Decks for new players
Deck Help forum
Posted on Jan. 7, 2019, 11:28 p.m. by SeekerofSecrets
So I've convinced the guys in my dorm to buy there first magic decks! I figured that it will be a great way for us to pass the time together.
We've agreed on a $15 dollar limit for the decks and we've agreed that they would rather buy singles and build a deck vs buying a pre-made. I've never been a fan of them and I feel like we'd have more interesting games with more powerful decks
This was the first deck that I made with the help of the person that got me into magic back in 2015 and it fits the budget so i figured I'd use this list as a baseline.
The rules are for the decks are simple.
around $15
and I want each deck to be as close as possible in power level
the skill level of the players will range from people that have never played the game to me that plays at local events regularly. If anyone has any decks or wants to help me brew some it would be greatly appreciated. My knowledge outside of modern is fairly limited and I'm worried that the decks wont be balanced.
I need a total of 6 lists (6 brand new players) ....... but I would honestly like to give them all multiple options to choose from. I'll start brewing in the morning and see what i come up with.
Thanks for any help!
here's the list of decks that I have: intro decks
Legendary_penguin_of_death says... #3
Ultra budget standard (under $2.50) here is one I made a while ago. It is even cheaper than you requested so you can add some more powerful cards like Galvanic Blast. It had evolving wilds but you could probably remove those and add a few more basics
January 8, 2019 12:02 a.m.
multimedia says... #4
Hey, I suggest sticking to the basics of Magic with mono-colored decks that go by the normal color pie. If they are new players then keep it simple for their first decks.
Some examples are:
- Mono-green ramp midrange.
- Mono-red aggro with burn.
- Mono-white tokens with anthems.
- Mono-black midrange creatures with discard.
- Mono-blue fliers with counterspells.
- Colorless aggro artifacts.
January 8, 2019 12:37 a.m. Edited.
I tried to think of six good deck styles that would provide a decent spread for new players, without breaking the budget. I came up with a few more than that, and figured I would list all the ideas for your reference.
- Proactive control - counterspell-based control, likely mono-Blue;
- Reactive control - removal-based control, likely Black/Red;
- Large creatures - likely Green or Green/Red;
- Wide creatures - White, White/Green, or Red goblins;
- Burn - likely Red; possibly Red/Black with some life-loss spells;
- Artifacts - Blue; Red/White vehicles
- Enchantress - Green/White
- Pump spells and combat tricks - Green, White, and/or Red.
- Lifegain - White/Black
- Self-inflicted life loss - Black;
- Aristocrats - Red/Black.
While that does not cover all the possible Magic decks, any of those should prove a solid option, and each should have a sufficient number of budget cards to be viable. There is also some synergy with some of these deck types, so they could be combined into a more complex deck list (ex. you can combine lifegain with self-inflicted life-loss, or Combat Tricks with Large or Small creatures).
January 8, 2019 1:08 a.m. Edited.
My idea is to make all of the above as 30 card Modern legal decks, where you take any two pieces and combine them before the game starts to make a full 60 card deck. Each 30 card deck will also have a "champion" - a mythic or rare that is the lynchpin - while the rest of the cards are commons or uncommons. For example, BR aristocrats:
11 lands
2 Brawl-Bash Ogre
4 Corpse Connoisseur
4 Carrier Thrall
4 Myr Sire
2 Fleshbag Marauder
2 Crypt Champion
1 Underworld Cerberus - the champion
This can be combined with say, RW Vehicle aggro:
11 lands
1 Depala, Pilot Exemplar - the champion
4 Veteran Motorist
2 Renegade Freighter
2 Untethered Express
2 Consulate Dreadnought
1 Aeronaut Admiral
2 Speedway Fanatic
1 Caught in the Brights
2 Court Homunculus
You can easily combine the two to make a capable deck. Keep going for the other deck archetypes.
What this idea does is provide a mini-game for more experienced players and variety of gameplay, while less experienced ones get a view of deckbuilding and a form of "smash-up" that is more fun than simply picking up a ready deck. If you want to really spice it up, add some loose cards players can switch in between games - a sort of a sideboard.
For example, with 10 30-card decks, you have 90 combinations.
