Is It Worth It To Buy A March Of The Machine Commander Deck? | A Magic: The Gathering Product Review 

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I don't mind less and less powerful new cards, but they definitely should include better reprints, especially the mana base is often hard to watch at.

I love the idea of them adding like 3 to 5 planechase cards to really add more to the format and add to explanation on planes we rarely get to go to

As someone that missed the original Planechase boat by a mile, I'm so glad that Wizards has started to reprint the cards and add new ones to the game. I just hope they do it for Archenemy as well.

Esper has always gotten powerful precons, on a wide variety of themes. Alela, Urza, Marneus Calgar, Aminatou, Oloro, just to name a few.

I'm glad I watched this before going to the LGS today! I was going to pick up Tinker Time to get Rashmi and Ragavan, but now I'm just buying the single 😄

I actually think that not having as many new card designs is a good thing. Made for commander cards are a little controversial and many end up becoming staples, which can feel hard to keep up with for many players. Since the cards existing and being legal becomes true whether or not one buys the precon itself, having or not having them in a precon does not affect the value of those precons unless they are super staples like dockside extortionist or the ikoria free spells.

Planechase and archenemy are two of my favorite ways to modify a game, including with Commander. So I like that you bring them both up in this video. Your idea to add a few planechase cards going forward to each deck would be amazing. I really think they could even do an archenemy series and then alternate between adding planechase and archenemy cards to each precon

When I first saw Gimbal, I was super excited, as I've had a (hopefully) super fun deck idea for a long time with no real solid artifact commanders in Temur. I can't lie about still being excited, but I'm also disappointed at the overall deck list, as I was planning on picking up the entire pre-con. It could be worse, but it just means I'll likely buy both of the new Temur commanders from it as singles, and construct a deck, myself. Thanks for the information and honest review as always, Prof.

I'd be willing to trade a few of the made-for-Commander designs for solid reprints, to be honest, since we're getting way more new designs than I care for, but both of them getting hit is a real bummer

I'm still mad at Wizards over January, and this talked me out of buying these decks. Thanks, Professor!

At the moment I'm quite excited for the Commander Decks, but not these one. I'm looking for the Commander Decks we will get in August, with Eldrazi and Slivers °w°

I picked up the last copy of Cavalry Charge at my LGS Prerelease last night and it was selling for $50. I’m glad to know that I’m still coming out ahead monetarily even with the $5 price hike. The deck looks fun to play, and as a new player, I appreciate the preconstructed decks. I also really appreciate all the hard work you put in to educate both new and old players. It really helps enjoy the game more. Thanks Prof!

Thank you Prof for giving planechase some real love. We played it on my channel a couple episodes ago on play a land and pass.

Thank you for an excellent review! Helps a lot to navigate me through MTG. 👍

Absolutely love this series!

As someone who doesn't play commander and just makes budget 60 card decks at home, I absolutely *adore* these products, simply due to the fact how they *crater* random 2-5 dollar cards down to pennies. Fiery Confluence for less than a quarter? Gilded Goose now just 25 cents? I literally can't stop winning. Wizards will keep reprinting everything into the ground, hopefully allowing me to build literally any deck I want. Fingers crossed for 50 cent Goyfs and Snapcasters in the near future!

Always love your honest opinions about commander precons. Thank you for helping me save my money for singles. 😅

I love the idea of every precon coming with a couple planechase cards. then each person could have like 3-4 that they pick that works good in their decks, then they can all shuffle together between each person before the game starts.

Prof! This sole video save us some much time, effort and even money!! For those of us who doesn't have the time to really dig into every detail of each set but we really do wanna know about it I just want to say THANK YOU! You do such an impecable work!

Reaction seeing the video thumbnail: "Wait, there are five of them this time?" I seriously forgot this was the old "Commander Christmas" release.

Nice video prof , good analysis of the overall playability and financial value going on with these new decks. I think I will wait a while to purchase any of these decks, the most exciting things coming out of these decks are the planechase cards, because plane chase is a lot of fun and look forward to playing it more

Went to my first pre-release last night and had a blast! Thank you for introducing me to this hobby, Prof!

Always appreciate your take on these deck Prof, and I agree with what you've said here. I'm still holding onto my preorder for the Knight deck, I think it looks fun. And I am excited about some of the new cards in the +1/+1 deck for my Gruul counters deck, but there really is one clear deck above the rest. Bummer about Gimbal, already was going to be a tough sell being so similar to precon Urza, and that deck list doesn't do him any favors. Will be very curious to see how the LotR and Masters precons shake out - cautiously optimistic, but wouldn't be surprised if the value wasn't there either.

