Title. The sheer amount of choice there is is kind of overwhelming to me. I know the general idea of what I want to play and how I'd like to play it, but I think the most confusing thing to me is the idea of playing basically any card over 4 mana. It's totally foreign territory for me outside of the occasional exception. Plus it seems like a lot of the cards I'd like to run are actually quite underwhelming in this new setting. Like, for example. I know I want my commander to be Athreos, God of Passage and I'd like to run a sort of death and taxes style deck. Give them poor choices, run lots of good etb creatures or creatures that do interesting things when they die. But even the cards I'd normally jump all over like pillory of the sleepless and souls of the faultless are so low cost that I don't think they'd have the impact I'm used to. Looking at deck lists has just confused me more because suddenly I'm assaulted with a barrel of high costing cards I'd never seen and I can't process it all.
Anyway, whine whine, bellyache bellyache. tl;dr, making a deck is hard, some tips to go about it would be just dandy. <3
Playing high mana cost cards is far from a necessity, even in EDH, especially if you're playing competitively, where the average converted mana cost is often below 3.00.
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There are no divisions: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. -Galatians 3:28
Nah this is 100% going to be just a casual thing. He promised to get back into standard if I promised to try out commander, so it's just that. Still knowing a low mana curve helps actually makes me feel a ton better. I can start going to old fallback cards and building a strategy I'm used to.
i think you'd be surprised at least how effective things like pillory of the sleepless and arrest can be. some decks just can't deal with them 'cuz they don't have sac outlets or enchantment removal. and quite often, leaving permanents on the board is a better way to deal with certain problems.
one way to make your deck-building a lot less daunting is to start with picking a general (which you did), and then by picking a theme. Forget what all the people on forums say about cards that are 'format staples', and focus on what sort of theme/focus you have. if a card is in on the theme, chuck it in; if not, seriously weigh whether or not you'd think it'd pull its weight.
example: you want your Athreos, God of Passage-led deck to be a death-and-taxes deck (control-tempo), so that means that your deck is most likely gonna need cards that disrupt your opponent while you gain a slight advantage here and there, out for the long game. with that theme in mind, cards that'd pop into my head goes Aven MindcensorFiend HunterMangara of CorondorPhyrexian RevokerThalia, Guardian of ThrabenEthersworn CanonistLeonin Relic-WarderOblivion RingPithing NeedleRelic of ProgenitusRest in Peace.
however, some other cards like sol ring might also come to mind. but then i'd consider that only 2 of the creatures listed (general included) have a 2 in their cost; so its not actually going to help me ramp into them, so to speak, so i'd put the ring on the maybe pile (and if people on the internet think you're crazy for doing so, thats their problem).
..and so on.
i hope that was helpful and not just confusing you more though. if you needed something more specific in terms of card choices, i'm sure peeps on this forum will be glad to help
It probably won't fit your deck style exactly, but at lest it explains why the cards have been chosen for the deck.
Also, if you think you'd like to play cards like Pillory of the Sleepless and Souls of the Faultless, then do so; you won't truly come to understand how you want or need your deck to run or how powerful a card is in a specific deck until you have tried it out.
P.S. Hope you can build a deck that you enjoy in this new-to-you format.
That overwhelming feeling of starting never really goes away, at least not for me. Whenever I sit down to start a new deck, the amount of options means I don't get anything done for about 15 minutes.
Don't forget, EDH decks are never static. I find it's better to just throw in cards you want to play with, even if you're unsure of how they'll work or if they're 'optimal'. The experience of testing and playing is one of the most rewarding parts of EDH, and if you keep a mental (or physical) list of the testing cards, you'll know what to look for when you play.
As for you deck, the whole Blood Artist, Reveillark, Karmic Guide combo/style of play works quite well with smaller creatures and recursion. I'm building a similar style deck with Alesha, and all three of those cards work wonders on their own.
