Did your virtue and valor deck have the wrong tokens? Apparently some decks have been released with the blue/black decks tokens instead of the correct tokens
Your first and second pick text is wrong in the video, by the way. Might want an edit. ruclips.net/video/z4EwOTdl7vU/видео.htmlsi=1Ym8zvAYxyFLW3Gq&t=696
I don't understand hating product overload. Literally just don't feel obliged to follow and buy everything. I don't give a shit about Masters or LOTR. I like Eldraine and Doctor Who. So I just follow news and will purchase those products. So easy.
I don't hate this "product overload." I think it's great because I can pick and choose what I want. I got Fae Dominion because I like the faerie theme. I bought the enchantment precon when Commander Masters came out. For MOM I bought the Call for Backup precon. You don't have to buy all of the decks for every release. Just pick and choose what sounds interesting. I'd hate to go back to a few decks each year with the same vanilla themes.
As someone who only collects precons, seeing two GW enchantment decks back to back is a bit of a slap in the face. But I've had my eye on a faerie deck since i started playing years ago, so the only way i could be happier is if we got a dinosaur deck in Ixalan later this year
I'm more inclined to go for this one first because screw Commander Masters, but second because the Commander Masters enchantments deck came immediately after I'd picked up two Abzan precons, from LotR and Phyrexia.
@@CodenameJD Narci, Composer of Spring, and Battle at the Helvault are all cards exclusive to CMM that are worth picking up before they increase further in price. Grabbing the WoE enchantments and using Narci as the Commander could go a long way if you upgrade with a lot of the new bargain spells.
Basically the only reason you would pick these decks up would be if the majority of the cards you dont have already. For instance.. the enchantments deck is a huge NO.. I have everything in it but the new cards and they do not impress me. HOWEVER I have almost none of the Faeries and have wanted to make a Faerie deck thus its a great pick up.
@@Duskrequim even if you dont have the cards it's mtg, all cards already exist all effects are the same for years with different arts and names. I dont see the point in ''new'' cards
These decks most remind me of the $20 decks we got with Zendikar Rising, Commander Legends, and Kaldheim. Especially with how all the new cards are extremely tailored to the archetypes
Yeah I no longer buy commander precons between insane pricing and overload of product. It's the first year I haven't spent a penny on magic in a very very long time. Really was the primary product I bought every year without fail.
I got the Faeie deck. I started in Lorwyn, with my best friend. He fell in love with Elves, and I with Faeries. This were finally my moment to have a fine Fae deck to play and upgrade. And it's fun so far.
I also love faeries, and I have now 7 faerie decks thanks to this precon. I separated the cards and built them as different types of commanders (spellslinger and aristocrat) Plus I built Talion as clone tribal, and I have already Ivy, Alela and Nymris, and Donal with mono blue faerie tribal
The reprints are causing Enduring Enchantments to drastically drop in price, making me super happy. Been eyeballing that one, so it's worked out for me at least! :) $48.99 as of 9/2 on tcgplayer, might see if it gets lower still before I snag one. Awesome video as always Prof!
I am looking to upgrade and turn the Gaela precon from AFR (WUG) into an enchantment matters deck. Woulr you recommend i get enduring enchanments or virtue and vallor?
Enduring enchantments is a whole different beast because it wants enchantments in the grave. I would recommend getting virtue and valor if you're looking to change galea or buy enduring enchantments and build around that instead.
It’s always helpful to get your insights on these precons! It’s very helpful to know which are epic and which can be passed on. At least these basic decks aren’t $100.00.
Excellent review as always. Love the frank and practical view you express. Just for viewers 11:19 image is obviously incorrectly labelled - Prof clearly more partial toward the faeries 🧚
I was lucky enough to pull some really good faerie upgrade cards out of the two set boosters I bought with the precon - bitterblossom and some. It is a lot of fun! I do feel like the 'substitute' commander ought to have been the cover commander though.
I feel alright with buying the Virtue and Valor deck after watching this. I've played Magic off and on since high school, but I've never played in the commander format. I also love the color combo of green/white, and seeing old cards I used to play like Eidolon of countless battles makes me feel like I know exactly what to expect from this.
My biggest problem with the GW deck in particular is that I saw the colors and a cool knight on the box, and I immediately got curious. So I looked up the card and son of a BITCH, it's another "WHEN YOU DO THE THING YOUR DECK IS ABOUT, DRAW A CARD!" commander they just can't stop printing. if I want an "Auras matter" commander, Mazzy from Baldur's Gate gives me a more interesting effect, a third color, AND IS _ALSO A KNIGHT!_ There are so many commanders that repeat the same themes over and over that just don't do anything new, they're just "hey you need auras so i just hand them out, and you need to draw cards so i let you draw cards. that's it." I always felt the best commanders were ones where you look at it and think "hm, what do I do with this?" rather than looking at it and going "oh. i guess i'll just do what it tells me to."
Yeah i really like to play Knight tribal and was hoping for a precon that fit that theme alas i guess Morophon (the Ditto of tribal play) it will be. (will grab the commander and maybe some others as singles)
I gave in and bought FAE and upgraded it massively last night. Always wanted to have a Dimir Faeries deck and this one felt like a no brainer for a solid base line.
@@xardas149For real. I loved the Lotr Humans precon, but kept eye for a 1,5 months on the market, so that I could get it for the finest price possible.
Honestly i haven't been interested in Commander Precons in a while. I grabbed the ones from All Will Be One and March of the Machine but even those i wasn't particularly giddy about. Its just increasingly becoming a product i don't need. I've got tons. I hope they do more interesting themes in the future, and if so i may decide to pick them up again.
Considering the now-constant firehose of commander precons we're getting now, it would be interesting to see a retrospective look at every deck we've gotten since C20 a.k.a. Ikoria Commander and if the deck quality/value of the decks really has gone down or if the older decks now get lower grades when compared to more recent releases.
