Deck Builders Toolkit

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

As it is Thursday, we suggest you consider heading out to a gaming store near you to get some quality Magic the Gathering play time in before Friday Night Magic.  Locally, OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario runs a Commander / EDH game on Thursdays.  Tonight however is a bit special with Commander being organised as a tournament with a new scoring system with Planechase Packs as prizes which is available in time for the Midnight release.

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Righto - onto some other news . . .

Ebay user 'iying2' somewhere in Naperville, IL, United States sells a lot of items, mostly women's fashions - shoes, handbags, etc. but recently had posted for sale four Magic the Gathering Deck Builders Toolkit (2012), three sealed and one with the outer seal opened.  Why are we interested in this ?  Because this product should not be available until latter this year - more specifically July 2012 - to correspond roughly with the release of the core set, Magic 2013.  This is due to the inclusion of some of the upcoming core set cards in this toolkit.  The items were removed fairly promptly from what we imagine was at the direction of Wizards of the Coast.

Yep - early Magic the Gathering spoilers . . .
Magic the Gathering Deck Builders Toolkit in a sealed Box (2012) - English

Let's review the images . ..
Arbor Elf and Evolving Wilds appears to be included in M13
There's a Baloth creature on the Magic 2013 booster pack.

With Arbor Elf (aka Lawn-Mower Man v.2) in the set, many players are speculating that Llanowar Elves are excluded.  Some gamers go so as far as to speculate the return of Ravnica dual or 'Shock' lands.  When these lands come into play, you can choose to pay 2 life, otherwise the land comes into play tapped. With Arbor Elf on the battlefield, a player could play Stomping Ground or Temple Garden, have it come into play tapped and then use the Elf to untap said land as the card type reads 'forest'.  Enough speculation for today, let's have a look at what you get when the Magic the Gathering Deck Builders Toolkit is officially release . . .

Each box contains:
• 285 Cards
• 125 "semi-random" Cards
• 4 Sealed Packs (15 cards per pack). Booster packs from a variety of recent Magic: The Gathering sets
• 100 Basic Land (to get you started with deck building)
• “Learn To Play” Guide
• Full Art reusable card storage box
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2011 MTG Toolkit

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

You may recall a post we did about the MTG player's toolkit way back in May, 2010 (HERE) - well WoTC has a product refresh for you - here's version '2.0'.

Anywhoos - early last week, we came across images and product descriptions for the new 2011 Magic the Gathering Deck Builder's Toolkit. The only piece of information we did not have was the release date. We eMailed Wizards who indicated to us that the announcement was forthcoming this week . . . and apparently, here it is.

MTG DECK BUILDER’S TOOLKIT 2011

Jump-start your Magic: The Gathering collection with battle-tested cards, perfect for building several different decks!

This box also includes a guide containing dueling tips and expert advice on how to custom-build the deadliest and most effective decks possible.

Each Deck Builder’s Kit contains:

• 125 semi-randomized cards suitable for building several different Magic decks; four booster packs from a variety of recent Magic: The Gathering sets (Magic 2011, Rise of the Eldrazi, Worldwake, and Zendikar);

• 100 basic land cards to help you cast your spells;

• a Deck Builder’s Guide;

• a Magic “Learn to Play” Guide; and

• a card storage box.

This is scheduled to ship to a local games store in March 11, 2011. The product code is 'WOC 34357' and the manufacturer's suggested retail price is pegged at $19.99. Also - The Deck Builder's Toolkit was originally available in English only, but this one will also be in French, German, and Spanish as well.
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One of the most epic unboxing vids was by Evan Erwin aka Star City Games minion and 'The Magic Show' host of note. Right - he did get a booster pack of Worldwake in his toolkit and was struck by lightning when this pack produced a Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Now kids, we should talk about gambling here - the chances of that happening to mere mortals the like of us are slim to none and we suspect Slim left town already.

This makes a great gift for a player just starting their Magic the Gathering collection. We suggest that if you've been playing for more than a couple of months, just head down to your local store and buy a whole bunch of boosters instead.

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Les dernières nouvelles à Geek Fest Montréal Grand Prix Trial DALLAS (Samedi 26 Fevrier, Standard MTG) - On dirait que caw- go c'est bon avec 57 joueurs. Prix: 1ere place : 3 "BYES" pour le Grand Prix à Dallas -

1-2 Eric Gaudreault - Caw GB
1-2 Thomas Marsan - Caw Go
3-4 Justin Richardson - Caw Go
3-4 James Neumann - Boros
5-8 Joey Smith - Grixis Tezz Forgemaster
5-8 Eugene Ho - Valakut
5-8 Frederic Mercier - Caw Go
5-8 Jonathan Office Caw GB

Eric Gaudreault a choisi de prendre le billet d'avion pour Dallas
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Lastly,

MTG Mint Card has Knights vs. Dragons Duel Deck Box for the upcoming Duel Deck. This most excellent product from UltraPro has 1 full colour duel deck box, 2 full colour deck boxes, 2 full colour dividers, and a Write-on Strip to ensure your name is on it and prevent it from being claimed by your envious friends.

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MTG Deck Builder's Toolkit

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Just an update on the Deck Builder's Toolkit.

-> Also check out the MTG Deck Builder:TappedOut.net

This is the product we mentioned way back in November. Well, it's out now and available for that special gamer whose birthday is upcoming or perhaps even you to help round out your deck development to win you more games.

Here's the skinny . . .

The Deck Builder's Toolkit, which will contain 100 land cards and 125 semi-random game cards, along with
four 15-card booster packs from a variety of recent Magic: The Gathering sets for only $19.99. It's the perfect way to start a deck-building career! The Deck Builder's Toolkit will also contain a card storage box, a guide containing dueling tips, and expert advice on how to custom build the deadliest and most effective decks possible. And since no two Toolkits are the same, each one presents its own unique deckbuilding challenges!

