Which deck pack do you think is best?

[MooMooKaChoo]

So, I have just enough funds remaining from the christmas sales in order to get one of the deck packs. I'm just not sure which one I would like to grab. Any thoughts or input into what you fellow magic players have found enjoyable?

[=|L$M|= MEMEGATRON]

Might as well save up for 2015

Jokes aside, the general feedback for Deck Pack 3 has been quite poor. Most are complaining about yet another green deck that looks like it ought to have replaced Garruk's deck in the base game right at the start. The Metalcraft artifact white & red deck seems rather weak as well.

Deck Pack 1 had 1 good deck Bounce & Boon which is kind of like 2013's Peacekeepers and 1 bad deck Unfinished Business which tries to focus on reanimation but lacks reliable or consistent means to push through its strategy.

Deck Pack 2 seems like the only deck with both decks that are not too bad. Enchanter's Arsenal & Up to Mischief have had a rather warm reception over at Wizards forums. The "Flash" ability in Up to Mischief really allows for some interesting gameplay.

Overall, none of the decks in the deck packs really did much to change the metagame of DotP 2014, although there were some interesting additions.

[Mr Kangaroo]

this is a hard one to answer so many great deck packs .

[unnamed]

The answer to this is something I can confidently state after thousands of games between all the decks.

The best decks are:

1) Avacyn's Glory
2) Sylvan Might
3) Chant of Mul Daya
4) Dodge and Burn

All four are roughly on par in terms of consistency and power, but vary wildly in playstyle and the difficulty of skill required to win. Avacyn's Glory can be used well by even a beginner, so if you are having a bit of a tough time or just starting out, start there.

Contrary to the chap above me, the jury is out on Deck Pack 3.
While everyone can agree that the Green deck should just have supplanted Garruk in the base game, that doesn't mean it's a bad deck, it's nice to have a good stompy deck.

The Artifact deck, in my view, has the potential to be a top contender. Experiments continue....

[=|L$M|= MEMEGATRON]

As DaemonX has pointed out in his list of best decks, none actually come from the 3 Deck Packs.

I don't disagree with DaemonX in his/her assessment.

However, I think players are expecting deck packs to shake up the balance or metagame, which of course ignitess another debate, something like Beknighted in 2012. Some players don't like it when deck packs turn out to be just 2 more decks to add to the collection and play around with from time to time. Others prefer it when deck packs force a change in current deck strategies & builds.

[dh50]

Deck Packs 1 and 2 are both pretty good - you can't go wrong with either.

Deck Pack 3 is absolutely terrible and complete and total waste of money. Both decks are borderline unplayable in 1v1. Warsmith is better than Hunting Season, but it's still probably the second-worst deck in the game. Hunting Season is boring, aside from being wretched at everything.

I'm someone who loves DOTP; I have over 500 hours on this game and I almost exclusively play random option because I like the variety of decks. I even liked the underpowered decks from the deck packs in last year's game. But Deck Pack 3 is unredeemable trash.

[NeoSilk]

*agrees fully with DH!*

[unnamed]

Do NOT agree with DH.
Deck Pack 2 - the one with Bounce and Boon - was the worst. Because B&B is the worst deck of the year.

Warsmith isn't terrible, I can say that much. 1 cost removal is GOOD. Whether it's great...not sure yet. Probably it isn't.

[dh50]

Well I suppose it's partly a matter of taste. But saying Bounce and Boon is the worst deck of the year...really? This is the first time I've seen an opinion that wouldn't put it in the top half of decks at least. I guess maybe you don't like playing it, but it's very hard to see how BB doesn't regularly beat ETD, SH, FW, HS, and Deck Pack 3. It's one of the few decks that is fairly competitive against AG as well. Perhaps you have a different defintiion of 'worst' than most.

