Just bring back theme decks. Having more deck themes per set is way more important than a planeswalker. I'd rather have the option to buy a Dimir, Boros, or Selesnya deck along with Izzet and Golgari, more than a Ral Zarek or Vraska. There are other means of including a Planeswalker in a precon other than the set associated ones. The set associated precons should only focus on the set's themes and mechanics. The izzet deck should make use of the jump start mechanic. A dimir deck should focus on surveil.
Instead of going back to theme decks from the boring intro packs, they just slapped a planeswalker in it. Sure the deck is less boring, but the focus is on the planeswalker, not the themes and mechanics of the set.
Ral deck has 4 cards with Jump Start.
Vraska deck has 4 cards with Undergrowth.
Not to mention that there are no decks that make use of the Surveil, Mentor, and Convoke mechanic. Sure we have guild kits, but they are more expensive, and they focus on the guild as a whole in every Ravnica set, rather than the guild only in Guilds of Ravnica.
I've played with the Planeswalker decks in the free MTGO trial, and because of the Planeswalker, it made me, and probably most people, focus on the Planeswalker itself, rather than whatever the theme of the deck was. If I were to play the Ral Zarek deck, I'd try to get Ral Zarek out, and win with him, rather than make use of the Jump Start mechanic.
There was a theme deck from Time Spiral whose focus is the suspend and storm mechanic. Almost every card had suspend or storm, and you had to win by suspending the cards, in such a way that they resolve at the same time so you could use your storm spells to full effect. If that deck came out today, there would be only 2 or 3 suspend and/or storm cards and you'd try to win by using your planeswalker's ultimate. The theme decks back then were fun. The decks were not competitive, but they were fun. You had 4 decks per set, and each one played differently. Intro packs are boring, because they had to cater to the new player, but even then, the 5 decks sort of played differently. To counteract that boring of the intro pack, WOTC just slapped a Planeswalker on top. It's stupid and lazy, and to me, the 2 decks almost play the same, well the Planeswalker mechanic is exactly the same no matter what Planeswalker it is. The Planeswalker deck also had these exclusive cards that have nothing to do with the set's themes or mechanics. For the Ral deck, we have some basic common burn spell, an uncommon that does more stuff in the presence of a Ral Planeswalker, and a rare that tutors for a Ral. Why not just get rid of those and add more Jump Start cards?
Just bring back theme decks. Having more deck themes per set is way more important than a planeswalker. I'd rather have the option to buy a Dimir, Boros, or Selesnya deck along with Izzet and Golgari, more than a Ral Zarek or Vraska. There are other means of including a Planeswalker in a precon other than the set associated ones. The set associated precons should only focus on the set's themes and mechanics. The izzet deck should make use of the jump start mechanic. A dimir deck should focus on surveil.
Instead of going back to theme decks from the boring intro packs, they just slapped a planeswalker in it. Sure the deck is less boring, but the focus is on the planeswalker, not the themes and mechanics of the set.
Other card games can afford to put playsets of common or uncommon cards to make a functional deck, and so can Wizards. Wizards is just not doing it to get new players to buy booster packs to improve Wizard's revenues. Wizards would argue that they want players to learn deck building, but functional decks can be improved.
I would argue that a $20 deckbuilder's toolkit might be of better value for new players as there are some card multiples in those products.
Other card games can afford to put playsets of common or uncommon cards to make a functional deck, and so can Wizards. Wizards is just not doing it to get new players to buy booster packs to improve Wizard's revenues. Wizards would argue that they want players to learn deck building, but functional decks can be improved.
I would argue that a $20 deckbuilder's toolkit might be of better value for new players as there are some card multiples in those products.
They just want to maximize the probability of a booster pack being able to improve the deck in order to get a new player hooked onto buying packs, so they obviously go for the worst possible choices. Piston-Fist Cyclops is a card itself that none of us would really play, so it definitely can be improved further on as well, but at that point it would probably take a rarity upshift, which reduces the probability. Hence Fearless Halberdier is there so the new player opens Cyclops in the booster, sees its an improvement and goes on to buy more boosters for more Cyclops. They could put 1 Cyclops in there themselves as an example, but I guess that's WotC wanting to earn another booster's worth of money from a new player instead.
