When I asked for this on discord, was just looking for a recommendation for which one to buy. Didn't expect such a thorough analysis. You guys made it awesome!
This should be an absolute staple of the channel but any chance you could do it around Black Friday next year so we can use it as an informed gift giving guide?
As someone that works in an LGS and frequently gets the “which of these precons should I get?” Questions, i really appreciate your breakdown of each of these. I really enjoyed both of the kaldheim precons and felt that asking someone to invest 20$ in a functional deck is WAY more well received than asking them to spend 40$
Just a couple of days ago I visited a game shop that wasn’t my normal one, but I learned that the commander 2020 precons there were still at $40. Picked me up a timeless wisdom deck while I was out, or should I say a $5 discount on fierce guardianship and 99 free cards lol
If you get the chance you should go get kalamax too. Deflecting swat is probably the second best version of those cards. Maybe deadly rollick is second, hard to say really
I love osgir. He motivated me to finally Put together a 4 color artifact deck. So many cool new cards and a fun new Boros theme. I like the reanimating value engine
@@NitpickingNerds I found Ranger Class to be an insanely good card for this deck, as it lets you cast creatures from the top of your deck too. (Also Volo, Guide to Monsters is a personal favourite due to having such a wide variety of creature types in the deck)
My personal favorite was the Wilhelt deck. Most of the precons this year were far better than in the past, and Wilhelt is super easy to upgrade to make really powerful.
Elven empire is definitely my favorite precon from this year because of how many $2+ elf tribal cards there were. There were a couple elves that I tossed out fast but they were easily replaced. If we’re talking about the deck that can make the cheapest upgrades to be a lot better, then I’d say Elven empire is damn near the top if not #1.
Favorite commander of these precons was a lorehold commander, but I chose alibou over osgir. I can’t deny osgir’s power, but the tap artifacts strategy seemed so much more fun for me
Breena wanted your opponents to kill each other while Breena swoop in for the finisher when it's time. It's been a fun deck without much work but sad it's last in your list.
@@Calpinable , totally understand but the so call duds mentioned inside is actually working on the deck and I would rate other few decks to be more on the lower end. But it's their opinion and totally respect it...just sad
@@francischungfs agreed. When you read the cards they rank as duds, they all have synergy with the +1/+1 counters and politics, or the inkling theme. + Felisa is an amazing b commander and when she’s in command, she plays the deck a lot better imo.
Sad to see breena in last place, as a precon with 4 or 5 cards added it has a huge win % in my pod, probably 75%. Keep up the good work nerds, I very much enjoy your daily content
I really enjoyed this video format, and the discussion. I don't have an hour of spare time so appreciate the stamps so I can watch the sections of commanders I was interested in.
Great timing for this video guys. We are starting a league up in January where you have to play one of the precons from this past year. Each week you get to upgrade $14-$22 each week depending on a ranking list that they have. With Coven Counters I would get $22 a week, so that might be a solid choice. Unfortunately Aura of Courage is only $14 per week for upgrades. But it was really good to hear what you guys thought of each of these.
As someone just now getting into EDH and looking at precons you guys really do the best job of breaking down not just the value but the reasons why you’d want to play these decks. Love your videos!!
Would you guys review the old precons for fun? I just want to hear you talk trash about some of the duds they used to toss into them. We’re honestly spoiled now by comparison, not necessarily as a whole, but nowadays the precons play much better out of the box
The best Precon deck was Zombies but the best Commander was Osgir. His ability to recur and copy artifacts is so damn power is absurd! Especially when it's mana artifacts like Grim Monolith and Mana crypt. It's really cool when it gets going
Wilhelt definitely has a great CEILING for what you can BUILD. I have a friend who has been playing Wilhelt out of the box, and it tends to do a lot of nothing in our games because it's fragile. He'll dump 4 or 5 zombies out... then they'll all die to a boardwipe. Rinse and repeat.
I picked up Galea precon same time as MH2 set booster, swapped a few pulls from the box straight in like Kaldrea compleat, Nettlecryst and Esper Sentinel and it almost felt like a real constructed deck with the great mana land base
Just bought the #1 on your list at my LGS yesterday (before seeing this video) and it seems kinda lackluster in comparison to the 5-color deck (not on this list) I bought along side it. In play testing of the two, the equipments are very slow. Maybe the strategy is to get your commander out as fast as possible? Probably just RNG but the deck kept being mana-starved while precon 5-color deck I bought just went nuts with lands and could consistently bring out its 5-7 cost creatures.
I love watching different TH-camrs discuss the 2021 Commanders and comparing/contrasting opinions. There seems to be a lot of consensus that there were a lot of great commanders that had total garbage in the 99.
I build a deck from the Galea precon, with Storvald in command. That giant brought so many great ideas in my head while I discarded the idea of a seven mana commander at the time of spoilers I started going the giant adventure tribal in the end. Stonehewer cares about equipment and Boonweaver cares for auras. Then I thought it cool to bring in intrepid hero to whack opposing creatures, and pump em with the giant if they’re not big enough, or throw a rancor/bloodthirsty blade on them to make valid targets. Then I came up with the adventure cards from Eldraine, starting with Giant Killer and Realm-Cloaked Giant. I think that deck was one of the greatest to go different routes and still do synergistic stuff every turn. What a casual commander gem!
I loved the witherbloom precon. Took out all the cards that gave counters and replaced them with more life draining cards and ramp. I also replaced the commander with Beledros. The deck is very effective.
Breena is probably my favorite this time around. The commander itself, not so much the precon. It makes me play differently from how I typically would. Plus, it's current year, soooooo yay politics, I guess.
Coven counters is my favorite. I bought that and undead unleashed at the same time, and after playing with both, I found Coven Counters and Leinore so great and fun. Sadly because it didn’t have as much “value” as when that and the undead unleashed were announced, most of the players at my lgs went with zombies instead of experiencing the greatness of leinore.
Leinore is such an amazing commander! I recently bought her precon and I wasn't dissapointed. She is such a flavorful commander. I went human tribal btw.
