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At this point, we may as well make our own 'jumpstart cube', where we make our own 20 card half-decks, each one built and curated ourselves, for our groups to pull from.
Holy sh*t!! That's a steller idea. I haven't made a cube yet but it's been on my mind for a while. But doing individual theme packs and doing it like jumpstart cube would be awesome! I've got the day off I think I'm a look into starting this today
Already did, it’s my little jumpstart cube. It was fun to put together and just used the first jumpstart decklists to get an idea of what themes to use. Just buy all black sleeves and bam
I'm doing this, because I want to make a "mini cube" which would serve to teach people how to play magic and get them into the game in real life. But I'm a teacher so I have lots of students to show the game to. Will definitely keep an eye out for people's ideas. Maybe there's a subreddit?
My biggest gripe against the notion that "some products aren't for you" is that I still need to INVESTIGATE and COMPREHEND what these sets/releases/products ARE in order to come to that determination. I've gotten to the point where I don't know what cards are coming out/where/why and I'm getting pretty burnt out by the prospect of having to invest time just to figure it out so instead I'm giving up 🤷♂️
100% finally someone else on board with this. I've always said when I complain I "can't keep up" it's not that I'm complaining I can't afford every product - of course I can't. Not even the super whales are buying *everything*. It's that I don't even have the time to even figure out what to buy. I'm blessed with a good career that lets me afford this game but that leaves me with less time to invest into it. Coupled with, you know, just life in general I can't be part of a game only made for people who can sit online 12 hours a day consuming every spoiler.
I love Blake's defense of the product pump, basically boils down to "Back in the day MTG products were special, and a major event on release. Now a days though they aren't special".
IMO his response misses the mark. It effectiely boils down to "Don't like it? Don't buy it". I mean, yeah I think we've been doing that for awhile now and obviously no one is buying every release. I think the players complaining they "can't keep up" or are feeling "fatigue" though isn't cause they're trying to buy everything but because there is an substantial cognitive load in ever trying to figure out _what to buy_ in the first place. I don't sit on the MTG reddit every day (or ever). I don't watch WotC's youtube. I don't follow spoilers - and the reason is because I'm very busy. I'm blessed to work a good job that lets me afford this ridiculous game but that comes at the expense of having much less free time to actually even try and mentally track all the crap they're pumping out.
@@Weaver_Games This exactly. If I have to put a ton of effort into seeing which of your products are crap (which has been a lot of them lately) jsut to see what to buy, then I am just going to not buy anything but singles from game stores.
That would require them to think about the products they put out. Also, so many artifacts have the Unearth mechanic which requires colored mana, which would just make the colorless themes samey.
As the wife of a magic player, this makes me incredibly sad. Not only because my husband is losing interest in his hobby of 18 years, but because he never buys paper magic anymore. I used to love opening packs. From an objective point of view, it really looks like WotC got lazy and greedy.
What absolute misers. It doesnt cost them anything to be generous with it, and it might drive sales if they were actually "generous" with product instead of bastards.
Having only couple of releases a year was great because everybody was attending pre-release. Doesn't matter what format was your thing, everybody were following spoilers, attending pre events, drafts etc. It was like holidays. Literally, people were taking 1-2 days off to play couple of pre events or something. Now? You check for articles/videos that just mention interesting cards and that's it. From doing all the possible pre events physically possible to playing 2 sealed events a year. From excitement about new cards to feeling tired about another new card in the format.
Yeah I remember going to prerelease events every chance I got, and it was not too hard because there were generally maybe what, 3 a year? Now they're dropping new sets every other week, it's exhausting. I just stopped paying attention or buying anything.
We noticed this with Dominaria. My husband and I decided to dip into the pre-release on Saturday because we didn't want to deal with the crowd of Friday Night. . .and with us there ended up being 6 players. . .us, another couple just getting started, the store clerk and a regular that the clerk called in to try and make numbers enough for us to play. We were still grateful they ran the event for us. . .but it was disappointing not to even have a full table
@@hallaloth3112 exactly, I went to pre of Dominaria United on Saturday and the store owner had promo foil Dark Confidant as additional price if there would be more then 8 players. We had problems with getting 6 players... btw DomU great set for sealed, playing 5 colors in sealed was fun.
@@corriedebeer799 i used to plan my travels so i could be on pre at least once. It really felt like christmas or someone's bday party. Now it's not a biggy if I miss pre.
As a collector that doesn't really play it, the new pacing absolutely killed my interest. It went from a pleasure of hunting for those cheap single cards over few months, organizing the folder, etc.. to just a chore. And now that I collected for few years, I feel like I wasted time and I will never be able to be satisfied with it. Sure I can sell and make great money, but that was never the point. :(
these past few months wizards have taught me proxies are okay and that I shouldn't buy every product anyway! the proxies thing makes sense now so I should just proxy the couple of cards that may interest me from each set. my wallet is very pleased!
Legitimately didn't know this was a separate product to Jumpstart 2022, so thanks for clearing that up! Products like these are, to me, a demonstration of what happens when information from data science is misconstrued, and algorithmic optimisation is left to its own devices without human rationalisation.
Yes! Ah so great to hear this coming from another source. People vastly underestimate the degree to which they bias data investigation. How they bin it, how they define thresholds, etc. It's just crazy to me that certain sectors have become so data-driven it actively undermines the trends those patterns were reliant upon through repeated exploitation.
yeah, this always is what fucks me up. Magic used to move at a pace where you Wanted AND Needed to play with each new set for one reason of another. Then on top, Blocks generated interest in sets already past. Gatecrash feeds into RtR, Journey into Nyx fed into Theros and Born of the Gods, and most blocks manage to be at least good, besides for some infamous exceptions. Today, a dud set might as well be dooming the plane to obscurity. and duds are way more common. I can only assume the design teams are being pushed too hard to jam everything in, and it's really damaging the drafting stage. I mean, look at crimson vow. we have a completely fleshed out plane, and the set still fucking sucked.
