Challenger Decks!

[@MTGGoldfish]

View all the Challenger Deck decklists here! www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/challenger-deck-lists

[@ashra8281]

MTGGoldfish wait... what if it's an aprils fools?

[@christophert.9237]

I think this is a good way to get reprints of the high value cards in standard while still in rotation

[@ontil68]

MTGGoldfish I read a comment down the chain that I believe you know will be the truth of this. Wizards releases these and scalpers scoop these up and jack up the resale. Sooo. These won't help get new standard players. At least that's what I'm thinking is the biggest problem with such a nice product. Am I seeing this all wrong...???

[@jasongray9457]

Do we know how often these will come out? Once a year, once per set release?

[@YGOHermit]

They will exit standard...like next week so wtf?

[@saulspanco854]

MTG Goldfish is by far the best MTG channel. It's rediculous how good these guys are at making MTG content, especially compared to any other channel.

[@MTGGoldfish]

Thanks!

[@the_snakelicious]

Agreed.

[@brewbrewbrewthedeck4138]

It's not even a contest. I mean, sure, there's other okay ones out there but in the production-value department alone it already is better than the rest combined. And then there's the breadth of content!

[@SmugLookingBarrel]

Important thing to note: The one major staple of Ramunap red that isn't in the challenger deck is Earthshaker Khenra. It's currently only $1.50 right now, so get your playsets now before it spikes up.

[@andycraig8382]

SmugLookingBarrel you’re the real MVP

[@Coolspa48]

What would you take out of the pre-constructed deck for the card you mentioned?

[@tamhuynh1905]

This is great, I might play standard again. The biggest problem I had with standard is that the value goes down once it rotates so your 300 dollar deck becomes a 30 deck after rotation. But now spending like 30 bucks plus like another 50 to upgrade the deck makes this much more manageable.

[@shawndiaz7528]

Tam Huynh if you already had a standard deck, you'd be feeling very jaded right now because your expensive standard deck that's already going to rotate and lose value just lost a ton of value.

[@advancekid]

That's a hit that everyone is going to have to endure if we want Magic to become more a more affordable game. I'm a long time standard player with Hazorets, Heart of Kirans and Glint-Sleeves, and I think this is great!

[@lastofusclips5291]

it's more 100$+ extra to make it truly tier 1 but you save alot of money by buying this first.

[@warz3bra245]

I spent $400usd on a tier 1 standard deck that is now worth $45usd. I quit magic because of that. I want to enjoy the game not manage a secondary market financial game

[@photohound4793]

Holy crap, these are WAY better than I had ever thought they would be!

[@ahunter7563]

This is a turning point in the magic era. I did not check the decklist, but if it is really a competitive standard preco deck, its HUGE. It mean that scealed product are no longer a scam (preco, anyone ?) and that new players, without looking at 3rd party ressources can now buy, and play a competitive standard deck.

[@ddwkc]

Some secondary market folks are already crying foul. These are beautifully put together overall (only 1 Fatal Push and no Torrential Gearhulk). I usually just draft when I go to FNMs and with these around at MSRP in a LGS (hopefully), I'd play Standard.

[@rayvnekieron8587]

I don't care that my cards are going to drop in price. I'm excited that more of my friends and other new players will be able to try standard!

[@williamstanton6126]

Rayvn e'Kieron exactly! That's my standpoint. So what if cards drop, yeah I lost value, but now I can buy more for less!

[@Goujiki]

Hazoret is going to go UP in price. You need 4 Hazoret in the deck, so you can buy FOUR of the deck, but the singles market will STILL Exist. Chandra will go down for a little while, but Fatal Push still not going anywhere, there's only 1 of in each of these decks. Heart of Kiran will tank but its rotating anyways, it was always going to tank.

[@paulbecker3379]

I just bought 3 for my Mardu deck. Kill me now

[@KoalaFrank]

All the cards you listed are rotating out

[@freddyrussell7778]

I would absolutely LOVE if they did this for pauper. Get loads of people into the format and solve the price problem without needing to reprint powerful stuff into standard or shoehorn them into supplemental sets Edit: the professor made a similar proposal in his video on pauper event decks, so wizards, use that as a blueprint!

