2017 Gift Pack Review

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

MTG Realm has been picking up the Holiday Gift Boxes since they had been released, and still use all the storage boxes (which can accommodate up to 2,000 cards each) for our Magic: the Gathering collection.  We even had picked up the Holiday Gift Box when Wizards of the Coast had some issues with the strength of the packaging.  We are a somewhat thrifty bunch and had found the contents to be rather decent value.  Here is the list of what we had purchased over the years - 

• Return to Ravnica, November 2012
• Theros, November 2013
• Khans of Tarkir, November 2014
• Battle for Zendikar, November 2015
• Shadows over Innistrad, May 2016
• Kaladesh, November 2016

We DID NOT purchase this year's product offering, the 2017 Gift Pack, which appears to replace the Holiday Gift Box.  Instead, we had won the Gift Pack in a random draw at our local gaming store, OMG! Games, here in Barrie, Ontario.  Let's get to what one can expect to get for an MRSP of $20 USD ($25 here in Canada) - 

• 5 premium basic lands by artist Mark Poole (known as the "Shooting Star Lands")

• 2 premium creature cards (Metalwork Colossus and Kari Zev, Skyship Raider

• 3 booster packs (Ixalan, Hour of Devastation, Amonkhet)

• Spindown life counter (Planeswalker symbol)

• Exclusive mini-poster (Featuring art from Hour of Devastation)

Most recently with the Kaladesh Holdiay Gift Box which had an MSRP of $25 provided the following :
• one Card storage box 
• 5 Kaladesh booster packs
• 20-card Kaladesh basic land pack
• 1 premium, foil promo card (Chief of the Foundry)
• 6 illustrated plastic dividers
• one sticker sheet for customizing dividers

Although the previous product was five clams more expensive, we felt this was great value.  In comparision, we feel that we are just breaking even with no added incentive to pull out our wallet for this year's Gift Pack.  A small modification such as alternate art for the foil Metalwork Colossus and Kari Zev, Skyship Raider - paired with her foil Ragavan monkey token, would have swayed our opinion.

This product appears to have been designed specifically to be placed on a shelf in a big box store such as Walmart or Target alongside Yu-Gi-Oh product.  There may exist a small chance that this Gift Pack may actually be mistaken for a Yu-Gi-Oh product by a parent, relative or friend resulting in a measure of disappointment during Christmas.  This is not to say that there are not Magic: the Gathering players out there who are indeed pleased with this - we have personally spoken with several who have or who intend to purchase this.

Our final concern addresses the over-packaging, and carbon footprint of this product.  We realist that there is a new president south of our border and that the protection of the environment is clearly not a priority.  The fact that the Environmental Protection Agency has been seriously de-funded indicates that environmental protection is not even a consideration.  A company such as Wizards of the Coast, using the resources of its parent company Hasbro is encouraged to stand out with environmental consideration being incorporated into the life cycle of their product and packaging, which they have to an extent, but certainly not with this product.

Should Wizards of the Coast realise some commercial success with this product, we would be delighted as we want to enjoy playing Magic: the Gathering for years to come.  

Lastly, we want to remind folks that Nighthawk Counters has a Kickstarter project.  These premium hand-finished life counters and gaming accessories are quite functional and aesthetically pleasing.  MTG Realm had provided several of these counters a prizes at a recent Friday Night Magic event at our local gaming store, OMG! Games and were very well received by the players.  Please consider supporting this over here - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/914346194/nighthawk-counters

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Nighthawk Counters

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

Today we want to talk about a new friend we've made at Nighthawk Counters but before we get into that, you should check out this article on the mothersite.  Writer Chas Andres provides some new items of information of shines a light on some glossed-over points from the Ixalan story.  There have been seven great stories delivered by the Wizards of the Coast Narrative team so far, and we are most definetely pumped when the story picks up again before the next set Rival of Ixalan is released.  Until that time, we can only generate conjecture about the politics of the nations of Ixalan and the potential budding romance between Jace / Vraksa or the unrequited fondness Angrath has for Hautli.

Back on track now -

Our new friend, Owner / Operator / Chief Imagineer at Nighthawk Counters who just happens to live not to far away from my home town (yeah, it’s a small world) is not only pretty damn handy but also a very fine designer.  The MTG Realm playgroup picked up a few pieces of his handicraft recently and have to say we love using these.  

Some of the counters we had picked up include pieces featuring a lovely precision-cut metal tree, skull, sun-burst, iconic blue-mana symbol, and fire.  These not only look great but are handy / functional as they will easily fit within our deckbox to take to the local gaming store.  We are certainly looking forward to more unique and beautiful designs from Nighthawk Counters in the future and wish him all the very best in a KickStarter Project he has now launched to build the company brand.  Please do pop on over -


https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/914346194/nighthawk-counters

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