Yeah same I was like omg wtf what magical stars have aligned to get another one of these. It like the hardcore histories of magic, 1 every 6 months to a year but worth the wait
To me the most insane thing was that after all those apologies and bans powering down decks that could put as many and whichever lands you wanted on the battlefield, WotC just went ahead and printed fcking Omnath
And then they didn't even bite the bullet and ban Omnath immediately, they hit Uro, and it just demoralized *everyone*, like it was too little too late, and he wasn't from (current set), so he had to go, even though Omnath was so bonkers *Uro wasn't the problem card in that deck.*
@@entothechesnautknight1762 I agree that Uro wasn't the problem card in the 4 color Adventure Value pile. But Uro is still just a smidge too good for my taste, so I'm still kinda glad it got banned despite owning a foil Paper copy (which, miraculously, is still worth a pretty penny).
@@OogaB0oga oh no, Uro was definitely *A* problem card, he'd been since release, but the problem was that Uro was released in a set they stopped selling and printing, and Instead of banning the card that the entire deck was based around, they banned the card that wasn't selling packs anymore. Like, obviously it's more then that, and I don't think it was an entirely intentional move on WotC's part, but it looked SO bad for them and felt bad too.
“They’ve never had to ban a cycle.” Companions: 👀👀 That’s what pisses me off most about the Companions errata, is that WotC’s biggest design debacle gets a pass because it wasn’t technically banned.
@@brentkilgore5182 The entireti of this mechanic was changed, for the worse, because it turned out to be way too good the way it was originally designed
The companion mistake was so huge that every single players noticed it and the designers recognized it publicly. What exactly is that « get a pass » that pisses you off so much 17 months later ?
As a commander player, I'm frustrated my section of the playerbase is being used as an moneyfarm/excuse for stock holders and WOTC to push the rest of the playerbase out of the game and deprive them of the design teams focus or attention. I love alternate art cards and pushed mechanics that actually have a life beyond standard in EDH, but thats no excuse to warp standard beyond recognition and defend it with a sales chart, and then defend your greed with a IRL pandemic. Good to see you back. Keep making these.
I think it's just time to admit that Magic is commander now. Seeing the top videos from competitive formats like Modern and Standard get 30k views vs just a casual EDH video getting 1 million plus is basically all the evidence you need, forget sales. I don't ever see this changing.
being a commander player for a decade and having an influx of people start playing because its the expensive format is also frusterating. a lot of try hards trying to treat it like modern and legacy now. the newer the player, the more johnny/spike/timmy hybrid i find them too be.
@@sjdhrjrjejdhdhsh I'd argue it's because Standard is just not as interesting anymore. Once you see the same three or four decks stay dominant in the Meta you tend to want to look at formats like EDH and Commander where not every deck is going to be the same and you see players actually having fun times while getting more bang from their buck since the cards will never rotate out, while in Standard if you want to win you have to play the top tier decks which arent going to be arent going to be around forever and might not be good in Modern, you lose interest.
Shaping your market as a company takes time before you yield the the returns on your investment. That being said, there is a strong chance that the proleague was a strong contributor to a lucrative FY even when pro play didn't exist during said FY.
I love how Eldraine is such a busted set that a random-ass common land in the set had to get banned in two formats. Which isn't to say that Mystic Sanctuary is in the same zip code as a reasonable card, but I don't think it's even top 10 most powerful Eldraine cards.
There’s also still unbanned but still extremely powerful cards that Eldraine has like the two Adventure Aggro-ers in Lovestruck and the Giant, even more aggro with Embercleave, Questing Beast, basically all the Castles being such amazing utility lands, Brazen Borrower, the Goose. In other formats there’s Kenrith being a great commander, Emry to help all the artifact decks along with Witching Well. Like holy cow the list of amazing cards is absurd.
well, for people who played mostly standard back then, it's reasonable to see how you could reach that conclusion. there aren't any fetch lands in standard. so you couldn't tutor it up the way you can in modern. there weren't a lot of good cards in standard worth getting with mystic sanctuary. most decks weren't built around instants and sorceries. standard didn't have a card like cryptic command that could combo infinitely with it while generating value or tempo simultaneously. also, standard didn't have enough dual lands with land types to consistently activate mystic sanctuary. so it was basically trash tier in standard, even if you were playing a mono blue deck with 20 instants and sorceries. yet in modern it was easily in the top 5 best eldraine cards in terms of sheer power level. not as many decks could support it as other broken cards like oko or once upon a time. but in the decks that could support it, it was arguably a stronger piece than oko was in the decks that it saw play in. and whether it was stronger or not, it was undeniably a WAY more annoying piece to play against. I doubt you could find a modern player who'd dispute that it was one of the most annoying strategies of all time. even mystic sanctuary players would probably admit that. less fun even than lantern control, at least that strategy takes a lot of thought and decisions.
