I understand your fear for Gavin but to be honest I’m more worried about you...are you oks, it seemed like you were talking positively about Wizards of the Coast....if you’re in danger wear a green tie on your next video.
Professor, I showed this video to my wife. She wanted to let you know that you're a delightful man. Just passing along the comment. Love your work as always, I was seconds away from paying markup for the Elf deck! Not anymore!
Whoever has been in charge of these decks needs to be promoted ASAP. Ikoria ones were a stumble but I'm ok forgiving that since they seemed to learn from it. I look forward to these decks more than any other product these days and it's nice to be excited and not worried when a new set of decks is announced
@@Sehon13Ultd They just weren't on par with the quality of the other ones in terms of gameplay and value. They were decent though, just not amazing like the rest of them.
This is probably the most happy I have ever seen you reviewing a product, I couldn't help but smile with you, it was contagious! I know that between the end of year reviews and just general Wotc mistakes, it seems like everyone wants the negative and cynical content from you but this was a breath of fresh air. Hell even made me comment and I normally don't! This just couldn't not be written down. Thank you for the review, it was very helpful. I would very much like to get the elf deck but your insistence on the foretell one has me interested in at least trying it somehow.
I picked up Elven Empire at pseudo-MSRP. I had more Elfball pieces lying around for upgrades, including Triumph of the Hordes (which is a totally valid win-con!)
I love how straight forward the decks are... They have one complete strategy and no weird side strategies like in the old commander decks, which had a second and thirt commander in them with a totally different one.
Honestly, I’m a Yugioh player, and I know next to nothing about MTG. I started watching your deck box and sleeve videos, but even without any MTG knowledge, I’m still enjoying videos like this.
Im a yugioh player as well, i started playing mtg last june/july. I really love both games and mtg is really fun and a different experience from yugioh
Hey, Professor-my Elven Empire deck just arrived! I forced myself to wait, and lo and behold the price dropped! I didn’t pay markups. Thanks for the pointers.
The Professor seems like a genuinely nice guy,and someone I would love to meet and play a game with. Your opinions tend to be spot on with my own in most videos,and I really enjoy your honest opinions and ridiculous antics as well. Thank you sir
Most importantly for me, and I cannot stress this enough, is how easy they are to pick up and play. I’ve been teaching my girlfriend magic, and I cannot wait to get these as her intro to commander
I just got the Elven Empire deck with Lathril for commander & played for the 1st time last night with 2 experienced MTG players (I’ve only played 2 times in life lol) & they were both pleasantly surprised by the deck! I came here to learn more about my deck , thanks for posting!
@@jgtmtg I have already made a vega deck, this video convinced me that this was fun for kitchen table commander. I will definitely pick it up soon. Foretell is so fun, and it lets you feel like you are doing something on turns where you have nothing to play.
My friend bought a gaming store last year RIGHT has covid hit and I've been trying to help out with the magic stuff after taking a decade off from magic. I've been binging your videos and they've been awesome at getting me caught up to date with all the new ins and outs of the game, thanks!
Real talk, These were just a blast. I feel like wizards heard us, on ALL FRONTS but the lands base, but I feel as though we can trust wizards a little bit. Criticize the business and hasbro all you want, Wizards still is trying to make magic fun, and its both endearing and exactly where I feel as though they may be on a better streak. HOWEVER: BUYERS BEWARE: as with all early kaldheim products, I have found these cards having a pre-opened bend/bubble, and the card quality is not exactly up to snuff. Sleeve up these decks fast, or you will see pringling happening rather fast.
I enjoy your perspective and take on Magic and related gaming products. I always find it informative to check out your videos, prof! Even the older ones.
You've got skill with staying still! I continued to be fooled even after I figured it out XD (I've heard longer comments are better for the algorithm so I'm jamming multiple comments into one. Look out!) Thank you for these videos, they help give me hope for this frustrating game! I went ahead and bought these before your video came out knowing I would use several of the cards even if the rest of the deck wasn't fun. I'm so glad I did! I had no expectation they would be worth this much!! It's nice to hear you enjoy upgrading the precons, that makes me feel a lot better about struggling to make a deck from scratch! I don't know if you're doing something different with your hair but it looks great!! Keep up the great work, Professor! Edit: I can't wait to watch your booster box video for kaldhiem! My friend and I bought booster boxes to support the local game store (they don't sell singles, there's not much else we can do) and he opened 7 mythics! I'm really glad for the alternative art cards because it seems to lower the price of the normal versions making it cheaper for my friends and I to buy the singles we want.
