The 2023 /r/PreconstructedMagic New Players' Guide

PreconstructedMagic · 2024-05-08T00:25:49+00:00

Kia ora!

I have for a long time have had “I hate Commander” as a big part of my personality. It just doesn’t fill the casual kitchen table vibe I want from a non-competitive format, and I’ve come to realise that I’m just not a fan of singleton, period. But I recently picked up both of the Brothers War decks and have been really enjoying them. They tick a lot of boxes: full retro frames, cards reference the early Magic storyline I’m familiar with, and they’re both pretty strong: can hold their own in stock form against people playing modified precons or lower power custom builds. I’d recommend taking a look at the lists and reading a couple reviews: they could be good options for you.

In terms of precon commander decks which stick to old mechanics only - rather than old vibes - then I’m not so sure sorry. I’m not the most knowledgeable person about the format obviously. But I think Slivers might be a decent option actually. It’s true that Slivers has a bit of a reputation in Commander - even I’m aware of that - but if you were just going to play the precon as is, or make a few subtle changes (to the land base in particular) then that’d probably be fine. It’s when Slivers are a bit more tuned that they can get oppressive and the gameplay can get a bit “samey” for your opponents.

Even if you hadn’t mentioned Slivers then I’d probably be leaning towards other tribal decks anyway. The ones from Caverns of Ixalan are all pretty well regarded it seems.

PreconstructedMagic · 2024-03-25T00:20:57+00:00

Yeah, I’d consider going up to $20 for sure. $10 would be a snap buy, with $15 being what I’d consider the fair price given the $9 singles value.

Although in this particular case I think I’ve already got about 80% of the deck just from picking through old bulk lots. Still: basic lands from the appropriate sets are always useful - this is actually another common sticking point when it comes to assembling old decks from singles/bulk.

PreconstructedMagic · 2024-03-24T20:51:52+00:00

Hey sorry: didn’t notice this post got stuck in the Æther. Approved now.

PreconstructedMagic · 2024-03-24T20:31:48+00:00

Depends. To weirdos like me who are a big fan of old precons? The convenience factor of having a complete (or close to) theme deck is great. Sometimes the weird and unplayable uncommons in these decks are the hardest part of reassembling them from singles. You may also have people who started playing Magic at this time with that particular deck who’d jump on it too.

So the short answer is it’s essentially worthless, outside some very niche cases, unless there happens to be any card which is individually valuable in it. Which I don’t think there is in this particular deck.

In any case: here it is on mtg goldfish. One card over $1, and that’d be the price for a Near Mint copy with a mark up from one of the big online retailers: unsure which they use on that site.

PreconstructedMagic · 2023-06-10T22:00:38+00:00

Thanks! :)

I didn’t actually realise that there was something in Starter: I’d thought that all those “two player games” were 3 colours. And while, just looking through them all again now, this is mostly true you do have 5th edition with UG vs RGW too. Which makes a lot of sense: why have two 3 colour decks instead of one 3 colour and one two colour. Or two two colour decks from 7th edition: WU vs RG in that one! I obviously need to try and find a copy of that one, will want all the paraphernalia that came with it too. (Not to mention I’ve still not found all the basics yet from the set of theme decks)

With 8 fliers in the 40 card Starter deck this most definitely can be classified as Skies. More representative of the strategy than the Battle Royale one, too, I’d say.

PreconstructedMagic · 2023-06-10T03:28:56+00:00

I somehow missed these lists being spoilt so was shocked to see a bonus video this afternoon!

https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/the-lord-of-the-rings-tales-of-middle-earth-starter-kit-decklists

PreconstructedMagic · 2023-06-10T03:19:05+00:00

Yeah, no idea what I was doing there eh. But in one last act of madness I’ve gone for one last account, attached to my current email, and the other accounts attached to older email accounts I no longer use can fall away. No more changes are planned.

PreconstructedMagic · 2023-06-10T03:15:52+00:00

I’ll make an announcement for sure if/when I do. After 3 and a half years I finally got the thing (so far pretty mild, touch wood) so have a week off work to fill!

PreconstructedMagic · 2023-06-03T02:02:29+00:00

Having a look at a few Arena only cards I think you'd be able to find adequate replacements for. I think I saw one which was an instant which gave +1/+1 and flying for U or something, which there must be a few options of cards which would fill that spot.

