This toolkit doesn't contain many uncommons of great value at the moment, but remember ixalan's toolkit? The value contained in the uncommons in that toolkit alone definatley adds up to 20$ now. Siren stormtamer, merfolk branchwalker, unclaimed territory, field of ruin, and chart a course to name a few. So even though this toolkit doesn't seem worth it at the moment, they could be worth much more in the near future.
@@MrSJPowell The thing is the added value to it. So to buy 100 lands you would have to pay 5 dollars in the guild kit for the four remaining that are not booster packs you are getting some half decent staples and a good storage box extra so moneywise for me you are getting more buying the toolkit plus a small chance of getting your money back if you get a bolas or a hydroid Krasis for example.
@@ecos889 Totally, and if you enjoy cracking packs, that's a great buy. Personally, I get whatever I need for decks (and plenty more besides) from buying cheap singles.
This is one of the first videos of MTG i've ever watched, and I must say, you are one of the best youtubers i've seen. Well thought out video, very instructional, and your personality is making my day happier better! I've watched pewdiepie play MTG:Arena, after that i tried it out myself, but i knew i needed more :D
That "first toolkit deck" is completely relatable! once I got into playing, I picked up a few of these in the year or so after I began; I also picked up a few more since then as storage boxes, even though that was several years ago now. Wonderful video as always Prof, always love to watch!
I bought my kids the 2020 Spellslinger starter kit for something new to learn and pass the time during covid-19 lockdown. They are absolutely loving the game. I was wondering where to go next to help them expand and this video has sold me on a Deck Builder Toolkit. Great content. Many thanks.
The first magic product I got was the darksteel transference theme deck my father bought for me to be able to play with my brother. Watching this video let me have a stroll down memory lane and remember my first few days of magic, not when I got back into it in zendikar but when I was 5 and viewed magic as this game as though it had infinite possibilities and how I remember going into my first lgs to the counter that I wasn't quite tall enough to see over to then be given the starter deck from my dad and my want to unravel its contents in my hopes to one day best my older brother and cousin. Thanks Tolarian.
My first purchase was the Planescape esper precon deck with Cavern Harpy on the cover, way back in 2000. Toolkits weren't available back then, but I do still find them useful when looking to stock up on basic lands or get back in to the game after a long absence, because at a glance they allow me to see what cards are in the standard environment without having to look through packs of each set. Even though I'm by no means a new player, I still found the video very helpful! It gave me some good insight for what to recommend to my friends and coworkers getting in to the game, so your efforts are definitely appreciated even by established players.
Ixalan deck builders tool kit was my second purchase after my friend got me a dragons commander deck. My first being a ixalan prereleae. I gota say the lands were soooooo helpful latter and then totally useless even later. XD
So true, when I first started I didn't have enough lands for a deck, and just used other stuff to compensate, then I realized I could just get lands for free at my LGS and felt like a fool
My very first purchase was at a toys r us and it was the green black infect intro deck with a foil putrafax. He is almost completely worn away now but he is in a sleeve and will always be close to my heart.
An infect intro deck? Wow lol. “Welcome to Magic: The Gathering! We hope you’ve enjoyed having friends up until this point, because they’re all about to leave you!”
@@Crunchatize_Me_Senpai Yeah, I got that deck at one point as well. It's not as powerful as it sounds because it uses basically none of the tools that infect does to become friendless. Still, it was interesting they even made an infect precon at all.
I started playing Magic a few weeks ago after being introduced to it by a friends. I picked up The Deck Builder's Tool kit and a Guilds of Ravnica Guild Kit - Izzet. These were fantastic purchases and it had me interested in building new decks. Went to a draft and ended up making a Simic and Azorius deck as well. I can total attest that these are great for people just getting started in Magic. Love the videos! Keep it up Prof!
Finding myself considering one of these... in part for the lands. The fact that I get a bushel of Amonkhet and Kaladesh cards to add to my cube is just a plus.
I’m a grandfather who raised a troubled son through his teen years with truly adventurous treks to the comic book store every weekend and now I have my grandson who is just as intrigued with strategic games as his father, I’ve been away from the “magic”scene for a few winters now so with the inter~web I can learn magic gung fu with the help of your posted videos, so thank you for your efforts to spread the word of clean fun, you truly are a Scholar.
I bought a Shadows over Innistrad Toolkit as my first paper purchase. Ended up building a basic Selesnya agro deck out of the random bulk I got and won a match of standard at an FNM since my opponent got mana screwed both games. I'm not sure if I would go that route again if I were a new player, but I do still use the storage box.
I'm by no means a new player to Magic, but I play very casually. Kits like this are a fun purchase to pick up a few current cards to keep my collection a little more modern. Thanks for taking the time to look at stuff like this and for aiming it at newer players/casual players. It feels great to be talked to on a base level without having to worry overmuch about competition and/or finance.
I work at a Juvenile Hall as a Correctional Officer and the youth there have gotten me into this game with them so I use this as a tool to build a relationship with them. I am definitely going to buy one for them and one for me as well as a Ajani deck for myself! I can't believe I've never played till last week lol.
Our first purchases were the Rookie and Battle decks from Card Kingdom. Easy and fun to practice with but it wasn't long before we bought Planeswalker and Challenger decks.
I'm brand new to MTG. I've been playing Pokemon for almost a year now with my son. I just couldn't help but dip my toes into the MTG world. My first purchases are 2 Planeswalker decks (Garruck & Chandra) and an MTG arena Starter kit. I received the PW decks yesterday and sleeved them up and my son and I played together and had a good time. I may purchase one of these toolkits since my son loves busting packs open and I love building decks and busting packs. Good stuff Professor.
my first deck was the Elvish Rage Deck from Legions and some form of it exists to this very day. I do buy deckbuilders kits whenever they come out however. those boxes are great for tons of things, and i commonly help new players to our group assemble decks, so having a large stock of lands and toss off cards is helpful. not to mention being able to use the booklet and expound upon it, so the person learning can take in information at their own pace.
My first buy for myself was an origins toolkit. From that I built a selesnya renowned deck. That deck slowly changed, becoming a casual angels deck, then my first home brewed EDH deck as Avacyn angels, and finally arrived in its present form as Sigarda human tribal. Man that deck has never let me down.
my first purchase ever in MTG was a 7th Ed mono green precon 40 card deck (the Way Wild deck). But after I took a break from MTG for a couple years, getting back into it I did pick up the Magic Origins Deck Builders kit to get basic Standard legal staples and such
In my area we use these toolkit’s as deck building challenges. Most notably we do an edh league where we start with a toolkit and out commander. We can only trade for cards and build with what we pull. Every week we are allowed to add $5 worth in cards. It’s interesting to see how your deck evolves.
