Three-color HALP!
Deck Help forum
Posted on March 8, 2013, 11:28 a.m. by ScarrFisH
I have been playing for a couple years, and I can make some decent decks with up to 2 colors, but I want to broaden my deck making skills and try working on a 3+color deck. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Well, I really want to know mostly how the big color combos (esper, bant, naya, grixis, ect.) play together before I decide.
March 8, 2013 12:47 p.m.
Esper is usually gonna be control, and now a days use a lot of the mill abilities as well, specially with Jace, Memory Adept . In Bant you usually see either a control or midrange deck, Thragtusk and Sphinx's Revelation are very big. Naya is typically more aggro but there are midrange decks out there as well. Lots of people also play a Naya humans because of the humans that fit in that color scheme. Jund is usually aggro or midrange. Grixis is always control, dont think ive seen it any other way. Junk decks are good too, either a midrange build or a reanimator work well. theres also BUG which is usually a midrange or control build, but thats one of the hardest ones to build I think because theres no real straight forward list to play but can be fun in that sense because you can build it your own way very easily. I've seen a lot of RWB decks floating around, but i havent seen any in competitive play. that would prolly be aggro though
and if anyone else reading this disagrees with what i say, please let me know
March 8, 2013 12:56 p.m.
Well do you want to build aggro or midrange? I don't really know a whole lot on June because I haven't played it. But I feel like the midrange uses Olivia Voldaren to really control the board while aggro uses the Falkenrath Aristocrat. I'm having to use a phone to type this up right now but when i get on a comp i can help you with a list. Just tell me which version of jund you want
March 9, 2013 11:04 p.m.
What format are you looking to play? Jund is strong in both modern and standard, although it's gotten weaker in modern because of recent bannings. Not to mention, its removal is usually 1-for-1, making it prone to card disadvantage.
March 9, 2013 11:56 p.m.
@vondo101Lately I have been going the route of aggro, so I want to go midrange this time.
@sylvannos Standard is what I usually play, because I don't have much for modern.
March 11, 2013 10:39 a.m.
Well, I'd say we look at a few decklists just to get an idea of what the best cards to use are. Here's on from a tourney this weekend. Jund SCG opren this seems to be the more popular list right now, but some people don't like tto just copy decks off the net so I woild use this maybe as a starting point and lets go from there.
March 11, 2013 11:52 a.m.
Ok, I have a few of those cards, but none of the mythics (Olivia Voldaren, Huntmaster of the Fells Flip ect.) But I think I understand the cheap spot removal aspect, followed by the large, and annoying creatures.
March 11, 2013 12:04 p.m.
Also, have to add that i have a tight budget... (just researched the prices on the cardlist. OMGWTFSRSLY!?)
March 11, 2013 12:08 p.m.
Yeah I understand about the budget. But also SCG overprices their singles. But we can find replacements. I would def recomend the olivias because that card controls the board. If we those are the only cards you can spend money get a couple of those. But we can find some other cards to fit in. Prolly like Vampire Nighthawk or even Ghor-Clan Rampager maybe. Then some cheap removal and burn. Some ramp and a few more fatties and we can get a solid deck workin for ya on the budget. And maybe you could even start trading up to the bigger cards eventtually
March 11, 2013 1:22 p.m.
(Priced on tcgplayer) Have plenty of nighthawks, and rampager i can find fairly easy where i am (RG Dominates meta here...), so I think i have a hold on 90% of what I will try for that, and Olivias will come soon. (Wanted her for vampires anyway.)
Now then. Bant?
March 11, 2013 2:06 p.m.
Hell tbh, the bant decks hadnt been performing that well since the gatecrash release. Typically it would use Thragtusk and Sphinx's Revelation to keep your life up. You could also see Geist of Saint Traft sometimes. But it wouls also use Jace, Architect of Thought and Tamiyo, the Moon Sage and all the typical counters and such. But I just found a new list that hit the top 8 at the SCG open in Indy. (Prime Speaker Bant)[http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=53914] this list seems a lot more in the midrange style and I think is good...but now most of those cards have gone up in value...
March 11, 2013 5:42 p.m.
mtg_deckmaster says... #15
If you were to build a 3-color standard, I personally think Naya (RGW) would be your best option. It could go so many different ways and not run the Boros Reckoner and Thragtusk cards and still be good. The two best options I think are Naya humans and Bloodrush (possibly splash white if you direly want three colors)
March 11, 2013 7:35 p.m.
@vondo101: Bant is probably the best three-color combination in standard right now, both with how powerful the control build is and how nasty aura-hexproof can be.
@ScarrFisH: Jund midrange would be a decent investment. The deck is good in standard and most of the cards will be playable in modern. The current shell for the standard build is:
4x Huntmaster of the Fells Flip4x Dreg Mangler4x Farseek3+ Abrupt Decay4x Thragtusk4x Blood Crypt4x Overgrown Tomb4x Stomping Ground2+ Dreadbore
This looks expensive at first, but prices on most of these cards are going down as Naya Humans becomes the deck to beat in standard. The important thing is, however, once you have this deck built, you can work on acquiring cards for modern, which will never cycle out. Dreadbore and Thragtusk would be taken out for Dark Confidant and Tarmogoyf.
March 11, 2013 7:42 p.m.
@sylvannos: Where Jund is what I was looking most forward to, the huntmasters alone are around 31 a piece right now. As it is, my budget would only allow me to get one at a time, and barely enough for MAYBE a booster. Where I definitely appreciate the advice, and the decklist is something i will keep a hold of, that's going to be a project for the future. For now, a budget list for the same ideas would be wonderful.
March 12, 2013 10:05 a.m.
I would use this as a shell then, until you have access to a larger budget:
4x Ghor-Clan Rampager4x Dreg Mangler4x Wolfir Silverheart4x Farseek4x Blood Crypt4x Overgrown Tomb4x Stomping Ground
That's about as bare-bones as it gets. The other creature I forgot to mention is Falkenrath Aristocrat. Unfortunately, playing three colors and doing well is expensive (money wise). Shock lands are still good in modern. While they may take a bit of a dip in value once Dragon's Maze comes out (as low as $8), they will hover around $10 after they cycle out of standard.
Falkenrath Aristocrat probably won't be seen much after she cycles out, neither will Thragtusk. If money is an issue, I'd worry about those last as more of luxury cards if you can get them in a trade. Huntmaster of the Fells
Flip, again, wouldn't hurt because once you have them, you'll probably never get rid of them. But in order to play Jund Midrange, you will need some beefy, cost-effective creatures backed up by Farseek and shock lands.
March 12, 2013 11:26 a.m.
Ok cool! Thanks very much for this, and everyone involved.
vondo101 says... #2
Well, that really depends on what colors you want to be playing. Figure that out first. You can base it off a card you really wanna play or a combo in certain colors you wanna do. Pick some colors, and then I would help ya out.
March 8, 2013 12:33 p.m.