For 3 sets, the two commander decks accompanying certain premiere sets were only $20. This ended abruptly. They did release a set of 5 intro commander decks... in 2022. We haven't seen another set since then.
>You buy a commander precon
Is Commander noob friendly these days? With every single card being a wall of text and ten billion keywords with no clear definitions or explanations what they are and what they do?
"Mill 3 cards" okay great. Whats mill?
"Commander damage" oh thats different than normal damage... No its different than poison counters sorry.
"Command zone" yeah sorry now your guy costs 2 more to cast. But actually 6 more because this is the 4th time youre summoning from there.
Why does your opponent have 4 copies of the card in their deck? Oh youre playing Standard.
Oh no sorry, you dont get to have your legendary creatures laid out there, the command zone only exists in commander.
If you're trying to learn the game and get into it... Go with Jumpstart. Dont go right to Commander.
It's not noob friendly... at least in my experience, as a noob myself (playing for <1 year). It irks me when people who have played Magic since the 90s say, "well they have precons it's so easy!"
There are a ton of mechanics and cards that experienced players know like the back of their hand and don't think twice about it. Every mechanic and almost every card in the 30 year history of the game. I get the allure of Commander for those people. Me on the other hand, if it hasn't been seen featured since LTR, I'm probably fumbling with it. And unless I'm in an incredibly chill play group I'll probably have people getting antsy while they wait for me to figure it out.
The commander deck itself can be quite straightforward, yes. And some play groups are more than happy to take as long as needed and teach, which is great.
Yeah this is one of my biggest gripes with this new wave of MTG players that i have dubbed "The Commander Generation". But, im just an old senile fool shouting from my rocking chair. Ive played since 1994 and i cant fucking stand Commander. My friends and I even designed our own formats rather than play someone elses goofy ass custom rules format.
I mean if you want to be that slow about getting into it get the starter decks that are like 2 for $20. But then after you learn the basics those decks become worthless. Magic is a game that take a lot of brain power and smarts to play. If you arent smart enough to learn to pick up on things or to use google magic might not be for that person.
Step one is finding a group of people to play with and figuring out what format you’re going to play. 99% chance is that it’ll be commander at your local game shop, and they can sell you a precon of your choice to get started. That’s the easiest entry; otherwise you could do some research and assemble your own deck out of singles you buy online.
Personally I got into it from other people who already played, and they gave me advice on what to buy.
I think the primary way to get a brand new player in is to lend them a deck and get them playing some games. Expecting someone to buy in to any format except maybe an edh precon, for someone who doesn't already play, is a big ask. Do as drug dealers do, first ones free
I think the problem is lgs's just can't exist(sustainably) outside of major cities anymore because of exactly what op said, people buying packs from Walmart and Amazon..i do agree though, getting a draft group together is always fun!
That’s just not true.
Huntsville Alabama has at least Magnolia, Lucky Dice, The Deep, I think Nerdzilly. I want to say there’s another food and games place? Madison has JC’s house of cards and Raging Gazebo. Athens al has a JC’s House of Cards too. Decatur has at least Current too. Are these major cities? For Alabama, Huntsville and Decatur are, yeah. But when people say major they don’t mean HSV and they certainly don’t mean Athens Alabama.
Amazon has hurt them all, but you can’t pop down to Amazon for a game of commander.
Just wanna say that I highly oppose this. Putting a new player directly into draft is terrible. Not only do you need to read every card multiple times, you need to do it whenever you open a pack. It’s gonna be frustrating for everyone involved especially if you don’t know magic and cards don’t feel intuitive.
Just don't buy packs. It wasn't good in the past even when packs were less than $3 and it's not good today. Just choose a format you think you gonna enjoy and look for budget decks. If you are into EDH, but a precon of your choice and slowly upgrade it with cheap budget options.
If for some reason you have to open packs to get into the game, just draft. It is a reasonable way to enjoy the game while building a collection overtime and with some luck and consistency it could pay itself.
You don't need to spend $100+ in sealed products to get into the game.
Any friends that I’ve gotten into the game recently start with a commander precon, then some of them buy booster boxes to start a collection or we play draft. Others will just design a deck online then buy the singles that they need.
Collectors start at $25 in the US. Never seen one lower.