Before anyone jumps at me for "buying packs for commons", I explicitly mention "new players" and I'm aware it's a even smaller subset of that because any "new" player with RNG experience and/or brought in by a current player technically don't fall under the category. So in a more precise, but demeaning way, it's the tiny "naive new players" subset I'm actually referring to, and it's the reason why Intro Packs fell and why they added planeswalkers to have the collectors help prop up what is effectively the same system.
Step 1) Remove the booster packs. Step 2) Lower the MSRP to $9.99. Step 3) Less plastic and cardboard for exterior. Step 4) No 1-of or 4-of copies. Step 5) Use 3-of copies to subtly emphasize more desirable parts of the deck. Step 5) No non-synergestic cards (Example: Vedalken Mesmerist in Ral Zarek deck) Step 6) Instead of the current insert provide a booklet that provides: a decklist, strategy and tips, scans of suitable cards for the deck. (Example: Niv-Mizzet, Parun, Steam Vents, League Guildmage, Quasiduplicate, Risk Factor, etc) Step 7) Barcode in the booklet to be scanned so the cards can be sent digitally to this player's MTG Arena account while briefly advertising MTG Arena in order to provide an incentive to play both paper and digital magic. Step 8) Provide five decks instead of two. (Example: Guilds of Ravnica has five planeswalker decks focused on the five guilds) Step 9) Provide a fun and thematic name for each of the five decks instead of just the planeswalker's name.
I like the ideas. Unfortunately here is how this translates in WotC-ese.
1. Drop the boosters
2. Still charge $11.99 for them
3. Bump the basic land up to 30 a pack instead of 26.
4. Put 2 ofs of all the chaff available.
5. Jet off to Barbados and spend money at the resort like there is no tomorrow.
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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."
Has anybody bought one of these yet? If so, what basic lands came included inside? I try including a single basic of each type from each set in my Cube, and I was curious.
Has anybody bought one of these yet? If so, what basic lands came included inside? I try including a single basic of each type from each set in my Cube, and I was curious.
The lands are the Richard Wright art lands, card numbers 260-264.
Got the Vraska deck and a Golgari theme pack. Got 2 Vigorspore Wurms that might work nice with Vraska, assuming the game lasts long enough. My rares were 2 Hatchery Spiders and an Omnispell Adept. Want to make this at least fun for home games...already removed about a dozen of the less useful cards.
I have both of them and also with theme pack. I'd say especially theme pack is the ideal way to improve the Planeswalker deck (in my Izzet pack I even got two rares: Ionize and Niv-Mizzet, Parun).
And there also is a redeem code that could bring the planeswalker deck into Magic Arena.
I think wizards should hire some heartstone players to play in a tournament where they all use planeswalker decks vs mtg pros who use their normal decks.
I think wizards should hire some heartstone players to play in a tournament where they all use planeswalker decks vs mtg pros who use their normal decks.
That would be a glorious train wreck to witness.
Wouldn't it be more interesting the other way around?
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Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
they'll make these progressively worse, then discontinue them claiming people weren't buying them
And then 6 months later bring back a worse version of Duel Decks, using what was the Planeswalker decks (Guilds of Ravnica Planeswalker Showdown Pack: Ral vs Vraska). Remove the boosters, add 2 spindown dice, charge $24.99
I'd like to see 3 things with those redeemable codes.
1. No expiry date.
2. A game mode where only the starting 5 decks and Planeswalker decks are legal.
3. Any redeemed planeswalker deck is locked in, and cannot be edited or deleted unless you make a copy and edit it that way.
I would like to see a game mode where only pre-constructed decks are legal. When new decks are released, they can also been queued against players using pre-con decks in the back log. No rotation. Maybe split it into a 60-card pre-con format and a 100-card pre-con commander format.
Instead of going back to theme decks from the boring intro packs, they just slapped a planeswalker in it. Sure the deck is less boring, but the focus is on the planeswalker, not the themes and mechanics of the set.
Ral deck has 4 cards with Jump Start.
Vraska deck has 4 cards with Undergrowth.
Not to mention that there are no decks that make use of the Surveil, Mentor, and Convoke mechanic. Sure we have guild kits, but they are more expensive, and they focus on the guild as a whole in every Ravnica set, rather than the guild only in Guilds of Ravnica.
I've played with the Planeswalker decks in the free MTGO trial, and because of the Planeswalker, it made me, and probably most people, focus on the Planeswalker itself, rather than whatever the theme of the deck was. If I were to play the Ral Zarek deck, I'd try to get Ral Zarek out, and win with him, rather than make use of the Jump Start mechanic.
