They are now available! Check out links in description to get yours now! EDIT Jan 2024: Gamegenic just announced that the 133+ and the 266+ will be coming to stores in March of 2024! twitter.com/Gamegenic_/status/1744041210610901323 Academic is coming to retail in 2024! The Professor's team just sent out an update from the Kickstarter! This is fantastic to hear!
Thank you for this honest review! You explained all the features on point! We always appreciate the feedback of our community and take it to heart! We wish you a lot of fun games with your Academic. Keep on gaming! Your Gamegenic Team
Can we get a version of this for the general market? The purple looked so good but shipping for one to South East Asia was a little restrictive. Not to mention the exchange rate
Ahhhh, more reasons to never take a break from this hobby. You miss The Professor’s kickstarter and have to experience extreme joy and happiness at him knocking this out the park while also experiencing the kicker that is you weren’t around for it so now everyone’s deck box is just strictly better than yours. I sincerely hope that he is getting some extreme appreciation from the community because this box is bonkers, really think it might be the best out there for most folks.
Like I said in the video, I can’t imagine that they won’t bring this to market. Let your LGS know you would get one or message Gamegenic and let them know. Would be great to give other TCG players (Pokemon and Yu Gi Oh, etc) a chance to get their hands on one!
@@beyondthedeckbox Only the grey/red, purple/black and signed ones are marked 'Kickstarter Exclusive', plus the non-black dividiers. I would fully expect to see these on the shelves, and probably with the Tolarian Academy branding intact, given his reach.
I dropped a full box with loose cards, dice, and tokens; it hit the sidewalk HARD. The corner was a little dinged up, but the box didn't fling open to scatter my cards, tokens, and dice into the street. As far as a deck box goes, I am quite happy with owning a handful of these.
That's really good to hear! (How well the box held up, not the dropping part. I'm sorry that happened.) It's good to know it holds up like that. Thanks!
This is the best review for this deckbox on youtube. APS was boring, and did little to no research on the product, and conducted himself in a way that shows that he doesn't really care either way and had no personality, and the other 2 were done on really terrible cameras and was doing a first impressions review rather than a review which is what you did. It's clear that you took the time, and it's also clear that you're a true fan of the professor, his product, and you rated it as unbiased as you could. Is it the perfect deckbox? It seems like it's the closest and most feasible deckbox for commander players which is where this product was targeted towards. Yes I can also put my yugioh, digimon, pokemon, and other trading card game decks into the box, but he made this for the magic audience who play commander primarily because that's the professors favorite type of game in magic, and he wanted a deck box that was purpose built for people who play commander. You're either stuffing the boxes and having to carry other product to put the dice, tokens, sideboard, and other things that you will need at a base level to play commander. Yes I can just circumvent that myself but he wanted an all in one package, and to do that with minimal space but more than enough to secure a complete commander deck that looks incredibly attractive is a win. Not only did he make this deckbox for honestly a really cheap price, but he did it with one of the most reputable companies in the industry to forge them for him. Not only that but he got the best designer in all of TCG accessories to help him with the box and multiple revisions. The guy in question had worked on all the top level products we love today, and he knows the types of materials would work best. At a base level this deck box is as good as the competition with all of those things sorted out. It wouldn't make sense for a company like Game Genic and the designer of his calibur to produce anything less than a deckbox that already exist on the market. For that reason I can only see it being as low as the best deck box but for commander specifically, this is the best deck box. I'm personally keeping mines for the collection to have a history in trading card games where a youtuber who has been grading products and is the known best person at it, is the most respected gets the opportunity to make his own deck box with things that he wished were there, with the most prestigious designer in TCG history, and a top level company, I feel that objectively this is one of the highest quality deck boxes we will have for a very long time. I'm not even sure how you can progress this deckbox further than what it is. It's so well optimized, and it feels that everything that I needed was thought out and things that I didn't know I needed were also thought out. The professor is someone who truly respects card games and loves them dearly even though MTG is destroying its own fanbase. He could easily continue this relationship with Game Genic and make a lot more money, but what he wants is a collectors piece for those who believed in this project, and I appreciate him for it. It's because of things like this that make this an easy purchase. I purchased 5 deckboxes and I wish I could've bought more. I think I'm missing one of the 133+ exclusives but I have everything but the early bird box. I can't wait to see the hand signed box. This will be my black lotus. I would accept a silly offer to take it off my hands but I think I'm going to end up keeping this box until I go in the grave. 10/10 Review
A lot more people will be searching for reviews, I recommend renaming the video to add more of the product name to help with RUclips SEO! Your channel deserves more views
😂 That's exactly why Gamegenic said they included the slot, so folks wouldn't lose the divider. (And I'm so glad they told me about it because I definitely would have misplaced it by now.)
Thanks for this review. I ordered 3 of these and have been like a kid waiting for Christmas morning ever since the Professor announced that fulfilment started.
Can confirm. It is the BEST deck box I own and it is making me design a deck from heads to tails. Getting the tokens, the dice, the alt arts etc. I had the chance to use Profs for a while and love it. Now that mine is on the way, I am tempted to give it back to him.
I bought seven boxes for myself, and my sisters. I left one basic box in the packaging. I got the double sided one, one of each color, and the rest were just the bundles. I find the design beautiful. My sisters were also satisfied.