Legit came on here just out of curiosity since I play Yugioh but the general card info on here is useful for all tcg's. Really great channel in terms of useful knowledge for deck building, general play etiquette, utilities( deck boxes, sleeves) and all presented in a great way. Love the edits
My first decks, were a 30 card pre-con mono green, and a mono blue. The people in the shop were really helpful in giving me tips, bought a few boosters and a pre-con Vraska deck which I’m slowly modifying.. Also I ended up pulling a Masterpiece Series Force of Will from an Amonkhet booster pack I bought.
I bought three of these at well below retail for the land and storage boxes. My friends and I played a few games "draft" style when I first got them and it was incredibly fun being all the decks were very balanced.
Oh yeah, I definitely look back fondly on my first Toolkit. It was very useful to get enough basic lands to be able to play and have a bunch of options for building decks. The box was a great storage as well.
Thanks for the overview of a toolkit Prof! I just started playing consistently two weeks ago with a slightly modified Izzet Guild Kit, and have been having a blast since then; I even attended my first Friday Night Magic! This guide helped me buy the Ravnica Allegiance toolkit so I can get started building new decks, it has been fun.
I've been playing since August 2018, and my first purchase was a green Vivien of the Arkbow Planeswalker deck. My second was a Liliana the Necromancer. Very satisfied with them both.
I had to do some thinking but I remrnber my first MTG purchase: the Nissa vs. On Nixilis dual decks. Upon review, I believe that this purchase is the reason why I LOVE the planeswalker decks whenever they come out.
I just started playing MTG, and I went to Arena, got used to the mechanic as I learned with a friend from work. And I bought the RNA bundle to practice find the synergy and combos and build decks as it's more opened
My first purchase was a precon Alara deck after that was some boosters and a 2010 Deckbuilder toolkit. Those old toolkits were amazing with the random packs inside geared towards a theme. ( red aggro, vampires, ect.)
The content of this channel gave me initiative to start playing, I just got a couple of sample deck to star playing with my friend. I like the dinamic and artwork of the cards.
Hey prof, I started playing mtg (because of arena) in December and i love it! This channel has helped me learn how to play commander, pauper, and cube. Thanks a ton for the quality videos and for the great laughs.
I am an established edh player. My first buy when I got into magic was an event deck from gatecrash and then a deck builders toolkit shortly thereafter. I had a lot of fun learning how to build decks and figuring out synergies. It is a good product for new players.
Over the years my S.O and I have purchased several Deckbuilder's toolkits. We enjoy the deckbox from them and whenever S.O has a good feeling about one we've pulled $20+ value from the packs included. We've used the cards to help build/refine teaching decks, or to give to newer players at our lgs.
My first purchase of an MTG product? My God that was some time ago lol. My first purchase was the first time I ever walked into my LGS when I was heavy into Pokemon TCG (i.e. just collected the cards and never played) and I was only 13 at the time. Never knew we had an LGS or what an LGS was. I've known the owner for years now. (For anyone out there looking to get into any TCG or D&D, get to know the owner, it helps a lot. They become your friend over time because you both love the same things.) Some of my friends wanted me to meet them there on a Friday so I went. When I got there they were looking at different cards from a different TCG... MTG. Long story short, I bought a Tarmogoyf, Silent Specter, booster pack, and also bought an Exodus starter deck; and never looked at Pokemon TCG again until recently. Entered into and played some FNM that day too with the starter deck that I had just purchased. I had a blast. Yeah, it was that long ago lol. And by the way, I miss the old sealed 40 card starter decks that they used to do (i.e. they would give you a couple boosters to go with it during the event to hopefully give some other options for your starter deck and for the event), and the release events done with them. The Alara block was the last time they ever did sealed 40 card starter decks last I knew. I went with the Naya starter for that release event and took 3rd place out of a pool of 30 people. My long time friend went with the Jund and took 1st place and suggested that he should go with the Jund before we went because he didn't make it to the pre-release draft. Everyone else mostly went with Grixis or Esper, and some went with Bant. Bant took 2nd place. (For those who do not know, Alara is where the aforementioned titles come from, because that is the home of said tri-color titles.) Sorry for the tangent we went on. But anyway: The decks were also designed to be truly competitive for an FNM or release event. They may not look like much on the surface and at first glance, but run them, and you will find that they can take on some of the best decks ever built if properly ran by the driver of the deck. A lot of planning and forethought went into creating those sealed 40 card starters for such events. It was the easiest way to get into an FNM or release event when you discover MTG for the first time with your friends.
My first real MtG purchase was the Doomgape intro deck from Shadowmoor. I had a blast piloting it, and it lead me to one of my favourite things in the world.
Professor, please add 1-2 book recommendations to your video description text! Btw, I watched your video “Dominaria was lost, but I was found” last night. Thank you so much for that video. It came at a much needed time.
I got started with the old 60-card starter packs from 4th Edition, but I eventually stopped playing around the time of either Odyssey or Onslaught--I don't remember which set release it was that was my last. When I came back to MTG several years ago, I picked one of the toolkits up to start a more recent card base. The boxes from these are really great: I still use the one I got back in 2014 or so today!
Recently migrated from Hearthstone to MTG Arena, had quite a bit of fun online so I'm currently thinking of trying out paper Magic. Currently bingewatching your series of videos, honestly these are some good insight to beginners like me.
Me and my partner are looking to get into magic and these videos are super useful! I was expecting to hear that these were garbage but I'm real happy to hear they are are good place to start!
I think the deck builder's tool kit is a necessary part of the new player experience. I have left Magic several times for "life" events and now my youngest is old enough to play. We bought a toolkit to get us started and now she I playing FNM every Friday at 10 years old and doing fairly well. I can't say enough about the toolkit as a necessary intro, but can't say that I use any of the cards that came with it. Overall, a great value and wonderful teaching experience. Once again, great unbiased video Tolarian!!!
My first purchase was a 60card tabletop Golgari deck that i spend 1y (or so) building, it cost me $17,50 (including some budget lands) and it was mainly build around Kin-Tree Invocation and big buts. Why did i build it (that way)? To beat my friends old skool white weeny deck... I have bought TWO deckbuilders toolkits since then, and i may well buy this particular one as well, i buy them because of the box, the budget dual lands, and for the selection of singeltons of which some might well make it into a commander deck.... The box (i think) is ultimately the main reason, having 7 of these (or mix with bundle boxes) is a great way to store every single color of standard legal cards in a separate box (and one for artifacts, and one for gold-cards ~ hence 7), which themselves store well next to or on top of each other (or both) and look nice as well (the non legal cards go into 3 'the gift box'es i got, which i hope will soon return). Taking the packs into consideration the box costs $4,- and the rest of cards are just added bonus (mainly for Commander ~ f/e i get a sharktocrab and frilled mystic for free for my G/U deck, just to name 2 cards). These boxes are full of value, just depends on your way of looking at them ;)
I just got back into Magic after roughly a 10 year hiatus. I bought an M19 deck builder's toolkit mainly because I wanted a bunch of new cards and something to keep them in. I mainly play with friends who no longer buy physical cards so for me the planeswalker decks are ideal for pulling out and battling against each other, and five of them fit in the deck builder's box perfectly.