[@cloudmane4159]

Freddy Russell they need to do this for pauper, hands down, absofuckinglutely

[@zackestin1368]

Solve the price problem of the format with 30-40 dollar decks?

[@Damiancontursi]

I think they shouldn't sell those that expensive, but anyways, pauper decks don't rotate.

[@DeaThShiNoBi213]

Pauper does have a price problem though, relatively speaking. As an all common format, it should really be 10 dollars at most to get into Pauper. Most cards are pennies cheap, but there's a few format staples out there that are very expensive compared to the rest of the format. If you want to make basically any Red or Blue deck then you're going to need Pyroblast or Hydroblast, which is a pretty big barrier of entry to those colors. There's also cards like Daze, Palace Sentinels, Ash Barrens, and Snow lands that have some pretty insane prices for an all commons format. The "boogie man" deck of the format, UR Delver, is showing as about 160 dollars on mtggoldfish right now.

[@shawndiaz7528]

DeaTh-ShiNoBi $10 at most? That's absurd. Getting ~61 playable cards for $10 is difficult enough on its own. Pauper decks on average play 16+ of the top 100 most powerful commons ever printed. You can't even get 50 of any of the best commons in STANDARD for $10.

[@themonotropicguitarist]

For someone who does want to try a little standard at FNM without having to invest more than I already do on other formats, this is a home run from WotC. Please let this be the norm moving forward.

[@Dustlite]

Matt Adams i wish they'd do something like this for modern or legacy. Those formats are pretty impenetrable unless you just spend a ton.

[@Nightwishmaster]

The best thing they could have done for legacy was NOT PUT THE FLIPPING DUAL LANDS ON THE RESERVED LIST! Modern however, they COULD do, even if it went for $100 like the original BW Tokens modern event deck they made.

[@jbrake09]

All my friends only play commander, this product gives them the ability to play standard as well for super cheap. Slam dunk by wizards on this one, will be picking one or two up for sure. Hopefully they'll make more post rotation

[@Kilmiina]

I really dig that these can be a great way for new and returning players to break into Standard with a set decks that have all the makings of legit, competitive and FUN lists that represent some of the formats relatively popular archetypes. I know I'll be picking up copies (even multiple copies) of each! Thanks for the vid.

[@user-pp5oh9ee1k]

Dang I actually might get into standard now.

[@frederikaltmann9051]

I am absolutely amazed that Wizards managed to create a product that is great for new players, great as gifts, great for value and great to lower the prizes on standard cards while they are still in rotation. Props to Wizards. That will help to regain momentum within the community.

[@MTGUnpacked]

These look very cool and should bring a lot of new players to Standard. Actually competitive decks that can be easily upgraded! Anyone else buy Chandra or Hazoret in the past month?😱

[@imlarge]

MTG Unpacked just bought 2 hazorets and 1 chandra literally 24 hours ago...

[@MTGUnpacked]

imlarge Ouch!

[@shawndiaz7528]

imlarge how's it feel to instantly lose $20+ bucks?

[@MTGUnpacked]

Shawn Diaz I have a play set of each! It feels fantastic😭

[@relentlessprofanity]

I bought two Chandras to finish my playset last night. Didn't pay $30 each for them though.

[@Peter-re5fi]

This is absolutely gonna make me play standard. Cause first of all we will see what the unbanning so to my modern deck, but it would definitely be worth while for me

[@prometheustheworldsfire30]

I have never been able to compete really with other standard decks, and now I can! This is awesome! Thank you MTGGoldfish for showing me this!

[@CRIMS0N_KING]

Well done Wizards! This is a massive step in the right direction.

[@piboy6228]

I'm definitely get back into standard now. I hope these continue as a new flagship products.

[@Goujiki]

These should 100% be a staple. It's good because it gets people to play Standard before rotation. The cards rotate sure, BUT it's a cheap deck AND it will bring influx of players during a time when Standard seems stagnant. When does standard get stagnant? Just before rotation. It's WIN/WIN ALL AROUND.

