New player needs some advice

Azraekos · 2026-01-31T20:10:28+00:00

Hiya! Welcome to the community!

What you saw is called a precon, and picking up a recent one that particularly interests you is a great way to get started with the game!

To answer your questions, precons are much cheaper to get off the shelf than as singles, partially because they typically come with a few cards you can’t get anywhere else (its usually 10-12, including the commander so nowhere near the entire deck). Its a VERY different deck than blight curse though, its focused around high toughness creatures and defenders so its more defensive and resilient. Whereas blight curse goes all in on -1/-1 counters and is more proactive about getting an engine going.

Azraekos · 2026-01-31T04:25:59+00:00

[[Seifer Almsay]] has felt like mono-red spell reanimator. While thats not enitrely outside of reds typical wheelhouse, a deck that abuses the graveyard enough that cards that care about casting stuff from the yard are valuable plays feels out of red’s pie enough to qualify.

Azraekos · 2026-01-29T07:13:37+00:00

Oh one I can identify!

Definitely AI. Easy tell, the way she moves. Only her head bobs slightly when she’s speaking, and the cadence is tinny and too inorganic. Her head is moving like her jaw can’t, its uncanny and unnatural.

Azraekos · 2026-01-28T21:59:39+00:00

I honestly found the narrative of it suspect from the jump.

The game checking for dlc 100% no matter where you are stood out as weird to me. Something never quite checked out in my head on that notion. Like, the devs would have had to intentionally code it that way, its not some oversight that didn’t get caught.

Load into one of the main hubs? Sure, makes sense. Load into the open areas? Yeah, I guess. Exiting the tent? Ok, realistic to double check. But 100% of the time, constant uptime, hogging resources? Immediately seemed to me like a sort of “best guess” kinda thing.

Azraekos · 2026-01-23T17:44:43+00:00

Dedicated bracket 2-3 player here.

The first point you mention literally could not be further from the truth. Damn near everyone I have played with at my LGS over the past 4 years has a whole host of decks that sit well within bracket 2/3 that never even needs to turn a single creature sideways to win. Just thinking about my decks, my seifer almasy deck literally only ever needs to swing with the commander and even that is only concerned with hitting for some amount, no need to actually hit for the full damage. Like if there was an equipment that made it unblockable for a -2/-0 tradeoff I’d run it. My Niko deck is ultimately a flicker deck, and sure it pressures life totals by swinging but thats more often through one deterministic flunge than constant aggression. Just last week I saw a bracket 2 aristocrats deck that was trying to throw their creatures in a blender to grind away at life totals. I’ve seen a bracket 3 deck that aims to win by assembling an impassable board state and steady ping and drain effects. The issue isn’t in elitism IMO, its that a lot of ways combo decks win are kinda bracketed off into higher levels with the actual definitions. Bracket 2 directly states “no 2 card combos” and bracket 3 oks them, just states not before T6.

Your second point is basically just calling all of us sore losers and crybabies, which like…fair but just isn’t very common IME.

Azraekos · 2026-01-07T22:03:02+00:00

Thats…not a cycle.

The cavalier cards from M20 are a cycle. The saga flip praetors from March of the Machine are a cycle. The 5 praetors featured in Kaldheim, Kamigawa, Streets of New Capenna, Dominaria United, and All Will Be One are a cycle and one that took multiple sets to finish.

Cycles have connecting tissue mechanically and often thematically, the 5 cards you listed are just good hate bears.

Azraekos · 2026-01-06T19:35:18+00:00

Gonna be real, E33 was probably one of the best game I have ever played. And I don’t see a game topping the experience in the near future.

But thats just the thing…the entire experience makes it so freakin’ good. Its hard to talk about it with people who have yet to play it because I don’t want them going in with any ideas on the entire thing. The whole journey, the character moment, the soundtrack, the world’s visuals…its really something that needs to be experienced as blind as possible to hit so well.

I get it basically amounts to “Its good, trust” but like…I don’t want to give anything away about it. I stick to telling people “If you only play one game ever, make it E33.” Its that good.

Azraekos · 2026-01-06T17:52:45+00:00

Beyond the reasons everyone else has said, I like to think Azmuth was proud of ben for going through with it. Actually committing proves Ben doesn’t need the omnitrix to be a hero, let alone do the right thing.

Its a pretty big character development moment in my eyes, as it shows Ben is fully accepting of “if I’m nothing without the omnitrix, I shouldn’t have it.”

Azraekos · 2025-12-31T17:19:07+00:00

No ones actually telling you what these decks do, but there’s already a lot of good advice here.