Thanks Prof excellent review

I have started to try my hand at Commander and I started watching your videos. I've played long enough that I'm trying to make my own instead of using precons, but I did pick up a MotM box yesterday and pulled some cool cards, so I like the set overall. Don't worry, it was just for fun. I know to buy singles when going for something specific. Thanks for the great content. I hope to meet you one day at an expo or something, as I am a local of the area as well. If I do, I'll give you my newly acquired Syvelun since you love merfolk so much! Lol

At the very least, as someone who loves Planechase, I'd love to see every commander deck which is connected to a mainline set come with a planar card related to the plane of that set.

I would love to see the Professor's take on a "Tinker Time" precon, that would be way better than what wizards put out

Thank you so much professor 👌 Great Job

The hot lion deck definitely has my eye. You were totally correct about seeing a discount on these decks soon after launch and along with a amazon credit I have, definitely think this is gonna be a good deal for me

Just bought Cavalry Charge because of this video. Thanks Prof, keep up the good work :)

I’m glad I watch your videos to inform myself that not only do I need to buy singles, but I can buy singles for my commander deck I build myself. Instead of spending $$$ on a precon, I spend it on cards I want to and know I’m going to play.

I actually got the bright-palm deck as a gift considering foxes are my favorite animal (if you couldn't tell by my pfp) and I'm still gonna upgrade it because it was both a gift and my favorite commander, I always watch these reviews even if I bought a product. I look forward to upgrading it and make it viable! Thanks for what you do, prof

I actually really enjoyed how plane chase cards made mtg feel fresh and different, so even though I wasn't going to buy any more commander precons (because soooooo many) i went ahead and preordered these.

I was really excited for call for backup, mostly because of the commander and planeschase, I picked up the deck and sleeved it, and I was pretty disappointed that the deck I was so excited for just didn’t function how I wanted it to, I’m going to upgrade it and hopefully maybe it will be better, because I love the commander

giggled when read at 3:44 original car designs and thought: Oh no, Toyota! Great vid.

I appreciate the review. Thanks Prof.

I used to buy all the commander decks they released each year, used to. I now get maybe one each set and even then they just don't have to appeal they used to. Yeah I can just get the singles from each deck for half the price and that's probably the best way to go now...

Big ups on the planechase support. Makes me wish they include these with universes beyond commander decks. The fact that its PLANEchase and we would be able to curate our planar deck to be a tour of the "multiverse-beyond" planes.😯

I got the Tinker Time deck and i love it, the fact that the mini collector booster got me a third of my money back also helps

As a returning player who loves Tribal decks I like the approach of the Knight deck. Looking to upgrade it and bring it to my playgroup asap

Having played all 5 of these against each other, they play very well together and they’re a lot of fun. Personally, I think these rank as some of the best since Strixhaven and planechase was a very nice touch! I’d give these a solid B there’s some room for improvement (especially with the mana base) but they’re very enjoyable. If they go on sale, it should be an instant pick up

Thank you professor! Was just wondering about this... Also...I won my first round at a pre-release last night!! Wish I could be there for WhatNot, but that coincides with my work day. All the best!

one thing I appreciate in your videos is that you don't 100% value the decks on just pricing alone but rather on playability. I haven't played MTG in a while outside of arena. And moved more back into yugioh, but im always keeping my eye out for a solid precon commander deck that I can play with when I want to switch things up. And I almost bought one of these at walmart the other day as they had just fresh stocked everything, and they were only selling them for $35. Wouldn't be surprised if they dropped to $20 here in a couple months. One other this I think is happened is that people used to complain about the card value in any of the precon stuff, I remember going to a store and looking at the precon slandered decks just to see the value of the planes walkers. And it was like $15 for the deck but you could re sell the plains walker for like $30, and people threw a fit. So more than likely there trying to make these decks but not break the singles market at the same time. And this at the very least keeps mark ups on the starter stuff down a bit. Not saying its a good thing, but I know for a bit back in the day it was a pretty big issue with some people.

Thank you as always ❤

Gotta say, I am pretty over the moon with the return of Planechase cards in these decks! Definitely hope it’s a trend that continues; maybe we could even see Archenemy, Conspiracy, or a variation on that Theros hydra hunt thing included in future decks. Or if you want to get really spicy, Vanguard cards! Actually, those would have been a great fit with the Brothers’ War!

I reserved the Calvary charge commander and bought all the upgrades I needed the day spoiler videos hit. I’ve seen a good increase in everything purchased and definitely happy with my purchase. It went 2 for 3 today and was super fun to play

Thanks for another informative video. As a relative new player I always love hearing your opinions. Too bad about you stream being during the week. Don’t think my boss would be to happy me trying to get one of your giveaways. 🤪

Pre ordered the cavalry commander deck. Seems like it has the best synergy overall.

