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Why get theme decks?
But isn't Magic the Gathering expensive?
Some of you are reading the subject line of this review and are wondering if I'm losing my sanity. Magic the Gathering... affordable? Magic the Gathering is usually associated with spending a lot of money, and isn't typically considered as an "affordable" game for families. In fact, I can't remember the last time I heard the word “affordable” in the same sentence as “Magic the Gathering” except with the word “not” in front of it.
Affordable Family Fun Option #1: Theme decks
The good news is that it doesn't have to be that way! I have five children ages 4 to 12, and the oldest three (age 8, 10 and 12) all love playing Magic the Gathering. Does that make me a poor man? Hardly. Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to play Magic without getting a second mortgage. In this review, I'd like to present an overview of one of the affordable ways of playing Magic the Gathering that has been a hit in our family: theme decks.
What are theme decks?
But what are theme decks?
Theme decks are pre-constructed, individual packages of 60 Magic the Gathering cards, fully playable from the box. Armed with a pre-constructed theme deck, you have everything you need to play against another player, assuming he has his own deck. Here's an example of a theme deck from the Shadowmoor set.
Admittedly there are other ways to get Magic the Gathering cards, in fact the most popular ways of buying Magic the Gathering cards is to buy them in booster packs of random cards, or to buy "singles". But both methods require you to get additional cards (lands), and require you to build your own deck. While deck-building can be a fun part of Magic, the advantage of a theme deck is that it is completely playable from the box, and doesn't require you to make any changes or buy any extra cards. You can get playing right after making your purchase! Of course you can customize a theme deck and improve it if you really want to. But since this review is about using Magic as an affordable game for a family, I will restrict my comments to getting the most out of theme decks.
But where do you get theme decks?
So where do you get them? Any store that sells Magic the Gathering products will usually sell a large variety of them. Certainly most game stores will often sell Collectible Card Games (CCGs) like Magic the Gathering. The publishers of Magic the Gathering (Wizards of the Coast) typically release several expansion "sets" in a year. Each set usually has several theme decks.
The good news is that this means there are lots of theme decks to choose from. In a calendar year, there are usually at least 15 different theme decks to choose from. I usually find it's worth doing a little homework in advance, to find out what are the more interesting theme decks, and ones that are superior in gameplay or fit best with my personal tastes. Over the years I have managed to collect about twenty different ones, from several different sets.
What do you get with a theme deck?
Contents
Typically a theme deck includes a bunch of goodies inside the box, including 1x foil land, 1x rules, 1x collectible pro player card, and the 60 cards of the deck itself (lands + spells).
Let's just look at those contents a little more closely. First we need to get the deck out of its minty new shrinkwrap:
Rule-sheet
We tear off the plastic to find a rule sheet, which we unfold. The rulesheet lists all the cards in the theme deck, as well as a short summary of the basic idea of the deck:
The mechanics introduced by a set will also be explained:
Note that you don't get a rule-book with a theme deck - it's expected that you know how to play the game already.
Pro Player card
You'll also get a collectible Pro Player card:
These are novelty items, and nobody will cry if you throw them out, burn them, use them as bookmarks, or to prop up the fourth leg of that wobbly game table.
60 card deck
The main thing we're interested in, is the deck itself. It will usually include around 24 lands, and 36 other cards (creatures and other spells). A theme deck usually contains two "rares", which are typically the two more valuable and powerful cards in the deck, like these ones from the deck pictured above:
Usually these cards aren't worth a fortune (although there have been instances where a theme deck was cheaper to buy than buying a single rare in the deck individually!). Admittedly, you could buy all the cards individually and build the deck yourself. But the convenience of getting everything you need, including lands, is a real benefit here.
Arguments against theme decks?
I'd be sticking my head in the sand if I didn't realize that theme decks usually get a bad rap. Some people tend to belittle them, and the people that play them, as if it's an inferior and less pure form of Magic. Well, let's look at some of the reasons that might be raised not to buy theme decks.
