Topic: New to MTG - never played MTG - first deck!

Let me start by saying that the purpose of my deck is for casual, "kitchen table" magic. Nothing too serious. Me and a friend decided to get into M:TG — both of us invested in a fair number of cards, and now we're building decks just to play each other on the weekends.

But since neither of us have any idea how to play (beyond purely theoretical knowledge based on watching a number of YouTube tutorials), neither do we have any idea how to build decks. We're figuring it out as we go.

So, I fully expect that this deck would perform terribly against any seasoned M:TG players, but I believe the only way to learn a game is to play it (and fail, miserably).

I'm not asking anyone to hold my hand through basic deckbuilding — I'm just more looking to see if I'm on the right track, or if I've completely missed the mark. Too much land? Not enough land? Too many creature spells? Not enough instants? Something else I'm missing? What, if anything, should I have in my sideboard?

I'm keeping my deck a secret from my friend, and he's keeping his secret from me, so it's not like I can build in a particular strategy yet.

I went with Red, because I felt like Red might be the easiest deck for a new player. I added in white cards, because my initial inspiration for the deck while I was looking through the cards I have was "dogs and dragons," and there seemed to be natural synergy between many of the Core Set Red/White dog cards.

The attached image was my way of visualizing everything by colour and cost. And here is a list of my cards on DeckBox: https://deckbox.org/sets/3050990

https://i.postimg.cc/JnTxCppW/Dogs-Dragons.png

(Bag of Holding in the sideboard is a bit of a joke, because the deck acronym is "D&D.") tongue

Also: I couldn't believe that on my first Core 2021 booster pack, I pulled Terror of the Peaks. I was even more shocked when I pulled Ugin from another one.

Anyways, thanks for taking the time to read my post, and thanks in advance for any advice!

Last edited by EveryLast1 (2021-11-20 21:18:56)

Re: New to MTG - never played MTG - first deck!

That seems like a good initial version of a deck.  Mostly you'll find that people cut their decks down to the minimum of 60 cards so that they draw their best cards more often.  It's initially hard to cut down to 60, but you can keep making changes as you play the deck.  Ask yourself at the end of the game, what did I have in my hand and not cast?  Why didn't you get to cast it?  Was it because it was too situational, you didn't get enough mana, or you just always had better things to do?  What do you wish you had drawn?  Also look at any creatures that you don't end up using for attacking or blocking.  Was it because they just got outclassed, or was it just unlucky circumstances.  After a few games try to cut some of the cards that keep staying in your hand or that aren't too useful once they are in play.

With faster decks that play lots of cheap creatures, you probably want to play around 23 or 24 lands in a 60 card deck.  You have some expensive creatures that are 6+ mana, so you probably don't want to go below 24 lands.  In any case, that's the same ratio as what you have now with 75 cards and 30 land, so just keep that ratio.

Re: New to MTG - never played MTG - first deck!

psrex wrote:

That seems like a good initial version of a deck.

Well, that's good!

I'm glad to know it's not terrible for a first attempt and with the cards available to a novice.

All good advice! Once I've played with it a few times against my friend, I'll know better how to trim the fat. I'm sure, over time, I'll also find myself adding cards, as well as subtracting. But, it's good to know I'm on the right track.

Thank-you. big_smile

Last edited by EveryLast1 (2021-11-21 22:38:08)