Want to Shuffle Up & Play with The Professor? I'm hosting a special Prerelease ChAoS Re-release Magic event at MagicCon: Las Vegas! Sign up now at: mcvegas.mtgfestivals.com/en-us/magic-play/ticketed-play-schedule/ticketed-play-information.html?gtID=855943&panel-name=The-Professor-presents-ReRelease-Chaos-100-Click-here-for-more-info
Hey, Professor, which source/website do you use to determine the price of commander decks and singles in your videos? I was watching your review of the new Modern Horizons 3 commander decks, and the part where you compared the prices of the MH3 decks to those of other, slightly older commander decks caught my attention. Several of those decks seemed very well priced (including Enduring Enchantments, which I’ve had my eyes on), but I didn’t know where I should go to buy them.
Did you have to compare Saw in Half to UB cards by calling this it's "in-universe" printing when Unfinity IS a Magic set (non-canon) but it had good flavor the first time around
It cannot be overstated that these commander decks are millions times more playable than the intro decks of old. Those 60 card "decks" were basically chaff, with two preset rares. Being able to have a good predefined deck with obvious ways to upgrade it is amazing. You aren't going to get high power EDH right out of the box, but put it in a 4 player game, and it will be able to at least pull it's own weight. I wish we had 60 card deck versions of these decks back in the intro deck days.
That's honestly why I loved the Challenger decks. Because it was such a breath of fresh air from terrible precons, even terrible for the new players they are aimed for. Even just comparing the old school Commander precons to today is such a joy to have decks that will work well out of the box on top of having an upgrade path.
Yeah man, a good ol' taste of that I had with the starter decks, got a LOTR one that I wanted to keep as decoration, but the box arrived so busted (thanks Bezos) that I decided to open it and jesus man... Such BORING DECKS!!!! You spend X on them but gotta end up spending 3X if you wanna make them playable.
Funny enough I enjoyed those decks, in the context of proto-commander. Most people used to learn "kitchen table" 60-card which was highly unoptimized and janky and often multiplayer, and these decks had a decent theme and cohesion, if not 1v1 competitive. You didn't get much, but for ~$11 each it was easy to pick up to get people into the game or try something new even without a collection. Overall though while commander is getting optimized and losing much of the jank, it is good that these decks are at least improving too.
I have fallen in and out of MtG a few times since starting in Amonket. Every time I come back your videos make me feel that excitement of first getting into a hobby again
Honestly, I think the criticisms of Peace Offering and group hug in general are a little overblown. Sure if you’re a new player AND your goal is to win games, then yeah it’s a little challenging and unintuitive to pilot. In my experience though, I find a lot of new players who are being introduced through commander just enjoy being able to interact with the game and other players. And group hug decks are great at that. It also gives everyone else a gameplay incentive to go easy on the new player. So I think having that kind of deck exist as an option is great and Peace Offering doesn’t deserve a reduced grade solely for being a group hug deck.
I agree with you. I would also add that group hug deck teaches you about threat assesment in a way that you need to choose which player should receive cards from you.
Plus the group hug deck isn't just group hug with no real gameplan, it's more bant card draw with a grouphug subtheme. You give your opponents cards but you draw more. Then for your upgrade path you combine that with awesome get-rewarded-for-opponents-drawing cards like heliod warped eclipse.
@@4Stavor winconless group hug sucks. Decks like Zedruu are incredibly annoying. If you're pulling ahead on resources hence advancing your game plan it's good
I'm personally glad there's a group hug deck cause I'm using these to teach some friends mtg update: we all had a lot of fun, and Ms. Bumbleflower got really big really fast
Seems like for a new group of players, one of each of these precons with a more enfranchised player on the group hug deck would be ideal. I am so impressed that Wizards is supporting this strategy for a player who wants to play it but doesn't have time or cards to build from scratch.
The way this deck was designed, I think they intended The person running it to buff themselves while they are group hugging everyone else. which is why it needs some more counselor doublers.
@@rend7979The opposite, you as the veteran use group hug to teach them, you're the one hugging. You teach important things about draw, resources and possibilities
Sadly, a lot of stores in my area are inflating the price of the Squirrel deck and some have even hiked up the price on some of the others strictly based off current tcgplayer trends. It’s ass. MSRP needs to return(fat chance).
Ok one hand I don't love that my LGS is charging $50 a piece for them. On the other hand, they aren't playing favorites and I got the Dino deck for $50 and Eldrazi for $80.
@@naiustheyetti If one deck is in high demand, it isn't unusual to see it going for more and some LGS do this. To be fair this is often because they can only buy them in sets and one being in high demand often means the others are not, and they have to sell discounted or "eat" the loss. IMO while not great, the fault lies mostly with WOTC for being unable to balance the decks in terms of desirability or allowing them to be purchased individually.
Peace Offering is definitely a great buy for anyone looking to dabble in Group Hug. The deck is extremely fun to play and succeeds when played with an expert player. Being able to force discards on end steps and knowing when to trigger Ms. Bumbleflower is huge for gaining advantage. The gift mechanic is extremely potent and the recon is strangely resilient. It leads to long games though because of your opponents likely having swingy turns and you giving out answers in the form of card draw.
Was inspired by Wubby to get into MTG and picking up my first sets today. My wife and I are getting the hug and animated decks. Thanks for the educational videos!
Honestly the Hug deck is being a little overlooked but it’s insanely good when you upgrade it to have all the tools you need for a game night. Hope you guys enjoy your new decks!!! Cheers 🎉
I never get tired of hearing about new players getting into the game, it’s such an exciting experience to learn. All I will say is to be patient with the learning process, the fundamentals will come relatively quick, but I’ve been playing since 2012 and still learn new interactions every day. You’re in for a ton of fun!
Lol wow me and my wife started like 3 weeks ago😅 going to a prerelease for bloomburrow sunday , very nervous and stoked we been playing our limited lame pre cons everynight past few weeks lol
Commander precons are getting better and better every time, i remember back in 2015, they kind of hard sucked, was rough upgrading my Daxos the returned. So happy to see how good precons became
Most of the new decks are good but there are still some bad decks almost every set. The tribal precons struggle most time of not enough support for the tribal (like Lhurgoyf or Squirrel recently) or the lack of the most powerful staples like the LCC dino deck, who was missing all Ghalta´s. The ramp package/manabase of the Bant grouphug deck is also very weird. The deck runs etb tapped Farseek but only fetchable duals you want to etb untapped. They could have upgraded Farseek in both decks at least to Nature´s Lore.
Every time I go to a prerelease I get an extra kit and put it on a shelf because I want to do a chaos prerelease with my friends. Got them as far back as Strixhaven! I think it’s an awesome idea for an event. Can’t wait to join in Vegas!
