Hey guys! Brand new here, read a couple of threads and I'm sorry if this is a repost. I've played MTG for a while now, started playing around tempest, I think. Quit playing for a while. Like a long while, and the game has changed. Just started back into it about 6 months ago. Being an adult, I have a small amount of income I can dedicate a month towards MTG. So, anyway, I typically play with the same set of friends; I do pretty well, but I feel like I'm a little more seasoned then they are. So I was thinking maybe I'd try my hand at some tourney play. I'm going into it assuming I'm going to get my ass kicked. However, any pointers/suggestions would be super helpful. Thinking about going into modern, and aside from my internet research I think it'd be cool to hear from actual other players about deck building. I like aggro smash your face decks, but am open to anything. Anyway, to the question; how do you balance your deck for tourney play? I tend to be super creature heavy, with spells that make sense. It seems like a lot of the decks I've been reading about are way more spell control. So what works for you? Do you guys use tourney decks that are established? Or do you try and be creative with it? I lean towards the latter. Any suggestions are appreciated.
if you are getting into modern id advise familiarizing yourself with the decks that are most played and what cards they tend to lean on. mtggoldfish is a great resource for that and you may even see some decks pop up that no one is discussing and can lead to some interesting deck building ideas. that being said a lot of modern players tend to stick to established decks for tourney as they are very stream lined. Humans right now is arguably one of the best decks in the format and kind of fits your criteria. modern tends to be more about the best card for a spot so there isnt a whole lot of bias asfar as creature deck vs spell decks but there are certainly decks that are competitive in both regards. Lastly ill say dont get tilted by losing. Everything about the loss is a learning experience and that helps shape what decks you tend to play because it will fit your style. Oddly enough the two type of decks i like to play also make it so my opponent doesnt.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Tooth & Nail........Grishoalbrand....Living Dominance....Tezzerator.........Vannifar Pod
My Decks that have been BANNED
DRS Jund | Kiki-Pod | Bloom Titan | Splinter Twin | KCI
You don't need to start with standard. Modern is fine, but it'll take a while before you feel comfortable with how your deck matches up against others. FNM level play is casual anyway; it's a great place to start. Even GP side events are a reasonable beginner option.
Modern rewards familiarity, and deckbuilding/brewing in modern needs that familiarity as a foundation, to recognise where cards switch from being good to "cute". Bringing a kitchen table brew to a modern tournament can be a bit overwhelming. Games are intense, decks are tuned to take advantage of every small percentage edge they can, and a pilot familiar with their deck will know to take specific lines of play to negotiate their way to the highest chance of winning.
That said, there's room to innovate in the format, very much so. New decks crop up all the time. My advice as a long term player in the format would be to take a gander at the extensive list (50+) of decks which are viable in the format, and use one of them as a framework to innovate. Start with a functional base and go from there. You'll find something you like, modern has pretty much everything.
What's nice is that if you start with something decent as your basis for learning and familiarising yourself with the format, you'll be able to keep building and learning as long as you like. Modern decks don't really expire (although the metagame does swing around like a pendulum). Standard decks change hugely week-on-week so it's not worth it to try and keep up if you're only hitting up a tournament once in a while. Modern represents a more consistent experience generally speaking.
If you're into creatures I'd suggest the following starting points for some inspiration, in no particular order:
Eldrazi tron
RG eldrazi
Elves
Death & taxes
Zoo
Jund
Jund shadow
Abzan
Burn
Humans
Devoted druid (combo/midrange mix)
Hate bears (bit like death & taxes)
GW Value-town
8-whack
Affinity
Infect
Bogles
Knightfall
Off the top of my head those are the most prominent creature decks floating around at the moment, but there are more. Any of them would be a decent basis to work from.