How do you feel about Kyler? At first glance at the cards, Kyler seems like it does a little more for providing an insane amount of counters paired with other cards in the deck. Leinore just provides a single counter and card draw. Just curious why I see more praise for one over the other.
@@bensouder8648 Leinore is still more of an underdog, Kyler while great just paints a target on your back. Although I think is great that both of them make for a great human tribal commander.
@@bensouder8648 I got the precon and swapped to Kyle as my commander, added some cards that give trample and now everyone's scared to play against him. Deck is still weak to flying but man if you can get Kyle out, give creatures trample, and get sigardian zealot or wild beast master its game over provided you can keep him alive. The card that gives him indestructible is good and so is swift foot boots giving him hexproof. I feel like he's more consistent than Lenoire and her ability is good but in a mostly human deck Kyler just makes more sense
Top 3 precons: 1:Prosper 2: Osgir 3: Lathril I never actually played lathril, but i like elf tribal and bought her to upgrade a deck. I do wanna rebuild her though. On a side note, i do have Eloise and Shadrix (and previously beledros) built as commanders, so i enjoyed those as well, even if not directly related
@@malmasterson3890 oh no, i agree, un upgraded, these two are definitely low on the list because they were not built very well out of box, but they have great potential
I run twenty sources of card draw/selection in my wilhelt deck. It's purely a combo deck(no thoracle though I have self respect) that aims to combo off by turn seven in the absolute worst situations, but usually hits 4-6. Rooftop Storm+Acererak/(gravecrawler and a payoff), or poppet sticher with a payoff and wilhelt, but if all else fails ashnods altar getting extra mama off wilhelt to cast a Torment of Hailfire. Definitely my most powerful deck, i call it Zombo Combo
I think you guys are undervalued undead alchemist. Exiling your opponents creatures before they even hit the field, and making a bunch of zombie tokens is great.
I think people missed Robe of stars at first but it's definitely the final piece Voltron decks needs. Because after hexproof and indestructible, the next thing you need is protection from edict effects and cyclonic rift
I play a bunch of Voltron decks and this is going in every one I can put it in. I bought like 10 of the Galea Precons because a lot of those cards are going to be worth money.
I've had my Prosper's commander tax up to 14 and still had no problem getting him out. Crazy value engine and I don't even run any infinites in my build. One of my favorite commanders in my collection and I've been playing since 2003.
I grabbed up Phantom Premonitions week one of release. Every time I bring it to the table as is or with the suggested $50 upgrade, people are always so impressed with how it plays for such a cheap base of cost. I enjoy playing it and so glad it took the better half of this list. Grab it if you haven't it is fun even at base
I’m haven’t played mtg in 2 years and plan to come back this year Do you still recommend the phantom premonitions deck? And if so can you tell me what the $50 upgrade for the deck is or link me a website/ video that has the upgrade list please and thank you!
My favorite is actually the silverquil one. A post on Facebook was saying they played all against each other and it was top 4 as well. It's probably my deck with the highest win rate. No one says oh this deck. It's fun for you and for other people playing. The Ghostly Prison effects are nice when it gets down to 1v1 but the commander makes a fun game of oh I'll hit that player I get cards.
the Wilhelt deck literally just needs minimal tweaking and it's great. I actually switched Gisa and Geralf to be my commander with Wilhelt in the 99, and it already works significantly better in terms of just amassing zombies. They're definitely right about the weird amount of non-zombies though, but there's TONS of amazing zombies to just swap in.
Thank you for this great video and the time you have put in. Maybe you can show at the end a small sheet with all decks and ratings for every topic and overall rating? I love your content.
I get that the precon is a bit underwhelming, but my upgraded Breena deck is my favorite deck. Built with politics, +1 counters, and board wipe resilience as themes in that order. It's also fairly strong. Won me quite a few games.
@@tempestandacomputer6951 things like Felisa, Fang of Silverquill, Basri's Lieutenant, Selfless Spirit, Guardian of Faith, and multi-reanimator effects like Sun Titan and Incarnation Technique. The idea is that if the board ever gets wiped (usually by me), I'm either protected, or the quickest to recover.
Yeah I picked up the Galea and the Adrix and Nev precons this year, switch Adrix and Nev out for Esix, and both have served me REALLY well as my reintroduction to MTG after being out for like 7 years. Esix helped me learn all of the mechanics again and how to order triggers, and Galea got me my first introduction to Voltron and how important it is to be able to cheat equip costs and storm off the top of a deck. Really impressed with both.
Really cool video guys! Helped me filter through some junk in the vampire deck, you should do these kinds of videos every year! Maybe a little earlier in december though so you have time to order one as a gift hehe
As far as the precon decks themselves... I purchased 10/15. I agree with the strength of the Coven deck... but I ultimately bought it to scrap for parts. Out of the box, I'm straight up a Sefris or Osgir fan. But Leinore itself is probably the best commander of 2021 from the precons.
I HATED my vrondiss deck until I switched to klauth. Now it’s one of my favorites. The precon was meh in general. I ended up putting a lot of ramp and changing the creatures around. Throwing in eldrazi, etali, ilharg, etc. Lots of damage doublers and extra combat spells, heroic intervention, wrap in vigor, cauldron of souls, soul of new phyrexia, lots of green card draw, and some removal and x spells. It’s a force now. Not the most powerful but it’s extremely explosive and can win the game seemingly out of nowhere. It’s a lot of fun to play.
New idea for the Grease card, a spoof of Lightning Greaves, Lightning Grease. Equipped creature is unblockable, make it a callback to the meme card Hot Soup
osgir is literaly my first commander.if i were to grab another one of these decks i would pick prosper from afr zombies frommidnight hunt spirits from crimson vow.from strixhaven the quandrix precon the elf one from kaldheim
Prosper player here, if you want a few ideas let me know. He is really fun and it is great if you want to one shot an opponent due to how high his ramping can get.
