New Player Looking for First Deck Help

Deck Help forum

Posted on April 5, 2016, 9:17 a.m. by Ribellarsi

Hey all,

Started playing MTG about a month/2 months ago and I'm slowly trying to form my first real deck. I'm aiming for a blue/black zombie deck. Currently I just play with friends but once I get the hang of it I would like to go out in the public. But honestly I still can't wrap my head around things such as Modern vs Standard Etc.

Link to deck is here: LINK

I would really appreciate any help!

eeriekiller says... #2

Difference between modern and standard:

modern: Modern is a (potentially) very expensive but diverse format to play. The basis is that any card with a black border is legal to play so long as it's not banned. Here is a list of cards that are banned in the format, along with legacy and vintage. You'll notice restricted cards too. This means you can only run a single copy of the restricted card. Modern is a very competitive style of play and it's generally smart to work your way into it over time

standard: standard is a format that only has the most recent sets legal for play. This is a list of every set that is currently in standard. This is essentially a baby form of modern in the sense that it's all the same, but there are far fewer cards to play in standard.

There are pros and cons to both formats

Standard

Pros:usually cheapereasier to get a hold of the standard cards

cons: cards rotate out so it's difficult to keep up

Modern

pros: cards don't rotateThe variety of the decks is far greater than in standard

cons:very expensive to make a very competitive deck

April 5, 2016 11:15 a.m.

ComradeJim270 says... #3

Modern is more expensive to buy into, but cheaper in the long term. It has a much larger and more powerful card pool, so there's a lot to learn and it's pretty skill-intensive. You might consider starting with Standard to build up your skills, then switching to Modern later. That's what I did.

This is especially true if you want U/B Zombies, since it has some Standard support as of this coming Friday.

To clarify legality for Modern, it includes all printings of all cards which have been in Standard at some point since 8th Edition and are not on the Banned list.

April 5, 2016 3:08 p.m. Edited.

Ribellarsi says... #4

@ eeriekiller & ComradeJim270

Thank you both so much! Do either of you have suggestions as to online resources I can start reading through and gain knowledge on? I commute for work so I have a decent amount of time on the train that I wasnt to start using for things other than sleeping and reddit, haha.

Right now I have a pretty firm grasp on HOW to play, now I'm trying to hone my strategy skills and learn all the technical aspects of the game. Also trying to wrap my head around all the special skills and such is very daunting. I have "MTG Night" every week with my friend that is teaching me, and I constantly feel like I'm asking him "what does that card do" every time he plays something - its frustrating for me in the least.

Also, I'm super excited for Shadows over Innistrad to come out, because the zombie support looks wonderful!

April 6, 2016 9:14 a.m.

eeriekiller says... #5

This site and YouTube deck techs

April 6, 2016 9:38 a.m.

ComradeJim270 says... #6

You might check out the Level One articles on Daily MTG. Those have a lot of useful information for a new player.

The number one way to get past the "what does that do?" stage is to practice. With over ten thousand cards in the game you'll never know them all by heart, but you'll get to a point where you can look at a card and know what it does immediately.

What do you mean by "special skills"? Are you referring to keywords?

April 6, 2016 2:01 p.m.

Ribellarsi says... #7

@ ComradeJim270

By "special skills" I mean things like haste, undying, lifelink, swampwalk, etc. I know the main ones like lifelink and deathtouch but need to learn what the ones I don't see as often do. I also have to fully understand what exile exactly is. My friend has a deck that literally just throws all of my creatures in and out of exile. So thats tricky.

I'm definitely practicing with people I know at least once a week. I don't feel confident enough to go into a local gaming store and play with people I don't know yet but I think I'm getting there!

April 6, 2016 2:17 p.m.

ComradeJim270 says... #8

Those skills are what's referred to as Keywords. You'll get the hang of them eventually. For now I'd focus on Evergreen keywords, since they'll show up the most often.

Exile is both an action and a game zone. When something is exiled, it is sent to the Exile zone. This can be done even to things which are Indestructible, since it is not considered "destroying" it. Very few things interact with the Exile zone, except in the recent Battle for Zendikar block. Some cards like Ghostly Flicker will put things into exile temporarily and then pull them back out, but otherwise things which are exiled are typically just gone.

April 6, 2016 3:07 p.m. Edited.

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