There is also budget option for that - you can laminate white sheet (cut to card size ofc) and use the same white board markers. They don't look as good as Infinitokens but servs the same.
Long post, forgive me youtube gods.. As someone who just started collecting mtg (collecting for now not playing) I could seriously use some help on suggestions I've started collecting with innistrad midnight hunt and have been buying collectors boosters only. I enjoy opening the packs and reading the history and all the cool cards. I plan to collect all approx 300 of innistrad cards from the collector booster packs. (I put them in sleeves and top loaders immediately) Are there other fun cards or specific things I can collect and look for. Collecting an entire set seems natural but what else Is fun to try to look for?
Also I've been buying collectors packs in stores: midnight hunt collector boosters have been averaging $28 in the stores I shop at, with forgotten realms d&d collector booster averaging $40. Is there a better place I should be buying these online? I worry about getting open pack returns...
Yea it a shame we will never see them again (I'd love to be proved wrong). I got all 6 of them. I might treat myself to the spirit one for Xmas but it'll be a long time before buying any more
As long as we pay more for them, they'll charge more for them Edit: I've been listening to the Prof so much, I wrote this comment before he said the same thing in the video
Dear Professor, Thank you for your amazing videos as well as your helpful advice. Not only am I new to the channel, but I'm also a new Magic player. I started playing MTG in June and when I found out about your channel, I just instantly loved it. Thank you so much for the great content and all the work you put in these videos: we can tell it's both serious AND passionate. A French MTG player looking forward to your next video!
This is one of my favorite "Is It Worth It" videos you've done. Great segments and information given. Vampires are my pet tribe and I think I know why this precon is lackluster. The best Vampire payoffs are very expensive. They did a great service in reprinting Revenant (which I've paid $28 for in the past) but the best cards like both Kalitas' and Baron Sengir are too pricey to be included. If only Wizards would take control of the secondary market and crush those prices, they could sell even more sealed product...
A lot of the new cards in the deck were strange least to me. Like the new madness demon. While it does fit into the discard synergy of blood tokens, wtf wasn’t it made a huge beatstick vampire? Some more higher cost vampires or more stuff that interacted with blood tokens would’ve been nicer than deal damage to exile opponents cards, wheel and deal, etc
The bigger problem for Kalitas is that the precons are designed to be balanced against each other, and Kalitas would incidentally shut down the entire Spirit deck by disabling death triggers and disturb.
Miniature Market has the pair of CV commander decks available for preorder for $60 ($30ea). This is the lowest price I've seen so far and you can already get these below MSRP. Looks like good value in these though!
I have to say, straight out of the box, the Spirit Squadron pre-con can be absolutely backbreaking at a mid-level EDH table. I managed to pick up a copy at my LGS for $32 earlier today and played it straight out of the box. While not on the level of my usual decks, I was able to just completely overrun the table without having to try very hard. I have a small list of upgrades that I plan to make, but just the way it is from the box, this deck is one of the strongest commander pre-cons that WotC has released in the last couple of years. Conversely, I have to agree with the Prof that the Vampiric Bloodline deck is just trying to do too many things and needs significantly more modifications to be brought up to the same level. Also, when played head-to-head by two players of roughly equivalent experience levels, the Vampiric Bloodline deck was completely outshined by the Spirit Squadron deck. When a deck can be board wiped on an opponents turn and then swing for nearly 300 damage on the following turn (thank you white weenie all-star Mirror Entity), you can definitely agree that there is a clear winner in power and synergy.
I personally was hoping that the vampire deck would have: 1) More new blood token generators than it does 2) Cards that specifically used blood tokens for something 3) More big beatstick vampires like Vampire Purveyor. Only got Markov Enforcer. 4) The new madness demon should’ve been a vampire
@@michaelmeek7764 I ended up swapping out about 20 cards (mostly upgrading lands and Mana rocks), but the big things I put in were things to play into combat like Cathar's Crusade, True Conviction, and Eldrazi Monument. If I'm gonna be swinging to make spirits, I'm gonna make it hurt.
@@liveanotheranime3526 Crimson Vow itself has a good number of vampires that actually make use of blood and create blood that would make great upgrades. I'm partial to Voldaren Bloodcaster and Olivia's Attendants.
I started Magic way back in the 90s but always on/off. 10 years ago at Uni I got bacl into it with the Spectral Legion precon deck and enjoyed it a lot. Now, after huge breaks and selling off everything I had again I bought the Spirit Squadron deck for funsies. Nicely full circle :)
I do like that they’re improving some aspects of these gradually, though I agree they can still do better with mana bases. I do wish they would go back to selling them for a bit cheaper, but it is what it is. That said, if I didn’t already upgrade Ranar a few months ago I’d definitely consider the spirit deck.
Same. I stumbled across a combo (one of many with Ranar) by accident... Blasting Station + Ranar + Cosmic Intervention = oops infinite damage. The spirit tribal deck looks like it would play very differently, but all my good Azorius lands are spoken for now.
For the spirit deck, I was disappointed they didn't reprint the Azorius Talisman. That bastard needs a reprint and bad. A Glacial Fortress, Adarkar Wastes, and Nimbus Maze in the manabase wouldn't have been out of the question either.
