Loved these a few months ago, getting several good decks out of the deal, and now it looks like they're even better than before!
Here's the deal: Target has these "Value Packs" with two full decks and a booster pack for $9.99. The decks (at least in the past) can be from recent Intro Packs, Premium Deck Series (F&L or Slivers), Planechase decks, even half of the various Duel Decks. The one catch is that any cards that would normally be shown on the packaging for the special decks are absent...these are just the shrink-wrapped decks found in such packages. (So for example, you might find the Elspeth half of the Elspeth vs. Tezzeret Duel Deck, but Elspeth herself will NOT be included. And all the money cards shown on the front and back of the Premium Deck Series boxes will be absent as well. Foils from Intro Packs WILL be included.)
Anyway, in the past, they had the packaging arranged so that the booster or "Learn to Play" guide or somesuch would be blocking view of the second deck in the package, but no more! Now the top cards of both decks is clearly visible from the front of the clear plastic package, so no more guessing at what you're getting.
The only problem is that I've found only one Target in the area selling them this time around. Not sure if the others are lagging behind, or this started back a couple weeks ago and I missed the boat. Anyone else noticed this, and if so, when did you see your stores start restocking them? It's been several months since the last time they did this, so I stopped looking for a long time. Just not sure if I'm catching the start of the wave and should keep checking or if I'm catching the tail end and should be satisfied with picking over what's left over.
I heard about this over the weekend, and haven't had any luck finding them all week.
I'm hoping they'll be in stock for Black Friday-- getting a Commander deck for $10 would be great!
Yeah, I've heard that Commander decks are also in this time around. No luck for me yet either...best I've found is the Coalition half of Phyrexia vs. The Coalition paired with a New Phyrexia Intro Pack (which is kind of ironic :tongue:).
I doubt you'll find a commander deck in them. I saw them in a Target near me and was checking them out with another guy. He said his friend tried a couple. One had many decent cards and one was nearly all land. From what is visible and what I gathered from him, it seems the cards that are shrink wrapped are from precon decks that people stole the booster from. You see this all the time at stores. Someone busts open the precon steals the booster and leaves.
To make some money, they combine the cards from the precons, add a booster then put them back in the store with the word VALUE on them. This makes the most sense. All the visible rares in the packages I saw were available in the precons.
That said, one had a booster with 2 visible rares. If you buy from the big box stores anyway, some aren't that bad of a deal.
I got a couple last weekend. They had mirrodin besieged packs. I got two commander decks (Counter punch and Devor for power), the blade splicer pre-con, and I random time spiral deck.
They seem to be better then last time. The time spiral deck came in it's deck box.
Yeah I've gone to a number of Targets around me and I've seen a lot of the dotp decks but also a lot of them packaged with the basic land packs that come in fat packs. If you've got a smart phone and can figure out generally what the decks are it's easy to determine if they are worth it. I've yet to see commander decks though they still have those in stock and haven't discounted them around here so I doubt I'd see those in the value packs. Definitely worth a look though I found an original mirrodin block theme deck coupled with one of the dotp decks.
When they had them before I had one that had the artifact planechase deck and elspeth deck (snatched that up quick) and one that had a crappy m10 precon and the g/w archenemy. The Target near home doesnt ever stock much so they only have 1 of these, with an m11 deck and a basic land pack. hopefully when i get back to school after break the target will have something good.
You do have to be somewhat careful about which ones you buy.
I managed to pick up one that had the Fire & Lightning deck in it because I recognized the symbol on the foil Mountain.
I would not expect Commander decks to show up in these too often, most retailers around here still keep them in stock so there is no reason to discount them.
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There's no proof she's being chased
by ninja squirrels either. - Dr. Wilson
I got three of these on black friday while I was at Target anyway. One had the Counter punch commander deck, another had the Political Puppets commander deck and the other had a random planar chaos pre-con. (BR one I believe) I was hoping to see Mirror Mastery, but no luck. Seems I was lucky to get any of the commander decks at all.
I saw a couple of these at Target the other day, but didn't buy either one. If I remember correctly, one had a Foil Argent Sphinx and a Plains from M10 showing. I figured both were likely bad precon decks. I believe the other had a red foil rare showing and a Swamp, but the deck with the Swamp showing looked awfully small, like it might not have been a real deck.
Would it be helpful, or at least interesting, to compile a list of what each deck is based on the visible card?
