Building your own duel decks? Around themes...?
Challenges and Articles forum
Posted on May 18, 2013, 5:07 p.m. by ardilly
One of my friends has been in discussion with his wife about potentially getting her to try Magic for the first time. He offered to simply buy one of the pre-made Duel Decks, and that would be their go-to decks to play together while she learns the game, and decides if she's interested in getting into the deckbuilding or other aspects of the game.
I then offered to build 2 decks for them that would be balanced against each other, and would be able to take her personality into account, building a custom deck specifically for her based on her other interests in related games and fields like World of Warcraft, personality type, playstyle in other fantasy settings, etc.
Anyway, I decided to try that today - build 2 decks that are balanced against each other. However, this is not for my friend and his wife, this is for my own pleasure based on 2 stupid deck ideas: a "Soviet Selesnya" theme and a, "USA! USA! USA!" theme.
So, without further ado, I present to you all: 'murricuh, fuhk yeeah! vs. In Soviet Selesnya, Creature Becomes You!
And before anyone points it out, I know the Selesnya deck is actually properly Bant, but I explain that in the deck description: I needed a way to take in that communist/socialist flavor, and blue was the perfect color for that.
I also feel like this is something that could be done to introduce friends to the game. Surely you can pick a theme and build a deck around it - Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, or any other fantasy setting? Come on, it's Magic the Gathering for crying out loud! Have a friend who's a cop show geek? Azorius PD vs. Cult of Rakdos maybe. Have a girlfriend who loves fairies and princesses? We got faeries, queens, knights, and all that gallantry, and they can fight the mean, ugly monsters like zombies or mutants or insects, etc.
So...any thoughts on the idea and/or decks?Perhaps a new challenge format for either home playgroups or any LGS willing to organize something like that? Maybe a "newbie night" or something?
OMFG YES...
But...with Golgari and Slitherhead ...why can't we have both...in the same deck?
May 18, 2013 5:18 p.m.
pookypuppy6 says... #4
Well, you can make your own version of Elves vs Goblins or Angels vs Demons, as they both encapsulate Magic quite well. It'll mean the cards stay fairly basic (and even more so than the original decks, likely) but be more geared towards the newer game. Knights vs Dragons works fine too. Or make a new tribal one, like Beasts vs Wizards.
May 18, 2013 5:25 p.m.
Did you look at my decks?
I was trying to focus on straying from basic tribal themes, and going for something a little more complex. Like Capitalism vs. Socialism, displayed in my 2 linked decks. You know, to appeal to a different kind of audience, maybe.
May 18, 2013 6:05 p.m.
Duel Decks: Angry birds vs Fruit ninjas.
I'll have the lists up soon, but the cover cards are Windbrisk Raptor and Silent-Blade Oni
May 18, 2013 6:52 p.m.
I have to ask out of curiosity - what about blue makes it socialist/communist? Blue is a colour typically linked with individuality, whereas communism strictly fits into Selesnya's theme of the community (considering that communism can be defined as a society where personal property is eliminated and the citizens work for the common benefit of all others).
Just because I love me some flavour.
I will give you that the communist dictatorships of the past century have been control-freak esque, so that makes sense...
May 18, 2013 7:20 p.m.
MindAblaze says... #8
My duel decks are Robust Harvest and Life From The Stinkweed Scholar's Birthing Ooze
One deck represents the angry manipulative chick, the other; a death obsessed Jekyll and Hyde...
May 18, 2013 8:09 p.m.
@KevinBasham That's all explained in the deck lists, but blue was splashed for Cackling Counterpart and Infinite Reflection . And I guess the Progenitor Mimic too. Everything is the same. Everyone is the same.
May 18, 2013 8:14 p.m.
pookypuppy6 says... #11
@ardilly:You never specified a) That tribal was strictly off the menu here or b) What the personality of your two friends were. I can't give you ideas to personalise to your friends when I don't know them or anything about them. I did not look at your decks, true, but I was under the impression I was yet giving helpful advice. Tribal is ALWAYS a solid ground for starting decks, and I know from teaching my own sister.
Why not just build around the guilds of Ravnica? They are complex identities compared to tribes, are easy cards to acquire and out of ten, there must be at least one guild each new player will probably identify with, whether it be the Mad Scientist or Secretive Agent. Alternatively, it doesn't even need to be guild cards maybe, but be based around a Made Scientist theme, perhaps.
May 18, 2013 9:59 p.m.
Duel Deck: Fruit Ninjas and Duel Deck: Angry Birds are the lists
May 18, 2013 11:32 p.m.
@pookypuppy6 if you felt offended by my comment, I apologize, as that was not my intention. I also did not "rule out" tribal as a gimmick, but I feel that's already an existing "thing" within the fantasy gaming world in general, so I was thinking of going with a different kind of theme to try and appeal to someone who might not otherwise be interested in the game.
@KingSorin I like that you made yours more like the pre-made duel decks. Though admittedly, this whole idea started with me wanting to build a Socialist Selesnya deck for standard.
May 19, 2013 2:26 a.m.
pookypuppy6 says... #14
@ardilly: Bless, no I wasn't offended. Sorry 'bout my tone, it does that sometimes. Your conduct was fine, mine was less so.
If we're going for satire (Communism vs The Other One points to that), you could make two decks based on the biggest threats to the civilized world: Duel Decks: Terrorism vs Global Warming. The Terrorist deck can be full of grenades and suicide cards like Artillerize or Launch Party and maybe even Fiery Gambit , while Global Warming can spoof an annoyingly changing environment with cards like Spreading Seas or Contaminated Ground . Maybe you can use the Zendikons to say "Oh no, the world is fighting back!"
Another idea is to base off films. E.g: Duel Decks: Lord Of The Rings vs Jurassic Park., or some other combo.
May 19, 2013 7:54 a.m.
@pookypuppy6: No worries, this is the internet. Misunderstandings happen all the time, which is something a lot of people still seem to fail to understand.
Anywho, I love the ideas!
Unfortunately, I only started playing again around the release of Core 2013, having played previously from ~Mirage - Mercadian Masques, so any Duel Decks I make will likely end up being fully standard-legal just for simplicity's (and my bank account's) sake. Still, I feel the guilds of Ravnica provide plenty of flavor for different kinds of themes, and if I end up sticking to this Duel Deck idea, then it won't really matter if there are older cards in a deck, as long as there's something of equal play value in the opposing deck.
May 19, 2013 1:25 p.m.
Thebigshaggy says... #16
I made a Spiders vs. Birds one. Bant birds with stuff like Flurry of Wings and golgari spiders working their way up to Silklash Spider .
Birds had enchantments (lolbant) to handle piles of spiders.
May 26, 2013 4:29 a.m.
bradyofportdetroit says... #17
Vampire's VS WerewolvesFront Cards will be Huntmaster of the Fells Flip for the wolves and for the vampires Anowon, the Ruin Sage I feel he is more iconic for a vampire tribal deck
August 5, 2013 7:42 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #18
If you get a chance, could you please take a look at my deck that I wrote about it in Looking for advice on an EDH deck.? Thank you.
nedwards850 says... #2
dude, PLANTS VS ZOMBIES
May 18, 2013 5:15 p.m.