Got plenty of cards... No idea what to do.

Standard Deck Help forum

Posted on Nov. 29, 2016, 4:09 p.m. by JunkyardKid161

So I started playing a few months ago after buying a starter deck. Well that deck is shuffled in with the rest of my other cards. Ive recently bought 3 deck builder's toolkits. One of them being the recently released Kaladesh. How do I started building my own deck. I know this is probably a very open ended question but if anyone is willing to give me a quick tutorial I will be more than ready to listen! Thank again!

legendofa says... #2

Welcome to the club! What do you like? Is there a color or strategy you want to use? Is there a card or combo you want to build around? Start with what you like and are interested in, then build in a way that supports what you want to do.

Basic Constructed deck building:

A deck needs a minimum of 60 cards and must be able to be shuffled reasonably quickly and efficiently.

No more than four copies of any card is allowed in a deck. The exception is basic lands: cards named Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest.

Some general rules of thumb:

60-card decks with three or four copies of the key cards are the most reliable. Don't fall into the trap of making a 85-card deck that has two of everything.

Aim for about 40% lands, or 24 in a 60 card deck. Fast, aggressive decks can go down to 21-22, while slower, control decks want 26 or so.

Skew mana costs toward the lower end. It's always unpleasant to spend your first few turns unable to act due to too many high mana costs.

It's better to do one thing very well than to try to do everything kinda okay. Use one strategy plus a backup plan per deck.

Try your hand at a few drafts. They will expand your collection, let you see some strategies and card interactions, and help you get a firmer grasp of the rules, and you don't need to buy $500 worth of cards to play competitively.

November 29, 2016 4:35 p.m.

Atony1400 says... #3

legendofa, you can also have as many copies of Wastes, but they are best used with cards from Battle for Zendikar or Oath of the Gatewatch.

November 29, 2016 7:39 p.m.

legendofa says... #4

Atony1400 Absolutely correct. I suspect they're not going to be reprinted in the near future, though. JunkyardKid161, if you have any cards from Battle for Zendikar or Oath of the Gatewatch, look for the symbol.

You can also have as many Relentless Rats or Shadowborn Apostles as you like, which leads to another, arguably the most important, rule of thumb: If there is a disagreement between the Oracle text for a card (the official, errata-ed, and up-to-date wording for every card) and general rules, the card takes precedence. Almost every current card has Oracle text that matches its rules text; the last major errata I can think of is Marath, Will of the Wild.

November 29, 2016 7:56 p.m.

GearNoir says... #5

A good place I like to start is reading through what I have, card by card, and seeing what sounds like a cool mechanic to build off of.

I assume you've at least perused through your cards...anything jump pout at you as "that's kind of cool"?

November 29, 2016 11:34 p.m.

This discussion has been closed