2016 MTG Gift Box Review

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Happy Saturday MTG peeps,
Last night (Friday the 13th) at our local gaming store, OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario was a blast.  About 40 players came out to Friday Night Magic to answer the Shadows Over Innistrad Triskaidekaphobia Challenge.  Quite specifically, about eight or so players were using the flavour-rich Triskaidekaphobia enchantment to be the one to accumulate the most Triskaidekaphobia kills (to opponent or self) to win 13 packs of Shadows Over Innistrad.  In addition to this MTG Realm provided some awesome Ultra PRO prizes (deck box, sleeves and playmat).

Anywhoos, moving on - we also picked up the recently-released Shadows Over Innistrad Gift Box, formerly known as the Holiday Gift Box.  We had not picked up the the previous year's Gift Box (Battle for Zendikar), because of the wide-spread complaints of the quality of the box itself.  When Wizards of the Coast WPN Community Manager, Michael Yichao and Global Brand Manager, Brian Trunk promised big changes last month, we listened and picked ours up - Here are our notes . . .

PRICE
• The Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price for the Shadows Over Innistrad Gift Box is $24.99 (USD).
• Here in Canada-Land, with the exchange rate, one could expect to pay about $32.30 (CDN).
• One should expect to pay a little more above this converted currency cost for various mysterious reasons including the application of Canadian Federal tariffs, transportation / supplier costs, and other reasons.
• In the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), a number of stores are retailing the Gift Box for exactly the MRSP.
• Here in Central Ontario, we were able to pick up our box for $30, which in our opinion is still reasonable.

CONTENTS
• 5 Shadows over Innistrad booster packs - The BFZ Box had 5 while previous ones had 4 packs
• Storage Box with capacity for over 2,000 Magic cards
• 20 Shadows over Innistrad basic lands
• 6 illustrated plastic dividers
• Sticker sheet for customizing the dividers
• 1 Alternate art Ravenous Bloodseeker (Shadows over Innistrad)

NOTES
• The construction of the Box is solid !  We would go so far as to suggest that this robust box may even stop a rampaging Thoctar.
• The disposable inside supporting brace did its job well.
• Boxboard outer shell, inner stiffener and inner divider secured well very.
• Plastic card dividers as good as previous ones with six great cryptolith illustrations
• Sticker sheet with black sticker page looks good with crisp graphics
• Ravenous Bloodseeker art is great but we feel that the foil detracts from it.
• Pretty much any other uncommon in the set would have been a better choice for a promo here.
• SIX rates pulled from five packs (WotC has 'auto-included' one double-faced card of any rarity. 
• Our pulls - Hanweir Militia Captain // Westvale Cult Leader, Ever After, Markov Dreadkinght, Diregraf Colossus, Falkenrath Gorger, Inexorable Blob.

OVERALL
Greatly improved box quality, five Shadows Over Innistrad packs, and the other goodies make this a good purchase.  We would recommend.

For reference, here are the previous gift box details and its promo card -
2012 Return to Ravnica, Dreg Mangler
2013 Theros, Karametra's Acolyte
2014 Khans of Tarkir, Sultai Charm
2015 Battle for Zendikar, Scythe Leopard
2016 Shadows over Innistrad, Ravenous Bloodseeker 

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Alpha Grimoire Deck Box

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Hello again MTG peeps,

MTG Realm has now been live for about 8 years, has about 12,000 regular followers and have hit about 7 million page visits.  These metrics may be impressive but it still pales in comparison to the vast volume of Magic: the Gathering cards found in just about every room in our secret lair.  We've got cards in desk drawers, binders, boxes, shelves and believe it or not, the collection is fairly well organized.  Having said this, we will admit that our MTG shelf is not rather pretty with the large variety of storage options we have (yep - hashtag that first world problem).

Anywhoos, we've recently picked up a very interesting deck storage box - the Alpha Edition Grimoire Deck Box from Wizardry Foundry.  First and foremost, this box looks great on the shelf and has actually given us a bit more space after organization.  This box is constructed with wood, bonded leather, and has a felt liner which makes us feel a lot better about how much safer our cards are now.  You can squeeze about 1000 un-sleeved cards in the box, or put all your existing deck boxes right in there.  It'll take 10 UPR 75-card boxes or 4 of those mag-flip boxes with room to spare.  Best of all, if you have a cube and need to take it over to your friends place, this box is for you.

