Magic 2012: Vampire Onslaught Review (Part 2 of 2)

Alas, all good things must come to an end, and with Vampire Onslaught our time with Magic 2012 has finished (until next season’s Preconstructed Championships, that is!). As mentioned in our final review of Illusionary Might, the M12 Event Decks have proven to be quite popular in our house, and Jimi quite reluctantly stepped aside this time to give Sam a shot with them. Although Blue isn’t usually one of Sam’s preferred colours, the idea of cheap and aggressive beats is right up her alley. On the other side of the table, I am piloting Vampire Onslaught. Here are the notes from our three games.   Read more

Magic 2012: Vampire Onslaught Review (Part 1 of 2)

If there’s been one consistent complaint that’s been leveled at the Event Decks, it’s criticism of the value disparity. In essence, it is felt, having one deck packed with value cards and the other quite a bit thinner leads to some shenanigans with regards to pricing. A number of vendors, for exampkle, have marked Illusionary Might down $10, and increased Vampire Onslaught by a similar amount. This was not dissimilar to what happened for New Phyrexia’s round of decks, where War of Attrition’s two Stoneforge Mystics drove prices sharply upward.

In Wizards’ defense, the decks are made well in advance, and as Aaron Forsythe (head of R&D) once tweeted, the Mystics were a $4 card at the time the deck was designed. That might have been a happy accident (for some), but Vampire Onslaught is a much more deliberate case. As previously quoted, Event Deck designer Zac Hill made the case quite clear in his mothership article:

As formats get close to rotating, we’re more likely to try and get one last hurrah out of the previous block’s Constructed All-Star list, whereas earlier in a set’s lifespan we’re more likely to explore themes that have the opportunity to grow more robust with each release.

Today we’ll be looking at this ‘Constructed All-Star’ list with Vampire Onslaught. There are a number of familiar faces here from mono-Black Vampire aggro decks that have bounced around Standard, mainly as second-tier builds.

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