My first moment into MTG was back in '95 and our local game store had a box of Revised Starter Decks. I bought one on a whim, opened it, looked at the cards and just put it away, not knowing what I had purchased. Fast forward to '99 and MTG had some good traction in our local area(I went back and dug up the Revised deck but alas nothing good was in there). I remembered playing Magic in the library in high school and eventually was banned because it was deemed "satanic, and did not have a place here". We played the Tempest/Rath Cycle heavily and enjoyed going to local events at hotels and inside malls to play tourneys, and winning locally(Type 1 and Type 2). Fast forward to today and all the terms we knew on cards were reworded and changed, and had to relearn them again, as well as old-school abilities which no longer existed and/or phased out. The one thing missing from MTG today is the simplicity at which we once knew a long, long time ago. If WoTC wants to bring new players into one of the most iconic TCG's of all time, we need a Portal type set with easy to understand terminology, free from the bloat of unnecessary abilities, with a strong focus on basic creature/types/spells. Moving ahead successfully isn't all about printing more sets frequently and heading into Universes Beyond ... but looking into the past at which once made this great game a classic, and falling in love all over again!

I started 2 years ago with Arena and then commander after I was hooked

Jump start is still a thing, there's a new set being released towards the end of the year. I would have just sold him a box of that.

Of course those disappeared the moment Arena reared its ugly head. They phased out in favor of pushing the new players to a digital only platform. And, mark my words, they're planning on making Arena the ONLY WAY you can MTG. Y'all are gonna see less and less physical products in the next coming years.

I still raw dogged Zard through out gen 1 like a Chad

I'll keep this in mind the next time I get sucked into a worm hole and find myself in the 90s. Last time I played pokemon with Charizard was X and Y and both of those forms of Charizard were S tier. What a stupid fucking video.

Well I can tell you for certain one thing that isn't missing is Commander. That junk is being shoved down everyone's throat and sadly if you don't enjoy Commander then what's missing from Magic the Gathering is the players.

Nerd

typical vaporeon fan.

It does learn Slash, though.

I feel like this is on the local game stores to make loaner decks for people to play when they come in. Cheap $25 crafted decks that play and function well. Put a $300 deposit down and you can take all the decks to another location to have everyone play with.

Charizard is the best brother

In what world is Charizard a starter mon?

Hey jw do you have any of the warhammer MTG sets ??

The one thing missing from mtg these days? Integrity.

Audience: We want an easy introduction product for new players Wizards: Hah, Commander deck in Modern expansion goes brbrbrbrbr

Is there not those Preconstructed decks and Commander decks that are a jumping off point now? I agree with you though, I hated that they got rid of the starter deck and made everything run off booster packs. And don't get me started with all the different kind of boosters they have now.

I started with (3) 4th edition decks. The one that had the rule book inside. I can't remember what they are called tho. Tournament deck? Someone help me

The past present future planeswalker rule.

As a new player, I was bewildered by the various products, the different pack types, the different precon decks, the different formats, the absurd prices proudly on display. The commander precon decks recommended to me by an LGS are really complicated (for me). Theres so much research needed just to get started. Turned off and probably not going to pursue the hobby. I don't think it matters, since a 30 yo complex card game has its longtime fans who are experts and like each other's company already. No shame in that. They probably spend enough to keep things going, anyway. More players is always better for Wizards, but I feel it's not necessarily so for players. Maybe not worse, but not necessary.

Ironically, this is exactly why I sung high praise of Jump start. I still have my box of opened Jump Start boosters seperated out to simulate cracking packs and randomness.

They could get some old challenger decks

Duel decks were how I got into mtg. Nice and simple attack goblin deck versus big brain mage control deck.

Didn’t they release a 2-5 player game night thing back in 2022. I believe it was 5 mono color 60 card decks for like 40 or 50 bucks?

I still love the duel decks.

Yup, why did they get rid of the starter deck with a printed rule book?

