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Try 39.99 Canadian in Walmart, and the game shops in my area here in Ontario tried ordering from the USA but shipping costs plus the Carbon Tax cost pretty much the same here sadly
bought grave danger as i already had a blue black zombie deck and wanted to get more cards for it i pretty much replaced about 20 cards from it and the land help out so much
My LGS is doing a cool thing with these. They are starting a Commander deck league, where you start with one of these (randomly assigned to each participant). As you play with them and accumulate points, you are given the opportunity at certain threshholds to purchase packs and add any cards you get from them into your deck. The league is still in development but I look forward to participating in it!
That's a great idea but I feel like this would be even better if you slowly built your Commander Pool through drafting, we started two new Commander League seasons this way when Commander Legends / Baldur's gate were released and had an absolute blast :)
Pokemon Trading Card Game Online also has a Theme format where only unmodified Theme Decks (that's what the Pokémon Company calls their precons) are legal. I have always been wondering why other TCGs don't have similar formats. With the abundance of edh precons this could be a really fun thing if enough people go with it. Also no more whining about wrong power level estimates or combos deemed to cheap. If Wizards put it in, it's fair game!
I'm actually really happy that these decks exist. I always wanted to get my dad a commander deck so we could play together, but I wanted to get him something less complex than some of the other precons, nor did I want to spend the money on something he'd never use. This is absolutely perfect for me, and I'm glad that the decks aren't absolutely awful either.
It's clear that the company was experimenting with high prices, and now experimenting with low prices, so it's important to make sure this experiment succeeds!
I agree this is a good product, I hope your dad enjoys it! Personally I think jumpstart 2020 is more fun to play with when teaching MTG to newbies The idea of smacking two random half-decks adds more to the 'fun and exciting' part.
I agree, I was actually looking to build a similar deck to the Azorius fliers deck with Kangee, Sky Warden as the commander, since going wide with fliers and swinging out is a pretty solid strategy. I'm wondering if I want to pick up some of these and deck them out to be solid but simple decks that I build and forget about, so a friend who's never played before can try one out before deciding whether or not to get in.
@nicks4802 he already knows how to play, it's just that I mostly play commander is all, and any 60 card deck I'd build would be for pioneer. Thanks for the suggestion though
This concept of releasing precons using existing commanders and 100% reprints is a fantastic idea in my opinion. Especially at the $20 price point, it can be immensely helpful for a new player to get staples and just have something to get to know the format. I love these decks. At $20 they are perfect in my opinion.
My husband and I have been wanting to give magic a try and we bought 2 of these commander deck. We stayed up until 2am playing. They definitely are a great way to introduce you to the game.
@@LeonC0704reprint means that the card already exists in other products. For example usually nowadays commander decks of new sets have around 10-20 new card designs that are only available through those decks, rest being cards that already exist in other sets. So by saying that the cards in these decks are only reprints, means that the cards in it are not new to the game and have been for a while.
@@Gemini476 I had a buddy in college who played a 10-player game over the summer with some friends at home. He said they ate 2 meals before it was over.
@@STVMcarbondragon I was in a 10-player Commander game once, too. Each person was assigned a guild (I got my least favorite - Azorius). We had two players on opposite sides taking simultaneous turns with range of influence 2 to speed things up. It was like having two 5-player games going until people started getting eliminated and the range of influence started overlapping. In the end, I won without killing a single player, simply because a guy on the opposite side milled everyone heavily before dying, and when it got down to the last two standing, my opponent only had 2 cards left in his library. It took hours and, while being an interesting experiment, isn't something I'd ever want to repeat.
These seem perfect for their function. Unironically, my favorite part about them is that I don't have to buy them for myself, but they can be the *first* thing I point a new player towards. I need to build a deck or two on this level to be ready to play newbies at the LGS.
I think this has a really good place as a "we can't find a power level to meet at, but we each have a 20 burning a hole in our pocket, and nothing else to do"
MAN this clears up what these even are! Thank you for going over this Professor, seems like you're the most reliable source of info in the flood of products.
These decks are amazing! Please wizards do more like this. I have hope again that I can feel good about getting friends into this game. I really hope they just keep these as reprints like they did with the guild decks from ravnica. Though they do need a few more non bulk cards as well as greatly improved mana bases.
If we are honest here, there are so many commander pre-cons around these days that this series doesn't stand out in any meaningful manner. The trick is to look for commanders with mechanics that don't require too much setup, those usually play rather well regardless of the cards inside. My personal favorite of recent years has been Obuun. Sold cheaply, and the commander made the deck fun all by himself.
These are a good thing to have at local game stores. Usually the higher-priced decks fly off the shelves, so these should be an easier sell for new players. They can also be a good starting point for LGS Commander leagues where you upgrade your deck from week to week👍
The main thing that has struck me about these deck lists is how much they look like decks that were made before WOTC started focussing on the format. Its honestly refreshing and feels like how things in the format should be. Also for £100 I'd be pretty happy picking up a set to sleeve up and bring to places for new players to have a go with.
Honestly, I REALLY like these decks. $20-$30 is ABSOLUTELY the price point that we should be looking at for an intro commander deck that is pre-made, packaged, and ready to play. The Emmara deck is very similar to one of the first commander decks I built myself, and the Gisa and Geralf deck is very similar, and in some ways superior, to the Wilhelt precon.
I'm happy these decks exist for new players! Attempting to teach a new MTG player using existing precons can be challenging with all the existing complex cards. Especially if they've never played a TCG at all. I do miss the days of starter theme decks for new players.
12:38 Could also be a sign of the times/power creep. Over half a decade ago people were cool with running 3 mana rocks, and other big un-optimal cards, just to run them. Also, the made-for-commander cards weren't out of hand just yet.
So glad that you started off by hitting on the price of these. Very bummed to see WotC actually list a price of $20 for them, just to see them going for $30 (as of today). Really interested in the fliers deck at least, but hoping the prices come back down soon. But hey, glad to see WotC is providing fill-in-your-own wildcards in the zombies deck. A real consumer focused move on their part.
Don't wait for the prices to drop. WotC quite conciously designs these products doing exactly the price analyses Prof. does in his videos. It's no accident they dropped MSRP, they want the "store" prices, be that online or brick&mortar, to represent secondary market value so the product will actually get to the shelves instead of being bought up and broken down at release.
Returning to MTG after many many years not playing and I can't wait to use these decks as my starting point. Thanks for the valuable info and insight professor!
I’m late to this, but my friends bought these last summer as a way to get me and another friend into magic, and because of it it gave us the love for the game. I think it’s always worth it to go for a cheap option when trying something out, and it was definitely worth it for us. Were at college and we play at least 4 times a week
I find this product really, REALLY good, they put fantastic, much needed reprints in, which is great! A Talisman in each deck, a Signet in three of them (it's a shame they're not in the other two, but it is understandly not being in the Green decks). I keep pointing my nephews at these, even sent a link to this video to them, as having a cheaper way of getting a decent set of cards, playable right away, is fantastic. I hope they do this again, revisiting some decks with mechanics not so easily reprintable, like Cycling, Madness and Mutate
I think with the increase in cardboard price, the idea of playing the game without high money cards becomes more appealing. I personally like the idea of playing more powered down decks, between me and my friends. So, to me these decks are a win. If tap lands are what my friends new to commander can afford, then I'll play tap lands. If we only have $10 a month in the budget to upgrade one, we'll do upgrades. Overall, I like them.
The problem with tap lands is that they slow down the game significantly. Make some games last for hours, not because of intense gameplay, but because people not have the mana. And if one player has upgraded his deck (only the mana) he has a huge advantage.
