Duel decks acquired, now what?
Deck Help forum
Posted on Sept. 28, 2016, 8:30 p.m. by Reapernazara
Sorry if this double posts, but I don't think my last submission went through.
I have elspeth v kiora, and nissa v ob nixilis is on the way in the mail. Ive played a few games with my wife and one with my 7 yr old daughter. I think I can already see ways to augment the decks for my play. Ie with kiora I seemed to never have enough land, the game with my daughter she beat me in like 5 turns as I had drawn 3 lands total and wasn't even able to summon a card, she was pretty happy with that lol. Elspeth seemed like I was overwhelmed with land and didn't have enough low mana creatures to deluge the opponent with. I hope I'm on the right track with my thinking there.
Anyhow, since I have a green/blue, a white, and a black and green on the way, I was thinking of trying to find a pretty built red so I can get a taste of all the colors and a little better feel of how I want to build a deck. So on that note what's a good way to get just a red deck like that? I don't really want to spend the time making my own red deck, as I'd rather put that effort into building my own personal deck once I've got a feel for the colors. Or do you guys think it would be better that I just play around with the 4 decks and buy like booster packs or something like that.
If were talking preconstructed, have you thought about the new Chandra Planeswalker deck? It might be underpowered, but there's 2 boosters to help perk it up a bit?
September 28, 2016 8:53 p.m.
MindAblaze says... #5
The new Chandra Planeswalker deck will probably have red in it.
September 28, 2016 8:55 p.m.
Reapernazara says... #6
Aholder7 yes I'm brand new, no experience what so ever, those 4 decks are all I have. No other cards at all. And probably a pre built, though having a list that I can build might not be terrible if that's the only option. As long as it's on par with the other 4 decks and too op or up.
The chandra planeswalker is a "good" one, as in for what I'm looking for? I really just want it so I can play it and get a feel for it, and so can my wife and see if we like it and what colors we'do want in our own deck.
I'd also prefer that it be all red, or mostly so. Like I said I just want it as a good representation of what red plays like and if it's my style or not.
September 28, 2016 9:09 p.m.
Fleetwood-Mat says... #7
Sounds like you and your family would really enjoy the Commander format (if you tried it). The great thing about commander is that you get to see Magic in a completely different way (since you can only use 1 of each non-basic land card). There are several prebuilt decks you can buy, and they all come with certain commander staples like Command Tower and Sol Ring as well as other surprisingly good cards as well, and you can start with those and tweak them as you like, or you can start by choosing your own commander and trying to build something completely your own and frisk the prebuilds of their Sol Rings and Command Towers and other goodies you like. There are also 5 different planeswalker commanders you can get prebuilds for, but I think they might be a bit pricey (since they're 2 years old now). There's one for each colour. Trust me, it's the craziest, most awesome way to play Magic in a casual environment!
September 28, 2016 9:11 p.m.
As people have mentioned above,the "Kaladesh Planeswalker Deck - Chandra", is probably what you're looking for. It will probably end up being a little underpowered compared to the duel decks, but there's room for improvement and it should give you a feel for how red plays out.
September 28, 2016 9:42 p.m.
Reapernazara says... #9
Alright guys thanks for the suggestions, I think I might check out chandra. Is that the one that comes out this weekend?
September 28, 2016 10:40 p.m.
elementalheroflamewingman says... #11
Just a heads up, duel decks are meant to be played against each other, and although they arent competitive, pitting a planeswalker deck against them might not be the best idea. You probably should spend a little more and get the nissa planeswalker deck as well to get a good understanding of the mechanics while not being completely blown out by the difference in power between the decks
September 29, 2016 12:15 p.m.
Fleetwood-Mat says... #12
elementalheroflamewingman I think that's not the point of getting the deck in this situation, he just wants to try something with red, and see how red plays in general (I suppose they want to build their own decks in the future and are testing out the colours they like right now with prebuilds). As long as he understands that there might be some difference in power level between his PW prebuild and his DD prebuilds, he can still get a taste of what the colours offer.
I would say that for "new" players; green, white and red are the most straight forward colours. Black is power at a price, so it takes a lot more ingenuity to play, and blue is about timing control and delaying the game; both are really good colours in MTG, but not nearly as beginner-friendly as the other three colours. It also really depends on how you plan to win, because that may push you more towards certain colours than other ones simply because there are more cards that do what you want.
September 29, 2016 1:40 p.m.
BioProfDude says... #13
For the Shadows Over Innistrad set of cards, (and others before that), they did "Intro Decks" that may be found on amazon or the like. They use cards in them from the latest sets and they have combos of colors, and they come with a couple of booster packs each. The idea behind them is to start moving up a bit from the duel decks to start wading into playing with your own deck. The planeswalker decks are supposed to do much the same, though I like the intro decks more (just my opinion).
When you feel really comfortable, you can buy a "deck builder's toolkit" which comes with ideas on building decks, several booster packs, and some other cards to get you started.