I applaud you for releasing this without double guessing yourself, people need to hear it. Having Maro reply with “Sales.” was unbelievable to me and the drop that spilled the cup for me. I’m a relatively new player, starting seriously back in 2018, and these last couple of years have been an emotional ride and I’m so done with Wotc and their bullshit.
Your commentary on Magic and the way you break down your arguments is second to none. Watching your videos is like listening to an album where every track is a hit.
The number of times I've watched "And it all came tumbling down" just to hear your sharp and compelling commentary is actually kind of silly considering it's probably intended to be more of an information piece rather than a entertainment piece. And its really nice to hear someone say what we've all been thinking regarding the bans business.
My favorite thing about that whole time period was that Oko, Goose, Uro, Omnath, Field, Tef, all of it was supposed to be in standard all at the same time. I can only imagine what the format would have looked like without all the bans.
I just noticed this now, made my day to see this series back… I used to binge your videos almost daily in the past and still occasionally rewatch them. So happy to see more being made
I love your videos and so that long hiatus was a bit sad but when I saw you pop up again I was so happy. The Kamigawa video was one of my favorites because you share the same sentiment that I have with Kamigawa and Ravnica making a kickass standard format and it's so nice seeing some defending of that set and it looks like WotC is listening to "the small but very vocal minority". Part of me really hopes you break down that further in an ""Actually Kamigawa Was Pretty Great Part 2" but I understand that it takes a lot to make these videos and it takes a lot of time that now we know goes into your blog. I'll keep doing what is needed for you to come back and make these videos because your energy, wit, and the visual appeal of the graphics is soooooo fun, your KCI video also inspired me to make a video similar for Dimir Inverter for my motion graphics class in college and while the class and my professor wasn't too keen on it me and a couple of students loved it.
Oh thank God, Pretty Deece is returning. I've been watching all of the old stuff for months, to the point the Kamigawa video is burned into my memory, so I'm glad to have a new one.
It's amazing how in this 20 minute video, Jon actually only managed to scratch the surface of what made so many of these cards busted, with the insane or inane play patterns they introduced. But there's just so much to cover you could make a 20 minute video probably for every card that got banned.
John you are a good man. You will not be able to see the impact you have with these first hand but just speaking for myself you have taught me more about the complexity of life than any other person on this site. Please make more of these they are great.
I was very happy to see this in my list of videos recommended. I love this series and I’m glad you’re back Jon. What truly scares me, is there may come a time where the paper and competitive communities become shunned by WotC. I don’t want competitive Magic to die, it’s an amazing time and I don’t want this game that has taken 13 years of my life to die off so coldly. Commander can be fun, but Modern Horizons 2 having so many cards seemingly for Commander irked me greatly…and it’s not the only thing to offer. If sales is all it takes to call a year of Magic design great…then the priorities of WotC and the playerbase do not align. And that is frightening. Apologies for my small essay, and I appreciate those who cared to read it. TL;DR: Let’s hope this game doesn’t die, okay guys?
Its so weirdly nice to see this again. The more chilled out tone of it definitely helps throw it in contrast with all of the more severe sky-is-falling attitudes prevalent in magic nowadays.
Honestly, maybe it’s because that’s when I began my transformation from tabletop player to tournament player, but I loved Kaladesh/Amonkhet standard. There were tons of unique decks that people actually played besides energy and red aggro! My LGS has never been as much fun since. To be fair, I usually hate “good stuff” decks with a passion, and those blocks had a lot of keywords. Mardu vehicles, black aggro (had a bunch of drain for 1 cards), God-Pharoahs Gift, Marionette Master, U/W Embalm, Cats, G/B counters, Approach of the Second Sun, U/B control, U/B midrange, and a ton of others I can’t quite remember off the top of my head. I actually had a pretty awesome win rate with a monowhite vehicles pile running 3 Peacewalker Colossus. Yes, that bulk rare. Sram’s Expertise was also highly underrated.
Kaladesh at least had to have cards from other sets to reach their full potential and be truely busted, outside of the obvious infinite combo they missed. Eldraine was busted by itself and didn't have the excuse of not having a team of people specifically there to make sure it wasn't broken like kaladesh did.
These videos bring to life the history of MTG in a format that is really easy to follow. I can even show this to my friends who are new to Magic or Intermediate and they totally understand what's going on. I like the flow, I like the pacing, I like the facts - everything about this video series and I have been watching the videos from 3 years ago thinking "What happened to cause such a break!?" I will definitely be picking up my booster boxes and singles for my new Zombie deck I'll be building with the link in the description to show my support for the channel and this video series specifically. Masterfully done, I hope you get to keep doing it.