You’re welcome! I didn’t remember it was there until I spoke with folks at Gamegenic. It’s in the “reveal vid” but it’s “blink and you miss it” fast. I hope you are enjoying the box!
So I know I'm a bit late to this, as I have just received my box, but I had two somewhat nitpicky things to add. 1st: the cover won't stay on if you peel up one side of it and bend it over the box to open it. The magnets aren't strong enough to allow the cover to flip open like this without falling off. Not a big deal but worth knowing. 2nd: The expandable dividers scrape against the bottom of the boxes' material when squished/expanded while sitting in the deck compartment. I'm not sure how durable the lining material is, but I suspect it won't hold up to fairly hard plastic scraping it over time.
These are really good points. I suspect the magnet bit is because they don't want to get magnets that are too strong as it could cause other issues. Probably was a compromise. And I will be interested to see how long the lining lasts myself.
Completely agree, what an impact and I was glad to support his work through the Academic. I was bummed to not be one of the first and get the foil shiny stuff. I like how you do your stuff too! Keep up the good work
I love this product and I use it every week. I however have some faults with the product. If you have a large collection of decks that you like to transport every week using multiple of these boxes is inconvenient. The box is also quite space intensive in your bag which can make it hard to fit other stuff along side it. Despite these things this box feels amazing to use and I never leave home without it so its still a 5/5 for me 👍
I know exactly what you mean. I think they did a good job of packing as much versatility and functionality into as small of a space as possible, but it's still quite big relatively speaking. It's why I use it for my draft kit, but I recognize I'm limited junkie which isn't the case for most.
I'm so mad at myself for not getting this when the kickstarter came out but at the time I was not playing EDH I was playing yugioh and even a double sleeved yugioh deck can fit in any deck box on the market. Now I have 15 double sleeved commander decks and struggle to find good storage options that aren't just get a dozen GG XL watchtowers/squires. Also for the 400+ box I use that to store the warhammer 40k precons as it fits all 4 double sleeved up perfectly.
I have a feeling we'll see something similar to this on the market. Not sure when, and it's just a guess on my part, but I think with the reception this has gotten, they are going to bring it to market.
I ordered 2 of these deck boxes during the kickstarter (one for draft as you mentioned and the other is for my pioneer deck(s) because it looks like it will be perfect for holding a pioneer deck, tokens, sideboard, and dice/counters).
I'm SOOOOOOO jealous! I'm still awaiting my shipping confirmation. When I first began paying Magic in 2015 (ish? I can't remember my coffee from two hours ago I'm supposed to remember when i started playing Magic?) The Professor was one of the few channels in existence. (I think he and the Command Zone podcast were about all I could find content wise. There were a bunch of pro tour videos but to a new player who began playing commander deck. (I like dragons and a game of commander was like a session of D&D from when I played that in the late 70's. God I'm old......) Those pro tour videos were like deciphering ancient Sanskrit, but the Profession's videos made sense. Thanks for the review. Thanks for making Magic news fun.
Just received mine yesterday. I think the box is great but I was one of the people who splurged to get a signed box, and that signature was a D+ at best. That one kinda hurt.
I'm glad to hear you took some of the legitimately genuine feedback from the Lair 400 video (I'm sorry people were unfairly ragging on you for your opinions) and went out of your way to understand it, tons of respect for that. Seems like between this and their new Lair 1000 Gamegenic is seeing that some people want the Lair idea but with the Dungeon space. If they could extend that to the 600 then I'd have the perfect game night box.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate you saying that! And I agree, Gamegenic is definitely trying to listen to what people want. I think they are doing a pretty good job. I can't wait to get my hands on the Lair 1000 to see if it does a good job of mixing the Lair functionality with Dungeon's size.
I love your review of this. I'm in the UK, and I ordered 1 each of the 133 and 266 Academics. Still waiting on them to arrive, and I only got standard colours, but your review helped me survive till they get here.
Woot I got pretty much all of them lol and I got the purple one just for a draft kit cause of your videos I show everyone your draft kit video before there first Sunday draft!!! The satin tower dragon shield and Doce and Done collect the lands as you need as you draft and then flex when can start filling in with full art lands
Love the idea of a grab and go draft night box. I am always shoving loose cards in places since they can't fit into a sleeve box and end up bringing my whole commander night bag so I have nice and tokens. This is wayyyyy better of a system!
For me, the cards lair being as big as it was, and the fact you couldn’t put deck boxes in it, was what turned me off from it. Also, at the time, I didn’t ”get” the drawers. All together it made for a box I didn’t feel it was for me. And even now I think it’s too big for my taste. The Academic seems to strike the perfect balance for me. Hope that makes sense. Thanks for watching!
This is my only Kickstarter I've ever done and tbh it really seemed to take forever and the process of thirty trillion emails / of checking orders / double checking / the tax debacle / and finally signing for everything will keep me away from any other Kickstarter project in the future........but the box is amazing I can't argue with that.
I understand the frustration. I've backed about a half a dozen kickstarters myself, and to be honest this one was par for the course. I've had some go smoother, but I've also had some go worse. I've gotten more selective now in what I back. Thank you so much for watching!
