EDIT: Obviously, if you consider any of the cards worthless, the deck values to you will be much lower. For those players who can use ALL or even MOST of the cards however, these intro decks continue to be a very good deal.
pricing is great and all... but its not realistic. a lot of these cards you can pick up from a bin labeled 10 for a dollar, so some website asking $1.50 for a card just because its a rare or whatever is kind of pointless.
after looking over the lists, i kind of regret preordering and probably won't bother to do that with next years round at all. this year there are barely any worthwhile reprints, no alternate arts that are really jumping out at me, and the boros and izzet decks don't do anything for me at all mechanically/thematically. honestly, its kind of starting to feel like the development team for all products, across the board, doesn't put in the effort any more because they know the product will sell.
Missed opportunity to reprint enemy fetches in an easily accessible product. They print these to demand and big retail box stores carry them as well so the speculators would have their hands full trying to get all of the decks. Then WoTC would just drop the hammer on them like they did with Mind Seize. You can still find them on LGS store shelves for MSRP and True Name is 12.50 shipped nm on tcgplayer.
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BUDGET DECK BUILDER SINCE 93'
Modern ------------------------- WU Azorius Titan Midrange
Commander ------------------- WUG Derevi, Empyrial Tactician
***Are you looking for cards priced below TCG NM "LOW" and with FREE SHIPPING? - Click HERE! for my sales thread - 485 Feedback 100% positive!***
I can't remember if a Commander (other than Arsenal) product has ever had a reprint worth over $20. Oblivion Stone, I guess? That's probably the only one.
The 2013 Commander precons had quite a few P3K cards that were well over $20 before being reprinted in those decks. Big missed opportunities to reprint some EDH staples that desperately need reprinting and are only expensive due to extremely low supply. They did good with Phyrexian Arena, Eternal Witness and High Market, but unfortunately that's about the only thing they did good with. I mean, speaking of P3K, they could have EASILY thrown a Three Visits into one of the green decks. It's a Nature's Lore that's $40 due to rarity. It's not like it would have been OP.
Seriously? Someone really thought that fetches were a possible inclusion? Lol. Wow.
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Modern GB Rock U Flooding Merfolk RUG Delver Midrange WU Monks UW Tempo Geist GW Bogle GW Liege UR Tron B Vampires
Affinity Legacy
Fish
Goblins
Burn
Reanimator
Dredge
Affinity EDH W Akroma GBW Ghave BRU Thrax GR Ruric I advocate for the elimination of the combo archetype in Modern. I believe it is degenerate and unfun by its very nature and will always limit design space and cause unnecessary bans.
Missed opportunity to reprint enemy fetches in an easily accessible product. They print these to demand and big retail box stores carry them as well so the speculators would have their hands full trying to get all of the decks. Then WoTC would just drop the hammer on them like they did with Mind Seize. You can still find them on LGS store shelves for MSRP and True Name is 12.50 shipped nm on tcgplayer.
Yeah no. That would not work in the slightest, because there's a huge difference between enemy fetches and a legacy-only card that's played in a couple of decks.
The UR and UG decks would be worth vastly more than the other three which would suck for retailers because they'd still have to order full sets to sell those ones, leading to hugely overstocked piles of the other three on all store shelves while the blue ones are selling for ~70 each minimum just to carry the value of the sets.
Missed opportunity to reprint enemy fetches in an easily accessible product. They print these to demand and big retail box stores carry them as well so the speculators would have their hands full trying to get all of the decks. Then WoTC would just drop the hammer on them like they did with Mind Seize. You can still find them on LGS store shelves for MSRP and True Name is 12.50 shipped nm on tcgplayer.
Yeah no. That would not work in the slightest, because there's a huge difference between enemy fetches and a legacy-only card that's played in a couple of decks.
The UR and UG decks would be worth vastly more than the other three which would suck for retailers because they'd still have to order full sets to sell those ones, leading to hugely overstocked piles of the other three on all store shelves while the blue ones are selling for ~70 each minimum just to carry the value of the sets.