Just coming back to magic after a several year break and I really appreciate these videos. I'm overwhelmed by the number of products and your videos are helping me immensely.
10:38 I got a card like that in a pack once almost 10 years ago! normal magic back, black border on the front, completely blank inside the border. I still have it, even, and keep it with my main Commander deck.
Professor, I recently got the confirmation email for the Academic, and I’m so excited. Thank you so much for making such a fantastic looking product. I say this from the bottom of my heart: our community needs you.
I'm new to magic and new to your channel. I really appreciate the amount of homework you put into these videos. Now if only I had seen your video on the global series decks before I ordered them 😢
These decks definitely help get people started. I haven’t played since Onslaught and sold my Paper collection. Trying to make a Commander deck with no collection of cards is daunting without a starting off point.
The Rakdos one honestly caught my eye. I already wanted to build around Kaervek, and that deck has just a lot of cards I would have used anyways. I already have a lot of upgrades it needs, so I think I'm gonna buy it. Even though I've been playing for a long time now, my playgroup doesn't like stuff that's too powerful. No one uses combos, tutors, stax, land destruction... so I think that deck would fit right in.
I think the idea of an all-reprint intro to commander deck is great. I haven't examined the lists in detail but judging from this video most of them seem well constructed for that purpose. It's been a while since I introduced anyone to Commander, but the availability of a product like this certainly makes it more appealing.
I balked at the idea of “starter commanders” initially, aren’t all precons supposed to be relatively simple after all? But the simplicity of these lists looks great for teaching new players who see their friends playing the most popular format and want to join in.
Played against the First Flight box tonight, with no upgrades, and it really stood it's ground against some optimized decks and a Warhammer set. Totally surprised!
As much as I like Commander, the amount of products that WotC is flooding the market with is insane. It still feels like they are out for short-term profit here, as most people just purchase these decks as an investment or scrap them for the resale value. At some point, the bubble will burst. Thanks Professor for the unbiased review.
Me and 2 friends bought one of these for us and got into paper magic for the first time. We're having a blast honestly. Magic products are very limited in our country and very expensive for us considering lower standard of living so this was a cheap way to get into a really cool format like commander.
I like a lot of the commander staples reprints in these, as they are a great gateway into the format, while also getting important interaction like Beast within for future decks. Even if you no longer play this deck, it will have good cards for the next deck you build.
Hey prof! I paid the 60$ for token and grave. I should have watched this video first. My lgs is in a very expensive area. I figured I'd watch this. Thank you for the information! Totally bought the round the table FaB. Watched your shuffle up and play to learn the set. Absolutely love it as well! Thank you again Prof! You are so awesome!
I'm more and more happy that I picked up the Ur Dragon as my first commander deck without knowing what I was getting into. I wish I had picked up Atraxa at the same though. . . and the Vampires. . .they were all available very briefly. . . My Ur Dragon is still my favorite deck, though it looks nothing like its precon anymore. I need to go back through the manabase and see if I have anything else to add. I was really happy that Dominaria United brought back the battlebond lands, they really need to printed more often.
I can't even begin to imagine paying a markup on any Magic products after the fiasco. If anything, Wizards should be paying ME that markup amount to buy their products again lol
@@dominicmetzger3246 Ignoring Secret Lairs and products like that for the time being, smaller stores and even bigger retailers will only stock products if people are buying them. If people stop buying them, they'll stop stocking them, and then Hasbro's kinda screwed. But more importantly, this isn't literally about whether Wizards is going to pay me to buy their products. It's a way to indicate that I have no trust with their brand anymore and want to see things change before I purchase said product again.
I've bought three of these, one for myself (who has several commander decks) and two for my boyfriend (his first decks ever), and I've won games both with my established friends and against my boyfriend with Gisa and Geralf. It's actually become my second favorite deck out of the five I own. I watched this just to see if my opinion would differ from yours, and that just goes to show how diverse people are. Thanks for your review!
I think these are gonna be great for beginners. 😊 Twice a year would be fab. Who cares if they are not gonna win at casual tables? Its a big lesson to learn that winning is not the only aim when playing. And upgrade potential is strong here. Well done wotc.
It may not be all about winning, but these decks will not teach new players how to have fun. Being top-heavy is the worst a beginner deck can be at this point in time. It doesn't matter much if what you do is not too consequential, but for a beginner it is important to actually do something, to be able to play. Not wait for five turns to play out a fatty, then have that destroyed before the turn comes back to them.
I just bought the token and the draconic deck. Due to the situation the prices went up (as mostly everything gto more expensive) and I paid 25€ per deck (which is fair, I guess for a store). I won a game against a 50€ commander pre-build deck and even could've hold onto a game if I didn't made a mistake ignoring a high danger flying creature. I am generally happy getting back into this hobby after 22 years and after I gifted all my cards to younger players, as well as decks. If I knew about the commander (played highlander most of the time) gamemode back then, if it existed back then at least, I wouldn't have given up on MTG. Yet I am happy having my very first two commander decks in your awesome double-deckbox :3 Couldn't be happier. Stay crunchy.
I do enjoy the idea of these starter commander decks. $20 for one of five options is much better than $20 for one of two options. Hopefully next year we get the other five guild colors and, following that, a set of wubrg tribals.
This video was really helpful. I went to my first locals and asked for what I would need to start MTG and they told me about these starter deck's for $25. Luckily I decided to do some more research on those products before I bought them.
Yu-Gi-Oh person here. Found this channel through the Team APS crossovers. Starting to get interested in Magic. These videos are really interesting. Not sure about formats though. Bit of a foreign concept to us duelists! But this looks like it could be a good place to start. Liked the video!
What's really funny, is I actually built my first commander deck earlier this year and atarka was my commander I built around. It eventually became ganax Astral hunter and acolyte of bahamut as the commander background companion. Giving me treasure tokens to ramp up with is definitely a strong strategy when dealing with high cmc dragons.
It’s 100% worth it for players getting back into magic. I just got back into it and I bought 4 and upgraded the 2 I liked and I’m making a fresh one for scratch over time.
Another banger of a video Prof! I will say, these seem like the kind of thing I'd pick up just to scavenge a few cards from and then keep the basic framework of the deck for a future build. At the 19.99 price point, that is. You're spot on as usual about not paying markup.
and if i have to write this under every comment here, what prof is describing is not a markup by stores. wotc raised their prices on the distributor level monthes ago by 30-40%. we as stores are paying 30% more for these than for the kaldheim ones, and 40% more than for the commander legend ones. this is NOT a markup from stores. no one is getting rich from these except wotc! profs analysis is just plain and simply wrong here and it is damaging to us immensely, because of that!
I picked up the flier's deck. I had been brewing one for a while and so this served as a nice way to get about half of the cards I wanted for cheaper than picking them up individually.
There are a ton of format staples in these decks. I think this makes these a great starting point as so many of these cards will still be useful to a new player when the begin building decks.
I bought three of these for me, my gf, and her brother to give us something to all do together. About 9 months or so later, and we all have multiple decks and play multiple times a week. These decks were excellent beginner decks and helped to foster a love for the game. Would recommend!
From personal experience, I think the starter commander decks are a brilliant idea! For those who don't wanna drop $50-80 on a regular precon but still wanna play, or for those who are just starting and want a deck that's easy to understand for a new player, these decks work great! Even for more experienced players like me on a budget. I bought the g/b elf starter and just filled it out as I had money for it. They're good skeletons for a deck that can be upgraded to be better. Overall this was a good move for WOC. But I also feel like theres too many precons now. But that's just my opinion
I just got into playing magic with my friends who are established players and I got the draconic destruction deck and after a few upgrades (nothing too expensive at all) I ended up holding my own. Even won a game or came in second! I’m really thankful for these decks and the price to help new players like myself get into playing! Although now half my paycheck will go to new cards and decks 😂
I like it for a new player who's not sure what type of deck they will like. Picking up 1 or 2 of these and trying a few different things could really be cool for new players vs a $50 deck they might not like. The Dragons one looks a whole lot like the AFR Draconic Rage deck with a different commander, as interesting as that is.