I've just started learning the game and purchased this said toolkit, spellslingers starter kit and a core set bundle. Found this to be very useful and then followed it up with a themed booster pack (or 2! 😂). I have always found your advice extremely useful for cases, folders and sleeves for my Pokémon collection and have been digging through your channel to help me learn the best way to begin my Magic journey 😊
I believe my first purchase (the cards my older brother gifted me not withstanding) was the M12 deckbuilder's toolkit. Still have the box and use it to cart decks around to this day. I don't remember what I played back then but I remember I used the cards from that to build a deck for myself and one for my then-girlfriend to get her into it.
Deck builder toolkit was my first paper purchase and I absolutely loved it! Can't see the value in buying any other, although that "deck builder toolkit showoff" idea seems pretty cool!
I am a new player and I bought a few planewalker decks and booster packs but I decided I wanted a toolkit for the lands that I need and more variation of cards. Also the box for storage of cards.
2014's deck builder's toolkit was the first magic product I ever bought and I built the basis of what has become my most powerful deck I own. Deck builder's toolkits while not for established players are an amazing gateway into this amazing community.
I am an established player, my first purchase was a casual deck I bought for 19$ from summer camp. I Still have the dirty white bordered lightning bolts we so terribly ruined. Shortly after this awesome introduction I picked one of these tool-kits up. I still remember Skuttling-Doom Engine bringing me tears when it hit the field or being amazed that someone could get out Terra-Stomper. Now I'm just nervous that my things may die to removal or countered, and I am looking to get into a format that I can build and enjoy myself in like those times. EDH and Pauper are seemingly my best choices.
My first purchase was an intro deck back in 2011 but after a break I returned in Ixalan with a toolkit and it was very very helpful because i could play with simple yet fun decks built from it. In terms of value, many uncommon cards that there were in that kit turned out to have a bigger value now in this meta, such as the ones for monoblue Tempo.
My first MtG purchase was a Fallen Empires booster pack in '96. A year or so later I bought the Portal 2 Player starter kit. Have been playing ever since.
My first purchase in magic was the last Duel Deck, Elves Vs Inventors, I was so happy I looked online on ways to play the deck better when i found your review, hahaha you literally ripped me a new one calling it a trash buy. Im still happy cause I met you in the process
I picked up an arena kit as my first purchase last month £6 for two very basic decks designed to help one get to grips with playing. A friend of mine is teaching me to play and I think this will be my next purchase to start my journey with a casual deck
When i was 8, i bought a 2-player-starter-deck from 6th edition. This deck was perfect at that time, because it had two 40 card preconstructed decks. Teaching all my friends how to play magic was more value than any expensive card. I learned to build competitive decks at sealed events at my lgs. I simply asked experienced players to help me.
as a new mtg player i know some of the rules this help me decide to buy or not a deck builder thanks for the knowledge you have earned a new sub today i ordered me a deck builder cant wait for it to arrive
I really appreciate your videos. I played magic back in the day and am just starting to get back into it. This could be my marketing brain speaking, but it seems like WOTC missed an opportunity with the included guide. They could have planned the set cards in this toolkit as upgrades to other ready-made decks in the same set and said “pick up this deck to switch out these cards.” I can see people, probably new players without a large collection or experience building a deck, buying multiple products to make the most of their toolkit and WOTC makes more money. Seems like a win-win.
Dbtks are great! The Kaladesh one was my first major mtg purchase; I'd mostly been playing with friends' decks before that. I picked up the Ixalan one when I was hankering for some booster cracking because I was feeling like I could do with some more lands and I liked the cards included!
I played M:tG back in the ‘90’s...and then life happened. Coming back to the game now (20 years later), the toolkit was indeed my first purchase, just so I could have basic lands. I almost wish they just had land packs, but the toolkit was a nice way to reintroduce myself to the game and build up a base of cards. I do hope at some point WotC would consider taking the strategies from the guide and expand on them, publishing that as a separate item as a resource for intermediate and beyond players.
the poorness of the deck building guide is especially disappointing because WotC already have a decent new player intro guide: the rule book included with the _Game Night_ product. That seems like a much stronger basis for what they're trying to achieve.
I started 0aying magic when core 2019 dropped and I picked up the green blue jace planeswalker deck. I had been playing hearthstone for about 3 years and got tired of dumping money in a completely digital card game. Some of my friends had fallen out of magic over the years and when I brought up that I’d like to try it to break away from hearthstone they were ecstatic. My two friends had bought deck builders tool kits. My planeswalker deck far outshined theirs but we all had a great time none the less. All three of us starting from scratch with a few others entering later with preexisting collections it’s been an amazing experience, and with now with arena I can still play my online card game without sacrificing my love for another card game.
I don't remember what caused me and my buddy to start playing MTG, but one day we decided to give it a try, and each bought a 2014 deck builder's toolkit. I had built a green-white selesnya tokens deck, and he had built slivers. Was really fun that we got essentially the same stuff to build decks with, so it was very fair, but slightly different that we could each build a unique deck.
My first deck I had bought was a 2018 pre constructed Commander deck! I had only played Magic for a brief moment when I was 12 years old, I never touched it since. Until last Thanksgiving my cousin an brother reintroduced me into the game an I had been sucked in. Now I have 12 decks, two commanders one mostly precon, an one I built from scratch my self with mostly booster packs! 2 challenger decks and the rest are precon plains walker and guild decks!
I have been playing since return to ravnica so while Im not a veteran of the game I am experienced. As for my first purchase my mom actually bought me a mono green deck off of ebay (the deck focused on etb effects and a full playset of roaring primodox to bounce them back to your hand) the deck ran very well and eventually evolved into a red green deck I put together.
I've been playing since origins and the first purchase I made was a toolkit and fatpack. between them I made my first deck a very satisfying golgargari elf deck, since then I have made some small changes to "tweek the deck and make it more competive.
just got into magic a week ago and this was my first purchase indeed! Wanted to get a planeswalker deck as well but the guys teaching me the game advised against.