I saw a couple of these at Target the other day, but didn't buy either one. If I remember correctly, one had a Foil Argent Sphinx and a Plains from M10 showing. I figured both were likely bad precon decks. I believe the other had a red foil rare showing and a Swamp, but the deck with the Swamp showing looked awfully small, like it might not have been a real deck.
Would it be helpful, or at least interesting, to compile a list of what each deck is based on the visible card?
Not really, since you can already look them up easily enough. The Sphinx was from the SoM Metalcraft intro pack, for example. The basic land ones were likely from basic land packs.
I got one on Friday. It came with the UB MBS intro pack and the Coalition half of the Phyrexia vs. Coalition duel deck...minus the mythic. Instead I got a Saproling token.
Not impressed so far but I might buy another one if I see more.
I found the G/W archenemy deck, the R/G archenemy deck, and the Elspeth half of the duel decks at my local Fred Meyer. Got junk out of the boosters, but got some excellent deals nonetheless.
I actually hit about 4-5 Targets over the course of the last week and only one had them stocked. It was Intro Packs in each, but here's hoping they continue to slow roll them!
R/B M11 intro deck and the G/W Archenemy deck
The Red DotP deck and the G/W/B Planar Chaos deck (still in cellophane wrapped box)
The Fire and Lightning deck and the R/W Planar Chaos deck also in cellophane wrapped box)
While the Fire and Lightning deck is missing the money cards that show in the packaging, it does still have Figure of Destiny and 3 Lightning Bolt s.
I got 2 more this morning:
Fire and Lightning deck and the G/B New Phyrexia deck.
The R/G Scars deck and the Political Puppets Commander deck.
My base's AAFES had these stocked as well and I bought a couple. One had that amazing planechase or archenemy, not sure which, zombie deck along with the Planar Chaos mono-U precon. The other one came with the premium series fire & lightning deck with one of the Mirrodin Besieged precons. Both had boosters that contained cards relative to my interest, if you are lucky you can find some good ones.
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Avid EDH player GWUPhelddagrif----------------GWRhys, the Redeemed----------UBRLord of Tresserhorn--------XKozilek, Butcher of Truth WUBRGProgenitus---------------BGWKarador, Ghost Chieftain---URGIntet, the Dreamer---------RGWort, the Raidmother BGSavra-----------------------RGMarhault Elsdragon----------UTeferi, Mage of Zhalfir------UWHanna, Ship's Navigator BSkithiryx the Blight Dragon--RWUZedruu the Greathearted----BRelentless Rats------------BRUNicol Bolas
bought 2 of these at my local target - one had the Garruk DotP deck and fire and lightning deck (sans displayed cards) and the other had the dragon mono-r archenemy and the Nissa DotP deck with 2 MBS packs.
the rest of the ones on the shelf were the Student of Warfare ROE deck with Basic lands along with MBS or SOM pre-cons.
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Decks in the hopper... Standard - R/G Aggro RG Standard - Book Burning UR Modern - U/W Tempo UW Legacy - Master of Affinity XX Vintage - Burnination RR
What are the "chase" contents you should look for when deciding whther or not to pick these up?
Best- Commander decks.
Second Best- Archenemy decks
Third Best- VS or Premium series decks.
Forth- Precons from recent blocks with a powerful rare or popular foil rare for EDH.
A whole lot of this is going to depend on what sort of value you're looking to get- lots of tournament only players are going to be super underwhelmed, as they'd maybe get one $5 rare they could use and a pack.
EDH players have lots of available value, especially if they've a couple decks they're building. The commander decks are a "Duh", but there's also really, really good stuff in some of the Archenemy decks. The "Assemble the Doomsday Machine" deck, for instance gets you just about to your $10 in value between just the Memnarch and Duplicant and the included pack. (You can tell it's this deck because the card you'll see in the front is a Dreamstone Hedron)
There's lots of fun cards in all of these, and for people that just want to play, just about any one is good... so long as you make sure not to buy one that has a land pack. That's a bummer.
Here's the deal: Target has these "Value Packs" with two full decks and a booster pack for $9.99. The decks (at least in the past) can be from recent Intro Packs, Premium Deck Series (F&L or Slivers), Planechase decks, even half of the various Duel Decks. The one catch is that any cards that would normally be shown on the packaging for the special decks are absent...these are just the shrink-wrapped decks found in such packages. (So for example, you might find the Elspeth half of the Elspeth vs. Tezzeret Duel Deck, but Elspeth herself will NOT be included. And all the money cards shown on the front and back of the Premium Deck Series boxes will be absent as well. Foils from Intro Packs WILL be included.)