Magic is a broken game.

Wizards has gotten greedy.

If I were doing this, I would buy bulk and put together a bunch of simple decks. It'll wind up being MUCH cheaper than any product wizards would make. I think if you're going to go through the trouble of organizing a function and teaching all of those people how to play, this isn't much more effort, and it would wind up being cheap. So cheap that you wouldn't need to spend any money on sleeves and you can send everyone home with their decks. Now, if I were REALLY doing this lol, I would buy the cheapest booster box I could find and make this group of people draft. If everyone at the table has no idea what they're doing, it can be a ton of fun. Maybe slightly overwhelming for some, but I still think it would be fun.

As an LGS owner and a MTGPremium store I can say we absolutely do have products still in print and supported Game Nights (which you mentioned) arena 2023 2 player starter deck, arena 2024 2-player starter deck, Jumpstart 2022, lord of the rings 2-player starter set, and the $25 commander starter deck series, and soon to release are the assassins creed 2-player starter, and the Bloomburrow 2-player starter set I will say we are missing the free 40 card learn to play decks, and I think that’s primarily with the focus shifting to Commander, now I will say there haven’t been any great official promotions as of late to get people into the game. But, we just came up with our own way to get people into the hobby!

Return to Portal!

That's why we play Yu-Gi-Oh! :)

My campus had a gaming club and MTG was involved. We asked the LGS if we could have starter decks and such to help students get into the game! The employees, all good friends of mine, gave the club a dozen or so starter decks and they also went out of their way to build cheap custom decks for us too!

"I don't even know if I would..." 💯% As an OLD Magic player that quit due to neighborhood ante, became a YGO player, I agree. Magic has never had a good system to show the basics or grab new players. And im surprised they dont do the Pokemon thing and print tournament winning decks even. YGO had those new Battle Boxes, with a deck box, sleeves, playmat and a deck - thats where things need to go. A cohesive, competitive deck based off of Aggro, control, etc. that comes with sleeves and a deck box, and a playmat, with exclusive Alternative Art or sneaky reprints to help boost sales to already existing players, as well as new. Tbh I dont even know how anyone at WotC even has a career

Agree 1000%. Nowadays cards are like 80 paragraphs of nothing and it's not user friendly even for experienced players. Core sets were so good...

Portal 4: the long awaited age ?

Commander precons that are in the same set.

I know what you mean but there is actual starter kits that contain two basic decks with like every third Set recently?

I still have a couple starter decks for this express reason

What mtg is truly missing is some restraint on the part of wizards of the Coast/Hasbro. STOP putting out new product so quickly. I went from buying a couple booster boxes of each new set and each commander deck of each new set to now I only get maybe 1 commander deck and then I just trade/buy for the 4-5 cards from each new set that comes out. This is repeated by most people in our play group and at our lgs. The game is losing its allure and quite frankly there are several people that quit playing because they can't keep up with the avalanche of new products coming out.

They still make starter decks

There's the game bundle called "game night" which is like 5 beginner decks. Kinda pricey, though. Would probably be better to make decks out of bulk tbh

Jumpstart is the best tool for new players to learn the game in a simplistic manner.

No, the 1 thing its missing is affordability... then starting/new player material, lol

What about the Game Night product? [ Never mind, he mentioned that!]

I feel like those older starter commander decks like draconic destruction first flight and those kinda things are quite good for beginners I picked up the first flight one like a week ago and all the cards are incredibly simple it seems like a decent way to get started plus only like 30$

Do they not give out those free 30 card starter decks anymore?

Exactly!

My local LGS makes "battle decks" out of common and uncommons they sell for ~$10. Probably says something that they have to put them together themselves. Unrelatedly, dang, that's some good inventory. You know how hard it is to find bundles here? Just literally any bundle?

The game is lacking an interest in 60 card formats. I miss people playing to win! We live in a world where "try hard" is somehow a derogatory title.