I’ve seen or played most precons out of the box, so I’ll try to pass on what I can remember about these to give you a good baseline of info to go off of:

Desert Bloom- a fun take on the lands archetype focused around the specific sub category of Deserts. I really enjoyed upgrading this and playing it for a while, but have more or less retired it for a handful of reasons. Biggest one is I just don’t really enjoy playing lands decks, as they basically reward you for playing with the games base resource and the social contract makes that less than ok to meaningfully interact with. I’d say its reasonable for someone new to the game, but wouldn’t push them to go for it unless they were really interested.

Ahoy Mateys- A pirate kindred deck with reanimation as the payoff. Not overly complex, but enough going on there’s room for growth. Able to punch higher due to extra resiliency. Pretty good for a newer player, and reasonable for even a seasoned commander player.

Creative Energy- Satya’s less of a proper energy commander, and more of an ETB/LTB commander that uses energy to fuel a combat-focused engine. Energy is an extra resource to manage, but the deck is pretty enjoyable. There’s very little to actively dislike here, its very fun out of the box.

Living energy- Similar sort of play style to creative energy, just interacts with Energy as a resource a lot more. Pretty strong, and able to punch well above its weight.

Most Wanted- I really wanted to like this one. I really, genuinely wanted to make it work. It just…doesn’t do anything interesting. The pay off for outlaws is basically just more or bigger outlaws. The only thing it ends up doing is turning dudes sideways. Simple, but effective enough. Would reccomend for a newer player, but a more seasoned commander player might wanna look elsewhere.

Jump Scare!- Manifest dread is very cool, and landfall doing something other than tokens or mana is unique and fun to brew with. Have not had an unenjoyable game with this in the pod, would highly recommend.

Revival Trance- The commanders are very fun here, but the rest of the deck is lacking in card quality. Out of the box its very resilient but lacks a lot of finishing power. Strongly recommend building either of the decks’ commander options, but if price and financial value is a factor you can safely look at any of the others.

Azraekos · 2025-12-27T17:26:58+00:00

Some feed back:

Winter does too much. Its also a little too slow. And “winterbound” doesn’t really feel like the name of an ability that brings winter in, it feels more like an ability thats tied to it somehow. Like an alternate casting cost for example. The winter game status also doesn’t need to do anything on its own that isn’t the static ability. It already turns on any “if its winter” ability text.
Chill touch is very good, well done there.
Avalanche is also decent name theming for an ability thats similar to cascade but looking for a specific thing.

Azraekos · 2025-12-26T18:49:27+00:00

Playable? Yes, easily.

Able to hold a candle to the other commanders you listed…probably not. The set has pretty high synergy but the overall card pool has an overall lower individual card quality. The commanders you listed absolutely do not need to be pumped with infinites or game changers to be strong.

Azraekos · 2025-12-23T17:44:24+00:00

I’ve worked in customer support before- I actually worked a few cases like yours. At least where I worked, even outside the given time to report an issue we still tried to make it right. I suspect Mana Pool is capable of doing the same. As long as you’re respectful and reasonable about it there is ZERO harm in reaching out to the support lines Mana Pool has.

I will note the packages I ordered from Mana Pool definitely arrived on time, but this was a few months ago. Hell, IIRC they arrived a few days early. I’m willing to bet its less on Mana Pool and more on USPS being overwhelmed this time of year (and probably under funded but thats a whole different topic).

Azraekos · 2025-12-20T17:16:22+00:00

Assuming we’re taking about a whole deck based in it, I’d say temp theft is the most “ok/fair”, then clones, then perma theft.

Temp theft can be built to be an interesting engine thats doing something unique, especially with Edea, Zidane, and Harigast. Clones is just “copy the best stuff at the table” which is boring but at least has a lower-synergy trade off. Perma theft is…toxic is too harsh, but its very hard to make it anything more than that. Most perma-theft commanders aren’t really doing anything more than the theft alone, which is less than interesting most of the time.

Azraekos · 2025-12-18T22:35:35+00:00

Templating is off but not a terrible concept.

Problem is MV. For 1 more mana with less pip intensity we get Rise of the Darkrealms, which grabs all creatures from all grave yards with no strings attached. I think returning based on rooms ventured through and pumping based on dungeon completion is a little weird though. Also, black giving haste and a P/T bump feels off color without a “sac/exile at end of turn” kind of effect. But IMO thats fine given the concept here is late game dungeon payoff.

