Get a Tolarian Token Pack or TCC Challenge Coin and help bring Season 2 of Shuffle Up And Play to the next level: www.kickstarter.com/projects/tolarian/shuffle-up-and-play-season-2 Want all the details? Check out the Future Of Shuffle Up And Play here: ua-cam.com/video/3ZkRt8aKbeI/v-deo.html
🎶I had a little Fleischer inspiration, and Iwerks hard for it! Think you can Waltz right in, take part of it? Singin' marry melodies through Tartarus? You've drawn the line? I gave it life and artifice!🎶
I really like this deck! Not only did it give me a new Bolas card to collect, but it's really fun to play. I opted to swap out 15 enters-tapped lands for untapped lands so that it can keep up with my typical meta.
My deck arrived extremely fast and I quickly took it to my LGS to compete in commander games and found myself winning quite often. LARGEST RECCOMENDATION I CAN MAKE..... USE SISSAY AS YOUR COMMANDER! The deck is essentially a Legendary Creature Tirbal deck. And there's alot of cards that produce +1/+1 counters allowing you to quickly get Sissay to a point where you can tutor out Esika and bow you have the ability to get multi searches out of Sissay in a turn cycle.
@@nicks4802 This has been turning me off mtg in general lately. Whenever I want to experience a low scale swing and scoop type of game there's always that one combo player who turns the game into solitaire. I'm good about hiding my salt but it really annoys the hell out of me.
Just because the Prof didn't mention it, the deck also came with a bonus foil alternate art Delver of Secrets, currently retailing at around $7.80. Is it a nice addition? Sure. Is that the make or break for people to buy the deck? Probably not.
He didn't mention it because not every deck comes with one. Every Secret Lair purchase comes with a semi-but-mostly-random bonus card, and Delver of Secrets just happens to be one of the possibilities. Some people are going to get a Delver for $7.80, others are going to get the Meyoko art Shadowborn Apostle for $300. It's just how the product works.
It sucks that it sold out because I don’t check secret lair drops but when prof does his video and I find one interesting I’ll always look or buy so it sucks that this specific one sold out
Having played with it several times, it's one of those decks that isn't super strong but if it's left unchecked for a few turns can be fairly strong. They should've made every double faced cards foils though.
The art was really the big selling point for me here. I love both sides of the 5 special treatment cards and I've been wanting a lot of the other includes for a while now. I wasn't sure if I'd play the deck as is but after watching this and reading some comments here, I'll have to give it a shot. At least I'll have an easier time convincing the pod it isn't just a pile of good stuff value that is normally seen in Esika decks.
The art being so good is what bugged me the most about the product. I absolutely hate that they are not available at all in non foil form. I would love to have playsets of all those alt art versions in my collections, but being foil means I can't reliably count on them being playable.
I bought knowing it wasn’t a super synergistic deck but love the janky theme. Also to their credit, it was on sale for over a week; I thought it was going to sell out in minutes like the advent debacle…
Same, I was worried I wouldn't be able to order one. But then I saw it on the page for the next 2 weeks and like why did I have to wait an hour to place my order. I thought bots would have bought them all.
In the casual play I’ve brought this to 2 separate game nights and it was alot of fun and preformed really well. I’ll also be bringing it with me to command fest in a few weeks so I’m hoping some others will see it’s a really fun deck to play against as well. Hope to see you as well Professor!
I made a couple small changes to support the Legendary Tribal theme it has going. I dig the deck (that being said I would’ve totally just bought the new versions of the cards in a regular secret lair had it been offered alongside)
@@emilyhasbrouck934 mana cost is relatively low, I was able to build a board state pretty quickly in the 3 games I played with it. I recommend: Paradox Haze (extra upkeep) Sun Titan (lots of 3 cmc permanents) Eerie Ultimatum (bring everything back) Yoshimaru (legendary tribal) Jodah, The Unifier (legendary tribal) Bruna, The Fading Light (legendary/flip flavor) Gisela, The Broken Blade (legendary/flip flavor)
Just want to thank you for adding an evergreen coin to the SUP Part Deux Kickstarter! Very cool of TCC. Another informative review too, I was not expecting the deck to have so much value!
You four minute rant at the beginning is a good thing, two of my friends bought it and the fact that some of the cards will hold any sort of value due to scarcity is a small win for them
Note, the cards in the deck are not special SLD versions, but more 'generic' reprints: they have the original expansion symbol on the type line,a nd at the bottom it doesn't say SLD but the original set code. The planeswalker symbol in the bottom left appears to be a general purpose 'reprint marker' they use like this for a lot of things now, like The List and Mystery Booster. It's really not possible to differentiate them anymore.