Looking forward to the sliver swarm analysis next month

Thank you! You just saved me a lot of money :)

The call for backup deck was considerably better with the alternate commander as the commander. 1/1 counter burn is awesome

Thanks for this prof. Waited for your video before buying the set. I think ill wait for a couple of months before buying this

I was able to pick up a deck at my LGS immediately, I grabbed Call for Backup because of both how much I liked the idea of Backup and for my love of foxes. Only cost me $40 and I can't wait to use it in person! I like the idea of boosting my creatures on the field with the abilities of backup creatures. Although I didn't get much of them during the pre-release, they had helpful abilities and were fun using! I am hopeful to upgrade it eventually, I want to slot in more backup cards and ones that care about the counters. Fixing the mana base is probably gonna be important, I'm not sure how fast regular edh is but I've heard cedh can be super fast

Can't wait to see Build-Your-Own-Gimble next week

Appreciate the review, I preordered all of these early, locked in at a good price, now going to cancel all but Cavalry Charge.

Thanks for the video Professor! Was thinking of getting tinker time, but I can clearly see that my time is better spent buying singles instead!

I really wanted the naya deck to have a flicker and etb subtheme which would've worked wonderfully with the backup mechanic. I expected it to be etb focused because that's what backup needs to be reusable and that's what the alt commander and some of the reprints should've been but despite every single alternate commander this far having had a different theme to the face commander, this one doesn't. It still only cares about putting as many counters as it can on single creatures.

The 10 planechase card addition is really exciting to me, it gives me some hope we will see something like this again in the future, maybe with more planechase, maybe with archenemey, maybe with some other fun big card variant. These alternate game modes can really make a commander night a ton of fun and I'm happy to see them getting at least a lil spotlight again. The lack of new designs I'm mostly okay with. I'm not a huge fan of cards that are designed for commander to begin with, however it is very disappointing to see those 5 cards were not replaced with high value reprints and instead seemingly just bulk.

Though, quote unfortunately the Naya precon truly is almost a full reprint of Coven Counters, I absolutely loved the commander Shalai and Hallar, they can be so fun and add a new twist to counter decks altogether, with the red support being a huge jump forward in the strategy. If you're like me and like the commander, and never played counter decks before, it's a great way to get into it!

What an interesting opinion Prof. I was thinking of divine convocation. My LGS still has this in stock. I think I will get it

I bought one, the knights. I don't buy precons, but I love tribal and its a really fun deck. I knew i was getting a raw deal comparing them to old precons but hey, its a really fun deck.

Great review.

I was already interested in the Divine angels deck before the set release and it was a lot of fun to play.

Better reprints are always nice, but man I really enjoy Planechase Commander. My superFLGS has been running monthly Planechase Commander nights for some time and it has been a ton of fun.

There is a typo in 4:02 ,car for card. Excellent video thoug

One problem with precons that have a +1/+1 counter theme is they're almost all the same.

Always very helpful in making decisions on whether or not to buy a product.

the rashmi and ragavan in the gimbal deck is so good. I played the decks on tabletop simulator last week and my favorite was the knight deck and then Gimbal

I’ve had a lot of fun playing in a pod of just precons and not worrying about people bringing upgraded decks. I bought backup , convoke, and the knight deck. I’ve had a ton of fun with convoke and haven’t tried the other two. Plane chase has also been a ton of fun

Heck yeah Planar maps! I always go with that variant when space permits.

Cavalry charge and call for backup are probably my favorites out of the five. Cavalry charge just seemed like a solid strategy, while I feel like call for backup can be fixed with what I got, assuming it’s just a land base issue.

Maybe reducing new designs for commander is due to our criticism of cards like True Name, Dockside, Fierce Guardianship, ect

I didn't get the chance to play Phyrexians at my prerelease (went Convoke instead and... it didn't go well) so I would pick up Growing Threat if I see it for a healthy discount. Great advice as always!

the convoke deck plays great out of the box. sure it's not fantastic, but it feels so damn nice. can't wait to upgrade it

Keep up the great content.

Ooof…that’s rough. Was surprised at the C grades at the end, was expecting a D or even an F for the last 2. Appreciate it Prof!

Getting the Naya deck personally, backup looks fun.

To be honest, this one is the first deck launches in a while where I'm not sure we needed to have five of them. Ikoria? Yeah, it wouldn't make sense to release any less than five when the set is wedge-themed. Strixhaven or New Capenna? Same thing. This one, though? Barring the understandable desire to put more Planechase into the world, I don't think we needed so many, especially with a major Commander release later this year. Still, I am somewhat excited to brew Call for Backup, if only because it's the most Kamigawa-centric one of the bunch (and I'm always rooting for the underdog, I guess). On a related note, why exactly does it not have the relevant Backup cards from the main set? I'm not even talking about the rares, a few key uncommons could've gone a long way!

I've preordered the Growing Threat precon solely on the basis that I wanted an Orzhov deck with an original design besides just draining opponents of their life points. Then I'm gonna upgrade it further. I'll be keeping a tab for the price drops of those decks, just in case.