I fell in love with Alela, the alternative commander in the fae deck. I didn't have a single fairy so for me it was the perfect pick up :) I upgraded it with a few singles like bitterblossom and now its one of my favorite decks for multiplayer
Got the Fae Dominion on preorder, though as soon as the deck list was revealed I already was set on upgrading it. Mostly because I wanted a deck with Talion as the commander and the precon would serve as a good foundation for that. All in all I swapped 16-17 cards right out the box and made it a Talion deck instead. And playing that deck verses the precon, honestly super fun. I agree with the Prof on the strength of more recent precons, though with the caveat of go ahead and get a precon you want. Just don’t be afraid to upgrade it soon or immediately after a couple games of the deck out of the box.
I came back to watch this video again because I received the Virtue and Valor deck for Christmas. In the two games I have played with it on Spelltable against other out-of-the-box precons, it has gone off big. I am looking to upgrade it with Sythis and Sterling Grove plus other good enchantments.
One thing the video doesn't address is that all of the double sided tokens in the Virtue and Valor deck are misprinted and have a token from Virtue and Valor on one face and a token from Fae Dominion on the other. The result is that only 8 of the 15 different tokens needed to play the deck are included in the box. The punch-out counter insert is also the one from Fae Dominion, so instead of all +1/+1 counters you get half +1/+1 and half stun counters (there are no stun counter cards in the deck). I imagine the need to provide your own accessories because the ones that were supposed to come with the deck are missing would be a significant factor in whether the deck is worth it for a new player to buy.
Interesting idea you bring up. Is it that the new Commander decks are being watered down, that the format around them has pumped up, or that they just don't feel "special" when there is as much product as there has been these past few years. I don't know if it's something you'd be interested in doing but I'd propose a gauntlet where you take multiple eras of precons and compare them in gameplay against one another to see if any of them in action feel particularly good, bad, or overall feel on par in gameplay. You can only really fit 4 at a time but if you lump in Kamigawa Neon Dynasty/Wilds of Eldraine or MoM/AWBO as the "New" bundle, Commander Masters or a UB set as the second "premium" bundle, either the 2011 or 2013 precons as the "Originals" bundle, and the 2017 decks as the "mid age" group. Then run 4 games where each player switches to another one of the unplayed decks from a new pool. So each player plays 1 of each bundle overall. Survey each player after the game(Did you feel like you had a chance to win, which deck felt the most threatening, did your deck feel effective at its game plan, did you have many dud draws, how would you improve this deck, stuff like that) Then you can have a closing thoughts chat while going over the game surveys. It would be an interesting look at if the precons have changed significantly in power and design based on age or cost or if the big change we see and feel is more about the surrounding Magic environment. Admittedly this would probably take forever to do and would not be good RUclips content either so I could definitely see why you or other Magic content creators wouldn't do something like that.
I think that the "Collector Booster Sample Pack" labeling is probably the equivalent to what is called a "Dark Pattern" in the video game space due to its manipulative and dishonest naming.
I think that's a bit of an exaggeration wrt the complexity of what WotC is doing, which is nothing more than old-fashioned deceptive advertising. Dark patterns are certainly cut from the same cloth, but they're their own sort of manipulative practices that is even more appropriately addressed by laws than the relatively straightforward naming shenanigans at play here. Calling WotCs practice here by the same name IMO weakens the case for legislation addressing dark patterns.
@EvilGenius007 I'd say you're the one doing the exaggerating here, not me. If you agree that they're cut from the same cloth, then there's really no need to split hairs.
Bought the green and white and a new ixalan precon to teach my girlfriend how to play. With a couple hundred cards in hand we will have fun spending time together and the joy of teaching someone new to the game is more than worth the 70 bucks I paid for both. The time together playing and having fun is priceless! Im new to commander, but played mtg almost 30 years ago! so I'm betting she and I will have fun just building memories. And a some jank really works better than spending hundreds of dollars for some premiums.. I can't wait to shuffle up and play!
I pulled a foil full art Talion from my little sampler on the Faerie precon, which made me laugh, since I was just about to go up to the counter and go buy a Talion to stick into the precon.
@@Gershelf Yeah, I hadn't even realized I got a little pack with it. Friend who bought a bunch of packs instead of a precon and got mostly junk wasn't as happy as I was about me pulling it though, lol
I went ahead and picked up the Virtue and Valor Precon while I was at PreRelease last night. Mostly because it had all the things I was planning on putting into my Sythis deck. I'll play the Precon as is once then pull it apart to make Sythis.
I just bought my first deck! I mostly appreciate the art of MTG and I wanted to pick something that'd motivate me to play through my favorite aesthetics alone so I went with a Crimson Vow Bloodline deck. Haven't played more than 2 or 3 games in my life but im excited to start! Edit: A few weeks later and a couple friday night magic wins got me HOOKED into this game 💀😭🖤
Wait holy shit dude you already had one! I only noticed because I had Jodah's card sitting right here looking at both of you at the same time; you ARE this dude!
I worry that they've been shoving so many products out the door that they're literally running out of design space to make unique decks, or even cards for that matter.
Idk if I agree with the idea the card ideas are really running out like wilds of eldraine had a lot of awesome fun new cards added, universes beyond is probably the best linited environment since kamigawa as it has so many unique fun cards. I do dislike these decks and think lately the decks haven’t been getting it done but I can’t say I agree about card design.
a friend of mine gifted me the enchantment matters, I really have fallen in love with it!!! it has a ton of ways to draw cards, it always has creatures ready to kick asses, and a solid build!!! I have a lot of voltron decks, but this one it's the first one with that many creatures.
Hey these vids are always great and this isn't a cut, but at 11:34 Prof's stating clearly the first pick is 'UB Fae' but the video has it listed as a 2nd pick. Small edit job needs done.