Hello, Professor. I hope I can bring a smile to you today. I have been viewing your You-tube offerings, as well as a few others for a while now. My introduction to Magic: The Gathering goes as far back as yours, to wit, 4th Edition/Revised/Fallen Empires. A friend of mine was able to interest me in the game. Out in our area, there was not a large following of the game. We were self-taught, read tomes and manuals, and tried a variety of things to increase our game group, eventually teaching my sons the Game (one, the older, still plays and has far surpassed his mentor). As the years progressed, my friend and I put the decks aside, as people of our era were apt to do. What generation, you may ask? Well, I'm not quite as old as dirt, but from my crib I survived my first hard news story, the assassination of the president, in newborn bliss. Around the time of Lorwyn, my son reintroduced me to the game through a wonderful gentleman who was starting his own local game store. Unfortunately, my friend was still focused on the plane of Earth and did not get back into things. Fast-forward to a few weeks ago, and my friend called and asked if I still played. My interest has ebbed and flowed throughout the years but I still dabble. My specialty is kitchen table Magic, and bringing new players to the game. He was ready to return to Dominaria or whatever plane I was currently visiting. He had but two asks, first that I temper my desire to win (which is nice, but I can still enjoy not winning)while bringing him up to speed, and two, were there any books or literature that he could peruse to begin to relearn the game. The LGS has long since disappeared, and the owner has passed his spark to the Multiverse due to complications of poor health, so a local resource other than my son, myself and a few long-term kitchen table mages who are that is left. Thankfully, though, I have been following you in the Community College at Tolaria. It was a no-brainer for me to recommend all of your content, including the Tolarian Tutor. As a brief aside, you are much better and more knowledgeable than even the Demonic Tutor of game fame. We had set up a date and time to begin playing again, when he asked about a strange "new" concept of play called commander. After explaining the Commander/Elder Dragon Highlander connection, I also recommended to him to Game Knights and Command Zone channels, just from the enjoyment and enthusiasm you have shown on your too infrequent appearances along side of Josh Lee Kwai and Jimmy Wong. You have had a great and positive influence on his return, and we are looking toward trying to gather some interest in the Commander format in the future. So, kudos, Professor, for all that you have done for all of us who play, and feel free to mention the extension of these kudos to Josh and Jimmy. This is getting a bit long, so I shall leave you with a hearty Live Long and Prosper, sir, for the good things that you have done for the many far outweigh the any negative opinions of the few or even the one. Thank you.
We're so lucky to have you prof! That outro was funny. I still remember me and my friend's amazement at the arcane signet reveal with Brawl... Fast forward today, my binder's seam stitches are about to burst there's so many signets!
Right there with you prof! My boyfriend and I are enfranchised commander players and we picked both of these decks up and are having an absolute blast even before upgrading them
I told myself I wouldn't subscribe to any channels that didn't hold relevance to what I'm usually spending most of my time on. I've recently gotten back into M:TG due to wanting to play casually, but not enough to subscribe to Magic related channels. Your channel on the other hand is gold. Right to the point and hilarious to boot, awesome content! *hits subscribe*
Hey, great video :D I just ordered both Decks in Germany for 30€ as well as 2 Kaldheim Displays. Im completely new in the TGC World, and watched already some Videos from you. Pretty informative and funny. Keep up the good work!
I first discovered you through your crossover with Paul from TeamAPS, and after starting to play Commander (I've got a Syr Gwyn deck I've fallen in love with), you were the first person I thought of checking out on RUclips. Looking to get one of these decks for my girlfriend, and your video has convinced me outright. Thank you so much!
Pretty new to magic as a whole. Walked into my lcs this weekend and found the Ranar commander deck. For 20 bucks I was pretty happy! Walked out with that and some sleeves and now I’m looking to get started playing at my store! Love the videos as always prof!
By far your best video yet.. yes, don't pay markups.. Love your honest (yet sarcastic) and humorous video's, they are actually helpful, and I've noticed when I show them to the newbies (bees that don't sting) they don't seem to be so intimidated by the game. Thank you again..
I have always been interested in commander but wasn't jazzed to need to pay hundreds of dollars per deck. Easy fun 20$ decks that can still be good is a really nice breath of fresh air. Edit: I got the decks and they're great. Thanks for the support.
Prof. I’m new to magic. Not new to TCG. I’m enthusiastic and a quick learner. Your videos are brilliant. Thank you for your contributions to the community
Thanks for the video, my GF and I have been enjoying Kaldheim sealed and were considering getting these and upgrading out of the cards we already have. Now we are DEFINITELY going to.
Professor thank you for making me smile. Loved the ending and not paying mark up. I bought Elven Empire, non mark up at my local game store. And Some nice Dragon Shield Sleeves
After buying the CL commander decks before seeing your video on them, I knew I needed to wait for your video before picking up the Kaldheim decks. Thank you for all the work, and I'm definitely going to pick these up.
Loved the credits, I usually skip them but this one was very amusing :) Its super refreshing to see you happy about a product, Prof! Glad you like it, I might buy one too.
@@dejener8 Not blind completely, but her attempt to achieve godhood at the beginning of her story article mentions her losing focus and peripheral vision, and for a section of her being outside her house she goes eyes-closed to keep the light from straining them. She fights with her eyes closed as well.
