Mirrodan Besieged Prerelease - Event Report

=Mirrodan Besieged Prerelease - Event Report
=Wed, Feb 2nd, 2011

I'm happy to report another successful prerelease has been put in the records at Butler, PA. The day started with 23 total players in attendance. Only 6 players batting for the Phyrexians (a surprise), and the other 17 mirran. We preceeded with 5 rounds of swiss with no cut.

Happily, the event went smoothly. The only rules issue I recall fielding was a question concerning a Quicksilver Geyser, with two targets chosen for it - if one of the targets was illegal upon resolution. I ruled that the spell would resolve and do as much as possible, bouncing the remaining target.

When the dust settled and the results were in I found some mixed results. The Phyrexians finished the tournament with 5 players and 51 accumulated match points. The Mirrans finished the tournament with 13 players and 78 accumulated match points. However, 3 of the top 4 were Phyrexians, and all 5 of the finishing phyrexians made top 8.

If one just looks at the top 8, this was clearly a Phyrexian victory. However, if one looks at the whole tournament it looks like a Mirran victory (since they were more popular, and achieved more wins overall). Officially, I am erring on the side of caution and calling this event a draw - The Phyrexians and Mirrans became locked in bloody combat and fought each-other to a stalemate!

One final thing to report. For the Draft I seated players and gave them the following product: 1 Scars, 1 Besieged Mirran, 1 Besieged Phyrexian. My purpose for doing this was to allow for a draft that could support a flexible number of players. I have to report that it was not worth it. After speaking with the players (and looking over their shoulders to see how badly things were going), I discovered that the draft was ... pretty terrible. I immediately promised never to do that again. For the Launch I fully intend to draft release boosters instead of faction packs and recommend this to any other TO.

(P = Phyrexia; M = Mirran)
Top 8 Results:
1. Alex Danner - P
2. Randy Perkins - P
3. Dennis Hindman Jr. - M
4. Craig Gray - P
5. Adam Took - M
6. Mike Tomas - P
7. Mike Bowman - M
8. Tim Hicks - P