Here is my deck, my "functional sideboard" (the cards I actually used -- I had more cards sleeved that I never brought in), and the rest of my card pool.
I ended up going to white-black vampires on the strength of two Legion Lieutenants -- they both came out of my last pack (one is foil), so that probably influenced my decision a bit. It's pretty easy to splash in this format (Evolving Wilds, Traveler's Amulet), so I made sure to fit Huatli in. This also gave me access to two Hunt the Weak. There aren't any real "snowballing" value cards in this deck, but getting a couple vampires with flying and the Lieutenant makes it very hard for the opponent to race. So I had good removal, but my deck was really best at taking advantage of the early game.
After looking at the cards a bit more, I think maybe I should have been using red -- maybe in a Naya (white-red-green) dinosaurs build with white as the splash for Huatli and Luminous Bonds. My red and green both have a lot of double-costed cards (XRR or XGG), so the mana would have been trickier. In general, my rares were neither amazing nor focused. I think Form of the Dinosaur has potential to be amazing. It can gain a bunch of life if cast at the right time, but fighting an opponent's creature each turn (mandatory) can be both excellent and dangerous. Emperor's Vanguard can grow out of control but only if the opponent isn't blocking, and Path of Discovery looks too slow to me. Dire Fleet Daredevil seems more like a Constructed card -- in Limited, it is either a good 2-drop or a 2-for-1 as a late drop (casting a removal spell if you're lucky). Induced Amnesia and Fleet Swallower are barely playable.
Grand Prix Houston in 2 weeks is Limited with Sealed as the first-day format, so this prerelease was a good practice round.
How did the games go?
Round 1 vs. K.
K was on Grixis (blue-black-red) Pirates, with some high quality pirates like Admiral Beckett Brass, Dire Fleet Neckbreaker, and Protean Raider. He isn't a polished player (casting offensive instants before combat, for example), but he was doing well enough and I wasn't playing at my best. He started game 1 with the unblockable 1-drop followed by Curious Obsession to get a quick edge. Second game I took him down with the help of Huatli despite the fact that I was doing her +1 ability wrong -- it adds 1 loyalty as its cost and then more for the number of creatures you control as it resolves, and I was forgetting to add the first counter. Third game we both got stuck on 3 lands, and his low drops ended up being slightly more effective than mine. Loss, 1-2.
Round 2 vs. D.
D was playing Naya with some dinosaurs but not very focused. His prerelease promo was Tendershoot Dryad, which is the very definition of a snowballing bomb rare that you have to beat quickly or get buried in value. It usually results in City's Blessing in the first couple turns it's out, and then it's making a 3/3 Saproling token every player's turn. He was able to play it both games. I was fortunate to keep drawing my Legion Lieutenants in this match, and I won a close first game and then a comeback second game with Huatli on the field. In the winning turn, I had 2 Lieutenants and Huatli pumping my 3/1 Vampire Revenant to 9/7. Win, 2-0.
Round 3 vs. E.
E is D's wife, and she had somehow also opened Tendershoot Dryad as her promo. She played blue-green Merfolk. Both games I went a little aggressive and paid the price. In game 1, I had mulliganed to 6 on the play, so I was behind the 8-ball from the beginning. She eventually played the Dryad, and after I couldn't remove it for a couple turns, it was over. In the second game I curved into Huatli and had very good threats, but she ambushed me with a Wind Strider (3/3 flash flyer) that completely turned the game around. Then she got the Dryad out and I just didn't have the right removal for it. I think I might have had a shot at this game if I had played less aggressively and tried to keep ticking Huatli up for her ultimate instead of attacking, or if I had simply chosen a different target for the minus ability. In any case, I really needed removal for the Dryad, and it wasn't there. Loss, 0-2.
Round 4 bye.
So overall I was 3-4 with a 1-2 match record. That's not horrible, and all the games were very competitive. I feel pretty good about the deck I built, and while there were a few cases that I perhaps chose the wrong play, it was a really a deck that required very tight play because it lacked cards that offer more than a 1-for-1. I might have been able to play only 16 lands with my low curve and Traveler's Amulet, but having 3 colors made that seem dangerous. I occasionally lacked the right colors as it was (it was surprising how often both my Forests ended up in play). In two games on the draw, I did go down to 16 lands without being much punished. One thing I was sorely missing was a mana sink -- in the late turns, my land draws were not useful at all.
Huatli is a strange planeswalker because there are a lot of turns where she does nothing but add loyalty, making her seem less busted than many planeswalker cards. But with a few creatures out, she piles up loyalty fast and it isn't out of the question for her to ultimate on her second or third turn and survive to do more. Her +1 ability then becomes a potent lifegain spell and opponents have to decide whether to try to fight her or ignore her.
I never drew Sadistic Skymarcher, a card I think could have run away with some games (a curve of Lieutenant, Skymarcher, Hunt the Weak seems almost unbeatable).
As for dollar value, the prices of cards at release are always higher than they end up several weeks later, so this should be taken with a grain of salt:
Huatli is about $8 and Dire Fleet Daredevil is about $6 (I expect this to drop as people realize that it isn't close to as good as Snapcaster Mage, the most obvious comparison). The foil Legion Lieutenant is about $6 also, and that might keep most of its value due to Commander interest. Field of Ruin has snuck up to $1.50 as it sees more Modern play. Path of Discovery and promo Induced Amnesia are near $1. I don't expect non-foil Path to keep its value after people obtain them for their Commander decks. Walk the Plank, Kitesail Freebooter, foil Plains, and normal Legion Lieutenant are all between 50 cents and $1, and the other rares are bulk (Form of the Dinosaur seems like an awesome casual card until you realize that it's terrible in Commander -- its best bet is to be used in weird combos taking advantage of the life-setting ability). Overall, the current non-bulk value is about $26, which is pretty good for a prerelease. My long-term expectation is it loses at least half that (with Huatli, foil Lieutenant, and Field of Ruin retaining the most value).
Thanks for reading!
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