I've been hoping this series would come back. I have the playlist saved so that I'll know if there's a new video. Hopefully we'll be able to get more of this type of thing on a regular basis.
For the algorithm and Jon's boss. Pretty Deece is one of the greatest MTG related series on RUclips. Up there with the likes of RhysticStudies. Its been a while since the last episode but I'm telling you that I've been waiting and checking Jon's Twitter hoping for another video. This video like every other is filled with enthusiasm for the game we all love and its made accessible to all levels of MTG player. Please let Jon be a "full time video guy" or whatever you call it, he's really damn good at it.
It is good to hear your voice again! I was hoping that you’d return, and I couldn’t have clicked on the video faster when I saw that Pretty Deece posted a new video!!
Pretty Deece is back!!! I’m so happy! I’ve been watching the entire series over and over waiting for this day. (My favorite episode on rewatches is definitely The Anatomy of Luck, no other episode compares.)
This is literally the only piece of content that TCGPlayer produces that I care about. Please make more. I know someone else said these exact words, but reiterating because algorithm.
This this this!!! This has one hundred percent been my sentiment towards Magic recently and this video entirely nailed it on the head! Man, thank you for this deep dive into some of the craziest years in Magic.
Just when we needed him most, he returned. I was so vindicated when I saw you compare Eldraine to Lorwyn negatively, from almost as soon as I saw it I was sad we were seeing more fairy-tale theming without Lorwyn. I really like the strange world of Lorwyn, and think it's more interesting than the I feel generic theming of Eldraine. I was happy to see someone else mention t I guess.
@@elipetrou9308 that would be nice, and it would be good to see with more modern design sensibilities. Lorwyn is largely what caused them to do the "New World Order" from what I understand, while I do like some of the complexity it was a lot.
Standard is an ebb and flow. We have weak periods, we have powerful periods. Just need to ride the wave. And remember, folks; it's ok to take a break for a while if you're overwhelmed. 2020 was a rough year, both in game and at large, so don't be afraid to sit out a set or two to recalibrate yourself.
My Throne of Eldraine prerelease was my second one ever, and it had 16 people in it. Of the 24 matches over 3 rounds, not one best of 3 did not have a draw in it. This was all thanks to food and that stupid drawbridge, and the moment I saw food and adventure decks destroying standard I wasn't even surprised given what I had seen already.
14:42 WotC in a nutshell. This is what they've been reduced to. Not much else. I hate to be a glass half empty type of person, but the writing is on the wall.
Yeah, this lines up with what I assumed. I missed the show and was so happy to see a new episode, it honestly changed my life and now I'll invest $100,000 into TCGPlayer cards
Everything you say makes complete sense when I think back to competitive days, playing magic against a lot of people I don't know too well. But when I sit down with my hubby and whip out a bunch of thematic Eldraine decks, it's the most fun and the best games I've had since I began playing over 20 years ago. I offer a different look at Eldraine, from a replayability and variability in a casual setting when you're playing against the same person for hundreds of games with the same cards. The adventures, the art, the synergy within the set. A full playset offered me a lot of deckbuilding challenges that keep the fun alive longer than any other set. Top respect to you and I get your perspectives and agree within the context of your video. I also wish there was a bit more of a nod to the casual gamer, someone who builds decks with passion, replayability, and theme, not just to cheese and stomp.
Hey Sir, I’m not going to sugar coat this. I love your videos, your command of the content deserves so much more praise than it is given. You inspire me to keep researching about magic, past present and future. Keep it up, and I can’t wait to see more content.
Whenever you drop these I get to vicariously live through eras of a game I didn't actually like and I love it! I dislike magic as a game, but the history and themes are so rich that your videos almost trick me into buying cards
I know you said to comment about this video changing ours lives for the better, but these videos are unironically one of the best MTG introspections and retrospections out there in the wild. I am a dumbass who doesn't like to read very much, so many good MTG writers elude me, but I am fairly certain that this series of videos is at the very least on par with their analytic/introspective/retrospective works on Magic. (Also am pleasantly surprised you continued doing these, after all that have been said about discontinuing these videos! Probably missed a year or two worth of stuff, so gotta catch up on those.)
"Did people's relationship with Magic change?" My answer is yes, haven't touched standard since Eldraine. Sure Kaldheim looked cool, and AFR got some interesting things since also a DnD player, but with the never ending money printer that is Secret Lairs and the constant spoiler season I'm just gonna play some EDH, maybe build a cheap modern deck and leave standard till Hasbro stops trying to milk the playerbase dry.
