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MTG - The New Player's Guide To Planeswalker Decks for Magic: The Gathering
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 พ.ค. 2017
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Wizards of the Coast claims Planeswalker Decks are the best first purchase for a new player, once they've learned the game through either Magic Duels or a Welcome Deck, but also intend for the deck’s features to appeal to experienced players as well.
This video will examine what Planeswalker Decks are, what they contain, what purpose they serve, and who they are for. Although this video will use as its examples and illustrations the Amonkhet Planeswalker Decks, unless significant changes are made to the product, it can be applied to future decks as well.
Please Note: This video is intended as a guide to the product for brand new Magic the gathering players. For a more detailed and critical analysis from the
Perspective of an active Magic player, be sure to check out my “Is It Worth It” video for Planeswalker Decks linked in this video’s description.
What Is A Planeswalker Deck?
Planeswalker Decks are a product intended to teach brand new players the basic strategy of magic the gathering, the game's settings, its characters, and to simply provide that very first 60 card deck to begin their Magic journey with.
These decks are for one person and one person only: brand new players with no or perhaps almost no Magic cards whatsoever. They are meant as a first purchase and a first deck. Again, the analogy of training wheels is one I feel is most apt.
In conclusion, Planeswalker Decks are an acceptable first purchase for a brand new Magic player, however they are far from a vital one. They can make a gift for a younger player just getting into the game, and they can serve as a beginner’s deck for fun and practice, but there’s a lot of other options out there, including Deckbuilder’s Toolkits, Rookie and Battle Decks, And Simply Attending a prerelease.
Speaking critically, once a brand new player has purchased one Planeswalker Deck, they have no need to ever do so again. Established players do not ever need to purchase a Planeswalker Deck. Again, my more detailed critical analysis from the Perspective of an active player can be found in my “Is It Worth It” video for Planeswalker Decks linked in this video’s description.
For a more critical analysis, be sure to check out "Is it worth it to buy a Planeswalker Deck" here: th-cam.com/video/uH3rF9GdBv0/w-d-xo.html
I got a couple of planeswalker decks to teach friends new to the game how to play. They helped me when I got started back in Kaladesh and I hope new players find them useful as well to learn the basic game mechanics.
Tolarian Community College Hey, could you do a video listing and explaining all the color tribes? You know, like how Blue and Green are considered Simic, or White+Blue+Black is considered Esper?
TCZ not only that they can be made fnm ready fairly cheap i added about $45 to a tesserat deck and made a solid blue/black improvize control deck that place high at game day and tops most of my fnm events
Tolarian Community College they are fine to upgrade into fnm decks i took 6th and a large eather revolt game day with an upgraded tesserat deck and constantly take top 3 in every fnm i take it to and chandra was a great start to boros vehicle deck
Can you link to that deck? I'm trying to do the same thing with my Tezzeret.
My first purchase when I started out playing Magic (around 3 weeks ago) was the Chandra Planeswalker deck from Kaladesh. I don't think I ever played with the deck because I bought a deckbuilder's toolkit at the same time. Suffice to say, the process of learning to build a deck and play with that was more exciting than playing a premade underpowered packaged deck.
Thanks for the video, Professor. Keep up the good work!
Brendan McFarlane You bring up a good point I remember my excitement when building my first deck out of a deck builders tool kit nearly a year ago C;
Jimbob The Wise I have played for a bit now but I still enjoy getting a toolkit to put some simple decks together hehe
Zetś I never liked deckbuilders toolkits I always preferred crackin some packs, costs a bit more but is just fun
Hi Professor - I've been watching your videos for weeks now, and last week I decided to jump into Magic for the first time since I was a teenager and bought 4 Planeswalker decks (Kaladesh and Amonkhet ones) for myself and 3 friends (who don't know it yet). I am having them round on Friday night to gift them these and (hopefully) get them addicted to the game ;) , and just wanted to say thank you for all your videos, they have been amazing at helping me rediscover this game since my childhood and see that the passionate community is still strong.
r3venan7 just jumped back in myself after watching videos for over two weeks now. Havnt touched the cards in over ten years. Have fun!
I'm strictly a casual player who doesn't attend any events like FNM or tournaments and I only buy them because I like Planeswalkers in general. I couldn't care less if they're terrible or not, but to each his own.
Though you have previous points that these should be better so we can all appreciate them more, I find Wizard's (Or R&D's) own rules to limiting the amount of rares, uncommons, and mythics that can go in them to be the killing factor in any constructed sealed product except Commander.
same.
Do do-do-do
Do do-do-do doooo
"They suck, yo."
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Boom, saved you ten minutes.
Believe me. I have been tempted.
Nah man, you gotta game the TH-cam analytics engine. The video needs to be at least 10 minutes!
just prof twiddling his thumbs for 5 minutes and then him saying it sucks and then listing how to fix it.
When do they start making you call them Mox Boarding House?
JustAnotherPest hey they rock most can be upgraded into a strong standard deck really cheaply
I picked up the two newest planeswalker decks to teach my 12 year old how to play and blow the dust off my skills after a 20 year hiatus. It's been a great way to teach and bond with him. We both played open hand games until we got the mechanics down. I'll admit that deck building has still got us scratching our heads but thanks to your great videos I'm starting to wrap my mind around what Magic is now vs when I last played back in Ice Ages! I'm building a G/R Mad Gods deck and the progeny is going B/W Zombie on me. Thank You again for the great content! It's so very helpful to us!
THANK YOU PROFESSOR!!!!
New player here! I started out playing Magic Duels 2 months ago and have been loving it! Had no clue what I was doing but you have made it so much easier understanding everything! really! I can't wait to fall deep into the world of magic all thanks to YOUR HELP!