Talking about premium commander precons, I don't recall you talking about the gameplay of the CMM decks (Granted, I still maintain what I said in the comments of that video. Anikthea steamrolls the others). That being said, I did find it interesting that you talked about them in a better light than when you reviewed them (in isolation of the notorious pricing, ofc).
I think a new big issue with commander decks coming out with every set is how much draft chaff they can throw into the commander decks. A lot of the commons from WOE just don't hold up to other commander precons (same issue with ONE), and they start to fall behind any kind of curated deck of U/R/M from across sets.
Ahhh, I wish I had seen this earlier. we went to our local LGS earlier today to pick up some new boosters and I suckered myself into buying the Fae deck. I've been wanting to get into learning Commander (I play mostly standard ranked on Arena, and play 60 card formats with my other half and the kids) and so this is my first Commander deck. I guess I should have waited XD
Thanks Prof, was thinking about nabbing the GW one but will wait a month and see what the prices are looking like. Daybreak Coronet has already dropped by 50% here...
Funnily enough, I gotta thank you from preventing me to buy one of these. I had my eyes on the auras one because I really enjoy the linear style of bogles, but you made me realize that for that amount I could just upgrade one of the decks I own.
I actually would love if they transformed the commanders decks of every set into duel decks with the themes of the plane. I started to play with one of this duel decks and they were one of the best products to start. You can buy it and just start playing with family or friends. And transforming this product into commander decks would solve the issue of not having to put playsets of cards into them.
My wife just bought us Zendikar Rising's "Land's Wrath" and "Sneak Attack", and we've played a couple games when our kiddo is sleepin. They feel similar, and just overall better bang for your buck, particularly "Land's Wrath" in comparison to "Virtue and Valor". Though, I have not played it, so I'll have more to say then.
I got the Aura deck, as the commanders seemed really flavorful (especially Gylwain), while the Faeries seemed to do more of the usual creature type stuff (buffing, tokens, card draw, it's been done before). Commander Masters decks were too expensive for me, so I'm glad I could get some of the useful enchantment cards for lower price. But the token mixup is so disappointing (the front side is correct for Virtue and Valor, but on the reverse side there are the Faerie deck tokens printed), as you don't get the tokens necessary for the new cards (no Sorcerer Role, or an Ox, a Cat, and a Bird for Liberated Livestock). Seems like those errors happen more often now, with the Eldrazi deck having wrong Constructs and wrong Spirits in it. And earlier the Nissa being replaced by a duplicate land in Kamigawa.... Anyway, goes to show what a scam the Commander Masters prices were. Pity, as I was really looking forward to enjoying Commodore Guff.
Local game shop shafted me. They charged me 55$ for the white and green. I told him it’s my fist time buying commander and had no idea what I was doing. Sorry but I don’t trust local shops anymore. I’ll buy online for all future purchases.
I picked up the Virtue and Valor with a couple of upgrades for around 40 bucks in Japan, it was pretty decent price and what I saved I used it for upgrades and the deck runs very good now. I even have a sideboard lol
I remember the event decks! I kept buying them to get Sakura-Tribe Elders when I was but a lad with no game shop close by. It felt like more than two with each set. I'm pretty sure the original Ravnica Block came with 4 on the first set and then 3 on the last two. It's been a long time though.
I'm would call myself an experienced player of sorts, and I had great fun with the Gw deck. But I've wanted an enchantress deck for a while and I refuse to use my entire food budget on the Masters precon. It is really powerful and with just a few cheap upgrades it was really hanging with the rest of the pod to the point where I became the arch nemesis
I’m definitely feeling these two since I like both the themes, but I agree there’s far too much over saturation with these, I’m surprised they haven’t noticed this yet considering their supposed market research.
I got the faeries deck. I know the price point isn't there, but I've been flirting with the idea of building dimir faeries anyhow, and I had the chance to get my hands on a Bitterblossom.
Hi! Just wanted to add a Little thing that seems to be overlooked by the Prof. Recently bought the Virtue and Valor precon, and I was really disappointed to realize IT DOESNT COME WITH THE NECESARY TOKENS TO PLAY IT. All of the tokens are double sided, and among what Ive got, I see faeries (Deck doesnt create faeries), Pirates (Deck doesnt create pirates). It comes with only 2 role tokens, giving you a total of 4 roles. I have virtuous twice, and I am missing sorcerer. I know it's a tiny detail, but it really pissed me off. It's quite easy to make this correctly. The placed double faced tokens, when only one side is useful for the precon and the other one isnt. Can't they design a token with 2 useful sides? Unbelievable!
I actually enjoyed the green white deck. I think the overlap in cards between this precon and the last one were because they were staples. I would add them anyway. All that being said I don’t really buy to many prebuilt products but it’s a cheap way to play something new!
Virtue and value is one of the few decks to be banned at precon turnaments in my city. The few times that we play without ban list often wins...very simple deck, but very effective. I love it
My wife just got me into magic recently and I wasn't about to drop 100 bucks on a pre-made masters deck. We have been playing with the eldraine decks and have been enjoying it.
You know what I'd like to see in these videos? Having a section where you cut out all the reprints and just price the unique cards in the deck! Sure a deck has $69 in value but I don't need those cards. Plus the unique cards can be found in set and collector boosters so really those prices are going to be cheap. Doing some quick mental math you can get extended art versions of the unique Faries for around $25 and the enchantments is like $17.
As a new, old player coming back to Magic, I'm actually really liking the options of so many precons. I have both WoE decks, and actually prefere the enchantment one as i enjoy it he playstyle more, though Fae is definitely stronger and also very fun. I also have the Baldurs gate Party Time precon which i thoroughly enjoy. As an experienced, already established player i can definitely understand the feeling of uneasiness with the current approach. If it continues like this, I'll be right there with that sentiment. Now, as a new player, this heavily saturated field gives cheap, fun, and casual play options to someone jist learning what styles they enjoy most and what works best for them. Its definitely a mixed bag, and agreed, should probably start spacing them out to one a quarter for the non-premium and once a year for the premium
Between the Bant enchantmnet decks a few (OMG not so few) years ago and all the ones recently, a mighty engine for a reasonable price no matter if you stick to WG or add blue or black.
