MTG Game Night: Free For All – Is it Worth It?

Last updated on September 7, 2023

Zamriel, Seraph of Steel | Illustration by Chris Rallis.jpg

Back in 2018, MTG released a product called Magic Game Night that flew under the radar of a lot of Magic players. You might have seen it sitting on shelves at your local store, or maybe you picked it up to play with some friends.

The next entry, Game Night 2019, released the following year. And now we have the 2022 iteration, Game Night: Free-For-All. What’s special about this product? Is it worth the money? Let’s find out!

What Is Game Night: Free for All?

Vogar, Necropolis Tyrant | Illustration by Jason A. Engle

Game Night: Free-For-All is the third entry in the Game Night product line, which have been described as an out-of-the-box MTG experience with a focus on casual multiplayer games. Free-For-All features five ready-to-play mono-colored decks built around a central theme or two.

You can expect fairly basic archetypes like green ramp, black sacrifice, and blue spells.

Who’s Game Night: Free for All For?

Free-For-All’s target audience seems to be new and casual players. The decks are simplistic and customizable with easy-to-understand mechanics and common themes. This is not a product for enfranchised players looking for complex strategic gameplay.

The decks are designed with multiplayer in mind. You could take any two decks and play a heads-up one-on-one match, but you ideally want a group of three to five players.

The Game Night product line might also be a consideration for people looking to play casual Magic on a budget. his might be the product for you if you’re interested in getting into Magic without spending too much or want to help a few friends learn how to play.

What’s Included in Game Night: Free for All?

The Game Night box includes five mono-colored 60-card decks designed with multiplayer in mind. Each deck contains a traditional foil new-to-Magic creature card that highlights the deck’s theme. All the other cards in these products are reprints with varying degrees of relevance.

The box also comes with supplementary accessories to help facilitate easy gameplay out of the box. It comes with five spindown dice, double-sided tokens, punch-out +1/+1 counters, and a rulebook. There are also some reference cards and cardboard platforms to showcase your life total.

Magic: The Gathering 2022 Game Night - 5 Ready-to-Play Decks, 300 Cards, Ages 13+, 2-5 Players, 30+ Minutes

• ALL YOU NEED TO LEARN HOW TO PLAY MAGIC: This Magic: The Gathering Game Night Free-for-All set is an easy and fun way to learn how to play Magic or to teach others! Includes 5 premade decks, accessories, and a how-to-play guide
• EPIC BATTLES WITH FRIENDS: One of the world's most popular collectible card games, Magic: The Gathering combines deep strategy, gorgeous art, fantastical stories, and a vibrant fan community
• FIVE 60-CARD READY-TO PLAY DECKS: Each of the 5 decks has its own color, philosophy, and playstyle. Choose a deck, choose your strategy! Or mix them up to create your own. 300 Magic cards total
• INCLUDES 45+ ACCESSORIES: This game also comes with 5 dice for tracking life, 5 dice platforms, 20 counters for strengthening an army, 15 2-sided tokens representing artifacts and creatures ready to join the battle, and 5 reference cards
• FOIL LEGENDARY CREATURE CARDS: Find 1 Mythic Rare legendary creature card with a shining Traditional Foil treatment in each deck

$50.00

Buy on Amazon

Game Night: Free for All 2022 Decklists

Glorious Combat

Heavenly Blademaster | Illustration by Zack Stella

The mono-white deck is an equipment-themed aggro deck, and really the only aggro deck in the set. Glorious Combat is looking to play some early creatures, suit them up, and then beat your opponents down. This looks like the weakest deck to play out of the box considering how easy it is for other players to interrupt your equipment gameplan.

As you’ll see with all five decks, the most notable card here is the new-to-Magic headliner Zamriel, Seraph of Steel. It’s the key card in the deck and has a home in equipment-based Commander lists.

Other notable reprints include Heavenly Blademaster as well as Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares, and Colossus Hammer.