[@Unknown360DD]

These are gonna sell out so quickly

[@atmaximum]

Unknown360DD that's great!

[@shawndiaz7528]

Unknown360DD At Walmart? Nah...

[@Tsuna_SoulSilver]

But who play standards nowadays.

[@shawndiaz7528]

unknowncharacter14 This is the type of product that people who don't have Standard decks buy.

[@SomeFreakingCactus]

I agree. Wizards is reaching out into a market they've never explored before. They don't want big losses, so they'll print a conservative number of them, based on the number of people currently playing Standard. The response will be huge, scalpers will hoard them, and every big-box store will quickly find their inventory disappearing almost instantaneously. People will use websites like IFTTT.com to watch Amazon just to buy it for double the MSRP in a matter of minutes, while EBay has them for quadruple the price. We see this over and over again whenever a company reaches out into a market nobody has ever reached into. Just look at Nintendo's NES Mini and SNES Mini. Those things are still worth hundreds.

[@Level_1_Frog]

Woah, these are actually really solid :o actually shocked. Has Magic ever had a product like this that has this good value in it? I don't even play standard but I might actually pick one of these up just to support the concept alone, and that would also allow me to play at my lgs. Love these; I hope they don't discontinue them any time soon.

[@punishedbung4902]

I refuse to believe Wizards actually managed to make a good product for a reasonable price.

[@andrewbellavie795]

Well the cardstock...

[@Drakksy]

This is such a good idea! You get a couple key cards where you're not having to buy 2 Chandra or 4 grearhulk, but not really flooding the pool with tier cards. Going to sell more packs from it for people looking to add to these. Adding a lot more standard players with this. A+ product

[@nickdaiss1284]

Super happy about this as a fairly new player (6 months). Bravo!!!

[@KoaCharvel]

Holy value town WoTC please keep these coming!!!!

[@GrandiaKnight]

Torch of Defiance!! I'm so in!

[@elizakleinman1332]

Hopefully the value of the expensive cards plummets when these hit thhe market so we can fully upgrade them

[@saniwada]

this is insane, these are so much better than what I had when I first started...wish something like this existed back then.

[@SunniestAutumn]

These look so fun! Like, knowing that they are playable makes them even better. Just grab three of your friends, grab these decks, playtest them, tune them, go into the FNM... this is the product the players wanted and needed.

[@rodrigothompson2375]

Clap Wizzards, Clap x25

[@nicolashurtado1073]

See what you did there

[@luliby2309]

I was so happy when I read the decklists. They actually went and made good decks that can be legitimately played in Standard. That was always their problem. Most of the products they build are just intro products meant for new and casual players and there was nothing at all for people who want to move beyond being strictly casual. I mean, they have all the data and analyze Standard and older formats all the time, they hire people off the Pro Tour, they clearly know how to be good at Magic and build good decks, but they just didn't. They finally got past that fear and barrier they set for themselves and printed good stuff like Chandra, Hazoret, Fatal Push, Verdurous Gearhulk, you know, the things people need to compete. This is great news and Wizards needs to keep doing stuff like this.

[@ViolenceisJustice]

The return of the tournament decks? Cool. Very cool.

[@brandoncasiano1856]

sometimes i think Event decks they were called

[@ViolenceisJustice]

yes you're right I messed up the name

[@ahunter7563]

Not really a "return" event decks were pretty bad for most of them (not all,but most) and were build around an abilitie from the set. those are watered down competitive decks,wich is much better.

[@EliyaSelhub]

For casual play, I think it would be fun to pick these up post-rotation and play them against each other unmodified, then add new Challenger decks over time.

[@swordsman111982]

I am going to grab one maybe two decks. These might be a really cool idea to turn into a Battle Box after a few more come out.

[@ProtagonistOfficial]

This actually seems pretty sweet, looks like they took all the strategies from their commander products and put them into their standard products.

[@solotopp]

Wow. This is so nice to see. I hope they keep this up in the future.