But aren't theme decks unbalanced?
Yes, I know that theme decks can be unbalanced. And that playing them can be subject to some luck of the draw. And that they're not as good as world championship or top tier decks. Does that make them worthless? Far from it! Think about it, for $20 you can get yourself two pre-constructed theme decks from the same set to play against each other. Let's face it, that's what you'd pay for any other two player card game, right? Which could also be unbalanced, and subject to some luck of the draw, right? Sure, but that doesn't make it a bad game in its own right!
Granted, if you are spoiled and the only way you play Magic the Gathering is with pro level decks in Standard from the current meta game, then sure, you will find the pre-constructed theme decks somewhat lack luster. But you'll also be spending several hundred dollars to be playing your favorite game! For just $20, you can have at least a dozen or more fun matchups. And yes, sometimes you get screwed by the luck of the draw. But that's true with most card games. You just try to make the best of the hand and the cards that you draw, and there are still lots of interesting decisions to be made. And if you lose, oh well, you just shuffle up the cards and play again! In fact, having some luck of the draw is good, because it levels the playing field, and it's not going to be the rich kid with the $$$ deck that wins. For most families, concerns about imbalance are no reason not to buy theme decks.
But don't theme decks lack replay value?
What to do after you're got your $20 of fun out of two pre-constructed theme decks? Well, you buy another two pre-constructed theme decks! And now you've got even more match-ups: A vs B, A vs C, A vs D, B vs C, B vs D, C vs D! Each match-up will perform differently! I have twenty theme decks, and if I've done the math right, that means I have 190 different matchups possible! So I could play 190 different games without even using the same set of two decks twice! Talk about amazing replay value! For most families, concerns about replay value are no reason not to buy theme decks.
But aren't theme decks expensive?
Well consider the replay value here! If you have four theme decks, it will have cost you no more than the average board game, and already you have six different matchups that can keep you busy for a long while! I think you're starting to get my drift. Admittedly, by now you've spent $40. But for that $40, you'll easily get just as many hours of fun as you will out of most $40 board games. Perhaps even more! Magic has that addictive kind of quality about it, so for what you play, you'll get many many hours of fun.
Over the years, I've personally acquired about twenty different theme decks, and they've been worth every penny. Admittedly, that's probably set me back about $200 altogether. Actually, it's considerably less because I've received quite a few of them as gifts from family and friends - they are ideal gifts after all! And we're talking over a period of more than three years. And the amount of time my family has spent playing these theme decks is easily more than ten times the time spent playing the most heavily played $50 game in my collection! That makes them cheap, right? You do the math! For most families, concerns about price are no reason not to buy theme decks.
But aren't theme decks inferior to pro decks?
Yes theme decks are inferior to pro level decks, and I'm not going to try to convince anyone otherwise. But is that a reason not to get them? For most families, the cost of buying the cards to make pro level decks will quickly become prohibitive. The fact that theme decks aren't top tier decks shouldn't obscure the fact that they can be a lot of fun to play, and offer great value for money. Just like the fact that a Chevy is not a Cadillac shouldn't obscure the fact that a Chevy can be a lot of fun to drive, and great value! It's still a great automobile! With theme decks there's the added advantage that you don't have to waste time deck-building, you can play them straight out of the box.
And if you want newness? Then grab some from a different set! New mechanics, new cards, and a whole box of new fun to discover! I admit that if I've spent time heavily drafting from a particular set or playing powerful constructed decks from a particular set, then the theme decks from that set will seem somewhat mediocre and lose their appeal. But as long as I haven't been driving that Cadillac, theme decks work just great as an affordable way to play, and they can get incredible mileage in a family. For most families, concerns about quality are no reason not to buy theme decks.
But aren't theme decks uncool and unfun?