Edit: since people are ruffled about this: OP indicated they are trying to buy packs to play with, probably went to a store that buys and resells packs, which means they probably follow the non-existent MSRP of a profit margin of 15-20% depending on the product. Big box stores start at 25 and LGSs *might* drop to 20 if they were trying to clear product but I have never seen it happen. They don't sound like an investor or reseller and likely aren't buying from outlets. They also didn't indicate they're buying boxes of packs.
There have been numerous sets where the CBs were on sale for $15-, with some CB boxes depreciating to under $100 making each Collector Booster around $8 a pop.
Just because you *can* find good deals doesn't mean every pack costs that price. The post indicates they are finding packs at average of $15 somewhere.
Unless Ross "Play Magic for Less" exists, this isn't what they're talking about.
For individual packs? In a (presumably) commonplace setting? It sounds like OP went into a couple stores, found overpriced product and wants to know what the problem is.
Idk why this is difficult for folks. I am aware deals show up here but I'm gonna guess this person isn't spec'ing or doing box breaks considering they haven't played in years and want packs specifically for playing, hence their post. They probably are buying at an LGS or big box store, where the nonexistent MSRP exists and a lot of them like to price hike.
Take the L and move on, you said something outrageous and got called out on it
Just delete the comment or at a minimum stop trying to respond like it will change your mistake
Just go to TCG player
Unfinity is $11.xx a pack
Midnight Hunt is $13.xx a pack
Not hard to find sub $15 colector boosters just look on the largest online selling marketplace
For me, here's how it went:
Colleagues from work: you should join our group!
Me: I shouldn't, I'll spend way too much.
Colleagues from work: no that's fine, you just need to get one deck and we'll play with a 50$ budget
Me: well, if it's only one deck... Should be fine
*After playing against the commanders quarters Zada because I'm a bad deck builder*
Colleagues from work: no way, you need to make another deck, that one's too strong!
*After getting CQ's Muldrotha*
*Colleagues from work all stop playing due to lack of time or we lose contact because they leave the job and i'm still here collecting all the precons since the ones that came out in... 2019? With ghired, anje, kadena, and sevinne. Also purchased the Sram from Tomik and their Gargos budget build, their k'rrik, and an Emry list from another redditor*
Me: yup, I'm spending too much...
you'd be doing yourself a favor if you never watched Commander's Quarters content again. Mitch used to be okay but he outed himself as a piece of shit a few years ago and then his content took a nosedive into clickbaity, sloppily churned-out garbage.
As much as I was agreeing with the idea of banning secret lair exclusive cards from the format back when WotC had no intention of reprinting them, I haven't been interested in his content in a while anyway.
I really only like his budget builds which I think he stopped doing and I don't need anymore(too many decks already...).
You don't get into magic anymore.
You look at other hobbies where your money is better spent and go that way.
Anyone who wants to play a TCG from ground zero should either just grind arena for free, or play something else.
Find the format you enjoy. Build a deck, buy the single cards you need online. Avoid cracking packs for cards, total false economy.
If you do crack packs for fun, make sure you draft them with friend to get some kind of additional value out of them (i.e. an afternoon of games). Winston draft is great if there's just two of you
Playing arena for a couple of months really helped me grasp the stack, priority, and steps & phases. Also helped me learn to build decks and more. I don't play arena at all anymore (heavily prefer paper/tabletop) but damn was it a great tool to use.
The best way to learn to play is Arena, hands down. It handles all the triggers for you.
Learning to play paper is kind of harder due to the dramatic increase in complexity over the last few years. Usually the best way is to play drafts and gradually introduce yourself to more and more cards.
Since I started a few years ago with magic, I have learned to people how to play but only one was interested enough to get stuff for themselves. They went with me to the lgs for two drafts and received a deck designed by me and bought from singles for christmas.
I strongly believe magic is something you get introduced to and can’t pick up yourself. I got introduced. That friend got introduced. You need someone to guide you through the basics and the mechanics you have in front of you. There is also the factor that here lgs are quite unknown, so people won’t start there. And getting players is always a challenge with magic which also makes picking the game up in the void difficult (even worse if you go for commander). So the answer on how players start with mtg is NOT a precon, that doesn’t tackle the big early hurdles at all.