..Now time to save for singles and make a good enough deck to participate in events at my local! Thanks again professor! 🙏
these decks are fun...been playing magic for a while and I love them.
I saw this vid a month after I got the liliana deck he was showing. I had played maybe 3 or 4 times and was borrowing decks made from scratch buy some friends that they had been using for years. I went to the card shop and I ask the guy what I should do for my first deck and he suggested that one rather than the duel decks because the duel decks were made to fight against each other is how we put it. And for the first many games that I played with Liliana I actually did very well against their set decks. I don't think they'd really encounter the - 1 - 1 mechanic as tuned as it is in the deck but after a week or two of play I went and got some more cards to fill her out, so much fun! I really love magic now and I've been watching a lot of your videos to help me understand more of the game. They've been a great help and they really help me whenever I was tuning the Liliana deck!! I can see how it could be considered underpowered considering what the other guys were using but if you play it smart, I think it actually does rather well on its own. It was hilarious against my friends sliver deck, he didn't have the Shroud sliver and when I used liliana's tutor it killed off all of his creatures!! 😆
My first purchase was a deckbuilders toolkit and I'd personally highly recommend them to any new players. You get a number of specific cards that are found in every toolkit (usually ~100), you also get a semi randomised group of cards (there are usually about 10 mini-sets of cards with different themes and you'll tend to get a random 4 of these possible 10 mini-sets to give you an idea of strategies to build a deck with. In my partner's case he had a particular mini set of cards that gave and benefited from +1/+1 counters and this helped him to decide on how to build his first deck.) In addition to that you usually get around 100 land. Either 20 of each basic or around 15 of each basic lands and some simple dual lands and for me that's one of the main reasons for the product as it not only gives you cards to build a deck with, but enough land so you can build 1-2 decks or even dismantle these and build new decks without having to go and buy extra lands, although you are generally restricted to building 2 colour decks (or 40 card decks) as you tend to not have enough for monocolour decks. Finally you get 4 booster packs and these can be hit and miss as often they'll correspond to 1-2 booster from the current set, 1-2 from the previous block and possibly even one from the block before that which is soon to rotate. The problem here is that as the packs can be spread across so many sets you get access to a lot of different mechanics but not enough of any one mechanic to make it viable in a deck (Though you could be lucky like me and pull an Ugin the Spirit dragon from your first booster which basically pays for the entire toolkit and 2 more :P) Ultimately while they are not necessarily well focused (and I feel that releasing them for the second/small set in a block so that you get access to two sets of synergistic cards would help a lot) you are getting very good value for money.
In the UK these tend to cost around £14-15, a single booster costs £3 (though in bulk is cheaper of course). So you get £12 worth of boosters, 100 land (which if you cost it at 2-3p per land brings it up to the cost of the toolkit) and something like 160? cards on top of that to start building decks with. In addition to all that which more than makes up for the cost of the toolkit you get a decent sized, sturdy box with room for at least another 100 or so cards, and usually a how to play+build a deck guides.
Overall it's excellent value for money, an excellent starting point for people to learn how to build some basic decks without the time pressures of a pre-release/draft, and you may even snag a really awesome rare if you're super lucky :)
Hopefully this helps other people out but I started like this
1. Had a nice and encouraging friend who knew the game well
2. Friend had basic cards and built a basic deck to help teach me the game.
3. Eventually had me go to the card shop with him and talk with the store owner about starting to play Magic such as what to buy first( from an absolute beginners point of view who at the moment doesn’t have a competitive interest in the game)
4. Bought a duel deck because the store owner thought it might be a good way to get into the game(considering how the two decks are very basic and easy to grasp/learn from)
5. To expand my collection my friend was nice enough to give me cards I didn’t use and recommended draft and pre-release but I honestly prefer pre-release since you get to keep the cards you open up, you get an instruction manual, and it’s a fun day were you don’t have to worry about adapting to the draft format and just stick to the format that you initially learned)
6. Now I continue to do pre-releases and buy singles to expand my collection(with my friend being nice enough to give me cards he doesn’t use)
IDK man, i pulled a liliana out of my gideon planeswalker deck
I do enjoy playing these together, plus their boxes can hold 60 sleeved cards!
I collect them together like the Duel Deck Anthology package. It's only a casual experience, sure, but they play amazingly against each other.
My first purchase was an old merfolk deck from when I was a kid...then the pre-made Riku of Two Reflections Commander deck when I got back into it.
Thank's for the review Prof. The girl I've been seeing was interested in learning how to play, so I'm glad I made the right purchase by getting both of these, and even when I'm done I can use them again to teach other new players. :)
Your comments about their viability from a competitive standpoint are spot-on. I've found that I love these plainswalker decks, though, for playing against each other, similar to how pokemon has their "theme deck" format. They are all of pretty much the same power level. There are some better than others, but in a casual environment these differences tend to wash out, especially when played in multiplayer. I've had a lot of fun with multiplayer plainswalker deck games.
I've also found these decks to be on a level with the duel decks. I play with friends and we mix together all the plainswalker decks and whatever duel decks we own. Then we pick whichever deck we feel like playing that game and go at it in a big free-for-all multiplayer brawl. It is tons of fun. So while your views from a competitive standpoint are good, to say that "these decks are of no worth to the established player and should only be purchased once while learning and then forgotten" is short-sighted and narrow-minded. The plainswalker decks aren't a great financial investment, but they do make for fun games, and that is what Magic is to me: a fun game.
My first purchase was a Magic 2015 deckbuilder's toolkit, and it wasn't half bad. My friends and I all started playing at about the same time, so it was nice to get some cards and have a guide on how to build a deck.
