My pre-release went pretty well. There were so many people it took an hour before we could actually get started, but my friends and I were first in line so we got in first. I went Orzhov. Rares I got were the promo card (obviously), Merciless Eviction, Crypt Shade, Glaring Spotlight, Ooze Flux, Illusionist's Bracers, and Aurelia the Warleader! I ran an Orzhov deck splashing Boros guildgate and 2 mountains to use Aurelia and Act of Treason (neither of which I ever ended up using).
ROUND 1:
First game I won using One Thousand Lashes and Extort.
Second game I lost.
Third game I won, again due to One Thousand Lashes and Extort.
ROUND 2:
I lost the first game because of Wojek Halberdiers. I had a Dutiful Thrull out with the mana to regenerate it, but because I thought the Halberdiers had Flying, I wasn't blocking. I'm convinced I lost the game because of that.
Game 2 I had some Spirit tokens and Hold the Gates, and kept attacking and Extorting every turn. Win for me.
Game 3 I won as well. Nothing of note.
ROUND 3:
I was playing another Orzhov deck, so you can guess how this went.
Game 1 the other guy got all his Extort guys out early while I was still setting up, so halfway through the game he was at about 40 life and I was at about 5. He had a combo going with his Vizkopa Guildmage's 2nd ability and animating and attacking with his Orzhov Charm (which I blocked with my own Orzhov charm, so I would only lose 1 life per turn). I eventually drew One Thousand Lashes and put it on his Guildmage to stop that combo, then drew Merciless Eviction and exiled all creatures. Now down by a lot, I drew all my Extort guys and proceeded to get all my life back while eliminating him. That took most of the round time.
Game 2 I got all my guys early on and just destroyed him.
ROUND 4:
Now I'm 3-0, and if I win this round I win a lot of cards. However I'm against a Simic guy and I hated it
Game 1 He got a bunch of counters on his Elusive Krasis and Fathom Mage, and killed me easily.
Game 2 Same story.
So I'm 3-1 at the end, and there's a 3-way tie for first and a 5-way tie for second. Huge conflict, because the person running it said we were going to play a 3-round mini-tournament to determine the standings, but no one wanted to. So the 3 first place players took all the top 3 spot prizes and divided it amongst themselves, and the 5 second place players took all their prizes and divided it amongst themselves. I was one of the second place guys and I got 5 Gatecrash packs and 5 RTR packs.
All in all it was a good pre-release. A friend of mine got Obzedat so I traded Aurelia to him for Obzedat, Gift of Orzhova, and Orzhov charm. Planning on building an Orzhov standard deck now (and maybe an Esper Spirit deck).