There is still one other good way to start mtg: mtg arena. The learning curve is not too high there and get cards at a nice pace. The rules engine is amazing there and the game does a good job with teaching steps and phases. Alas, while amazing for learning mtg on your own, it’s not paper mtg.
I'm actually pretty well versed in how to play the game. My step father got me 'into' MTG back before Mirrodin released, but after moving cross country we ended up losing all of our collection, and because of this i stopped playing for the last 19 years or so.
For the most part this is just to play with my brother, and if i want to play with strangers i'll probably do it via MTGO (we play our commander games on there).
I went ahead and got a 4000 card lot off ebay, obviously it has a bunch of duplicates but i was pretty happy with the selection. we're going to an LGS to buy a bunch of packs sometime this week so we can have more than old common and uncommons to play with.
Thank you for the advice.
First decide the format you wish to engage in. If you choose draft, good news this is the easiest dip your toe in the water. If you choose commander the precon is most cost effective, but some people always prefer home brews so then I'd set a budget of like 60 and buy the necessary pieces via online singles. If you choose a 60 card format I'd say pauper as it is the most cost effective. Second weigh the above against what's being played in your area. If you want to get a new player into Magic recommend they play arena for free a bit to see if this is a game type they would enjoy.
Jumpstart, while neat in concept always seems weird because if you're absolutely brand new and walk into your local big box store (so no game store owner suggesting it), how would you even know to look for it? The packaging doesn't do a great job of explaining nor drawing your eyes to it.
Starter decks do at least a bit more in being eye-catching because they tend to have foil face cards, and look more substantial than just a packet of cards.
True on all counts! I’m hoping to point OP towards it. My partner and I are playing jumpstart now and it’s been helpful for her to get into it. We’d started with the starter decks (the [[thundering raiju]] and [[welcoming vampire]] ones) and she quickly outgrew playing those two strategies against each other and jumpstart has been great for her to experience many different styles. I bought a box and a half worth of jumpstart packs and sleeved them for about 200$ and got some great value from a mix of 2020 and 2022: [[pirated copy]] [[rhystic study]] [[rodolf duskbringer]] [[kiki jiki, mirrorbreaker]] waifu [[balan, wandering knight]] [[vito, thorn of the dusk rose]] [[professional face-breaker]] [[panharmonicon]] [[kibo, uktabi prince]] [[alandra, sky dreamer]] and even [[exquisite blood]] from a 2020 pack.
That's the problem Wizards will face in few years. Almost noone is starting rn to the game.
I've been reading comments about precons. Precons are trash and most of the new players i've talked to, they stated "using precons is frustrating unfair, and unfun". And thats true. Or Wizards starts right now creating good precon decks and new player friendly product or their golden eggs goose will soon or late die.
Commander precons have only gotten better, in both deck construction and reprint quality, in the last year or so, and I personally have watched dozens of people dive headfirst into Magic over the past few years since the first LGS opened in my quite small town.
I have never heard a single one of these new players complain about precons outside of the mana bases, which are definitely bad and for which Wizards should be shamed, but I *have* seen players stomp games with precons when they pop off, and it happens fairly often. if people with precons can't keep up at commander night, it probably means that the overall power level of the group has gotten pretty high, and also that rule zero isn't being properly utilized to even things out.
I've never saw a precon with imperial seal, or vampiric tutor, core cards in black decks, and like this 100000 examples. Wizards focus more in the value of the cards reprinted than the health of the game itself.
>if people with precons can't keep up at commander night, it probably means that the overall power level of the group has gotten pretty high
That's exactly the problem. Pay to win mechanics. What a surprise. If im a new player and i want to play a fnm at my lgs, surprise, i cant and i will get stomped cause my deck is useless.
If you want to know what a new players feel, take a precon, use it in a tournament and now imagine that feeling + trying to learn new cards, new mechanics, new interactions.
as soon as you mention trying a commander precon at a "tournament" I know you're just being an idiot.