@@poohbear4821 Sure doesn't seem like people are buying standard packs. My LGS still has 3-4 year old standard rotting on the shelves because nobody wants anything in it and there's no value, and nobody bought it on release because nobody here plays standard anymore.
always loved this series. even though i've recently quit magic (for reasons partially related to the subject of this video lol) i cannot imagine myself not being eager to see these videos in my feed.
I ended up really liking the flavor of Eldraine. The standard metagame was busted, but I'm a Simic player at heart and mostly it was busted in my favor.
Drawing a million cards, playing a million lands, casting a million spells and gaining life for every card played is just overpowered, not flavorful. It's the same as playing an RPG videogame with Game Genie giving you unlimited everything. Except this game is player vs player, and supposed to be competitive/skill expressive...
Pretty Deece is the only reason i am subscribed to this channel !! and its not just this video but all the ones that you made that changed my life for the better
I SCREAMED WHEN SAW THIS ON MY HOMEPAGE! So excited for your return!
love the enthusiasm
Bro same.
Pretty Deece is like my #2 magic content creator after rhystic studies. Apparently I'm a glutton for neglect.
Your voice changed?
Yeah same I was like omg wtf what magical stars have aligned to get another one of these. It like the hardcore histories of magic, 1 every 6 months to a year but worth the wait
This is literally the only piece of content that TCGPlayer produces that I care about. Please make more.
Same!
To me the most insane thing was that after all those apologies and bans powering down decks that could put as many and whichever lands you wanted on the battlefield, WotC just went ahead and printed fcking Omnath
THAT was a headscratcher for sure
And then they didn't even bite the bullet and ban Omnath immediately, they hit Uro, and it just demoralized *everyone*, like it was too little too late, and he wasn't from (current set), so he had to go, even though Omnath was so bonkers *Uro wasn't the problem card in that deck.*
@@entothechesnautknight1762 I agree that Uro wasn't the problem card in the 4 color Adventure Value pile. But Uro is still just a smidge too good for my taste, so I'm still kinda glad it got banned despite owning a foil Paper copy (which, miraculously, is still worth a pretty penny).
@@OogaB0oga oh no, Uro was definitely *A* problem card, he'd been since release, but the problem was that Uro was released in a set they stopped selling and printing, and Instead of banning the card that the entire deck was based around, they banned the card that wasn't selling packs anymore.
Like, obviously it's more then that, and I don't think it was an entirely intentional move on WotC's part, but it looked SO bad for them and felt bad too.
Released on September 25th, Omnath banned in Standard October 12th...absolutely wild
“They’ve never had to ban a cycle.”
Companions: 👀👀
That’s what pisses me off most about the Companions errata, is that WotC’s biggest design debacle gets a pass because it wasn’t technically banned.
Even Mark Rosewater admitted it was the biggest mistake.
What happened with companion?
@@brentkilgore5182 The entireti of this mechanic was changed, for the worse, because it turned out to be way too good the way it was originally designed
The companion mistake was so huge that every single players noticed it and the designers recognized it publicly.
What exactly is that « get a pass » that pisses you off so much 17 months later ?
@@nomatyx5789 I read the mechanic in spoilers and thought, "yeah, that's broken"
As a commander player, I'm frustrated my section of the playerbase is being used as an moneyfarm/excuse for stock holders and WOTC to push the rest of the playerbase out of the game and deprive them of the design teams focus or attention. I love alternate art cards and pushed mechanics that actually have a life beyond standard in EDH, but thats no excuse to warp standard beyond recognition and defend it with a sales chart, and then defend your greed with a IRL pandemic. Good to see you back. Keep making these.
I think it's just time to admit that Magic is commander now. Seeing the top videos from competitive formats like Modern and Standard get 30k views vs just a casual EDH video getting 1 million plus is basically all the evidence you need, forget sales. I don't ever see this changing.
being a commander player for a decade and having an influx of people start playing because its the expensive format is also frusterating. a lot of try hards trying to treat it like modern and legacy now. the newer the player, the more johnny/spike/timmy hybrid i find them too be.
@@sjdhrjrjejdhdhsh I'd argue it's because Standard is just not as interesting anymore. Once you see the same three or four decks stay dominant in the Meta you tend to want to look at formats like EDH and Commander where not every deck is going to be the same and you see players actually having fun times while getting more bang from their buck since the cards will never rotate out, while in Standard if you want to win you have to play the top tier decks which arent going to be arent going to be around forever and might not be good in Modern, you lose interest.
Shaping your market as a company takes time before you yield the the returns on your investment. That being said, there is a strong chance that the proleague was a strong contributor to a lucrative FY even when pro play didn't exist during said FY.