Imagine midnight hunt / crimson vow not including a Werewolf tribal precon, especially after Kaldheim giving us a spirits deck quite recently, im not complaining, its just missed opportunities man :(
@@liveanotheranime3526 no, but then they'd need to include those in-deck proxy cards for every werewolf in the deck. That's be another like 25 cards in the box, and while there is certainly the space for it in the deck boxes the new ones come in, I'm sure it becomes an issue at some level of production. I still think there should have been a better way to acquire werewolves, but I can see why making a commander deck for them presented issues.
I've been using the precons more since playing with friends less entrenched in magic. The part of your reviews on how the decks play has been really helpful and insightful into what I should look at for what's fun to play with, thank you for the work you do!
Shadows Over Innistrad was my first set and I bought the spirits standard pre-con. I thought Rattlechains was the coolest card ever (it's still up there) and I was hooked on spirits. I was so excited to buy this new commander pre-con and get taken back to my early days of magic with amazing flavor. The deck is pretty sweet and I can't wait to tune it up. Sadly the foils are complete pringles already, but it's still awesome overall.
Thanks for the great information, as always. More importantly, I appreciate your efforts to watch out for all, but especially the beginner and/or returning players and our wallets.
Hey Prof, I recently had my magic collection stolen. I’ve been playing magic since 94 so it was a large and fairly expensive collection. Could you do a video discussing the risks and ways to mitigate the risk of your collection getting stole or lost? Many magic the gathering players need to know what steps they should take to safeguard their collection from something like this. Most home/rental insurance policies don’t have enough coverage to replace a decent sized collection and magic players need to know what to do to protect themselves. This is just a thought as losing my cards has been a very disheartening experience. Thank you!
Sorry for your loss. I have been playing/collecting since the same time as you and would be devastated if my collection got stolen, not just because of the value but also the memories I have from those cards!
@@Sgt_Bacon189 thank you for the offer. It is depressing having to rebuild my collection, and I doubt I will get anywhere close to what I had before. However, I think I’m doing ok. Replacing my dual lands is going to be impossible though.
Thank you for all your hard work Prof! You are always my go to when I need to catch up on what is happening in MtG. Working on my on opening my own FLGS too!
That was cool how you threw that card and caught it...classy. I love your videos, I recently got back into MTG after a 7 year hiatus and your videos have got me all caught up in no time. Particularly enjoying the rise of commander at the moment.
You nailed it. Our playgroup played the 4 recent Innistrad/MH/CV pre cons Friday night. Spirit Squadron won with a massive influx of 1/1 Spirits, for which no one had an answer (most board wipes had already been played). It came out slow and passive, while Vampiric Bloodline was aggressive from the git-go and got into a bloodbath (har) with the other two decks before dying as "the Archenemy." But that battle left the other two players comparatively weaker than Spirit Squadron, who had 50 life by then, compared to around 20 for each of the two survivors.
Thanks, prof, it's easy to get hyped for new products and just buy them on release date. These videos have made me wait a little bit, and just get a better deal in a few weeks later. For example, both the Zendikar and Kaldehim commander decks are great and right now are really cheap.
I rebuild Vampire Bloodlines into an absolute Power House. I love this deck. I think Strefan and especially Bloodtokens are deeply underestimated. You can do great things with them and they deliver great Synergies.
I bought my wife the spirit squadron deck to help teach her the game since she liked the art on millicent. She has since beaten me and our friends the three times she's played. Suffice to say she's enjoying it.
I bought three previous precons for sub $16 each. Sneak Attack, Armed for Battle, and Land's Wrath. Super happy with them. Thinking of getting the Kaldheim Foretell Azorius deck after Prof's glowing review.
For the alligator rhythm! Really though thank you for another top quality video, Professor. Whenever I see a new one pop up, it brings a smile to my face.
About the vampire deck, I feel less mana generation is fine since the whole point of the commander is cheating expensive creatures into play, and it's a reasonable 4 drop.
Thank you for another insightful take on the latest precons! Ever since I found your channel your advice has been invaluable to me as both a fan and as a consumer.
I miss the hype of once a year commander product, the color reveal a couple months out, trickling in of theme reveals, cover commander reveals. Now it's here's an entire deck list all at once for some commander decks.
I second Planar Portal! The face Commander AND Beholder Commander are REALLY fun to mess with. The deck is very fun and pretty powerful to play with. Just has so much love and life to it imo
@@nikkis.2066 yeah, and there are tons of upgrades, and new cards being printed constantly. Treasure token synergies got a big boost in LFR, and there's a new impulse draw spell every set, or more! LIGHT UP THE STAGE
Excellent Vid as always Prof! Your evaluation of these, and the writing you used to make this script is, as always, incredible. Thank you for the evaluation - I'll probably pick up the coven counters, now that it's gone down, and potentially get the zombie MID deck for a friend of mine! Thank you for the advice to wait on these until they go down in price - still, seeing that WOTC are putting higher value but not scalpable value cards in these decks is always great, especially when a number of them have new art!! I adore the new art on Ninkara Rev, it is a very welcome addition.
With the Vampire Bloodlines Pre-Con, I really like the blood tokens mechanic, which can work well with the Madness mechanic. There just aren’t enough Blood Token generators in the deck. I’ve been going through and swapping out cards with cards from the Crimson Vow set that create Blood tokens to, I Hope, make the deck more synergistic. While also keeping the higher cost & harder hitting vampires, because Strefan is supposed to pull them from your hand at the cost of 2 Blood Tokens.
