Magic the Gathering

[knownaspirate]

i didn't see a post like this (atleast not on the first page, so if their is already one please redirect me and i apologzie for makeing the thread)

my boyfriend recently got my hooked on magic. i've always wanted to play but the people teaching me, we're for the most part crappy teachers. i've gotten the rules down pretty soild, and for the cards we're using i know how to handle them as well. he told me i'm pretty good for a new player, and i would like to actually build my own deck instead of using the starter ones he picked up for me.

so what im asking is if anyone has any suggestions. color combos, creatures, or just a good mix of anything. the help is welcome.

im also getting a magic online account monday, so :D if you've got one let me know! k, thanks folks!

-Pirate

[Ranis]

Sky is the limit. Play what you want to. Prepare to have a large hole in your wallet, if you want to be competitive.

Always play with 4 of each card in your deck. Consistency=win. Try simplified things first, then work to the advanced. It's much better that way.

[knownaspirate]

thanks much, thats kind of what the net told me :)

[Gralamin]

Sky is the limit. Play what you want to. Prepare to have a large hole in your wallet, if you want to be competitive.

Always play with 4 of each card in your deck. Consistency=win. Try simplified things first, then work to the advanced. It's much better that way.

Consistency != win. there are cards, such as leyline of singularity, that wrecks completely consistent decks.
I try to keep 4 of each instant or sorcery, and then 1 or 2 of each creature. This also allows for some pretty neat combos, and works well if everything works together (such as Thallids or Slivers)

[Seaside]

Assuming that you're largely interested in the game on a casual level at the moment (correct me if I'm wrong), a few very basic things about deckbuilding (assuming 60 card decks):
- Include in the vicinity of 24 land. I know when I first started I always tried to cram in as many spells as I could, leading to somewhat clunky starts.
- Build decks with a particular strategy in mind. By all means, savour the different styles of play available to you in Magic, but try not to mix them up in one deck so that the overall effectiveness is diluted.
- Try to include spells/creatures that are never 'dead'. For example, a one-mana 1/1 is irrelevant 90% of the time (abilities notwithstanding), whereas a vanilla four-mana 3/3 is sizeable enough for usefulness most of the time.

I apologize in advance if this comes across a little condescending - I don't know your level of skill in Magic, so maybe I've underestimated your abilities. Anyway, a good page (column?) to read is Magic Academy (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/columnarchive&column=MagicAcademy), over at the official Magic: the Gathering website. Furthermore, did you come across any cards you particularly liked when you were introduced to the game? Maybe you could incorporate those into a deck of some kind.

Also, I'm "Noctifer" on Magic Online, though I am rarely online. Paper Magic is where it's at. =P


Consistency != win. there are cards, such as leyline of singularity, that wrecks completely consistent decks.While, yes, I agree that a given deck may not necessarily want 4x CARDNAME for every single (non-basic land) card, I would never play less than four of a card out of fear for a card like Leyline of Singularity.

(In case the OP is curious:)
Leyline of Singularity 2UU
Enchantment
If Leyline of Singularity is in your opening hand, you may begin the game with it in play.
All nonland permanents are legendary.

[Were-Sandwich]

For your first deck-building escapade, I reccomend trying something simple, like a green beatdown deck or red beatdown deck. Then start with 24 land of the appropriate colour. Then find some creatures. You want your mana curve (the comparative man costs of all the cards in your deck) to be mostly focused around 2 mana. What this means in laymans terms, is you want most of the cards in your deck to cost 2-3 mana, with some 1 mana creatures and the odd 4 or 5 mana creature.

HOWEVER: If you have lots of creatures like Elvish Pioneer, Wood Elves or Rampant Growth, that let you search for lands and put them into play, you can afford to play more expensive creatures, as you will be able to play them more consistently.

FURTHER HOWEVER: If you intend to mostly play in multiplayer games (>2 players), then you can get away with more expenesive creatures anyway, because you will have longer to set up, as you will not be the only target for your opponents.

Then, find some instants, sorceries and enchantments that go well with your creatures. For green, this will mostly mean creature pumps, land-searchers and some way of dealing with fliers, as Green has little to no capacity to do this via creatures. If you can ge them, an honourable mention foes to Blanchwood Armour. If you can get some of these, paired with a creature your opponent can't block, or target (Silhana Ledgewalkers are perfect for this). For red, this will mean burn (damage dealing spells), and artifact removal. Also, try and find ways of drawing cards, as this will keep you going in the late game. Unfortunately, red and green both have trouble doing this.