I've been collecting commander precons and have all decks released since c18 (Windgrace et al). The newer and cheaper decks are relatively close in power level to their more expensive counterparts. I keep these intact, sleeved, and ready to go, as sometimes we'll do precons in the final round when my playgroup gets together. Last time, despite a magical christmasland start in c20 mutate (literally land, sol ring, signet) fell to Zendikar rogues. These cheaper decks are fun and can keep up with their more expensive counterparts. My advice: buy them early - like preorder early - as the prices don't start moving until after they are spoiled. (sure we don't know the value at that time, but I've never felt "ripped off" like I would if I had waited for contents and subsequent markup). Thanks for the great content, Prof!
My friend bought me the azurios one and let me say i LOVE playing it! I use brago as my commander and have been upgrading it from time to time, i really like how it came out!
Im a new magic player ive been using my friends deck for a little while now and decided to get my commander deck and a core 2021 set box for deck building i think this channels gonna be a big help
That ending deserves a comment for the algorithm. Makes me happy to see prof so happy. Just glad a shockland wasn’t in one of these or his head would have exploded.
They had shocklands in them they were actually a bargain. I got them at the "msrp" which was 20$. Watery grave itself is 15$ and the esper one had that AND it had lot's of good stuff as well like smothering tithe??
@@irou95 I was going to say, in retrospect, the Esper one at RRP turned out to be superb value: you basically bought a discounted Tithe and ended up with a free shock land, Signet and 57 other cards.
@@gypsieking3280 That's totally fair, there's a great LGS where I live (Leeds, UK) that adamantly refused to mark them up, so it was easy enough for me. :)
I preordered these decks for 70€ /pack of 4. Considering the prices of shocklands and signet at that point in time, it was clearly a steal at that price point. Nowhere near the 2019 commander preconstructed decks with their gates and 1hp gain tap lands for 40€/piece.
In defense of guildgates: It introduces new players to the names of the ravnica guilds, which are short hand for color combinations at large in the community.
I was not planning on buying either of these products. I was interested in the Elf deck but after thinking it over I figured, as a huge fan of Elf decks and Golgari, that I would have most or all of the cards Then the deck-lists came out and I was genuinely surprised. I sent in a pre-order that day. Now that I've picked it up and played with it, I'm super glad that I got it. This is exactly what I want in a pre-con Commander product. Great value, great reprints, great new cards, and fun to play.
I'd like to imagine the prof is frozen in place like that at the end of every video until another video idea pops into his head, allowing him to move and function normally once more.
I'm so grateful for your product reviews. You are always honest and entertaining, I even watch some of your reviews for products I'm not interested in. Thank you for you hard work!
Professor, I think it was you that told us to make sure to watch all the videos to the end for RUclips algorithm stuff or something. In any case, my way of doing that is to let the video play and then go down to the comments. What a surprise to have to scroll up again when I heard you talking at the end of the video while smiling/posing. Of course, then I was smiling too all the way til' the end. 😀
Coming back to these videos (to see if I want one of them) after commander masters 2023.. man it hurts. Decks selling for $20 that are fun and good, now most regular decks are $50 a piece and the masters decks are $100+
Enjoyed that to the very end... I wondered what my better half would say if they walked in and saw me watching a vid of you just sat there... and me avidly watching and grinning at how ridiculous I’d look! lol Thanks prof.
Just picked up both of these decks for about 15 bucks each and I love them. I havent played Magic in about 15 years but picked up some cards because I liked the metal aesthetic of Kaldheim. I also got a couple of the Strixhaven Commander decks. As someone who hasn't played in a long time I was really impressed with these purchases. Last time I played was with Mirrodin and what a surprise getting a new deck with Bosh and a Sol Ring made my whole day. Thanks for the videos new sub here.
With so many pricey lacklustre products out there on the market. I really think these £15 commander decks standout as brilliant. For me, as a relative beginner, £15 for a 100 card, ready to play deck, is so so good.
I went to Target and bought the phantom premonition deck for 21 bucks. Stupid target I just went there to buy some batteries and I come out with more than I meant to spend like usual. Anyways I was worried that dang it they got me again. Spend my heart earn money on some garbage cards hoping that either it'd be valued high or I would get high value play out of them but being disappointed every time but this time that was not the case. I actually thought after I bought this deck i think I might have just made an awesome purchase and now watching your video confirms my thought. Great job explaining why this product is one of the best ones that they have come out with in a while. I encourage everybody to buy this set of commanders, thank you for making the video and go foretell!
bought both of these with a friend, and we both really enjoy it, these are great decks and i very much hope theyll continue to make these with every new set!
I haven't gone out to my LGS to pick these up yet (its kinda spooky out there yall, be safe) but these look like great fun and I can't wait to try them out. Thanks for the awesome review as always Prof!
Thank you for the review! I just ordered both decks from my LGS. I'm hoping to get into Commander after COVID, and both of these themes tickle my fancy. With your confirmation of value I didn't have any hesitation to buy them.
The ending was hilarious and great advice. I bought the elf one for $24.99 at my local game store. I don't exactly have the capability of ordering online so it was easier to just buy it. Plus, shipping is kind of hard to get where I'm at.
This may be the beginning of our reckoning! For too long our decks have been pushed away from the table, tanking our stats on EDHREC, but now is the time for a rebirth! AZORIUS GANG RISE UP............. or just, like, buy the precon and show people not all our decks are cancer, that'd be nice too.