I have precipitated in lots of Kickstarts, and they are all pretty much the same, honestly. The bigger the project, the more waiting and more complexity involved. I completely understand thinking this is way too much, but then, at the same time, this would have never existed in the first place without Kickstart. So it is like a necessary evil.
First time seeing you channel and its amusing bc my first thought when i saw the deckboxes was that it would be great for draft and i dont remember seeing many people saying the same thing when it launched. I usually go to draft directly from work and I dont like the idea of leaving my stuff in my car or bringing all my stuff into work to leave in a locker since Ive been using an arkhive for the past couple years and my bag ends up taking a fair bit of space. Being able to bring a smaller box that can hold a commander deck to play before draft or inbetween rounds and having all of my draft stuff with me sounded really nice and i can bring it into work a lot easier, ironically still planning to use the Arkhive for playmats but i dont mind leaving that in my car if i have to. Worked ok the other week, still need to condense down some of the stuff im bringing with me, for example i had too much commander stuff to fit my draft sb but having everything together in one place and not taking up too much table space is really nice
It is both too large and too small. I would expand it so it more comfortable fits 2 commander decks in the main body. The drawers on mine are stiff to remove.
I bought one of these at my local LGS recently after having already owned a card lair. For MTG I’m afraid to tell people it’s a straight up D for me. It doesn’t hold more than one commander deck. The drawers are not level so they don’t come out or in smoothly. The lid coming completely off it more annoying than anything. Less convenient than a flap in most situations. The biggest nope for me is the fact that IT DOESNT LAY FLAT ON THE TABLE. The seam between the token drawers and main compartment is warped. Meaning it gives you a mini seesaw effect on a flat surface. As I wrote the company for a replacement I purchased another one in a different color to my surprise with the same issue. As of today I received the replacement from Germany and the lid is damaged with ripped leather on the flap corners and… the seesaw defect remains to be an issue. 3 strikes and gamegenic is out. How anyone can give this a 5/5 or an A grade is beyond me. The card lair didn’t have these problems strangely enough.
@@beyondthedeckbox unless it’s just with new batches or I have the worst luck ever on three of them. My current surrogate replacement for this box is the Legion Sentinel Duo and I hope you do a review of it. I wouldn’t say the quality is superior but as for functionality, compactness, and being able to operate it one handed ease of use I’d say it’s far more practical. Not affiliated in any way but it’s cheaper too for anyone interested in carrying two commander decks and some tokens in a similar form factor.
I'm constantly looking for my cards. But at least your Mox wasn't like my buddy who found his Beta Bayou on the kitchen counter...the wet kitchen counter. He got the BIG sads when he found out how much it was worth.😂
The bigger academic would be perfect had it had a space for a rolled up playmat. Yes, it would make it bigger, but it is already a large box, ad being a bit "taller" to hold a mat.
You might want to check out the Convertible 400 from Gamegenic. It basically is a longer Academic with the downside(IMHO) that you can't fit deck boxes in it. Thanks for watching!
Can't believe these are a kickstarter exclusive. Been in the hobby for 20+ years. Took a few months break when I had to travel overseas for work and had nobody to play with. Have been malding ever since.
I'm sure they will release these eventually. The colors may be different but I would be shocked if they didn't go for a wider release. If I find out I will definitely let you know!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH I WANT MINE! UHG! Still waiting. I'm expecting to get mine sometime late last month, spent nearly 500 bucks on this kickstarter! over if you counter shipping and tax!
I need to double check [but I'm at work as I type], but I don't think you can fit large cards such as Planechase or Vanguard in the storage area, which if anything, is the only bad thing I've come across. Unfortunately timed too, as the deck box arrived shortly before the Planechase Commander decks.
My biggest issue is that I was also a backer and have still not gotten shipping info. I understand it's out of the prof's hand, but hot dog am I envious and frustrated with it.
I didn't back this kickstarter because the price was too much for me at the time AND the deckbox looks too big for my need. I never need that much drawers and room for token or multiple decks. I think the box is good but it's, like always, not for everyone, despise what the marketing from the professor said :D
@@beyondthedeckbox yeah, I'm very near the end of the alphabet with my last name. I also joined the campaign towards the end, luckily finding out about it before or ended. So I am sure I'm going to be towards the end of the fulfillment list one way or another.
Could you do me a huge favor? Could you try to fit two 100 cards deck into the 133+ box? Ive seen some videos where they seem to fit, but I just want to double check! Great video man
I checked and I tested with double sleeved and single sleeved. Double sleeved it will not fit. I could get about 150 double sleeved. Single sleeved I was just barely able to do it. No sleeves, absolutely. I hope that helps!
@@beyondthedeckbox Thanks! Yea Im still iffy then on keeping mine. I would want two full decks. Hmmm, not a lot of options for carrying 4 decks in one box that does not take a ton of space
I like to do so with bigger boxes, like the Arkhive 800+ or the Omnihive. Great way to put all your commander decks together, or your Pioneer decks, etc. For a smaller box like this I would be less likely. But I could see a scenario of throwing a few 60+ boulders in this box if I was going to an Oathbreaker night or something like that. But so far, I've mainly used this with cards and no boxes. Thanks for watching!