I'm always grateful for your review on these products! I love how far you've come over the past several years with the variety of content you're now able to produce!
I like the look of these decks, as a casual player that occasionally buys MTG product for kitchen table games they look like they'd be fun both head-to-head and in a casual commander pod. A nice ray of sunshine amongst all the overpriced bs that's been pushed recently.
Hey man, really enjoying the videos. I found you through Team APS and their series about learning MTG. I dabbled in MTG 12 years ago at my locals and thinking of getting back in. A friend also recommended your videos, so just wanted to share how big your reach is getting. Keep doing what you’re doing playboy.
I just started playing magic. The first thing I bought was chaos incarnate as a starter commander deck, Not knowing at all what it was entailed. At first it was quite rough. For starters I am obviously new and inexperienced, but the deck was also just missing a little extra power. Now a month later I’ve made 2 other decks. A dragon, and a snow deck. Both fun. I’ve also tweaked chaos incarnate, which is now my strongest deck! Just taking out some of the more basic unsynergized cards and adding cheaper mana cost and more rewarding cards it has transformed it into a very formidable deck to use. Just adding cards as simple as taurean mauler, or Chandra’s spitfire elevates it. I know the win more often than not in 4’s and it is always fun to play.
My play group has never played commander before so we all went and bought 1 each and played last friday at our local game store and we are hooked, these are def worth it for new players
As a new player (like this is my first deck) these starter decks have been a god send for getting my hand in the game at a cheap price most people assume magic is for rich people, and in some cases it is but I digress. It's a fantastic starting template and you can then swap out cards to brew a custom-ish deck and start playing with friends pretty much straight away. I got chaos incarnate and I find it really fun to play and once I started adding other goad cards and some pingers it really honed in on what the deck is trying to accomplish. I found it a great introduction to magic!
I got the Grave Danger commander deck as my first deck (also first time playing commander) and I played against a friend who's been building his own commander decks for about 2 years. He used some of what he called his "weaker decks" and I was able to wipe him out pretty well. That was also a 1v1 game and I know commander is supposed to be up to 4, but to learn the game mechanics, I really enjoy the deck and am excited to make upgrades on it as I learn more!
Really thinking about getting into magic, commander specifically, for the first time and this review was a great help because this was exactly what I was thinking of buying
I've been looking for a way to get our board game group into playing commander but buying five decks can be much more expensive than any board game. Adding this to a wishlist and waiting for it to go on sale.
Recently got me into MTG, and Draconic Destruction was my intro. It's no longer just a precon but it still features Atarka and it's cool to see the deck featured.
Great video and I appreciate you picking the White/Green deck to show cause that’s what I’m looking to buy. Sadly you cannot find these decks for $20 they are all about $28
20$ for these is just not possible with what they are costing from distributors. prof is basing his pricing on old product that was released way before wotc raised their prices for product on a distributor level for 30-40%. stores just can't get these and sell them for 20% without taking a loss. as a store employee myself, we have to sell them for 30 bucks to barely meet our needed margins to pay the bills. no one is getting rich of that price except wotc.
I would like seeing these every two years. Hopefully with better manabases each time. They are a perfect gift for somebody that's getting into MTG and you are not sure if they will continue playing or not.
Hey Professor - LGS here. I appreciate that you're against markups and the lack of an MSRP - I am frustrated the same as you and I think most stores would also welcome a return to having an MSRP. That said, 19.99 is not a price that stores anywhere are going to make any money on. Insisting that the cost should be 19.99 without knowing what LGS's are paying hurts us. My customers are going to beat me up on price because of your video, which hurts because I go out of my way to charge fair prices on things and have a hard time keeping my doors open because of it. As near as I can tell, the MSRP was meant to be 24.99 - which is exactly what I'm selling them at in my store and I believe is a fair price. Even Card Kingdom - which has sponsored you heavily in the past, is charging 29-30 a deck. It feels to me very unfair to beat up LGS's nationwide who are charging $24.99, especially when if you look at our cost and assume a below-average retail markup, that *is* the intended MSRP. All with love - appreciate you Professor. Thanks.
I appreciate and hear this comment. It is very hard for me to determine intended price with them hiding MSRP. When originally announced, the Wizards Of The Coast Amazon Storefront, which is as official a site as we are given, had them at $19.99 for well over a week before TCGPLayer raised prices to 24 then 29 then above. I try my best to work with what I am given but WOtC is intentionally making that incredibly difficult. I am sorry. I really feel for the local game store.
@@TolarianCommunityCollege Hey - really appreciate the reply professor. If you're ever curious on a future product feel free to shoot me a message and ask, I'll be happy to share wholesale prices with you so that you have the best possible information to make your videos with. Again - big fan and thanks for everything you do.
I recently started building starter-ish commander decks for newer players, also keeping to a 20 bucks budget. Funny thing is my latest starter build was Gisa and Geralf lol. I might buy like 6 of these and resell them to new players for 15 bucks to make the game accessable, affordable and still fun, and I won't have to shred my collection over it
I’m going to pick up the Dragon and Zombie decks, they’re two cool tribes I don’t have a deck for and this seems like a good way to start. I think it’s really important to show WotC that Commander decks at this price are popular and will sell - the CMR/ZNR/KHM $20 precons were excellent and it would be great if WotC would continue to make product like this at that price.
I must admit, I'm excited for these yesterday I spent a few hours explaining magic to someone as their girlfriend just got into magic and wanted to learn. They don't play commander but it's what's played most at our LGS and he seemed interested in commander. These will be the perfect product for them, reasonably priced and not too many moving pieces, only issue may be if a 4th brings too powerful of a deck. Having only recently gotten back into magic I've got several ideas for decks and these look like a good base for me to build on, always liked Doomscourge and fits in well with a political/social Xantcha deck I've been wanting to make.
I've wanted to make a selesnya deck featuring Emmara since I pulled her back in dominaria but then fell out of MTG. Picked Commander up again this summer, so I will be looking forward to the Selesnya starter deck, as I already have cards to supplement.
"Do not pay mark-up for this product" is great in theory, but if someone was planning to give Draconic Destruction to an entry level player as their first EDH deck for Christmas because it's a kiddo who loves anything Dragons in MTG... It would be great to find Anywhere that's actually selling it at $20.
As someone who's intro into MTG was from the 5th Edition Starter Deck (which btw contained RANDOM cards ready to play lol), i have a fondness and appreciation for starter decks. Their purpose should be to be as cheap as possible, serve as a tutorial into MTG and be fun to play (you know, to get the person into MTG and buy more cards). Now of course a lot has changed in the 25 years since 5th edition but if anything, it should be easier than ever to build a fun cheap deck. Now as janky as the 5th edition start deck was, it made sense in 1997 and was fun to play (serving as an intro to "sealed" gameplay) and captured the imaginations of countless young teens, myself included. I think it was $10 back then which adjusted for inflation is $20 today, so this is a perfect stand in product. I'm glad to hear it's a success and will hopefully bring in new players! i really should come with a good rulebook like the old school decks. I might even pick up a couple of these as gifts or even to save for when my kids are a bit older and i teach them MTG even though i haven't played regularly in 20 years.
