Teaching a Friend - What Deck?

The Kitchen Table forum

Posted on Nov. 10, 2014, 10:23 a.m. by MangoPunch

I am teaching a friend to play mtg. He bought himself a Khan's of Tarkir Event Deck, and I am looking to build or buy a similar power level deck to square off against him.

I was thinking about picking up the speed versus cunning duel decks, but wanted to keep it standard as I am also buying a bunch of Khans boosters to give him the experience of fleshing out and improving the deck.

1) Should I just get the duel decks as they are 'good enough' for my purposes?

2) Has anyone played with/against the event deck and know a good comparable level alternate archetype build?

itisme282 says... #2

You could buy another event deck.

November 10, 2014 10:35 a.m.

AztekSnowman says... #3

Net deck some cheap standard decks. Like mono black aggro, green devotion, heroic etc...

November 10, 2014 10:42 a.m.

Boza says... #4

THE DUEL DECKS AND EVENT DECKS FOR KHANS HAVE NO VALUE. as most of those precon products do.

The purchase is very weak. The best casual teaching experience is 6 pack sealed. Build 2 40 card decks from 2 sealed pools. After he learns the ropes, give him his pool and tell him to build the deck he likes and help him do it.

That satisfies both your goals and it is the best casual experience you can have.

To upgrade the experience, agree to purchase 1 pack every week to boost your pools or trade a couple of cards between your unused ones. It easy to organize a play group around that concept and get some sealed goodness going.

November 10, 2014 10:43 a.m.

ChiefBell says... #5

If you're criticising the duel decks for having no value then suggesting the individual buys boosters is madness. Boosters are like the least efficient way to gain value.

Honestly its better to buy singles. You can buy boosters your entire life and never get 4 copies of all the mythics you need.

November 10, 2014 12:21 p.m.

Boza says... #6

I am not suggesting boosters as a way to pull mythics, but as a way to have a great casual experience. Duel decks provide 0 room for customizing with the cards that you are given. Addtionally, playing one of those decks is no good for a beginner to learn and practice any skills in the game or experience its modularity.

Value is not just monetary, especially for a beginner. If your friend bought the KOT event deck and you brought a Tier 1 standard deck to play with him, that would be an awful idea and might turn him off the game or instill the "pay to win" mentality in him.

If you both have the same start and have room for customizing your play experience (the biggest asset of MTG), he will not feel at a disadvantage and have more fun playing.

The value of cards will be immaterial to a beginner compared to having a good time with a game. In fact, I would not tell him the value of cards that are pulled from those boosters to again prevent him mentally connecting spending money in magic with fun.

November 10, 2014 2:51 p.m.

This discussion has been closed