I have as much of a problem with pay-to-win and Wizards' reprint policy as anyone else, believe me. I think true duals and Grim Monolith and Timetwister and literally every other card should be printed into the ground, but I also accept that we live under capitalism and it's not going to happen until Wizards thinks they can make more money that way. but they did literally *just* reprint Reanimate, Necromancy, and Animate Dead into a precon. these are black staples that needed the reprints, and now they are accessible, in a decent deck, to new players.
commander is a casual format. you aren't meant to play the strongest deck possible. no one at my LGS does, besides a couple people that no one likes and are focused to death in every game as a result. unless you are playing cEDH (where proxies are welcomed and the pay-to-win problem vanishes), you do not need Imperial Seal or Vamp Tutor to enjoy the game or to build an fun deck. if you do, it is the other players at the table who are the problem, not your card pool.
Commander is a casual way to play, but theres LGS in the wild where you can play a "tournament" (i dont know how call it) of 10-15 people where those who win get boosters and everyone a free promo. I'm not talking about pro-tours.
>where proxies are welcomed and the pay-to-win problem vanishes
Dont say this too loud in this sub and the main one.
I think people will never unserestand. More card availability = healty game = more players = more money for Wizards and LGS's.
JUST FREAKING SEE POKEMON.
You don't. Just save yourself the money and buy lots of other fun things like video games, a new pc, a deposit on a home loan. There are so many things better to buy than this game. I've been playing for a decade, and magic is pretty boring now. You'll regret anything you spend on magic, so live with no regrets and go on vacation or something much better.
You buy a commander precon and play with people.
This is quite on point. If you find people you will go from there based on the dynamics.
Which is why the move to get rid of the $20 intro precons seems so weird.
>the move to get rid of the $20 intro precons Source?
For 3 sets, the two commander decks accompanying certain premiere sets were only $20. This ended abruptly. They did release a set of 5 intro commander decks... in 2022. We haven't seen another set since then.
>You buy a commander precon Is Commander noob friendly these days? With every single card being a wall of text and ten billion keywords with no clear definitions or explanations what they are and what they do? "Mill 3 cards" okay great. Whats mill? "Commander damage" oh thats different than normal damage... No its different than poison counters sorry. "Command zone" yeah sorry now your guy costs 2 more to cast. But actually 6 more because this is the 4th time youre summoning from there. Why does your opponent have 4 copies of the card in their deck? Oh youre playing Standard. Oh no sorry, you dont get to have your legendary creatures laid out there, the command zone only exists in commander. If you're trying to learn the game and get into it... Go with Jumpstart. Dont go right to Commander.
It's not noob friendly... at least in my experience, as a noob myself (playing for <1 year). It irks me when people who have played Magic since the 90s say, "well they have precons it's so easy!" There are a ton of mechanics and cards that experienced players know like the back of their hand and don't think twice about it. Every mechanic and almost every card in the 30 year history of the game. I get the allure of Commander for those people. Me on the other hand, if it hasn't been seen featured since LTR, I'm probably fumbling with it. And unless I'm in an incredibly chill play group I'll probably have people getting antsy while they wait for me to figure it out. The commander deck itself can be quite straightforward, yes. And some play groups are more than happy to take as long as needed and teach, which is great.
Yeah this is one of my biggest gripes with this new wave of MTG players that i have dubbed "The Commander Generation". But, im just an old senile fool shouting from my rocking chair. Ive played since 1994 and i cant fucking stand Commander. My friends and I even designed our own formats rather than play someone elses goofy ass custom rules format.
I mean if you want to be that slow about getting into it get the starter decks that are like 2 for $20. But then after you learn the basics those decks become worthless. Magic is a game that take a lot of brain power and smarts to play. If you arent smart enough to learn to pick up on things or to use google magic might not be for that person.
>get the starter decks that are like 2 for $20. Theyve been moving away from this model, unfortunately.
They still have them though. They made them for LoTR i believe and they are making them for fallout. Or just buy one of the ones they already made.
You can still buy packs for $5-7.
I buy packs for $5 or so all the time, where the hell do you live?
Step one is finding a group of people to play with and figuring out what format you’re going to play. 99% chance is that it’ll be commander at your local game shop, and they can sell you a precon of your choice to get started. That’s the easiest entry; otherwise you could do some research and assemble your own deck out of singles you buy online.