Hey Prof, great video. You've said multiple times that newer players would make a wiser decision by buying an older precon, yet there were no suggestions. As somebody that is returning no MtG and is pondering on what should I buy, I think that it would be fitting if you could release a precon deals video. As you said, Wizards is releasing a plethora of precons this year, but as a buyer, it gets more confusing with each release: is the newest one the best to buy or should I pick an older one? Of those, which is actually a good deal and which is just reprints? It's pretty hard figuring this out alone, so maybe a video about that is fitting in the near future. Thanks and much love from Brazil.
Honestly I know faeries is probably negative value in the end but I picked it up because it brings back memories for me. I used to pilot standard faeries to quite a high level back in the day and still top tournaments with pauper faeries. This deck got my foil promo spellstutter sprite and some other faerie goodies that I wish they included.
The overlap in cards between Virtue and Valor and Enduring Enchantments is certainly a bummer, but I like that enchantment decks get more precon support, because I wanted some of those cards, but the single prices were too high for me. Luckily Enduring Enchantments dropped to 50€, but I can't imagine my disapointment if I had paid more than 70€ or the dreaded 100$ for it. Virtue and Valor for approximately 32€ seems well worth it if you fency the playstyle of drawing a lot of cards and buffing your creatures.
I don't think it's such a problem that there's overlap between this new enchantment deck and the CMM one a few weeks ago; those cards aren't janky or weird cards, they're typical staples of the archetype, and many players would probably just include them anyway. They're not expensive but... I don't think that's such a problem, either. I think it's just a bit of an indictment of the absolutely abysmal pricepoint of the CMM precons.
Regarding the precon Box: This one is better than the previous ones. i still prefer the ones from Warhammer 40K though, they are basically the perfect storage and even work well for travel. But the last wider boxes are really annoying, who thought it's a good idea that the flap goes at the sides and front over the box? I had even one that was already damaged right out of the box. This flap at least goes right into the box. I would still prefer it though if the precon deck boxes would all be like the Warhammer 40K ones personally but this is an improvement.
I preordered the blue black faerie deck because I used to have a deck of the Lorwyn block back in day that was the same idea! Im going to use Alela as the commander as her theme seems more tricky/fun to play.
Enter The Void: The Collector Booster Box Game for Wilds Of Eldraine: ruclips.net/video/i14FWsifWCM/видео.html
Did your virtue and valor deck have the wrong tokens? Apparently some decks have been released with the blue/black decks tokens instead of the correct tokens
Prof, can I buy the art from your deck box kickstarter? I love my play mat and would love to have it printed for my wall!!
Your first and second pick text is wrong in the video, by the way. Might want an edit.
ruclips.net/video/z4EwOTdl7vU/видео.htmlsi=1Ym8zvAYxyFLW3Gq&t=696
at 11:35 youre saying that you prefer the Fae deck, but your visual puts the Enchanctment deck as your first pick?
Hey prof. at 11:35 the 1st and 2nd pick labels are switched.
I think the 1st Pick and 2nd Pick labels are switched at 11:35
I just opened the comments to see this
this drove me insane lol
These days I assume any error that glaring is intentional to generate comments
Says something that these are so dull you can’t tell them apart lol
Seems like even the Prof is having quality control issues
I love that the professor can't even hide his disdain for how much product overload there is now.
Yeah, we all hate this product overload… =_= this is why I hate the practice of Publicly traded companies and stock
Haha no kidding but he's not wrong 😆
Consume consume consume consume consume
I don't understand hating product overload. Literally just don't feel obliged to follow and buy everything.
I don't give a shit about Masters or LOTR. I like Eldraine and Doctor Who. So I just follow news and will purchase those products. So easy.
I don't hate this "product overload." I think it's great because I can pick and choose what I want. I got Fae Dominion because I like the faerie theme. I bought the enchantment precon when Commander Masters came out. For MOM I bought the Call for Backup precon. You don't have to buy all of the decks for every release. Just pick and choose what sounds interesting. I'd hate to go back to a few decks each year with the same vanilla themes.
As someone who only collects precons, seeing two GW enchantment decks back to back is a bit of a slap in the face. But I've had my eye on a faerie deck since i started playing years ago, so the only way i could be happier is if we got a dinosaur deck in Ixalan later this year
Probably will.
I'm more inclined to go for this one first because screw Commander Masters, but second because the Commander Masters enchantments deck came immediately after I'd picked up two Abzan precons, from LotR and Phyrexia.
In a month we will get doctor who. In two months we'll get lost caverns if ixalan. So don't worry. New commander decks every month.
@josephrion3514 oh don't worry I know. By the time Ixalan comes out I'll have all 110 (112?) Precons
@@CodenameJD Narci, Composer of Spring, and Battle at the Helvault are all cards exclusive to CMM that are worth picking up before they increase further in price. Grabbing the WoE enchantments and using Narci as the Commander could go a long way if you upgrade with a lot of the new bargain spells.
Unfortunately, I don’t find myself bothering to ask the “is it worth it” question much anymore…
yup. the answer is almost always no... like 99% of the time it's no lol
Basically the only reason you would pick these decks up would be if the majority of the cards you dont have already. For instance.. the enchantments deck is a huge NO.. I have everything in it but the new cards and they do not impress me. HOWEVER I have almost none of the Faeries and have wanted to make a Faerie deck thus its a great pick up.
That's how I feel about the entire game tbh.
The faeries deck is defo a yes for me!
@@Duskrequim even if you dont have the cards it's mtg, all cards already exist all effects are the same for years with different arts and names. I dont see the point in ''new'' cards
3:52 The professor saying sheeeesh just might be the best thing I’ve ever heard
Reminder that the first ever set of commander precons had absolute bangers like Kaalia, Animar, Mimeoplasm, Zedru, and more.