January 8, 2019 4:09 a.m.
Darth_Savage says... #7
I have a few that I've used as demo decks that might work for you:
Mono Devotion - How Much Life You Got? - Demo
Mono Hollow One - Budget Hollow One
Mono Indomitable Creativity - Red Polymorth - demo
Another option is to look at standard lists from a few years ago, https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/2015SSSC/top-8-decks-2015-01-25 if the cards aren't used in one of the eternal formats then you might be able to put something similar together on a budget.
January 8, 2019 5:03 a.m.
SynergyBuild says... #8
$20 Decks is a list of decks I made under 20 dollars, many of which are less than 15. They span almost every format, from EDH, standard, modern, legacy, and vintage. Hope it helps.
January 8, 2019 8:30 a.m.
24x Forest 4x Scythe Leopard 4x Sylvan Ranger 4x Explore 4x Rampant Growth 4x Harrow 4x Retreat to Kazandu 4x Grazing Gladehart 4x Adventuring Gear 4x Baloth Woodcrasher
January 8, 2019 8:45 a.m.
SeekerofSecrets says... #11
Thanks so much for all the input everyone! I'm working on a folder with the decks I've found so far, Does anyone know how to link a folder?
January 8, 2019 10:36 a.m.
sry SeekerofSecrets i dont know how to link a folder :/
@SynergyBuild i completely forgot about a Sideboard lol sure wood eleves would go good in there too... i imagin just somthing simple like 4x Wrap in Vigor for board wipes, 4x Naturalize, 4x Ground Seal, 3x Leyline of Lifeforce
January 8, 2019 11:01 a.m.
SeekerofSecrets says... #13
ok I added a link to the folder, what do y'all think so far? I probably still need to add a burn deck and a value deck but i think there's a decent spread atm
I'm also somewhat worried about picking up so much bulk at the local stores so I've tries to pick somewhat relevant cards so they are not hard to find
January 8, 2019 11:36 a.m.
The folder is not visible, nor is anything in it visible.
January 8, 2019 11:43 a.m.
SeekerofSecrets says... #15
Boza is there a way to make it not private that I'm unaware of? Because its working when I click it
Also I really like you idea but starting out I think we'll just stick to everyone having their own lists, theres just no greater feeling (imo) than tweaking your first magic deck
January 8, 2019 11:49 a.m.
Darth_Savage says... #18
Maybe, maybe not. I work in IT, sometimes the browser can play up, normally the workaround is trying a different browser.
January 8, 2019 12:22 p.m.
I noticed you don't have any Reanimator decks, so here's mine: $15 Flayer
Some mechanics might be a bit confusing for a beginner, but it could a good introduction to reanimator/graveyard decks once your friends start to know what they're doing.
January 8, 2019 10:13 p.m.
Darth_Savage says... #20
I've been thinking about this idea a bit and I'd like to suggest you want to instil the value of land in new players, right at the beginning. When I started, same as most I suspect, I thought land was boring but necessary. These days I couldn't imagine putting together a burn deck and not adding Ramunap Ruins or an artifact deck without Darksteel Citadel / Buried Ruin... My current casual deck leverages Mirrorpool to duplicate spells like Soul Spike which I'm "casting" for free (well 3 cards). I'd suggest you probably want a deck that uses non-basic lands, maybe a dragon deck with Crucible of the Spirit Dragon and Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker, something that shows lands don't need to be boring...
January 9, 2019 6:49 a.m.
SeekerofSecrets says... #21
hungry000 thanks!
Darth_Savage yeah I agree, I ended up deciding to add some basic tap lands to all of the list but let me try and build a dragon deck, should it be in rakdos? Or mono red?
January 9, 2019 9:27 a.m.
Darth_Savage says... #22
How about something like Dragons Budget there is a rather nice synergy between Avaricious Dragon and Rakdos Pit Dragon, there may be better ideas, I threw this together rather quickly...
January 9, 2019 10:41 a.m.
SeekerofSecrets says... #23
I like that! I built this but it's way over budget
January 9, 2019 1:11 p.m.
