Is It Worth It To Buy A Phyrexia All Will Be One Commander Deck? | A Magic: The Gathering Review 

Do me a solid and check out my Top 5 new cards from Phyrexia All Will Be One for Pioneer here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SKPKWyJMJyA.html . Even if you don't play Pioneer, we discuss some cool interactions and combos they may give you ideas for other formats!

I feel like “the product is well designed and fun, but the price is too darned high” is Magic’s new motto.

To be extra clear: The Zendikar Rising Commander decks only had 3 original card designs, but by Kaldheim these $19.99 Commander decks had increased to 8 new card designs. These ONE Commander decks only have 10 original designs. This reduction from 15 began with Dominaira United.

Deadly Rollick should have been reprinted in the corrupting influence deck.

It's a shame these are so expensive. Really solid foundations, and good, centralized play strategies as well.

I remember you were really upset with the value of the Gruul kamigawa commander deck so i didnt pick it up, then about 2 months later it was on sale for 20 canadian dollars which is like half price, and with the sale it was actually an amazing value and a great pickup! I will do the same for these.

They could have given us a Skithiryx in the Corrupting Influence deck. Arguably the best banger of an Infect card at way too high of a price right now.

It's why I liked the dihada precon. The legendary swamp land from old kamigawa that gives target creature fear was a sweet addition. Turned me on to an old card I didn't know about. I'd rather secret lair not be a thing and actually give commander decks awesome reprints

Prices are sky-high in my country, so I bought the singles I wanted for Corrupting Influence. Spent like $30 against the $65ish price tag in LGS for the sealed deck.

The way I understand how commander decks are designed is that a designer gets one as a pet passion project. So that's why they are suppose to be fun but they got to choose the cards they thought synergized well and probably given an option to develop a card to help which is where the unique cards come from.

This video has been pretty eye opening to me, and thanks for allowing me to see the actual prices before I wasted any money!

Prof, thank you for this review! You seemed really excited for the gameplay of these decks and - in my opinion - that's what makes Commander precons interesting. Most new players I've seen care more about solid playability than resale value, so I always look for the former when preparing/searching for decks for them to enjoy this great game 😊

I love how honest you are. Thanks prof! Excited for the poison one when it drops in price

I was waiting for that video to decide. Thank you so much! Love from Brazil 🇧🇷

I always wait to watch your videos before my purchases if possible. Thanks.

I bought and played the Corrupting Influence deck last night and I really liked it. It felt competitive right out of the box and was really fun to play. There are some small upgrades I will make but overall, it’s a pretty well thought out and synchronous deck. I really like the new corrupted mechanic also. It’s a really great addition for infect/poison decks.

The support for Mardu Experience counters makes me happy. That’s a deck I’m working on, and I’m glad Proliferate isn’t as necessary anymore, with so many strong options to gain them.

I feel we should have gotten some additional cards with the Toxic mechanic to really drive it home. The Skrelv cards would have been nice additions. Also they really could've given us more of the cards with Infect updated with the Phyrexian typing. Still a great deck!

I feel like the poison deck suffers from the same problem that decks like the Shorikai and mutate decks suffered from. To stick to the theme they want they had to focus on cards that only fit in that narrow deck type, in this case an infect/toxic theme. If you look at infect decks and balance it would be tricky to balance the deck while trying to fit in high value reprints used in infect decks (skittles, blightsteel, and triumph of the hordes being notable ones). Most other infect cards that would be looked at are worth pennies.

Great evaluation! I had the same feeling. Well done!

I was SHOCKED when I found myself preferring the design of the Boros equipment/tokens deck, a style I usually dislike, over the Abzan deck. I find the Abzan deck is pretty parasitic, and already very tight and narrow in it's focus, so upgrading the deck seems very streamlined and doesn't provide a whole lot of options to change the gameplan of the deck with the commanders provided. Otharri is definitely my favorite commander from the whole set, really cool and aggressive take on experience counters with a fantastic recursion ability to bypass the commander tax. Can be used in a token strategy (obviously) but also an aggravated assault strategy, can get massive with equipment and auras that he stronger the more creatures you control, or even as a rebel tribal leader. Really cool card on all levels.

thanks alot prof i wouldnt know what to do without your valuable insight.