I got myself one each of the gray/red, teal/pink and extra large versions of the box. Unfortunately I'm also horrible distracted and have left them in their packaging after opening them up quickly and making sure everything's whole and in place. I'm gonna try to fix that, though. I think my Alesha deck is going to be the first to find a home in an Academic, but the question is if it should be the gray/red one to (kinda) match her colors or the teal/pink for the (kinda) trans pride color scheme.
This does look very close to the Cards Lair 400, and I think it could have been released as just a "Cards Lair (v2) 133" and may yet. Was the 400 just really close but we didn't get it or is this really that much better?
I have both and they are quite similar. The Academic elegantly solves the 400’s ‘can’t fit deckboxes’ issue and is much more portable than the longer box. Would definitely buy more ‘generic’ 133s at my LGS or directly from GameGenic Note that Burger Token deckboxes do fit in the 400 quite nicely with no modifications. I also trimmed out a 400 so that Boulders would fit. The plexiglass divider looks cleaner.
@@SnipSnapDragon24 the deck box feature was a big selling point for me, but the first thing I did was put naked cards in it with the squishy divider. The 133 is much bigger than I expected, so the 400 must be HUGE
48 double sleeved cards in the drawers. That's with sealable inner sleeves so you probably could put 50 regular inner sleeves at least. Hope that helps!
@@beyondthedeckbox I can see that. It's definitely different, but it was never a level that bothered me. Personally I'm starting to switch to ultimate guard boulders and such, though. Using the Gamegenic boxes only for my premium decks.
As I stated in the video I backed the Kickstarter at the beginning of last year and they are in the middle of fulfillment. The box, the divider, and the gemstone dice were my rewards for the amount I backed. Thanks for watching!
They are now available! Check out links in description to get yours now!
EDIT Jan 2024: Gamegenic just announced that the 133+ and the 266+ will be coming to stores in March of 2024!
twitter.com/Gamegenic_/status/1744041210610901323
Academic is coming to retail in 2024! The Professor's team just sent out an update from the Kickstarter! This is fantastic to hear!
This is like a dream come true!
AHHHHHHH
Picked one up at my lgs today
Yeah in Purple & Cyan with pink inlay.
Prof on his channel said, if you want one. ASK YOUR LGS TO ASK GAMEGENICS FOR IT!
CREATE DEMAND!
This is a great point! And it probably wouldn’t hurt to let Gamegenic know on social media too!
Thank you for this honest review! You explained all the features on point! We always appreciate the feedback of our community and take it to heart! We wish you a lot of fun games with your Academic. Keep on gaming! Your Gamegenic Team
Thank you for making this awesome deck box! I really appreciate all that you folks do!
Yes, please make it available! (I want a couple more...😂)
I missed this Kickstarter, hopefully it will receive a larger reliance (nudge, nudge, wink, wink).
Can we get a version of this for the general market? The purple looked so good but shipping for one to South East Asia was a little restrictive. Not to mention the exchange rate
We want this in stores
Ahhhh, more reasons to never take a break from this hobby. You miss The Professor’s kickstarter and have to experience extreme joy and happiness at him knocking this out the park while also experiencing the kicker that is you weren’t around for it so now everyone’s deck box is just strictly better than yours. I sincerely hope that he is getting some extreme appreciation from the community because this box is bonkers, really think it might be the best out there for most folks.
Like I said in the video, I can’t imagine that they won’t bring this to market. Let your LGS know you would get one or message Gamegenic and let them know. Would be great to give other TCG players (Pokemon and Yu Gi Oh, etc) a chance to get their hands on one!
@@beyondthedeckbox - I spoke to my Asmodee rep yesterday, and may or may not have information on when/if you will see this box anytime soon.
This may be the most ridiculous reason to take a break from something you enjoy that I have ever heard
@@tonyjaeger5753 I mean, I am not sure how to take that. I was joking that I regretted being on a break because I missed a really dope kickstarter.
@@beyondthedeckbox Only the grey/red, purple/black and signed ones are marked 'Kickstarter Exclusive', plus the non-black dividiers. I would fully expect to see these on the shelves, and probably with the Tolarian Academy branding intact, given his reach.
I love how versatile this box is. I hope they make this into a shelf product.
Me too. I would be really surprised if they didn't put it on LGS shelves.
Its out! Available for $60 Canadian so about $50 US!
A new follow up video will be coming out soon!
Finding the right card storage solution is the real hobby for TCG players. Fantastic editing!
Thank you so much!
I dropped a full box with loose cards, dice, and tokens; it hit the sidewalk HARD. The corner was a little dinged up, but the box didn't fling open to scatter my cards, tokens, and dice into the street.
As far as a deck box goes, I am quite happy with owning a handful of these.
That's really good to hear! (How well the box held up, not the dropping part. I'm sorry that happened.) It's good to know it holds up like that. Thanks!
This is the best review for this deckbox on youtube. APS was boring, and did little to no research on the product, and conducted himself in a way that shows that he doesn't really care either way and had no personality, and the other 2 were done on really terrible cameras and was doing a first impressions review rather than a review which is what you did. It's clear that you took the time, and it's also clear that you're a true fan of the professor, his product, and you rated it as unbiased as you could.
