After School Magic: Ultra Cheap Decks
Deck Help forum
Posted on May 11, 2016, 9 p.m. by Unenlightened
So I'm thinking about trying to start a magic club/weekly thing at the local library (or somewhere like that) for an age group like maybe 10 and up. Not sure if I'll even be able to set something like this up, but if I do I'll need ultra-cheap decks.
I had the idea to use a new format, either 30-card singleton or something I call Halfling, which just cuts the deck size and card copies limit in half; a 30-card deck with no more than 2 copies of each card. For either format, you would shuffle your GY into your deck the first time you mill out.
30 cards is a lot cheaper than 60 cards; the ones I've come up with are around $4 or less according to TappedOut. I was thinking I'd have 4 copies of each deck so 20 people could play at once; but since it's Halfling, you can combine two identical decks (or any two decks, really) to make a full Magic deck. Here's what I have so far for Halfling:
I'm not sure I've done a good job representing the spirit of each color here, especially with white/black, since they're basically the same major strategy (creatures/w enchants). I'm trying to avoid counters and tokens since those are a pain to keep track of for new players, much less kids.
I also have thousands of common cards that I'll never use and was thinking of using those to let kids build their own decks, maybe just use a 'this color goes in this box' sorting system to keep things simple. Extra uncommon cards could be used as prizes, along with the occasional rare or mythic.
There'd be no buy in or entry fee which is why it's gotta be super cheap.
...
What do you guys think of the idea overall? The new formats in particular? Got any better ideas for a deck for this format?
Unenlightened says... #3
I have some of those giveaway decks, and they're only 30 cards... they are giveaway decks though, and what I was thinking of was more like rental decks, to be turned in after a session. So maybe I should just make them full 60 card decks.
With that in mind, does anyone have a good starter deck with super cheap cards for each color, no tokens and no counters?
Recover819 says... #2
MTG has give away decks, one for each color. A local shop may have some for you or you could ask Wizards for some. I believe they are 40 cards though. I commend your efforts. Would probably do 40 cards though.
May 12, 2016 10:42 a.m.