It's really good to see the biggest magic channel be honest and not just shill for mtg. I really want to get back to enjoying magic but new products just aren't appealing to me.
I think your grade is pretty generous here. At my FLGS they have a box filled with commons and basic lands and you can just take as many as you want/need. Instead of spending their hard-earned cash on this product I think people should make their own 'Jumpstart' decks that way, and spend their money on actually good uncommons and rares at their FLGS, on Dragon Shields to protect their cards, and on Cubamajigs to store them. Speak with your wallet while continuing to support local stores and companies that make excellent products.
@@corriedebeer799 Peasant commander is my favorite way to play commander. I just made my sister a Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion pauper commander deck that's just a mixture of evasive creatures, efficient removal, lifesteal, and cards that return Nashi from your graveyard to your hand to keep the Ninjutsu working. Because my FLGS is amazing all it cost was 2$ for Nashi, plus the price of a box and sleeves; the rest of the 99 was free.
@@ObsidianKnight90 your lgs sounds really cool, the one i used to go had an owner that was only into money and not into the joy of the players there =(
@@firby7341 Yeah, mine is going through a tough time, anything I can get there I always get instead of from bigger stores or online. I'd rather pay an extra buck to them than Bezos.
I remember there being articles from wotc themselves explaining themselves why they make purposefully bad or bizarre cards even at higher rarities and I wonder if those same arguments of theirs holds up when it comes to making purposefully bad products. The number of packs missing should be so obvious and yet they did it so it it really incompetence or intentionally serving a higher purposes beyond our understanding and probably beyond the shareholders understanding
Oh it's definitely by design. Same reason why companies like Micro$oft sell things in their store with "xbox points" rather than dollars. Always leftovers that a person will feel an annoying itch to balance out by spending more money.
Those "rares" are nearly unplayable in the current dumpster fire a.k.a. "standard" due to being far too slow and inefficient, but they remind me of that old standard where 5+ mana cards were playable in decks that weren't control, those cards ain't bad for being too weak, they're bad because they're actually balanced.
My biggest gripe with original JS was too low variety of themes. It seemed like a lot, but there were many repeats with minor changes, and more unique sets were rare. You could easily get a box with 8 of the same white theme in a single box. Here wotc takes this complaint and makes it much worse!
@@williamriven I got 6 Tree-Hugging and 8 Heavily Armored in single box. I admit I never calculated the odds of it happening, but as I got it in my first and only box it was very easy feat to accomplish for me. I bought mine hoping to open it and build "jump-start cube", and it failed horribly for me. Fortunately there was a lot of re-use between themes so I used some of the bulk in my collection, and purchased some missing cheap cards and I managed to convert those themes into other white/green themes. It makes sense that the commons and uncommons are reused between themes, so when you run into Basri and Heavily Armored you're getting quite coherent deck. Similarly Trees could be converted quite fast and cheap (sub-one-dollar) into other themes, so it was not a total catastrophe. Well, all in all, maybe most people won't get 8 and it's not so easy, I'm just the luckiest person on the planet, lol. Well, buy singles!
@@Banterbear Not likely. They wouldn't make good addition. The original JumpStart was very well thought out. The commons/uncommons were... common between different themes of the same color. The rare multicolored decks used some of the card used in other half-decks. By mashing the two together you usually got quite coherent deck due to many small tweaks like that. Put 5 new half-decks that don't operate on similar template and when you run into them you get decks that work worse. You CAN do it, but you just lesser the experience. Also, the power level is just not the same for the new half-decks If you take everything into consideration, the theory that prof has, that those just replace Theme Boosters, is very likely. The big Jumpstart that comes next week might be good, but it also won't make for a great addition to existing pool. For the best experience you should play cards from only one set.
@@Areinu And I thought I got it bad when I had 4 copies of Feathered Friends in my box. Although the biggest thing I was upset with was that I got about an even split of WUBR, but only 2 green packs.
@@darwinsfolly2117 Yeah, having even split is good. I built some half-decks for colors that were under-represented in mine (hello black and blue) based on the card lists available online. I choose the ones with cheapest rares :D
@user-qk4qh6vw2b ya I mean those MJ holdings mystery cubes that usually have 2 of the worst selling products of the year and an etali primal storm, and beast whisperer single.
Wait for 2022, Dominaria United Jumpstart was dissapointint too. I think the themed set ones are bad because they're limited, the core JS sets should have much more variety
@@williamriven The product is definitely bad value compared to its predecessor. If your product gets worse over time, your customers get angry. Anything else you want to say is cope.
This isn’t “Jumpstart Jumpstart”, it’s the replacement for Theme boosters (a fantastic upgrade imo). I just wished they emphasized that this is “Standard-legal Jumpstart”.
My playgroup is now creating their own proxy cubes, commander decks, and draft packs. Better to create your own play experience and not be driven to crack packs to keep up with the Joneses
Something that was never mentioned was that since there are 5 (arguably 10) options to combine, there are guaranteed complete duplicate packs in your box; you can still combine them for a deck but that is immediately going to make your deck less complex/varied and can put you at a disadvantage. Even for gameplay, which is what its designed for, that's already such a major flaw.
Love it, just getting back into Magic and been binging your videos. Want to get JumpStart 2022 and will be waiting for your videos. Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Wizard's strategy nowadays seems to be to just take something that everyone likes about Magic and do it so much that is no longer fun or special. It happened to commander pre-cons, it happened to special card variants and full art lands, and now it happened to jumpstart.
I started playing mtg when exodus released. That was summer of 1998. Now, I definitely wasn't playing all the time since then, but coming back was always an exciting time. Now, I have that itch to come back. I desperately want to play some commander games... but, looking at how wizards and Hasboro are trying to milk this game for every penny... I just can't justify it.