Just bought both of these decks yesterday as my first paper mtg purchase since Throne of Eldrain and I have to say they are really fun decks to play with fun cards I remember from when I was a kid. Honestly regardless of value you can't put a price on the joy these decks have already brought me

Nearly 1M Professor So Happy For You!

thank you for this i have been waiting for review before i buy; gonna wait until they're on sale :3

Great analysis! Definitely agree. Best call is wait and see the prices drop.

Long time viewer first time commenter. Just wanted to say thank you for all the work you and your staff do for the Magic community. Knowing there is a consistent place where I can get the latest and greatest in the MTG universe makes it easy for me to continue this titanic hobby we call trading card games. Thank you for all your hard work! 🙏

Picked up the Boros deck last night, cant wait to get some games in this weekend I will say, I think part of the reason these are a much lower value than the previous commander decks, is that the price of magic cards has tanked recently. At least I've noticed all my moxfield decks have devalued quite a bit.

Another prof video to start my friday? Yes please! This one really got me thinking about how the prices/grades of these decks change with the following set release. I end up waiting to buy the singles since they often are much more affordable in my budget. Would be a fun idea to see a video that discusses specific commander decks prices and grades in present day compared to the release day too. Keep up the great work and critical evaluations!

The good thing about Ixhel is that even though it's 3 color the land base is not bad at all. Fairly easy to upgrade. And it plays well out the box. I'd agree to wait on the price drop to $25 or so, but at that price snatch them up.

I want the corruption deck for sure. My buddy surprised us last night playing that in our pod and did well.

I would´ve maybe added a reprint of contagion engine for the poison deck, since it has contagion clasp and it would maybe serve as an incentive for players to build something like a hapatra deck using some of these cards.

I really like the look of the rebellion rising deck, not only does it fit how i like to play but it also includes several cards i was looking to include in my myrel soldiers deck that i'm working on. but this video has definitely convinced me to wait for a sale. anointed procession would have been an awesome (though expensive) inclusion in the deck.

Something I don't really see anyone mention when talking about the financial value of the newer commander deck cards is the fact that the cards aren't exclusive to the decks anymore since they come in set boosters and collectors booster now. The added supply drives down the price.

Thanks for the good video brother cheers from Brazil ☺

Hi Professor, I had a mental health breakdown back in 2021. I typed MTG into RU-vid after Week #2 of being in bed & found your channel! I was only looking at MTG as it was an 'easy' subject to distract myself with, and at that point pure nostalgia. Your videos got me back into the game, and also helped distract me during that horrible time. I'm currently thriving and am in the best place ever. I was playing MTG Yesterday & I thought I should at least extend my thanks.

I really appreciate all the detail you go in about the decks. I agree it's a but much for value. I did however order the Poison one for around 40. Maybe Wizards will one day see the light of Prof wisdom.

Comparing this to when Command Zone looked at the prices, it’s bonkers that the Corrupting Influence cards has dropped so much.

Once again, these videos are incredibly helpful. I was super excited to get a new Abzan precon but I waited until this video to see if they were worth the $50 my LGS is asking, and I'm really glad to see I was right to not pick one up immediately for that price.

Well.. i was going to get both, ill wait a few months and see of the price goes down... thanks for the all you do for us.

I'll admit that I'm still really new to MTG, but having started with a borrowed deck, moving to Mishra's Burnished Banner, and having bought Corrupting Influence, I'm really looking forward to the idea of building a better deck with them as bases. I've had fun, and that's all I really care about.

New to magic and played the Ixhel deck against very experienced players at my LGS. Haven’t upgraded it at all yet and felt like it could compete. A lot of fun

happy to hear that we agree on this one. For the first time in 2 years, I did not buy the precons.

Fair evaluation. Good video

What's interesting is that these decks had a lot higher value prior to announcement. The very fact that things were getting reprinted has brought down a lot of prices. Command Zone had the reprints in corrupting influence at $95 before announcement. Grafted exoskeleton is in there and was nearly $10, but it's plummeted since.

The host is very good at speaking. I appreciate the way he delivers the info

Picking up singles for Commander precons with the unique cards has been my go to for a while.