The red/green one is incredibly fun to play out of the box. I think it can also become really powerful if you focus on big vehicles, since the Commander makes them into creatures so you don't need to crew them
I thought of that. but my problem is, the vehicles are going to get a power cut. The high-powered ones at least. considering how much mana you usually have to dump into that kind of stuff? I'm not sure it sounds all that viable. but what do I know.....
If the vehicles have power/toughness of more than 4/4 then they're going to get a penalty for no being crewed. Their inherent abilities beyond that will still be in effect, but keep in mind they will be base 4/4 when you rely on Bello's ability to make all non-aura, non-equipment enchantments and artifacts creatures for your turn.
@@blacksheep_edge1412 yep, I figure that out as well. Pretty much the big weakness of the stack. It doesn't really work so well with vehicles or creatures. Probably why you really don't see any real artifact creatures or enchantment creatures with CMC of 4 or higher
I'm glad to hear all of these decks are solid! I'm excited to pick up Peace Offering and probably also Family Matters when my budget allows. Thank you for your expert analysis as always and I'm excited to see some Standard in SUP!
Great breakdown, as always. I appreciate that you take the time to speak to the fun and playability of each deck, rather than purely the financial value. One note, I don't see any big box stores, or FLGS's, selling these for $40. It seems like everyone is selling for $50, and only two are going less than that on TCGplayer and Amazon.
I'm really really glad there's a group hug precon. I wanted to get back into magic after like a decade away and group hug deck was what I wanted to try the most. I always loved making deals at the table and playing with cards that could do that.
I am very excited for family matters. I see that commander as having a theoretically and conceivable level of power creep. The fact that you could put offspring too on so many dastardly Titans with annihilator? it's almost frightening in a funny way
@@starmanda88 Thanks! I've been playing Pokemon tcg and Vanguard for a few years now. Magic has always been something that seemed so cool and now that I've tried it I can officially say that I'm hooked. 😅
I really like the background music of this video, of course I like everything in the video and the info the Prof is giving us, but this music is so relaxing.
This is the first time I’ve gotten all of the precons in a loooooong while, this set is awesome! I especially adore the lore blurbs on the inserted deck guides - Bello being a seasoned Omenpath traveler, Hazel leading a nature cult, Ms. Bumbleflower being the daughter of a pirate, Zinnia alluded to being from another plane. Some super sweet new cards too, these precons feel like a home run!
You're the reason I've gotten so interested in Magic The Gathering to the point that I'm playing in my first MtG Pre release this weekend!!! Thanks prof 😊
This has been the set to lure my best friend into MtG! She's picking up Family Matters and I nabbed Squirreled Away before the price boomed in the UK. Thanks Prof, another great video!
I pre-ordered the 4 Pre-cons from my LGS for $119.99 back in April. I can't wait to upgrade these decks. I appreciate your review of these 4 Pre-cons. Thank you for the video Professor.
Just getting into Magic, and this channel has been extremely helpful. Also I won my first ever commander game at my LGS commander party with the straight-up Family Matters precon deck. Thanks TCC!
I’m so excited for this set, my first official in universe magic set I’m getting into! I love the Adventure in the Forgotten Realms and Battle for Baldurs Gate cards but I’m ready for my first core set. Thanks for the great videos guiding me through my magic journey! I’m getting ready to pick up my first ever prerelease box today and picking up the precon decks during the weeks to come.
Sadly the Squirreled Away deck is severely marked up in the greater Toronto area stores. Going for around $99 to $119 CAD, and out of stock most places to boot. It's the only deck I was considering buying of the 4, but there's no way I'm willing to spend that kind of exorbitant markup.
@@MTGNoobma It’s 100% artificial supply and demand because they do not provide enough product to local game stores. We’re not talking about a finite resource here, or precious metals. It’s cardboard, and hasbro could easily print more and provide more stock to stores. They choose to do the opposite to create manufactured scarcity. Please go troll somewhere else.
does it feel like this set was more highly anticipated for people because it was about MTG and not some other IP? Asking for a friends. once again prof, thank you for being a becon of shining light in this community, youre the best :)
Hi prof. i just got the peace offering deck as my first ever mtg card. I love bunny and the group hug concept is enticing to learn. Thankyou for the video because i now actually can see what the content while waiting for mine to be delivered hehe
I gotta wonder, I'm exhausted from the pace of all these releases, it's gotta be insanely busy to put out all these videos for every set. Thanks for the hard work prof, it's appreciated!
In the first week, the tickets were available for Vegas. I signed up right away for your re-release chaos event super excited it was the first thing I signed up for really want you to sign my playmat that all my favorite UA-camrs and artist have signed really looking forward to it.
@@shmerelize I didn’t go to Amsterdam because the plane ticket was more expansive than the black lotus tickets but I did go to Chicago. The wifey doesn’t even play but she had a great time going to the panels
Oh I'm about to go to this! I started my second cycle of chemo today and having cancer got me into MTG, although I've always been into TCG's, magic and cancer for me go hand and hand, and can't wait to attend!
Absolutely love Bello and I've got an enchantress deck brewed up with him at the helm that I'm unbelievably excited to try and get put together. All of these decks seem absolutely fantastic and if I could afford to pick up a full set I 100% would. Good luck to everyone drafting and good games!
Hey TCC, thanks to your awesome work I went to my first prerelease ever, after being on hiatus mtg-wise for 10+ years. I managed to score 8th place out of 40 people at my lgs. But more importantly I met a lot of great people, had a wonderful evening and will definitely show up to the next one.
First time back to this channel after probably 6 years and it feels like coming home. Same structure vibe and quality i remember. Keep up the great content!
Been having a lot of fun playing Animated Army - even out of the box I'm able to stay competitive with pretty experienced players and I'm excited to look into some upgrades
@@SwagMaster824 not true, I started a few months ago and have kept all of the life wheels from precons I've gotten. Honestly, they're a cool collectable and help reduce how many dice are needed.
Love the video thank you! I must also say, I have some thiccc commanders and I love using them. They work just like regular cards but I don’t ever accidentally shuffle them into the deck or worry about damaging them
I'm sooo looking forward to this cute set. Unfortunatly my delivery is delayed, I had hoped to open the precons right this weekend. But well, I can wait a few days longer 😊
Just keep in mind that different stores have different policies. Some will go based on Walmart, some won't ship until release, etc. If I'm preordering something, I expect it 3-5 days after release and any sooner is a bonus. I should be getting my precons on Monday, I have friends that want to play with a relatively balanced group of precons, and it will recreate the experiences I had back when once a year Commander precons were a thing.
