Magic Starter Kit 2023 Review: The Best Way To Learn?

Zee Garcia checks out the new Starter Kit and discusses his thoughts on the included play guide and card complexity/themes.
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BGG Link: boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/4...

[@death2011ghost]

Zee: “lot of text” Me a yu gi oh player: “finally some peace and quiet”

[@Someone-ru3ph]

Jump start is in my opinion the best way to teach someone to play. They get two packs to make a deck to use the monsters usually only have one ability each pack to teach so it’s not overwhelming and they are reusable and you can mix and match to switch things up and to learn new abilities.

[@noreviewplaythrough4051]

Jumpstart decks are what I start my Middle School Magic club, and then suggest they move up to the Starter Decks next. Then if they are interested I teach them Commander.

[@alloverdaplace2043]

I just purchased this.! Still learning how to play it lol

[@edwindrood2816]

Great job Zee. Useful info to me

[@benjaminthiele7474]

Great video. Picking this up so my partner and I can learn together 🎉

[@smokingbeard7796]

about the keywords, i just tried the starter decks with my son (worked great even tho i lost :(), i would accept the QR code more if ALL keywords used by the two decks were listed and the others will be hidden in the website. kinda awkward to have your phone additionally needed. My second critique would be, that there is not really a section for strategy. I would liked it if they would explain a basic strat or combo with those decks

[@puppethound]

These types of decks/boxes are nice to have. I am new and trying to get my wife into the game. She, like me, seemed really overwhelmed even before touching the game. I had played a few games and was way more familiar with the game in general (I play Arena), but she avoided MTG for the same reasons I did. Once we played my 2011-12 (yes they are that old) starter kit decks, she liked it. It was easy to pick up and play and she said it was a lot easier than she thought and she beat me both games we played. I am noob at MTG and we both are above average geeks with a lot knowledge on fantasy tropes and the like. I hope for more of these videos with reviews. I love themed decks, mono colored, and built around a certain...well theme. eg, Dragons, Paladins etc. Also I like casual modes, similar to how League of Legends ARAM is. (If you are familiar with that) While competitive, it's on a whole new chillaxed skill level with no (well very little) raging of any kind. I am sure there are a lot of players like me.

[@MrVariant]

Land station with bundle (gift bundle has an expensive collector's booster on sale though modern horizons wouldnt be standard legal given even more power creep) helps imo. I even spot a few lands in commander (legendary separate from deck) colors and set same amount if uneven to have way more plays. Constructed is terrible anyway, and I'd escalate to singleton once the collection gets large enough (prerelease can be a sleeved deck box and has spin die like bundle minus the lands) to encourage more deck building and no staples (sol ring, skull clamp, command tower 😴).

[@danielhinds-bond4437]

I like your shirt, Zee!

[@bubbalovespong]

myself and my daughter just picked up this set. We are both newbies... I have a few question can we add any cards from any booster pack and customise your own decks? can we have any colour in our decks? can we take out and add cards from new to old packs? basically can we build on our decks and then swap in and our cards that we like? if so does anyone have any recommendations? we play on arena to learn but to be honest I think you can get lost in game play as it does everything for you. We both really want to play the way it was meant to be played with actual cards cheers

[@BongoCatEdits]

Yes yes yes yes yes

[@leonjoffe6380]

I havent played Magic, so this would be a real Starter kit for me. But how would I play if the cards need tokens that are not part of the kit? I dont know what +1 tokens mean, but even assuming their meaning is explained, would I need to use tokens from some of my other board games with numbers on them? Seems a little strange to me....

[@Patronux]

Counters can be anything that can be counted, some beads/pennies or a die. Tokens can be a piece of paper. It's really easy to solve

[@kikololoi14]

Looks cool might check it out

[@CaptainMarvel4Ever]

Very cool, I think I’ll pick this up for my buddy and I. Don’t know if this will get us into it, but it’ll be nice to put in the closet and whip out if we need another game to play round with. Plus if we feel like picking up a random MTG booster on occasion we can throw some of the stuff into the decks to fool around. Will you be reviewing the Yu-Gi-Oh 2 player stater set in 2024?

[@TheDigitalThreat]

For 15-20$ for the two decks, not sleeving them isnt really a loss being they are only worth what 16ish cents a card. I get why some would want to sleeve foils and decks that took time and money to collect, but these starter kits are everywhere and cheap. If one does want them sleeved they probably have deck boxes that fit them already anyway.

[@Tamarizz]

I'm guessing tokens needed are... Treasure, Food and probably some 1/1 creatures?

[@mattiabeccari]

I am very new to MTG, only started playing a few introductory games on MTG arena. Should I get this or a commander starter deck?