Is it the perfect deckbox? It seems like it's the closest and most feasible deckbox for commander players which is where this product was targeted towards. Yes I can also put my yugioh, digimon, pokemon, and other trading card game decks into the box, but he made this for the magic audience who play commander primarily because that's the professors favorite type of game in magic, and he wanted a deck box that was purpose built for people who play commander. You're either stuffing the boxes and having to carry other product to put the dice, tokens, sideboard, and other things that you will need at a base level to play commander. Yes I can just circumvent that myself but he wanted an all in one package, and to do that with minimal space but more than enough to secure a complete commander deck that looks incredibly attractive is a win.
Not only did he make this deckbox for honestly a really cheap price, but he did it with one of the most reputable companies in the industry to forge them for him. Not only that but he got the best designer in all of TCG accessories to help him with the box and multiple revisions. The guy in question had worked on all the top level products we love today, and he knows the types of materials would work best. At a base level this deck box is as good as the competition with all of those things sorted out. It wouldn't make sense for a company like Game Genic and the designer of his calibur to produce anything less than a deckbox that already exist on the market. For that reason I can only see it being as low as the best deck box but for commander specifically, this is the best deck box.
I'm personally keeping mines for the collection to have a history in trading card games where a youtuber who has been grading products and is the known best person at it, is the most respected gets the opportunity to make his own deck box with things that he wished were there, with the most prestigious designer in TCG history, and a top level company, I feel that objectively this is one of the highest quality deck boxes we will have for a very long time. I'm not even sure how you can progress this deckbox further than what it is. It's so well optimized, and it feels that everything that I needed was thought out and things that I didn't know I needed were also thought out.
The professor is someone who truly respects card games and loves them dearly even though MTG is destroying its own fanbase. He could easily continue this relationship with Game Genic and make a lot more money, but what he wants is a collectors piece for those who believed in this project, and I appreciate him for it. It's because of things like this that make this an easy purchase. I purchased 5 deckboxes and I wish I could've bought more. I think I'm missing one of the 133+ exclusives but I have everything but the early bird box. I can't wait to see the hand signed box. This will be my black lotus. I would accept a silly offer to take it off my hands but I think I'm going to end up keeping this box until I go in the grave.
10/10 Review
Thank you so much! I really appreciate you saying that!
Isn't that kind've APS' schtick though?
A lot more people will be searching for reviews, I recommend renaming the video to add more of the product name to help with RUclips SEO! Your channel deserves more views
Thank you so much!
I didn't know about the alternate storage location for the acrylic divider! Thanks!
...now I have to figure out where I put the divider.
😂 That's exactly why Gamegenic said they included the slot, so folks wouldn't lose the divider. (And I'm so glad they told me about it because I definitely would have misplaced it by now.)
I already own an Academic, but this box... I swear to God that once you have one, you'll want MORE OF IT.
You are not kidding. I have a follow up video coming soon about this very thing.
@@beyondthedeckbox Perfect timing!
Expandable dividers are cool! I usually just put a folded piece of paper that accordions out a bit.
That’s a really good idea!
Thanks for this review. I ordered 3 of these and have been like a kid waiting for Christmas morning ever since the Professor announced that fulfilment started.
My man, if you keep making content of this quality, your Channel will blow up. Keep up the good work! 🎉
Thank you so much!
Can confirm. It is the BEST deck box I own and it is making me design a deck from heads to tails. Getting the tokens, the dice, the alt arts etc.
I had the chance to use Profs for a while and love it. Now that mine is on the way, I am tempted to give it back to him.
I bought seven boxes for myself, and my sisters. I left one basic box in the packaging. I got the double sided one, one of each color, and the rest were just the bundles. I find the design beautiful. My sisters were also satisfied.
Oh I have the box and I didn't know about the other compartment to hide the divider, thank you!
You’re welcome! I didn’t remember it was there until I spoke with folks at Gamegenic. It’s in the “reveal vid” but it’s “blink and you miss it” fast. I hope you are enjoying the box!
So I know I'm a bit late to this, as I have just received my box, but I had two somewhat nitpicky things to add. 1st: the cover won't stay on if you peel up one side of it and bend it over the box to open it. The magnets aren't strong enough to allow the cover to flip open like this without falling off. Not a big deal but worth knowing. 2nd: The expandable dividers scrape against the bottom of the boxes' material when squished/expanded while sitting in the deck compartment. I'm not sure how durable the lining material is, but I suspect it won't hold up to fairly hard plastic scraping it over time.
These are really good points. I suspect the magnet bit is because they don't want to get magnets that are too strong as it could cause other issues. Probably was a compromise. And I will be interested to see how long the lining lasts myself.
Completely agree, what an impact and I was glad to support his work through the Academic. I was bummed to not be one of the first and get the foil shiny stuff. I like how you do your stuff too! Keep up the good work
Thank you so much!
I love this product and I use it every week. I however have some faults with the product. If you have a large collection of decks that you like to transport every week using multiple of these boxes is inconvenient. The box is also quite space intensive in your bag which can make it hard to fit other stuff along side it. Despite these things this box feels amazing to use and I never leave home without it so its still a 5/5 for me 👍
I know exactly what you mean. I think they did a good job of packing as much versatility and functionality into as small of a space as possible, but it's still quite big relatively speaking. It's why I use it for my draft kit, but I recognize I'm limited junkie which isn't the case for most.