My first purchase was the Ajani vs Nicol Bolas Duel Deck when I started Magic with a friend and I loved playing with it. Some of the cards inside even made it into my Grixis-Commander-Deck
My first buy was a starter deck and played with my friend who also purchased one. It was easy to learn and fun to play. I would also recommend any new player to begin this way. My second buy was a bulk of commons/uncommons off ebay and made my own decks. I'd recommend that too if you see yourself as a potential brewer.
My first Magic purchase with my husband was the Kiora vs Elpseth duel deck. We had a lot of fun playing with those decks and upgrading them. We like to get the planeswalker decks, to play them against each other. We're casual players, not caring much for formats, just enjoyed playing a game of Magic, rather is a 60 card deck or commander
A good friend and I started with the Heroes vs Monsters Duel Deck from Theros block (thanks to a recommendation from an employee.) After purchasing, we headed back to his house where we spent the rest of that day, that night, and most of the following morning trying to learn the rules of the game and had a blast doing so. While I feel that this product was a great starting point, I would argue that having a companion with whom to learn the game was far more important. If only Wizards could box that up...
I bought 10 planeswalker decks, we can play 1 on 1, 2 headed giant and emperor. Since the decks are balanced they are competitive with each other. Super fun to play with, with no salt added.
I don't think you should recommend that brand new players get into prereleases and drafts, when most of them don't know that you don't tap a creature to block or that you can block 1 creature with multiple creatures. I'm not saying that their all like that but I don't think a new player needs to be put under that much stress to know what cards to pick in a draft and how to build a deck in a short amount of time. I think they should just learn at the kitchen table, then build a deck and attend several FNM events before they attend their first prerelease or draft.
^This
I recently got back into mtg and my lgs only does draft on fnm anyway lol
The real reason is for the experience.
I'm a quite new player to the game, playing since the end of march. I can really recommend the pw-decks to new players. And as the professor adviced in another videos, you should start your very first steps with the quick-start-decks, you get from your local game-store. My wife and I did it that way. After we've had learned the basics of tapping and drawing cards, etc in some games with the quick-start-decks, we learned about mechanics, synergie and so on with the pw-decks. Playing them against each other is really fun. In my oppinion the best balanced pw-decks are those of the Kaladesh-edition (Nisssa and Chandra). As a new player you are able to get in touch with the game for a really good price. Here in Germany both decks are available for less than 20 € and so we bought all of them and have great casual fun wit them. They're not purposed to start a collection, but we started to collect them and playing them beside our more competitive decks.
By your leve, professor, I presume to give an A+ for new players. I can not think of a better game-play-experience for a better qualitiy-price-ratio.
My first purchase? 7th Edition 'Advanced Level' Theme Deck - the Red "Infestation" Goblin deck. It fueled a love of burn that turned into a love of spells in general as my friends would play White/Green decks (this was during Judgement) that completely outclassed my creatures on the battlefield. In response, I turned to building Mill decks and subsequently lost most of those friends. Good times! Good times. Ahhh...
Thanks for the helpful videos Prof. I am a soon to be returning player to the game after a 20 year hiatus (last played Visions in 1997). I have been watching a lot of your videos to determine the best way to step back in. Growing up all i knew was busting open packs every friday and trades with other players at school as we did not have a local card shop in town. I really appreciate the insight to all the available products out there as it was pretty overwhelming when I stepped into store and saw all the different styles and options available to me. After watching your videos I have decided to start by attending some FNM drafts at the card shop and once getting a feel for the game, picking up some singles to start a deck construction. I would like to thank you for helping me make that decision and prevent me from just buying random products that may not have helped me all that much. Really looking forward to future content.
My very first set of MTG cards were five M15 welcome decks. The very next purchase after that was a Khans Mardu Intro Pack, which I played at my very first FNM. I lost horribly, of course, but it fulfilled its function, as a great introduction to Magic the Gathering. And that belies a point I would like to make: even though Intro Packs or Planeswalker decks are NOT competitive, they can be made into budget decks suitable for FNM with a few tweaks, and by suitable I mean more consistent,no t necessarily tier-one or even tier-two competitive. Which is fine, really: most beginners are still just trying to master the essentials of the game, and if they are playing with generous and understanding players, losing at FNM need not be a negative experience just because you're playing an Intro/PW Deck. Playing a tweaked Intro Deck is how I got hooked on MTG, helped by the welcoming and generous atmosphere at my LGS. So there's something to be said for that.
My first deck was from M15 prerelease that I joined since it was for my son-in-law's b-day, with my daughter, and his best friend. Got lucky and won the booster box and had so much fun MTG instantly became my favorite thing to do on Friday nights :)
I use the planeswalker/duel decks to play against my brothers and friends for simple fun games and keep them so you pick what block you want to play. It's fun to see how the different decks throughout time match up.
My first magic purchase was the Black/White Intro Deck from Dark Ascension. Along with my brothers getting their decks too. I remember we were all really interested in the gothic horror aesthetic. We ended up buying some Avacyn Restored and M13 Intro decks and deckbuilder's toolkits as well. We had a blast playing casually among ourselves. Though once RTR came out different world kind of threw us off and we didn't follow the game much till Khans block came out and I got back into the game because I was excited for Dragons. My first new purchase at that time was a Dragons of Tarkir Event deck and a couple of magic origins intro decks which hooked us all back in again an I've been in ever since.
First purchase was the themed beginner decks from this guy relentlessmtg on eBay. They were 20 dollars each and had a few rares, uncommon, commons, and a sideboard. The cards were from many sets spanning from time spiral to (then current) new phyrexia. I remember me and my friend were so impressed by the variety of cards and also their flavor. Really encapsulated the spirit of magic for me and him.
Though I stopped using every card from it, it was such a great way to get into the game.
