My local game store, Fantasium Comics and Games, hosted four Kaladesh prereleases, and they were a blast. I judged one and played in another, and from those and the others I bring you some of the first successful tales of Kaladesh Limited as you prepare for your first drafts with energy, Vehicles, and all the rest.

To get all the prereleases in, Fantasium caps them at four rounds regardless of how many players were in it. All prereleases in this article had at least 30 players.

Midnight in a Perfect World

Store regular and frequent Commander sparring partner Adam Morrison went a perfect 4-0 with some R/G beats. He would have lost his first round, except his opponent conceded and dropped at the conclusion of the match (midnight prereleases are prone to people quitting to get sleep). Still, the deck clearly had something going for it, given that Adam lost no other games. Here's his deck:

R/G Aggro ? Kaladesh Sealed| Adam Morrison, 3-1 Kaladesh Prerelease

• Creatures (13)
• 1 Architect of the Untamed
• 1 Bristling Hydra
• 1 Cultivator of Blades
• 1 Maulfist Doorbuster
• 1 Multiform Wonder
• 1 Reckless Fireweaver
• 1 Sage of Shaila's Claim
• 1 Wild Wanderer
• 2 Thriving Rhino
• 3 Thriving Grubs

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Nissa, Vital Force

• Spells (9)
• 1 Nature's Way
• 2 Hunt the Weak
• 2 Larger Than Life
• 1 Fleetwheel Cruiser
• 3 Woodweaver's Puzzleknot

• Lands (17)
• 10 Forest
• 7 Mountain

Buy This Deck

Everybody's still working out whether Vehicles should take creature or spell slots. Here, there's only one Vehicle, and there's an abundance of pump and fight spells. The surprise is the abundance of Woodweaver's Puzzleknots, which only provide life and energy. But the deck has tons of uses for energy, largely in the form of +1/+1 counters, and that makes the Puzzleknots something of a Cradle of Vitality with less commitment. Adam was high on the Puzzleknots, telling me they were "an Allstar with Bristling Hydra," and he was also impressed with the Thriving cycle; given that he had five of them and loads of energy, that makes perfect sense to me. Fleetwheel Cruiser also got the Adam Seal of Approval (Seal of Fire's lesser-known cousin).

While it's true there are lots of great rares in here, the core is clearly early energy beats from Thriving Grubs and Thriving Rhino. And one thing we can glean from this deck is that energy makes the Thriving creatures good in multiples, contrary to how they might read. It's easy to read them and assume they'll be competing for a limited energy supply, but it's more accurate to read them as fueling each other, or ones that have died giving extra energy to future ones. Timberland Guide was plenty playable in Avacyn Restored Limited as a small creature whose +1/+1 counter gave pseudo-hasty impact, and the Thriving cycle is bigger and more versatile than Timberland Guide.

I Talk to the Win

Andrew Early-Griffith had never, as far as I know, been to the store, but my wife and I had played him and his wife at a Two-Headed Giant event last year, so I recognized him and knew him to be a tough player. Winning the prerelease I judged Saturday morning reinforced that notion. Here's what he played:

U/G Energy ?Kaladesh Sealed | Andrew Early-Griffith, Kaladesh Prerelease

• Creatures (12)
• 1 Kujar Seedsculptor
• 1 Long-Finned Skywhale
• 1 Longtusk Cub
• 1 Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter
• 1 Padeem, Consul of Innovation
• 1 Sage of Shaila's Claim
• 1 Snare Thopter
• 1 Thriving Rhino
• 1 Thriving Turtle
• 1 Wind Drake
• 2 Empyreal Voyager

• Spells (12)
• 2 Revolutionary Rebuff
• 1 Confiscation Coup
• 1 Shrewd Negotiation
• 1 Tezzeret's Ambition
• 2 Hunt the Weak
• 1 Era of Innovation
• 1 Ballista Charger
• 1 Fleetwheel Cruiser
• 1 Sky Skiff
• 1 Woodweaver's Puzzleknot

• Lands (16)
• 7 Island
• 8 Forest
• 1 Botanical Sanctum

Buy This Deck

This deck strikes me as less synergistic and more of a normal good-stuff deck, with the key being how many angles of attack it has depending on its hand. There are several flyers, some tempo counterspells, some card draw, serviceable combat tricks, and multiple steal effects. Shrewd Negotiation and Confiscation Coup got Andrew's praises, and in the finals he faced another deck with Shrewd Negotiation. Like Adam, Andrew enjoyed Fleetwheel Cruiser, calling Vehicles "super-duper strong" overall and saying that the Cruiser did "tons of work." I thought the two Empyreal Voyagers would be super-duper strong, but he wasn't as high on them; they were good, but their abilities meant they were prime candidates for removal, and they're not durable enough to survive being picked on.