Anyway, in the past, they had the packaging arranged so that the booster or "Learn to Play" guide or somesuch would be blocking view of the second deck in the package, but no more! Now the top cards of both decks is clearly visible from the front of the clear plastic package, so no more guessing at what you're getting.
The only problem is that I've found only one Target in the area selling them this time around. Not sure if the others are lagging behind, or this started back a couple weeks ago and I missed the boat. Anyone else noticed this, and if so, when did you see your stores start restocking them? It's been several months since the last time they did this, so I stopped looking for a long time. Just not sure if I'm catching the start of the wave and should keep checking or if I'm catching the tail end and should be satisfied with picking over what's left over.
Thanks, and have fun searching yourselves!
I'm hoping they'll be in stock for Black Friday-- getting a Commander deck for $10 would be great!
To make some money, they combine the cards from the precons, add a booster then put them back in the store with the word VALUE on them. This makes the most sense. All the visible rares in the packages I saw were available in the precons.
That said, one had a booster with 2 visible rares. If you buy from the big box stores anyway, some aren't that bad of a deal.
</witty phrase>
They seem to be better then last time. The time spiral deck came in it's deck box.
Anyone else having more luck? Really hoping they're just slow to stock other locations.
I got the Eldrazi Vampire deck (Foil Drana!), the Zombie Monoblack Planechase (Profane Command is sweet), and a booster from Eldrazi.
So I was happy, and I'm hoping my target has them if I can go.
I managed to pick up one that had the Fire & Lightning deck in it because I recognized the symbol on the foil Mountain.
I would not expect Commander decks to show up in these too often, most retailers around here still keep them in stock so there is no reason to discount them.
There's no proof she's being chased
by ninja squirrels either. - Dr. Wilson
Special thanks to Bornnover for the Sig
Would it be helpful, or at least interesting, to compile a list of what each deck is based on the visible card?
Not really, since you can already look them up easily enough. The Sphinx was from the SoM Metalcraft intro pack, for example. The basic land ones were likely from basic land packs.
Practice for Khans of Tarkir Limited:
Draft: (#1) (#2) (#3) (#4) (#5)
Not impressed so far but I might buy another one if I see more.
R/B M11 intro deck and the G/W Archenemy deck
The Red DotP deck and the G/W/B Planar Chaos deck (still in cellophane wrapped box)
The Fire and Lightning deck and the R/W Planar Chaos deck also in cellophane wrapped box)
While the Fire and Lightning deck is missing the money cards that show in the packaging, it does still have Figure of Destiny and 3 Lightning Bolt s.
I got 2 more this morning:
Fire and Lightning deck and the G/B New Phyrexia deck.
The R/G Scars deck and the Political Puppets Commander deck.
GWUPhelddagrif----------------GWRhys, the Redeemed----------UBRLord of Tresserhorn--------XKozilek, Butcher of Truth
WUBRGProgenitus---------------BGWKarador, Ghost Chieftain---URGIntet, the Dreamer---------RGWort, the Raidmother
BGSavra-----------------------RGMarhault Elsdragon----------UTeferi, Mage of Zhalfir------UWHanna, Ship's Navigator
BSkithiryx the Blight Dragon--RWUZedruu the Greathearted----BRelentless Rats------------BRUNicol Bolas
the rest of the ones on the shelf were the Student of Warfare ROE deck with Basic lands along with MBS or SOM pre-cons.
Standard - R/G Aggro RG
Standard - Book Burning UR
Modern - U/W Tempo UW
Legacy - Master of Affinity XX
Vintage - Burnination RR
Find me on Modo under Tigerbreak
Best- Commander decks.
Second Best- Archenemy decks
Third Best- VS or Premium series decks.
Forth- Precons from recent blocks with a powerful rare or popular foil rare for EDH.
A whole lot of this is going to depend on what sort of value you're looking to get- lots of tournament only players are going to be super underwhelmed, as they'd maybe get one $5 rare they could use and a pack.
EDH players have lots of available value, especially if they've a couple decks they're building. The commander decks are a "Duh", but there's also really, really good stuff in some of the Archenemy decks. The "Assemble the Doomsday Machine" deck, for instance gets you just about to your $10 in value between just the Memnarch and Duplicant and the included pack. (You can tell it's this deck because the card you'll see in the front is a Dreamstone Hedron)
There's lots of fun cards in all of these, and for people that just want to play, just about any one is good... so long as you make sure not to buy one that has a land pack. That's a bummer.