Winner has been picked for the contest! Congrats to Chris Broadfoot! More contests on the way, so stay tuned and stay subscribed for your next chance to win! Learn To Play Archenemy here: ua-cam.com/video/HRT9PeDnX1E/v-deo.html and How To Play Planechase here: ua-cam.com/video/wC98RS2YvJk/v-deo.html Watch Archenemy played here on Game Knights: ua-cam.com/video/NgvKLZPDIIE/v-deo.html
I must ask, i noticed that there are cards that are reprints that have their own expansion symbol, can you use the ones without that particular symbol like the ones that have the actual hour of devastation, amenkhat, ect. for standard or other magic formats?
I think I'm one of the few that the Planeswalkers not being in foil is actually a check in the plus column. I just really hate foils. Agreed with the rest of the assessment though.
I'm here 4 years later cause my buddy's game store got a used copy of this and they asked me if it looked like fun. Thanks for always coming through with the good reviews Prof! We might pick it up if it isn't too expensive.
I've had a ton of fun with this new arch enemy. My friends and I have been trying to mix up the game play, and have 2 vs 1 matches where we use our standard decks vs an unmodified bolas deck. Gotta say it's been one of the best casual games I've played and it seems like a good way to introduce players to magic. This arch enemy enticed my friend to pick up magic, would recommend
Nicholas Canevit Lightning Bolt and Grim Lavamancer got a reprint too. Lightning Bolt in particular needs to be reprinted every chance you can reprint it.
Matt Howe Yea but Grim Lavamancer needs it more than Lightning Bolt right now for easier access to Modern Burn Decks, also I need some cheaper Grand Abolishes for my Soul Sisters Deck in Modern.
While this isn't a notable reprint, I like that they added the talismans to he Bola deck- first reprint and the original copies have greyed out mana symbols. I love that they're starting to reprint the check lands more often- hopefully we'll see the enemy check lands reprinted soon.
I really appreciate these product reviews. I feel like you provide an unbaised, objective look at these products that we all have some emotional investment in.
I'm sad that WotC doesn't seem to be interested in revisiting the Archenemy format anymore. Shame because as a casual player, I love this whole 3-VS-1 boss battle format. Considering that we're closing into a Phyrexian invasion in the current (as of this post's writing) storyline, it would be nice to have a Phyrexia-themed Archenemy set. Probably have a hero trio composed of Karn, Teferi, and Jaya.
I moved away from home for school and none of my friends, as far as I know, are particularly interested in MTG. Sucks, cause I never played an Archenemy game and the concept sounds really fun!
the best part about arch enemy bolas, is that you dont have to use the decks provided, you can use your own personal decks, or you can create decks spesifically ment to work with eachother or with the scheme cards
This was so much fun to play! The best part was when everyone started role-playing their characters: Nissa: Hey, Chandra, are you just going to play pinging weenies all game that get removed the second they hit the table? Chandra: Well do you feel like playing something . . . ever? It's turn 4 and all I see over there is a Bob Ross painting of happy trees. Nicol Bolas: Yessss, goooood! Release your hate and sick burrrrrrns! Gideon: CHAD!!!
Dear, Tolarian Community College I just want to say that, i watch one or more of youre video's everyday, and i really appreciate you making these video's because they help me to become a better MTG player and helps me to keep a eye out for good cards to add to my deck and collection. Your Subscriber, Lathan Bell 7/7/17
I like that the package ties into a story line. It isn't only HUUUUUGE MONSTER against whatever. Future products should tie into storylines as well. For instance Dack Fayden and Planeswalker friends vs. Ashiok.
One can only hope. Yawgmoth was so bad ass that he didn't need to do trivial things like planeswalk. He just built up and expanded his own plane until he could literally smash it another and send his legions skittering across it like cockroaches scurrying over an oozing scab and assimilating whatever was in their way to do his bidding. That or he just created his own planes to cultivate entire worlds to act on his behalf. The true OG antagonist of MTG.
great video your review was very helpful and informative, also I loved your appearance on game knights it was amazing to see your play style which was surprisingly similar to mine although more refined overall; I hope for your continued success and to see you on game knights in the future. A fan WH
It frustrates me that not all cards have the same set symbol. The Amonkhet cards and lands still have the Amonkhet symbol, while the rest have the Archenemy: Nicol Bolas set symbol
Part of me really wants to get this just so I can try and change the decks. At least in a semi effective way. It's like a janky puzzle you're not supposed to really be able to solve. Oh how tantalizing!
Todd Mckinley i think these deck were playtested and were balanced. it's hard to build a balance game with your own deck building. it will ended up with the advantage of side.