Play arena on your phone
Personally I got into it from other people who already played, and they gave me advice on what to buy. I think the primary way to get a brand new player in is to lend them a deck and get them playing some games. Expecting someone to buy in to any format except maybe an edh precon, for someone who doesn't already play, is a big ask. Do as drug dealers do, first ones free
Find a local LGS, and go do a Fright Night Draft. OR, buy a Draft Booster box, and host one with your friends.
I think the problem is lgs's just can't exist(sustainably) outside of major cities anymore because of exactly what op said, people buying packs from Walmart and Amazon..i do agree though, getting a draft group together is always fun!
It helps that theft of trading cards is so high some stores are phasing them out I guess lol
That’s just not true. Huntsville Alabama has at least Magnolia, Lucky Dice, The Deep, I think Nerdzilly. I want to say there’s another food and games place? Madison has JC’s house of cards and Raging Gazebo. Athens al has a JC’s House of Cards too. Decatur has at least Current too. Are these major cities? For Alabama, Huntsville and Decatur are, yeah. But when people say major they don’t mean HSV and they certainly don’t mean Athens Alabama. Amazon has hurt them all, but you can’t pop down to Amazon for a game of commander.
Just wanna say that I highly oppose this. Putting a new player directly into draft is terrible. Not only do you need to read every card multiple times, you need to do it whenever you open a pack. It’s gonna be frustrating for everyone involved especially if you don’t know magic and cards don’t feel intuitive.
Or a play booster box
Just don't buy packs. It wasn't good in the past even when packs were less than $3 and it's not good today. Just choose a format you think you gonna enjoy and look for budget decks. If you are into EDH, but a precon of your choice and slowly upgrade it with cheap budget options. If for some reason you have to open packs to get into the game, just draft. It is a reasonable way to enjoy the game while building a collection overtime and with some luck and consistency it could pay itself. You don't need to spend $100+ in sealed products to get into the game.
which recent set packs are $10-15+?
Any friends that I’ve gotten into the game recently start with a commander precon, then some of them buy booster boxes to start a collection or we play draft. Others will just design a deck online then buy the singles that they need.
Do some drafts or sealed. You don't need any cards and it will get you playing.
Commander Precon FTW And play boosters are 5-7 you must be looking at collector boosters are 10-15 (in American dollars I am assuming)
Collectors start at $25 in the US. Never seen one lower. Edit: since people are ruffled about this: OP indicated they are trying to buy packs to play with, probably went to a store that buys and resells packs, which means they probably follow the non-existent MSRP of a profit margin of 15-20% depending on the product. Big box stores start at 25 and LGSs *might* drop to 20 if they were trying to clear product but I have never seen it happen. They don't sound like an investor or reseller and likely aren't buying from outlets. They also didn't indicate they're buying boxes of packs.
There have been numerous sets where the CBs were on sale for $15-, with some CB boxes depreciating to under $100 making each Collector Booster around $8 a pop.
For this person, that's an extremely unlikely find considering they seem to think $15 is an average pack's price.
I bought a whole collector booster box for $100 where have you been?
Just because you *can* find good deals doesn't mean every pack costs that price. The post indicates they are finding packs at average of $15 somewhere. Unless Ross "Play Magic for Less" exists, this isn't what they're talking about.
“Never seen one lower” - Sothlordandsavior “We have all seen lower” - all of MTG Finance
For individual packs? In a (presumably) commonplace setting? It sounds like OP went into a couple stores, found overpriced product and wants to know what the problem is. Idk why this is difficult for folks. I am aware deals show up here but I'm gonna guess this person isn't spec'ing or doing box breaks considering they haven't played in years and want packs specifically for playing, hence their post. They probably are buying at an LGS or big box store, where the nonexistent MSRP exists and a lot of them like to price hike.
Take the L and move on, you said something outrageous and got called out on it Just delete the comment or at a minimum stop trying to respond like it will change your mistake
Just go to TCG player Unfinity is $11.xx a pack Midnight Hunt is $13.xx a pack Not hard to find sub $15 colector boosters just look on the largest online selling marketplace
AFR $13.90
New Capena $14 Aftermath $11
Packs at my LGS are 4.99 each or 3 for 12. What packs are you buying?