Warsmith seems terrible to me. Dispatch and Galvanic Blast are good cards, but having good cards isn't sufficient to make a good deck. In playing it, it's been horribly inconsistent and slow, and seems to get very easily overrun by faster decks. Unofrgiveably, it can have mana issues due to the lack of fetch lands. It has next to no draw abilities and is highly vulnerable to disruption. The entire deck seems like a half-finsihed idea that they forgot to play-test.

[Velcrow]

Finishing off Deck Pack 3 and editing the decks they're not all bad. Hunting Season just takes up too much time to properly set up and has no mana ramping like a green deck should and Warsmith is missing on draw cards and Myr Battlephere/any costly mythic rare artifact creature that's worth it. They're not the worst but they could be leagues better.

Definitely get Deck Pack 1 if I had to choose between the 3.

[NeoSilk]

Originally posted by DaemonX:

Do NOT agree with DH.
Deck Pack 2 - the one with Bounce and Boon - was the worst. Because B&B is the worst deck of the year.

Warsmith isn't terrible, I can say that much. 1 cost removal is GOOD. Whether it's great...not sure yet. Probably it isn't.

Really? B&B is one of my favorites and, just might be (IMO) the best deck from all of the deck packs.
WS is not that bad..but HS2..wow...just wow...so bad....

[=|L$M|= MEMEGATRON]

In my opinion, Bounce & Boon is certainly not a bad deck.

It kind of reminds me of 2013's Peacekeepers, with those tokens & familiar cards like Captain & Sun Titan. Rather than a rehash of Peacekeepers, the new deck exploits both "Flash" ability and EtB triggers to enable tricks like life gain to stall till you cast your game winners.

Of all the decks from the Deck Packs, I did not like Unfinished Business in particular because I feel the DotP metagame tends to be very unfriendly to slower decks in general. This reanimation deck lacks reliable ways to get those fatties into the graveyards. I believe the best combo this deck has is the one with the Imp to self discard. I think this is quite fragile overall and if your opening hand lacks this combo, then you are already off to a rocky start.

[Thaiden]

Green! Everyone hug a tree

[Jayrab]

The Expansion pack comes with some really nice decks that you should defenitly check out if you haven't bought it yet. The samurai deck's amazing if you unlock the promo code equipments, the elven deck is probably one of the best decks in this game so far, Dodge and burn and the Exalted deck can be really fun too. The only deck that I don't really enjoy is the mono black demon deck but that's mainly because I generally don't play black and I haven't unlocked any new cards for it yet.

As for deck packs, I'd recommend deck pack 2. Enchanted Arsenal is really fun especially in 2 headed giant. Haven't had any experience with the fairy deck yet so I can't tell you anything on that.

But yea, I'd say get the Expansion and DP2 or if you only have enough for one, the expansion.

[Cardzerker]

My current list in terms of confidence is something like:

S: Avacyn’s Glory, Deadwalkers, Dodge and Burn

A: Mind Mazes, Lords of Darkness, Bounce and Boon, Sylvan Might, Chant of Mul Daya, Sword of the Samurai, Up to Mischief

B: Enchanted Arsenal, Unfinished Business, Firewave, Guardians of Light, Hunter’s Strength, Hall of Champions, Mask of the Dimir

C: Warsmith, Sliver Hive, Enter the Dracomancer, Hunting Season

Bounce and Boon seems pretty good to me. I also think Unfinished Business is alright. Both Deck Pack 1 and 2 are worth picking up. Deck Pack 3 isn't unplayable but its not going to set the world on fire, either.

[=|L$M|= MEMEGATRON]

As with the previous DotP game, the expansion offers the best value for money because it adds the most content for the asking price:

- 5 new decks
- 1 new add-on campaign
- 1 new set of challenges (10 if I recall)

Each deck pack costs $2.99 & offers just 2 new decks per pack. At $4.99 for the expansion, you can't go wrong with this DLC if you could only choose one.

Anyway, 1 expansion plus 3 deck packs looks set to be the trend for future DotP games in terms of DLC releases.