I'm trying to introduce my friend to Magic. I showed him the basic rules and how to play when I was visiting him (very basic stuff). There are no Magic cards available where he lives, so we're going to start playing on Cockatrice a little bit (he's not yet ready to invest real money into Magic). I decided Modern would be a good format for us to play (mostly because that's the format I play).
So, here's what I want to do. I want to construct a couple of mono-colored decks that are easy to play for a beginner so that we can play against each other with those decks and he can learn the game. Then, if he gets into it more, we can progress to multi-colored decks and competitive decks. Any suggestions? One obvious choice is a simple White Weenie deck. I can try to construct a mono-black aggro to combat it. I'll think of something and post it for critique. Meanwhile, any suggestions would me much appreciated.
TLDR: Can you suggest two mono-colored casual decks that are evenly matched against each other and are easy to pilot for a beginner?
Burn, Mono-Green Elves, Mono-Black Vampires, Mono-Blue Faeries. I'll find some sample lists here in the forum in the Deck Creation and Developing Competitive sections.
Thank you for your response. RDW seems like a good idea. But I would be a little reluctant to make a new player pilot a combo deck like Elves. Any combo deck (including this one) needs you to be well versed with the deck to pilot it. For example, how will you know what to do with Summoner's Pact or Weird Harvest?
I'm looking for decks that you can just sort of pick up and pilot without much knowledge of the deck.
Any ideas for other decks that would be evenly matched against the RDW deck you suggested? Some kind of mono-white aggro (WW) or mono-black aggro perhaps? Mono-U Mefolks maybe?
A deck that I always used to teach was Black Hearted Rogues. It is a mono-black deck that I made almost exclusivly from the common and uncommon black rogues from morningtide. I don't have the decklist on me, but a quick search in gatherer should give you 99% of the cards. Later I added some other cards like Pulse Tracker and Dark Tutelage, but even right after I built it I was shocked at how well it played. It is fast, requires enough decision making for teaching, but not enough for confusion, and it can win games.
Also, white weenie is always decent. If you want to have a more control deck to teach those strategies I think a simple black removal and discard deck could be made for under 10 USD.
BTW...where is your friend that he does not have access to cards? Nepal? Amish Country? PM me his address, and next time I have a bunch of cards I am giving away (should be soon) I will ship them to him as a gift. I do this every so often because I just hate to throw away cards.
Also, white weenie is always decent. If you want to have a more control deck to teach those strategies I think a simple black removal and discard deck could be made for under 10 USD.
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll look up that black deck you're suggesting. Do you think it would have an even matchup against the RDW mentioned in this thread?
Also, since control and discard are more advanced strategies, I'll probably reserve them for a little later in the learning process.
BTW...where is your friend that he does not have access to cards? Nepal? Amish Country? PM me his address, and next time I have a bunch of cards I am giving away (should be soon) I will ship them to him as a gift. I do this every so often because I just hate to throw away cards.
We live in India. Magic doesn't exist here. I suspect that my card collection which I brought back with me from America is the only collection that exists here! Are you sure you're willing to ship cards that far?
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll look up that black deck you're suggesting. Do you think it would have an even matchup against the RDW mentioned in this thread?
Also, since control and discard are more advanced strategies, I'll probably reserve them for a little later in the learning process.
We live in India. Magic doesn't exist here. I suspect that my card collection which I brought back with me from America is the only collection that exists here! Are you sure you're willing to ship cards that far?
I don't have to send a ton. get the address to me and I will look into it.
WW tends to have a pretty favorable matchup vs. mono-red. I would suggest something like
4 Steppe Lynx
4 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
4 Student of Warfare
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Knight of Meadowgrain
4 Knight of the White Orchid
4 Path to Exile
4 Spectral Procession
4 Honor of the Pure
2 Kor Skyfisher
22 Plains
Its a fairly simple list that puts alot of focus on creature combat, which is a great place to start for a beginner. It has a small amount of lifegain, which matches up well against RDW, while not having too much for the red deck to overcome. It seems like a fairly evenly matched contest
Also, since control and discard are more advanced strategies, I'll probably reserve them for a little later in the learning process.
I always though of black discard control as a little more straightforward than other kinds of control if you exclude suicide cards like Smallpox. Take some good destruction, a few discard spells, and some cards that can finish things off.
Now that I look at it carefully it is also a bit more advanced than I made it out to be. I just took all the keywords and typed out their text and a brief example so the player had a cheat-sheet to keep them from being overwhelmed by terminology. Things like Deathtouch, Fear, and Shadow can be tough to keep track of at first. I then just give them plenty of leeway when it came to taking plays back (if nothing else had happened) and explained the consiquences of each play. Things like Sign in Blood are a little counter-intuitive at first, but if you start out teaching him that Life is not "how soon you will loose", but rather a resource like any other, than he should pick it up.