They played pretty horrible though tbh. I've build better commander decks out of sealed pools.
Those decks were mostly garbage. I still have a couple of mine unchanged.
Still have and love Zedru
At $35, I found the Aura deck to be of a great value since I was getting many of those cards for my aura deck I was already building.
Great point
These decks most remind me of the $20 decks we got with Zendikar Rising, Commander Legends, and Kaldheim. Especially with how all the new cards are extremely tailored to the archetypes
It has finally happened! 😃
I am no longer hyperfocused on mtg!!!
They have overdone it so hard that they finally broke me!!! 🎉 🥳🎈
Good for you, bud.
Omg same
yeah same, WoTC helping out us neurodivergents
Yeah I no longer buy commander precons between insane pricing and overload of product. It's the first year I haven't spent a penny on magic in a very very long time. Really was the primary product I bought every year without fail.
run while you're still able
I got the Faeie deck. I started in Lorwyn, with my best friend. He fell in love with Elves, and I with Faeries.
This were finally my moment to have a fine Fae deck to play and upgrade. And it's fun so far.
I also love faeries, and I have now 7 faerie decks thanks to this precon. I separated the cards and built them as different types of commanders (spellslinger and aristocrat) Plus I built Talion as clone tribal, and I have already Ivy, Alela and Nymris, and Donal with mono blue faerie tribal
The reprints are causing Enduring Enchantments to drastically drop in price, making me super happy. Been eyeballing that one, so it's worked out for me at least! :) $48.99 as of 9/2 on tcgplayer, might see if it gets lower still before I snag one.
Awesome video as always Prof!
I am looking to upgrade and turn the Gaela precon from AFR (WUG) into an enchantment matters deck. Woulr you recommend i get enduring enchanments or virtue and vallor?
Enduring enchantments is a whole different beast because it wants enchantments in the grave. I would recommend getting virtue and valor if you're looking to change galea or buy enduring enchantments and build around that instead.
@@lun4r16 thank you
Nice. That was the one I was most interested in from Commander Masters. I may pick it up if it goes a little lower.
It’s always helpful to get your insights on these precons! It’s very helpful to know which are epic and which can be passed on. At least these basic decks aren’t $100.00.
I’m just about to head to my local game shop and considering getting one of these. Thank you Professor for giving us the breakdown!
Excellent review as always. Love the frank and practical view you express. Just for viewers 11:19 image is obviously incorrectly labelled - Prof clearly more partial toward the faeries 🧚
I was lucky enough to pull some really good faerie upgrade cards out of the two set boosters I bought with the precon - bitterblossom and some. It is a lot of fun! I do feel like the 'substitute' commander ought to have been the cover commander though.
That's been a theme for a lot of the pre-cons lately, the 'substitute' tends to actually be way better overall.
I feel alright with buying the Virtue and Valor deck after watching this. I've played Magic off and on since high school, but I've never played in the commander format. I also love the color combo of green/white, and seeing old cards I used to play like Eidolon of countless battles makes me feel like I know exactly what to expect from this.
PROF! The 1st pick and 2nd pick words are next to the wrong decks! Minor issue. Great video. I just got the faerie one. Im loving it!
I bought the green white deck yesterday at my local game shop, and it was my first prerelease event and it was a blast!
My biggest problem with the GW deck in particular is that I saw the colors and a cool knight on the box, and I immediately got curious. So I looked up the card and son of a BITCH, it's another "WHEN YOU DO THE THING YOUR DECK IS ABOUT, DRAW A CARD!" commander they just can't stop printing. if I want an "Auras matter" commander, Mazzy from Baldur's Gate gives me a more interesting effect, a third color, AND IS _ALSO A KNIGHT!_ There are so many commanders that repeat the same themes over and over that just don't do anything new, they're just "hey you need auras so i just hand them out, and you need to draw cards so i let you draw cards. that's it." I always felt the best commanders were ones where you look at it and think "hm, what do I do with this?" rather than looking at it and going "oh. i guess i'll just do what it tells me to."
Yeah i really like to play Knight tribal and was hoping for a precon that fit that theme alas i guess Morophon (the Ditto of tribal play) it will be. (will grab the commander and maybe some others as singles)
I gave in and bought FAE and upgraded it massively last night. Always wanted to have a Dimir Faeries deck and this one felt like a no brainer for a solid base line.
That's how I've been doing it, is getting the precons that catch my eye such as the Faerie one, and dump extra cash into them to tune em up.
@@xardas149For real. I loved the Lotr Humans precon, but kept eye for a 1,5 months on the market, so that I could get it for the finest price possible.
What did you to in terms of upgrades, if I may ask?
Honestly i haven't been interested in Commander Precons in a while. I grabbed the ones from All Will Be One and March of the Machine but even those i wasn't particularly giddy about. Its just increasingly becoming a product i don't need. I've got tons. I hope they do more interesting themes in the future, and if so i may decide to pick them up again.
Prof, when will there be a Shuffle Up and Play episode with only precons allowed
someone will come on with Lathril and just sweep house without even attacking. woman's a menace for a precon.
I think you’d really like loading ready run’s elder dragon social club if you want to see precon gameplay
omg I hope he sees this comment - I would watch them all they should do them for each block
I have been wanting to make a Faerie deck. You giving the run down is enough for me to buy and upgrade later, thanks prof.!
“Not, Visible MSRP” is a nice way to put it
Considering the now-constant firehose of commander precons we're getting now, it would be interesting to see a retrospective look at every deck we've gotten since C20 a.k.a. Ikoria Commander and if the deck quality/value of the decks really has gone down or if the older decks now get lower grades when compared to more recent releases.
