Teaching a new young player
The Kitchen Table forum
Posted on Aug. 19, 2015, 11:53 a.m. by SandyDufresne
I couldn't tell if this is the right place for this but here goes.
I am going to teach my 9-year-old son to play. What are some suggested styles and decks that you have used with younger players to help them understand the basics?
What success have you had in teaching? Is 9 too young?
Thanks in advance.
The Giant
I personally prefer Event decks or the Clash packs, because they're more focused. Each one has a specific archetype or strategy that I can teach or demonstrate to a less experienced player. That quickly speeds them through the Life Cycle of a Noob, so that they understand what tools exist, the importance of consistency, and the different archetypes that make strong decks.
For a kid at 9 though, tinkering with the intro packs will expose your son to a wider variety of power levels. You can teach more about evaluating cards and building decks with synergy, skills that will be very useful if you later decide to play limited formats together.
August 19, 2015 12:19 p.m.
ducttapedeckbox says... #4
If you aren't keen on buying more cards, you can create simple deck lists with mostly commons that exemplify the colors. For example, you can throw a bunch of hasty goblins together for a red deck, some big things for green decks. Start with a deck of a bunch of 1-ofs, and then move it to playsets to help teach consistency. As he learns to play the original deck, make it better with more powerful cards.
August 19, 2015 12:41 p.m.
Play pauper.
Anyone can play magic just like anyone can play guitar.
August 19, 2015 12:52 p.m.
While the Duels of the Planeswalkers games are sort of not well regarded by anyone who plays MtG, I think they provide a great environment for teaching new players the game. They've been doing a sort of annual release of the games for the last little bi, with each one sort of spotlighting new sets and mechanics. I don't know about 9 year olds, but I taught my 12 year old sister how to play with one. Here are some reasons I think it'd be a good starting point:
Available on several platforms like Steam, PS3/4, probably Xbox.
Players can choose from a selection of around 8 or 10 pre-built decks, ensuring that the player can familiarize themselves with a sizable set of cards, without being overwhelmed by constantly seeing new ones.
The games have built-in tutorials that explain the basics, and also have these "Challenges" which incrementally ask the player to understand more complex game mechanics and play strategically.
Two player local co-op is a feature, allowing two-headed giant games against the AI.
Each deck has a sideboard that unlocks through use of the deck, allowing the player to kind of customize the deck.
The downsides are that there is no option to create a deck from scratchm meaning that the whole deck creation aspect of MtG is pretty much absent. Additionally, there is no option for local 1v1 with two human players, either 1 or 2 people can play against 1 or 2 AI.
So yeah I don't think Duels is great as a replacement for the physical card game, but I think it can be a great tool for learning the ropes, and decent value (I think you can get it for like 10 or 15 USD). As far as physical cards go, I suggest Intro Decks. They're extremely simple, pre-built and sort of no synergy or complex strategies required, perfect for beginners. Not even remotely competitive, but perfectly fine against other intro decks.
August 19, 2015 1:09 p.m.
There was a blue focused deck for M13 with Talrand as the face card and Stormtide Leviathan. The deck had a good overall design and managed to be decently aggressive while still being simple and easy to play.
August 19, 2015 3:06 p.m.
Cobthecobbler says... #8
To add to the suggestions, I feel that a mono-green creature based decks with a few non-creature permanents and easy to understand mechanics is best for new players. You should aim to build a deck that is easy for the new player to grasp and that is easy to pilot and curves out very well, attempting to take bad draws out of the equation (they'll eventually learn that bad draws are just another aspect of the game as time goes on); and for yourself you should probably aim to build a deck that covers aspects of the game his deck will not teach him, so he can get a visual sense of how cards work by watching you play. Its okay to beat him a couple times first because then when you let him win, or he wins on his own, he will feel better about it, sparking an interest in the game.
If you don't want to build decks for this, Clash packs, duel decks and intro decks are there for new players who don't have access to cards yet and they are a very good stepping stone for someone starting out
August 19, 2015 3:48 p.m.
