Who Should Buy the Commander Starter Decks?

“Magictating” is defined as getting into the zone with your Magic the Gathering collection--thinking, planning, organizing, reminiscing about past games, and imagining future games. It is a combination of hard thinking about the game and calm meditation, reveling in the joy it brings you.

There's really been quite a few preconstructed Commander products this year. The last one we're likely to get, hey who knows in today's age, is the Commander Starter Precons being released on December 2nd. Are these worth buying if you are an intermediate or advanced player? Is this a product meant solely for the beginner? Should everyone buy these as they are “free money” when you compare their values with their price points? I'm here to let you know what the deal is, and what you should do when it comes to purchasing this product.

Beginner Friendly

Let's start with who should absolutely be purchasing this product. If you're new to Commander or new to Magic in general, welcome! Also, pick up one of these decks and you'll be off to a fantastic start in the best game ever printed. These are appropriately named, as they have great pieces and synergies for new players. The decks have enough staples in each of them to justify picking it up and not regretting the purchase even five years down the road. Sure, buying singles is solid and all, but when you're just starting out, it's beyond overwhelming. These decks cut through the mysticism of the market and get you off to the races in no time. Beginners will be able to experience the game, have access to bombs, and even get to watch their deck work with itself and grow as they play it. These decks are perfect for beginners. Looking at the face cards actually does a wonderful job of explaining each deck's approach to each newbie. Emmara, Soul of the Accord tells us exactly what this green white deck is up to: lots of tokens to beat down our opponents. Atarka, World Render doesn't play any sneaky games either; we're going to beat face with dragons—double time! Kardur, Doomscourge is perhaps the sneakiest or hardest to understand of the whole group, but you get the sense that it's about combat and things dying. That's spot on for the deck, and that's what newbies need to know. The “Chaos Incarnate” name here helps to drive home the idea that this is a deck for someone that wants to sow anarchy.

“Grave Danger” is incredibly obvious when you look at its face commanders — Gisa and Geralf. This is obviously a deck about bringing back the dead to overwhelm your opponents with shear terror and horror. Meanwhile, Isperia, Supreme Judge doesn't initially speak, hey this is a fliers matters deck, but the title of the deck should clear up some confusion — First Flight. This is a fliers matter deck and playing it makes it very clear that this deck really cares about having lots of fliers and utilizing them to soar to victory. Beginners should easily be able to pick up these decks, pilot them, and have a blast doing so.

Intermediate Curiosity?

This set of decks is actually the least appealing to an intermediate. When I refer to an intermediate I'm being a little bit lazy in that I'm using it to represent people from two camps. The first is people that are familiar with Magic and have a couple of decks. They play often enough, but haven't yet hit the point where they are what most people would call, “truly enfranchised” players. They buy some products, but have no compunctions to buy anything from any given set. These are people that know the rules, but aren't the “rules lawyers” at the table. Additionally, I'm using this to refer to people that play Commander, but don't really invest in Commander. These are people that maybe have a deck or two, but aren't actively looking to build another deck anytime soon. Sure, they play Commander, but just for fun now and then. Ultimately, this product is not for either of these types of intermediate players. This is a product that intermediate players will find to be a bit of a let down. They're not likely to keep these decks at the level they are when purchased—so why buy them at all? These decks don't offer tremendous value outside of a couple of “marquee” reprints in each deck. The “First Flight” deck has a few in the three dollar range: True Conviction, Gravitational Shift, Bident of Thassa, Thought Vessel, Talisman of Progress, and Sephara, Sky's Blade. Meanwhile, the rest of the deck is just alright. The “Grave Danger” deck might lure you in for either Havengul Lich or Liliana, Untouched by Death, but outside of those the deck is mostly filled with cards worth less than a buck. “Chaos Incarnate” is all about giving us another way to snag a Lightning Greaves and maybe that fun little demon — Archfiend of Depravity. The “Draconic Destruction” deck gives us a couple interesting cards like Vandalblast, Thundermaw Hellkite, and Runehorn Hellkite. Still, not really enough to justify the whole deck being bought is it? Lastly we have the Token Triumph deck offering nothing much beyond the exciting reprint of Citanul Hierophants. Now, I expect that Citanul Hierophants could completely collapse in price after these come out. Sure, it is currently sitting at $9, but it hasn't ever been reprinted, so only the original printing currently exists—Urza's Saga. That's a bit old at this point. Additionally, the card is really only super exciting because of Raggadragga, Goreguts Boss. So, I expect that once excitement behind its reprint dies down, so will the price and it'll be easily bought up later on. So, in effect, not something an intermediate player is dying for either. Having said all that, if you're looking to start diving deeper in Commander and build out your deck collection, then these decks are an excellent way to start that deeper journey. You get plenty of staples and deck skeletons here for the price point. If you're not looking to dive deeper, then don't jump into these shallow waters.

Advanced Applications?

If you're an advanced player, one that has many decks and/or plays as often as possible, then these decks are for you. How can that be? They weren't for intermediate players, so how can an advanced player possibly have an application for these things? Well, most advanced players are also ambassadors for the format and the game at large. What better tool kit than these to help introduce new players to the game. Sure, you have that excellent Muzzio, Visionary Architect deck that leverages Portcullis, Mishra's Factory, and Tawnos's Coffin to disallow anyone else access to creatures, but is that the best plan for teaching someone new? Most times the advanced player has plenty of extra decks, and that's fine for other advanced players and even intermediate players to borrow and have a blast together. Yet, when you try to introduce newer players with your complex brews you end up overwhelming them, and they don't have nearly as much fun as they could have with simpler decks like these Commander Starter decks. These are great buys for the advanced player to add to their tool box. Sure, they might even pilfer a card or two from them to upgrade an existing deck, but that's easily remedied with some other simple card that also offers synergies. So, yes, these are actually appealing to advanced players. This is a great price point for saving you time trying to build someone a new deck or an introductory deck on your own.

The Wrap Up

Overall, I think these are great products. I've always liked trying to brew synergy-filled decks with budget conscious constrictions. I've been inspired by this product to go about building my own decks for under $25. Granted, I'll actually have to follow the real secondary market to attain my price points, but as my preliminary research has shown me—it is very doable. So, I'll be offering up quite a few of these decks for all of you from time to time and I hope you enjoy them. You can add them to your bin of “starter” Commander decks to play against your newbie friends. May your first games, your Commander starter preconstructed decks, and the cards in all budgets be ever in your favor!