So I pulled an Olivia, Crimson Bride in a back, which made me wanna get the vamp one. I switched made Olivia the commander and moved strefen into the deck, I made a couple cuts, added some looting cards, some sac outlets, and a few other fun things like Anje, maid of dishonor and rakdos, the defiler. So far, it seems a bit better and cleaner than the original deck, Olivia can get the expensive cards out easier, and the extra looting effects make both getting the creature in the bin and Madness, and the sac outlets help with not exiling your creatures from Olivia's caveat and with the aristocrats strategy, all while keeping the strong vampire tribal theme present. Besides Olivia being about 10 bucks right now, the upgrade is pretty budget, highly recommended. (PS love you and your vids prof. ♥)
I have started to buy singles at my local card store and I love it! Not only do I feel great about buying local, I also love the fact that I can get store points for any purchase 😀 and some cool promos depending on what I buy
I've recently started to play commander, and the spirit squadron is my only deck. I've asked my friend where I should start, based on I've played with up to then. I bought it for €27, and I must say, it was worth the money, it's a fun deck to play with. I'm appreciating it more now that I'm searching one for my dad as well, and all those decks are at least €39 or something similar. So yeah, it's a fun deck to play with as a beginner, and I'm really happy with it (and the price)
For a big vampire/blood token themed deck it felt a bit lacking on the theme least for the new cards. Only 5 (6 if you count Bloodtithe since it’s in CV set) new cards that made the blood tokens. Rest was some janky make bats, wheel card draw, exile cards to play them and a madness demon? Would’ve liked some new bigger vampire beat sticks like Vampire Purveyor, the new madness demon to be a vampire, and some deal some damage to all players to trigger Strefan. Picked up Strefan for $2.60, $1.50 for Olivia’s Wrath/Glass Cast Heart, and less than $1 for Markov Enforcer and Crossway Troublemakers.
That's been my plan with Millicent. I built spirit tribal already so just want some of the singles in her deck. No interest in replacing my existing commander with her.
I'm just coming back to the game after a long absence (stopped after Kamigawa block) and I'm picking up Spirit Squadron to serve as the foundation of my first commander deck. It helps that I kept a good number of the spirit and arcane cards from when I left.
Me: “Cool, a Spirit tribal quickstart. I wanted one that isn’t Boros.” Also me: “Time spent playing anything spooky but Coven Counters is time spent at suboptimal Halloween fun mood.” Also also me: “PUT JACK-O’-LANTERN IN EVERY DECK, NO EXCEPTIONS.”
I thought the same thing about jack o lantern. Every October I swap all of my decks for Halloween themed ones, except this year as we got extra innistrad so I extended it. These precons were an easy way to have those decks on hand without disassembling existing decks to make them so I appreciated all four plus the existence of tovolar so werewolves finally feels good to play
I picked up the vampire deck as my first commander deck and I have absolutely loved playing it so far. I don't have a lot of experience with MTG, as I have just started playing. I'd argue it's a little mana dense, but other than that, it is pretty fun to play.
I think at this point the only ones who the current pre-con release structure doesn't favour are retailers who can easily get burdened with old decks at a rate that wouldn't have happened before. Lot of the decks from earlier this year still on shelves around here, and I'm sure we're not alone.
I guess a good, old commander precon sells almost as good as a new commander precon. Not like standard boosters which devalue greatly after rotation. Last couple Game Stores I visited only carried very few old precons. If they had an interesting one, I would have bought it (:
I know this would be a lot more work, but would you ever think of adding to the end these videos talking about the 5~ cards you should replace first or few spells/land that would really help them out? The mention of the amulet is a good help in knowing where to start to improve the decks
Man, I have to second grabbing the 1/1 counters deck from last set. Not only is it like 10 dollars cheaper then the most recent decks, it's also SOOOOO easy to upgrade! I bought a spare overgrown farm and tossed in some chafe from an old commander legends box and it plays amazing!
These are the first precons in a while that I don't particularly care for so I'm gonna pass until there is a sale or something like that or maybe I'll just spend that money on singles to pump up my other decks.
Honestly, I think commander precons just aren't a product for me. They are not as innovate and interesting as the annuals were. I'll definitely pick one up if the theme is interesting, but it is no longer a must buy as it used to.
@@justinclement5417 Oh well , Tempest was my gaming nickname through my school life so when i made a "gaming" channel, it made sense that i called it, "Myself and a computer" lol
@@tempestandacomputer6951 Agreed. These both look so boring and don't pique my interests. The Forgotten Realms (at least Planar Portals & Draconic Rage) and Strixhaven Decks were great with the face Commanders alone and then the Decks themselves being quite fun.
It's hard to believe the SIlverquill and Kathril decks are so cheap now - they've been some of the most fun I've ever played since Wizards even started supporting Commander. I do wholeheartedly recommend you to buy the two of them instead of just one new deck, especially since they're not as tribal-focused and hence can be upgraded by a wider array of cards.
i long hesitated to buy the silverquill one but instead decided to just build a teysa karlov deck, Thalisse reverend medium which is in the silverquill one has been a blast to use in it as all these spirits get vigilence lifelink
When mentioning Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, you said they had 17 new cards each, but displayed it as 15 brand new cards in the text during the comparison to the other decks. I really enjoyed the video and Spirit Squadron has piqued my interest.