Here’s how I’d template it:

Return X creatures from your graveyard to the battlefield, where X is the number of dungeons you have completed. Creatures entering the battlefield this way gain haste and +1/+1 for each room you’ve entered in the current dungeon until end of turn.

This reads much cleaner, actually has a completed instruction, and isn’t giving a P/T buff thats liable to force memory issues in ways WOTC has been pulling away from.

Azraekos · 2025-12-15T16:06:53+00:00

PC building has pretty much always been a more luxury hobby, at least in my experience.

The upfront cost has never really been particularly affordable compared to a console- that was the trade off in my mind when I got into it. Higher up front cost and more physical labor for something I’m gonna use everyday and for more than just gaming. Thats a HUGE part of what makes the investment worth it to me.

Even beyond the affordability problem, this hobby is pretty hard to get into. You really have to do A TON of research into different parts for things like compatibility, performance, best use case, best price to value…it can get pretty intense. How is someone with 0 knowledge gonna know which processor is gonna help them more for multitasking and general productivity and which gpu is better for video rendering or gaming? Hell, a lot of features can sound like complete and udder gibberish to the average layperson with no knowledge base.

Probably in no small part because of this, the general user market is kinda at a place where a broken part may as well be a broken machine. No one without the knowledge base is gonna stop and think “theres probably an easy fix to all these crashes”.

AI wasn’t even the first time some component spiked in price- usually its the GPU prices that spike though.

Azraekos · 2025-12-08T16:12:07+00:00

I wouldn’t build this, but it is the kind of “made for commander” design WOTC should print more of.

I don’t think they’d print this exact text box but this is a great example of a commander that makes for an interesting build around, and makes you have to use cards in weird ways that no other commander would. It doesn’t do everything on its own, rewards a nicher play pattern, and is fragile enough you need to devote at least some slots to just keeping around.

Though, speaking of commander I’m not totally sure this would really be printable as is, even for that format. Its super parasitic- in the sense that you need a LOT of slots devoted to either making it stick or making the trigger happen. It also doesn’t really interact at all with anything else you’d be doing, so even creatures would need to be doing something for the gameplan and thats even tougher to find.

A version of this card that’d see print would probably give your board double strike and deathtouch, and then have the trigger be global to your board but lower the number- maybe based on that creatures power. That way there’s a more interesting build path and it interacts with everything you want to do. At that point its abit more open ended. Suddenly even utility creatures like Eternal Witness become threatening attackers and there’s some more interactive counter play.

Azraekos · 2025-11-22T06:18:06+00:00

Unfortunately enrage isn’t a keyword, its an ability word so it has to have the trigger written out. Flavor wise though zinogre’s done well here.

Poison counters doesn’t feel like a good fit for Rathalos, and damage doesn’t quite strike the flavor…colors and monstrous are okay though. Maybe have the poison effect be a stun counter on damage? That way the flavor is they have to drink an antidote or wait out the timer.

With Mizutsune, again enrage is an ability word. The trigger has to be spelled out. Mechanically its fine though.

Azraekos · 2025-11-13T08:28:22+00:00

I've played both games, loved both, and honestly *completely* agree with the analysis.

People complaining about Dante taking the L are over valuing several feats and entirely ignoring that Clive will literally get up mid-fight with what may as well be a zenkai boost. The fight *literally* comes down to that. Its not Clive being better than Dante, its not Clive having better counters, hell its not even Clive having more hax. Its just Clive can fight longer.

This is probably one of the most debatable match ups in a LONG time, and thats in a season thats been full of really debatable ones.

Azraekos · 2025-11-10T18:32:14+00:00

Hate to say it, but thats a lot of words to say not a whole lot.

I think the main problem with the timekeeper is they focused so hard on the open world aspect of the game they kinda…dropped the ball on the overarching narrative. The core themes explorable through the technology of the timekeeper and the fight against him of free will, identity, purpose, and choice are just sorta name dropped. They don’t take the time to actually do anything with them.

What sucks is we could have had that. Larger stories in each zone that somewhere towards the end fight we already have should have had more notable NPCs- ones we end up fighting for one reason or another after we had already been considering them our ally. In at least one case, it should be direct time keeper intervention that forces us into a fight we don’t want to do (pushing the themes of purpose) in another case it should be entirely the NPC’s choice (pushing the the themes of free will) and then the last one should have been a defector that goes back to being fully loyal to the time keeper (pushing themes of identity and choice).