Todd Mckinley I fully customized all 4 decks with the new hour ov devastation God's for bolas and let me tell you it is tons of fun never the same duel and very well balanced
Exactly. The puzzle I'm trying to solve is how to make sure the gate watch don't get their asses handed to them by Bolas every time. It's fun tweaking these decks to try and give the planeswalker some semblance of a chance.
I cannot wait to get mine! Me and three friends are getting into Magic (I am a returning player) and this will get us to be able to play together while my friends learn and gain experience playing MtG.
This product looks like it was very well designed and so much fun! As for the value, I want value! It's great knowing that Wizards did actually pay attention to that aspect! The packaging is superb and neatly contains the whole product. As for it being static, I can see a lot of cards being substituted into this to spice things up besides the Archenemy cards the Professor used. :)
This is one of the few times I have to disagree with you prof, my play group had a ton of fun playing this with commander. As long as the archenemy had at least red, black and blue colors in their deck it worked.
I played as the archenemy with, Yidris, Breya and creature Bolas as my commander. Others in my group played things like progenitus and Jeleva. We collectively don't have that many multi color decks that went with it. So long as the archenemy had a deck that was on par with the others it was a fairly even match.
Mefous sure, magic can always be customized. I see it as an engine. Plus you can always strip cards from here, or just playtest it over time. I have at least 10 cards I wanted, and like this more than hour of devastation.
After watching the Game Knights episode, I'm glad that the sides are actually very close to each other, and I am happier to hear that it is the three who have the edge, and not the one, if for no other reason that I think it makes for a better casual play experience if more people can leave feeling like they won. I'd like to give it a try myself, but I know that I won't be buying it myself; hopefully I'll get the chance to play with someone else's set someday.
We played this as intended: four players, using these decks, with no modifications. We were able to greatly increase replayability by letting each player Scry 1 before their draw step. You're exactly right about this being a self contained experience, but I think it has more playtime than you give it credit for, depending on the group. We play at lunch, and we pull out this game about once every other week. As none of these players are heavy magic enthusiasts and don't have their own cards, these lower-powered, more theme-focused decks are perfect for them. No crazy strategies to understand about the decks, just fun that's easy to jump into. I can see how it could quickly get boring for a more enfranchised group of players, but it works great as a product for more casual players.
@9:23 Do you think it was intentional or lazy to not have all the cards with the same expansion symbol? The cards from Amnkhet look funky mixed with the new Expansion symbol O.o
Between my friends who I regularly play magic with we have two cubes, planechase anthology, all pre made commander decks from 2015 on, 15 old premade decks, a handful of the duel decks and all the planes walker decks. We agreed that we had to switch what we were doing from week to week to keep variety. This is going into the collection. I think that my friends and I are the typical market for this product 3 dudes and 1 dude-lite with just enough extra money to spend a month on products like this.
Me and my buddy's played this yesterday at Friday night magic and had a ton of fun. It's pretty balanced and has some pretty good moments. Sure it can't compare to the normal magic formula but it's still a great purchase if you want a really fun team based magic experience. I would really recommend it if you're interested.
Odd that I have watched 3 games on UA-cam and Bolas won them all but you say the balance is in favor of the Gatewatch. Hope thats true. If not I will probably make some minor tweaks to help the Gatewatch decks if needed.
I own this and have played close to a dozen games, and Bolas only lost once when he was stuck on 2 Mana. I've powered up the planeswalker decks, and he still dominates.
This video really helped me decide if I should buy this, and I think I will pick it up. I love the idea of pick up and play and with it also being a self contained game it makes it even easier to just pull for a fun game night. Thank you professor! 😀
the plainswalker decks they have released over the last year also work very well if you want to mix it up stright out the packs even minus the boosters they play very well in place of the gatewatch decks
I'm going to try out the Scheme cards in my Cube (of course, the card that gives Grixis mana will be read as "Three different colors of mana in any combination), but with one twist to the normal draft. While each player gets 1 booster per draft round, the Archenemy gets two. I think that the Archenemy being able to first-pick a nice bomb twice makes it a bit more balanced.
Tbh I bought the Bolas deck from this set separately from everything else and turned it into one of my favourite decks to run in modern or casual although I never got the chance to play an actual game of Archenemy. Perhaps I’ll buy the full set and give three of my flat mates a trial by fire initiation to the game 😂
I bought this just for collection sake and may use it (or at least a few of the cards) in other decks. The price was reasonable for what you get and I really like the life counter.
saw the command zone games and windmill slam and haven't seen the gatewatch win yet :/ i'd love to see a youtube video where the gatewatch wins. :D also i appreciate your critical-ness of this review. ^^ initially thought it looked cool, but now think the only thing i'd really want from it (at least for now) is the life counter, which can be bought from people on ebay who dismantle the commander anthology sets.
