Had my first Magic: The Gathering games yesterday: Any advice for newbie?

[ReptilianPeon]

I realize this section mainly relates to video games but it seemed the most appropriate. I've done a bit of research and I've decided on a deck. I'm going to try and abuse Extraplaner Lense using the "Snow -covered" lands. Any deck building suggestions: Like card ratios, which spells to use with Snow themed cards, etc would be appreciated. This is mainly for future reference as I've spent a bit of money getting a whole bunch of cards from the set "Coldsnap".

[robvalue]

I'm a bit out of the loop with card selection, but I would recommend going with something like 20-24 lands in a 60 card deck. Oh, and always make a 60 card deck, if you're playing to win. It improves reliability, and the chances of running out of cards are usually negligible. How much land to use exactly depends on the mana cost of your cards, the higher they are, the more land you'll want. If the number of each colour card you have are fairly equal, you can split the lands between the appropriate types. If one is dominant, or especially it has a lot of multiple mana symbols, you can favour that kind of land.

Make sure you have ways of dealing with creatures by either killing them or screwing with them, and also dealing with artefacts and enchantments if the colours permit.

You also want some sort of curve, so that you expect to get stuff going as you lay your lands down. This doesn't mean you have to have something of every different cost, but don't make a bottleneck deck where nothing happens until you get to 5 mana say, and then your hand is clogged up with loads of cards you don't have time to use.

I made a strategy guide for playing tips regarding the Duels of the Planeswalkers series a few years ago, if you're interested I'll find the link Most of the hints will apply to regular magic, although Duels is somewhat simplified.

[Alex K]

Yes: Don't ever listen to me, I don't even know what Magic: The Gathering is!

[robvalue]

It's about 15 years of my life

[ReptilianPeon]

I've played all sorts of trading card games; Magic: The Gathering is simply my latest adventure. I'd be happy to read your guide but for sure it'll need some updating, even if only minor updates, my research indicates. I know that for a fact because you said you sold your cards recently.

I think the biggest change since you sold your cards, Rob (not sure how recent is recent), is that there is a new Basic Land known as "Wastes" or colourless Mana. It first appeared in January of 2016 so very recent. And by the looks of things it's really confusing people. That will have an effect on many decks I think.

[dyresand]

I don't have any sound advice i pretty much run a old black and red burn deck.

[Joods]

I'm so happy this thread is here! I'm seriously geekin out right now lol

Okay, so Rob says build a 60 card deck. That's the legal minimum number of cards you can have in a deck. For me, most of my decks (I have over 20 decks) run just fine with 80 or more cards. My artifact deck has 108 cards in it. I have a total of 13 creatures in the deck. That is it. However, I have four of each of the following:
Crown of Empires, Throne of Empires and Scepter of Empires and those three cards, once out on the battlefield, can be powerful. Throne of Empires allows me to do this: Pay one colorless and tap: Put a 1/1 white Soldier creature token onto the battlefield. Put five of those tokens onto the battlefield instead if you control artifacts named Crown of Empires and Scepter of Empires.
In that same deck, I also have the following combination:
I attach a Darksteel plate to an Indomitable Archangel and then attach a Whispersilk Cloak, to the creature, in that order. It's a pretty nasty combination.

As for how much mana to use - the way I was taught is you want to base the number of land cards to be half the number of other cards in your deck. In other words - a 60 card deck you would have 20 land cards. This is based on 40 cards of any combination of creatures, instants, sorceries, enchantments and/or artifacts.

Rules and important tips for building a deck:

1. If you're picking a theme, stick with the theme. For example: It isn't necessary to have shadow in a deck if you have other stuff. It is not possible to be prepared for every single situation you will encounter.
2. If you can build a deck that will shut down your opponents deck, all the better.
3. If you can add cards that will help you search your library for other cards, wonderful. Get those cards out by turn three or four.
4. With the exception of BASIC lands - you cannot have more than four of the same card in any deck. In other words - you can have as many basic lands that you want. But you are limited to four of the exact same card in any deck. Example- you can't have more than four pandemonium's (I have 4 of these in a deck. They are tons of fun to play with) in your deck. This also applies to special land cards such as Evolving Wilds. You can only have four of those in your deck. There are similar cards in MTG that do the same thing so you can always have four of several kinds of cards that allow you to search for land cards in your deck.
5. Legendary cards and planeswalkers are the same way with the exception that you can only have ONE of the same card out on the battlefield at any given time, otherwise both cards will cancel each other out. For example: You can have 2 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalkers in your deck, but only one can be on the battlefield at any given time.

