@RedBobcatGames and i appreciate it. i have some new players and i've been looking for different ways that could help them learn and i feel it works far better being mostly straight forward
I've taught a lot of people how to play Magic. The best way is to get two equal decks full of vanilla green creatures and lands. Play the decks with the new player until that person discovers the zero-sum nature of symmetric combat (you can never outrace an equal deck). At that point, put a Lure in their deck and play one more game. It becomes a powerful introduction to combat tricks. The reason combat is the best place to start is that, even though we're sometimes able to avoid it completely, combat is the bottom layer of the Magic pyramid. Understanding it (and the related concepts of casting cost and power/toughness and summoning sickness) is where Magic starts to make sense. Avoid in-depth conversations about anything else until they've figured out combat.
I would say that Fireball disproves this but I can see why would think this. Drain Life and Fireblast show off completely non Blue ways to just not be a creature summoner. Magic is not all about combat because it's not all about creatures. Creatures are just the easiest to use, and of all the set mechanics that have truly taken over the game, no set took over the game as much as Mirage adding "enters the battlefield" effects to creatures. Antiquities artifacts theme didn't even overwhelm card design as much. They literally won't ever make vanilla creatures again AND nobody will miss them. Almost everything else they do is actually controversial but the people asking for Vanilla creatures to come back are the smallest minority in the community and will genuinely never get their way because it's just not necessary for the game. Yu-Gi-Oh would call them garnets and I can only see room in Magic for 15 more garnets: A final cycle of uncommon 1 color and 2 color vanillas. CC 3/3 one color garnets CD 4/4 two color garnets These cards are fair and fit between old vanilla designs and new card designs pretty well. Lightning Bolt kills the one color cards and not the two color cards so it rewards you for playing more colors with a significant benefit because it's a significant investment to play rare two color lands even at $2/card.
@@darthparallax5207combat IS foundational though, and it is because as you said creatures are the easiest. Any format with a red aggro deck teaches players that they need some way to avoid a beat down. Wether that is control, tempo, midrange, combo, or anything else it NEEDS to beat consistent cheap damage in the form of creatures, because if you can’t doesn’t matter
Hello comment reader! Best way to play budget (besides proxy) is pauper. There's 60 card version and a commander 100 card version. At some local game stores (LGS) players would leave common cards. They are literally free for any beginner. Just be kind and ask first. My LGS also has excess basic lands and tokens, which are free to take .... but we buy something to compensate spending hours there. Buy singles, booster pack, card sleeves, or deck box to support the store.
A lot of stores do have free things for beginners. I got a pack of basic lands from my LGS when I first started. Thank you for the comment. This is something I'll aim to remember if I do another video like this
The goal isn’t even really budget for me it’s to ensure my money doesn’t support the game in its current trajectory or position. Not directly or tangentially
I've been slowly but surely been getting my friends into Magic, but man is it rough to do so when most my decks are commander, that's just a tad too complex for a first go-around I've found, particularly when most my cards are in english and all my friends speak spanish as a first language. I've been hearing stores have gotten new intro decks for beginners, so I will be dropping by sometime soon to get my hands on some of them to keep teaching.
The best way I’ve found to teach people is buy a 2 deck beginner kit that has 2 simple 60 card low power decks for around $20. So much easier than even a commander pre con. I’ve also seen the foundations beginner box and liked that cause jumpstart packs are small and simple making it so you can focus more on the rules than explaining each card.
I would have mentioned that some cards are spells and have a one time use - instants and sorceries, while other cards are permanents that stay on the board, like creatures that attack, and artifacts and enchantments, which are essentially the same permanent type except enchantments usually have a static effect while artifacts sometimes tap to do something.
Yeah see I was thinking that's the sort of stuff that once you start to dive into, you'll be there for ages. I might do that in a proper turtorial video, because you're totally right it needs to be understood. My aim here was more a "Hey, you're starting out and known nothing about it. Here's some very early basics". Maybe I do it different next year though
FYI: Commander was invented by literally taking all the leftover cards during a tournament/event and playing a game of magic with them. Making a Commander deck out of your leftover or unused cards is in the Spirit of that format.
Tabletop Simulator literally just uses a blank model that's in the game which is the size and shape of a standard playing card and slaps an image via a URL to it that could be literally anything It's virtually no different from just seeing the card in any website except it's in a 3D model you can move around if anything printing proxies would be the closest thing to being illegal or pirating since at least then you are actually printing something physical, even if it's a regular paper, but then again, WOTC said they are ok with proxies as long as you don't try to sell them
You’re absolutely allowed to sell proxies too. You can’t sell counterfeits that intentionally try to look like real cards. Not that it matters. Even if they hated proxies and wanted to stop me they couldn’t; my printer would still let me print out the cards on a card stock paper.
