So... the vehicla deck last year had over 30 rares/mythics.
This year, we don't break 15 rares in any of the decks. While rarity isn't the be-all end-all for power, this decrease saddens me.
...I do appreciate the mono red deck, I guess.
I don't appreciate the lack of Vraska's contempt, big t-rex, or Teferi. I dislike that one of the multi-color decks didn't come with a shock-land. I dislike the lack of risk factor in the red deck. I dislike the lack of loxodon in the white deck.
...I feel a bit disappointed... but also feel that my complaints are kind of minor things. My wallet will speak when I've worked things out.
Edit: literally all of the decks this year have fewer rares than literally all of the decks last year. I get that part of this is the meta but... what happened here?
The odd thing is that I would have nothing to complain about if they had added just two more rares to each deck (loxodons to white, risk factors to red, steam vents to izzet, and contempts to golgari). The current meta doesn't seem as rare-reliant as it was last year and leaving playsets incomplete so we go out and get more cards is completely understandable. Leaving out a rare entirely that is known to be important for the deck... kind of defeats the point of the product.
They blew an easy chance to reprint Nexus of Fate. Shame on you wizards. Every on of the standard deck products start by giving value to FNM players and printing more of key stapes that will soon rotate. Then the follow up products cut value in half.
Wow what a letdown... I guess I'm not surprised Teferi hasn't appeared here. At the time they were designing these he was holding steady at $50. Guess they figured they'd rather use him to sell a later set than destroy him with another printing already. That being said looks like he's going to stay expensive through the rest of his standard life and given how good he is when standard plus or w/e is on arena he's going to be a 4 of in the control deck along with being 2-3 of in modern control decks, should keep him around the $50 mark.
I suggest you look at the article and decklists from last year. Hazoret and Chandra in one, Triple Verderous Gearhulk in another, 4 Hear to Kiran in the Vehicle deck. This year is a joke by comparison.
Classic Wizard. They must have regreated that they added tons of value in last year's product so they downgraded this year. I'm suprised that they use mono blue tempo, since they rather rave the cheapest arvhtypes.
Well Teferi and Search for Azcanta have been added to the list of "cards that wizards will tease with reprint and will become pricy mostly for scarcity".
Lets see how they do after leaving standard (as both are not as used in modern (numbers per deck) as in standard) at least for people in standard it is less people playing control (that must be nice).
I am not so surprised by the lack of teferi/azcanta/nexus for a few reasons.
1. These decks are designed to be played at FNM and nexus is notoriously miserable to play against. Wizards would be shooting itself in the foot if they sent dozens of new nexus players to LGSs.
2. While it isn't on a reserved list, wizards has yet to reprint any exclusive buy-a-box promo and doing so would have a measure of risk in terms of investor anger and perceived value of these promos (which may mean nothing to you but need to be considered).
3. Without nexus, teferi (and azcanta by extension) don't really have a designated home in standard. While wizards could have given us turbo fog without nexus (using Karn's sundering instead), that would lead to more nexus decks at FNM AND anger among players that demand (and price) for nexus are shooting up (AKA the worst of both worlds).
I'll admit that the mana bases don't bother me as much. Putting out a bunch of good lands reduces their value in the case of a reprint... if you are expecting reprints soon.
Last year, we had fastlands from kaladesh. I don't expect blooming marsh to be reprinted any time soon so giving us one in the snek.dec doesn't mean much. Likewise to the four spire of industries in the vehicle deck and the aether hub.
Checklands and shocklands have seen multiple printings, meanwhile, and hemmorhaging value of future reprints may be a bit more of a concern.
I suggest you look at the article and decklists from last year. Hazoret and Chandra in one, Triple Verderous Gearhulk in another, 4 Hear to Kiran in the Vehicle deck. This year is a joke by comparison.
Classic Wizard. They must have regreated that they added tons of value in last year's product so they downgraded this year. I'm suprised that they use mono blue tempo, since they rather rave the cheapest arvhtypes.
On reddit someone did the math and compared the value of the contents of these decks, to what was the value of the contents of last year's batch when it was announced. Last year has this year beat by about 3%. That's hardy the sky-is-falling stratospheric lowball scenario you'd expect was the case from replies like the above this thread. They're in the same ballpark. The loss in value is entirely accounted for by the loss in value of Rekindling Phoenix and History of Benalia in the months between when they locked in these decklists and today. Those are two deck-centerpiece mythics that have each lost more than $10/card since late last year (and there's TWO History of Benalia in one deck).
Of course time will tell how much the card prices hold. The market flood of Sulfur Falls will likely put a real ding in the value of each.