Thank you, want to get into magic again and play with some friends, but there is so many boxes - was considering getting a newer jumpstart box after having seen the first review of the original. And well with this warning I ended up with a box for the news jumpstart 2022 releasing here in a few days. Hopefully this will be a great way to get back into magic and play other the Christmas holiday with friends and family.
I feel like 2:30 is such a reasonable answer about MTG products, and maybe I've just never had thousands and thousands of dollars to spend getting every magic card but that feels so normal to me.
I have a sealed box of JumpStart because I had a bunch of friends show interest in "partners Magic night" were the magic players of the group play with their non-magic playing partners. Unfortunately, time hasn't let everyone meet, but yeah, Jumpstart means a little extra disappointment to me. *Thanks for the Content* !
A spreadsheet of all the Magic products that have been reviewed that includes their grade would be interesting to see, especially if it was organized chronologically.
I appreciate you're honest opinion. Most Magic TH-camrs are too busy kissing corporate butts and bad quality sponsors to say what they want to say. You rock professor!
I always appreciate the Prof's honesty. We haven't bought any magic product since Innistrad because we love vampires, zombies, and werewolves. Since then, there's so much product that nothing is interesting
Great video. I had a very positive experience with LOTR jumpstart BUT I immediately noticed the illusion of differences while actually only having 5 core theme half decks . At $100+ it isn’t worth it. So I spent the day today modifying the second theme deck for each color to be a thematically different experience from the first half deck of the same color. I hope to try them out tomorrow. Then, when you smash your two half decks together, you can also add the one LOTR specific uncommon card that matches the two color combo you have (as the 41st card). Shuffle and play. I hope you like the idea! Enjoy!
It seems to be a pattern where the first product in a new style is really well received and every subsequent products lacks so much of what made the initial product special
They snuck yet another 'jumpstart' product in. For a second I thought they were talking about the big one coming up until that was mentioned. I can't keep track of these.
I didn’t even know about this Jumpstart but knew there was another coming next week. I’ve given up staying up to date and I just browse scryfall for the newest vampire, knights, and vehicles. Only sealed product I still buy are commander decks if I like the theme.
It's good to have people who analyze and have a voice to stand up against unfair products. I'm sure MTG makes a lot of good value products but some not so much and it's important to point out those bad ones and have a voice for the community. I don't even play MTG but watching the passion of this man is nice.
I stopped playing during Onslaught and just got back in during Ikoria. Your videos have been a great help and lots of fun to watch. Thanks for your honest opinion. Subscribed.
Actually, just for fact-checking, I actually opened the Green Rare from this set in a Set Booster with the weird art card in front, so I don't even think these things are exclusive to the Jumpstart packs. Also, Blake is really making me start to think that he needs to be fired, and Hasbro needs to really stop having an ambassador because EVERYTHING he's said recently has actually made Magic the Gathering feel like it wants to bleed players and just no longer have anyone playing the game.
Prof I thought you were exaggerating about Jumpstart 2022 coming out in a week but it absolutely is, seriously wtf is WotC doing with their release schedules and why even bother to dump this mess onto the market. Thanks again for a great video!
Hey, Prof, At 2:02, during the Rasmussen segment, the date is noted as Nov. 15th, 2023, rather than 2022. Not sure if you can edit, but you may want to. Thanks for continuing to put out the best MTG content!
Imagine being the team who put their heart and soul into designing the original Jumpstart only to watch corporate Hasbro take that universal joy and liquidate it into these soulless theme booster reskins. I can't imagine the frustrations of the Wizards team seeing their hardwork cheapened at every opportunity.
better , imagine the team that made jumpstart going: ok so here is going to be the base, then as we add new sets it's just going to give more theme mixing. then as the expansion products release and are treated as standalone products they look on in horror as no one understands at all that you were never supposed to make a deck with 2 brother's war packs.
@Prof... when is the next Dies to Removal Ep???? I can't wait to hear you and Pleasant Kenobi review and debate recent MTG news and muse about its future especially after the recent Hasbro Downgrade and Stock downward trend!
I actually didn't realize they were making JumpStart sets for all of the main sets now. Why am I not surprised? And why am I even less surprised that they're awful? "Where did they go wrong?" Well, the moment they decide every cool thing has to happen every set (Commander decks, JumpStart), suddenly their creativity has to stretch and strain to keep hitting those highs over and over again, and eventually they just sort of say "eh, good enough" and clock out.
My group is playing the original Jumpstart tonight, for the umpteenth time. And we still love it! Not a single one of us have had any interest in getting any other Jumpstart product. Too bad, as we would have been happy to buy them if they were worth it. However, products are coming out faster and faster, so maybe the teams that put these things together have a very limited amount of time to have it finished so it can hit production.
I was so happy with Jump Start and will keep playing the original as it works great to get folks playing I'm surprised this got a D tbh i will be steering very clear of it!
If you want to play JumpStart, it's so easy to make your own half-decks out of the cards you probably already own. If you look at the decklists, each has one or two rares and the rest are commons and uncommons on the theme. Include some removal, make a decent curve, add some basics, add an evolving wilds, ash barrens, etc. That's it. If you are after the great original designs and reprints, buy the singles. Heck you could probably make a decent half-deck for free from the bulk bin at your LGS.
I like jumpstart for the simple way to pick up and play, especially if you have friends who haven't played in a while. It sucks that it's gotten worse since the original. Something nobody seems to be talking about as well is that they removed the full art land from the Dominaria United version. Wizards is so obsessed with eking out every single cent from their players.
I just bought 6 packs for me and 2 friends (we're all complete beginners). Sad to hear the OGs find it dull, I hope we can still have some fun and find inspiration with these.
This is a perfect example of why I no longer engage in new MtG products and just stick to my old, previously engaged product. It seems to represent what my biggest concern about the floodgates being opened up about on MtG products, the dilution of ideas. At the volume of product they release, they can only come out with so much in the way of interesting products and ideas, and when there is so much, if they do come out with something "engaging," it gets lost amongst the deluge of trash, like this.