If the stax pieces, infinite combos and broken interaction weren't the best thing UW had to offer, people could play other, more reasonable, things instead, right? I personally just wanna jam UW or Bant blink and be perfectly happy to send my team into protective exile before wiping the board, getting those sweet sweet ETB triggers for even more value afterwards. But when people see Brago or Roon they automatically assume you have like 20 creatures that go infinite with each other, not that I can blame them. 😅
@@faerie7dragon You're not wrong, but I like the gameplay of midrange ETB spam more than straight up creature aggro. I'll definitely check it out though, maybe it's more fun than I give it credit for, thanks for the suggestion! :)
Girlfriend and I never played commander before. We got both of these. Having an absolute blast, played every night since getting them until midnight couldn't be happier.
How A Rejected Card Design Became The Greatest New Mechanic: ruclips.net/video/DmD4vVxyc5w/видео.html
Can I play against my friend? 1 vs 1 with these decks?
@@shipkoff Yeah, it's best at 4 players, but 1-vs-1 works too. They rarely are too imbalanced.
You've done a fantastic job at emphasizing "the Gathering" in Magic. Thank you!
I understand your fear for Gavin but to be honest I’m more worried about you...are you oks, it seemed like you were talking positively about Wizards of the Coast....if you’re in danger wear a green tie on your next video.
I'd love to see a deck tech once you've finished upgrading the Azorious deck
Wizards: offers good decks for reasonable prices
Prof: don't do this, don't give me hope
Wizards: it is because of players like you we want to do this.
WotC: Release a good value Magic product
Prof: "Visible confusion"
Somewhere, a Wizards Employee watched this video and shouted “Ha! Showed him” just before he got a call from corporate.
Good one
Professor, I showed this video to my wife. She wanted to let you know that you're a delightful man.
Just passing along the comment. Love your work as always, I was seconds away from paying markup for the Elf deck! Not anymore!
I’m sure if they were allowed to include the Bond lands in the decks, Gavin was gonna have a very uncomfortable meeting with the company accountants
Yeah, he was already pushing it. Reprinting actually wanted cards and lowering the prices of them? What a lunatic.
They made the mistake of giving us good lands in brawl
Yeah scrylands or pain lands would be more likely to be in a precon
@@dankmemes9942 heck, even just filter lands would be nice.
@@dankmemes9942 yeah. Low tier double lands are fine for me too!
Whoever has been in charge of these decks needs to be promoted ASAP. Ikoria ones were a stumble but I'm ok forgiving that since they seemed to learn from it. I look forward to these decks more than any other product these days and it's nice to be excited and not worried when a new set of decks is announced
What was bad about the ikoria ones?
@@Sehon13Ultd They just weren't on par with the quality of the other ones in terms of gameplay and value. They were decent though, just not amazing like the rest of them.
@@plumokin5535 I actually really liked Kathril, a lot of cards were filler but the core of the deck was unique to me and fun
Its promising seeing wotc trying to do more positive things. NOW, lets just hope they stay on track, and don't regress.
call me jaded but even a blind squirrel finds a nut eventually
They will fuck it up.
The only thing you can count on with WotC, is that you can't count on them.
They did do a good job on these decks though 👍
REPRINT THE GOD DAMN FETCH LANDS!!!!
/insert JJonahJamesonlaugh.gif
See A grade and the professor happy with the product overall is refreshing.
This is probably the most happy I have ever seen you reviewing a product, I couldn't help but smile with you, it was contagious! I know that between the end of year reviews and just general Wotc mistakes, it seems like everyone wants the negative and cynical content from you but this was a breath of fresh air. Hell even made me comment and I normally don't! This just couldn't not be written down.
Thank you for the review, it was very helpful. I would very much like to get the elf deck but your insistence on the foretell one has me interested in at least trying it somehow.
You know I felt the same. To seen someone simplu happy about it. I was very happy when i opened up my foretell!
@@dariocampanella7992 The deck is good I won 2 out of 4 games last night with my pod. Infinite combos are easy 😛
DONT PAY MARKUPS
I picked up Elven Empire at pseudo-MSRP. I had more Elfball pieces lying around for upgrades, including Triumph of the Hordes (which is a totally valid win-con!)
I have these on order (in Australia so a bit slow) and was already looking forward to these, and this review has just increased that.
I’m pissing myself laughing at the end credits and the “dont pay markup”
I love your humour
me toooooo, his freaking hilarious , i so love this guy
2021 is already shaping up to be a better "year of commander".
I love how straight forward the decks are... They have one complete strategy and no weird side strategies like in the old commander decks, which had a second and thirt commander in them with a totally different one.
Honestly, I’m a Yugioh player, and I know next to nothing about MTG. I started watching your deck box and sleeve videos, but even without any MTG knowledge, I’m still enjoying videos like this.