A good amount of my play group and friends who aren't in that play group didn't like Crimson Vow, But I really did. Of course, I only started playing Magic this past November so I may not understand as much as people who have played for years, but I already really love the game, and so far have even made two commander decks of my own (although they are arguably just a mash of random cards barely usable lmao). Crimson Vow, was the first series I bought packs from, so I may be biased in its favor as it feels almost like my version of a gateway into the game.
I have Spirit Squadron, and I absolutely love it. It’s fast, it’s fun, and it feels good. It also probably has something to do with the fact that I love spirit tribal.
Great video as always Professor! I was an avid Magic player (buyer) but the increase of price and increase of product being churned out (in addition to my health and financial situation) I just can't keep up with new sets & products anymore. Forgotten Realms was the last time I bought magic products. Had picked up Planar Portals and Draconic Rage and really liked the Commanders and quite a few of the new cards from them, esp getting both for $33 each. And before that the Strixhaven Commander Decks. Not a fan of essentially Commander Decks being $40 now. I especially preferred having the 4-5 Commander Decks once a year at $30-35 and then I liked what WOTC briefly teased with Zendikar & Commander Legends Commander Decks, at only $20 a piece.
I bought the vampire deck and tweaked it to focus on blood token generation. Since Strefan's ability is not one per turn, it is immensely satisfying to use 10 blood tokens to bring out 5 powerful vampires and swarm my opponent. And against token decks, I love to play Vampires Vengeance while Cordial Vampire is on the battlefield. 40 1/1 tokens? Great! In one spell I get all my vampires +40/+40.
I bought the Strephan deck because I eventually want to have all the vampire progenitors as commanders. I haven't gotten to play with it yet but there were several cards that excited me when I sleeved it up
I'm getting Vampiric Bloodline purely to upgrade my Edgar Markov deck. Almost all the new cards are absolute vampire tribal bombs and Nirkana Revenant is a perfect reprint and luckily a vampire I don't already have.
What I do appreciate about you, Prof, is that I can turn your video to 2x speed for efficiency, and still understand your clear speech! I really respect that!
Looking for awesome rewritable tokens for your Commander games? The amazing infiniTOKENS can be found here: www.infinitokens.com/
There is also budget option for that - you can laminate white sheet (cut to card size ofc) and use the same white board markers. They don't look as good as Infinitokens but servs the same.
There's a mistake in the video 4:29 in
I absolutely love my Infinitokens and use them all the time. Best Magic related purchase I've made in a long time!
Long post, forgive me youtube gods..
As someone who just started collecting mtg (collecting for now not playing) I could seriously use some help on suggestions
I've started collecting with innistrad midnight hunt and have been buying collectors boosters only. I enjoy opening the packs and reading the history and all the cool cards.
I plan to collect all approx 300 of innistrad cards from the collector booster packs. (I put them in sleeves and top loaders immediately)
Are there other fun cards or specific things I can collect and look for. Collecting an entire set seems natural but what else Is fun to try to look for?
Also I've been buying collectors packs in stores:
midnight hunt collector boosters have been averaging $28 in the stores I shop at, with forgotten realms d&d collector booster averaging $40.
Is there a better place I should be buying these online? I worry about getting open pack returns...
Many magic the gathering players ask the question, will they ever make more $20 commander precons?
Lol…no
Yea it a shame we will never see them again (I'd love to be proved wrong). I got all 6 of them. I might treat myself to the spirit one for Xmas but it'll be a long time before buying any more
As long as we pay more for them, they'll charge more for them
Edit: I've been listening to the Prof so much, I wrote this comment before he said the same thing in the video
I'm one of those people.
Part of me hopes no because my absolute favorite part of all of the precons is the new cards. The $20 decks had a reduced number of those
It would be amazing - if before the end of 2021 - The Professor made a video comparing the commander decks of the year
I appreciated the Bojack reference.
Same
came down here to say this :)
I love the addition of the Gameplay and Deck Analysis section, Prof!
Dear Professor,
Thank you for your amazing videos as well as your helpful advice. Not only am I new to the channel, but I'm also a new Magic player. I started playing MTG in June and when I found out about your channel, I just instantly loved it. Thank you so much for the great content and all the work you put in these videos: we can tell it's both serious AND passionate.
A French MTG player looking forward to your next video!
I would really love for these videos to go more in depth into the gameplay of the decks, highlighting their key cards/combos/synergies, etc.
This is one of my favorite "Is It Worth It" videos you've done. Great segments and information given.
Vampires are my pet tribe and I think I know why this precon is lackluster. The best Vampire payoffs are very expensive. They did a great service in reprinting Revenant (which I've paid $28 for in the past) but the best cards like both Kalitas' and Baron Sengir are too pricey to be included. If only Wizards would take control of the secondary market and crush those prices, they could sell even more sealed product...
*nods in Edgar Markov precon* Vamps got dat expensive spice.
@@djcochrane eminence never getting reprinted lol, glad I got mine when he was $20
A lot of the new cards in the deck were strange least to me. Like the new madness demon. While it does fit into the discard synergy of blood tokens, wtf wasn’t it made a huge beatstick vampire? Some more higher cost vampires or more stuff that interacted with blood tokens would’ve been nicer than deal damage to exile opponents cards, wheel and deal, etc
The bigger problem for Kalitas is that the precons are designed to be balanced against each other, and Kalitas would incidentally shut down the entire Spirit deck by disabling death triggers and disturb.
