Play of the Game | Illustration by Jung Park
As a Magic player you’ve likely struggled with getting your friends into the game if they aren’t already. Magic has a lot of barriers to entry for new players, and your friends aren’t likely to want to spend a ton of money on cards they don’t think they’ll use if you don’t manage to hook them right away with a fun experience. Luckily WotC is constantly trying to create new products that can help players introduce their friends to the game, including the Game Night boxes.
Magic: The Gathering Game Night is a series of products that Wizards has released, each of which includes five Magic precons and some other helpful materials so players are ready to go right out of the box. There’s one deck for each of Magic’s five colors, and each deck includes a single card only available through the Game Night box. The game can be played in traditional one-on-one style or with up to five players in a way similar to Commander.
It’s important to consider the cards in each deck and your reason to buy it when deciding which Game Night product is best for you. Here’s what I think the best Game Night box is overall, along with some that might be better for specific players!
Which Game Night Is The Best?
I think the best Game Night product right now is Game Night: Free for All. This most recent Game Night product scored high on all my criteria and is also just much more readily available than other Game Night products.
- Game Night: Free-for-All is an easy, fun, and accessible way to learn to play Magic or to teach friends and family the game, including a How-to-Play Guide for new players
- Designed for 2–5 Players—Magic: The Gathering weaves deep strategy, gorgeous art, fantastical stories, and a thriving fan community all together into a card game experience like no other
- Includes five 60-card decks—pick a color or mix them together to choose your strategy
- Portable box holds all five decks, plus accessories—easy to bring to your next board game night or play at your local game store
- Accessories include 5 dice for tracking life, 20 punchout counters for strengthening your army, and 15 double-sided tokens to represent artifacts and creatures you summon to join you in battle
How I Picked The Best
I looked at each Game Night product through a few different lenses.
First was the value of each product and the playability of its cards. I’ve used a couple of the old Game Night exclusive cards in my Commander decks, but this is also the first time I was able to build a deck around a brand new commander exclusive to the set, Imaryll, Elfhame Elite. I think Wizards’ choice to make the exclusive cards legendary creatures was a great idea because it increases the likelihood that they’ll see play outside of Game Night.
What Makes a Good Game Night Product?
The first thing I look at for each Game Night product is how much it costs to buy and how readily available it is.
Because Game Night 2022 was released in October, it’s much easier to find copies online and at my local stores. It’s more readily available, so Game Night 2022 also costs less than the other two Game Night products, easily acquired on Amazon, TCGPlayer, or at local stores. This makes Game Night 2022 the best product in the series for what it’s intended to do since new players are likely more willing to buy or split a $50 box to try out the game than one that costs upwards of $80.
The next thing I looked at was the overall card value of each of the products. While Game Night 2019 came out on top at a little over $100, the cards were only worth about $8 more than the other two Game Night products.
I also looked at how expensive the Game Night-specific cards were from each product. Game Night 2022’s exclusive cards were worth about $40, so for only $10 more you can buy the entire box set. While Game Night 2019 and the original Game Night box have similarly valuable exclusive cards, the value of the overall box has increased which makes them less of a deal. Players are better off buying the one or two exclusive cards they want as singles if that’s all they’re interested in.
#3. Magic Game Night
Magic Game Night was the first Game Night product to be released, also making it the hardest to find.
Seeing as the card values for the decks is only around $100, Magic Game Night isn’t a great deal. This is especially true since no single deck in the box is playable outside the context of Game Night, so players need to spend even more money to upgrade the deck if they wanted to play elsewhere.
Collectors who want to buy the exclusive cards from the original Game Night box can pick them up for only around $40. That’s much cheaper than buying the entire box, so buying singles is definitely the way to go if you just want these cards.
- You and 1–4 friends can START PLAYING MAGIC: THE GATHERING instantly with this multiplayer starter set.
- JUST OPEN AND PLAY. Everything is in the box. 5 60-card decks, 5 dice for tracking life totals, and all the accessories you need to play.
- These five decks were designed as an intuitive way to TEACH YOUR FRIENDS MAGIC.
- BRING MAGIC ANYWHERE. Magic Game Night comes in a sturdy, portable box so you can take Magic with you wherever you game.
- MIX AND MATCH cards to quickly and easily build your own decks for endless replayability.
#2. Game Night 2019
Game Night 2019 takes second place based on the criteria I used to judge each product. As far as overall card value goes it has the highest value of cards. It would cost players around $110 to assemble each deck buying singles, which is also still less than it would cost to buy the entire box.