I'll give my personal EDH deckbuilding tips in a moment, but in terms of higher casting-cost cards, just try to remember that on average, EDH games go much longer than regular constructed formats. That being said, the tempo or early damage you might dish out early becomes less effective as the game drags on. You don't want to be casting 2-3 drops on turns 6-7 when others are dropping huge fatties or playing game-ending spells. That, coupled with the fact that this is a 40-life format, means the some of the traditional thinking for constructed formats does not apply to casual multiplayer EDH (if that's what you're wanting to build for).
Tips:
One thing that you will find familiar is that you still need a curve - small on either ends (cmc 1-2 or 1-3, depending on the deck, and 4-6 or 5-7, same). Too many lower-cmc spells will mean your late-game draws are not effective compared to the board, and too many higher-cmc spells means you'll flounder for the first 5-6 turns and be an easy kill.
Completely depending on the deck, but as a general rule I start with 37 land, and then adjust based upon the rest of the deck. If you find a lower average CMC (3.0 or lower), I'd go less. My baseline of 37 does not include that I also include at least a few mana rocks.
Removal: though spot removal is important, sweepers are doubly so in EDH. The reason being that in traditional constructed formats, a 1-1 trade is not bad for card advantage. In EDH, since you usually have multiple opponents, a 1-1 trade is a bit more of a problem.
Looks for cards with repeated value. Some great suggestions have already been given in this thread, but keep an eye for more than 1-shot effects whenever possible, unless the payoff for a 1-shot effect is huge.
Have a win condition. Even though you want a bleeder deck, you have to consider that your opponents are going to get to survive into the late game, and they'll have their bombs, combos, or game-ending plays. You need much of the same. IN your colors, there's quite a few combos, one common one is Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Trisklion.
Tip: playing a commander that gives opponents a choice, you're going to find that your strategy isn't always as effective as you want.
My best tip for building a commander deck is to build around your main path to victory well. But to ALWAYS include a secondary path. Someone might have a silver bullet for your strategy. If you plan on going lifedrain, you're pretty much screwed if you go against a lifegain deck like Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
Another key about commander in opposition with other formats is the multiplayer aspect. Some cards bring a lot of hate with them Braids, cabal minion is a card that will get you killed if you play it early without a lock down in my group.
If you're going to play cards that actively threaten the whole group, then make sure you play enough defense to keep yourself alive. Ghostly prison, Moat(if you can afford it)
Play answers! this is the most frequent error i experience when playing against new decks. Make sure you have an out to cards that shut down your deck. If you plan to make a grindy graveyard based deck. Make sure you can answer a Rest in peace. Because if you're the one suffering the worst no one else will want to remove it.
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EDH decks:
RWUNarset, jeskai burn RUB Marchesa the black rose R Daretti, reanimator goodstuff BU Vela, ninja assasin UG Ezuri, woodland critters.
pick your colors, buy a pre-con. The pre-cons while far from competitive are good for newbies. You get a good list of cards and it is by far the easiest and cheapest way to get into EDH. Over time you will tweak your pre-con or even build a new one form scratch. But still i would start off with a pre-con as you don't want to break your bank early on. But a pre-con also help prevent the feeling of being overwhelmed.
The two things I always try and remember are that any card in your deck may not come up in any given game and that the balance of "which card is better" will change on a game by game basis. Bearing this in mind card choice in EDH is generally a long process of tweaking and editing as you play the deck and see which cards perform better or worse most of the time. It also means that any other players choice may not be good for you so taking advice from here or other internet sources is great but don't feel like you will be scorned for ignoring it. I know that in my Kresh deck for example, I only have 20 non land cards which have stayed in since the deck was first made and many more have come and gone during that time.
On the subject of high cmc cards, it has already been pointed out that because EDH is generally a multiplayer format the games tend to go a bit longer so you have more time to play your high cards but also have to keep up with those that other players are dropping. Pacifism and similar effects are still pretty playable in EDH and sometimes better than Terminate et al. particularly against very punchy commanders or creatures.