The og jumpstart is the best! On of my friends and me opened a box and had an amazing time and ot the value back in just 3 cards(brudivac, branching evolution, miscut rystic studies
No one seems to be saying it, but I always thought these jump start expansion were something you could just buy a few packs of (maybe just two!) and slip them into your existing Jump Start pool? Fair point some may be too similar to existing themes...but not all of them are.
At 1st when they announced Dominaria United JumpStart I thought it was a good idea. Because the concept is really good for casual gamers and new to MTG players. But, now I look back and i'm questionning if THEY need a JumpStart product every sets. I think WotC could release an annual 40 ish theme JumpStart and Casuals and new players will have enough. 2022 and we can still find OG Jumpstart. New players don't need to go in an LGS in 2023, ask the owner what product to buy as a new player, be recommanded to try JumpStart and be faced to choose between 8 different JumpStart products that are not even the same product in their essence. I would be upset as a new player to buy DOM UNI JUmpstart to discover just after that I spent my money on the crappy version of JumpStart and that I should have bought JumpStart 2022 for the real experience and value.
Hi Professor, Thanks for your videos, really like them! Did a jumpstart tournament last saturday, and got blue and red...not an experienced player, but the combination really didn't work well IMHO. Guys with white were usually the most succesful, the hound was a real asset...so had a feeling of imbalance and really did not enjoy the moment... I do agree with you about the value, most of the cards are bad in general, random rare cards were really bad too (and it seems to be the same for other players)...I was so close to throw them into the bin. All the best.
I didn't even realize that this and the next jumpstart are different products. There is not only too much to keep up with buying but also just too keep it all in mind
Same. I bought a prerelease just for fun, and I may buy draft or set boosters here or there for fun. But aside from that I'm only really buying singles when I need them for a new deck. But nothing really over that.
For some reason, if wotc needs to have a certain amount of skews per release.. I am shocked they haven't experimented with taking plot points, locations, & characters of these sets & made a +/-20 card supplemental product for planechase/archenemy/ even maybe a return to vanguards. Playing the recent gamenight product with planechase has been some of the most fun my playgroup has had in a while.
Thanks for the information prof! I really appreciate your honest reviews. Unfortunately it feels like wizards is stuck in an echo chamber, and have no interest in real feedback
feels real bad to have accidentally bought a couple boxes to sell to my customers thinking this was the better Jumpstart 2022. There are literally so many products now that the LGS isn't even sure what they're buying to sell anymore
The similarity of this project to the old Welcome Decks, which were given out for free to new players at game stores, makes this product even more unsavory imo. This takes the option of learning at your LGS off the table, and now there's no quick on-ramp to learning the game.
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As more wizards stuff comes out i keep realizing id rather buy precon decks/sets instead of random booster boxes/packs
You put 2023 on the Blake Rasmussen clip.
Which plate?
Wish more magic artists used displate, they're such a cool product
Do they have one of me?
At this point, we may as well make our own 'jumpstart cube', where we make our own 20 card half-decks, each one built and curated ourselves, for our groups to pull from.
Holy sh*t!! That's a steller idea. I haven't made a cube yet but it's been on my mind for a while. But doing individual theme packs and doing it like jumpstart cube would be awesome! I've got the day off I think I'm a look into starting this today
I have a friend who’s building one each with a partner commander
top tier idea
Already did, it’s my little jumpstart cube. It was fun to put together and just used the first jumpstart decklists to get an idea of what themes to use. Just buy all black sleeves and bam
I'm doing this, because I want to make a "mini cube" which would serve to teach people how to play magic and get them into the game in real life. But I'm a teacher so I have lots of students to show the game to. Will definitely keep an eye out for people's ideas. Maybe there's a subreddit?
My biggest gripe against the notion that "some products aren't for you" is that I still need to INVESTIGATE and COMPREHEND what these sets/releases/products ARE in order to come to that determination. I've gotten to the point where I don't know what cards are coming out/where/why and I'm getting pretty burnt out by the prospect of having to invest time just to figure it out so instead I'm giving up 🤷♂️
Now imagine trying to bulk purchase for a store.
Yeah that exactly me. Part time player for 18 years. Usually keep up to date with what's coming out. Now I over it
100% finally someone else on board with this. I've always said when I complain I "can't keep up" it's not that I'm complaining I can't afford every product - of course I can't. Not even the super whales are buying *everything*. It's that I don't even have the time to even figure out what to buy. I'm blessed with a good career that lets me afford this game but that leaves me with less time to invest into it. Coupled with, you know, just life in general I can't be part of a game only made for people who can sit online 12 hours a day consuming every spoiler.
1:38 How nice of Teferi to help out the professor, giving him a clip from next year. Really shows that his content is timeless.
How long was I asleep??
Lol I noticed only because you said something.
I love Blake's defense of the product pump, basically boils down to "Back in the day MTG products were special, and a major event on release. Now a days though they aren't special".
IMO his response misses the mark. It effectiely boils down to "Don't like it? Don't buy it". I mean, yeah I think we've been doing that for awhile now and obviously no one is buying every release. I think the players complaining they "can't keep up" or are feeling "fatigue" though isn't cause they're trying to buy everything but because there is an substantial cognitive load in ever trying to figure out _what to buy_ in the first place.
I don't sit on the MTG reddit every day (or ever). I don't watch WotC's youtube. I don't follow spoilers - and the reason is because I'm very busy. I'm blessed to work a good job that lets me afford this ridiculous game but that comes at the expense of having much less free time to actually even try and mentally track all the crap they're pumping out.
@@Weaver_Games This exactly. If I have to put a ton of effort into seeing which of your products are crap (which has been a lot of them lately) jsut to see what to buy, then I am just going to not buy anything but singles from game stores.
"Don't engage with what you do not like" is a very interesting way of telling your consumer base to quietly leave and undervalue their patronage.
For a set so focused on artifacts, kinda wild they didn't even make a colorless theme.