Before getting the Grimoire, we did our research, as with all our purchases, and the thing which impressed us most, is that Wizardry Foundry had gone out of their way to solicit feedback from the gaming community.  Armed with this feedback, Wizards Foundry will be moving forward with the design and manufacture of the next generation of Grimoire deck box - The Grimoire Pro Tour.  You can also help them by dropping by their Kickstarter page.

Our Review

• Aesthetics - just lovely looking (we can almost hear Angels singing)

• Sturdiness - like a Fort Knox for your cardboard

• Closure - Alpha Edition has a magnetic closure and can pop open during transport but latter editions have addressed this.

• Artwork - liking the artwork on the Alpha but want better selection which the Kickstarter hopes to address.

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KICKSTARTER PROJECT !

Grimoire Pro Tour Magic Deck Box

A smaller, more portable version of the Grimoire Deck Box, aimed to carry 3 decks and accessories. All your tournament needs in a box!

Grimoire Pro Tour:

• 300 cards with no sleeves, or

• 3 Ultrapro 75 card Deck Boxes

• Tournament Deck, EDH Deck, and Draft Sleeves

• Extra compartment for necessary accessories

• 19cm x 21.6cm x 9cm

• 7.5" x 8.5" x 3.5"

Wizardry Foundry and its founder Jonathan Lau answered the gaming community call for improved portablility with yet another re-designed version.  Please drop by the Kickstarter project page for additional information.

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Ultra PRO Dual Flip Box

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

Following up on our late day post yesterday on Ultra PRO's Journey into Nyx product offerings of Magic: the Gathering deckboxes, card sleeves, playmats, and portfolio, we want to yatter to you about another product just hitting the market presently - MTG Dual Flip Boxes.

We're all about not only keeping our precious cards safe 'n' secure but also making 'em look good to / from and at the local gaming stores we go to.  Check out our product review video before we get into the 4.1.1. -

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These fine looking and functional deckboxes have a suggested retail price of just $25.  We will be putting them through the paces over the next several months but for now, we have to say two thumbs up.  Robust, aesthetically pleasing, and adaptable to the Magic: the Gathering game format you are in to.  Here are the features - 

• Leatherette material with debossed Planeswalker and Mana Symbols.

• Magnet closure.

• Soft inner liner protects cards.

• Holds up to 200 collectible cards in Ultra PRO Deck Protector sleeves. 

• Adjustable divider allows the dual compartments to hold either 2 decks of 100 cards or 2 deck of 80 cards plus Oversize cards.
 

WHITE - # 86127
BLUE - # 86128
BLACK - # 86129
RED - # 86130
GREEN - # 86131

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Graveborn PDS Review

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

Today, we want to yatter about the new Premium Deck Series: Graveborn. This Magic the Gathering limited print run set features several new arts within an all-FOIL 60-card deck. There are 6 rare cards and several very difficult to obtain older cards. These retail locally for around $40 and was released last week (Friday 18th November, 2011). Enough yattering for now - let's looks at a video we put together. This isn't a straight unboxing vid - we actually do some talking to review some of the strategies this build provides as well.

MTG Realm reviews the latest Magic the Gathering Premium Deck Series: Graveborn. Sponsored by MTG Mint Card - the best source for MTG singles and supplies. Graveborn supplies Legions of corpses to await your sinister commands. This 60-card, all-foil deck entombs, exhumes, and reanimates some of the most powerful Magic creatures from all five colors of mana. Harvest your graveyard for an assortment of these face-beaters as you walk over a field of bones to claim your victory.

Premium Deck Series: Graveborn is a control / aggro hybrid which can be considered a toolbox deck in that it will allow you search out a number of cards (usually singletons) to drop them on the battlefield at strategic moments in game play.

Entomb and Buried Alive are the main cards that will get this job done.

Graveborn is all about recursion and using your graveyard as an effecient library. Several cards such as Entomb and Buried Alive will allow you to search your library for your choice of cards and drop them into the graveyard. Other cards such as Putrid Imp, Sickening Dreams, Hidden Horror, Last Rites, Zombie Infestation, and Cabal Therapy are able to accomplish this by discard action..