I love archenemy as a way to change things up. My small group mostly plays legacy two headed giant. Because of this, we know which of our decks work well together. Having bought a couple of the old archenemy decks, we can simply remove the "deck-specific" scheme cards that do not make sense for the archenemy deck. We feel as though each of us can use any of our 20+ decks each, as long as we coordinate, and have a balanced game. I realize my situation might be somewhat unique, but I really believe in archenemy's potential for great game-play. I agree that the four included decks are very lackluster. I broke them down after only a couple of uses.
Been waiting for this, I think it's worth it as you get 4 decks for the price of 2, I think I might switch out one or 2 gate watch decks with other duel decks as they are well rounded decks that don't require too much knowledge to play with some of my casual friends
Archenemy looks fun, but the Gatewatch decks don't seem to be good enough to go against the Bolas deck. The deck has a lot of removal, and the schemes cover all of the Bolas deck's weaknesses I'm writing this before watching, so the Professor probably mentioned that in the video
You are correct. But it seems the Allies have the advantage, that and like my assumption the scheme deck doesn't look compatible with other decks. Disappointing really...
I think archenemy is good for friday night magic if you don't want to play with your own deck for three hours straight, its nice breather between games. Also keep up the good work professor
I'm pretty interested in making Commander decks geared specifically towards working well 3v1 with this particular scheme deck. I've already got one deck in mind, and I might just adapt one of the weaker precons I have in my collection too.
thanks for this! dude in the game store had no idea what it was. i guessed from the box, correctly, based on your review, what it was. what do you think of it as a teaching tool? (i spend a lot of time teaching kids to play.)
It is already availabile for about 30 bucks sometimes. for that price it is very nice to pick up, even if your local store wouldn´t be happy about that
Prof have you ever played Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn? It's a great game and fits the 'card game as a board game' model. 8 balanced decks in the core that my girlfriend and I can enjoy at the kitchen table, and then I can build decks with cards from expansions to take on the local meta. Fantastic game that feels like a modernised Magic.
Would a cube product by WoTC be a good MTG board game? I know many people are designing their own cube. Like commander, why not a cube product as well?
Id like to see more archenemy products, most notably booster packs of sceme's I had the dragon arch enemy deck long ago and still ahve those scemes somewhere.
This video was great because when I saw they were putting Amonkhet cards into it I wasn't sure if I was going to have to purchase/trade for them if they had the archenemy bicol bolas symbol. I collect x1 of each printing of zombies, so it gets hard when a lot of stuff gets reprinted and you can't be sure if it will have new set symbol or not.
How do you think the various Planeswalker decks they've been releasing compare to the power-level of the decks presented in this product? Might assist playability somewhat if you could swap out Gideon's deck for say, Ajani's Planeswalker deck.
I have to say all the decks are upgradeable I have done so to make all legal for modern and nicol bolas with the 3 new god cards is An amazing experience when you team up with friends to try and defeat the bolas and his 3 God's epic and very fun
Whilst watching *Game Knights* I was worried the Scheme cards were specific to the Bolas deck, but looking at them I'm sure they wouldn't be to hard to tweak.
I originally wanted to ask this in the comment section of the original Archenemy video but since this just came out I'll just ask here: What kind of decks were the original Archenemy Decks designed to be played against? Being its own format and everything... And how do you feel about compatibility between Archenemy: Nicol Bolas and the original Archenemy products other than what was mentioned concerning the Scheme cards? Thanks for all the great videos!
The original decks were meant to played against nebulous casual decks. Not a lot of balancing work was done on them. Also, it was possible to mix and match schemes from the four different decks and to acquire some schemes from special events that were among the most powerful schemes of all, so most players were driven to create their own custom archenemy decks alongside custom scheme decks. These could be much, much more powerful than the original release decks. Even sticking to the unaltered versions, balancing gameplay was tricky. Pit them against scrubby decks and the archenemy would easily win from the huge value generated by the scheme deck. Pit them against more tuned decks, and the three-person team would probably overwhelm the archenemy before the scheme deck could take its toll on the team. There is a sweet spot that can be found with testing, but that kind of rigorously empirical experience in casual Magic deckbuilding for a special gameplay variant has a pretty limited fanbase. WotC designers were painfully aware of this problem, and that's why this new version is so different. As for compatibility, there's nothing stopping you from using any of the regular cards or scheme cards from Archenemy: Nicol Bolas in your own custom decks, if you were so inclined.
Given the tendency of foil cards to curve, especially those from supplemental products, I am perfectly fine with the Planeswalkers having new art but not being foil.
great video, altought i dont really like to play with preconstruted decks, i takes half the fun for me. by the way, what happened to pauper? i am expecting a video with top 5 commons from amonkheth or maybe a deck review or something, maybe soon? please?
