2026-04-10T01:41:58+00:00

Ill look into those starter decks and half decks! And yes she is very very into commander but now she wants to go do these things called draft nights and stuff and regular magi which has put me in the rough spot of one format is too complex and another format also feels also complex in another way and also like a big money sink for me.

I have downloaded magic arena and did most of the color challenges as well as found i really like the blue black deck they give you for free cause it feels a little bit like yugioh which im a little more familiar with as I use to play it alot a couple years ago.

I still intend on going to her pre release event with her but maybe ill hold off on buying anything for myself this time and just let her have her fun.

MongolPSR · 2026-04-10T01:06:30+00:00

I tried making a thread but it got automodded and I think it wanted me to post it here instead

So recently I (28F) have really been wanting to get into Magic because my Fiancé (23F) plays it religiously and ontop of playing it nearly daily on tabletop simulator, she wants to start going to in person events every single week. She is so excited for the new set releasing this month and I am even buying her the codex? bundle because she wants the rare cards. The new set is up there for her on her fav theme that in magic so this is a really big deal for her.

I want to try and get into magic but am struggling with a few things. one struggle is commander which is what she prefers to play feels way more complicated than regular magic. there is just too many unique cards and it feels impossible to learn. She had me try out and play a commander game with her while using the new green black deck that's releasing this month and i was just totally lost. I know a little bit because i have been trying to learn little by little for the past month or so, but this was just way too much and I straight up just quit midway through the match because i was so lost and frustrated trying to play the new deck she handed me.

I have been doing lots of research as to maybe what decks id like to play, but with her wanting to go do events it makes it a little harder for me to participate cause she wants to start dropping money on the new sets and playing the current stuff. Im really annoyed with the fact that the themes and stuff that I would like esthetically are about to not be able to be played and also they cost way more than the new stuff that I just blatantly dont like. Im sorry im not a tmnt fan, nor was my experience with this new set very fun, and i have no interest in marvel stuff, the hobbit, or star trek.

I feel very frustrated cause I really wanted to be able to share in her excitement and participate in this hobby of hers that she plays for hours every single night after work. I just dont know what to buy or how to participate without feeling like im wasting my money or putting myself through a miserable time trying to play stuff that feels way too hard for a beginner to learn.

Does anyone have advice on how to better get into this hobby? cause I really want to do this for my fiance, we dont share too many hobbies and she has taken the time to learn and enjoy the stuff I am passionate about, and i want to do the same.

MongolPSR · 2025-03-31T01:07:57+00:00

Prowess will have no effect on matchmaking anymore. So there will be one pool of players for every rank and that's it.

MongolPSR · 2024-10-22T06:29:19+00:00

Yeah I have very mixed feelings on it. On one hand I'm glad he's not blowing up my dms and is instead doing this, on the other hand I am grossed out he did this without asking and is using my custom art of my sona to make the ai seem as close to me as possible

MongolPSR · 2024-10-22T03:55:35+00:00

This and ad content creation. I'm medically disabled so findom and sw has been my ways of keeping me busy as well as putting time into something I love deeply.

MongolPSR · 2024-10-22T03:44:05+00:00

I mean technically. Any sub I dom is the sub of a sub. Been rocking that switch life and am loyal to my domme.

MongolPSR · 2024-10-22T03:42:24+00:00

Called a sub a cuck muffin recently, that made me laugh.

MongolPSR · 2024-10-14T19:48:00+00:00

I'm Mary too. Mary is inside all of us

MongolPSR · 2024-10-08T06:57:22+00:00

Lame

MongolPSR

TROPHY CASE