I've been wanting to play Magic the Gathering for years but the sheer amount of formats and deck types has been so daunting and frankly intimidating for me. I've dabbled in playing in Arena and enjoyed it. My wife noticed how much I enjoyed it, so she bought be the Token Triumph deck (since I know I really like green and white cards in my Arena play), and it has been A BLAST playing with this deck so far. I've played a few friends with their older pre-constructed decks and by overwhelming the board with tokens, I won each time (maybe they let me win since I'm so new, but it felt good either way). I would say this is definitely what I needed to get my foot in the door with physical cards, and I'm super interested in upgrading the deck and even looking at different pre-constructed decks for more options and gameplay-strategies.
I don't play or collect Magic (yet), but these products seem like a tempting place to start. I recognize many of the cards in the Selesnya deck, and I always think dragons are cool. Can't decide which to run. And the $20 price tag seems like a fair price for an introductory commander deck, even if it's not competitive within the larger ecosystem.
I was going to gift First Flight to my fiance as her first Commander deck, along with Grave Danger for myself so I had a deck that was "on her level". Now I'm on the fence. I already have two solid commander decks, so maybe I should just find a higher-level precon for her. Thanks for the honest review, Prof!
I'm looking into MTG, and just purchased a positively reviewed1,000 card lot that was cheap to start my collection, and $30 for a starter deck of a TCG I might not get that into is a bit much for my tastes, and I'd rather pick up "Aura of Courage for $40 since it comes with more bang for my buck. Even $20 is a bit much for a STARTER deck in my opinion, and should be more like the price of a structure deck (I come from the world of old-school Yugioh BTW). Back in the day, I could get Dark Magician, Red Eyes, and Blue Eyes for about $10 in a starter deck, and I knew that their archetypes would be supported for years to come, and that several of the cards inside would be staples (Pot of Greed, Monster Reborn, Swords of Revealing Light etc.). For $20 I could buy two decks, take the best cards from both, and create a fairly solid deck for playing against my friends. And the same goes for two $25 structure decks, many of which I still have and play today (Solar Flare Dragon and Raging Flame Sprite ftw). MTG is just too pricy in my opinion, especially when Yugioh keeps reprinting my favorite cards, and Flesh and Blood releases its starter decks for around $10. I actually just purchased THREE FaB starter decks for about $25. Also, there's the fact that a pre-con decks exist on eBay and elsewhere, so it's easier than ever to get into a TCG on a budget. In my opinion, MTG should either make a really solid starter deck for $20 with cards that will be "meta" or at least supported for quite a while, or release cheaper decks for $10, with enough good cards that if you bought 2-4 decks for $20-$40, a new player could have a really solid deck and collection of cards.
To me, these decks have one very significant use beyond getting new players into the game, tied closely to when they're being released: these are AMAZING stocking stuffers for the MTG players in your life. Sure, they may have a number of the cards in these decks, but nobody's going to be mad about a spare Vandalblast or Path to Exile, and it's the right price for people to grab these as an impulse gift. A great way for parents who may not otherwise be paying super close attention to their kids' hobbies to show that they know, at least on some level, what their kids like and what they'd find fun and useful. (And as someone who just bought into Amazon's Black Friday sale to get a handful of precons around this price, I'm very tempted to grab them as soon as they hit what MSRP should be, though I'll probably wait until they're $15 each instead.)
Prof ive been waiting for this release... my GF is a kitchen table player and we recently started dating... but shes never played EDH!!!! Im planning on buying one of these and upgrading it for her as a christmas present. Longtime fan and love the content.
In France, the decks are sold at about 27/28€ each, and are kinda hard to find cheaper. BUT, since I'm a new MTG player, even the bulk is good to grab for me, so I'm glad with it ahah. I've played MTG Arena for like 2 years, but I really really wanted to get into IRL gameplay, and especially Commander, so 40€ including sleeves and deckbox is kind of a good deal still. I'm clearly the target audience and I'm glad Wizards chose this specific time to release these precons ;)
My kids (12M, 19F) and I (47F) recently got into MTG. The kids love it. I love that my son is actually learning how to lose (sometimes more graciously than others) and my daughter is getting out of the house and hanging out with new friends at the LGS. We have precon commander decks that I bought earlier but they seem to be a bit above our skill level. I bought all five decks on Amazon for Christmas for $102 just squeaking by the $19.99 threshold. I'm hoping that these starter decks will actually help all of us learn the game and give us equal footing while allowing us to rotate through the decks so they don't become stale.
These are excellent for people with no cards or a small collection, looking to build up some Sol Rings, cheap but staple Rares, and decent Two-color mana base staples. You could argue that the $40/$45 Commander decks do the same thing but include some new/valuable cards with them, but honestly, for $20, these are pretty solid starter builds. The G/W deck has a lot of cards I use in my Trostani Tokens deck, and even a couple I maybe should. Plus, those Selesnya Guild lands...nobody noticed they reprinted those here. They were beautiful with the Guild decks. Still beautiful.
I bought the Rakdos deck, Chaos Incarnate, recently just looking for some stuff for the deck I’m wanting to build, honestly it’s a shockingly great deck. My husband and I both like it a lot. It was $25 at my LGS but i bought it like a week ago and they came out a year ago so plus I greatly enjoy supporting my LGS because they’re so amazing. If they get the Dimir one I’ll buy it too.
Great video! I just bought First Flight an hour before watching at my local game shop. They charged $32 for it so I go fleeced, but still I am just excited to get started!
Won't comment on the "2002" because I can tell you're exhausted with all these reviews. Just gonna say I appreciate you prof and am grateful for your voice in the community
Sign up using my link and get a $15.00 credit to use on whatever you want! Even Magic: The Gathering cards! So use my special link here: www.whatnot.com/invite/tolariancollege Sponsored by WhatNot!
Just did it didn't receive anything
Do you have a video of the best commander decks to buy right now? Or somewhere I can go to see a list
Try 39.99 Canadian in Walmart, and the game shops in my area here in Ontario tried ordering from the USA but shipping costs plus the Carbon Tax cost pretty much the same here sadly
From what I am reading online this company is a huge scam.
bought grave danger as i already had a blue black zombie deck and wanted to get more cards for it i pretty much replaced about 20 cards from it and the land help out so much
My LGS is doing a cool thing with these. They are starting a Commander deck league, where you start with one of these (randomly assigned to each participant). As you play with them and accumulate points, you are given the opportunity at certain threshholds to purchase packs and add any cards you get from them into your deck. The league is still in development but I look forward to participating in it!
That sounds really cool if enough people stick with it
Unison?
That's a great idea but I feel like this would be even better if you slowly built your Commander Pool through drafting, we started two new Commander League seasons this way when Commander Legends / Baldur's gate were released and had an absolute blast :)
This is a great idea! I might implement this in my LGS.
Pokemon Trading Card Game Online also has a Theme format where only unmodified Theme Decks (that's what the Pokémon Company calls their precons) are legal. I have always been wondering why other TCGs don't have similar formats. With the abundance of edh precons this could be a really fun thing if enough people go with it.
Also no more whining about wrong power level estimates or combos deemed to cheap. If Wizards put it in, it's fair game!
"The inaugural 2002 starter commander deck collection.." The Professor is perpetually reliving 1996 in his head, isn't he?
I am so tired
I rewound just to make sure I heard that correctly lol
@@TolarianCommunityCollegeDon't worry Prof, you've probably got, say, 3-4 weeks until the next set of precons releases.
@@redbirdriot In 2003! 😁
@@TolarianCommunityCollege its ok man, just remember it only gets worse
I'm actually really happy that these decks exist. I always wanted to get my dad a commander deck so we could play together, but I wanted to get him something less complex than some of the other precons, nor did I want to spend the money on something he'd never use. This is absolutely perfect for me, and I'm glad that the decks aren't absolutely awful either.