Group hug is the only way I like to play and am glad we finally have some representation in the precon lists! (But i agree its a higher skill/political curve and we shouldn’t get them very often in products targeted towards new players).
boy, is it an interesting deck too. if I didn't know any better, I could swear they intended you to use group hugging to make yourself stronger to stompy levels from the shadows and then crush everyone else. The way I always hear group hug usually described... you are helping everyone else so they don't hurt you. I guess, that's what they were thinking when they created peace offering. so that, when you do group hug... you have some kind of defense prepared
Ever since getting into magic a couple months ago ive been looking for a white green blue deck to play and once I saw ms bumbleflower I knew she was the one. Super excited to get to play it
I"m one of the few that was hyped for the group hug deck. I've been wanting to build group hug for awhile and having a precon finally come out. The set being what it is as well was also a huge plus for me. I love the deck
I wanted to watch this the moment the video was live, but I also wanted to wait and unbox and see the decks myself. Great to hear your take on them. Going through, I did certainly notice how the mana bases seemed much better, I had a feeling you would talk about that 😉
As someone’ who has been playing commander for a little over a yeat consistently, and was interested in the group hug start but intimidated by the idea of building one from scratch, I am happy to have this precon as a base to build from.
I ripped a display of bloomburrow and now I’m upgrading all 4 precons with stuff out of the set. Was a big downer for me to see how many humans, phyrexians, goblins, angels, … were in these. I just wanted a perfect little animal world to play with my daughter, so here it comes!
Notification gang here!! 😎🤘 Really excited for this set! Awesome cards for standard, pioneer, and commander! Incredibly fun limited environment! The only downside of this awesome is that it isn't a whole block! I would love to explore this plane more and get deeper lore and plot points, but the new 1 of's set design WotC has been doing for awhile really makes me sad. We don't really get to take in and appreciate planes as much anymore 😞 But this set is gonna be incredible! Can't wait to play some pre release and get some games in with the new pre cons!!! Appreciate all you do for us Prof! ❤🤘
Maybe they can revisit the plane in a later set, with a Chronicles of Narnia-esque humans visiting the world. It's a shame they didn't do a Secret Lair of Chronicles of Narnia or Redwall to coincide with the cute set!
Given the push of Bloomburrow lore being a realm of no humans, I was disappointed by how many human cards (or just non-bloomburrow themed) cards were in the precons.
I told some friends of mine that Family Matters was my favourite just because of the name and the bird playing the instrument. its nice to see its actually the 1st pick of them all.
We're here to play card games and have fun, we shouldn't need to break the bank on some of these products to do so. Thank you for driving the "don't buy markup" point home.
I’m still waiting for my local shop to get Tricky Terrain so I can buy it for less than the $80 markup, but I was really looking forward to these decks and this video to see if they were good. It’s nice to see the most magical set has a great spread of fun commander decks to play with. Thank you, Professor.
Thanks for the review! I was looking at picking up peace offering since I wanted a base for my bant group hug with Kros, Defense Contractor at the helm, and this really seems perfect for me :)
As someone who sees the “disto” prices of sealed product like these, it’s disheartening to see that the background costs of these decks have gone up from $24 to $33 per deck. If hasbro is going to do price hikes on decks they need to let their consumers know
Hyped for this set. Feels like a relaxed set that will be overall good for the game. It really resonates with me and im thankful that it doesn't feel like im getting priced out b4 the set releases ❤
I was already planning on buying all of these decks for the adorable art across them, but this video has assured me that is a good choice! Going to make these my "board game box" pod...even if that means I have to play the group hug deck most of the time lol
My daughter bought me a Chatterfang last year for my birthday, so I bought the squirrel deck. I also bought the peace offering deck to upgrade my current group hug deck.
To anyone wanting to buy all four decks, it's usually pretty easy to find commander deck displays for a decent discount. I've seen a few listings for these four around $120
I just played a few games with some of these decks (I played the Animated Army (shoutout to Kodama as the GOAT of the deck)) and one of the newer players piloted Peace Offering and she clicked to the strategy straight away! It actually feels fairly intuitive to play and those wincons can rack up fast!
I got the Family Matters one for a couple bucks under 30$ and was so afraid that the prof would rip it apart but I'm very happy with my unresponsible financial decisions now so thank you Prof
I will put it out there that the thick commander card proxy was very useful for putting on the front of deck boxes to show which deck was inside, I found it more useful than the life wheel as our group always use lifeelk anyway
I’m glad they’re printing better mana bases, that tends to be the most costly thing to upgrade. I could see myself grabbing one for the mana base and singles and just building decks using some of the cards. Squirreled away could be solid bc I know a squirrel player I could trade some of the cards to for graveyard cards and sac outlets and run the mana base in my meren of clan nel toth deck
just wanna say i picked up family matters during a prerelease and right out of the box it hits hard. super fun to play, managed to get a beefy commander and boss’s chauffeur and won it’s second ever game. definitely super fun and im very excited to upgrade it
that commander has what I like to call theoretically inconceivable power creep. just because of the kind of stuff you can give offspring to. I am now wondering if anyone will use that commander to build a eldrazi deck
i got peace offerng because i always wanted to build and play a group hug deck. i had a blast playing it and won the first match. using a new card to give someone else an extra turn and phase out when someone played a board wipe. defnitley enjoyed it. group hug helps to speed up games and thats something i like in commander
I intend to take a different approach for group hug than most. instead of politicking for the sake of winning from the shadows, provide support. but also, get my stuff is stompy as possible... just in case
Looking forward to watching your Bloomburrow episode! I just played in a prerelease tournament last night and had a blast! I won 1/3 the games with the 3 players that I faced, but each of them were very nice to play with! I saw a lot of great cards and saw a lot of neat combos. I played a green / blue deck. I even was excited in what I consider opening a God pack. It had a rare, a mythic, and a foil rare and all 3 had a holographic oval at the bottom center of the card. I do not know the significance of that, but as most cards don’t have that, it must mean something special. (Please let me know) I pre-ordered 3-play booster boxes @ $399.99 for the set of 3 and $149.99 for the set of 4 commander decks. ($37.50 per deck) I’m glad to hear I did good with that! My only complaint is if you get a card in a pack that produces a token, that it would be nice if the token in the pack was that token. My promo card was the Blue Seasons card and I was lucky to pull the Green Seasons card, so that worked nice for my Green/Blue deck. Though the artwork is great, for the majority of what I have seen so far, I think that some cards (like the bats) could have been better. They seemed a bit undefined, kind of blurry. My opponent had a foil squirrel and being that it was upside down and the way the light hit it, well it kind of looked like a large bee. Looking at it normal, it does look like a Squirrel. Say this, I think I’m beginning to prefer non foil cards over foil, but I still prefer Extended Art over all! I didn’t pull any, but 2 of my opponents each pulled one. I hope you all enjoy this set as much as I did!