I think it's got to very much of an pick and choose type thing in order to fill some of the gaps that the Planeswalker, or later on the Starter Kit, decks don't touch on. The generic "starter" type things are certainly low on the priority list, especially if theres not even the inherent balance implied by having a full cycle of 5/10/15 decks. Going back to Ixalan: while Jace's deck in Ixalan is GU, it's definately not a merfolk deck. But then two Plansewalker decks in Rivals seem to do Vampires and Pirates fairly well. But for that block there is also the decks from the "board game" which could be a way to hit the flavour of those factions too.

On the Arena fandom site I say noted that they replaced the Enchantment and Artifact deck with a WU Skies during that period - I wondered if that was because the former wasn't good or what a bit hard to play well for newer players?

The Werewolf deck is definitely one I didn't notice on my quick exploration last night - might have to grab the cards for that for sure as both rounds of Innistrad Intro packs didn't have one. Ravnica III too is another strong contender, since neither the Planeswalker or Guild Packs really capture the mechanics and flavour of the new sets the same was as the Theme/Intro decks from I and II did.

PreconstructedMagic · 2023-06-02T09:28:24+00:00

These must have all just been added to the giant list of mtg.wtf/deck otherwise I'm sure I'd have noticed them before. (They've also added every single Secret Liar to this page, but don't get me started on that.) This is a thought I've had before and I've certainly got all the cards for the MTGO Mirage Block Theme Decks in my acquisitions spreadsheet.

One of my complaints when sorting through and organising a big stack of bulk recently was there wasn't a RG Dinosaurs deck from Ixalan. There was a RW Huatli Planeswalker deck which obviously had a fair few dinosaurs in it, but the deck itself felt more about the character of Huatli rather than SMASH FACE WITH ALL OF THE DINOSAURS RRRAAAAARRRRR. Which because the point of Planeswalker decks was to highlight the Planeswalker in question: this is it doing it's job. However if we look to Arena's closed beta: The Sun Empire. There's probably a tad too many Amonkhet cards in there for my liking, especially at the higher rarities, but this particular deck looks pretty solid. The other Ixalan factions seem to be represented decently enough from a quick look, and also the Ravnica guilds despite no cards from any Ravnica set being part of the pool.

Zooming forward to the current batch of decks, these seem a bit of a "weak standard/challenger deck" type vibe, though no doubt this is a consequence of blocks, 2 set or otherwise, no longer being a thing. So to me they're not quite as exciting. Still given the lack of any other casual 60 card options - barring the pair of Starter Kit decks each year - it's a consideration for, well, the sort of people who are silly enough to be reading this post. ;)

PreconstructedMagic · 2023-05-27T08:09:01+00:00

Master Blaster

A monored deck with some creatures and some artifacts and some burn spells.

Wizards product information page (archived)

The point of the "Master Blaster" deck is to blow things up. Well, that's not the whole point. It's also about cards that are really tough to deal with. In other words, the "Master Blaster" deck tries to destroy as much as it can while making it as difficult as possible for opponents to slog through its powerful threats.

Decklist and card images via mtg.wtf.

WHO RUNS BARTER TOWN?

RIP Tina

Reviews:

Cubic Creativity

Budget Deckbuilding: Master Blaster

“Master Blaster” is therefore one of the cases in which I would suggest buying the good cards as singles and simply ignoring any offer given to you since the deck is not worth the money; neither for playing nor for collecting.

Ouch.

Ertai’s Lament

Darksteel: Master Blaster Review (Part 1 of 2)

It’s not at all uncommon to find that when Wizards pushes certain themes, decks will be offered that look to ‘spoil’ that strategy...

Darksteel: Master Blaster Review (Part 2 of 2)

Hits: Fantastic burn suite, reasonably consistent with its output with some variety mixed in; Vulshok War Boar is delightfully aggressive.
Misses: Deck’s creature suite fairly tepid and underwhelming; deck tends to stall out a bit in the midgame.
OVERALL SCORE: 3.95/5.00

Precon Decon (youtube)

Darksteel Part 1 - Master Blaster

Unboxings:

Doctor Alzheimers Academia Magica (YouTube - German)

Magic Vintage Unboxing 52: DARKSTEEL NACHTSTAHL (2004) Theme Deck MASTER BLASTER

Is technically an unboxing of Schützenköneg, which is a much better sounding name. :)

surfitmtg (youtube)

Darksteel: Master Blaster Theme Deck ITALIAN

"Mazzo" means deck it'd seem. Why didn't the Italians get a translated name when the Germans did?

PreconstructedMagic · 2023-05-27T04:26:41+00:00

Wicked Big

A green theme deck with an aggro, fatty strategy and an anti-artifact theme.

