Advice for beginning builders?
Deck Help forum
Posted on March 21, 2022, 8:12 a.m. by Takaeus
Hello! To start off with I have played plenty of Elder Scrolls Legends and Legends of runeterra so I'm somewhat familiar with building a deck in those specific games. (Im aware they are very different from MTG)
I recently started to look away from the pregen decks on Tabletop simulator and would like to build my own deck but the sheer amount of cards in MTG combined with the fact that I couldn't tell you what 90% of the cards I HAVE seen do makes it incredibly difficult to build a deck without the convenience of the in-game deckbuilders I've played before. I was wondering if any of you more experienced players had any tips to help me narrow the scope of card options without just blindly ignoring some of them.
btw searching for white draw cards pulls up 191 results so that fun
My first deck had the following statistics:
25 Lands 18 Creatures 17 Instants, Sorceries, Enchantments, and Artifacts
When I started out, in order to build a deck I just got a bunch of boosters from the most recent set and built using those. Another bit of advice is to look at other people's decks. They usually have good ideas, and you can tweak lists to fit your playstyle. I'm not a senior player, so my advice may not be that useful, but that's how I started out. Sorry if this isn't that helpful.
March 21, 2022 10:59 a.m.
The above suggestions are all great things to keep in mind, but as legendofa pointed out choosing a format will be your first concern. Believe it or not, people don’t just sit down and play Magic. People sit down and play Commander, or Modern, or Pauper etc. They’re all decks comprised of Magic cards, yes, but they’re all built and constructed differently with different criteria. Hence, the first step is to choose a format you think fits you best and then look into the basics for that particular format.
March 21, 2022 3:31 p.m.
wallisface says... #5
As far as card searching goes, the more specific you can be in gatherer (for an advanced search) the better. Stuff like specifying the format, limiting the mana cost to something reasonable, and narrowing down the colour should limit you to no more than 2-pages of results.
Gatherer only really gets useful when you’re trying to get the finishing touches on a deck. The easy-approach to begin with is to do a google of existing decks following the same plan as what you’re after - i.e “mtg modern mono green stompy”. Having a look through a bunch of other decks similar to what you’re trying to build, should provide you with 80%+ of the cards, as well as solid foundations.
Outside of this, here’s some general deckbuilding tips. I’ve spent a lot of time on this site providing suggestions for those struggling with their decks (particularly for the modern format), and there are some really common mistakes people tend to make:
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Don’t skimp on lands. Too often I see people trying to run 20-or-less lands, in a deck that clearly needs 22-or-more. If you’re unsure about the number of lands to run, 23 seems like a good starting point for Modern, 24-25 for Standard (idk about other formats).
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Keep the mana curve low. As an example, Modern decks without dedicated ramp generally can’t justify running more than 3-4 cards at cmc4, and nothing above this. Even in slower formats, try and have a realistic curve, and ensure you have ample things to do in the first few turns of the game.
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Play more playsets. Too many newbies try running loads of 1-ofs and 2-ofs in decks, instead of running more playsets. I’d suggest when starting out, to keep every card you include as a playset, until you get the hang of things. Running less copies of a card leads to less consistent hands and draws, often leading to a weaker deck.
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Taplands are the devil. Taplands are garbage. These things Just cost too much tempo. If you can’t afford better, stick with basics.
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Don’t be a slave to your budget. People seem to think that running a budget deck means playing with garbage. That’s not the case, and there are plentky of solid brews people have made for under $100, and even under $50. Don’t settle for running trash cards just because you can’t afford the “proper” copy… you may have to instead adjust what you want the deck to do, to accomodate your comparably smaller card-pool.
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Keep to 60 cards. Assuming its a 60-card format. Running more reduces consistency and makes for a weaker deck. Anyone trying to improve their deckbuilding ability should be strictly adhering to this rule.
March 21, 2022 3:49 p.m.
Going to sound like a bit of a shill here, but I when I was getting back into magic it was a huge benefit to try out some of the Challenger decks that they put together. They're kind of powered down versions of decks that did well in tournaments and things, and it really can give you an idea of the strategies that work, how they play, and give you something that is going to play usually pretty nice from the get go. From there you can always get more competitive or go more jank, but it's a great starting reference point.
legendofa says... #2
Do you have an idea of which colors/strategies you want?
Broadly speaking, about 40% of your deck should be dedicated to mana production. This works out to 24 lands for 60-card decks and 40 mana sources for 100-card decks. Faster, more aggressive decks with lower requirements can get by with a little less, and decks that want to slow down and control the game need a little more.
Mono-color decks are more reliable, but sometimes run into situations they're unable to handle effectively. Multicolor decks have more options, but can have a mismatch in the mana they produce and the cards they have available. Generally, it's easiest to start with a mono-color deck, and filter in a second color as you learn how it handles. The second color should fill in some gaps while reinforcing the deck's main strategy.
What format do you want to join, and how much money are you willing to spend? The main 100-card format is Commander, aka EDH. It has a very open budget, so you can spend as much or as little as you want. Tournament-level 60-card decks range from a couple hundred USD for Standard and Pioneer through around $1,000 for Modern to multi-thousand dollar decks for the most exclusive formats, Legacy and Vintage. Sample decklists can easily be found online, including this site. If you're not interested in tournaments and just want to hang out and throw cards with friends, the budget can again be whatever you want.
Here are some broad descriptors and strategies for each color:
White: defensive, lots of small creatures, difficult to damage and cause negative effects to
Blue: lots of card draw, relatively few creatures, creatures are either very small or very big, more reactive than proactive, tricky and difficult to interact with
Black: kills stuff, moderate number of creatures, creatures are usually moderate to large, uses life totals as a resource, many graveyard interactions
Red: fast and aggressive, creatures are small to moderate, deals lots of damage quickly
Green: more creatures than any other color across all sizes, can generate lots of mana quickly, good at removing negative effects, good drawing and resource generation
As mentioned above, each of these colors can be used by themselves or in combinations with other colors. For example, is a very defensive color combination, combining 's protection and 's ability to control the opponent's options so that the opponent is very restricted in what they can do. Likewise, is very resourceful and flexible, able to draw cards and produce mana to counter the opponent and take advantage of openings.
That's a brief intro to deckbuilding. If you have any questions, please ask!
March 21, 2022 10:39 a.m.