Planeswalker decks are a natural evolution of the strategy ''we need to make the players relate to the planeswalkers / make planeswalkers the coolest (not mechanically strongest) cards of the set" , hence the sets were utter crap. If WotC ever decides to focus away from PW or phase them out for some time (that will never happen), prepare for disappointment.
So we're going "back" to printing decks that someone can walk in and buy to play at FNM that night... Does it come with a primer on how to play the deck? On how to play it against other decks in the meta? Because no matter how good your pile of cards might be, it's just a pile of cards if you don't know what to do with it. Every time someone asks where they should start, I tell them to start online, pick a deck that you like, and then learn about it and how it plays. This idea of a new player buying it at 6 and playing it competitively at 630 is about as good as dropping a soldier into a warzone without basic training.
And I know it's already been covered, but... either it's NOT going to be competitive because they won't print them with the $$$ cards included (which are usually a key component to the deck being competitive) or they aren't going to be sold for MSRP (see also, From The Vaults series). Alternatively they could print them with the $$ cards in such quantity that stores sell for MSRP... and they tank their own sales of boosters because people can get everything they want from the Pre-con.
Nothing like spending $30 to get beat by the same deck you're playing, except yours plays "budget land" that puts you a turn behind, or lacks the big finisher that's a $30 mythic. But hey, welcome to Magic! Hopefully your experience tonight taught you something other than not to buy preconstructed decks.
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Modern! Dredge RBG
Modern! Burn (RW, RWG, RBG , RB ... what can I say, I like variety in my BBQ )
Legacy! Burn RW
EDH! Uril the Miststalker RWG
So we're going "back" to printing decks that someone can walk in and buy to play at FNM that night... Does it come with a primer on how to play the deck? On how to play it against other decks in the meta? Because no matter how good your pile of cards might be, it's just a pile of cards if you don't know what to do with it. Every time someone asks where they should start, I tell them to start online, pick a deck that you like, and then learn about it and how it plays. This idea of a new player buying it at 6 and playing it competitively at 630 is about as good as dropping a soldier into a warzone without basic training.
And I know it's already been covered, but... either it's NOT going to be competitive because they won't print them with the $$$ cards included (which are usually a key component to the deck being competitive) or they aren't going to be sold for MSRP (see also, From The Vaults series). Alternatively they could print them with the $$ cards in such quantity that stores sell for MSRP... and they tank their own sales of boosters because people can get everything they want from the Pre-con.
Nothing like spending $30 to get beat by the same deck you're playing, except yours plays "budget land" that puts you a turn behind, or lacks the big finisher that's a $30 mythic. But hey, welcome to Magic! Hopefully your experience tonight taught you something other than not to buy preconstructed decks.
As a person who bought nothing but preconstructed decks, and will buy as many MTG products as long as they are preconstructed as possible, almost all theme decks, event decks, intro packs, and duel decks have a strategy sheet telling you the strategy of the game. Ixalan Planeswalker decks don't have a decklist, they don't have a detailed strategy, and their "strategy insert" is a waste of paper.
I assume the challenger deck is meant for people who already know how to play the basic game. I can buy any preconstructed deck off the shelf, and I can figure out the deck, blind, without going online to figure out how it works.
I don't know what will be in challenger decks, but I used event decks in the past, played them straight out of the box, without an internet connection.
I will buy the challenger deck just for the sole fact that it is a preconstructed product. I put my MTG purchase priority on preconstructed product. I have so many intro packs, duel decks, and planeswalker decks that I haven't used yet.
All a new player needs is someone willing to use a lower level deck to teach them the ropes. I can easily get someone, who doesn't know how to play, play the game, because I have all these theme decks, intro packs, and planeswalker decks I lend for the new player to use. There is no harm in not going to FNM for your first game of Magic, especially when you have people going "HAHAHAHAHA, what a loser. You bought an intro pack? What a waste of money. Hahahaha"
The idea of a pile of cards and not knowing what to do with it is true, from my experience, for yugioh.
I bought 2 structure decks, tried to play them with my brother, against each other, and I scratched my head figuring out what each card did, and what the deck's strategy was, even though the deck did come with a strategy on how to play the deck. The difference was I already knew how to play MTG, while I was figuring out how to play Yugioh.
Depending on how they make the challenger decks, as long as you are a brand new player who listens to the advice of someone telling you to never ever buy planeswalker decks, and go straight to the challenger decks, you are going to lose at FNM. The challenger decks are meant for someone who at least has a basic understanding of the game, compared to me, with yugioh, who should have used a starter deck instead of a structure deck.
Does it come with a primer on how to play the deck? On how to play it against other decks in the meta?
Between the unpredictability and volatility of 'the meta' and the lead time required for manufacturing, they really can't include a printed guide to handling the meta that has any pertinent insight beyond... weeks to months before the product actually became available for sale.
Might be a good idea to include a link to a page that is maintained as a living document on how to pilot that deck against its likely adversaries in the ever-changing meta. So it could be maintained and updated in real time with info actually current and evolving as the meta does.
So what is the solution? Do you want to do what Magic did years ago (and Pokémon now) and bring back the Collector's Edition decks? I believe those decks were designed by tournament winners. Make a sort of "Championship" deck? At least those are designed by players. Those backs make them illegal for official play though. What other solutions might there be?
WotC is trying to do something to bring new players into the game, even if those reasons don't necessarily jive with the players desires.
The solution for this type of product is to ignore the secondary market for Standard and just build a competent deck (reprint as needed) and charge appropriately. Why make new players run around for a bunch of singles to build a deck when Wizards can print an almost optimal pre-constructed deck immediately? As it stands, most (rare) singles in Standard are $1-$3, so there is no value in people opening a lot of boosters.
YuGiOh, Force of Will, Pokemon TCG seem to print whatever is needed. Although it does depress the secondary market, they seem to be financially just fine.
You’re exactly right. They need to ignore the secondary market in order for these types of products to succeed. It’s improbable that they’ll ever do that but, you’re right.
This is one of the points my last sentence alludes to. WotC knows full well the value of their existing cards and likely knows the future value of, at a minimum, some of their future key cards. However, ignoring the secondary market is what WotC and Hasbro won't do. WotC won't ignore the secondary market because those **** MtG investors like Rudy have very loud voices and Hasbro won't ignore the secondary market because they're just Green Eyed Monsters.
