Hi all, new MTG player here. I'm somewhat familiar with deck building, having played some Hearthstone, but a lot of the subtleties of MTG are lost on me so far. I'm starting to get into a local group, and have just entered into a casual (5 pack) sealed deck tournament. A lot of the other players are significantly more experienced than I am, so I don't feel bad about going online for help assembling my deck and asking for some advice on how to play it.
EDIT: I should add, the tournament does not have a prize, other than pride in winning.
Here are the cards I got from my (Innistrad) packs:
My (n00b) immediate thoughts were that I wanted green in my deck for the mana flexibility and land advantage, blue for some harassment and removal, and all of my artifacts. What I've yet to decide is if I want to go red/green/blue with most of the werewolves, or red/green/white with humans, and if it's worth having a splash of black in either.
Of the two players who typically win our tournaments, one almost always goes heavily blue, with lots of scry and deck manipulation (when he can), while the other has shown flexibility in producing some truly awful decks from all colors, but is typically not known for playing very fast ones.
So I'm not asking you guys to completely build my deck for me, here's my scratchpad for a G/W/Blu deck:
It seems kindof hard to make a really focused deck out of just 5 packs, so I expect I'll probably need to look for overall synergy. Some cards that seem to lend to each other:
-Loam Dryad and Aim High could provide a nasty surprise
-Fork in the road, Corrupted Grafstone, Port Town, Stoic Builder give some flexibility in mana, which would allow me to put a splash of a 4th color in either deck - either some red in the white/blue/green, or possible black into either. Throttle and Tooth Collector both benefit from having a 4th color.
-I have a fair number of spirits, and flying could be really useful
-Tamiyo's Journal might work well with Ongoing Investigation? Seems to lend itself more to the white deck, given that I can sacrifice a clue token for Pious Evangel. Graf Mole might allow for a lot of life gain, and given the potential for getting a lot of land on the field, card draw ought to be pretty good.
-Hope against hope could work in either (as a splash in the red deck)
-Haunted Cloak looks neat but I can't think of any specific synergies with it.
-Ulrich's Kindred looks amazing
-Geistblast could work nicely with some other spells, but I'd like to know, does it work with Burn from Within?
My biggest concern with having 4 colors is how slow the deck might become. I've never played a 4+ color deck before.
Usually it's best to stick to two colors in a limited environment. In Sealed, I usually end up with two colors plus a splash of a third (only 2-3 cards of that third color with 2-3 ways to enable that third color). With one pack less than usual, this is much more likely the better thing to do. From what I've gleaned of your pool, I think, red and green should be your main colors. And I would splash black for Throttle and Sinister Concoction.
It's a surprisingly good mana curve with lots of removal, so you should get a pretty consistent aggroish game. Maybe try to get in another land, to get to 3 lands more consistently. Throw in Magmatic Chasm as a sideboard card or even main if you expect frequent board stalls, to enable a game winning assault. I'd like adding one of two more creatures, but there isn't anything left worth the trouble, in my opinion. Maybe that Crow of Dark Tidings as an evasive creature, but you usually splash only for game changing powerful cards (removal, bombs). Or that Tooth Collector, which may have some late game potential and is even more removal if nothing else.
-Geistblast could work nicely with some other spells, but I'd like to know, does it work with Burn from Within?
Yes it does. Copying an X spell will give the copy the same value for X chosen for the original. But considering, that you would need to forgo 3 damage on the original just to get a copy, such a play would only work out for more damage if you have 8+ mana available. And if you have that mana, chances are high, that just aiming BfW at the opponent's head will end the game anyway. It's not even worth further dilluting your land base with an Island. Your best bet is a consistent powerful early game, and messing with your land base puts that in jeopardy.
Your blue is actually garbage, not worth being a main color, and nothing worth splashing for. Even white offers better stuff, mostly flyers, but it's also pretty weak, the most compelling point for white is that pseudo dragon, and if it wouldn't cost double white, that would be worth splashing for. As it is just forget about it and aim for a consistent earlier game. That can wreck more havoc and win more games than some convoluted 4+ color mess full of expensive powerful cards.
-For some reason, I thought Moldgraf Scavenger and Tooth Collector required 4 or more colors in my graveyard. When it says "type", would that mean that a land, enchantment, artifact, and creature would activate that ability? And, if I'm understanding correctly, what about cards with dual types, such as Artifact Creatures?
-Can you give some examples of how you might tune for Tamiyo's Journal, as an example? It appears that, other than the Graf Mole and Byway Courier, there's little in the way of synergy with that.