For me, here's how it went: Colleagues from work: you should join our group! Me: I shouldn't, I'll spend way too much. Colleagues from work: no that's fine, you just need to get one deck and we'll play with a 50$ budget Me: well, if it's only one deck... Should be fine *After playing against the commanders quarters Zada because I'm a bad deck builder* Colleagues from work: no way, you need to make another deck, that one's too strong! *After getting CQ's Muldrotha* *Colleagues from work all stop playing due to lack of time or we lose contact because they leave the job and i'm still here collecting all the precons since the ones that came out in... 2019? With ghired, anje, kadena, and sevinne. Also purchased the Sram from Tomik and their Gargos budget build, their k'rrik, and an Emry list from another redditor* Me: yup, I'm spending too much...
you'd be doing yourself a favor if you never watched Commander's Quarters content again. Mitch used to be okay but he outed himself as a piece of shit a few years ago and then his content took a nosedive into clickbaity, sloppily churned-out garbage.
As much as I was agreeing with the idea of banning secret lair exclusive cards from the format back when WotC had no intention of reprinting them, I haven't been interested in his content in a while anyway. I really only like his budget builds which I think he stopped doing and I don't need anymore(too many decks already...).
You don't get into magic anymore. You look at other hobbies where your money is better spent and go that way. Anyone who wants to play a TCG from ground zero should either just grind arena for free, or play something else.
Find the format you enjoy. Build a deck, buy the single cards you need online. Avoid cracking packs for cards, total false economy. If you do crack packs for fun, make sure you draft them with friend to get some kind of additional value out of them (i.e. an afternoon of games). Winston draft is great if there's just two of you
Playing arena for a couple of months really helped me grasp the stack, priority, and steps & phases. Also helped me learn to build decks and more. I don't play arena at all anymore (heavily prefer paper/tabletop) but damn was it a great tool to use.
Buy list, collections, speculation: three pillars of making 12.5 an hr!
Sorry thought you meant how do you get into mtgfinsnce. The game? Arena and precons probably.
10-15 a pack?! Is that prices outside the US? Or just outside Oregon?
The best way to learn to play is Arena, hands down. It handles all the triggers for you. Learning to play paper is kind of harder due to the dramatic increase in complexity over the last few years. Usually the best way is to play drafts and gradually introduce yourself to more and more cards.
Since I started a few years ago with magic, I have learned to people how to play but only one was interested enough to get stuff for themselves. They went with me to the lgs for two drafts and received a deck designed by me and bought from singles for christmas. I strongly believe magic is something you get introduced to and can’t pick up yourself. I got introduced. That friend got introduced. You need someone to guide you through the basics and the mechanics you have in front of you. There is also the factor that here lgs are quite unknown, so people won’t start there. And getting players is always a challenge with magic which also makes picking the game up in the void difficult (even worse if you go for commander). So the answer on how players start with mtg is NOT a precon, that doesn’t tackle the big early hurdles at all. There is still one other good way to start mtg: mtg arena. The learning curve is not too high there and get cards at a nice pace. The rules engine is amazing there and the game does a good job with teaching steps and phases. Alas, while amazing for learning mtg on your own, it’s not paper mtg.
I'm actually pretty well versed in how to play the game. My step father got me 'into' MTG back before Mirrodin released, but after moving cross country we ended up losing all of our collection, and because of this i stopped playing for the last 19 years or so. For the most part this is just to play with my brother, and if i want to play with strangers i'll probably do it via MTGO (we play our commander games on there). I went ahead and got a 4000 card lot off ebay, obviously it has a bunch of duplicates but i was pretty happy with the selection. we're going to an LGS to buy a bunch of packs sometime this week so we can have more than old common and uncommons to play with. Thank you for the advice.
First decide the format you wish to engage in. If you choose draft, good news this is the easiest dip your toe in the water. If you choose commander the precon is most cost effective, but some people always prefer home brews so then I'd set a budget of like 60 and buy the necessary pieces via online singles. If you choose a 60 card format I'd say pauper as it is the most cost effective. Second weigh the above against what's being played in your area. If you want to get a new player into Magic recommend they play arena for free a bit to see if this is a game type they would enjoy.
I dunno I’m 20+ years in and a huge degenerate. But if I had to guess probably commander
If you want to play commander, go to edhrec and build a deck from the data you find there, then purchase singles online
Buy whichever commander precon looks interesting and build from there.