I'm so mad at myself for not getting this when the kickstarter came out but at the time I was not playing EDH I was playing yugioh and even a double sleeved yugioh deck can fit in any deck box on the market. Now I have 15 double sleeved commander decks and struggle to find good storage options that aren't just get a dozen GG XL watchtowers/squires. Also for the 400+ box I use that to store the warhammer 40k precons as it fits all 4 double sleeved up perfectly.
I have a feeling we'll see something similar to this on the market. Not sure when, and it's just a guess on my part, but I think with the reception this has gotten, they are going to bring it to market.
I ordered 2 of these deck boxes during the kickstarter (one for draft as you mentioned and the other is for my pioneer deck(s) because it looks like it will be perfect for holding a pioneer deck, tokens, sideboard, and dice/counters).
I'm SOOOOOOO jealous! I'm still awaiting my shipping confirmation. When I first began paying Magic in 2015 (ish? I can't remember my coffee from two hours ago I'm supposed to remember when i started playing Magic?) The Professor was one of the few channels in existence. (I think he and the Command Zone podcast were about all I could find content wise. There were a bunch of pro tour videos but to a new player who began playing commander deck. (I like dragons and a game of commander was like a session of D&D from when I played that in the late 70's. God I'm old......) Those pro tour videos were like deciphering ancient Sanskrit, but the Profession's videos made sense.
Thanks for the review. Thanks for making Magic news fun.
I am waiting for shipping confirmation too, I live in East Coast USA.
Thank you! He definitely helped me become a better Magic player. And I’m so glad you like the news. I have some fun stuff planned!
I'm still waiting for my rewards to arrive, so I've been lurking the interwebs to vicariously open it multiple times before it arrives. 🙃
Hope it gets there soon!
It looks very well thought out. I can't wait for mine to arrive.
Just received mine yesterday. I think the box is great but I was one of the people who splurged to get a signed box, and that signature was a D+ at best. That one kinda hurt.
Thanks for this review. It’s made me extra excited for mine to arrive!
Thank you!
I'm glad to hear you took some of the legitimately genuine feedback from the Lair 400 video (I'm sorry people were unfairly ragging on you for your opinions) and went out of your way to understand it, tons of respect for that. Seems like between this and their new Lair 1000 Gamegenic is seeing that some people want the Lair idea but with the Dungeon space. If they could extend that to the 600 then I'd have the perfect game night box.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate you saying that! And I agree, Gamegenic is definitely trying to listen to what people want. I think they are doing a pretty good job. I can't wait to get my hands on the Lair 1000 to see if it does a good job of mixing the Lair functionality with Dungeon's size.
“I can’t control what you think”
…then what’s the mind control machine for, bud?
But seriously, good feature review! Thanks for putting this out.
😂😂😂
Thank you so much!
I use my Academic as my draft kit + my accessory base station for all of my decks.
I am still waiting for mine to arrive. I cannot wait to use it!
I love your review of this. I'm in the UK, and I ordered 1 each of the 133 and 266 Academics. Still waiting on them to arrive, and I only got standard colours, but your review helped me survive till they get here.
totally randomly, about 10 minutes after I watched your video, my Academic boxes showed up at home. can't open them until tonight though.
That's awesome! I hope you had a good time getting them all set up!
Woot I got pretty much all of them lol and I got the purple one just for a draft kit cause of your videos I show everyone your draft kit video before there first Sunday draft!!! The satin tower dragon shield and Doce and Done collect the lands as you need as you draft and then flex when can start filling in with full art lands
I'm glad you got yours, I'm still waiting for mine to get here.
I hope it gets there soon!
I got mine today March 27 2023, its good thing I don't do reviews or I would have been screwed!
I'll admit, I was a little worried mine would be on the tail end of the distribution. I'm glad you got yours!
The Prof is a big reason i got into MTG
Love the idea of a grab and go draft night box. I am always shoving loose cards in places since they can't fit into a sleeve box and end up bringing my whole commander night bag so I have nice and tokens. This is wayyyyy better of a system!
Once I started putting a kit together, it's made draft night go sooo much smoother.
Awesome review as always! I feel like prof inspired a lot of us to play and enjoy magic. Won't pay 500$ but anyways a really nice box.
For me, the cards lair being as big as it was, and the fact you couldn’t put deck boxes in it, was what turned me off from it. Also, at the time, I didn’t ”get” the drawers. All together it made for a box I didn’t feel it was for me. And even now I think it’s too big for my taste. The Academic seems to strike the perfect balance for me. Hope that makes sense. Thanks for watching!
This is my only Kickstarter I've ever done and tbh it really seemed to take forever and the process of thirty trillion emails / of checking orders / double checking / the tax debacle / and finally signing for everything will keep me away from any other Kickstarter project in the future........but the box is amazing I can't argue with that.
I understand the frustration. I've backed about a half a dozen kickstarters myself, and to be honest this one was par for the course. I've had some go smoother, but I've also had some go worse. I've gotten more selective now in what I back. Thank you so much for watching!