To get your bombtastic monsters out of the graveyard and onto the battlefield, cards such as Animate Dead, Exhume, Dread Return, Diabolic Servitude, and Reanimate are provided. Targets for reanimation are Sphinx of the Steel Wind, Crosis, the Purger, Inkwell Leviathan, Avatar of Woe, Blazing Archon, Verdant Force, and Terastodon to ensure you always have the right answer for an alpha swing or an opponent's threat. If you like most of the cards but want to tweak the build, you can always score singles of this at MTG Mint Card and start tweaking your own brew.
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Speaking of MTG Mint Card,
They are having a very nice Black Friday / Cyber Monday promo. Make sure you use the coupon code (here) to apply savings to your purchase. This offer will hit the graveyard on December 1st, 2011 so make tracks soon.
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Deathfed Event Deck

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

Altough we were not able to get out to the Innistrad Game Day this weekend, we did swing by OMG! Games, our local Game Store, here in Barrie on Friday, and picked up the Deathfed Innistrad Event Deck. We even had a few excellent games in the Friday Night Magic event. We found out that red seems to be a popular colour of choice (with almost every turn one witnessing players dropping a Stromkirk Noble). The Gavony Township token build we had performed not too badly but we'll yatter about the metagame next post perhaps.

Anywhoos - onto the subject of today's post - that Green / Blue / black Innistrad Event deck. Before we speak onto the merits and vulnerabilities of this product, let's watch the video first . . .


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First off, Event Decks differ greatly from Intro Packs. While the latter provides a first look into the flavour and world of the new set and are great for new players getting into Magic the Gathering, the former provides a fairly decent deck which, straight outta the box should allow the player to immediately participate in competitive games.

The Deathfed deck may seem a little less powerful than other Event Decks we've seen before but with some minor tweaking, it should perform rather well at any FNM event. We ran this event deck against a few popular current archetypes and we can say that we may have underestimated this deck. This geen / blue and black deck is slow to start but when you get your graveyard tech online, its downright dangerous.

Cards such as Armored Scab, Forbidden Alchemy, and Mulch start the self-milling process to fill up your graveyard. We must admit that we got a bit nervous with this process in addition to to not providing much for defence. Gnaw to the Bone did provide some solid life-gain which soothed our nerves. After the engine was started with the likes of Sppider Spawning, Bonehoard, Splinterfright and Boneyard Wurm, this deck was nearly unstoppable. We also think that the Sideboard offers quite a few very decent cards for whatever your local metagame dictates.

The one and only very dangerous flaw in this build, and which really cannot be easily avoided giving the focus and purpose of the deck is Nihil Spellbomb. The source of this deck's strength lies not on the battlefield but the graveyard. To exile all the cards from the graveyard with Nihil Spellbomb would be nothing short of devastating. Of course there are ways to deal with this threat but not without detracting from the focused strategy that this build provides.

Pipe in below - Did you pick up an Event Deck ? What did you think ?
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Finally,
Just one month after the release day of Innistrad, MTG Mint Card has sorted out the best selling Innistrad cards for the month of October, 2011 :

1. Grimoire of the Dead
2. Parallel Lives
3. Bloodline Keeper / Lord of Lineage
4. Daybreak Ranger / Nightfall Predator
5. Champion of the Parish
6. Past in Flames
7. Mayor of Avabruck / Howlpack Alpha
8. Curse of Stalked Prey
9. Clifftop Retreat
10. Ancient Grudge
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Carnival of Awesome

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

As promised in yesterday's post about the new Planeswalker Dack Fayden, we were going to do a few show 'n' tell posts featuring the newest Magic the Gathering products from the Innistrad set. Look for a Fat Pack post and video latter but for now, let's check out an Innistrad Intro Pack.

We crack open an the / 'Carnival of Blood' preconstructed deck featuring Vampires. This vamp tribal theme deck is good - let's have a look at the video first . . .