Rasta_Viking29 says... #9
To teach my 8 year old daughter I put together roughly the decks from Starter 2000 that I learned the game with. I left the black out of the Jund list and made it a straight forward R/G beatown deck. Added a couple more fliers to the U/W to give it more of a theme. Flying is pretty easy to understand as kids can draw from real life experience to understand how it functions mechanically in the game. It is also a easy word to read and remember for younger kids.
I've stressed checking the cards mana cost (how do you play it?), if the card is a creature, spell, or land (what does it do?), and if it's a creature what is it's p/t (how hard does it hit? how tough is it?). Turn structure, phases, the stack, and things like priority are not important at first and can be confusing. We typically play with our hands revealed and talk through what we can do on our turns. Rather than encouraging her to make the correct play I have her make the play she wants. I do so in an attempt to get her more in invested in the outcome of her actions and to hopefully evaluate the steps she took to get there when disappointed with the result.
The other thing I've done is had her evaluate cards against similar cards so she is more comfortable doing it in games and understands why a card is good. First comparison we did was Sea Eagle vs Storm Crow for example.
My daughter is not a gamer and does not care for strategy. Her interest in the game is social and she plays in order to spend time with me. She has known a few boys who play and feels cool telling them that she plays with me and owns a few cards. My goal is not to turn her into a good player. Her fun is the main priority, if she takes to the game and wants to get better down the line that door is always open and we'll have a great foundation to work off of.
August 19, 2015 5:24 p.m.
RoarMaster says... #10
I dont know if you have ever heard of 'battle decks', but its a new(?) product they make. There are 10 in total and you can buy them all or singly I believe. Ive taken a look at them and they look legit, fairly basic decks, but they cover a very wide range of deck types common in MTG. Also unlike most other intro products they actually run playsets of important cards, so the decks are fairly streamlind and play out more like 'real' decks then most precons. Id check em out at least. Heres a list of them. http://www.cardkingdom.com/catalog/view/2898
August 19, 2015 5:30 p.m.
Triforce-Finder says... #11
The guy that organizes our playgroup has a bunch of tribal decks that he always brings and lends to newcomers. They're monocolored, use no combos or complicated tricks, include most of the card types and include most evergreen ability keywords. There's a white knight tribal, a red goblin tribal with pingers, a black vampire tribal, and so on.
The basic rule is to get a deck that teaches all the important elements without being too complicated. I would personally start with a selesnya beatdown deck around Fleecemane Lion, Loxodon Smiter, Wilt-Leaf Liege etc. and maybe a few fitting enchants, equips and instants. That is fairly simple to play and still powerful.
August 22, 2015 5:28 a.m.
Greendawg81 says... #12
Have you checked out Magic duels origins? Its free to download and its great for introducing new players to the game.
August 22, 2015 7:37 a.m.
RoarMaster, I don't think those are official sanctioned wizards products, but they do look great for new players, much more streamlined than an intro deck, and a good introduction to keywords.
August 22, 2015 7:43 a.m.
RoarMaster says... #14
heading textHerderOfNerf Yeah, not sure if sanctioned or not, although thats a mooot point for getting people into magic honestly. Still, I was rather impressed with the product, not going to lie, a lot of them came very close to silimar decks I have built in the past. Not saying they are great, just saying they are built with the player in mind rather than the consumer, unlike many other intro decks. I liked them, fairly solid builds on most of them, if a bit simplistic, but thats kinda what the OP was looking for at the same time.
August 23, 2015 1:48 a.m.
RoarMaster says... #15
Erm, wow. Howd I do that? Anyone else see weird text on my last comment or is it just my browser?
August 23, 2015 1:49 a.m.
Triforce-Finder says... #16
You must have hit the heading button (third from the left in the comment box) before tagging the username, then entered a single line break (which TO does not recognize) and continued to type your message. As a result the whole post was recognized as one big headline. Was fun to solve that little puzzle, thanks.
KingShaunus says... #2
I recommend using intro packs from whatever set to try and ease your son into playing. They are 60 card preconstructed decks which also come with 2 boosters for the added thrill of opening packs to see what you get. Also included is a strategy and learn to play guide which can help your son to learn. Possibly buy 2 and play both against each other :)
August 19, 2015 12:08 p.m.