Most importantly, make sure you always throw a fit any time someone tries to progress the game forward! That means anytime you're targeted, or if someone removes your creatures, counters one of your spells, plays a combo, a fast mana piece, or any powerful spell in general, you need to audibly, and if possible, visibly, alert your opponent that theyre a complete dick who has ruined your entire day, and that theres a special spot in whatever hell they believe in reserved for people like them. Or you could just be a good sport and understand that you can't win them all, lose with some grace, shuffle up, and play again... your call..
important nitpick: you forgot mentioning spelltable (real life + remote online magic, can even be played using moxfield/archidect free online deck testing modes + OBS) alongside mtgo&a
You're right, I did infact forget those things. I didn't even mention just like Webcam games over discord or whatever. I'll try to remember for next year, thank you
The funny thing about Purple Spells is that magic almost did a 6th color and it was going to be purple. There's some evidence for this, but it never panned out. Can you imagine an introduction of a 6th color? That will increase the amount of color combos by 32. It's not beyond WotC at this point to mess with everyone on this grand of a scale. Anyways, love the video. It's both an honest intro and dripping with sarcastic ripping on WotC at the same time. Love it!
This was way more genuine than I was expecting. I'm now half tempted to create a version like this but with the mindset of "Here's a video to send a friend to explain some things and hopefully convince them to give magic a try"
I love playing Faerie decks. The bull that I can pull with creating copy tokens of my non-legendary faerie creatures is crazy (I dealt 96 to a player in one turn, without several of my buff cards)
Brand new player here. Pretty much exclusively collecting Foundations. Got the Beginner Box, Starter Set, Prerelease, and Bundle, as well as about 15 Jumpstart packs to start a Jumpstart Cube to jam with friends. I may grab the Fallout and Final Fantasy Commander desks before it's all said and done (outside fandom)
I’ve been playing Magic (commander specifically) for a little over a year, and I think this is a great guide for beginners. I think it’s fair to separate the mechanics of the game into another video, because that’s more for folks who want to know how to play the game, which is indeed a separate topic. =)
I know you said you want to be positive this year, but my advice will be a negative one. If you are new to the game and someone asks you to trade a card, either have a friend who knows a couple of things about the game with you, or check a website for card prices, before you make a decision. There are many people who will try to scam you in trades when you first begin and don't know which cards have value or not.
youtube is flooded with videos how commander is the best format. But for a noob commander is a hell, whe you dont understand what you are doing but there are 3 more players doing something around. it overhelming, and not inspiring at all.
I can't agree that the community is a nice one. Maybe if you're only playing with people who already like you, or you're already prepared to buy the cards everyone else is buying and play the decks everyone else is playing, they will be. But if you can only play with strangers or people who dislike you outside the game, they aren't going to be any nicer to you inside the game. And regardless of who you play with, heaven help you if you attempt to play a deck tailored around your personality rather than the current meta. Win or lose, no one is going to want to play with you. Just like any community, I suppose, you must be prepared to keep your head down and stay in line to be accepted. Also, unless you're playing Pauper, or are allowed to proxy, you need to be prepared to invest 2k to 10k each year, depending on the format. If you don't have that kind of money for a game, you can't afford to play.
All very fair critiques. My experience with people has usually been positive, but admittedly that's not always been the case. Plus, cost is a very important factor as you pointed out too. I agree
@RedBobcatGames I'm in the process of walking away from the game permanently, so I won't keep coming here and leaving negative comments on your videos. I'm glad you said they were fair. That helps. There are things like this I feel like I have to get off my chest before I slam the door for good.
Nah don't worry about it. We've spoken a few times so I know you know I have more than my fair of negativity about the game too. So honestly, comment away, I'll always try and read them if I can and I promise I'll always be the most negative voice on this channel!