I fell in love with Alela, the alternative commander in the fae deck. I didn't have a single fairy so for me it was the perfect pick up :) I upgraded it with a few singles like bitterblossom and now its one of my favorite decks for multiplayer
Got the Fae Dominion on preorder, though as soon as the deck list was revealed I already was set on upgrading it. Mostly because I wanted a deck with Talion as the commander and the precon would serve as a good foundation for that. All in all I swapped 16-17 cards right out the box and made it a Talion deck instead. And playing that deck verses the precon, honestly super fun.
I agree with the Prof on the strength of more recent precons, though with the caveat of go ahead and get a precon you want. Just don’t be afraid to upgrade it soon or immediately after a couple games of the deck out of the box.
Thanks for doing these prof! I’ve been thinking about buying one of these from my lgs and was having trouble deciding.
I came back to watch this video again because I received the Virtue and Valor deck for Christmas. In the two games I have played with it on Spelltable against other out-of-the-box precons, it has gone off big. I am looking to upgrade it with Sythis and Sterling Grove plus other good enchantments.
It would be great to see a video about: what commander deck to buy from the still available precon sets.
One thing the video doesn't address is that all of the double sided tokens in the Virtue and Valor deck are misprinted and have a token from Virtue and Valor on one face and a token from Fae Dominion on the other. The result is that only 8 of the 15 different tokens needed to play the deck are included in the box. The punch-out counter insert is also the one from Fae Dominion, so instead of all +1/+1 counters you get half +1/+1 and half stun counters (there are no stun counter cards in the deck). I imagine the need to provide your own accessories because the ones that were supposed to come with the deck are missing would be a significant factor in whether the deck is worth it for a new player to buy.
Interesting idea you bring up. Is it that the new Commander decks are being watered down, that the format around them has pumped up, or that they just don't feel "special" when there is as much product as there has been these past few years.
I don't know if it's something you'd be interested in doing but I'd propose a gauntlet where you take multiple eras of precons and compare them in gameplay against one another to see if any of them in action feel particularly good, bad, or overall feel on par in gameplay. You can only really fit 4 at a time but if you lump in Kamigawa Neon Dynasty/Wilds of Eldraine or MoM/AWBO as the "New" bundle, Commander Masters or a UB set as the second "premium" bundle, either the 2011 or 2013 precons as the "Originals" bundle, and the 2017 decks as the "mid age" group. Then run 4 games where each player switches to another one of the unplayed decks from a new pool. So each player plays 1 of each bundle overall. Survey each player after the game(Did you feel like you had a chance to win, which deck felt the most threatening, did your deck feel effective at its game plan, did you have many dud draws, how would you improve this deck, stuff like that) Then you can have a closing thoughts chat while going over the game surveys.
It would be an interesting look at if the precons have changed significantly in power and design based on age or cost or if the big change we see and feel is more about the surrounding Magic environment. Admittedly this would probably take forever to do and would not be good RUclips content either so I could definitely see why you or other Magic content creators wouldn't do something like that.
That sounds awfully complex but super interesting
I think that the "Collector Booster Sample Pack" labeling is probably the equivalent to what is called a "Dark Pattern" in the video game space due to its manipulative and dishonest naming.
I think that's a bit of an exaggeration wrt the complexity of what WotC is doing, which is nothing more than old-fashioned deceptive advertising. Dark patterns are certainly cut from the same cloth, but they're their own sort of manipulative practices that is even more appropriately addressed by laws than the relatively straightforward naming shenanigans at play here. Calling WotCs practice here by the same name IMO weakens the case for legislation addressing dark patterns.
@EvilGenius007 I'd say you're the one doing the exaggerating here, not me. If you agree that they're cut from the same cloth, then there's really no need to split hairs.
@@arglebargle5531 csb.
Bought the green and white and a new ixalan precon to teach my girlfriend how to play. With a couple hundred cards in hand we will have fun spending time together and the joy of teaching someone new to the game is more than worth the 70 bucks I paid for both. The time together playing and having fun is priceless! Im new to commander, but played mtg almost 30 years ago! so I'm betting she and I will have fun just building memories. And a some jank really works better than spending hundreds of dollars for some premiums.. I can't wait to shuffle up and play!
Im excited about the one I picked up yesterday: Lorehold Legacies
I pulled a foil full art Talion from my little sampler on the Faerie precon, which made me laugh, since I was just about to go up to the counter and go buy a Talion to stick into the precon.
That's a sweet pull. ^^ I'm waiting for the price of that in full art to fall a bit. Usually I don't bling decks a lot, but Faeries are my precious.
@@Gershelf Yeah, I hadn't even realized I got a little pack with it. Friend who bought a bunch of packs instead of a precon and got mostly junk wasn't as happy as I was about me pulling it though, lol
I went ahead and picked up the Virtue and Valor Precon while I was at PreRelease last night. Mostly because it had all the things I was planning on putting into my Sythis deck. I'll play the Precon as is once then pull it apart to make Sythis.
I just bought my first deck! I mostly appreciate the art of MTG and I wanted to pick something that'd motivate me to play through my favorite aesthetics alone so I went with a Crimson Vow Bloodline deck. Haven't played more than 2 or 3 games in my life but im excited to start!
Edit: A few weeks later and a couple friday night magic wins got me HOOKED into this game 💀😭🖤
@yoshitheonly are you still hooled 9 months later?
@@misty7220 I'm up to 21 Commander decks now 💀😭
Fae dominion is currently sold at around 50-60 usd on local shops.
The BEST MtG channel. I'm never buying ANY product before watching the professors take on it's worth.
Thanks prof
Wait holy shit dude you already had one! I only noticed because I had Jodah's card sitting right here looking at both of you at the same time; you ARE this dude!
Thanks for being my commander!
I worry that they've been shoving so many products out the door that they're literally running out of design space to make unique decks, or even cards for that matter.