Thanks professor! I have been kicking myself for a few years now for not picking up the previous Archenemy cards. I have been slowly picking them up individually when I find them. I love them for my Draft cube. Have any recommendations on the old ones to mix in with the new ones to help balance out the Archenemy's deck?
question professor. you said yourself the gate watch decks are basically planeswalker decks so do you think other actual planeswalker decks would work as a sub for the included decks?
I skimmed through all the scheme cards and couldn't find any schemes requiring Nicol Bolas vs. Gatewatch except for "add UBR to your mana pool" which could be tweaked to include the Archenemy's colors instead. Which schemes were you referring to?
You know, now with Nicol bolas the Ravager released you can make a commander archenemy closed set yourself! You just need the other flipwalkers like Nissa, Jace, Gideon, and Chandra and turn them into commander decks. And the secret tech to making this lies in the archenemy set! out all my calculations Jace would have to be the best support commander for the gatewatch as he has more access to making other players draw cards, where as Nissa would include the archenemy in its support of its teammates, for example when she ramps. I know i'm doing this, as I do have friends who know how to play magic but don't play that often due to work or lack of an LGS, so the mono colored nature would help them, and the teamwork aspect would add a whole extra level of strategy when playing.
The lack of foiling on the alternate art planeswalkers just illustrates to me that Wizards did not put a lot of effort into this. True, buying each card individually would cost more than the set, but because most of the set is just jank, I could probably put together a surprising amount of the sealed product out of cards that I currently own just from having played for so long, planeswalkers included. There's just nothing here that really is worth the buy at all. The Archenemy cards, I suppose? I still feel like it would be a much better option to just proxy them out and build the decks out of my collection than to spend so much on this.
You can't say its a positive that its a sealed board game product and then say its a negative you can't really play those decks elsewhere. That is the very definition of contradictory. If its a board game, there will be times when you aren't playing it. That doesn't diminish its value.
If many Magic the Gathering players ask a question in the woods and the Professor isn't around to answer it, do they make a sound?
MTG Draft Sesh haha XD
Yeah, all the other magic players will definitely have answers, and won't refrain from giving your their opinions on it, too.
If there's something Magic players love more than playing Magic, it's talking and complaining about Magic.
Ohad Klopm
The professor hears all MTG questions
I want
Archenemy : Jace
hero team featured with :
- Nicol Bolas
- Yawgmoth
- Emrakul
Wait...
Lol
Wow that.......
Oh goodie. The mind break gang
Some people just want to beat Jace into the dirt and it’s a thing
M A N Y M A G I C T H E G A T H E R I N G P L A Y E R S A S K
Yahel Hotam Oh heavens, the memes are coming.
oh yes
Ｔ Ｈ Ｅ Ｑ Ｕ Ｅ Ｓ Ｔ Ｉ Ｏ Ｎ
Ask dA questionnnn
M A 🅱 Y M A 🅱 I C C T H E G 🅱 T H E R I N G P L A 🅱 E R S 🅱 S K
Winner has been picked for the contest! Congrats to Chris Broadfoot! More contests on the way, so stay tuned and stay subscribed for your next chance to win!
Learn To Play Archenemy here: ua-cam.com/video/HRT9PeDnX1E/v-deo.html
and How To Play Planechase here: ua-cam.com/video/wC98RS2YvJk/v-deo.html
Watch Archenemy played here on Game Knights: ua-cam.com/video/NgvKLZPDIIE/v-deo.html
Tolarian Community College
whats that massive card on the shelf by your head and how did you get it?
I must ask, i noticed that there are cards that are reprints that have their own expansion symbol, can you use the ones without that particular symbol like the ones that have the actual hour of devastation, amenkhat, ect. for standard or other magic formats?
thats Baron Sengir.
oversized cards used to be given, among others, as DCI player rewards .... before the dark times. before the mending
yes. as long as the card name is LEGAL in standard (i.e. it was reprinted in a curently standard set), it doesnt matter which set you use for the card
Give Arena of the Planeswalkers another chance with all the expansions!
I think I'm one of the few that the Planeswalkers not being in foil is actually a check in the plus column. I just really hate foils.
Agreed with the rest of the assessment though.
yes its worthy of your money -nicol bolas
Someday I will play a game of Planechase Archenemy Conspiracy Commander Draft. Someday.
pbtenchi I'm already organizing that type of event
Planechase Archenemy Conspiracy Commander VANGUARD Draft XD
Add two headed giant to that and I'm in
is 2 headed giant archenemy 2 players against six?
I would assume but im not sure
I'm here 4 years later cause my buddy's game store got a used copy of this and they asked me if it looked like fun. Thanks for always coming through with the good reviews Prof! We might pick it up if it isn't too expensive.