I find the phenomenon of your existence sad, Bobcat. I think you love what Magic was and what we thought it could be as much as I did but what has happened is just tragic. I think honestly Magic has always been for slightly richer people with slightly more friends. The internet, the whole world, thinks that this culture is good for cities, for societies, because they can show "numbers are up" so that must be good right? It hurts small communities. With millions of people allegedly in the playerbase how come none of my local game stores can keep in stock 25 yr old erstwhile staples? How come I've never seen Coat of Arms City of Brass Ensnaring Bridge Goblin King Zombie Master Nevinyrrals Disk or anything good from 4th-Xth under the glass? You have to go online. Magic is *not* a game. Magic is a stock market. It's not scalpers and hoarders that are killing it either. It's garage sales. The problem is that everyone has spent so much money they don't want to admit that all the cards are worthless, online is the only way any of us can sell them anymore, and online the moderators can delete comments that admit the cards are worthless. Even if you say "I wanted it to be a retirement plan, I wanted this to be a path to fortune, but it wasn't." It's day trading. It's cardboard crack. Literally the gameplay patterns have changed wildly and I think there used to be a consistency of the green ramp deck, the blue counterspell deck, the red burn deck, the black reanimator deck, and the white lifegain deck that honestly is not truly present anymore in the same way because everything has gone the way of dredge and ripple: The mechanics are wordier, more complicated, involve more and more game zones, and the only people who can follow what new cards are doing are the people who already have old cards. Magic is simply not actually for new players anymore. They stopped doing the Core Set. At some point, less money was made by Wizards from new players than money made by enfranchised players. Corporate figured out how to get people to sell their Lotuses to buy Serialized cards and discovered they just didn't need people who could only spend $25 on Duel Decks when they could primarily market to people who would spend $200 on Surge Foil decks. There might be millions of people being exploited by Wizards but the market is kept afloat by fewer than 300,000 (avg number of Reserved List rare in a Silver Age set) ÷ 4-8 (between a playset and a binder page, maybe 2 playsets 1 foil 1 non foil. Many high profile RL cards from before foils had Judge foils made later) I'm just suggesting that it isn't really millions of people who are having fun. Millions got driven away. Your avatar has an angry face, not a happy one. It's funny, but it's also real. You're not having fun. The people least affected or most benefited are those top 7,000 ish people or so who had more than 40 Revised Dual Lands before 2016, waited until the perfect moment, then sold off their hoard to continue to buy low end products like $500 CB booster boxes. $500 used to be what you'd sell a 10 yr old box for. Now it's what you have to pre-order a box for. Honestly Wizards literally said they don't want new players or low rent players and it's been happening since Throne of Eldraine. Collector Booster boxes flip the script from Masterpieces: They don't look as nice and they serve the company more than the customer. Masterpieces would have been just fine as a distribution method. They literally pretended all the good hits were used up when the Masterpieces from Kaladesh and Amonkhet mostly aren't played anymore because new card designs moved on. There are lots of cards people want that have never been distributed as a Masterpiece. But going back to Masterpieces just isn't what Wizards wants to do at all when they can do what they've done instead. Set Boosters also harmed the game by making each set so overly printed. Every card starts out born printed past demand so there's no reason to buy them. I'm sure even The Great Henge has mainly dropped in value and that's because when they reprint cards now they invent wild new rarities that obsolete the original printings which makes people feel like they're stupid for collecting. War of the Spark was a little bit odd to me expanding to Japanese markets but I'd argue it was the last great Magic set and the Horizons product line and Universes Beyond just aren't Magic. It's even more different than Planeswalkers changed gameplay. One might even argue that Flashback killed Magic by forcing the graveyard into every color through not just Flashback but other mechanics too like Escape.
I mean, you're not wrong. But that's the origin of the phenomenon of my existence. Because I believe while you're right about many players, I believe what you said applies more to those who own the game and are putting out the sets. Not the designers mind, but their bosses. They're the ones who want Magic to be a stock market instead of a game, because that will make them more money. And in an environment where the best game in the world has been stolen by shareholders and held to ransom for profit, people like me are born. I do have an angry face, and I'm not happy (though I would argue I am having fun. I quite enjoy raging against the machine). BUT the whole reason my channel exists is because I'd had enough, and wasn't hearing my voice represented. I wanted my opinion known. I see smaller channels than me get given Preview Cards, so I know someone at WotC is watching content creators like myself. And that's good, because the more of us that push back the more likely it is that word will spread, which will hopefully affect their bottom line forcing them to change for the better
This is a sweet video, definitely a nice change of pace from the cynical stuff (not that cynicism isnt warranted sometimes with magic lol). I def will send this to a few friends who have been thinking about trying the game out, lovely breakdown!
Lately, I've told every new player to buy all their cards 2nd hand, sealed products has been a poor experience the times I've bought them within 2023-24.