JUST got the spirit deck...like 10 minutes ago...the professor is always watching 👀
Miniature Market has the pair of CV commander decks available for preorder for $60 ($30ea). This is the lowest price I've seen so far and you can already get these below MSRP. Looks like good value in these though!
I have to say, straight out of the box, the Spirit Squadron pre-con can be absolutely backbreaking at a mid-level EDH table. I managed to pick up a copy at my LGS for $32 earlier today and played it straight out of the box. While not on the level of my usual decks, I was able to just completely overrun the table without having to try very hard. I have a small list of upgrades that I plan to make, but just the way it is from the box, this deck is one of the strongest commander pre-cons that WotC has released in the last couple of years.
Conversely, I have to agree with the Prof that the Vampiric Bloodline deck is just trying to do too many things and needs significantly more modifications to be brought up to the same level. Also, when played head-to-head by two players of roughly equivalent experience levels, the Vampiric Bloodline deck was completely outshined by the Spirit Squadron deck. When a deck can be board wiped on an opponents turn and then swing for nearly 300 damage on the following turn (thank you white weenie all-star Mirror Entity), you can definitely agree that there is a clear winner in power and synergy.
I personally was hoping that the vampire deck would have:
1) More new blood token generators than it does
2) Cards that specifically used blood tokens for something
3) More big beatstick vampires like Vampire Purveyor. Only got Markov Enforcer.
4) The new madness demon should’ve been a vampire
What cards are you taking out and putting in?
@@michaelmeek7764 I ended up swapping out about 20 cards (mostly upgrading lands and Mana rocks), but the big things I put in were things to play into combat like Cathar's Crusade, True Conviction, and Eldrazi Monument. If I'm gonna be swinging to make spirits, I'm gonna make it hurt.
@@liveanotheranime3526 Crimson Vow itself has a good number of vampires that actually make use of blood and create blood that would make great upgrades. I'm partial to Voldaren Bloodcaster and Olivia's Attendants.
Yeah there's tons of blood token stuff in the crimson vow that go pretty perfect in that deck. That new anje is perfect for it too.
I started Magic way back in the 90s but always on/off. 10 years ago at Uni I got bacl into it with the Spectral Legion precon deck and enjoyed it a lot. Now, after huge breaks and selling off everything I had again I bought the Spirit Squadron deck for funsies. Nicely full circle :)
I do like that they’re improving some aspects of these gradually, though I agree they can still do better with mana bases. I do wish they would go back to selling them for a bit cheaper, but it is what it is. That said, if I didn’t already upgrade Ranar a few months ago I’d definitely consider the spirit deck.
Same. I stumbled across a combo (one of many with Ranar) by accident... Blasting Station + Ranar + Cosmic Intervention = oops infinite damage. The spirit tribal deck looks like it would play very differently, but all my good Azorius lands are spoken for now.
Being patient pays off! Card Kingdom sells decks $10-$15 cheaper after a few months. The D&D commander decks are already down a couple bucks.
For the spirit deck, I was disappointed they didn't reprint the Azorius Talisman. That bastard needs a reprint and bad. A Glacial Fortress, Adarkar Wastes, and Nimbus Maze in the manabase wouldn't have been out of the question either.
Well... Honestly, a very good thing of having so many new decks... Is that the old ones get cheaper and cheaper and that's... Honestly tempting
Imagine midnight hunt / crimson vow not including a Werewolf tribal precon, especially after Kaldheim giving us a spirits deck quite recently, im not complaining, its just missed opportunities man :(
They didn't want transform cards because many casual players don't have sleeves and wouldn't be immediately playable
@@Chuubii
You don’t need sleeves to flip a card. It’s a cop out answer.
@@liveanotheranime3526 no, but then they'd need to include those in-deck proxy cards for every werewolf in the deck. That's be another like 25 cards in the box, and while there is certainly the space for it in the deck boxes the new ones come in, I'm sure it becomes an issue at some level of production. I still think there should have been a better way to acquire werewolves, but I can see why making a commander deck for them presented issues.
@@Chuubii easy solution: include sleeves in the precons. Many Japanese tcgs do this nowadays.
Printing double faced cards for a commander deck is a big problem...which is why no commander deck has any...
I've been using the precons more since playing with friends less entrenched in magic. The part of your reviews on how the decks play has been really helpful and insightful into what I should look at for what's fun to play with, thank you for the work you do!
Same! I reverted my old precons from upgraded back to stock, to have balanced battles with newbie friends.
I jumped over to FAB and never looked back. Just shows how enticing these videos of yours are that I keep watching :)
Shadows Over Innistrad was my first set and I bought the spirits standard pre-con. I thought Rattlechains was the coolest card ever (it's still up there) and I was hooked on spirits. I was so excited to buy this new commander pre-con and get taken back to my early days of magic with amazing flavor. The deck is pretty sweet and I can't wait to tune it up. Sadly the foils are complete pringles already, but it's still awesome overall.
Thanks for the great information, as always. More importantly, I appreciate your efforts to watch out for all, but especially the beginner and/or returning players and our wallets.
I can now pick up that spirit deck for a mere 25 bucks. Seems like a win to me.