One of the keys to Andrew's deck was making good cutting decisions. Andrew had a second Ballista Charger in his pool, but curve matters in the format too much to work with it. Era of Innovation was the same for him, where one definitely was the right amount rather than the two total he had in his pool. Format speed is one of the biggest reasons finicky cards don't see Limited play, and non-creature energy and Vehicle cards can be a little finicky. That balance will be important to understand as our comprehension of Kaladesh Limited improves.

Call on Me, R & D...

As is his custom, Rob Schuster, who was my next-cubicle neighbor in my Wizards stint and now is in R&D, spellslung at Fantasium during a prerelease. I'm always interested in what R&D thinks, especially when they're on the brew-heavy side like Rob is. Here is his deck, which he called "gross":

R/W Vehicles ? Kaladesh Sealed | Robert Schuster, Kaladesh Prerelease

• Creatures (16)
• 1 Aerial Responder
• 1 Aviary Mechanic
• 1 Bastion Mastodon
• 1 Depala, Pilot Exemplar
• 1 Eager Construct
• 1 Foundry Inspector
• 1 Gearshift Ace
• 1 Ninth Bridge Patrol
• 1 Propeller Pioneer
• 1 Ruinous Gremlin
• 1 Salivating Gremlins
• 1 Thriving Grubs
• 1 Toolcraft Exemplar
• 1 Veteran Motorist
• 2 Glint-Sleeve Artisan

• Spells (7)
• 1 Built to Last
• 2 Revoke Privileges
• 1 Cultivator's Caravan
• 1 Ovalchase Dragster
• 2 Sky Skiff

• Lands (17)
• 8 Mountain
• 8 Plains
• 1 Inventors' Fair

Buy This Deck

Rob informed after the event that R/W has a hard time coming together, in part because Red's artifact matters theme creates a natural tension on Red and artifact cards fighting for slots — a bit like the metalcraft cards that weren't themselves artifacts. Depala, Pilot Exemplar dissolves that tension, tying Dwarves and Vehicles together and keeping the deck drawing gas (see what I did there?). While this is the first deck I've listed not to have Fleetwheel Cruiser, Cultivator's Caravan and Ovalchase Dragster are plenty good, and multiple Sky Skiffs do the job when there are cards like Gearshift Ace and Veteran Motorist to crew them.

I assume this kind of deck comes together better in Draft, where an early pick of Depala, Pilot Exemplar enables prioritizing Vehicles. That might not hold up, given that every drafter can play Vehicles — it might be that Depala usually has a mediocre car lot at the end of the draft. (Whenever you pay X into Depala's trigger, I strongly encourage you to say "See if I car.") But when the deck comes together, it should be one of the most aggressive and fun decks available.

Natasha Lewis Harrington's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast (NLHLSTP)

Gathering Magic writer and Limited fiend Natasha Lewis Harrington suffered her first match loss of the Saturday evening prerelease in the finals with a Vehicle-less deck:

U/W Control ?Kaladesh Sealed | Natasha Lewis Harrington, Kaladesh Prerelease

• Creatures (11)
• 1 Aviary Mechanic
• 1 Bastion Mastodon
• 1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
• 1 Propeller Pioneer
• 1 Thriving Ibex
• 1 Vedalken Blademaster
• 1 Wind Drake
• 2 Aether Theorist
• 2 Dukhara Peafowl

• Spells (13)
• 1 Built to Last
• 1 Disappearing Act
• 1 Select for Inspection
• 2 Skywhaler's Shot
• 1 Aether Tradewinds
• 1 Confiscation Coup
• 1 Fumigate
• 1 Era of Innovation
• 1 Malfunction
• 1 Aetherworks Marvel
• 1 Cogworker's Puzzleknot
• 1 Decoction Module