You should check out mtg arena I recently got a few friends into mtg with it. You can look up codes for packs to get you a healthy start
Im a yugioh player as well, i started playing mtg last june/july. I really love both games and mtg is really fun and a different experience from yugioh
As an ex-yugioh player, I can guarantee you're going to love Kaldheim. They let you play more cards face-down. :D
I also was once a yugioh-player and looked for good sleeve reviews...now I have more than 10 Commander decks...because of this channel.
If you want to watch some awesome commander game play, search game knights.
Hey, Professor-my Elven Empire deck just arrived! I forced myself to wait, and lo and behold the price dropped! I didn’t pay markups. Thanks for the pointers.
Guys... They're learning.
shhh don't jinx it
I highly doubt it. They probably screwed up the card list. Seems far more likely.
Like dreamcast?
Don't hold your breath
CleverGirl.gif?
The Professor seems like a genuinely nice guy,and someone I would love to meet and play a game with. Your opinions tend to be spot on with my own in most videos,and I really enjoy your honest opinions and ridiculous antics as well. Thank you sir
Most importantly for me, and I cannot stress this enough, is how easy they are to pick up and play. I’ve been teaching my girlfriend magic, and I cannot wait to get these as her intro to commander
I just got the Elven Empire deck with Lathril for commander & played for the 1st time last night with 2 experienced MTG players (I’ve only played 2 times in life lol) & they were both pleasantly surprised by the deck! I came here to learn more about my deck , thanks for posting!
I’m buying the Azorius one and you can’t stop me
Me too. I think foretell is such an interesting mechanic and I hope they do it more
@@jgtmtg I have already made a vega deck, this video convinced me that this was fun for kitchen table commander. I will definitely pick it up soon. Foretell is so fun, and it lets you feel like you are doing something on turns where you have nothing to play.
Foretell is AWESOME. Flicker strategies are great :)
He’s having a good time, he’s having a ball.
@@bradensorensen966 don't stop me know
My friend bought a gaming store last year RIGHT has covid hit and I've been trying to help out with the magic stuff after taking a decade off from magic. I've been binging your videos and they've been awesome at getting me caught up to date with all the new ins and outs of the game, thanks!
Real talk, These were just a blast. I feel like wizards heard us, on ALL FRONTS but the lands base, but I feel as though we can trust wizards a little bit. Criticize the business and hasbro all you want, Wizards still is trying to make magic fun, and its both endearing and exactly where I feel as though they may be on a better streak.
HOWEVER: BUYERS BEWARE: as with all early kaldheim products, I have found these cards having a pre-opened bend/bubble, and the card quality is not exactly up to snuff. Sleeve up these decks fast, or you will see pringling happening rather fast.
they even out after a couple months , 2 of my decks have done that lmao
I enjoy your perspective and take on Magic and related gaming products. I always find it informative to check out your videos, prof! Even the older ones.
Prof is really worried for Gavin's job security.
You've got skill with staying still! I continued to be fooled even after I figured it out XD
(I've heard longer comments are better for the algorithm so I'm jamming multiple comments into one. Look out!)
Thank you for these videos, they help give me hope for this frustrating game!
I went ahead and bought these before your video came out knowing I would use several of the cards even if the rest of the deck wasn't fun. I'm so glad I did! I had no expectation they would be worth this much!!
It's nice to hear you enjoy upgrading the precons, that makes me feel a lot better about struggling to make a deck from scratch!
I don't know if you're doing something different with your hair but it looks great!!
Keep up the great work, Professor!
Edit: I can't wait to watch your booster box video for kaldhiem! My friend and I bought booster boxes to support the local game store (they don't sell singles, there's not much else we can do) and he opened 7 mythics! I'm really glad for the alternative art cards because it seems to lower the price of the normal versions making it cheaper for my friends and I to buy the singles we want.
Many magic the gathering players ask the question: Why is prof so funny and amazing?
Hello, Professor. I hope I can bring a smile to you today. I have been viewing your You-tube offerings, as well as a few others for a while now. My introduction to Magic: The Gathering goes as far back as yours, to wit, 4th Edition/Revised/Fallen Empires. A friend of mine was able to interest me in the game. Out in our area, there was not a large following of the game. We were self-taught, read tomes and manuals, and tried a variety of things to increase our game group, eventually teaching my sons the Game (one, the older, still plays and has far surpassed his mentor). As the years progressed, my friend and I put the decks aside, as people of our era were apt to do. What generation, you may ask? Well, I'm not quite as old as dirt, but from my crib I survived my first hard news story, the assassination of the president, in newborn bliss. Around the time of Lorwyn, my son reintroduced me to the game through a wonderful gentleman who was starting his own local game store. Unfortunately, my friend was still focused on the plane of Earth and did not get back into things. Fast-forward to a few weeks ago, and my friend called and asked if I still played. My interest has ebbed and flowed throughout the years but I still dabble. My specialty is kitchen table Magic, and bringing new players to the game. He was ready to return to Dominaria or whatever plane I was currently visiting. He had but two asks, first that I temper my desire to win (which is nice, but I can still enjoy not winning)while bringing him up to speed, and two, were there any books or literature that he could peruse to begin to relearn the game. The LGS has long since disappeared, and the owner has passed his spark to the Multiverse due to complications of poor health, so a local resource other than my son, myself and a few long-term kitchen table mages who are that is left. Thankfully, though, I have been following you in the Community College at Tolaria. It was a no-brainer for me to recommend all of your content, including the Tolarian Tutor. As a brief aside, you are much better and more knowledgeable than even the Demonic Tutor of game fame. We had set up a date and time to begin playing again, when he asked about a strange "new" concept of play called commander. After explaining the Commander/Elder Dragon Highlander connection, I also recommended to him to Game Knights and Command Zone channels, just from the enjoyment and enthusiasm you have shown on your too infrequent appearances along side of Josh Lee Kwai and Jimmy Wong. You have had a great and positive influence on his return, and we are looking toward trying to gather some interest in the Commander format in the future. So, kudos, Professor, for all that you have done for all of us who play, and feel free to mention the extension of these kudos to Josh and Jimmy. This is getting a bit long, so I shall leave you with a hearty Live Long and Prosper, sir, for the good things that you have done for the many far outweigh the any negative opinions of the few or even the one. Thank you.