That would require them to think about the products they put out. Also, so many artifacts have the Unearth mechanic which requires colored mana, which would just make the colorless themes samey.
A theme too far.
As the wife of a magic player, this makes me incredibly sad. Not only because my husband is losing interest in his hobby of 18 years, but because he never buys paper magic anymore. I used to love opening packs. From an objective point of view, it really looks like WotC got lazy and greedy.
Gotta love the Professor for being completely and totally forward and honest. Good on ya 😄
He's been like this since day 1 lol
Love it
it's amazing that they did two foil and a full art for dom united jumpstart AND THEN DOWNGRADED TO ONE FOIL REGULAR LAND
At 6:15 it seems that the left pack doesn't have a foil basic.
What absolute misers. It doesnt cost them anything to be generous with it, and it might drive sales if they were actually "generous" with product instead of bastards.
I'm increasingly finding that no MtG product is worth buying
Quite a few commander decks are good quality
@@WeedEater-e8d With that same money you can just build a better deck. 40 dollars for a precon that could be done better for the same price
They've literally told you not to buy their product if it's not for you. So you're just taking their advice.
@@justinb2824 all of their products aren't for us nowadays
I’m at the point where singles aren’t even worth it. I bumped down from a collection of cards, to just a single commander deck.
Having only couple of releases a year was great because everybody was attending pre-release. Doesn't matter what format was your thing, everybody were following spoilers, attending pre events, drafts etc. It was like holidays. Literally, people were taking 1-2 days off to play couple of pre events or something. Now? You check for articles/videos that just mention interesting cards and that's it.
From doing all the possible pre events physically possible to playing 2 sealed events a year. From excitement about new cards to feeling tired about another new card in the format.
Yeah I remember going to prerelease events every chance I got, and it was not too hard because there were generally maybe what, 3 a year? Now they're dropping new sets every other week, it's exhausting. I just stopped paying attention or buying anything.
We noticed this with Dominaria. My husband and I decided to dip into the pre-release on Saturday because we didn't want to deal with the crowd of Friday Night. . .and with us there ended up being 6 players. . .us, another couple just getting started, the store clerk and a regular that the clerk called in to try and make numbers enough for us to play. We were still grateful they ran the event for us. . .but it was disappointing not to even have a full table
@@hallaloth3112 exactly, I went to pre of Dominaria United on Saturday and the store owner had promo foil Dark Confidant as additional price if there would be more then 8 players. We had problems with getting 6 players... btw DomU great set for sealed, playing 5 colors in sealed was fun.
@@corriedebeer799 i used to plan my travels so i could be on pre at least once. It really felt like christmas or someone's bday party. Now it's not a biggy if I miss pre.
As a collector that doesn't really play it, the new pacing absolutely killed my interest. It went from a pleasure of hunting for those cheap single cards over few months, organizing the folder, etc.. to just a chore. And now that I collected for few years, I feel like I wasted time and I will never be able to be satisfied with it. Sure I can sell and make great money, but that was never the point. :(
these past few months wizards have taught me proxies are okay and that I shouldn't buy every product anyway! the proxies thing makes sense now so I should just proxy the couple of cards that may interest me from each set. my wallet is very pleased!
Prof is so on the pulse of MTG he got a clip from a future stream.
That threw me off haha
That’s because he is trying to keep up with everything that is happening in Magic ;)
Legitimately didn't know this was a separate product to Jumpstart 2022, so thanks for clearing that up!
Products like these are, to me, a demonstration of what happens when information from data science is misconstrued, and algorithmic optimisation is left to its own devices without human rationalisation.
Yes! Ah so great to hear this coming from another source. People vastly underestimate the degree to which they bias data investigation. How they bin it, how they define thresholds, etc.
It's just crazy to me that certain sectors have become so data-driven it actively undermines the trends those patterns were reliant upon through repeated exploitation.
Magic used to have sparse set releases you felt you needed to be a part of… yes, that’s what kept the community connected and strong…
yeah, this always is what fucks me up. Magic used to move at a pace where you Wanted AND Needed to play with each new set for one reason of another. Then on top, Blocks generated interest in sets already past. Gatecrash feeds into RtR, Journey into Nyx fed into Theros and Born of the Gods, and most blocks manage to be at least good, besides for some infamous exceptions.
Today, a dud set might as well be dooming the plane to obscurity. and duds are way more common. I can only assume the design teams are being pushed too hard to jam everything in, and it's really damaging the drafting stage. I mean, look at crimson vow. we have a completely fleshed out plane, and the set still fucking sucked.
WOTC continues to do great work in uniting its entire player/collector base. Keep it up WOTC!
It's really good to see the biggest magic channel be honest and not just shill for mtg. I really want to get back to enjoying magic but new products just aren't appealing to me.
I think your grade is pretty generous here. At my FLGS they have a box filled with commons and basic lands and you can just take as many as you want/need. Instead of spending their hard-earned cash on this product I think people should make their own 'Jumpstart' decks that way, and spend their money on actually good uncommons and rares at their FLGS, on Dragon Shields to protect their cards, and on Cubamajigs to store them. Speak with your wallet while continuing to support local stores and companies that make excellent products.
You have a good lgs.
@@volosguidetomonsters3440 I'll let them know the internet thinks so next time I swing by :)
@@corriedebeer799 Peasant commander is my favorite way to play commander. I just made my sister a Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion pauper commander deck that's just a mixture of evasive creatures, efficient removal, lifesteal, and cards that return Nashi from your graveyard to your hand to keep the Ninjutsu working. Because my FLGS is amazing all it cost was 2$ for Nashi, plus the price of a box and sleeves; the rest of the 99 was free.
@@ObsidianKnight90 your lgs sounds really cool, the one i used to go had an owner that was only into money and not into the joy of the players there =(
@@firby7341 Yeah, mine is going through a tough time, anything I can get there I always get instead of from bigger stores or online. I'd rather pay an extra buck to them than Bezos.