[@lacombi8357]

Very cool. Going to buy these decks to upgrade my colection and to have some fun with friends. First time in 8 years playing Magic that I will buy a deck made by Wizards.

[@drewgranger6037]

Magic is trying their asses off rn to bring the players back. Putting actual value into their products is the number one way to do that. Thank you wotc, thank you so much. I'm definetly going to buy every one of these. This'll be the largest purchase I've made in years. Keep up the good work and I'll keep throwing you my money

[@MemoryLaneWizard]

Glad to hear that these will also be available in Japanese. I am not putting up with the ridiculous card stock issues from the US side.

[@reokturner1748]

Well I am very surprised by these, and I am gunna buy 1 or 2 for my local standard show downs!

[@jacquespansegrouw5513]

Some of the cards printed in the Challenger Decks aren't easily obtainable in my local mtg singles market. Wizards has really filled a need with this product (in the standard format)

[@docterfantazmo]

Damn... I just ate my words, HARD! I still won't be playing Standard but this will help nuke newer card prices, which is awesome. Good job Wizards, you crushed it.

[@WildcardZwei]

Actually including consistent playsets is the biggest shocker for me. I would be expecting something like heart of kiran to be a one-of, but they didn't skimp this time. Very impressive. Still hope they make a pauper deck item like this.

[@BudgetDiety]

I'm primarily a modern player, but this is exactly what I wanted from wizards to play standard. I hate the recurring cost, and more than that I hate the fact I can't sell it to my friends or introduce people to the game because the entry fee is so high for competent decks. Modern will always be my home, well.... if they just bite the bullet and ban jace again. But this is kick ass and I'm super hopeful for the future with this.

[@Shadowquacker]

Ah, sneaky Wizards: they price out everyone who can't buy a play set of Jace from Modern then tempt people into Standard with preconstructed decks that are (gasp!) not deliberately designed to be awful! Bravo: I had assumed ruining Modern was just thoughtlessness, but it appears to be part of a wider sinister scheme ;-)

[@flamestunts]

I love how all the decks have "by Saffronolive" next to the deck title.

[@MTGGoldfish]

Yeah, I certainly did make them!

[@Jallis370]

This is not the first time. They did some four years ago too. Competitive 75 card Event decks, most of them awesome.

[@michaelhuebner6843]

Challenger decks are very similar to the discontinued Event decks, except they are built more coherently for the Standard format.

[@RW77777777]

those 2 decks with uncommon IXN lands. free $ doe cards that aren't rotating... my LGS didn't move the prices for the reprints at all, only slashed the 'buy list' values by 75% and GP Seattle(Standard) is same day as these released :/

[@petersmythe6484]

I wonder if it is a mistake, a bit like printing Umezawa's Jitte (probably among others) in a pre-constructed deck.

[@Dazanos]

This is great. We have asked for this for a long time.

[@eternalwarlock8606]

You should make a video where you run each of these deck lists as they would come out of the box in standard to show how they’ll play.

[@MrInfernoblade10]

Pretty surprising. The other great benefit is that they'll drive down some prices for other format's staples.

[@AtticusAngelus]

I was literally about to make a video asking for this kind of product for Pauper. This is amazing for the player and I am super stoked to try one out at fnm and test the power level of it. I think I might still make that video, WOTC seems to be finally listening!

[@cielphantomhive4622]

Wizard of the coast finally made a product people will use to play standard with it’s beautiful :’)

[@tuomasjmyllykoski]

Anyone notice that this product has the Anniversary 25 logo in the bottom right corner? Could that indicate that this product is just a one time thing to propel people into playing standard quickly during the anniversary year?

[@KryXun]

Seth, say you didn't want to play the same red deck as everyone else, could a video that lets you take a different path with that deck be possible? like turning the red deck into a Big Red, RW Path of Mettle or something else? can the Approach deck be made into the God Pharaoh's Gift deck?

[@MTGGoldfish]

Good idea!

