hey noob here need help picking a guild
Deck Help forum
Posted on Dec. 13, 2013, 5:14 a.m. by bigsteve4203
just started playing not too long ago and i wanna pick a guild my friend uses rakdos and orhov i dont know what guild to go with really kinda need help and we play standard i always use his decks now i want one of mine own i likr red cause its burn and blue cause of being tricky but black cause it messes ppl up any help would be apprecatied
bigsteve4203 says... #3
thank you for your help it means a lot izzet seems weak i dont know why it just seem rakdos could run down my defence gruul sounds cool but what would be the typical way to get them out there and what creatures should be in there
December 13, 2013 5:31 a.m.
Izzet can be exceedingly strong but it runs on spells rather than creatures. Gruul is cool as well. I will leave a comment on your profile and I may be able to help further.
December 13, 2013 5:49 a.m.
As the commenter above me noted, Izzet often runs on spells rather than creatures. However, it's important to note that many of the great decks invented in magic do, as well.
Control is a deckstyle that works to counter and remove your opponent's spells and permanents from the board, ultimately "controlling" their boardstate, and waiting until you're in a better position to play the game. At that point, they beat in with either a massive attack for a game-winning amount of damage, or dwindle their opponent's life down. Some control decks have been known to run absolutely no creatures for the sake of beat-down alone. One of my favorite Control builds is Esper Teachings, and I'll provide my list here.
Another very powerful spell-based deck is Red Deck Wins, which primarily focuses on using powerful burn spells such as Lightning Bolt or Lightning Helix to end the game very quickly, before control can counter/remove much of anything, and before other aggro decks can outrace it.
Ultimately, I'd say pick the colors that go with the decktypes you like. I originally started with Dimir, but decided I wanted to go Control, so after searching through lists, I decided that UW (Azorius) would be the best pick for me. I would suggest not picking a decktype to submit to your color preferences.
December 13, 2013 6:41 a.m.
Yeah. Decks are less about colour preferences and more about play style. Pick a deck that suits how you play because other types can be very difficult. For example, I am a control player and I've recently played Esper and Grixis control, and Mono-black Devotion in Standard which are all very control focused archetypes. I find it difficult to play aggro decks because they are so different to how I want to play, and I often make the wrong decisions.
The same is true for you choosing a deck. You need to decide what you want to do. If you want to deal with opponents threats and wait to crush them with something like AEtherling or Ashen Rider then maybe you want control. If you want to play something tricky maybe you want a combo deck like reanimator. If you want to hit people hard and fast maybe you want Aggro. There are lots of different ways to play. Once you figure out how you feel comfortable playing, pick cards that suit your strategy and build your deck from there.
December 13, 2013 7:37 a.m.
playeralex1 says... #7
I agree totally with Bestach. I play Grixis Control and an Orzhov control. I once played with my friends Boros Aggro deck, and he said he almost cried at how bad I was at using it. I can describe each color in flavor;
White: White puts value in the group, the community, and its civilization as a whole. White's ultimate goal is peace, harmony, and perfection a world where everyone gets along and no one seeks to disturb the bonds of unity that White had worked so long to forge. To govern and protect its community, White makes use of and puts value in a number of broad concepts; morality (ethics, grace, truth), order (law, discipline, duty), uniformity (conformity, religion), and structure (government, planning, reason).
now, pick between one and three colors that seem to best fit you. You got the start of your deck.
Blue: Blue is the color that looks on the world and sees opportunity. For Blue, life is a chance to contemplate oneself, and what is possible, and to bring about the best of both. Implicitly, in that general world view, Blue believes in tabula rasa: it sees in each thing, the potential for being anything. One need only understand how, to make the change. So with this ill-formed goal before it, Blue reasons that if it is to make itself better, it must become capable of everything it could be capable of, for that is to "merely add" to its own capabilities. Blue believes it can't possibly be bad to acquire the potential for any conscious action. Thus, Blue, believing it is capable of changing anything if it understands the change, and believing it is imperative that it acquire every capability it could have, concludes that it is imperative that it understand change. Moreover, Blue decides that it must understand everything; for truly, understanding can only improve one's effectiveness in any task. To gain understanding, Blue must acquire knowledge. Since knowledge itself will inform every other decision, Blue forms its principle goal: omniscience, the knowledge of all.