Many magic the gathering players ask the question, "should I subscribe to tolarian community college?" Simple answer. Yes.
I've had a ton of fun with this new arch enemy. My friends and I have been trying to mix up the game play, and have 2 vs 1 matches where we use our standard decks vs an unmodified bolas deck. Gotta say it's been one of the best casual games I've played and it seems like a good way to introduce players to magic. This arch enemy enticed my friend to pick up magic, would recommend
Prof. how could you forget Grand Abolisher?!?! He still carries a $6-$7 price tag!
Nicholas Canevit Lightning Bolt and Grim Lavamancer got a reprint too. Lightning Bolt in particular needs to be reprinted every chance you can reprint it.
Matt Howe Yea but Grim Lavamancer needs it more than Lightning Bolt right now for easier access to Modern Burn Decks, also I need some cheaper Grand Abolishes for my Soul Sisters Deck in Modern.
While this isn't a notable reprint, I like that they added the talismans to he Bola deck- first reprint and the original copies have greyed out mana symbols. I love that they're starting to reprint the check lands more often- hopefully we'll see the enemy check lands reprinted soon.
$20 now
HE WAS 6 DOLLARS???
I really appreciate these product reviews. I feel like you provide an unbaised, objective look at these products that we all have some emotional investment in.
I'm sad that WotC doesn't seem to be interested in revisiting the Archenemy format anymore. Shame because as a casual player, I love this whole 3-VS-1 boss battle format.
Considering that we're closing into a Phyrexian invasion in the current (as of this post's writing) storyline, it would be nice to have a Phyrexia-themed Archenemy set. Probably have a hero trio composed of Karn, Teferi, and Jaya.
I moved away from home for school and none of my friends, as far as I know, are particularly interested in MTG. Sucks, cause I never played an Archenemy game and the concept sounds really fun!
the best part about arch enemy bolas, is that you dont have to use the decks provided, you can use your own personal decks, or you can create decks spesifically ment to work with eachother or with the scheme cards
This was so much fun to play! The best part was when everyone started role-playing their characters:
Nissa: Hey, Chandra, are you just going to play pinging weenies all game that get removed the second they hit the table?
Chandra: Well do you feel like playing something . . . ever? It's turn 4 and all I see over there is a Bob Ross painting of happy trees.
Nicol Bolas: Yessss, goooood! Release your hate and sick burrrrrrns!
Gideon: CHAD!!!
I just can't take this game seriously when "Bolas" translates to "Balls" in my country.
Nicol Balls hehehe...
Nicole Balls
What country?
Red Hot Nickel Balls
Dear, Tolarian Community College
I just want to say that, i watch one or more of youre video's everyday, and i really appreciate you making these video's because they help me to become a better MTG player and helps me to keep a eye out for good cards to add to my deck and collection.
Your Subscriber, Lathan Bell 7/7/17
I like that the package ties into a story line. It isn't only HUUUUUGE MONSTER against whatever. Future products should tie into storylines as well. For instance Dack Fayden and Planeswalker friends vs. Ashiok.
Will there be an Archenemy: Yawgmoth?
AlbertLloydy it would be so awesome :D
One can only hope. Yawgmoth was so bad ass that he didn't need to do trivial things like planeswalk. He just built up and expanded his own plane until he could literally smash it another and send his legions skittering across it like cockroaches scurrying over an oozing scab and assimilating whatever was in their way to do his bidding. That or he just created his own planes to cultivate entire worlds to act on his behalf. The true OG antagonist of MTG.
if Yawgmoth Wills it, let it be done...
So the Yawgmoth decks "leading card" would be??? XD
His tomb perhaps, lol
That would be cool
Picked this up off Amazon at a discount. Really looking forward to playing it. Thanks for the unboxing! This video pushed me to get it.
"thats right, you heard me"
ohhhhhhhh shiiiiiiiiiii!
fav moment with TCC so far!
great video your review was very helpful and informative, also I loved your appearance on game knights it was amazing to see your play style which was surprisingly similar to mine although more refined overall; I hope for your continued success and to see you on game knights in the future.
A fan
WH
It frustrates me that not all cards have the same set symbol. The Amonkhet cards and lands still have the Amonkhet symbol, while the rest have the Archenemy: Nicol Bolas set symbol
This is actually pretty good if you're trying to play archenemy for a bit and then start a cube. A lot of these cards are great cube staples.
I've had a lot of fun with this set and have gone on to make my own "box". Had a great time balancing the decks.
Part of me really wants to get this just so I can try and change the decks. At least in a semi effective way. It's like a janky puzzle you're not supposed to really be able to solve. Oh how tantalizing!
Yeah I agree. I don't see why you can't just power up the side that needs the help, you know?
