The newest Archenemy set has been out for a little under a month now, and you might be wondering to yourself, is it worth trying? Well in this article we will be going over the pros and cons of Archenemy: Nicol Bolas, so you can make the decision for yourself.
Firstly, let’s look at what’s included:
- Four sixty card decks, each with an alternate art planeswalker card
- A twenty card scheme deck
- One life counter
- A large box with dividers and cardboard deck boxes
Let’s get the worst part out of the way first: The boxes aren’t very good. They’re as good as you can expect a bunch of cheap cardboard boxes to be, but overall they’re not that great. If you need some basic storage and you take care of it it’s alright, but you should really look into some long term options.
Surprisingly the life counter is pretty well made. It is similar to the ones that were in the Commander’s Arsenal package, where it has two rotating wheels each numbered zero-nine. This is a pretty good life counter if you can get your hands on one, and is a nice addition.
Now we get into the real meat and potatoes of the product: The decks – which regrettably are average at best. They’re playable on their own, and they are on a pretty even power level against each other, but they aren’t really worth anything. The alternate art planeswalker are nice, but overall the decks aren’t great and you would be better off making your own custom decks.
And finally we get into the most interesting part of this product: the scheme deck. The cards in this twenty card scheme deck are the only new cards in this entire product. The scheme deck is very thematic, and all the cards work pretty well, not to mention they are all on theme for Nicol Bolas. The art is great, and they are probably the best thing included in this product.
Overall I’m somewhere on the fence about the new Archenemy. For its $59.99 price tag you sure don’t get much. If you and your playgroup already have decks (and I’m assuming you do if you are reading this) you can easily just buy some scheme cards and have a lot of fun for a much more reasonable price. On the other hand archenemy is an amazing format, and being able to pay $59.99 for what is essentially an MtG board game out of the box, may be worth it to you. Regardless of whether or not you purchase Archenemy: Nicol Bolas or not, I highly recommend you at least try out the format with your playgroup as its loads of fun.
But what do you think? Do you agree with my review? Do you think this product is worth its msrp? What do you think about the Archenemy format in general? As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to say something in the comments section below.
Shakunjin
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