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We have the following information from our friend in Europe who dissected the box and now provides this mini-review :

According to the information included, this toolkit should help you to build the following archetypes :

- Red Burn (Lightning Bolt, Lava Axe, Fireball, Fiery Hellhound)

- White Weenie (Elite Vanguard, Veteran Armorsmith, Kor Hookmaster, Pacifism)

- Blue Control (Mind Control, Cancel, Divination, Wall of Frost)

- Elves (Llanowar Elves, Nissa's Chosen, Elvish Visionary, Overrun)

- Mana Ramp (Rampant Growth, Frontier Guide, Howl of the Night Pack, Pelakku Wurm)

- Blue-White Fliers ( Serra Angel, Unsummon, Wind Drake, Fledgling Griffin)

- Vampires (Gatekeeper of Malakir, Vampire Nighthawk, Consume Spirit, Vampire Aristocrat)

- Black-Red Destruction (Doom Blade, Flame Slash, Duress, Lightning Elemental)

- Red-Green Aggro (Llanowar Elves, Summit Apes, Panic Attack, Goblin Shortcutter)

- Green-White Auras (Aura Gnarlid, Savage Silhouette, Mammoth Umbra, Totem-Guide Hartebeest)

- Eldrazi (Emrakul's Hatcher, Ulamog's Crusher, Pathrazer of Ulamog, Spawning Breath)


This is what was inside my toolkit :

- 4 Booster Packs = Conflux, Worldwake, Zendikar and Magic 2010

- 100 lands from Magic 2010 ( 20 each )

The key commons and uncommons are all from recent sets : Magic 2010, Zendikar, Worldwake and Rise of the Eldrazi. Looking at the list I do believe that people new to the game will like them, but I was hoping on key commons / uncommons from older sets as well...

Here are what I would consider the better commons - without thinking about the above archetypes - out of my Toolkit :

White Common 1x Iona's Judgment, 2x Pacifism, 1x Soul Warden

Blue Common 2x Cancel, 1x Divination, 1x Essence Scatter, 1x Merfolk Looter, 1x Unsummon

Black Common 1x Blood Seeker, 2x Child of Night, 1x Disfigure, 1x Doom Blade, 1x Duress, 1x Sign in Blood

Red Common 1x Brood Birthing, 1x Burst Lightning, 3x Lightning Bolt, 1x Searing Blaze

Green Common 1x Borderland Range, 1x Explore, 2x Giant Growth, 2x Llanowar Elves, 1x Naturalize, 1x Nissa's Chosen, 1x Rampant Growth

Colorless Common 1x Hand of Emrakul, 1x Ulamog's Crusher Land Common 4x Terramorphic Expanse


I received 35 Uncommons :

11x M10 Uncommons Dragon Whelp, Fireball, Harm's Way, Howl of the Night Pack, Mind Control, Overrun, Prodigal Pyromancer, Rod of Ruin, Serra Angel, Sleep, Whispersilk Cloak

4x Zendikar Uncommons Frontier Guide, Mind Sludge, River Boa, Trusty Machete 2x Worldwake Bestial Menace, Summit Apes

8x Rise of the Eldrazi Artisan of Kozilek, Dreamstone Hedron, Explosive Revelation, Lust for War, Pathrazer of Ulamog, Pelakka Wurm, Rapacious One, Valakut Fireboar

Conclusion = Perhaps a nice product for real starters, more experienced players can use it to play a very nice and solid sealed deck.

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MTG Deck Builder's Toolkit

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This appears to be the second day in a row where have dipped into Wizard's Magic Arcana to feed our Magic the Gathering blog. Hopefully this does not become a habit and we here at MTG Realm simply become a re-publisher. Anywho, Let's have a look at the latest shall we.

Wizards of the Coast has yet another product to entice novice players . . . a Deckbuilding Toolkit. This is a product which is intended to target new players just starting to accumulate cards to build their very first deck. The product, aptly named Deck Builder's Toolkit, appears to have everything this new player requires - namely a big mana pool which to include in the finished deck as well as 125 MTG cards of unknown set and rarity. To boot, the product even includes 4 booster packs to give the kids their very first taste of ripping through blister packaging to get to that cardboard crack. Just about everything that new player needs to build his very first MTG Monster.

All and all, really not that bad for the price to get a firm MTG foundation constructed in which to develop your new-found game. Personally, when we first started, we purchased an intropack - then known as a 'theme deck' back then. Specifically, we got theme decks from Urza's Legacy - the mono-green Crusher and the blue-white Radiant's Revenge. We played these two decks for months on end and rather enjoyed it. This new product reminds me of those starter boxes back in 1999 and 2000.

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Well that was a pleasant trip down memory lane - back on topic - let's have a look at the corporate skinny for the Deck Builder's Toolkit :

Starting May 21, 2010, you can hook up a friend (or yourself!) with the Deck Builder's Toolkit, which will contain

100 land cards and
125 semi-random game cards, along with
four 15-card booster packs from a variety of recent Magic: The Gathering sets for only $19.99. It's the perfect way to start a deck-building career!

The Deck Builder's Toolkit will also contain a card storage box, a guide containing dueling tips, and expert advice on how to custom build the deadliest and most effective decks possible. And since no two Toolkits are the same, each one presents its own unique deckbuilding challenges!

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A final word - -
Since this product is really intended for the new player orientating themselves and developing competencies and strategies, they will likely be the last to care about rarity distribution and the presence (or lack) of an expansion symbol . . . they just need to get on top of their game before striking out to the hostile world of standard Friday Night Magic.

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