Todd Mckinley i think these deck were playtested and were balanced.
it's hard to build a balance game with your own deck building.
it will ended up with the advantage of side.
Todd Mckinley I fully customized all 4 decks with the new hour ov devastation God's for bolas and let me tell you it is tons of fun never the same duel and very well balanced
Exactly. The puzzle I'm trying to solve is how to make sure the gate watch don't get their asses handed to them by Bolas every time. It's fun tweaking these decks to try and give the planeswalker some semblance of a chance.
I just LOVE how you "assume" (in a way that you are right, though) we have all seen Game Knights. :D
I cannot wait to get mine! Me and three friends are getting into Magic (I am a returning player) and this will get us to be able to play together while my friends learn and gain experience playing MtG.
This product looks like it was very well designed and so much fun!
As for the value, I want value! It's great knowing that Wizards did actually pay attention to that aspect! The packaging is superb and neatly contains the whole product. As for it being static, I can see a lot of cards being substituted into this to spice things up besides the Archenemy cards the Professor used. :)
This is one of the few times I have to disagree with you prof, my play group had a ton of fun playing this with commander. As long as the archenemy had at least red, black and blue colors in their deck it worked.
If every one has the same power of deck does this work better as 2v1 or 3v1?
We never did a 2v1 but the archenemy won like half the time.
I played as the archenemy with, Yidris, Breya and creature Bolas as my commander. Others in my group played things like progenitus and Jeleva. We collectively don't have that many multi color decks that went with it. So long as the archenemy had a deck that was on par with the others it was a fairly even match.
Mefous sure, magic can always be customized. I see it as an engine. Plus you can always strip cards from here, or just playtest it over time. I have at least 10 cards I wanted, and like this more than hour of devastation.
To think Grand Abolisher is now worth $23.00 and Sword of the Animist $15.00. Commander staples!
After watching the Game Knights episode, I'm glad that the sides are actually very close to each other, and I am happier to hear that it is the three who have the edge, and not the one, if for no other reason that I think it makes for a better casual play experience if more people can leave feeling like they won. I'd like to give it a try myself, but I know that I won't be buying it myself; hopefully I'll get the chance to play with someone else's set someday.
Thank you, I really liked that you explained the product as I had no idea what it was
Thank you Prof for making such great content, I always look for when you make a new video. It is one of the highlights of my day.
We played this as intended: four players, using these decks, with no modifications. We were able to greatly increase replayability by letting each player Scry 1 before their draw step. You're exactly right about this being a self contained experience, but I think it has more playtime than you give it credit for, depending on the group.
We play at lunch, and we pull out this game about once every other week. As none of these players are heavy magic enthusiasts and don't have their own cards, these lower-powered, more theme-focused decks are perfect for them. No crazy strategies to understand about the decks, just fun that's easy to jump into. I can see how it could quickly get boring for a more enfranchised group of players, but it works great as a product for more casual players.
@9:23 Do you think it was intentional or lazy to not have all the cards with the same expansion symbol? The cards from Amnkhet look funky mixed with the new Expansion symbol O.o
Between my friends who I regularly play magic with we have two cubes, planechase anthology, all pre made commander decks from 2015 on, 15 old premade decks, a handful of the duel decks and all the planes walker decks. We agreed that we had to switch what we were doing from week to week to keep variety. This is going into the collection. I think that my friends and I are the typical market for this product 3 dudes and 1 dude-lite with just enough extra money to spend a month on products like this.
I'd love a local board game cafe to pick this up to have a few games at.
man then you'd get boys stealing bolts and bolas for quick cash.
Me and my buddy's played this yesterday at Friday night magic and had a ton of fun. It's pretty balanced and has some pretty good moments. Sure it can't compare to the normal magic formula but it's still a great purchase if you want a really fun team based magic experience. I would really recommend it if you're interested.
i really want this now, thank you for showing me this or i would have never known how cool it really is
Odd that I have watched 3 games on UA-cam and Bolas won them all but you say the balance is in favor of the Gatewatch. Hope thats true. If not I will probably make some minor tweaks to help the Gatewatch decks if needed.
I own this and have played close to a dozen games, and Bolas only lost once when he was stuck on 2 Mana. I've powered up the planeswalker decks, and he still dominates.
This video really helped me decide if I should buy this, and I think I will pick it up. I love the idea of pick up and play and with it also being a self contained game it makes it even easier to just pull for a fun game night. Thank you professor! 😀
the cover art goes hard.
Everything in this world parishes at my whim, even you Gatewatch!