"Ah," you exclaim, "but you haven't mentioned anything about how this is fun for your family!" You're right, I haven't. Does my family enjoy this? They sure do. I have an 8 year old, 10 year old, and 12 year old who all enjoy Magic. And they love opening up a new pre-constructed theme deck, browsing through the cards, discovering new mechanics and concepts, drooling over new uncommons and rares, figuring out new combos. And playing. One vacation, I took my box of ten theme decks along, and my two boys spent an entire morning playing different theme decks against each other, trying different match-ups. My son and I keep a record of the results of specific matchups, as an ongoing challenge. I've played some of the decks well over 20 times. If that isn't value for money, I don't know what is! For most families, concerns about a lack of fun-factor are no reason not to buy theme decks.
But aren't theme decks being discontinued?
It should be mentioned that the publisher of Magic: the Gathering, Wizards of the Coast, recently decided to alter their model of selling theme decks. Until recently, pre-constructed theme decks consisted of 60 cards, and were playable out of the box. However, starting with the current set (Shards of Alara), theme decks now consist of only 41 cards, and are sold along with a booster pack of 15 random cards. The short version is that you no longer get a 60 card playable deck (you need extra lands, and do your own deck tweaking).
From a marketing point of view, it's a clever change. Clearly the publishers realized that there were people like me out there buying and playing the theme decks as a self-contained game, and they wanted to switch to a model that gets people immediately customizing their deck and buying more product. I won't go into more detail about this change, because you'll find ample discussion about it in this thread. Suffice it to say that I find the change regrettable. My advice to people wanting to use theme decks in the same way as I did: the good news is that pre-constructed theme decks from older sets are still readily available, so just make sure you buy from earlier sets! Also avoid the 40 card theme decks from the core set, unless you are just learning the game. For most families, concerns about newer theme decks being inferior are no reason not to buy older theme decks.
Remember folks, we're talking about an affordable option for families here, not options for the tournament pro player! With that criteria, theme decks more than qualify!
Other concerns about Magic for families?
As a parent, affordability isn't the only concern I have to think about with respect to Magic the Gathering. Every parent will have to make their own choices here, and I fully realize that the concerns I am about to mention will not be shared by all other parents. But here are the things I've had to think about with respect to playing Magic in my family, and how I've dealt with them:
1. Affordability: As already demonstrated above, Magic does not have to cost a fortune. Theme decks are one affordable option for families, and they aren't the only one. In a later review I hope to make suggestions about making your own draft set.
2. Obsession: It's no secret that for many players, Magic is a lifestyle, and becomes an all-consuming passion. That partly says something about the game and how good it is. But it also says something about some of the people who play it. It's no accident that Magic has sometimes been described as "paper crack". Quite honestly, I don't want my children to get started with the "collectible" side of Magic. I also don't want them becoming obsessed with a single game, and want them playing other card games and board games beside Magic. Having them play Magic through theme decks is one way to limit the game. As can also be said about other aspects in life, it is important to ensure that you possess the game and that the game doesn't possess you. I don't want Magic becoming an idol. This is not necessarily a problem with the game itself (although it has to be admitted that the marketing design of rotating sets and varying rarities is brilliant, and arguably does promote and cater to greed!). But it is more of an inherent problem with human nature (and I include myself here!): we lack self-control. In this respect the principle of moderation is a good one, and maintaining a variety of interests is healthy. Using theme decks can be one way to ensure that the place of Magic in the life of my family doesn't get larger than it should be.
3. Theme: Magic is set in a fantasy world, and somewhat regrettably, this world sometimes has a dark side. Quite frankly, there are many cards that are unsuitable for children, although the overall tone can vary from one set to another. This is especially the case with the black cards. For my family, I've made a choice to play without the black cards for the most part. This is somewhat unfortunate, because the black cards have great mechanics. But children tend to be influenced by the images more than we might think, and have an uncanny ability to memorize flavour text and pictures, so I'd prefer to limit their intake to what is more wholesome. This is something that I keep in mind when choosing which theme decks to buy: in general I just don't buy decks with black cards (although the Lorwyn and Morningtide set is less objectionable, so I'd be prepared to make an exception there), and is an ideal solution to what might be a problem for some.