Few interesting build ideas in the legendary slot in eldraine, but the main prebuilds... pretty meh
I really think that they should just release every 2 months instead of every few weeks…
They save the unique designs for universes beyond
Idk if I agree with the idea the card ideas are really running out like wilds of eldraine had a lot of awesome fun new cards added, universes beyond is probably the best linited environment since kamigawa as it has so many unique fun cards. I do dislike these decks and think lately the decks haven’t been getting it done but I can’t say I agree about card design.
No need to worry, lad 😄
It has already happened 😂
a friend of mine gifted me the enchantment matters, I really have fallen in love with it!!! it has a ton of ways to draw cards, it always has creatures ready to kick asses, and a solid build!!! I have a lot of voltron decks, but this one it's the first one with that many creatures.
I especially appreciate hearing about the gameplay of these decks!
Hey these vids are always great and this isn't a cut, but at 11:34 Prof's stating clearly the first pick is 'UB Fae' but the video has it listed as a 2nd pick. Small edit job needs done.
Talking about premium commander precons, I don't recall you talking about the gameplay of the CMM decks (Granted, I still maintain what I said in the comments of that video. Anikthea steamrolls the others). That being said, I did find it interesting that you talked about them in a better light than when you reviewed them (in isolation of the notorious pricing, ofc).
Idk man. Guff is pretty busted if your good at the game.
I think a new big issue with commander decks coming out with every set is how much draft chaff they can throw into the commander decks. A lot of the commons from WOE just don't hold up to other commander precons (same issue with ONE), and they start to fall behind any kind of curated deck of U/R/M from across sets.
11:45 text is backwards says fae dominion is second pick
Nice work professor informative as always keep up the greta work
Ahhh, I wish I had seen this earlier. we went to our local LGS earlier today to pick up some new boosters and I suckered myself into buying the Fae deck. I've been wanting to get into learning Commander (I play mostly standard ranked on Arena, and play 60 card formats with my other half and the kids) and so this is my first Commander deck. I guess I should have waited XD
Gavin was just listening to you about reprint equity!
That lead into Factor meals was clutch!
Thanks Proff. We all appreciate what you do.
Thanks Prof, was thinking about nabbing the GW one but will wait a month and see what the prices are looking like. Daybreak Coronet has already dropped by 50% here...
Funnily enough, I gotta thank you from preventing me to buy one of these. I had my eyes on the auras one because I really enjoy the linear style of bogles, but you made me realize that for that amount I could just upgrade one of the decks I own.
I actually would love if they transformed the commanders decks of every set into duel decks with the themes of the plane. I started to play with one of this duel decks and they were one of the best products to start. You can buy it and just start playing with family or friends. And transforming this product into commander decks would solve the issue of not having to put playsets of cards into them.
I'm new to MTG and I selected this Commander Deck theme as I absolutely love the artwork.
My wife just bought us Zendikar Rising's "Land's Wrath" and "Sneak Attack", and we've played a couple games when our kiddo is sleepin. They feel similar, and just overall better bang for your buck, particularly "Land's Wrath" in comparison to "Virtue and Valor". Though, I have not played it, so I'll have more to say then.
Land's Wrath is arguably one of the best cost to fun ratio you can get in a rpecon.
Phantom Premonition is no slouch either.
I got the Aura deck, as the commanders seemed really flavorful (especially Gylwain), while the Faeries seemed to do more of the usual creature type stuff (buffing, tokens, card draw, it's been done before). Commander Masters decks were too expensive for me, so I'm glad I could get some of the useful enchantment cards for lower price. But the token mixup is so disappointing (the front side is correct for Virtue and Valor, but on the reverse side there are the Faerie deck tokens printed), as you don't get the tokens necessary for the new cards (no Sorcerer Role, or an Ox, a Cat, and a Bird for Liberated Livestock). Seems like those errors happen more often now, with the Eldrazi deck having wrong Constructs and wrong Spirits in it. And earlier the Nissa being replaced by a duplicate land in Kamigawa....
Anyway, goes to show what a scam the Commander Masters prices were. Pity, as I was really looking forward to enjoying Commodore Guff.
The art for Wicked and Cursed role is swapped on the tokens too.
Local game shop shafted me. They charged me 55$ for the white and green. I told him it’s my fist time buying commander and had no idea what I was doing. Sorry but I don’t trust local shops anymore. I’ll buy online for all future purchases.
Just go to a different one
I picked up the Virtue and Valor with a couple of upgrades for around 40 bucks in Japan, it was pretty decent price and what I saved I used it for upgrades and the deck runs very good now. I even have a sideboard lol
Had a ton of fun playing pre-release and picked up both decks for $35 each at my local game store.
Gonna grab the Fae deck when it drops in price! Thanks prof!
As someone trying to get into Magic again, and organising a club for it at my school. WHY IS THERE SO MUCH MAGIC STUFF, MY BRAIN CAN'T HANDLE IT!
Love the Professor, we buy the precons for when friends come over. Great for friendly Magic.
I remember the event decks! I kept buying them to get Sakura-Tribe Elders when I was but a lad with no game shop close by. It felt like more than two with each set. I'm pretty sure the original Ravnica Block came with 4 on the first set and then 3 on the last two. It's been a long time though.
Great video as always! Love your product value review videos! Thanks Prof!
Went to prerelease yesterday just wanted to say I opened two rystic studies in my pre release kit. Never been so lucky
They need to have a Merfolk commander deck coming out.
Don't think he mentioned this, but Wizards confirmed the Virtue and Valor deck is shipping with tokens from the Fae Dominion deck. So that's great...
Nice job team!
@@thetasworldI heard that in my head... Thanks :D
@@Yuzuki1337 I tend to imagine the glasses also
I bought this fairy deck to top off a deck i planned on building, and was surprised by how helpful it was.
I'm would call myself an experienced player of sorts, and I had great fun with the Gw deck. But I've wanted an enchantress deck for a while and I refuse to use my entire food budget on the Masters precon. It is really powerful and with just a few cheap upgrades it was really hanging with the rest of the pod to the point where I became the arch nemesis
I’m definitely feeling these two since I like both the themes, but I agree there’s far too much over saturation with these, I’m surprised they haven’t noticed this yet considering their supposed market research.
