At long last I finally got my hands on a Core21 Welcome booster.
WotC replaced the Welcome decks with these Welcome boosters.
These boosters like the Welcome decks are meant to be given to new players to the game. A new player turns up to their FLGS, gets taught how to play MtG (now with the decks from the Starter Kit), then afterwards gets given a Welcome booster.
Before I look at the Welcome booster. I’m going to briefly look at the Starter Kit.
The current Starter Kit is I believe the third iteration of the kit. They are an interesting product. Designed specifically to teach MtG. Although looking at this current version of the product it’s less new player friendly!
Below is the earlier version. As you can see it had two spin down life counter dice, two decks, two player aids that took the players through their first five turns, and a rule book.
The decks were pre-shuffled!
What I liked about this first version was the pre-shuffled deck and the guide teaching the game. It meant two new players could learn together without needing an experienced player. Plus the spin downs for tracking life. Why they are missing from the current version I don’t know. A new player will need one!
It seems WotC are trying to push players onto Arena, and using that to teach the game! Not cool in my opinion. And a step backwards. Two friends should be able to purchase this, sit down at the kitchen table, crack open the Starter Kit and start learning to play. They shouldn’t have to first sit round a pc/Mac download the app, create an account, register the Arena code and then get taught the basics, log off and on,y then start playing with their new decks. How the feck is that new player friendly? It’s a major step backwards.
Onto the Welcome booster.
“The Welcome Booster contains ten cards. Each Welcome Booster is exactly the same.”
The cards are a mix of standard legal and Commander cards, and I believed meant to be the start of a new players collection.
It’s the Commander cards that were of interest to me. Commander’s Sphere is a Commander staple. Garruk, Primal Hunter could fit in nicely to my big green stompy deck. Archetype of Imagination is always handy in a deck splashing blue. A shiny land is always welcome.
As freebies go, it’s ok. I think pitched just about right. Nothing so good or expensive you have experienced players clamouring to get it at the expense of new players.
Now I need to get my hands on the new Zendikar Rising Welcome booster.