As I mentioned last week, its time to finally discuss Pre-cons. What are they, what makes them so useful, are they expensive, Is it hard to understand? I intend to address all these questions and explain why Commander pre-cons are often the big things I look forward too most years.

Alright so question one, What is a pre-con?

A pre-con is a pre constructed commander deck made by Wizards of the Coast and intended to be used in a casual commander format and when multiples come out most of the time they are made to be balanced around one another. These decks are typically great starting points but there are a few that are insanely strong in comparison to others.

Magic Gatherings #3: Pre-Pros and Pre-Cons

The old formula would see these release once every year (Typically the summer) and would center around a theme. The ones displayed above centered around mana cost payed for commander. They have been a thing WoTC have kept in circulation since 2013 and are a fan favorite most of the time.

Why should I even get a pre-con?

A precon requires no work from the player to create making it a great starting point of commander to get a better understanding of how exactly to build a commander deck. While not extremely complex it is typically easy to follow, allows for quick pick up and play and comes with most of what you would need to get playing!

I always recommend picking up a pre-con if you can and your interested in commander as they are by far the easiest entry point, with a usual good amount of value to them. Some commander pre-cons have very very good cards in them that can then be used by players to do whatever with. They are very easy to customize including changing the commander there are many many different iterations and decks one can build off of just a pre-con.

Commander Series: List of All 53 Commander Precons
They come in various shapes and sizes

Are they expensive?

Trading cards vary in price a whole lot but the market price for when a pre-con is on shelves is reasonable for 100 cards. They used to be about $40 – $45 but have actually gone down about 10 dollars now often falling between $30 – $35. The decks have gone down slightly in price due to the change in distribution (Not just one pre-con commander set each year anymore). Which in comparison to other decks i’ve not only posted here but in general is rather cost effective and not too out of the way for a new player!

Is it hard to understand?

Pre-cons are meant for new players and Commander regulars. They contain instructions for how to play commander and also contain basically everything you’d need to begin playing. They are never extremely complex and often they don’t have any crazy hard to understand mechanics this makes them all around very beginner friendly and easy to again pick up and play.

As I mentioned though not all Commander pre-cons are created equal some are just flat out better then others. A good example is Atraxa, Praetors Voice, She single handedly took over the commander sphere with her crazy strong abilities and cards. And she is one of the examples there lie a few others, overall though they are still okay to use in play group! It is still fine to use them out of the box but they don’t exactly go $45 anymore…

Amazon.com: Magic the Gathering Commander 2016 Deck - Breed Lethality  (GWUB): Toys & Games

All in all pre-cons are fantastic and price effective for new players! I highly praise them and recommend them to most new players myself.

Next week is going to be a deck list more then likely of a pre-con but in case I don’t get the time to do so, I will post a small explanation about commander and LGS.