I bought Tezzerets Planeswalker deck and found it fun, so I decided to upgraded and modofied it. Now is one of my favorite decks both fun and can win against my friends
Artifact decks can get sooooo dirty and unfair , it's hilarious xD! Slowly working on my custom deck that utilized Emperion and Blightsteel to their full potential.
This week I bought my first MTG product, it was a battle for Zendikar event deck ( due to professor analysis in one of his videos) In my humble opinion it is a very good deck to start !
MY first purchase for Magic the Gathering..... was about 15 or so years ago during Mirrodin 1/ Kamigawa
it was the Back/Green theme deck "Kami Reborn" and the Mono white "Way of the Warrior" and some Mirrodin and Kamigawa boosters.... a few of those cards from that first purchase i still have today :)
also i'd like to give a shout out to the Prof. i've been watching your vids for the past month or so now, and i HAVE to say. you do a FANTASTIC job with your videos! im STRONGLY considering doing a Patreon Pledge to you in the near future :)
Amazing video as always, i found your channel after looking for a new hobby (because yugioh is getting dumb) and my friends told me to start magic, so i did some research on the game and i happened to find your channel. Thank you for showing me an amazing community and amazing game. I've seen every single one of your new player guides and i hope you will continue making them.
dude totally start playing magic. its super fun and will probably occupy a lot of your free time (and not free time, or money). if you dont know this, every friday you can play magic at a game store around you. one friday is standard (cards from the newest sets. 60 card decks) and then the alternating friday is draft. you probably knew that seeing as you have friends who play magic, but start going as soon as possible as that is the best way to experience maigc, and you will get a lot better a lot quicker, and ask ppl questions and shit.
Zenmaster TCG Yeah i came to Magic Having been a yugioh player a long time ago (I still can't get out of the habit of drawing cards at the start of my turn). I got so fed up of half the cards I got from booster packs being completely unplayable without other specific cards/circumstances e.g. the Ojama cards, fusion cards without the fusion material and vice versa or quick play spells that couldn't activate unless you were spell chain 3 or so (I play a spell, you play a counter trap, Oh now I can play!...oh wait I can't quick play in response to counters so this card is still useless), equip cards that can only be played on a specific named creature, creatures that can only be played with a specific named spell etc. I've found that at least in MTG, with the very rare exception, literally unplayable cards are incredibly few and far between. Sure there are definitely niche cards, but at least you can actually use almost every card you get out of a booster even if they're not all competitive level strength.
EVO1148 I feel you bro, my deck was really good a few years ago bur now after the pendulums and all the other dumb stuff, yugioh has become very bland with no flavor, every meta is a 1 deck meta (sometimes 2) and if you dont have that extremely expensive deck (for a student), you auto-lose all the games at you LGS. Magic on the other hand, you have the possibility to homebrew a very good deck and there are cheeper formats (such as pauper), so a student doesent need a sack of gold ingots to have fun while playing the game at a LGS.
RyanBradley alright bro, il keep that in mind. Didnt know draft is being played at fridays, thought it was only standard :P
Zenmaster TCG I mean recently it has been a bit of a 1-2 deck meta at the competitive level ^^" (hopefully that should be slightly remedied by the latest banning) but even then, the cards in question weren't super ridiculously overpriced (okay for a fellow student they probs were) But as you say, people at your LGS don't all tend to run those decks (unless your LGS is suuuuper boring) and there are other cheaper formats like pauper or commander (for which the precons tend to be both affordable and able to hold their own). Even draft/sealed isn't super expensive and at least you're on a fairly even footing in those cases :) (I mean would it even be possible to make a decent draft deck in yugioh even if you drafted twice the number of packs?)
So my story goes back to 1997. My brother and I got the Portal two-player starter kit as a free promotion with buying a 5 year subscription to Electronic Gaming Monthly. We didn't expect this but tried the game out and had some fun. We didn't pay attention to the advertising insert that mentioned boosters and the like (it mentioned Mirage and Visions if you look for it online) so we figured it was stand alone and didn't put any more thought to it. Over that summer of play, video games and being messy we lost the cards except for a few to our room...
Come that fall, I made some new friends in middle school and they were playing with some familiar cards. Not exactly the same but close enough. I asked where they got them and they all said the Hastings book and music store. My first purchase was four packs from Hastings: two packs of Tempest, one Homelands and one Ice Age. If I knew what a theme deck was I would have gotten one but with me being new and uninformed compounded with Theme decks being new to Magic with the Tempest block it's probably not surprising that I didn't.
I would be taught incorrectly for 3 years by people who either didn't know or intentionally handicapped new players knowledge until I got to High School. I met some more friends who had the cards but wanted to learn. I wanted to teach but felt confused on so many concepts, so I eventually got my hands on a 7th ed starter kit and kept the rule book... I would eventually find the WotC website and 8th ed would release, allowing me access to "free" rule books from the LGS (I would find this store this far into playing...) so I can teach myself and others properly.
I have been bought all 4 of the Kaladesh planewalker decks as gifts and I have had fun and relaxing games with my kids using them. my skill level does offset the games occasionally (I beat a friends Inistrad block Vampire deck using the Ajani deck 2/3 games...) but the simplicity makes less stress on my strategic mindset and can make things like a calm breath of fresh air. I do see the points you make about these decks but I still see more potential than as merely training decks.
Anyone remember, around M13 I think it was, these tiny intro decks in cheap cardboard boxes. A store literally gave me one for free. No rares, only one colour, but as a new player it was the best thing ever! If they literally just brought those back, even for $5 I would 100% recommend them for new players, but this...*gestures vaguely* feels like preying on the most naive and vulnerable of Wizard's fanbase.
Uh...the professor has talked about those. They are like...entry decks or something. They still exist.
Benjamin Coyle They still exist, they're great, I pick one up when ever I can.