I'm a new player, I first got the intro pack for green and black then bought a bundle I believe, the one that comes with the lidded box and the dice. I think I will get the deck builders box, it will help me be able to build a commander deck and I think will round out possibilities for having more decks to be able to play around with
Online was the first time I played magic, with a follow up into EDH, I built my deck buying singles from my local store. Have since continued buying singles, in the past 3 years I've been playing I've never opened a pack.
I didnt get any foils or mystic s in my toolkit. I did get a 12/12 elder Dinosaur and enough guild cards to splash with. Im new to magic and loving it. This tool kit introduces deck building. I learned mana curve online and cant wait to play them. Its hard to find people to play as I have played only one game before. Most want you to know everything and be fast. At my LGS sold me a set that is played against each other, they said to show up for Friday night magic. Then they looked surprised when I showed up. Said I can't teach you anything. I played my first game there but the other guy was pushed into playing and recommended arena after the game. Is there any cool people left anywhere?
I wish I could have had a deck builder's toolkit when I started in Coldsnap. The Kheldoran Cunning precon was my first foray and my love for playing White and particularly Azorius lives on.
my first product was the first commander anthology. i wanted to play commander and i wanted to play elves so it seemed like a great starting place- it was!
@Tolarian Community College I miss your old Modern deck breakdowns. Would you ever consider doing one for Bant Spirits or UW Spirits? It’s my favorite Modern deck and I’d love to hear your thoughts!
My first purchase was back in 2012 when I was 13. I bought a duel deck with golgari vs izzet. I later bought an Avycan Restored precon that was basically a planeswalker deck.
Back in 2015 my dad bought me the magic origins deckbuilders toolkit. I brought it with me on a bunch of boy scout trips and had friends who played the game teach me all about it. I had my buddy Paul brew something up for me from the pool of cards and he crafted a green/red creatures matter deck with Atarka The World Render as the big bad rare. I kept that deck together using a rubber band and a sandwich bag. I sure as all heck didnt know any better but Paul certainly did. Lots of frayed edges and dirt on those cards.
You could say I'm a well versed player, on account of the first purchase I made was for a 60 card deck of Unlimited when it was brand new. By no means am I one of those lucky few that got in on the ground floor with Alpha, but I have witnessed the advances and changes Magic has made for over 25 years. What a glorious ride it has been so far.
I've played magic since oktober 2018. I didn't know anything about the game. I started with Magic Arena as an alternative to Hearthstone. I did not know things about standard sets, rotation etc. So the first thing i did was buy a spellslinger starter kit (since it had dice in it), some random boosters (including battlebond and unstable). Why? because a local Gamemania store had them and i thought you couldnt go wrong by buying boosters (how naive). Then i went to a local gamestore to see if they could tell me more about the game. Go my first play session there. Right now, im the owned of 2 standard decks, a commander deck and a big collection of commons i see no use for. Your guides have helped me a lot in making the right purchases after that.
My very first purchase was several packs and a pre-constructed deck I love the tool builders kits when I'm running low on land and my roommate and I both love buying a new tool building kit once in awhile and building a deck solely out of that and going Head to Head
My first purchase was a Rivals of Ixalan db toolkit. In it I got a Search for Azcanta and a Twilight Prophet. I tried to build around vampires because I just loved everything about the Legion of Dusk. I wanted to get into commander right away, so I bought Obzedat, Ghost Council because it seemed like a really fun card and I made a deck about life gain. It was super jank, but I loved it.
I got into magic recently and my beginner's experience was a bit different than most I'd imagine. A friend of mine who had only played magic on the Xbox game found out that some coworkers played magic, and in response him and I on a whim decided to split a Guilds of Ravnica booster box. While in the long run I definitely didn't get much value from that box (he got a foil assassin's trophy that lucky dog), from it I learned to like green. From there I started being smarter with my money and bought cheap singles on TCG to make a mono-green aggro deck because I like to learn games by first playing as aggressively and simply as possible, then slow down as I learn more about the game. I used some prize money from a tournament in another game I play to upgrade the deck based on the best mono-green Modern decks I could find on the internet and ended up with something really powerful... maybe too powerful. As I learned and as we started adding more people to the group, we've started to spend frugal amounts on paper commander decks. Mine so far are: Goreclaw (based on my first 60-card deck) Yisan (intended to be upgraded to be competitive in the future) Raff (a Christmas gift from a friend, made me realize I like blue) Muldrotha (my first attempt at branching out into black) ...and play all other formats with whatever we feel like on Cockatrice. Getting a new budget commander deck or upgrading one we have for the same amount of $ every 1-2 months is a pretty good groove so far. As someone who likes to play games competitively but is enjoying magic in a more casual way in order to enjoy something with friends (alternating with Pathfinder atm), I think we've hit the nail right on the head. Magic is definitely looking to be something I play for a long time. I didn't purchase any beginner's product. AT the start of my journey I looked up "magic beginner's guide" on youtube and stumbled upon the Tolarian Tutor series, which I found to be much more helpful than the alternatives out there. Thank you for that, Professor. Hopefully that's a satisfactory "how did you start" story for you. Cheers!
Prof, I think you should show a video building a deck from said tool kit and go through its strengths and weaknesses against other deck types.
YES. I would watch the fuck outta that.
Agreed!!
holy shoot yes
Absolutely, the best test of how good a deck builder’s toolkit is would be using it to build a deck
Do it!!!
This toolkit doesn't contain many uncommons of great value at the moment, but remember ixalan's toolkit? The value contained in the uncommons in that toolkit alone definatley adds up to 20$ now. Siren stormtamer, merfolk branchwalker, unclaimed territory, field of ruin, and chart a course to name a few. So even though this toolkit doesn't seem worth it at the moment, they could be worth much more in the near future.
😂😂😂goose Wayne!!
his real last name is batman
Magog of Morskar LOL
Kits are great when you are running low on basics and are cheaper than getting them as single. I have lots of commander decks. . .
I just buy a few hundred at 4 to 5 cents a piece whenever I need more.
@@MrSJPowell The thing is the added value to it. So to buy 100 lands you would have to pay 5 dollars in the guild kit for the four remaining that are not booster packs you are getting some half decent staples and a good storage box extra so moneywise for me you are getting more buying the toolkit plus a small chance of getting your money back if you get a bolas or a hydroid Krasis for example.
My gamestore gives lands for free
@@ecos889 Totally, and if you enjoy cracking packs, that's a great buy. Personally, I get whatever I need for decks (and plenty more besides) from buying cheap singles.
@Nimbo Stratus are you allowed to do that? I have never been to a GP, I live in a country that doesn't have GPs.
But the real question is why does the deckbuilder's toolkit have a picture of my Uncle on it?
Are we secretly related? Cause I'm pretty sure that's a picture of my Uncle.
Big Guy looks like my brother
Creepy Rudy is your uncle?
