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CorwinB
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« on: October 05, 2009, 04:20:40 pm » |
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For both 2010 and Zendikar, I've bought the 5 preconstructed decks and I've used them to build separate pools of cards I can use for casual play. This both helps me playing with cards I would not consider otherwise, but would probably have to play in a draft/sealed, and provides a somewhat level playing field when playing with my wife or with friends who don't have the same amount of cards as I do. I redispatched the content of the included boosters between the decks, and thinned each of them down to 40 cards. Playing with the 2010 decks has been a fun experience so far, with the Blue deck being a little weaker than the others, but holding its own due to a couple of neat tricks, and the green deck being a touch better than the others, and better suited to less experienced players.
Back to the "somewhat level playing field" thing. You could hope that Wizards did their homework, and tested that those casual decks are equivalent, and can provide a decent experience playing one against another. Well, with Zendikar's preconstructed, it's far from being the case. So far we have tested the White Weenie deck, the Ally R/G deck, the Kicker R/U deck, and the Landfall U/G deck. That last one is so far above the rest it's not even funny. Landfall is potent in Zendikar sealed/draft, no doubt, but at least everyone generally gets some landfall cards. Here, you have one deck running Territorial Baloth, Windrider Eel and culminating in Roil Elemental and Baloth Woodcrasher, whereas the other deck is busy summoning Dragon Whelp and Phantom Monster as its heavy hitters... Thematic decks are nice and all, but this is like saying Faeries is a cute tribal deck such that could play with Zombies or Rats...
So if anyone is looking to do as I did and build a small card pool for Zendicar casual play, you will probably have a much better experience building 40-cards decks from common lying around than trust Wizards' preconstructed stuff. And another warning, the basic lands in those packs are not the wonderful full picture lands : they use the same pictures, but are cut like the M10 lands...
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