They get issued every year, and are called "welcome decks". Each year's cards are slightly different, but some staples exist (like Shivan Dragon, for example). They aren't bad, and are likely an ok way to get started, but stores run out of them rather quickly.
I know of a store which actually just open some amount of intro packs/planeswalker decks from the box, take out the boosters and just sell the deck itself sealed for $5-$10. Much easier to move the product because of how narrow of a player base it caters to since now people can just walk in and buy cheap decks to play against each other.
Lucifer0the0morning My store does the same. Very helpful as I've collected a few and can play them casually against each other with my younger sister. Good fun to be had.
My first purchase was a shadows over Innistrad toolkit. In one of the booster packs, I got Odrick, Lunarch Marshal. My first deck was built around him, and with some later tweaking, it became and still is my strongest deck.
My first purchase was either a theme deck or a Fat Pack from either 7th Edition or Invasion. Both were available at the LGS I went to, and I was entering blind not really knowing what was good to start off with. I think I had some help from my friends, but we were all getting into the game about the same time, so none of us really knew what the optimal choices were. That was also about 17 years ago, so it's hard to remember exactly what I bought.
congratulations on the pro tour video segment on your content. its great to have people like you on youtube supporting the game in a positive way. keep hustling!!
My first purchase was a Boros intro pack from Gatecrash. I ultimately bought a Core Set 2014 G/B intro deck, helmed up by Garruk's Horde, to play against myself and practice.
My first purchase was a deck builder's toolkit, but I picked up the game pretty quickly, probably because I played a lot of video games. I would recommend this because it gives you practice evaluating cards and spotting synergies, and all the land you'll need for a while.
My sister's boyfriend bought me an Graveyard based intro deck (mostly Inistrad cards) which got me hooked, my first purchase was buying singles to improve said deck.
In addition to new players I think these decks also appeal to a few Vorthos players. One of my friends actually bought two of the Nissa decks and built his own Nissa themed deck combined with his own collection. He bought the decks for below MSRP at $12, so for under $25 he built a deck that while it wasn't "amazing" it was fairly consistent and fun to play with, especially if you're a Nissa fan. I ended up following his example and doing the same thing for the Tezzeret deck, combining part of an"affinity" shell and the legacy "Bug control" shell into one deck. So while I agree these are ideal for new players, I think it's still worth checking out the decklists and if you come with a fun brew for a deck it could be worth it if you have the right friend group to play with.
I really like planeswalker decks, as it comes with an element of the game that's otherwise not really within the reach of totally new players. Much better than Intro packs, which was already an improvement from the 40-card horrors from shards block. Still, i've never understood why they did away with theme decks. Those were really fun, as most of them were really just 60 card tribal draft lol.
my first purchase of a MTG product was the Simic theme deck all the way back when Dissension came out. still happy to say I have the deck, box, and all inserts still.
My first purchase getting into MTG was an event deck. They were FNM ready decks with multiple rares that can stand up to the meta of the format. I had the Innistrad Hold the Line which was mono what humans. I miss these decks and would love for them to come back.
To be truthful the best experiences I've had with casual play and giving a real feel of magic has been using the battle deck series from card kingdom. The decks are balanced, the game play is fun and learning the way a deck works with multiple win conditions. I use them with my sons now all the time.
I have used them also with non mtg playing friends to introduce them to the game.
I first found you when I was looking into pokmon and fast forward im starting to get into magic and start to play the Magic arena and got my girl into Surprisingly got into it with me do it with me and now we're trying to get into the car game and I been looking at your many videos alot and I really appreciate them. Just trying to get our feet in the water have a good time. Thank you again for all you're very Informative Content.
My first deck was the Morph Mayhem Legions deck from a while ago. I was really little and didn't have anyone to play with at the time but I thought they were the coolest thing ever and then got a bunch of random ones from a friend and made decks and me and my friend played together. Good times for sure! :)
The first MTG product I bought was the B/R Origins intro deck, which I think has given me a great fondness for those things. I've picked up a couple of these Planeswalker decks more to get a bunch of the cards from the new set, rather than with the intent of playing them (though have built a U/B artifacts deck from the Tezzeret pack). Sometimes it's just cool to get a bunch of new cards to look at like this, and get the mind going for new decks, so I'm still a fan. But I'm just a casual player anyway, and enjoy building decks that use all manner of weird stuff rather than focusing on the 5% of a new set to build a deck around :)
I have fond memories of the original Intro Packs. During Mirrodin Besieged, my parents bought all of the intro packs and we all played. They thought the decks weren't that good (To be fair, Dad hates pretty much any Magic legal in Modern) But were good and balanced against eachother. I stopped playing shortly after as I was 10 and couldn't really play outside of the house, but it started me on a dark path. It started my love for Memnite and intense hatred of Infect. For kids wanting to get into the game, Intro/Planeswalker packs are amazing.
Man, I really wish I had found your channel before I started delving back into MtG. SO MANY of your videos have clarified how I have made so many mistakes.
My first purchase was a deckbuilder's toolkit. I think that's an ideal starting point though the building of my first own deck was very satisfying. After that i was playing some games against another deck from a deckbuilder's toolkit. That was just fun and i was hooked up. Second purchase was a deck i saw on the internet with a minotaur theme. The games were more complex an fun with this deck and that was the point i fell in love with magic the gathering. :-)
I'm not new to TCGs, I played Yugioh competetively online, and Pokemon with a few friends.
I started off playing Magic by buying a Tezzeret Plainswalker deck in June. I then bought a Gideon when it came out, while my friend got the Liliana.
Even against people with more established decks, I was able to play casual games of magic no problem. I even won my first magic game using an Ornithopter and Tezzeret's Touch. I believe having a semi functional deck allowed me to join in and play; plus having the deck made me want to upgrade to play competitively.