Black; Black is the color of self-indulgence, parasitism, amorality and unfettered desire for power. It believes that the world is made for its taking and that the weak exist to be exploited by the strong. The essence of Black is to see one's own ego as so supremely invaluable, that the prospect of enslavement, of subordinating that ego to another, is utterly inadmissible. So, to be in accord with its perceptions and beliefs, Black simply must discard all obligations but to acquire power for itself. It can be no less than the one supreme being who is subordinate to no other, the possessor of all power in the universe - it must become omnipotent.
Red; Above all else, red values freedom of expression. It wants to do what it wants, when it wants, to whom it wants, and nobody can tell it otherwise. It believes that life would be much more fun if everyone stopped caring about rules, laws and personal appearances and just spent their time indulging their desires. This leads into red's other core value: chaos. Red sees order of any kind as pointlessly inhibiting, believing that only through embracing anarchy could everyone really be free to enjoy life to the fullest. Finally, red is the color of immediate action and immediate gratification. If it wants something it will act on its impulses and take it, regardless of the consequences.
Green; Green is the color of nature, growth, interdependence and instinct. It believes that obedience the natural order alone is the best way to exist and thus favors a simplistic way of living in harmony with the rest of the world. This can often lead to it be perceived as a pacifistic color, as it does not seek to make conflict with the other colors as long as they leave it alone and do not disrespect nature. However, it is fierce when it feels threatened and can be predatory and aggressive if its instincts dictate.
December 13, 2013 7:59 a.m.
Another thing to keep in mind, almost always, when building a deck is the Meta in which you play. A "Meta" is basically defined as the total gaming environment that all decks make up. So, a pretty evenly constructed Meta would have just about the same number of Control decks as Aggro decks, and the same number of Combo decks as to those. But it's not just the deck type that defines a Meta; it's also the play style. A Meta could be characterized as a "fast" Meta, in which things usually tend to progress at a quick pace, for example.
Your deck should be constructed to fit this, and with that comes the choice of a guild. If you're just simply playing with your friends over the kitchen table, the Meta may be quite restricted, because you're only playing those few decks. But take those same decks to an Friday Night Magic at your local game shop, and you'd better bet that the Meta will diversify immensely.
As you play, and watch other decks play, notice faults in the decks, and you can start to get a pretty good idea of what your Meta is. For example, if you're watching your friend pilot his deck, and you're noticing more and more that creature removal could just utterly destroy the deck, maybe you're going to want to go for a Control deck. From there, you can choose the best color(s) for you. Black has a ton of removal: Doom Blade , Smother , Dark Betrayal , Murder , Damnation (though that one's pretty pricey), Ultimate Price , and many more. Now, depending upon which format you play, some of these can be immediately excluded, but all of the above are legal in Modern, which is what I play.
Now, you can then choose to go from there and combine this with other colors. White also tends to pack removal, most notably (in Modern) Path to Exile and Wrath of God or Planar Cleansing . So does blue, such as Vapor Snag , Unsummon , or Cyclonic Rift . Then with those colors you can add other things in which they excel. For example, blue is the primary control color, as it has cards like Mana Leak , Dispel , and Remand . You can get a bit of the best of everything from WUB (White, Blue, Black) decks. I mean, right above is a basic build for a Control deck. You've got some creature removal, some counters, and some board wipes. All that's left is a finisher and some more versatility. The cool thing about Magic deck construction is that this applies to absolutely any color combination.
JWiley129 says... #2
Since you like red, blue, and black your choices are:
Izzet: Izzet guild uses Red and Blue mana to create spells and experiments. Some classic Izzet cards from the Return to Ravnica block are Turn / Burn , Counterflux , Cyclonic Rift , and Mizzium Mortars .
Dimir: Dimir guild uses Blue and Black mana to mill your opponent and sneak by the defenses. Classic Dimir cards from Return to Ravnica Block are, Far / Away , Consuming Aberration , Duskmantle Guildmage , and Mind Grind .
And you already know about the Red and Black Rakdos from your friend. Really just find a guild that matches how you want to play. The easiest guild to pick up would probably be Gruul which uses Red and Green mana to make big dudes and beat down other people.
Oh, and welcome to the community!
December 13, 2013 5:23 a.m.