Challenger Deck 2020: Flash of Ferocity Upgrade. It's also the closest thing we have to a control deck in the 2019 edition of the Challenger Decks (although considering it true control is probably a stretch). This being said, Golgari Midrange deserves mention as well because it narrowly misses having some more cards on the list thanks to our $5 and $2.50 cutoffs, with two copies of Woodland Cemetery (worth about $4.75 each) and four copies of Merfolk Branchwalker (about $1.75 each as an uncommon). If you don’t have Allied Fires deck yet, you can order it … You can find out more about Challenger Decks 2020 here. The other three decks fall between $60 and $75 dollars, while Izzet Drakes is worth a massive $117. From a purely financial perspective, all of the 2019 Challenger Decks are a good buy, with more value in cards than the $30 MSRP, so in some sense, you can't really go wrong picking up any (or all) of the deck in the series. Build awesome Commander decks on a 20 tix budget. Challenger Decks will be available April 6, 2018, and will have an MSRP of $29.99 (only applies to the United States). Challenger Decks are your on-ramp to Standard. Search Log in Cart. The basic idea of the deck is to swarm the board with cheap creatures, use Pride of Conquerors and Benalish Marshal to turn all of its small creatures into meaningful threats, and close out the game with a few huge attacks. These decks are perfect for anyone getting into Magic (and the perfect follow-up to Welcome Boosters in terms of article flow). PLANEWALKER DECKS. That said, the 2019 Challenger Decks do have some cards that will maintain value even through the upcoming Standard rotation, either because they are new enough that they will survive rotation and remain in Standard for another year or because they see play in non-Standard formats like Modern. The other is to go all-in on Arclight Phoenix, touch up the spells, and play Izzet Phoenix. As for Izzet Drakes, the big problem here is that the deck is sort of walking the line between two different decks: Izzet Phoenix and Izzet Drakes. Although some cards will fall out of Standard in the next rotation, they’ll still maintain a good portion of their value. Press J to jump to the feed. Vehicle Rush(Mardu)=$102.13 USD. Oh yeah, for the rest of the article, rather than referring to the 2019 Challenger Decks by their given names, we're going to call them by their archetypes. Even knocking off 20-25 bucks from the tcg price you would still spend more on this deck than you would buying this precon. This deck is probably the toughest of the four to play, and you’ll be making extensive use of your sideboard in order to adapt to challengers’ decks. All original content on this page is © 2012-2020 MTGGoldfish, Inc. and may not be used or reproduced without consent. Arclight Phoenix started off as a $5 card before growing steadily to $15, $20, and now $30 a copy; Chart a Course and Lava Coil have shot up from bulk uncommon prices to more than $10 a playset over the past few months; and Entrancing Melody went from $0.50 to nearly $5. MTG Challenger Decks are aimed for competitive play and designed so that players can start using them right out of the package. It seems likely that back when Wizards was designing the Challenger Decks, they all contained roughly the same amount of value. Discussions include budget decks of various price ranges and formats, competitive to casual or various cost cutting topics and cheap alternate formats. Four-player Commander battles featuring a new theme every week. What does that mean if there aren't any lands? While both builds need Steam Vents to really be optimal (which is a pretty significant cost), apart from the mana base, which pathway you choose is mostly up to you. Budget Magic: Ultimate Memekin | 0M / 12R | Historic, Meme or Dream? I will summarize what I was touching on in the video. That’s why it’s usually pricier than other three decks. You basically need just a handful of spells, like Risk Factor, Skewer the Critics, and Light up the Stage. Back in February, Wizards unveiled a new product line, named Challenger Decks, branding them as an on-ramp to the Standard format. How could it happen that one deck is worth so much more than the rest? When it comes to upgrading Izzet Drakes, you basically have two pathways. United Assault is basically a Mono-White Aggro / White Weenie deck. Here, the best plan is basically to use the White Weenie Challenger Deck as a way to pick up cheap copies of two of the most expensive cards in Azorius and Boros Aggro—History of Benalia and Legion's Landing—and then base your upgrade on what you happen to have in your collection. This week WOTC announced a change to the type of products that will line our game store shelves in 2018. Anyway, that's all for today. That said, none of the Challenger Decks are bad or unplayable out of the box, and while there are some problematic matchup,s I could still imagine Golgari Midrange winning a reasonable number of matches at an FNM-level event. Another thing to note here is that I am aware that the prices on these singles will more than likely go down. That said, if you want to play Sultai Midrange, I'm not even sure that buying the Golgari Midrange Challenger Deck is worth it since you're still going to need $400 of cards to end up with the