Buying a Plainswalker deck helped me conciderably, and if I didnt buy it I doubt I would be into Magic at all.
1st product purchase was a Revised Starter Deck. I liked the purchase as I thought all the lands were really cool and didn't have a specific color I liked yet. Fell in love with Red with this starter, as I got a Fork in it. Totally recommended, even for a new player. Probably too expensive now :) and my only regret was I didn't have enough money to get an Alpha/Beta Starter.
I've started MTG with 7th Edition Starter kit with two decks inside and DO NOT SHUFFLE stickers on them =) Vizzerdrix and Rob Alexander lands art are still in my heart! =)
"A bored wizard once created a vizzerdrix out of a bunny and a piranha. He never made that mistake again."
While these are certainly for new players, I think they serve that purpose quite well, actually. My first product was indeed a Planeswalker deck (I got Tezeret, my girlfriend got chandra) and it gave us a starting point to play together and learn the game. (Actually, my first ever purchase was a draft, which was a terrible idea for a first time playing the game. It was fun, and has continued to be my favorite way to play the game, but it was terrifying going in). Anyway, she and I have continued to get almost every planeswalker deck released, using them as a fun way to play together without worrying about having huge collections or crafting specific decks. We've left them entirely alone, not swapping any cards, and just playing them as is. It's a fun way to get new friends into it, too, by just cracking them open and giving them a selection for their color pool (B/G Liliana? got it. U/W Teferi? just added that to the collection, too!) Yeah, they're not great for deckbuilding, and actually these videos confirming that the planeswalkers are not available anywhere else does explain a lot, but I don't think they're a bad product by any means. Not great card value for their cost, but a really fun way to continue having casual play with new and returning players. No they're not for FNM, but honestly, at my local shop, FNM is just draft anyway. I enjoy this game in a somewhat different way than you, and that's okay. But Planeswalker decks are a big part of it.
Those decks are good for casual playing too. I always buy them X2 to get good basis for new casual decks.
I got luck this time and openned two invocations out of two different PW decks...
i got both as a gift and i felt in love with liliana. after some research and luck in my drafts i was able to participate in a friday night event. As a heartshtone player i loved how much this game was more developed and complex. But the most satisfying part was that i was able to hang out with one of my old best friends. Thanks lord the magic community is less salty than the hearthstone comunitg i felt so welcomed as a noob.
I'm a very casual player, just owning a couple Planeswalker decks and using Arena on occasion, and I've found the Planeswalkers decks I have play well at the kitchen table.
Can you do a commander deck tech? I want to see what you like to play!
I Agree
Van The Man! You should watch the Prof pilot his Orochi Snake Tribal in a Game Knights episode over in the Command Zone. Bonus is the rocking Karametra Enchantress deck by Melissa deTora in the same episode.
I think they should do standard commander and make it into a tournament like pro tour or something like that
EmblemGaming Oh God no, I want to be able to actually afford to play commander :P
Evo1148 but it would help tcg stores and wizards to grow. That's my opinion that's all
I still find these decks fun to play casually against each other. Just having a new pair of decks to pit against each other of similar power level the shows some flavor and highlights some mechanics of the set is nice. I can grab a friend who is generally familiar with the rules but actively involved in what is going on in magic and we can knock out a few games of magic without the hassle of searching out decklists, acquiring the cards, and assembling the deck. I can buy two, open them up, and immediately play them against each other with a sense that they are relatively fair. They're a fun novelty and I walk away having satiated my need to gamble on cracking some packs. I don't know if there is much demand for the planeswalkers, but they also do hold enough value that makes them worth reselling if you get bored of the deck. I keep all mine together instead of parting them after I've gotten some play out of them in the hopes of pitting them against past and future planeswalker decks to see how they fair. As it is, with the frequency I get games in, I rarely have the opportunity to do so as the next set is usually out before a new pair is available for me to get a few plays out of. Your assessment on the value of the cards is apt, but just not having to invest the time into creating a new deck is worth the premium paid for otherwise unplayable cards. You're certainly not going to see any epic strategies and shenanigans coming from these decks, but just creating one budget deck for Standard with a novel strategy is going to set you back more than these. And then you have to figure out a 2nd budget deck of similar power and match up. There is plenty to learn about piloting these weak against the meta of its single opposing deck. It seems like people feel one is clearly favored to win over the other, but I've seen opposing opinions where those who understand how to pilot the more complicated deck feeling that deck is more powerful, and those that don't understand it feeling like the opposing deck is. It does feel like the person who can get to their planeswalker or one of the tutor cards first is likely favored.
my first purchase was fifth dawn and darksteel packs, then after failing to build a good deck out of them, mostly due to the lack of basic lands, i purchased one black-blue modular deck.I don't know what they were called... "premade" decks? whaterver... it was a good idea.The deck had multiple commons and uncommons serving the theme and included suggestions on how to upgrade it using cards from the block, and while it could have never reached the power level of Affinity decks, it still could have been upgraded in a good kitchen's table deck.
My first purchase of actual Wizards product was a Legions Fat Pack, but before that my LGS at the time made me a "starter deck" for around £5, it was a very simple B/r zombie deck but it let me play with friends in school, and a lot of the cards they included are still pet cards of mine such as Severed Legion and Nantuko Husk.
I never tried to actually join in with standard until Ravnica came out!Which was probably good, as I started just as Goblin Pile-driver was leaving and Mirrodin was beginning, and my local scene is very small and very competitive
My first purchase was on the Boros Event Deck that was out during Gatecrash, remember having a blast with it playing with friends.
ive been playing since 96 and i rather play at home for fun in my experience tournament level is a bunch of adults copying each others overpriced decks and bitching when they get beat
You need to find a new place to play if your LGS has such people lol. FNM for me hold an equal amount of netdeckers and brewers, because that's arguably the best place to test a brew outside of your group of friends.