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Carnival of Blood /
Foil Rare : Falkenrath Marauders

24 land : 12 Mountain, 12 Swamp

21 creatures : 3 Bloodcrazed Neonate, 2 Blood Seeker, 1 Child of Night, 2 Vampire Interloper, 2 Rakish Heir, 2 Markov Patrician, 2 Crossway Vampire, 2 Falkenrath Noble, 1 Night Revelers, 2 Stromkirk Patrol, 1 Falkenrath Marauders (R), 1 Sengir Vampire

15 other spells : 1 Traveler's Amulet, 1 Gruesome Deformity, 1 Cobbled Wings, 2 Mask of Avacyn, 1 Curse of Stalked Prey (R), 2 Vampiric Fury, 1 Night Terrors, 2 Tribute to Hunger, 1 Traitorous Blood, 1 Tectonic Rift, 1 Diabolic Tutor, 1 Fireball
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This is a creature heavy deck that should kick outta the starting gate quickly enough with some 14 creatures below 3 mana and some 7 decent finishers above 4+ mana. There are several nice spells to throw as well but we should warn you that you likely will only drop a land on the first turn and have to wait until the magic happens on turn two. We suggest that when you pick this up at your local gaming store, think about picking up some additional spot removal spells as well.

We have not yet played but hope to latter this weekend at OMG! Games, our local card watering hole after which we may have some additional suggestions. Intro Packs are a great way to get your head into the latest Magic the Gathering expansion and take this standard constructed format deck out for a spin at a Friday Night Magic event at a game / hobby store near you.

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Lastly, you may wish to modify one or more of the Innistrad Intro Decks above - we suggest getting your Innistrad singles from the folks over at MTG Mint Card.

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Hands of Flame

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Good Day MTG peeps,

We're taking a quick break from Magic 2010 spoilers today to yatter about another new Wizards of the Coast Product - Duels of the Planeswalker - paper edition decks. We first posted about this last month and with the release just last weekend, got our paws on the Chandra Nalaar deck, courtesy of a friend of ours (thanks JS @ PN !).

Here is our deck dissection . . .

Here is the corporate skinny -

Get your favorite decks in your hands—literally!

Inspired by the decks from the blockbuster Duels of the Planeswalkers digital game, these powerful 60-card decks come with a 15-card booster pack, allowing you to customize your deck and take total command of your game!

. . . and the deck we got -

Hands of Flame –

The Chandra Nalaar Deck Burn them all with Chandra’s red deck. Put your opponent on the defensive, then unload an awesome arsenal of fiery destruction.

REVIEW

Rating : |||||-|
4 out of 5

This is a classic and well loved deck build. My red Mage approves. This is a solid deck for new and experienced players and makes for some great games. Our only complaint is that Chandra Nalaar was not included.

CONTENTS :

Land : 24 Mountain

Commons : 4 Goblin Piker, 2 Goblin Sky Raider, 2 Cinder Pyromancer, 3 Incinerate, 2 Shock, 4 Hill Giant, 4 Lightning Elemental

Uncommons : 2 Earth Elemental, 1 Enrage, 1 Bloodmark Mentor, 2 Dragon's Claw, 1 Blaze, 2 Act of Treason, 1 Prodigal Pyromancer

Rares : 1 Kamahl, Pit Fighter (FOIL), 1 Banefire, 1 Shivan Dragon, 1 Rage Reflection, 1 Furnace of Rath

Hands of Flame also comes with a 15-card Magic 2010 Core Set booster pack, to enable you to tweak the deck and add to your collection.
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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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Dragon's Egg Review

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Happy Friday everyone.

It's also MOVIE TIME !

Typically yours truly would be hard at work at the moment but I am currently at my secret MTG lair at home. This is due to a very unfortunate loss of power at work. This coupled with a HUGE dumping of snow with one heck of a blizzard has afforded me some time to blog while the city digs out.

This post is to pump the Dragon's Egg MTG deck storage solution by Power9Pro who I am very grateful to have as a sponsor here at MTG Realm (you've probably seen the banner at the top of the page). Anywho, that being said, I did tell Power9Pro that I would not pull any punches in my product review and would deliver a truthful summary of my evaluation.

The truth is, I cannot find any criticism at all with the Dragon's Egg and I would not be able to suggest any improvements to the product . . . it is just about as perfect as it can get to safely transport your MTG decks to the tournament or to Friday Night Magic. Speaking of FNM, I took the Dragon's Egg to the gammery club on Friday and the product did get some very good attention there from other players. The event organizer / store owner indicated that he intends to carry it as well.

Anywho, I put together 3 short videos for your entertainment today. Said videos are our review of the very cool Dragon's Egg product put into a somewhat humourous light . . . Enjoy !

(Please comment as to which one you may think was better)

Dragon's Egg Handy


Dragon's Egg Packed


Dragon's Egg Real Tough