Im loving this deck. I went ahead and switched out the 1 sided cards for new double faced cards like the new praetors and certain battles. My only 1 sided cards left are mana rocks and lands
I just bought the single for the flip avacyn, I have an entire commander deck for her and its my favorite, I just bought it at the time of writing this and theres only 3 copies left that I can find on TCG player, Im glad I heard about this from you prof
I honestly don't mind that there's less foils, Bling is good but I like functional bling. Considering the history of how curled foils can get, less foils means a much cleaner looking deck to me. I like it.
I got this mostly for the reprints and the adorable art and figured I would play to see how it goes. Strengthening the legendary theme and removing cards that didn’t serve it, removing the day/night cards, and throwing in what triomes I already had, I was surprised how much I really liked playing it. Taking it to a commander night, I was surprised how much I was able to keep up. Next thing to upgrade is some interaction and answers to threats but I am definitely keeping it together. It’s really fun and the interactions I keep finding has been fun.
So glad you made this video. Not that I was on the fence about buying it (A lot of the reprints were things I wanted in my collection, and they would have cost so much more individually than the deck itself) but because of your in-depth analysis and explanation of how to play the deck. Regardless of the joke that you are no good at Magic, your analysis and explanations feel, well, like a professional player teaching less professional minded players how to play the game and the decks they put out.
I think the fact that the deck has so many reprints of double-faced cards in particular is worth mentioning. Double-faced cards are very, very rarely reprinted for various logistical reasons. Most of the double-faced cards in this deck are being reprinted for the very first time, and it will be more difficult for them to be reprinted ever again. For that reason I think this deck is going to hold its financial value for longer. A product like this which can help put more double-faced reprints into the wild is a good thing, I think. Also, I'm a bit disappointed that Prof didn't mention the bonus card of Delver of Secrets, which is an above average inclusion in my opinion.
My guess is the double faced cards being hard to reprint argument is a load of BS from WoTC. We get double faced cards almost every set now, it seems that they won't reprint them just to increase FOMO and drive more people to open packs in sets to come, and - of course - to push more ridiculous secret lairs like this
@@jedrzejkraszewski816 Yes. Single faced cards and double faced ones are not mixed on print sheets for qualiry control, so printing DFCs requires having enough of them to merit a print sheet for them without wasting slots (sheets are 11 cards by 11 cards for 121 slots). Therefore, Commander decks can get away with this for tokens due to the number each deck receives due to putting them all on one sheet.
@@Escorien I know about the sheets, but why couldn't a double-faced card replace a token or two, or up to ten (eleven if you count the rules tips card), if a deck would require it?
@@jedrzejkraszewski816 Tokens and actual cards don't use the same cardstock- tokens are made with flimsier paper, but there's also a color difference, which you can see if you hold a stack of tokens and a stack of cards next to each other from the same source (a freshly opened commander deck or booster box, for example).
I bought it and I think this deck has major potential with only a few cheap upgrades. The deck fails when it comes to spot removal and board wipes they should have done better. The mana base is ok but it needs some improvement in the mana base speed what it came with holds the deck back a bit. I'm going to add Dihada, binder of wills as a secondary commander or just to be used in the deck. Financially the deck offers good value and it was worth the purchase The cards in the deck can definitely be used in many other formats and many other commander decks.
I just got my deck box and other extras from the kickstarter. Thank you for it, it will be a perfect place to house some of my meme commander decks. As well as carry all my tokens with all the extra space
Honestly, I’m really glad they didn’t make so many cards foil, given the condition of foils these days. I’m curious why so many people still prefer foils. I would hate to drop $150 on this just to have them all curl up and lose most of their value. The fact that there were no non-foil versions of the first deck is what prevented me from ordering it. Although having any at all is enough to make me uninterested in this one. I guess DFCs don’t have as much trouble with curling, though, to be fair. I personally don’t like foils anyways. They distract from the art in my opinion, and make it hard to see from certain angles. I do think it would be best if they would do what they do with other lairs and offer both foil and non-foil versions, though.
Got it for the new art and basically plan to cannibalize for parts for other commander decks. Compared to heads I win tails you lose I say it fails. I couldn't see the synergy until you pointed it out and even after I still see it as let's grab as much flip cards as we can and make it look good.
I got both and I am really happy with both. My copy of From Cute to Brute was a minor misscut set. Still sleeved up well and I turned it into my TWO new fun mid power decks. From Cute to Brute can now be played as a legendary creature deck or a super friends deck in my collection and I think both ways are a boat load of fun.
