It was the worst of times and the slightly better of times. Waking up two weekends ago, I noticed there was something magical in the crisp winter air. It was eerily reminiscent of another early morning weekend last September. Where had I felt this feeling before? It was like manna was about to fall from the heavens above, showering myself, and countless others, with those things which our hearts desired most… Oh yeah, it was waiting in line to get my hands on Scars of Mirrodin. And yet there I was, swallowing my pride, breaking my promises, and my owning up to tsundere feelings, by once again waiting in line to register for another Magic: The Gathering pre-release tournament, this time for Mirrodin Besieged.

“This time it would be different,” I swore to myself as I watched countless fellow Magic players sneaking in rounds of EDH before the tournament officially began. And, oh how right I would be. Already we had selected our various sides and now we were waiting for the glorious “faction” packs.

You see the Mirrodin Besieged pre-release was to work differently than the Scars pre-release event. While still a sealed style tournament, your six boosters were divided between three packs of Scars of Mirrodin and three special themed booster packs of Mirrodin Besieged. Following the storyline of the set, the players in the tournament had to select upon entry to either play for Phyrexia or the Mirran. If you choose Phyrexia the three boosters of Mirrodin Besieged you received contained only cards marked with the Phyrexian water mark. Conversely, if you choose to defend the Mirran your boosters contained only Mirran cards. It was a nifty gimmick indeed, one which many players there enjoyed. Each side proceeded to claim their own unique Promo-card and boosters and the tournament was underway.

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