Source
r/EDH•
Contrite17

Looking to introduce my tabletop group to MTG

Question

I am a pretty new magic player who has until now exclusively played Arena, but I am interesting in getting into paper magic and potentially introducing my 4 player standing tabletop group (we play various board games typically) into the game. This would involve teaching 3 players magic for the first time.

Given that Commander is the popular casual format and support 4 players it seems like the correct entry point. That said are there a set of 4 pre constructed decks of similar power (these do not have to be super strong overall just relative to each other) that are not prohibitively expensive that would be recommended for specifically new players to both magic and commander.

I will be fronting the cost here for all 4 decks so I'd like to aim for around $200, with an absolute ceiling of $300 if there is a compelling justification.

Or if you think I am approaching this wrong I am welcome to other recommendations for new players.

Posted Aug 26, 2023, 6:11 PM UTC

16
angrehorse•

Just buy commander precons. This saves all the worry about building the decks and keeps you within your budget. Also most precons aren’t really complex

1
Contrite17OP•

Is there an ideal set of precons for this? I look and there are like 40 decks by Wizards available atm or some nonsense.

1
MrWezlington•

Pick 4 from the same set; It doesn't matter which set. They're typically balanced pretty well. Some will out perform others but not to the point where the "bad" decks aren't participating in a meaningful way.

The warhammer and LoTR set come to mind immediately. If you've got fans of either of those universes in your playgroup, those will probably be a hit.

1
The-true-Harmsworth•

If your boardgames group is up for more shenanigans I can suggest the march of the machines decks.

They not only contain the decks themselves, but also additional cards which adds a bit more nonsense to the whole game. It’s called planechase and will throw everything off balance. Might be cool later on.

Otherwise, the starter decks are a good starting point as already suggested

1
jf-alex•

There's a set of five "Starter Commander" precons, namely Grave Danger, Draconic Destruction, Token Triumph, First Flight and Chaos Incarnate. The dragon deck might be a bit stronger than the others, but these seem to be made for your playgroup.

The decks can easily be upgraded later.

1
Visible_Number•

Definitely don't use Commander to teach players the game. I also wouldn't want you to lose your board game group to Magic. Magic is a really expensive hobby and I've found w my own friend group we tend to play Magic to the exclusion of all other board games. Don't get me wrong, I love Magic, but I miss playing other games too. But I feel like because everyone spends money on Magic they tend to want to get their money's worth and tend to only want to play it (which is 100% fair), but it's been a very long time since we played a different game. Most recently (over a year ago) we got into Root and it lasted a good while but then we totally reverted back to Magic. When the Root expansion came out we played it once and then never played again. So do be prepared that if you get into Magic, you may only play Magic moving forward.

1