Well, the Pre-Release Primer will probably cover the brush-up on deck-construction basics. My guess is that mana-management will be key for success, and thus near-excessive mana-fixing couple with a couple of finishers will probably see you right. Just keep it simple and enjoy.

Depending on your local scene, drafting may want more reading up on current archetypes/ratings - not something I'm a good source for - to avoid getting blown-out in round 1 with what seemed a half-way reasonable deck, as there are some not-unfeasible deck plans which are generally effective knocking about based on the synergies currently running through the sets. If there are some serious gamers knocking about, they'll probably be all over those and so cobble together mostrosities which you wouldn't really see coming without having played a lot more than I have...

Thus sayeth one who hath only been ticking over with Pre-Release play for a few years now...

Yeah, I threw a couple emails back and forth with the tournament director, asking him every question short of "what decks will everyone be playing?" I've been brushing up on my drafting basics and doing some practice with the websites I've found; mana base is still my biggest problem, and will probably get me slaughtered in the event, but the whole thing is mostly for experience, not because I think I'll win. If I place high enough to get prize packs, I will walk away pleasantly surprised.

Although 5-colour decks may well be viable, I'd guess trying to limit to 3 colours (2 colours would probably not be a great shout in the current environment) will probably do wonders for the mana-base. Don't underestimate the land-cyclers, and make sure you have at least the 16 lands - probably better to err towards 17 or 18 lands, since the format is quite slow at present (fairly heavy on the 3-4 cost and upwards, not much in the way of weenie-aggro which can be reliably put together) - especially in Sealed Deck. Alara Reborn's only going to slow the tempo further, since there's no 0- or 1-costs in the set.

Agreed on all counts. My current plan was to stick to just one shard (probably Esper, to get the removal of U and the bombs of B, and W life+ doesn't hurt) but leave my options open with artifacts and multilands for the splash colors. Since Reborn is all-gold, I don't want to miss out on a good card just because I don't have the mana for it. Conversely, depending on how the second pack goes, I might draft for a Domain deck, trying for a five-color aggro setup, but something tells me that won't fly very well in draft and I'll get beat down before I can even get all five out on the table.

You'll probably get a lot of competition for Esper cards, since I think that's one fo the most popular shards to force at the moment. Might be worth considering something like Bant or Jund, so that you can use the green mana-fixing to help splashes a little more -although that may be my Invasion experience talking a little.

See how the first couple of picks go. If you're getting a green light on Esper, go with it, but don't be afraid to cut and run. Equally, don't compromise your deck for one awesome Alara Reborn card - no deck is worth one card, especially when it can't be played reliably...

If you go Esper, coloured artifacts will be your friend though...

The Prerelease was a bust for me. I played the sealed instead of draft, which is what I really wanted to anyway, but got a really bad pool. I ended up playing Esper, which I really didn't want to do but didn't think any of my other colors were strong enough. I got creamed 2-0 in my first round (not surprising) then got my control game on to go 1-1 in the second and third rounds with no time left for a tiebreaker. My MVP was definitely Etherwrought Page, which took me to a win with 34 life in the second round and brought me back from 27 life to 1 to win it in the third. That'll teach them to play with no removal >=) I had to pull out after round 3 just because I had stuff to do. I got my shiny, so I was happy. Just wish I could have gotten this weekend off so I could do the launch party, too.

Anyway, here's pretty close to what I ended up playing with:

Basically I got some kind of good colors in my SOA packs, then good cards in completely different colors in ALA. I only realized afterward that I had at least the basics of a strong Jund deck, but in my testing it wouldn't have done a whole lot better than what I had anyway.