Do these considerations mean Magic the Gathering is something to be avoid? For the reasons I've given, I don't think so. To the contrary, it is a brilliant game in its own right, and when working with some of the considerations and suggestions I have brought forward, it can genuinely be an affordable and fun option for families. Long live theme decks!
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The complete list of Ender's pictorial reviews: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/37596
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Alex Brown
United States
Greenbelt
Maryland
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Nice article. At work we've subscribed to this approach for quite some time with great results. We've found if we purchase each of the new "theme" decks we have pretty close to enough cards from the included boosters to make 60 card decks out of them.
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Thomas Staudt
Germany
Rutesheim
Baden-Württemberg
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The annoying thing about the new "Intro Decks" is that they don't have a nice box to store the decks in.
I hope they adopt the approach and supply those in the future as they did for the "Jace vs. Chandra" Decks.
Nice piece of work.
I actually have each of the Precons ever made starting with Tempest. I still dream of sometime having enough time to do the big "tournament" where they all battle each other, but that would probably mean being fired or retired.
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Christopher
Belgium
De Panne
Bachten de Kupe
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Great Article!
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Aaron Watson
United States
West Jordan
UT
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Great Article, Ender! I'm really happy to see someone writing something positive about what I personally consider to be the best game ever designed.
I really enjoy playing theme decks (though of course much of the joy of Magic is constructing your own devious combinations).
When I first got addicted to MTG I made it a goal to own every 'precon' ever made. I did very well for a while, but when I migrated to online play my goal was set aside. Still, I have a large plastic tool chest with more than 100 precons and its a great way to intro people to the game, to get a quick fix in, or reintroduce a player who has taken a hiatus.
On a negative note though, I really do not like what they are doing with the 'new' theme decks. I really hope they go back to the way they've been doing it for many years.
Keep on preaching the word and Happy Holidays!
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Homo Ludens
Canada
St. Albert
Alberta
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Totally agree with all of the above. I look forward to playing a little magic with my kids when they grow up.
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Aaron Watson
United States
West Jordan
UT
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ashman wrote: I actually have each of the Precons ever made starting with Tempest. I still dream of sometime having enough time to do the big "tournament" where they all battle each other, but that would probably mean being fired or retired.
That would be alot of fun! A long time ago I did something similar with all of my precons. Doing eliminations. Sadly they were all games played against myself. I think the winner (way back when) was a green white deck from the Apocalypse block. (That was the one with the Kavus right?)
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[wailing winter winds]
United States
Hillsboro
Oregon
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I own and regularly play 64 theme decks. I do not buy/collect Magic cards otherwise. Me and my regular 2p gaming partner prefer this to the likes of Blue Moon as a session opener.
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[wailing winter winds]
United States
Hillsboro
Oregon
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Poltergeist_2000 wrote: A long time ago I did something similar with all of my precons. Doing eliminations. Sadly they were all games played against myself.
In 2007, we started running tournaments for a given block. I solo a full round-robin of all the sets to establish the seeding (and to learn the decks), then we run a swiss tournament (5 rounds followed by a single-elimination tourney of the top 8) to establish the champ. We did Mirrodin last year and just wrapped up Ravnica (in which the bottom seed from the round robin won the tourney!). The balance between the different decks was quite impressive (for the most part) for these two blocks. Next year, we are doing Time Spiral.
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Tom Waters
United States
New Mexico
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Great article - and thanks for going to the trouble to post all the photos.
My daughter and I play Magic as a casual family game, and theme decks are a good way to go about that, especially with younger kids who may not have any interest in (or patience for) deck building.
If you enjoy deck building - and it is an important dimension of game strategy for most players - then you can add a few boosters or build from the card pool you've obtained by buying several theme decks. (The inserts have the deck lists on them, so you can always restore the original decks if you desire.)