@RedBobcatGames My favourite engagement comment. It's a jacksfilms reference, and I leave one whenever I don't have anything of actual value to say about the video because I hear it helps with the algorithmses :D
I submitted a video to Jacksfilms when I first started the channel, hoping to get Reactbot to watch. Doubt it'll ever happen because I didn't think there was much crossover in terms of audience... and yet here you are haha
That's fair. I do mix it up quite a bit, but the videos where I'm less bitter are easy to miss as they don't get the views, and so the algorithm doesn't recommend them as much. For a comparion, after this same amount of time my "2025 looks bad" vid with the word "Miserable" in the thumbnail had 13k views compared to this videos 4k. I agree bitterness sucks, but it's what the people want. Supply and demand
Nah. People are bitter but the typical content creature is too afraid of having a real opinion to express any bitterness and put it somewhere for discussion. That makes the red bobcat an exception that fulfills a needed role. Wotc has enough defenders in its community, it needs someone to tell it when it’s gone astray without waffling about it.
@RedBobcatGames I would say it’s less what people want than you’re seemingly the only one that provides a genuine and well argued criticism of magics bad decisions. If I want someone to fluff up the few good decisions like foundations there’s tons of content creators. If I want more than “I’m not happy” for bad decisions there’s only you. So it is an issue of supply and demand but the cause is a disparity in supply rather than demand. Maybe that’s just my experience though.
@tc5589-1 Yeah that's a fair take. I just hope there's enough demand for whatever it is I'm doing that I can support myself and maybe even expand at some point. I enjoy talking magic with all of you, and with any luck I'll get to keep doing that
My advice to new deck builders (in commander and other casual formats) is to build decks you'd enjoy playing against, then play games with each other's decks. It gives older players a challenge, and helps new players avoid the "must win" deck building.
I stopped playing Magic Arena after 3 years because I very much dislike the path WOTC have taken. I'm a huge fantasy fan, and loved everything up until Karlov Manor. That and OTJ just wrong. And now I have to get hyped for motorsport and some random IP's I never touched? Not for me. Too bad.
@RedBobcatGames almost certainly. It’s just a game for a different audience. Such things happen. I do sincerely hope that the newcomers and those who stay gain the same pleasure from the game I did. Simultaneously I’m sad that I’ve had to move on from magic after 20 years. I still like your videos and some other creators for the reminder but I can’t bring myself to actually invest in play knowing what’s coming this year.
Happy to see you didn't stop playing and making content~
Thank you, I knew I didn't really want to stop. Well at least not just yet anyway haha
turn up the sarcasm by at least 5 percent
Not for the poor beginners though. I had to turn it down like 80% to make this
@RedBobcatGames Aw, tartar sauce! Don't you tease me with an alternate, uncensored version. I would love to watch this 3000
@RedBobcatGames and i appreciate it. i have some new players and i've been looking for different ways that could help them learn and i feel it works far better being mostly straight forward
"Hey, yo. I want to talk about the shit show that people who love it call Magic the Gathering. Click off now lest that be you. Run. RUN!"
I've taught a lot of people how to play Magic. The best way is to get two equal decks full of vanilla green creatures and lands. Play the decks with the new player until that person discovers the zero-sum nature of symmetric combat (you can never outrace an equal deck). At that point, put a Lure in their deck and play one more game. It becomes a powerful introduction to combat tricks. The reason combat is the best place to start is that, even though we're sometimes able to avoid it completely, combat is the bottom layer of the Magic pyramid. Understanding it (and the related concepts of casting cost and power/toughness and summoning sickness) is where Magic starts to make sense. Avoid in-depth conversations about anything else until they've figured out combat.
Yeah, I can see this working. And I agree about combat being foundational too
I would say that Fireball disproves this but I can see why would think this.
Drain Life and Fireblast show off completely non Blue ways to just not be a creature summoner.
Magic is not all about combat because it's not all about creatures.
Creatures are just the easiest to use, and of all the set mechanics that have truly taken over the game, no set took over the game as much as Mirage adding "enters the battlefield" effects to creatures.
Antiquities artifacts theme didn't even overwhelm card design as much.
They literally won't ever make vanilla creatures again AND nobody will miss them.
Almost everything else they do is actually controversial but the people asking for Vanilla creatures to come back are the smallest minority in the community and will genuinely never get their way because it's just not necessary for the game.
Yu-Gi-Oh would call them garnets and I can only see room in Magic for 15 more garnets:
A final cycle of uncommon 1 color and 2 color vanillas.
CC 3/3 one color garnets
CD 4/4 two color garnets
These cards are fair and fit between old vanilla designs and new card designs pretty well.
Lightning Bolt kills the one color cards and not the two color cards so it rewards you for playing more colors with a significant benefit because it's a significant investment to play rare two color lands even at $2/card.