It was so awesome meeting you at Vegas, even if it was just to say hi and get that photo, keep up the great work!!!
Hey Prof, I recently had my magic collection stolen. I’ve been playing magic since 94 so it was a large and fairly expensive collection. Could you do a video discussing the risks and ways to mitigate the risk of your collection getting stole or lost? Many magic the gathering players need to know what steps they should take to safeguard their collection from something like this. Most home/rental insurance policies don’t have enough coverage to replace a decent sized collection and magic players need to know what to do to protect themselves. This is just a thought as losing my cards has been a very disheartening experience. Thank you!
Sorry for your loss. I have been playing/collecting since the same time as you and would be devastated if my collection got stolen, not just because of the value but also the memories I have from those cards!
Hello, where are you from ? If you still want to play magic I would like to send a part of my collection to you to help you rebuild and keep playing.
@@Sgt_Bacon189 thank you for the offer. It is depressing having to rebuild my collection, and I doubt I will get anywhere close to what I had before. However, I think I’m doing ok. Replacing my dual lands is going to be impossible though.
@@SuperGwah Anytime, just let me know if you need some help.
How about explain how TF you got it stolen?
i'm happy to see such wonderful evaluation consistently. thank you!
Thank you for all your hard work Prof! You are always my go to when I need to catch up on what is happening in MtG. Working on my on opening my own FLGS too!
That was cool how you threw that card and caught it...classy.
I love your videos, I recently got back into MTG after a 7 year hiatus and your videos have got me all caught up in no time.
Particularly enjoying the rise of commander at the moment.
You nailed it. Our playgroup played the 4 recent Innistrad/MH/CV pre cons Friday night. Spirit Squadron won with a massive influx of 1/1 Spirits, for which no one had an answer (most board wipes had already been played). It came out slow and passive, while Vampiric Bloodline was aggressive from the git-go and got into a bloodbath (har) with the other two decks before dying as "the Archenemy." But that battle left the other two players comparatively weaker than Spirit Squadron, who had 50 life by then, compared to around 20 for each of the two survivors.
Thanks, prof, it's easy to get hyped for new products and just buy them on release date. These videos have made me wait a little bit, and just get a better deal in a few weeks later. For example, both the Zendikar and Kaldehim commander decks are great and right now are really cheap.
I rebuild Vampire Bloodlines into an absolute Power House. I love this deck. I think Strefan and especially Bloodtokens are deeply underestimated. You can do great things with them and they deliver great Synergies.
Been out of mtg for a while but still love the vids. Just commenting for Professor, good dude and I appreciate him being a good sport with Post
Yay! I've been looking forward to your take on these decks.
Good thing I had four new videos to watch.
And I watched them all. Thank you for the content Professor.
It is always cool seeing these new commander decks for me
I bought my wife the spirit squadron deck to help teach her the game since she liked the art on millicent.
She has since beaten me and our friends the three times she's played. Suffice to say she's enjoying it.
I bought three previous precons for sub $16 each. Sneak Attack, Armed for Battle, and Land's Wrath. Super happy with them. Thinking of getting the Kaldheim Foretell Azorius deck after Prof's glowing review.
For the alligator rhythm!
Really though thank you for another top quality video, Professor. Whenever I see a new one pop up, it brings a smile to my face.
This actually helped me decide on what Vampire deck I should get. Thank you so much for the help
Great video! My local game store has these decks for very cheap - glad to have the insight on how they play, thanks!
I very much appreciate your cynicism, especially when it comes to promises or announcements that feel more driven by profit rather than players.
About the vampire deck, I feel less mana generation is fine since the whole point of the commander is cheating expensive creatures into play, and it's a reasonable 4 drop.
I personally know it ain’t great to start with that’s why for Christmas I’m getting a booster box from crimson vow to upgrade it
Thank you for another insightful take on the latest precons! Ever since I found your channel your advice has been invaluable to me as both a fan and as a consumer.
Been appreciating your videos like this for years!
I miss the hype of once a year commander product, the color reveal a couple months out, trickling in of theme reveals, cover commander reveals. Now it's here's an entire deck list all at once for some commander decks.
Strefan is my fave! I did have to upgrade it though.
Thanks Prof. I really like these videos and seeing breakdowns that go beyond the most basic price.
found your channel a few months ago, and consistently the best magic tuber :)
Planar Portal is a fuego deck, highly recommend that if you're looking for red-black fuego. Impulse draw, treasure tokens, ramp and card advantage!
I second Planar Portal! The face Commander AND Beholder Commander are REALLY fun to mess with. The deck is very fun and pretty powerful to play with. Just has so much love and life to it imo
@@nikkis.2066 yeah, and there are tons of upgrades, and new cards being printed constantly. Treasure token synergies got a big boost in LFR, and there's a new impulse draw spell every set, or more! LIGHT UP THE STAGE
Excellent Vid as always Prof! Your evaluation of these, and the writing you used to make this script is, as always, incredible. Thank you for the evaluation - I'll probably pick up the coven counters, now that it's gone down, and potentially get the zombie MID deck for a friend of mine! Thank you for the advice to wait on these until they go down in price - still, seeing that WOTC are putting higher value but not scalpable value cards in these decks is always great, especially when a number of them have new art!! I adore the new art on Ninkara Rev, it is a very welcome addition.