[@miltonr87]

Take the MTG Starter 2023. Commander is very complicated for beginners because all decks have 100 cards and understanding the interactions at the table against 4 players will be extremely boring! I speak for myself, as I was personally introduced to the Commander first. MTG Starter is a dueling model with more direct and faster mechanics, so it's a good base to start with.

[@zoicno]

is this better then the 2022 deck?

[@rustymandude]

2021 has the simplest decks IMO for anyone looking at an easier intro

[@Ziplock9000]

What about 2022?

[@rustymandude]

@@Ziplock9000 a little of a step up from 21; not much, but still less than 23 IMO

[@JolanXBL]

The last time I played magic, the instruction book was the size of a playing card and the person I asked to play a game with told me their deck was completely unblockable and I would lose :/

[@dontwanadisplaynameonutube2951]

Where u from lol. Boston?

[@CorruptionKin]

In my opinion as someone who just started playing magic recently is to play mtg arena first and get a grasp on the game

[@williamsimkulet7832]

QR codes in instructions should be supplemental at best. As a general rule, making people use the internet to learn how to play your physical game is bad design.

[@danacoleman4007]

Why?

[@MrVariant]

​@danacoleman4007 they should have everything they need in box and 3:37 it feels cheap, like how around 2:40 no sleeve cards for deck box. A separate keyword with reminder text guide would help, with qr for anything over 50 common ones like vigilance or flying. Better than clue ravnica duplicate crossover with no revolver lol. No way I'll buy assassin's creed starter given it probably won't have physical rules with AC theme. I'll go for other sealed product. Hopefully a bundle won't curve lands. 6:55 no tokens which are in packs now as well as counters lol what a joke.

[@ReeksofChees3]

The keywords one it sort of a non-issue since most of the cards have reminder text on the card

[@williamsimkulet7832]

@@ReeksofChees3 Reminder text is nice, but SOME Keywords are an issue. Ward, for example, should obviously have been a taxing effect. "You can't do that" is a lot less punishing than "Your spell is countered and put into the graveyard, you've just accidentally lost your best card because you forgot my creature has Ward. You just timewalked yourself in limited. Oops. You, sir, lose the game of magic because you forgot that my creature had Ward 1." I mean, Arena literally asks me "Are you sure" EVERY TIME I target a creature w/ Ward. I wouldn't have done it if I wasn't sure, Arena, but it's nice YOU know it's such a horrible keyword that you went out of your way to make my gameplay experience water torture just to make sure I didn't forget that it was a terrible keyword.

[@williamsimkulet7832]

5:00 Keywords in an intro product like this better have reminder text. It's 2023; not 1990.

[@DukeJones-vu1hk]

magic for ever like my commet if you agger

[@williamsimkulet7832]

Magic is 30+ years old; that they don't have this down to a science is embarrassing. $25, 5 30 card single-color decks you can "mix and match" Jumpstart style (No artifacts or non-color aligned lands for obvious reasons). Sold in the game aisle (not in the overpriced collector's aisle near the front of the store). If you make it 5 60 card monocolored decks that are fun and interesting, I might just buy that for everyone I know for Christmas. This? No.

[@2011kok]

These cards are a bit confusing, would be helpful if you could make a video of how to play with these cards because most beginners will get this shit and keep them shelved . MTG is not beginner friendly at all meanwhile you don’t even have to watch a video to play your first pokemon tcg match

[@guybrushftw]

These used to literally be given away free and now they sell them to you. You're better off buying pre-made decks than these.

[@dorsalfin22]

To be fair, I don't think these decks should be directly compared to the old Welcome decks. Welcome decks (the free product for new players you are talking about) only had 30 cards each, whereas these are full 60 card decks. Second, these decks have the codes for MTG Arena. A lot of people may want them just for the codes. This is a product that can appeal to both paper and digital players. And while I wish the entry price was lower for an intro product, I feel it is vastly superior as a real introduction to MTG. Welcome decks did not even have a guide on how to play,. They just expected you to hang out and learn at your local game store, which some people may not feel comfortable doing (if they even have access to one at all.)

[@captaincanuck6738]

Well here we go. Eventually MTG consumes all game channels.

[@BoardGamesBricksHobbies]

I'm confused by your comment. The Dice Tower has often mentioned M:tG in videos and has reviewed Dual Decks in the past. Have you been saying this for 9 years since the Jace vs Vraska review? Also two or three Magic reviews a year is hardly "consuming the channel". Give me a break. No one forced you to click on this.

[@Zarfin]

What I don't get is why they cover magic, but choose to ignore flesh & blood 🤔

[@RetroMaticGamer]

@@Zarfin Because none of them play it. Simple. They can't cover games none of them want to get into.