The exclusive cards in this set are also around $40 in value with the most expensive being the nearly $30 Fiendish Duo. But the value isn’t very evenly distributed across the exclusive cards in this set, with some being worth a dollar or less. It might be better just to buy the singles for collectors who just want to get their hands on an exclusive card.
- You and 1–4 friends can start playing Magic: The Gathering instantly with this multiplayer starter set.
- Just open and play. Everything is in the box. 5 60-card decks, 5 dice for tracking life totals, and all the accessories you need to play.
- These five decks were designed as an intuitive way to teach your friends magic.
- Bring magic anywhere. Magic game night 2019 comes in a sturdy, portable box so you can take magic with you wherever you game.
- Mix and match cards to quickly and easily build your own decks for endless replayability.
#1. Game Night: Free for All
As I mentioned, Game Night: Free for All is overall better than the other two. It’s more readily available which makes it easier to pick up for its intended purpose of getting new players into the game. It’s also cheaper for collectors who just want to get their hands on its exclusive cards.
Value wise it’s around the same total card value as the other two Game Night products, and its unique cards are also around the same value. These unique cards will likely also increase in price as we get farther from Game Night 2022’s original launch, just like what happened with the previous rounds of Game Night-exclusive cards.
- Game Night: Free-for-All is an easy, fun, and accessible way to learn to play Magic or to teach friends and family the game, including a How-to-Play Guide for new players
- Designed for 2–5 Players—Magic: The Gathering weaves deep strategy, gorgeous art, fantastical stories, and a thriving fan community all together into a card game experience like no other
- Includes five 60-card decks—pick a color or mix them together to choose your strategy
- Portable box holds all five decks, plus accessories—easy to bring to your next board game night or play at your local game store
- Accessories include 5 dice for tracking life, 20 punchout counters for strengthening your army, and 15 double-sided tokens to represent artifacts and creatures you summon to join you in battle
What’s Included in Game Night Products?
Each Game Night product includes five mono-colored Magic decks that are ready to play. They also include five spindown life counters, tokens for each of the decks, and punchout +1/+1 counters. The box also includes reference cards for each of the decks. There’s also a rulebook to help new players learn to play Magic.
How Do You Actually Play Magic: The Gathering Game Night?
Playing with Game Night is easy. You and your fellow gamers each grab one of the preconstructed decks each, shuffle up, and start a game of Magic. You can play one-on-one or multiplayer similar to Commander where each player takes turns around the table in a free-for-all battle.
Players who want to mix things up can also play around with combining each of the decks, though some decks have pretty strong themes and won’t mix too well with others. Mixing decks can be a great way for new players to get a hang of which color combinations they enjoy and how each color in the color pie interacts with each other.
Are MTG Game Night Cards Legal?
The reprinted cards in your Game Night decks are legal for whatever format the originals are legal in. If you’re wondering what formats each card can be played in, you should check them individually on Gatherer or ScryFall.
The Game Night exclusive cards are only legal for eternal formats like Commander, Vintage, or Legacy. It’s still worth checking the legality of each card in case it’s since been banned or restricted in one of those formats.
Next Steps: How to Improve Your Game Night Decks
You can upgrade a Game Night deck by researching and buying individual cards that fit into the deck’s strategy. Commander might be the best option because the format is more casual if players are looking to transition from Game Night into other formats using these decks as a starting point.
Some decks also already have a strong enough theme for Commander to be a good jumping-off point, like Game Night 2022’s green elf deck.
Game Night vs. Game Knights
When chatting with other Magic players you may hear them talking about Game Knights. This isn’t an unintentional typo or pluralization of Game Night but instead refers to the Magic YouTube series from The Command Zone.
Each Game Knights video features Commander gameplay accompanied by commentary from the players. This can be a good resource for new players to get an understanding of how to play the game as well as what higher level decks can look like.
Wrap Up
Timmy, Power Gamer (Unsanctioned) | Illustration by by Karl Kopinski
Game Night products can be a good way to introduce new players to the game. If you’re looking for the best product out of the series I have to recommend Game Night: Free for All, but be on the lookout for future Game Night releases. It’ll usually payoff to get your hands on them before they increase in price like the first two Game Night products.
Have you tried a Game Night product before? What did you think of it? Do you think Game Night is better or worse for introducing friends than Commander precons? Let me know in the comments below or on Draftsim’s Twitter.
Thank you for reading, and I look forward to seeing you in the next one!
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