cheap deck for a beginner
Deck Help forum
Posted on Jan. 19, 2013, 12:38 a.m. by Pixel
I'm looking to get my 13 year old brother into Magic (mostly to use as leverage to get him to do his homework) and I'm looking for a deck build that's easy to play, low on price, and effective. I've got to place an emphasis on the "easy to play" part, because I don't have a whole lot of time to teach him and he is a 13 year old after all.
I'm open to any suggestions as far as color goes, but I'm leaning towards blue/red goblins since I have 2x Steam Vents, 2x Sulfur Falls, 4x Guttersnipe, 3x Goblin Electromancer, 2x Krenko, and lots of burns and counter spells. Again though, any color will do so long as it does the job.
I have about $20 to put in towards any cards that I don't already have to loan him, but no more than that. Any help would be appreciated!
@Lbishop your link Control Token Enchantment
If you want tip about making some ridiculously cheap multiplayer casual deck I recommand you check Dan's Deckshop. He's one of my favorite writer for budget deck, you can probably just buy one of his whole deck for 20$.
January 19, 2013 1:05 a.m.
I think I actually have most of those cards, so I'll test it out : ) I might throw in Knight of Glory just out of personal preference. I'm planning on building this and maybe another deck or two just to let him get a feel for how the other colors play. Thanks for the suggestion!
January 19, 2013 1:11 a.m.
10vernothin says... #5
lol the easiest and the cheapest deck to play is RDW or boros deck wins; that was my first deck. It gives your brother some concept of how creature works, how spells work, and how mana works
January 19, 2013 1:17 a.m.
In my experience, mono green ramp seems to be one of the best starting points for the game. It narrows the experience to just spells like Cultivate or Llanowar Elves to get to the satisfying bombs like Terra Stomper . It's really simple and you can focus on teaching phases and combat.
After that I usually add in Giant Growth and I will play control (counter spells) against them to teach the stack. Later on comes more advanced cards like Harrow (to teach playing instants on the opponent's turn), Prey Upon to introduce a pseudo kill spell, and splashing other colors.
I think counter/burn is a little too complex to hand a new player to start. If you went red I'd suggest just a straight burn deck as it totally narrows the experience down to topdeck then burn.
January 19, 2013 1:20 a.m.
Well, my deck:rakdos-aggro-23-12-12-2 deck is right about $20 (cheaper if you buy off of TCGPlayer instead of what's linked on decks here). It worked pretty well for how long I had it, I disassembled it not too long ago.
My by far favorite deck I have made to play is my deck:spirit-smash-1 deck. B/W/U spirits that pump each other. First strike is the only mechanic needing explanation with it, all the other ones used have reminder text for them on at least one card with them. I've played this deck in my group of friends and it doesn't take much to get it to charge out with buffed tokens.
January 19, 2013 1:22 a.m.
@10vernothin I like RDW but I'm missing a lot of the more expensive cards that most versions run. I'll look around and see if I can find a version that works for me though.
@ptburnham I forgot to mention that it would have to be a standard deck. We've got free tournaments at my shop and while I definitely don't expect him to win anything, I think it would be good to have him play an actual tournament just to get the practice in. I definitely agree on counter/burn being a little too complex now that I think about it. Green is a pretty straight forward color so I'll look into that. I know I've got some arbor elves, one spare rancor, and other green goodies laying around in my collection. If you or anyone else has any specific decks in mind, feel free to link them.
January 19, 2013 1:39 a.m.
My first deck was from innstrad it was spectral legions and I found it really simple to play and its standard and cheep too. With a few adjustments it can become a pretty good deck
January 19, 2013 3:20 a.m.
The cheapest standard legal deck that also sometimes wins is RDW. It's a pretty simple beat down strategy with some burn. I'd suggest looking at top 8s and grabbing a decklist from there. Otherwise pick super efficient cards in green with 1-3 mana cost (Strangleroot Geist for example) and grab some new simic cards from gatecrash. Try to abuse undying and evolve with the Zameck Guildmage . In any event, a cheap, highly aggro and mono colored deck is probably your only option. That's about all I've got for standard.
Lbishop says... #2
I have a very cheap and very easy to play white blue and it plays out VERY well especially for how cheap it is. Let me know if it is any help. http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/control-token-enchantment/
January 19, 2013 12:42 a.m.