There was a theme deck from Time Spiral whose focus is the suspend and storm mechanic. Almost every card had suspend or storm, and you had to win by suspending the cards, in such a way that they resolve at the same time so you could use your storm spells to full effect. If that deck came out today, there would be only 2 or 3 suspend and/or storm cards and you'd try to win by using your planeswalker's ultimate. The theme decks back then were fun. The decks were not competitive, but they were fun. You had 4 decks per set, and each one played differently. Intro packs are boring, because they had to cater to the new player, but even then, the 5 decks sort of played differently. To counteract that boring of the intro pack, WOTC just slapped a Planeswalker on top. It's stupid and lazy, and to me, the 2 decks almost play the same, well the Planeswalker mechanic is exactly the same no matter what Planeswalker it is. The Planeswalker deck also had these exclusive cards that have nothing to do with the set's themes or mechanics. For the Ral deck, we have some basic common burn spell, an uncommon that does more stuff in the presence of a Ral Planeswalker, and a rare that tutors for a Ral. Why not just get rid of those and add more Jump Start cards?
I would argue that a $20 deckbuilder's toolkit might be of better value for new players as there are some card multiples in those products.
They just want to maximize the probability of a booster pack being able to improve the deck in order to get a new player hooked onto buying packs, so they obviously go for the worst possible choices. Piston-Fist Cyclops is a card itself that none of us would really play, so it definitely can be improved further on as well, but at that point it would probably take a rarity upshift, which reduces the probability. Hence Fearless Halberdier is there so the new player opens Cyclops in the booster, sees its an improvement and goes on to buy more boosters for more Cyclops. They could put 1 Cyclops in there themselves as an example, but I guess that's WotC wanting to earn another booster's worth of money from a new player instead.
Before anyone jumps at me for "buying packs for commons", I explicitly mention "new players" and I'm aware it's a even smaller subset of that because any "new" player with RNG experience and/or brought in by a current player technically don't fall under the category. So in a more precise, but demeaning way, it's the tiny "naive new players" subset I'm actually referring to, and it's the reason why Intro Packs fell and why they added planeswalkers to have the collectors help prop up what is effectively the same system.
(W/U)(B/R)GForm of Progenitus, Shape of a Scrubland
BRGJund Tokens with Prossh, the Magic Dragon Foil
URGAnimar, the RUG CleanerFoil
RRRFeldon of the Third Path 2.0 Foil
BG(B/G)Not Another Meren DeckFoil
UR(U/R)Mizzix, Y Control and X Burn Spells
(W/U)(B/R)GHarold Ramos - The 35 Foot Long Twinkie (In +1/+1 counters)
UB(U/B)Dragonlord Silumgar
I like the ideas. Unfortunately here is how this translates in WotC-ese.
1. Drop the boosters
2. Still charge $11.99 for them
3. Bump the basic land up to 30 a pack instead of 26.
4. Put 2 ofs of all the chaff available.
5. Jet off to Barbados and spend money at the resort like there is no tomorrow.
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."
The lands are the Richard Wright art lands, card numbers 260-264.
Got the Vraska deck and a Golgari theme pack. Got 2 Vigorspore Wurms that might work nice with Vraska, assuming the game lasts long enough. My rares were 2 Hatchery Spiders and an Omnispell Adept. Want to make this at least fun for home games...already removed about a dozen of the less useful cards.
And there also is a redeem code that could bring the planeswalker deck into Magic Arena.
1. No expiry date.
2. A game mode where only the starting 5 decks and Planeswalker decks are legal.
3. Any redeemed planeswalker deck is locked in, and cannot be edited or deleted unless you make a copy and edit it that way.
That would be a glorious train wreck to witness.
Wouldn't it be more interesting the other way around?
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO
And then 6 months later bring back a worse version of Duel Decks, using what was the Planeswalker decks (Guilds of Ravnica Planeswalker Showdown Pack: Ral vs Vraska). Remove the boosters, add 2 spindown dice, charge $24.99
I would like to see a game mode where only pre-constructed decks are legal. When new decks are released, they can also been queued against players using pre-con decks in the back log. No rotation. Maybe split it into a 60-card pre-con format and a 100-card pre-con commander format.
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