Above all other considerations though if you don't like the deck you wont play it so make sure that you enjoy how it plays. This may mean that you dont play X card because its too strong and unfun or that you play Storm Crow because its bird tribal.
tl:dr version. the Right card can only be found by testing, a few high cmc cards are worth including but not mandatory, take what you read with a pinch of salt and enjoy the format.
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EDH BRGKresh the BloodbraidedBRG, A box of lands and ideas.
Modern: RG Titanshift. A deck made of cards too stupid for EDH.
Retired: Lots. More than I feel you should suffer through or I should type out.
On high cmc and things that might work with Athreos: cost reducers and bomb creatures with good etb/death effects. Decent chunk of these creatures (like Angel of Despair, Ashen Rider, Magister of Worth) are big evasive creatures. Not very effective on their own, but when you include Athreos (and some redundant effects like Dawn of the Dead, Defy Death and Ever After) and a heap of cost-reducers to let you cast more than one of these critters lategame per turn (Cloud Key, Conduit of Ruin, Pearl Medallion, Jet Medallion etc.).
That would effectively create a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' - kill the creature so you don't get beat with it, but that would get it's death trigger and then Athreos to a third player who will gladly let him have the creature back anyway... and if it stays in the graveyard, it won't be for long.
Going this route would also let you beat with Athreos with quite some regularity, as those bombs have decent amount of colored costs in them.
...I see a general, think of something and go on a deckcrafter ramble. Let's pretend that was something new.
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X Hope of Ghirapur Swordpile W Ghosty Blinky Anafenza U Nezahal- Big, Blue and HERE! B Gonti Can Afford It R Etali, Primal 'Whatjusthappened?' G Polukranos Wants More Mana WU The Exalted Vizier Temmet WB Home, Athreos WR Basandra, Recursive Aggression WG Karametra, Momma of Lands UB Wrexial Eats Your Brains UR Arjun, the Mad Flame UG The Fable of Prime Speaker BR Hellbent, Malfegor Style BG Jarad, Death is Served RG Running Thromok WUB Varina and ALL the Zombies WUBYennett, the Odd Pain-Train WUR Zedruu the Furyhearted WUG Arcades' Strategy, Shmategy, Sausage and Spam WBR A Case of Mathas' Persistent F*ckery WBRLicia's League of Legendary Lifegain Layabouts WBG The Karador Advantage PackageWRG Gahiji Rattlesnake Collection UBR Jeleva... does... things UBG Damia's Just Deserts URG Yasova's Has More Power Than Sense BRG Wasitora, Bad Kitty WUBRBreya, Eggs, Breya'd Eggs WUBG Tymna and Kydele, Extended Borrowing WURG Kynaios and Tiro, Landfall Impersonations WBRG Saskia Pet Card EnchantressUBRG Yidris of the Chi-Ting Corporation WUBRG Tazri's Amazing Allies
The only reliable way to really adjust your card valuation intuition for this format is to play, play, and play some more. A lot of low-impact cards make up for it in their flexbility, a lot of them don't. The strengths and tradeoff's you are looking for in a card are just very different from how you'd look at a card in the 1v1 formats. So my advice, just build to the best of your ability now, and then expect to revise and retweak your deck about once every 3 games or so. After a while, you will get into a more comfortable place with card evaluation.
One piece of unrelated advice I'd give a new player, plan on running a lot of Wrath of God effects for the time being. In most EDH groups, they will be enough to keep you alive, when you can then learn what cards are giving you a good return. You won't learn anything very fast if you fall behind and then have no way to catch up. I'd say probably 4-6 Wrath effects, and try to make some of them like Planar Cleansing hit more permanent types than just Creature. It should be easy to do in WB.
Welcome to commander/EDH! It's my favorite format.I got 3 suggestions:
#1)I'm gonna parrot the buying a commander pre-con suggestion. After having 6 commander decks I still had trouble getting started on a all green deck.So I bought the Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury commander box and it was so cool the amount of cards that fixed where I might lack.
