I ended up playing RW at my prerelease and finished 3-1 in matches. It was a lot of fun and seems like a really great set.

MATCH 1 vs UW (2-0)

Game 1 was interesting. I both of us had slow starts but my opponent eventually dropped Dovin Baan. It took a few turns but I managed to kill Dovin with Servos. After a few blows back and forth Renegade Freighter took them down.

Game 2 had my opponent mulligan down to three (with me at seven) and they just conceded. Too bad. He showed me one of his mulligan hands which had Dovin Baan and Torrential Gearhulk, but only one land.

MATCH 2 vs RGB (2-1)

Game 1 was very grindy. I kept both Cogworker's Puzzleknots on the battlefield in order to discount my Metalwork Colossus , but my opponent cast Deadlock Trap right before it came down and they had a pile of energy. The trap locked down the Colossus the rest of the game. They then chipped away at me with a constantly growing Thriving Rhino that was being pushed through using Ghirapur Guide.

Game 2 was insane. I mulliganed down to FOUR cards and still somehow pulled out a win. It was largely due to a turn 2 Scrapheap Scrounger which dealt a ton of damage.

Game 3 had my opponent stall out on three lands while I consistently committed creatures to the board. I was able to remove all his blockers and win fairly quickly.

MATCH 3 vs RB (1-2)

Game 1 had us trading blows and removal for quite a while. He played an early Masterpiece Scroll Rack that REALLY payed off over the many turns. However, I was able to kill off his creatures such that his Demolition Stomper couldn't be crewed. At one point I cast Metalwork Colossus for only five because of a Cogworker's Puzzleknot and a Bomat Bazaar Barge in play. Eventually I was able to remove enough blockers to crash in for the win.

Game 2 was very long and grindy. His Scroll Rack came down early once again and was activated probably about 10 times. I was able to lock down or deal with all of his threats but had really taken a lot of damage. I stabilized to an extent and was dropping Wayward Giants and stuff. However, I had his Combustible Gearhulk under a Captured by the Consulate, but forgot to have his removal spells redirect to it. I think that oversight cost me the game (and consequently the match).

Game 3 was less close. This time Combustible Gearhulk dealt nine off it's ETB trigger and I got ran over. I had a removal-light draw, but that happens sometimes.

MATCH 4 vs BW (2-1)

Game 1 had me off to a quick start. I was able to smash in early and often with Renegade Freighter, it even took to the skies with the help of Eddytrail Hawk. I had an impressive number of creatures and my opponent was on the ropes and then they cast Cataclysmic Gearhulk into their empty board. I lost many creatures but fortunately had a Demolish in hand. Demolish killed the gearhulk and my sole remaining non-land permanents Renegade Freighter and Consul's Shieldguard immediately ended the game.

Game 2 was rough. I fell a little behind early and was beginning to recover with Aerial Responder but it and another creature became exiled because of two Fairgrounds Wardens. I wasn't able to get a removal spell in time and lost.

Game 3 was nice. I was able to keep a steady stream of summoning-sick creatures (like Wayward Giant and Skyswirl Harrier) crewing Bomat Bazaar Barge which was being airlifted by Eddytrail Hawk. I had my opponent on the ropes but was out of energy to get the Barge over his blockers. After a flurry of removal spells and various pumps and responses I was able to finish with Eddytrail Hawk, Skyswirl Harrier, and a Chandra's Pyrohelix to the face.

THOUGHTS

I loved this deck. It had a lot (7 spells) of great removal, a nice curve, and a good balance of creatures and vehicles.

I was REALLY impressed with Eddytrail Hawk, giving giant vehicles and Wayward Giants flying was backbreaking in many games.

I really loved Renegade Freighter, it has a low casting cost AND a low crew cost but smashes in for five with trample. Such a good card. I also enjoyed Bomat Bazaar Barge, drawing a card is great and my summoning-sick fatties can crew it right away.

Welding Sparks was VERY good, due to all my many artifacts it took down everything, including an Aradara Express at one point.

Scrapheap Scrounger was super strong for me and I wasn't even running black to recur it! If the opponent stumbles at all when the Scrounger comes down early they will feel the pain. It could also crew both my vehicles. So nice.

Skywhaler's Shot was simply amazing. It always had a relevant target and the Scry was sweet too.

I didn't get to use Aerial Responder that much but I could tell it was could. I would have saved me in many games had I drawn it.

Metalwork Colossus was decent. It was sort of hard to cast and can be chumped-blocked pretty easily, but had the potential to dominate. Sadly I was never able to get it in the air with Eddytrail Hawk.

I was not expecting much from Cogworker's Puzzleknot, but it preformed very well for me. It doesn't care about which lands you have, and provides a group of either attackers or blockers. It worked well in my deck when I was aggressive, crewing vehicles, or stalling until I found removal.

Energy was sweet. I loved how energy cards naturally overlap so that you can power whatever one is best for you at any given time. For example, one game I ran out of energy powering up Eddytrail Hawk, but Aether Hub provided me with one more energy so that I could make one last flying fatty for lethal damage.

In the first game I had Ninth Bridge Patrol in my deck but swapped it out for Demolish. I think that was a good choice because everyone had powerful artifacts, Demolish was very nice when I drew it.

NOTABLE EXCLUSIONS

2x Bastion Mastodon were originally going to be in the place of the two Wayward Giants. The Mastodons are easy on the mana base and can be discounted by Foundry Inspector, however in the end I decided that Menace was more valuable.

I had Noxious Gearhulk and Tidy Conclusion in black but not much else. It felt SO bad to not play the gearhulk but I'm glad I didn't. Based on my removal: 3 in white and 4 in red, and general creature quality I knew I had to be RW. I was considering a black splash but only had the one Aether Hub to help out and both powerful black cards needed two black sources.

I was also considering RWG because I had two Appetite for the Unnatural and some decent mana-fixing in Attune with Aether, Servant of the Conduit, and Wild Wanderer, but ultimately decided against it. I actually wanted to splash black, and splashing green in order to splash black just seemed to crazy. The sad part was that I even opened two dual lands, but they didn't help me with these colors at all: Botanical Sanctum, Spirebluff Canal.

I even had some nice blue top-end power-cards but not much to work with otherwise: Confiscation Coup, Malfunction. I was sort of considering 5-Color Good Stuff, but thankfully didn't actually do that.

I agonized over how to build my deck for a long time. My top-end cards were very powerful in other colors, but R and W had slightly more depth. Thankfully I had plenty of artifacts to smooth things out.

I left out Aradara Express. It looks powerful but, it costs 5 and needs Crew 4. I only had a couple of creatures that could Crew the Express by themselves. I was very happy with my decision to just use vehicles with Crew 3 (and lower casting costs) even though they didn't seem as mighty.

I am REALLY looking forward to drafting this set. I think you can go very deep into some of the synergy-driven archetypes (such as picking up a bunch of Thriving Rhinos and Decoction Modules).