I need someone to explain why Silverquill statement is the worst of these 15 precons. I don't play the deck, my friend does, and he has a consistent and high winrate against anyone at our table who are playing decks, from mono red burn, r/u combo, b/w lifegain, b/u zombie or mono red dragon tribal. The significant change's he made to it is changing the commander to Shadrix Silverquill.
Osgir for me is nr.1 :) Its a deck that i play A LOT - change a lot in it in time. From simple big artifacts "reanimate" deck with more "discard" outlet - to some fast draw/combo deck - eding now to amazing PL9 deck with STAX staregy and super fast mana... Gaela of me is nr.2 ... its my Favorite deck to play. I tried it in few builds too - but here i one was totaly the most fun and best. You build it as super fast pure equip deck ( Exept ramp Auras - they are amazing !!!) with super low cost for equipments and a lot creatures that lower cost of playing them. So the startegy is to put Gelea in game, and then really CHAIN 10+ cards from top - its amazing FUN :D What is best - even if i build this deck reallllyyy good (Great mana base - fetches etc. - all best equipments like Swords - and all best stuff to manipulate library + a lot Tutors) its not OP , and you can play it even in "lower" PL table - sure you can like make Galea 11/11 with DS in turn 4-5 ... but thats is still easy to STOP, and in best case scenario can kill 1 player... Nr.3 is elf deck... i love the deck i build based on the Pre-Con... problem is after all my upgrades and cards i want to run... i end up with may 20 cards from orginal deck ;P I still love my elf deck - but i could just buy the cards i needed - not the full Pre-Con... ;P
My personal top 2021 precon (only referencing those I own): (1) Osgir - made boros great again (2) Prosper - cool mechanics (3) Vrondiss - dice rolling is fun (4) Lathril - elves, easy to upgrade (5) Wilhelt - doesn’t even need upgrades (6) Ranar - unique feel (7) Leinore - GW humans, lots of synergies (8) Esix / Adrix and Nev - simic goodness, kind of generic (9) Galea - wanted to love but plays like a dud most games
@TemurTimmy for sure. I couldn’t believe it when Galea was their #1. Value aside, it’s one of the biggest letdowns in terms of gameplay of any precon I’ve bought (and I’ve been buying precons since the OG 2011 set).
I recommend monologue tax, it is very good. Nearly always you get the mana out of it the first round it’s down, and I play it in a token synergy deck, so it really goes off. But since it’s not super insane it often stays around for quite a while since there are better removal targets
This video' was great. I played out of the box coven counters, and this pointed out the issues I had. Couldn't draw cards after consecutive board wipes, and not enough removal
Yea. I wish they'd bring them back too. I managed to get all 6. Sadly I think that WOTC won't bother with the £20 any more as people will buy the higher price ones
Great video and great subject 👍 keep it up guys I’m an idiot and buy every commander deck no matter what lol those reprints and new cards get me every time
Surprised to see Wilhelt so low...he very quickly eclipsed 2k decks on edhrec (really really popular), and when the deck was spoiled, it represented the most value of any precon to date. Interesting to see what the value is NOW though...on preview, cards like rooftop storm & endless ranks (which sucks, but still...haha) were like $15 & $20 reprints. For my vote, the Propser deck was the best. So fun, even when it was just spinning its wheel it was fun, haha. Such a cool take on Rakdos. Osgir was probably the strongest overall though...
Proper is my favorite for sure. Because wilhelt was probably the most popular of all these decks the market was flooded with reprints for him. Driving the value waay down.
I replaced a bunch of cards with 5 cmc and X spells, and that deck is a lot of fun. A bit slow to ramp, but then always triggering the 5 and 10 cmc effects. I think the other strategy of cheating out big spells might be more powerful for its ability to combo, but X-spells hold up decently in a combat meta. It’s too bad you can’t mix strategies since cheating out an X spell is almost always a waste.
The four Innistrad decks are just awesome, one of the best worlds from MtG loaded with tried and true themes. I also think Kaldheim moving MtG into Norse Mythology is a great direction, but the set felt very lackluster... they spread their Gods too thin when a mono-colored Odin, Frigg, Thor, Loki, and Heimdall would have been more than enough. The uncommon Kaldheim legends though pretty weak are just far more cool and interesting. (Ranar also feels more like Odin than Alrund) :^)
Still playing Prosper and Osgir, very happy with those decks. I bought the Galea deck, converted it to a Tuvasa enchantments deck, and now I have a pile of equipment support.
Big D & D nerd, I got both prosper and Gaelia. I love them both, but Prosper is crazy. Threw birgi in and Laelia blade reforged, and with maybe five other additions, it has been going crazy
I have to say, I really disagree with the idea that basic lands are themselves a problem. I’d much rather have basics in my Precon than too many ETB taplands that I draw late and have to sit with. Now, if land count is too high, that’s a different story, but I think that’s a different argument to be had
I actually disagree heavily with galea and leinore being the best 2021 precons out of the box. Leinore needs a pretty significant rebuild to be a half decent deck and galea is extremely unfocussed since its aura and equipment matters. Osgir, prosper and wilhelt eat these 2 decks for lunch, and its really not even close
@@joshholmes1372 Tbh i think the vrondiss precon is among the worst of this year, its a slow clunky mess. The average CMC of that deck is far, far too high, and it lacks the ramp to make the stompy theme actually work.
would have loved to hear more about the mana bases, quality of Mana Rocks and Dual Lands in particular. like there ought to be a series of boxes to be checked for "does this have the rocks" when evaluating Precons, "oh, sol ring and Arcane Signet, check and check. relevant Ravnica Signets?" etc etc. and the lands, are we talkin' tap lands, we talkin' Temples, we talkin' Fetches, Sac Lands, Shocklands, what are we signing on for? Maybe not in this format comparing a great number of decks, but maybe in a head to head or within a 4-5 precon release, assessing the Mana Base in detail would be uh... nitpicking.
why is windborne muse and ghostly prison considered bad or a dud? from my perspective it is pretty good right? stop people from attacking you or at least discourage it
I was really hoping Galea would get it. As a longtime fan of Bant Voltron, super cool to see a natural upgrade/evolution to my boy Rafiq. That deck truly was stacked!