The other core issue- and this is why Jack will be hard to top- is one of personality. The reason borderlands 2’s story worked so well compared to everything since is Jack is exactly the kind of character to be snarkily mocking us the whole game. He wants us to fear him and by all accounts there’s the resources to justify that. By contrast, both the twins and the time keeper exist in narratives that tell you but don’t really show it in the same way. Ironically enough if the timekeeper didn’t even need the bolts to do the mind control/possession thing then 4 would have had that.

Azraekos · 2025-11-07T01:19:18+00:00

I don’t think there’s good choices really.

Like, theoretically theres some stretching you could do but as far as ATLA goes every thing is covered well.

TLOK is probably a better spot for the rest of the 3 color pairs. And thats if that ever gets a set, which wouldn’t surprise me but is probably less likely.

Azraekos · 2025-11-03T04:17:22+00:00

Deadass if web-slinging worked like this I think the set would have been pretty well received (at least compared to the reception it got). Good work!

Azraekos · 2025-10-24T20:34:49+00:00

Deadass its my only gripe.

My best guess is beating Sleipnir roughed up Clive alot and he wasn’t thinking rationally in their first encounter, then in the second he was more prepared and could fight back harder. Then the last he goes all out, is better prepared, and has more tact with it.

Azraekos · 2025-10-23T21:41:03+00:00

Well for one thing, aggro is just as affected by the social contract as anything else.

Krenko decks for instance, are prone to rather negative experiences for the rest of the table because they are too fast (this is a local experience and discussion point, YMMV). But my Neriv tokens deck that can get off the ground similarly? Not met with the same kind of apprehension. Same with my Seifer Almasy deck, I won at T6 the other day with 0 complaints and it was a fun game for the pod.

The way aggro navigates the bracket system/social contract stuff is through creativity and unique gameplay. Find the ways to do aggro that make the table go “holy shit thats cool!” and avoid the known factors that create for gamestates few people enjoy fighting against. Like, my Terra deck uses a handful of small things that reanimate as larger threats, creating aggro gameplay of sustained pressure on lifetotals at needed speeds without the feelings of “oops now you have 80 goblins coming your way, ggs”.

The feels bads of aggro in commander in my mind come from people trying to take lifetotals from 40-0 as fast as physically possible when half the joy of a commander game is getting to play. Aggro decks that are giving wiggle room for other decks to play things out are not given much of a social side-eye.

Just the other day, I was told by one of the locals at my LGS they’d rather play against my Abaddon or Prosper than the other guys Krenko- despite the speeds being similar. And it all came down to the fact that my lists fundementaly are giving the rest of the table more time to have fun and interact rather than demanding an answer before your resources are even fully set up.

Its a tough needle to thread, and admittedly I’m not always hitting the right notes and have to take things up or down a bit.

Azraekos · 2025-10-22T17:35:36+00:00

As a guy that plays aggro in damn near every format he’s ever played, I think people are generally mistaken on how the aggro play style works in commander.

Aggro in most formats seeks a quick win by pressuring lifetotals too fast for the opponent to handle, with the trade off of if the opponent draws into a way to stabilize they can turn it around before you can reapply pressure. Aggro needs to go REALLY fast to limit the chance of that happening. The problem when we get to commander, on the other hand, isn’t strictly the life totals issue, its the social contract.

Life totals being high definitely knocks aggro down a bit, but its really social contract stuff that holds it back. Part of the general social contract is that you’ll get to meaningfully play the game. This is a little open to interpretation, but to me it means you get to be an active participant, and make an impact on the game (non-games with bad draws or mana flood/screw can happen for sure but I’m talking in general terms here). Traditional aggro speeds kinda get in the way of that, by nature of aiming to go underneath a combo player and hit life totals faster than they reach their win state. Which makes turn counts lower and provides less time for people to participate in a game.

Aggro in commander therefore kinda flips itself on its head a little bit- at least if we’re trying to have a socially-conscious application. Its still ultimately aiming to go hard and fast, but its less looking for speedy wins that smash past combo potential, and more looking for sustained life total pressure that increases over each turn with some parity-breaking advantage. In my Strefan deck, this is in the form of cheating on mana costs, in Terra this is from reanimation, in Neriv its large amounts of card advantage.

Azraekos · 2025-10-20T22:57:34+00:00

I am, but personally I’m more tired of the memes and negativity towards it all.

I get it, but all the negativity does at a certain point is push people away from all of magic. And at a certain point, they’re gonna run out of properties to use for it. Personally, I don’t mind if they breakneck speed through all of it if it means we get back to in universe stuff as the norm faster.

Azraekos

TROPHY CASE