Not to mention commander is feeling more homogenous than ever
I love how Eldraine is such a busted set that a random-ass common land in the set had to get banned in two formats. Which isn't to say that Mystic Sanctuary is in the same zip code as a reasonable card, but I don't think it's even top 10 most powerful Eldraine cards.
For modern it was. Cycling Cryptic Command was a pain in the but.
FIRE design. Still in effect to this day. Thanks Wizards.
There’s also still unbanned but still extremely powerful cards that Eldraine has like the two Adventure Aggro-ers in Lovestruck and the Giant, even more aggro with Embercleave, Questing Beast, basically all the Castles being such amazing utility lands, Brazen Borrower, the Goose. In other formats there’s Kenrith being a great commander, Emry to help all the artifact decks along with Witching Well.
Like holy cow the list of amazing cards is absurd.
well, for people who played mostly standard back then, it's reasonable to see how you could reach that conclusion. there aren't any fetch lands in standard. so you couldn't tutor it up the way you can in modern. there weren't a lot of good cards in standard worth getting with mystic sanctuary. most decks weren't built around instants and sorceries. standard didn't have a card like cryptic command that could combo infinitely with it while generating value or tempo simultaneously. also, standard didn't have enough dual lands with land types to consistently activate mystic sanctuary. so it was basically trash tier in standard, even if you were playing a mono blue deck with 20 instants and sorceries. yet in modern it was easily in the top 5 best eldraine cards in terms of sheer power level. not as many decks could support it as other broken cards like oko or once upon a time. but in the decks that could support it, it was arguably a stronger piece than oko was in the decks that it saw play in. and whether it was stronger or not, it was undeniably a WAY more annoying piece to play against. I doubt you could find a modern player who'd dispute that it was one of the most annoying strategies of all time. even mystic sanctuary players would probably admit that. less fun even than lantern control, at least that strategy takes a lot of thought and decisions.
Not really maybe for standard but not other formats.
Nice to see this series back, I absolutly love them, watched every one of them 2-3 times
thank you
I applaud you for releasing this without double guessing yourself, people need to hear it. Having Maro reply with “Sales.” was unbelievable to me and the drop that spilled the cup for me.
I’m a relatively new player, starting seriously back in 2018, and these last couple of years have been an emotional ride and I’m so done with Wotc and their bullshit.
This video was so inspirational that it gave me new meanings to life.
you legend
Your commentary on Magic and the way you break down your arguments is second to none. Watching your videos is like listening to an album where every track is a hit.
Love this! Can’t believe you’re back this is my favorite series
believe it
@@tcgplayercom No.
@@jesuschrist9677 how's your dad doing?
I remember when Questing Beast got spoiled. I was like "Well, this guy is gonna dominate standard like forever." Then the rest of the set happened!
Great video. Dry, logical, compassionate and perfectly on point history of a company struggling not to lose who they are
Just like Covid itself, Eldraine is that one last little piece of 2019 that’s still messing with our lives two years later
The main difference being that eventually Eldraine went away.
"This time the *third* best Throne of Eldraine block constructed deck, Adventures, had to go"
I lost my shit laughing at this line.
The number of times I've watched "And it all came tumbling down" just to hear your sharp and compelling commentary is actually kind of silly considering it's probably intended to be more of an information piece rather than a entertainment piece. And its really nice to hear someone say what we've all been thinking regarding the bans business.
Was really glad to see you back, definitely a good run-down of the eldraine situation, but I expected no less
glad we met expectations
I love how all I have to hear is "RHYSTIC CAVE!" and I know exactly what he's talking about
My favorite thing about that whole time period was that Oko, Goose, Uro, Omnath, Field, Tef, all of it was supposed to be in standard all at the same time. I can only imagine what the format would have looked like without all the bans.
Technically tef and omnath wouldn't be in the same standard but yeah even just omnath+uro+field would have been gross
@@robbiestrong-morse730 Field and Omnath also wouldnt be in the same standard.
My life was devoid of meaning. Now I have this video. Thank you Mr. Deece.
“This video changed my life for the better”
*WHEN THE WORLD NEEDED HIM MOST, HE RETURNED!*
Great to see this back! Used to discuss these videos with my buds at the lgs when I worked there all the time. Hope we get more!!!
i'd watch that
I just noticed this now, made my day to see this series back… I used to binge your videos almost daily in the past and still occasionally rewatch them. So happy to see more being made
I'm beyond thrilled to see this series come back. Even if its limited to a few new releases per year, they're worth the wait.
It's cool hearing quotes from previous episodes of this, helps connect the dots between all the different parts of Magic.
When the world needed him most, he has returned! Also, hey, I'm one of those 9 people who play Pauper! Astrolabe was a big deal!