I think that's my father, but I may be wrong. I haven't seen him for about 20 years
*_(I'm 21)_*
Turai12 ....dad? Did you finally find those cigarettes?
I was actually introduced to magic relatively recently. My first purchase was a Dimir guildkit.
This is one of the first videos of MTG i've ever watched, and I must say, you are one of the best youtubers i've seen. Well thought out video, very instructional, and your personality is making my day happier better!
I've watched pewdiepie play MTG:Arena, after that i tried it out myself, but i knew i needed more :D
That "first toolkit deck" is completely relatable! once I got into playing, I picked up a few of these in the year or so after I began; I also picked up a few more since then as storage boxes, even though that was several years ago now. Wonderful video as always Prof, always love to watch!
I bought my kids the 2020 Spellslinger starter kit for something new to learn and pass the time during covid-19 lockdown. They are absolutely loving the game. I was wondering where to go next to help them expand and this video has sold me on a Deck Builder Toolkit. Great content. Many thanks.
My first ever product was an Onslaught Tournament Pack and 5 boosters. A wild ride at age 9 for sure.
The first magic product I got was the darksteel transference theme deck my father bought for me to be able to play with my brother. Watching this video let me have a stroll down memory lane and remember my first few days of magic, not when I got back into it in zendikar but when I was 5 and viewed magic as this game as though it had infinite possibilities and how I remember going into my first lgs to the counter that I wasn't quite tall enough to see over to then be given the starter deck from my dad and my want to unravel its contents in my hopes to one day best my older brother and cousin. Thanks Tolarian.
My first purchase was the Planescape esper precon deck with Cavern Harpy on the cover, way back in 2000.
Toolkits weren't available back then, but I do still find them useful when looking to stock up on basic lands or get back in to the game after a long absence, because at a glance they allow me to see what cards are in the standard environment without having to look through packs of each set.
Even though I'm by no means a new player, I still found the video very helpful! It gave me some good insight for what to recommend to my friends and coworkers getting in to the game, so your efforts are definitely appreciated even by established players.
Ixalan deck builders tool kit was my second purchase after my friend got me a dragons commander deck. My first being a ixalan prereleae. I gota say the lands were soooooo helpful latter and then totally useless even later. XD
So true, when I first started I didn't have enough lands for a deck, and just used other stuff to compensate, then I realized I could just get lands for free at my LGS and felt like a fool
Bahaha, that reminds me of my experience for sure.
If your friend gifted you a complete commander deck you can be sure that is a realy nice friend
@@elpretender1357 he sure is
My very first purchase was at a toys r us and it was the green black infect intro deck with a foil putrafax. He is almost completely worn away now but he is in a sleeve and will always be close to my heart.
An infect intro deck? Wow lol.
“Welcome to Magic: The Gathering! We hope you’ve enjoyed having friends up until this point, because they’re all about to leave you!”
@@Crunchatize_Me_Senpai
Yeah, I got that deck at one point as well. It's not as powerful as it sounds because it uses basically none of the tools that infect does to become friendless. Still, it was interesting they even made an infect precon at all.
It would be awesome to be able redeem a toolkit code and get bunch of packs in arena. Or just pack codes in general like Pokémon.
I always liked deck builder's toolkits
I got the Magic Origins Toolkit as my first purchase. Made some great decks.
I started playing Magic a few weeks ago after being introduced to it by a friends. I picked up The Deck Builder's Tool kit and a Guilds of Ravnica Guild Kit - Izzet. These were fantastic purchases and it had me interested in building new decks. Went to a draft and ended up making a Simic and Azorius deck as well. I can total attest that these are great for people just getting started in Magic. Love the videos! Keep it up Prof!
Finding myself considering one of these... in part for the lands. The fact that I get a bushel of Amonkhet and Kaladesh cards to add to my cube is just a plus.
Just a chill comment to hopefully help you out with the yt algorithm
Thx
My first toolkit had a sol ring masterpiece. So I was very fond of it
My first purchase was a 2013 toolkit. I opened a Craterhoof and it was beautiful
I’m a grandfather who raised a troubled son through his teen years with truly adventurous treks to the comic book store every weekend and now I have my grandson who is just as intrigued with strategic games as his father, I’ve been away from the “magic”scene for a few winters now so with the inter~web I can learn magic gung fu with the help of your posted videos, so thank you for your efforts to spread the word of clean fun, you truly are a Scholar.
I bought a Shadows over Innistrad Toolkit as my first paper purchase. Ended up building a basic Selesnya agro deck out of the random bulk I got and won a match of standard at an FNM since my opponent got mana screwed both games. I'm not sure if I would go that route again if I were a new player, but I do still use the storage box.
that's really funny, winning a FNM from a Toolkit and ur opponent got mana screwed. XD
I'm by no means a new player to Magic, but I play very casually. Kits like this are a fun purchase to pick up a few current cards to keep my collection a little more modern.
Thanks for taking the time to look at stuff like this and for aiming it at newer players/casual players. It feels great to be talked to on a base level without having to worry overmuch about competition and/or finance.
i think you mean a little more standard
@@josephsulaiman9959 Lol, I believe that he means "modern" not in terms of format, but in terms of recency.
I work at a Juvenile Hall as a Correctional Officer and the youth there have gotten me into this game with them so I use this as a tool to build a relationship with them. I am definitely going to buy one for them and one for me as well as a Ajani deck for myself! I can't believe I've never played till last week lol.
Our first purchases were the Rookie and Battle decks from Card Kingdom. Easy and fun to practice with but it wasn't long before we bought Planeswalker and Challenger decks.
I'm brand new to MTG. I've been playing Pokemon for almost a year now with my son. I just couldn't help but dip my toes into the MTG world. My first purchases are 2 Planeswalker decks (Garruck & Chandra) and an MTG arena Starter kit. I received the PW decks yesterday and sleeved them up and my son and I played together and had a good time. I may purchase one of these toolkits since my son loves busting packs open and I love building decks and busting packs. Good stuff Professor.
my first deck was the Elvish Rage Deck from Legions and some form of it exists to this very day. I do buy deckbuilders kits whenever they come out however. those boxes are great for tons of things, and i commonly help new players to our group assemble decks, so having a large stock of lands and toss off cards is helpful. not to mention being able to use the booklet and expound upon it, so the person learning can take in information at their own pace.
My first buy for myself was an origins toolkit. From that I built a selesnya renowned deck. That deck slowly changed, becoming a casual angels deck, then my first home brewed EDH deck as Avacyn angels, and finally arrived in its present form as Sigarda human tribal. Man that deck has never let me down.
my first purchase ever in MTG was a 7th Ed mono green precon 40 card deck (the Way Wild deck). But after I took a break from MTG for a couple years, getting back into it I did pick up the Magic Origins Deck Builders kit to get basic Standard legal staples and such
I would be really enticed if they came with sleeves
Brand new player, 1st purchase was a Core 2020 bundle. I just saw a toolkit and picked it, this week. I’m excited to crack it open.
