Begginer Deck (Re-Introduced)
Deck Help forum
Posted on Nov. 29, 2015, 5 p.m. by SpecWolf22
I'm getting back into magic and have some money to spend I've been playing some casual games with intro decks from the store. I'm wanting to build a deck now because the pre mades are so boring.
What is a good deck to build for my first time. I really like discarding opponents hands or permanents and/or attacking with big monsters. I love Green,Blue,Black, types in any variation. My budget is around $150-250. Thank you for your time. I'd like to maybe play competitive one day but for now it's casual so I assume a modern or standard style right now.
That amount will get you a good start to a few of the decks in modern. Check this out:
Modern Format Primer - Banlist Update (21/10/2015)
Modern
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November 29, 2015 7:02 p.m.
SpecWolf22 says... #4
Thanks Scytec, I got the gist of it. I think modern is very interesting. So I've kind of narrowed it down to two types of cards I want to play. Green and Black types. I think they would go well with each other.
Do you know of any decent decks I could throw together? I'd like to at the least throw one together that's already been proven and learn how it's played and then perhaps build upon that later on
November 29, 2015 8:04 p.m.
SpecWolf22 says... #5
I was thinking about this Golgari Perfected what do you think?
November 29, 2015 8:18 p.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #6
For starters, Deathrite Shaman isn't modern-legal. That deck will be too slow for modern, and that idea, which most closely matches Dredgevine, is a tier 2 deck in modern at best. It is Sultai colors, which is a plus, but it doesn't utilize hand disruption except in the sideboard. If you significantly downgrade the manabase and rebuild the sideboard you can bring it down to your price range, but it will not be super competitive. Loads more fun than your intro decks, and it'll serve you fine at FNM for the most part, but it won't be a competitive deck. If you hope to win a lot, I don't recommend this path.
Unfortunately, BG is probably the most expensive color pairing in Modern, with Tarmogoyf being the poster child of expensive magic, closely followed by Liliana of the Veil, the black staple of the format. Unfortunately most green decks in modern need 4 Tarmogoyf and black midrange decks need 2-4 Liliana of the Veil, which won't fit into $250. Dredgevine is more of a combo deck, and accordingly doesn't need Goyf or Lili, which is not the norm for BGx decks.
But fear not! $250 should be enough to get you into modern with a reasonable deck. Hand disruption and big creatures do tend towards BGx midrange, as those are the basis of the deck, but midrange is an expensive game, and one that does not budgetize well.
May I suggest playing grixis delver? It has Black and Blue in it. It may be an aggro tempo deck, but you cannot say that a turn 2 Gurmag Angler isn't a big dumb creature early. Delver doesn't run the full hand disruption package in quite the same way as BGx midrange, but it has it in the side, much like Dredgevine. It's tons of fun to play and a pretty good deck in the current meta. It would be much more competitive than Dredgevine for about the same price. A good budget deck looks like Delving on a Budget and it's only a tad over $250 for a very strong deck.
Both decks are good options for getting into the game. Dredgevine is much less common of a deck, but it probably matches you play style better than Delver. Delver is more competitive and a more common deck. Your choice in which direction you choose.
Good luck!
November 29, 2015 8:53 p.m.
SpecWolf22 says... #7
Toolmaster is this the deck your referring to? Delving on a Budget
If so I'm really liking this setup. If you would please explain how this deck is played correctly and a rough estimate of how long it would take me to understand how it's played? I know how to generally play but need something more exciting and this looks like it's it. Do you recommend any changes to it?
November 29, 2015 9:33 p.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #8
Glad you like it! Yes, that's the deck.
As for that list, the Bloodghast are highly unconventional. Most players would run Abbot of Keral Keep instead. Budgetless delver runs Snapcaster Mage, but that's expensive. Too expensive. You should definitely have your own decklist. Start with that one, then make edits to it. I can help you with that, but I would start by dropping the Ghasts for Abbots and swap 1 Izzet Charm for 1 more Thought Scour, unless you really like Ghast and want to play it really badly.
The name of the game is tempo. If you're not familiar with tempo, it's a bit difficult to explain, but I'll try. Tempo is basically a measurement of how well your deck is racing in comparison to the opponent. Another way to think of it is how many turns ahead of your opponent are you in terms of game development. The goal of the deck is to drop an early threat turn 1 or 2, then defend it with countermagic and burn spells. The namesake of the deck is Delver of Secrets Flip, which is usually a 3/2 flyer for 1 mana by turn 2. It is the best tempo creature possible - you play it early for very little mana, meaning you can leave mana open later to defend it as it destroys the opponent's life total. Traditionally, the creatures in Delver generally are not amazing creatures when they first hit the battlefield, but they completely overwhelm the opponent when given a free turn or two to wreck havoc. Young Pyromancer is a great example of this: you have a bad 2/1 creature at first, and even with 1-2 tokens he isn't great, but when you are defending him with countermagic and burning the opponent at the same time, he will create 4-5 tokens before the opponent knows what's happened and simultaneously your opponent will be helplessly behind in the game, allowing what is now a huge threat on the table to run away with the game.