When selecting spells, try and find ones that either accentuate the strengths of, or cover the weaknesses of, your creatures.


Wow, wall of text. Hope I was of some assisstance, I've found I'm not the best teacher.

[Tekar]

Whenever I design I deck (I'm just a casual player mind you) I first think of a theme, like red aggro with burn, a white knight deck or a Stuffy Doll deck...
Then I search up all the cards that I would possibly put into the deck. Then I start cleaning up those like, I need this many creatures, what are the best creatures I have, what's the best card to do that ...

I clean untill I have a 60 card deck with mostly 4 of's some cards I already know I'd need less off, those are the cards that are not or barely cummulative (Priviledge Position, Spirit Loop, ...) when you have two of those in your hand the second one is less effective than the first one. I usually take less than 4 of them unless they're really vital to the deck.

I build the deck and first do some goldfish plays (play against a blank opponent and try to kill him as fast as possible) You get a general idea of the strenghts and weaknesses of the deck. Make changes if nescesairy. Then the deck is ready for play. Ofcource whenever I feel the need I make changes.

[Fuzzy_Juan]

Whenever I design I deck (I'm just a casual player mind you) I first think of a theme, like red aggro with burn, a white knight deck or a Stuffy Doll deck...
Then I search up all the cards that I would possibly put into the deck. Then I start cleaning up those like, I need this many creatures, what are the best creatures I have, what's the best card to do that ...

I clean untill I have a 60 card deck with mostly 4 of's some cards I already know I'd need less off, those are the cards that are not or barely cummulative (Priviledge Position, Spirit Loop, ...) when you have two of those in your hand the second one is less effective than the first one. I usually take less than 4 of them unless they're really vital to the deck.

I build the deck and first do some goldfish plays (play against a blank opponent and try to kill him as fast as possible) You get a general idea of the strenghts and weaknesses of the deck. Make changes if nescesairy. Then the deck is ready for play. Ofcource whenever I feel the need I make changes.


that is pretty much how I build a deck...pull every card I have that fits a theme and would like to have...adjust the 33% mana ratio up or down according to the needs of the deck, pack some acceleration if needed, then start dropping everything that does not fit the needs of the deck. After it is done, I do a few dry runs to make sure the mix is correct and see if there are issues with mana flow or combos being too demanding...adjust accordingly, and then we are ready for a match.

take my green monster deck...I have a decent amount of land because I have alot of high cost monsters...to ensure I have them fast, I have land searching, wood elves, and a few other cards that let me drop land fast...Since 'living hive' is the main 'theme', I have pollenbright wings, blanchwood armor, and a dozen eyes with tooth and nail...since I pack a bit of white for the pollenbright wings, I have a couple of peach garden oaths for when I have a bunch of tokens as well as streams of life.

sometimes a great deck comes from the theme...just come up with a great theme/strategy, and grab the best cards that you can find to accomplish that goal. You will find that a good focus can sometimes be enough to win the day.

[nathkry]

I find it best to have 20 lands to start, as most of my decks have few inexpensive creatures. If you are just starting out, then I wouldsuggest that you stick to playing creature decks for the time being, and move on to more complicated decks, such as combo and control, later.

Speaking of themed decks, I have a green blue deck tha is built around Darksteel collossus, and can consistantly hardcast it on fifth or sixth turn. :smallbiggrin:

[Fuzzy_Juan]

ohh....now this would be fun...a deck built around energy flux, other anti-artifact tech, and memnarch...now that would be funny...make all their lands artifacts as they come out...giggle as they will never have more than a single land out and never be able to pay for any permanents that you will just turn into artifacts...

[Icewalker]

If you want to get a little complex, usually the strategies revolve around making hidden little combos between cards that aren't supposed to work together, but result in auto-win.

Like that whatsit the firemind:

expensive, pretty big, flying, dragon.
whenever you draw a card, deal one damage to target creature or player
tap: draw a card.

Plus Ophitian eye:
Enchant creature
when enchanted creature deals damage, draw a card.

Yay infinite cycles!

Another one:

There is some artifact furnace which has 'sacrifice an artifact, get 2 colorless mana.'

That in play, plus Genesis Chamber (whenever a creature enters play put a 1/1 myr token into play).

Plus two Myr retrievers. I think they are 1/2 or so. 2 colorless mana. When put into a graveyard from play, return an artifact from your graveyard to your hand.

Goes like this:
Sacrifice one retriever. return some random artifact, spend the 2 mana on something.

Sacrifice the second retriever, gain two mana, return the first one to your hand, and play it for 2. Then sacrifice it, and return the second retriever to your hand, then play it.

Do this until you have infinite 1/1 myr tokens. you win.


Stuff like that.

Or you could make a sliver deck.
sliver deck = win.

[Alacar Leoricar]

knownaspirate, I too am an accomplished Magic player--there's a lot of great different decks you can build, but I have only a few suggestions:

Consistency = Awesome. It isn't always a guaranteed victory, but if you can draw what you need, then you're already there.

Fix your mana base. Here's a tip:

24 lands
9 piles of 4 cards

That's 60 cards, and that's my third tip: make it 60 cards; any more and you might not get what you need. Adjust the number of lands you need according to the other nonmana sources you have like Wood Elves, Birds of Paradise, Signets, etc.

For more goodies, check out MTGSalvation.com:smallwink:

[JellyPooga]

My advice ('cos this is how I get most fun out of the game) is not to build a deck "to win", but build it around a theme.

For example, my favourite deck is my Zombie deck. It has little to no direct damage, but lots of zombie creatures and re-animation/ressurection type cards. When playing, it's very frustrating for my opponents because whenver they kill one of my creatures, it just keeps coming back. Most of my zombies are low power/toughness, low cost, but I have one or two, "Big Guys" that, because there's only one or two of them, don't often come out, but when they do it's like in the LoTR film when Boromir says "They have a Cave Troll". Makes for a good game.

Now, that particular deck was built around the theme of Zombies with no 'optimisation' in mind, but as it turns out, it's a surprisingly effective deck. Against my optimisation-mad friend, I win approximately 40% of the games we play...not bad huh?

I have found that decks that you build using a theme rather than 'power' give you a lot more fun than the 'power' decks. If you treat the game as a semi-RPG, you might find it more enjoyable; I know I do. There has been a trend in the latter editions of Magic to make themes more effective (with abilities that are particularly effective when used in conjunction with similarly themed cards), but the same kind of principle still works if you get hold of earlier edition cards.

[TheSilverKnight]

I didn't read the other replies but a good deck is easy to build. Pick a color or colors.

White: Life gaining, cheap creatures, protection
Blue: Countering, control, returning
Black: Kill spells and sacrifice for gain
Red: Burn spells, Artifact destruction, High cost mid power creatues
Green: Strong creatures and buffing

Keep 35% of your deck at mana which out of sixty cards is 21 so roughly 20-24 lands for multi colored decks but you may only need 16-18 for a single color. The remainder of the deck should be a split between creatures and spells depending on the focous of the deck.

Use the color wheel on the back of the cards to see what colors go together. Colors that touch are allies and work well together. For example Green has a huge lack of fliers but making a Green/White adds fliers and defensive buffs as well as enchantment/artifact destruction and combining green and white life gaining effects can be pretty nasty.

Colors opposite on the wheel are enmies and have some similar effects and get akaward when together but usually balance out each others shortcommings. E.G. Green buffs its creatures where as Black sacrifices creatures and hands to gain a tempeory advantage. So sacrificing you green creatures may not be nesseciarily a good idea.

[Talfrey]

Try a two or three color sliver deck. Definetly include green.

There you go.

Easy as pie, you don't even gotta try.

[Krytha]

Well, the varied responses just showed you the kind of game magic is, if you didn't already know. I would say that as a beginner, it doesn't matter what kind of deck you build. You could build a highlander deck with all your favourite cards or netdeck a protour monster. it doesn't matter. What does matter is constant use. Experience will be the key in figuring out what makes decks tick and the correct plays to make with any given deck. At that point, you don't need deck ideas because you'll have a zillion decks you want to try out first.

[Krade]

It's not an 'infinite combo' but here's another one that probably wasn't foreseen:

Name: Seismic Assualt
Mana Cost: RRR
Type: Enchantment
Text: Discard a land card, deal 2 damage to target creature or player.

Pretty nice if you have extra land on your hand, but not too ammazing on its own. That's when the next card comes in...

Name: Trade Routes
Mana Cost: 2B
Type: Enchantment
Text: 1; return target land you control to your hand
1; discard a land card. Draw a card.

Basically what happens is you get these two cards into play, then you pick up all of your lands, and throw them at the other guy. If it is late game and you have a lot out, it is pretty much a garunteed victory.

Edit: Actually, if you got nothing but these two cards and lands in your opening hand and then only draw lands, you can win in 4 or 5 turns, which is a hell of a lot faster than most decks centered around direct damage.

Also, don't listen to ANYONE who says red and blue don't work together just because they are "opposed" to eachother. This combo and the deck I built around it are about as much proof as you would ever need.

