Newcomer ISO Advice
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Posted on March 24, 2015, 4:05 a.m. by MisterMajor
Greetings all, I'm Major.
I was recently Nerdified (a term my friends use) and introduced to MTG. I had heard of it for many years but never watched or participated in an actual session until this past Sunday.
We played with (quoted from my facebook) mono-black Blade of the Bloodchief. With help from a seasoned player I actually came out on top and wiped out everyone (5 player table).
Now that I have had a taste of it, I want more... I want to get my own deck.
I guess the advice I am seeking is what type of deck to get/build, and what choices there ae for a newbie like me.
Thank you in advance for any help and CONSTRUCTIVE criticism :)
That depends entirely on your meta. What format do your friends play? How competitive are they? Do they participate in local Friday Night Magic tournament events, or anything higher? Do you wish to play at a local store with a variety of people or just with your friends, casually?
MTGTop8.com is a great resource for checking the deck archetypes in any competitive format. For casual purposes, you can do pretty much anything you want.
What kind of player are you?
Timmy - this player archetype likes big, flashy plays and massive amounts of overkill.
Johnny - this player archetype likes strange interactions and any and all combos.
Spike - this player archetype wants to win at all costs.
Of course, there are many different combined variations, but these are the basic player profiles.
What kind of deck do you want to play?
Aggro - winning as soon as possible by applying pressure from T1. Typically win around T4, or lose steam and flop.
Midrange - uses a variety of value creatures and spells to keep the opponent in check while advancing one's own game plan.
Control - prevents opponent from doing anything at all via removal and countermagic until playing a win condition in the late game, typically just as a formality. By which I mean the game is won by preventing the opponent from winning.
Combo - utilizing strange interactions to win the game, often regardless of the current state of the game.
- For example, my favorite combo in my Commander deck is Ashnod's Altar + Geralf's Messenger + Ghave, Guru of Spores . In that combo, I sacrifice Geralf's Messenger to Ashnod's Altar to produce mana. Geralf's Messenger's Undying ability triggers and it returns to the battlefield form the graveyard with a +1/+1 counter (it modifies the power and toughness of the creature, in case you're not familiar). I then use the mana produced from Ashnod's Altar to remove the +1/+1 counter via Ghave, Guru of Spores' activated ability. This allows Geralf's Messenger to be sacrificed and recurred infinitely, and its enter-the-battlefield trigger will cause all of my opponents to lose infinite life until they die.
What is your budget? You can play anything from a $15 intro pack deck to a multiple thousands dollar tournament competitive deck.
March 24, 2015 4:45 a.m.
Goddamn vault writing 10 page essays n' shit. GG well played.
March 24, 2015 5:02 a.m.
Shit, that's longer than I anticipated. Well, I'm an English major. It's in my blood. Or... ink?
March 24, 2015 5:05 a.m.
MisterMajor - Start with a casual deck. The reason for this is simply because other formats have strict card limitations and therefore require a lot more work to get into. Once you've become accustomed to the game you'll probably want to transition to another format. It's most likely this will be EDH / standard / or modern. However, that will come later.
You'll want to find out what kind of player you are. As vault described these are Jonny, Spike, and Timmy. Each represents a different style of magic - relevant because most people find they naturally gravitate towards one of these styles. You may have to play a few games to decide this though, because naturally you don't know if you like playing decks with large creatures until you've tried it for yourself.
Once you've decided what attracts you, you choose a deck style - aggro, midrange, control, or combo. These lend themselves well to the different player styles. Each deck type wants to achieve different things so you'll find one that just feels right for you.
Finally once all of that is done you can start choosing colours and choosing cards to go in your deck.
Final word of advice. Do not buy ANYTHING until you've sat on your list of cards for a few days. Get other people to check it over, seek feedback from this community, and tinker with it. Don't rush in - you'll just waste money.
March 24, 2015 6:31 a.m.
Also, one of the bast things to do is look other players decks here on tappedout. From those you can get ideas about what kind of deck types there are and especially: what kind of cards there are. And there are lots of them so it's easy to get flustered by it at the beginning.
When you have found the common theme of your deck, start searching cards that would fit for that said theme. Gatherer - advanced search is your best friend for that. Just remember: always try to keep the amount of cards at 60 even if you find so many nice cards to add. That's simply because the more cards you have, the harder it is for you to get the card at certain point of the game when you need it the most. If you're unsure what to add, you can alwayss add more than 60 and then start trimming the deck down little by little. Just don't buy the cards yet.
March 24, 2015 7:16 a.m.
notamardybum says... #10
the guy just started playing, he probably doesnt know what half that shit means. who has a meta after playing for2 days...
i would suggest making a mono black human deck for standard. its very cheap, pretty good, and since its standard you have more chances to play it in things like fnm.
mtgtop8.com is a great resource to check out a bunch of different decks in the different formats.
also theres a program called cockatrice. its great for testing decks out and is free so you can see what you like before you purchase
March 24, 2015 10:39 a.m.
Toolkit isn't bad. At the very least, it's a good place to store unused cards. You should have a decent variety of cards that you can use to come up with new strategies. If possible, I recommend acquiring a Duel Deck sometime. You get access to two 60 card decks with more streamlined strategies. You can then use your collection of other cards to improve and build upon the base that the Duel Decks provide.
tclaw12 says... #2
What format are you looking to play? If you are playing casually (like at a kitchen table) there are tons of things you could do. If you are looking to play at an FNM for Standard, I could probably point you in the right direction.
March 24, 2015 4:40 a.m.