New to MTG and could use your help on building a deck.
Deck Help forum
Posted on Jan. 4, 2019, 12:43 p.m. by Machi_Machiavellian
I'm fairly new to MTG. I just started playing about four weeks ago. I currently play with a group of friends daily. I went to a local card shop and purchased the vehicle rush challenger deck. I got absolutely demolished by my group of friends of course, because they have been playing and collecting cards for decades it seems. Regardless I really liked the vehicle idea. So I did some searches on vehicle decks and found an upgrade path to my vehicle rush called Mardu's Vehicles. I purchased some of the cards as singles at local card shops and the others online. Here's a link to the deck https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/popout?id=1017412 .
Well I lasted a little longer but still got completely destroyed in our daily matches. So I searched out more vehicle decks, and stumbled on an older deck called u/W Flash deck. After reading about it I decided to give the deck a shot, again bought most of the card as singles from local shops and the rest online. Here's a link to the contents and play style of that deck: https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/deck-of-the-day-uw-flash/ .
The u/W flash is what I currently play with. I've had a few near wins, but mostly the deck seem to draw out the matches with a lot of crowd control. I haven't really been able to utilize the flashes, probably due to me still learning the game and strategies. But it allows me to draw a lot of cards with Smuggler's Copter, Thraben inspector, and Jace, Unraveler of secrets. Which is a good thing.
So, I hoping someone can point me in the right direction to a deck that would be great during our matches based of the rules we play by. We just play for fun. Meaning we don't follow any banned card rulings, so all cards are playable. We do limit like cards to 4, only basic lands can be more than 4. We have no deck size limit and we don't use sideboards. Meaning on the decks I linked above I just threw the sideboard into my deck and played it as 75+ card deck. Our games usually involve three or more playing against each other at once. We rarely do one on one. So I'm thinking I may need something that can handle multiple opponents well per match. I like the vehicle theme, but I'm willing to try anything if it will at least keep me competitive against my friends. At the moment I'm limiting my decks to a $300 limit per deck. I know with no ban list some decks can get into the $1000 + range. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
I looked over the rules but didn't see anything against linking sites, but if this is frowned upon please let me know and I'll delete.
Per FSims81 guidance (Thanks!!) here's some more information: My friends each have multiple decks they seem to play at random. One common trend I notice with them is they have quick access to lands, via playing card that allow them add mana to pool or flat out search their deck for specific basic mana, while also able to limit my lands. Using cards like Barbarian Riftcutter Army Ants and Ark of Blight. They seem to be able to make short work of my planeswalker using cards like Vraska's Contempt and Goblin Chainwhirler. They seem to play heavy blue and green decks, but they all seem to have a similar mono black deck that is pretty devastating. One friend has a planeswalker that made me exile my library leaving me but one card and when my turn came around I lost because I had to draw my last card. I think the name was Nicol Bolas, the risen. I currently have no way to prevent this that I'm aware of. Hope this helps!
Machi_Machiavellian says... #3
Thanks FSims81 I'll edit my post adding in what you suggested!
January 4, 2019 1:12 p.m.
SynergyBuild says... #4
I understand your issue, if you like B/R, I could show you a powerful combo-deck that can easily hold it's own against the legacy field for less than $300.
This deck is amazingly fast and cool: Worldgorger Dragon
This card might appear weird at first, and it is. You don't even want to cast it, but want in in the graveyard to start. Then you want to cast any of the following three similar enchantments:
Animate Dead, Dance of the Dead, and Necromancy
All of the text really means the same thing with Worldgorger Dragon, they put it onto the battlefield from the graveyard, but if the enchantment leaves the battlefield, the creatures goes right back in the graveyard where it came from.
Because when it is 'reanimated', Worldgorger Dragon exiles your battlefield until it leaves, it will exile the enchantment, then put itself in the graveyard, bringing everything back. When the enchantment enters again, it can start this loop all over again.
This loop can end whenever you want, as long as another creature is in a graveyard so you can reanimate that once you are done looping. For this deck Shivan Hellkite will do well.
Now why do we want to exile our battlefield and bring it back, over and over and over? The answer is relatively simple, when all of your lands reenter the battlefield, you can tap them for mana before they go away, this means that you can get almost infinite mana and put all of that mana into Shivan Hellkite once you have enough and finish the loop.
That will win you the game, all you need is a way to get the enchantment in hand and the 2 creatures in your graveyard.
How does this deck do that? Buried Alive puts all of the cards we need into our graveyard, and is very effective at it, it can put anything else in the graveyard as well if you need, commonly a second Worldgorger Dragon.
We get Buried Alive with a mix of cards, Demonic Consultation being one, and Gamble being the other, but remember both can get any of your enchantments too!
I will write up a list for you shortly with the deck in its entirety.
January 4, 2019 1:30 p.m.
I will try to revisit this when I have a bit more time. If you could make lists for the decks on this site, that would be helpful. This site has some nifty tools, such as sorting options and quick data on mana costs, that make deck help pretty easy.