Yeah, I know my last post sounds like I'm defending WotC. I'm not. WotC/Hasbro wants more players to turn a bigger profit. Most players, I assume, want more players because well... we want more players to compete against.
Hasbro knows that WotC prints money and you can bet there are board meetings whose main topic is trying to figure out how to get a bigger slice of that pie. In short, regardless of any releases they announce, it's not going to ignore the secondary market prices.
This makes me really sad. This is just another Standard product that is going to be boring and probably not worth the money.
If we go by when we had multiple Event Decks at one time shows us anything is that one will be worth it, to varying degrees, while the other(s) will be hot garbage. So just a few releases of these we'll probably see WotC going "we're reducing the number of them as one, or more, sat on shelves" like they did previously with Event Decks.
This makes me really sad. This is just another Standard product that is going to be boring and probably not worth the money.
If we go by when we had multiple Event Decks at one time shows us anything is that one will be worth it, to varying degrees, while the other(s) will be hot garbage. So just a few releases of these we'll probably see WotC going "we're reducing the number of them as one, or more, sat on shelves" like they did previously with Event Decks.
They could, y'know, depending on how often they release challenger decks per year, release a single challenger deck 4 times a year, instead of a set of 4 once a year. I highly doubt they are going to release a set of 4 challenger decks twice a year.
This makes me really sad. This is just another Standard product that is going to be boring and probably not worth the money.
If we go by when we had multiple Event Decks at one time shows us anything is that one will be worth it, to varying degrees, while the other(s) will be hot garbage. So just a few releases of these we'll probably see WotC going "we're reducing the number of them as one, or more, sat on shelves" like they did previously with Event Decks.
They could, y'know, depending on how often they release challenger decks per year, release a single challenger deck 4 times a year, instead of a set of 4 once a year. I highly doubt they are going to release a set of 4 challenger decks twice a year.
That is true that they could do that, but the article does say "Watch for full decklists in February!" So it does indeed look like we are getting multiples at each release.
So Wizards policy is instead of improving a product wich (was good in the past but started to get worse) is to abandone it instead of going back to when was good.... Not only abandone it but replace with something that is potentially a worser product. I don't trust wizards is going to make this product worthwhile.
I'm really going to miss Duel Deckss. I guess its betetr to get rid of them and use the reprint in *****ty and expensive master sets.
So Wizards policy is instead of improving a product wich (was good in the past but started to get worse) is to abandone it instead of going back to when was good.... Not only abandone it but replace with something that is potentially a worser product. I don't trust wizards is going to make this product worthwhile.
I'm really going to miss Duel Deckss. I guess its betetr to get rid of them and use the reprint in *****ty and expensive master sets.
By the way things are going the idea for Wizards is to abandon something, put in something far worse while saying they learned how to do it better, then in a few years bring back the first thing they abandoned and take out the 2nd worse thing, again saying that they've learned in the process. We're seeing that with Core Sets returning and now with Event Decks returning.
All that can really be done is hope they have learned and wait to see these decks, then really criticize how WotC learned or didn't learn.
I do agree that it would just be easier to improve existing products rather than removing them, but Wizards is dead set on some strange decisions.
So Wizards policy is instead of improving a product wich (was good in the past but started to get worse) is to abandone it instead of going back to when was good.... Not only abandone it but replace with something that is potentially a worser product. I don't trust wizards is going to make this product worthwhile.
I'm really going to miss Duel Deckss. I guess its betetr to get rid of them and use the reprint in *****ty and expensive master sets.
By the way things are going the idea for Wizards is to abandon something, put in something far worse while saying they learned how to do it better, then in a few years bring back the first thing they abandoned and take out the 2nd worse thing, again saying that they've learned in the process. We're seeing that with Core Sets returning and now with Event Decks returning.
All that can really be done is hope they have learned and wait to see these decks, then really criticize how WotC learned or didn't learn.
I do agree that it would just be easier to improve existing products rather than removing them, but Wizards is dead set on some strange decisions.
Pokemon has theme decks since 1999, and Yugioh has structure decks since 2005. Both these products have a few tweaks in how the decks are built, but WOTC just has the urge to discontinue the product. Pokemon tweaked their theme decks by adding an extra copy of their front face card, and another rare. In some sets, the theme decks included a booster. MTG has theme decks, then intro packs, and now planeswalker decks. WOTC could have easily made the changes to the product, and still called them theme decks.
I hope that in the set after core 2019 and beyond, if the set is not a core set, there should be 4 preconstructed decks associated with each set that isn't a core set. I don't care how they are built, just as long as there are 4 of them per set, and bring back the deck names, like Rituals of Rebirth, or Waking Nightmares.
I've mentioned this before, but do you know what WOTC will bring back? That's right, 40 card planeswalker decks for core 2019, and I assume for all core sets. I checked the product sheet, and they are supposed to cost $10.99 each, and each box contains $109.90, meaning there are 10 in a box. I don't know if it will be 5 copies of 2 kinds, or 2 copies of 5 kinds. I assume the latter, with each annual core set having Gideon, Jace, Liliana, Chandra, and Nissa planeswalker decks.
Here is how I would release the precons. For core sets, release 5 planeswalker decks, like WOTC is already planning to do. The core set planeswalker decks are meant for new players. For the 3 other sets in the year, release 2 planeswalker decks and 2 non-planeswalker deck (it could be called theme deck, intro pack, or something else. I will call them theme deck for now.) These decks are meant for people who already played with the core set planeswalker decks and are trying out new set specific themes and mechanics. Theme decks will have the same 2 rares from the set, 2 copies of an exclusive rare, and an exclusive mythic rare legendary creature, or in rare cases, spell. Remember clash packs? A planeswalker deck and a theme deck can be combined to make a somewhat competitive deck. When they are designed, a planeswalker deck or theme deck is designed to pair up with a particular theme deck or planeswalker deck respectively that is already released, typically from one of the previous 3 or 4 sets, not counting core sets.
Instead of making those $15 precons useless once you have used them, do something so that the decks can become competitive if you bought 2 copies, or even combined 2 different ones. Origins clash packs had a renown theme in one deck. The other deck had bolster and outlast, so each deck individually, aside from having way more rares, could have been an intro pack. Basically saying, each single set associated precon should be designed like one half of a clash pack, to be paired with a precon from a different set.
