First ever MTG deck by a newbie... NEED HELP
Standard Deck Help forum
Posted on Jan. 24, 2018, 5:30 a.m. by @Crumble@
Hi All,
I'm completely new to MTG. Last week I bought an Ixalan Bundle and a couple boosters. With the limited cards I had I build this deck and decided to go for a Pirate deck. Online there where almost no other Pirate decks then Black/Red. So I decided to do something else.
This is the result!! New newbie Blue/Red Pirate deck
Please help me to tune this deck further. I'm open to suggestions, constructive criticism, buying new cards and replacing them. Please keep in mind that I'm new to this game and keep it positive.
I also want to stay to this theme and these Mana colours.
Thanks!!
Blo says... #2
So requirements:
- Blue/Red/X splash
- Pirate themed deck
- Standard legal
Then there's some stuff to consider. Looking at your deck you have a lot of singles instead of a playset (4), which would increase the deck stability a lot. This is due to the nature of you being new, which is no problem at all. With the deck you currently have, you lack focus. As far as pirate decks go, you could consider pure aggro, a tempo based deck or a more midrange controlling deck. (see spoiler)
Aggro (aggresive) tends to curve out arround 4, with the majority of your cards being less than 4 mana. Decks such as Ramunap red are a prime example of it.
Tempo is an aggresive deck, but looking to bounce/kill/counter any impactfull plays of the opponent, and push damage through since you have a board and they don't.
A more controlling deck would run more higher drops and more counters or things such as River's Rebuke, Hour of Devastation and a few beaters with impact such as Torrential Gearhulk. As far as investment goes, I think control would cost you the most, and you'd be better of adding a bunch of black cards to the deck. So, I will continue with some more aggresive tips.
Some general tips though:
- Try to increase your copies per card and reduce the ammount of different cards.
- You don't really need copies of Unknown Shores, your mana base is good without it. The other land, Unclaimed Territory is great though, and you should try to get 4 in a tribal deck.
- Cards like Spirebluff Canal or even Highland Lake will improve your mana base, and running 4 tap lands won't hurt your deck most of the time. It's worth considering.
- Lookout's Dispersal is a good counter in pirates. It should cost 2 mana most of the time and is a hard counter most of the time.
- Hostage Taker is probably worth splashing for as you continue to play.
- Dreamcaller Siren probably has a place in your deck and isn't too expensive. You can use it to push through damage or tap their creatures before they attack. Either way, great tempo.
- Cards like Abrade serve multiple purposes and are great to sideboard in when you need it, or even play mainboard. - You need some removal. Fiery Cannonade will only hit their board and is great versus vampires or merfolk most of the time. Lightning Strike is just solid.
- Captivating Crew is also great in the sideboard, and a fun card to play.
Aggresive tips:
- Angrath's Marauders as fun as it may be, won't have a place in an aggresive version of the deck. The same holds true for cards such as Prosperous Pirates or Pirate's Prize.
- The raid mechanic is great! since you're attacking often and early you will almost always enable raid to gain benefit. This means that cards such as Chart a Course will outperform Pirate's Prize and Storm Fleet Aerialist will outperform Prosperous Pirates
- cards like Daring Saboteur are great, they are aggresive, can be unblockable and can draw you the cards you need in that match up.
- Warsail Marauder, Storm Fleet Sprinter and Marauding Looter are possible inclusions. The first one is great and very good in any aggresive deck. The last one gives you extra card filtering, to draw what you need.
So rather than giving you suggestions and make your deck, I gave some possibilities and hopefully you will enjoy the search to a more cohesive deck. Deckbuilding is something I enjoy a lot, so I dislike giving a decklist to copy ;).
Good luck and welcome to the game!
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January 24, 2018 7:29 a.m.