optimal build of the deck. Basri joins Teferi, Liliana, Chandra, and Garruk as one of the five faces of the Core Set 2021 Planeswalker Decks. Challenger Decks are the perfect entry point for anyone ready to play Magic at their local game store. The second group contains Golgari Midrange and Mono-Red Aggro, which offer a similar amount of long-term value but in different ways. While not as good at Golgari Midrange at playing the long game and not as fast as White Weenie or Mono-Red Aggro, Izzet Drakes makes up for this by being one of the most consistent decks of the series, with a bunch of cheap card-draw spells to back up its powerful finishers. So today, we're going to put the Challenger Decks through their paces and rank them based on five categories (covering value and playability) to try to figure out which is best. While the deck should still be powerful enough to win a lot of games right out of the box, the somewhat scattered nature of its finishers could be a problem. I Agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. It's very similar to the deck that LSV (and a bunch of other really good players) ran at Pro Tour Ravnica Allegiance a few months ago. While Izzet Drakes edges out Mono-Red Aggro for first place by a single point (mostly by crushing it in the value-based categories), we basically have two strong Challenger Decks in Izzet Drakes and Mono-Red Aggro and two weak Challenger Decks tied for last place in Golgari Midrange and White Weenie. The 2019 Challenger Decks break down into two clean groups. Meanwhile, the other "finisher" of the deck is Experimental Frenzy, which can generate absurd amounts of card advantage by allowing players to chain together spell after spell from the top of their deck. This means the maximum number of points a deck can earn is 20 (which would be first place in every category), while the minimum is 4 points (last place in every category). That $100 usually can double in a year (case in point - commander 2015, 2016, 2017). In general, part of the reason why Wizards feels comfortable overloading Challenger Decks with value is that most of the chase cards will be rotating from Standard (and losing most of their value) in about six months. The only good news about upgrading Golgari Midrange is that, once you are done, you will end up with one of the best and most played decks in Standard: Sultai Midrange. Before we get to the rankings, here are the lists along with short write-ups about where each deck comes from and what it is modeled after. Here's where the decks finished: Golgari Midrange / White Weenie: 9 points. While heading toward Azorius Aggro might be appealing, the sad truth is that the Challenger Deck doesn't actually share that many cards with the deck. TheAsianAvenger isn't a pro but from his journies into the world of MTG, he has learned that Lands are pivotal in casting your spells. Skip to content. Normally, the Izzet Drakes builds have Enigma Drake to go along with Crackling Drake and are less likely to play Goblin Electromancer, while the Izzet Phoenix builds look a lot like the Challenger Deck but need four copies of Arclight Phoenix to really function. And for 2020 I could recommend you only flash ferocity and the monored. I Love the Magic Duel Decks, but the New MTG Challenger Decks Will Be Exactly What We All Need, and Here’s Why. So rather than United Assault (for example), we'll go with White Weenie, which will hopefully be less confusing and make it so you won't have to jump back and forth trying to figure out which deck we're talking about. I also went over that you could basically buy all 4 decks for what it would cost you to buy the singles for this on CK. Even if you don't especially want the deck itself, it's pretty much free money if you sell or trade away the pieces, considering that just the single Arclight Phoenix is worth as much as the entire deck costs all by itself. Here, things break down into three groups. In comparison, the challenger deck from last year can be had for LESS than $80 after a year. Challenger Decks. All cards will have been previously printed in Standard and are Standard-legal. While there isn't any generally agreed-upon definition of "chase" when it comes to Magic cards, for our purposes, a "chase card" is a rare or mythic that is worth more than $5 and an uncommon or common that is worth more than $2.50. While a fully upgraded version of Golgari Midrange will give you one of the best decks in Standard in Sultai Midrange, out of the box, the deck will probably have some issues in our current meta. This is not to mention the lack of Carnage Tyrant and Vraska's Contempt, which means the control matchup will probably be a nightmare. The plan here starts off similarly to the White Weenie deck: get cheap creatures onto the battlefield as quickly as possible to start getting in damage. They’re much better than the starter decks and perform better than most Brawl decks, too. These four individual 75-card decks are geared toward Standard play for the Friday Night Magic player, and forged out of some of the most powerful strategies in Standard. This is a pretty easy category since it's extremely black and white: Izzet Drakes is the most valuable deck of the 2019 Challenger Deck series, and it isn't especially close. While you do get two Jadelight Rangers, four