As someone who just barely getting into magic crossing over from other tcg games. Love the way this game plays and how much more fun it is vs other games that are I’d consider more “serious” all the time. Anyway I have ZERO magic cards and I have very little experience with the game. Which deck should I shoot for? Thanks for any help!:)
My main deck currently is Galea Enchantress deck and going into this video, I'm ready to expect Galea to be on the low number, maybe around 9. Didn't expect her precon to be number 1 lmao.
Osgir and Millicent are my two favs from the year. I can't believe how strong prosper is tho. I completely underestimated and missed that one, but I think that's because i was focused on kindler of hope.
One of Wilheldt's biggest detractions is that almost all of its reprints were only expensive due to supply and cratered when it was reprinted, and out of all the precons I've upgraded this year, I've taken the least number of cards out of it (adrix and nev is basically a completely different deck)
Funny that the Leinore deck and the Adrix and Nev could really profit from some switch ups, the green token makers from Leinore to AnN and the green counter cards from AnN to Leinore
Breena was by far my most favorite commander of this year and what prompted me to pre-order the deck, Silverquill Statement literally worst deck I've ever seen and I spent 50 dollars on 3 cards lol At least I have this dope orzhov aggro deck now
I started playing commander a few months ago and my first deck was to be the Wilhelt one. I bought the pre-order, but that same day I was invited to play with some friends, so I had to buy a deck to play right away if I wanted to participate. I ended up picking Silverquill Statement cuz it looked interesting. To this day, my Breena deck is feared among our casual table and Wilhelt is still waiting to get the cards it needs to keep up with some of the stuff I get to play against. Breena, by far, my most beloved commander, even if she isnt crazy good by herself.
My first commander was Galea Kindler of hope. I hated it as it was my first time playing magic, that opinion changed after watching the upgrade video you guys did. I bought Osgir after ya’lls video came out as well. I have loved them both ever sense. Right now I’m trying to figure out if I want to make Ranar spirit/fortell tribal my third deck. :^)
My favorite precon was Prosper. I upgraded it and have so much fun playing with it. It did so well the first couple of times that he now gets targeted by my play group.
@@NitpickingNerds oh sry you are right so I must have missed it. One question: would you leave predators hour in the vampire deck or take it out? And there are so many strong creatures so is molten echos really so bad in this deck?
How legit are these guys, should I trust every word as a new player or what?? I used to play about 10 years ago and forest/island were my favorite combos trying to make a 3 element deck with those 2 included.. any recommendations??👀👀 My friends I play with are pretty good 🥵🥵
Replacing the silverquill commander with straight up shadrix is probably your best bet, he does everything that the deck wants to do without being weird about it
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When I asked for this on discord, was just looking for a recommendation for which one to buy. Didn't expect such a thorough analysis. You guys made it awesome!
We loved the suggestion a lot!
It was a great suggestion
This should be an absolute staple of the channel but any chance you could do it around Black Friday next year so we can use it as an informed gift giving guide?
@@finks1 luckily we have boxing day in Canada. Hopefully some of these will be in sale if stores are trying to clear stock lol
They’re the best mtg channel for a reason!!
As someone that works in an LGS and frequently gets the “which of these precons should I get?” Questions, i really appreciate your breakdown of each of these. I really enjoyed both of the kaldheim precons and felt that asking someone to invest 20$ in a functional deck is WAY more well received than asking them to spend 40$
Just a couple of days ago I visited a game shop that wasn’t my normal one, but I learned that the commander 2020 precons there were still at $40. Picked me up a timeless wisdom deck while I was out, or should I say a $5 discount on fierce guardianship and 99 free cards lol
That's a nice deal!
If you get the chance you should go get kalamax too. Deflecting swat is probably the second best version of those cards. Maybe deadly rollick is second, hard to say really
@@bladetb3934 yeah I probably will after Christmas bc they did have arcane maelstrom too, and I already have deadly rollick from symbiotic swarm
Love this kind of thing. I lucked into a Mystic Intellect deck the same way. $40, thanks for the Dockside Extortionist.
Similar thing happened at mine with the 2019 sevinne deck, got dockside for $40 and 99 other cards for free :D
I love osgir. He motivated me to finally
Put together a 4 color artifact deck. So many cool new cards and a fun new Boros theme. I like the reanimating value engine
He is an awesome boros commander
What's your commander?
@@5allum i assume Breya, i did the same thing lol
@@fader72 Nah, Atraxa is the real deal when building artifacts😉
Rags on him for mentioning sol ring continuously. No issues with mentioning command tower every time.
I spent so long trying to figure out which deck to buy, decided to last minute change my mind to Aura of Courage. So glad I did, is a great precon
It’s so awesome!!!
@@NitpickingNerds I found Ranger Class to be an insanely good card for this deck, as it lets you cast creatures from the top of your deck too.
(Also Volo, Guide to Monsters is a personal favourite due to having such a wide variety of creature types in the deck)
@@pentamagic ranger class seems solid maybe augur of autumn would be good as well
@@NitpickingNerds The holy trifecta
Note to self:
Wilhelt: 13:30
Coven counters: 54:38
Love my prosper deck. I play dnd and was so excited to build prosper. I had know idea I would be building such a powerful/fun deck
My personal favorite was the Wilhelt deck. Most of the precons this year were far better than in the past, and Wilhelt is super easy to upgrade to make really powerful.
Elven empire is definitely my favorite precon from this year because of how many $2+ elf tribal cards there were. There were a couple elves that I tossed out fast but they were easily replaced. If we’re talking about the deck that can make the cheapest upgrades to be a lot better, then I’d say Elven empire is damn near the top if not #1.
Favorite commander of these precons was a lorehold commander, but I chose alibou over osgir. I can’t deny osgir’s power, but the tap artifacts strategy seemed so much more fun for me
Breena wanted your opponents to kill each other while Breena swoop in for the finisher when it's time. It's been a fun deck without much work but sad it's last in your list.
Based on their videos before, the issue is not Breena or the idea of the deck but the card choices for the deck itself.
