Magic: The Gathering

[Stickyfingers]

Originally Posted by Shannacore [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

So a friend and I started playing this over the weekend. Neither of us had previously played, and it was certainly a lot of fun. What's the strategy in creating your deck though? He was playing black/white while I was playing red, which seemed alright. We both pretty much had no idea what we were doing, but we were learning as the games went on. Our matches were definitely close (although he proceeded to win every single match except one), which makes me think his deck was just better..?

I D K, give me some nerdy tips on how you assemble your decks / play your cards. Is one color set obviously better than the other..? I bought a couple of packs of cards this weekend, going to try to put together an ub3r l33t deck this week. I need to be prepared for Thursdays games, giev tips ~ ~

Being someone who has played MTG off an on for about 8 years now, I would say he probably had a better deck than you.

Also, none of the colors are inherently better, although it would depend on the magic set you are playing.

Typically Blue = Control based, very much used to tap and untap, or effectively shut down your opponents offense.
Red = Burn spells, haste creatures, typically comes out fast and tries to finish you in a quick amount of time.
Black = Life steal, creature removal, discarding, similar to red in some ways, but is usually a mix of red and blue, strong creatures with a splash of control.
White = Typically very creature oriented, have some control, life gain etc.
Green = Pretty much creature based, has many sorcery's and instants that will pump your creatures or help you find land a lot of strong beaty creatures.

Obviously these are just broad types and you will find red cards that act like white ones or green or whatever and vice versa.

The strategy for building a deck I would give is starting off with two colors. Typically there are some classic pairings, Blue-Black, Red-Green, Blue-White. Many times though, colors are played solo, but usually in the cases of Black and White I would say.

Pick what colors you want to play and just try to focus on those types. Make sure you completely understand what they do, and just think about what your deck is trying to achieve, and does that card fit in line with your decks win condition.

Pro-Tip: Take your time on your turn and when your opponent makes moves. Make sure you leave no possibility uncovered, (Couterspell, permanent destruction, ect.) it is the worst feeling to make a mistake that essentially ends the game and was so incredibly simple!