thank you for continuing to push wizards to put arena codes in products. As a very limited budget player who does both paper and digital magic, those codes go a long way towards helping people like me to have more fun and better value at the game as a whole. I hope they start to listen soon, because while I do like planeswalker decks, I know they're not for everyone, and more product should come with codes.
Just pointing out the obvious, Arena has much higher profit margin than paper. Therefore there will not be codes since they would lose money on that trade. Big stores open hundreds of these decks for singles and would sell the codes separately undermining their Arena profits.
@@vekeuimonen11 Dude Pokemon TCG includes codes for nearly every products, including codes for promo cards and decks. They're not losing any money. There's an active trading community on the PTCGO where people who buy physical card packs are able to trade their digital packs for specific digital cards. It works out great.
@@bigz4349 Very different market and very different approach. Arena was designed to reach large audiences and to eliminate secondary market. Trading just doesnt fit into it. if you think about how much more money pokemon tcg online would make if they sold all those online products instead of gifting them away you surely see why they dont want to go the same way with mtga. Arena actually get players into magic where as I have never heard anyone getting into pokemon starting with online play (Although I know very few pokemon players anyway and play it completely for the nostalgia)
@@vekeuimonen11 And I'll argue that the PCTGO system is better because of that. Progression is limited to either building your collection through physical card purchases, buying codes from secondary markets or grinding entirely through online. All option that help to bolster a healthy community
@@bigz4349I cant argue against that from player perspective. But just think how little wotc gets from a paper booster and how much they get from digital one, the digital booster brings in more cash with less requirements. They are in it for the money, as long as people buy boosters on arena they arent going to give them away for free (same for other products).
THANK YOU about the Arena code thing. When I saw RNA Planeswalker decks had arena codes I got excited just because I'd be able to pick one of this year's challengers online.
Just pointing out the obvious, Arena has much higher profit margin than paper. Therefore there will not be codes since they would lose money on that trade. Big stores open hundreds of these decks for singles and would sell the codes separately undermining their Arena profits.
No, it doesn't. There's a huge amount of MTG players that only buy their cards at Walmart and end up only playing kitchen table, or at small FNM's. Now, if you had said the most heard in the Magic community.....
The Professor's comments are always so useful and the suggestions to improve the product in its design, such as chucking in more rares and adding arena codes are both positive for the mtg community and wizards themselves. Prof needs to infiltrate their design team.
Picked up United Assault last night, awesome deck! Got it sleeved up in my deck box this morning, gonna be a good weekend 😊 Thanks for the exquisite review professor 👍
Im new into MTG and a friend of mine told me to buy the united assault deck. He got Arcane Tempo and - i was just learning mtg - I smashed him three times in a row! This was awesome for my first MTG gaming experience and now im hyped for more. Also thanks for your helpful and informative content brian! Helps me out a lot!
I’m also new! My friend taught me the game then told me to go to Friday night magic with him. I picked up the United assault (cause the store owner said it was the easiest lol) and then my friend demolished me with his custom mono red deck! I cri
Hey Prof, thanks for the constant reminder to support LGS. I was going to buy a box of Keyforge for a fun game weekend at my place with friends and co-workers. Instead I drove down to my LGS and bought a partially full box, but one that had plenty enough decks for the event. Passionate people who love what they do and need our support. Not to mention, ah hell. I'll leave story time for another time. Thanks for always mentioning it. You're doing all of us a huge solid. Players and the LGS we play at.
Thanks for another great review. I'm getting back into standard after a bit of an absence, and was looking for an affordable path to return to FNM. These decks were on Massdrop last week and I ordered them; I'm even more excited for them to arrive after watching this video!
My playgroup at my lgs is a semi-competitive edh circle but today we each bought a challenger deck, I got both the white weenies and the golgari midrange decks and my friends and I played with the decks sleeved out of the box and had a blast. The golgari is definitely a little under powered, but it's still fun if it's your playstyle. We're gonna be upgrading them all and play again next week. I adore this product and hope it continues.
I will be picking up an arcane tempo deck from my LGS soon! great video! and you are so right about arena codes. The hardest part about really getting into arena is getting a good deck, and this helps jumpstart new players, and gives remaining players a new way to play on the game, and practice their deck for FNM
11 AM, the moment my store opened, I walked inside and got myself the Arcane Tempo deck. After buying a guttersnipe, a couple Ionize, some Skewer the Critics, and a 'Thousand Year Storm' I had a powerhouse deck that just kicked ass in Friday Night magic! Thanks Wizards!