Astrolabe might have been more format-waeping than any Eldraine card tbh,,
Who cares.
The reason I'm subscribed to this channel is back!
Hope to see more Pretty Deece in the future!
I have the whole Pretty Deece playlist saved on my device for a bad day. Your work really inspires me to keep playing Magic, despite all the nonsense.
I love your videos and so that long hiatus was a bit sad but when I saw you pop up again I was so happy.
The Kamigawa video was one of my favorites because you share the same sentiment that I have with Kamigawa and Ravnica making a kickass standard format and it's so nice seeing some defending of that set and it looks like WotC is listening to "the small but very vocal minority".
Part of me really hopes you break down that further in an ""Actually Kamigawa Was Pretty Great Part 2" but I understand that it takes a lot to make these videos and it takes a lot of time that now we know goes into your blog.
I'll keep doing what is needed for you to come back and make these videos because your energy, wit, and the visual appeal of the graphics is soooooo fun, your KCI video also inspired me to make a video similar for Dimir Inverter for my motion graphics class in college and while the class and my professor wasn't too keen on it me and a couple of students loved it.
I'm so glad this series is back. And I love how this epsiode had these little callbacks to old episodes.
I'm so happy to see Pretty Deece back. I found the series after it stopped, and I was so disappointed to find out there wasn't going to be more.
Oh thank God, Pretty Deece is returning. I've been watching all of the old stuff for months, to the point the Kamigawa video is burned into my memory, so I'm glad to have a new one.
Of all the tcgplayer content, this is by far the best series that has come out of it.
Pretty deece brought me back into the game. Happy to do anything I can to see it continue
that's dope
This is some of my favorite content on RUclips. Nothing soothes me more than videos in the vein of pretty dece/rhystic studies
It's amazing how in this 20 minute video, Jon actually only managed to scratch the surface of what made so many of these cards busted, with the insane or inane play patterns they introduced. But there's just so much to cover you could make a 20 minute video probably for every card that got banned.
Just wanted to say that Pretty Deece was one of my favorite series on RUclips and I was pumped to see a new one in my feed!! Hope there are more!
I missed this series. High quality video like always and love your commentary.
we missed you too
John you are a good man. You will not be able to see the impact you have with these first hand but just speaking for myself you have taught me more about the complexity of life than any other person on this site. Please make more of these they are great.
I was very happy to see this in my list of videos recommended. I love this series and I’m glad you’re back Jon. What truly scares me, is there may come a time where the paper and competitive communities become shunned by WotC. I don’t want competitive Magic to die, it’s an amazing time and I don’t want this game that has taken 13 years of my life to die off so coldly. Commander can be fun, but Modern Horizons 2 having so many cards seemingly for Commander irked me greatly…and it’s not the only thing to offer. If sales is all it takes to call a year of Magic design great…then the priorities of WotC and the playerbase do not align. And that is frightening. Apologies for my small essay, and I appreciate those who cared to read it.
TL;DR: Let’s hope this game doesn’t die, okay guys?
Its so weirdly nice to see this again. The more chilled out tone of it definitely helps throw it in contrast with all of the more severe sky-is-falling attitudes prevalent in magic nowadays.
*Cough cough* DesolatorMagic
Great video. The editing style really feels inspired by Jon Bois.
This is literally one of my favorite Magic series on RUclips, super excited to see it return!
*Ahem* This video changed my life.
Hi John, thanks for another video, I do really enjoy these videos, and would love to see more. Congrats at getting a new role/position at TCGPlayer.
thank you!
Pretty Deece is one of the best magic channels on RUclips. I'm always happy to see a new upload. Commenting so you can impress your boss!
To me, Eldraine is just like the Kaladesh block. Both of them were in Standard for almost 2 years, and they both contained overpowered cards.
lots of parallels for sure
Honestly, maybe it’s because that’s when I began my transformation from tabletop player to tournament player, but I loved Kaladesh/Amonkhet standard. There were tons of unique decks that people actually played besides energy and red aggro! My LGS has never been as much fun since. To be fair, I usually hate “good stuff” decks with a passion, and those blocks had a lot of keywords.
Mardu vehicles, black aggro (had a bunch of drain for 1 cards), God-Pharoahs Gift, Marionette Master, U/W Embalm, Cats, G/B counters, Approach of the Second Sun, U/B control, U/B midrange, and a ton of others I can’t quite remember off the top of my head.
I actually had a pretty awesome win rate with a monowhite vehicles pile running 3 Peacewalker Colossus. Yes, that bulk rare. Sram’s Expertise was also highly underrated.
Kaladesh at least had to have cards from other sets to reach their full potential and be truely busted, outside of the obvious infinite combo they missed. Eldraine was busted by itself and didn't have the excuse of not having a team of people specifically there to make sure it wasn't broken like kaladesh did.