@1:45 Solid points. I've been suggesting Melissa DeTora's famous GW enchantress deck as another option. The only problem I can see with any of these decks colab options is that basically everyone uses dual lands and good mana bases in their decks and WotC refuses to print commander decks with good manabases. If they did players wouldn't need to upgrade the decks as urgently as they usually do.
QwQ I got The Academic and playmat today. I'm crying!!! Omg I'm so happy!!! Thank you so much Professor!!! These are amazing!! The playmat is beautiful! I want to frame it :)
The biggest sin of this deck was not reprinting Growing Rites of Itlimoc in the deck. I would also have liked to see the Mythic MDFC lands from Zendikar Rising, but thay probably would have made the deck too mich value and they would have pushed the price even higher.
Archangel Avacyn is one my favorite commander decks I play with, that was the first selling point to me. Then, Bloodline Keeper is one of my favorite cards ever. I’m happy with the purchase even if I don’t really care for playing the deck. A set of the pathways was a very nice surprise.
Already got it. Bought for all 5of my Favorit double sided cards. Love the artworks. Got run over Hard against my friends. Upgraded the Deck with just cards laying around. It's more focused now. Got stomped again, but i Love it.
Thank you for the great in-depth review! It was much more informative than another review I saw that opened the deck, looked at it for 2 minutes, and said it is sh*t.
Order mine on Monday and got it on Tuesday, unfortunately they sent the SL Randy Vargas instead of the deck, still waiting an answer from the customer service
I just got my Kickstarter deckboxes, playmat, and tokens last weekend, they look AMAZING!!! One of my friends doesnt know that i bought an extra one for him to celebrate our 16+ years as friends.
Honestly, I think having a set amount of Secret Lair product ready to ship is such a good idea but can be made even better by adding the "made to order" option once the initial wave sells out. Its thematic to the name Secret Lair, the first batch to know get theirs early while anyone that finds out after the fact can then order their own, to be in on the secret as it were.
Really enjoyed the format of this review. Your best precon deck review in a while, imo. Maybe I'm just happy to have my investment more or less justified 😄✌🧡
Honestly, I like the idea behind the alternate arts, but I do wish that they had done more of them, because I adore the juxtaposition between the cute side and the brute side (honestly, I'd be tempted to buy a GODMACHINE Secret Lair on its own just because I love their art).
On top of the issues the video mentioned, my big one is the foil alt arts. Not being able to get them in non foil form is incredibly disappointing. I would have gladly picked up playsets of each of them, instead I ignored the product entirely
I have an esika edh deck that I hand crafted when I saw this drop I knew I had to have it and see what idea they had I love it and the double face from cute to brute cards were entirely worth it for me I will get to test it out this Friday and I am excited for some value
I'm happy I got it when I did. Like you said with less foils, and higher price. Why didn't they give use cards to use as checklist cards? I don't like to desleeve my cards in the middle of games. I often triple sleeve my cards. If anyone is curious why, I have MS. I do have a stack of 'checklist' cards, that I'm going to write up when I get a chance. And thank you for the video and I'm glad we didn't crash Kickstarter this time. :)
It looks like a nice product, for those who were aware it was being sold. Personally, I think that less foils is actually a plus rather than a minus, since it allows cards to be stored in a regular deckbox instead of a Pringles tube (unless the quality of non-fancy foiling has significantly improved recently).
The price hike seems painful, but I think it's fair for WotC to look at market value when determining the price. Yes, this shouldn't be more expensive to produce than HIWTYL, but the absurd resale value is a fair argument for the price increase, IMHO.
I bought both SL Commander decks just to hold sealed, they have a good value for how little space they take up for a sealed product. If the next one they make does not have a comparable value to price ratio I will probably just skip it
1:38 A MaRo Commander deck would be quite disingenuous, as Mark doesn't play Commander. But otherwise yes, a 60-card MaRo deck would be a great product to sell doubling seasons and the like.
My opinion doesn't matter much because I wouldn't buy it either way, but fewer foils is actually an incentive to me because I don't trust Wizard's foiling.
I do wish they would switch to preorders, though maybe having it count back as a preorder would be wise so as not to confuse those expecting they are purchasing it now. Also, this deck should have come with custom sleeves. That would have gone a way towards justifying the price bump. I wish these commander lairs would have either a completely custom art (for all cards) or full foil versions.
They did switch back to preorders, this was an exception. And while it did take a long time to ship, what Prof failed to mention was that there were productions problems that led to that delay. That may have given WotC cold feet and led to the change.