Could you do a modern deck tech for some deaths shadow variant for modern. I feel like that would be interesting
I'd love to see a Grixis DS deck tech
the plainswalker decks they have released over the last year also work very well if you want to mix it up stright out the packs even minus the boosters they play very well in place of the gatewatch decks
I'm going to try out the Scheme cards in my Cube (of course, the card that gives Grixis mana will be read as "Three different colors of mana in any combination), but with one twist to the normal draft. While each player gets 1 booster per draft round, the Archenemy gets two. I think that the Archenemy being able to first-pick a nice bomb twice makes it a bit more balanced.
What about memnarchenemy?
Great video but can I mention some of the cards do see a lot of play in other formats lightning bolt for example
Tbh I bought the Bolas deck from this set separately from everything else and turned it into one of my favourite decks to run in modern or casual although I never got the chance to play an actual game of Archenemy. Perhaps I’ll buy the full set and give three of my flat mates a trial by fire initiation to the game 😂
I bought this just for collection sake and may use it (or at least a few of the cards) in other decks. The price was reasonable for what you get and I really like the life counter.
saw the command zone games and windmill slam and haven't seen the gatewatch win yet :/ i'd love to see a youtube video where the gatewatch wins. :D
also i appreciate your critical-ness of this review. ^^ initially thought it looked cool, but now think the only thing i'd really want from it (at least for now) is the life counter, which can be bought from people on ebay who dismantle the commander anthology sets.
I love archenemy as a way to change things up. My small group mostly plays legacy two headed giant. Because of this, we know which of our decks work well together. Having bought a couple of the old archenemy decks, we can simply remove the "deck-specific" scheme cards that do not make sense for the archenemy deck. We feel as though each of us can use any of our 20+ decks each, as long as we coordinate, and have a balanced game.
I realize my situation might be somewhat unique, but I really believe in archenemy's potential for great game-play. I agree that the four included decks are very lackluster. I broke them down after only a couple of uses.
Been waiting for this, I think it's worth it as you get 4 decks for the price of 2, I think I might switch out one or 2 gate watch decks with other duel decks as they are well rounded decks that don't require too much knowledge to play with some of my casual friends
good review!
Archenemy looks fun, but the Gatewatch decks don't seem to be good enough to go against the Bolas deck. The deck has a lot of removal, and the schemes cover all of the Bolas deck's weaknesses
I'm writing this before watching, so the Professor probably mentioned that in the video
You are correct. But it seems the Allies have the advantage, that and like my assumption the scheme deck doesn't look compatible with other decks. Disappointing really...
I think archenemy is good for friday night magic if you don't want to play with your own deck for three hours straight, its nice breather between games.
Also keep up the good work professor
I'm pretty interested in making Commander decks geared specifically towards working well 3v1 with this particular scheme deck. I've already got one deck in mind, and I might just adapt one of the weaker precons I have in my collection too.
thanks for this! dude in the game store had no idea what it was. i guessed from the box, correctly, based on your review, what it was. what do you think of it as a teaching tool? (i spend a lot of time teaching kids to play.)
The music seems to be a touch too loud when the distorted guitar starts.
that second doom blade of the archenemy deck? 9:39
I just print out the scheme cards, laminate them and use that instead of buying them
It is already availabile for about 30 bucks sometimes. for that price it is very nice to pick up, even if your local store wouldn´t be happy about that
as always professor, so professional
Prof have you ever played Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn? It's a great game and fits the 'card game as a board game' model. 8 balanced decks in the core that my girlfriend and I can enjoy at the kitchen table, and then I can build decks with cards from expansions to take on the local meta. Fantastic game that feels like a modernised Magic.
Would a cube product by WoTC be a good MTG board game? I know many people are designing their own cube. Like commander, why not a cube product as well?
Id like to see more archenemy products, most notably booster packs of sceme's I had the dragon arch enemy deck long ago and still ahve those scemes somewhere.
This video was great because when I saw they were putting Amonkhet cards into it I wasn't sure if I was going to have to purchase/trade for them if they had the archenemy bicol bolas symbol. I collect x1 of each printing of zombies, so it gets hard when a lot of stuff gets reprinted and you can't be sure if it will have new set symbol or not.
I stripped 3 decks and built three new ones you can absolutely use these cards in other sets
How do you think the various Planeswalker decks they've been releasing compare to the power-level of the decks presented in this product? Might assist playability somewhat if you could swap out Gideon's deck for say, Ajani's Planeswalker deck.
I have to say all the decks are upgradeable I have done so to make all legal for modern and nicol bolas with the 3 new god cards is An amazing experience when you team up with friends to try and defeat the bolas and his 3 God's epic and very fun
When does the commander anthology giveaway end
Whilst watching *Game Knights* I was worried the Scheme cards were specific to the Bolas deck, but looking at them I'm sure they wouldn't be to hard to tweak.
As always, a very helpful video. ^^
so are going to get a vid on the core sets announcement or are you waiting for the In Response video to hash it out there?