MTG's card archive is a good place to start if you want to see what a certain card set contains.
If you click on a link above that I've included, it will show you that specific card, what it does, its mana cost, rating and any rules that apply to it. Once you are on that page, you can, alternatively search for any MTG card, using the search box, as long as you have the name of the card. If you are uncertain about the rules of a particular card, you can type it in the search box and then scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page for any rules. If there are none listed, then you'll need to either ask a more experienced player or you'll need to consult MTG's rules. I've included a link below.

Rules change over time and are also dependent on what type of game you are playing. Rules for Commander decks are slightly different than a regular MTG game. There are also house rules - our house rules in our family are that you can only attack the person with the highest life total and you can only target someone's creatures if they have the most creatures (unless you are being attacked or you are attacking - then that opponent's creatures who are either attacking you or blocking you, are fair game). Our only other house rule is that once everyone's life total is 10 or less, everyone is fair game.

The rules you'll need are here. This link provides downloads to both the basic and comprehensive rules in PDF format.
If you get really serious about the game like I do, then download the comprehensive rules, But unless you are playing in a tournament, you won't really need that huge file.

Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions

Personally, I love running white decks, as they are life gaining decks. I also like running salt and pepper decks too. (black and white decks) Since you are relatively new, I would suggest sticking with a mono-colored deck for now, until you get the hang of the game. Playing a five colored deck is much much harder than playing a one color deck and it takes experience to be able to build a strong five color deck. (Slivers comes to mind hee hee)

[Joods]

I think the biggest change since you sold your cards, Rob (not sure how recent is recent), is that there is a new Basic Land known as "Wastes" or colourless Mana. It first appeared in January of 2016 so very recent. And by the looks of things it's really confusing people. That will have an effect on many decks I think.

Yes. this type of card is going to be a pain in the ass, and really, you don't want to include land cards with that symbol UNLESS you have other cards that are dependent on that particular symbol for either mana cost, or activation costs. My Eldrazzi deck comes to mind. I have several cards in there that use that symbol, therefore, I had to include land cards with that same symbol. Also, I have creature cards that allow me to tap the creature for mana of that symbol, so that I can use it for a different permanent's abilities.

[Redbeard The Pink]

I don't know what you're running mostly, but my best advice is to play fast. Always try to go first, always go ahead and attack unless there's a really good reason not to, stuff like that. I've seen plenty of new players lose games by a turn or two because they didn't do something they could have or should have. It used to happen to me a lot in the beginning.

Also, make sure you balance your deck. That's not just having enough land, either. Ideally you want to anticipate what kinds of cards and decks are likely to give you trouble/shut you down and stock your deck with answers to those things (control, removal, board wipes, etc.). The specific support you need well depend on the deck, but in general you can't go wrong with blue and/or white, since those are generally the best control colors.

[ReptilianPeon]

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I don't know what you're running mostly, but my best advice is to play fast. Always try to go first, always go ahead and attack unless there's a really good reason not to, stuff like that. I've seen plenty of new players lose games by a turn or two because they didn't do something they could have or should have. It used to happen to me a lot in the beginning.

Also, make sure you balance your deck. That's not just having enough land, either. Ideally you want to anticipate what kinds of cards and decks are likely to give you trouble/shut you down and stock your deck with answers to those things (control, removal, board wipes, etc.). The specific support you need well depend on the deck, but in general you can't go wrong with blue and/or white, since those are generally the best control colors.

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I'll have a deck I'm satisfied with by the end of this week I suspect. I went on a spending spree to get me started. I intend to only play in Modern format.


I can give you a rough idea on the deck that I intend to build:

For certain I will use:
4 Scrying Sheets
4 Extraplanar Lens (better for mono colour decks but I think it can still work well with Snow-covered Lands.
20 or so Snow-covered Basic Lands (a mixture of either Red and Green or just one of those two colours depending on how well the deck goes)
4 Highland Weald


Since I purchased two copies of the Aurochs Stampede theme deck, I'll be using any creatures from that which look promising.
Basically as many Snow cards I as the deck can handle so that I can benefit from Scrying Sheets as much as possible.
May also include Strata Scythe.

The theme of the deck I'm trying to make:
What I'm trying to do is accumulate as many Snow-covered Lands as quickly as possible in order to bring out as many creatures as possible. The strongest creature I'm likely to use will be Rimescale Dragon.