EDIT: What are your thoughts on Haunted Cloak? It seems a cheap and effective way to get haste, which seems suited to this deck. Also, why the Wicker Witch? I would have thought a second Geistblast or Tooth Collector would be a good choice there, or maybe Village Messenger.
The card types are: land, creature, artifact, enchantment, instant, sorcery, planeswalker, tribal. If on the cards in your graveyard at least four of those are present, delirium is active. (Tribal is not present in the set.) If a card has more than one type, all its types are counted. So an artifact creature, a land, and an instant would suffice, for example. Multiples of a type are redundant, so four creature cards would not be enough, since it's still only one card type.
I would not try to enhance the Journal, but it could be worthwhile on its own. Because one Clue per turn, pretty much equals one extra card per turn. And cards are the most useful resource to have in the game. So much so, that having more cards in a game usually means being more likely to win. But the Journal is slow, so it doesn't fit an aggro approach. That's why I left it out of my list. The cards I listed are the ones that you may want to add to the deck, or swap in from the sideboard against other decks.
EDIT: What are your thoughts on Haunted Cloak? It seems a cheap and effective way to get haste, which seems suited to this deck. Also, why the Wicker Witch? I would have thought a second Geistblast or Tooth Collector would be a good choice there, or maybe Village Messenger.
You're right on the Geistblast. I missed, that you have two of those available. I'd probably swap it in instead of Explosive Apparatus.
Wicker Witch I added, because the deck needed creatures. There are only 14 even with the Witch, which is already on the lower end of what is playable in a typical Sealed deck. Being an artifact creature also helps a bit with delirium on the Moldgraf Scavenger. If you want to play the Tooth Collector, go for it, either in addition or instead of the Witch.
1-drop creatures really need to add something in a Sealed deck to be worthwhile. A 1/1 haste ceature isn't enough, even if it can turn into a 2/2. 1/1s and 2/2s are outclassed quickly, so for them to matter the deck either needs to be very fast, or they have to have more utility than just attacking. This deck isn't aggressive enough for that to be worth the card slot, in my opinion. If you had like three of them with a bunch of 2-drops to follow it up, that would be a different story.
Haste is usually less useful in Limited. And Haunted Cloak needs an initial investment of 4 mana to do anything. The most useful feature of the card is granting trample, but for the most part, just killing potential blockers is the better way to go. The deck right now has a lot of 3-drop creatures, so just filling the board with them builds pressure. And you do have a considerable amount of removal, too.
EDIT: I should add, the tournament does not have a prize, other than pride in winning.
Here are the cards I got from my (Innistrad) packs:
http://deckstats.net/collection/960/
My (n00b) immediate thoughts were that I wanted green in my deck for the mana flexibility and land advantage, blue for some harassment and removal, and all of my artifacts. What I've yet to decide is if I want to go red/green/blue with most of the werewolves, or red/green/white with humans, and if it's worth having a splash of black in either.
Of the two players who typically win our tournaments, one almost always goes heavily blue, with lots of scry and deck manipulation (when he can), while the other has shown flexibility in producing some truly awful decks from all colors, but is typically not known for playing very fast ones.
So I'm not asking you guys to completely build my deck for me, here's my scratchpad for a G/W/Blu deck:
http://deckstats.net/decks/65819/496067-wgblu-scratch
^ I currently have 31 cards without land and would like to get it down to 23 or so, but I'm struggling to pare it down.
Here's my scratchpad R/G/Blue deck:
http://deckstats.net/decks/65819/496077-rgblu-scratch
^ I currently have 34 cards in this one without land.
Here's a link to my spare cards:
http://deckstats.net/decks/65819/496081-spare-cards
Any help would be appreciated!
It seems kindof hard to make a really focused deck out of just 5 packs, so I expect I'll probably need to look for overall synergy. Some cards that seem to lend to each other:
-Loam Dryad and Aim High could provide a nasty surprise
-Fork in the road, Corrupted Grafstone, Port Town, Stoic Builder give some flexibility in mana, which would allow me to put a splash of a 4th color in either deck - either some red in the white/blue/green, or possible black into either. Throttle and Tooth Collector both benefit from having a 4th color.
-I have a fair number of spirits, and flying could be really useful
-Tamiyo's Journal might work well with Ongoing Investigation? Seems to lend itself more to the white deck, given that I can sacrifice a clue token for Pious Evangel. Graf Mole might allow for a lot of life gain, and given the potential for getting a lot of land on the field, card draw ought to be pretty good.
-Hope against hope could work in either (as a splash in the red deck)
-Haunted Cloak looks neat but I can't think of any specific synergies with it.