Exactly!
Not everyone enjoys competitive play. That's fine.
100% the things iv seen on friday.. The horror... The horror..
I got into magic the gathering with one of these decks, or rather the old version of them.
Back in 2012 I bought an Avacyn Restored Blue/Green intro deck and never looked back. Highly recommend for new players OR if you want something to play magic with a new friend with, buy one of these and you're on equal footing
I started playing magic with a Cube of some friends, at first it was kinda slow, but helped me a lot learning. Then i got a commander deck as a gift and i've been playing since then frecuently. Prof, keep doing what you do =)
My first MtG purchase was an event deck, and I feel like it was a better teaching method. Yes, there are some things that I didn't know or understand back then, but the deck had way more potential to it than any of these Planeswalker decks. Heck, I actually still play some cards from those decks because they were actually GOOD.
I like em :3. I understand their limited use and longevity, but my best friend, whom I got started into Magic, doesn't want to really buy singles or booster packs. But despite that, he does enjoy playing and likes occasional upgrades or a new deck, without building it piece by piece. I have directed him to TCG Player and other websites in case he changes his mind and wants to get some basic MTG products and singles. But for now it's very limited, but he is occasionally up for getting a pre-made deck of sorts. It also allows me to have some different type of fun, I recently got into ACTUALLY putting together my decks ideas into ...you guessed it...actual decks.
However, since I have been a long-time lover of MTG and in the recent years have actually sought out information, tips, as well as just exploring cards & trying to see what I can come up with. The problem is that my decks are FAR too powerful for my best friend to deal with. While he hasn't voiced or shown any annoyance in that fact that he is (most likely) never going to be able to beat my B/U Zombie deck, using a pre-made deck that has a few upgrades via booster packs that came with said decks. So these Planeswalker decks and other similar products allow both of us to enjoy the game on a better scale, without me feeling guilty for crushing him and him possibly getting tired of losing.
I've tried to get him into getting a Commander deck and told him how fun they are, but he's been very lazy on at least getting ONE Commander deck.
My first purchase was a couple of intro decks that I broke down to make into a single deck. It was quite bad, but then I was only playing against friends who either got into MTG or came back into it at the same time as me doing the exact same thing, so it wasn't too bad.
My first product was the 4th Edition Quick Start Rivals set...because I'm "old".
I just bought a booster box 2021 core and two quick start decks. I recommend getting as many lands as possible (as they are what fuel your deck), only if you’d like to make multiple decks, and if you can afford it. A booster box or a way to buy a few good packs (rare doesn’t always mean good, so I hear)
My first purchase for mtg is 2 booster packs from Battle for zendikar, deck box and of course sleeves, and for 3,5 years later, i have three double sleeved edh decks for multiplayer. To the new players who read this comment, the first purchase you must make after get a welcome 30 card deck is deck box and sleeves, and then try to spend money for deck builder's toolkit, or attend prerelease event of course. See ya)
deck builders toolkit was my first purchase, the closest game store is 1 1/2 hours out of town and going to walmart to buy a tool kit was much easier, still have the shell of my first ever deck, its just hella more powerful after working on it for some years haha
I first started playing Magic way back during Urza's Saga and got my first deck during Nemesis and played seriously up until the first Ravenica block. After this I was pretty burned out and foolishly gave my cards away to friends who would use them cause I swore I was done, But I ended up missing the game after a long while. I wanted to play fun and casual games but didn't like how competitive even the average player's deck felt. Then my little niece bought me a Nissa deck from Hour of Devastation and she had her first pre built deck (Nissa from I think Revolt). We played for hours and hours and had a lot of fun with these low powered decks. While I still buy tool kits and packs to help my commander and standard decks, I do collect these planeswalker decks for a very laid back and enjoyable night of magic with friends and family who may or may not have much Magic experience.
My first purchase was a "doom inevitable" intro pack, with infect and psychosis crawler, as well as a three-pack thingy where I got a kozilek, a scourglass and some card from M11. Pretty fun way to start, although at this point those cards are probably halfway across the country.
So if a player is just starting out? What's best to get/should a starting player make their deck from scratch? (with a general idea of what to do/what they want to do)
My first purchase was a Dragons Maze Fatpack. I liked the idea of getting a lot of packs at once for a flexible make it my own deck and having a bunch of basic lands to get started. Little did I know about the negative rep that Dragons Maze had. Pulled Voice of Resurgence (at this time I think it was between 30-40), but ended up trading it with someone for a common card because I didn't know anything about rarities or assessing card quality yet so someone took advantage and ripped me off.
My first purchase into the game was an enlightened mastery intro pack of dragons of tarkir. My progress in learning the basic card interactions was optimal. A decent startup to hone spells with creature and enchantment triggers optimized for a pressure puncture growth in momentum and break through and above opposing creatures.
The components of the deck in my part were likeable for restructure its precon format to further use in the long term, whether made for modern, causual, even templated for commander. I still enjoy using component cards with the dtk enlightened master intro deck I had from the start as I've kept them in play to this day.
I'd be wishful to see improvements in these planeswalker decks from the intro packs despite being for the introductory environment, such as the quantity of said planeswalker to compliment the copies of cards exclusive to this product line, with the mere number of up to 2 instead of one. Understanding that the additional copy cannot potentially increase the level of the deck overall. It could also reference the importance of other rules applicable to follow up the training process appease by these products; specifically, the "legend" rule established for cards with the legendary supertype, which is also applied separately to the planeswalker supertype. Perhaps an additional copy of the planeswalker alone is not enough, yet prominent enough to apply improvement to the product.