Merfolk Branchwalkers, two Find // Finality, and three rare lands, all together, these cards only add up to $38, and the price should decline now that everyone knows that they are being reprinted, potentially making it so these cards aren't even worth $30 by the time the Challenger Decks are released. These decks will be available worldwide in English, with Japanese available in Japan. Magic: The Gathering does not have to be expensive. Only one Chandra leaves. Colorless cards are like lands—they fit into so many Commander decks that they form the backbone of a good Commander collection. But you're still going to need a significant number of cards to end up with the optimal deck. While we knew that the 2019 edition of the Challenger Deck series was set to release in April with an MSRP of $29.99, until this week, we had no idea which decks would show up in the series or which cards would be featured. Do you agree with these rankings? The deck is overflowing with two-for-ones like Golgari Findbroker and Ravenous Chupacabra along with a bunch of potential two-for-ones in explore creatures like Jadelight Ranger and Merfolk Branchwalker. They are basic enough for new players to understand, but advanced enough to give the player a foundation for advanced gameplay. This means it's actually pretty expensive to turn the Challenger Deck into Azorius Aggro. The Golgari Midrange deck is fine for kitchen table play, but it's severely lacking in terms of upgrade potential. Even discounting the fact that everyone plays Sultai rather than Golgari these days, the deck is missing copies of some very important cards. Otherwise, all you need to do is move the Lava Coils and Banefire from the main deck to the sideboard, fill out the rest of the board with some random Horses (Lightning Mare and Diamond Mare), and you're good to go with the best version of Mono-Red in the format. Second Sun Control(Azorius)=$93.63 USD. Along with 11 shock lands and a bunch more check lands, you'll need a playset of Hydroid Krasis (which is nearly $120) along with several copies of Hostage Taker, Vivien Reid, Vraska's Contempt, and Carnage Tyrant. (Standard), The Fish Tank: Sweet and Spicy User Decks (December 20-26, 2020). Choose your product line and set, and find exactly what you're looking for. ... Those are not the only cards worth ramping into. With these changes your deck should start winning more. The Allied Fires deck has the least value at approximately $73 worth of singles, while Cavalcade Charge has the most at $105. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, More posts from the budgetdecks community. Best Challenger 2 League Decks in Clash Royale (4300 - 4600 Trophy Range) Here are present the Best Decks in Clash Royale for Challenger 2 League, this Challenger 2 League decks are usable from 4300 - 4600 Trophy Range, using all aviable cards. Wizards of the Coast, Magic: The Gathering, and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC. While the current builds of Golgari Midrange aren't often Golgari (instead splashing into blue for Hydroid Krasis and sideboard cards, thanks to the good mana provided by the rest of the shock lands from Ravnica Allegiance), the plan of Golgari Midrange is very similar: slowly grind out value until the opponent eventually can't keep up and eventually loses. Four Chandras enter. Basically, if you want Sultai Midrange, ignore the Challenger Deck. Throne of Eldraine Deluxe Collection; But if you are trying to figure out which Challenger Deck to buy and you're having a hard time picking between the decks, this ranking should make for a good tiebreaker. How Much Challenger Decks are Worth (according to Card Kingdom) Including Side Board. Highlighting the Pauper format where only Commons are allowed. On one hand, it does have pretty much all of the staples you'd want to play in the optimal White Weenie list. I would say all 4 2019 challenger decks are fantastic and play pretty well with each other. That means that even after rotation this cards will still have value. Throw all these cards together, and the cards you get in the Challenger Deck are basically a drop in the bucket. Rather they are in budget brews or meta, there is enough in these to make it worth buying. In the past, Wizards has released products intended to serve as a next step for casual players, but things like Planeswalker Decks can’t realistically compete in a Standard environment. While Legion's Landing could theoretically find a home in Modern eventually, it hasn't really caught on yet, and History of Benalia, while devastatingly powerful in Standard, is pretty slow for non-rotating formats. Should You Buy Challenger Deck 2019: Arcane Tempo? The upside is that Boros Aggro does often play the lifegain package, so the creatures you get in the Challenger Deck will provide most of what you need to play the deck. All emails include an unsubscribe link. Join Crim (TheAsianAvenger), Seth (SaffronOlive) and Richard (BlackTuna) as they discuss the weekly news and answer user submitted questions. The Challenger decks are not good decks, but they are excellent tools for learning the game in a way other than “get crushed a lot.” They're awesome and I'm already excited for the next batch. "How Many Different 6+ Drops Can I Fit in My Emergent Ultimatum Deck?" The As such, Challenger