Great! Precons should 100% not be about value and should 100% be about gameplay and accessibility. These clearly are two of the better precons in recent memory. They'll drop to 35 soon and I will 100% be picking up Corrupting

I've been looking at this pre-made decks because I'm trying to find a way to get fun with mtg outside of arena... Not sure I can find a way to be happy with pre-made tho. Thanks for these videos of course, they're very helpful. If I go pre-made I just gotta find a commander I like enough to start small and maybe build with over time. Thanks professor

I think Rebellion Rising will keep its value the best partly because phyrexians are the new hotness but also poison isn’t an evergreen mechanic like tokens are. Neyali and Otharri are likely to only get better with age as sets introduce new ways to make tokens. Poison is unlikely to be a thing any set focuses on. Maybe there’ll be the occasional commander that does it like that dude from Kaldheim but that’s far from a focus

great vid as usual

The red-white one is already selling for 29.99 EUR (approx. 32 USD) in Germany, which is a far more reasonable price I think. Love rebels since Prophecy anyway. Thanks for the great video, Professor! 👍

I fortunately found them cheaper than this in my home country, and I must say, I think they are probably some of the most fun precons out there. Played two matches these last two days and the first was won by Corruption Influence and the other was won by Rebellion Rising. One last match will determine which one is best, I guess, but my conclusion is that they are incredibly fun and probably some of the best precons I have tried. I feel the exact same way you do, Prof: It feels bad to say that they aren't worth their price in value, seeing as they are incredibly fun to play.

What's really nice is on prerelease at my store it's posible to trade all your pulls (even relatively low value ones) for whatever the new precon is

God I really hope next set has 5 monocolor commander decks each helmed by a praetor, it’s been so long since monocolor got precon love. (Maybe then the mana bases will be decent out of the box)

I already bought the infect precon yesterday at Mox Boarding House. Its awesome.

At my LGS the boros one is already at 20 bucks including VAT xD I might need to buy it after this mostly positive review

I got the corrupting influence one because it had a lot of poison stuff, altogether during prerelease weekend, and I was planning on upgrading it into a poison bugs thing with vishgraz, the alternate commander. While the pricing is "cheap" the availability of the cards inside wasn't really... because of a lot of them being over 10 years old, like the infect creatures. The upfront cost is bad though.

Normally when theres chase cards in a precon, i always pick it up, because i love having a collection of cards that all go together, and i love opening the decks! and normally with clever concealment and flawless maneuver, i would have picked up rebellion rising for the same reason... but other than those 2 chase cards, theres nothing else in the deck with any value at all, its actually cheaper just to buy the non bulk cards than it is to get the decks themselves

The average price for a new commander deck in Australia is generally $70AUD each, with some stores selling them in bundles with a discount ($100 for a pair, higher price for a 4-5 deck set depending), so it's seldom worth it but generally stores here don't discount stuff unless it's had terrible sales.

Here in my country, Corrupting Influence sold out even before the launch, but the Rebel deck is still available. I thought after seeing the previews that CI was a little inderwhelming, and the Rebellion deck was a lot more fun to play with, but still not good enough. Glad I was right in my first assestment of these decks, but I might wait to see what MotM brings for the precons, since there's 5 coming according to Amazon

Just waited for this video

nice pull with the glissa alternate art

I got both of the decks from TCGplayer for 70USD. That’s $35 per deck, I feel like that is way worth it

Played against Corrupted Influence and it is quite good out of the box.

I managed to pick up both for $100 CDN, slightly under MSRP. And opened up a borderless Ixhel in the rebellion sample pack, which was nice.

Good video as usual prof, personally I wont be buying these until there is a big price drop, it definitely would have been cool if deadly rollick or skithyrix the blight dragon would have been included in the corrupting influence deck

unfortunately i can´t take part in your giveaway on whatnot because im from germany :/ good luck to everybody else and thanks professor for all the effort and love you put in the content you produce regarding our everybodies favorite game!

I mean, I just got back into it. Rebellion Rising and Draconic Destruction have been great platforms, the latter I have since customized. These got me back in the game and have me back into the playing again. I think thats whats great about these. I can see how it gets frustrating tho when you see these decks and the cash grab for people who dont know better. AMAZING Video as always.

