How do you start building a deck? Myself, I'll end up seeing a card or two and thinking about making a deck around them, then going thru my reserves to see what will fit the theme, then I start the cutting cards trying to get it down to 60-65 including mana.
I usually start with a win condition, hopefully 2, then build the rest according to it, wether I need control to buy time, or ramp to be able to pay all CMCs.
Depends on the format, but with standard, I see a good card I like, then try to play it as quickly and efficiently as possible. The earliest my gameplan can come into action, for the lowest cost, with the best possible top deck. I want my decks to be able to win turn 3 and the same by turn 10 ect.
Legacy is like that, on steroids. Commander I want to have the most fun, with the most board interaction, crazy rule enforcement and general MtG fun.
I haven't been playing long. But I'm trying to think of making a deck that has a good offense and defense against just about any deck you would play against.
Quote from: Tat_13 on May 18, 2012, 05:02:36 AM
I haven't been playing long. But I'm trying to think of making a deck that has a good offense and defense against just about any deck you would play against.
Brilliant!
If its not a tribal deck then I pick a really cool card like {delver of secrets} ;) and go from there
And honestly, if you're new to the game, or building your own decks, maybe get on tcgplayer.com or got to dailymtg and see what the pros are doing, not to necessarily copy their idea, which is fine btw, but maybe you're looking for a good "draw card", or how to best set up your lands for a deck, or just to see what works well together. I've been playing for years and still don't notice synergy in cards that much.
Here's my process in a nutshell
1) determine theme of deck (agro? Control? Burn? Based around a specific card, combo, or type?) ex: agro based on {invisible stalker}
2) determine color(s) that best fit your theme. Ex: blue, splash white for {Geist of st Traft}
3) set aside sleeves for land. 17 in limited, 22-24 in constructed (for me anyway)
4) pick cards that compliment each other. Ex: control spells, {delver of secrets} since lots of spells, {runechanters pike} for same reason and synergy with stalker, etc
5) once cards are picked, count how many colored mana symbols you have in each color and distribute land accordingly (take into consideration cards with double or more of a color - these sway you more heavily to that color than you may realize)
And there we already have a Mage-blade deck.
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