You know what, I would just discontinue planeswalker decks, as the planeswalker and associated cards get in the way of the themes and mechanics of the set, and just release 4 one half of a clash pack decks in each set, designed to combine with one of the 4 half of a clash pack decks in another set. Leave planeswalker decks for the core sets.
Wizards picks the top 4, 3 to 4 months before release. Prints them as shown, no changes (except maybe a set symbol). Charge $69.95 MSRP for each with 75 sleeves thrown in and a deck box. Hasbo/WotC makes coin.
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Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
Wizards picks the top 4, 3 to 4 months before release. Prints them as shown, no changes (except maybe a set symbol). Charge $69.95 MSRP for each with 75 sleeves thrown in and a deck box. Hasbo/WotC makes coin.
Here is the likely scenario if they did your idea. Guy walks into store. Guy asks, "do you have precon decks that make me competitive at FNM"? Clerk says "yes we do. We have these decks." Guy says, "I'll buy it." Clerk says, "total is 79.04 after tax". Guy says, "Aw hell no", and leaves.
If the deck costs $29.99, with a 13% tax, the deck would cost $33.88. In this scenario, there will be way less people saying "Aw hell no" to the clerk. You definitely not attracting people playing standard if you make them pay $70 for a precon. It just won't work. Between spending $70 and losing a few more games? I'd take the latter.
The event decks weren't really that bad. I bought one as is, sleeved it up, and won a couple local fnm tournaments. I can't say the same would be true for a new player, but but skill is a factor. Now, I didn't just buy one at random. I bought one I thought would be good against what I expected to see, but the decks had good cards and could win games against good player's.
I really don't know where wizards is going with this venture, but at this point I've consigned secondary products to a pile of "no one cares about you so it doesn't matter" kind of spot. The best case scenario I can see is a pair of players picking up the decks and playing each other on days that draft or some other walk in event doesn't fire.
Here is the scenario: FNM is a scheduled event with a scheduled start time. For a challenger deck to enable a player to play at FNM, the player in question has to meet a few criteria:
1) They walked in just around the start of the FNM run.
2) They actually are interested in participating in FNM.
3) They are willing to accept using a handicapped deck vs whatever the current meta is at the locale.
4) They have 30 usd + 5 usd for the entrance fee.
I just don't see the stars aligning here. If someone plans to go to FNM, they likely will just look up a decklist and do an online order because the deck is proven to be successful on some level. These Challenger decks are going to be out of date, cut down versions of possibly proven deck lists that existed in the past, or completely new decks that wizards internally tested to see if they could compete.
What wizards is trying to fight is the feeling players who haven't played for ages or are new fear: Stepping into a game and having a bad experience. That usually encompasses constantly losing every game they play badly, dealing with players that are only concerned with winning, and just a lack of any kind of civility. This is part of the plan to deal with that issue along with dealing with the youtube melodrama.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Wizards picks the top 4, 3 to 4 months before release. Prints them as shown, no changes (except maybe a set symbol). Charge $69.95 MSRP for each with 75 sleeves thrown in and a deck box. Hasbo/WotC makes coin.
Here is the likely scenario if they did your idea. Guy walks into store. Guy asks, "do you have precon decks that make me competitive at FNM"? Clerk says "yes we do. We have these decks." Guy says, "I'll buy it." Clerk says, "total is 79.04 after tax". Guy says, "Aw hell no", and leaves.
If the deck costs $29.99, with a 13% tax, the deck would cost $33.88. In this scenario, there will be way less people saying "Aw hell no" to the clerk. You definitely not attracting people playing standard if you make them pay $70 for a precon. It just won't work. Between spending $70 and losing a few more games? I'd take the latter.
Lets see. Spend $30 bucks plus tax and have no chance in Hell to win anything other than a kitchen table game and park it on the shelf. Or spend 70 bucks plus tax and have a fighting chance to actually do something in a FNM or tournament, then use it again and again to possibly win something the next few months.
If you are talking realistic scenarios, its probably more a buyer walks in and asks, "Do you have the tournament ready pre con decks?" Owner says, "sure do, MSRP is $69.95 but due to demand we are charging $99.95 for them." As many a LGS would probably crack them open to sell singles and profit. They would pay 50 bucks or less for each and try to flip the singles for the 100 to 200 bucks on the secondary market.
End result. Expect more of the same. Decks full of trash with one or two value rares and another $30 event deck that collects dust on the shelf.
Lastly, where in Hades do you live that you are paying 13% sales tax on a product? Jeesh I thought my Socialist State has a high enough sales tax of around 9% (Federal/State/Local). Let me know so I know never to buy anything there.
Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
Imagine they made a clash pack based on 2 theme decks and/or intro packs.
One might be Sunburst from Fifth Dawn and Elemental's Path from Lorwyn. Another might be Golgari Deathcreep from Ravnica: City of Guilds and Golgari Growth from Return to Ravnica.
Each side would be improved from the original, with more rares, as well as being able to combine with each other.
Nothing gets people back more than theme deck nostalgia. What's worse is missing out on old themes and mechanics. I missed out on some theme decks and intro packs, and if they released and upgraded form of an old theme deck, or make 2 of them combinable, I would buy that product.
Despite them being from modern sets, sell them for $25.
Imagine they made a clash pack based on 2 theme decks and/or intro packs.
One might be Sunburst from Fifth Dawn and Elemental's Path from Lorwyn. Another might be Golgari Deathcreep from Ravnica: City of Guilds and Golgari Growth from Return to Ravnica.
Each side would be improved from the original, with more rares, as well as being able to combine with each other.
Nothing gets people back more than theme deck nostalgia. What's worse is missing out on old themes and mechanics. I missed out on some theme decks and intro packs, and if they released and upgraded form of an old theme deck, or make 2 of them combinable, I would buy that product.
Despite them being from modern sets, sell them for $25.