Hope this helps!
September 29, 2016 1:48 p.m.
@BioProfDude, the only problem with intro decks is the lack of powerful cards. An intro deck only has two rares, whole the planeswalker decks have considerable more (five plus chandra). For that reason, I'd buy the PW decks over the into packs.
Also, I second the deck builders toolkit idea! The new ones come with 4 packs, and enough cards to build one or a few good decks. Plus the side loading box gives you room to store your duel decks along with some other cards,
September 29, 2016 3:02 p.m.
Reapernazara says... #15
Fleetwood-Mat precisely. I want to see if it's a color I'd like to play, though I don't think I will. And yes I'd prefer to build out my own deck, once I've had a little experience playing.
Based on the suggestions when I go into town next week I'll try and find a chandra planeswalker deck. Thanks again everybody for your input and help.
September 29, 2016 4:18 p.m.
Reapernazara says... #16
Atony1400 Are they releasing a new deck builders toolkit with this release? Or do I just find an older one?
September 29, 2016 4:19 p.m.
I believe so,
EDIT: Confirmed, they are releasing a deck builders toolkit with Kaladesh
September 29, 2016 4:29 p.m.
elementalheroflamewingman says... #18
Fleetwood-Mat what I'm saying is, that OP wouldn't get much of an opportunity to try out the planeswalker deck because of the difference in power level between the planeswalker deck and the duel decks. Duel decks although casual, are still a notch above an entry level product like the planeswalker deck. So to truly get a feel of the color, playing it against something equal would be a better option. Reapernazara, just to note, the chandra deck is red AND white, that is meant to introduce the crew mechanic of Kaladesh. Although in fairness, it does a good impression of a red deck despite being in r/w colors with a few hasty creatures.
September 29, 2016 11:18 p.m.
Fleetwood-Mat says... #19
I wouldn't worry about it too much if they're just playing casual, the main thing is find out what you like within the game, when I started playing again after a loooooong hiatus, the current block was the Return to Ravnica block, and I was running decks with 4x Fog Bank and 4x Consuming Aberration with a Traumatize and some Tome Scours. It was really bad, but it was so much fun, and it encouraged me to find out that what I was doing is a legitimate strategy in Commander, which lead me to love playing Commander instead of 60 card constructed... Don't get me wrong, I still have my modern decks and all, but as a casual player (first and foremost), I just love deck milling!
I think the main thing is find out what you love about the game and pursue that path, and wherever it takes you, I hope you have a great time playing!
September 30, 2016 1:21 a.m.
Reapernazara says... #20
So if the chandra deck is underpowered what cards would you recommend adding to it? And which ones would you replace with the ones you are adding? I have a feeling I won't like red with what I've been reading about it. I think it will be more my daughters style, she is loving white. Being that she is only 8 I think she will assume that red just sucks, when in reality it's just a little underpowered.
October 1, 2016 2:22 a.m.
Fleetwood-Mat says... #21
Let me explain the differences between formats and the colours that are best in those formats (at the moment).
Standard: Standard is the most popular format, especially in competitive magic. Usually, in standard, there are 3 different deck types you build and the matchup favour works in a rock/paper/scissors sort of fashion. You have 'Aggro' which is about winning as fast as possible, and loading their decks with cheap mana cost creatures (usually 1 or 2 mana), as well as either ways to make the creatures bigger (voltron), or direct damage spells (coming primarily from red). The next deck style is 'Midrange' which is the deck archetype that works best against aggro since it has early game removal (for fast creatures), and in the midrange area of the game starts pumping out very efficient creatures at a cost of 3 to 5 mana. Some midrange decks also ramp hard to bigger 7 or 8 mana creatures, or some of the extreme biggies that are 10+ mana, but that's not the most effective way to play midrange. The last archetype is control, which is weak against aggro, and goes longer than midrange. Nowadays, there are more different kinds of control because red is also a control colour, so this archetype is the most variable, but also tends to be outclassed in standard lately since most players these days are playing very strong aggro builds. Control decks want to maintain card advantage (more cards in hand), but also keep the board state under control (using removal, counterspells, etc...). Control decks often have 3 or 4 "win cons" in their decks either in the form of a huge, unstoppable creature, or maybe a planeswalker or combo. The way control decks work is that they need to get past a certain turn, and once they get there, they can just stop everything their opponent wants to do. Right now the Standard sets are: Kaladesh, Oath of the Gatewatch, Battle for Zendikar, Eldritch Moon and Shadows over Innistrad. As new sets get released, the earliest standard set will phase out of standard play, so you need to keep your standard decks up to date.