It's clear that the company was experimenting with high prices, and now experimenting with low prices, so it's important to make sure this experiment succeeds!
I agree this is a good product, I hope your dad enjoys it! Personally I think jumpstart 2020 is more fun to play with when teaching MTG to newbies The idea of smacking two random half-decks adds more to the 'fun and exciting' part.
I agree, I was actually looking to build a similar deck to the Azorius fliers deck with Kangee, Sky Warden as the commander, since going wide with fliers and swinging out is a pretty solid strategy. I'm wondering if I want to pick up some of these and deck them out to be solid but simple decks that I build and forget about, so a friend who's never played before can try one out before deciding whether or not to get in.
@nicks4802 he already knows how to play, it's just that I mostly play commander is all, and any 60 card deck I'd build would be for pioneer. Thanks for the suggestion though
Idk if you're gonna read this but I'm happy for u if you actually bought it and played with your dad✌️
This concept of releasing precons using existing commanders and 100% reprints is a fantastic idea in my opinion. Especially at the $20 price point, it can be immensely helpful for a new player to get staples and just have something to get to know the format.
I love these decks. At $20 they are perfect in my opinion.
My husband and I have been wanting to give magic a try and we bought 2 of these commander deck. We stayed up until 2am playing. They definitely are a great way to introduce you to the game.
I'm new to this. What does reprint means?
@@LeonC0704reprint means that the card already exists in other products. For example usually nowadays commander decks of new sets have around 10-20 new card designs that are only available through those decks, rest being cards that already exist in other sets. So by saying that the cards in these decks are only reprints, means that the cards in it are not new to the game and have been for a while.
@@gabito2647 thanks a lot!
Where yall buying these for 20 Walmart and Amazon price is 40
i honestly wanna see these 4 decks played against each other in an episode of SUAP
And use four players who don’t really play commander but have experience playing in other formats
*5 decks
@@folkenphoenix I think they meant 4 because commander is 4 player multipkayer
@@Gemini476 I had a buddy in college who played a 10-player game over the summer with some friends at home. He said they ate 2 meals before it was over.
@@STVMcarbondragon I was in a 10-player Commander game once, too. Each person was assigned a guild (I got my least favorite - Azorius). We had two players on opposite sides taking simultaneous turns with range of influence 2 to speed things up. It was like having two 5-player games going until people started getting eliminated and the range of influence started overlapping. In the end, I won without killing a single player, simply because a guy on the opposite side milled everyone heavily before dying, and when it got down to the last two standing, my opponent only had 2 cards left in his library. It took hours and, while being an interesting experiment, isn't something I'd ever want to repeat.
These seem perfect for their function. Unironically, my favorite part about them is that I don't have to buy them for myself, but they can be the *first* thing I point a new player towards.
I need to build a deck or two on this level to be ready to play newbies at the LGS.
I think this has a really good place as a "we can't find a power level to meet at, but we each have a 20 burning a hole in our pocket, and nothing else to do"
Also helps someone who wanted to get in commander but unsure how to really get into it and can build upwards
MAN this clears up what these even are! Thank you for going over this Professor, seems like you're the most reliable source of info in the flood of products.
These decks are amazing! Please wizards do more like this. I have hope again that I can feel good about getting friends into this game. I really hope they just keep these as reprints like they did with the guild decks from ravnica. Though they do need a few more non bulk cards as well as greatly improved mana bases.
If we are honest here, there are so many commander pre-cons around these days that this series doesn't stand out in any meaningful manner. The trick is to look for commanders with mechanics that don't require too much setup, those usually play rather well regardless of the cards inside. My personal favorite of recent years has been Obuun. Sold cheaply, and the commander made the deck fun all by himself.
These are a good thing to have at local game stores. Usually the higher-priced decks fly off the shelves, so these should be an easier sell for new players. They can also be a good starting point for LGS Commander leagues where you upgrade your deck from week to week👍
This is the first time the professor has been so jovial about a product in quite some time 😁
I miss his joviality. Wotc has been a real assclown lately, and it makes the Prof grumpy.
@@jimmysmith2249 they haven't been making his job easy or fun lol
"the first time in quite some time".. lmao
The main thing that has struck me about these deck lists is how much they look like decks that were made before WOTC started focussing on the format. Its honestly refreshing and feels like how things in the format should be. Also for £100 I'd be pretty happy picking up a set to sleeve up and bring to places for new players to have a go with.
Honestly, I REALLY like these decks. $20-$30 is ABSOLUTELY the price point that we should be looking at for an intro commander deck that is pre-made, packaged, and ready to play. The Emmara deck is very similar to one of the first commander decks I built myself, and the Gisa and Geralf deck is very similar, and in some ways superior, to the Wilhelt precon.
I'm happy these decks exist for new players! Attempting to teach a new MTG player using existing precons can be challenging with all the existing complex cards. Especially if they've never played a TCG at all.
I do miss the days of starter theme decks for new players.
12:38 Could also be a sign of the times/power creep. Over half a decade ago people were cool with running 3 mana rocks, and other big un-optimal cards, just to run them. Also, the made-for-commander cards weren't out of hand just yet.
So glad that you started off by hitting on the price of these. Very bummed to see WotC actually list a price of $20 for them, just to see them going for $30 (as of today). Really interested in the fliers deck at least, but hoping the prices come back down soon.
But hey, glad to see WotC is providing fill-in-your-own wildcards in the zombies deck. A real consumer focused move on their part.
Don't wait for the prices to drop. WotC quite conciously designs these products doing exactly the price analyses Prof. does in his videos. It's no accident they dropped MSRP, they want the "store" prices, be that online or brick&mortar, to represent secondary market value so the product will actually get to the shelves instead of being bought up and broken down at release.
45 in Germany
Returning to MTG after many many years not playing and I can't wait to use these decks as my starting point. Thanks for the valuable info and insight professor!
I’m late to this, but my friends bought these last summer as a way to get me and another friend into magic, and because of it it gave us the love for the game. I think it’s always worth it to go for a cheap option when trying something out, and it was definitely worth it for us. Were at college and we play at least 4 times a week
I find this product really, REALLY good, they put fantastic, much needed reprints in, which is great! A Talisman in each deck, a Signet in three of them (it's a shame they're not in the other two, but it is understandly not being in the Green decks).
I keep pointing my nephews at these, even sent a link to this video to them, as having a cheaper way of getting a decent set of cards, playable right away, is fantastic.
I hope they do this again, revisiting some decks with mechanics not so easily reprintable, like Cycling, Madness and Mutate
I think with the increase in cardboard price, the idea of playing the game without high money cards becomes more appealing. I personally like the idea of playing more powered down decks, between me and my friends. So, to me these decks are a win. If tap lands are what my friends new to commander can afford, then I'll play tap lands. If we only have $10 a month in the budget to upgrade one, we'll do upgrades. Overall, I like them.
The problem with tap lands is that they slow down the game significantly. Make some games last for hours, not because of intense gameplay, but because people not have the mana. And if one player has upgraded his deck (only the mana) he has a huge advantage.
@Metalcursine for sure, I think talking about new players these are great. Slowly upgrade the lands
Just coming back to magic after a several year break and I really appreciate these videos. I'm overwhelmed by the number of products and your videos are helping me immensely.
10:38 I got a card like that in a pack once almost 10 years ago! normal magic back, black border on the front, completely blank inside the border. I still have it, even, and keep it with my main Commander deck.