#2) Use ALL KINDS of the cards you like just because of the artwork, uniqueness and/or you plain just "find the effect neat." Remember: it's a casual format 1st, for funzies and a gaming experience that can last longer than a super cereal 2 out of 3 game that takes 20 minutes.
#3) To this day I am taking cards out, adding new ones, cutting all the tribal-these guys for big fatties here, switching the commander completely after a few games and stuff. So don't ever feel like your deck will always be seeking perfection or is almost "COMPLETE." May you deck building in commander be formless.
If you desire to be hardcore commander player then my 3 suggestions may seem silly and disposable. Otherwise this is how I stay having fun! Hope I was helpful!
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EDH builds:
Sliver Queen
Progenitus
Teysa, Envoy of ghosts
Rubinia, Removalchaser
Xenagos, God of sweatiness
The nice thing about commander is that you do NOT need that EXACT card to make your deck work. There are literally dozens of cards that do the same effect - albeit with more/less efficiency. But the overall value of having that slightly better card is dampened in this format. And chances are if your deck needs that type of effect then you'll be running 4-6 cards that do roughly the same thing because you can only run 1 of each.
That's why we just lump a big clump of the format into mana ramp, removal, etc.... you don't have to swap out for that card that does the same thing for 5 mana that the other card did for 6 mana.
Easiest is to but a pre-constucted.
Otherwise just throw a deck together, maybe even 2 or 3 decks together and start playing. Then you get a feel for how it works pretty quick.
What a lot of people are saying: start with a deck with a good curve, low threat potential, and plenty of wrath effects so you can stay in the game and learn from what others are doing, learn what works for you. When I started playing I tended toward aggro decks that got stomped/tucked/denied by the blue players. I learned to sit back and just watch, see what the players who won did that earned them their games.
Athreos seems a good starter general. WB has plenty of answers and fun grindy cards, and he doesn't have the threat level of many other generals.
So first off, thank you all so much for responding! This has been a really welcoming community and that's a nice change of pace from my experience with some other nerdy communities.
I took all the advice in this list to heart, and the results have been pretty great! My girlfriend and I are both getting into this, and we both actually went with different generals than we anticipated. She was originally going to play Heliod, God of the Sun, but after seeing Daxos the Returned she instantly fell in love with it. B/W is her favorite color combo, enchantments are her favorite card type, and he just fit the bill to a T. She loves going wide over going big, so having something that rewarded her for playing enchantments, spit out good tokens at a low cost, and encouraged playing fun Anthem effects was perfect for her.
Since she was going B/W, I decided to drop Athreos, God of Passage and donated the cards that I'd already bought to her cause. Instead what I did was buy Seize Control, and then I traded out a bunch of those cards similar to what the girlfriend did. However I also swapped out my general for Nin, the Pain Artist and went with a card drawing theme. I added cards like Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind, Stuffy Doll, and then also decided to go with a Wizard sub theme and let me tell you there are some seriously hidden all stars there. Mercurial Chemister is just bonkers crazy good. Turning every non-land card in my deck into a removal spell is incredible, as is paying U to draw 2 cards every turn. As is some other unexpected gems like Serendib Sorcerer which let me shut down her Treasury Thrull by making a 0/2. I'm absolutely in love with this new deck idea, and I can't remember the last time I had this much fun playing Magic.
Thanks for the suggestions! Looks like we're pretty much on the same page! I've got Arcanis and Blue Sun's Zenith already, and Consecrated Sphinx is, uh, very expensive. I can't really justify dropping $25 on one card right now, but I do have Thought Reflection which is almost as good. I need to pick up a copy of Keranos. He's certainly on my to get list. I also need to spruce up my land base a bit.