I got the deck because I loved the face cards and had been thinking about building a 5C Superfriends deck with Esika/The Bridge as the commander. I played with the deck mostly as is a few times, with the only real changes being upgrades to the manabase with several triomes, fetches, and shocks, as well as swapping out Triplicate Titan, which didn't really fit the theme of the deck with a Huntmaster of the Fells, one of my favorite cards from when I first started playing and a much better fit for the DFC theme. Overall, the deck was a very fun casual deck - it was slow and unwieldy at times, but if my opponents left me unchecked, The Bridge would start accruing a ton of value over time. My store's meta was a little too savage for it to hang as is, so I ended up taking most of the DFCs out and I'm pivoting to a Superfriends theme, though still one that is mostly just the Planeswalkers I had on hand in my collection instead of a super-tuned list. It should be fun and not too overpowered, but reasonable at my store's tables.
Our friend bought the Coin Flip Commander deck and he had to wait one year to get it which is absurd. Cute to Brute looks like a very good Commander however, my sons and our friends are really getting tired of Wizards ridiculous price increases. A two week window to buy this deck was not enough time compared to other Secret Lair products. I just do not understand why Wizards makes these decisions. I appreciate you reviewing this deck for the Magic Community. Thank you for the video Professor.
To me the increase on price is justified, this time, we know that normal precons aren't printed with DFC because of cost increase. It would be reasonable to guess the logistics to make this product are more expensive than the one Gavin made.
Wonder if it makes sense for 'bulk' to now be considered $2 and up instead? Seems like returns after shipping and fees have shrunk enough that change might be warranted.
Get a Tolarian Token Pack or TCC Challenge Coin and help bring Season 2 of Shuffle Up And Play to the next level: www.kickstarter.com/projects/tolarian/shuffle-up-and-play-season-2
Want all the details? Check out the Future Of Shuffle Up And Play here: ua-cam.com/video/3ZkRt8aKbeI/v-deo.html
you forgot to talk about the bonus card
Explain why wotc can't make a werewolf commander deck again?
I just received the academic kickstarter that I backed from last year and received the wrong deckbox. How can I go about getting this fixed?
🎶I had a little Fleischer inspiration, and Iwerks hard for it!
Think you can Waltz right in, take part of it?
Singin' marry melodies through Tartarus?
You've drawn the line? I gave it life and artifice!🎶
@@donnietidwell965 Wth are you smoking, and more importantly, where can I get some?
The random shots fired against Jimmy’s decks xD
I really like this deck! Not only did it give me a new Bolas card to collect, but it's really fun to play. I opted to swap out 15 enters-tapped lands for untapped lands so that it can keep up with my typical meta.
My deck arrived extremely fast and I quickly took it to my LGS to compete in commander games and found myself winning quite often. LARGEST RECCOMENDATION I CAN MAKE..... USE SISSAY AS YOUR COMMANDER!
The deck is essentially a Legendary Creature Tirbal deck. And there's alot of cards that produce +1/+1 counters allowing you to quickly get Sissay to a point where you can tutor out Esika and bow you have the ability to get multi searches out of Sissay in a turn cycle.
Tried this as well and it's absolutely the play. Keeps tempo going and going.
Isn't winning often bad in EDH?
As a Sisay player I support this change.
@@LightPink Is this some kind of new joke in the community?
@Tempest and a Computer not one I've heard of.
I enjoyed playing with it. Is it good? No is it fun to play against try hard decks? Also no. But is it fun to just play with casual decks? Yes
For that price tag it's kinda disappointing that it doesn't play well... Glad I didn't buy it
Is it $150.00 of fun?
Is it fun to take your expensive cards out of your sleeves each time you want to play any card from this game? No.
This is the reason why I bought it. I only have cEDH decks outside of this deck so I wanted something I could play with friends who don't play cEDH.
@@nicks4802 This has been turning me off mtg in general lately. Whenever I want to experience a low scale swing and scoop type of game there's always that one combo player who turns the game into solitaire. I'm good about hiding my salt but it really annoys the hell out of me.
Just because the Prof didn't mention it, the deck also came with a bonus foil alternate art Delver of Secrets, currently retailing at around $7.80. Is it a nice addition? Sure. Is that the make or break for people to buy the deck? Probably not.
He didn't mention it because not every deck comes with one. Every Secret Lair purchase comes with a semi-but-mostly-random bonus card, and Delver of Secrets just happens to be one of the possibilities. Some people are going to get a Delver for $7.80, others are going to get the Meyoko art Shadowborn Apostle for $300. It's just how the product works.