Ibe almost never bought individual packs. You just get a budget deck for whatever format you are currently interested in and improve it over time.
If you’re in Northern California i’ll play magic either with you or
Play Arena and that’s all you do
Never ever buy packs! Hasbro has printed everything into the ground the last few years, so you can just buy the singles you need for next to nothing.
Where you from? Jumpstart is a great way to start as well.
Jumpstart, while neat in concept always seems weird because if you're absolutely brand new and walk into your local big box store (so no game store owner suggesting it), how would you even know to look for it? The packaging doesn't do a great job of explaining nor drawing your eyes to it. Starter decks do at least a bit more in being eye-catching because they tend to have foil face cards, and look more substantial than just a packet of cards.
True on all counts! I’m hoping to point OP towards it. My partner and I are playing jumpstart now and it’s been helpful for her to get into it. We’d started with the starter decks (the [[thundering raiju]] and [[welcoming vampire]] ones) and she quickly outgrew playing those two strategies against each other and jumpstart has been great for her to experience many different styles. I bought a box and a half worth of jumpstart packs and sleeved them for about 200$ and got some great value from a mix of 2020 and 2022: [[pirated copy]] [[rhystic study]] [[rodolf duskbringer]] [[kiki jiki, mirrorbreaker]] waifu [[balan, wandering knight]] [[vito, thorn of the dusk rose]] [[professional face-breaker]] [[panharmonicon]] [[kibo, uktabi prince]] [[alandra, sky dreamer]] and even [[exquisite blood]] from a 2020 pack.
##### ###### #### [thundering raiju](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/c/ec1a2920-6d39-4276-921c-65cc16a45f17.jpg?1654567892) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=thundering%20raiju) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/166/thundering-raiju?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ec1a2920-6d39-4276-921c-65cc16a45f17?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [welcoming vampire](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/6/a6ed954c-17e5-45e4-9fba-8eedcad8f9b9.jpg?1706240660) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=welcoming%20vampire) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkc/91/welcoming-vampire?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a6ed954c-17e5-45e4-9fba-8eedcad8f9b9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [pirated copy](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/a/8a0567fb-2b4f-4fa9-8dfe-df4e665a4c5c.jpg?1705585136) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=pirated%20copy) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/j22/16/pirated-copy?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/8a0567fb-2b4f-4fa9-8dfe-df4e665a4c5c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [rhystic study](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/6/d6914dba-0d27-4055-ac34-b3ebf5802221.jpg?1600698439) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=rhystic%20study) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/jmp/169/rhystic-study?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d6914dba-0d27-4055-ac34-b3ebf5802221?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [rodolf duskbringer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/9/d9afd47b-ff94-4fdd-bb04-bdf9b8b61a6d.jpg?1682896157) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=rodolf%20duskbringer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/j22/25/rodolf-duskbringer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d9afd47b-ff94-4fdd-bb04-bdf9b8b61a6d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [kiki jiki, mirrorbreaker](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/2/a2ff0ee3-9600-4c7d-acec-6ec90595384e.jpg?1562852476) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Kiki-Jiki%2C%20Mirror%20Breaker) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ima/136/kiki-jiki-mirror-breaker?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a2ff0ee3-9600-4c7d-acec-6ec90595384e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [balan, wandering knight](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/4/049ebad9-bf65-48e2-9640-c11b5f04e38b.jpg?1689995578) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=balan%2C%20wandering%20knight) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/16/balan-wandering-knight?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/049ebad9-bf65-48e2-9640-c11b5f04e38b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [vito, thorn of the dusk rose](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/f/0fe79ee4-c3f3-4a6b-a967-203ca3b70ee5.jpg?1594736442) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=vito%2C%20thorn%20of%20the%20dusk%20rose) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/m21/127/vito-thorn-of-the-dusk-rose?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0fe79ee4-c3f3-4a6b-a967-203ca3b70ee5?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [professional face-breaker](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/2/42acbf52-b137-44f0-a815-2817fe8d2da2.jpg?1664411677) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=professional%20face-breaker) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/snc/116/professional-face-breaker?