If you are playing with no banlist, there are a couple inexpensive cards that are considered broken even in the oppressive Vintage. There is a reason no deck is allowed to run four copies of Sol Ring. In Blue, cards like Brainstorm would be strong inclusions.
You should generally not run 75 cards ever - beyond Battle of Wits there is never a reason to run over 60 cards. More cards decreases your chances of getting the cards you need.
January 4, 2019 1:30 p.m.
SynergyBuild says... #6
*Valakut Invoker is a better wincon than Shivan Hellkite, so the deck can be mono-black without Gamble!
January 4, 2019 1:37 p.m.
captainamerica says... #7
@machi_machiavellian I don't have much experience in the "no banlist" aspect, but I pride myself in my budget building. If your goal is to destroy a single opponent, Blue-Red Storm might be the path to victory. If you want to beat multiple opponents, alternate win conditions like Felidar Guardian, or Laboratory Maniac might be what you want to play
January 4, 2019 1:45 p.m.
Machi_Machiavellian says... #8
That sounds awesome SynergyBuild I'm very interested. Thanks!!
January 4, 2019 2:44 p.m.
SynergyBuild says... #9
Been playtesting one for around $185, averagely wins ~turn 2-4. 3 is the average.
Semi-Budget Worldgorger Dragon
Casual
3 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER
Drop the playset of Demonic Tutors for Beseech the Queens and you are set on a nice $100 list.
January 4, 2019 3:07 p.m.
I am a big fan of SynergyBuild's suggestion, and will be posting a couple thoughts on the recently-posted list.
Adding to the list of absolutely broken cards that you can run four copies of, Gitaxian Probe is outstanding, regardless of what colours you are playing. Two life is insignificant when compared to drawing another card, and can help you quickly dig for your combo pieces.
With regards to Nicol Bolas, the Arisen, you and your friends seem to have made a mistake as to how milling a player works. You do not lose the game for having zero cards in your deck--you lose the game when you try to draw a card, but are unable to do so due to having no cards in-hand.
Nicol Bolas, the Arisen's -12 ability leaves you with one card in your library. On your next draw step, you will have 0 cards in your library, but, unless you are forced to draw, you have not yet lost the game. You will, however, lose the game on your next draw step/if you are forced to draw a card.
So, how do you counter this strategy?
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You can remove Nicol Bolas before he transforms.
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Reaching 12 loyalty points is difficult, and you can always attack Nicol Bolas to prevent this from occurring.
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Related to the above, winning the game first. SynergyBuild's plan can win really early (without a banlist, you can probably consistently win on turn 1-2).
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You can make it so you no longer draw cards. Abundance, for example, does not cause you to draw cards--you directly put the cards in your hand. Because you are not "drawing" your last card, the replacement effect from Abundance will keep you from losing the game due to mill.
January 4, 2019 3:24 p.m.
Machi_Machiavellian says... #11
Thanks cdkime! Here are the decks I'm currently using U/W Flash and Mardu's Vehicles
January 4, 2019 3:50 p.m.
Machi_Machiavellian says... #12
SynergyBuild Thanks for the deck build! It looks great. I will see if I can track these cards down in time for the weekend!
January 4, 2019 3:55 p.m.
PhthisisClock says... #13
Machi_Machiavellian... throw in a couple Gideon of the Trials to crew Heart of Kiran. This combo alone is what prompted me to run Dispossess in my deck, Negative Creep Modern when it was a standard deck. The Gideon/Kiran punch is pretty irritating.
January 5, 2019 11:31 a.m.
PhthisisClock says... #14
Also, Gideon's emblem protects you from losing due to mill, provided you can keep a Gideon on the field. Currently there is no way to remove/destroy emblems.
January 5, 2019 11:43 a.m.
Just for reference, here's the reason you don't want to stick your sideboard into the main deck and play the full 75: sideboards usually have very matchup-dependent cards, and unless you're playing against that specific deck you don't want to draw those cards as they are focused around disrupting your opponent's gameplan rather than helping your own; in short, it's better to play less cards because you'll have a better chance of drawing cards that you want. Decks usually carry out their gameplan best with the original 60.
January 5, 2019 11:27 p.m.
Teferi-3030 says... #16
I agree with hungry000. if you take out your decks worst 15 cards, it becomes better. Maybe try taking some other cards out and playing with larger mana base? I'm also pretty new to magic, and one of my main issues is running too many spells and not enough lands. Also, you might want to run token creatures for a few reasons: Westvale Abbey would be much less costly to transform, and you could buy yourself time by blocking powerful attacks with them instead of your good creatures, provided that your opponents don't have too much trample, this could be useful for the kind of deck that you're playing. If you take my advice, I would recommend thopters. There are cards that can put ridiculous numbers of them, and flying is generally underrated.
FSims81 says... #2
Knowing what you're interested in playing is good, but a better way for people to help guide you here is if you can also let them know what you're seeing regularly played by your opponents. Do they stick to the same deck, do they all have a theme? What gives you the most trouble that you've noticed? Every play meta is different so what works for someone normally may not help you without knowledge of the decks you're competing with. Just a thought to help you get better and more targeted suggestions from those able to guide you.
January 4, 2019 1:01 p.m.