Kaladesh was an unintended anomaly…
Eldraine was on purpose…
These videos bring to life the history of MTG in a format that is really easy to follow. I can even show this to my friends who are new to Magic or Intermediate and they totally understand what's going on.
I like the flow, I like the pacing, I like the facts - everything about this video series and I have been watching the videos from 3 years ago thinking "What happened to cause such a break!?"
I will definitely be picking up my booster boxes and singles for my new Zombie deck I'll be building with the link in the description to show my support for the channel and this video series specifically. Masterfully done, I hope you get to keep doing it.
Hope to see more, honestly my favorite magic series online (tough competition with rhystic studies
our official stance is that we are extremely happy to be #2 to rhystic studies
Informative, nicely done.
Hello I agree I wasn’t aware of how many band there actually were just that it seemed that every month I would see my sub box flooded with van videos
I've been hoping this series would come back. I have the playlist saved so that I'll know if there's a new video. Hopefully we'll be able to get more of this type of thing on a regular basis.
Would honestly love more videos if the series could come back full swing. Full stop my favorite magic RUclips channel.
It’s finally back. I watched all the previous episodes in a sitting over that pandemic and I’m happy to see it continued.
I was so bummed to discover this channel a few months ago, only to realize it wasn't active anymore. So glad to welcome you back!!
For the algorithm and Jon's boss.
Pretty Deece is one of the greatest MTG related series on RUclips. Up there with the likes of RhysticStudies. Its been a while since the last episode but I'm telling you that I've been waiting and checking Jon's Twitter hoping for another video. This video like every other is filled with enthusiasm for the game we all love and its made accessible to all levels of MTG player.
Please let Jon be a "full time video guy" or whatever you call it, he's really damn good at it.
I'm super happy to see the return of Pretty Deece! This series is a favorite of mine! Hyped to see if we get any more
FINALLY THEY'RE BACK OMG I COULD NOT HAVE CLICKED ANY FASTER
My life is markedly better having watched this video. I / we all need more, please and thank you !
Pretty Deece is the only content MTG content I actually look forward to. Gonna be a long wait till the next one then
we're on pace for one every other year or so
It is good to hear your voice again! I was hoping that you’d return, and I couldn’t have clicked on the video faster when I saw that Pretty Deece posted a new video!!
Pretty Deece is back!!! I’m so happy! I’ve been watching the entire series over and over waiting for this day. (My favorite episode on rewatches is definitely The Anatomy of Luck, no other episode compares.)
that script took 3 years to produce
This is literally the only piece of content that TCGPlayer produces that I care about. Please make more.
I know someone else said these exact words, but reiterating because algorithm.
Glad to see that you guys are back!
This this this!!! This has one hundred percent been my sentiment towards Magic recently and this video entirely nailed it on the head! Man, thank you for this deep dive into some of the craziest years in Magic.
Just when we needed him most, he returned. I was so vindicated when I saw you compare Eldraine to Lorwyn negatively, from almost as soon as I saw it I was sad we were seeing more fairy-tale theming without Lorwyn. I really like the strange world of Lorwyn, and think it's more interesting than the I feel generic theming of Eldraine. I was happy to see someone else mention t I guess.
Eldraine is one of my favourite sets and I find Lorwyn kind of cool but I don’t love it. To each their own I suppose
@@elipetrou9308 Yeah for sure, Lorwyn is strange so I can understand not loving it.
@@TheSceptileNinja yeah, I do hope we return as I wasn’t able to really experience it
@@elipetrou9308 that would be nice, and it would be good to see with more modern design sensibilities. Lorwyn is largely what caused them to do the "New World Order" from what I understand, while I do like some of the complexity it was a lot.
Standard is an ebb and flow. We have weak periods, we have powerful periods. Just need to ride the wave. And remember, folks; it's ok to take a break for a while if you're overwhelmed. 2020 was a rough year, both in game and at large, so don't be afraid to sit out a set or two to recalibrate yourself.
Id be fascinated to watch you run through a video that analyzes the meta shifts of different standard formats from rotation to rotation.
the only tcgplayer content i watch regularly (and on repeat) while being stuck on lockdown since the pandemic starts
My Throne of Eldraine prerelease was my second one ever, and it had 16 people in it. Of the 24 matches over 3 rounds, not one best of 3 did not have a draw in it. This was all thanks to food and that stupid drawbridge, and the moment I saw food and adventure decks destroying standard I wasn't even surprised given what I had seen already.
WHAT!? Welcome
Back Jon.
14:42 WotC in a nutshell. This is what they've been reduced to. Not much else. I hate to be a glass half empty type of person, but the writing is on the wall.