Just bought myself the family matters pre con as I love its art and I get to feel powerful with an army of killer babies hahaha! Can’t wait to finally learn magic
Honestly, my girlfriend got the Peace Offering precon because she loved the commander and the overall art of the set and she won against two quite high power decks, in part due to luck but also because we never played against a group hug deck and perhaps made deals a little too good for each card draw, deals like immunity for one turn or similar. Also, I got her a Narset with the new bloomburrow art as the only upgrwde to the deck and it did some work! Regardless, she's new to the game and had a lot of fun and loved the deck so i'm pretty happy. Now I'm nerding about upgrades since the theme of the deck is very fun and perhaps I might even alter some strong synergy cards for her to fit with the theme. Any suggestions are welcome.
conclave mentor and kami of whispered Hope's are going to do a lot of work for that deck. at least on the counter aspect. you might also consider throwing in an archetype of endurance for absolute hexproofing. for counter spells, since she is new... I recommend last word and overwhelming denial. counter spells that cannot be countered.
As a totally new EDH and Magic player wanting to try EDH locally; I Bought Family Matters; tossed in some Phyrexian copiers (Metamorph, Doppleganger) tossed in some sorta pricey but decent lands (fountainsport; training center; spectator seating, minas tirith) Cayth Famed Machinist. Cards that blew my and a few casual minds were Arthur; he's an incredible side commander and a power to be reckoned when on field. A monster card and while mentioned that its not as good as X the bounce back to hand with Zinnia or Cayth on field is great. Luminous Broodmoth is incredible and able to make any board your in better if it isn't countered and your opponents pray for reach. Jacked Rabbit is incredible early or late and alone can turn an entire game around late game sometimes. Rapid Augmentor is also really good. I choose removals like Path of Ancestry (We aren't really playing birds as its made in the precon despite murmuration and the storm crow generator being in there.) and I removed Time Warp (why remove my board that I'm trying to go wide?) and some of the stuff like Rowdy Researcher I felt wasn't really needed. But overall I feel like I got a really good value out of the precon alone. It offers a great variety of ways to be built/upgraded. You can do what I did working on enter effects and copying; you could go more bird/flying; you get Tseuko; Arthur; Zannia and can make pretty decent decks yourself around either in a couple different flavors. I will say its very daunting how wide it can get however as a noob with just how many tokens offspring; cayth and other effects begin to produce; but its been a great time. I learn something new everytime I play this deck and the copying with offspring lets me sometimes just use my opponents plays as a stepping stone for my own rather than needing to use the wide board.
I picked the Family matters precon and I really love how it works. I had Elspeth, Zinnia and the Rapid Augmenter with Offspring on the field, and these few alone made my commander after 1-2 rounds to a 12/3 flying commander and the two Augmenters to 11/11 unblockable. And that was just my first try out of the box with that deck, I'm really looking forward to upgrading it (still on a more casual base, I don't play CEDH^^).
Want to Shuffle Up & Play with The Professor? I'm hosting a special Prerelease ChAoS Re-release Magic event at MagicCon: Las Vegas! Sign up now at: mcvegas.mtgfestivals.com/en-us/magic-play/ticketed-play-schedule/ticketed-play-information.html?gtID=855943&panel-name=The-Professor-presents-ReRelease-Chaos-100-Click-here-for-more-info
Hey, Professor, which source/website do you use to determine the price of commander decks and singles in your videos? I was watching your review of the new Modern Horizons 3 commander decks, and the part where you compared the prices of the MH3 decks to those of other, slightly older commander decks caught my attention. Several of those decks seemed very well priced (including Enduring Enchantments, which I’ve had my eyes on), but I didn’t know where I should go to buy them.
Did you have to compare Saw in Half to UB cards by calling this it's "in-universe" printing when Unfinity IS a Magic set (non-canon) but it had good flavor the first time around
Can't wait, would love to get a game in with you, big fan
Dear prof. I love your slapstick comedy like letting a deck fall from your hand and then reveal an identical one from your jacket.
Its just genius.
Wasn't identical though, first one was squirrel's, second was the red green
@@Xynic.7391..... 🤓 actually!!
So good.
@@Xynic.7391 They were both the Red Green racoon one though lol. It would've taken you like 10 seconds to double check before replying
@@mr.bigglesworth2952”….. 🤓 actually!!” 🤓 😂
Good luck on your pre release everyone
Good luck to you too!
We’re all gonna be rich!!!
@@williamoldaker5348 thank you
Very excited, it's my first one and it's gonna be great!
Yo too
It cannot be overstated that these commander decks are millions times more playable than the intro decks of old. Those 60 card "decks" were basically chaff, with two preset rares.
Being able to have a good predefined deck with obvious ways to upgrade it is amazing. You aren't going to get high power EDH right out of the box, but put it in a 4 player game, and it will be able to at least pull it's own weight.
I wish we had 60 card deck versions of these decks back in the intro deck days.
That's honestly why I loved the Challenger decks. Because it was such a breath of fresh air from terrible precons, even terrible for the new players they are aimed for.
Even just comparing the old school Commander precons to today is such a joy to have decks that will work well out of the box on top of having an upgrade path.
I think I got as early as neon dynasty. so I've never really gotten to try out those old decks. at least these decks have a great mana base.
Yeah man, a good ol' taste of that I had with the starter decks, got a LOTR one that I wanted to keep as decoration, but the box arrived so busted (thanks Bezos) that I decided to open it and jesus man... Such BORING DECKS!!!! You spend X on them but gotta end up spending 3X if you wanna make them playable.
@@erms111 I want to get family matters and throw in some populate and creatures with annihilator. it'll be so funny.
Funny enough I enjoyed those decks, in the context of proto-commander. Most people used to learn "kitchen table" 60-card which was highly unoptimized and janky and often multiplayer, and these decks had a decent theme and cohesion, if not 1v1 competitive.
You didn't get much, but for ~$11 each it was easy to pick up to get people into the game or try something new even without a collection.
Overall though while commander is getting optimized and losing much of the jank, it is good that these decks are at least improving too.
I have fallen in and out of MtG a few times since starting in Amonket. Every time I come back your videos make me feel that excitement of first getting into a hobby again
Haaa i thought mtg is an addiction spending so much money ,finally its a hobby 😂😂
Honestly, I think the criticisms of Peace Offering and group hug in general are a little overblown. Sure if you’re a new player AND your goal is to win games, then yeah it’s a little challenging and unintuitive to pilot. In my experience though, I find a lot of new players who are being introduced through commander just enjoy being able to interact with the game and other players. And group hug decks are great at that. It also gives everyone else a gameplay incentive to go easy on the new player. So I think having that kind of deck exist as an option is great and Peace Offering doesn’t deserve a reduced grade solely for being a group hug deck.