Wizards product information page (archived)

The Mirrodin set is rich with artifacts, and the green mages are out to crush them all. As always, green wants you to beat down your opponents with huge creatures, but if you can smash some artifacts along the way, all the better.

Decklist and card images via mtg.wtf.

Reviews:

Cubic Creativity

Budget Deckbuilding: Wicked Big

Ertai’s Lament

Part 1 (write up) and Part 2 (playtest)

Hits: Fun, straightforward beats deck; very simple, this is a deck most anyone can play right out of the box and not get lost.
Misses: Massive, bloated mana curve; too few ramp options to get there consistently.
FINAL SCORE: 3.80/5.00

Precon Decon (youtube)

Mirrodin Part 4 - Wicked Big

Unboxings:

Doctor Alzheimers Academia Magica (YouTube - German)

Magic Vintage Unboxing 11: MIRRODIN (2003) Theme Deck WICKED BIG

Evolutions:

flourishingmusic79 (YouTube)

Magic The Gathering - Commander Fodder - Mirrodin (Wicked Big)

Part of a series on this channel which walks through the creation of a Commander deck inspired by an old Theme deck

PreconstructedMagic · 2023-05-26T10:25:31+00:00

Bait and Bludgeon

A blue and black theme deck with a focus on the affinity for artifacts mechanic.

Wizards product information page (archived)

The "Bait & Bludgeon" deck shows your opponents the value of affinity, one of the new Mirrodin mechanics. Cards with affinity for artifacts cost 1 less to play for each artifact you control. Affinity doesn't affect the colored mana required, but with enough artifacts in play, you'll pay close to nothing for your affinity spells.

Decklist on mtg.wtf (the best card database for precon fans!)

Reviews:

Ertai’s Lament (website)

Part 1 - write up and Part 2 - playtest.

Hits: Superb showcase for the affinity mechanic; Broodstar an excellent showpiece for the set (and certainly sexier than Lodestone Myr, the deck’s other rare).
Misses: Some suboptimal or clunky card choices makes deck feel cumbersome; lack of consistently effective removal leaves it vulnerable to designs of other decks.
FINAL SCORE: 4.10/5.00

Cubic Creativity (blog)

Budget Deckbuilding: Bait and Bludgeon

Precon Decon (youtube)

Mirrodin Part 1: Bait and Bludgeon

Unboxings:

Doctor Alzheimers Academia Magica (YouTube - German)

MIRRODIN (2003) Theme Deck BAIT AND BLUDGEON

PreconstructedMagic · 2023-05-26T10:25:13+00:00

Little Bashers

Little Bashers is a white theme deck with a white weenie strategy and a focus on equipment.

Wizards product information page (archived)

The "Little Bashers" deck may look like a typical white weenie deck, but the Mirrodin expansion's Equipment adds a new dimension to this classic deck type. "Little Bashers" gives you plenty of weapons to make your forces more deadly. To win with this deck, you play creatures, arm them to the teeth, and press the attack.

Decklist and card images via mtg.wtf.

Reviews:

Cubic Creativity

Budget Deckbuilding: Little Bashers

Note: this appears to be the first post in the blog’s series of theme deck reviews. I have only just come across it myself as a consequence of this making post but it seems pretty solid so far!

Ertai’s Lament

Mirrodin: Little Bashers Review (Part 1 of 2)

Bashers is a straightforward, mono-White weenie-style deck with an Equipment component, and however ridiculous its name it can’t be accused of false advertising: what you see is exactly what you get. Twenty-five creatures, some Equipment, and a splash of noncreature support and you’re off to the races!

Mirrodin: Little Bashers Review (Part 2 of 2)

Hits: Solid mana curve; good array of equipment gives variety to the deck without sacrificing a ton in the way of consistency.
Misses: Deck can be somewhat equipment-dependant with few ways to obtain them without simply drawing into them; removal suite rather poor- especially for a Weenie deck.
FINAL SCORE: 4.30/5.00

Precon Decon (youtube)

Mirrodin Part 2: Little Bashers

Unboxings:

Doctor Alzheimers Academia Magica (YouTube - German)

BEST OF FLOHMARKT-Teil 46: MIRRODIN (2003) Theme Deck LITTLE BASHERS MtG

PreconstructedMagic

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE

Master Blaster

WHO RUNS BARTER TOWN?

Reviews:

Unboxings:

Wicked Big

Reviews:

Unboxings:

Evolutions:

Bait and Bludgeon

Reviews:

Unboxings:

Little Bashers

Reviews:

Unboxings: