Need your advice for a veteran gamer starting MTG

[Erik]

Hi everyone,

I just found the podcast (and thus, the forums), and I was hoping I could get some advice from some of you.

I'm a veteran CCG/TCG player. Been playing card games since around 1993, some at the expert level. However, aside from back in 1991 when it first started, I've never played MTG.

Though I understand the game mechanics, I'm effectively a complete newbie.

I recently starting collecting. I've got a good set of Zendikar so far, with a moderate amount of Worldwake and Eldrazi. Got some core 2010, but I'm saving my money for 2011. I have very little from the Alara block.


I need your help...

1. What mistakes do you see new players/collectors making? What general advice do you have?

2. I'm a bit overwhelmed when it comes to deck ideas. I need some advice on some directions in which I should go.

I'm not intimidated by more advanced strategies, so feel free to make complicated suggestions. I'm a veteran CCG player, and I understand the basics and terminology (though not card-specific slang) of MTG. But my gameplay has been limited to the Xbox. I've found some game shops in my area, but they seem to mainly do tournaments and not much casual play, so I'm a little worried about bringing some newbie elf deck to a slaughterhouse.

I'm not rich, but I'm willing to pick up some singles if I need to. Otherwise, I've just been picking up whatever the most recent expansion is (or should I concentrate on a specific set?). I don't have a ton of cards, so I'm trying to get ideas on where I should focus my collecting based on what deck themes I should be working toward.

So... Any advice? Please, I'll listen to any suggestions or tips you're willing to pass on.

Thanks!!

Erik

[Ferridge]

Hi Erik,

Welcome to the forum.

Are you planning on playing paper magic or online? The reason I ask, for paper magic I personally improved in leaps and bounds on both game playing and deck building with finding a local FNM group. (A word of warning, if you do find a group you should learn the rough price of your cards if you intend to trade. its not nice but unfortunately you will get some people trying to rip you off on trades)

For deck ideas, i'd start with trying to make standard decks as they have a smaller card pool. What I used to do is go through my collection and pic the cards I wanted to play. Build a rough deck, then check out websites like TCG Player for decks. They have deck lists from both MTGO and ones submitted by members.

Once you have your deck post it on here, with a little info on why you put what in your deck. This forum has got some friendly people, so you'll get suggestions without any abuse on the inclusion of a bad card.

When I've built a deck, I normally put it on Magic Workstation (its a free programme that allows you to play games online, notes on how to download it are on the forum) and play a few games with mates. If you dont know anyone else into Magic you can always post a thread requesting a game, and join the league.

Reading articles about what decks are doing well on the pro tour also gives you food for thought. I personally read starcity games and channel fireball in addition to this site.

[browncoat]

First, I recommend playing paper magic over an online version especially in the beginning as you will learn how to play the game far better in person.

I second Ferridge's advice for knowing the value of your cards. New players, either to the game or a particular store, are generally targeted by the jerks of the store to be ripped off.

For your second question I would look at deckcheck.net. While suggesting that you netdeck in the beginning is not the best idea it can at least inspire you and get you familiar with the decks in the format. Looking at or posting on forums can help a lot. On this forum I am always happy to help with decks, especially if they crazy (that just makes them more fun).

If your local tournaments are Friday Night Magic I would recommend going to them as they are relatively casual and, if there are good people there, they will help teach you how to play better. Don't worry as much about tournaments being a slaughterhouse assuming that you don't go to the hardcore tournaments from the very beginning.

On collecting: you should not just buy and crack boosters. Either get singles and/or draft. Drafting is lots of fun and can help you quickly build a collection. The advantage of singles is that you get the cards you want and don't get the bulk commons that you put in a shoebox as no one wants them unless you need to make proxies. While chase cards are pricey they are generally less expensive as singles than if you bought boosters to get a playset.

[yankeedave]

I would just add to this that if you have a deck idea, proxy the cards in it first, either by writing the cards attributes on a basic land or, if you have sleeves, turning a card over in the sleeve and writing the proxy cards attirbutes on a piece of paper and putting that in the sleeve. This reason i suggest this is that it can tell you if your idea works before spending a lot of money on cards you don't need. I wish someone had told me this when I started playing, as I had loads of cards that I just didnt need and couldn't get rid off via trading!

[Erik]

Great advice! Thanks!

Some quick things:

1. I'm almost exclusively a Mac user at the moment, and while I can run Windows too, my other issue is that I was recently laid off, and so I'm a stay-at-home father of a very active one-year-old son who doesn't let me anywhere near a computer (my web browsing is via iPad). So while I'm very interested in online play, it's unlikely for me. At least for a while.

2. I can appreciate the importance of not allowing myself to get ripped off. I've done a lot of collecting throughout my life, so I know exactly what you're talking about. Of course, my weakness with MTG right now is a total lack of familiarity with individual cards and prices.

Where's the best place online to get prices?

3. Thanks for the mention of the other forums. Will check those too.

4. Hadn't thought much about focusing on singles instead of boosters. I'd been taking the opposite approach. Will start working on singles.

5. Hadn't thought much about proxies, especially since I'm still trying to find casual play opportunities. I'll keep that in mind once I start making some friends in the area (we just moved here) and play outside the FNM tournaments.

More questions...