[@coreysierchio4650]

Against The Challenger

[@Frank_Souza]

I really think that the BG and UW deck could have a bit more value, the BG could have 2 pushes and, maybe a rhonas or 2 balistas, the approach deck could have baffling end instead of AEther meltdown, glacial fortress and so on, but DUDE, each of these decks are like 50% cheaper than it would be to assemble them by ur own. I won't buy them cause I don't have access to play FNM due to college but I'm really happy with a sealed product of this level. This is really something that may have standard be widely the format for begginers, I love it, I hope that they sell tones of these just like they do every year with commander, and because of the success, every 6 months or so they release another couple of challenger decks.

[@MrFrazzleDazzle]

I may pick up a couple sets of these simply for the value in adding to my collection

[@tangolino]

Great first step, should've gone the whole way and build full complete decks with all of the good cards (ex: playset of fatal push, etc). Specially so close to rotation. IMO....

[@Damers88]

This isn't the first time Wizards has done this... Event decks for standard existed back in New Phyrexia era of the format, they were out of the box playable at FNM level. There was even an Infect one could bought in multiple copies to build the T1 Infect list of the time.

[@autdelux]

wow finally im happy with a product ^^ its an awsome thing i can tell new ppl to buy and the crazy prizes of some pure standard cards can drop now. good product well done wotc.

[@cooperzilkenat3220]

I want to play the Blue/White approach, and then just get the mono red one because I need the cards for my cube.

[@strictlyworse_mk7108]

The list for Mono-Red, sorry, HAZORET Aggro shocked me! (pun intended) The fact that it has Hazoret, Chandra, and Glorybringer together is amazing. I'm buying 2 of these to finish my set of Chandra, the Mind Sculptors.

[@unusuallycloudy]

Now they need to do this with MODERN decks!

[@ItsDKoda]

Bradley Priebe modern event decks failed. They won’t try it again

[@SomeFreakingCactus]

D'Koda - So did Standard Event Decks, and look at where we are now.

[@williamstanton6126]

I really hope these do well, and will do it for modern.

[@nonewmsgs]

Modern event deck was tokens. I bought it but tokens has never been good enough in the meta

[@sweetcerebrum6386]

Except with modern being eternal they can't bank on the good cards they print rotating right afterwards.

[@Domenico44055]

Red, White and Black are in two decks while Green and Blue are in one, so my only complain is the lack of a fifth, UG pummeler deck. Fun for new players, good power level and entirely rotating out with kaladesh so it would have been like the others four.

[@masonwoodman8692]

Wow, this is something. I love that wizards have decided to actually make a product worth buying that isn't in commander, like seriously, it has been ages since a real standard product showed up. The only downside is people with playsets are taking a big L. I have been reading the comments and I just wanted to say that the value of cards does matter. If this game was completely free, the all cards would be worthless and a lot of people wouldn't really care about mtg anymore. Also, if cards were worthless, no protour, no gp's, and no worthwhile drafts. I just wanted to point that out to everybody saying that inclusion is more important then value, because it's not, they are on equal terms. The key is to find a balance.

[@MisterMomotaro1996]

Mason Woodman it's a game. The point is to play it. This allows people to play it. And value has nothing to do with tournaments.

[@opmwatcher96]

I love these I'm super curious to see how they'll affect the secondary market though

[@andreasfuglsang17]

As someone who haven't played MTG for over a decade these decks seem intriguing. How would you rank these decks in terms of playability and "fun" right out of the box? I like both aggro, control and midrange.

[@blackrainpr]

not that surprise because it was revealed that these decks were going to be the new event decks, we already have the 2.0 intro decks, called planeswalkers deck. But im really surprised how good they are. Finally gonna play some std

[@Adrianovaz2007]

The monored will be absolutely scalpeled by retails and LGSs, Chandra AND Hazoret??

[@Gamereviewerguru]

Seems like a pretty good and cheap way to get into standard, I’m pretty interested in the mono red one

[@atreuslione1013]

Now the real gamble is this: how many decks will they print? Because the exact amount of dollars that each card in there will drop depends on exactly how many cards flood the market after release. If it was literally infinite, all cards would be pushed towards the exact value that, when summed up, equals the price of this pre-made deck. But for sure its not gonna be infinite, so knowing how many they will print allows you to play the market optimally (knowing when to buy and when to sell). Anyone else smells inside trading around here? Regardless, pretty cool decks. Will probably buy a couple

[@MystMG]

Where's the catch? Are you pulling a Commander 2017 again with the intention of printing enough for a tenth of the demand?

[@mave6602]

I really hope one can get those for MSRP in Germany. I like those Decks and I guess I'll buy some of them as long as I get them for a decend prices and I certainly show them to my friends who don't have that much cards. Way to go WotC. I like Counter surge and I somehow feel guilty for advising my brother badly regarding buying a Walking Balister and I really wanted to buy him one.

[@JustAnotherPest]

Let's just hope the Mardu Vehicles box has a note on its cheat sheet to not name Vehicles when you play Unclaimed Territory.

[@mosi]

I dunno, I spiked a game day with the white humans innistrad event deck back in the day.

[@jish55]

This is the equivalent of what they do with their precon commander decks, which is great, and will actually sell out fast. Wizards, keep this up, don't just bow out.

[@butterman1653]

Now all we need our Pauper Challenger decks.

[@MemeFrog3310]

With Wizards unbanning the Mind Sculptor in modern and then these in standard, are they trying to push modern players into standard?

[@amirestejab]

probably... Modern has become much too popular for Wizard`s liking and they need a way to get people playing their staple format again

[@amirestejab]

kudos to them though because this still a killer deal and I will probably pick up a standard even though I have only played modern in the past couple of years.

[@readerrabbit6690]

These are perfect for new players. I'm gonna buy all of these for my cousins.

[@xZipkan]

Well I plan on picking up quiet a few of these, especially the mono red one, I need my Chandras, and Hazoret is a bonus

[@pietroboni2553]

XmorganXcountry just wait for chandra's price to drop (it will) and buy singles

[@jesselaplante1040]

Yeah but the fact that some of these cards are good In modern lessens the blow of rotation. Great product.

[@claudiopulento6221]

these are awesome! cant believe they selling t1 decks....but wow can even just hold chandras/hazoret for modern after rotation, very cool

[@zacharylindahl]

This will actually get me to play stadard

[@scottd.5705]

I'm so mixed about this. I wanted to play a constrictor deck and needed basically the whole deck so I can just grab that, but it also means everyone else can do the same. I don't want five people to all show up with the same deck.

[@jessieshores4865]

Hopefully they continue this. If they can crush the secondary market with these and masters reprints, this game might survive the digital apocolypse.

[@dannewhall1776]

Wow WotC actually listened?? I might actually play standard now that a $30 deck will definitely get me my money's worth. Good job Wizards! And thanks Seth!

[@eph51912]

one these rotate out, the value will be significantly different. that said, i need a few of these to complete my play sets.

[@anaskaadan7846]

Keep in mind that a lot of these cards will drop in value after the release of this widely available product. It baffles me that they only included 1 fatal push in the deck while there are 3 gear hulks, but whatever lol.

[@termsofutilization]

This is actually probably going to get me to play standard for the first time in like 8 years.

[@joeburris6918]

God dawm it wotc, good job on the challenger decks.

[@MetalOrDeth]

Im picking the the whole set

[@goodshipzion]

Tier 1 Pauper decks up next in the product idea queue?

[@BigPurpleHippo]

I'm primarily a modern player but this seems like a good way for me to get into standard

[@juanavila223]

Im going to buy all four and manage as a duel decks just to have casual fun

[@mistersandman94]

i was blown away from hazoret. going to buy it since i put so much money in mtgo and i really dont wanna to buy paper decks since i already spent it on online

[@lefloidNemesis]

This reminds me a lot of the newer ygo structure decks.

[@dtopa7524]

I wonder if these cards will have their normal set symbol or a unique Challenger symbol

[@alexanderstojanow3773]

Just adding to the chorus: This will make me play standard again!

[@jimpachi98]

This is so good, I’m still trying to find the catch.