Prof's legitimate shock and horror at these being valuable products cracks me up
It does feel like wotc is about to tell us our dog died or something
Yeah, his concern is very concerning.
We're so lucky to have you prof! That outro was funny. I still remember me and my friend's amazement at the arcane signet reveal with Brawl... Fast forward today, my binder's seam stitches are about to burst there's so many signets!
I admit I was only half-watching at the end, and thought you were doing a voiceover. You got me, Prof. Good job.
Right there with you prof! My boyfriend and I are enfranchised commander players and we picked both of these decks up and are having an absolute blast even before upgrading them
I can't remember the last time I saw Prof being excited about an MtG product :o
I told myself I wouldn't subscribe to any channels that didn't hold relevance to what I'm usually spending most of my time on. I've recently gotten back into M:TG due to wanting to play casually, but not enough to subscribe to Magic related channels. Your channel on the other hand is gold. Right to the point and hilarious to boot, awesome content! *hits subscribe*
"Don't pay mark-up." -The Professor
I've never heard the professor so concerned about my financial situation.
Yeah man, Mark's in a bad spot, but he's going to spend his money speculating legends reserved list 😱
Hey, great video :D I just ordered both Decks in Germany for 30€ as well as 2 Kaldheim Displays. Im completely new in the TGC World, and watched already some Videos from you. Pretty informative and funny. Keep up the good work!
I first discovered you through your crossover with Paul from TeamAPS, and after starting to play Commander (I've got a Syr Gwyn deck I've fallen in love with), you were the first person I thought of checking out on RUclips. Looking to get one of these decks for my girlfriend, and your video has convinced me outright. Thank you so much!
do not pay mark up or I will be frozen in this pose forever!
“It 👏🏾makes 👏🏾 no 👏🏾 sense! ... Compels me, tho.” 🤣🤣🤣
Bring back goth professor!!! I need him!!!
We all need more Black Mana professor in out lives
He needs to make the 5c professors a series somehow.
@@kylesavage4525 Radical.
Pretty new to magic as a whole. Walked into my lcs this weekend and found the Ranar commander deck. For 20 bucks I was pretty happy! Walked out with that and some sleeves and now I’m looking to get started playing at my store! Love the videos as always prof!
This is seriously a breath of fresh air.
By far your best video yet.. yes, don't pay markups..
Love your honest (yet sarcastic) and humorous video's, they are actually helpful, and I've noticed when I show them to the newbies (bees that don't sting) they don't seem to be so intimidated by the game.
Thank you again..
I have always been interested in commander but wasn't jazzed to need to pay hundreds of dollars per deck. Easy fun 20$ decks that can still be good is a really nice breath of fresh air. Edit: I got the decks and they're great. Thanks for the support.
Buy one of these decks and just slowly improve them over time
Or build a pauper commander deck using cards you own and upgrade that, either way works.
Prof. I’m new to magic. Not new to TCG. I’m enthusiastic and a quick learner. Your videos are brilliant. Thank you for your contributions to the community
I hope these products do well. Wizards should realize that making a profit and keeping people happy can go hand in hand.
Thanks for the video, my GF and I have been enjoying Kaldheim sealed and were considering getting these and upgrading out of the cards we already have. Now we are DEFINITELY going to.
Some say the Professor is still holding a pose and smiling till this day
Professor thank you for making me smile. Loved the ending and not paying mark up. I bought Elven Empire, non mark up at my local game store. And Some nice Dragon Shield Sleeves
The credits were amazing.
i totally didnt watch the credits but IM SOOO GLAD YOU SAID SOMETHING OMG THATS HILARIOUS
After buying the CL commander decks before seeing your video on them, I knew I needed to wait for your video before picking up the Kaldheim decks. Thank you for all the work, and I'm definitely going to pick these up.
Glad I could help!
Gavin talked about this on GMM, it has more cards because it is a new world without as many good reprint options.
Loved the credits, I usually skip them but this one was very amusing :)
Its super refreshing to see you happy about a product, Prof! Glad you like it, I might buy one too.
