What Magic The Gathering Deck Should I Build

What Magic The Gathering Deck Should I Build

You have heard about Magic: The Gathering or you have probably watched your friends and family play, and now you wish to join in the fun too. However, you might be at a loss on which deck to build. Even if you are a pro player seeking tips on the best deck to build, then this guide is for you.

Before we get right into it, let’s look at some rules that Magic game makers have come up with about the construction of your deck:

• Your deck should have sixty cards
• You can only have four of the same card. This is unless you are using a card such as Shadowborn Apostle or the Relentless Rats that says you can use more than four cards in your deck

Choose A Format To Build From

When building a deck, you have to choose the format of decks to choose from. There are different formats, but the most popular are listed below.

• The standard format of cards is made up of the most recent sets of cards
• Modern uses cards from the eight edition moving forward
• Commander is a very popular format as players construct 100 card decks instead of the usual 60. However, you can only have one copy of each card in your deck.
• Other formats include Legacy, Vintage, Frontier, and Pauper.

Decide The Deck That Interests You And Do Some Research

If you want to pick a deck that can help you win, you need to do some research. Watch some videos from the format you have chosen and learn from players who are working on various decks to get a sense of the style that appeals to you. Ask yourself, would you rather be the control deck, or you prefer a combo?

Such questions will help you pick a deck that you are drawn to. Once you have chosen a deck that interests you, read about it and watch videos. Learn how to build it, its trends among other things regarding the deck. You can then put it together and play it.

Choose The Right Colors And Mana

You need to get a deck with enough mana. The mana curve is the distribution of cards with a given mana cost. You should be efficient with your mana curve as you can only play one land per turn. A little more than 1/3 of your cards should be mana.

You should also decide on the colors you want to build around. If you are just starting, ensure you do not have too many colors in your deck. More colors can lead to inconsistency as they decrease your chance of drawing a land that will give you the colors you need. Additionally, many multi-colored lands do not come cheap. When you stick with one or two-colored decks, it is easier to build such a deck. However, the choice of how many colors you need in your deck depends on the format you are playing, as formats such as commander will encourage you to play more colors.

Do Not Forget About Metagaming

The metagame is everything in the game that is not in the rules. These decks archetypes are well known. It is everything about the Magic that the players know.

Players often build their decks based on what other players are doing. Magic is a social experience. Thus, players build decks based on what has transpired in earlier events and what others are talking about the game. For example, if you believe that Red Deck wins is a winning deck you need to build a deck that has a strategy of defeating that common matchup.

If you follow the mega-trends very carefully, you will probably stay ahead of others in the game, and you will have a well thought out deck in case of an upcoming event or tournament.

A pro player will easily switch their deck from one deck to another based on metagame research. This gives them an advantage over other players. However, if you are a new player, this can be difficult as it is not easy to become proficient with a deck in a short time and you need more practice and time to learn to play with the deck to get the best results while playing. At MTG Lion, we recommend that you stick with the deck that interests you and while at it learn on the decks Meta trends. Once you get a sense of how your deck works, you can start to metagame on the deck based on your experience.

Focus On What You Know

One of the biggest mistakes most players make when choosing a deck is not trusting what they know. Magic is about making choices that are based on imperfect information. You do not memorize the decks to get it right. You need to stick with what you know about your deck. With the experience you get, and what you read about the metagame of the deck, apply it and become better with the deck.

It is obvious that before you start building your deck, you will need to have some Magic:  The Gathering cards. At MTG Lion, we have an array of cards you can choose from.  We also can give you more ideas on how to build a winning deck.