Arena brought me back to Magic after a long long time. Very thoughtful of you to point out the lack of codes, it would be a very cool feature. Now, about those decks, i picked the 4-set yesterday, i had it preordered in my LGS. They are awesome. I'm keeping 3 and gifting the golgari to a friend.
I personally run a BG Golgari w/ a wild growth package with loathed giant as a finisher with poison tip arrow and Izorni as a back up. Then use mulderhulk as my main pressure endlessly getting it with memorial... also picking up Chubas and other things along the way as I need them. If you want I can post the list here.
@@whatsupRay I would be interested in your list! I picked this up to play a few casual FNMs because I already had land upgrades but I do need a few finishers.
@@whatsupRay can you provide the list? also can i ask for some advice on BG golgari block decks since rotate is less than 6 months left methinks (Assassin's trophy as singles is officially off my list because of moneeeeeh)
@@hoshi314 1 Lotleth Giant (GRN) 74 9 Forest (RIX) 196 2 Kraul Foragers (GRN) 135 7 Swamp (RIX) 194 1 Hatchery Spider (GRN) 132 1 Izoni, Thousand-Eyed (GRN) 180 4 Molderhulk (GRN) 190 1 Vivien Reid (M19) 208 4 Ravenous Chupacabra (RIX) 82 2 Overgrown Tomb (GRN) 253 2 Woodland Cemetery (DAR) 248 2 Find // Finality (GRN) 225 4 Glowspore Shaman (GRN) 173 2 Poison-Tip Archer (M19) 220 1 Vraska, Regal Gorgon (GRN) 269 1 Underrealm Lich (GRN) 211 2 Golgari Guildgate (GRN) 248 4 Stitcher's Supplier (M19) 121 4 Merfolk Branchwalker (XLN) 197 3 Jadelight Ranger (RIX) 136 1 Thrashing Brontodon (RIX) 148 2 Memorial to Folly (DAR) 242 *i play best of ones so i dont have a side board.. I actually dont run wild growth walker, because fogger heals more reliably and i decided against assassins trophy to keep the deck more minion based (plus memorial to folly into chuba into mulderhulk pulling back out your memorial it pretty nuts). One last thing, i accidentally got the wrong vraska planeswalker, either go glogari queen or relic seeker for a alternate finisher..... other then that i have had alot of success with this deck.
@@Sad7Statue 1 Lotleth Giant (GRN) 74 9 Forest (RIX) 196 2 Kraul Foragers (GRN) 135 7 Swamp (RIX) 194 1 Hatchery Spider (GRN) 132 1 Izoni, Thousand-Eyed (GRN) 180 4 Molderhulk (GRN) 190 1 Vivien Reid (M19) 208 4 Ravenous Chupacabra (RIX) 82 2 Overgrown Tomb (GRN) 253 2 Woodland Cemetery (DAR) 248 2 Find // Finality (GRN) 225 4 Glowspore Shaman (GRN) 173 2 Poison-Tip Archer (M19) 220 1 Vraska, Regal Gorgon (GRN) 269 1 Underrealm Lich (GRN) 211 2 Golgari Guildgate (GRN) 248 4 Stitcher's Supplier (M19) 121 4 Merfolk Branchwalker (XLN) 197 3 Jadelight Ranger (RIX) 136 1 Thrashing Brontodon (RIX) 148 2 Memorial to Folly (DAR) 242 *i play best of ones so i dont have a side board.. I actually dont run wild growth walker, because fogger heals more reliably and i decided against assassins trophy to keep the deck more minion based (plus memorial to folly into chuba into mulderhulk pulling back out your memorial it pretty nuts). One last thing, i accidentally got the wrong vraska planeswalker, either go glogari queen or relic seeker for a alternate finisher..... other then that i have had alot of success with this deck.
*Agree on the codes !* … as far as the lists go, i might have been in for the Golgari deck (sucker for G/B), but there seem to be some very weird inclusion and omissions in the list that make me not to interested (no Vraska's contempt ? no Carnage Tyrant (not even a bone dragon?), what are those Llanowar Elves doing in there? No Uncommon B/G split card of which the name alludes me atm.). Like i get that this is not the Sultai decklist due to lead-time in design/testing/production, but the list does miss some clear cards (even as one-off) for a competitive Golgari deck :( … (and even for an upgrade to Sultai, which basically just needs some Negates in the side (and a landbase to cast those), it seems far off, sure the Hydroid makes it the truly competitive Sultai version, but the deck was and is strong enough to just be competitive with some Negates to make sure you can get important plays through against control).
