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by Da Sarge Magic: Pre-Constructed Decks When I wrote last month's article I expected to get mixed reactions on my feelings towards Portals II, but I was really curious on what the players had to say about my thoughts on Pre-Constructed Decks (henceforth called PCD's). I was not disappointed. Portals II went as I thought, but it was the PCD's letters that I was surprised about. So much in fact that I think I have to expand my thoughts to you on it. In theory, PCD's are a great idea when you think about it. For example, PCD's are much better then starter decks because you have a deck that will give you some kind of a fighting chance against other decks. You may not win a lot but you won't get destroyed every time either. Another advantage is that the PCD's have cards that work together and you usually have no more then three colors to worry about. So if you wanted to add or take away cards, it's easier to make a change. This is great for the new player because it gives him a fighting chance and the flow of the game is easier to follow and understand. Despite what you may think, I like the PCD's. I really liked it when they added it into the Arena Leagues. Everyone started the league the same way more or less, and after the first week you could make the changes you want. If that was all there was to PCD's, I would have no problem with them. My problem lies not with the PCD's but what goes in the PCD's. Oh I can hear it now, "Now you're going to tell WOTC what cards should be put in PCD's". Well, I guess you could say that, but I am going to put the weight on what cards should NOT be put in them. This problem I have with the PCD's also ties in if you buy a box. So I guess you could say it is a two-fold problem. Here is my reasoning..... Hey, I've said it before and I will say it again. I have no problem with WOTC making money. That's why they created MTG in the first place. It's a moneymaking business and to be honest I hope they make a lot of money. But I do have a problem with WOTC making money and the player getting shortchanged. PCD's do this in a very subtle (or maybe not so subtle) way. When I bought my box of Tempest I was disappointed because I received a lot of useless cards (16 COP's, counterspells, disenchants etc.). Later that week I went back to the store to join the Tempest Arena League and to check out what the PCD's were. As I watched some people play with PCD's I noticed something unusual about the decks versus what I received in my box. I then bought two packs of PCD's to use in the Arena League. When I opened them I received cards in there (overrun, Flames of Rath, Avenging Angel, Recycle) that I did not receive in my box. That's when I thought about it and I saw a potential problem for the player and a windfall at the players expense for WOTC. It boils down to this: based on the Tempest PCD's, you get more for your money by buying a PCD pack then you would buying a box. The problem then becomes: Should you buy a box or a pack to get your money's worth? If you want to be competitive you may have to buy both. If your a collector of cards your just as screwed as the player. The problem with buying a box is that you get a lot of cards, but you may only get a handful of really good cards. If you buy a PCD, your guaranteed (Based on the Tempest PCD's) to get some really good cards. Cards that stand a good chance of not coming in your box. When you look at it a certain way it's a great move by WOTC. Put certain cards in the PCD's that are very hard to find in your box you spent 70 plus bucks on. Then to rub salt in the wounds make it mandatory that PCD's have to be played in the Arena Leagues. Now if you buy a box you may also have to buy the PCD's to play that deck or just to get that card. Hey, that sounds fair. Let's look it this way. The Arena Leagues are fun to play in. Strange rules at times, but fun none the less. Then they introduced PCD's into it. The rules for this were simple. If you had the cards you could put the deck together and you did not have to buy the PCD. So silly me, I thought "hey, since I bought the box I could at least put two of the four decks together." WRONG!!!!!! I could not even put one deck together without having to buy a PCD. No Overruns, Recycle, Flames of Rath and so on. I was missing at least one card from each deck. So my choice was simple, buy the card as a single (if I only needed one card) and pay between 2 and 8 bucks depending on the card or buy the PCD. In this case you get a better buy by buying the PCD. The question remains: If I buy a box, why should I have to buy additional cards to play in an Arena League. For that matter, a collector now has to pay additional money for his set. Talk about unfair... The solution is quite simple. If WOTC is now in the mindset about PCD's, then they should ensure that those cards in the PCD's are going to be in every box. In other words, if your PCD requires two Overruns, then every box should have two Overruns. I don't think that's asking too much. In fact it's only fair. I'm not asking for WOTC to lose money in this deal. I'm saying I should not have to spend extra money to play a game. In fact, if WOTC does this I bet this will ensure that players stay with the game instead of saying it is too expensive to play, and that cards are only good for a year or two if they are lucky. The PCD problem is only going to get worse this year. The PCD's of Stronghold will include Tempest, Exodus PCD's will include Stronghold AND Tempest. Mark my words, how many cards do you think will be in the PCD's and NOT in the box? Then ask yourself this: How much do I want to send and will I get my money's worth? Here's the killer, If I buy the Stronghold or Exodus PCD's I will get Tempest cards (oh great more COP's) that I already own. The fact that WOTC is going to put Tempest in those PCD's cracks me up. Talk about a waste of money. Now back to the Arena Leagues; if WOTC continues this trend, then the Arena Leagues will feature PCD's. Now if you have the cards to build the PCD's, no problem. But I will bet that a majority will have to buy the PCD just to get one or two cards to play in the Arena Leagues. Oh yea, that's really fair to the player. To sum it up, WOTC has found a way to make a windfall at the player's expense. The player now has to fork out more money to play a game that is quickly becoming a very expensive habit. At times WOTC can be very stupid, it would be so easy to make a ton of money and still be able to play the game at a low expense. But hey, who am I, I'm only a player......................
Dem'd My Views and I'm.......
A few notes: 1. I have a new computer my other one died for the final time. The problem is that I did not get a chance to answer all the mail, and send some letters to Urza that I said I would. When the computer died I lost all the info. Sorry about not answering those letters. 2. MTG is now on the internet and I am in the process of downloading it from the Net
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