New to the format -- What to build?

Legacy Deck Help forum

Posted on Oct. 18, 2015, 2:25 p.m. by CasualMan

I am relatively new to magic, began playing around Zendikar block came to a close, and I have been looking at formats to get into rather than just standard, and legacy looks like an awesome format to play. I really want to play it, but the mana bases seem way too expensive for me. I don't have any staples other than a few fetch lands that I picked up from KTK block. I like the look of creature based decks like Maverick, but I Shardless BUG looks sweet for deathrites and Jaces, however they appear to be far too expensive for me. I understand this format is really expensive, and would like a deck for around $1000, no more than $1200. Is Maverick build able for that? If so, should I start by building a mana base of fetches and duals or getting the creatures etc. and running basics and shocks? Can you suggest a good list for Maverick, Death and Taxes, or some other decks on the cheaper side that may be conferable to modern? Thanks for your help in advance!

A land base will usually cost around your budget. Especially anything blue. If you're running death and taxes, you have 4 Wasteland and usually a number of Rishadan Port. And most duals cost around 100-250$ each. you can try proxying a deck or two to get a feel of it before you invest. A good site to look at for competitive decks is mtgtop8.com. It's a great site to look at decks and see how they did in tournaments

October 18, 2015 2:49 p.m.

EndStepTop says... #3

Play merfolk. Most of the deck is the same for modern. You need wastelands forces and dazes to port it to legacy. Truth be told when I jumped into legacy I proxies a bunch of decks and played them until I found a deck I liked. I strongly suggest trying this.

October 18, 2015 4:04 p.m. Edited.

DrFunk27 says... #4

What Gspot said is true. You can also use whatever deck you enjoy playing in Modern, and include the cards allowed in Legacy. A decent competitive legacy deck will run you around $1000, with the Top 8 decks pushing $1200+. 1-2 color strategies will save you money. If you want to get into Legacy, the cards that are most widely universal are

Wasteland Played in almost every deck

Rishadan Port played in white decks

Force of Will, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, True-Name Nemesis and Daze played in blue decks

Lion's Eye Diamond played in combo decks

There are other cards but most of them are legal in modern. i.e. Thoughtseize Liliana of the Veil Snapcaster Mage Jace, Vryn's Prodigy etc.

October 18, 2015 5:15 p.m. Edited.

titanreaver says... #5

Death and taxes plays a lot of basic as well, you still need the Wastelands and Rishadan Ports but most of the cards in it are pretty cheap. All in all you are looking right around $1000 however I have seen lists which did reasonably well that were only $300 swapping the Wastelands for Ghost Quarters. Burn will cost you around $500 maybe even down to $300, depending on how many fetches you feel like using. If you go for slightly used cards Elves is easily in your price range. Those are just a few examples. It really depends on how you want to play. There are plenty of mono decks that can be quite competitive. I absolutely agree with DrFunk27 if you are starting out pick some staples so you can change your deck when you tire of it. To answer the question about using shocks, There are plenty of circumstances where you can live with their drawback, or even the new duals from BFZ, however you need to play test the deck a lot, to ensure you can live with the drawback. Remember one thing when you look at some mana bases, a lot of people just default to running all the duals possible and sometimes thats necessary but sometimes its not. Remember Wasteland and Price of Progress are things. So before you settle on dishing out for duals, try some basics.

October 22, 2015 2:06 p.m.

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