SeekerofSecrets says... #24
Ok I've put together a pretty extensive list, would anyone mind looking it over and see if missed any important archetypes (excluding combo)? Also I'm worried that a few of the list might be to powerful but there's not a great way to find that out without extensive testing (which as a college student I dont really have time to do)
January 9, 2019 6:35 p.m.
Oh, you're missing an affinity list. here: $15 Affinity
January 9, 2019 9:04 p.m.
You could also use some more of the "iconic" tribal decks there, people always love those. You have goblins and dragons which is good, but there's also Zombies, Vampires, maybe Merfolk (might be too expensive), U Faeries, Elves, Spirits (would have to use the less popular cards tho), and Slivers are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. It's probably pretty easy to find a few budget lists online but I can make some too if you'd like.
January 9, 2019 9:35 p.m.
SeekerofSecrets says... #27
hungry000 I ended up making another affinity deck (I love Thoughtcast and Ensoul Artifact) and yours was way over budget
But I'll make a wear wolf list if you want to make a vampire or humans list!
January 9, 2019 10:08 p.m.
Aw but I was able to find it for like $13... :(
Okay, sure. I'll probably get something made by tomorrow night.
January 10, 2019 12:30 a.m.
Darth_Savage says... #29
My devotion list almost is a vampire list, certainly it could be converted to vampire tribal by swapping out some cards and splashing red.
January 10, 2019 2:23 a.m.
Alright, I finished a few decks over the last couple hours or so.
Humans: $15 Humans (Elite Inquisitors are for some spicy Vampire/Werewolf/Zombie hate)
Vampires: $15 Madness Vampires (Stromkirk Noble in place of Vampire Lacerator/Indulgent Aristocrat can be cool against the humans deck)
Here's a bonus Kor equipment deck I made for fun a while ago but never posted on tappedout: $15 Kor Equipment
I tried to make a decent zombies deck that fit within the budget but it's such a popular tribe that all the semi-good cards are over $1 each, which made it nigh impossible to make something good. If you're fine with pauper decks though, here's a zombie deck I made in that format: Suicide is occasionally the answer. It's like 10 bucks without the sideboard and can hold up pretty well against other non-competitive modern decks (and is really fun in multiplayer with Shepherd of Rot heheh).
If you don't mind using non-pauper legal cards, I suggest you make these edits:
- 4 Maggot Carrier --> 4 Diregraf Ghoul
- 3 Festering Mummy + 1 Carnophage --> 4 Dread Wanderer
- 2 Sangrophage + 2 Wretched Anurid --> 4 Graveyard Marshal
The last two add $8ish to the price tag but with them the deck becomes more competitive and easier to play. That said, managing your life total is pretty fun if you enjoy a challenge, and chaining together Maggot Carriers with Ghoulcaller's Chant to hit the opponent for the last few points of damage is pretty satisfying. Do what you want with it.
January 10, 2019 11:27 p.m.
Darth_Savage says... #31
SeekerofSecrets, you put Guttersnipe in the burn deck! Ugh, new player often evaluate the goblin as an extra 2 damage when they cast every Lightning Bolt, well that sounds good! It isn't, in a burn deck Guttersnipe does nothing the turn it comes into play, it is an awful top deck and probably the card I tell people to cut from their decks the most. If I want something at CMC 3 in burn (which I probably don't) I'd play Hell's Thunder or Ball Lightning...
I suppose as a learning experience it would be ok, still it's a bad card.
January 11, 2019 5:25 a.m.
SeekerofSecrets says... #32
Darth_Savage awww I see your point, I've never actually played burn so I was just trying to give the deck some sustainability but I replaced it with another 2 mana bolt!
hungry000 thanks so much!!
January 11, 2019 7:57 a.m.
Darth_Savage says... #33
How about Metal \m/ Burn (budget) as your burn list? Sure it's using metalcraft but it's artifacts are mostly burn spells in disguise...
January 11, 2019 9:40 a.m.
You're welcome. I just remembered that Tithe Taker was spoiled for Ravnica Allegiance, once the set releases and the price (hopefully) dies down a bit it would be a good replacement Thalia for the Humans deck. You'd probably play it over Consul's Lieutenant.
ZorrosRage says... #2
Made this up really fast at work for mono G
Budget Green Stompy
January 7, 2019 11:56 p.m.