Knights vs Dragons duel deck

I enjoy playing Magic: The Gathering (MTG), and one of the easiest ways I play it is by grabbing preconstructed decks and playing those as they are. Wizards (the company behind MTG), came up with a great concept in duel decks. Within their low cost offering, you have two decks per pack. Each deck has one or two powerful cards, and good mix of complementary cards that two people of any skill level can start playing straight away. The price point works out cheaper to buy duel decks than event decks - the former getting you 120 cards, and the later getting you only 75 (tuned) cards. This article revolves around their Knights v Dragons duel decks (go to the Wizards.com website for the full decklist).

In a rush to start playing these decks, I actually did not take photos of it first. So here is what the decks look like without the cards in them:

When it comes to an even match, I would say that these two decks are quite equal - but it depends on the timing of the game. If you are playing the Knights, you will be playing a lot of small creatures, which will come out quickly. They will be able to give benefits to each other - similar to the way that Humans give benefits to each other in the Innistrad block. If you are playing the Dragons, you will usually play a few goblins, and some quick attacks, but you are just holing off your opponent until you can get a dragon out. Once a dragon does enter the game, it will usually mean the end for your opponent in a few turns.

One aspect of the game I do notice in these decks that I have not noticed in other decks as much is the importance of having a good supply of land to generate mana. While you do not want to have too much mana draw, and hence not be able to draw creatures to dispatch your opponent, you do not want to little, so you cannot keep up with the flow of the game. Each game I play, have noticed it that when one person (playing either the Knights or the Dragons) starts to falter with playing their land cards, it will usually indicate that they will loose the game.

As mentioned before, the decks are evenly matched. I have played against Chewie and with SpecialK, and have mentally noted that the winning decks are not one, but are about even between the two. I have yet to play this with KittyKat.

This product (consisting of the two decks) is currently available in stores, and should provide no challenge in obtaining. I look forward to hear from any other people who do use duel decks willing to share their experiences with me.