Some thoughts from the top of my head for Nin: Aeon Chronicler, Sturmgeist, Psychosis Crawler, Soramaro, First to Dream. Big swingers that get bigger by your theme, that you can safely ping for a few (since they simultaneously get bigger) and can help close out the game with something like Teleportal or Artful Dodge. Three of which also get you more cards, and crawler can end games really fast.
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X Hope of Ghirapur Swordpile W Ghosty Blinky Anafenza U Nezahal- Big, Blue and HERE! B Gonti Can Afford It R Etali, Primal 'Whatjusthappened?' G Polukranos Wants More Mana WU The Exalted Vizier Temmet WB Home, Athreos WR Basandra, Recursive Aggression WG Karametra, Momma of Lands UB Wrexial Eats Your Brains UR Arjun, the Mad Flame UG The Fable of Prime Speaker BR Hellbent, Malfegor Style BG Jarad, Death is Served RG Running Thromok WUB Varina and ALL the Zombies WUBYennett, the Odd Pain-Train WUR Zedruu the Furyhearted WUG Arcades' Strategy, Shmategy, Sausage and Spam WBR A Case of Mathas' Persistent F*ckery WBRLicia's League of Legendary Lifegain Layabouts WBG The Karador Advantage PackageWRG Gahiji Rattlesnake Collection UBR Jeleva... does... things UBG Damia's Just Deserts URG Yasova's Has More Power Than Sense BRG Wasitora, Bad Kitty WUBRBreya, Eggs, Breya'd Eggs WUBG Tymna and Kydele, Extended Borrowing WURG Kynaios and Tiro, Landfall Impersonations WBRG Saskia Pet Card EnchantressUBRG Yidris of the Chi-Ting Corporation WUBRG Tazri's Amazing Allies
Thanks for the suggestions! Looks like we're pretty much on the same page! I've got Arcanis and Blue Sun's Zenith already, and Consecrated Sphinx is, uh, very expensive. I can't really justify dropping $25 on one card right now, but I do have Thought Reflection which is almost as good.
Two things: First of all, Recurring Insight is more bang for your buck than Consecrated Sphinx and many people think it's a better card anyhow. Secondly, I would recommend Alhammarret's Archive in addition to Thought Reflection, especially if you have any life gain.
Having absolutely no idea what your manabase looks like, might I add a resounding "yes" to this. Better lands are often the least sexy part of deck building, but shoring up your mana better facilitates game play. Also, "spell lands" end up being underrated free slots.
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Anyway, whine whine, bellyache bellyache. tl;dr, making a deck is hard, some tips to go about it would be just dandy. <3
Oh, and welcome to the format, mate!
one way to make your deck-building a lot less daunting is to start with picking a general (which you did), and then by picking a theme. Forget what all the people on forums say about cards that are 'format staples', and focus on what sort of theme/focus you have. if a card is in on the theme, chuck it in; if not, seriously weigh whether or not you'd think it'd pull its weight.
example: you want your Athreos, God of Passage-led deck to be a death-and-taxes deck (control-tempo), so that means that your deck is most likely gonna need cards that disrupt your opponent while you gain a slight advantage here and there, out for the long game. with that theme in mind, cards that'd pop into my head goes Aven Mindcensor Fiend Hunter Mangara of Corondor Phyrexian Revoker Thalia, Guardian of Thraben Ethersworn Canonist Leonin Relic-Warder Oblivion Ring Pithing Needle Relic of Progenitus Rest in Peace.
however, some other cards like sol ring might also come to mind. but then i'd consider that only 2 of the creatures listed (general included) have a 2 in their cost; so its not actually going to help me ramp into them, so to speak, so i'd put the ring on the maybe pile (and if people on the internet think you're crazy for doing so, thats their problem).
..and so on.
i hope that was helpful and not just confusing you more though. if you needed something more specific in terms of card choices, i'm sure peeps on this forum will be glad to help
Legacy - Solidarity - mono U aggro - burn - Imperial Painter - Strawberry Shortcake - Bluuzards - bom
It probably won't fit your deck style exactly, but at lest it explains why the cards have been chosen for the deck.