The release price of these recent precons has really made it difficult to justify picking them up lately. Which is a shame since the Ixhel deck looks fun, and even the Brothers War precons as well (which I still haven’t picked up either yet)

Well i allready did. but i still watch this cause i love your content. Love you prof

I actually like the thicker commander cards and would love a way for them to reprint all legends that have appeared in the annual commander deck release. (Set codes c11,c12,….) specifically I want the OG Edgar Markov

I think these will be worth it specifically for me. I pulled two mondraks at a pre-release and built a token generator deck on moxfield around mondrak. a good number of singles I would have to order and they are already in the poison precon. May pick it up despite the price just to have fun with and expedite building my mondrak as opposed to waiting for cardkingdom to ship out to me.

Picked corrupting influence up at my LGS for $40 I’m pretty happy with it

My local card shop had them at 33 and 38 respectively. And if your saying the only issue is the $45 price tag, I think it was definitely worth it at the amount I paid. Thanks professor

I've only recently come back to the game. The ONE prerelease, actually reignited my spark, so to speak. Met a lot of nice folks there, inviting me to join them, on one of the LGS's game nights even. They only play Commander, and Modern though. Standard is dead in my area, and while I have some Commander decks (Still got my old Sliver deck, with Sliver Queen as my commander), nothing's up to date, nor do I know if any of it even works anymore. Got a fair bit of fun cards in the prerelease, so I figure, making a commander around this set? Seems fun. So for me at least, getting one of these decks, then upgrading it, seems a good value, and will help me play with the others, with something a bit more up to date. Planning on fighting with the Phyrexians, and try this out. Maybe upgrade with a color more, and add in Atraxa. Got her during the prerelease, and she seems a fun commander too. Anyway, seeing your vids on the matter, helps a fair bit, as I can see the most important part of these decks are there: The playability. Might cost a bit more right now, but it will support my LGS, and I have the extra to spare, so I don't mind. Keep the work going Professor. You're doing some solid anylises, that helps for example, returning players, such as myself. ^^

Now that you mention it that's true : the mirrodin resistance deck is marked down at my lgs, while the phyrexian one is marked up to 60€ ! I guess it's a popularity thing

I just bought the Ixhel deck for $40 at my LGS, no regrets. It's my 3rd deck but my 1st precon and it was a blast to play! Even if I was the archenemy of the table . The pack within the deck had Atraxa so the net cost of the deck comes at about $20 for me.

I agree with the Professor. And i wish i could follow his advice not to buy now, but in my country they are rare and prices will never go down. Even stryxhaven at our local club is still full price. That being said, for me its the fun of these precons which matters. I am not a sweaty andy anymore, but care for fun only. Hence i play only with a limited group of people avoiding the rest. They are good for this. But yeah, last time i buy precons, plus the necrons if i can find them. The money will go for more...solid decks, even if limit is 100 euro/deck. But yeah, i look at fun. Can't put a price on that

I got my Ixhel deck for $55 CAD (before trade-ins), about $41 USD. Perfectly reasonable for me. I don't care too much about the financial value of a deck, thankfully. I wanted a unique and interesting deck, particularly with a Phyrexian theme, and I got that with Corrupting Influence! I also got the borderless Vraska, Betrayal's Sting in my collector sample pack, which is at $30 USD on tcgplayer right now so I lucked into some huge value and a card that is perfect for the deck itself! (I also got a showcase foil Necrogen Rotpriest which isn't worth much, but still synergizes with the deck.) Overall, I'm extremely happy with my purchase.

Been a couple of years since I last got a commander deck due to having less playtime lately, and it used to cost US$35 a deck (converted). Got a shock seeing the main retailer for these in my country selling them for US$60 today (converted). In the past I would get one or two for myself, and then buy one as a gift for my MtG friends' birthday or as a Christmas gift. Definitely not getting even one of them for myself at $60.

A video about what's the best preconstructed deck(s) in 2022, with updated prices for them, could be interesting

hoo boy I look forward to buying these for like $15-20 in about 2-3 months

I am definitely going to wait. I am about to buy the Painbow deck from DU to essentially turn it into a Jodah, The Unifier deck cuz it’s now selling for $36 and that way I can get all the basics for the mana base and a few legendary creatures to help. I am already planning to pack the deck full of some of my favorite legendary creatures that my play group hates to see!

