Collectibles

10 Premium MTG Commander Upgrades to Give This Christmas

23Dec

By JoseNo Comments

10 Premium MTG Commander Upgrades to Give This Christmas

If you're looking for a last-minute Christmas gift for a friend or loved one who plays Magic: The Gathering, I've got a list for you. In the last piece, we talked about budget upgrades for Commander decks. Here, I'll be going over some not-so-budget upgrades for your Commander bestie. Let's dig right in! Flashy, Full-Art, Foils Commander players simply love to bling out their favorite decks. We know this to be true because of the secondary market on websites such as tcgplayer and cardmarket, where the price difference between foils and non-foils is substantial. The rarer the card, the prettier the art, the flashier the foiling shines, the more players and collectors are willing to pay for it. A prime example of this is the recent Final Fantasy set. Now, without further ado, I give you...

10 Budget MTG Commander Upgrades to Give This Christmas

10Dec

By JoseNo Comments

Features

10 Budget MTG Commander Upgrades to Give This Christmas

In the last decade or so, the Commander format has completely taken over Magic: The Gathering. It has, without a doubt, become the most popular format among players, new and old. It is therefore safe to assume that your MTG-playing friend, whom you want to gift some Magic stuff this Christmas, plays Commander. Budget All-Stars Your MTG Friend Will Love This list is meant for those who want to buy Magic: The Gathering cards for their friend or loved one but haven't got a clue. You could always just ask them which format they play, but that would risk ruining the surprise. If you don't know where to buy singles from, look for trade card gaming shops or comic book shops near you. Chances are, they have some of this stuff. If you really can't shop locally, or it's too time-consuming, then...

5 Budget MTG Commander Precons To Give Away This Christmas

10Dec

By JoseNo Comments

Features

5 Budget MTG Commander Precons To Give Away This Christmas

Over the last decade or so, Magic: The Gathering has released a plethora of preconstructed commander decks. Once an occasional release, these fully constructed and ready-out-of-the-box decks have become expected by-products of every new set. These "precons", as they are known among MTG players, are a great Christmas gift for your trade card gaming addicted friend or for yourself. But which one should you choose from the hundreds of preconstructed commander decks that have come out over the years? Fear not, this short list is here to help. Let's delve in. Draw, Untap, Unleash Hell This list is intended for people who want to get their special one a great (and somewhat within budget) Christmas gift, but are completely clueless about Magic: The Gathering. Commander decks are made of 100 ...

Vivi Gets The Ban Hammer in MTG Standard

10Nov

By JoseNo Comments

Features, News & Updates

Vivi Gets The Ban Hammer in MTG Standard

Wizards of the Coast announced new cards to be added to the ban list of several formats today. Most anticipated were the bans of Vivi Ornitier, Screaming Nemesis, and Proft's Eidetic Memory from Standard. For the last few months, Izzet Cauldron has been bending the Standard format to its image. After its omnipresence in most major Standard tournaments, it became clear that the Izzet Cauldron deck had to go for the sake of the meta. It is simply too fast, too powerful, and most importantly, too many people play it, hence warping the entire format around it. Izzet Cauldron Takes Over Standard Meta Instead of an emergency ban, as they used to call them, Wizards of the Coast moved up their ban schedule from November 24th to Monday, November 10th. This announcement was made shortly after the ...

Metal Gear Solid: The Orange Box TUBBZ (First Edition) Review

20Oct

By CharlotteNo Comments

Features

Metal Gear Solid: The Orange Box TUBBZ (First Edition) Review

Now you may remember last month I shared a news piece about the opening of pre-orders for the The Metal Gear Solid: The Orange Box TUBBZ (First Edition) and I'm very lucky in that I got sent one to review. My household seems to have developed a bit of thing around ducks and rubber duckies at the moment. I don't know where it came from, or quite why the hyperfixation has landed so heavily on them, but thanks to TUBBZ the love of ducks, gaming and pop culture can combine in the form of awesome collectibles. Making a Tactical Splash As with all TUBBZ products this is of course, an officially licensed collectible. The Metal Gear Solid: The Orange Box TUBBZ (First Edition) has the recognisable Numskull Designs take on a PVC duck. Or at least their bill does. I'll be honest the whole thing jus...