@@Calpinable , totally understand but the so call duds mentioned inside is actually working on the deck and I would rate other few decks to be more on the lower end. But it's their opinion and totally respect it...just sad
@@francischungfs agreed. When you read the cards they rank as duds, they all have synergy with the +1/+1 counters and politics, or the inkling theme. + Felisa is an amazing b commander and when she’s in command, she plays the deck a lot better imo.
Sad to see breena in last place, as a precon with 4 or 5 cards added it has a huge win % in my pod, probably 75%. Keep up the good work nerds, I very much enjoy your daily content
Thanks a lot! Yeah a lot of these precons change drastically with upgrades
I really enjoyed this video format, and the discussion. I don't have an hour of spare time so appreciate the stamps so I can watch the sections of commanders I was interested in.
Great timing for this video guys. We are starting a league up in January where you have to play one of the precons from this past year. Each week you get to upgrade $14-$22 each week depending on a ranking list that they have. With Coven Counters I would get $22 a week, so that might be a solid choice. Unfortunately Aura of Courage is only $14 per week for upgrades. But it was really good to hear what you guys thought of each of these.
As someone just now getting into EDH and looking at precons you guys really do the best job of breaking down not just the value but the reasons why you’d want to play these decks. Love your videos!!
I slept on Coven Counters so hard. Just played it out of the box as is and it was great. Ordered the cards from your guys upgrade video.
Awesome, hope it performs well for you!
Would you guys review the old precons for fun? I just want to hear you talk trash about some of the duds they used to toss into them. We’re honestly spoiled now by comparison, not necessarily as a whole, but nowadays the precons play much better out of the box
I second this!
Dang. 57k subs. Seems like a week ago you guys did the 50k mail opening. Great job guys!
We are becoming 🌟mainstream🌟
The best Precon deck was Zombies but the best Commander was Osgir. His ability to recur and copy artifacts is so damn power is absurd! Especially when it's mana artifacts like Grim Monolith and Mana crypt. It's really cool when it gets going
The best is Zombies or your favorite is Zombies?
Definitely not the best power level wise.
Wilhelt definitely has a great CEILING for what you can BUILD. I have a friend who has been playing Wilhelt out of the box, and it tends to do a lot of nothing in our games because it's fragile. He'll dump 4 or 5 zombies out... then they'll all die to a boardwipe. Rinse and repeat.
@@Mr_B_251 with an under $50 upgrade it can easily be the best of all the decks this year
Wilhelt is great. You just gotta replace 5-10 duds for some great zombies.
@@lukecullen7934 Right. That's what I was saying. WILHELT is a great commander. The deck STRAIGHT out of the box... not so much.
I picked up Galea precon same time as MH2 set booster, swapped a few pulls from the box straight in like Kaldrea compleat, Nettlecryst and Esper Sentinel and it almost felt like a real constructed deck with the great mana land base
oh boy was i sweating the whole day. lunch time came, no neds. finally dinner time and nerds! cheers!
I'm sorry you were so sweaty today! 😂
Just bought the #1 on your list at my LGS yesterday (before seeing this video) and it seems kinda lackluster in comparison to the 5-color deck (not on this list) I bought along side it. In play testing of the two, the equipments are very slow. Maybe the strategy is to get your commander out as fast as possible? Probably just RNG but the deck kept being mana-starved while precon 5-color deck I bought just went nuts with lands and could consistently bring out its 5-7 cost creatures.
I love watching different TH-camrs discuss the 2021 Commanders and comparing/contrasting opinions. There seems to be a lot of consensus that there were a lot of great commanders that had total garbage in the 99.
I build a deck from the Galea precon, with Storvald in command.
That giant brought so many great ideas in my head while I discarded the idea of a seven mana commander at the time of spoilers I started going the giant adventure tribal in the end.
Stonehewer cares about equipment and Boonweaver cares for auras.
Then I thought it cool to bring in intrepid hero to whack opposing creatures, and pump em with the giant if they’re not big enough, or throw a rancor/bloodthirsty blade on them to make valid targets. Then I came up with the adventure cards from Eldraine, starting with Giant Killer and Realm-Cloaked Giant. I think that deck was one of the greatest to go different routes and still do synergistic stuff every turn. What a casual commander gem!
I loved the witherbloom precon. Took out all the cards that gave counters and replaced them with more life draining cards and ramp. I also replaced the commander with Beledros. The deck is very effective.
Breena is probably my favorite this time around. The commander itself, not so much the precon. It makes me play differently from how I typically would. Plus, it's current year, soooooo yay politics, I guess.
Breena is awesome! We can't talk about it for too long or else we get cancelled for talking politics :p
Breena is the most underrated card of the year, I play her in all my decks she can fit. She draws so many cards! No need any synergy or politics.
Awesome video! Chef's kiss!!!!! Thank you for your advice and opinions. You guys are great. Keep up the good work 👍☺️
Coven counters is my favorite. I bought that and undead unleashed at the same time, and after playing with both, I found Coven Counters and Leinore so great and fun. Sadly because it didn’t have as much “value” as when that and the undead unleashed were announced, most of the players at my lgs went with zombies instead of experiencing the greatness of leinore.
Leinore is such an amazing commander! I recently bought her precon and I wasn't dissapointed. She is such a flavorful commander. I went human tribal btw.
How do you feel about Kyler? At first glance at the cards, Kyler seems like it does a little more for providing an insane amount of counters paired with other cards in the deck. Leinore just provides a single counter and card draw. Just curious why I see more praise for one over the other.
@@bensouder8648 Leinore is still more of an underdog, Kyler while great just paints a target on your back. Although I think is great that both of them make for a great human tribal commander.