I had planned on buying each of the commander decks from this series, but couldn't justify the price increase. Definitely no surprise there
It sucks that it sold out because I don’t check secret lair drops but when prof does his video and I find one interesting I’ll always look or buy so it sucks that this specific one sold out
Having played with it several times, it's one of those decks that isn't super strong but if it's left unchecked for a few turns can be fairly strong. They should've made every double faced cards foils though.
I would LOOOOOOVE a Secret Lair: Wachel Reeks’ Pheldagrif deck
Too bad that Phelddagrif is on the reserved list …
@@eisbeareis3918 I wish they'd ban the reserved list in all formats.
The art was really the big selling point for me here. I love both sides of the 5 special treatment cards and I've been wanting a lot of the other includes for a while now. I wasn't sure if I'd play the deck as is but after watching this and reading some comments here, I'll have to give it a shot. At least I'll have an easier time convincing the pod it isn't just a pile of good stuff value that is normally seen in Esika decks.
The art being so good is what bugged me the most about the product. I absolutely hate that they are not available at all in non foil form. I would love to have playsets of all those alt art versions in my collections, but being foil means I can't reliably count on them being playable.
I bought knowing it wasn’t a super synergistic deck but love the janky theme. Also to their credit, it was on sale for over a week; I thought it was going to sell out in minutes like the advent debacle…
Same, I was worried I wouldn't be able to order one. But then I saw it on the page for the next 2 weeks and like why did I have to wait an hour to place my order. I thought bots would have bought them all.
The 5 foil cards' artwork is unreal. I bought the lair because of those 5 cards before I even looked at the other 95.
In the casual play I’ve brought this to 2 separate game nights and it was alot of fun and preformed really well. I’ll also be bringing it with me to command fest in a few weeks so I’m hoping some others will see it’s a really fun deck to play against as well. Hope to see you as well Professor!
I made a couple small changes to support the Legendary Tribal theme it has going. I dig the deck (that being said I would’ve totally just bought the new versions of the cards in a regular secret lair had it been offered alongside)
Same. I got it for the art and for a couple higher value cards included, not for the game play.
Haven't gone a chance to play it yet, but depending on performance that's probably what I'll do too
@@emilyhasbrouck934 mana cost is relatively low, I was able to build a board state pretty quickly in the 3 games I played with it.
I recommend:
Paradox Haze (extra upkeep)
Sun Titan (lots of 3 cmc permanents)
Eerie Ultimatum (bring everything back)
Yoshimaru (legendary tribal)
Jodah, The Unifier (legendary tribal)
Bruna, The Fading Light (legendary/flip flavor)
Gisela, The Broken Blade (legendary/flip flavor)
@@JoeMac_ if only there where more ways to copy or make the tokens I'd love to throw Atla Palani in
Prof did Jimmy dirty with that dig at his mana bases lol. 😂 love ya prof
I was waiting for this! Thank you! Now let’s see if it’s worth it to keep XD
Just want to thank you for adding an evergreen coin to the SUP Part Deux Kickstarter! Very cool of TCC. Another informative review too, I was not expecting the deck to have so much value!
You four minute rant at the beginning is a good thing, two of my friends bought it and the fact that some of the cards will hold any sort of value due to scarcity is a small win for them
Can I take a moment to say that the portrait of Gavin used here is just the best?
Note, the cards in the deck are not special SLD versions, but more 'generic' reprints: they have the original expansion symbol on the type line,a nd at the bottom it doesn't say SLD but the original set code. The planeswalker symbol in the bottom left appears to be a general purpose 'reprint marker' they use like this for a lot of things now, like The List and Mystery Booster. It's really not possible to differentiate them anymore.
This just shows how bullshit was the not printing a werewolf deck move was in the last inistrad block.
Im loving this deck. I went ahead and switched out the 1 sided cards for new double faced cards like the new praetors and certain battles. My only 1 sided cards left are mana rocks and lands
This deck would have been a must buy for me if I knew it existed :(
I love this style of deck. I love the art work.
I'm a easily convinced victim of FOMO.. I stalk secret lairs at least once a week to see what might show up
I just bought the single for the flip avacyn, I have an entire commander deck for her and its my favorite, I just bought it at the time of writing this and theres only 3 copies left that I can find on TCG player, Im glad I heard about this from you prof
Mine arrived in about a week. I honestly thought I'd have to wait at least 2 years.
Same here. Got mine in about a week and thought it would take way longer
Mine came in 2 days after ordering it
I honestly don't mind that there's less foils, Bling is good but I like functional bling. Considering the history of how curled foils can get, less foils means a much cleaner looking deck to me. I like it.
