A brand new core set is now available for old and new Magic the Gathering players. However, this set is bringing along more than just new cards and intro packs. Now we are graced with something new; the Clash Pack. This product consists of two decks that can be brilliant for when you and your friend fancy a casual one-on-one duel. The decks also come along with six alternate artwork promo cards that help make the pack more of a collector’s item for the experienced players. But do these two decks have enough value to make them worthwhile? Let us draw our opening hand and find out.

Since the pack comprises of two decks, I will be looking over them separately to let you know how effective they are as individual decks, since that is the product’s intention. Let’s start off with Fate.

x1 Hypnotic Siren

x2 Leafcrown Dryad

x2 Omenspeaker

x3 Vaporkin

x3 Kiora’s Follower

x2 Frost Lynx

x2 Nimbus Naiad

x2 Thassa’s Emissary

x3 Horizon Chimera

x1 Prognostic Sphinx

x1 Prophet of Kruphix

Fate’s theme involves using the Bestow mechanic, that can give creatures extra bonuses in different situations. Hypnotic Siren, for example, can be a reliable first turn creature or a late game ender with the Bestow ability. A bunch of creatures in this deck also come with flying as their form of evasion. Vaporkin turn two is a brilliant play that will have you constantly attacking and then dealing with any opposing flying creatures later on in the game. Kiora’s follower can benefit your field in two ways, since it targets a permanent. Either you can untap something on your field or untap an odd land that you need to pull off a quick spell cast. Whilst this assists with controlling your field more than your opponents’, you can also gain even more control with the Scry mechanic and Horizon Chimera. When you have four mana, be sure to bring in Horizon Chimera at the end of your opponent’s turn with flash, in order to both surprise them and set up its ability. Once it is your turn you’re immediately getting value in card drawing. This then synergises with Thassa’s Emissary and any Scry users to give you a big boost in life when needed.

There is only one area to be careful about and that is with the top three expensive cards in the deck. Prophet of Kruphix is a fantastic card that can allow you to make plays even during your opponent’s turns. However you will probably end up never using it to attack due to its low toughness for the cost. You can expect this creature to be targeted with damage dealing spells, which can ruin your plans. Meanwhile, Prognostic Sphinx on turn five is amazing, with evasion and two great abilities under its wings, but be careful, as your opponent may make you discard your entire hand just so that you can no longer Hexproof this great creature. Timing is the key with the Sphinx, especially so with Horizon Scholar who only has flying and a Scry 2 ability. Only bring out these big guys when the situation is right or when your hand size demands it. Failure to time these summons effectively could cost you the late game.

x2 Divination

x1 Curse of the Swine

x2 Negate

x1 Voyage’s End

x2 Griptide

x1 Aetherspouts

x2 Jace’s Ingenuity

x2 Pin to the Earth

Where the creature side of Fate is very well put together with some great synergy, the spells fall off just a bit. Some of the cards, however, are really good with assisting creature abilities. Divination and Jace’s Ingenuity can assist with card drawing in the early and late game, even benefiting your life total if Horizon Chimera is out on your field. Griptide and Voyages end can be used to get rid of enemy threats, but also be used to bring back your own creatures so you can repeat abilities that involve entering the battlefield.

The last four spells in the deck are not necessarily the worst cards, but they are definitely built around situational responses. Curse of the Swine will mostly only see play when you need to dispose of big creatures or monsters with evasion, grounding them down to a simple 2/2 boar. Negate will only be useful when countering an opposing spell that is either going to ruin your play or benefit their field. Not being able to target creatures will stop this card from being useful against immediate enemy summons. Pin to the Earth is a great card for immediately taking the biggest creatures down to size. However, since it only deals with their power, the monster’s toughness can still pose a threat as now you have a potentially big wall to overcome. Aetherspouts can take a giant attack from your opponent and turn it into a big mistake, but you may never cast it. The reason is behind the mana cost. Although this is very effective against swarm and aggro decks, unless your opponent attacks with at least three or more beasts you will not get the value out of this instant speed spell.

If a Blue/Green control deck isn’t your style and you prefer a more aggressive approach to battle, maybe Fury would be your ideal deck to play with. Here are the creatures:

x4 Elvish Mystic

x2 Generator Servant

x2 Voyaging Satyr

x1 Nessian Courser

x2 Reclamation Sage

x1 Courser of Kruphix

x2 Ill-Tempered Cyclops

x3 Karametra’s Acolyte

x3 Nylea’s Disciple

x3 Nessian Game Warden

x1 Arbor Colossus

x2 Nemesis of Mortals

x1 Genesis Hydra

x1 Hydra Broodmaster

From early game to late game, these creatures can easily help you dominate the field. Elvish Mystic is your ideal turn one play and beyond as it can assist with early game mana curves. With the perfect hand you can also get out some of your most powerful creatures as early as turn four. Here is a perfect play that you can pull off, as long as your hand and card draws go well. For the first two turns get out a pair of Elvish Mystics. For turn three you can bring in a Generator Servant. As long as you have put out at least two Forests into your mana pool by the time it is turn four, you can use Generator Servant’s and Elvish Mystic’s abilities to get out a truly powerful beast. I am talking about Hydra Broodmaster. Thanks to Generator Servant, this 7/7 Hydra comes out with haste allowing you to immediately deal a huge amount of damage on turn four. Now that you have the Hydra Broodmaster out, you can dump mana into its monstrosity ability at anytime to benefit from multiple X/X hydra heads. With this as an example of what you can do with the deck, Fury’s creature synergy is a completely devastating force for any player to control.

With the creature strength displayed above, do the spells share the same amount of synergy and strength? Here are the included sorceries:

x2 Lightning Strike

x2 Plummet

x1 Boulderfall

x1 Fated Intervention

x1 Font of Fertility

With creature synergy being the deck’s strong point, these spells are here to support your creature dominance. However some spells are more playable than others in most cases. Lightning Strike is by far the strongest out the collection as you can either deal more damage to a player along with your creatures or get rid of a threat stopping you from ending the game early. Font of Fertility is a handy enchantment card to get out early in the game to assist you in your mana curve. Later on however you want to concentrate on damage dealing and getting out your larger creatures. Only try using Font of Fertility late game if you are struggling with mana.

Plummet is incredibly situational as it can only defeat creatures with flying. However it can get rid of Fate’s most devastating flyers with ease. If you have five mana to spare and a field in need of more muscle, use Fated Intervention for those two 3/3 Centaurs. Although it may be better to use this at the end of your opponent’s turn, use it on yours to benefit from the use of Scry to control your next draw. The only card that can be seen as a late game ender or a simple weenie buster is Boulderfall. The card is very expensive to cast for only five damage, so only use it when you want to destroy something or someone outright.

With two decks built for two completely different play styles, Fate & Fury as the first Clash Pack should be put into consideration for both experienced and new players. Although the Intro Packs are more catered to the players that are brand new to the game, those who have recently started out can reap the rewards from Fate & Fury to both boost their collection and give them two very solid and playable decks to mess around with. Experienced players will benefit mostly from having the special promo cards at their disposal, both for bragging rights and for value as new sets come into rotation. I can find very little to fault with this new product, so much in fact that I am looking forward to what other Clash Packs we could see in the future.

What are your thoughts on the Fate & Fury Clash Pack? Are you interested in the great value this product provides? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.