Also, if you think you'd like to play cards like Pillory of the Sleepless and Souls of the Faultless, then do so; you won't truly come to understand how you want or need your deck to run or how powerful a card is in a specific deck until you have tried it out.
P.S. Hope you can build a deck that you enjoy in this new-to-you format.
Don't forget, EDH decks are never static. I find it's better to just throw in cards you want to play with, even if you're unsure of how they'll work or if they're 'optimal'. The experience of testing and playing is one of the most rewarding parts of EDH, and if you keep a mental (or physical) list of the testing cards, you'll know what to look for when you play.
As for you deck, the whole Blood Artist, Reveillark, Karmic Guide combo/style of play works quite well with smaller creatures and recursion. I'm building a similar style deck with Alesha, and all three of those cards work wonders on their own.
Tips:
Currently Playing:
Multiplayer EDH Lists (click italics for a link to the thread!)
[Primer] Lord of Tresserhorn - Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do[Primer] Roon of the Hidden Realm - Rhino Blink
5 Color Tribal Guide (Slivers, Atogs, Allies, Spirits)
Also Playing (most decklists can be found on my profile)
MarathGeistKamahlGrenzoBolasThassaGitrog
PiratesZurVial Smasher&ThrasiosYennettJhoira(cEDH)Strix(Pauper)
Legacy: Maverick
Modern:
Melira PodRIP 1/19/15GWHatebearsMy best tip for building a commander deck is to build around your main path to victory well. But to ALWAYS include a secondary path. Someone might have a silver bullet for your strategy. If you plan on going lifedrain, you're pretty much screwed if you go against a lifegain deck like Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
Another key about commander in opposition with other formats is the multiplayer aspect. Some cards bring a lot of hate with them Braids, cabal minion is a card that will get you killed if you play it early without a lock down in my group.
If you're going to play cards that actively threaten the whole group, then make sure you play enough defense to keep yourself alive. Ghostly prison, Moat(if you can afford it)
Play answers! this is the most frequent error i experience when playing against new decks. Make sure you have an out to cards that shut down your deck. If you plan to make a grindy graveyard based deck. Make sure you can answer a Rest in peace. Because if you're the one suffering the worst no one else will want to remove it.
RWU Narset, jeskai burn
RUB Marchesa the black rose
R Daretti, reanimator goodstuff
BU Vela, ninja assasin
UG Ezuri, woodland critters.
UB Vela the Night-Clad BUDecklist
WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores GBW
WUBRGThe Ur-DragonWUBRGDecklist
On the subject of high cmc cards, it has already been pointed out that because EDH is generally a multiplayer format the games tend to go a bit longer so you have more time to play your high cards but also have to keep up with those that other players are dropping. Pacifism and similar effects are still pretty playable in EDH and sometimes better than Terminate et al. particularly against very punchy commanders or creatures.
Above all other considerations though if you don't like the deck you wont play it so make sure that you enjoy how it plays. This may mean that you dont play X card because its too strong and unfun or that you play Storm Crow because its bird tribal.
tl:dr version. the Right card can only be found by testing, a few high cmc cards are worth including but not mandatory, take what you read with a pinch of salt and enjoy the format.
BRGKresh the BloodbraidedBRG, A box of lands and ideas.
Modern:
RG Titanshift. A deck made of cards too stupid for EDH.
Retired: Lots. More than I feel you should suffer through or I should type out.
That would effectively create a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' - kill the creature so you don't get beat with it, but that would get it's death trigger and then Athreos to a third player who will gladly let him have the creature back anyway... and if it stays in the graveyard, it won't be for long.
Going this route would also let you beat with Athreos with quite some regularity, as those bombs have decent amount of colored costs in them.
...I see a general, think of something and go on a deckcrafter ramble. Let's pretend that was something new.
