Innistrad Hold the Line Event Deck Unboxing

I am curious to see how Hold the Line will do against Dark Ascension Spiraling Doom Event Deck as Ertai's Lament only pits Event Decks from the same set against each other. I think Hold the Line is the best Event Deck so far and will do better than Gleeful Flames against the Birthing Pod deck. Hopefully, I play them stock against each other and record the matches!

Edit: Forgot to add that the price is SGD$32.90 from Comics Connection

Event Decks SGD price update

I saw the prices for the other Event Decks and they are not as high as the Infect & Defile one that the shop  personnel quoted. $32.90 for Hold the Line, $29.90 for Deathfed.

Before you go buying any MTG Event Decks, read this...

I used to check my Magic card prices from the magazine, Inquest, but that magazine was discontinued from 2007. I stopped reading way before that once I quit Magic long ago. I found another source to check for Magic card price: tcgplayer.com store.

I was actually studying the Event Decks thinking of combining 2 to form a viable deck but then I found the above site which list out the card prices from various sources. You will be shock to find that most of the rare cards in the event deck barely make up the retail price of USD$25 set by Wizards of the Coast.

Hold the Line cost from rare-s: Approx $13
Deathfed cost from rare-s: Approx $11
Illusionary Might cost from rare-s: Approx $12
Vampire Onslaught cost from rare-s: Approx $18
Rot from Within cost from rare-s: Approx $17
War of Attrition cost from rare-s: Approx $17
Into the Breach cost from rare-s: Approx $6
Infect and Defile cost from rare-s: Approx $8

Granted you will also get uncommon and common cards which I did not factor in for the cost, the most expensive cards you can get from the event deck are Inkmoth Nexus($12-13) and Phantasmal Image($9-10). The uncommon and common cards aren't very expensive and if you order everything over the net, the decks are going to be cheaper and you can probably build a stronger deck as you get to pick cards. Buying 2 Event decks suddenly do not seem like such a good idea...

On another note, you will be able to checkout the upcoming Dark Ascension cards at the tcgplayer.com store. Looks like Wolf/Werewolf are going to get a lot of support.

MTG: Holding the Line with Haunted Humans

Huanted Humans is a MTG Worlds 2011 top 8 deck involving White Human Weenies backed by Mana Leak, Hero of Bladehold, Geist of Saint Traft and Moorland Haunt. Those cards alone are threats on their own and provided a better-rounded strategy to White Weenies.

Check out the article by the deck's creator, Craig Wescoe.

A lot of the deck can be built from 2 copies of "Hold the Line" Innistrad Event Decks.

About the Innistrad Event Decks...

Magic's Event Decks are somewhat like Yugioh's Pre-constructed decks. (Priced SGD$45.90 at Comics Connection) I found out about them quite late  and they seem to be pretty competitive out of the box unlike Yugioh. They give the max copies of quite a number of cards (the common rarity ones), about 2 each of the uncommon-s and 1 each of the rare-s, compared to Yugioh's 1 each of most of the cards. To do a little better, you might need to buy up to 2 to get the max copies of the uncommon cards.

For Innistrad set's 2 Event Decks, they are themed around White Weennies, called "Hold the Line" and a Graveyard-based deck, similar theme to Lightsworns, Deathfed. (Magic also has a Flashback spell card mechanic that enables casting of these spells from graveyard which makes it better than Lightsworns) I think White Weenies are pretty straightforward and this deck-type has been around since over 15 years ago when I was playing Magic. The Graveyard-based deck needs a bit of setup and I personally think you should get more fun playing it, out of the two.

Useful links on the 2 decks

Wizards of the Coast Official Page

Ertai's Lament Hold the Line Review 1 & 2

For how to improve Hold the Line, refer to the White Weenies/Human first deck here

Ertai's Lament Deathfed Review 1 & 2

Wizards of the Coast's Article on Splinterfright, main creature of Deathfed