@@darthparallax5207combat IS foundational though, and it is because as you said creatures are the easiest. Any format with a red aggro deck teaches players that they need some way to avoid a beat down. Wether that is control, tempo, midrange, combo, or anything else it NEEDS to beat consistent cheap damage in the form of creatures, because if you can’t doesn’t matter
-Do you play Magic the Gathering?
-yes!
-Do you knows rules?
-No!
I always found the idea of Judge testing a bit funny when you step back and think about it
I already play but it's great to see a video that helps out newer players, keep it up
Thank you
Hello comment reader! Best way to play budget (besides proxy) is pauper. There's 60 card version and a commander 100 card version. At some local game stores (LGS) players would leave common cards. They are literally free for any beginner. Just be kind and ask first. My LGS also has excess basic lands and tokens, which are free to take .... but we buy something to compensate spending hours there. Buy singles, booster pack, card sleeves, or deck box to support the store.
A lot of stores do have free things for beginners. I got a pack of basic lands from my LGS when I first started. Thank you for the comment. This is something I'll aim to remember if I do another video like this
Yeah! I always find staples buried in our bulk bins to use in random decks I need them for
The goal isn’t even really budget for me it’s to ensure my money doesn’t support the game in its current trajectory or position. Not directly or tangentially
I like all the Red bobcat's videos
Thank you very much
Every video you upload is an enjoyable watch. Thank you for doing what you do
Thank you. I do try!
I've been slowly but surely been getting my friends into Magic, but man is it rough to do so when most my decks are commander, that's just a tad too complex for a first go-around I've found, particularly when most my cards are in english and all my friends speak spanish as a first language. I've been hearing stores have gotten new intro decks for beginners, so I will be dropping by sometime soon to get my hands on some of them to keep teaching.
I've heard that too. I can't believe they've been gone for so long
The best way I’ve found to teach people is buy a 2 deck beginner kit that has 2 simple 60 card low power decks for around $20. So much easier than even a commander pre con. I’ve also seen the foundations beginner box and liked that cause jumpstart packs are small and simple making it so you can focus more on the rules than explaining each card.
I would have mentioned that some cards are spells and have a one time use - instants and sorceries, while other cards are permanents that stay on the board, like creatures that attack, and artifacts and enchantments, which are essentially the same permanent type except enchantments usually have a static effect while artifacts sometimes tap to do something.
Yeah see I was thinking that's the sort of stuff that once you start to dive into, you'll be there for ages. I might do that in a proper turtorial video, because you're totally right it needs to be understood. My aim here was more a "Hey, you're starting out and known nothing about it. Here's some very early basics". Maybe I do it different next year though
Sent this to a couple friends of mine who are wanting to get into magic. Lovely video, thank you!
You're more than welcome. Thank you for the comment
FYI: Commander was invented by literally taking all the leftover cards during a tournament/event and playing a game of magic with them. Making a Commander deck out of your leftover or unused cards is in the Spirit of that format.
Tabletop Simulator literally just uses a blank model that's in the game which is the size and shape of a standard playing card and slaps an image via a URL to it that could be literally anything
It's virtually no different from just seeing the card in any website except it's in a 3D model you can move around
if anything printing proxies would be the closest thing to being illegal or pirating since at least then you are actually printing something physical, even if it's a regular paper, but then again, WOTC said they are ok with proxies as long as you don't try to sell them
No, selling proxies is their job that they save for special anniversaries
You’re absolutely allowed to sell proxies too. You can’t sell counterfeits that intentionally try to look like real cards. Not that it matters. Even if they hated proxies and wanted to stop me they couldn’t; my printer would still let me print out the cards on a card stock paper.
Recent sub but I love the channel! Can't say I agree with all of your takes but they're very well argued. Keep it up!
Thank you very much. I'm not always right, but I do at least try to be honest and I hope that comes across
Most importantly, make sure you always throw a fit any time someone tries to progress the game forward! That means anytime you're targeted, or if someone removes your creatures, counters one of your spells, plays a combo, a fast mana piece, or any powerful spell in general, you need to audibly, and if possible, visibly, alert your opponent that theyre a complete dick who has ruined your entire day, and that theres a special spot in whatever hell they believe in reserved for people like them.
Or you could just be a good sport and understand that you can't win them all, lose with some grace, shuffle up, and play again... your call..
Option A sounds like so much fun though...