With the Vampire Bloodlines Pre-Con, I really like the blood tokens mechanic, which can work well with the Madness mechanic. There just aren’t enough Blood Token generators in the deck.
I’ve been going through and swapping out cards with cards from the Crimson Vow set that create Blood tokens to, I Hope, make the deck more synergistic.
While also keeping the higher cost & harder hitting vampires, because Strefan is supposed to pull them from your hand at the cost of 2 Blood Tokens.
Was watching this and catching Vegas coverage at the same time on Twitch and got a Prof conservation how sweet!
Thanks for the overview, the best as always!
So I pulled an Olivia, Crimson Bride in a back, which made me wanna get the vamp one. I switched made Olivia the commander and moved strefen into the deck, I made a couple cuts, added some looting cards, some sac outlets, and a few other fun things like Anje, maid of dishonor and rakdos, the defiler. So far, it seems a bit better and cleaner than the original deck, Olivia can get the expensive cards out easier, and the extra looting effects make both getting the creature in the bin and Madness, and the sac outlets help with not exiling your creatures from Olivia's caveat and with the aristocrats strategy, all while keeping the strong vampire tribal theme present. Besides Olivia being about 10 bucks right now, the upgrade is pretty budget, highly recommended. (PS love you and your vids prof. ♥)
Excellent video as always I don't think I have ever seen a bad movie from your channel. Two words, more professor!!.
Thanks for the good info, I’m looking forward to playing Spirit Squadron.
Great as always! I always appreciate these reviews. Looking forward to playing the decks.
I have started to buy singles at my local card store and I love it! Not only do I feel great about buying local, I also love the fact that I can get store points for any purchase 😀 and some cool promos depending on what I buy
Get into trades/buys with individuals! Friday night Magic is great for that.
I've recently started to play commander, and the spirit squadron is my only deck. I've asked my friend where I should start, based on I've played with up to then. I bought it for €27, and I must say, it was worth the money, it's a fun deck to play with. I'm appreciating it more now that I'm searching one for my dad as well, and all those decks are at least €39 or something similar. So yeah, it's a fun deck to play with as a beginner, and I'm really happy with it (and the price)
I still love your Death Gate Cycle books in the background.
For a big vampire/blood token themed deck it felt a bit lacking on the theme least for the new cards. Only 5 (6 if you count Bloodtithe since it’s in CV set) new cards that made the blood tokens. Rest was some janky make bats, wheel card draw, exile cards to play them and a madness demon? Would’ve liked some new bigger vampire beat sticks like Vampire Purveyor, the new madness demon to be a vampire, and some deal some damage to all players to trigger Strefan.
Picked up Strefan for $2.60, $1.50 for Olivia’s Wrath/Glass Cast Heart, and less than $1 for Markov Enforcer and Crossway Troublemakers.
Always watch your reviews on new stuff
At this point, I've been buying these precons just to tear apart and use for home brews that I have in the works
That's been my plan with Millicent. I built spirit tribal already so just want some of the singles in her deck. No interest in replacing my existing commander with her.
I'm just coming back to the game after a long absence (stopped after Kamigawa block) and I'm picking up Spirit Squadron to serve as the foundation of my first commander deck. It helps that I kept a good number of the spirit and arcane cards from when I left.
Me: “Cool, a Spirit tribal quickstart. I wanted one that isn’t Boros.”
Also me: “Time spent playing anything spooky but Coven Counters is time spent at suboptimal Halloween fun mood.”
Also also me: “PUT JACK-O’-LANTERN IN EVERY DECK, NO EXCEPTIONS.”
I like this thinking, it's not the worst card it's pretty fun. I respect the pet card dedication
I thought the same thing about jack o lantern. Every October I swap all of my decks for Halloween themed ones, except this year as we got extra innistrad so I extended it. These precons were an easy way to have those decks on hand without disassembling existing decks to make them so I appreciated all four plus the existence of tovolar so werewolves finally feels good to play
I picked up the vampire deck as my first commander deck and I have absolutely loved playing it so far. I don't have a lot of experience with MTG, as I have just started playing. I'd argue it's a little mana dense, but other than that, it is pretty fun to play.
The Vampire deck absolutely should have had Graven Cairns with the future sight art.
I think at this point the only ones who the current pre-con release structure doesn't favour are retailers who can easily get burdened with old decks at a rate that wouldn't have happened before. Lot of the decks from earlier this year still on shelves around here, and I'm sure we're not alone.
I guess a good, old commander precon sells almost as good as a new commander precon.
Not like standard boosters which devalue greatly after rotation.
Last couple Game Stores I visited only carried very few old precons. If they had an interesting one, I would have bought it (:
Infinitokens are really really rad!
“What do they do? Do they do things? Let’s find out!” I appreciate and thank you for this subtle reference 😂
Thank you Prof for the in depth review !!!
Definitely got my eye on grabbing Prosper, Prismari or Silverquil decks if I can. Thanks Prof!
I know this would be a lot more work, but would you ever think of adding to the end these videos talking about the 5~ cards you should replace first or few spells/land that would really help them out? The mention of the amulet is a good help in knowing where to start to improve the decks
Man, I have to second grabbing the 1/1 counters deck from last set. Not only is it like 10 dollars cheaper then the most recent decks, it's also SOOOOO easy to upgrade! I bought a spare overgrown farm and tossed in some chafe from an old commander legends box and it plays amazing!