I'm 20 seconds into this video and I'm already hooked
I got this mostly for the reprints and the adorable art and figured I would play to see how it goes. Strengthening the legendary theme and removing cards that didn’t serve it, removing the day/night cards, and throwing in what triomes I already had, I was surprised how much I really liked playing it. Taking it to a commander night, I was surprised how much I was able to keep up. Next thing to upgrade is some interaction and answers to threats but I am definitely keeping it together. It’s really fun and the interactions I keep finding has been fun.
So glad you made this video. Not that I was on the fence about buying it (A lot of the reprints were things I wanted in my collection, and they would have cost so much more individually than the deck itself) but because of your in-depth analysis and explanation of how to play the deck. Regardless of the joke that you are no good at Magic, your analysis and explanations feel, well, like a professional player teaching less professional minded players how to play the game and the decks they put out.
I had to pick this deck up off the secondary market recently and I gotta say I am super excited to start playing it
I think the fact that the deck has so many reprints of double-faced cards in particular is worth mentioning. Double-faced cards are very, very rarely reprinted for various logistical reasons. Most of the double-faced cards in this deck are being reprinted for the very first time, and it will be more difficult for them to be reprinted ever again. For that reason I think this deck is going to hold its financial value for longer. A product like this which can help put more double-faced reprints into the wild is a good thing, I think. Also, I'm a bit disappointed that Prof didn't mention the bonus card of Delver of Secrets, which is an above average inclusion in my opinion.
My guess is the double faced cards being hard to reprint argument is a load of BS from WoTC.
We get double faced cards almost every set now, it seems that they won't reprint them just to increase FOMO and drive more people to open packs in sets to come, and - of course - to push more ridiculous secret lairs like this
I'm not sure about the logistical reasons. They include double-faced tokens in every commander deck after all, are they easier to print somehow?
@@jedrzejkraszewski816 Yes. Single faced cards and double faced ones are not mixed on print sheets for qualiry control, so printing DFCs requires having enough of them to merit a print sheet for them without wasting slots (sheets are 11 cards by 11 cards for 121 slots). Therefore, Commander decks can get away with this for tokens due to the number each deck receives due to putting them all on one sheet.
@@Escorien I know about the sheets, but why couldn't a double-faced card replace a token or two, or up to ten (eleven if you count the rules tips card), if a deck would require it?
@@jedrzejkraszewski816 Tokens and actual cards don't use the same cardstock- tokens are made with flimsier paper, but there's also a color difference, which you can see if you hold a stack of tokens and a stack of cards next to each other from the same source (a freshly opened commander deck or booster box, for example).
thank you for analyzing this deck!
I like the tied back hair, prof!
I bought it and I think this deck has major potential with only a few cheap upgrades. The deck fails when it comes to spot removal and board wipes they should have done better. The mana base is ok but it needs some improvement in the mana base speed what it came with holds the deck back a bit. I'm going to add Dihada, binder of wills as a secondary commander or just to be used in the deck. Financially the deck offers good value and it was worth the purchase The cards in the deck can definitely be used in many other formats and many other commander decks.
I just got my deck box and other extras from the kickstarter. Thank you for it, it will be a perfect place to house some of my meme commander decks. As well as carry all my tokens with all the extra space
Awesome
Was waiting for this one
Honestly, I’m really glad they didn’t make so many cards foil, given the condition of foils these days. I’m curious why so many people still prefer foils. I would hate to drop $150 on this just to have them all curl up and lose most of their value. The fact that there were no non-foil versions of the first deck is what prevented me from ordering it. Although having any at all is enough to make me uninterested in this one. I guess DFCs don’t have as much trouble with curling, though, to be fair.
I personally don’t like foils anyways. They distract from the art in my opinion, and make it hard to see from certain angles. I do think it would be best if they would do what they do with other lairs and offer both foil and non-foil versions, though.
I’m definitely buying the Nicol Bolas and Esika cards for my Ur-Dragon commander deck though
Got it for the new art and basically plan to cannibalize for parts for other commander decks. Compared to heads I win tails you lose I say it fails. I couldn't see the synergy until you pointed it out and even after I still see it as let's grab as much flip cards as we can and make it look good.
I got both and I am really happy with both. My copy of From Cute to Brute was a minor misscut set. Still sleeved up well and I turned it into my TWO new fun mid power decks. From Cute to Brute can now be played as a legendary creature deck or a super friends deck in my collection and I think both ways are a boat load of fun.