Have played with the new-style intro packs for Shards of Alara, I would say they have comparable play value to the old-style theme decks.
Magic doesn't need to be an expensive game. You just have to agree in your gaming group (or family) what your card pool is going to be. Even a modest investment can provide lots of fun and replayability.
A word about black cards and kids. This is a personal judgment call for parents, of course. My own opinion is that we don't often give kids enough credit about being able to deal with disturbing images in a fantasy context. I've been playing with my daughter since she was about seven, and felt no need to censor the card pool with her.
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Jeremy Hoover
United States
Otisville
Michigan
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seusomon wrote: Have played with the new-style intro packs for Shards of Alara, I would say they have comparable play value to the old-style theme decks.
Hi Tom,
Do you mean that the new 41-card deck + booster pack plays well against other 41-card decks? Do you play them as is, just 40 card decks?
I thought about following Ender's advice by playing theme decks but wasn't sure how the new decks would work out.
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seusomon wrote: A word about black cards and kids. This is a personal judgment call for parents, of course. My own opinion is that we don't often give kids enough credit about being able to deal with disturbing images in a fantasy context. I've been playing with my daughter since she was about seven, and felt no need to censor the card pool with her.
This will indeed be something every parent will have to decide for themselves. When we first started learning Magic, we were playing the Ravnica block and TimeSpiral block, which both featured some rather gory black cards like these:
I'm sure most parents would feel somewhat uncomfortable putting cards with artwork and themes like that into the hands of a 7 year old. To be fair, these are probably among the worst that the game has, so fortunately these are exceptions rather than the rule. In the recent Lorwyn set, most of the black cards were quite tame by comparison, and there was little objectionable about them, so I have fewer issues having my children play with those. And as I mentioned in the review, if you have concerns with the black cards, you just select theme decks which only use the green, red, white, and blue cards, in which case it becomes a non-issue.
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Brad
United States
Iowa City
Iowa
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Fantastic article! I know nothing about Magic, and this information will allow me to try it out so I can see what is attractive about the game.
Quote: I usually find it's worth doing a little homework in advance, to find out what are the more interesting theme decks, and ones that are superior in gameplay or fit best with my personal tastes. Over the years I have managed to collect about twenty different ones, from several different sets.
I don't even know where to begin... Any chance you could list a few theme decks that would be appropriate for a beginner?
Edit: OK, so I see you can get 5 theme decks for 36.99 at CoolStuffInc. I suppose Eventide is the way to go, since it's the most recent?
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Will Macke
United States
Portland
Oregon
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Magic can be a great value. As mentioned above the key is limiting the card pool. As an anecdote:
A friend and I started playing again about a year ago after a long hiatus. We started by purchasing a tournament deck and two booster packs of the current set (Lorwyn), this happens to be what you are given when playing in a tournament in the sealed deck format. The cost--about $16 each. We played with those cards for about three months then moved to a new set. We repeated this three times (Lorwyn, Ravnica, Shadowmoor, and Shards of Alara.)
Total cost about $70 each. That may sound like a lot of money but take it in perspective. By my rough estimation we played 350+ games at an average of 20 minutes per game. That's over 116 hours of epic fantasy warfare, not to mention the countless hours spent agonizing over whether or not to cut a creature to make room for a removal spell or add another source of white mana. Comes out to less than $1/hr. That's some high value entertainment. Best game since chess, bar-none.
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M C
United States
Orem
Utah
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Great article. You could probably have even more fun per dollar by purchasing a bunch of commons and uncommons on ebay and playing
Peasant Magic!
They get the fun of deck building and tweaking, and the cards are even cheaper than the (overpriced, in my opinion) theme decks. One might also argue that Dominion is the ultimate replayable deck building game. No gruesome pictures, and $35 for the equivalent of nine theme decks.
Those minor quibbles aside, this is a great article. I have been reading your stuff for years now and have neglected to geekbuddy you for some reason--now remedied.