@RedBobcatGames < this guy gets it! Lol
important nitpick: you forgot mentioning spelltable (real life + remote online magic, can even be played using moxfield/archidect free online deck testing modes + OBS) alongside mtgo&a
You're right, I did infact forget those things. I didn't even mention just like Webcam games over discord or whatever. I'll try to remember for next year, thank you
The funny thing about Purple Spells is that magic almost did a 6th color and it was going to be purple. There's some evidence for this, but it never panned out. Can you imagine an introduction of a 6th color? That will increase the amount of color combos by 32. It's not beyond WotC at this point to mess with everyone on this grand of a scale. Anyways, love the video. It's both an honest intro and dripping with sarcastic ripping on WotC at the same time. Love it!
Haha, thank you
This was way more genuine than I was expecting. I'm now half tempted to create a version like this but with the mindset of "Here's a video to send a friend to explain some things and hopefully convince them to give magic a try"
Yeah I can be real sometimes. And I think your idea sounds fun. Good luck if you do it!
@RedBobcatGames thanks, we'll see if it ends up public or for personal use only 😅
Yeah no worries, either way sounds like a cool thing to have made. I hope you enjoy
Superb vid, well played! TBH I have a scryfall tab open in my browser at all times nowadays.
I'm pretty much the same haha
I love playing Faerie decks. The bull that I can pull with creating copy tokens of my non-legendary faerie creatures is crazy (I dealt 96 to a player in one turn, without several of my buff cards)
Very nice. Fairies are up there in terms of popular types that people always seem to enjoy
Brand new player here. Pretty much exclusively collecting Foundations. Got the Beginner Box, Starter Set, Prerelease, and Bundle, as well as about 15 Jumpstart packs to start a Jumpstart Cube to jam with friends. I may grab the Fallout and Final Fantasy Commander desks before it's all said and done (outside fandom)
Fair. Sounds like you're having fun too which is great. Was the video helpful in anyway?
Jumpstart cube rules, glad to have you!
good luck in your MTG journey
me, an experienced with 10 CEDH decks: Ah yes, fascinating
That's why I do it!
This was nice.
Thank you, I worked hard on it
discovering with this video that we finally have our first real panda in the game
It's a fun one too. Has horns and everything
I’ve been playing Magic (commander specifically) for a little over a year, and I think this is a great guide for beginners. I think it’s fair to separate the mechanics of the game into another video, because that’s more for folks who want to know how to play the game, which is indeed a separate topic. =)
That was my thinking too. Thank you!
I know you said you want to be positive this year, but my advice will be a negative one.
If you are new to the game and someone asks you to trade a card, either have a friend who knows a couple of things about the game with you, or check a website for card prices, before you make a decision. There are many people who will try to scam you in trades when you first begin and don't know which cards have value or not.
Actually amazing advice. Yes, I completely agree
It’s the most complicated game ever made for a reason!
It certainly is!
I’m not sure that’s true. Yugioh straight up blows. It has so many secret rules it’s ridiculous.
youtube is flooded with videos how commander is the best format. But for a noob commander is a hell, whe you dont understand what you are doing but there are 3 more players doing something around. it overhelming, and not inspiring at all.
Oh yeah, 100%. But also it's the game WotC clearly focus on and gets the majority of starter decks. It's why I think Jumpstart is so good
good job! very useful video and jokes are funny
Why thank you very much
I can't agree that the community is a nice one. Maybe if you're only playing with people who already like you, or you're already prepared to buy the cards everyone else is buying and play the decks everyone else is playing, they will be. But if you can only play with strangers or people who dislike you outside the game, they aren't going to be any nicer to you inside the game. And regardless of who you play with, heaven help you if you attempt to play a deck tailored around your personality rather than the current meta. Win or lose, no one is going to want to play with you. Just like any community, I suppose, you must be prepared to keep your head down and stay in line to be accepted.
Also, unless you're playing Pauper, or are allowed to proxy, you need to be prepared to invest 2k to 10k each year, depending on the format. If you don't have that kind of money for a game, you can't afford to play.
All very fair critiques. My experience with people has usually been positive, but admittedly that's not always been the case. Plus, cost is a very important factor as you pointed out too. I agree
@RedBobcatGames I'm in the process of walking away from the game permanently, so I won't keep coming here and leaving negative comments on your videos. I'm glad you said they were fair. That helps. There are things like this I feel like I have to get off my chest before I slam the door for good.
Nah don't worry about it. We've spoken a few times so I know you know I have more than my fair of negativity about the game too. So honestly, comment away, I'll always try and read them if I can and I promise I'll always be the most negative voice on this channel!
I find the phenomenon of your existence sad, Bobcat.