@@stickmanphil12345 ok weird, so I've played Golgari on Arena ever since the release (be it without the explore package), and i have tried Llanowar Elves in that deck a couple of times (with a ramp package), but found it mostly under performing, and it's a bad top deck. And sure, the one time you get it on turn 1 and the opp doesn't instantly removes it, it can get you a bit of ramp early game. But seeing how the deck basically has a longer game strategy, i found that early advantage negligible. Now this might be different once Hydriod is added to the equation, but even there, due to the explore you are bound to have tons of lands (and thus mana) and still have that longer game strategy, so i dunno, i would probably cut it for other cards tbh.
@@stickmanphil12345 Now obviously you will ask. what did you play, if not Explore Nor Ramp. 1x Artifact with Spinal art that lets you put stuff in GY and put some back for a sac of it. 4x Reassembling Skeleton 4x w.e. 3/1 elf that dunk stuff in GY. 1x Bone Dragon Also Several cards that need sacrificial costs to be paid. And the Skeleton was basically the engine for that. The strategy was basically to resolve a Bone Dragon, 6/6 Demon that needs a sac, or Tyrant… Or to get the split card board wipe on a creature that wouldn't die to the wipe. So, i ran a sac/gy package instead… The 'core' though, was and is still pretty much the same and yeah, those two cards we all mention are pretty integral to the deck. (and 1 copy would have been enough to include tbh. i just ran one of each and that seemed just fine).
@@stickmanphil12345 Addition to the sac/gy package; i have found that since the release of Allegiance the strategy has started to under perform against certain new decks, and also other decks have adjusted to Golgari as a whole. So still trying to find the right answers to adjust, without having to run what everybody else is running :P
Llanowar Elves are great in Golgari or Sultai Midrange. There's a reason they're included in most deck lists. They're incredible in the opening hand and explore allows you to graveyard them when the come around late game.
Thanks for the great review! I purchased the Lightning Aggro and attended my very first FNM Standard event last night. It's a fun deck to play with while I got the feel for my LGS meta and the Standard format. Amazing I came first and won myself an Augur of Bolas promo card! Which I'll be using in my Pauper U/B deck. Thanks again for all your MTG contents!
Just bought the mono red and will play in FNM this coming Friday with it. So excited to get back into paper ;) Izzet drakes are next for me, and then I may transition into a mill deck. I can foirmly say Arena got me back into MTG, and I couldn't be more excited.
I completely agree with your rankings Professor! I recently taught my wife to play Magic and I got her the United Assault Challenger Deck and she is currently 10-2 with it in Friday Night Standard Magic Play Tournaments.
I'm actually a fan of the red deck and the white deck because they are very similar to ones used by my two favorite players. Kinda adds some value to them for me personally. I mean they are super similar to everyone's deck for the Arena Mythic,but still lol. I don't have a PC to play Arena,so the codes don't sway me one way or another. I'm thinking of giving the ones from my WAR prerelease kit and Gideon deck to someone so they aren't completely wasted. I just recently started playing again after seeing War of the Spark everywhere. Before that the last time I was diehard was fourth edition. Long story short I've become a big fan of the channel in that small amount of time. Keep it up!
Went to a local game store in a different town to buy some removal spells for a green black deck I was going to build and they told me I should come back tomorrow (Friday) and by the golgari deck so now I'm not going back to get the deck and I'll just find them online. Thanks Professor
I really want to get into Magic by trying out a mono white deck because of Learning about a character like Gideon so I’m glad to hear United is that good. Thanks mate.
I completely agree with you on your stance of them having Arena codes included withe these products. Arena should sell these decks at a low fixed price; to keep people from trying to profit from the codes. I'm an EDH player. I just like the boxes because they hold a mini D6 set and tokens.
If Pokémon can put codes in all their products for online why can’t MTG? Just like you said it will help bridge the gap between paper and digital players! Sounds like common sense to me 🧐
Seriously Prof, thanks so much for the work you do -- knowing you built them all and tested them extensively before release is such great research to have! Keep up the awesome work!