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Wes Fabulous
United States
Portland
Oregon
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DarkoBeta wrote: Edit: OK, so I see you can get 5 theme decks for 36.99 at CoolStuffInc. I suppose Eventide is the way to go, since it's the most recent?
Eventide is the next-most recent set; Shards of Alara came out in October. It might actually be even better for new learners, since it and the following sets (Conflux and Alara Reborn) were specifically designed with Wizards' "year of acquisition" strategy in mind.
Edit: oh wait, except that they also changed the way they make precons, as other people have mentioned. Can't believe I forgot that.
In that case, I think Lorwyn and Morningtide (the sets before Shadowmoor and Eventide) would also be good for new players. Those two are focused on playing lots of creatures of the same type(s), while Shadowmoor and Eventide are about playing lots of cards of the same color(s).
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DarkoBeta wrote: Quote: I usually find it's worth doing a little homework in advance, to find out what are the more interesting theme decks, and ones that are superior in gameplay or fit best with my personal tastes. Over the years I have managed to collect about twenty different ones, from several different sets. I don't even know where to begin... Any chance you could list a few theme decks that would be appropriate for a beginner? Edit: OK, so I see you can get 5 theme decks for 36.99 at CoolStuffInc. I suppose Eventide is the way to go, since it's the most recent?
I don't think you'd go wrong with the Eventide theme decks, most of them are very good, and a lot of fun.
If you do want to pick and choose, then based on the research I've done previously, of the five theme decks in each of the recent sets, I'd especially recommend the following as the more strong, consistent, and fun decks to get:
Lorwyn: Kithkin Militia (White), Merrow Riverways (Blue/White), Elvish Predation (Green/Black)
Morningtide: Warrior’s Code (Red/Green), Battalion (Blue/White)
Shadowmoor: Overkill (Red/Green), Turnabout (Green/White)
Eventide: Sidestep (Blue/Red), Battle Blitz (Red/White), Death March (Green/Black)
Click the links on the name of the set to see more information about the cards in each individual deck, and what the ideas are behind these decks. When these pre-constructed theme decks were first released, the consensus I gleaned from MtG forums elsewhere seemed to suggest that these were the better ones - I've personally played most of the ones I've listed and have enjoyed them all.
If you are completely brand new to Magic, you might find them a little overwhelming, and you might want to start with the slightly simpler 40 card theme decks from the core (basic) set. What you'd want to look or ask for are some of the Tenth Edition Theme Decks. Their are five of them, and you can find more information about them here: Cho-Manno's Resolve (White), Arcanis's Guile (Blue), Evincar's Tyranny (Black), Kamahl's Temper (Red), or Molimo's Might (Green).
A newbie will have a lot of fun with these (I know I did when I first started), even though they're inferior. To get a taste of Magic the Gathering, you could just get two or three of these to learn the basics, and then you can decide whether to get more of them for more matchups and replay value, or whether you are ready to progress to the more advanced (and fun!) theme decks from Lorwyn, Morningtide, Shadowmoor and Eventide. The Core Set theme decks are certainly not as good as the theme decks from the other sets, but they're definitely a better place for a complete beginner to start (it's the path I took to get into the game several years ago). Also be sure to download the free Tutorial software from playmagic.com, this will be immensely helpful in learning the game.
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Joakim Björklund
Finland
Turku
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EndersGame wrote: seusomon wrote: A word about black cards and kids. This is a personal judgment call for parents, of course. My own opinion is that we don't often give kids enough credit about being able to deal with disturbing images in a fantasy context. I've been playing with my daughter since she was about seven, and felt no need to censor the card pool with her. This will indeed be something every parent will have to decide for themselves. When we first started learning Magic, we were playing the Ravnica block and TimeSpiral block, which both featured some rather gory black cards like these:
Starting with the Ravnica block, WotC started putting a "Age 13+" note on Magic products. They did this so that they could have darker art and themes on the cards. The Ravnica block (the two leftmost cards are from this block) did indeed contain art that wouldn't have appeared on Magic cards a couple of years earlier (the first couple of years did contain darker imagery as well).