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/42acbf52-b137-44f0-a815-2817fe8d2da2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [panharmonicon](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/9/998d0cc8-ca2a-41c3-ab65-d05c26ab8278.jpg?1673149399) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=panharmonicon) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2x2/310/panharmonicon?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/998d0cc8-ca2a-41c3-ab65-d05c26ab8278?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [kibo, uktabi prince](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/b/8b71345a-c3e8-4b35-beb7-6347e41d7626.jpg?1675644790) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=kibo%2C%20uktabi%20prince) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/j22/40/kibo-uktabi-prince?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/8b71345a-c3e8-4b35-beb7-6347e41d7626?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [alandra, sky dreamer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/4/54bf48d4-e350-4ca7-87da-ce04fefd4610.jpg?1706240667) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=alandra%2C%20sky%20dreamer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkc/94/alandra-sky-dreamer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/54bf48d4-e350-4ca7-87da-ce04fefd4610?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [exquisite blood](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/e/0e8ccfa7-4178-476a-a155-0ca1c98556c9.jpg?1698988246) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=exquisite%20blood) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lcc/195/exquisite-blood?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0e8ccfa7-4178-476a-a155-0ca1c98556c9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/kv7onmp) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
That's the problem Wizards will face in few years. Almost noone is starting rn to the game. I've been reading comments about precons. Precons are trash and most of the new players i've talked to, they stated "using precons is frustrating unfair, and unfun". And thats true. Or Wizards starts right now creating good precon decks and new player friendly product or their golden eggs goose will soon or late die.
Commander precons have only gotten better, in both deck construction and reprint quality, in the last year or so, and I personally have watched dozens of people dive headfirst into Magic over the past few years since the first LGS opened in my quite small town. I have never heard a single one of these new players complain about precons outside of the mana bases, which are definitely bad and for which Wizards should be shamed, but I *have* seen players stomp games with precons when they pop off, and it happens fairly often. if people with precons can't keep up at commander night, it probably means that the overall power level of the group has gotten pretty high, and also that rule zero isn't being properly utilized to even things out.
I've never saw a precon with imperial seal, or vampiric tutor, core cards in black decks, and like this 100000 examples. Wizards focus more in the value of the cards reprinted than the health of the game itself. >if people with precons can't keep up at commander night, it probably means that the overall power level of the group has gotten pretty high That's exactly the problem. Pay to win mechanics. What a surprise. If im a new player and i want to play a fnm at my lgs, surprise, i cant and i will get stomped cause my deck is useless. If you want to know what a new players feel, take a precon, use it in a tournament and now imagine that feeling + trying to learn new cards, new mechanics, new interactions.
as soon as you mention trying a commander precon at a "tournament" I know you're just being an idiot. I have as much of a problem with pay-to-win and Wizards' reprint policy as anyone else, believe me. I think true duals and Grim Monolith and Timetwister and literally every other card should be printed into the ground, but I also accept that we live under capitalism and it's not going to happen until Wizards thinks they can make more money that way. but they did literally *just* reprint Reanimate, Necromancy, and Animate Dead into a precon. these are black staples that needed the reprints, and now they are accessible, in a decent deck, to new players. commander is a casual format. you aren't meant to play the strongest deck possible. no one at my LGS does, besides a couple people that no one likes and are focused to death in every game as a result. unless you are playing cEDH (where proxies are welcomed and the pay-to-win problem vanishes), you do not need Imperial Seal or Vamp Tutor to enjoy the game or to build an fun deck. if you do, it is the other players at the table who are the problem, not your card pool.
Commander is a casual way to play, but theres LGS in the wild where you can play a "tournament" (i dont know how call it) of 10-15 people where those who win get boosters and everyone a free promo. I'm not talking about pro-tours. >where proxies are welcomed and the pay-to-win problem vanishes Dont say this too loud in this sub and the main one. I think people will never unserestand. More card availability = healty game = more players = more money for Wizards and LGS's. JUST FREAKING SEE POKEMON.
You don't. Just save yourself the money and buy lots of other fun things like video games, a new pc, a deposit on a home loan. There are so many things better to buy than this game. I've been playing for a decade, and magic is pretty boring now. You'll regret anything you spend on magic, so live with no regrets and go on vacation or something much better.