Bummed it was short printed. But wasn't Intrested in buying it for 150 anyway
@1:45 Solid points. I've been suggesting Melissa DeTora's famous GW enchantress deck as another option. The only problem I can see with any of these decks colab options is that basically everyone uses dual lands and good mana bases in their decks and WotC refuses to print commander decks with good manabases. If they did players wouldn't need to upgrade the decks as urgently as they usually do.
QwQ I got The Academic and playmat today. I'm crying!!! Omg I'm so happy!!! Thank you so much Professor!!! These are amazing!! The playmat is beautiful! I want to frame it :)
Thank you for adding the unlimited pledge option. I needed to wait for my paycheck to clear and was sad I thought I missed it.
The biggest sin of this deck was not reprinting Growing Rites of Itlimoc in the deck. I would also have liked to see the Mythic MDFC lands from Zendikar Rising, but thay probably would have made the deck too mich value and they would have pushed the price even higher.
9:23 I love the recol to the Gideon/Kytheon bit from the office hours series (one of my Favorits)
Hey! Another limited product meant, “not for me”. Thanks wizards! This new future you’ve created sure is inclusive!
Archangel Avacyn is one my favorite commander decks I play with, that was the first selling point to me. Then, Bloodline Keeper is one of my favorite cards ever. I’m happy with the purchase even if I don’t really care for playing the deck. A set of the pathways was a very nice surprise.
video came available 30 minutes ago and it was already sold out a few days ago. That hurts.
damnit, I was looking forward to snagging this Lair. But glad I watched the video all the way through. Love your videos professor.
Already got it. Bought for all 5of my Favorit double sided cards. Love the artworks. Got run over Hard against my friends. Upgraded the Deck with just cards laying around. It's more focused now. Got stomped again, but i Love it.
The timing of "transform tribal" is quite precise, we just got March of Machines with cards that care about tranform things like Invasion of Pyrulea
Prof, you too are an "MTG Rockstar". A Professor themed EDH-deck might be the first secret lair I'd buy!
Thank you for the great in-depth review! It was much more informative than another review I saw that opened the deck, looked at it for 2 minutes, and said it is sh*t.
I just started the video and I just wanna say, I looove the fit, Prof. As the kids say, your drip is on fleek.
Order mine on Monday and got it on Tuesday, unfortunately they sent the SL Randy Vargas instead of the deck, still waiting an answer from the customer service
I just got my Kickstarter deckboxes, playmat, and tokens last weekend, they look AMAZING!!! One of my friends doesnt know that i bought an extra one for him to celebrate our 16+ years as friends.
Thank you professor, this video was very helpful. It let me know that decks had already shipped so I can now do what you always suggest "Buy Singles!"
I'm so happy to see new Profesor persona: Cute Scholar 🎉
Very nice outfit :)
Honestly, I think having a set amount of Secret Lair product ready to ship is such a good idea but can be made even better by adding the "made to order" option once the initial wave sells out. Its thematic to the name Secret Lair, the first batch to know get theirs early while anyone that finds out after the fact can then order their own, to be in on the secret as it were.
I liked the art and wanted a casual commander deck for playing casual matches at college, so I think I made a good decision
In some places, the question is more like "it's POSSIBLE to buy..."
A+ on the intro prof. Cute to brute
Really enjoyed the format of this review. Your best precon deck review in a while, imo. Maybe I'm just happy to have my investment more or less justified 😄✌🧡
Yup I’m hoping for a second wave, would love to add this to my collection
But we couldn't have a werewolf deck for Midnight Hunt...
I tried it at my LGs it won nicely and saved, which was nice. I felt the purchase was worth it for the artwork of the foils and some neat ideas.
just played a commander game with 4 players and this deck kicked our butt right out of the deck with no changes ! Was fun to play against !!!
This is the first I've heard of this. It looks interesting, perhaps I'll buy - oh, wait.
Honestly, I like the idea behind the alternate arts, but I do wish that they had done more of them, because I adore the juxtaposition between the cute side and the brute side (honestly, I'd be tempted to buy a GODMACHINE Secret Lair on its own just because I love their art).
They DID say it was only available for a limited time as it was a limited product. Secret lairs usually dont run out but the window to order does.
Thanks for the info about the game designer. I love Modern Horizons ❤
On top of the issues the video mentioned, my big one is the foil alt arts. Not being able to get them in non foil form is incredibly disappointing. I would have gladly picked up playsets of each of them, instead I ignored the product entirely
Dedication to flavor is something I wish more players did. It really makes for interesting and diverse games!
I have an esika edh deck that I hand crafted when I saw this drop I knew I had to have it and see what idea they had I love it and the double face from cute to brute cards were entirely worth it for me I will get to test it out this Friday and I am excited for some value
Hey Prof, was wondering why you left out the bonus card Delver of Secrets out of your review? It's in every deck...