I got the faeries deck. I know the price point isn't there, but I've been flirting with the idea of building dimir faeries anyhow, and I had the chance to get my hands on a Bitterblossom.
Great information as always Prof 👍
I'm new to MTG so getting into it, I've bought a few commander decks as I like the theme etc I was looking at this one it looks fun
Small editing error. U have the enchantment decks first and the far second at 11:36. Not a big deal.
Hi! Just wanted to add a Little thing that seems to be overlooked by the Prof.
Recently bought the Virtue and Valor precon, and I was really disappointed to realize IT DOESNT COME WITH THE NECESARY TOKENS TO PLAY IT.
All of the tokens are double sided, and among what Ive got, I see faeries (Deck doesnt create faeries), Pirates (Deck doesnt create pirates). It comes with only 2 role tokens, giving you a total of 4 roles. I have virtuous twice, and I am missing sorcerer.
I know it's a tiny detail, but it really pissed me off. It's quite easy to make this correctly. The placed double faced tokens, when only one side is useful for the precon and the other one isnt. Can't they design a token with 2 useful sides? Unbelievable!
I actually enjoyed the green white deck. I think the overlap in cards between this precon and the last one were because they were staples. I would add them anyway. All that being said I don’t really buy to many prebuilt products but it’s a cheap way to play something new!
Virtue and value is one of the few decks to be banned at precon turnaments in my city.
The few times that we play without ban list often wins...very simple deck, but very effective. I love it
My wife just got me into magic recently and I wasn't about to drop 100 bucks on a pre-made masters deck. We have been playing with the eldraine decks and have been enjoying it.
Being a total newb to Commander, the Prof's second-to-last question was important to me.
Still trying to decide which WotC deck to buy first.
You know what I'd like to see in these videos? Having a section where you cut out all the reprints and just price the unique cards in the deck! Sure a deck has $69 in value but I don't need those cards. Plus the unique cards can be found in set and collector boosters so really those prices are going to be cheap. Doing some quick mental math you can get extended art versions of the unique Faries for around $25 and the enchantments is like $17.
As a new, old player coming back to Magic, I'm actually really liking the options of so many precons. I have both WoE decks, and actually prefere the enchantment one as i enjoy it he playstyle more, though Fae is definitely stronger and also very fun. I also have the Baldurs gate Party Time precon which i thoroughly enjoy.
As an experienced, already established player i can definitely understand the feeling of uneasiness with the current approach. If it continues like this, I'll be right there with that sentiment.
Now, as a new player, this heavily saturated field gives cheap, fun, and casual play options to someone jist learning what styles they enjoy most and what works best for them.
Its definitely a mixed bag, and agreed, should probably start spacing them out to one a quarter for the non-premium and once a year for the premium
I was thinking about picking up the Fae pre-con.
I think I am gonna wait now.
Between the Bant enchantmnet decks a few (OMG not so few) years ago and all the ones recently, a mighty engine for a reasonable price no matter if you stick to WG or add blue or black.
Professor at 11:25 your editor has the choices backwards. “1st pick” is hovering over the Valor deck and not Fae Dominion.
My shop had the virtue and valor deck for $20 so I just grabbed it. It’s fun for $20.
i‘d love some more challenger decks!
Hey Prof, great video.
You've said multiple times that newer players would make a wiser decision by buying an older precon, yet there were no suggestions. As somebody that is returning no MtG and is pondering on what should I buy, I think that it would be fitting if you could release a precon deals video. As you said, Wizards is releasing a plethora of precons this year, but as a buyer, it gets more confusing with each release: is the newest one the best to buy or should I pick an older one? Of those, which is actually a good deal and which is just reprints? It's pretty hard figuring this out alone, so maybe a video about that is fitting in the near future.
Thanks and much love from Brazil.
Honestly I know faeries is probably negative value in the end but I picked it up because it brings back memories for me. I used to pilot standard faeries to quite a high level back in the day and still top tournaments with pauper faeries. This deck got my foil promo spellstutter sprite and some other faerie goodies that I wish they included.
The overlap in cards between Virtue and Valor and Enduring Enchantments is certainly a bummer, but I like that enchantment decks get more precon support, because I wanted some of those cards, but the single prices were too high for me. Luckily Enduring Enchantments dropped to 50€, but I can't imagine my disapointment if I had paid more than 70€ or the dreaded 100$ for it. Virtue and Valor for approximately 32€ seems well worth it if you fency the playstyle of drawing a lot of cards and buffing your creatures.
I don't think it's such a problem that there's overlap between this new enchantment deck and the CMM one a few weeks ago; those cards aren't janky or weird cards, they're typical staples of the archetype, and many players would probably just include them anyway. They're not expensive but... I don't think that's such a problem, either. I think it's just a bit of an indictment of the absolutely abysmal pricepoint of the CMM precons.
I spent 35 on both enduring enchants and virtuous and valour. I’d say it’s worth the money for both as they both ramp very nice.
Thank you for the analysis!
Regarding the precon Box: This one is better than the previous ones. i still prefer the ones from Warhammer 40K though, they are basically the perfect storage and even work well for travel. But the last wider boxes are really annoying, who thought it's a good idea that the flap goes at the sides and front over the box? I had even one that was already damaged right out of the box. This flap at least goes right into the box.
I would still prefer it though if the precon deck boxes would all be like the Warhammer 40K ones personally but this is an improvement.
I bought the faerie one just because it looked fun. Not sure if it's value but I hope to enjoy it.
I preordered the blue black faerie deck because I used to have a deck of the Lorwyn block back in day that was the same idea!
Im going to use Alela as the commander as her theme seems more tricky/fun to play.
Damn! 😳 The Fae Domimion deck I bought at my local shop on night one of prerelease for $39.95.