MTG Salvation

Hey all, please redirect me and lock if a thread like this exists elsewhere, but what is the consensus on which c17 precon is strongest right out of the box? There are commander tournaments near me which cater to competitive players but also facilitate things for more casual players by equalizing the field (by making players use decks straight from the box), so I was quite curious.

~Lil Kalki

My money is on Wizards, simply cause it's the closest to blue control you're gonna get.

Cats seem to rush early on, Dragons are more aggro in the mid-late game. But all aggro can eventually be stopped by control.

Wizards might even trump Vampires, because while Vampires tries to drag on the game, Wizards is totally fine with a late game (and card draw).

Cats likely has the most consistent Baseline power, you won't likely be able to pull off feats that the other 3 decks can but you also won't flounder like the other 3 look like they might do.

Vampires is probably the best of the 4, it has the best balance of power and the ability to actually execute it's plan but it is going to feel real bad if you end up with no early game moves.

Dragons probably has the most explosive capabilities in magical Christmas land, but I doubt you will see magical Christmas land all that often.

Wizards is probably the outright worst of the lot, it has little synergy, and it's win condition seems to be either Nin or Niv Mizzet.

See I wonder about the Cat deck. If you're commanding with Arahbo, out of the gate you're a threat and people will scramble to remove you early, accordingly. The Dragon deck broadcasts a terrifying mid-late game threat in the Ur-Dragon so it draws some heat itself. Vampires draws a bit of heat simply by reputation and therefore probably draws less heat than the above two. Wizards overall seems weak. I'm still on the fence about the other three based on gameplay philosophy though. So hence my question I guess!



~Lil Kalki

I think the Eminence from Edgar is being under looked, getting that fodder seems to be good down the line. I think that Fleecmane in the cats deck is nuts wuth the amount of ramp I the deck.

I'm hoping Vampiric Bloodlust is, since that's the one I bought, haha!

After playing with the decks the Vampire deck is head over heels the best of them. It's not that it isn't balanced against the other three decks in the group as much as it's very strait forward to upgrade and the eminence on Edgar goes out of the control fast. It also has a punisher card that does horrible things to decks that have expensive commanders that aren't easy to play. It certainly made me add Command Beacon to just about every commander deck I plan to play.

No matter which one you pick, though, you are still going to have to go in with the scalpel and bone saw to do some surgery.
The mana-base is horrible, there are novel, but completely useless cards like the new curses that could be pruned out, and there are a ton of good upgrades even on a budget such as Olivia Voldaren, Kalistria Highborn, and Gatekeeper of Malakir. Non-vampire cards like Iroas, God of Victory and Dolmen Gate can help make the choice of swinging in all the time a whole lot easier as well and combos with Necropolis Regent.