Modern: Modern is an interesting format because you can play cards from all the way back to 8th edition (some cards ARE banned). Competitive Modern is quite simple, as there are a handful of decks that are always going to be at the top. Competitive modern can be extremely expensive to get into, but casual modern is a very popular thing too, and it's really fun when you can play with so many different cards. Modern is dubbed Wizards' "turn 4 format", which means that they have tried to keep the power level of the decks to not be able to consistently win before turn 4. Some modern decks can win on the 2nd or 3rd turns, but the consistency is often not good enough to be competitive... or to restate that, is only competitive at the lowest levels. The top colours in Modern are red and green, with white and black often used for sideboard control cards (cards that you switch into your deck between games). Modern doesn't really have a competitive "control" deck right now, anything that uses blue is either combo or infect for the most part. Infect is one of Modern's top aggro decks (probably one of the top modern decks in general).
Legacy/Vintage: Legacy and Vintage allow you to play cards going back all the way to Magic's origin, but Legacy has quite a few banned cards. Since these are the control formats, I won't go into them much, simply put, these two formats is where you will see the MOST blue and black outside of commander. Vintage is a format that you can play almost any card (some cards are restricted meaning you can only use one in your deck). These formats are extremely expensive to be competitive in, and they also drive the value of certain cards up as well.
Commander: Commander was made as a "casual format" and is most often played in a multiplayer setting. Your deck is 100 cards (1 of which is your commander which MUST be a legendary creature) and all the cards in the deck must be within your commander's colour identity (so if you choose The Gitrog Monster, all the cards in the deck must be black and/or green or colourless). You may use as many basic lands as you like, but every other card can only be used as a 1-of in the deck (unless the card says otherwise). Commander allows you to play cards from all the way back to Magic's origin (like Vintage and Legacy) and some cards ARE banned, but unlike those formats, commander doesn't favour a particular archetype or colour (combination). Arguably the best colour in Commander is Green (because of the ferocious mana ramp), but every colour holds its own very nicely in the format, and it's the format that you're going to see the craziest things happen in a game. If you're doing commander, I suggest you choose a 2 or 3 colour commander, since those decks always seem the best in my opinion. You can think of any 3 colour combination and there are commanders for those colours, plus multiple mono-colour commanders which are also VERY good. The creature MUST be legendary though, and if you're doing one of the planeswalker commanders (there are 5), it forces you to go mono colour. You have your commander in the command zone, and you can cast him/her from the command zone, if the commander dies and has to go back to the command zone, the next time you cast the commander, you need to pay 2 colourless more. You can choose to allow your commander to go to the graveyard or to exile instead as well (if you're doing something with it). This means that as long as you have the mana, you should have a creature. Nowadays, I only really play commander. Commander games FYI do often take over an hour to complete, but some finish quite fast too.
Pauper: Pauper is a commons only format, it's cheap (because it's only commons), but don't let it fool you, it can be quite competitive as well. Pauper is one of the best hotbeds for new deck ideas, but it is also an extremely demanding format since there are a LOT of commons in MTG history, and many of them are EXTREMELY good for commons. For instance; Modern's powerhouse Infect deck ALSO exists in pauper. So you can expect pauper decks to be on a very similar level to a decent modern deck, however, unlike modern, control IS actually a thing in pauper as well, so it is also one of the most variant formats (but not quite like Commander).
Colours:
RED- Red gives you fast creatures, big creatures (dragons have flying too), direct damage spells, quick looting (draw and discard) and good artifact and creature removal. Red's biggest downfall is that it fails to have lasting impact, meaning everything is all at once, and if it fails, you fail.BLUE- Blue gives you the ability to delay the game longer using counterspells, bounce spells and creature debuffs, as well as being a strong colour for card draw, searching for combo pieces and unblockable creatures.WHITE- White is about efficiency, it struggles with getting more mana, but it makes up for it by having a lot of good stuff at low casting cost. White has the best enchantment removal, it exiles creatures often times instead of killing them, it can be used for either control or aggro, and is hands down the best sideboard colour. White's biggest weakness is that it has troubles dealing with planeswalkers.GREEN- Green is an aggro and ramp colour. It has fast creatures, good voltron and amazing mana ramp. It has big creatures, it has ways to get creatures from the library, it has enchantment and artifact removal as well as graveyard recursion, and it's one of the strongest colours all around. Green is often weak against flying or unblockable creatures as well as a certain weakness to certain planeswalkers. BLACK- Black is power at a price, you will have to pay life for a lot of stuff, but it does EVERYTHING better than every other colour, it draws better than blue, it controls and lifegains better than white, its creatures and recursion are better than Green's, it's more flagrant than red, and it actually can reuse a lot of what it throws away (unlike red). The problem with black is balancing the power with the price, which can be tricky, but that's the game!
So I hope this helps, knowing these things can help save you a lot of time and money, because really you should be spending that stuff on playing what you want to play, right?
aholder7 says... #2
before i start pointing you towards some decks, i should probably ask what you have to work with. It sounds like your new to magic. Do you have any other cards besides the cards that came with the decks? Are you looking to buy a pre-built deck in a box, or are you looking for a deck that someone can send you the list for and you just buy all the cards on the list to build the deck?
September 28, 2016 8:45 p.m.