I'd be fine with that product, and would buy it myself, but that isn't what this upcoming product is. The upcoming product is a Standard format only deck(s). Hasbro/Wizards isn't going to cater to the Modern/Legacy buyer outside of Masters sets. They want people buying and playing Standard. Then buying and playing more Standard when the cards rotate out, Ad Nauseam. That makes them the most money. They work on some fallacy that if they make an inferior Event deck, players are going to go out and buy more packs to flesh them out, hence getting them more money. It doesn't work like that, players go to the secondary market and buy the cards they need to compete. Wizards would find they would make more money themselves if they offered something along the lines I'm suggesting above. It cuts out the secondary market (or attempts to) and players get their cards directly. At least in theory. As I stated if the value was far above the MSRP, LGS will be cracking these to sell secondary, defeating the purpose. The goal would be to present value and price the MSRP high enough to discourage "flipping" but low enough to entice players. Just a thought.
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
Imagine they made a clash pack based on 2 theme decks and/or intro packs.
One might be Sunburst from Fifth Dawn and Elemental's Path from Lorwyn. Another might be Golgari Deathcreep from Ravnica: City of Guilds and Golgari Growth from Return to Ravnica.
Each side would be improved from the original, with more rares, as well as being able to combine with each other.
Nothing gets people back more than theme deck nostalgia. What's worse is missing out on old themes and mechanics. I missed out on some theme decks and intro packs, and if they released and upgraded form of an old theme deck, or make 2 of them combinable, I would buy that product.
Despite them being from modern sets, sell them for $25.
I'd be fine with that product, and would buy it myself, but that isn't what this upcoming product is. The upcoming product is a Standard format only deck(s). Hasbro/Wizards isn't going to cater to the Modern/Legacy buyer outside of Masters sets. They want people buying and playing Standard. Then buying and playing more Standard when the cards rotate out, Ad Nauseam. That makes them the most money. They work on some fallacy that if they make an inferior Event deck, players are going to go out and buy more packs to flesh them out, hence getting them more money. It doesn't work like that, players go to the secondary market and buy the cards they need to compete. Wizards would find they would make more money themselves if they offered something along the lines I'm suggesting above. It cuts out the secondary market (or attempts to) and players get their cards directly. At least in theory. As I stated if the value was far above the MSRP, LGS will be cracking these to sell secondary, defeating the purpose. The goal would be to present value and price the MSRP high enough to discourage "flipping" but low enough to entice players. Just a thought.
That's the catch 22. Either they suck, and people trying to get into standard won't win, or they are too good, stores jack up the price, and people getting into standard are priced out of the deck. So long as there are people paying $100+ for a deck, they are always going to win. Where I live, it is 5% federal + 8% provincial totaling to 13%.
More people will buy $30 crappy deck over $70 good deck. Once they make that purchase, WOTC already got the money. If a player who wants to get into standard doesn't know any better, they will buy the $30 deck regardless, especially when the deck says "Look at me, I am a competitive standard deck." A high price tag will always be a turn off to players new to standard, no matter how good the deck is. WOTC also doesn't want to entice people to buy decks and win. They want players to build decks and win. At least that is what I personally want new players to do. A $70 deck only works for people who are Magic all day, all the time, all money goes into MTG. Some players would rather lose every game than to be down $40.
Let's put it this way. People aren't playing standard, at least for me personally, because they do not want to pour a ton of cash just to play the format. Making a $70 deck just doesn't work. They only work for people who already are huge super fans of the game. Someone just dipping their toes into standard isn't going to shell out $70 for a deck.
Let's look at video games with paid advantages. What is the likelihood that someone will pay real money to get an advantage in a game? Not a lot. Just the diehards.
For $30, if the deck can go .250, then it is already good enough for me. To make it 1.000, players have to put the effort and build their own decks, and if standard is basically, "build this or lose", then there is no way I am touching that format, and there are probably some others who feel the same. I'd rather just buy a ton of $15 precons and play them against each other. That is my own personal idea of fun. Some people like to spend a ton of money, while some people want to spend little money to play the same game. Some people wants to play against many people using the same deck. Some people wants to play the same person using different decks. Now if only each set contained 4 preconstructed decks, instead of 2, and each precon cost $10 without boosters...
A store could do what recreation sports leagues do. Divisions. If you are too good, you go up a division. If you are bad, you move down a division. Instead of getting a prospective standard player be killed by the super competitive player who spends too much on MTG, they can play against other prospective standard players, and improve over time.
The 2 hour of devastation themes for the planeswalker decks are : um, uh, I don't know. Aether Revolt, and Amonkhet also have generic strategies as well. None of the most recent planeswalker decks, aside from Kaladesh, has anything to do with the themes and mechanics of the set, and even if they did, I don't even notice them when sifting through the cards in the deck. The problem with the planeswalker deck is that the planeswalker takes the focus of the theme away from the deck.
Ajani's deck is built around +1/+1 counters, which ties in to the Fabricate mechanic from KLD as well as some of the Revolt cards in AER. Tezzeret's deck is built around Improvise.
In Amonkhet, Gideon's deck is themed around Exert, while Liliana's deck is themed around -1/-1 counters.
In HOD, Nissa's deck is themed around land and untapping permanents. Bolas's deck rather fittingly featured the Eternals and the Afflict mechanic.
Honestly, the PW Decks after KLD have done a better job tying in with their mechanical themes; Chandra and Nissa's KLD decks interacted little with the PWs themselves. If they wanted more interaction, they could have had stuff like Chandra granting haste to a creature (Vehicle turbo boost!) or Nissa using a proliferate-esque mechanic to play well with Energy.
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
The 2 hour of devastation themes for the planeswalker decks are : um, uh, I don't know. Aether Revolt, and Amonkhet also have generic strategies as well. None of the most recent planeswalker decks, aside from Kaladesh, has anything to do with the themes and mechanics of the set, and even if they did, I don't even notice them when sifting through the cards in the deck. The problem with the planeswalker deck is that the planeswalker takes the focus of the theme away from the deck.
Ajani's deck is built around +1/+1 counters. which ties in to the Fabricate mechanic from KLD as well as some of the Revolt cards in AER. Tezzeret's deck is built around Improvise.
In Amonkhet, Gideon's deck is themed around Exert, while Liliana's deck is themed around -1/-1 counters.
In HOD, Nissa's deck is themed around land and untapping permanents. Bolas's deck rather fittingly featured the Eternals and the Afflict mechanic.