In my area we use these toolkit’s as deck building challenges. Most notably we do an edh league where we start with a toolkit and out commander. We can only trade for cards and build with what we pull. Every week we are allowed to add $5 worth in cards. It’s interesting to see how your deck evolves.
Legit came on here just out of curiosity since I play Yugioh but the general card info on here is useful for all tcg's. Really great channel in terms of useful knowledge for deck building, general play etiquette, utilities( deck boxes, sleeves) and all presented in a great way. Love the edits
My first decks, were a 30 card pre-con mono green, and a mono blue. The people in the shop were really helpful in giving me tips, bought a few boosters and a pre-con Vraska deck which I’m slowly modifying.. Also I ended up pulling a Masterpiece Series Force of Will from an Amonkhet booster pack I bought.
I bought three of these at well below retail for the land and storage boxes. My friends and I played a few games "draft" style when I first got them and it was incredibly fun being all the decks were very balanced.
My first purchase was a gruul intro deck back in gatecrash
Such a fun little deck that I wish I kept it around
I'll have to rebuild it sometime
Oh yeah, I definitely look back fondly on my first Toolkit. It was very useful to get enough basic lands to be able to play and have a bunch of options for building decks. The box was a great storage as well.
Thanks for the overview of a toolkit Prof! I just started playing consistently two weeks ago with a slightly modified Izzet Guild Kit, and have been having a blast since then; I even attended my first Friday Night Magic! This guide helped me buy the Ravnica Allegiance toolkit so I can get started building new decks, it has been fun.
I've been playing since August 2018, and my first purchase was a green Vivien of the Arkbow Planeswalker deck. My second was a Liliana the Necromancer. Very satisfied with them both.
I had to do some thinking but I remrnber my first MTG purchase: the Nissa vs. On Nixilis dual decks. Upon review, I believe that this purchase is the reason why I LOVE the planeswalker decks whenever they come out.
I just started playing MTG, and I went to Arena, got used to the mechanic as I learned with a friend from work. And I bought the RNA bundle to practice find the synergy and combos and build decks as it's more opened
My first purchase was a precon Alara deck after that was some boosters and a 2010 Deckbuilder toolkit.
Those old toolkits were amazing with the random packs inside geared towards a theme. ( red aggro, vampires, ect.)
The content of this channel gave me initiative to start playing, I just got a couple of sample deck to star playing with my friend. I like the dinamic and artwork of the cards.
never knew i needed Jamie Lannister explaining a MTG product hahah
Hey prof, I started playing mtg (because of arena) in December and i love it! This channel has helped me learn how to play commander, pauper, and cube. Thanks a ton for the quality videos and for the great laughs.
I am an established edh player. My first buy when I got into magic was an event deck from gatecrash and then a deck builders toolkit shortly thereafter. I had a lot of fun learning how to build decks and figuring out synergies. It is a good product for new players.
Over the years my S.O and I have purchased several Deckbuilder's toolkits. We enjoy the deckbox from them and whenever S.O has a good feeling about one we've pulled $20+ value from the packs included. We've used the cards to help build/refine teaching decks, or to give to newer players at our lgs.
My first purchase of an MTG product? My God that was some time ago lol.
My first purchase was the first time I ever walked into my LGS when I was heavy into Pokemon TCG (i.e. just collected the cards and never played) and I was only 13 at the time. Never knew we had an LGS or what an LGS was. I've known the owner for years now. (For anyone out there looking to get into any TCG or D&D, get to know the owner, it helps a lot. They become your friend over time because you both love the same things.) Some of my friends wanted me to meet them there on a Friday so I went. When I got there they were looking at different cards from a different TCG... MTG. Long story short, I bought a Tarmogoyf, Silent Specter, booster pack, and also bought an Exodus starter deck; and never looked at Pokemon TCG again until recently. Entered into and played some FNM that day too with the starter deck that I had just purchased. I had a blast.
Yeah, it was that long ago lol.
And by the way, I miss the old sealed 40 card starter decks that they used to do (i.e. they would give you a couple boosters to go with it during the event to hopefully give some other options for your starter deck and for the event), and the release events done with them. The Alara block was the last time they ever did sealed 40 card starter decks last I knew. I went with the Naya starter for that release event and took 3rd place out of a pool of 30 people. My long time friend went with the Jund and took 1st place and suggested that he should go with the Jund before we went because he didn't make it to the pre-release draft. Everyone else mostly went with Grixis or Esper, and some went with Bant. Bant took 2nd place. (For those who do not know, Alara is where the aforementioned titles come from, because that is the home of said tri-color titles.) Sorry for the tangent we went on. But anyway: The decks were also designed to be truly competitive for an FNM or release event. They may not look like much on the surface and at first glance, but run them, and you will find that they can take on some of the best decks ever built if properly ran by the driver of the deck. A lot of planning and forethought went into creating those sealed 40 card starters for such events. It was the easiest way to get into an FNM or release event when you discover MTG for the first time with your friends.
My first purchase was the Edgar Markov precon deck, I've been hooked ever since
My 1st toolbox after 10 years of not playing had Mutavault + Foiled Mutavault. That was something that kept me with this game till today.
My first real MtG purchase was the Doomgape intro deck from Shadowmoor.
I had a blast piloting it, and it lead me to one of my favourite things in the world.
Professor, please add 1-2 book recommendations to your video description text!
Btw, I watched your video “Dominaria was lost, but I was found” last night. Thank you so much for that video. It came at a much needed time.
I got started with the old 60-card starter packs from 4th Edition, but I eventually stopped playing around the time of either Odyssey or Onslaught--I don't remember which set release it was that was my last. When I came back to MTG several years ago, I picked one of the toolkits up to start a more recent card base. The boxes from these are really great: I still use the one I got back in 2014 or so today!
So the box is the nicest part of the toolkit? XD
It's definitely a pro! Since it's different than FatPack boxes by having the locking flap.
They don’t die to removal
Recently migrated from Hearthstone to MTG Arena, had quite a bit of fun online so I'm currently thinking of trying out paper Magic. Currently bingewatching your series of videos, honestly these are some good insight to beginners like me.
Me and my partner are looking to get into magic and these videos are super useful!
I was expecting to hear that these were garbage but I'm real happy to hear they are are good place to start!