• Lands (16)
• 7 Plains
• 8 Island
• 1 Aether Hub

Buy This Deck

Once again, Confiscation Coup makes an important appearance, as this deck's natural win conditions seem mediocre compared to the other decks. Cataclysmic Gearhulk looks like the win condition, but Natasha said it underperformed. What overperformed for her was Aether Theorist, whose scry proved invaluable. This deck certainly seems like the best shell for it, where bounce and counterspells and hard removal (two Skywhaler's Shots and Fumigate seem fantastic) allow for Aether Theorist's copious scrying to take over the game. I didn't get any feedback on Aetherworks Marvel, but being able to find Cataclysmic Gearhulk, Fumigate, and Confiscation Coup gives a nice variety of situational awesomeness.

I think this deck takes someone of Natasha's skill to run well; I don't think I could run so few creatures and make it work. It is awesome to know a deck of this type can work in a format where even the non-creature spells are creatures sometimes.

Ask Me

Like Natasha, I went 3-1 in the evening prerelease with what turned out to be a slick and sick deck. In games I was 0-2 against Demon of Dark Schemes (that card is every kind of busted) and 7-1 against everything else:

Bant Baan ? Kaladesh Sealed | Brandon Isleib, Kaladesh Prerelease

• Creatures (15)
• 1 Aerial Responder
• 1 Arborback Stomper
• 1 Architect of the Untamed
• 1 Glint-Sleeve Artisan
• 1 Longtusk Cub
• 1 Master Trinketeer
• 1 Ninth Bridge Patrol
• 1 Peema Outrider
• 1 Propeller Pioneer
• 1 Servant of the Conduit
• 1 Thriving Ibex
• 2 Fairgrounds Warden
• 2 Narnam Cobra

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Dovin Baan

• Spells (7)
• 2 Impeccable Timing
• 1 Attune with Aether
• 1 Fragmentize
• 1 Ballista Charger
• 1 Fleetwheel Cruiser
• 1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship

• Lands (17)
• 1 Island
• 7 Forest
• 8 Plains
• 1 Aether Hub

Buy This Deck

Generally, when I won, it was through a couple of means:

• Big Green dudes (Arborback Stomper is fantastic) backed by going just wide enough;
• A fine collection of Vehicles; and
• Dovin Baan's emblem (I got it twice).

Dovin Baan definitely was worth the splash. On the first game I got his emblem, it was because Servant of the Conduit enabled a third-turn Dovin. Because Dovin's plus ability shrinks a creature, he's incredible early and only okay late; getting him out ahead of curve means it is very hard to cast enough creatures to take him down.

As much as anything, the two Fairgrounds Wardens were key to my success. Kaladesh isn't drowning in removal, so choosing to kill Fairgrounds Warden requires not only using a full card but also not using it on a win condition.

Fleetwheel Cruiser was great for me, breaking open the clogged board states G/W can create. Skysovereign, Consul Flagship (my promo foil!) played very well; I didn't crew it as often as I thought I would, but it still did plenty of work. I did sideboard out Skysovereign and Ballista Charger in my final round, as I was facing a U/W control deck with seemingly endless Malfunctions and Aether Meltdowns; against that deck, I brought in a second Fragmentize and an Appetite for the Unnatural in place of those two Vehicles. That was the right call — and my opponent agreed with me after the match — for a few reasons: first, there were so many Auras to get rid of that I had to do something extra in the non-creature slots; second, those Auras were making it difficult to crew Vehicles; and third, since my opponent had seen those Vehicles in the first game, there was a good chance the fear of them would make him hesitant in his removal while I kill him with Thriving Ibex and friends. Over the course of Kaladesh Limited, I recommend understanding now that sometimes it will be right to take out your Vehicles — it feels wrong when you do it because you see the power and toughness and get all dreamy, but your opponent's preparing for those cards while you do something else will get you some wins.

Perhaps most importantly, however, in round three I tapped both Narnam Cobras to crew Skysovereign, Consul Flagship, thus making snakes on a plane. I cannot tell you how happy this made me.

Conclusion

There are loads of other random things to think about in this very fun format. Everybody seemed to have a great time, and I didn't hear any complaints about a card, mechanic, or color being underpowered or overpowered. I expect I will want to draft this as often as possible. What are your thoughts?