Honestly, the PW Decks after KLD have done a better job tying in with their mechanical themes; Chandra and Nissa's KLD decks interacted little with the PWs themselves. If they wanted more interaction, they could have had stuff like Chandra granting haste to a creature (Vehicle turbo boost!) or Nissa using a proliferate-esque mechanic to play well with Energy.
Can we be certain that set design changed so that there are less mechanics per set?
In Return to Ravnica, each intro pack is centered around each of the guild mechanics.
Khans of tarkir intro packs are centered around each of the clan mechanics.
Scars of Mirrodin has Myr tribal, Metalcraft, Proliferate, Artifact destruction, and Infect.
Kalaedesh doesn't have a Planeswalker deck centered around Fabricate. Chandra has Crew, Nissa has Energy.
Ajani has Revolt, Tezzeret has Improvise.
Gideon has Exert, Liliana has -1/-1 counters. No deck centered around Embalm.
Nissa doesn't have a set specific theme, other than 3 Aftermath cards, Nicol Bolas has Afflict. No Planeswalker deck centered around Eternalize.
Jace has +1/+1 Merfolk tribal. Huatli has Dinosaur tribal without the Enrage mechanic.
Maybe we can have an Enrage and/or Explore centric Challenger deck, although they should have been the themes for the Ixalan Planeswalker decks. You could say we could visit those mechanical themes in the Rivals of Ixalan Planeswalker decks, it just means that a mechanic from Rivals of Ixalan won't get a Planeswalker deck.
Jace's deck could have had Green Explore cards, while Huatli's deck could have had Enrage cards. That isn't the case, and it's stupid.
Here's an example of Planeswalkers getting in the way of deck construction. Vraska's deck in Rivals of Ixalan. They made Vraska mono black just so she could fit in the Vampire tribal deck, or at least I think it is going to be a Vampire tribal deck. They can't add green in it because the Vampire tribe is Black White. They didn't add any white vampires into the deck because Vraska is Black Green.
What I hate about Ixalan block planeswalker decks is color balance. We get a 2nd set with both a GU and RW deck, and the other set only has 2 colors in all of 2 decks. One is mono black, the other is black red. I still wish that each set contained 4 preconstructed decks, instead of 2.
What they should have done is included 4 precons per set, each costing $15, although I would love it if they cost $12, and include planeswalkers in the higher tier precon, which cost $30, although I would love it if it cost $25. Release one of these $25 to $30 precons 4 times a year, or 2 of these precons 2 times a year, or 4 of these precons once a year, so you will have a total of 16 $15 precons, and 4 $30 precons.
I had seen mention of the idea that these would be an awesome idea for Modern decks. Obviously the price tag on modern is much higher than the average standard deck, but they could use just the most budget dual lands and skimp on some of the most expensive cards... likely giving us some tier 2 or tier 3 modern decks.
I doubt this will happen; WotC is so focused on Standard being the bread and butter of magic. But it's a neat idea.
My guess for the first two decks in this series are RGU Temur Energy and then maybe UB Favorable Pirates. I do like the idea of picking up a Ramunap Red deck though!
Imagine they made a clash pack based on 2 theme decks and/or intro packs.
One might be Sunburst from Fifth Dawn and Elemental's Path from Lorwyn. Another might be Golgari Deathcreep from Ravnica: City of Guilds and Golgari Growth from Return to Ravnica.
Each side would be improved from the original, with more rares, as well as being able to combine with each other.
Nothing gets people back more than theme deck nostalgia. What's worse is missing out on old themes and mechanics. I missed out on some theme decks and intro packs, and if they released and upgraded form of an old theme deck, or make 2 of them combinable, I would buy that product.
Despite them being from modern sets, sell them for $25.
I'd be fine with that product, and would buy it myself, but that isn't what this upcoming product is. The upcoming product is a Standard format only deck(s). Hasbro/Wizards isn't going to cater to the Modern/Legacy buyer outside of Masters sets. They want people buying and playing Standard. Then buying and playing more Standard when the cards rotate out, Ad Nauseam. That makes them the most money. They work on some fallacy that if they make an inferior Event deck, players are going to go out and buy more packs to flesh them out, hence getting them more money. It doesn't work like that, players go to the secondary market and buy the cards they need to compete. Wizards would find they would make more money themselves if they offered something along the lines I'm suggesting above. It cuts out the secondary market (or attempts to) and players get their cards directly. At least in theory. As I stated if the value was far above the MSRP, LGS will be cracking these to sell secondary, defeating the purpose. The goal would be to present value and price the MSRP high enough to discourage "flipping" but low enough to entice players. Just a thought.
That's the catch 22. Either they suck, and people trying to get into standard won't win, or they are too good, stores jack up the price, and people getting into standard are priced out of the deck. So long as there are people paying $100+ for a deck, they are always going to win. Where I live, it is 5% federal + 8% provincial totaling to 13%.
More people will buy $30 crappy deck over $70 good deck. Once they make that purchase, WOTC already got the money. If a player who wants to get into standard doesn't know any better, they will buy the $30 deck regardless, especially when the deck says "Look at me, I am a competitive standard deck." A high price tag will always be a turn off to players new to standard, no matter how good the deck is. WOTC also doesn't want to entice people to buy decks and win. They want players to build decks and win. At least that is what I personally want new players to do. A $70 deck only works for people who are Magic all day, all the time, all money goes into MTG. Some players would rather lose every game than to be down $40.
Let's put it this way. People aren't playing standard, at least for me personally, because they do not want to pour a ton of cash just to play the format. Making a $70 deck just doesn't work. They only work for people who already are huge super fans of the game. Someone just dipping their toes into standard isn't going to shell out $70 for a deck.
Let's look at video games with paid advantages. What is the likelihood that someone will pay real money to get an advantage in a game? Not a lot. Just the diehards.
For $30, if the deck can go .250, then it is already good enough for me. To make it 1.000, players have to put the effort and build their own decks, and if standard is basically, "build this or lose", then there is no way I am touching that format, and there are probably some others who feel the same. I'd rather just buy a ton of $15 precons and play them against each other. That is my own personal idea of fun. Some people like to spend a ton of money, while some people want to spend little money to play the same game. Some people wants to play against many people using the same deck. Some people wants to play the same person using different decks. Now if only each set contained 4 preconstructed decks, instead of 2, and each precon cost $10 without boosters...