I agree with you. I would also add that group hug deck teaches you about threat assesment in a way that you need to choose which player should receive cards from you.
Plus the group hug deck isn't just group hug with no real gameplan, it's more bant card draw with a grouphug subtheme. You give your opponents cards but you draw more. Then for your upgrade path you combine that with awesome get-rewarded-for-opponents-drawing cards like heliod warped eclipse.
group hug sucks tbh
@@trenchausMan it can be great what do you mean
@@4Stavor winconless group hug sucks. Decks like Zedruu are incredibly annoying. If you're pulling ahead on resources hence advancing your game plan it's good
I'm personally glad there's a group hug deck cause I'm using these to teach some friends mtg
update: we all had a lot of fun, and Ms. Bumbleflower got really big really fast
This strategy should be pushed for more people to learn, mtg can be a lot more fun when you're trying to buff others
Group hug is pretty bad for new players, they can’t properly take advantage of what they do to help and just end up lackeys of the experienced players
Seems like for a new group of players, one of each of these precons with a more enfranchised player on the group hug deck would be ideal. I am so impressed that Wizards is supporting this strategy for a player who wants to play it but doesn't have time or cards to build from scratch.
The way this deck was designed, I think they intended The person running it to buff themselves while they are group hugging everyone else. which is why it needs some more counselor doublers.
@@rend7979The opposite, you as the veteran use group hug to teach them, you're the one hugging. You teach important things about draw, resources and possibilities
Sadly, a lot of stores in my area are inflating the price of the Squirrel deck and some have even hiked up the price on some of the others strictly based off current tcgplayer trends. It’s ass. MSRP needs to return(fat chance).
I feel you. I got lucky and my LGS is charging 60$ CAD per deck all in, so I ordered them all.
It's already at $80 in my area.
Ok one hand I don't love that my LGS is charging $50 a piece for them.
On the other hand, they aren't playing favorites and I got the Dino deck for $50 and Eldrazi for $80.
@@MCC17011 they are playing favorites if all of the decks in the cycle are not the same price.
@@naiustheyetti If one deck is in high demand, it isn't unusual to see it going for more and some LGS do this. To be fair this is often because they can only buy them in sets and one being in high demand often means the others are not, and they have to sell discounted or "eat" the loss.
IMO while not great, the fault lies mostly with WOTC for being unable to balance the decks in terms of desirability or allowing them to be purchased individually.
Peace Offering is definitely a great buy for anyone looking to dabble in Group Hug. The deck is extremely fun to play and succeeds when played with an expert player. Being able to force discards on end steps and knowing when to trigger Ms. Bumbleflower is huge for gaining advantage. The gift mechanic is extremely potent and the recon is strangely resilient. It leads to long games though because of your opponents likely having swingy turns and you giving out answers in the form of card draw.
I got my Squirrel Deck very early, and when I tested last week it was AMAZING.
Furries deck :3
@@KandiKlover Yes I am a Furry
They should've made more hamsters. My Minsc & Boo deck would've loved it! Still love the set
Rolling Hamsphere is such a ridiculous card, and I am here for it!
I think I have PTSD from my buddy's M&B deck. He's pulled of a couple of turn 5 wins in a 4 man pod.
minsc and boo is super try hard...
Depends how you build it I guess?
I just want to see a hamster on the field and fling it.
THATS WHAT IM SAYING
Was inspired by Wubby to get into MTG and picking up my first sets today. My wife and I are getting the hug and animated decks. Thanks for the educational videos!
Honestly the Hug deck is being a little overlooked but it’s insanely good when you upgrade it to have all the tools you need for a game night. Hope you guys enjoy your new decks!!! Cheers 🎉
Wubby7 same here!
I never get tired of hearing about new players getting into the game, it’s such an exciting experience to learn. All I will say is to be patient with the learning process, the fundamentals will come relatively quick, but I’ve been playing since 2012 and still learn new interactions every day. You’re in for a ton of fun!
Lol wow me and my wife started like 3 weeks ago😅 going to a prerelease for bloomburrow sunday , very nervous and stoked we been playing our limited lame pre cons everynight past few weeks lol
The researching has been very real
Commander precons are getting better and better every time, i remember back in 2015, they kind of hard sucked, was rough upgrading my Daxos the returned. So happy to see how good precons became
they definitely got better over time, i still wish they would bring the (battle)bond lands in every commander deck forever to make them dirt cheap.
@Games4Ppl yeah about time to retire the temples from the precons
Most of the new decks are good but there are still some bad decks almost every set. The tribal precons struggle most time of not enough support for the tribal (like Lhurgoyf or Squirrel recently) or the lack of the most powerful staples like the LCC dino deck, who was missing all Ghalta´s.
The ramp package/manabase of the Bant grouphug deck is also very weird. The deck runs etb tapped Farseek but only fetchable duals you want to etb untapped. They could have upgraded Farseek in both decks at least to Nature´s Lore.
I was suckered with an intro deck in the shards of alara block.
Younger me would've LOVED these commander decks.
@@jojobetzler3732not having that many squirrels is fine, squirrels come in token form
Every time I go to a prerelease I get an extra kit and put it on a shelf because I want to do a chaos prerelease with my friends. Got them as far back as Strixhaven! I think it’s an awesome idea for an event. Can’t wait to join in Vegas!
The red/green one is incredibly fun to play out of the box. I think it can also become really powerful if you focus on big vehicles, since the Commander makes them into creatures so you don't need to crew them
I thought of that. but my problem is, the vehicles are going to get a power cut. The high-powered ones at least. considering how much mana you usually have to dump into that kind of stuff? I'm not sure it sounds all that viable. but what do I know.....
If the vehicles have power/toughness of more than 4/4 then they're going to get a penalty for no being crewed. Their inherent abilities beyond that will still be in effect, but keep in mind they will be base 4/4 when you rely on Bello's ability to make all non-aura, non-equipment enchantments and artifacts creatures for your turn.
@@blacksheep_edge1412 yep, I figure that out as well. Pretty much the big weakness of the stack. It doesn't really work so well with vehicles or creatures. Probably why you really don't see any real artifact creatures or enchantment creatures with CMC of 4 or higher
I'm glad to hear all of these decks are solid! I'm excited to pick up Peace Offering and probably also Family Matters when my budget allows. Thank you for your expert analysis as always and I'm excited to see some Standard in SUP!