I got the Vampire one for $32 on a pre-order and from researching I can upgrade it to be much more focused and consistent for about $20.
I pre-ordered both for like $50 since I only have one commander deck. What cards did you choose to upgrade with?
These are the first precons in a while that I don't particularly care for so I'm gonna pass until there is a sale or something like that or maybe I'll just spend that money on singles to pump up my other decks.
Honestly, I think commander precons just aren't a product for me. They are not as innovate and interesting as the annuals were. I'll definitely pick one up if the theme is interesting, but it is no longer a must buy as it used to.
@@justinclement5417 what
@@justinclement5417 Oh well , Tempest was my gaming nickname through my school life so when i made a "gaming" channel, it made sense that i called it, "Myself and a computer" lol
@@justinclement5417 oh no, i didn't play mtg back then . My name is a Wizard101 reference
@@tempestandacomputer6951 Agreed. These both look so boring and don't pique my interests. The Forgotten Realms (at least Planar Portals & Draconic Rage) and Strixhaven Decks were great with the face Commanders alone and then the Decks themselves being quite fun.
It's hard to believe the SIlverquill and Kathril decks are so cheap now - they've been some of the most fun I've ever played since Wizards even started supporting Commander. I do wholeheartedly recommend you to buy the two of them instead of just one new deck, especially since they're not as tribal-focused and hence can be upgraded by a wider array of cards.
i long hesitated to buy the silverquill one but instead decided to just build a teysa karlov deck,
Thalisse reverend medium which is in the silverquill one has been a blast to use in it as all these spirits get vigilence lifelink
I bought the Kathril deck awhile back ago & totally agree it's one of the funnest pre-cons I've played.
When mentioning Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, you said they had 17 new cards each, but displayed it as 15 brand new cards in the text during the comparison to the other decks.
I really enjoyed the video and Spirit Squadron has piqued my interest.
I really like the look of the spirits deck, the commanders cost reduction strategy seems like a good way to save mana.
A good amount of my play group and friends who aren't in that play group didn't like Crimson Vow, But I really did. Of course, I only started playing Magic this past November so I may not understand as much as people who have played for years, but I already really love the game, and so far have even made two commander decks of my own (although they are arguably just a mash of random cards barely usable lmao). Crimson Vow, was the first series I bought packs from, so I may be biased in its favor as it feels almost like my version of a gateway into the game.
always appreciate these videos, i used to buy all of the precons as soon as I could but I'm much pickier now and waste a lot less money!
I have Spirit Squadron, and I absolutely love it. It’s fast, it’s fun, and it feels good. It also probably has something to do with the fact that I love spirit tribal.
You have one of the most useful, fact-based and witty channels when it comes to MtG. Thank you!
I appreciate your reminders. I’ve saved a lot of money buying the singles I want
Just picked up the spirit pre con for 15$ on Amazon
With videos this entertaining as well as informative how can I not watch another?!
Yes, they are excellent jumping off points for those tribes specifically.
Loved the subtle bojack horseman reference
It’s crazy, as much as WotC putzs with the formula on the Commander precons, they’re still the best value on a new deck that WotC offers.
Only bad thing is that it limits one to one format
Great video as always Professor! I was an avid Magic player (buyer) but the increase of price and increase of product being churned out (in addition to my health and financial situation) I just can't keep up with new sets & products anymore. Forgotten Realms was the last time I bought magic products. Had picked up Planar Portals and Draconic Rage and really liked the Commanders and quite a few of the new cards from them, esp getting both for $33 each. And before that the Strixhaven Commander Decks.
Not a fan of essentially Commander Decks being $40 now. I especially preferred having the 4-5 Commander Decks once a year at $30-35 and then I liked what WOTC briefly teased with Zendikar & Commander Legends Commander Decks, at only $20 a piece.
Great video! Can´t wait to get my hands on them
I can't imagine how loud your alert rang over the secret lair.
I bought the vampire deck and tweaked it to focus on blood token generation. Since Strefan's ability is not one per turn, it is immensely satisfying to use 10 blood tokens to bring out 5 powerful vampires and swarm my opponent. And against token decks, I love to play Vampires Vengeance while Cordial Vampire is on the battlefield. 40 1/1 tokens? Great! In one spell I get all my vampires +40/+40.
I bought the Strephan deck because I eventually want to have all the vampire progenitors as commanders. I haven't gotten to play with it yet but there were several cards that excited me when I sleeved it up
I just bought both of these sealed for $34 total.
I'm getting Vampiric Bloodline purely to upgrade my Edgar Markov deck. Almost all the new cards are absolute vampire tribal bombs and Nirkana Revenant is a perfect reprint and luckily a vampire I don't already have.
Thinking of starting commander only done standard in the past.
Who’s ready for the new secret lair alert video next week? I am wondering how close there once a week thing prof guess is going now
Was that a Bojack Horseman reference? Around 5:50?
What I do appreciate about you, Prof, is that I can turn your video to 2x speed for efficiency, and still understand your clear speech!
I really respect that!
The "how they play" section is super helpful to me. Thanks, Prof!
... good Gavin.... 😆. Luv ya proff. I hope you and your family are doing well and happy early Turkey-day!!.
Thanks for this video you convinced me to buy neither and to search old commander precons