I remember there being articles from wotc themselves explaining themselves why they make purposefully bad or bizarre cards even at higher rarities and I wonder if those same arguments of theirs holds up when it comes to making purposefully bad products. The number of packs missing should be so obvious and yet they did it so it it really incompetence or intentionally serving a higher purposes beyond our understanding and probably beyond the shareholders understanding
Oh it's definitely by design. Same reason why companies like Micro$oft sell things in their store with "xbox points" rather than dollars. Always leftovers that a person will feel an annoying itch to balance out by spending more money.
Rumors of embezzlement have been going around for years now, they seem more real every year.
Those "rares" are nearly unplayable in the current dumpster fire a.k.a. "standard" due to being far too slow and inefficient, but they remind me of that old standard where 5+ mana cards were playable in decks that weren't control, those cards ain't bad for being too weak, they're bad because they're actually balanced.
1:45 I appreciate you getting this clip from the future to reinforce the point
He'll be repeating that each year, every year, as his overlords demand.
My biggest gripe with original JS was too low variety of themes. It seemed like a lot, but there were many repeats with minor changes, and more unique sets were rare. You could easily get a box with 8 of the same white theme in a single box. Here wotc takes this complaint and makes it much worse!
Is the idea of these expansions not to simply add them to the existing jump-start pool?
@@williamriven I got 6 Tree-Hugging and 8 Heavily Armored in single box. I admit I never calculated the odds of it happening, but as I got it in my first and only box it was very easy feat to accomplish for me. I bought mine hoping to open it and build "jump-start cube", and it failed horribly for me. Fortunately there was a lot of re-use between themes so I used some of the bulk in my collection, and purchased some missing cheap cards and I managed to convert those themes into other white/green themes. It makes sense that the commons and uncommons are reused between themes, so when you run into Basri and Heavily Armored you're getting quite coherent deck. Similarly Trees could be converted quite fast and cheap (sub-one-dollar) into other themes, so it was not a total catastrophe.
Well, all in all, maybe most people won't get 8 and it's not so easy, I'm just the luckiest person on the planet, lol. Well, buy singles!
@@Banterbear Not likely. They wouldn't make good addition. The original JumpStart was very well thought out. The commons/uncommons were... common between different themes of the same color. The rare multicolored decks used some of the card used in other half-decks. By mashing the two together you usually got quite coherent deck due to many small tweaks like that. Put 5 new half-decks that don't operate on similar template and when you run into them you get decks that work worse. You CAN do it, but you just lesser the experience.
Also, the power level is just not the same for the new half-decks
If you take everything into consideration, the theory that prof has, that those just replace Theme Boosters, is very likely.
The big Jumpstart that comes next week might be good, but it also won't make for a great addition to existing pool. For the best experience you should play cards from only one set.
@@Areinu And I thought I got it bad when I had 4 copies of Feathered Friends in my box. Although the biggest thing I was upset with was that I got about an even split of WUBR, but only 2 green packs.
@@darwinsfolly2117 Yeah, having even split is good. I built some half-decks for colors that were under-represented in mine (hello black and blue) based on the card lists available online. I choose the ones with cheapest rares :D
I'm excited for Jumpstart 2022!
Edit: Prof playing with his Displates looked like more fun than this Jumpstart product.
Wow dat was savage bruh 😂 Definitely not picking up this trash. Thanks Prof!
The sad part is, they will absolutely unload these through mystery boxes of they do not sell.
Mystery boxes are bad too
You mean those unbranded Wallmart-boxex with random packs?
Because if you are talking about mystery boosters, youre kinda wrong
@user-qk4qh6vw2b ya I mean those MJ holdings mystery cubes that usually have 2 of the worst selling products of the year and an etali primal storm, and beast whisperer single.
The original Jumpstart was what got me into Magic. Sad to hear how far the mighty have fallen.
in a week the new jumpstart comes out! which has lots of very different and fun archetypes, that one will be pretty good i think
Wait for 2022, Dominaria United Jumpstart was dissapointint too. I think the themed set ones are bad because they're limited, the core JS sets should have much more variety
@@williamriven brain dead take
@@williamriven The product is definitely bad value compared to its predecessor. If your product gets worse over time, your customers get angry. Anything else you want to say is cope.
This isn’t “Jumpstart Jumpstart”, it’s the replacement for Theme boosters (a fantastic upgrade imo). I just wished they emphasized that this is “Standard-legal Jumpstart”.
Your sponsors are cool. You make it palatable. I respect that
My playgroup is now creating their own proxy cubes, commander decks, and draft packs. Better to create your own play experience and not be driven to crack packs to keep up with the Joneses
That's awesome! I hope y'all have a great time.
Yo, it’s the most minor of typos. Chill. 😂
Something that was never mentioned was that since there are 5 (arguably 10) options to combine, there are guaranteed complete duplicate packs in your box; you can still combine them for a deck but that is immediately going to make your deck less complex/varied and can put you at a disadvantage. Even for gameplay, which is what its designed for, that's already such a major flaw.
I stopped playing MTG, back to FAB, but I love to support your videos. Love you, prof!
As always, love the honesty in "Is it worth it..." whether positive or negative. Never change, Prof.
Love it, just getting back into Magic and been binging your videos.
Want to get JumpStart 2022 and will be waiting for your videos.
Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Wizard's strategy nowadays seems to be to just take something that everyone likes about Magic and do it so much that is no longer fun or special. It happened to commander pre-cons, it happened to special card variants and full art lands, and now it happened to jumpstart.
I started playing mtg when exodus released. That was summer of 1998. Now, I definitely wasn't playing all the time since then, but coming back was always an exciting time.
Now, I have that itch to come back. I desperately want to play some commander games... but, looking at how wizards and Hasboro are trying to milk this game for every penny... I just can't justify it.