Professor, I recently got the confirmation email for the Academic, and I’m so excited. Thank you so much for making such a fantastic looking product. I say this from the bottom of my heart: our community needs you.
I'm new to magic and new to your channel. I really appreciate the amount of homework you put into these videos. Now if only I had seen your video on the global series decks before I ordered them 😢
These decks definitely help get people started. I haven’t played since Onslaught and sold my Paper collection. Trying to make a Commander deck with no collection of cards is daunting without a starting off point.
The Rakdos one honestly caught my eye. I already wanted to build around Kaervek, and that deck has just a lot of cards I would have used anyways. I already have a lot of upgrades it needs, so I think I'm gonna buy it. Even though I've been playing for a long time now, my playgroup doesn't like stuff that's too powerful. No one uses combos, tutors, stax, land destruction... so I think that deck would fit right in.
I actually love my kardur deck. I took it in a forced combat and death pay off kind of deck.
I think the idea of an all-reprint intro to commander deck is great. I haven't examined the lists in detail but judging from this video most of them seem well constructed for that purpose. It's been a while since I introduced anyone to Commander, but the availability of a product like this certainly makes it more appealing.
I balked at the idea of “starter commanders” initially, aren’t all precons supposed to be relatively simple after all? But the simplicity of these lists looks great for teaching new players who see their friends playing the most popular format and want to join in.
Pretty stoked for Talisman reprints in here. These decks seem okay for newer players with some upgrades.
One of the thing I like the most is that they are 100% reprints. What a breeze of fresh air. Love it!
Played against the First Flight box tonight, with no upgrades, and it really stood it's ground against some optimized decks and a Warhammer set. Totally surprised!
As much as I like Commander, the amount of products that WotC is flooding the market with is insane.
It still feels like they are out for short-term profit here, as most people just purchase these decks as an investment or scrap them for the resale value. At some point, the bubble will burst. Thanks Professor for the unbiased review.
Me and 2 friends bought one of these for us and got into paper magic for the first time. We're having a blast honestly. Magic products are very limited in our country and very expensive for us considering lower standard of living so this was a cheap way to get into a really cool format like commander.
I like a lot of the commander staples reprints in these, as they are a great gateway into the format, while also getting important interaction like Beast within for future decks. Even if you no longer play this deck, it will have good cards for the next deck you build.
Hey prof! I paid the 60$ for token and grave. I should have watched this video first. My lgs is in a very expensive area. I figured I'd watch this. Thank you for the information! Totally bought the round the table FaB. Watched your shuffle up and play to learn the set. Absolutely love it as well! Thank you again Prof! You are so awesome!
I'm more and more happy that I picked up the Ur Dragon as my first commander deck without knowing what I was getting into. I wish I had picked up Atraxa at the same though. . . and the Vampires. . .they were all available very briefly. . . My Ur Dragon is still my favorite deck, though it looks nothing like its precon anymore. I need to go back through the manabase and see if I have anything else to add.
I was really happy that Dominaria United brought back the battlebond lands, they really need to printed more often.
I can't even begin to imagine paying a markup on any Magic products after the fiasco. If anything, Wizards should be paying ME that markup amount to buy their products again lol
Okay but you aren’t buying products from wizards. You’re most likely buying them from a small business.
@@dominicmetzger3246 Ignoring Secret Lairs and products like that for the time being, smaller stores and even bigger retailers will only stock products if people are buying them. If people stop buying them, they'll stop stocking them, and then Hasbro's kinda screwed.
But more importantly, this isn't literally about whether Wizards is going to pay me to buy their products. It's a way to indicate that I have no trust with their brand anymore and want to see things change before I purchase said product again.
I've bought three of these, one for myself (who has several commander decks) and two for my boyfriend (his first decks ever), and I've won games both with my established friends and against my boyfriend with Gisa and Geralf. It's actually become my second favorite deck out of the five I own. I watched this just to see if my opinion would differ from yours, and that just goes to show how diverse people are. Thanks for your review!
I think these are gonna be great for beginners. 😊 Twice a year would be fab. Who cares if they are not gonna win at casual tables? Its a big lesson to learn that winning is not the only aim when playing. And upgrade potential is strong here. Well done wotc.
It may not be all about winning, but these decks will not teach new players how to have fun. Being top-heavy is the worst a beginner deck can be at this point in time. It doesn't matter much if what you do is not too consequential, but for a beginner it is important to actually do something, to be able to play. Not wait for five turns to play out a fatty, then have that destroyed before the turn comes back to them.
I just bought the token and the draconic deck. Due to the situation the prices went up (as mostly everything gto more expensive) and I paid 25€ per deck (which is fair, I guess for a store). I won a game against a 50€ commander pre-build deck and even could've hold onto a game if I didn't made a mistake ignoring a high danger flying creature.
I am generally happy getting back into this hobby after 22 years and after I gifted all my cards to younger players, as well as decks. If I knew about the commander (played highlander most of the time) gamemode back then, if it existed back then at least, I wouldn't have given up on MTG.
Yet I am happy having my very first two commander decks in your awesome double-deckbox :3 Couldn't be happier.
Stay crunchy.
I do enjoy the idea of these starter commander decks. $20 for one of five options is much better than $20 for one of two options. Hopefully next year we get the other five guild colors and, following that, a set of wubrg tribals.
I noticed that Kaervek actually has new art! Looks so much better than the old art.
This video was really helpful. I went to my first locals and asked for what I would need to start MTG and they told me about these starter deck's for $25. Luckily I decided to do some more research on those products before I bought them.
Yu-Gi-Oh person here. Found this channel through the Team APS crossovers. Starting to get interested in Magic. These videos are really interesting. Not sure about formats though. Bit of a foreign concept to us duelists! But this looks like it could be a good place to start. Liked the video!
The multiplayer lands definitely should have been in these. They should be in every single commander deck.
What's really funny, is I actually built my first commander deck earlier this year and atarka was my commander I built around. It eventually became ganax Astral hunter and acolyte of bahamut as the commander background companion. Giving me treasure tokens to ramp up with is definitely a strong strategy when dealing with high cmc dragons.
It’s 100% worth it for players getting back into magic. I just got back into it and I bought 4 and upgraded the 2 I liked and I’m making a fresh one for scratch over time.
Another banger of a video Prof! I will say, these seem like the kind of thing I'd pick up just to scavenge a few cards from and then keep the basic framework of the deck for a future build.
At the 19.99 price point, that is. You're spot on as usual about not paying markup.
and if i have to write this under every comment here, what prof is describing is not a markup by stores. wotc raised their prices on the distributor level monthes ago by 30-40%. we as stores are paying 30% more for these than for the kaldheim ones, and 40% more than for the commander legend ones. this is NOT a markup from stores. no one is getting rich from these except wotc! profs analysis is just plain and simply wrong here and it is damaging to us immensely, because of that!
I picked up the flier's deck. I had been brewing one for a while and so this served as a nice way to get about half of the cards I wanted for cheaper than picking them up individually.
I love that these have the better foil method and new art for their generals. Wouldn't mind this being a recurring product
There are a ton of format staples in these decks. I think this makes these a great starting point as so many of these cards will still be useful to a new player when the begin building decks.
just bought one of these to try to get into the game. when it arrives tomorrow, i’m gonna give it a go! i got first flight
I bought three of these for me, my gf, and her brother to give us something to all do together. About 9 months or so later, and we all have multiple decks and play multiple times a week. These decks were excellent beginner decks and helped to foster a love for the game. Would recommend!
