Topic: Relatively new player

Hi there, just started playing about a month ago, I grabbed Dragon's Maze and Return to Ravnica starter decks and threw in a few other cards here and there and came up with this http://deckbox.org/sets/382485 (don't have all of these cards yet need to purchase 5 or 6 of them).  What do you guys think? my idea is running a kind of control/human deck with the New Prahv Guild Mages in there to make the Champions of the Parish flying after they get buff enough to get around their defenses.  Not sure if this would really be necessary or if I should maybe go up to 4 of these if people think it's actually a good idea.  Added in the 3 heavy hitting creature to try and carry me through later in the game if I can't end it early but maybe I should just stick to low cost? or maybe just go with 2 of them instead of 3?  Also have an Archon of the Triumvirate but I can't decide whether or not to use it.  Anyways, any help with any of these questions would be extremely helpful! Thanks for reading smile

http://deckbox.org/sets/382485

Re: Relatively new player

champion of the parish works well, with cheap human creatures.  Think boros elite etc.  The more humans you put into play the better.  Cheaper decks are usually called "aggro" decks.   For $$ reasons unless you want to drop some serious cash sticking with an all white strategy is probably good for now.  See if maybe you can trade for some frontline medics, and try to stay under 4 for your creature casting costs.

I've been working on a guide you might read through (attached). If for some reason you can't get the attachment. Here's a bit of what's written in it.

6.    Basic Strategies – There are constructed and limited strategies as well as deck building basics and more specific archetype strategies for the types of decks available.  I won’t be talking about specific cards here, because discovering what the cards do and how they interact with each other is part of the fun of the game.
•    Constructed - It’s important to note that there’s a bit of a rock, paper, scissors to mage with the constructed archetypes. Control usually has favorable matchups against midrange, midrange against aggro and aggro against control.
o    Deck Size - For mathematical reasons I won’t go into you want to stay as close to the minimum deck card count requirement as possible.  For standard that’s 60 + 15 sideboard, and for Commander that’s 100 + ?? Sideboard. This makes your decks and card draw more consistent.
o    Multiples – with some notable strategic exceptions (that won’t be addressed here) you want multiple copies of cards up to the 4 card limit for each card in your deck. Basic Lands don’t count.
o    Mana Base – As a rule of thumb you want a 1/3rd or more of your deck to be mana at a minimum.  See some basic guidelines below. Notes these are lands not count other mana sources.
    20-22 - Low cost aggro decks, usually topping out at a 4 cost card.
    23-25 – typical midrange setup with ramp, fetch, or mana dorks. This will support larger cost creatures and spells and fuel cards with X casting costs.
    25-26 – Some control decks will run this amount of mana to make sure they can consistently play their spells without mana fetching or mana ramp.
    Less or More – running less lands or more lands than what’s listed here isn’t recommended unless you have a fine tuned and perfected strategy for what you’re trying to do, and if you’re doing that you don’t need to read this anyway.
o    Archetypes – There are more specific strategies for building decks associate with one of the 3 main archetypes.
    Aggro – typically 26-30 creatures, a hand full of removal or burn spells and just enough lands to make sure you can cast your most expensive spells, usually a 4 or 5 cost creature will be the most expensive you’ll play in these decks.  These decks build on a pyramid of creatures with 1 drops making up the base, then 2s, 3s, and the top of the mana curve being 4 and maybe… maybe a 5 cost creature or 2.  Typical load outs will be as follows. 
a.    1 drops – 8-12
b.    2 drops – 8-10
c.    3 drops – 6 - 8
d.    4,5 drops – 4 - 6
e.    Lands – 20-22
f.    Spells – 6 – 8
Typically no spells with X in the cost you won’t have enough to cast them to any great effect.
    Midrange – most mid-range decks run between 12 and 20 creatures with some typically being mana ramping creatures.  The creatures that are played usually provide “value” they do more than one thing or are ability packed, provide some kind of combo or provide a measure of control in addition to being threatening on the battlefield. These decks will usually have lots of removal or stall, 12-15 spells, removal or life gain cards with x in the cost, and spells that help them draw or get them card advantage.
    Control decks – the only reason you’re allowed to play cards against a control deck is because they let you.  That’s the goal.  They pack cards that wipe the board and let them search their decks for the cards they need to defeat you.  The main goal here is to have the card they need when they need it to stop you from doing what you need to do to win. These are high level decks and require a lot of experience and thought to play.

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New to Competitive Magic and New player Guide.docx 28.66 kb, 2 downloads since 2013-05-13 

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