To be perfectly clear, I am not talking about the new challenger decks that are aimed to give a cost-efficient entry point to standard. I am talking about the three challenge decks created during the Theros block as part of The Hero's Path (Face the Hydra, Battle the Horde, and Defeat a God). It is approaching four years since the conclusion of the Hero's Path... and I'm wondering what people thought of the idea.
Personally, I like the idea. While I haven't heard much about them, I feel that they were brought down by poor timing (linking them to a pretty weak block) and poor incentives for participation (more hero cards... woohoo...). When I stop to think of what they represent and what they could do, however, I can see some genuine potential here.
Gameplay: While many special products have enabled specific styles of play (such as Archenemy and 3 vs 1 gameplay), challenge decks enable two forms of gameplay (solitaire and cooperative multiplayer) that don't otherwise exist in MTG products. Further, challenge decks have the capacity to create entirely new win conditions and styles of play (I could imagine using these decks for exploring mazes, engaging in chases and races, fighting through gladitorial matches, protecting a town from a zombie siege, and so forth). Sequencing enough of these decks in a row might even grant an RPG feel to MTG mechanics (especially if new heroes can be gained between matches, as was the case in the Hero's Path), something that people have been trying to pull off on forums for years.
Flavor: Nowadays, it seems that old paradigm of MTG players being godlike planeswalkers who call forth creatures and spells from across space and time to do cosmic combat has been largely forgotten by Wizards. Instead, Wizards treats players as witnesses (similar to comic book readers) to the more "human" struggles and adventures of superheroes planeswalkers. Much as the Hero's Path let players follow Elspeth's journey, challenge decks could let players interface directly with the story through gameplay instead of flavor text or story articles. Further, Wizards could use hero cards to represent characters from the storyline who do not warrant their own legendary creature cards (instead of using heroic archetypes).
Marketing: To start out, hero cards could be used as "intermediate prizes" that could be traded in to gain decent promo cards at your LGS (such as turning in a set of three specific heroes to gain a special promo). Instead of rewarding you for going through challenges with another Hero you will never use, wizards can hook a player to participate in 3 or 4 events with the promise of a decent promo at the end. Further, the release of a challenge deck could be used as a midpoint between a prerelease and a store championship to keep players involved through the lifespan of a set. Finally, I could imagine challenge decks being sold through different sorts of products (EX: dual decks designed for cooperative play against a challenge deck).
So... what do you guys think about Challenge decks? Am I onto something here? Am I overly optimistic?
If someone hasn't played standard for the past year to two years and has absolutely no cards to play with, I think they are a great way to get running at an event quickly. As a long term purchase for value they look universally bad because of the fact the cards used to build the decks will rotate in a few months and the deck builders intentionally left out the hot cards of Ixalan block like Vraska's Contempt and Rekindling Phoenix. Also, upgrading decks can still be expensive.
I think the hazoret deck will be a nightmare to find and is probably the most playable deck out of the bunch, but even the vehicles deck looks fairly usable out of the box.
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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!
@Colt47: Um, did you even take a second to read what the OP was talking about? He isn't talking about the standard "Challenger decks", they are asking about the for fun decks WotC did for the Theros block prereleases.
Going back to the topic at hand, I never paid any attention to any of those Theros challenger decks during prereleases. Never played against any of them. I kept the Hero cards for a little while, just because it was a rather unique idea. But personally I prefer to play actual Magic against someone, rather than something like the more gimmicky decks that these were.
I'm not sure how well received they were at the time, the figures are probably out there somewhere. But I have a feeling that most players didn't care for them. Which is why they have done away with a lot of the more gimmicky prerelease extras. So we probably won't be seeing them ever again.
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Personally, I like the idea. While I haven't heard much about them, I feel that they were brought down by poor timing (linking them to a pretty weak block) and poor incentives for participation (more hero cards... woohoo...). When I stop to think of what they represent and what they could do, however, I can see some genuine potential here.
Gameplay: While many special products have enabled specific styles of play (such as Archenemy and 3 vs 1 gameplay), challenge decks enable two forms of gameplay (solitaire and cooperative multiplayer) that don't otherwise exist in MTG products. Further, challenge decks have the capacity to create entirely new win conditions and styles of play (I could imagine using these decks for exploring mazes, engaging in chases and races, fighting through gladitorial matches, protecting a town from a zombie siege, and so forth). Sequencing enough of these decks in a row might even grant an RPG feel to MTG mechanics (especially if new heroes can be gained between matches, as was the case in the Hero's Path), something that people have been trying to pull off on forums for years.
Flavor: Nowadays, it seems that old paradigm of MTG players being godlike planeswalkers who call forth creatures and spells from across space and time to do cosmic combat has been largely forgotten by Wizards. Instead, Wizards treats players as witnesses (similar to comic book readers) to the more "human" struggles and adventures of
superheroesplaneswalkers. Much as the Hero's Path let players follow Elspeth's journey, challenge decks could let players interface directly with the story through gameplay instead of flavor text or story articles. Further, Wizards could use hero cards to represent characters from the storyline who do not warrant their own legendary creature cards (instead of using heroic archetypes).Marketing: To start out, hero cards could be used as "intermediate prizes" that could be traded in to gain decent promo cards at your LGS (such as turning in a set of three specific heroes to gain a special promo). Instead of rewarding you for going through challenges with another Hero you will never use, wizards can hook a player to participate in 3 or 4 events with the promise of a decent promo at the end. Further, the release of a challenge deck could be used as a midpoint between a prerelease and a store championship to keep players involved through the lifespan of a set. Finally, I could imagine challenge decks being sold through different sorts of products (EX: dual decks designed for cooperative play against a challenge deck).
So... what do you guys think about Challenge decks? Am I onto something here? Am I overly optimistic?
I think the hazoret deck will be a nightmare to find and is probably the most playable deck out of the bunch, but even the vehicles deck looks fairly usable out of the box.
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!
Going back to the topic at hand, I never paid any attention to any of those Theros challenger decks during prereleases. Never played against any of them. I kept the Hero cards for a little while, just because it was a rather unique idea. But personally I prefer to play actual Magic against someone, rather than something like the more gimmicky decks that these were.
I'm not sure how well received they were at the time, the figures are probably out there somewhere. But I have a feeling that most players didn't care for them. Which is why they have done away with a lot of the more gimmicky prerelease extras. So we probably won't be seeing them ever again.