I picked up the Rebel one at my LGS (for a more reasonable price). I was extremely annoyed at the lack of new or reprinted Rebel cards outside the commander. Even if they don’t want to put any of the tutor rebels in like Lin Sivvi, a Knight of the Holy Nimbus or Cho-manno would have been nice to see.

Watching this on Nov 27 and rebellion rising is $16. Most importantly though, it looks fun to me so I’m buying it!

Thnx!

Did you open the collector sample packs that were included? Pretty good chance for recoup in price with the Oil foils.

Ixhel has been very fun for me to play, the price I got mine at was £30 (so like $34 ish). I do wish they had a more original or old cards as a large chunk of it is cards from ONE. But adding Vorinklex in makes this deck stupid funny

These decks are getting so synergistic that with minor tweaks you have a strong commander deck.

I must say you are amazing. I love your reviews so I was playing magic probably in the 90s but playing a little harder and like 2008 and so there was this thing called commander and I purchased two decks and open them but I just leave them and put it in my boxes And so I have to pre-con decks and I have not updated them or anything in fact I even don’t even know how to play commander I have an idea but I cannot say I know 200% but how your reviews were saying that those two decks are great for new or players who are coming back and so I think I will purchase both those decks and of course I will try and update my counterpunch and political puppets! Thanks! By the way you say you went to community college now I’m ask you did you ever graduate from a four-year school or anything? I’m just wondering. You seem so successful and truly love what you rock.

I sure hope so!

I was able to get the Boros one for $38. I’m excited to play it.

Me and my buddy got one each on prerelease night. They’re tons of fun to play but I was definitely shocked at the lack of value. Not upset just definitely a stark contrast to other precons

Ya i got a local shop that you can get both combo'd for 70. After maths, 35 each. Personally i plan to snag singles from each. Even if they tank later at 3ish per card i want it is not a big deal.

I bought the 3 color with Ishkel I mean if you don’t wanna buy it for 40 or 60 depending where your at then wait but I’ll say it’s an fun deck and the poison tech has a lot of potential

As of this date, Rebellion Rising is going for CAD$40 (on sale from $45), and Corrupting Influence is a solid CAD$85 - from a competitive games retailer. Dang it, I really liked the look of Corrupting Influence, I might check some other shops

I got Corrupting influence for 35,-€ and am currently coming from a meet up. I played it 5 times, won twice and got close to wining twice (on the fith game they knocked me out first). It was very tense since everyone had to balance my poison and the thread of the other better decks. Even with, sometimes, little mana the Deck played suprisingly well. My personal MVP is Norn's Decree, if you can drop it early on, most players will avoid attacking you to not get hit by other players for the card draw. And as long as a player doesn't have a Poison counter, they can safely ignore it, so it can stay on the field for several turns.

I pulled that new lotr sword, dawn of a new age, and my buddy gave me horn of Gondor, so I figured I'd try to make a token deck. Turns out buying rebellion rising for $30 on sale was cheaper than picking out individual cards/a better bet than drafting a token deck that might not work xD

Regarding the high price tag on Corrupting Influence, I'm glad I was able to preorder it for much less than what it is currently (in the store I got it from, it is currently priced at 59 € while Rebelion Rising is priced at 42.90 €). It's especially egregious when you know that Corrupting Influence's price tag right now is almost as much as the Timeless Wisdom precon (the Jeskai precon from the Ikoria set), all because "hurr hurr poison counterz", rather than a chase card being the cause of the high price tag. Oh well, at least I can recommend the Rebellion Rising deck to a friend if we go to one other MTG store in Paris where it is priced at 37.90€. And if need be, I can let someone borrow the Corrupting Influence precon for a game or two (it's one of those precons I won't upgrade much, if at all, alongside the Exit from Exile deck and the Azorius Starter deck, the latter of which I upgraded the mana base a bit and changed Angler Turtle and Sphinx of Enlightment for Stormwing Entity and Sphinx of Foresight instead, reducing the amount of mana needed to cast these)