Decisions, decisions...
Standard forum
Posted on April 21, 2016, 12:13 p.m. by j.blake
So I ordered six packs of Origins on Amazon on a whim and ended up getting a baby Jace in the first pack I opened. I've considered selling it (because it won't be in Standard for much longer) and using the money to buy some Standard red cards to augment my burn deck, or maybe some colorless like Ulamog, etc. to go with some ideas I have considered in the past (i.e., Walker of the Wastes and Endless One). Also, I've looked at using Jace, Vryn's Prodigy Flip with something like Startled Awake Flip (which I have a couple of) and making a mill deck. I've only done Standard so far, but considered getting into some of the other formats. Any suggestions?
TL;DR: I got a baby Jace and I'm trying to decide what to do with it.
I have a few shops around me that have pretty much all formats, but to be honest, I don't understand how most of them are. I also don't know a lot of the deck types (i.e., Jund, etc.) as I have looked, but haven't found any laydown on what it all means. Thanks for your input.
April 21, 2016 1:40 p.m.
ducttapedeckbox says... #4
Check out this Modern Format Primer. It's a good read and will help lay out the format to see if it interests you.
April 21, 2016 4:01 p.m.
ducttapedeckbox, thank you. I will give it a look over. Aren't the rest of the formats expensive to get into?
April 21, 2016 4:08 p.m.
ducttapedeckbox says... #6
It depends. What level do you want to play at? Casually? FNM level? Larger events?
April 21, 2016 4:23 p.m.
Eventually, all of the above... I am cool with that being long term, but the wife commented yesterday when I was opening my packs about how much I have spent already in a couple of months. LOL
April 21, 2016 4:41 p.m.
ducttapedeckbox says... #8
I recommend Modern then.
At the current rate, playing (and keeping up with) Standard will cost the same, if not more than Modern depending on how long you play a deck. A competitive Standard deck is approaching the cost of some competitive Modern decks (up to the $400-700 range I'd say). Just look at the Jace you're trying to get rid of - he's an auto-include 4-of in almost every Standard blue deck!
Modern is also much more sympathetic when it comes to building long term. Some cards are required as an initial investment, but if you plan correctly, a cheaper, semi-competitive deck can be ported over to a competitive deck as your budget allows for it.
There are counter points to some of the things I've mentioned such as bans, but I still think that Modern is currently a very healthy format and allows for some creativity, as long as the pilot knows their deck well. Additionally, the barrier to enter Modern is higher than that of Standard, but they come pretty close once you start looking at tiered decks.
If you don't mind describing your preferred playstyle, I could help identify a couple decks for you to look at, possibly test online, and then ultimately begin to build in paper should you enjoy them.
April 21, 2016 5:33 p.m.
ducttapedeckbox, that sounds great. I am definitely an aggro, red, burn fan, but have started to look at other styles, specifically white (due to flyers and exiling threats) and blue (for counterspells).
April 21, 2016 5:55 p.m.
ducttapedeckbox says... #10
My initial thought is to suggest Burn. It's often found as a primarily red deck, but splashes green and sometimes white for Atarka's Command, Boros Charm, and / or Become Immense. It's is also one of the cheaper Modern decks that can put up good results. I am far from an aggro or burn player, so I cannot help much with specific deck lists.
Control in Modern is in an awkward spot right now as the meta has just changed, and control decks are always the last to adapt. They need to observe the biggest threats and build accordingly. Right now UW Control seems to be doing well, but it is an expensive deck ($1000+), and unfortunately most of it is required to have a functional deck (land base, Snapcaster Mage).
While this may not sound appealing, I think a good starting point would be to netdeck. This will allow you to start playing in the format with a deck that is known to perform well in the meta and can help you identify the key points of Modern. From an efficiency and resource management perspective, Modern is much different than Standard. With such a large card pool, there is bound to be amazing removal and threats, and those, like any sought after thing in live, demand a premium. Once you develop an intuition for what works and what doesn't, and why that is the case, then you should be able to go and tweak something to your preferences.
One thing to note about Burn is that many of the cards are not transferable to other decks. The land base is always good to have (and frankly, working to trade towards sets of each fetchland and shockland is a great goal regardless), but the other pricey piece, Goblin Guide, is only used in Burn. This would make it difficult to change around decks should you get bored of Burn.
Conversely, Snapcaster Mage in the UW control deck will always be useful if you want to play Blue. There are very few Blue decks in the format that don't want him (hence his price tag).
As you can see, there is a lot to consider when entering Modern, or any format for that matter. I recommend that you try out some of these decks - mtgtop8 is a great resource to see what the meta looks like and what does well. That link will take you to the Modern page. I suggest you check out the Burn (or Mono-Red Aggro) decks and the UW control decks, and see what you think. Online playtesters like Cockatrice and Untap are great for this.
Another option that gives mono-red a controlling feel is to play Skred (it's named after the card, but has a deck built around it). I think it's a really cool deck, but has some cost behind it in Blood Moon. Other than that, I think it's rather affordable.
One last note about control decks: they can be tricky for new Modern players as deciding what to remove/counter and when do to so requires knowledge of the deck you're playing against, and that really only comes with experience.
Sorry for the wall of text. Hopefully you'll be able to get something out of it!
April 21, 2016 6:31 p.m.
ducttapedeckbox, that was a great explanation, and I truly appreciate you taking the time. A lot of that makes sense, and I do understand that coming into a new format will be difficult until I learn the ropes.
I will look at the things you recommended and see what I think I would like to try. Thanks, again. For us new guys, it's a lot to take in.
April 21, 2016 6:45 p.m.
ducttapedeckbox says... #12
Not a problem. I've seen many players try to enter Modern with their "kick-ass brew" only to get stomped. I try my best to be realistic with my explanations to help avoid that.
If you have any questions about decks you come across, feel free to drop me a note. If I can't help you with a specific deck, there's probably someone I can direct you to that can.
April 21, 2016 7:49 p.m.
lemmingllama says... #13
One other deck you may want to consider that ducttapedeckbox didn't mention is Delver.
You play more of an aggressive creature deck using Monastery Mentor, Delver of Secrets Flip, and Young Pyromancer. You then use blue cards to counter their threats long enough to kill them, and use burn like Lightning Bolt to get that extra bit of reach. You can also incorporate white to get access to Path to Exile, Monastery Mentor, Lightning Helix and Seeker of the Way.
The nice thing about Delver is that the only expensive cards are the lands and Snapcaster Mage (assuming you run him). It may not be the strongest deck out there, but it is easy to build on a budget and upgrade over time while still being able to compete.
April 21, 2016 8:26 p.m.
ducttapedeckbox says... #14
Duh. Yep, Delver would be great to try too. I'm Tony in the .gif.
ducttapedeckbox says... #2
That's a ticket to start to port in to an eternal or non-rotating format, should you have the desire.
I don't like trading down for the most part (one card for a handful), but it might be worth it to start in another format.
I wouldn't do mill in Standard. I'd highly consider Modern (maybe even burn there?) as it's a very diverse and welcoming format at the moment.
What events/formats do you have regular access to?
April 21, 2016 1:32 p.m.