Great breakdown, as always. I appreciate that you take the time to speak to the fun and playability of each deck, rather than purely the financial value. One note, I don't see any big box stores, or FLGS's, selling these for $40. It seems like everyone is selling for $50, and only two are going less than that on TCGplayer and Amazon.
I'm really really glad there's a group hug precon.
I wanted to get back into magic after like a decade away and group hug deck was what I wanted to try the most. I always loved making deals at the table and playing with cards that could do that.
I literally just started playing Magic last week because the trailers for the cards were so adorable. It's been fun. Can't wait for next week.
I am very excited for family matters. I see that commander as having a theoretically and conceivable level of power creep. The fact that you could put offspring too on so many dastardly Titans with annihilator? it's almost frightening in a funny way
Welcome to the hobby!
@@criticalblaster458 you were going to have such a fun time with this hobby.
@@starmanda88 Thanks! I've been playing Pokemon tcg and Vanguard for a few years now. Magic has always been something that seemed so cool and now that I've tried it I can officially say that I'm hooked. 😅
@@unanon_user I absolutely will!
I really like the background music of this video, of course I like everything in the video and the info the Prof is giving us, but this music is so relaxing.
Yeah me too
Reserved my seat for the chaos event right away! So excited to meet you sir.
Thanks for the evergreen, delightful, and honest content Prof!
This is the first time I’ve gotten all of the precons in a loooooong while, this set is awesome! I especially adore the lore blurbs on the inserted deck guides - Bello being a seasoned Omenpath traveler, Hazel leading a nature cult, Ms. Bumbleflower being the daughter of a pirate, Zinnia alluded to being from another plane. Some super sweet new cards too, these precons feel like a home run!
You're the reason I've gotten so interested in Magic The Gathering to the point that I'm playing in my first MtG Pre release this weekend!!! Thanks prof 😊
You know when its a true relaxing Friday evening: A new eposode from the prof is always a delight
I love this series! I stay tuned to make an educated decision on which commanders are worth it AND interesting. Great work as always.
I’ve already preordered all 4 for myself and the Mrs at our LGS.
I don’t even know why I’m watching this. We’re so excited haha
This has been the set to lure my best friend into MtG! She's picking up Family Matters and I nabbed Squirreled Away before the price boomed in the UK. Thanks Prof, another great video!
I'm definitely eyeing the group hug deck, it looks like the most fun out of the four to me.
Honestly same. And the planeswalker that comes with it is the strongest one out of the 4 imo
I pre-ordered the 4 Pre-cons from my LGS for $119.99 back in April. I can't wait to upgrade these decks. I appreciate your review of these 4 Pre-cons. Thank you for the video Professor.
I’m glad that there’s so many of us that have been wanting to play magic for their first time and this set is what’s getting us to finally play 😊
Just getting into Magic, and this channel has been extremely helpful. Also I won my first ever commander game at my LGS commander party with the straight-up Family Matters precon deck. Thanks TCC!
I’m so excited for this set, my first official in universe magic set I’m getting into! I love the Adventure in the Forgotten Realms and Battle for Baldurs Gate cards but I’m ready for my first core set. Thanks for the great videos guiding me through my magic journey! I’m getting ready to pick up my first ever prerelease box today and picking up the precon decks during the weeks to come.
Great to hear! Have you watched the "Friday Nights" miniseries on UA-cam by Loading Ready Run?
Sadly the Squirreled Away deck is severely marked up in the greater Toronto area stores. Going for around $99 to $119 CAD, and out of stock most places to boot. It's the only deck I was considering buying of the 4, but there's no way I'm willing to spend that kind of exorbitant markup.
I ordered the 4 pack on eBay for 135$ USD so it brings the average price to 34 dollars each
Then there's 401 only selling all 4 decks in a bundle without being able to buy them separately 😭
Yeah its insane. Every other deck is like 50 euros in Finland, except the squirrel one is like 75 euros.
No way you wanted the most popular deck and because of supply and demand and it's difficult to acquire cause everyone wants it crazy
@@MTGNoobma It’s 100% artificial supply and demand because they do not provide enough product to local game stores. We’re not talking about a finite resource here, or precious metals. It’s cardboard, and hasbro could easily print more and provide more stock to stores. They choose to do the opposite to create manufactured scarcity. Please go troll somewhere else.
does it feel like this set was more highly anticipated for people because it was about MTG and not some other IP? Asking for a friends. once again prof, thank you for being a becon of shining light in this community, youre the best :)
Hi prof. i just got the peace offering deck as my first ever mtg card. I love bunny and the group hug concept is enticing to learn. Thankyou for the video because i now actually can see what the content while waiting for mine to be delivered hehe
welcome to the game.
Pulling the deck from his jacket was classic comedy. Love this man. That’s a command, not a statement.
just finished pre-release for Bloomburrow and picked up Family Matters at my LGS, super excited to play it :D
Excellent review and warning on Markup. I wish they didnt get rid of the thick proxy ah well
I gotta wonder, I'm exhausted from the pace of all these releases, it's gotta be insanely busy to put out all these videos for every set. Thanks for the hard work prof, it's appreciated!
In the first week, the tickets were available for Vegas. I signed up right away for your re-release chaos event super excited it was the first thing I signed up for really want you to sign my playmat that all my favorite UA-camrs and artist have signed really looking forward to it.
Sounds fun!
I wish I could make it to the Con, but we've had a lot of family expenses this year, and I'll be in Israel.
@@shmerelize I didn’t go to Amsterdam because the plane ticket was more expansive than the black lotus tickets but I did go to Chicago. The wifey doesn’t even play but she had a great time going to the panels
So glad this set is awesome and the prof gets to share a nice video singing praises for these precons :)
Oh I'm about to go to this! I started my second cycle of chemo today and having cancer got me into MTG, although I've always been into TCG's, magic and cancer for me go hand and hand, and can't wait to attend!
Absolutely love Bello and I've got an enchantress deck brewed up with him at the helm that I'm unbelievably excited to try and get put together. All of these decks seem absolutely fantastic and if I could afford to pick up a full set I 100% would. Good luck to everyone drafting and good games!
Hey TCC, thanks to your awesome work I went to my first prerelease ever, after being on hiatus mtg-wise for 10+ years. I managed to score 8th place out of 40 people at my lgs. But more importantly I met a lot of great people, had a wonderful evening and will definitely show up to the next one.
First time back to this channel after probably 6 years and it feels like coming home. Same structure vibe and quality i remember. Keep up the great content!