I think the deck builder's tool kit is a necessary part of the new player experience. I have left Magic several times for "life" events and now my youngest is old enough to play. We bought a toolkit to get us started and now she I playing FNM every Friday at 10 years old and doing fairly well. I can't say enough about the toolkit as a necessary intro, but can't say that I use any of the cards that came with it. Overall, a great value and wonderful teaching experience. Once again, great unbiased video Tolarian!!!
My first purchase was a 60card tabletop Golgari deck that i spend 1y (or so) building, it cost me $17,50 (including some budget lands) and it was mainly build around Kin-Tree Invocation and big buts. Why did i build it (that way)? To beat my friends old skool white weeny deck... I have bought TWO deckbuilders toolkits since then, and i may well buy this particular one as well, i buy them because of the box, the budget dual lands, and for the selection of singeltons of which some might well make it into a commander deck.... The box (i think) is ultimately the main reason, having 7 of these (or mix with bundle boxes) is a great way to store every single color of standard legal cards in a separate box (and one for artifacts, and one for gold-cards ~ hence 7), which themselves store well next to or on top of each other (or both) and look nice as well (the non legal cards go into 3 'the gift box'es i got, which i hope will soon return). Taking the packs into consideration the box costs $4,- and the rest of cards are just added bonus (mainly for Commander ~ f/e i get a sharktocrab and frilled mystic for free for my G/U deck, just to name 2 cards). These boxes are full of value, just depends on your way of looking at them ;)
I just got back into Magic after roughly a 10 year hiatus. I bought an M19 deck builder's toolkit mainly because I wanted a bunch of new cards and something to keep them in. I mainly play with friends who no longer buy physical cards so for me the planeswalker decks are ideal for pulling out and battling against each other, and five of them fit in the deck builder's box perfectly.
I've just started learning the game and purchased this said toolkit, spellslingers starter kit and a core set bundle. Found this to be very useful and then followed it up with a themed booster pack (or 2! 😂).
I have always found your advice extremely useful for cases, folders and sleeves for my Pokémon collection and have been digging through your channel to help me learn the best way to begin my Magic journey 😊
I believe my first purchase (the cards my older brother gifted me not withstanding) was the M12 deckbuilder's toolkit. Still have the box and use it to cart decks around to this day. I don't remember what I played back then but I remember I used the cards from that to build a deck for myself and one for my then-girlfriend to get her into it.
Deck builder toolkit was my first paper purchase and I absolutely loved it! Can't see the value in buying any other, although that "deck builder toolkit showoff" idea seems pretty cool!
I am a new player and I bought a few planewalker decks and booster packs but I decided I wanted a toolkit for the lands that I need and more variation of cards. Also the box for storage of cards.
2014's deck builder's toolkit was the first magic product I ever bought and I built the basis of what has become my most powerful deck I own. Deck builder's toolkits while not for established players are an amazing gateway into this amazing community.
I am an established player, my first purchase was a casual deck I bought for 19$ from summer camp. I Still have the dirty white bordered lightning bolts we so terribly ruined. Shortly after this awesome introduction I picked one of these tool-kits up. I still remember Skuttling-Doom Engine bringing me tears when it hit the field or being amazed that someone could get out Terra-Stomper. Now I'm just nervous that my things may die to removal or countered, and I am looking to get into a format that I can build and enjoy myself in like those times. EDH and Pauper are seemingly my best choices.
My first purchase was an intro deck back in 2011 but after a break I returned in Ixalan with a toolkit and it was very very helpful because i could play with simple yet fun decks built from it. In terms of value, many uncommon cards that there were in that kit turned out to have a bigger value now in this meta, such as the ones for monoblue Tempo.
My first MtG purchase was a Fallen Empires booster pack in '96. A year or so later I bought the Portal 2 Player starter kit. Have been playing ever since.
My first purchase in magic was the last Duel Deck, Elves Vs Inventors, I was so happy I looked online on ways to play the deck better when i found your review, hahaha you literally ripped me a new one calling it a trash buy. Im still happy cause I met you in the process
I picked up an arena kit as my first purchase last month
£6 for two very basic decks designed to help one get to grips with playing. A friend of mine is teaching me to play and I think this will be my next purchase to start my journey with a casual deck
When i was 8, i bought a 2-player-starter-deck from 6th edition. This deck was perfect at that time, because it had two 40 card preconstructed decks. Teaching all my friends how to play magic was more value than any expensive card.
I learned to build competitive decks at sealed events at my lgs. I simply asked experienced players to help me.
as a new mtg player i know some of the rules this help me decide to buy or not a deck builder
thanks for the knowledge you have earned a new sub today
i ordered me a deck builder cant wait for it to arrive
I really appreciate your videos. I played magic back in the day and am just starting to get back into it. This could be my marketing brain speaking, but it seems like WOTC missed an opportunity with the included guide. They could have planned the set cards in this toolkit as upgrades to other ready-made decks in the same set and said “pick up this deck to switch out these cards.” I can see people, probably new players without a large collection or experience building a deck, buying multiple products to make the most of their toolkit and WOTC makes more money. Seems like a win-win.
Dbtks are great! The Kaladesh one was my first major mtg purchase; I'd mostly been playing with friends' decks before that. I picked up the Ixalan one when I was hankering for some booster cracking because I was feeling like I could do with some more lands and I liked the cards included!
I played M:tG back in the ‘90’s...and then life happened. Coming back to the game now (20 years later), the toolkit was indeed my first purchase, just so I could have basic lands. I almost wish they just had land packs, but the toolkit was a nice way to reintroduce myself to the game and build up a base of cards. I do hope at some point WotC would consider taking the strategies from the guide and expand on them, publishing that as a separate item as a resource for intermediate and beyond players.
the poorness of the deck building guide is especially disappointing because WotC already have a decent new player intro guide: the rule book included with the _Game Night_ product. That seems like a much stronger basis for what they're trying to achieve.
I started 0aying magic when core 2019 dropped and I picked up the green blue jace planeswalker deck. I had been playing hearthstone for about 3 years and got tired of dumping money in a completely digital card game. Some of my friends had fallen out of magic over the years and when I brought up that I’d like to try it to break away from hearthstone they were ecstatic. My two friends had bought deck builders tool kits. My planeswalker deck far outshined theirs but we all had a great time none the less. All three of us starting from scratch with a few others entering later with preexisting collections it’s been an amazing experience, and with now with arena I can still play my online card game without sacrificing my love for another card game.
I don't remember what caused me and my buddy to start playing MTG, but one day we decided to give it a try, and each bought a 2014 deck builder's toolkit. I had built a green-white selesnya tokens deck, and he had built slivers. Was really fun that we got essentially the same stuff to build decks with, so it was very fair, but slightly different that we could each build a unique deck.
