Magic: The GatheringFoundations is an upcoming entry-level set designed to both help new players develop a strong, well, foundation in Magic, while also laying down a solid base for the game’s Standard format for at least the next five years.
The set offers a variety of products targeted towards new players, including the 387-card Starter Collection, but if you’re looking to jump into Magic with both feet and learn the ropes quickly, The Beginner Box is the best place to start.
The Beginner Box is a complete learn-to-play experience that will guide you through your first game of Magic, with a pair of step-by-step guides for you and your opponent, using two preconstructed decks.
Once you’ve learned the basics, the box also includes eight more mono-color theme decks, each made up of 20 cards. LikeJumpstart, you simply pick any two of the decks from the box, shuffle them together, and you’re ready to go. The Beginner Box provides a smooth onramp for newbies and endless replayability as you mix and match the ten decks together and experiment with all the different color combinations in the game.
Today, TheGamer can exclusively reveal the contents of one of those decks. Primal is a green deck that features 20 classic Magic cards and a ‘go big or go home’ strategy that will appeal to players who like to overpower their opponents. Here are the cards included in the deck:
Name And Description
Aggressive Mammoth
Three generic, three green creature - Elephant - 8/8 - Rare
Trample(This creature can deal excess combat damage to the player or planeswalker it’s attacking.)
Other creatures you control have trample.
Bear Cub
One generic, one green creature - Bear - 2/2 - Common
Biogenic Upgrade
Four generic, two green sorcery - Uncommon
Distribute three +1/+1 counters among one, two, or three target creatures, then double the number of +1/+1 counters on each of those creatures.
Bite Down
One generic, one green instant - Common
Target creature you control deals damage equal to its power to target creature or planeswalker you don’t control
Druid of the Cowl
One generic, one green creature - Elf Druid - Common
Tap: Add one green mana
One green instant - Common
Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn
Three generic, one green creature - Treefolk - Common
Reach(This creature can block creatures with flying.)
Mild-Mannered Librarian
One green creature - Human - Uncommon
Three generic, one green: This creature becomes a Werewolf. Put two +1/+1 counters on it and you draw a card. Activate only once
Two generic, one green enchantment - Aura - Common
Enchant land
When this Aura enters, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control
Enchanted land has “Tap: Add two mana of any one color.”
One generic, two green creature - Dinosaur - Uncommon
One generic, Sacrifice this creature: Destroy target artifact or enchanment.
X generic and one green creature - Hydra - Uncommon
This creature enters with X +1/+1 counters on it.
Whenever one or more +1/+1 countries are put on another non-Hydra creature you control, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.
Tap: add one mana of the chosen color.
The Primal Strategy
The strategy of this deck is all about building up giant creatures with extra counters and smashing them into your opponent. One of the deck’s most important creatures is Wildwood Scourge, a Hydra that can enter play with as many +1/+1 counters as you can afford, then gains an additional +1/+1 counter each time another one of your other creatures gains counters.
Wildwood Scourge synergizes extremely well with Bioengic Upgrade. This spell lets you add +1/+1 counters to up to three target creatures, then double the number of counters on them. With Wildwood Scourge and a couple of other creatures in play, you can add up to eight +1/+1 counters to your Hydra, while also buffing your other creatures with counters of their own.
Once you’ve sufficiently buffed your minions, defeating your opponent is as simple as playing the Aggressive Mammoth, which will give all your characters Trample and prevent the full force of their might from being blocked by your opponent’s creatures. Bite Down is also a great way to instantly deal massive amounts of damage to a creature of planeswalker you don’t control, which can pave the way for a free hit on your opponent’s life total.
When looking for a deck to combine with in the Beginner Box, look for complimentary decks that also have ways of dispersing +1/+1 counters. This will help ensure that your Wildwood Scourge gets plenty of buffs to help you set up a big attack.
Both of the blue decks, Pirates and Wizard, have some cards that allow you to add counters to your creatures, while also providing some of blue’s signature removal cards to help clear a path for your big creatures.
The Beginner Box Has Everything You Need To Learn Magic
I had a lot of high praise for the Beginner Box when I first played it last month, and the more time I’ve spent with it, the more I appreciate what it has to offer. As a learn-to-play experience, the box’s Cat Vs. Vampire guided game is among the best I’ve seen. It walks you through the steps of a turn while guiding your play and, most importantly, explaining the strategy behind every decision. Though the tutorial ends a little abruptly, I love how quickly it gives you all the tools you need to play Magic on your own.
For a full breakdown of the learn-to-play side of the Beginner Box,check out my preview.
The best part about the Beginner Box is that it doesn’t just turn into wasted cardboard once you’ve learned how to play the game. Lorcana Gateway, a similar learn-to-play product, doesn’t offer a lot of incentives to return to it once you understand the fundamentals, but Magic’s Beginner Box has a nice assortment of pre-made decks that will help you expand you Magic knowledge even further without having to invest in more expensive product.
Mimicking Magic’s beloved Jumpstart packs, as well as one of my favorite deck-building games, Smash Up, the Beginner Box’s ten theme decks represent a wide range of strategies and playstyles. Not only is it fun to experiment, but it will help you find the types of decks you’re most interested in playing too.
The best way to learn Magic has always been to have a friend teach you, but this is a way for two novices to learn together, and there hasn’t really been a good way to do that before. I value the Beginner Box a lot for its replayability, because it has allowed me to engage with Magic in a gentler way, rather than dive into the deep end of competitive play and meta decks.
There’s a smooth path from learn-to-play, to the rest of the box’s decks, to Jumpstart, to sealed and draft, and eventually to competitive league play and beyond, if you catch the Magic bug. But you don’t have to commit to anything beyond this box at first, which is exactly what a great learn-to-play product should be.
Magic: The Gathering
Created by Richard Garfield in 1993, Magic: The Gathering (MTG) has become one of the biggest tabletop collectible card games in the world. Taking on the role of a Planeswalker, players build decks of cards and do battle with other players. In excess of 100 additional sets have added new cards to the library, while the brand has expanded into video games, comics, and more.