Been having a lot of fun playing Animated Army - even out of the box I'm able to stay competitive with pretty experienced players and I'm excited to look into some upgrades
The lack of a life wheel is very bizarre for a product designed for beginners/newcomers
It’s honestly not needed at all. Everyone just throws them away LOL
@@SwagMaster824 not true, I started a few months ago and have kept all of the life wheels from precons I've gotten. Honestly, they're a cool collectable and help reduce how many dice are needed.
They are taking the Apple approach where they give you less for more money
@@SwagMaster824 It’s obviously not needed for most people, but a brand new player is probably not gonna have something like 2 d20s at hand
Life counter apps make them irrelevant
Very nice Pull from my first Commander deck on this release! Looking forward to this one very much.
Love the video thank you! I must also say, I have some thiccc commanders and I love using them. They work just like regular cards but I don’t ever accidentally shuffle them into the deck or worry about damaging them
I'm sooo looking forward to this cute set. Unfortunatly my delivery is delayed, I had hoped to open the precons right this weekend. But well, I can wait a few days longer 😊
That sucks, but I hope you enjoy it!!
I'm doing a pre release and I think that's sadly the only bloomburrow I'll do.
Too many releases man 😅
Just keep in mind that different stores have different policies. Some will go based on Walmart, some won't ship until release, etc. If I'm preordering something, I expect it 3-5 days after release and any sooner is a bonus.
I should be getting my precons on Monday, I have friends that want to play with a relatively balanced group of precons, and it will recreate the experiences I had back when once a year Commander precons were a thing.
Phew! This video landed just in time! I was wavering on the Family Matters deck.
Group hug is the only way I like to play and am glad we finally have some representation in the precon lists!
(But i agree its a higher skill/political curve and we shouldn’t get them very often in products targeted towards new players).
boy, is it an interesting deck too. if I didn't know any better, I could swear they intended you to use group hugging to make yourself stronger to stompy levels from the shadows and then crush everyone else.
The way I always hear group hug usually described... you are helping everyone else so they don't hurt you. I guess, that's what they were thinking when they created peace offering. so that, when you do group hug... you have some kind of defense prepared
There was Kynaios & Tiro aka Bill & Ben before. Albeit a fair while ago now
I'm fairly new to the game, kinda hard to find people where im at but its really cool to see people talking about it
Ever since getting into magic a couple months ago ive been looking for a white green blue deck to play and once I saw ms bumbleflower I knew she was the one. Super excited to get to play it
Stan...durd for the next Shuffle Up and Play? What is this newfangled and seemingly unsupported paper format?
I"m one of the few that was hyped for the group hug deck. I've been wanting to build group hug for awhile and having a precon finally come out. The set being what it is as well was also a huge plus for me. I love the deck
This was such a great video Prof! The dad-like goofy comedy is just the best and the info was great, thanks so much!
I wanted to watch this the moment the video was live, but I also wanted to wait and unbox and see the decks myself.
Great to hear your take on them.
Going through, I did certainly notice how the mana bases seemed much better, I had a feeling you would talk about that 😉
Looks like a decent crop of decks, squirrel precon pricing aside. I also enjoy you leaning into the clumsy Professor bit, intentional or otherwise!
As someone’ who has been playing commander for a little over a yeat consistently, and was interested in the group hug start but intimidated by the idea of building one from scratch, I am happy to have this precon as a base to build from.
My pre-order of these arrived today and I'm hyped to get some games in this weekend.
Where did you pre order them?
@@chrome_desolator3336 Forge and fire gaming. I pre-ordered back in march when they had the bundle of all four for $115
I ripped a display of bloomburrow and now I’m upgrading all 4 precons with stuff out of the set. Was a big downer for me to see how many humans, phyrexians, goblins, angels, … were in these. I just wanted a perfect little animal world to play with my daughter, so here it comes!
Notification gang here!! 😎🤘
Really excited for this set! Awesome cards for standard, pioneer, and commander! Incredibly fun limited environment! The only downside of this awesome is that it isn't a whole block! I would love to explore this plane more and get deeper lore and plot points, but the new 1 of's set design WotC has been doing for awhile really makes me sad. We don't really get to take in and appreciate planes as much anymore 😞
But this set is gonna be incredible! Can't wait to play some pre release and get some games in with the new pre cons!!! Appreciate all you do for us Prof! ❤🤘
Maybe they can revisit the plane in a later set, with a Chronicles of Narnia-esque humans visiting the world.
It's a shame they didn't do a Secret Lair of Chronicles of Narnia or Redwall to coincide with the cute set!
Given the push of Bloomburrow lore being a realm of no humans, I was disappointed by how many human cards (or just non-bloomburrow themed) cards were in the precons.
I was looking for someone who thought the same, I just got super into bloomburrow and seeing how many non related cards is a little disheartening
I’m glad to hear Family Matters is good and fun, since that’s the deck I intend on picking up
Thanks for your work. I don’t play much commander at all, but I still find your videos very entertaining.
I told some friends of mine that Family Matters was my favourite just because of the name and the bird playing the instrument. its nice to see its actually the 1st pick of them all.
We're here to play card games and have fun, we shouldn't need to break the bank on some of these products to do so. Thank you for driving the "don't buy markup" point home.
i cant wait to see you at magic con! going there for my 21st birthday :D
Thanks for the awesome content, as usual! Love from Italy
Professor I got a ticket to your pre-release re-release and I’m so excited!!! 🎉
I’m still waiting for my local shop to get Tricky Terrain so I can buy it for less than the $80 markup, but I was really looking forward to these decks and this video to see if they were good. It’s nice to see the most magical set has a great spread of fun commander decks to play with. Thank you, Professor.
Can we talk about how @ 17:35 prof swats those boxes and one of them DEFIES GRAVITY?!
wow helm of the host is nice to see
I’m very pumped for this set
the prof mistreating boxes is my new favourite gig, lost my mind when he pulled it out of his jacket
Thanks for the review! I was looking at picking up peace offering since I wanted a base for my bant group hug with Kros, Defense Contractor at the helm, and this really seems perfect for me :)
I’m so excited for all of these but primarily want Peace Offering and (eventually) Squirreled Away.
As someone who sees the “disto” prices of sealed product like these, it’s disheartening to see that the background costs of these decks have gone up from $24 to $33 per deck. If hasbro is going to do price hikes on decks they need to let their consumers know
I need the music from the deck previews. That takes me back to childhood video games
I picked up the Peace Offering deck without knowing the deck list (because bunnies) and I was so surprised at how great the mana base was! Huge win!
Hyped for this set. Feels like a relaxed set that will be overall good for the game. It really resonates with me and im thankful that it doesn't feel like im getting priced out b4 the set releases ❤
I was already planning on buying all of these decks for the adorable art across them, but this video has assured me that is a good choice! Going to make these my "board game box" pod...even if that means I have to play the group hug deck most of the time lol
Bloomburrow has easily been my favorite set in a while. For Commander, Standard, Flavor, etc. Just a success on so many levels, so far.
