Tough Starter Player Deck
Deck Help forum
Posted on Sept. 8, 2013, 3:50 a.m. by StasisNS
Ok...I used to play A LOT way back in the day...stopped shortly after Ice Age came out. Recently got back into buying boosters/decks. I've recruited my wife into the fold, and she's done well at learning the mechanics of the game, but not so much of the strategy that so many cards hold. I want to help her out as much as I can, and I am very honest when she asks me about a card before casting it, but it seems the pre-made decks+boosters, aren't working for her. (Sorry for the run-on sentence...)
I know part of it is my own 'built-in' experience/strategy, but it just seems like she's on a bad run of bad 'luck of the draw' cards with the games we play. I want her to beat me at least a few times without me 'throwing the game'. You know...keep it real.
Can anyone suggest some good Black decks that are cheap/easy to build that involve cards from 201X core/Rav/Gate/Dragon's?
I'm playing a white/green deck that has some flying, but mostly humans, Enchantments and the odd Artifact thrown in.
I haven't sat down to build a deck yet out of our collection (We have about 4000 cards, mostly common/uncommon, rares from about 40-50 boosters, and about 5 Mythic Rares, all different colors.)
As honest as I can be, it's hard for me to tell her what to do to beat me without me throwing the game completely. And don't worry, there are times when I realize I've pulled a stupid move or not what I was intending, and don't renege on it...I'm trying to be a good teacher and win at the same time.
I really want her to win a game against me and really ignite her fire for this game. She really likes playing, buying, and opening cards...
Her biggest downfall in the game is that she loves the art and sometime ignores ALL the text below. I've told her, "You need to read the text and ignore the 'pretty picture," and she's catching on...
Any helpful feedback would be appreciated. I want her to learn the game and strategies...not throw two decks together where one will slaughter the other just to boost her confidence...because that boost would fizzle fast if she doesn't get the strategy/combo aspect of the game.
I just realized I forgot to link to my deck, Rise of the Millhouse
September 8, 2013 4:12 a.m.
For mono-Black I can offer The Demon is Only in Your Mind. Though I wouldn't exactly call it the most competitive deck on the market, it's standard legal, really budget and has been getting good responses from the people I play against.
A simpler mono-Black deck I made but never actually tested against more than 1 human is The Black Plague, which is basically just tribal Rats. You can update it to include the new Door of Destinies , which should work pretty well to giving the rats some beef.
September 8, 2013 4:15 a.m.
Bogbrew Witch deck :D What? Not impressed? I can see your frown through the screen. Okay, okay, maybe go Sanguine Bond deck? You may have to splash white, but with the bond and cruel stuff like Corrupt , you could give your opponent a hard time winning. There's a new theros card gray merchant of asphodel i think that may also work, and use stuff like Underworld Connections and Lifebane Zombie to get up the devotion. Pro tip, use zombies sparingly, otherwise u'll lose... EVERY TIME. Duress , Sign in Blood , Doom Blade , Nantuko Shade are all good ones, and add in Desecration Demon if you want, and maybe even the black god, erebos if he becomes affordable. Oh yeah, and Vampire Nighthawk . That thing's good.
September 8, 2013 6:01 a.m.
Maybe you're going about this the wrong way. Magic isn't something you can learn overnight and understanding the deeper strategies of the game takes time to learn, but possibly the least helpful thing is having your deck built for you. Firstly, because everyone has a slightly different playstyle so a deck someone else finds good isn't necessarily what you feel comfortable with. Secondly, because you don't get to experiment and learn the strategies by experiencing them for yourself.
New players often fail to understand why Sign in Blood or Godless Shrine is very powerful even though you lose life, while something like Rise of the Dark Realms seems very powerful. While it can be, the smaller, card advantage gaining effects are required to make it great. The easiest way for a new player to learn this is to build their own deck and notice what it lacks. Then you can help them fix the problem and teach them all the strategies that come along with magic. I think that rather than asking people what decks she should use, ask her what cards she would like to use and let her experiment for herself. Even if she loses to start with it is more enjoyable to play with something you've made yourself, and she will learn much more.
This is just how I think its best to learn once you know the basics. Just for starters maybe you should both build very basic decks just with commons and uncommons so they are reasonably balanced and you can show why you made different choices, and why some cards are more efficient. Good luck, always great to have new or old players joining up. :)
September 8, 2013 6:57 a.m.
lord_of_the_snakes says... #7
maybe you should help her build a deck instead of building one for her, in the long run it will work better
September 8, 2013 7:37 a.m.
RussischerZar says... #8
Do you interchange your decks or is each of you just using 'their own' decks?
September 8, 2013 8:52 a.m.
Probably the best thing you can do is get the computer game duels of the planeswalkers 2014 and use that to allow her to build up some experience
JWiley129 says... #2
Yeah, the intro packs are good to get into the game, but they aren't very competitive. I've got a black deck that uses a lot of M14 cards (actually it's almost exclusively M14). I haven't looked to see what the prices for the individual cards are, but it has worked very well for me. The deck has a lot of creature removal and some minor graveyard recursion. You could probably build it for cheaper without the Rise of the Dark Realms and make it more focused without the Millstone .
I hope that helps!
September 8, 2013 4:03 a.m.