Is that any different than what happened in the past with the 2013 and 2014 releases?
Also I doubt there would be hugely overstocked piles of the remaining three since the cheapest enemy fetch is currently at $32.00
Compare to the 2014 release where it's pretty well known the blue deck was undesirable and left to rot on shelves. Toss in a $35 fetch. Watch the shelves get cleaned.
And so people would buy the last three just on value alone. Or the reprint would drop prices making modern more accessible for new players. Either way, it helps the player base.
I like all five of them. Probably will buy all of them too. While there aren't many chase cards for players who have played for years, for people like me, who started back with the 2014 ones, these decks are excellent. There's so may decks I want to built and a surprising amount of the cards that I need are included here.
This set sucks for established players but for those that are just entering edh. Honestly the only card I want is the black white 2 drop mythic
You know what doesn't suck for people just entering? Reprints that help get them started as serious Commander players. This set gives people a few staples, but hardly anything compared to the last set.
This is true, but the established should realize that they are established and start picking up better stuff on secondary market.
I traded for my sol rings, command tower, and lightning greaves and other staples for EDH like City/Mana Confluence. Probably could have just picked one up, and I thought about it, but most of them were just, MEH.
Going W/B and considering U/R for some of the singles I need for other decks.
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Wanted -Zombie Foils and older expensive Zombie stuff. High Priority- Beta Z Master/ Int. Collector's Edition.
These look great. Some nice surprise reprints (High Market, Black Market, Preordain, Dragon Mage), some filler stuff, some playable stuff. I'm a bit iffed that U/G didn't have any infect or contagion engine, but, what can you do? The only ones I think will be less potent than the others are WB and RW; WB due to the oddness of its main strategy (enchantments and tokens!?? [trying to go wide twice-over]), RW due to the problematic big stuff interaction in a colour pair that's just not used to ramping quickly. Maybe another Tithe effect or two would help. But, I'm content with what we got.
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A giant dork. Who likes to eat with forks. Never used a spork.
Decks: Casual R Burn R
EDH R Godo Voltron R RUG ETB Overload RUG BW Clerics Pain and Drain BW GW Spirits!!! GW RUG Landfall Silliness RUG
A couple of decent reprints. This will be the first time I'm passing on the pre-cons. I'll order the several singles I want for way less than the set value.
This is true, but the established should realize that they are established and start picking up better stuff on secondary market.
I traded for my sol rings, command tower, and lightning greaves and other staples for EDH like City/Mana Confluence. Probably could have just picked one up, and I thought about it, but most of them were just, MEH.
Going W/B and considering U/R for some of the singles I need for other decks.
Sure, but why not add as much as they had last year? Last year's decks should be the benchmark for what these should be because they were fun to play out of the box, full of good cards that people still use, and despite this quality, they can still be found at Target for $30 and online for less. They flooded the market with good ***** - exactly what they should be doing with their casual release.
Yeah for the $150-175 you spend on a set you can probably buy every worthwhile single you're looking for and then have some leftover.
SCG is asking me $160 for the top 50 cards and blue Confluence, Karlov and Meren are already out of stock.
Yes, I could get them for 70% of what SCG has them at if I hunt 4 other online stores for best prices and pay 4 shipments, but still. For at least a couple months while these get opened and start filling binders, buying the deck itself is the most time and cost-efficient way to get the singles you want.
Missed opportunity to reprint enemy fetches in an easily accessible product. They print these to demand and big retail box stores carry them as well so the speculators would have their hands full trying to get all of the decks. Then WoTC would just drop the hammer on them like they did with Mind Seize. You can still find them on LGS store shelves for MSRP and True Name is 12.50 shipped nm on tcgplayer.
These decks are also not sold internationaly at mass-market retailers. You don't want the international Modern and Legacy crowds to compete for your national supply of Commander product just to pick a land and throw the rest in a shoe box.
I like all 5 of the decks here...they all look fun to play.