I made the deck 100% flip cards if anyone wants the deck list :)
It’s a blast.
post it fam
Send that link
Yes you are cute, yes you are! Who is the cutest professor? You are!
Another great video, Prof, I’ll see you next video.
Bought mine for the artwork. Lots of mid cards needed for other decks.
I'm happy I got it when I did. Like you said with less foils, and higher price. Why didn't they give use cards to use as checklist cards? I don't like to desleeve my cards in the middle of games. I often triple sleeve my cards. If anyone is curious why, I have MS. I do have a stack of 'checklist' cards, that I'm going to write up when I get a chance. And thank you for the video and I'm glad we didn't crash Kickstarter this time. :)
Flip cards are such a pain in the ass, why would anyone wanna play with a deck full of them?
It looks like a nice product, for those who were aware it was being sold.
Personally, I think that less foils is actually a plus rather than a minus, since it allows cards to be stored in a regular deckbox instead of a Pringles tube (unless the quality of non-fancy foiling has significantly improved recently).
Oh wow this is a really cool deck. I'll have to pick it up at some point.
His suit just makes me think...Easter
🥚
The price hike seems painful, but I think it's fair for WotC to look at market value when determining the price. Yes, this shouldn't be more expensive to produce than HIWTYL, but the absurd resale value is a fair argument for the price increase, IMHO.
Seems like all the recent secret lairs are all B+. Better selection of cards for reprints. And better art
Here's one use I've liked for the extra thick cards: they can act as proxy cards for other decks if you want
I bought both SL Commander decks just to hold sealed, they have a good value for how little space they take up for a sealed product. If the next one they make does not have a comparable value to price ratio I will probably just skip it
I wonder how much a Secret Lair: Merfolk Community College would cost, and if it would be worth the price?
On the next season of shuffle up and play could you play Judge's Tower?
I got the foil face commander cards as singles and love their art, but wish the deck was less expensive and made more available to players 💵
1:38 A MaRo Commander deck would be quite disingenuous, as Mark doesn't play Commander. But otherwise yes, a 60-card MaRo deck would be a great product to sell doubling seasons and the like.
My opinion doesn't matter much because I wouldn't buy it either way, but fewer foils is actually an incentive to me because I don't trust Wizard's foiling.
I do wish they would switch to preorders, though maybe having it count back as a preorder would be wise so as not to confuse those expecting they are purchasing it now.
Also, this deck should have come with custom sleeves. That would have gone a way towards justifying the price bump.
I wish these commander lairs would have either a completely custom art (for all cards) or full foil versions.
They did switch back to preorders, this was an exception.
And while it did take a long time to ship, what Prof failed to mention was that there were productions problems that led to that delay.
That may have given WotC cold feet and led to the change.
I got the deck because I loved the face cards and had been thinking about building a 5C Superfriends deck with Esika/The Bridge as the commander. I played with the deck mostly as is a few times, with the only real changes being upgrades to the manabase with several triomes, fetches, and shocks, as well as swapping out Triplicate Titan, which didn't really fit the theme of the deck with a Huntmaster of the Fells, one of my favorite cards from when I first started playing and a much better fit for the DFC theme.
Overall, the deck was a very fun casual deck - it was slow and unwieldy at times, but if my opponents left me unchecked, The Bridge would start accruing a ton of value over time. My store's meta was a little too savage for it to hang as is, so I ended up taking most of the DFCs out and I'm pivoting to a Superfriends theme, though still one that is mostly just the Planeswalkers I had on hand in my collection instead of a super-tuned list. It should be fun and not too overpowered, but reasonable at my store's tables.
Our friend bought the Coin Flip Commander deck and he had to wait one year to get it which is absurd. Cute to Brute looks like a very good Commander however, my sons and our friends are really getting tired of Wizards ridiculous price increases. A two week window to buy this deck was not enough time compared to other Secret Lair products. I just do not understand why Wizards makes these decisions. I appreciate you reviewing this deck for the Magic Community. Thank you for the video Professor.
To me the increase on price is justified, this time, we know that normal precons aren't printed with DFC because of cost increase. It would be reasonable to guess the logistics to make this product are more expensive than the one Gavin made.
Got this, but wanted to see the review before I opened it up.
Regarding the foil issue, did the foils from the previous deck curl at all?
Wonder if it makes sense for 'bulk' to now be considered $2 and up instead? Seems like returns after shipping and fees have shrunk enough that change might be warranted.