[TheOOB]

Magic is, first and foremost, a game of numbers. If you want to be good at magic, you need to use math. What kind of cards you put in your deck, how much of each, and how much land you need to supply it is all something that is done by numbers. By tailoring how many of each card you have in your deck, you can change your chances of drawing the card, and how likely you are to draw it. Four copies of a card that isn't useful until late game is pointless because you don't want a copy early, but one copy of a card thats only useful in the first three turns is worthless because with one card you very well might not even see it in the entire game, much less the early game.

Land is the same way, its not enough to makes your deck 1/3 lands divided evenly by color. You need to think of questions like how early do I need 2 lands, 3? 4? 5 or more? Which color of cards do I have more of, how many double color mana cards do I have, what colors do I need right away and what ones do I need later.

Your best bet is to look at some of the budget decks on the magic website, most of them are put together pretty darn well, and they arn't as expensive as some of the competitive tourny winning decks.

[Mikeg542]

It really depends on how much you're willing to put into the game and who/what level of people you are playing against. Like, for 50$ you can put together a competitive mono-green deck(to an extent) that should beat most comers, or a mono- red burn deck for around the same amount. But if you want to actually play competitively, usually triple that $(my deck i 395$, my friends $425
).
A simple mono green would be:
23 forest
4 llanowar elves
4 skarrrgan pit skulk
4 spectral force
4 scryb ranger
4 Boreal druid
2 giant solifuge
4 call of the herd
4 might of old krosa
4 moldervine cloak
2 giant growth

the spectral forces and call of the herds can be replaced with such things as nessian courtiers(3/3 for 2G from future sight) and timbermares.

Like the cheap version can be got for 30$ at the most, while the more expensive is around 60-70$. Which is perfectly reasonable to trade for or buy.

As a newr player, GW or GR seem fine colour combinations as well. (RW too, but less so)

As well, two other formats I suggest you try out if you have a nearby game store are draft and sealed.
For sealed, there are plenty of articles all over the internet, drafting not so much. http://mtgtwincast.com/Articles/Mike/DraftingIntro.html
Thats one I wrote and it should be a good start if you can/want to try out that.

Goodluck!

[EagleWiz]

Just Damage gets killed by big creatures.
Big creature decks get killed by little creature decks
Little Creature deacks get killed by red "Damage Everything" cards.
Despelling is good but not against little creature swarms.
Healing is good.
Life Draining is better.

And the fourmala for how much mana a Spell should cost
Heal: 1 per life gained
Damage: 1 per damage
Creature: 1/2 per stat (1/1 is 1, 2/2 is 2, 4/2 is 3) 1 for most other abilatys (Not unique ones those are better or worse)

And consistancy can be bad. A friend had a pure creature deck (No spells, no enchantments.) So I bought a couple forms of the dragon.

Red
7 mana
At the end or begining (I forget) of your turn your life becomes 5 and deal 5 damage to one opponent or creature.
Non Flying creatures can't attack you.

And it killed him.
(Note, this is a good card)

[tgva8889]

And the fourmala for how much mana a Spell should cost
Heal: 1 per life gained
Damage: 1 per damage
Creature: 1/2 per stat (1/1 is 1, 2/2 is 2, 4/2 is 3) 1 for most other abilatys (Not unique ones those are better or worse)

Not true even in the slightest. You'll need the Gatherer (http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/index.aspx?), it's really the Magic player's best friend. Just put in the card you're looking for, click on the name, and voila, it's official Magic text should appear before your very eyes.

The correct formula for how much a good spell should cost is this:

Life Gain: 1 mana for 5 or 6 life is really the only way life gain would be good at all, unless the card does something else, like have a guy attached (see Loxodon Hierarch (http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=97205)). I mean, cards like Healing Salve (http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=253) exist and completely suck. Don't let anyone trick you into believing that cards like Healing Salve are good in constructed Magic, because they really, really aren't. I've played in and done well in tournaments, I know.

Damage: about 1 less than the damage dealt, unless it does something else or can be played cheaper or for massive damage (see Fireball (http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=Fireball)). Examples include Volcanic Hammer (http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=Volcanic%20Hammer), Shock (http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=Volcanic%20Hammer), Seal of Fire (http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=Seal%20of%20Fire), Incinerate (http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=Incinerate), Lightning Helix (http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=Lightning%20Helix). And those are just the recent, easy-to-find ones.

Creatures: Depends. If the creature costs between 1 and 3, it better either be very efficient (like a 1/1 for 1 or better, a 2/2 for 2 or better, or a 3/3 for 3 or better) or have some ability that makes it worth your while. Examples include Llanowar Elves (http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=Llanowar%20Elves) (not only efficient, but with a useful ability), Kird Ape (http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=Kird%20Ape) (better than efficient), Watchwolf (http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=Watchwolf) (also better than efficient), Savannah Lions (http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=Savannah%20Lions) (also better than efficient, what do you know?), and Burning-Tree Shaman (http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=97205) (hmm, a trend we have going here). If you're looking at cards that cost 4 or more and are creatures, you better be looking at cards that can either win the game, either all by themselves (see Skeletal Vampire (http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=Skeletal%20Vampire)) as part of a combo, or you better be putting them back in your card collection.

That's real efficiency at the card table.

Anyways, tips for a new Magic player. Well, my first tip is to buy a Pre-constructed deck. You'll easily be able to find one at any card shop that sells Magic cards. I'm sure they have at least one or two lying around somewhere, and they typically cost around $10-$20. They always come with the proper 60 cards needed to build a deck, and always come with not only a nifty rules insert that tells you which cards are in your deck, but also how your deck should play and be played. Not only that, but it comes with two free rares cards right off the bat! And you can play them right out of the box! If you're just looking to play some quality magic for fun, I suggest finding a deck with the colors that you like. Typically, I find it's good to start with simple decks. The ones with descriptions that involve you and beating your opponent's face in with creatures are the easiest to play.

Now, don't expect to start winning games immediately with your preconstructed deck. That would be unrealistic. Your next step is to improve your preconstructed deck. For this, I would definately suggest trying your hand at a few limited events. By this, I mean find a few Draft events, pay the necessary entry fee, and enter. By doing this, not only will you increase your card pool (since you receive a total of 45 cards from the draft), but also increase your skill at deck-building and playing. You see, by playing in a draft, you will come to realize which cards are good and which cards are bad, as well as learning to work with a limited set of cards, which will help your overall ability to build decks. Eventually, you will find some cards that you like using and that probably fit well into your deck, so you can sub a few cards out and play a few games to see how well you do. Also, feel free to trade with other players, but try to keep it in 1-for-1 trades. Also, if a player is typically begging you to trade them one of your cards, don't. That generally means it's a rather good card.

Once you've drafted a number of times, figure out your playstyle. Are you content to send your creatures into the Red Zone every turn and watch your opponent's life total wittle away, or would you be more happy staving off the attack long enough to drop your Big Unstoppable Monster for the win? Or do you perfer to use a complicated combination of cards for maximum effect? Depending on these choices, you'd be best suited to play a beatdown deck, a control deck, or a combo deck. Once you figure out which you like, consult a well-versed Magic player, and they might be able to point you in the right direction.

(Note: Playing combo is really hard unless you already know of a number of combos that you'd like to try. I suggest trying a beatdown deck first, then working your way up to the much more complicated control decks, then finally working your way around a combo deck.)

In no time at all, you should be beating your friends (and probably your boyfriend :smallbiggrin: ) in many of the games you play!

If you decide to try and draft, find a few online drafting primers and read them. Read a lot of them. And try to find ones on the formats you plan to be playing, so you know which cards you'll want to play. Some good sites include the good ol' www.wizards.com (http://www.wizards.com/welcome.asp) site, another is www.starcitygames.com, though you'll need to get a premium account.

As for generally good cards, I suggest you look at the following cards, which are prime examples of power cards, and formulate your own opinions based on other cards. Generally, the cheaper the cost for the same effect, the better it is.
Wrath of God/Damnation: Destroy all creatures? Sounds good to me!
Shock: Surprisingly, a very solid 'burn' spell, or direct damage spell.
Compulsive Research: Draw cards. This is one of the more efficient draw spells in existance, though really, any single card that can draw you more than one card is worth considering for your deck.
Stone Rain: Land destruction, commonly refered to as LD. Most players will hate you for playing this strategy, but it does work.

That's just a few for ya. I could rattle off a ton of very powerful cards.

Oh, and everyone who's said "Play 4 of every non-land card possible" is a good Magic player. Everyone who's said otherwise is a bad Magic player. Though really, it's generally "4 of the cheaper spells and 2-3 of the more expensive ones". Test your deck and make sure everything runs smoothly before messing with card numbers.

Oh, and people who play Magic? Stop giving away all the good combos! Let her figure out some cool ones on her own! Jeez! You take away all the fun of playing a combo deck!

[TheSilverKnight]

It's not an 'infinite combo' but here's another one that probably wasn't foreseen:

Name: Seismic Assualt
Mana Cost: RRR
Type: Enchantment
Text: Discard a land card, deal 2 damage to target creature or player.

Pretty nice if you have extra land on your hand, but not too ammazing on its own. That's when the next card comes in...

Name: Trade Routes
Mana Cost: 2B
Type: Enchantment
Text: 1; return target land you control to your hand
1; discard a land card. Draw a card.


I love this combo I built my izzet deck around it because once you get the 4 Izzet boilerworks out you don't need your you basics. Not to mention that I have a Dijjin Illuminates and 8 one land burn spells.

Another good Combo that is infinate and cheap and currently all the cards for it are tournament legal.

Intruder Alarm:
Creatures do not untap during their untap phases.
When ever somone plays a creature spell untap all creatures.

Selesnya Guildmage:
1(tap): tap and untapped creature you control put a 1/1 green saproiling token into play.

Lanowar Elf:
Tap: add one G to mana pool

any land and any creature

The result infinite tokens wait one turn attack for infinite.

All the cards here are cheap too can probably get an intruder alarm out of a 1 dollar rare book at a local store. I build a Solid GWB deck and threw this in there for fun. Sometimes this deck puts out more tokens and gets more heals then my Selesnya.

I need to start going to booster drafts so I can get more cards the last time I bough cards was because my friends made me get the new sets not that I didn't regret it.

****Recommended for new players wanting to build their own decks buy tournament packs its the only place you can get lands besides premade decks . Although I don't think I need any more lands I have a stack of forests bigger than 2 of my decks in cases.

EDIT: I feel stupid but 2 weeks ago ma my brother-in-law and his/my sisters older friends although I suppose they are my friends too. We got together to play MTG. The kept using the word tim which I know is a nickname for Prdgical Sorcerer but they were using it to describe tons of diffrent cards including ones that weren't tap for 1 damage effects so can someone tell me what the term tim describes.

[YuanTi]

Tim?

I'd say Timmy but I don't think so...

Anyone go to regionals?

I came 9th (Top 8 Qualify), it was very annoying. However Korlash Control seemed the best deck about. Oh and Narcobridge sucks

[Krytha]

Narcobridge is inconsistent. That isn't quite the same thing as sucking.

[Were-Sandwich]

I love this combo I built my izzet deck around it because once you get the 4 Izzet boilerworks out you don't need your you basics. Not to mention that I have a Dijjin Illuminates and 8 one land burn spells.

Another good Combo that is infinate and cheap and currently all the cards for it are tournament legal.

Intruder Alarm:
Creatures do not untap during their untap phases.
When ever somone plays a creature spell untap all creatures.

Selesnya Guildmage:
1(tap): tap and untapped creature you control put a 1/1 green saproiling token into play.

Lanowar Elf:
Tap: add one G to mana pool

any land and any creature

The result infinite tokens wait one turn attack for infinite.

All the cards here are cheap too can probably get an intruder alarm out of a 1 dollar rare book at a local store. I build a Solid GWB deck and threw this in there for fun. Sometimes this deck puts out more tokens and gets more heals then my Selesnya.

I need to start going to booster drafts so I can get more cards the last time I bough cards was because my friends made me get the new sets not that I didn't regret it.

****Recommended for new players wanting to build their own decks buy tournament packs its the only place you can get lands besides premade decks . Although I don't think I need any more lands I have a stack of forests bigger than 2 of my decks in cases.

EDIT: I feel stupid but 2 weeks ago ma my brother-in-law and his/my sisters older friends although I suppose they are my friends too. We got together to play MTG. The kept using the word tim which I know is a nickname for Prdgical Sorcerer but they were using it to describe tons of diffrent cards including ones that weren't tap for 1 damage effects so can someone tell me what the term tim describes.

Hate to tell you, but that doesn't work. Creature tokens aren't spells, or the creation thereof, aren't spells.

[Krade]

I feel stupid but 2 weeks ago ma my brother-in-law and his/my sisters older friends although I suppose they are my friends too. We got together to play MTG. The kept using the word tim which I know is a nickname for Prdgical Sorcerer but they were using it to describe tons of diffrent cards including ones that weren't tap for 1 damage effects so can someone tell me what the term tim describes.

The term "Tim" has always just been used to describe a creature that either was the Prodgial Sorcerer or another creature with the same ability. I couldn't tell you what they were trying to desribe with it. Perhaps you should ask them?

[nathkry]

The term "Tim" has always just been used to describe a creature that either was the Prodgial Sorcerer or another creature with the same ability. I couldn't tell you what they were trying to desribe with it. Perhaps you should ask them?