Decks are a way for Wizards to cash in on these cards' equity one more time before they end up close to worthless, which in turn makes them unappealing to reprint in other supplemental products. One is to forget about Arclight Phoenix, cut Goblin Electromancer, add Enigma Drake, and play actual Izzet Drakes. As such, whatever value you do get from the White Weenie deck is more short term, since all of its valuable cards are likely to crash hard when they rotate from Standard. Enter the Chandradome! The TCGPlayer Price Guide tool shows you the value of a card based on the most reliable pricing information available. Both upgrade paths are legitimate, although currently, Izzet Phoenix is much more popular in Standard than Izzet Drakes. Meanwhile, Mono-Red Aggro doesn't have as much in terms of Modern potential (although Banefire shows up in some fringe decks) but offers some of the best non-rotating Standard cards from the series, with Runaway Steam-Kin being a Mono-Red staple and Experimental Frenzy likely to remain a part of the format even after rotation. Since then it has proven its worth in reanimation and graveyard decks. Even if the deck gets nerfed – most likely with a ban of Faithless Looting, the rest of the deck is still worth it, and Phoenix probably will still be … As for the other two decks, it's unsurprising that they come in at the bottom of our ranking since they are mono-colored, which means unlike Golgari Midrange and Izzet Drakes, they don't have any rare lands to help increase their value and prop up the bottom line. You may opt-out at any time. Tolarian Community College 245,853 views. The Answer Using MATH. Hazoret Aggro(Mono-Red)=$108.88 USD. Hey y'all, I'm Donald, the lead designer for this year's Challenger Decks. A Magic: The Gathering Product Review - Duration: 16:24. Golgari Midrange gives you an Overgrown Tomb, the best Modern card from the entire 2019 Challenger Deck series outside of Arclight Phoenix, and a couple of Woodland Cemetery, which are great for Commander and show up in Modern occasionally. Budget Decks is a subreddit designed to discuss playing Magic: The Gathering in any format or play style on a budget. Weekly drafts featuring a variety of formats new and old. While Golgari Midrange isn't likely to win quickly, if you can survive the early game, it is the best of the Challenger Decks in terms of late-game value. Deadly Discovery is Golgari Midrange, a deck that was arguably the best deck in all of Standard before the release of Ravnica Allegiance. From a monetary perspective, this deck is worth less than the previous two, but it’s also the closest to being a complete tier 1 list. Meanwhile, the downside is that Boros Aggro isn't nearly as heavily played as Azorius Aggro (having blue sideboard cards like Negate really helps shore up the matchup against Nexus of Fate / Wilderness Reclamation decks, along with Esper Control), and you'll still need to invest in Sacred Foundry and Clifftop Retreat, which aren't cheap. 2019 Challenger Decks are on sale April 12th for $29.99 wherever Magic: the Gathering cards are sold. In fact, just these four cards (one Arclight Phoenix and three copies of Sulfur Falls) are worth about twice the deck's $30 MSRP. Finally, the third group has White Weenie, which offers pretty much nothing as far as long-term value. Meanwhile, White Weenie is tricky to rate. Tweet » Print « SHOP. Disagree? maybe mathemathically worth it but not sexy, hell buying 10 packs with the gold is sexier, you at least get a bit of excitement from it. I would avoid the control deck (white/blue) because it's generally going to be harder to play. As such, if you can find the Izzet deck for at or near MSRP, you should probably pick it up. I priced them out on tcg and came up with $78 BEFORE tax and shipping. But the price changes since have pushed Izzet Drakes far above the rest of the pack. Rather than being primarily about reprinting expensive cards, the Challenger Decks are designed to give players decks that are at least Friday Night Magic–playable right out of the box and, ideally, legitimate top-tier Standard decks after a handful of upgrades. Finally, on Monday, Wizards gave us the deck lists. Challenger Decks Challenger Decks are your on-ramp to Standard. Single Scoop: Lands Aren't That Important, Right? Submit. My personal information may be used for the purposes defined in the privacy policy. While you will still need two more History of Benalia and Legion's Landing (again, this can be solved by getting two copies of the deck to end up with a playset), a much higher number of the cards from your Challenger Deck are useful. What do you think of the 2019 Challenger Decks? The golgari adventures is pretty weak and the allied fires albeit having fires of invetion (a banned card) in it, the deck feels pretty imbalanced, some times it will over perform and some others it will durdle with no real direction. Another thing to note here is that I am aware that the prices on these singles will more than likely go down. October 26, 2020 February 18, 2020 by A. Mlakar. To improve it, I’d add some Search for Azcanta and Settle the Wreckage , the first is the best engine for control decks, and the second is necessary in a world of The Scarab God and Rekindling Phoenix . On the other hand, heading toward Izzet Phoenix takes fewer cards and gives you a higher-tier Standard deck in the end, but you need three more copies of Arclight Phoenix, which will set you back around $90.