Welcome back champ. This is the best channel for the history of magic
Love the 'one big page' style of this video. Gives a very real sense of the impact of the set.
Damn I never realized how much I loved these videos till I remembered I hadn't seen one in a hot minute. Missed you Jon keep up the great work
Yeah, this lines up with what I assumed. I missed the show and was so happy to see a new episode, it honestly changed my life and now I'll invest $100,000 into TCGPlayer cards
couldn't spare $150,000?
Everything you say makes complete sense when I think back to competitive days, playing magic against a lot of people I don't know too well.
But when I sit down with my hubby and whip out a bunch of thematic Eldraine decks, it's the most fun and the best games I've had since I began playing over 20 years ago. I offer a different look at Eldraine, from a replayability and variability in a casual setting when you're playing against the same person for hundreds of games with the same cards. The adventures, the art, the synergy within the set. A full playset offered me a lot of deckbuilding challenges that keep the fun alive longer than any other set.
Top respect to you and I get your perspectives and agree within the context of your video. I also wish there was a bit more of a nod to the casual gamer, someone who builds decks with passion, replayability, and theme, not just to cheese and stomp.
This video helped to cure my dad's hair loss. Thank you so oooh much!
Throne has to be the most exhausting set from a constructed perspective. Loved the limited format tho!
Hey Sir, I’m not going to sugar coat this. I love your videos, your command of the content deserves so much more praise than it is given. You inspire me to keep researching about magic, past present and future. Keep it up, and I can’t wait to see more content.
Whenever you drop these I get to vicariously live through eras of a game I didn't actually like and I love it! I dislike magic as a game, but the history and themes are so rich that your videos almost trick me into buying cards
Pretty Dece is some of the best MTG content out there. Good analysis, spectacular writing, and on point delivery all around.
I too like Jon Bois videos
YES and the same glorious amount of nerd geekery deserves this same wonderful treatment
I know you said to comment about this video changing ours lives for the better, but these videos are unironically one of the best MTG introspections and retrospections out there in the wild. I am a dumbass who doesn't like to read very much, so many good MTG writers elude me, but I am fairly certain that this series of videos is at the very least on par with their analytic/introspective/retrospective works on Magic. (Also am pleasantly surprised you continued doing these, after all that have been said about discontinuing these videos! Probably missed a year or two worth of stuff, so gotta catch up on those.)
"Did people's relationship with Magic change?"
My answer is yes, haven't touched standard since Eldraine. Sure Kaldheim looked cool, and AFR got some interesting things since also a DnD player, but with the never ending money printer that is Secret Lairs and the constant spoiler season I'm just gonna play some EDH, maybe build a cheap modern deck and leave standard till Hasbro stops trying to milk the playerbase dry.
You cant deny sales are still booming though people still buy this shit
@@poohbear4821 Sure doesn't seem like people are buying standard packs. My LGS still has 3-4 year old standard rotting on the shelves because nobody wants anything in it and there's no value, and nobody bought it on release because nobody here plays standard anymore.
So happy to have these videos back!
Eldraine is so beautiful that it hurts, i guess its tough to express my feelings in this elk form
Yep, this is the only content on the channel that I really care about. Stoked to see it back!
always loved this series. even though i've recently quit magic (for reasons partially related to the subject of this video lol) i cannot imagine myself not being eager to see these videos in my feed.
the ending just adding that mystic sanctuary was banned in modern made me chuckle
I ended up really liking the flavor of Eldraine. The standard metagame was busted, but I'm a Simic player at heart and mostly it was busted in my favor.
Drawing a million cards, playing a million lands, casting a million spells and gaining life for every card played is just overpowered, not flavorful. It's the same as playing an RPG videogame with Game Genie giving you unlimited everything. Except this game is player vs player, and supposed to be competitive/skill expressive...
Pretty Deece is the only reason i am subscribed to this channel !! and its not just this video but all the ones that you made that changed my life for the better
Here's to hoping that Eldraine rotating doesn't introduce new and exciting cards that need to be banned
This video changed my life, it was incredible. As a wise man once said we’re not just telling stories. We’re changing lives.
I’ve never commented on a RUclips video in my life but damn I miss these videos so much. So glad to have them back currently! 🥺
strong Jon Bois energy from this video
I love your videos, you have a very interesting perspective and a very soothing voice that makes me want to keep listening haha
I was really really excited to see this on my page! I missed this content; it really is excellent.
Another fine example of why power without checks & balance is a terrible ide-*turns into Elk*
Nice video. Thanks for sharing the rollercoaster that is Eldraine!
Wow haven't clicked a video this fast in a while. Thanks for coming back, Pretty Deece!