That being said, I wont be buying any. Like has been complained about many times here...there's not much value in these decks for me. Not worth $35 to me. I also found last year's mono colored decks more interesting personally.
Then again, these decks are not targeted at someone like me. I already have a couple of decently built commander decks. These are targeted more towards those new to the game and/or format...and for those people, I think all of these decks are great and are a great value for what you get.
I also find it annoying when someone says something like "Why'd they reprint "blah blah blah" when they could've reprinted "blah blah" instead!?"...because how much do you want to bet that if they did reprint the cards they wish would've been reprinted, they'd still have found a reason to complain about how they should've reprinted even different cards instead. >.<'
I also find it annoying when someone says something like "Why'd they reprint "blah blah blah" when they could've reprinted "blah blah" instead!?"...because how much do you want to bet that if they did reprint the cards they wish would've been reprinted, they'd still have found a reason to complain about how they should've reprinted even different cards instead. >.<'
I really am only interested in Golgari and Izzet right now. Sure they all look to have merits but I see no reason to get all 5. I my also grab Simic but that is just because I am a simic player at heart. I have never been a fan of Orzhov without Blue being added to make it Esper. and Boros, well i liked my Boros mass attack phase deck.
Maybe i will get 4 of them... but the ones i wish to grab first are Golgari and Izzet.
Also anyone besides me misread Experience counters at first not realizing YOU get the counters.
The Blue Green one has enough value for me that I will be getting it. I like the post-modern borders on the cards that I already have and this is a simple gift for my in-laws to get me rather than asking them to get singles for me online (they don't want to give money or a gift card)
I'm excited to get all 5 as Christmas presents for my play group. We did this last year with the mono colored decks. We rolled dice to see who would play what deck and then winner got first pick for which deck to keep. They all look fun and balanced against each other. I've been looking at black and white enchantments to upgrade the B/W deck, it could be a fun control build.
$59.97 WB Call the Spirits
$67.12 BG Plunder the Graves
$62.64 GU Seize Control
$68.78 UR Swell the Host
$70.58 RW Wade into Battle
EDIT: Obviously, if you consider any of the cards worthless, the deck values to you will be much lower. For those players who can use ALL or even MOST of the cards however, these intro decks continue to be a very good deal.
after looking over the lists, i kind of regret preordering and probably won't bother to do that with next years round at all. this year there are barely any worthwhile reprints, no alternate arts that are really jumping out at me, and the boros and izzet decks don't do anything for me at all mechanically/thematically. honestly, its kind of starting to feel like the development team for all products, across the board, doesn't put in the effort any more because they know the product will sell.
BUDGET DECK BUILDER SINCE 93'
Modern ------------------------- WU Azorius Titan Midrange
Commander ------------------- WUG Derevi, Empyrial Tactician
***Are you looking for cards priced below TCG NM "LOW" and with FREE SHIPPING? - Click HERE! for my sales thread - 485 Feedback 100% positive!***
The 2013 Commander precons had quite a few P3K cards that were well over $20 before being reprinted in those decks. Big missed opportunities to reprint some EDH staples that desperately need reprinting and are only expensive due to extremely low supply. They did good with Phyrexian Arena, Eternal Witness and High Market, but unfortunately that's about the only thing they did good with. I mean, speaking of P3K, they could have EASILY thrown a Three Visits into one of the green decks. It's a Nature's Lore that's $40 due to rarity. It's not like it would have been OP.
Trades
Pucatrade with me!
(Signature courtesy of Argetlam of Hakai Studios
GB Rock
U Flooding Merfolk
RUG Delver Midrange
WU Monks
UW Tempo Geist
GW Bogle
GW Liege
UR Tron
B Vampires
Affinity
Legacy
Fish
Goblins
Burn
Reanimator
Dredge
Affinity
EDH
W Akroma
GBW Ghave
BRU Thrax
GR Ruric
I advocate for the elimination of the combo archetype in Modern. I believe it is degenerate and unfun by its very nature and will always limit design space and cause unnecessary bans.