A store could do what recreation sports leagues do. Divisions. If you are too good, you go up a division. If you are bad, you move down a division. Instead of getting a prospective standard player be killed by the super competitive player who spends too much on MTG, they can play against other prospective standard players, and improve over time.
We are just going to have to agree to disagree and move on. WotC will never lure a Modern/Legacy Spike into Standard with 30 buck trash decks. They would just assemble a competitive deck themselves. If their strategy is to fool newbie rubes into thinking they can compete with a butter-knife at a gun fight, then so be it. I won't be a part of it. Best wishes and good luck.
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Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
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Marath, Will of the Wild
Friendly Kess Twin Combo
Tatyova - Sir Bounce A Lot
Gonti's Luxury Pie
Prime (Eldrazi) Speaker Zegana (Retired)
So we're going "back" to printing decks that someone can walk in and buy to play at FNM that night... Does it come with a primer on how to play the deck? On how to play it against other decks in the meta? Because no matter how good your pile of cards might be, it's just a pile of cards if you don't know what to do with it. Every time someone asks where they should start, I tell them to start online, pick a deck that you like, and then learn about it and how it plays. This idea of a new player buying it at 6 and playing it competitively at 630 is about as good as dropping a soldier into a warzone without basic training.
And I know it's already been covered, but... either it's NOT going to be competitive because they won't print them with the $$$ cards included (which are usually a key component to the deck being competitive) or they aren't going to be sold for MSRP (see also, From The Vaults series). Alternatively they could print them with the $$ cards in such quantity that stores sell for MSRP... and they tank their own sales of boosters because people can get everything they want from the Pre-con.
Nothing like spending $30 to get beat by the same deck you're playing, except yours plays "budget land" that puts you a turn behind, or lacks the big finisher that's a $30 mythic. But hey, welcome to Magic! Hopefully your experience tonight taught you something other than not to buy preconstructed decks.
Modern! Burn (RW, RWG, RBG , RB ... what can I say, I like variety in my BBQ )
Legacy! Burn RW
EDH! Uril the Miststalker RWG
As a person who bought nothing but preconstructed decks, and will buy as many MTG products as long as they are preconstructed as possible, almost all theme decks, event decks, intro packs, and duel decks have a strategy sheet telling you the strategy of the game. Ixalan Planeswalker decks don't have a decklist, they don't have a detailed strategy, and their "strategy insert" is a waste of paper.
I assume the challenger deck is meant for people who already know how to play the basic game. I can buy any preconstructed deck off the shelf, and I can figure out the deck, blind, without going online to figure out how it works.
I don't know what will be in challenger decks, but I used event decks in the past, played them straight out of the box, without an internet connection.
I will buy the challenger deck just for the sole fact that it is a preconstructed product. I put my MTG purchase priority on preconstructed product. I have so many intro packs, duel decks, and planeswalker decks that I haven't used yet.
All a new player needs is someone willing to use a lower level deck to teach them the ropes. I can easily get someone, who doesn't know how to play, play the game, because I have all these theme decks, intro packs, and planeswalker decks I lend for the new player to use. There is no harm in not going to FNM for your first game of Magic, especially when you have people going "HAHAHAHAHA, what a loser. You bought an intro pack? What a waste of money. Hahahaha"
The idea of a pile of cards and not knowing what to do with it is true, from my experience, for yugioh.
I bought 2 structure decks, tried to play them with my brother, against each other, and I scratched my head figuring out what each card did, and what the deck's strategy was, even though the deck did come with a strategy on how to play the deck. The difference was I already knew how to play MTG, while I was figuring out how to play Yugioh.
Depending on how they make the challenger decks, as long as you are a brand new player who listens to the advice of someone telling you to never ever buy planeswalker decks, and go straight to the challenger decks, you are going to lose at FNM. The challenger decks are meant for someone who at least has a basic understanding of the game, compared to me, with yugioh, who should have used a starter deck instead of a structure deck.
Between the unpredictability and volatility of 'the meta' and the lead time required for manufacturing, they really can't include a printed guide to handling the meta that has any pertinent insight beyond... weeks to months before the product actually became available for sale.
Might be a good idea to include a link to a page that is maintained as a living document on how to pilot that deck against its likely adversaries in the ever-changing meta. So it could be maintained and updated in real time with info actually current and evolving as the meta does.
This is one of the points my last sentence alludes to. WotC knows full well the value of their existing cards and likely knows the future value of, at a minimum, some of their future key cards. However, ignoring the secondary market is what WotC and Hasbro won't do. WotC won't ignore the secondary market because those **** MtG investors like Rudy have very loud voices and Hasbro won't ignore the secondary market because they're just Green Eyed Monsters.
Yeah, I know my last post sounds like I'm defending WotC. I'm not. WotC/Hasbro wants more players to turn a bigger profit. Most players, I assume, want more players because well... we want more players to compete against.
Hasbro knows that WotC prints money and you can bet there are board meetings whose main topic is trying to figure out how to get a bigger slice of that pie. In short, regardless of any releases they announce, it's not going to ignore the secondary market prices.
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
If we go by when we had multiple Event Decks at one time shows us anything is that one will be worth it, to varying degrees, while the other(s) will be hot garbage. So just a few releases of these we'll probably see WotC going "we're reducing the number of them as one, or more, sat on shelves" like they did previously with Event Decks.
They could, y'know, depending on how often they release challenger decks per year, release a single challenger deck 4 times a year, instead of a set of 4 once a year. I highly doubt they are going to release a set of 4 challenger decks twice a year.
That is true that they could do that, but the article does say "Watch for full decklists in February!" So it does indeed look like we are getting multiples at each release.
I'm really going to miss Duel Deckss. I guess its betetr to get rid of them and use the reprint in *****ty and expensive master sets.
By the way things are going the idea for Wizards is to abandon something, put in something far worse while saying they learned how to do it better, then in a few years bring back the first thing they abandoned and take out the 2nd worse thing, again saying that they've learned in the process. We're seeing that with Core Sets returning and now with Event Decks returning.
All that can really be done is hope they have learned and wait to see these decks, then really criticize how WotC learned or didn't learn.
I do agree that it would just be easier to improve existing products rather than removing them, but Wizards is dead set on some strange decisions.