A year ago, my first purchase of mtg was a merfolk vs goblin duel decks. Today I now own modern goblins and modern merfolk :)
My first deck I had bought was a 2018 pre constructed Commander deck! I had only played Magic for a brief moment when I was 12 years old, I never touched it since. Until last Thanksgiving my cousin an brother reintroduced me into the game an I had been sucked in. Now I have 12 decks, two commanders one mostly precon, an one I built from scratch my self with mostly booster packs! 2 challenger decks and the rest are precon plains walker and guild decks!
I have been playing since return to ravnica so while Im not a veteran of the game I am experienced. As for my first purchase my mom actually bought me a mono green deck off of ebay (the deck focused on etb effects and a full playset of roaring primodox to bounce them back to your hand) the deck ran very well and eventually evolved into a red green deck I put together.
I've been playing since origins and the first purchase I made was a toolkit and fatpack. between them I made my first deck a very satisfying golgargari elf deck, since then I have made some small changes to "tweek the deck and make it more competive.
My first MTG purchase was a Dominaria Planeswalker pre-con and a couple of booster packs.
just got into magic a week ago and this was my first purchase indeed! Wanted to get a planeswalker deck as well but the guys teaching me the game advised against.
I'm a new player, I first got the intro pack for green and black then bought a bundle I believe, the one that comes with the lidded box and the dice.
I think I will get the deck builders box, it will help me be able to build a commander deck and I think will round out possibilities for having more decks to be able to play around with
Online was the first time I played magic, with a follow up into EDH, I built my deck buying singles from my local store. Have since continued buying singles, in the past 3 years I've been playing I've never opened a pack.
I didnt get any foils or mystic s in my toolkit. I did get a 12/12 elder Dinosaur and enough guild cards to splash with. Im new to magic and loving it. This tool kit introduces deck building. I learned mana curve online and cant wait to play them. Its hard to find people to play as I have played only one game before. Most want you to know everything and be fast. At my LGS sold me a set that is played against each other, they said to show up for Friday night magic. Then they looked surprised when I showed up. Said I can't teach you anything. I played my first game there but the other guy was pushed into playing and recommended arena after the game. Is there any cool people left anywhere?
I wish I could have had a deck builder's toolkit when I started in Coldsnap. The Kheldoran Cunning precon was my first foray and my love for playing White and particularly Azorius lives on.
Great video! It's nice to know what the product is before I make the purchase and your reviews seem very fair and thoughtful.
my first product was the first commander anthology. i wanted to play commander and i wanted to play elves so it seemed like a great starting place- it was!
@Tolarian Community College I miss your old Modern deck breakdowns. Would you ever consider doing one for Bant Spirits or UW Spirits? It’s my favorite Modern deck and I’d love to hear your thoughts!
My first purchase was back in 2012 when I was 13. I bought a duel deck with golgari vs izzet. I later bought an Avycan Restored precon that was basically a planeswalker deck.
Back in 2015 my dad bought me the magic origins deckbuilders toolkit. I brought it with me on a bunch of boy scout trips and had friends who played the game teach me all about it. I had my buddy Paul brew something up for me from the pool of cards and he crafted a green/red creatures matter deck with Atarka The World Render as the big bad rare. I kept that deck together using a rubber band and a sandwich bag. I sure as all heck didnt know any better but Paul certainly did. Lots of frayed edges and dirt on those cards.
My first 2 decks was the Assasin deck & phyrexian assault deck.. still love them
You could say I'm a well versed player, on account of the first purchase I made was for a 60 card deck of Unlimited when it was brand new. By no means am I one of those lucky few that got in on the ground floor with Alpha, but I have witnessed the advances and changes Magic has made for over 25 years. What a glorious ride it has been so far.
I've played magic since oktober 2018. I didn't know anything about the game. I started with Magic Arena as an alternative to Hearthstone. I did not know things about standard sets, rotation etc. So the first thing i did was buy a spellslinger starter kit (since it had dice in it), some random boosters (including battlebond and unstable). Why? because a local Gamemania store had them and i thought you couldnt go wrong by buying boosters (how naive). Then i went to a local gamestore to see if they could tell me more about the game. Go my first play session there.
Right now, im the owned of 2 standard decks, a commander deck and a big collection of commons i see no use for.
Your guides have helped me a lot in making the right purchases after that.
My very first purchase was several packs and a pre-constructed deck I love the tool builders kits when I'm running low on land and my roommate and I both love buying a new tool building kit once in awhile and building a deck solely out of that and going Head to Head
I always enjoy the new player guides.
I'm an established player. My first purchase was a Ravnica: City of Guilds Dimir theme deck.
My first purchase was a Rivals of Ixalan db toolkit. In it I got a Search for Azcanta and a Twilight Prophet. I tried to build around vampires because I just loved everything about the Legion of Dusk. I wanted to get into commander right away, so I bought Obzedat, Ghost Council because it seemed like a really fun card and I made a deck about life gain. It was super jank, but I loved it.
I got into magic recently and my beginner's experience was a bit different than most I'd imagine. A friend of mine who had only played magic on the Xbox game found out that some coworkers played magic, and in response him and I on a whim decided to split a Guilds of Ravnica booster box. While in the long run I definitely didn't get much value from that box (he got a foil assassin's trophy that lucky dog), from it I learned to like green.
From there I started being smarter with my money and bought cheap singles on TCG to make a mono-green aggro deck because I like to learn games by first playing as aggressively and simply as possible, then slow down as I learn more about the game. I used some prize money from a tournament in another game I play to upgrade the deck based on the best mono-green Modern decks I could find on the internet and ended up with something really powerful... maybe too powerful.
As I learned and as we started adding more people to the group, we've started to spend frugal amounts on paper commander decks. Mine so far are:
Goreclaw (based on my first 60-card deck)
Yisan (intended to be upgraded to be competitive in the future)
Raff (a Christmas gift from a friend, made me realize I like blue)
Muldrotha (my first attempt at branching out into black)
...and play all other formats with whatever we feel like on Cockatrice. Getting a new budget commander deck or upgrading one we have for the same amount of $ every 1-2 months is a pretty good groove so far. As someone who likes to play games competitively but is enjoying magic in a more casual way in order to enjoy something with friends (alternating with Pathfinder atm), I think we've hit the nail right on the head. Magic is definitely looking to be something I play for a long time.
I didn't purchase any beginner's product. AT the start of my journey I looked up "magic beginner's guide" on youtube and stumbled upon the Tolarian Tutor series, which I found to be much more helpful than the alternatives out there. Thank you for that, Professor. Hopefully that's a satisfactory "how did you start" story for you. Cheers!
Enough to build two decks out of it, if this one Friday with my brother. Went halfies had a blast making and playing new decks