I have precipitated in lots of Kickstarts, and they are all pretty much the same, honestly. The bigger the project, the more waiting and more complexity involved. I completely understand thinking this is way too much, but then, at the same time, this would have never existed in the first place without Kickstart. So it is like a necessary evil.
I went with the red too! Haven't received it yet but looking forward to it!
Hope you get it soon!
First time seeing you channel and its amusing bc my first thought when i saw the deckboxes was that it would be great for draft and i dont remember seeing many people saying the same thing when it launched. I usually go to draft directly from work and I dont like the idea of leaving my stuff in my car or bringing all my stuff into work to leave in a locker since Ive been using an arkhive for the past couple years and my bag ends up taking a fair bit of space. Being able to bring a smaller box that can hold a commander deck to play before draft or inbetween rounds and having all of my draft stuff with me sounded really nice and i can bring it into work a lot easier, ironically still planning to use the Arkhive for playmats but i dont mind leaving that in my car if i have to. Worked ok the other week, still need to condense down some of the stuff im bringing with me, for example i had too much commander stuff to fit my draft sb but having everything together in one place and not taking up too much table space is really nice
It definitely took me a few times to figure out the best way to set it up. And I'm still figuring it out😂.
CATAPAULT! First time seeing one of your videos and you just earned yourself a fan.
That's awesome! Thank you so much.
It is both too large and too small. I would expand it so it more comfortable fits 2 commander decks in the main body. The drawers on mine are stiff to remove.
I bought one of these at my local LGS recently after having already owned a card lair. For MTG I’m afraid to tell people it’s a straight up D for me.
It doesn’t hold more than one commander deck.
The drawers are not level so they don’t come out or in smoothly.
The lid coming completely off it more annoying than anything. Less convenient than a flap in most situations.
The biggest nope for me is the fact that IT DOESNT LAY FLAT ON THE TABLE. The seam between the token drawers and main compartment is warped. Meaning it gives you a mini seesaw effect on a flat surface. As I wrote the company for a replacement I purchased another one in a different color to my surprise with the same issue.
As of today I received the replacement from Germany and the lid is damaged with ripped leather on the flap corners and… the seesaw defect remains to be an issue. 3 strikes and gamegenic is out.
How anyone can give this a 5/5 or an A grade is beyond me. The card lair didn’t have these problems strangely enough.
I'm sorry you experienced that. I haven't had the seesaw issue myself.
@@beyondthedeckbox unless it’s just with new batches or I have the worst luck ever on three of them. My current surrogate replacement for this box is the Legion Sentinel Duo and I hope you do a review of it. I wouldn’t say the quality is superior but as for functionality, compactness, and being able to operate it one handed ease of use I’d say it’s far more practical. Not affiliated in any way but it’s cheaper too for anyone interested in carrying two commander decks and some tokens in a similar form factor.
I would love to know where my cards are at all times!! Alas, ADHD… just found a mox on the kitchen counter 😂
I'm constantly looking for my cards. But at least your Mox wasn't like my buddy who found his Beta Bayou on the kitchen counter...the wet kitchen counter. He got the BIG sads when he found out how much it was worth.😂
I also hate gamegenic’s material 😭 I buy ultimate guard just because of that - but would buy one of these in a heartbeat!
I do really like Ultimate Guards material. Maybe Gamegenic can come up with a similar variant of it. We can hope!
The bigger academic would be perfect had it had a space for a rolled up playmat. Yes, it would make it bigger, but it is already a large box, ad being a bit "taller" to hold a mat.
I have one and love it but think it’s better for actual storage than a deck box and for that wish I had the much bigger one
You might want to check out the Convertible 400 from Gamegenic. It basically is a longer Academic with the downside(IMHO) that you can't fit deck boxes in it. Thanks for watching!
I am sad that there was no large version with red color,would have backed it then
I was sad to see that too. Maybe, if they do bring it to market, they'll have more color options. May not be exact, but it will be interesting to see.
Can't believe these are a kickstarter exclusive. Been in the hobby for 20+ years. Took a few months break when I had to travel overseas for work and had nobody to play with. Have been malding ever since.
I'm sure they will release these eventually. The colors may be different but I would be shocked if they didn't go for a wider release. If I find out I will definitely let you know!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH
I WANT MINE! UHG! Still waiting. I'm expecting to get mine sometime late last month, spent nearly 500 bucks on this kickstarter! over if you counter shipping and tax!
I’m still waiting on mine, I can’t wait!
I hope it gets to you soon!
Amazing video, i really hope they bring this to LGSs!
Thank you so much!
I need to double check [but I'm at work as I type], but I don't think you can fit large cards such as Planechase or Vanguard in the storage area, which if anything, is the only bad thing I've come across. Unfortunately timed too, as the deck box arrived shortly before the Planechase Commander decks.
...I may be using mine incorrectly, which means I could fit more decks in it! Thanks for your thoughts!
I'm still waiting on the 7 boxes I ordered
My biggest issue is that I was also a backer and have still not gotten shipping info. I understand it's out of the prof's hand, but hot dog am I envious and frustrated with it.
I understand. I got tracking info only a few days before it arrived. I know they are doing it in waves, so hopefully you'll hear something soon.
