New Player, help with a deck like this?
Deck Help forum
Posted on Nov. 9, 2020, 3:14 p.m. by Mattlay712
Hello, I am new to magic the gathering so I thought I would ask on a forum for help/guidance.
There is a deck build for the card game Yugioh, which features a very strong, resilient creature called the Guardian Dreadscythe. I.E. gaining attack from graveyard creatures, can resurrect after death, special summon requirements.
I have searched around for deck builds that would have a similar featured creature/playstyle, but I have been unsuccessful in my findings.
If anyone can help shed light on this, or have suggestions for potential builds/creatures that would be similar to this playstyle of a looming powerful creature that if the conditions are met, will be a very strong and difficult unit to deal with, please feel free to share your thoughts with me! P.S. thank you for your time and efforts helping me.
Flooremoji says... #3
Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis is probably pretty close to what you are looking for, and I can certainly attest to it's power (it was recently banned in modern). The biggest problem with Hogaak is that it's pretty much only legal in legacy, vintage and commander.
November 9, 2020 3:22 p.m.
TriusMalarky says... #4
There are some okay creatures that are legal in a variety of formats the you can use. Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar with enough land-dumping cards like Hour of Promise, Rampant Growth in Modern, and more.
Soulflayer build do work, their only weakness being that half their creatures are impossible to cast, so you're either using 'flayer or Unburial Rites(in Modern) to use them. IMO, use Gifts Ungiven with Rites and a ton of massive, heavily abilitied creatures to set up quick kills. Use cards like Tome Scour, Thought Scour etc.
November 9, 2020 4:11 p.m.
Seconding MagicMarc's comment and welcome!
It will be easiest if you can pick a format for this deck. Here is an introduction to the various formats in MTG. The most popular Constructed formats are Standard (rotating legality) and EDH/Commander (100-card decks and a "General").
You can always start with a Casual deck, which is any cards, but I honestly recommend against it unless you're building from a pile of cards you already have or share with friends. This is because it's not very easy to bring a Casual deck to a random sample of MTG players and have a game. The power level will be too disparate and people prefer to play the formats they have built a deck for.
Magic has a lot of graveyard-style decks. The main ones are reanimator (discard a big creature and then bring it back at a discount using a spell), Dredge (which is a keyword that fills the graveyard, and you pretty much play with the GY as your hand), and Delve (which discounts creatures based on the cards in your graveyard). There are also decks that have incidental GY synergies.
I usually recommend a Standard deck for newcomers, but there aren't very pronounced GY strategies in the current format. So, I would recommend either Modern, which is a 60-card deck but tends to have a high power-level and decks are somewhat expensive, or EDH, which has a 100-card deck and therefore isn't exactly the true MTG experience to start with, but has a customizable power-level and a large card pool.
November 9, 2020 4:16 p.m.
TriusMalarky says... #6
Some points off of abby315's post: In Magic, most competitive decks in most formats interact with the Graveyard in some way. Lack of Graveyard interaction typically means you're a Tribal deck or some other green-heavy creature deck. Those decks work, don't get me wrong, but creature heavy, typically either Stompy or Tribal, and occasionally Zoo lists, are among the few 'yardless strats.
And it's not in huge ways -- Tarmogoyf is all a deck needs to join the graveyard strategy dogpile. The thing is that the 'yard is so good that many decks can gain marginal benefits without having to go all in.
Thus, in incidental graveyard hate should be worth it. Cards like General Kudro of Drannith and Anafenza, the Foremost are good in Humans decks due to their Human types and their ability to hate out yards.
As someone running a yard strategy, you will be easily beaten in games 2-3. Everyone who is any good has graveyard hate in the sideboard.
Just an FYI.
November 9, 2020 5:39 p.m.
Aw, not easily, TriusMalarky! I run a full-tilt no-backup-plan RB Reanimator deck in legacy and you just build a whole sideboard that's anti-GY-hate :P But that's stuff we could help figure out once they've picked a deck plan.
November 9, 2020 5:59 p.m.
EleshNornsFs says... #8
It would help to know exactly what this Dreadscythe does and how the deck compliments it. I don't know anything about it, so reading the card or deck list doesn't do anything. Could you perhaps explain the card and strategy?
November 9, 2020 6:04 p.m.
From TCG player: Guardian Dreadscythe
Its a creature that doesnt follow standard play, it has a conditional clause for when you can play it triggered by a specific creature dying. Once it is in play, you get to find and equip it with a signature weapon. Then if it dies, you can discard a card with it and cast it again.
November 9, 2020 6:51 p.m.
TriusMalarky says... #10
abby315 fair. I believe I used incorrect descriptors xD.
Also, Dreadscythe's design is heavily built on mechanics that define Yu-gi-oh but are entirely nonexistant in Magic, or at least very rare.
First, the cost of monsters in yugioh(AFAIK) is mostly sacrificing other monsters. This effect does happen in Magic on occasion.
Second, most creatures that can protect themselves have a mana cost to become protected... which is a lot harder to work with compared to yugioh.
After reading the card, the best thing I can find is Salvage Titan. It can be cheated into play, the cheating-into-play cost provides the resource for the 'come back from the dead' ability, and it's a reasonable size.
I've brewed with the card, but it has no in-play abilities... meaning it's not a great card. In MtG, a creature without any combat abilities is really not worth it.
MagicMarc says... #2
Hello, Welcome to T/O!
The first question people will want to ask you before they can provide assistance is what Magic format is this for? The format you want to build a deck for changes the card pool, deck size and design needs.
November 9, 2020 3:21 p.m.