I think you love what Magic was and what we thought it could be as much as I did but what has happened is just tragic.
I think honestly Magic has always been for slightly richer people with slightly more friends.
The internet, the whole world, thinks that this culture is good for cities, for societies, because they can show "numbers are up" so that must be good right?
It hurts small communities. With millions of people allegedly in the playerbase how come none of my local game stores can keep in stock 25 yr old erstwhile staples?
How come I've never seen Coat of Arms City of Brass Ensnaring Bridge Goblin King Zombie Master Nevinyrrals Disk or anything good from 4th-Xth under the glass?
You have to go online.
Magic is *not* a game. Magic is a stock market.
It's not scalpers and hoarders that are killing it either.
It's garage sales.
The problem is that everyone has spent so much money they don't want to admit that all the cards are worthless, online is the only way any of us can sell them anymore, and online the moderators can delete comments that admit the cards are worthless.
Even if you say "I wanted it to be a retirement plan, I wanted this to be a path to fortune, but it wasn't."
It's day trading. It's cardboard crack.
Literally the gameplay patterns have changed wildly and I think there used to be a consistency of the green ramp deck, the blue counterspell deck, the red burn deck, the black reanimator deck, and the white lifegain deck that honestly is not truly present anymore in the same way because everything has gone the way of dredge and ripple:
The mechanics are wordier, more complicated, involve more and more game zones, and the only people who can follow what new cards are doing are the people who already have old cards.
Magic is simply not actually for new players anymore. They stopped doing the Core Set. At some point, less money was made by Wizards from new players than money made by enfranchised players.
Corporate figured out how to get people to sell their Lotuses to buy Serialized cards and discovered they just didn't need people who could only spend $25 on Duel Decks when they could primarily market to people who would spend $200 on Surge Foil decks.
There might be millions of people being exploited by Wizards but the market is kept afloat by fewer than 300,000 (avg number of Reserved List rare in a Silver Age set) ÷ 4-8 (between a playset and a binder page, maybe 2 playsets 1 foil 1 non foil. Many high profile RL cards from before foils had Judge foils made later)
I'm just suggesting that it isn't really millions of people who are having fun. Millions got driven away.
Your avatar has an angry face, not a happy one. It's funny, but it's also real. You're not having fun.
The people least affected or most benefited are those top 7,000 ish people or so who had more than 40 Revised Dual Lands before 2016, waited until the perfect moment, then sold off their hoard to continue to buy low end products like $500 CB booster boxes.
$500 used to be what you'd sell a 10 yr old box for. Now it's what you have to pre-order a box for.
Honestly Wizards literally said they don't want new players or low rent players and it's been happening since Throne of Eldraine.
Collector Booster boxes flip the script from Masterpieces:
They don't look as nice and they serve the company more than the customer.
Masterpieces would have been just fine as a distribution method. They literally pretended all the good hits were used up when the Masterpieces from Kaladesh and Amonkhet mostly aren't played anymore because new card designs moved on.
There are lots of cards people want that have never been distributed as a Masterpiece.
But going back to Masterpieces just isn't what Wizards wants to do at all when they can do what they've done instead.
Set Boosters also harmed the game by making each set so overly printed. Every card starts out born printed past demand so there's no reason to buy them. I'm sure even The Great Henge has mainly dropped in value and that's because when they reprint cards now they invent wild new rarities that obsolete the original printings which makes people feel like they're stupid for collecting.
War of the Spark was a little bit odd to me expanding to Japanese markets but I'd argue it was the last great Magic set and the Horizons product line and Universes Beyond just aren't Magic.
It's even more different than Planeswalkers changed gameplay.
One might even argue that Flashback killed Magic by forcing the graveyard into every color through not just Flashback but other mechanics too like Escape.
I mean, you're not wrong. But that's the origin of the phenomenon of my existence. Because I believe while you're right about many players, I believe what you said applies more to those who own the game and are putting out the sets. Not the designers mind, but their bosses. They're the ones who want Magic to be a stock market instead of a game, because that will make them more money. And in an environment where the best game in the world has been stolen by shareholders and held to ransom for profit, people like me are born. I do have an angry face, and I'm not happy (though I would argue I am having fun. I quite enjoy raging against the machine). BUT the whole reason my channel exists is because I'd had enough, and wasn't hearing my voice represented. I wanted my opinion known. I see smaller channels than me get given Preview Cards, so I know someone at WotC is watching content creators like myself. And that's good, because the more of us that push back the more likely it is that word will spread, which will hopefully affect their bottom line forcing them to change for the better
Now i have a video on hand to help indoctrinate my friends! Thanks Red!