-Ulrich's Kindred looks amazing
-Geistblast could work nicely with some other spells, but I'd like to know, does it work with Burn from Within?
My biggest concern with having 4 colors is how slow the deck might become. I've never played a 4+ color deck before.
Something like this perhaps:
7 Forest
3 Swamp
1 Sanguinary Mage
1 Moldgraf Scavenger
1 Quilled Wolf
1 Byway Courier
1 Wicker Witch
1 Graf Mole
1 Stoic Builder
1 Geier Reach Bandit
1 Howlpack Wolf
1 Ulrich's Kindred
1 Hulking Devil
1 Solitary Hunter
1 Gatstaf Arsonists
1 Thornhide Wolves
1 Explosive Apparatus
1 Fork in the Road
2 Aim High
1 Geistblast
1 Malevolent Whispers
1 Throttle
1 Burn from Within
The cards I'd consider tuning with or for sideboarding are
It's a surprisingly good mana curve with lots of removal, so you should get a pretty consistent aggroish game. Maybe try to get in another land, to get to 3 lands more consistently. Throw in Magmatic Chasm as a sideboard card or even main if you expect frequent board stalls, to enable a game winning assault. I'd like adding one of two more creatures, but there isn't anything left worth the trouble, in my opinion. Maybe that Crow of Dark Tidings as an evasive creature, but you usually splash only for game changing powerful cards (removal, bombs). Or that Tooth Collector, which may have some late game potential and is even more removal if nothing else.
Yes it does. Copying an X spell will give the copy the same value for X chosen for the original. But considering, that you would need to forgo 3 damage on the original just to get a copy, such a play would only work out for more damage if you have 8+ mana available. And if you have that mana, chances are high, that just aiming BfW at the opponent's head will end the game anyway. It's not even worth further dilluting your land base with an Island. Your best bet is a consistent powerful early game, and messing with your land base puts that in jeopardy.
Your blue is actually garbage, not worth being a main color, and nothing worth splashing for. Even white offers better stuff, mostly flyers, but it's also pretty weak, the most compelling point for white is that pseudo dragon, and if it wouldn't cost double white, that would be worth splashing for. As it is just forget about it and aim for a consistent earlier game. That can wreck more havoc and win more games than some convoluted 4+ color mess full of expensive powerful cards.
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)
-For some reason, I thought Moldgraf Scavenger and Tooth Collector required 4 or more colors in my graveyard. When it says "type", would that mean that a land, enchantment, artifact, and creature would activate that ability? And, if I'm understanding correctly, what about cards with dual types, such as Artifact Creatures?
-Can you give some examples of how you might tune for Tamiyo's Journal, as an example? It appears that, other than the Graf Mole and Byway Courier, there's little in the way of synergy with that.
EDIT: What are your thoughts on Haunted Cloak? It seems a cheap and effective way to get haste, which seems suited to this deck. Also, why the Wicker Witch? I would have thought a second Geistblast or Tooth Collector would be a good choice there, or maybe Village Messenger.
I would not try to enhance the Journal, but it could be worthwhile on its own. Because one Clue per turn, pretty much equals one extra card per turn. And cards are the most useful resource to have in the game. So much so, that having more cards in a game usually means being more likely to win. But the Journal is slow, so it doesn't fit an aggro approach. That's why I left it out of my list. The cards I listed are the ones that you may want to add to the deck, or swap in from the sideboard against other decks.
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)
You're right on the Geistblast. I missed, that you have two of those available. I'd probably swap it in instead of Explosive Apparatus.
Wicker Witch I added, because the deck needed creatures. There are only 14 even with the Witch, which is already on the lower end of what is playable in a typical Sealed deck. Being an artifact creature also helps a bit with delirium on the Moldgraf Scavenger. If you want to play the Tooth Collector, go for it, either in addition or instead of the Witch.
1-drop creatures really need to add something in a Sealed deck to be worthwhile. A 1/1 haste ceature isn't enough, even if it can turn into a 2/2. 1/1s and 2/2s are outclassed quickly, so for them to matter the deck either needs to be very fast, or they have to have more utility than just attacking. This deck isn't aggressive enough for that to be worth the card slot, in my opinion. If you had like three of them with a bunch of 2-drops to follow it up, that would be a different story.
Haste is usually less useful in Limited. And Haunted Cloak needs an initial investment of 4 mana to do anything. The most useful feature of the card is granting trample, but for the most part, just killing potential blockers is the better way to go. The deck right now has a lot of 3-drop creatures, so just filling the board with them builds pressure. And you do have a considerable amount of removal, too.
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)