Thank you, want to get into magic again and play with some friends, but there is so many boxes - was considering getting a newer jumpstart box after having seen the first review of the original. And well with this warning I ended up with a box for the news jumpstart 2022 releasing here in a few days. Hopefully this will be a great way to get back into magic and play other the Christmas holiday with friends and family.
I NEED command zone style ads but with no animations and just Prof voicing each character!
I feel like 2:30 is such a reasonable answer about MTG products, and maybe I've just never had thousands and thousands of dollars to spend getting every magic card but that feels so normal to me.
Professor and Tolarian Community make worth watch the whole sponsor fragment, always. Laughs, humor or something odd guaranteed 😆. Thanks!
I have a sealed box of JumpStart because I had a bunch of friends show interest in "partners Magic night" were the magic players of the group play with their non-magic playing partners. Unfortunately, time hasn't let everyone meet, but yeah, Jumpstart means a little extra disappointment to me.
*Thanks for the Content* !
I appreciate the honest evaluation, I will steer clear of this
A spreadsheet of all the Magic products that have been reviewed that includes their grade would be interesting to see, especially if it was organized chronologically.
I appreciate you're honest opinion. Most Magic TH-camrs are too busy kissing corporate butts and bad quality sponsors to say what they want to say. You rock professor!
I always appreciate the Prof's honesty. We haven't bought any magic product since Innistrad because we love vampires, zombies, and werewolves. Since then, there's so much product that nothing is interesting
The new set Jumpstart products seems like it will be fun in a Chaos Jumpstart Draft type with upcoming sets having their own Jumpstart packs.
Great video. I had a very positive experience with LOTR jumpstart BUT I immediately noticed the illusion of differences while actually only having 5 core theme half decks . At $100+ it isn’t worth it. So I spent the day today modifying the second theme deck for each color to be a thematically different experience from the first half deck of the same color. I hope to try them out tomorrow. Then, when you smash your two half decks together, you can also add the one LOTR specific uncommon card that matches the two color combo you have (as the 41st card). Shuffle and play. I hope you like the idea! Enjoy!
It seems to be a pattern where the first product in a new style is really well received and every subsequent products lacks so much of what made the initial product special
From Weekly MTG November 15, 2023? Props to the Prof for time-traveling just for this video. He continues to go above and beyond for his content
I liked Jumpstart when I first returned to the hobby a couple years ago. Even if I never got my hands on a Rhystic Study.
It may be time for a “New Product Alert! New Product Alert!” Intro.
They snuck yet another 'jumpstart' product in. For a second I thought they were talking about the big one coming up until that was mentioned. I can't keep track of these.
I didn’t even know about this Jumpstart but knew there was another coming next week. I’ve given up staying up to date and I just browse scryfall for the newest vampire, knights, and vehicles. Only sealed product I still buy are commander decks if I like the theme.
It's good to have people who analyze and have a voice to stand up against unfair products. I'm sure MTG makes a lot of good value products but some not so much and it's important to point out those bad ones and have a voice for the community. I don't even play MTG but watching the passion of this man is nice.
"It is ok to just want to buy this and shuffle up two packs and have a good time, and if that is you, then this is STILL not worth it"
Bruh LMAOOOO
Minor editing note - at 1:38, the citation for the Weekly MTG Q&A is dated 2023
Finally proof the The Professor is actually The Doctor!
Time Spiral
I stopped playing during Onslaught and just got back in during Ikoria. Your videos have been a great help and lots of fun to watch. Thanks for your honest opinion. Subscribed.
Actually, just for fact-checking, I actually opened the Green Rare from this set in a Set Booster with the weird art card in front, so I don't even think these things are exclusive to the Jumpstart packs. Also, Blake is really making me start to think that he needs to be fired, and Hasbro needs to really stop having an ambassador because EVERYTHING he's said recently has actually made Magic the Gathering feel like it wants to bleed players and just no longer have anyone playing the game.
The cartoon-esque music over top of the dude being like "I dunno just don't buy it" is MWAH *chef's kiss*
I'm glad Prof finally knows how magnets work.
Prof I thought you were exaggerating about Jumpstart 2022 coming out in a week but it absolutely is, seriously wtf is WotC doing with their release schedules and why even bother to dump this mess onto the market. Thanks again for a great video!
Hey, Prof,
At 2:02, during the Rasmussen segment, the date is noted as Nov. 15th, 2023, rather than 2022. Not sure if you can edit, but you may want to.
Thanks for continuing to put out the best MTG content!
1:45 that‘s really the Marketing guy? Probably not good as his job 😂
November 2023? Wait, you got a video of Blake talking in the future? Cool!
Imagine being the team who put their heart and soul into designing the original Jumpstart only to watch corporate Hasbro take that universal joy and liquidate it into these soulless theme booster reskins. I can't imagine the frustrations of the Wizards team seeing their hardwork cheapened at every opportunity.
WOTC firmly believes in Skullclamping all of its workers :P LOL
better , imagine the team that made jumpstart going: ok so here is going to be the base, then as we add new sets it's just going to give more theme mixing.
then as the expansion products release and are treated as standalone products they look on in horror as no one understands at all that you were never supposed to make a deck with 2 brother's war packs.
I haven't bought any of the dominaria or brothers JS decks. Are they even comparable in quality to the original half decks?
@Prof... when is the next Dies to Removal Ep???? I can't wait to hear you and Pleasant Kenobi review and debate recent MTG news and muse about its future especially after the recent Hasbro Downgrade and Stock downward trend!
I actually didn't realize they were making JumpStart sets for all of the main sets now. Why am I not surprised? And why am I even less surprised that they're awful?
"Where did they go wrong?" Well, the moment they decide every cool thing has to happen every set (Commander decks, JumpStart), suddenly their creativity has to stretch and strain to keep hitting those highs over and over again, and eventually they just sort of say "eh, good enough" and clock out.
My group is playing the original Jumpstart tonight, for the umpteenth time. And we still love it! Not a single one of us have had any interest in getting any other Jumpstart product. Too bad, as we would have been happy to buy them if they were worth it. However, products are coming out faster and faster, so maybe the teams that put these things together have a very limited amount of time to have it finished so it can hit production.