I mostly want the planechase cards. I've always liked the concept of planechase, and even collected the whole original set.

Cavalry Charge will be the first Commander product I pick up since Galea's deck; Hero of Bladehold and Vona are two of my favourite cards of all time, and I lost my previous copies of them in a fire. That, and Esper Knights is a deck I've wanted to make work for a looooong time now!

Am I first? Even if I'm not, I love your content Prof! Keep it coming!

I picked up Divine Convocation because it's Jeskai and seemed fun, and it is a fun deck. But this was planned as my final wotc purchase. I know have all of my projects completed. This one rounded off my personal Jeskai trio of decks. I have a powered Hinata, a themed but optimal Gavi and then I'm leaving Kasla as it's precon. I thought the landbase was better than it's been so that was nice. But now all of my battle boxes and cubes are done. I'm out. Will stil be playing of course but for competitive I'll see you at the flesh and blood table

honestly the thing I'm most excited for about this product is the mini planechase die I imagine enough of these will be opened that I can pick one up for cheap

Picked up the best three decks before reading up on plane chase. Got Cavalry charge for $45, the other two for $35 each. Then I grabbed tinker time for $25, which was less than I was finding 10 plane chase cards for, which was the only reason I bought the deck!

This commander product is reminding me of the life cycle of the old precon decks from back in the day that were being released three to five a set. It started out relatively strong and quickly ran out of steam because card choice kept going down. They just run them too often and with too many because they want to emphasize the casual table play but they need another way to do that than just release the same stuff over and over.

Wanted to come back to this and thank the Professor for this kind of video again. I picked up the set for $100 on a 'capitalism extravaganza' sale and his review helped me pull the trigger mentally when I was dithering. I'm a super-casual and I like buying commander deck sets as some of the heavy lifting of deck building is done (and I can bring a few decks when visiting friends who are also super-casual).

Glad to see I wasn't alone in being underwhelmed when I took a look at the lists when they were revealed.

As a new player I'm happy enough about the 2 B-Ranked ones. Huge fan of the phyrexian archetype (so Growing threat might become my favorite) and divine convocation looks like fun as well. Didn't order Chavalry Charge because it currently costs around 50€ where I live (in several online shops. It's just not worth the current price, even for a new player).

I knew the eminence deck would he the best out of the lot. I wanted it for that ability As well as knight tribal, but I'm gonna go with the convoke deck!

Ill be honest, this set has helped reignite my spark for the game. All because my buddy saw Call for Backup and said I want that one. I got Growing Threat and our other buddy picked up Divine Convocation. The store didn't have Cavalry Charge and all they had after we left was Tinker Time

Up for grab 6 packs from the pre - 2B742-D142A-25A89-9F37A-DC855 - love the content, cheers from Poland

Did you do a review of the starter commander decks? I don't recall seeing it.

I personally was blown away by divine convocation for an out of the box deck, I’ve not played the number one in the video but as a returning player I have no complaints at all with divine convocation, it is so awesome!

I had to pick up a copy of Call For Backup at my lgs because I was so hyped for a multi-colored Fox commander that's fair to play (Sorry Zirda) as well as being fun. It's also my first +1/+1 counters matter Commander deck since I missed out on older such decks and never got around to building Vorosh the Hunter or Jenara. It did cost me $50 + tax, but eh while I could've gotten it cheaper at a big box store I feel as though my lgs appreciated the sale more.

They changed the deck box design! Seems like it fits sleeved cards now, finally.

I bought Tinker Time with the intent to edit it the entire time, and when I was doing so I realized they didn't put in any artifact lands and barely even ramp. In green! Also an odd focus on copying artifact tokens when Gimbal's whole stchick is DIFFERENTLY NAMED artifact tokens. My first ever commander deck was the Saheeli precon so i've basically just been smushing the two decks together lol. Another thing that shocked me was that Oviya Pashiri wasn't included in the precon when she is literally the perfect green card for this deck. I've had her for a while (the idea of building her as a commander has been a pet project of mine for a while since I love the character) and was looking for some place to slot her in and was really happy to do so, and in my brief testing she worked SUPER well. Why wasn't she included in the precon WOTC? She's not even an expensive reprint! Definitely a lot better design could have gone into this one, but i'm still happy with my purchase as I work well with a baseline vs building the deck from scratch. Tinker Time has a good blueprint but it needs some extra tinkering. 😂

I wish I seen this video before today I went to my local game shop and got call for backup because it stood out to me and wasn't all that impressed when I opened it felt like a lot of scrambled random things like there wasn't really any heart put into it but I guess I'll see you when I play it maybe I'll have to tweak it 🤷‍♂️

I appreciate you taking your time dissecting these Commander decks. It's too bad Wizards likes to go the CHEAP route. Thank you for the video Professor.