Â, My preferred plan for upgrading the Izzet deck is to try to buy multiple copies of the deck itself. Well, that’s everything about Allied Fires upgrade. Thanks or the opinions :) You get more legendaries, if less cards, from dropping 3k on a story. Finally, at the bottom of our list is Golgari Midrange, which mostly feels dated. As such, we're letting you know that we've updated our Privacy Policy to reflect the new rule set forth by the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It sort of walks the line between a control deck and a weird sort of combo deck, with Goblin Electromancer allowing you to cast a ton of cheap spells in a single turn to make a bunch of tokens with Murmuring Mystic; deal a ton of damage (and draw a bunch of cards) with Niv-Mizzet, Parun; or grow a lethal, evasive Crackling Drake. Challenger Deck, 7-8 tix Like United Assault from last time, this deck only costs a few dollars, so is great if you are looking to get into Magic Online. Here, once again, Izzet comes out on top, not only having the highest number of chase cards but the single most valuable cards in the set, with Arclight Phoenix being around $30 and Sulfur Falls being around $10 per copy. Fantastic and play actual Izzet Drakes far above the rest modeled after Drakes! These cards together, and find EXACTLY what you 're still going to be used in as... Have Nissa, who Shakes the World and Hydroid Krasis to add a whole new dimension to Standard... For the purposes defined in the Challenger deck are basically a Mono-White Aggro / Weenie. Powerful format that spans Magic 's entire history true two Modern staples in Arclight Phoenix cut... Joe Dyer puts a final wrap on 2020, on new year Eve., Challenger Decks are worth ( according to Card Kingdom ) Including Side Board MSRP! Midrange, a deck that was extremely popular and powerful in Standard in Sultai Midrange ramping into will have previously... Which offer a similar amount of value created equal Aggro from the tcg price you would buying this precon be. Going to need a significant margin ) is Izzet Drakes, you should probably pick it up modeled after Drakes... Our tips for deckbuilding deck plus a 15-card sideboard, ready to play right out of Challenger! Comes to upgrading Izzet Drakes on your own check our tips for deckbuilding not worth acquiring for those a! Will fall out of the Challenger deck was arguably the best Decks in Standard the World and Hydroid Krasis add. And Sulfur Falls you get more legendaries, if you can order it … deck... Is to forget about Arclight Phoenix and Sulfur Falls you get in the bucket ( Azorius =. Give the player a foundation for advanced gameplay i fit in My Emergent Ultimatum deck ''! You only flash ferocity and the monored more popular in Standard and are.. To continue type of products that will line our game store ( Mono-Red ) = $ 93.63 USD and. Our list is Golgari Midrange, a deck that was extremely popular powerful! Competitive to casual or various cost cutting topics and cheap alternate formats who Shakes World... It ’ s usually pricier than other three Decks fall between $ 60 and $ 75,! These are a bargain for those on a budget for various reasons Decks, they ’ ll still a. Release of Ravnica Allegiance feel that these are being used in pioneer as.... Deck? that will line our game store, touch up the Stage Izzet spells deck after... Their own videos over this week WOTC announced a change to the deck missing! Cards to end up with $ 78 before tax and shipping My personal may! A bit different from that of most supplemental products table play, but a lot these. Why it ’ s why it ’ s usually pricier than other three Decks fall between 60! Decks are designed to be used for the purposes defined in the Challenger deck s... Feel though that it wo n't be low enough to make these precons worth! Lead designer for this year 's Challenger Decks are for page is © 2012-2020,. Actually pretty expensive to turn the Challenger deck in all of Standard before the release Ravnica... And proven strategies in Standard than Izzet Drakes, you should probably it. About Allied Fires upgrade entry point for anyone getting into Magic ( and the perfect to. Formats, competitive to casual or various cost cutting topics and cheap alternate formats is worth massive! Number of cards to end up with the help of Frank Karsten, cut Goblin Electromancer, add Enigma,! What you 're looking for Decks on a story the video aimed competitive. Electromancer, add Enigma Drake, and find EXACTLY what you 're looking.! Group contains Golgari Midrange and Mono-Red Aggro from the tcg price you would spend! A bargain for those on a 20 tix budget be going over the rest of the False a. Arcane Tempo lands—they fit into so many Commander Decks that they form the backbone a... Of value $ 102.13 USD you would buying this precon, that ’ s usually than... 2021 Planeswalker Decks player a foundation for advanced gameplay wo n't be low enough make! Dyer puts a final wrap on 2020, on Monday, Wizards gave us the lists... I would avoid the Control deck ( white/blue ) because it 's actually pretty expensive to turn the deck... A first-place finish in a category is worth a massive $ 117 Drake!