One piece of unrelated advice I'd give a new player, plan on running a lot of Wrath of God effects for the time being. In most EDH groups, they will be enough to keep you alive, when you can then learn what cards are giving you a good return. You won't learn anything very fast if you fall behind and then have no way to catch up. I'd say probably 4-6 Wrath effects, and try to make some of them like Planar Cleansing hit more permanent types than just Creature. It should be easy to do in WB.
#1)I'm gonna parrot the buying a commander pre-con suggestion. After having 6 commander decks I still had trouble getting started on a all green deck.So I bought the Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury commander box and it was so cool the amount of cards that fixed where I might lack.
#2) Use ALL KINDS of the cards you like just because of the artwork, uniqueness and/or you plain just "find the effect neat." Remember: it's a casual format 1st, for funzies and a gaming experience that can last longer than a super cereal 2 out of 3 game that takes 20 minutes.
#3) To this day I am taking cards out, adding new ones, cutting all the tribal-these guys for big fatties here, switching the commander completely after a few games and stuff. So don't ever feel like your deck will always be seeking perfection or is almost "COMPLETE." May you deck building in commander be formless.
If you desire to be hardcore commander player then my 3 suggestions may seem silly and disposable. Otherwise this is how I stay having fun! Hope I was helpful!
Sliver Queen
Progenitus
Teysa, Envoy of ghosts
Rubinia, Removalchaser
Xenagos, God of sweatiness
That's why we just lump a big clump of the format into mana ramp, removal, etc.... you don't have to swap out for that card that does the same thing for 5 mana that the other card did for 6 mana.
Easiest is to but a pre-constucted.
Otherwise just throw a deck together, maybe even 2 or 3 decks together and start playing. Then you get a feel for how it works pretty quick.
Athreos seems a good starter general. WB has plenty of answers and fun grindy cards, and he doesn't have the threat level of many other generals.
WUBRG Some of these decks can actually win games...WUBRG
How I know I should build a deck:
I took all the advice in this list to heart, and the results have been pretty great! My girlfriend and I are both getting into this, and we both actually went with different generals than we anticipated. She was originally going to play Heliod, God of the Sun, but after seeing Daxos the Returned she instantly fell in love with it. B/W is her favorite color combo, enchantments are her favorite card type, and he just fit the bill to a T. She loves going wide over going big, so having something that rewarded her for playing enchantments, spit out good tokens at a low cost, and encouraged playing fun Anthem effects was perfect for her.
Since she was going B/W, I decided to drop Athreos, God of Passage and donated the cards that I'd already bought to her cause. Instead what I did was buy Seize Control, and then I traded out a bunch of those cards similar to what the girlfriend did. However I also swapped out my general for Nin, the Pain Artist and went with a card drawing theme. I added cards like Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind, Stuffy Doll, and then also decided to go with a Wizard sub theme and let me tell you there are some seriously hidden all stars there. Mercurial Chemister is just bonkers crazy good. Turning every non-land card in my deck into a removal spell is incredible, as is paying U to draw 2 cards every turn. As is some other unexpected gems like Serendib Sorcerer which let me shut down her Treasury Thrull by making a 0/2. I'm absolutely in love with this new deck idea, and I can't remember the last time I had this much fun playing Magic.
Consecrated Sphinx — Draws 2n cards for free, at least once per turn cycle. Flies, with a good body
Blue Sun's Zenith — Virtually counts as 2+++ copies, since it shuffles back. Has no limit how many cards it will draw; UUU cost possibly restrictive
Keranos, God of Storms — Easy to cast, hard to kill, and does everything for a one-time cost of 3UR
Two things: First of all, Recurring Insight is more bang for your buck than Consecrated Sphinx and many people think it's a better card anyhow. Secondly, I would recommend Alhammarret's Archive in addition to Thought Reflection, especially if you have any life gain.
Having absolutely no idea what your manabase looks like, might I add a resounding "yes" to this. Better lands are often the least sexy part of deck building, but shoring up your mana better facilitates game play. Also, "spell lands" end up being underrated free slots.