My daughter bought me a Chatterfang last year for my birthday, so I bought the squirrel deck. I also bought the peace offering deck to upgrade my current group hug deck.
To anyone wanting to buy all four decks, it's usually pretty easy to find commander deck displays for a decent discount. I've seen a few listings for these four around $120
Beginners guide to group hug might be a good video idea since many people are going to want to play with the bunny deck
I just played a few games with some of these decks (I played the Animated Army (shoutout to Kodama as the GOAT of the deck)) and one of the newer players piloted Peace Offering and she clicked to the strategy straight away! It actually feels fairly intuitive to play and those wincons can rack up fast!
I got the Family Matters one for a couple bucks under 30$ and was so afraid that the prof would rip it apart but I'm very happy with my unresponsible financial decisions now so thank you Prof
I can’t WAIT for the Chaos Prerelease! If my name doesn’t give it away, Chaos is great! See you there Prof!
I will put it out there that the thick commander card proxy was very useful for putting on the front of deck boxes to show which deck was inside, I found it more useful than the life wheel as our group always use lifeelk anyway
I’m glad they’re printing better mana bases, that tends to be the most costly thing to upgrade. I could see myself grabbing one for the mana base and singles and just building decks using some of the cards. Squirreled away could be solid bc I know a squirrel player I could trade some of the cards to for graveyard cards and sac outlets and run the mana base in my meren of clan nel toth deck
just wanna say i picked up family matters during a prerelease and right out of the box it hits hard. super fun to play, managed to get a beefy commander and boss’s chauffeur and won it’s second ever game. definitely super fun and im very excited to upgrade it
that commander has what I like to call theoretically inconceivable power creep.
just because of the kind of stuff you can give offspring to.
I am now wondering if anyone will use that commander to build a eldrazi deck
i got peace offerng because i always wanted to build and play a group hug deck. i had a blast playing it and won the first match. using a new card to give someone else an extra turn and phase out when someone played a board wipe. defnitley enjoyed it. group hug helps to speed up games and thats something i like in commander
I intend to take a different approach for group hug than most. instead of politicking for the sake of winning from the shadows, provide support. but also, get my stuff is stompy as possible... just in case
Looking forward to watching your Bloomburrow episode!
I just played in a prerelease tournament last night and had a blast! I won 1/3 the games with the 3 players that I faced, but each of them were very nice to play with! I saw a lot of great cards and saw a lot of neat combos. I played a green / blue deck.
I even was excited in what I consider opening a God pack.
It had a rare, a mythic, and a foil rare and all 3 had a holographic oval at the bottom center of the card. I do not know the significance of that, but as most cards don’t have that, it must mean something special. (Please let me know)
I pre-ordered 3-play booster boxes @ $399.99 for the set of 3 and $149.99 for the set of 4 commander decks. ($37.50 per deck) I’m glad to hear I did good with that!
My only complaint is if you get a card in a pack that produces a token, that it would be nice if the token in the pack was that token.
My promo card was the Blue Seasons card and I was lucky to pull the Green Seasons card, so that worked nice for my Green/Blue deck.
Though the artwork is great, for the majority of what I have seen so far, I think that some cards (like the bats) could have been better. They seemed a bit undefined, kind of blurry. My opponent had a foil squirrel and being that it was upside down and the way the light hit it, well it kind of looked like a large bee. Looking at it normal, it does look like a Squirrel. Say this, I think I’m beginning to prefer non foil cards over foil, but I still prefer Extended Art over all! I didn’t pull any, but 2 of my opponents each pulled one.
I hope you all enjoy this set as much as I did!
Just bought myself the family matters pre con as I love its art and I get to feel powerful with an army of killer babies hahaha! Can’t wait to finally learn magic
Honestly, my girlfriend got the Peace Offering precon because she loved the commander and the overall art of the set and she won against two quite high power decks, in part due to luck but also because we never played against a group hug deck and perhaps made deals a little too good for each card draw, deals like immunity for one turn or similar. Also, I got her a Narset with the new bloomburrow art as the only upgrwde to the deck and it did some work! Regardless, she's new to the game and had a lot of fun and loved the deck so i'm pretty happy. Now I'm nerding about upgrades since the theme of the deck is very fun and perhaps I might even alter some strong synergy cards for her to fit with the theme. Any suggestions are welcome.
conclave mentor and kami of whispered Hope's are going to do a lot of work for that deck. at least on the counter aspect. you might also consider throwing in an archetype of endurance for absolute hexproofing.
for counter spells, since she is new... I recommend last word and overwhelming denial. counter spells that cannot be countered.
As a totally new EDH and Magic player wanting to try EDH locally; I Bought Family Matters; tossed in some Phyrexian copiers (Metamorph, Doppleganger) tossed in some sorta pricey but decent lands (fountainsport; training center; spectator seating, minas tirith) Cayth Famed Machinist. Cards that blew my and a few casual minds were Arthur; he's an incredible side commander and a power to be reckoned when on field. A monster card and while mentioned that its not as good as X the bounce back to hand with Zinnia or Cayth on field is great. Luminous Broodmoth is incredible and able to make any board your in better if it isn't countered and your opponents pray for reach. Jacked Rabbit is incredible early or late and alone can turn an entire game around late game sometimes. Rapid Augmentor is also really good.
I choose removals like Path of Ancestry (We aren't really playing birds as its made in the precon despite murmuration and the storm crow generator being in there.) and I removed Time Warp (why remove my board that I'm trying to go wide?) and some of the stuff like Rowdy Researcher I felt wasn't really needed. But overall I feel like I got a really good value out of the precon alone. It offers a great variety of ways to be built/upgraded.
You can do what I did working on enter effects and copying; you could go more bird/flying; you get Tseuko; Arthur; Zannia and can make pretty decent decks yourself around either in a couple different flavors. I will say its very daunting how wide it can get however as a noob with just how many tokens offspring; cayth and other effects begin to produce; but its been a great time. I learn something new everytime I play this deck and the copying with offspring lets me sometimes just use my opponents plays as a stepping stone for my own rather than needing to use the wide board.
I picked the Family matters precon and I really love how it works. I had Elspeth, Zinnia and the Rapid Augmenter with Offspring on the field, and these few alone made my commander after 1-2 rounds to a 12/3 flying commander and the two Augmenters to 11/11 unblockable.
And that was just my first try out of the box with that deck, I'm really looking forward to upgrading it (still on a more casual base, I don't play CEDH^^).