That would seem to be the most sensible thing.

I have this Blue Red land destruction/control deck (shivan wumpus ftw), and was wondering if I should replace my 2 shocks with seals of fire. The deck uses a bunch of mana later on in the game, so I like seal of fire more at this point. Any comments?

[Were-Sandwich]

Or they could be referring to Timmy, one of the three MAgic player Psychographs.

[RTGoodman]

If you're pretty new (like I am), I'd say that many of the people above are right. Pre-constructed decks are your friend, and drafting gives you good experience AND can net you some awesome cards.

I think the easiest deck to play is a Sliver deck. The Time Spiral set's "Sliver Evolution" is a pretty good pre-con, and you can add all sort of things. Having both Gemhide Sliver and Gemstone Mines effectively means you can have a 5-color sliver deck (which is what I have), giving you the ability to basically do anything with your slivers (flying, poison, buffing, etc.).

I also picked up the Future Sight pre-con called "Future Shock" recently, which has just the "future-shifted cards," and I like it. Especially since I have a bunch of Kavu Primarches that I've added in, and they make for a pretty good combo with Centaur Omenreader.

Centaur Omenreader has an ability that, as long as it's tapped, creatures cost 2 fewer colorless mana to play. Kavu Primarch has the Convoke ability ("Each creature you tap while you play this spell reduces its total cost by 1 or by one mana of that creature's color"), and Kicker 4 (that effectively makes it a 7/7 critter). There's a beatdown combo for you right there.

[Cruxador]

Like that whatsit the firemind:

expensive, pretty big, flying, dragon.
whenever you draw a card, deal one damage to target creature or player
tap: draw a card.

Plus Ophitian eye:
Enchant creature
when enchanted creature deals damage, draw a card.

Yay infinite cycles!


That would be Niv-Mizzet. although that is insta-win, Niv-Mizzet costs 6. don't count on ever using that. also, it is important how text is written. the card says niv-mizzet deals the damage. the way you coppiede it, the player deals it. that would break the combo.

[Mikeg542]

The problem isn't costing 6, its costing 2RRUU which is hard when you aren't running pain/dual lands.

And it's not infinite, as if they have more life then you have cards in library, you end up losing from drawing from an empty deck!

But if you really want a niv-mizzet deck:
// Deck file for Magic Workstation (http://www.magicworkstation.com)

// Lands
5 [TSP] Mountain (4)
8 [TSP] Island (2)
2 [GP] Izzet Boilerworks
4 [9E] Shivan Reef
4 [GP] Steam Vents

// Creatures
4 [PLC] Sulfur Elemental
4 [GP] Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
3 [TSP] Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir

// Spells
2 [RAV] Dimir Signet
2 [TSP] Think Twice
4 [GP] Izzet Signet
4 [FS] Delay
4 [RAV] Remand
4 [RAV] Compulsive Research
3 [TSP] Mystical Teachings
3 [TSP] Ophidian Eye

It's quite consistent and fast.

But anyway, the problem with slivers is the deck will never evolve past casual, as with a casual, say, RG deck(at first you run trained armodon and such, and as you get more cards, add call of the herds etc.)
Though if you plan on just playing casually, slivers are indeed fun.


The ease of disrupting nacrobridge makes it bad. Though with the #s playing it, some people will still place in big tournaments.

@nathkry: I probably wouldn't be running either in a LD deck, could you post a list?

[nathkry]

@nathkry: I probably wouldn't be running either in a LD deck, could you post a list?

Sure. Here it is (or at least will be)

Land
7 island
9 mountain
4 izzet boilerworks

20 total

Creatures
4 shivan wumpus
2 coal stoker

6 total

Spells
4 stone rain
4 plunder
3 molten rain
3 pillage
2 fissure
2 seismic spike
4 compulsive research
2 dead/gone
2 seal of fire (or shock)
2 boomerang
2 chain of vapor
2 counterspell
2 mana leak

34 total

I'm also thinking of dropping in some propagandas (http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=4718) for defense.