So, here's what I want to do. I want to construct a couple of mono-colored decks that are easy to play for a beginner so that we can play against each other with those decks and he can learn the game. Then, if he gets into it more, we can progress to multi-colored decks and competitive decks. Any suggestions? One obvious choice is a simple White Weenie deck. I can try to construct a mono-black aggro to combat it. I'll think of something and post it for critique. Meanwhile, any suggestions would me much appreciated.
TLDR: Can you suggest two mono-colored casual decks that are evenly matched against each other and are easy to pilot for a beginner?
BRG Loam Control (Assault - Loam) BRG
W Mono White Control (Martyr - Proc) W
4 Goblin Guide
4 Hellspark Elemental
4 Keldon Marauders
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Ball Lightning
4 Rift Bolt
3 Slag Storm
4 Lava Spike
2 Shard Volley
vs...
4 Arbor Elf
4 Boreal Druid
4 Elvish Archdruid
4 Elvish Visionary
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2 Fauna Shaman
4 Heritage Druid
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Nettle Sentinel
3 Regal Force
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Weird Harvest
4 Summoner's Pact
CG
Thank you for your response. RDW seems like a good idea. But I would be a little reluctant to make a new player pilot a combo deck like Elves. Any combo deck (including this one) needs you to be well versed with the deck to pilot it. For example, how will you know what to do with Summoner's Pact or Weird Harvest?
I'm looking for decks that you can just sort of pick up and pilot without much knowledge of the deck.
Any ideas for other decks that would be evenly matched against the RDW deck you suggested? Some kind of mono-white aggro (WW) or mono-black aggro perhaps? Mono-U Mefolks maybe?
BRG Loam Control (Assault - Loam) BRG
W Mono White Control (Martyr - Proc) W
4 Student of Warfare
2 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
4 Ajani's Pridemate
16 Vanilla Creatures
4 Path to Exile
4 Healing Salve
4 Dawn Charm
22 Plains
BRG Loam Control (Assault - Loam) BRG
W Mono White Control (Martyr - Proc) W
Thanks, I just checked it out: http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/boab/181
Seems fairly ok to pilot for a beginner.
But don't you think it would get crushed by the RDW list that I want to match it up against?
BRG Loam Control (Assault - Loam) BRG
W Mono White Control (Martyr - Proc) W
Also, white weenie is always decent. If you want to have a more control deck to teach those strategies I think a simple black removal and discard deck could be made for under 10 USD.
BTW...where is your friend that he does not have access to cards? Nepal? Amish Country? PM me his address, and next time I have a bunch of cards I am giving away (should be soon) I will ship them to him as a gift. I do this every so often because I just hate to throw away cards.
Reprint Opt for Modern!!
FREE DIG THOROUGH TIME!
PLAY MORE ROUGE DECKS!
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll look up that black deck you're suggesting. Do you think it would have an even matchup against the RDW mentioned in this thread?
Also, since control and discard are more advanced strategies, I'll probably reserve them for a little later in the learning process.
We live in India. Magic doesn't exist here. I suspect that my card collection which I brought back with me from America is the only collection that exists here! Are you sure you're willing to ship cards that far?
BRG Loam Control (Assault - Loam) BRG
W Mono White Control (Martyr - Proc) W
Reprint Opt for Modern!!
FREE DIG THOROUGH TIME!
PLAY MORE ROUGE DECKS!
4 Steppe Lynx
4 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
4 Student of Warfare
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Knight of Meadowgrain
4 Knight of the White Orchid
4 Path to Exile
4 Spectral Procession
4 Honor of the Pure
2 Kor Skyfisher
22 Plains
Its a fairly simple list that puts alot of focus on creature combat, which is a great place to start for a beginner. It has a small amount of lifegain, which matches up well against RDW, while not having too much for the red deck to overcome. It seems like a fairly evenly matched contest
4 Doom Blade
4 Distress
4 Abyssal Specter
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Nyxathid
4 Phyrexian Arena
That is just a list of cards off the top of my head, and I suppose it is not for a brand new player, but perhaps after a dozen games or so.
Here is my Rogue deck (modified for cost and rarity)
22 Swamp
Creatures:
4 Pulse Tracker
4 Nightshade Stinger
2 Quag Vampires
4 Oona's Blackguard
4 Oona's Prowler
4 Trespasser il-Vec
3 Stinkdrinker Bandit
3 Auntie's Snitch
4 Nekretaal
4 Nameless Inversion
4 Sign in Blood
Now that I look at it carefully it is also a bit more advanced than I made it out to be. I just took all the keywords and typed out their text and a brief example so the player had a cheat-sheet to keep them from being overwhelmed by terminology. Things like Deathtouch, Fear, and Shadow can be tough to keep track of at first. I then just give them plenty of leeway when it came to taking plays back (if nothing else had happened) and explained the consiquences of each play. Things like Sign in Blood are a little counter-intuitive at first, but if you start out teaching him that Life is not "how soon you will loose", but rather a resource like any other, than he should pick it up.
Reprint Opt for Modern!!
FREE DIG THOROUGH TIME!
PLAY MORE ROUGE DECKS!