I was just thinking if Archenemy was worth it and decided to see if the Prof made a video. Well, he did!
Hey Prof. Just wanted to say nice suit. Looking good.
I originally wanted to ask this in the comment section of the original Archenemy video but since this just came out I'll just ask here: What kind of decks were the original Archenemy Decks designed to be played against? Being its own format and everything... And how do you feel about compatibility between Archenemy: Nicol Bolas and the original Archenemy products other than what was mentioned concerning the Scheme cards? Thanks for all the great videos!
The original decks were meant to played against nebulous casual decks. Not a lot of balancing work was done on them. Also, it was possible to mix and match schemes from the four different decks and to acquire some schemes from special events that were among the most powerful schemes of all, so most players were driven to create their own custom archenemy decks alongside custom scheme decks. These could be much, much more powerful than the original release decks. Even sticking to the unaltered versions, balancing gameplay was tricky. Pit them against scrubby decks and the archenemy would easily win from the huge value generated by the scheme deck. Pit them against more tuned decks, and the three-person team would probably overwhelm the archenemy before the scheme deck could take its toll on the team. There is a sweet spot that can be found with testing, but that kind of rigorously empirical experience in casual Magic deckbuilding for a special gameplay variant has a pretty limited fanbase. WotC designers were painfully aware of this problem, and that's why this new version is so different.
As for compatibility, there's nothing stopping you from using any of the regular cards or scheme cards from Archenemy: Nicol Bolas in your own custom decks, if you were so inclined.
thx!
thnks for the information, ima see about getting it
Hey, could you do a deck tech on each of the amonkhet gods of commander? I am considering building one, but don't know which one I want.
Given the tendency of foil cards to curve, especially those from supplemental products, I am perfectly fine with the Planeswalkers having new art but not being foil.
great video, altought i dont really like to play with preconstruted decks, i takes half the fun for me. by the way, what happened to pauper? i am expecting a video with top 5 commons from amonkheth or maybe a deck review or something, maybe soon? please?
Which of the older archenemy cards should I add to this to spice it up?
Your favorites; you're the archenemy.
good idea for a video play list, I call it the "not your average magic." made for random magic products, etc.
Thanks professor! I have been kicking myself for a few years now for not picking up the previous Archenemy cards. I have been slowly picking them up individually when I find them. I love them for my Draft cube. Have any recommendations on the old ones to mix in with the new ones to help balance out the Archenemy's deck?
much better Video than the one from Aetherhub LoneWolf
question professor. you said yourself the gate watch decks are basically planeswalker decks so do you think other actual planeswalker decks would work as a sub for the included decks?
Could you use enchantments and sorceries instead of the scheme deck for more variation? Just a thought.
great vid! Bravo!
I skimmed through all the scheme cards and couldn't find any schemes requiring Nicol Bolas vs. Gatewatch except for "add UBR to your mana pool" which could be tweaked to include the Archenemy's colors instead. Which schemes were you referring to?
Looks fun, I'm getting one.
could be fun to upgrade all the decks including the archenemy cards might do that to have a really cool self-contained magic experience with friends
has any one thought of making a bolas, chandra, Raytheon, and nissa commander decks to play along side these schemes?
So you can play this with just three people?
Damn, I was hoping this would add to my EDH game nights.
You know, now with Nicol bolas the Ravager released you can make a commander archenemy closed set yourself! You just need the other flipwalkers like Nissa, Jace, Gideon, and Chandra and turn them into commander decks. And the secret tech to making this lies in the archenemy set! out all my calculations Jace would have to be the best support commander for the gatewatch as he has more access to making other players draw cards, where as Nissa would include the archenemy in its support of its teammates, for example when she ramps.
I know i'm doing this, as I do have friends who know how to play magic but don't play that often due to work or lack of an LGS, so the mono colored nature would help them, and the teamwork aspect would add a whole extra level of strategy when playing.
The lack of foiling on the alternate art planeswalkers just illustrates to me that Wizards did not put a lot of effort into this. True, buying each card individually would cost more than the set, but because most of the set is just jank, I could probably put together a surprising amount of the sealed product out of cards that I currently own just from having played for so long, planeswalkers included.
There's just nothing here that really is worth the buy at all. The Archenemy cards, I suppose? I still feel like it would be a much better option to just proxy them out and build the decks out of my collection than to spend so much on this.
You can't say its a positive that its a sealed board game product and then say its a negative you can't really play those decks elsewhere. That is the very definition of contradictory. If its a board game, there will be times when you aren't playing it. That doesn't diminish its value.
What do you think about thislast article of jeefrey steefel ?
As a novice player a closed system seems like it would be an awful lot of fun. If only I had enough friends interested in playing :(