@@TroostDesigned good point, I guess theres an art form to having a solid commander but not one that's going to make everyone go for you every time
@@bensouder8648 I got the precon and swapped to Kyle as my commander, added some cards that give trample and now everyone's scared to play against him. Deck is still weak to flying but man if you can get Kyle out, give creatures trample, and get sigardian zealot or wild beast master its game over provided you can keep him alive. The card that gives him indestructible is good and so is swift foot boots giving him hexproof. I feel like he's more consistent than Lenoire and her ability is good but in a mostly human deck Kyler just makes more sense
Top 3 precons:
1:Prosper
2: Osgir
3: Lathril
I never actually played lathril, but i like elf tribal and bought her to upgrade a deck. I do wanna rebuild her though. On a side note, i do have Eloise and Shadrix (and previously beledros) built as commanders, so i enjoyed those as well, even if not directly related
I think these are certainly the best commanders, but you really have to play the precons to understand why Lathril & Osgir fell a bit lower.
@@malmasterson3890 oh no, i agree, un upgraded, these two are definitely low on the list because they were not built very well out of box, but they have great potential
I run twenty sources of card draw/selection in my wilhelt deck. It's purely a combo deck(no thoracle though I have self respect) that aims to combo off by turn seven in the absolute worst situations, but usually hits 4-6. Rooftop Storm+Acererak/(gravecrawler and a payoff), or poppet sticher with a payoff and wilhelt, but if all else fails ashnods altar getting extra mama off wilhelt to cast a Torment of Hailfire. Definitely my most powerful deck, i call it Zombo Combo
How does it feel that y’all
Made the market watch with ritual of the machines caused a price spike y’all are official now lol
I saw that! Didn’t see us mentioned but it correlates pretty well 😂
Yeah they gave y’all a shoutout said nitpicking needs
I think you guys are undervalued undead alchemist. Exiling your opponents creatures before they even hit the field, and making a bunch of zombie tokens is great.
I think people missed Robe of stars at first but it's definitely the final piece Voltron decks needs. Because after hexproof and indestructible, the next thing you need is protection from edict effects and cyclonic rift
I play a bunch of Voltron decks and this is going in every one I can put it in. I bought like 10 of the Galea Precons because a lot of those cards are going to be worth money.
Excellent analysis , it checks all the boxes. Subscribed immediately. Only 1 question, how Hellish Rebuke is not good ? I think the card it is great.
I've had my Prosper's commander tax up to 14 and still had no problem getting him out. Crazy value engine and I don't even run any infinites in my build. One of my favorite commanders in my collection and I've been playing since 2003.
I grabbed up Phantom Premonitions week one of release. Every time I bring it to the table as is or with the suggested $50 upgrade, people are always so impressed with how it plays for such a cheap base of cost. I enjoy playing it and so glad it took the better half of this list. Grab it if you haven't it is fun even at base
I’m haven’t played mtg in 2 years and plan to come back this year
Do you still recommend the phantom premonitions deck? And if so can you tell me what the $50 upgrade for the deck is or link me a website/ video that has the upgrade list please and thank you!
My favorite is actually the silverquil one. A post on Facebook was saying they played all against each other and it was top 4 as well. It's probably my deck with the highest win rate. No one says oh this deck. It's fun for you and for other people playing. The Ghostly Prison effects are nice when it gets down to 1v1 but the commander makes a fun game of oh I'll hit that player I get cards.
Osgir is top in terms of boosting boros artifact support
He is awesome
He was far and away my favorite from Strixhaven.
the Wilhelt deck literally just needs minimal tweaking and it's great. I actually switched Gisa and Geralf to be my commander with Wilhelt in the 99, and it already works significantly better in terms of just amassing zombies.
They're definitely right about the weird amount of non-zombies though, but there's TONS of amazing zombies to just swap in.
birthday lad is me today, thanks for the wishes guys
Happy happy! Another year older
Thank you for this great video and the time you have put in. Maybe you can show at the end a small sheet with all decks and ratings for every topic and overall rating? I love your content.
Thanks for the feedback, glad you enjoy!
I get that the precon is a bit underwhelming, but my upgraded Breena deck is my favorite deck. Built with politics, +1 counters, and board wipe resilience as themes in that order. It's also fairly strong. Won me quite a few games.
Can you expand on "board wipe resilience "?
@@tempestandacomputer6951 things like Felisa, Fang of Silverquill, Basri's Lieutenant, Selfless Spirit, Guardian of Faith, and multi-reanimator effects like Sun Titan and Incarnation Technique. The idea is that if the board ever gets wiped (usually by me), I'm either protected, or the quickest to recover.
Yeah I picked up the Galea and the Adrix and Nev precons this year, switch Adrix and Nev out for Esix, and both have served me REALLY well as my reintroduction to MTG after being out for like 7 years. Esix helped me learn all of the mechanics again and how to order triggers, and Galea got me my first introduction to Voltron and how important it is to be able to cheat equip costs and storm off the top of a deck. Really impressed with both.
This is an amazing wrap up video. Great choice of key information about each deck.
Coven counters is solid. I love Kyler, he is expensive but so explosive. Give me a turn or so after I play him and I will swing the table for lethal.
Really cool video guys! Helped me filter through some junk in the vampire deck, you should do these kinds of videos every year! Maybe a little earlier in december though so you have time to order one as a gift hehe
As far as the precon decks themselves... I purchased 10/15. I agree with the strength of the Coven deck... but I ultimately bought it to scrap for parts. Out of the box, I'm straight up a Sefris or Osgir fan. But Leinore itself is probably the best commander of 2021 from the precons.
I'm pumped with Galea's placement! She's who I chose to get into edh with, and I'm happy to see her getting love!
Thanks. perfect video for my birthday as the precon guy in my play group
So convenient!
This is the perfect video i needed right now. Happy holidays, Nerds!
I HATED my vrondiss deck until I switched to klauth. Now it’s one of my favorites. The precon was meh in general. I ended up putting a lot of ramp and changing the creatures around. Throwing in eldrazi, etali, ilharg, etc. Lots of damage doublers and extra combat spells, heroic intervention, wrap in vigor, cauldron of souls, soul of new phyrexia, lots of green card draw, and some removal and x spells. It’s a force now. Not the most powerful but it’s extremely explosive and can win the game seemingly out of nowhere. It’s a lot of fun to play.
Great idea for a video. Keep up the great work, can't wait for games.
