It's no secret that Magic: The Gathering is enjoying a healthy resurgence, largely due to the runaway success of its massively popular digital client, Magic: The Gathering Arena. Released in 2018, Arena instantly made the grandfather of all TCGs more accessible and affordable for thousands of players.
By contrast, it's a little a more complicated to get into the physical version of Magic: The Gathering, as the most recent product designed for beginners is an Amazon exclusive called the Magic: The Gathering Arena Starter Kit. Originally released alongside Core Set 2021 in July 2020, the kit features two 60-card decks and a 16-page rulebook, as well as codes that can be redeemed online to unlock the decks in Magic: The Gathering Arena. The set currently costs a little over $9 on Amazon, which is pretty affordable compared to MtG starter sets from years past. But is it worth picking up? Here are a few considerations to take into account.
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The two decks included in the starter kit are each focus on a single color of mana, one green and one black. They're streamlined, easy to play, and more than capable of showing off how exciting Magic: The Gathering can be, but they're not especially strong building blocks for players hoping to build a collection. While a few of the included cards are still seeing competitive play, the majority are too weak to make the cut in top-tier decks.
For players who mostly plan to game at home, this is no problem, but because optimized deck lists for Magic: The Gathering are so easy to find, the average deck on Arena is far more powerful than either of these.
Though this kit includes a physical rulebook, it heavily encourages players to learn the game by playing Magic: The Gathering Arena's tutorial. Upon completion, players are rewarded with 15 digital starter decks. These digital decks already include many of the cards used in the Starter Kit decks, so redeeming the codes on MtG Arena only nets players a handful of unique cards.
Assuming a player has access to a computer that can run Arena, they have very little reason to play paper Magic outside of personal preference. In fact, the incentive for a player to continue playing digitally is so strong that it seems as though Wizards of the Coast released this Starter Kit hoping to lure customers online.
Magic: The Gathering has several different formats which govern the cards that players can use in their decks. Arena focuses on the Standard format, which only allows players to use cards from sets that were released in the past two years. Though all of the cards in the Magic: The Gathering Arena Starter Kit are currently Standard-legal, the majority will rotate out of Standard later this year.
These cards will still be playable both online and in person, but their usefulness will be limited. Players will need to refresh their collection with new cards from the recent Kaldheim and Zendikar Rising sets. And while no one is going to knock down a player's door for playing kitchen table Magic with the wrong cards, the physical copies won't be legal at in-person events.
Customers who vastly prefer physical Magic: The Gathering cards over digital ones will find value in this product, as will those who don't have access to a computer that can run Arena. Nine bucks is a pretty reasonable price for two full-sized decks, and as far as starter sets go, this one is solid.
Everyone else, though, should probably steer clear. Magic: The Gathering Arena gives more than enough cards to new players, and most of the cards in this kit won't be playable later this year. Players wishing for a strong head start in building their collection would be better off purchasing the Welcome Bundle from Arena's in-game shop, which is cheaper than the Starter Kit and offers much higher value.
Magic: The Gathering Arena is currently available on Mac and PC, and will be coming to Android and iOS later this year.