Deckbuilding: Part 2
By Fetar
Mana Matters
So I was ruffling through a stack of oh say 55 green commons, all 8th edition. I was trying to build a deck entirely of those cards and nothing else. Since they were commons, I had about 3-4 of each card and 20 forests with an aim for 40 green commons as my main deck. And I couldn't determine which cards to take out! They were all too perfect for the deck! Then I noticed the mana costs in the 8th edition commons: very well thought out (Good job again wizards!). There was a good set of cards with mana costs 1-6 with the majority being 2-3. Since there were too many second turn plays as well as too many two mana "mana generators" I took out the Rampant Growths for Vine Trellis, because I wanted something in play by then other than Norwood Ranger.
So what is it that I noticed? I noticed that I should have a play for every turn and each of those plays need unity. The best way to do this is to make a deck of pure commons/uncommons and make a decent amount of mana costed cards, then replace some with rares of the same mana cost (i.e Deepwood Elder to replace Grizzly Bears). Determine your general strategy, and see if two cards will work in unison to your deck strategy, like attacking with Norwood Rangers via
Monstrous Growth on the second turn and using Giant Growth on Lone Wolf to get the extra damage in shortly after. Core sets to an excellent job of making decks for you, as you can simply buy 3-4 of each common, choose 40, and add 20 forests.| Mana Cost: | Amount: | Examples: |
| 1 | 7 | Norwood Ranger, Giant Growth |
| 2 | 15 | Vine Trellis, Grizzy Bears |
| 3 | 8 | Lone Wolf, Giant Badger |
| 4 | 4 | Nantuko Disciple, Giant Spider |
| 5 | 4 | Moss Monster, Spined Wurm |
| 6 | 3 | Craw Wurm |
The purpose of that table was to show where I want my mana cost density to be, which is generally for guaranteed plays on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd turn. If I haven't done what I need to by then , the higher mana cost cards will do it for me. This works for most kinds of decks: burn, counter, beatdown, and weeny. All of the colors have basic cards of every mana cost, so if you are new to magic you can design your deck using a consistent array of mana costs. You can slowly build your deck by finding better cards to replace those cards in your deck of the same mana cost, and the strategy will stay the same but only better until you want something different.
Deck Design
If you are new to Magic, you should have started off with the Core Set or have 7th edition cards. These are perfect for making such decks for you to work off of, and then buy the advanced sets (Scourge, Mirrodin) to find cards that you can replace your basic cards with.
Another good idea is to start your deck off with ONE color. Until you get more advanced in gameplay and get more advanced cards, you should stick to one central color. Choose that which suits your tastes best, or make two decks if you need to. But keep your deck monocolored while you are still deckbuilding and learning. Some good monocolored strategies for you to advance into are creature type based decks. Goblins, Zombies, Soldiers, Elves and Wizards are the basic types but there are hundreds of others. These are just suggestions, more elaborate detail is for another article.
Other Deckbuilding Articles:
Deckbuilding 1; Deckbuilding for Beginners