Cable Guys Offer Perfect Halloween Gamer Gift

14Oct

By CharlotteNo Comments

Hardware & Tech

Cable Guys Offer Perfect Halloween Gamer Gift

It's that time of year where TikTok is full of Boo Basket videos and inspiration for the best Halloween gifts. Or maybe that's just my timeline? Anyway, here I was wishing for someone to get me the perfect Halloween gift, when the lovely people at EXG Pro asked me to take a look at their Cable Guys Pumpkin King Jack and Monkey Bomb controller holders. Both are sufficiently spooky looking so of course I said yes. What's This? If you're a regular reader of the Collectibles Section here on Thumb Culture you'll know I've reviewed and written about a fair few Cable Guys products. Most recently the One Piece Luffy Controller Holder. I'm doing things a little different today, a two for one as it were. So let's get into it. Monkey Bomb Controller Holder Now I am not a Call of Duty player, ...

13Oct

By Jose2 Comments

Features

The State of Magic: The Gathering

Wizards of the Coast may finally have found out when it is just too much. Overwhelmed fans and viewers were left mouth-opened when Blake Rasmussen, Mark Rosewater, Gavin Verhey, and company took the stage at MagicCon in Atlanta and shared a series of new products and announcements. The Magic: The Gathering community has now had some days to digest the information, and many content creators have come out with statements of their own. Let's dig in, shall we? Good News First What were the announcements made during MagicCon Atlanta? Let's start from the top, in January 2026, Magic players will at long last revisit the enchanting plane of Lorwyn. A beautiful, lush, and vibrant world full of Magic's very own IP. Kithkins, hybrid mana, the evoke mechanic, and many other things that made this fa...

Pokémon x Natural History Museum Pop-Up Store Announced

22Sep

By CharlotteNo Comments

News & Updates

Pokémon x Natural History Museum Pop-Up Store Announced

Pokémon will be celebrating it's 30th anniversary in January and whilst many of us UK fans are hopeful for a Pokémon Center annoucement, the Pokémon company have thrown a curve ball. Rather than announcing a Pokémon Center pop-up, they've instead announced a Pokémon x Natural History Museum pop-up store! Marking the first of its kind with a UK museum, this will no doubt be a must visit for fans. Off On Another Merch Adventure Now I can see you wondering why a Pokémon x Natural History Museum collab? What links the two to make this not such a random partnership? Well, the Natural History Museum and Pokémon share an interest in the natural world and its creatures. Especially evolution and environments! For example in the Pokémon world, Pokémon can evolve into many forms which allow them to...

Tubbz Opens Metal Gear Solid: The Orange Box Pre-Orders

11Sep

By Charlotte2 Comments

News & Updates

Tubbz Opens Metal Gear Solid: The Orange Box Pre-Orders

Tubbz has long been the brand that is synonymous with cosplaying ducks. Now the brand has gone full tactical with a figure that redefines the phrase "thinking outside the box." Can you call a PVC duck a figure? Either way get ready. The Metal Gear Solid: The Orange Box TUBBZ (First Edition) is now available for pre-order! ! I bet you didn't think the Metal Gear cardboard box could get more iconic. And yet here we are. Together sharing in the knowledge that this limited edition duck box exists, and I very much want it. As someone who lives and dies by, sometimes quite literally, the cardboard box tactic, I can't think of a better Metal Gear collectible. The Metal Gear Solid: The Orange Box TUBBZ (First Edition) itself measures in at 7.69 cm high, 8.79cm wide and has a depth of 12cm. As...

11Sep

By CharlotteNo Comments

Features, LEGO

LEGO Italian Riviera Review

As I look out into another September rainy day I long to be somewhere else. Like a Mediterranean coastline town. Where I could watch life bustle by as I sit in a café admiring the pastel buildings and the turquoise blue of the sea. Unfortunately, I am not lucky enough to be there. Fortunately, I am lucky enough that there is a LEGO set of this exact scene though, the LEGO Italian Riviera. And I got one to review. La vita è bella The LEGO Italian Riviera was a LEGO Ideas set submitted by Fan Designer, Alex Sahli. And it wowed voters along with the committee enough to be made into a fully fledged set, much like the LEGO Ideas Minifigure Vending Machine! Talking about his design Alex said, “I've always been passionate about travel, and Italy stands out as my favourite destination. Its blen...