I literally cannot wait for my birthday video
When is it?
New idea for the Grease card, a spoof of Lightning Greaves, Lightning Grease. Equipped creature is unblockable, make it a callback to the meme card Hot Soup
Flavor text: "Comin' through!"
osgir is literaly my first commander.if i were to grab another one of these decks i would pick prosper from afr zombies frommidnight hunt spirits from crimson vow.from strixhaven the quandrix precon the elf one from kaldheim
A great place to start
Prosper player here, if you want a few ideas let me know. He is really fun and it is great if you want to one shot an opponent due to how high his ramping can get.
If you don't already know. This is an excellent video guys. Best of this quarter....so far😉
Thank you!!
I need someone to explain why Silverquill statement is the worst of these 15 precons. I don't play the deck, my friend does, and he has a consistent and high winrate against anyone at our table who are playing decks, from mono red burn, r/u combo, b/w lifegain, b/u zombie or mono red dragon tribal. The significant change's he made to it is changing the commander to Shadrix Silverquill.
At what sub count is Joe changing his last name legally to cherries
250,000
Great idea for a video! Absolutely love it!
Osgir for me is nr.1 :) Its a deck that i play A LOT - change a lot in it in time. From simple big artifacts "reanimate" deck with more "discard" outlet - to some fast draw/combo deck - eding now to amazing PL9 deck with STAX staregy and super fast mana...
Gaela of me is nr.2 ... its my Favorite deck to play. I tried it in few builds too - but here i one was totaly the most fun and best. You build it as super fast pure equip deck ( Exept ramp Auras - they are amazing !!!) with super low cost for equipments and a lot creatures that lower cost of playing them. So the startegy is to put Gelea in game, and then really CHAIN 10+ cards from top - its amazing FUN :D What is best - even if i build this deck reallllyyy good (Great mana base - fetches etc. - all best equipments like Swords - and all best stuff to manipulate library + a lot Tutors) its not OP , and you can play it even in "lower" PL table - sure you can like make Galea 11/11 with DS in turn 4-5 ... but thats is still easy to STOP, and in best case scenario can kill 1 player...
Nr.3 is elf deck... i love the deck i build based on the Pre-Con... problem is after all my upgrades and cards i want to run... i end up with may 20 cards from orginal deck ;P I still love my elf deck - but i could just buy the cards i needed - not the full Pre-Con... ;P
39:38 dam right about deluge, Beezy. been running it on my Unesh list and it's SICK!
It’s a less hated version of Cyclonic Rift 😂
My personal top 2021 precon (only referencing those I own):
(1) Osgir - made boros great again
(2) Prosper - cool mechanics
(3) Vrondiss - dice rolling is fun
(4) Lathril - elves, easy to upgrade
(5) Wilhelt - doesn’t even need upgrades
(6) Ranar - unique feel
(7) Leinore - GW humans, lots of synergies
(8) Esix / Adrix and Nev - simic goodness, kind of generic
(9) Galea - wanted to love but plays like a dud most games
@TemurTimmy for sure. I couldn’t believe it when Galea was their #1. Value aside, it’s one of the biggest letdowns in terms of gameplay of any precon I’ve bought (and I’ve been buying precons since the OG 2011 set).
Agreed. Galea is so slow and gets smashed by removal and face beatdown before it can get going.
I recommend monologue tax, it is very good. Nearly always you get the mana out of it the first round it’s down, and I play it in a token synergy deck, so it really goes off. But since it’s not super insane it often stays around for quite a while since there are better removal targets
I play ghostly prison in my Jared Carthalion Deck. The Deck want's to keep the Monarch. Ghostly Prison is actually a decent way to achieve it.
Don’t let these guys fool you, given their opinion on certain cards I’d say their playgroup isn’t into winning games through fair and square combat.
This video' was great. I played out of the box coven counters, and this pointed out the issues I had. Couldn't draw cards after consecutive board wipes, and not enough removal
Thx for the birthday shoutout
I wish they did more of the cheaper precons, they were well built and generally a great help in getting me started with EDH
The $20 decks were honestly slam-dunks, maybe they'll mix it up and bring them back!
Yea. I wish they'd bring them back too. I managed to get all 6. Sadly I think that WOTC won't bother with the £20 any more as people will buy the higher price ones
Great video and great subject 👍 keep it up guys I’m an idiot and buy every commander deck no matter what lol those reprints and new cards get me every time
Would be really great if when you're listing what you're judging the cards on, you had some text pop up. Great episode.
Surprised to see Wilhelt so low...he very quickly eclipsed 2k decks on edhrec (really really popular), and when the deck was spoiled, it represented the most value of any precon to date. Interesting to see what the value is NOW though...on preview, cards like rooftop storm & endless ranks (which sucks, but still...haha) were like $15 & $20 reprints. For my vote, the Propser deck was the best. So fun, even when it was just spinning its wheel it was fun, haha. Such a cool take on Rakdos. Osgir was probably the strongest overall though...
Proper is my favorite for sure. Because wilhelt was probably the most popular of all these decks the market was flooded with reprints for him. Driving the value waay down.
New sub here great video I absolutely love dragon shield as well can't wait to watch more videos thanks guys. I look forward to supporting the channel
Zaffai is a real fun deck but I changed more than half of the precon. Tried to keep the theme of 5 cmc or greater to make 4/4's and win through combat
I replaced a bunch of cards with 5 cmc and X spells, and that deck is a lot of fun. A bit slow to ramp, but then always triggering the 5 and 10 cmc effects. I think the other strategy of cheating out big spells might be more powerful for its ability to combo, but X-spells hold up decently in a combat meta. It’s too bad you can’t mix strategies since cheating out an X spell is almost always a waste.
@@kyledsweeney yeah I only run 3 x spells
I had Butcher of Malakir and Skullclamp out and just completely took over the game
I’ve been meaning to ask - who put Solgaleo on the shelf in the background?
I’m bummed tomorrow is likely a short because Beezy won’t tell me happy birthday. I’ll take the early one today- thanks!