Why would you not just buy a 2 or 3 packs of the expansion's (of different themes) to add into your existing jump start pool?
@@Banterbear Not a bad idea. But my line of thinking was buying a fresh box of a new and exciting Jumpstart, not just an extra pack or two.
@@MBurgland Oh, they got that covered as well ...👍
I was so happy with Jump Start and will keep playing the original as it works great to get folks playing I'm surprised this got a D tbh i will be steering very clear of it!
Wait a week for the good Jumpstart
I feel some comfort that you, Rudy and Purp are here with me at the end times of MtG.
The DMU/BRO Jumpstart sets are smaller welcome decks with a 5$ pricetag.
2:34 Professor showing clips from the future :O
Love the dice in the background !! Catch ya on the flippity , prof
I’m amazed you got footage from 2023 though! Well done!! 😎
If you want to play JumpStart, it's so easy to make your own half-decks out of the cards you probably already own. If you look at the decklists, each has one or two rares and the rest are commons and uncommons on the theme. Include some removal, make a decent curve, add some basics, add an evolving wilds, ash barrens, etc. That's it. If you are after the great original designs and reprints, buy the singles. Heck you could probably make a decent half-deck for free from the bulk bin at your LGS.
2:30 that video is from 2023! Woah. Future Magic.
Again original jumpstart was fun. Glad I got to do it, even if the color distribution was really off.
I like jumpstart for the simple way to pick up and play, especially if you have friends who haven't played in a while. It sucks that it's gotten worse since the original. Something nobody seems to be talking about as well is that they removed the full art land from the Dominaria United version. Wizards is so obsessed with eking out every single cent from their players.
I just bought 6 packs for me and 2 friends (we're all complete beginners). Sad to hear the OGs find it dull, I hope we can still have some fun and find inspiration with these.
Just in time to avoid black friday deals on jump start. Thanks
2:00 damn the Professor can see into the future
This is a perfect example of why I no longer engage in new MtG products and just stick to my old, previously engaged product. It seems to represent what my biggest concern about the floodgates being opened up about on MtG products, the dilution of ideas. At the volume of product they release, they can only come out with so much in the way of interesting products and ideas, and when there is so much, if they do come out with something "engaging," it gets lost amongst the deluge of trash, like this.
The og jumpstart is the best! On of my friends and me opened a box and had an amazing time and ot the value back in just 3 cards(brudivac, branching evolution, miscut rystic studies
No one seems to be saying it, but I always thought these jump start expansion were something you could just buy a few packs of (maybe just two!) and slip them into your existing Jump Start pool? Fair point some may be too similar to existing themes...but not all of them are.
At 1st when they announced Dominaria United JumpStart I thought it was a good idea. Because the concept is really good for casual gamers and new to MTG players. But, now I look back and i'm questionning if THEY need a JumpStart product every sets. I think WotC could release an annual 40 ish theme JumpStart and Casuals and new players will have enough. 2022 and we can still find OG Jumpstart. New players don't need to go in an LGS in 2023, ask the owner what product to buy as a new player, be recommanded to try JumpStart and be faced to choose between 8 different JumpStart products that are not even the same product in their essence. I would be upset as a new player to buy DOM UNI JUmpstart to discover just after that I spent my money on the crappy version of JumpStart and that I should have bought JumpStart 2022 for the real experience and value.
Props to seeing into the future with a stream from 2023!!
Hi Professor,
Thanks for your videos, really like them!
Did a jumpstart tournament last saturday, and got blue and red...not an experienced player, but the combination really didn't work well IMHO. Guys with white were usually the most succesful, the hound was a real asset...so had a feeling of imbalance and really did not enjoy the moment...
I do agree with you about the value, most of the cards are bad in general, random rare cards were really bad too (and it seems to be the same for other players)...I was so close to throw them into the bin.
All the best.
Wow. He got footage from Weekly MTG from 2023! Prof giving us the good stuff.
I absolutely love the change in title for these videos now. Allbeit not a good sign at all for the health of the game. I love it none the less.
Can't wait for the Professor to compare the 2022 Jumpstart anime cards with yugioh cards lol
If you hadn't told me, I never would have guessed that you were improving!
I didn't even realize that this and the next jumpstart are different products. There is not only too much to keep up with buying but also just too keep it all in mind
This sponsor seems really interesting I think I may take on it. Ty prof. Hopefully corpo overlords catch wind of your videos, sometime...
Rumor has it every time the professor makes a video WOTC release a NEW SECRET LAIR
it's so nice to have this period of time where I feel no urge to buy new magic products. it's like they might as well be making nothing at all.
Same. I bought a prerelease just for fun, and I may buy draft or set boosters here or there for fun. But aside from that I'm only really buying singles when I need them for a new deck. But nothing really over that.
@@smolshay yeah man, if they won't slow down, we will
For some reason, if wotc needs to have a certain amount of skews per release.. I am shocked they haven't experimented with taking plot points, locations, & characters of these sets & made a +/-20 card supplemental product for planechase/archenemy/ even maybe a return to vanguards.
Playing the recent gamenight product with planechase has been some of the most fun my playgroup has had in a while.
Its amazing that prof got a clip from next year in his video.
Thanks for the information prof! I really appreciate your honest reviews. Unfortunately it feels like wizards is stuck in an echo chamber, and have no interest in real feedback
I was gonna clap back that Double Feature was in Nov *last year* , but it was delayed til Jan. You win.
feels real bad to have accidentally bought a couple boxes to sell to my customers thinking this was the better Jumpstart 2022. There are literally so many products now that the LGS isn't even sure what they're buying to sell anymore
The similarity of this project to the old Welcome Decks, which were given out for free to new players at game stores, makes this product even more unsavory imo. This takes the option of learning at your LGS off the table, and now there's no quick on-ramp to learning the game.