Hi! I started playing about a month of two and just looked at this video. I started buying a planeswalker deck of Ral, Stormcaller and liked the character and stuff and the idea behind the deck itself. The workers of the store where I play other TCGs told me about the challenger decks but I was doubting because I was just started playing so I did some research and the blue/red deck works pretty good with Ral! Thanks a lot professor!
I grabbed a set last year, and already got my set this year. I leave them as is, and sleeve for casual games with friends, and it also allows me to play standard with my buddies who do play that format.
I got the Arcane Tempo and absolutely love it! I have won quite a few times with it already, though I have also lost a few times from not drawing well. I tacked on a few more lands and will be upgrading the Izzet Guildgates, at the very least adding a Sulfur Falls for my fourth. I am also adding Enigma Drake, he fits really well. Essentially I could have a 23/4 Drake lol. In one game of four players, I survived to second place with nothing on my battlefield for half of the game and then a 2/2 Goblin Electromancer for the third quarter. In the end, I added two enchantments to my Electromancer giving him flying and +3/+3. The only reason I lost was because my opponent had a 13/13 flying creature.
im definitely buying the Izzet and Mono Red decks.. That Izzet deck is basically my favorite shell of that deck and you can add a few cards here or there to make it into one of the top tier decks right now... Same thing with Mono-Red.. It's essentially the top tier Mono-Red deck minus Skewer the Critics and Light up The Stage... Can't wait to get that Izzet deck... CANNOT WAITTTTTT
I really like these, since they drastically reduce the Price of singles! Looking forward to getting History of Benalia, Legions Landing, Rekindling Phoenix, Chainwhirler etc, for casual games
As someone who teaches the game to quite a few new people these decks are so much better than the usual starters with 60 cards where everything is a one of usually. What happens with those decks is the new player is just overwhelmed with so many different cards he's both playing himself and against and it really slows down the game when you have to keep 're reading everything multiple times. I hope these become a yearly product.
Because of the cost of the cards in Arcane Tempo, my local shop put those decks behind the counter to try and lessen the chance of someone walking in just to buy and flip. Which I have to say, is very fair. To get the deck for retail and support the local shop is the way to go.
Woah woah woah hold your horses! That ajanis pridemate was from war of the sparks! I know this probably doesn’t mean anything but it’s weird to see cards from a set that hasn’t even come out yet to be in circulation
As a returning player I purchased the Arcane Tempo and Lightning Aggro. Loved them, I just wish I could find some Enigma Drakes and Rals for Arcane Tempo. As for the Mono Red, I just added some Light up the Stage... it work wondes. Thanks for the review Prof! (Now I'm tempted to purchase the White one... D: )
You are absolutely right about no codes being a huge mistake. I just got into Magic this week and you hyped these decks just to tear it all down with the news of no code for arena :'(
Dan Johnson I would rather support a local store, but if they are okay with doing that then I would just go to Walmart and pick up the one I wanted for msrp
I am REALLY disappointed about not having Arena codes included. I don't get to play IRL very often, but play Arena almost daily. After seeing codes included in Planeswalker decks, I was very hopeful. This exclusion will keep me from purchasing these decks.
Its funny that deadly discivry was supposed to be the weakest, and yet ive manged to beat arcane tempo twice while playing 1v2 basicly :D and even if is weak i just love it ;)
The Golgari is a lot like my own deck. The thing is, in my deck I use Carnage Tyrants and Doom Whisperers. The deck doesnt need to be Sultai, but you're on point with the need to something to win the game with. I think it's counting too much with Eldest Reborn snatching something good (I get some victories like that from time to time, but you cant relly on it, right).
I am old player from Ravanica and Time Spiral Block, looking for few fun decks to play with my brother (he played when i did) and a few new players. I was looking how to have a few simple decks for new players, but still fun for older players. And ofc it needed to be affordable. In my research a have reduced me to 3 choices. 1. Game Night by MTG wizard of the cost - It's 5 decks, balanced together, greate for beginners and very cheap. Down side, older players may be bored very soon. At my local mtg store it's about 40$ 2. Card Kingdom Battle decks - Fun and easy decks but shipping international is too expensive. If i want to buy one deck shipping is 45$ for a 9.99$ deck. That is just to much and i am so sad i can not afford that option. 3. Old Challenger decks - This are very fun deck for skilled players, they around 25$ - 55$ at my local MTG store. Down side, hard for new players and would have to have a lot of patients with them to learn them. Any one maybe have any other ides?
