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This is a one-week release event league to celebrate the online release of the Visions expansion. Originally released in 1997, Visions was Magic's tenth expansion set, and the second of the Mirage block, between Mirage and Weatherlight. This league will include one Mirage tournament pack and three Visions boosters. All participants will receive a Nekrataal avatar, and all participants who finish with a 5-0 record will receive a Chronatog avatar. Now, I should mention that, though I was playing Magic when Visions first came out, it was just after high school, so I didn't get to play as much as I used to. And the Internet wasn't as widespread as it is today. As a result, I have very limited knowledge of what Mirage and Visions are like in Limited formats. All I know is that red is really good, and everyone hates Kaervek's Torch, and Frenetic Efreet is hard to deal with. So, that said, let's open up my packs and see what I have to work with. WHITE
BLUE
BLACK
RED
GREEN
MULTICOLOR
ARTIFACT
Okay, a regular Vampiric Tutor sells for about $17-$18 online. The only foil one I saw for sale was selling for $40. So I have a major, major rare. Tithe isn't bad either. The other rares are kinda eh. But let's see what we can work out as far as a deck is concerned. My first thought is black and red. But do I have enough playable cards to support that? Let's see... Actually, wait. I see a few good blue things. Let's give this a shot... 5 Island
1 Breezekeeper
1 Enfeeblement
The mana here is going to be ug-ly. Let's see what happens. I have a black/red deck on the back burner in case things go wrong here. I won the first match 2-1. The first game I won, I won thanks to Vampiric Tutoring for Kaervek's Torch, then hitting the opponent with that and Fireblast. The second game I won, I think my opponent had big mana troubles. I think I can afford to take the blue out. It's helpful - I've been thankful for Sapphire Charm more than once - but not completely helpful. Let's try the black/red version. 6 Mountain
1 Crypt Cobra
1 Enfeeblement
That version lost 0-2. No Chronatog for me. I think I'm trying to be too fancy, sacrificing more creatures in favor of creature boosters like Wicked Reward and Grave Servitude. Let's take those out. I'll also ditch the Patagia Golem and Shadow Guildmage in favor of larger things. 7 Mountain
1 Crypt Cobra
1 Enfeeblement
I won that match 2-1. Not too shabby. I think I'll keep that version for awhile, though I'm considering removing the Suq'Ata Assassin and Crypt Cobra. As fun as poison is, I haven't even come close to winning that way yet. I can probably remove those in favor of larger things. Though Crypt Cobra is a 3/3 creature, which is sizeable, and Suq'Ata Assassin does have fear. I'll leave them for now, I guess. MATCHES PLAYED: 3
Well, I got my ass handed to me in two straight matches, by scores of 1-2 and 0-2. Then I played a tiebreaker, which I just barely won 2-1. In fact, my opponent could have defeated me, but I guess didn't realize it (I almost missed it myself), or was afraid of the card I had in my hand. That card, Vampiric Tutor, wouldn't have saved me from death, but it did let me find my Kaervek's Torch and win on the next turn. Anyway, the tiebreaker points push me up from a forty-way tie for 147th place into a nine-way tie for 107th, the difference being that 107th is worth a pack of Visions and 147th is worth nothing. So now I have to wait for prizes to be handed out on Thursday. Here's my final standings: MATCHES PLAYED: 6
The league is over, and I finished in 117th place. That's normally good for a single pack, but I forgot that this was a release event league, so the prizes were doubled. So I got two packs of Visions. Let's open them, shall we? Quirion Ranger
Well, that's interesting. Let's see what's in the second pack. Giant Caterpillar
Neat. Coersion is in Ninth Edition, so I can use it in standard decks. So there we go. My journey through Mirage and Visions is complete, though in retrospect, I probably should have held onto those packs and used them in the inevitable Weatherlight release event league. Oh well. MATCHES PLAYED: 6
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