As I just mentioned, where's the best place online to get card prices?

Single color decks seem limited; too many colors seem difficult to get going (though I know Alara encouraged it). Do most people play two-color decks? Single-color?

Is there a particular color that's more broken or more powerful than others? So far, I seem to lean toward green, but control decks seem both popular and powerful, and green doesn't seem to have much in the way of control.

[browncoat]

Magiccards.info and blacklotusproject.com are the sites I look at for prices.

Colorwise no color is too much more powerful than another. There is almost always a Mono-red aggro deck in standard but the other colors don't always have a solid mono-colored deck based around them. Generally decks are two color as you have a more flexible and stable deck and a larger group of solid card to work with while maintaining a stable manabase.

That said in older formats blue is far more broken that the other colors. Cards like force of will shape the format around them.

[Ferridge]

Star city games, is another good site to use for card prices.

I personally think you can build a decent mono coloured deck out of all colours apart from blue. Ive tried my hardest to make a good merfolk deck, but alas it hasnt happened.

I think the best colour will depend on what type of deck you want to build. As Alex has said in his podcasts you cant build a decent combo deck in standard at the moment, so that leaves you aggro and control.

For aggro I would suggest playing red and another colour either green for big fatties or black for added spot creature removal. You can go for all three colours but to make sure the mana works you'll be needing to spend a decent amount on duel lands and sac lands. I think a good Jund (green, red and black deck) mana base costs around $100 to buy.

If you want to play a control deck, then blue would be a good base colour that is normally mixed with white. But has been used with either green or black to make some powerfull decks.

The decks im currently have built and doing well with are-

UW control - Which is using blue for counter spell, and white for mass creature removal.

Polymorph - Which is Green, white and blue. This deck uses the green to create token creature, white for protection of my spells with a silence. and the blue for counter spells and the name sake card polymorph

Eldrazi Green - Which is a mono green deck that produces loads of cheap buys and give me extra mana to flood the board with creatures. (an old deck list is on the forum for this one)

[browncoat]

(2010-06-30 11:26 AM)Ferridge Wrote:  Star city games, is another good site to use for card prices.

Star city normally has really inflated prices, you really don't want to base you pricing on them as you overvalue about every card. They are a site that a lot of game stores take their pricing from though so you may still have to pay their prices.

(2010-06-30 11:26 AM)Ferridge Wrote:  I personally think you can build a decent mono coloured deck out of all colours apart from blue. Ive tried my hardest to make a good merfolk deck, but alas it hasnt happened.

I have also been working on a merfolk deck, and with the potential for a merrow rejeerey reprint in m11, it might be fairly good. Depending how it does I might write an article about it.

(2010-06-30 11:26 AM)Ferridge Wrote:  For aggro I would suggest playing red and another colour either green for big fatties or black for added spot creature removal. You can go for all three colours but to make sure the mana works you'll be needing to spend a decent amount on duel lands and sac lands. I think a good Jund (green, red and black deck) mana base costs around $100 to buy.

Admittedly buying a jund mana-base now might not be the greatest idea as the m10 lands are getting reprinted and jund is rotating out soon so they should drop a little in price.

[Ferridge]

(2010-06-30 11:41 AM)browncoat Wrote:  

(2010-06-30 11:26 AM)Ferridge Wrote:  I personally think you can build a decent mono coloured deck out of all colours apart from blue. Ive tried my hardest to make a good merfolk deck, but alas it hasnt happened.

I have also been working on a merfolk deck, and with the potential for a merrow rejeerey reprint in m11, it might be fairly good. Depending how it does I might write an article about it.

That would be good, esp with the cross over period you'd 3 merfolk lord type creatures giving them +1/+1

[articpenguin]

Yo Eric, welcome to the forums.

1. I learned the hard way, that putting a bunch of random cards because they look "good" or "cool" will not work. When you have cards in a deck, you want to find cards that work well together. The best place I get me cards (I prefer to buy in singles so I can get the cards I want, nothing else) is sites like ChannelFireball or trading on the forums (it's another good way, have been doing it for a couple years).

2. A good place to get basic deck ideas is Building on a Budget. It's where I first started getting my deck ideas, they don't cost much, and there's a lot to choose from.

If you're interested in an Online form of Magic, Check out the Magic Workstation thread.

[lasraik]

Great info here, I would also check out http://www.magiccards.info

Good site and it has prices so it's a good place to get ideas. Try not to get overwhelmed and focus on a certain set to start off until you expand a bit to others.

[articpenguin]

(2010-07-06 05:25 AM)lasraik Wrote:  Great info here, I would also check out http://www.magiccards.info

Good site and it has prices so it's a good place to get ideas. Try not to get overwhelmed and focus on a certain set to start off until you expand a bit to others.

Plus, I like how they give you the places with the lowest prices as well.

[sikander]

Yes that's the most fascinating part of it get place at such low price .

[Pabloman]

hi, a couple of starter packs and older preconstructed decks will ease you into it gently
then you can start tweaking and going more advanced.

(if you ever find lots of cards that you think will go well together but youre not sure what to take out.. its still possible to make huge decks which will still work with the right ratios, even like my 450 card deck which even beat a 60-card mono blue 3 games out of 5

(actually we never saw that guy come back to the club after that) sniff