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Max Fightmaster
United Kingdom
London
London
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craniac wrote: Great article. You could probably have even more fun per dollar by purchasing a bunch of commons and uncommons on ebay and playing Peasant Magic!They get the fun of deck building and tweaking, and the cards are even cheaper than the (overpriced, in my opinion) theme decks. One might also argue that Dominion is the ultimate replayable deck building game. No gruesome pictures, and $35 for the equivalent of nine theme decks. Those minor quibbles aside, this is a great article. I have been reading your stuff for years now and have neglected to geekbuddy you for some reason--now remedied.
Good suggestion.
Though may I take this opportunity to one-up you by suggesting my favourite format of all time:
Pauper Magic!!
(Yeah, two exclamation marks. That's how it rolls.)
How does it work? Well, like magic but without rares or uncommons.
Basically, you get yourself a fat stack of either (1) cheap commons that you bought off of Ebay (and trust me, people sell mountains of them for literally peanuts), (2) stacks of cheap commons you get given by people who play the game 'seriously' and regard them as worthless, or (3) the manifold commons you have sloshing about in all your theme decks. Then, you build yourselves 60 (or 45, go nuts) card decks out of the various commons you have (following all the usual deckbuilding rules like no more than 4 of any one card), then duel against other players and slug it out in the regular style.
It's a fantastic way to play because you get to indulge in all of the 'competitive' deck-building and meta-gaming aspect of Magic (which people claim theme-deck wars lacks), can apply all the restrictions you like (if formats like 'Standard' or 'Extended' are something you wish to care about), and when you win you get the great feeling of knowing that you not just played well, but also built something clever.
In other words; it's almost exactly like playing regular magic, but without the huge price-tag, and with decks that kill your opponent a couple of turns slower.
"But how can you make decks without big crazy cards to hold them together?!" you cry. Well, really easily in fact. Cards are only big and crazy in comparison to other cards. Without the threat of hyper-dragons or turb-nukes, little commons suddenly seem 100 times more powerful. Seriously, cards that were previously 'ok, I guess', suddenly become super-bombs and exciting plays. After all, wouldn't rare cards seem fairly ho-hum and unexciting if WOTC suddenly released a strata of even more rare and even more powerful cards? Oh, hang on... wait a minute, that just happened. My bad.
Anyway, if you can get a group of people interested in playing that way, then it gives you all the delights of regular meta-gaming and deck-building, but none of the "your buddy re-mortgages his house for four of the latest cash-rare, your defeat is now inevitable" downside of regular magic. Also, if you all go out and buy a box of old commons, then trade amongst yourselves like gentlemen (not stingy sharks), you all quickly build up massive and varied collections of cards and have access to insane numbers of deck combinations.
Seriously, if each buying a box of chaff is too big an investment, then get a bunch of your mates to put up a few dollars each and go see how many commons you can acquire for $20 (approx) on the internet (clue: you'll each need several empty shoeboxes before you try this). It'll give you enough cards to play for months without getting bored. Once viable combinations seem to be running out, just repeat the process and go again; voila, completely new meta-game and thousands more combinations. Then when you get bored of that set-up either mash the two boxes together (moar combinations!!!1) and build from that collection for a while, or go totally crazy (you big spender you) and chip in a couple more dollars each for yet another massive haul of commons. If you and several friends can't stay entertained in this fashion for under $30 dollars each a year (absolute-outside-you're-spending-way-too-much-maximum), then you should probably all seek help (or new friends).
Is it better than peasant as a way to play? Not particularly. The advantages I think it has are, (1) people don't bicker over who gets to use the couple of absolutely crazy uncommons in your collection, (2) the cards are cheaper to acquire if you're not worried about grabbing any non-commons, and (3) if you're playing against people who get competitive, they can't go to the internet and drop $10 for a playset of high-quality uncommons that tip the odds dramatically in their favour.