From personal experience, I think the starter commander decks are a brilliant idea! For those who don't wanna drop $50-80 on a regular precon but still wanna play, or for those who are just starting and want a deck that's easy to understand for a new player, these decks work great! Even for more experienced players like me on a budget. I bought the g/b elf starter and just filled it out as I had money for it. They're good skeletons for a deck that can be upgraded to be better. Overall this was a good move for WOC. But I also feel like theres too many precons now. But that's just my opinion
I just got into playing magic with my friends who are established players and I got the draconic destruction deck and after a few upgrades (nothing too expensive at all) I ended up holding my own. Even won a game or came in second! I’m really thankful for these decks and the price to help new players like myself get into playing! Although now half my paycheck will go to new cards and decks 😂
I like it for a new player who's not sure what type of deck they will like. Picking up 1 or 2 of these and trying a few different things could really be cool for new players vs a $50 deck they might not like. The Dragons one looks a whole lot like the AFR Draconic Rage deck with a different commander, as interesting as that is.
Commander is quite the intimidating format for new players to get into.
If these precons help with that barrier to entry, I'm all for them. ^.^
I'm always grateful for your review on these products! I love how far you've come over the past several years with the variety of content you're now able to produce!
Thank you so much!
I like the look of these decks, as a casual player that occasionally buys MTG product for kitchen table games they look like they'd be fun both head-to-head and in a casual commander pod. A nice ray of sunshine amongst all the overpriced bs that's been pushed recently.
Hey man, really enjoying the videos. I found you through Team APS and their series about learning MTG. I dabbled in MTG 12 years ago at my locals and thinking of getting back in. A friend also recommended your videos, so just wanted to share how big your reach is getting. Keep doing what you’re doing playboy.
I just started playing magic. The first thing I bought was chaos incarnate as a starter commander deck, Not knowing at all what it was entailed. At first it was quite rough. For starters I am obviously new and inexperienced, but the deck was also just missing a little extra power. Now a month later I’ve made 2 other decks. A dragon, and a snow deck. Both fun. I’ve also tweaked chaos incarnate, which is now my strongest deck! Just taking out some of the more basic unsynergized cards and adding cheaper mana cost and more rewarding cards it has transformed it into a very formidable deck to use. Just adding cards as simple as taurean mauler, or Chandra’s spitfire elevates it. I know the win more often than not in 4’s and it is always fun to play.
I also have Chaos Incarnate, can you tell me what cards you cut and added to the deck ? Thx !
My play group has never played commander before so we all went and bought 1 each and played last friday at our local game store and we are hooked, these are def worth it for new players
As a new player (like this is my first deck) these starter decks have been a god send for getting my hand in the game at a cheap price most people assume magic is for rich people, and in some cases it is but I digress.
It's a fantastic starting template and you can then swap out cards to brew a custom-ish deck and start playing with friends pretty much straight away.
I got chaos incarnate and I find it really fun to play and once I started adding other goad cards and some pingers it really honed in on what the deck is trying to accomplish.
I found it a great introduction to magic!
Also forgot to mention it won a 4-man game straight out of the box against my friends that have some scary decks
Definitely good to wait for sales on commander decks. I picked up all the Midnight Hunt and Crimson Vow decks for under $20 each on Black Friday.
I got the Grave Danger commander deck as my first deck (also first time playing commander) and I played against a friend who's been building his own commander decks for about 2 years. He used some of what he called his "weaker decks" and I was able to wipe him out pretty well. That was also a 1v1 game and I know commander is supposed to be up to 4, but to learn the game mechanics, I really enjoy the deck and am excited to make upgrades on it as I learn more!
Managed to buy all 5 bundled together for less than $100 and am stoked to try and get some buddies into it too.
I think they were worth it at the $21-22 price mark when they first went on pre-sale.
If you got the bundle at pre-sale it came down to $18.99 shipped+tax per deck.
@@kingragnork yeah but that was before deck lists were out so you were really gambling then.
@@kismet8010 aren't we always?
@@kingragnork truu
Really thinking about getting into magic, commander specifically, for the first time and this review was a great help because this was exactly what I was thinking of buying
I've been looking for a way to get our board game group into playing commander but buying five decks can be much more expensive than any board game. Adding this to a wishlist and waiting for it to go on sale.
Looking forward to seeing the "NEW SECRET LAIR ALERT!!!" coming up in the next week or two. There's a spicy one in this superdrop.
Recently got me into MTG, and Draconic Destruction was my intro. It's no longer just a precon but it still features Atarka and it's cool to see the deck featured.
Great video and I appreciate you picking the White/Green deck to show cause that’s what I’m looking to buy. Sadly you cannot find these decks for $20 they are all about $28
20$ for these is just not possible with what they are costing from distributors. prof is basing his pricing on old product that was released way before wotc raised their prices for product on a distributor level for 30-40%. stores just can't get these and sell them for 20% without taking a loss. as a store employee myself, we have to sell them for 30 bucks to barely meet our needed margins to pay the bills. no one is getting rich of that price except wotc.
You can get all 5 on Amazon for $103 so that's like $20 each kinda.
I would like seeing these every two years. Hopefully with better manabases each time. They are a perfect gift for somebody that's getting into MTG and you are not sure if they will continue playing or not.
Hey Professor - LGS here. I appreciate that you're against markups and the lack of an MSRP - I am frustrated the same as you and I think most stores would also welcome a return to having an MSRP.
That said, 19.99 is not a price that stores anywhere are going to make any money on. Insisting that the cost should be 19.99 without knowing what LGS's are paying hurts us. My customers are going to beat me up on price because of your video, which hurts because I go out of my way to charge fair prices on things and have a hard time keeping my doors open because of it. As near as I can tell, the MSRP was meant to be 24.99 - which is exactly what I'm selling them at in my store and I believe is a fair price.
Even Card Kingdom - which has sponsored you heavily in the past, is charging 29-30 a deck. It feels to me very unfair to beat up LGS's nationwide who are charging $24.99, especially when if you look at our cost and assume a below-average retail markup, that *is* the intended MSRP.
All with love - appreciate you Professor. Thanks.
I appreciate and hear this comment. It is very hard for me to determine intended price with them hiding MSRP. When originally announced, the Wizards Of The Coast Amazon Storefront, which is as official a site as we are given, had them at $19.99 for well over a week before TCGPLayer raised prices to 24 then 29 then above. I try my best to work with what I am given but WOtC is intentionally making that incredibly difficult. I am sorry. I really feel for the local game store.
@@TolarianCommunityCollege Hey - really appreciate the reply professor. If you're ever curious on a future product feel free to shoot me a message and ask, I'll be happy to share wholesale prices with you so that you have the best possible information to make your videos with.
Again - big fan and thanks for everything you do.
I recently started building starter-ish commander decks for newer players, also keeping to a 20 bucks budget. Funny thing is my latest starter build was Gisa and Geralf lol. I might buy like 6 of these and resell them to new players for 15 bucks to make the game accessable, affordable and still fun, and I won't have to shred my collection over it
I’m going to pick up the Dragon and Zombie decks, they’re two cool tribes I don’t have a deck for and this seems like a good way to start.
I think it’s really important to show WotC that Commander decks at this price are popular and will sell - the CMR/ZNR/KHM $20 precons were excellent and it would be great if WotC would continue to make product like this at that price.
I must admit, I'm excited for these yesterday I spent a few hours explaining magic to someone as their girlfriend just got into magic and wanted to learn. They don't play commander but it's what's played most at our LGS and he seemed interested in commander. These will be the perfect product for them, reasonably priced and not too many moving pieces, only issue may be if a 4th brings too powerful of a deck. Having only recently gotten back into magic I've got several ideas for decks and these look like a good base for me to build on, always liked Doomscourge and fits in well with a political/social Xantcha deck I've been wanting to make.