So how does one build tempo? Remand is the best card to use when explaining tempo. Remand is oftentimes called Time Walk. But what does this actually mean? At a first glance, Remand doesn't actually counter a spell, just delays it, which is bad, right? Nope. Remand builds stupid amounts of tempo. To show how this works, let's use an example:
Let's say you're on the play. Turn 1 you play Delver of Secrets Flip. Their turn 1 they play a tapped land, then pass. On your second turn, you draw Remand to flip the delver, play your land, attack for 3, then pass. Now on their turn, they play a land then cast Terminate targeting Delver. You Remand it. Terminate goes back to their hand and you draw a card. At this point, you've caused them to 'lose' their second turn because you stopped their play and drew a card. But more importantly, they didn't kill Delver, or accomplish anything actually. You get another attack with Delver and another turn to build up your board state or tear down theirs. This equates to another 3 damage from delver, another turn to make more creatures, kill theirs, or just burn them to the face. You start to run away with the game, so the game is starting to slip away from them. Because you drew a card off Remand, you likely have a full hand of more countermagic and burn spells. They got their Terminate back, but you've bought yourself an entire turn to keep attacking and accelerate your game. Had you not Remanded their Terminate, you might play another creature the next turn, but you're losing damage from losing your creature and it takes more turns and more time to re-build, so a loss of tempo. Does this help explain tempo at all?
One thing to keep in mind when playing Delver is that although you're an aggro deck, you're in no rush to win the game. You don't have to be jamming every card in your hand through as fast as possible, and if you don't have the game by turn 4 you don't auto-lose like Burn. You should be expecting turn 5-6 wins, but you've usually secured the win by tempo advantage by turn 4. Oftentimes the first 3-4 turns will be spent trading resources and squeezing value out of cards against an interactive opponent, then out of nowhere your deck will make an explosive play to shoot ahead in tempo all at once (think flipping a delver and dropping a Tasigur in the same turn - you went from 1 to 7 points of damage on the field in one turn) at which point you go all out and finish them in a turn or 2. Delver is always going for the tempo kill, but it happens at very varying times and rates, which keeps the deck interesting and fun.
Good luck!
November 29, 2015 10:49 p.m.
SpecWolf22 says... #9
Thank you I traded out the ones you suggested and have ordered the entire deck which will be in my hands very soon. Thank you so much and if it's ok can I keep in contact with you if I have any questions?
November 30, 2015 4:55 p.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #10
Not a problem. That was rather fast for ordering, but it sounds like you really enjoy the list. There are unfortunately are 2 more changes I would make to that list, but they shouldn't cost you much.
First, swap 1 Swamp for 1 more Shivan Reef. Or a Sulfur Falls if you can afford it, but it's not super important which you get.
I'd also change 1 Murderous Cut for 1 Dispel in the mainboard. This will help you have more countermagic to help keep your tempo and Murderous Cut is a little too much on the delve in addition to 3 Angler and 2 Tasigur.
Thats all I have. Good luck and feel free to ask any questions you may have.
November 30, 2015 8:29 p.m.
SpecWolf22 says... #11
Should Murderous Cut be put in dispels place in the side board or just gotten rid of completly?
December 1, 2015 3:53 a.m.
SpecWolf22 says... #12
I cancelled my order and made the changes, do you suggest anything else? I really appreciate you helping me with my first build.
December 1, 2015 4:01 a.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #13
I'd remove Murderous Cut altogether and leave the Dispel in the side. You'll need the help against burn.
I'd make a decklist before you order so you can goldfish on here and playtest with it. You can also try it out on untap.in which is where I test my decks. The sideboard isn't perfect either, so it could use some tuning.
December 1, 2015 7:58 a.m.
playtester123 says... #14
yo need some good suggestions for counterburn decks and blue/red planeswalkers
HaUnTeDeMoN says... #2
I would suggest searching.for Sultai (G/B/U) Control decks on this site. Just use the search tool and look under deck search. You can narrow it down and see what others are doing and build a deck from there and customize it to your play style.
November 29, 2015 6:23 p.m.