If you've got people who fancy taking the 'common path', then pooling your resources to pick up a $10 box of junk commons to split between yourselves (or even buying a box of commons each) will give you literally hours of entertainment. I highly recommend it.
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Tom Waters
United States
New Mexico
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didaskalos wrote: seusomon wrote: Have played with the new-style intro packs for Shards of Alara, I would say they have comparable play value to the old-style theme decks. Hi Tom, Do you mean that the new 41-card deck + booster pack plays well against other 41-card decks? Do you play them as is, just 40 card decks? I thought about following Ender's advice by playing theme decks but wasn't sure how the new decks would work out.
Hi! We played them both ways - maybe a day or two without the booster, then add the booster (and maybe one or two others purchased separately) to upgrade the decks and give a new play experience.
Either way, they don't feel a lot different from the old-style theme decks. You're still playing with decks that show off the synergies and illustrate the mechanics in the particular set, but leave plenty of room for improvement if you want to add additional cards.
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Douglas Buel
United States
Orlando
Florida
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There are two items in the Duel Decks series, Elves vs. Goblins and Jace vs. Chandra. There will be a third in the series in the spring, a deck of demons vs. a deck of angels.
So if you get those, that's six decks people can play against one another right there.
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Brian Lee
United States
Northridge
California
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I totally agree with the original poster. Theme decks are the way to go. It saves you money, yet you still have an actual deck to learn and play around with.
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Tom Chappelear
United States
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
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I tried this last spring as a way to cheaply get back into a game I really missed, and it didn't quite scratch the itch. I'll post more later, but mostly I wanted to recommend eBay. I lurked about, and was able to buy two 12-deck boxes (with 3 and 4 different decks each) for under $2 a deck including shipping. I then traded 2-for-1 or even 4-for one at local shops to get other theme decks. For about $40, I now have something like 18 different theme decks.
It can be a really cheap way of playing...
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Michael Cox
United States
Summerville
SC
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I've always wanted to play M:TG but could never get into it (I am more of a sci-fi/superhero fan than fantasy). Unfortunately, those CCGs that I could get into all died. So, I thought I might try M:TG going this route with my family. What I was curious about is can you play a theme deck from a newer set against an older set theme deck and still have a good game? I assume you can, but wanted to make sure.
Thank you.
Michael
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Byron Gehrig
United States
East Dundee
Illinois
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If you and your family and friends have been playing with theme decks for quite some time, you may eventually decide that the game is growing a little stale (after about 300 to 600 games) or lacks the deck building component of the game. Rather than moving from the theme deck setup to a Peasant or Pauper format, you should consider selecting your favorite theme decks, and concentrate on it. Don't just select one and go hog wild, otherwise you'll be spending an arm and a leg for new cards. Instead, you should look at the rules for Magic: The Uprising
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/fileinfo/38447
Magic: The Uprising is a points system that is used to construct your deck, or in this case, add cards to your already constructed theme deck. As you play more and more games, you earn points and can use them to add cards to your deck (making a better deck). This system allows for deck development rather than just the old rule, "He with the most money wins Magic." Its more about doing what you can with what you have on hand.
This is a good option for a family with children are ready to take the next step into the world of magic. I would suggest sticking with the theme decks as long as you can before migrating over to the points system in Magic: The Uprising. The one benefit that Magic: The Uprising is that it introduces the concepts of deck building; Lets be honest, deck building is half the fun of the game!
One more thing... The newer 40 pre-constructed decks with an included booster pack can be used with Magic: The Uprising (just break open the pack, add up the points for it, and go from there). So, Wizards may be changing things up a little to continue to make money at it; with Magic: The Uprising you'll still be able have the fun of magic without going overboard on spending (although it will cost more than just playing with theme decks).
Please look over the rules for Magic: The Uprising and let me know what you think.
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Posted Mon Dec 1, 2008 5:10 am