It's also worth noting what a bad and unpopular place standard was in when they created the challenger decks last year. Many saw the challenger decks as a desperate attempt to jump start some interest in a standard maligned by Kaladesh and Amonkhet's high power levels and multiple format changing bannings. Current standard by comparison is seen by many as a healthy and popular format, so there is less of a need to super-load these with value.
Thinking about it more it's not a surprise Teferi (or search) haven't appeared here. There's no straight UW decks and it's just not possible to build esper or jeskai on a budget. Going into the 3rd colour means a ton of basics just won't cut it and they'd look awful adding 12 gates to the deck but at the same time they can't put a teferi and a search in and then also includes shocks/buddy lands so you can actually cast your spells.
So many people complaining. There's still some good value in these. While there's some notable exclusions, there are also really neat surprises, like Archlight Phoenix (the new hotness right now in Modern) with THREE Sulfur Falls.
Remember these are meant to be quality decks for people wanting to get into Standard without a hassle for a good price, not for people looking for a price grab. I mean, the Izzet deck is already $120+ worth in cards, are you not satisfied?
These can be built on Arena, and played to your heart's content in the limited time they'll still be playable. It's just not worth to buy and spend more money on upgrading them to full power, IMO.
https://mobile.twitter.com/hipstersmtg/status/1107650805161779202?s=21&fbclid=IwAR2Ozdb4FkC8WoKDViEXG1qnrVNIE1Sb_VM0J7HlvrP5mGexhL50NUjidDw
This year, we don't break 15 rares in any of the decks. While rarity isn't the be-all end-all for power, this decrease saddens me.
...I do appreciate the mono red deck, I guess.
I don't appreciate the lack of Vraska's contempt, big t-rex, or Teferi. I dislike that one of the multi-color decks didn't come with a shock-land. I dislike the lack of risk factor in the red deck. I dislike the lack of loxodon in the white deck.
...I feel a bit disappointed... but also feel that my complaints are kind of minor things. My wallet will speak when I've worked things out.
Edit: literally all of the decks this year have fewer rares than literally all of the decks last year. I get that part of this is the meta but... what happened here?
-Chandra Nalaar
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
Lets see how they do after leaving standard (as both are not as used in modern (numbers per deck) as in standard) at least for people in standard it is less people playing control (that must be nice).
1. These decks are designed to be played at FNM and nexus is notoriously miserable to play against. Wizards would be shooting itself in the foot if they sent dozens of new nexus players to LGSs.
2. While it isn't on a reserved list, wizards has yet to reprint any exclusive buy-a-box promo and doing so would have a measure of risk in terms of investor anger and perceived value of these promos (which may mean nothing to you but need to be considered).
3. Without nexus, teferi (and azcanta by extension) don't really have a designated home in standard. While wizards could have given us turbo fog without nexus (using Karn's sundering instead), that would lead to more nexus decks at FNM AND anger among players that demand (and price) for nexus are shooting up (AKA the worst of both worlds).
So... yeah. Not surprised.
Hands to the sky
Give a round of applause
For the great Miss Y!
Last year, we had fastlands from kaladesh. I don't expect blooming marsh to be reprinted any time soon so giving us one in the snek.dec doesn't mean much. Likewise to the four spire of industries in the vehicle deck and the aether hub.
Checklands and shocklands have seen multiple printings, meanwhile, and hemmorhaging value of future reprints may be a bit more of a concern.
I don't know. Maybe I'm backwards on this
On reddit someone did the math and compared the value of the contents of these decks, to what was the value of the contents of last year's batch when it was announced. Last year has this year beat by about 3%. That's hardy the sky-is-falling stratospheric lowball scenario you'd expect was the case from replies like the above this thread. They're in the same ballpark. The loss in value is entirely accounted for by the loss in value of Rekindling Phoenix and History of Benalia in the months between when they locked in these decklists and today. Those are two deck-centerpiece mythics that have each lost more than $10/card since late last year (and there's TWO History of Benalia in one deck).
Of course time will tell how much the card prices hold. The market flood of Sulfur Falls will likely put a real ding in the value of each.
That right there warrants a purchase of one or two at least.
'buster
HR Analyst. Gamer. Activist | Fearless, and forthright | Aggro-control is a mindset.
Elspeth and Jhoira rock my world.
The deck with Arclight Phoneix is a good one to grab because Arclight will remain legal in Standard for another year.
Total waste of money.
WUBRG#BlackLotusMatterWUBRG
👮👮👮 #BlueLivesMatter 👮👮👮
Remember these are meant to be quality decks for people wanting to get into Standard without a hassle for a good price, not for people looking for a price grab. I mean, the Izzet deck is already $120+ worth in cards, are you not satisfied?
Standard: BG Golgari Midrange
Modern: U Merfolk GWUBR 5 Color Humans UBW Esper Gifts GW Bogles
And its status in modern could buoy its value beyond rotation unless it eats a ban.