[Mikeg542]

Personally, I think you probably won't be winning the game from burn to the face anyways, so might as well up the dead//gone count to 4 instead. With similar cards I'd run:

// Deck file for Magic Workstation (http://www.magicworkstation.com)

// Lands
9 [RAV] Mountain (1)
9 [RAV] Island (4)
4 [GP] Izzet Boilerworks

// Creatures
4 [PLC] Shivan Wumpus
4 [TSB] Avalanche Riders

// Spells
3 [9E] Mana Leak
1 [TSP] Prismatic Lens
3 [9E] Annex
4 [MR] Molten Rain
4 [RAV] Compulsive Research
4 [RAV] Remand
3 [GP] Repeal
4 [9E] Stone Rain
4 [GP] Izzet Signet


With perhaps blaze/demonfire run over the annex/repeal

[Pendragonx]

Ah M:TG ..how I miss thee... too bad they changed cardstyle after 7th edition :smallfrown: ...at least I can still play with pre-8th edition cards

[nathkry]

Personally, I think you probably won't be winning the game from burn to the face anyways, so might as well up the dead//gone count to 4 instead. With similar cards I'd run:

// Deck file for Magic Workstation (http://www.magicworkstation.com)

// Lands
9 [RAV] Mountain (1)
9 [RAV] Island (4)
4 [GP] Izzet Boilerworks

// Creatures
4 [PLC] Shivan Wumpus
4 [TSB] Avalanche Riders

// Spells
3 [9E] Mana Leak
1 [TSP] Prismatic Lens
3 [9E] Annex
4 [MR] Molten Rain
4 [RAV] Compulsive Research
4 [RAV] Remand
3 [GP] Repeal
4 [9E] Stone Rain
4 [GP] Izzet Signet


With perhaps blaze/demonfire run over the annex/repeal

Why only one prismatic lens? Seems unlikely to be very effective by iself. The annexes are nice, but I don't like the avalanche riders so much. too expensive for my tastes, with their echo. I like having plenty of the 3 mana land destruction, which is why I prefer the coal stokers. the remands and repeals are alright, though. I have a couple, but took boomerang and chain of vapor for their reduced mana cost.

The deck originally started out as a blue red land destruction/bounce deck with some miscellaneous control thrown in, but I changed it to make the land destructtion a larger part of it, and thus more effective.

[Mikeg542]

Think of it as a 5th izzet signet, for a 3rd turn shivan wumpus, avalanche riders, annex etc. With avalanche riders, you probably shouldn't pay the echo at all, and just play another LD spell. Repeal > the other bounce because it has a very important line "draw a card."

Truth be told, I don't like the molten rain as that one spell makes the whole deck no longer standard legal. As well, RG LD woks better as you can stone rain turn 2.

[Mikeg542]

Think of it as a 5th izzet signet, for a 3rd turn shivan wumpus, avalanche riders, annex etc. With avalanche riders, you probably shouldn't pay the echo at all, and just play another LD spell. Repeal > the other bounce because it has a very important line "draw a card."

Truth be told, I don't like the molten rain as that one spell makes the whole deck no longer standard legal. As well, RG LD works better as you can stone rain turn 2.

[nathkry]

Think of it as a 5th izzet signet, for a 3rd turn shivan wumpus, avalanche riders, annex etc. With avalanche riders, you probably shouldn't pay the echo at all, and just play another LD spell. Repeal > the other bounce because it has a very important line "draw a card."

The drawing could help quite a bit. the deck's current main disadvantages are against fast decks, or even one or two creatures played in the first two turns. Even a couple 1/1s or 2/2s have killed it in a few turns. Of course, that is partially due to my more expensive and worse win conditions.


Truth be told, I don't like the molten rain as that one spell makes the whole deck no longer standard legal. As well, RG LD works better as you can stone rain turn 2.

Yes, it does do that, but this is meant to be a casual deck, so I'm none too worried about that.

[seras1672]

For deck building I start with a theme (like aggro for instance) and then go from there. make sure that you double check your lands (i've messed that up so many times in tournaments...) and make sure you have a enough. Mana flood and mana short kill games. If you like aggro decks, I've found that red and white work really well toghether and time spiral has some really good cards for that purpose. Be careful though, deck building takes a chunk out of the wallet, especially if you want to play in tournaments.

[Slash_712]

For deck building I start with a theme (like aggro for instance) and then go from there. make sure that you double check your lands (i've messed that up so many times in tournaments...) and make sure you have a enough. Mana flood and mana short kill games. If you like aggro decks, I've found that red and white work really well toghether and time spiral has some really good cards for that purpose. Be careful though, deck building takes a chunk out of the wallet, especially if you want to play in tournaments.

Yeah, there really isn't a whole lot that people should tell you to do. I have been told that my decks are crappy by my friends but I still like to play them. Just mess around with all the colors and see which you like and which you don't. There will always be people whop don't agree with your choices, like I hate black decks, but it really only matters what you play and if you are having fun so just find a type that you like and maybe have someone that is good at all around deck building and have them help you out. Oh yeah, it is always good to get a second opinion on a deck before throwing money into it.