Waht was my first purchase? A friend hooked me up with a 6th Ed. Starter kit, and then we got us some Theme Decks from 8th Ed., followed by 3 Boosters of mirrodin, Darksteel, Fifth Dawn. back in those days we were so young that we even bicycled the way to the shop that was 10 km away XD
My first MTG purchase was a 2019 green/black deadly discovery challenger deck. I love it, and continue to play with them, they are well balanced against other challenger decks (when shock lands are added) and I have bought the blue red deck as well. All around excellent product!
the first time i played mtg i bought an intro pack to start playing gainst a friend. the deck was great against him. i beat him a couple of times and he changed his deck a bit. refined it and so did i after a couple of weeks. it was an even match. learned the game fast and got a deck of mine and recieved as a gift an intro pack wich gave me the idea of one of my favorite decks ever.
My first paper product was a Saviours of Kamigawa deck, but the first thing I bought from WOTC was Magic 2013 for the Xbox 360. I would recommend only the last one.
My first purchase was a deck builder's tool kit from the 2015 set. I'll never forget my first deck I made. I think this is a good product to help new players learn how to play, but I thought it was super fun trying to make my own deck from the tool kit (only to realize how many rules I had broken and then had to go back and fix it 😅)
I bought a planeswalker deck because I wanted to get back into magic, but didn't want to spend a ton of money on boosters or a fat pack. All my old cards were not in standard, so I couldn't use them. Im glad I did it because now I'm back to playing the game I loved
Thank you! You are the only one who help me understand what Magic is all about.
My first purchase was a lilina planeswalker and in my inexperienced opinion some of the cards in there were helpful in making my final standar deck which uses a lot of green and black.
I'm thinking about the planeswalkers in a cube. I have a powered down beginner friendly cube that is both for experienced players and lil' Walkers. Underpowered planeswalkers seem to fit perfectly.
I have always said, the best first step is the Deckbuilder's toolkit. It covers new players in every conceivable way. There are enough cards to build one, two, sometimes three whole decks, even if they are not competitive. Boosters from different sets to get an idea of what's out there. Enough lands to work with, including dual lands, as most other types of purchases don't come with a bulk of lands. Planeswalker deck vs planeswalker deck is going to be a lot more boring than deckbuilder vs deckbuilder. On top of that, with the deckbuilder's toolkit, the player has a chance to learn how to make a deck, and to decipher what makes a good card.
Going off of prices, it looks like Tattered Mummy is good enough for constructed. Thankfully it's a 4 of in the Liliana deck, so you would only have to purchase one if you're running it for standard zombies.
If you're a new player reading this, "Good Luck; Have Fun!"
The first Magic: the Gathering purchase I ever made was a Prophecy Booster Pack at a Borders Bookstore after having participated in a Pokemon Trading Card Game Tournament.
I got a Jolrael, Empress of Beasts and though I had no idea how to play at the time, I did enjoy the artwork, specifically because she was Black and I, being Black myself, thought it was cool that a trading card game featured artwork of someone with whom I could identify. Every so often after that, I would buy a pack here and there until finally taking the plunge and purchasing the 8th Edition Starter Set. It came with a CD-ROM that taught you how to play. After that, I was hooked: I bought boosters and theme decks on occasion, but didn't really find anyone with whom I could play fairly regularly until high school.
I would probably recommend that a new player start by downloading Magic Duels on one of their devices or participating at a pre-release instead of purchasing a Planeswalker deck, in particular if they might not be able to find someone willing to play with them in person on a regular basis. From there I would tell them to buy a playset of commons and uncommons online (Between $30.00 USD and $45.00 USD) when they were ready to begin moving into the FNM and or competitive space. Finally, I'd advise them to only purchase booster packs to draft and getting rares and mythics from the secondary market.
I hope you found my story and advice useful. Welcome to the multiverse!
My first purchase was a spellslinger starter kit, but I would suggest my 2nd purchase: I bought a Selessnya Guild Kit, but any Guild Kit works, although many stores only carry Azorious and Gruul Guild Kits these days
My first purchase was an intro deck from 9th edition, a 40 card deck with Mahamoti Djinn. Those were the days..
I actually really liked these decks and the intro packs. I think it's too bad that there's now only a choice of 2 decks.
Me and two other friends decided to just buy a booster box each and make decks out of them.
I bought a box of the brand new Scars of Mirrodin and my friends bought Conflux and Shards of Alara. I crushed them with my collection of colorless artifacts while they tried to get the mana for their +3 color decks going.
While it was a ton of fun getting into MtG that way, I'd recommend buying boxes from the same block as the powerlevel can vary greatly and the cards might not work together at all (so theres no point in trading between each other).
long time ago in new phyrexia innistrad standard, my friend suggested the Hold the Line event deck and I was hooked on magic since then.
First purchase was dark ascension event deck which came with 2 birthing pod. I think prerelease is a good first purchase for new players. They are in the new set with the rest of us and how the prerelease promos now work they could hit a strong card that could be the beginning of a build around standard deck.
I did get plainswalker decks when I first started but I really quickly discarded it for a deck builder's toolkit and a bundle (fat) pack. After I met a few people they thought me about mtgtop8, channel fireball, mtg goldfish and starcitygames, all great guides with competitive deck lists and buying singular cards to build decks. So that's where I am now. And I've been playing for just over a month. So yea, plainswalker decks don't last very long and I only buy them for the plainswalker collection I use for my commander (edh) deck.
I'll never forget, was a starter deck of Judgment with an Anurid Barkripper which i still have.
My first purchase was the 2012 Deckbuilder's Toolkit that came with a T-shirt.
Although I do recommend that, it only made sense for me to buy some because I was landless (hah) and those were my first cards ever bought - and before that I played Duels for a good while.