I've wanted to make a selesnya deck featuring Emmara since I pulled her back in dominaria but then fell out of MTG. Picked Commander up again this summer, so I will be looking forward to the Selesnya starter deck, as I already have cards to supplement.
"Do not pay mark-up for this product" is great in theory, but if someone was planning to give Draconic Destruction to an entry level player as their first EDH deck for Christmas because it's a kiddo who loves anything Dragons in MTG... It would be great to find Anywhere that's actually selling it at $20.
FINALLY flying tribal gets a precon!
For £20...
Reprining stuff i JUST brought like Gravitational shift on my own flying tribal 😭
As someone who's intro into MTG was from the 5th Edition Starter Deck (which btw contained RANDOM cards ready to play lol), i have a fondness and appreciation for starter decks. Their purpose should be to be as cheap as possible, serve as a tutorial into MTG and be fun to play (you know, to get the person into MTG and buy more cards). Now of course a lot has changed in the 25 years since 5th edition but if anything, it should be easier than ever to build a fun cheap deck. Now as janky as the 5th edition start deck was, it made sense in 1997 and was fun to play (serving as an intro to "sealed" gameplay) and captured the imaginations of countless young teens, myself included. I think it was $10 back then which adjusted for inflation is $20 today, so this is a perfect stand in product. I'm glad to hear it's a success and will hopefully bring in new players! i really should come with a good rulebook like the old school decks. I might even pick up a couple of these as gifts or even to save for when my kids are a bit older and i teach them MTG even though i haven't played regularly in 20 years.
I've been wanting to play Magic the Gathering for years but the sheer amount of formats and deck types has been so daunting and frankly intimidating for me. I've dabbled in playing in Arena and enjoyed it. My wife noticed how much I enjoyed it, so she bought be the Token Triumph deck (since I know I really like green and white cards in my Arena play), and it has been A BLAST playing with this deck so far. I've played a few friends with their older pre-constructed decks and by overwhelming the board with tokens, I won each time (maybe they let me win since I'm so new, but it felt good either way).
I would say this is definitely what I needed to get my foot in the door with physical cards, and I'm super interested in upgrading the deck and even looking at different pre-constructed decks for more options and gameplay-strategies.
I don't play or collect Magic (yet), but these products seem like a tempting place to start. I recognize many of the cards in the Selesnya deck, and I always think dragons are cool. Can't decide which to run. And the $20 price tag seems like a fair price for an introductory commander deck, even if it's not competitive within the larger ecosystem.
I was going to gift First Flight to my fiance as her first Commander deck, along with Grave Danger for myself so I had a deck that was "on her level". Now I'm on the fence. I already have two solid commander decks, so maybe I should just find a higher-level precon for her.
Thanks for the honest review, Prof!
I like products designed to welcome new players. It's always good to see new faces on game night.
I'm looking into MTG, and just purchased a positively reviewed1,000 card lot that was cheap to start my collection, and $30 for a starter deck of a TCG I might not get that into is a bit much for my tastes, and I'd rather pick up "Aura of Courage for $40 since it comes with more bang for my buck. Even $20 is a bit much for a STARTER deck in my opinion, and should be more like the price of a structure deck (I come from the world of old-school Yugioh BTW). Back in the day, I could get Dark Magician, Red Eyes, and Blue Eyes for about $10 in a starter deck, and I knew that their archetypes would be supported for years to come, and that several of the cards inside would be staples (Pot of Greed, Monster Reborn, Swords of Revealing Light etc.). For $20 I could buy two decks, take the best cards from both, and create a fairly solid deck for playing against my friends. And the same goes for two $25 structure decks, many of which I still have and play today (Solar Flare Dragon and Raging Flame Sprite ftw).
MTG is just too pricy in my opinion, especially when Yugioh keeps reprinting my favorite cards, and Flesh and Blood releases its starter decks for around $10. I actually just purchased THREE FaB starter decks for about $25. Also, there's the fact that a pre-con decks exist on eBay and elsewhere, so it's easier than ever to get into a TCG on a budget. In my opinion, MTG should either make a really solid starter deck for $20 with cards that will be "meta" or at least supported for quite a while, or release cheaper decks for $10, with enough good cards that if you bought 2-4 decks for $20-$40, a new player could have a really solid deck and collection of cards.
To me, these decks have one very significant use beyond getting new players into the game, tied closely to when they're being released: these are AMAZING stocking stuffers for the MTG players in your life. Sure, they may have a number of the cards in these decks, but nobody's going to be mad about a spare Vandalblast or Path to Exile, and it's the right price for people to grab these as an impulse gift. A great way for parents who may not otherwise be paying super close attention to their kids' hobbies to show that they know, at least on some level, what their kids like and what they'd find fun and useful. (And as someone who just bought into Amazon's Black Friday sale to get a handful of precons around this price, I'm very tempted to grab them as soon as they hit what MSRP should be, though I'll probably wait until they're $15 each instead.)
Prof ive been waiting for this release... my GF is a kitchen table player and we recently started dating... but shes never played EDH!!!! Im planning on buying one of these and upgrading it for her as a christmas present. Longtime fan and love the content.
Hi professor. I watch you since a long time. I just wanted to say that everytime you say the "many MTG players ask...", You make me smile 😊
As someone who is part of a playgroup with a $25 budget limit, these decks are a godsend
I'm a fan of these. I have a son who has shown interest in magic and being able to grab a couple to teach him my favorite format is very appealing
In France, the decks are sold at about 27/28€ each, and are kinda hard to find cheaper. BUT, since I'm a new MTG player, even the bulk is good to grab for me, so I'm glad with it ahah. I've played MTG Arena for like 2 years, but I really really wanted to get into IRL gameplay, and especially Commander, so 40€ including sleeves and deckbox is kind of a good deal still. I'm clearly the target audience and I'm glad Wizards chose this specific time to release these precons ;)
My kids (12M, 19F) and I (47F) recently got into MTG. The kids love it. I love that my son is actually learning how to lose (sometimes more graciously than others) and my daughter is getting out of the house and hanging out with new friends at the LGS. We have precon commander decks that I bought earlier but they seem to be a bit above our skill level. I bought all five decks on Amazon for Christmas for $102 just squeaking by the $19.99 threshold. I'm hoping that these starter decks will actually help all of us learn the game and give us equal footing while allowing us to rotate through the decks so they don't become stale.
These are excellent for people with no cards or a small collection, looking to build up some Sol Rings, cheap but staple Rares, and decent Two-color mana base staples. You could argue that the $40/$45 Commander decks do the same thing but include some new/valuable cards with them, but honestly, for $20, these are pretty solid starter builds. The G/W deck has a lot of cards I use in my Trostani Tokens deck, and even a couple I maybe should. Plus, those Selesnya Guild lands...nobody noticed they reprinted those here. They were beautiful with the Guild decks. Still beautiful.
Good video. This product line seems actually solid for $20, especially for new players.
I have not understood this deck format. I really appreciate the walk through. Nice explanation.
I bought the Rakdos deck, Chaos Incarnate, recently just looking for some stuff for the deck I’m wanting to build, honestly it’s a shockingly great deck. My husband and I both like it a lot. It was $25 at my LGS but i bought it like a week ago and they came out a year ago so plus I greatly enjoy supporting my LGS because they’re so amazing.
If they get the Dimir one I’ll buy it too.
Great video! I just bought First Flight an hour before watching at my local game shop. They charged $32 for it so I go fleeced, but still I am just excited to get started!
Won't comment on the "2002" because I can tell you're exhausted with all these reviews. Just gonna say I appreciate you prof and am grateful for your voice in the community