Yeah no. That would not work in the slightest, because there's a huge difference between enemy fetches and a legacy-only card that's played in a couple of decks.
The UR and UG decks would be worth vastly more than the other three which would suck for retailers because they'd still have to order full sets to sell those ones, leading to hugely overstocked piles of the other three on all store shelves while the blue ones are selling for ~70 each minimum just to carry the value of the sets.
Is that any different than what happened in the past with the 2013 and 2014 releases?
Also I doubt there would be hugely overstocked piles of the remaining three since the cheapest enemy fetch is currently at $32.00
Compare to the 2014 release where it's pretty well known the blue deck was undesirable and left to rot on shelves. Toss in a $35 fetch. Watch the shelves get cleaned.
And so people would buy the last three just on value alone. Or the reprint would drop prices making modern more accessible for new players. Either way, it helps the player base.
BUDGET DECK BUILDER SINCE 93'
Modern ------------------------- WU Azorius Titan Midrange
Commander ------------------- WUG Derevi, Empyrial Tactician
***Are you looking for cards priced below TCG NM "LOW" and with FREE SHIPPING? - Click HERE! for my sales thread - 485 Feedback 100% positive!***
UBarrin, Master WizardU
USticher GeralfU
UIxidor, Reality SculptorU
UWNoyan Dar, Roil ShaperUW
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
Getting new players into the game.
What is it that Wizards is not so good at?
Retention and reprinting cards that would help such to continue playing.
EDH DECKS
Currently under construction
MAGECRAFT STORM
-Veyran, Voice of Duality-
Protection from Degeneracy
Do not pray for an easy life. Pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.
I traded for my sol rings, command tower, and lightning greaves and other staples for EDH like City/Mana Confluence. Probably could have just picked one up, and I thought about it, but most of them were just, MEH.
Going W/B and considering U/R for some of the singles I need for other decks.
Selling some cards I don't want.
Generally less than tcg mid.
Decks:
Casual
R Burn R
EDH
R Godo Voltron R
RUG ETB Overload RUG
BW Clerics Pain and Drain BW
GW Spirits!!! GW
RUG Landfall Silliness RUG
Sure, but why not add as much as they had last year? Last year's decks should be the benchmark for what these should be because they were fun to play out of the box, full of good cards that people still use, and despite this quality, they can still be found at Target for $30 and online for less. They flooded the market with good ***** - exactly what they should be doing with their casual release.
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
Selling some cards I don't want.
Generally less than tcg mid.
SCG is asking me $160 for the top 50 cards and blue Confluence, Karlov and Meren are already out of stock.
Yes, I could get them for 70% of what SCG has them at if I hunt 4 other online stores for best prices and pay 4 shipments, but still. For at least a couple months while these get opened and start filling binders, buying the deck itself is the most time and cost-efficient way to get the singles you want.
These decks are also not sold internationaly at mass-market retailers. You don't want the international Modern and Legacy crowds to compete for your national supply of Commander product just to pick a land and throw the rest in a shoe box.
That being said, I wont be buying any. Like has been complained about many times here...there's not much value in these decks for me. Not worth $35 to me. I also found last year's mono colored decks more interesting personally.
Then again, these decks are not targeted at someone like me. I already have a couple of decently built commander decks. These are targeted more towards those new to the game and/or format...and for those people, I think all of these decks are great and are a great value for what you get.
I also find it annoying when someone says something like "Why'd they reprint "blah blah blah" when they could've reprinted "blah blah" instead!?"...because how much do you want to bet that if they did reprint the cards they wish would've been reprinted, they'd still have found a reason to complain about how they should've reprinted even different cards instead. >.<'
Bane of Progress
Maybe i will get 4 of them... but the ones i wish to grab first are Golgari and Izzet.
Also anyone besides me misread Experience counters at first not realizing YOU get the counters.
UB Vela the Night-Clad BUDecklist
WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores GBW
WUBRGThe Ur-DragonWUBRGDecklist