I bought them for the lore. Ranar is an adoptive father turned guardian of Istfell and Lathril has a seeing-eye wolf!
When did it ever say that Lathril is blind? I thought the wolf was just a normal animal companion.
@@dejener8 Not blind completely, but her attempt to achieve godhood at the beginning of her story article mentions her losing focus and peripheral vision, and for a section of her being outside her house she goes eyes-closed to keep the light from straining them. She fights with her eyes closed as well.
I've been collecting commander precons and have all decks released since c18 (Windgrace et al). The newer and cheaper decks are relatively close in power level to their more expensive counterparts. I keep these intact, sleeved, and ready to go, as sometimes we'll do precons in the final round when my playgroup gets together.
Last time, despite a magical christmasland start in c20 mutate (literally land, sol ring, signet) fell to Zendikar rogues.
These cheaper decks are fun and can keep up with their more expensive counterparts.
My advice: buy them early - like preorder early - as the prices don't start moving until after they are spoiled. (sure we don't know the value at that time, but I've never felt "ripped off" like I would if I had waited for contents and subsequent markup).
Thanks for the great content, Prof!
Hardly anyone plays commander in my area so when the precons get hiked up I can just go to walmart and get them for msrp.
Hell yeah
That's how I got my cycling command deck
@@nuhuhnope7579 ... and a copy of Fierce Guardianship! I love that precon - mine is all sorts of (extra) fun with some simple upgrades.
My friend bought me the azurios one and let me say i LOVE playing it! I use brago as my commander and have been upgrading it from time to time, i really like how it came out!
Many Magic: The Gathering players ask the question: How many Magic: The Gathering players ask the question?
Edit:
A lot.
This needs more likes!! Lol
Many
It's not a lot, it's many
Good question.
Im a new magic player ive been using my friends deck for a little while now and decided to get my commander deck and a core 2021 set box for deck building i think this channels gonna be a big help
Professor that Gavin comment almost killed me😂 hilarious as always
Edit: I was wrong. The whole video is fire😂😂
That ending deserves a comment for the algorithm.
Makes me happy to see prof so happy. Just glad a shockland wasn’t in one of these or his head would have exploded.
The Brawl decks were a rip off, even without the markups they were costed at or above a 100-card commander deck
They had shocklands in them they were actually a bargain. I got them at the "msrp" which was 20$.
Watery grave itself is 15$ and the esper one had that AND it had lot's of good stuff as well like smothering tithe??
@@irou95 I was going to say, in retrospect, the Esper one at RRP turned out to be superb value: you basically bought a discounted Tithe and ended up with a free shock land, Signet and 57 other cards.
Everyone outside of Esper was a bit of a stretch I felt. And frankly I was never able to find them at 20 a piece so never got a chance to pick any up
@@gypsieking3280 That's totally fair, there's a great LGS where I live (Leeds, UK) that adamantly refused to mark them up, so it was easy enough for me. :)
I preordered these decks for 70€ /pack of 4. Considering the prices of shocklands and signet at that point in time, it was clearly a steal at that price point. Nowhere near the 2019 commander preconstructed decks with their gates and 1hp gain tap lands for 40€/piece.
I bought the Ranar deck as my first ever commander precon and I will say that it was super fun and I still play with it one year later
In defense of guildgates: It introduces new players to the names of the ravnica guilds, which are short hand for color combinations at large in the community.
So do the signets
I sometimes put in Dimir guildgates for flavor reasons in my Etrata the Sikencer deck. Sometimes I’m picky with the flavor text...
And so do the bounce lands.
Yeah, but you can do the same with the signets.
Why not both?
I was not planning on buying either of these products. I was interested in the Elf deck but after thinking it over I figured, as a huge fan of Elf decks and Golgari, that I would have most or all of the cards Then the deck-lists came out and I was genuinely surprised. I sent in a pre-order that day. Now that I've picked it up and played with it, I'm super glad that I got it. This is exactly what I want in a pre-con Commander product. Great value, great reprints, great new cards, and fun to play.
I'd like to imagine the prof is frozen in place like that at the end of every video until another video idea pops into his head, allowing him to move and function normally once more.
I'm so grateful for your product reviews. You are always honest and entertaining, I even watch some of your reviews for products I'm not interested in.
Thank you for you hard work!
Omg that ending had me in tears lol!
I just bought the Azorius deck today and my buddy sent me this video. Let's just say, very happy I decided to get into commander when I did!
Oh hey, I was looking for this video on this channel literally an hour ago! Not bad timing.
My girlfriend and I are using these precons to get into commander, and they have been a lot of fun so far. Great video by the way!
I'm just so happy they finally found some design space in Azorious that isn't fliers and stax.