If you’re looking to scrap this for upgrades to new or existing EDH decks you’ll find some useful equipment staples like Argentum Armor, Sword of Vengeance, and Danitha Capashen, Paragon.

Political Trickery

Counterspell | Illustration by Zack Stella

The blue deck is a spell-based strategy that wants to force your opponents to make bad attacks. As the name suggests, Political Trickery combines goad effects like Jeering Homunculus and Bloodthirsty Blade with defensive threats and counterspells.

Maeve, Insidious Singer is your headliner here, forcing creatures to attack your opponents and drawing you extra cards when they do. Plea for Power and Split Decision are the only other notable value reprints. The deck also features a single copy of Counterspell, a format staple.

There are a few EDH-playable cards here like Diluvian Primordial and Pull from Tomorrow, but nothing too exciting otherwise.

Dark Sacrifice

Gravewaker | Illustration by Daniel Ljunggren

As the name suggests, the mono-black deck is all about sacrificing with a minor zombie sub-theme tied in. Dark Sacrifice is full of expendable and recurring creatures with a few top-end threats to close out the game. It should be a good way to introduce your new Magic friends to the concept of “dies to Doom Blade” since the three copies kill every creature in every other deck.

Your new-to-Magic design here is Vogar, Necropolis Tyrant, a beefy zombie giant that gets bigger as creatures die and draws you cards when it hits the graveyard itself. The only other notable value card in the deck is Vilis, Broker of Blood.

This deck really misses the mark in terms of Commander-playable cards. Aside from the two value cards and few zombie-centric tribal pieces, there’s not much here that translates well outside of the box.

Draconic Fury

Dragon Egg | Illustration by Jack Wang

Dragons are the name of the game with the mono-red Draconic Fury deck. Newcomer Nogi, Draco-Zealot fits the deck perfectly, giving your expensive dragons a much-needed discount and rewarding you for having multiple dragons on board.

This deck features a copy of Dragon Tempest, which works wonders in dragon EDH decks. Dragonspeaker Shaman, Knollspine Dragon, and Crucible of Fire are other notable reprints.

This deck also features a copy of Constructed all-star Lightning Bolt and the Commander powerhouse Mana Geyser.

Boundless Elves

Beast Whisperer | Illustration by Matt Stewart

The mono-green option is a hybrid ramp/elf deck that fits the common EDH “elfball” strategy well enough. You’re looking to flood the board with elves, get a ton of mana, and win with either Overrun or End-Raze Forerunners.

Headlining Boundless Elves’ strategy is Imaryll, Elfhame Elite, an elf payoff that can blow damage straight past blockers. The deck is short on value otherwise, with Beast Whisperer as the only other card worth mentioning.

That’s not to say there isn’t something here for Commander players, there’s just not a ton of value. There’s actually a decent shell of an elf deck here with a few staple elves and a decent finisher in End-Raze Forerunners.

My Opinion: It’s Not Worth It

Your money is better spent elsewhere for the majority of enfranchised Magic players. Aside from the five new-to-Magic cards there’s little else to be excited about here. Most other entry-level products, like the Pioneer Challenger decks and Commander precons, offer much more at a similar price point and serve as better on-ramps into their individual formats.

But Game Night: Free-For-All is a fine way to kick off your collection if you’re a new Magic player looking to learn the game with a few friends or introduce new players to the game. It’s a fine way to engage with Magic at the occasional board game night without investing heavily into the game.

Wrap Up

Swamp (Game Night: Free For All) | Illustration by Paul Scott Canavan

You ultimately have to decide whether or not the most recent entry in the Game Night series is worth the investment for you. There’s something for everyone here, but this product line has been a bit underwhelming for long-time Magic players.

Do you have any other burning questions about Free-For-All? Are you planning on picking it up to give it a try? Let me know in the comments below if you do, or join the discussion over in the Draftsim Discord.

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