Pokemon has theme decks since 1999, and Yugioh has structure decks since 2005. Both these products have a few tweaks in how the decks are built, but WOTC just has the urge to discontinue the product. Pokemon tweaked their theme decks by adding an extra copy of their front face card, and another rare. In some sets, the theme decks included a booster. MTG has theme decks, then intro packs, and now planeswalker decks. WOTC could have easily made the changes to the product, and still called them theme decks.
I hope that in the set after core 2019 and beyond, if the set is not a core set, there should be 4 preconstructed decks associated with each set that isn't a core set. I don't care how they are built, just as long as there are 4 of them per set, and bring back the deck names, like Rituals of Rebirth, or Waking Nightmares.
I've mentioned this before, but do you know what WOTC will bring back? That's right, 40 card planeswalker decks for core 2019, and I assume for all core sets. I checked the product sheet, and they are supposed to cost $10.99 each, and each box contains $109.90, meaning there are 10 in a box. I don't know if it will be 5 copies of 2 kinds, or 2 copies of 5 kinds. I assume the latter, with each annual core set having Gideon, Jace, Liliana, Chandra, and Nissa planeswalker decks.
Here is how I would release the precons. For core sets, release 5 planeswalker decks, like WOTC is already planning to do. The core set planeswalker decks are meant for new players. For the 3 other sets in the year, release 2 planeswalker decks and 2 non-planeswalker deck (it could be called theme deck, intro pack, or something else. I will call them theme deck for now.) These decks are meant for people who already played with the core set planeswalker decks and are trying out new set specific themes and mechanics. Theme decks will have the same 2 rares from the set, 2 copies of an exclusive rare, and an exclusive mythic rare legendary creature, or in rare cases, spell. Remember clash packs? A planeswalker deck and a theme deck can be combined to make a somewhat competitive deck. When they are designed, a planeswalker deck or theme deck is designed to pair up with a particular theme deck or planeswalker deck respectively that is already released, typically from one of the previous 3 or 4 sets, not counting core sets.
Instead of making those $15 precons useless once you have used them, do something so that the decks can become competitive if you bought 2 copies, or even combined 2 different ones. Origins clash packs had a renown theme in one deck. The other deck had bolster and outlast, so each deck individually, aside from having way more rares, could have been an intro pack. Basically saying, each single set associated precon should be designed like one half of a clash pack, to be paired with a precon from a different set.
You know what, I would just discontinue planeswalker decks, as the planeswalker and associated cards get in the way of the themes and mechanics of the set, and just release 4 one half of a clash pack decks in each set, designed to combine with one of the 4 half of a clash pack decks in another set. Leave planeswalker decks for the core sets.
Yea most of the time anyway
These are basicly event decks the one and only one they got correct was "battle for zendikars" event deck ultimate sacrifice. (Value wise)
Wizards picks the top 4, 3 to 4 months before release. Prints them as shown, no changes (except maybe a set symbol). Charge $69.95 MSRP for each with 75 sleeves thrown in and a deck box. Hasbo/WotC makes coin.
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
Here is the likely scenario if they did your idea. Guy walks into store. Guy asks, "do you have precon decks that make me competitive at FNM"? Clerk says "yes we do. We have these decks." Guy says, "I'll buy it." Clerk says, "total is 79.04 after tax". Guy says, "Aw hell no", and leaves.
If the deck costs $29.99, with a 13% tax, the deck would cost $33.88. In this scenario, there will be way less people saying "Aw hell no" to the clerk. You definitely not attracting people playing standard if you make them pay $70 for a precon. It just won't work. Between spending $70 and losing a few more games? I'd take the latter.
Here is the scenario: FNM is a scheduled event with a scheduled start time. For a challenger deck to enable a player to play at FNM, the player in question has to meet a few criteria:
1) They walked in just around the start of the FNM run.
2) They actually are interested in participating in FNM.
3) They are willing to accept using a handicapped deck vs whatever the current meta is at the locale.
4) They have 30 usd + 5 usd for the entrance fee.
I just don't see the stars aligning here. If someone plans to go to FNM, they likely will just look up a decklist and do an online order because the deck is proven to be successful on some level. These Challenger decks are going to be out of date, cut down versions of possibly proven deck lists that existed in the past, or completely new decks that wizards internally tested to see if they could compete.
What wizards is trying to fight is the feeling players who haven't played for ages or are new fear: Stepping into a game and having a bad experience. That usually encompasses constantly losing every game they play badly, dealing with players that are only concerned with winning, and just a lack of any kind of civility. This is part of the plan to deal with that issue along with dealing with the youtube melodrama.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Lets see. Spend $30 bucks plus tax and have no chance in Hell to win anything other than a kitchen table game and park it on the shelf. Or spend 70 bucks plus tax and have a fighting chance to actually do something in a FNM or tournament, then use it again and again to possibly win something the next few months.
If you are talking realistic scenarios, its probably more a buyer walks in and asks, "Do you have the tournament ready pre con decks?" Owner says, "sure do, MSRP is $69.95 but due to demand we are charging $99.95 for them." As many a LGS would probably crack them open to sell singles and profit. They would pay 50 bucks or less for each and try to flip the singles for the 100 to 200 bucks on the secondary market.
End result. Expect more of the same. Decks full of trash with one or two value rares and another $30 event deck that collects dust on the shelf.
Lastly, where in Hades do you live that you are paying 13% sales tax on a product? Jeesh I thought my Socialist State has a high enough sales tax of around 9% (Federal/State/Local). Let me know so I know never to buy anything there.
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
One might be Sunburst from Fifth Dawn and Elemental's Path from Lorwyn. Another might be Golgari Deathcreep from Ravnica: City of Guilds and Golgari Growth from Return to Ravnica.
Each side would be improved from the original, with more rares, as well as being able to combine with each other.
Nothing gets people back more than theme deck nostalgia. What's worse is missing out on old themes and mechanics. I missed out on some theme decks and intro packs, and if they released and upgraded form of an old theme deck, or make 2 of them combinable, I would buy that product.
Despite them being from modern sets, sell them for $25.