I believe the reason that Eldest Reborn recursion is happening is to kill the opponent's beaters and take them as your own. That being said, you were right to mention Carnage Tyrant. Although it will soon be out of the meta, it is still a serious contender and more importantly a card with which this deck cannot deal if it comes down on the opponent's board.
Great video! I would love to have a guide to budget upgrading these decks to be as balanced against each other as possible. I’d like to have these decks to play causally for fun but would want them to be as balanced against one another as possible.
My "local game store" is currently selling Arcane Tempo at the price of what equates to $ 47.03. I would say it is cheaper to buy it from Amazon US and bring it to my country at that price..
I did play Lightning Aggro at fnm yesterday. Went 3-1. The best with these decks are the attendence at LGS increases. I havent played standard since Shadows and i wasent alone newcomer that friday. These decks are awesome for the LGS!
If there had been arena codes I might have picked one up. The omission is sad because there was one in the last planeswalker deck (Dovin) I purchased and I have gotten great value out of it on arena. None of these decks are in my wheelhouse but the sulfur falls would have gotten me to pounce on the izzet build. Alas, no code, no moolah.
I didn't find it too hard to grind into an ok Izzet Drake build, but yeah, woulda been nice to grab a mono red and have 2 decent Arena decks for not much
Just pointing out the obvious, Arena has much higher profit margin than paper. Therefore there will not be codes since they would lose money on that trade. Big stores open hundreds of these decks for singles and would sell the codes separately undermining their Arena profits.
I was looking forward to these, but with no arena support I may not be getting all 4 as I was planning. As a casual player I do have most of the pieces in digital, but getting both physical and digital would have been worth it
To be fair, the G/B deck IS a significantly powerful deck, but lacks consistency in that some of the cards aren't there for the version many people were running. What you need is the reanimate spell that costs 5 and gets back a 1,2,3 to charge up branchwalkers and get yourself some of the 6/6 flyers for 5. It's what most people on arena were running to counter the heavy aggro and red decks.
The fact that Pokemon TCG has a code option, in every booster pack, for their online format it's a sign that Magic has to improve its relationship with Arena.
Holy Moley, I leave for 13 yeears and they print Dauntless Bodyguard! What would Isamaru and the Savanah Lion say to that! Thanks for these Videos! They are bringing me up to speed again! Good Lord the Powercreep on the Red one drop creatures! Its beautifull! But...well....
There is another reason to pick up these decks. If you're still working out how to build a decent competitive deck, this is an easy way to get your hands on a complete one that's ready to play. See how it works, see all the pieces in it, and learn to play new strategies that would otherwise be too foreign to build.
I find interesting that big chunk of cards in Lightning Aggro are from new sets, which makes it more compelling for me than United Assault. There is a good chance I will be able to play it with minor tweaks even after a rotation. Short term value vs long term value is maybe something, which could be added into the review. Like always, thanks for another great video!
I personally run a BG Golgari w/ a wild growth package with loathed giant as a finisher with poison tip arrow and Izorni as a back up. Then use mulderhulk as my main pressure endlessly getting it with memorial... also picking up Chubas and other things along the way as I need them.
The most surprising event of my life was when I bought a 30 dollar red aggro deck at walmart to experiment with. As soon as I opened it, I saw that it was clearly good, but the most surprising part was when I saw that a pretty much copy and paste version of that deck was on a 5-0 win streak and was in the top 8. Wtf.
I went and purchased the Mono White deck and played with it, you are correct, straight out of the box it was fun and competitive. I made a few minor adds, Settle The Wreckage and it was a tougher deck then.
Honestly, if you want to get into paper magic, get two of these. Got the white wheenie and the mono red for 44€ total at my local game store, threw in a couple of sleeves and ended up paying 50€ total. That's roughly ≈14 Kebabs for comparison. Fair deal imo.
Love your vids Prof!! A few new friends are just getting into mtg and I was thinking of directing them to the Challenger decks. Btw the low grade shows under the monowhite instead of the BG deck
Hi, I'm a new subscriber and returning player from the mid 90s and once again in the early 2000s. I have been watching your videos to get ideas on where to begin. Would you recommend one of these decks to use as a gateway back into the game? Thanks for your insights and knowledge you have provided for all of us!
Thanks for giving props to buy at your local game store! I definitely agree they should have codes in it. I'd even host Arena tournaments at my store if they gave me a way to buy gems to give out for prizing.