Modern's a fine place to develop and build your skill as a magic player. Just make sure to spend some time exploring and learning about the decks and their matchups. Take your time, enjoy it. No better way to learn than by doing. Pull together a deck and hit up that FNM =)
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern: G Tron, Vannifar, Jund, Druid/Vizier combo, Humans, Eldrazi Stompy (Serum Powder), Amulet, Grishoalbrand, Breach Titan, Turns, Eternal Command, As Foretold Living End, Elves, Cheerios, RUG Scapeshift
So I tend to try and create my own decks from scratch and I'm very stubborn and dislike netdecking for myself. What I will say, is that if you don't netdeck, prepare to get very frustrated when you've spent a lot time and money putting together a deck only to realize that it just can't compete with certain strategies. When I played more paper magic it would take me weeks to get the cards together and then I would have to buy a ton of different options (some expensive) if I wasn't a hundred percent sure on the final build. That way I could change them last minute if need be. For the most part decks live and die on their ability to disrupt each other's game plans, not on their linear abilities. So you have to know the meta really well to build a deck that's going to be successful.
My biased suggestion would be to start building your deck on Magic Online. A lot of the rares will be way cheaper, you don't have to wait for stuff to ship, if you want to make changes to the deck or buy cards you get them immediately. If you need to sell your cards back to get money to purchase other cards, you can do this within minutes. You also get a chance to play decks in the meta as the meta changes, meaning you'll see newer decks before you would at your LGS. A lot of people make the mistake of using their LGS as the testing grounds for bigger tournaments and it's just not a good representation. I say decide on a deck after playing with it for a while online, that way you don't waste you're money on a bunch of decks that don't work. I'm always playing on a budget and I've found this to be the best way to do that.
Standard is not a good idea for somebody on a budget. With your card collection I'd go for pauper or Highlander (if in Australia) to get a feel for competition before going to modern and its turn 2 and 3 wins. I find draft and sealed events to be the most fun and interesting while still getting a taste of competition. You can get ready for the competitive environment on a lower budget. That being said, you probably own all of modern and legacy burn so you could always try that.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Tooth & Nail........Grishoalbrand....Living Dominance....Tezzerator.........Vannifar Pod
My Decks that have been BANNED
DRS Jund | Kiki-Pod | Bloom Titan | Splinter Twin | KCI
Modern rewards familiarity, and deckbuilding/brewing in modern needs that familiarity as a foundation, to recognise where cards switch from being good to "cute". Bringing a kitchen table brew to a modern tournament can be a bit overwhelming. Games are intense, decks are tuned to take advantage of every small percentage edge they can, and a pilot familiar with their deck will know to take specific lines of play to negotiate their way to the highest chance of winning.
That said, there's room to innovate in the format, very much so. New decks crop up all the time. My advice as a long term player in the format would be to take a gander at the extensive list (50+) of decks which are viable in the format, and use one of them as a framework to innovate. Start with a functional base and go from there. You'll find something you like, modern has pretty much everything.
What's nice is that if you start with something decent as your basis for learning and familiarising yourself with the format, you'll be able to keep building and learning as long as you like. Modern decks don't really expire (although the metagame does swing around like a pendulum). Standard decks change hugely week-on-week so it's not worth it to try and keep up if you're only hitting up a tournament once in a while. Modern represents a more consistent experience generally speaking.
If you're into creatures I'd suggest the following starting points for some inspiration, in no particular order:
Eldrazi tron
RG eldrazi
Elves
Death & taxes
Zoo
Jund
Jund shadow
Abzan
Burn
Humans
Devoted druid (combo/midrange mix)
Hate bears (bit like death & taxes)
GW Value-town
8-whack
Affinity
Infect
Bogles
Knightfall
Off the top of my head those are the most prominent creature decks floating around at the moment, but there are more. Any of them would be a decent basis to work from.
Modern's a fine place to develop and build your skill as a magic player. Just make sure to spend some time exploring and learning about the decks and their matchups. Take your time, enjoy it. No better way to learn than by doing. Pull together a deck and hit up that FNM =)
My biased suggestion would be to start building your deck on Magic Online. A lot of the rares will be way cheaper, you don't have to wait for stuff to ship, if you want to make changes to the deck or buy cards you get them immediately. If you need to sell your cards back to get money to purchase other cards, you can do this within minutes. You also get a chance to play decks in the meta as the meta changes, meaning you'll see newer decks before you would at your LGS. A lot of people make the mistake of using their LGS as the testing grounds for bigger tournaments and it's just not a good representation. I say decide on a deck after playing with it for a while online, that way you don't waste you're money on a bunch of decks that don't work. I'm always playing on a budget and I've found this to be the best way to do that.