I'd be fine with that product, and would buy it myself, but that isn't what this upcoming product is. The upcoming product is a Standard format only deck(s). Hasbro/Wizards isn't going to cater to the Modern/Legacy buyer outside of Masters sets. They want people buying and playing Standard. Then buying and playing more Standard when the cards rotate out, Ad Nauseam. That makes them the most money. They work on some fallacy that if they make an inferior Event deck, players are going to go out and buy more packs to flesh them out, hence getting them more money. It doesn't work like that, players go to the secondary market and buy the cards they need to compete. Wizards would find they would make more money themselves if they offered something along the lines I'm suggesting above. It cuts out the secondary market (or attempts to) and players get their cards directly. At least in theory. As I stated if the value was far above the MSRP, LGS will be cracking these to sell secondary, defeating the purpose. The goal would be to present value and price the MSRP high enough to discourage "flipping" but low enough to entice players. Just a thought.
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
That's the catch 22. Either they suck, and people trying to get into standard won't win, or they are too good, stores jack up the price, and people getting into standard are priced out of the deck. So long as there are people paying $100+ for a deck, they are always going to win. Where I live, it is 5% federal + 8% provincial totaling to 13%.
More people will buy $30 crappy deck over $70 good deck. Once they make that purchase, WOTC already got the money. If a player who wants to get into standard doesn't know any better, they will buy the $30 deck regardless, especially when the deck says "Look at me, I am a competitive standard deck." A high price tag will always be a turn off to players new to standard, no matter how good the deck is. WOTC also doesn't want to entice people to buy decks and win. They want players to build decks and win. At least that is what I personally want new players to do. A $70 deck only works for people who are Magic all day, all the time, all money goes into MTG. Some players would rather lose every game than to be down $40.
Let's put it this way. People aren't playing standard, at least for me personally, because they do not want to pour a ton of cash just to play the format. Making a $70 deck just doesn't work. They only work for people who already are huge super fans of the game. Someone just dipping their toes into standard isn't going to shell out $70 for a deck.
Let's look at video games with paid advantages. What is the likelihood that someone will pay real money to get an advantage in a game? Not a lot. Just the diehards.
For $30, if the deck can go .250, then it is already good enough for me. To make it 1.000, players have to put the effort and build their own decks, and if standard is basically, "build this or lose", then there is no way I am touching that format, and there are probably some others who feel the same. I'd rather just buy a ton of $15 precons and play them against each other. That is my own personal idea of fun. Some people like to spend a ton of money, while some people want to spend little money to play the same game. Some people wants to play against many people using the same deck. Some people wants to play the same person using different decks. Now if only each set contained 4 preconstructed decks, instead of 2, and each precon cost $10 without boosters...
A store could do what recreation sports leagues do. Divisions. If you are too good, you go up a division. If you are bad, you move down a division. Instead of getting a prospective standard player be killed by the super competitive player who spends too much on MTG, they can play against other prospective standard players, and improve over time.
Ajani's deck is built around +1/+1 counters, which ties in to the Fabricate mechanic from KLD as well as some of the Revolt cards in AER. Tezzeret's deck is built around Improvise.
In Amonkhet, Gideon's deck is themed around Exert, while Liliana's deck is themed around -1/-1 counters.
In HOD, Nissa's deck is themed around land and untapping permanents. Bolas's deck rather fittingly featured the Eternals and the Afflict mechanic.
Honestly, the PW Decks after KLD have done a better job tying in with their mechanical themes; Chandra and Nissa's KLD decks interacted little with the PWs themselves. If they wanted more interaction, they could have had stuff like Chandra granting haste to a creature (Vehicle turbo boost!) or Nissa using a proliferate-esque mechanic to play well with Energy.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
Can we be certain that set design changed so that there are less mechanics per set?
In Return to Ravnica, each intro pack is centered around each of the guild mechanics.
Khans of tarkir intro packs are centered around each of the clan mechanics.
Scars of Mirrodin has Myr tribal, Metalcraft, Proliferate, Artifact destruction, and Infect.
Kalaedesh doesn't have a Planeswalker deck centered around Fabricate. Chandra has Crew, Nissa has Energy.
Ajani has Revolt, Tezzeret has Improvise.
Gideon has Exert, Liliana has -1/-1 counters. No deck centered around Embalm.
Nissa doesn't have a set specific theme, other than 3 Aftermath cards, Nicol Bolas has Afflict. No Planeswalker deck centered around Eternalize.
Jace has +1/+1 Merfolk tribal. Huatli has Dinosaur tribal without the Enrage mechanic.
Maybe we can have an Enrage and/or Explore centric Challenger deck, although they should have been the themes for the Ixalan Planeswalker decks. You could say we could visit those mechanical themes in the Rivals of Ixalan Planeswalker decks, it just means that a mechanic from Rivals of Ixalan won't get a Planeswalker deck.
Jace's deck could have had Green Explore cards, while Huatli's deck could have had Enrage cards. That isn't the case, and it's stupid.
Here's an example of Planeswalkers getting in the way of deck construction. Vraska's deck in Rivals of Ixalan. They made Vraska mono black just so she could fit in the Vampire tribal deck, or at least I think it is going to be a Vampire tribal deck. They can't add green in it because the Vampire tribe is Black White. They didn't add any white vampires into the deck because Vraska is Black Green.
What I hate about Ixalan block planeswalker decks is color balance. We get a 2nd set with both a GU and RW deck, and the other set only has 2 colors in all of 2 decks. One is mono black, the other is black red. I still wish that each set contained 4 preconstructed decks, instead of 2.
What they should have done is included 4 precons per set, each costing $15, although I would love it if they cost $12, and include planeswalkers in the higher tier precon, which cost $30, although I would love it if it cost $25. Release one of these $25 to $30 precons 4 times a year, or 2 of these precons 2 times a year, or 4 of these precons once a year, so you will have a total of 16 $15 precons, and 4 $30 precons.
I doubt this will happen; WotC is so focused on Standard being the bread and butter of magic. But it's a neat idea.
My guess for the first two decks in this series are RGU Temur Energy and then maybe UB Favorable Pirates. I do like the idea of picking up a Ramunap Red deck though!
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
We are just going to have to agree to disagree and move on. WotC will never lure a Modern/Legacy Spike into Standard with 30 buck trash decks. They would just assemble a competitive deck themselves. If their strategy is to fool newbie rubes into thinking they can compete with a butter-knife at a gun fight, then so be it. I won't be a part of it. Best wishes and good luck.
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."