Same
Professor, I think it was you that told us to make sure to watch all the videos to the end for RUclips algorithm stuff or something. In any case, my way of doing that is to let the video play and then go down to the comments. What a surprise to have to scroll up again when I heard you talking at the end of the video while smiling/posing. Of course, then I was smiling too all the way til' the end. 😀
Arcane Signet was always either going to be the new Sol Ring or it would hit $100+ the former being the most obvious
Coming back to these videos (to see if I want one of them) after commander masters 2023.. man it hurts. Decks selling for $20 that are fun and good, now most regular decks are $50 a piece and the masters decks are $100+
I think one of my few complaints about the Azorius deck, is that I wish that it was Esper. Mainly I just wish I could run Dream Devourer in it.
Enjoyed that to the very end... I wondered what my better half would say if they walked in and saw me watching a vid of you just sat there... and me avidly watching and grinning at how ridiculous I’d look! lol
Thanks prof.
I love that some of the cards are be reprinted with brand new art
Just picked up both of these decks for about 15 bucks each and I love them. I havent played Magic in about 15 years but picked up some cards because I liked the metal aesthetic of Kaldheim. I also got a couple of the Strixhaven Commander decks. As someone who hasn't played in a long time I was really impressed with these purchases. Last time I played was with Mirrodin and what a surprise getting a new deck with Bosh and a Sol Ring made my whole day. Thanks for the videos new sub here.
With so many pricey lacklustre products out there on the market. I really think these £15 commander decks standout as brilliant. For me, as a relative beginner, £15 for a 100 card, ready to play deck, is so so good.
I went to Target and bought the phantom premonition deck for 21 bucks. Stupid target I just went there to buy some batteries and I come out with more than I meant to spend like usual. Anyways I was worried that dang it they got me again. Spend my heart earn money on some garbage cards hoping that either it'd be valued high or I would get high value play out of them but being disappointed every time but this time that was not the case. I actually thought after I bought this deck i think I might have just made an awesome purchase and now watching your video confirms my thought. Great job explaining why this product is one of the best ones that they have come out with in a while. I encourage everybody to buy this set of commanders, thank you for making the video and go foretell!
I got the elf deck this morning at my local Wal-Mart it was only 22$ so not bad at all
Excellent review! 😎👍 Thank you for taking the time so share this!
I actually paused the video about halfway thru to place an order for them on Amazon.
For me as a elf player I'm buying the elf commander deck only for the fact it's a elf deck an I like how it looks.
Planning on getting and upgrading the Azorius deck. Been waiting for a blue white strat that speaks to me, and this is it.
gonna cop the azorius personally cause I want to do a procrastination deck where almost everything is suspend and foretell cards
Your analytical, and cynical approach to evaluation is wonderful! I will definitely be picking up the Elf pre-con. Thanks, Professor.
they said when visiting new planes they wanted to put more new cards in these decks
also i like new art Ghostly Prison
bought both of these with a friend, and we both really enjoy it, these are great decks and i very much hope theyll continue to make these with every new set!
Glad to see an A grade, but I really value how honest you are. Thanks for getting me into the game and brightening my day prof!
I haven't gone out to my LGS to pick these up yet (its kinda spooky out there yall, be safe) but these look like great fun and I can't wait to try them out. Thanks for the awesome review as always Prof!
Don't pay markups! (The ending was hysterical by the way)
Thank you for the review! I just ordered both decks from my LGS. I'm hoping to get into Commander after COVID, and both of these themes tickle my fancy. With your confirmation of value I didn't have any hesitation to buy them.
Poor Gavin. He seemed like such a nice guy. Sad to see him go 😢
My wife and i bought both actually, and it was a blast!!! Both good out of the box and fun to upgrade! Great purchase!
I’m leaving a comment to appreciate the “voice over” gag at the end.
The ending was hilarious and great advice. I bought the elf one for $24.99 at my local game store. I don't exactly have the capability of ordering online so it was easier to just buy it. Plus, shipping is kind of hard to get where I'm at.
Being an eternally hated UW player, I can't wait to get my hands on that Phantom Premonition deck.
This may be the beginning of our reckoning! For too long our decks have been pushed away from the table, tanking our stats on EDHREC, but now is the time for a rebirth! AZORIUS GANG RISE UP............. or just, like, buy the precon and show people not all our decks are cancer, that'd be nice too.
You server order, let no one stands in the way of the rule of law, your rule, your law.
If the stax pieces, infinite combos and broken interaction weren't the best thing UW had to offer, people could play other, more reasonable, things instead, right? I personally just wanna jam UW or Bant blink and be perfectly happy to send my team into protective exile before wiping the board, getting those sweet sweet ETB triggers for even more value afterwards. But when people see Brago or Roon they automatically assume you have like 20 creatures that go infinite with each other, not that I can blame them. 😅
@@Yuzuki1337 I mean, you could play Kangee 2 and just play fliers, with Counterspells and tax back-up.
@@faerie7dragon You're not wrong, but I like the gameplay of midrange ETB spam more than straight up creature aggro. I'll definitely check it out though, maybe it's more fun than I give it credit for, thanks for the suggestion! :)
I'm glad I didn't skip the sponsor part this time. I really appreciate the background commentary during it XD
This is the oddest ASMR I've done.
Girlfriend and I never played commander before. We got both of these. Having an absolute blast, played every night since getting them until midnight couldn't be happier.