I am going to be heavily down voted for this but until you play the precons, I cannot express how well matched they are against one another and against established decks. I realize this isn't something that he values favorably compared to the monetary aspect of the product. Although the cost and the expected value are important, the increased MSRP has only been seen at big box stores in my area. My LGS was selling them for 35 each yesterday and I prepurchased the set for 125 shipped. I think that was relatively in line for what I paid for C17. As far as the lack of reprints go, I'll give it to him. Compared to previous years It does feel like they are lacking but while playing them it was incredibly noticable. My experience with them so far has been six games with Lord Windgrace straight out of the box, 5 with Aminatou with a modified landbase (Shocks, Fetches, Duals and Filters) and adding Oath of Teferi, Felidar Gaurdian and Altar of the Brood, and 11 with a heavily modified Brudiclad tokens build. I spent nearly all of yesterday playing EDH and these are still great products. Please take this from someone who is a die hard player, out of the box they are not as powerful as vampires and as explosive as Kitty cat with his hammer out but they are incredibly more enjoyable to play out of the box (to me) because there is no straight game plan as to how you will win the game and they have way more interaction with other decks compared to C17 They are worth the money and you kind find them well under MSRP.

I would argue, A-. There are so many cards that people are sleeping on from the set, and you don't realize how powerful they are until you play them. to name a few whiptongue Hydra (the card is seriously amazing and shits on dragons, Angels and any other asshole with flying even if they have boots on), Aminatou (she seriously combos with a slight breeze and makes an excellent espee flicker commander), Windgrace is just an engine that is deceptively good. trying to reevaluate your perception of these commanders in EDH, the power in these decks come from the abilities outside of their ult. I can't really comment on the artificer deck because it was quickly broken down into Breya and Brudiclad and Brudiclad just becomes amazing with so many cards from outside of this set and they are all extremely cheap to pickup. the land basis for all of them need to be adjusted and I wish they were faster but I guess that is to be expected. In closing, I was one of the few people that purchased the product at my LGS and after playing them against many people yesterday, many were converted. before the product came out I was hesitant and nearly cancelled my pre-order but I'm extremely happy that I didn't. these are still by far the best product Wizards makes and the increased MSRP is enough to bring it down to an A-, take this from someone who has played them.