In Defense of Intro Packs
Last week Mark Rosewater announced that as of the large Fall set, Kaladesh, Intro Packs would be retired in favor of the Planeswalker Decks.
I registered my disappointment today in this week’s article on Gathering Magic.
How do you feel about all this? I’d enjoy hearing your perspectives, too.
Meddling Ghostly Tide
The Blue/White Shadows over Innistrad deck gets a facelift over on Gathering Magic!
As with all Meddlings, I follow two rules when tuning/rebuilding the deck.
First, I only use commons and uncommons. No adding rares or mythics- the idea is to do a budget tune with tools that are readily available to all players.
Second, I can only use sets represented in the deck. So- Shadows over Innistrad cards only!
Come see what a rebuilt Ghostly Tide looks like.
Enjoy seeing Meddlings? Make sure to leave a comment so Gathering Magic knows! 🙂
News: Announcement Day
Big news day over at the mothership, with several developments impacting the world of Preconstructed Magic.
I am disappointed and concerned about the Intro Packs going away. There are two upsides to that, though. First, it’s cheaper to collect them, so I can swing that money over towards completing my collection and sleeving/archiving everything. Second, with only two decks to review per set instead of five, I’ll have extra time to devote to reviewing Magic’s substantial back catalogue. It’s a long history, and we’ve a long way to go!
I’ll have a full reaction piece going up next week on Gathering Magic.
On an unrelated note, you may be wondering where all of the “Part 2’s” of the deck reviews have gone lately. My family battled a stomach bug that laid us low, then Phil moved house, so I’ve just been doing Part 1’s recently. But fear not, we’re meeting up tomorrow and you’ll start to see some Part 2’s rolling out very soon!
-Jay
Meddling Angelic Fury
Check out the latest Meddling over on Gathering Magic, where I take on the runt of the litter, Angelic Fury. Can we salvage some treasure from the trash?
Battle for Zendikar: Swarming Instinct Review (Part 1 of 2)
Today’s deck, Swarming Instinct, is in some ways a symbol of failure. It’s not the deck itself- we’d hardly make that kind of a judgment without looking through the deck first- but rather, it’s a failure that wasn’t at first apparent when Wizards released Battle for Zendikar. Indeed, only with the perspective granted by the passage of time (and good data collection) can we see just where things went wrong.
Ertai’s Meddling Back on Gathering Magic!
That’s right, I’ve returned to Gathering Magic for one of our most popular features, Ertai’s Meddling!
In this series, I take an Intro Pack deck and tune it up, subject to two simple rules:
- No added mythics or rares- commons and uncommons only
- I can only draw from card sets included in the original deck
In today’s inaugural feature, we look at the madness-and-Vampire concoction, Vampiric Thirst.
Come on over and let GM know if you enjoy the series!
Battle for Zendikar: Rallying Cry Review (Part 1 of 2)
Back in 2010, while reviewing The Adventurers from Zendikar, I wrote, “[Allies are] a solid and delightfully fun mechanic, one that I hope is revisited in future sets down the road.” Although it somehow feels like less time has elapsed somehow, it was just a six-year wait.
As initially designed, however, the Allies were a bit different than what we know to be their final form.
Shadows over Innistrad: Angelic Fury Review (Part 1 of 2)
We’ve arrived at the last of the five Intro Pack decks for Shadows over Innistrad, the Boros-colored Angelic Fury. Thus far, we’ve seen three mechanic-centered decks, with Unearthed Secrets (Clue tokens and investigate), Vampiric Thirst (madness), and Horrific Visions (delirium). The fourth deck, Ghostly Tide, was tribal Spirits, which leaves Angelic Fury as a bit of a conundrum.
Which decks should we do next?
After Shadows over Innistrad concludes, what would you like to see next?
Duel Decks- Blessed vs Cursed: Blessed Deck Review (Part 2 of 2)
In the rush of excitement for Shadows over Innistrad’s Intro Packs, the poor set-themed Duel Deck didn’t get completely reviewed. Phil has joined be on the battlefield to put Blessed through its paces, and round out the set. Read more 
Ertai's Lament 