Hey y'all. So, I just recently got into magic for the first time. Now I ended up getting a free kit from a store, and a deck builders toolkit. My friend got the free deck, and a duel deck pack.
So I played a few hours worth of games with him only using the free deck. And then decided to try my hand at making a deck with the kit/starter deck.
i'm 99% sure it's an absolutely horrible deck (don't even really care, I'm having fun haha) But figured I'd put it here just to see if I'm even on the right path to making one that's effective eventually.
One thing, that's almost universal for newer players with limited access to cards, you want about 24 lands in your 60 cards (bigger decks are usually weaker decks, so try to stick to 60). Aggroish decks can do with less land (about 22), extreme aggro can even cope with only 18-20. Controllish decks usually need a bit more (about 25), some control decks run up to 28. There's also a competitive land deck, that runs as many as 43 lands, but many of those are manlands and other utility lands.
Your deck list currently only has 59 cards, a constructed deck has to contain at least 60 as per the rules.
Your creature to noncreature ratio seems fine. Though what those cards are can surely be improved. You should cater more to one of black's major strentghs and add some more spot removal ala Ultimate Price, Murder, Doom Blade, etc., cheaply costed instants and sorceries that can deal with big critters. Dead Weight is fine for dealing with little pests, but you need some big guns, too.
Nightmare is a fine creature, but it loses much of its oomph if used in decks that aren't heavily black if not monoblack. Try to find some other big flyers, that don't have such a high demand for your land base. Black does offer a lot of them, not only rares and mythics, but things like Sengir Vampire, or Howling Banshee. Or get Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to turn all lands into Swamps and power up your 'mare. Smaller flyers can also be quite powerful, like Vampire Nighthawk, that one is a beast despite its seemingly small stats.
Don't be afraid to lose a bit of life, and don't focus too much on gaining life either. Life is a resource and black can give you powerful effects for the small price of losing a bit of life. Sign in Blood, Read the Bones, that Howling Banshee I've mentioned, etc. These cards are all worth their price. Rememeber, the only life point you have to protect is your last one, the rest is expendable. So embrace the black side of Magic and use your life to your advantage. Doesn't even have to be fancy cards. If you have enough life, it's usually better to take a hit yourself than to throw away a valuable creature as chump blocker.
Auras are usually pretty weak, and prone to give you card disadvantage (if the enchanted permanent is dealt with, you also lose the aura, letting your opponent deal with two of your cards with just one of their own). Few auras are really worth playing. The same is true for other enhancement cards, though power up instants can be used as combat tricks to kill an opposing creature while keeping yours alive. It's usually better, though, to just kill or debuff your oppoent's critters instead. That's why Last Gasp is worth much more in a game than Titanic Growth.
So I played a few hours worth of games with him only using the free deck. And then decided to try my hand at making a deck with the kit/starter deck.
i'm 99% sure it's an absolutely horrible deck (don't even really care, I'm having fun haha) But figured I'd put it here just to see if I'm even on the right path to making one that's effective eventually.
It's Black/Green and is as follows.
Lands:
Swamp x11
Forrest x6
Foul orchard x2
Blighted Fen x1
Sorcerys/instants/enchantments
Grotesque Mutation x1
Dead weight x2
Earthen arms x1
Plummet x1
Shamble Back x1
Natural Connection x1
Macabre Waltz x1
Rabid Bite x1
Untamed Hunger x1
Oakenform x1
Chitinous Cloack x1
Incremental Growth x1
Dutiful Return x1
Creatures:
Zulaport Cutthroat x3
Walking Corpse x3
Vampire Envoy x3
pack guardian x2
Nightmare x1
Catacomb Sifter x1
Loam Larva x1
Blizterpod x1
Sludge crawler x1
Malakir Familiar x1
Nirkana Assasin x1
Solitary hunter x1
Void attendant x1
Kozilek's channeler
Eldrazi Devastator x1
Bane of Bala Ged x1
Rottenheart Ghoul x1
Your deck list currently only has 59 cards, a constructed deck has to contain at least 60 as per the rules.
Your creature to noncreature ratio seems fine. Though what those cards are can surely be improved. You should cater more to one of black's major strentghs and add some more spot removal ala Ultimate Price, Murder, Doom Blade, etc., cheaply costed instants and sorceries that can deal with big critters. Dead Weight is fine for dealing with little pests, but you need some big guns, too.
Nightmare is a fine creature, but it loses much of its oomph if used in decks that aren't heavily black if not monoblack. Try to find some other big flyers, that don't have such a high demand for your land base. Black does offer a lot of them, not only rares and mythics, but things like Sengir Vampire, or Howling Banshee. Or get Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to turn all lands into Swamps and power up your 'mare. Smaller flyers can also be quite powerful, like Vampire Nighthawk, that one is a beast despite its seemingly small stats.
Don't be afraid to lose a bit of life, and don't focus too much on gaining life either. Life is a resource and black can give you powerful effects for the small price of losing a bit of life. Sign in Blood, Read the Bones, that Howling Banshee I've mentioned, etc. These cards are all worth their price. Rememeber, the only life point you have to protect is your last one, the rest is expendable. So embrace the black side of Magic and use your life to your advantage. Doesn't even have to be fancy cards. If you have enough life, it's usually better to take a hit yourself than to throw away a valuable creature as chump blocker.
Auras are usually pretty weak, and prone to give you card disadvantage (if the enchanted permanent is dealt with, you also lose the aura, letting your opponent deal with two of your cards with just one of their own). Few auras are really worth playing. The same is true for other enhancement cards, though power up instants can be used as combat tricks to kill an opposing creature while keeping yours alive. It's usually better, though, to just kill or debuff your oppoent's critters instead. That's why Last Gasp is worth much more in a game than Titanic Growth.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)