Still waiting for mine...
I didn't back this kickstarter because the price was too much for me at the time AND the deckbox looks too big for my need. I never need that much drawers and room for token or multiple decks. I think the box is good but it's, like always, not for everyone, despise what the marketing from the professor said :D
I definitely see how this might not be for some folks. Even for myself, some days a boulder will do me just fine. So I completely understand.
I ordered the academic specifically to be a draft kit
It's perfect for that! Great minds as they say!
I can't wait to get mine, but it still hasn't arrived
I know they are doing it in waves, so I would imagine it will come soon. Hope it gets there quick!
@@beyondthedeckbox yeah, I'm very near the end of the alphabet with my last name. I also joined the campaign towards the end, luckily finding out about it before or ended. So I am sure I'm going to be towards the end of the fulfillment list one way or another.
This is like a peer review haha
This is an extremely flattering comment. Thank you so much!
Could you do me a huge favor? Could you try to fit two 100 cards deck into the 133+ box? Ive seen some videos where they seem to fit, but I just want to double check! Great video man
I checked and I tested with double sleeved and single sleeved. Double sleeved it will not fit. I could get about 150 double sleeved. Single sleeved I was just barely able to do it. No sleeves, absolutely. I hope that helps!
@@beyondthedeckbox Thanks! Yea Im still iffy then on keeping mine. I would want two full decks. Hmmm, not a lot of options for carrying 4 decks in one box that does not take a ton of space
@@beyondthedeckbox After 100 doubled sleeved cards, how many single sleeves can you fit in after? Thanks for all the great info in the video!
Can the drawers compartment (without the drawers itself) hold any boulder boxes?
I'm not sure if I would ever put a deck box inside a deck box. It feels like this is a gimmick. Otherwise 10/10
I like to do so with bigger boxes, like the Arkhive 800+ or the Omnihive. Great way to put all your commander decks together, or your Pioneer decks, etc. For a smaller box like this I would be less likely. But I could see a scenario of throwing a few 60+ boulders in this box if I was going to an Oathbreaker night or something like that. But so far, I've mainly used this with cards and no boxes. Thanks for watching!
I got myself one each of the gray/red, teal/pink and extra large versions of the box.
Unfortunately I'm also horrible distracted and have left them in their packaging after opening them up quickly and making sure everything's whole and in place. I'm gonna try to fix that, though.
I think my Alesha deck is going to be the first to find a home in an Academic, but the question is if it should be the gray/red one to (kinda) match her colors or the teal/pink for the (kinda) trans pride color scheme.
This does look very close to the Cards Lair 400, and I think it could have been released as just a "Cards Lair (v2) 133" and may yet.
Was the 400 just really close but we didn't get it or is this really that much better?
I have both and they are quite similar. The Academic elegantly solves the 400’s ‘can’t fit deckboxes’ issue and is much more portable than the longer box. Would definitely buy more ‘generic’ 133s at my LGS or directly from GameGenic
Note that Burger Token deckboxes do fit in the 400 quite nicely with no modifications.
I also trimmed out a 400 so that Boulders would fit. The plexiglass divider looks cleaner.
@@SnipSnapDragon24 the deck box feature was a big selling point for me, but the first thing I did was put naked cards in it with the squishy divider.
The 133 is much bigger than I expected, so the 400 must be HUGE
Great review!
Thank you so much!
How many double sleeved cards do the dice/card trays hold?
48 double sleeved cards in the drawers. That's with sealable inner sleeves so you probably could put 50 regular inner sleeves at least. Hope that helps!
Why does everyone hate the Nexyofiber? Just curious.
I can't speak for others, but for me it feels "off" when I touch it. Just doesn't feel right to me. But I do recognize others like it.
@@beyondthedeckbox I can see that. It's definitely different, but it was never a level that bothered me. Personally I'm starting to switch to ultimate guard boulders and such, though. Using the Gamegenic boxes only for my premium decks.
so many cuts in the video literally every 3 seconds theres a cut, made me dizzy lol
Don't forget the Dramamine!
Got mine this morning … half my order was completely missing. #FML
Oh no! I’m sorry about that. I’m sure they’ll make it right if you contact them via the Kickstarter. I hope they are able to get it all fixed quickly!
I'm surprised you actually got it. I'm still waiting.
I know they are doing it in waves. Hopefully yours will get there soon.
does the main compartment fit 2 60+ boulders?
It can hold 2 60+ with a little extra space. It can only hold 1 80+ though. A second one won't fit. Hope that helps!
Damn _straight_ it's not an A+.
This bad boy's SSS!!
Did you buy it directly or?
As I stated in the video I backed the Kickstarter at the beginning of last year and they are in the middle of fulfillment. The box, the divider, and the gemstone dice were my rewards for the amount I backed. Thanks for watching!
Catapult 😂
I'm still waiting for mine. Such b.s.
I'm sure it will be there soon.
👏🏻🫶🏻👍🏻
500$ 😂😂😂😂😂😂 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣…..🙃
Too expensive for a deck box. Not waterproof. Stitching is mid
Compared to other deck boxes on the market with these features, this one is fairly cheap. And are you playing your games poolside?
still waiting on mine....
Hope it gets there soon!