The four Innistrad decks are just awesome, one of the best worlds from MtG loaded with tried and true themes. I also think Kaldheim moving MtG into Norse Mythology is a great direction, but the set felt very lackluster... they spread their Gods too thin when a mono-colored Odin, Frigg, Thor, Loki, and Heimdall would have been more than enough. The uncommon Kaldheim legends though pretty weak are just far more cool and interesting. (Ranar also feels more like Odin than Alrund) :^)
Still playing Prosper and Osgir, very happy with those decks. I bought the Galea deck, converted it to a Tuvasa enchantments deck, and now I have a pile of equipment support.
Big D & D nerd, I got both prosper and Gaelia. I love them both, but Prosper is crazy. Threw birgi in and Laelia blade reforged, and with maybe five other additions, it has been going crazy
I have to say, I really disagree with the idea that basic lands are themselves a problem. I’d much rather have basics in my Precon than too many ETB taplands that I draw late and have to sit with. Now, if land count is too high, that’s a different story, but I think that’s a different argument to be had
I actually disagree heavily with galea and leinore being the best 2021 precons out of the box. Leinore needs a pretty significant rebuild to be a half decent deck and galea is extremely unfocussed since its aura and equipment matters. Osgir, prosper and wilhelt eat these 2 decks for lunch, and its really not even close
Vrondiss even. He just smashes their face in while they get up to speed. Actual play experience matches. Prosper and wilhelt definitely slap.
@@joshholmes1372 Tbh i think the vrondiss precon is among the worst of this year, its a slow clunky mess. The average CMC of that deck is far, far too high, and it lacks the ramp to make the stompy theme actually work.
would have loved to hear more about the mana bases, quality of Mana Rocks and Dual Lands in particular. like there ought to be a series of boxes to be checked for "does this have the rocks" when evaluating Precons, "oh, sol ring and Arcane Signet, check and check. relevant Ravnica Signets?" etc etc.
and the lands, are we talkin' tap lands, we talkin' Temples, we talkin' Fetches, Sac Lands, Shocklands, what are we signing on for? Maybe not in this format comparing a great number of decks, but maybe in a head to head or within a 4-5 precon release, assessing the Mana Base in detail would be uh... nitpicking.
why is windborne muse and ghostly prison considered bad or a dud? from my perspective it is pretty good right? stop people from attacking you or at least discourage it
The coven counters deck is amazing, I picked it up when my gameshop had a sale on it, dropping it to $20, so far its been really powerful
I picked her Precon at $25 at I'm so glad I did, people hadn't realize what an amazing commander she is.
That precon is actually ranked dog shit on every list except this one LMFAO.
@@Slabri it's strange because so far everytime I've used it ive gotten 3-4 massive creatures by turn 5
Selfless squire is actually an incredible card that has won me more games than I can count that I would otherwise have lost
I was really hoping Galea would get it. As a longtime fan of Bant Voltron, super cool to see a natural upgrade/evolution to my boy Rafiq. That deck truly was stacked!
As someone who just barely getting into magic crossing over from other tcg games. Love the way this game plays and how much more fun it is vs other games that are I’d consider more “serious” all the time. Anyway I have ZERO magic cards and I have very little experience with the game. Which deck should I shoot for? Thanks for any help!:)
My main deck currently is Galea Enchantress deck and going into this video, I'm ready to expect Galea to be on the low number, maybe around 9. Didn't expect her precon to be number 1 lmao.
Osgir and Millicent are my two favs from the year. I can't believe how strong prosper is tho. I completely underestimated and missed that one, but I think that's because i was focused on kindler of hope.
One of Wilheldt's biggest detractions is that almost all of its reprints were only expensive due to supply and cratered when it was reprinted, and out of all the precons I've upgraded this year, I've taken the least number of cards out of it (adrix and nev is basically a completely different deck)
Funny that the Leinore deck and the Adrix and Nev could really profit from some switch ups, the green token makers from Leinore to AnN and the green counter cards from AnN to Leinore
Breena was by far my most favorite commander of this year and what prompted me to pre-order the deck, Silverquill Statement literally worst deck I've ever seen and I spent 50 dollars on 3 cards lol At least I have this dope orzhov aggro deck now
I started playing commander a few months ago and my first deck was to be the Wilhelt one. I bought the pre-order, but that same day I was invited to play with some friends, so I had to buy a deck to play right away if I wanted to participate. I ended up picking Silverquill Statement cuz it looked interesting. To this day, my Breena deck is feared among our casual table and Wilhelt is still waiting to get the cards it needs to keep up with some of the stuff I get to play against.
Breena, by far, my most beloved commander, even if she isnt crazy good by herself.
Shacklegeist has litterally won me games. Using tokens to tap down big stuff feels great. I even put Opposition in this 😊
My first commander was Galea Kindler of hope. I hated it as it was my first time playing magic, that opinion changed after watching the upgrade video you guys did. I bought Osgir after ya’lls video came out as well. I have loved them both ever sense. Right now I’m trying to figure out if I want to make Ranar spirit/fortell tribal my third deck. :^)
Aw, that's super fun! Glad we could help you out to enjoy them more!
Mr thunder collector conductor was one of my favourite decks to pilot.
My favorite precon was Prosper. I upgraded it and have so much fun playing with it. It did so well the first couple of times that he now gets targeted by my play group.
Thx for the video. But didnt you forget some decks like the Kaldheim and Innistrad Spirit-Decks?
They were all on here
@@NitpickingNerds oh sry you are right so I must have missed it.
One question: would you leave predators hour in the vampire deck or take it out?
And there are so many strong creatures so is molten echos really so bad in this deck?
How legit are these guys, should I trust every word as a new player or what?? I used to play about 10 years ago and forest/island were my favorite combos trying to make a 3 element deck with those 2 included.. any recommendations??👀👀 My friends I play with are pretty good 🥵🥵
Replacing the silverquill commander with straight up shadrix is probably your best bet, he does everything that the deck wants to do without being weird about it
I think I'm a sucker for cards that let you look at the top card of your library anytime