You're welcome I think!
Es perfecto mi amigo
Muchas gracias!
This is a sweet video, definitely a nice change of pace from the cynical stuff (not that cynicism isnt warranted sometimes with magic lol). I def will send this to a few friends who have been thinking about trying the game out, lovely breakdown!
Why thank you very much. And I do try to mix it up, glad it's appriciated
7:58 and money
Well that's true of any format if you're starting out, but yeah you're not wrong
Lately, I've told every new player to buy all their cards 2nd hand, sealed products has been a poor experience the times I've bought them within 2023-24.
Yeah, even just card quality is such a gamble depending on where the cards were printed
@RedBobcatGames That's a good point as well, especialy when you compare it to other tcg's on the market.
100%
I admire your constrain, knowing how much you hate (as anyone with a semblance of taste) UB stuff
Yeah, I tried to make this as welcoming as possible honestly. Kept all my venom to myself
Saying "kitty cats" will get some number of people on-board immediately.
The creature type I've always found gets people interested is Elves weirdly enough. Everyone loves Elves it seems
GOD MADE!
Thank you!
@RedBobcatGames My favourite engagement comment. It's a jacksfilms reference, and I leave one whenever I don't have anything of actual value to say about the video because I hear it helps with the algorithmses :D
I submitted a video to Jacksfilms when I first started the channel, hoping to get Reactbot to watch. Doubt it'll ever happen because I didn't think there was much crossover in terms of audience... and yet here you are haha
Thank you for this amazing guide, as a 27,000 year old women with the mind of a dumbass, I am glad I found something to teach me Magic
You're welcome!
3:22 but probably 90% seven
I get the feeling we'll get a FF7 commander deck for sure
purple spells!
We nearly had them once
See, i like it better when you're like that, there is enough bitterness in the world to not add to it, even in jest
That's fair. I do mix it up quite a bit, but the videos where I'm less bitter are easy to miss as they don't get the views, and so the algorithm doesn't recommend them as much. For a comparion, after this same amount of time my "2025 looks bad" vid with the word "Miserable" in the thumbnail had 13k views compared to this videos 4k. I agree bitterness sucks, but it's what the people want. Supply and demand
Nah. People are bitter but the typical content creature is too afraid of having a real opinion to express any bitterness and put it somewhere for discussion. That makes the red bobcat an exception that fulfills a needed role. Wotc has enough defenders in its community, it needs someone to tell it when it’s gone astray without waffling about it.
@RedBobcatGames I would say it’s less what people want than you’re seemingly the only one that provides a genuine and well argued criticism of magics bad decisions. If I want someone to fluff up the few good decisions like foundations there’s tons of content creators. If I want more than “I’m not happy” for bad decisions there’s only you.
So it is an issue of supply and demand but the cause is a disparity in supply rather than demand. Maybe that’s just my experience though.
@tc5589-1 Yeah that's a fair take. I just hope there's enough demand for whatever it is I'm doing that I can support myself and maybe even expand at some point. I enjoy talking magic with all of you, and with any luck I'll get to keep doing that
My advice to new deck builders (in commander and other casual formats) is to build decks you'd enjoy playing against, then play games with each other's decks.
It gives older players a challenge, and helps new players avoid the "must win" deck building.
That's good advice, and I imagine results in some fun gameplay actually. I agree
I stopped playing Magic Arena after 3 years because I very much dislike the path WOTC have taken. I'm a huge fantasy fan, and loved everything up until Karlov Manor. That and OTJ just wrong. And now I have to get hyped for motorsport and some random IP's I never touched? Not for me. Too bad.
I'm very much in the same boat. I know WotC take a while to react and it's only January... but I'm already hoping 2026 will be a better year
"Cat"roon
Spelling mistake corrected, lol. Thank you
@RedBobcatGames Noooo. It worked. You are a cat lol.
Yeah, but you know what people on the internet can be like haha
How to get started in 2025: don’t.
I jest obviously anyone considering getting into the game currently is doing it knowing the games recent direction.
Yeah, but that's thing. I do believe WotC when they say Universes Beyond brings people in. There will always be newcomers I suspect
@RedBobcatGames almost certainly. It’s just a game for a different audience. Such things happen. I do sincerely hope that the newcomers and those who stay gain the same pleasure from the game I did. Simultaneously I’m sad that I’ve had to move on from magic after 20 years. I still like your videos and some other creators for the reminder but I can’t bring myself to actually invest in play knowing what’s coming this year.