It’s been a pretty quiet week in the Magic world with most everyone focused on the rotating Standard environment and preparations for Pro Tour Theros which takes place in just under two weeks in Dublin. We’ll take a look at some more reports coming out of GP Detroit, go over plenty of feedback from Theros pre-releases, and check out a few set reviews now that Theros is fully released to the public consumer.

Grand Prix Detroit

Before we get into the new and exciting world of Theros, let’s take one last look at GP Detroit through the lens of some tournament reports. First we have Owen Turtenwald’s 16th place report [Owen’s a Win] in which he pilots a Jund deck featuring Chandra, Pyromaster, aka Anthony Lowry’s favorite card. Last but not least we come to Josh Mcclain (not John McClane) and his first overall tournament report [Channel Fireball]. Josh is a mid-west native who previously finished 2nd at Grand Prix Miami, losing out to Reid Duke, earlier this year. He decided to run Melira-pod in Detroit and with help from Matt Nass and Sam Pardee’s deckbuilding was able to take down the whole event. Congratulations to Josh on his victory.

Theros Pre-Release Reports

Plenty of writers had a lot to say about the Theros pre-release experience this week. Frank Skarren piloted a B/G deck featuring Polukranos, World Eater [StarCity Games]. He wasn’t too happy about people getting to play their pre-release promos though. Our own Zach Barash was kind enough to also share his opinions on the format [Drawing Live]. Matt Higgs participated in a pre-release in a place he’d never played before and had a great time piloting a R/G deck to a 4-2 finish [StarCity Games]. He also couldn’t release tagging some new Standard brews to his report, but who can? The fun continues as Nassim Ketita walks you through his prerelease pool which he went undefeated with [Gathering Magic]. Adam Barnello brings us another undefeated pool with the revelation that Annul isn’t as good as Naturalize [Recurring Nightmares].

Tired of reading? Inside the Deck has a video report of their pre-release from Cool Stuff Games in Florida [Gathering Magic].

Looking for some pro-perspective reports? Here’s one from Carrie Oliver who highly underestimated Aqueous Form [Channel Fireball]. If you read Zach and Hunter’s review of the commons for limited you would know they were high on this card. Vindication! PVDDR chimes in with his report for Theros including some sage advice to read the set FAQ before you play it [Channel Fireball]. Of course, some writers, even pros, prefer to have a much more casual experience at the pre-release. One of these folks is Travis Woo who sat down for some good old two-headed-giant shenanigans [Woo Brews].

Please share some of your pre-release experiences in the comments below!

Theros Set Reviews

The internet is now teeming with Theros set reviews. Here is a rundown of various reviews so you can check them all out:

The Quick Hits

  • Darwin Kastle takes an in-depth look at the mechanics of Theros [Gathering Magic]
  • Chris Mascioli breaks down the Pro Tour Dragon’s Maze finishes based on invitation method [Gathering Magic]
  • Walking the Planes heads to WotC HQ and checks out the Community Cup [Magic Arcana]
  • The Battle of the Blocks for EDH continues with Invasion going head-to-head with Scars of Mirrodin [StarCity Games]
  • Heather Lafferty inteviews StarCity Games writer and internet persona Drew Levin [Gamer Boy, Gamer Girl]
  • Cube returns to MTGO and will be available until the end of this week [Magic Arcana]
  • Grand Prix team event payouts have been increased [Daily MTG]
  • MJ Scott discovers some previously unseen Pete Venters promo pieces [Gathering Magic]
  • Craig Wescoe makes some financial predictions for Theros [TCGPlayer]
  • Clayton Adams breaks down the top-10 topless men from Theros [From the Sideboard]
  • Blake Rasumussen makes eight top-five lists for Theros [Gathering Magic]

Wallpaper of the Week

Boy do I love a nice piece of non-basic land artwork for my desktop. I was in love with City of Brass’s new art from Modern Masters, and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, doesn’t disappoint either. I’ve definitely been enjoying the astrology-related themes in Theros’s artwork. The night-sky scene on Nykthos is stunning, and compliments the ancient altar aflame quite well in my opinion. I’m glad to get to look at this for the next week before undoubtedly going back to a character-focused piece of art.

Grade: A

The Week Ahead

The Grand Prix Circuit returns next weekend with two events on the schedule. First up, planeswalkers in Brisbane, Australia will sling Modern for the first time with Theros in the mix. We’ll get a look at what impact, if any, the newest set will have on the format. This event is brought to you by Top Deck Events, and is the first ever Modern Grand Prix hosted in Australia. Exciting! Next, more than twelve hours later if my timezone arithmetic is correct, the first Theros limited Grand Prix will kickoff in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, here in the states, brought to you by Legion Events. They will be providing a pretty sweet Liliana vs. Elspeth playmat. Hopefully Wizards has learned their lessons from Detroit and there will be better coverage in OKC.

What We Learned is a weekly feature here at Hipsters of the Coast written by former amateur Magic Player Rich Stein, who came really close to making day two of a Grand Prix on several occasions. Each week we will take a look at the past seven days of major events, big news items, and community happenings so that you can keep up-to-date on all the latest and greatest Magic: the Gathering community news.

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